Some Thoughts

I think a few weeks back I wrote that I would no longer talk about theology, but I find myself still engrossed in it since I do work for the seminary and also the fact that I do go to church.

As the IT Specialist at the seminary I am responsible for certain parts of our website and one such part of the website is our Faculty Reflections. In the reflection for October one of the professors recalls details of his trip to Africa over the summer and what he witnessed in Rwanda. I have to say that in reading it it deeply saddened me. I knew of the genocide in 1994, but I guess as a sheltered individual (I have never traveled outside of the US besides a week-long trip to Banff in Canada, which still does not really count as traveling outside the US) I have never thought about the deep consequences of all this. There was really no help for these people in the 100 days of utter bloodshed where allegiances were severed to gain absolutely nothing. The bloodshed brought no good on the country and it is still recovering from this terrible event. Then I think of the fact that there are so many loving people in this nation that got ripped apart and the fact that the true God is actually recognized by some of the people and I just marvel. I marvel at the fact that in that nation that has witnessed so much bad stuff that they are probably stronger in their faith than most people in the United States. We think it is tragic and turn our back on God when something minor happens in life. We turn our back when a parent dies (at an old age I might add in some cases) or when some disease is discovered in us. But, these people have gone through so much more and they still keep their faith. These people have lost most, if not all, of their support system and they still remain strong in the faith.

This brings me to my second thought. I went to a couple of debates on Sunday between a Muslim and a Christian. The second debate was on whether Mohammed was a true prophet. Now I will admit that there is a tendency to get angry when your belief system is absolutely crushed (who wouldn't!) but it just seemed to be overboard. This debate was supposed to center on that very important subject but it ended up being a bashing of Christianity by the Muslim man. Some topics which were brought up were things such as the fact that we should not allow strange people into our house (meaning orphans) or the fact that we should not allow those orphans to have the inheritence that the children of our loins shall receive. Now, I am not quite sure how that really proves or disproves that Mohammed was a true prophet, but it seems to me that this is quite an evil thing. Yes, this man would admit that we are to care for orphans, but somehow these children are cursed. I do not agree with this at all, but simply see it as our loving embrace of those less fortunate. Yes, all women are not capable of having children, but is this really a curse from God? Or, is it really a curse from God that a child's parents are not alive when that child is growing up? I guess I am really just seeing this from one side and I am sure that a Muslim could properly defend their view, but it just seems really harsh to me to not embrace those less fortunate.