A church of Christ preacher, a Hindu and a Mennonite walk into a hotel... I know that it sounds like the start of a joke, but that describes how my Monday ended. As mentioned in an earlier blog (http://brandonbritton.blogspot.com/2011/12/36-day-6.html), for most of this year I've worked up at the Comfort Inn doing general remodeling with my dad. The hotel is owned by an Indian man who is Hindu. He is also one of the most generous and kind people I know and a lot of fun to hang out with. I can tell you, we have had some fantastic conversations over the past year about his beliefs, my beliefs, his beliefs about my beliefs and my beliefs about his beliefs (confused yet?). I don't know if either of us has made any ground toward converting the other, but it is nice to be able to discuss, not argue, with someone so drastically different from me in matters of faith.
This is nothing new since we've been doing this for nearly a year now, but Monday was made even more interesting by the addition of a group of Mennonites to our philosophical roundtable. Actually the Mennonite preacher was part of the group. We talked about a lot of things: work, politics, family, the trinity, mission work. I have to tell you, it was a much more enjoyable and beneficial conversation than yet another conversation about football or how fast the year has flown by. Afterward I couldn't help but think about why do we make those with whom we don't agree out to be enemies or threats. We usually don't change one another's mind, but we do listen and we do respect one another and sometimes we do learn something.
No comments:
Post a Comment