Tag: proselytize

When the Book made me run

Be wary if an elderly man approaches you, especially with a young woman. Chances are he is out to proselytize. If the word ‘proselytize’ sounds like ‘seduce’, so be it. In a way that is what proselytizers do. They seduce you into another path.

‘But the Book says so’, is the common refrain. The moot question is ‘so what?’. Why should I believe in another book ? How confident are you that the book is genuine and has not been altered since it was ‘written’ ? No answers for that.

Confront them with ‘Who created the apple?’. ‘God’. ‘So why does God forbid Adam and Eve from eating the apple that He Himself has created? Is the apple not divine?’

‘God tests you. The apple is the lure. God checks if you are lured by Satan’.
‘Simple question. Why should Adam not eat the apple created by God ? If so, did God create an ‘evil apple’?’
‘It is so in the Book. Can’t question this’.
‘So, who created Satan and why is he evil?’
‘God created Satan as an angel but later he became a fallen angel. So Satan is evil’.
‘As soon as God created the world, he created Satan as well. So He should have provided Satan with the intention to fall and thus become evil. So is God not evil?’.
Keep confronting based on simple logic and the frequent reference is ‘The Book’.
‘What if the Book has been printed with wrong information in the last 2000 years?’
‘That cannot be. God’s words cannot be wrong’.
‘Accepted that Gods’words cannot be wrong. But did God himself write the book? Somebody wrote it. And in 2000 years, could the book not have been edited with ‘further details’?’
‘Oh, as that is the God’s word, it could not have been changed’.
‘I say that even in the Indian religions, no book is static. Recent research shows that the ‘Bagawad Gita’ from the epic Mahabharatha’ was written much later and added into the epic. So, are there not chances in your Book at all?’
‘That cannot be. That is possible only in Pagan religions. For us, God’s words are sacrosanct and cannot change’.
‘Ok. So, is  Earth the center of the Universe? Does the Sun move around Earth ? And is Earth flat ? The Book says so, right?’
‘Sir, you are asking too many questions. Please believe in God and his Son and start reading the Book. You will realize truth and peace’.
I scamper towards the just arrived train.No use talking to robots.

Soul not for sale

Let me say in second person singular. Writing in Third person in passive voice is not effective.

Dear Converter,

I confess. I have not read ‘The Book’ in full. Don’t intend to read as well. But that does not mean I am game and ripe for harvest, does it ?

How do you think I am ‘available’ ? Or do I appear ‘available’ ?

Let me come to the point. How do you think you are in a position to offer me ‘solution’ or ’emancipation’? Why do you think I need emancipation ?

What is ’emancipation’ by the way ? Is that wine tasting ? If I am a tee-totatler them am I in need of ;emancipation ? Is that how you define ?

Or has emancipation got to do with the way one worships ? If you fall flat before the altar you are in need of emancipation and if you kneel down you don’t need. Is that how you define emancipation ?

Let us come to solutions.

When you think you can offer me a ‘solution’ do you think you are at a higher level than me so that you can ‘uplift’ me ? What makes you think you are placed in an elevated pedestal ?

Are you a vendor of solutions ? To offer me solution, I need to be in a problem. I am not in any problem. Why do you assume that I am in a problem ?

How do you know my problem even before you know me and my way of life. Why hasten to a solution even before you know me ?

Have I ever come to you pleading my position and praying for emancipation ?

Is it that your ‘solutions’ are canonized in a single book and available for consumption and that mine are not in just one book and are scattered all over ?

Is it because I have many God forms ? Is it because myself and my folk speak different languages, eat different foods and live different lives yet consider ourselves of one culture ?

Let me as you something. In my culture, there is no one way to salvation. I choose a way while my brother chooses another. But we believe that all paths lead to salvation.

Are you sensible when you think myself and my brother should tread the same path ? Am I not different from my brother in terms of tastes and interests ? I like a dark colored God while my brother a fair skinned one. Sister doesn’t need one. Aren’t we family then?

Why do you say ‘My way or No way?’. Let me translate that for you. Why do you say ‘Only My God and no other God?’. Why can’t you see divinity in a cow or a goat ?

Let me ask you a question ? Why should my God be human at all ? Why can’t that be , say, a Tree or a Mountain ? Don’t you see God in these ?

Why can’t you see divinity in an inanimate thing as well ? Is your vision so skewed and narrowed ?

For me, that which cannot be controlled by me, that which is beyond my creativity, that which awes me is divine. So, a Tree and a Mountain are divine. Any problems ?

Understand this. In my house, the sin is not on the lamb. And therefore I don’t slaughter the lamb to rid my sin. The poor animal is a part of me, my overall existence. What is here is what is there. Get it ?

If you don’t get this, you think you could provide me ‘salvation’ ?

So why try harvest my soul ?

My soul not for sale. Period.

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