Love of God unites many

As a child attending a local Catholic grade school, I was taught that Jesus was my Savior and that Catholicism was the one true faith.

I felt comforted and secure in knowing I would one day see all like-minded believers in heaven.

Even though I eventually became what’s known as an Easter/Christmas Catholic, faith was never far from my mind.

Now, years later, I again enjoy participation in a wide variety of Catholic and Protestant church services but the pulpit’s message has remained the same: Christianity is the one, true faith that will lead me to eternal life.

I am no longer comforted by nor comfortable with such a doctrine.

My belief that I belonged to the one, true faith took a turn in 1994 when I traveled to Nepal, a tiny, poor country nestled adjacent the Himalayan mountains between India and China.

Excited to enter a foreign world, I was eager to experience the cultural and religious differences between countries.

The majority of Nepalese practice Hinduism and believe in one ultimate God-head (Brahman) along with other gods Vishnu and Shiva (a trinity of sorts).

There are other personal gods and most readers are familiar with the Hindu terms karma and reincarnation.

In Nepal, I visited one of the holiest Hindu temples in the world, Pashupatinath.

Every day the air was redolent with incense and the area dotted with icons, shrines and colorfully decorated Hindu holy men (sadhus).

A beggar, a leper, waved her bloodied hand in gratitude at the small token I placed into her basket. She surely was one of “the least of these” of whom Jesus spoke.

Cremations took place along the ghats and, as fires engulfed the bodies of family members, wails of sadness rose into the sky much like the smoke from the burning pyres.

The remains would soon be pushed into the sacred river, the soul then reborn or united with God.

Grieving family and friends, at their emotional bottom, took solace in the comfort in their faith.

Despite my church teachings, or maybe because of Jesus’ teachings, I felt a closeness with these distant “neighbors.”

Over time in Nepal, the less aware I became of differences in clothing, language, food, and, of course, religions.

The standard greeting in Nepal is “namaste,” which means “I recognize the Divine One within you.”

That wonderful message sticks with me today and led me to better appreciate what Paul proclaimed in Galatians 3:28, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

No longer Christian nor Hindu; we were all one.

My country and culture may be different from that in Nepal, but it’s not better.

My religion may be different from theirs, but it’s not truer.

Peter said in Acts 10:34-35, “In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality, but in every nation whoever fears Him, and works righteousness, is accepted by Him.”

It is this philosophy in which my belief, and my heart, now resides.

While it took a trip to Nepal and interaction with another religion to awaken me to the value of other faiths, I am hardly alone in this thought.

Because of jet travel, the Internet and instant reporting of world news, we are more connected around the globe than ever before and much more familiar with other peoples, cultures and religions.

Maybe that’s why despite the orthodoxy being preached in most churches, recent Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life research shows that the majority of Christians, including Catholics and Evangelicals, believe that many religions can lead to eternal life.

For that matter, a similar majority of Jews, Muslims, Buddhists and Hindus feel the same.

People of spirituality are seeking the God their souls instinctively feel without being bound by dogma.

For some, the path is Christianity while for others it’s Hinduism.

Yet behind our perceived separateness is a fundamental unity.

In Matthew 22:36-40, Jesus is asked, “Teacher, which is the greatest law?”

Jesus replied, “Love God with all your heart. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it. Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Simple. Beautiful. And ultimately embracing.

Tom Bresko of Boardman, retired from Mill Creek MetroParks, is a Christian on a spiritual pilgrimage.