Voices of Faith q & a

Voices of Faith q & a

The Kansas City Star (TNS)

Q. Does a believer’s past play a role when joining your faith?

The Rev. Kevin D. Huddleston, St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church, Mission:

A. We are who we are because of who we have been. Rather than living in our past, we need to learn from it.

In the Christian tradition we assert that Jesus Christ suffered death upon the cross for our redemption; “a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction, for the sins of the whole world.” We have been forgiven by God’s infinite mercy and grace. As baptized Christians we are adopted children of God, created in the image of God.

We find our identity, our sense of worth and significance in being God’s beloved children. We can reflect on our previous behaviors with brutal and critical honesty because we are loved. This allows us to see the results of our choices with fresh eyes.

We can begin to imagine responding differently in the future. We do not have to recount our past in some kind of macabre recitation. Some may react by trying to place the blame on a person or event. This path is an endless circle of denying that we have free will.

Our individual response is critical to moving forward. Because we have not constructed our own worth and value, rather it is given to us by God, we can choose to respond differently. We must face our past, but now we do it knowing that there is nothing we can do to make God love us more or love us less. We do not have to let our past determine our future.

Arvind Khetia, a Hindu:

A. Hinduism, also known as Sanatan Dharma (Eternal Truth), is more than 5,000 years old. It provides the science of spirituality for human development. For a Hindu, religion is a way of life and is not limited to believing in a certain doctrine and dogma.

In regard to one’s past, Sri Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita, “Even if one is most sinful, one could go beyond all sin by spiritual wisdom. Nothing in this world purifies like spiritual wisdom. It is the perfection achieved in time through the path of yoga, the path that leads to Self-realization.”

So, while the consequence of one’s past is governed by the universal law of karma, it does not limit one’s ability to consciously strive for spiritual wisdom.

For those who seek spiritual wisdom from the Hindu tradition, the quest begins with cultivating self-control, unselfishness, truthfulness and nonviolence, and culminates in realizing the ultimate reality within oneself and in all of existence. A spiritual teacher can help the process. One may go through a brief initiation ritual if one so desires.

Spiritual wisdom is not merely intellectual knowledge, but rather, it is an increasing and deepening awareness of the fundamental spiritual oneness of all, as explained in the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita.

Emphasizing the necessity of spiritual wisdom for all, Swami Vivekananda has observed that, “The strength of every race lies in its spirituality, and the death of that race begins the day spirituality wanes, and materialism gains ground.”