Hello! So as a kid (and I promise this setup matters), I was raised in an Islamic household. Thing with being Islamic in America is there aren't any good Muslim schools to send your child so they could learn both Faith and have a decent education. So my parents decided to send me to a Catholic school since it was closest to the values they wanted me to live by. At home, my grandmother would tell me stories from the Quoran. I loved those stories, but sometimes, my grandmother would stop her storytelling voice and use her fact voice. Like she was telling me something that happened at the store. She was using her fact voice when she was telling me about the story of how a father had to sacrifice his son to God but when he tried to bring down the knife, it wouldn't hurt his son because God had willed that his dedication meant he no longer needed to sacrifice his son. So I asked my grandmother if I could become invincible to knives if I believed in God enough and she told me "No don't take the story literally. Take the meaning of the story." Aka do not stab yourself. So I was like oooooh all of these stories are metaphorical. The Bible at my school and the Quoran at home are both collections of stories filled with wisdom meant to be interpreted as the situation sees fit. Like a superhero story where Jesus and Muhammad are the main characters. They're meant to help the story deliver me a meaning like Ash from Pokemon. I think you see where this is going, I thought they were stories. They're not real. And I grew up thinking that. That these religions were a way of life, not to be taken literally.
Cut to driving with a friend from school through California to Palm Springs to see her grandmother. We were talking about how hot it was and I joked about how we needed a flood to cool us down. Where's God's wrath when you need, right? She laughed and started to draw the conversation to her admiration of Jesus. We started talking about miracles and hungry people and I said "Man, I wish we could do those kind of miracles for real. The world could use a few." and she replied something along the lines of "Well who knows? Jesus could be back soon" and I chuckled. Did that thing where you blow air out of your nose and smile. I thought it was a joke. Like ha, ha Superman is gonna come fly us to her grandma's house. And she looked at me and asked me why I laughed. I told her I thought she was being sarcastic. She corrected me that she was not. Then I asked her "wait are you saying like.. Jesus could actually, really show up on Earth"? She got upset and said yes. Then the rest of the car ride was quiet. So instead of thinking "Jesus is real". I thought "wow my friend must be really gullible".
Then once I got home, I told my grandmother about it. I thought it be a funny story. Like telling someone that your friend thinks elves are real. But she looked at me and went "OP, Muhammad is real. And so was Jesus. What are you talking about?" For the next 10 mins we kept talking and I started to realize that oh my god, my grandmother thinks the stories are real. Does everyone think that the stories about water turning into wine, and walking on water, and touching sick people to heal them was REAL???
Lastly, I pulled my pastor aside at school. And I asked him straight up "Is Jesus real?" and of course he was confused and said yes and asked me if I thought Jesus wasn't real. I told him what I had thought my whole life and he goes "Yeah, everything in the Bible actually happened". So I asked him why none of those miracles have happened now or at all recorded in history and he goes "I don't know, but the Lord does and we trust him".
So now my friend doesn't talk to me, school is weird now because all of these ridiculous, crazy stories about talking snakes, angels visiting people, and being BROUGHT. BACK. FROM. THE. DEAD. are all supposed to be taken literally. And asking questions about it isn't ok either, apparently. So yep. That's eye opening.
TLDR: I thought the Bible and Quoran were metaphorical books and that everything in them wasn't real but rather just anecdotal wisdom. Then I learned people actually thought things in the Bible and Quoran were real. Now everything is tense between me and my friends and family.
Edit: So many comments! Wanted to say thank you for every respectful, well thought out theological opinion or suggestion. I can't say thank you enough to everyone in the comments and all your different experiences with religion and spirituality are inspiration and ideas I will consider for a while. Even if I can't reply to you in time, thank you. Genuinely, thank you.
[link] [comments]
No comments:
Post a Comment