One sign said "If there isn't one true church, there isn't one, yours or mine friend."
My issue with statements like that is how exclusionary they are. And the reason certain denominations or Faith's were not represented at the parliament, I think, is because to take part in an interfaith summit is to validate other Faith's and one can only do so if one believes in inclusiveness rather than exclusionary theology.
It was quite telling that the LDS church was absent because the leaders had more pressing engagements. Like a conference on traditional marriage.As though stripping others of their legal rights, promoting reparative therapies and demeaning those who God created differently are more important than inclusiveness.
I feel it's likely that to participate in an interfaith conference means they would have to answer questions they could not choose. They would not have had control over the conversation. If they were to have been caught off guard a PR nightmare could have ensued.
Also they could have alienated their base, small as it is, and maybe they felt they would have lost more ground than they would have gained by participating as a result.
But the point that any church that feels they are right and every other faith is wrong and/or of the Devil, then there is no point in participating, still stands.
I saw a poster during the conference that said that religions are like highways, they are not the destination, God is the destination. Religions are the paths to that destination. Just because someone else is taking a different route does not mean they are not heading towards the same destination.
Road signs are like creeds and doctrines in that they help us find the path and eventually the final destination.
They should not become idols to be worshipped in and of themselves. They merely guide us along our journey.
My feeling is that God welcomes us all. And that since God is infinite then no one church, no one person, no one theology and no one path can contain the infinite wisdom, compassion or understanding of God. So how can anyone claim that their path is the only true path? Or that if truth that doesn't originate from their tradition is not truth but false.
Joseph Smith said this about truth; “Mormonism is Truth… One of the grand fundamental principles of Mormonism is to receive truth, let it come from whence it may. (Discourses of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 199)Later, Joseph bolstered this sentiment with this statement, “We should gather all the good and true principles in the world and treasure them up, or we shall not come out true Mormons.” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith page 316.)Only God can claim ownership over all truth. It is a mistake for anyone but God to make the claim that they can.So what is our goal once we reach God?Is our goal to bask in His presence? Is our goal to take part in the further light and knowledge that is God?The goal for me is peace, humanity and oneness. There is no "and then what?" The goal and the journey are the same.Those who are offended by inclusion are those who are all about not just exclusion but those who seek to rule over others, those who seek to put a velvet rope at the pearly gates and who want the power to say who's in and who's out.If every religion is just another highway to God and there is no one true church then does it matter at all which path you take? Can anyone be a Christian then, Buddhits, Hindus or Muslims?Here's how Christ defined His disciples:
34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. John 13:34-35 KJV
And here's another thought from Jesus:
16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. Matthew 7:16:20 KJV
So just as with Christ the fruits of our lives prove our faith. But Christ did not say that one has to go to a certain church, or eat or not eat certain foods, or wear certain clothes to be His disciple. He said He wants us to bear spiritual fruits not religious nuts.
When I think about how accepting and inclusive, how understanding and compassionate all these thousands of people of other faiths were to each other and to me I feel that peace, humanity and oneness is the spiritual fruit we are taught by Christ to bear.
It is what He bore when teaching about good Samaritans who were hated by the Jews, when He taught the Samaritan woman and the Caananite woman when almost no other Jew would have done so. Jesus was opening up the kingdom for all rather than a select few.
"I defeat my enemies when I make them my friends." -The Dalai Lama
When we let the velvet rope in front of the pearly gates drop we allow all of God's children to enter. When we stop dividing ourselves, when we stop separating ourselves and when we stop alienating each other then and only then do we become a brotherhood, a family under God once again.
As we were in the beginning and as we could be again in the end. If we choose connection over separation we could have that today and not just in the future.
Peace, humanity and oneness is what the journey and destination are all about.
