Faith + Knowledge = A Deeper Understanding

In my non-messenger life, I’m . . . well, I’m a messenger. I work in public relations at The University of Mississippi, which recently added a religious studies major to its curriculum. Of course, in the academic world, these are classes to indoctrinate any particular religious dogma, but a scholar’s approach to the history and culture of various religious traditions.

Anyway, while writing that story, I packed up my video camera and did this interview with a young Pakistani woman named Asra Mansoor. She’s a Sunni Muslim, and suffice to say, as she learned the history of her own faith, her perspective changed.

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I’m a firm believer that being a person of faith doesn’t mean that you take everything within a particular faith tradition at face value. My own relationship with The Author has been enhanced greatly not just by studying the history of Christianity, but also Buddhism, reading the wonderful Hindu text The Bhagavad Gita, the poetic Tao Te Ching, and other more modern spiritual writings.

My reasoning is simple, and based in my training as a newspaper reporter: If it’s The Truth, there’ll be evidence of it everywhere. And sure enough, many of the principles that Jesus taught can be found scattered around the world — anywhere that humans have reached out to The Infinite.

So if you haven’t already, take a little time to explore your faith outside of the box. Read about the Council of Nicaea, and its impact on The Holy Bible. Take a class and ask yourself: If Judaism, Christianity and Islam all come from the same roots, why is there such conflict between them?

It will take some courage. It will certainly stretch your current belief system. But don’t worry: God is with you every step of the way.