Hi Friends, I would like to share my views on accepting food offered to Gods in other religions.
I feel that there is nothing wrong in accepting food offered to other Gods(???). I believe that all religions lead to God. This is in accordance to the teaching of the Catholic Church (ref. 12 std cathechism textbooks published by POC, Kerala). We are not gaining anything by refusing food offered to other Gods... The only advantage is that we can show others that we are different. Many evangelical groups encourage this, ie, to show that we are different... in varying degrees... And there lies the problem..... Everyone whants to show that he is different from others... or he is superior to others... See how man tries to separate God's creations... Just imagine the condition if a person of one religion refuses the food made by a person of another religion.(When hindu's make sadya's, they first offer the food to their Gods before serving). The result will be religious fundamentalism. (which ofcourse is very common nowadays...). If I refuse the food offered by my friend saying that it has been offered to HIS God, then he has every RIGHT to refuse the food my mother cooks in our home (because she says a prayer of offering before cooking). This can be extended to my friend not entering my house(because we pray in the living room.... and according to him, it is a place of worship of another God...:-) Who gains from this??? Definitely not God.... It is the people who propagate such ideas who are finally going to gain from this... Because religious fundamentism(in all religions) have always attracted supporters... and money... It is exactly this kind of fundamentalism that has caused man to raise his sword against his brother... all in the name of religion. Few years back, when I stayed in a hostel, the butcher who used to supply meat was a Muslim. He used to pray before killing the goat. They call it halal. If the Christians in the hostel were to refuse the meat because it was offered to his God, the butcher would of course go out of business....:-) Well... if my spirituality is something that gets affected by eating some sweets offered by my Hindu friend, then I dont think it is worth keeping....:-)) There are many evangelists(both Catholic and Protestants) who propagate such fringe ideas... and brand those who dont follow them as sinners.. During a retreat, I have heard a Catholic evangelist preach that it is wrong to sing Indian Classical Songs.. and the reason she gave was that those songs contained the names of Hindu Gods...:-) According to my understanding of Hinduism, Hindu's cannot be called idol-worshippers. (On consecrating the idol, the Hindu priest(tantri) invokes the spirit of God into the idol.) They donot worship the idol, they worship the spirit of God that is in it. Just like how we catholics donot worship the idols on our altars, but the spirit of God in it. If we judge Hindu's as idol-worshippers, I can emphatically say that Catholics are also idol-worshippers... if judged by the same standards. Please do let me know if I am wrong on any of the facts stated. Love and Prayers Saju Mathew Alex Bangalore, India **************************************************************** This mail is generated from JOYnet, a Jesus Youth mailing list. To unsubscribe, send a mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe to this mailing list, visit http://www.jesusyouth.org/joynet For automatic help, send a mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] In case of any issue related to the mailing list contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] ****************************************************************
