Don't let fear rule you

I spent three weeks in California at the Claremont School of Theology this summer. This was my second summer there, and I have four more summers to go before I am finished with seminary.

Claremont is very different from the central Washington area. There are people from every corner of the world attending the seven universities that are within the Claremont city limits.

I found that I had little knowledge of most of the cultures and religions that were represented. I had to rely upon the small amount of information that I had gathered from our news media.

This gave me a very limited understanding of who these people were, where they came from and what they believed.

Upon reflection, I was unhappy to find that most of my knowledge about various cultures had been tainted with an element of fear brought on by news stories that I had heard.

These stories were in direct opposition to the experiences I was having with the multi-cultural students that were in my classes. Most of them were in seminary for the same reasons I was, and that was to serve God.

As always, I turned to the scriptures for help. Like everything else, the scriptures had covered this too.

Our Lord Jesus Christ didn't just associate with the people he was familiar with, and he didn't send the disciples to the Jews only. He brought his message of salvation to the world.

Jesus' death upon the cross cancelled the sins of all people. Luke 24:47 says: "Repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations."

Because of this scripture, I decided to educate myself in at least one or two other cultures while at school.

I had the pleasure of knowing several Tongan students and attending a Tongan luau. I was enthralled with the beauty of the traditional dances, and I also found that I am not fond of roasted pig's ear.

I spent two days studying for my finals with a German couple. They minister to the German community in Seattle. I was made aware that the Bible in German has more detail because of the structure of the German language.

There is so much more to learn and, in a lifetime, I probably won't even get off the tip of the cultural iceberg. But I understand that we, as Christians, need to embrace all people without fear. Fear is dangerous and can result in unreasonable actions.

There is a quote by one of the 2016 presidential candidates, Ben Carson M.D. that I found powerful. He says:

"As a Christian, I am not the least bit offended by the beliefs of Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, and so forth. In fact, I am delighted to know that they believe in something that is more likely to make them into a reasonable human being, as long as they don't allow their religion to be distorted by those seeking power and wealth."

Every religion needs to keep God in charge and not let fear or money rule.