Different Perspectives and Understandings

In my World Religions class, I'm running into some interesting situations. The course mostly follows a particular scholar of religion who studied most of the major, enduring religions and wrote a book (our textbook) summarizing much of what he learned. This morning, we watched an interview with this man in which he discussed Christianity and Judaism. The situation I found interesting was hearing this well-traveled, well-read scholar of religion express some confusion about points of doctrine that I think are perfectly clear.

Specifically, he wondered about the resurrection. He knew that Jesus' body had be removed from the tomb, so he figured that He might have been revived, yet he wondered how Jesus was able to do things with His body that no mortal body can do, like appear and disappear at will. Personally, I think it's easy to understand that Jesus' body could have been both revived and transformed, giving Jesus' restored, physical body different properties than a human body normally has. However, even if Jesus was given the exact same body He had before with all of the same physical properties, we would still be talking about a body that, on at least one occasion, stood perfectly upright on churning waters. Jesus, being a God of Miracles, could probably do just about whatever He wanted, regardless of whatever physical limitations bodies normally have.

I think it's interesting that people with different perspectives can come to very different understandings on the same subject. This scholar, having been born and raised a Methodist and being older than I am, has studied the Christian faith even longer than I have, yet his understanding of certain principles is very different from (and in some cases, apparently lesser than) mine. Despite all of the studying he has done on the subject of this religion and many others, he finds confusing at least one point that I think is fairly simple.

This difference in perspective and understanding reminds me that I shouldn't take any knowledge for granted. I am richly blessed to have been taught the simple truths of the Gospel from my youth. Others weren't so lucky. Some people were taught different thing about God, and some people weren't taught about God at all. So, when I talk to someone about religion, I'm going to try not to make any assumptions. Evidently, not all Christians understand the process of resurrection, and I'll try not to hold that against anyone. I'm not smarter than him for feeling like I understand something that seems to confuse him. We simply learned different things; that's all. I'm sure there are many points of doctrine, both in this faith and others, that seem simple to him that would be completely foreign and bewildering to me. Neither of us should harshly judge each other for not understanding certain things.

I am grateful for the level of understanding I have, and I am also grateful that there are people with different understandings and that we can learn from each other. It's important to consider different perspectives and to remember that everyone has something to teach and learn to and from everyone else.