Inter-Faith Dialogue
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In the Course of our study in Inter-Faith dialogue, there are many eye openers and important lessons that I have learned. I learned that the Church should have a new way on spreading the gospel to the whole world preaching Jesus and His teachings to the people. What should be the method? How should the church respond to the needs of these present times? Long ago, when the church became very much influential in the west, it was established and became the stronghold for the people and became the principal symbol of salvation and redemption. The church became so prominent that it claimed for itself that it has the “Truth”. One cannot deny this fact because maybe since majority are Christians, they can easily claim this point. During the time of Luther, the church changed its phase. It became very strict and reactionary in dealings with faith. It became so much eager to implant the catholic faith to the people. One best example of this is the Philippines. In this country, the friars inculcated to the people the faith but in a way that their motive is not only for its propagation but also for colonizing purposes thats why many people in Asia have the trauma if they hear the word Christian not because of the faith but because of the propagators of Faith. The point here is that, what should be the way of the church in propagating the Gospel these days since it is a fact that they already learned from the lessons of the past?
What I Inculcated in my mind and heart in this course of Inter-Faith dialogue is the “New Ecclesiology” where in the church should be open to other religions and to foster healthy dialogue so that it could establish a good relationship with other religions. Indeed, the church should change its claim that it has the “Truth”. Felix Wilfred taught me that every Christian should feel the emptiness from within in such way that they can realize the value of others and they can see and learn from them. Relating it to the truth that the Catholic Church claims for its own, it should feel that it has the truth the same with other religions and together, they dialogue to contemplate the Truth which is God himself. In this way it will definitely have a good outcome and one of this is the sense of understanding and the possibility to breakdown each others walls in order to grow together from each other and from its own. In this way, In the eyes of the Christians, He/she can proclaim Christ without the sense of bias and with the sense of confidence and respect for other people this will surely be a good way of having mission. Going deeper in this matter, the church should also be aware of the dynamics and the “what should be done” in dialogue. The contents of dialogue should be on life, action culture, spirituality and theology. In this way they can have a common ground without bias to each member of the religion and thus, it will lead to each others growth and change for the better.