I should add, and I think this is very important, that I felt I was experiencing the same God that I had experienced on many occasions throughout my Christian life. However, I felt like this being was showing me a different face, side, or aspect to Himself, or – better yet – a different mode of my relationship to Him. I felt a certain validation of my spiritual journey, both past and present. I had gone so far in my Christian faith, but it was now necessary for me to relate to God as Lord Krishna.
I think that one can nourish one's faith with insights and practices from others. I also think that anything that helps one to sense God's love for us and that inspires us to requite as best we can is necessarily good.
Bill Vallicella has more on this here: Belief Change.
Bill Vallicella has more on this here: Belief Change.
Hi Frank, I think we have had a discussion on this earlier where we both agreed that conversion is not something that is desirable. Of course, I use the term desirable not in any political sense but in the sense of whether or not it serves a purpose, namely, communion with God. While I respect Sudduth's conversion and his admiration for Krishna, I am uncertain of the source of this change. As someone who grew up in a setting where Hinduism literally flowed from the tap (there is a reason it's called a way of life), I have a deep knowledge of Hinduism without being aware of that knowledge. However, Christianity for me was the "other", the outsider that held a fascination which made me ponder it much more than I would Hinduism. Some thing akin to my experience seems to be happening with Sudduth. Having grown up a Protestant, Sudduth came to Vaishnavism with his mental faculties highly attuned to receiving the best of the tradition. And he found such wonderful pearls therein that he decided to convert. What goes unsaid in this argument is that the base of his understanding is rooted in his Christianity.
ReplyDeleteThis is very insightful.
ReplyDeleteI have to run out now, but I will have more to say later on.