“I am the Good Shepherd; I know My sheep and My sheep know Me – just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father – and I lay down My life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to My voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.” John 10:14-16 (NIV)
What do we do with this passage of Scripture? Especially that “sheep that are not of this pen” section. In the conservative, evangelical background in which I grew up it was a simple matter. These were people who accepted the same checklist of facts to be affirmed about Jesus that I did even if (gasp) they might not be of the same Southern Baptist mindset to which I belonged. I just knew that if I sat down and talked with these “sheep not of this pen” they would affirm the same things that I did.
But what if Jesus was actually saying something else? What if He was saying that there are other people from other backgrounds, philosophies, religions, belief systems, etc. who truly grasp from their perspective the truth He was trying to get across?
I am amazed at how similar the fundamental principles that Jesus taught are to other traditions' teachings.
In the past few years, I have read some of other world religions. For the first time in my life I have read of them, not from the perspective of trying to see where they were wrong, but simply to read of them. The thing that has amazed me is that this slight shift in perspective has put them in a whole new light. I am amazed at how similar the fundamental principles that Jesus taught are to other traditions' teachings. I no longer have to view them as an adversary to be conquered or poor unenlightened lost souls to be saved. Rather, I feel free to embrace them in peace and love as a fellow creation of the loving God I believe made us both. And, as I recall, there is something in the book I claim as my guide to insight, the Bible, about the truth setting me free.
Think about it.
NOTE: This post was first done on FB prior to my son Jonathan setting me up with this blog site. I am reposting this because there may be those of you using this venue who will see this for the first time here. It gives insight about where I have been and where I now am in my journey. I believe that this insight is important. All of my posts from this point forward will be ones that have not appeared anywhere else.
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