(Krishna and Dante are walking along the street when they suddenly come across a crusade. They listen to the preaching for a while, but Dante does not seem to like it and urges Krishna to walk on)
Dante: I don’t believe in some of these pastors. They are conmen.
Krishna: You talk with so much bitterness! Have you been a victim?
Dante: Eehh…not quiet. (pauses) Why don’t they just wait for Sunday? They just want to increase their followers hence the offerings. It is just about money.
Krishna: (surprised at Dante’s statement) That is not true! All they are doing is trying to make the world a better place by spreading the gospel.
Dante: What makes you think that those who take time to listen to them are sinners? If they are, how sure are you that they follow those teachings? Such congregations are made up of just good people who do not need to change. If preachers were genuine, then they would go to evil dens around here and spread the word of God.
Krishna: You forget that everyone is a sinner. We all need to hear and adhere to the word of God.
Dante: (rolling his eyes and in a sarcastic tone) Yeah right!….Even Jesus went to search for sinners in their dens.
Krishna: That is not true! They came to him. Take, for example, Zachary, the tax collector.
Dante: Yeah…Yeah, I get you. As if they have nothing better to do.
Krishna: What? Dante! You cannot be serious! God comes first before everything else. That is the only way to ensure that we go to heaven.
Dante: (laughing) Heaven! You can’t be serious Krishna. There is no such place as heaven. Once we die, our bodies rot, and that is it.
Krishna: I believe there is life after death. The godly people will go to heaven, and the evil ones will go to hell.
Dante: Do you consider yourself godly or evil?
Krishna: It does not matter. However, I try my best to be godly. Whenever I do wrong, I go for confessions.
Dante: Yeah! That is just washing your dirty linen in public. The priest is just a sinner like any of us. Why don’t you just talk directly to your God?
Krishna: At the time of the confession, the priest is the representative of God. Therefore, I talk to God during confession and not the human priest. The priest helps me by guiding me in prayer and interceding for me to God. Besides, the priest will give me the appropriate advice needed to avoid sin in the future.
Dante: (disinterested) Whatever. That is the weirdest thing I have ever heard. I would never tell anyone about my sins. Nobody tells me theirs anyway.
Krishna: You should start going to church, my friend. Know God and get saved. Otherwise, you will go to hell in the afterlife.
Dante: (authoritatively) I don’t believe in the afterlife or God. Everything happens according to fate, and as a consequence of the choices, we make in life. Religion only serves as a consolation to the meek poor and incapable.
(Krishna is quiet, baffled. He has nothing more to say to Dante to convince him to change his mind. They walk silently until they part ways to their respective homes without even saying goodbye).
Discussion
Faith is an individual’s choice, which has to be from within. No one can force the other into it. Some people demand a tangible piece of evidence to believe in the existence of God. It, therefore, becomes difficult to prove God’s existence to non-believers since there is never tangible evidence. It would take a long time to explain to non-believers that the mysterious things that happen in the world are all due to the mighty power of God.
Different religions have emerged over the years, worshiping different supernatural beings. Each religion has its faith, and it would be very difficult to change the believers’ perceptions regarding their beliefs. Beliefs vary even among people who practice the same religion.
For example, Christians believe in God, but there still exist some disparities in their way of doing things based on denominations. Hence, it would be wrong to impose beliefs on others and consider one faith as superior over the others. It is not in our power to judge others. We should just aim at doing what is right and embrace the different beliefs presented by different faiths.
It is unfortunate that we put so much faith in politics, but put so much politics in religion. God performed some of the greatest miracles to release his people from oppressive leadership. This is a clear example from God himself that we should not judge or discriminate others on the basis of religion or ethnicity. We should try to advise non-believers to the best of our ability without being judgmental.
Many people term politics and otherworldly ventures as dirty hence the people who engage in them are unholy. However, Christians need to stop slandering such people. You can disagree with them without attacking them. The best way to help the sinners is to be polite to them and engage them in a discussion on the matter. Try to understand their point of view and help them by telling them to differentiate between right and wrong.
Attacking them would be counterproductive as they will always be defensive. It is good to remember to treat others the same way you would like to be treated. Put yourself in non-believers’ shoes and help them to change without feeling aggrieved. Not all non-believers will always listen to you but strive not to take it personally.
Life after death is a controversial topic of discussion. There are those who believe in life after death, whereas others believe that life ends at death. I would not advocate for any side of the debate here, but recommend that people should stick to what their denomination teaches about the afterlife. Unfortunately, no one has ever been to either heaven or hell and came back to attest to the existence of these places.
However, the Bible has stories of those who rose from the dead such as Jesus, Lazarus, and Jairo’s daughter hence sufficing as evidence of life after death. But these are people who lived a long time ago, and we just read about them in the bible. However, since the bible says that there is life after death, it would only be wise for Christians to believe in the bible. We don’t have.
Therefore, we cannot blame people for not believing in life after death. We saw Dante arguing that life after death is a myth, which cannot be proved. Again, the issue of faith arises. Your belief in life after death should be an individual stand and should not be imposed on others.