Conversion Zindabad — 4
Conversion to ‘Christianity’ is not a good idea
A friend asked me “Why do people convert to Christianity?”. I said, well you have the right to believe in any worldview you want to. Though I cannot speak for others, but let me tell my story. I am not a fan of any religion. Though I was born into a family with Christian tradition, I am not excited about identifying myself as a Christian. For me, Christianity is a label to the tradition I share with my folks.
I think religions are man-made, in search of God or to make others or themselves god. That is why they necessarily need not be true. It is foolish to believe that they are. Even though Christianity did not begin as a search for God, but over a while, it was made a religion by people. So it obviously got corrupted.
I call myself a follower of Jesus. I am not like him yet but still learning to be more like him. Though I was raised in a Christian tradition, at one point in my life I made a conscious decision to leave my old ways to follow him.
In the first century AD, the followers of Jesus were called ‘The people of the Way’. So what is so great about ‘the way’? It is God’s search for Man. God revealed himself to Man in history. He became a man and lived among us. Man with all his knowledge, power or wealth cannot know God.
But, those who honestly wanted to know the Truth, found Jesus and followed him. Nabeel Qureshi wrote a wonderful book on his journey, titled “Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus”. Jesus said, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free”. I was converted to Jesus from Christianity because I too wanted to know the truth. Therefore, converting to any religion for that matter is not a good idea, but converting to the Truth matters.
My friend replied, “That is interesting, but is Jesus the only truth?” I said that’s a wonderful question. Let us discuss it tomorrow.
‘Conversion Zindabad’ series is a partly fictional and partly actual conversations on the concept of ‘freedom of conscience’. If you like these posts and want to be notified on the new posts, follow us by clicking the ‘follow’ button below.
