FOLLOW US
Interfaith Dialogue in Macau
Written by Panfilo Lumbiao, Vice President, Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, Macau
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
On January 27, 2009, as an early celebration of Rev. Sun Myung Moon’s 90th birthday anniversary, we were able to organize a small-scale interfaith dialogue in this Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China. God has surely longed to see such a gathering of people from different backgrounds and traditions, discussing their views of peace and seeking for new understanding of ways to foment world peace. Many different views were shared, but somehow it was understood that God should remain at the center of these discussions. World peace will only be possible if God can be seen as our common center. Here was a moment for God’s liberation, a moment handed to Rev. Moon — a moment of hope, happiness and expectation, in this tiny archipelago of mainland China.
About 12 dignitaries attended the gathering, including Baha'is, Catholics, and other Christians. One speaker from the Buddhist tradition could not come due to a minor accident, and another Christian leader canceled his talk and did not attend.
The gathering opened with a prayer, followed by a talk by Ms. Susan Potter, a Canadian living in Macau for quite some time who is a devoted Baha'i and a close friend of ours. The delivery of her speech, as judged by most present, was full of strength, while the speech content encouraged all listeners to explore the possibilities for creating world peace found in Baha'i teachings. With great sincerity, she offered a song of prayer at the end of her talk. The talk lasted for only 15 minutes but profound content was delivered. One of the major themes in her speech was that the key to world peace is in recognizing the need for God’s governance. Her talk was followed by a mature discussion among all people.
A video on the theme of “living for the sake of others,” was shown, conveying the vision of One Family under God and how it is the key to solving the world’s problems.
Mr. Agostinho Martins, a Catholic, and Pastor Felix Joao Silva, also Christian, both pointed out that any realization of world peace would have to come through Jesus Christ and, in particular, through Christ’s Second Coming. However, they also recognized the value of the nuclear family in generating a good society and a moral world.
Throughout the dialogue, which acknowledged many minor cultural differences, the participants also recognized the existence of major cultural parallels and other similarities that could serve as a common base for creating strong, fruitful relationships among themselves.
We ended our dialogue by gathering for a pizza celebration and continued our discussions in a more friendly, informal manner. It felt good, spiritually refreshing to create this event of interfaith dialogue.
Comments from one participant:
I feel the necessity to reflect upon our gathering. There are some issues which I believe need to be elaborated and shared. No matter what the ideas are concerning everything from Alpha to Omega in our various beliefs, we still have to deal with current issues.
I also encouraged all my friends to write reflections about our gathering, for the betterment of each individual, family and of those even beyond the society that we normally interact with in our daily life.
What Susan mentioned earlier was very revolutionary: “In order to realize world peace, everybody must discuss the issues in a mature way.” I strongly believe this is correct.
One of the views that most of our belief systems have in common is that our world today is not what God desired for all of us to live in, and that we must work, together with God, to transform this world into a better one.
Also, everybody generally believes that there is only one God, with many different names. There is only One and He is really our Parent. As parents, when we see that our children have become better than ourselves, do we get jealous? I don’t think so; instead, we feel proud. In the same way, someone who sacrifices for God’s purpose, striving to develop his heart, is a loving child that God can be proud of.
And this path is open to all of us. But, of course, for us as individuals, the path to realize true love and goodness is not an easy path. Many have given up, rationalizing that it is only human to make mistakes. These are the usual human excuses. Jesus Christ, however, has great faith is us, saying, “You must be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.” God knows that we have the ability to overcome our challenges and, in the process, become transformed into truly loving and serving human beings.
Thank you ... May God guide us always.
If you find this page helpful and informative please consider making donation. Your donation will help Universal Peace Federation (UPF) provide new and improved reports, analysis and publications to you and everyone around the world.
UPF is a 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization and all donations are tax deductible in the United States. Receipts are automatically provided for donations of or above $250.00.
|
Donate to the Universal Peace Federation: Your donation to support the general programs of UPF. |
Donate to the Religious Youth Service (RYS): Your donation will be used for service projects around the world. |
Donate to UPF's Africa Projects: Your donation will be used for projects in Africa. |