A Meeting of the Minds?

Last Saturday I was helping to teach an English class along with a friend of mine. Although there are 40 or 50 students divided into four classes, our class had only two women in it. They were both Hindus from Nepal. One married and one single. 

We were two Christian men from the United States, one single and the other married.

One of the exercises to stretch them in their English ability was to answer the following question. “What are five of the most important decisions you will make in your life?”

We began by throwing out ideas and making one master list of the responses.

The married lady chimed in the first response, “Tell the truth.” This was followed quickly by, “Be peaceful.” The younger single girl who is interested in citizenship in the United States then said, “Be loyal to your new country” and “Be disciplined.”  This was good stuff. But I must say, it wasn’t what I expected. They were talking about values and morals. I counted those as things foundational to making the bigger decisions.

The single guy and I began to make our suggestions. “What career you will choose.”

“Who you will marry.”

To this the married Nepali lady said, “That only applies to you, I am already married,” as if outside of her experience the question didn’t really matter.

“If you should get married,” the single American man chimed in.

“How many children you should have,” I said to blank stares.

We two American Christians were talking about major events, - not values. I started to see how different our two sets of worldviews were. What I counted as important wasn’t necessarily to them.

The topic turned to religion.

“Do not believe in superstition, that the old people are believing,” said the single girl. She used the illustration of a black cat crossing your path.

The married lady said, “Pray to God. All gods are the same, names different but one god.”

Feeling the need to speak up for my faith, I said, “For me as a Christian, having a relationship with Jesus Christ is the most important decision I can make in my life.”

Both the ladies smiled and said, “Yes, you’re a Christian.” They laughed as if to say, “We knew that was coming.” The married one repeated, “Many names but the same God.” The single man tried to explain that there is only one God and He is Jesus, but somehow that got waylaid and didn’t go anywhere.

After making a list of 17 items, we decided to vote. Each one of us voted for five. Then we listed the five with the most votes. This is our list. (Not listed in order of importance, just the highest vote getters.)

The five most important decisions a person can make in their lifetime:

- Tell the truth (3 votes)

- Respect everyone (3 votes) 

- Who you will marry (3 votes)

- What you believe. Your worldview. (3 votes)

- To follow Jesus Christ. (2 votes J)

I think the young single girl who was dead set against superstition ended up agreeing that what we believe is an important decision.