Hindu Temple

Over the holidays, while visiting my family in Atlanta, we took a field trip to the Hindu temple known as BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in my home town of Lilburn, GA. This was my first experience being inside a Hindu temple and one word I would describe it with is intricate. It is the largest temple of it's kind outside of India according to Wikipedia. At 75 feet tall it also makes the structure the tallest in the city of Lilburn.

When entering, visitors are required to take their shoes off which I assume is out of respect for the place as well as generally a good housekeeping policy. After spending some time looking around I have a vague sense of what the BAPS demonination of Hinduism is about. Basically, a man named Bhagwan Swaminarayan started this denomination during the 1800s. There were several idols inside and figures of previous spiritual leaders known as gurus.



My sense was that it was a good works oriented faith and that you can either be "god" or eventually through reincarnation work your way towards a state of nirvana. While it seemed that those following the principles of the religion would be moral people, there was also a certain sense of emptiness to it from the standpoint that there is no ultimate authority who can give power to overcome sin like Jesus Christ. There also does not appear to be a relational aspect to it but rather one must of his or her own power come to a greater state of being and peace. In my experience the only times I have true peace and fullfillment is when I'm walking daily with Jesus through reading the Bible talking with him through prayer and worship whether that be singing, playing guitar, running, being outdoors or some other form of worship.

I Dared to Call Him Father

I Dared to Call Him Father by Bilquis Sheikh

Bilquis Sheikh was a traditional Muslim woman living in Pakistan during the 1960s. At the age of 52, after discontent with life she began examining the Koran in more depth to try to find greater purpose and hope for life. During her search, she noticed the prophet Jesus mentioned within the Koran and thought perhaps reading more on his teachings would be interesting.

As one who came from a well respected and wealthy family, she had many resources and servants at her beckon. She instructed one of the servants to obtain a Bible for her and began to read it. Though it was in a difficult to understand version of the Urdu language, she became intrigued and had a couple dreams relating to John the Baptist and Jesus. She had not read about John prior to her dreams. The dreams struct her so vividly that she had to learn more and so cautiously approached a local Christian missionary.

Over the next weeks and months, God revealed to her that the Jesus of the Bible was the true message of hope for life. She struggled tremendously with the decision to follow this Jesus of an aberrant religion and the implications of intense persecution/ostracization that she would experience if turning to Christ. However, she was continuously brought back to being at peace when dwelling on the things of the Bible and when she talked with God as if He were her father. She eventually surrendered to God and placed her full faith in Him and the promises of the Bible.

The resulting persecution was very real both emotionally, materially, and socially. However, God grew her faith and continuously taught her and utilized her testimony for His glory throughout the rest of her life. This book provides good insight into Muslim society and the meaning of accepting Christ in that society. Not only is it a good read but also a true story.