Sukhi Posted June 14, 2004 Report Share Posted June 14, 2004 ok... i'm not starting this thread because i want to create a ruckus or anything, but i've seen a couple of threads on SA where people start getting worried when they hear of someone converting into a new religion, especially if the person converting is a woman or if the religion that's involved is Islam. i wanna hear the views of people on SA on why someone converting into a different religion is a matter of concern to them, especially when it involves girls or Islam. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truth_seeker Posted June 14, 2004 Report Share Posted June 14, 2004 Yes, its a matter of concern, most the time the girl does not know either religions. Also you know the saying "love makes blind" . I personally know how females can suffer under islam, so I should be concerned 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SAadmin Posted June 14, 2004 Report Share Posted June 14, 2004 i wanna hear the views of people on SA on why someone converting into a different religion is a matter of concern to them, especially when it involves girls or Islam. Personally, We as Sikhawareness Team are very much concern when sikh girl is converting to islam because of their love without researching the scriptures from both sides and thinking sikhi dharma and punjabi culture is more less a same thing. Its our duty then talk to the person who is converting! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jsb Posted June 15, 2004 Report Share Posted June 15, 2004 who are we to question Hukam? God put you into a religion at birth.. why do we insist on changing this? I'd rather we gain conversions than lose people to conversion, cuz Sikhi's like... so full of truth.. each religion has an element of truth, but even Science can't flaw Sikhi's claims.. claims made 500 years before the theories were even made... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 15, 2004 Report Share Posted June 15, 2004 No jsb. God did not "put us into a religion". Why then did Jesus Christ, Prophet Mohammed and Guru Nanak go to found new religions? You must be under the impression that all religions of the World existed since the dawn of time and human beings segregated by God on these grounds. You then go on to say "why do we insist on changing this? I'd rather we gain conversions than lose people to conversion". Am i the only one who sees a contradiction (double-standard even) in this? Religion is synonymous with faith. What you believe in is the religion you choose to follow. I am against forced conversions or cheap manipulations used to fool people into converting into another religion (What missionaries do). But, if people through their own initiative and learning convert to another religion there is/should be no problem. There should also be no problem with those who help others convert by offering them advice and explanations on things, leaving the rest up to them. If someone came to you with an interest in Sikhism wouldnt you do what you could to open them up to this religion? I have brought people to my Gurdwara, explained basic concepts of the faith to outsiders, given a little historical background etc No pressure on anyone to convert though, what they do now is their choice... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jsb Posted June 15, 2004 Report Share Posted June 15, 2004 yeah, but jahan ji, we aren't Jesus. We aren't Mohammad.. We aren't Nanak... we're Jahan.. we're jsb.. we're guv...whatever... it's not by CHANCE that we're born into a family with whatever values... for those of us born into religious families, are you saying that God didn't INTEND on us to be born into these families? born with these values surrounding us? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaNaDiAn_jAtTi Posted June 15, 2004 Report Share Posted June 15, 2004 JSB bhaji, I have to agree with Jahan on this one here: We know that Guru Nanak Dev Ji, Jesus Christ and the Prophet Mohammed are prophets now, but ppl didn't recognize that then first and foremost, they were radicals in their time period. Just because we're born into a religion, does not mean we must adhere to it, otherwise, we wouldn't be the sikhs we are today, nah... cuz someone in our ancestry had to have converted and followed this religion before us... Whatever buddhi/siddhi we are given it is through God's divine blessings.... whatever decisions we make, are through God's divine intervention...we may not see conversion out of sikhism as being good, but perhaps it's a bigger plan of his for that individual... who are we to judge.... I hope i din't offend anyone.... just my two bits 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jsb Posted June 15, 2004 Report Share Posted June 15, 2004 thanks CJ.. the way you put it made more sense.. i suppose that our converting out of a religion is also God's knowledge and Hukam... but still, i still think we have a difference of opinion.. agree to disagree, shall we 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaNaDiAn_jAtTi Posted June 15, 2004 Report Share Posted June 15, 2004 lol, for sure.... The way i see it, it all has to do with our past karmas, and until we get to know those (basically become realized) we're not goin to be able to say anything about why we act the way we do.... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truth_seeker Posted June 15, 2004 Report Share Posted June 15, 2004 But we also have a resposibility to educate people, people dont live as islands, if I see someone going into negative direction, I should care. Especially if they are not wellinformed. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaNaDiAn_jAtTi Posted June 15, 2004 Report Share Posted June 15, 2004 Truth_seeker Ji, I understand your point completely, however there are those that choose to be ignorant and will not listen to your rational, at that point, it's all in Waheguru's hands, of whether he wants to bring that person closer to him, or if the person still needs the time to gain experience.... You can only educate a person who is willing to learn and understand, you cannot force someone to adopt your mentality.... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sukhi Posted June 16, 2004 Author Report Share Posted June 16, 2004 But we also have a resposibility to educate people, people dont live as islands, if I see someone going into negative direction, I should care. Especially if they are not wellinformed. what's this "negative direction" u speak of? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jsb Posted June 16, 2004 Report Share Posted June 16, 2004 sukhi... it's not that religions outside of sikhi are bad.. but, honestly.. there's so much truth in sikhi... that's what i'm assuming that truth_Seeker means... like.. there's nothing that has yet to be scientifically disputed... not even evolution or the creation of the world.. Sukhmani Sahib talks about both of these one place or another... by negative direction, he probably means to leave sikhi.. it's so easy to be a sikh man.. why leave this religion? as brothers and sisters, should we not warn these people of everything they're leaving before they do leave? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truth_seeker Posted June 16, 2004 Report Share Posted June 16, 2004 Thanks, jsb ji, sikhi is a wellspring of truth, knowledge, beauty............. But some may not even know, so its important to educate people. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jsb Posted June 16, 2004 Report Share Posted June 16, 2004 hanji.. thats my thought as well... like.. if you'er gonna leave sikhi.. make sure you know what oyu're leaving before you do.. cuz you may not find anything like it anywhere else... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sukhi Posted June 16, 2004 Author Report Share Posted June 16, 2004 so ur saying that it's ok to leave Sikhi if you've educated yourself on it and still find that it doesn't appeal to you in some ways...? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jsb Posted June 16, 2004 Report Share Posted June 16, 2004 i suppose.. i'm thinking... i donno.. but the way CJ put it is pretty right.. if you know the religion you're leaving like the back of your hand, and you're convinced that That religion isn't going to get you anywhere in your life....but if you haven't mastered and understood your own religion, it's kinda... i kinda feel like it's the rest of our duty to make sure that person understands what he or she is leaving...before making that fateful decision. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guv Posted June 16, 2004 Report Share Posted June 16, 2004 ....but if you haven't mastered and understood your own religion, it's kinda... i kinda feel like it's the rest of our duty to make sure that person understands what he or she is leaving...before making that fateful decision. would that be if they were leaving sikhi? or any religion? do u feel it would be your duty to make sure someone wanting to convert to sikhism understood their own religion fully? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jsb Posted June 16, 2004 Report Share Posted June 16, 2004 ji, what i meant is that if it's someone who is leaving Sikhi... if we are all actually a brotherhood and sisterhood under the flag of the Khalsa, shouldn't we make sure that they understand what they are leaving before they leave it? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guv Posted June 17, 2004 Report Share Posted June 17, 2004 do u feel it would be your duty to make sure someone wanting to convert to sikhism understood their own religion fully? or not? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sukhi Posted June 18, 2004 Author Report Share Posted June 18, 2004 answer the question... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beast Posted June 18, 2004 Report Share Posted June 18, 2004 If they are confused about their own religion, then I don't think it would be right to try and 'coerce' them to follow Sikhi instead. This sort of approach would probably be a favourite tactic by HUT. But if the person knows their own faith but can find no solace in it, then encouraging them to learn about Sikhi should be our responsibility. The same goes the other way - I know someone who was going through a rough patch and had decided to convert to Christianity. His mother supported him but fisrt made one request of him - that he learn about Sikhi first. And from knowing nothing about Sikhi he is now an Amritdharee who does a lot of seva in the UK. (Before people judge him, please understand that he was very young, traumatised and had very little knowledge of Sikhi). 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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