Lecture topic this week...Spiritual Worldview
This week covered the ideas of spiritual realms and the events/rituals, people, bodies, objects, etc that accompany spirits. Our teacher, Heather Majoribanks pointed out through the week that we have such a limited view of the spiritual world here in the west compared to other parts of the world. It may seem weird that we talked about ghosts, evil spirits, amulets, etc but in a majority of cultures around the world they are very prominent and it is very important to be open minded to such things so that when confronted with an issue we are not offensive. It was a really interesting and eye opening week that will be very useful on outreach. Now knowing what many of the people believe and more importantly why they believe it we can tread carefully and show love instead of mockery when we are faced with something that seems a little too out there.
By the way....much of the practices done in Hinduism or Buddhism such as divination, fortune telling, calling up in evil spirits, they are all in the Bible. Every single one of them has some sort of link in the Bible. Each one is condemned and has a Biblical principle that overcomes it. Pretty amazing.
Outside of class we do have a life. Hanging out with friends, walking around downtown Salem, hanging out with staff, stuff like that is pretty common. Thursday night was special though. Our staff put on a mystery play that we had to solve through clues and questions. It was like Clue only alive. Really fun! The Fall DTS teams arrived from Thailand and Africa on Thursday and Friday evening. It will be exciting to hear their stories this coming week.
After this week, I have to shave all but the mustache. Danielle is not too happy and is not too happy with the inspiration I have been receiving from home in the form of Bearduary but it is all in good fun. I'll have to admit that the stache has become a bother to even me but I'm holding out until the end.
I miss little old Zeeland and VRC very much. I cannot wait to share all of my experiences especially from the coming months in Thailand!
Stay safe!
Josh
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