Our local theatre group mounted Fiddler on the Roof the past two weekend. They did a very credible job, semi professional for a bunch of folks with little or no dramatic or vocal training. A couple of the female voices were stellar.I hadn't seen Fiddler since 1952, when my best friend, David, was the Fiddler on the Roof, dancing with his violin at various places in the story. I have begun rereading the stories of Sholom Aleiechem, whose stories are the basis for Fiddler on the Roof.
Seeing Fiddler brought back all kinds of memories, many of them about David's family. His father and mother dashed out of Lithuania in 1929, seeing the signs of 'things to come' in Europe. As it turned out Hymie and his wife were the only ones of his generation in the family to reach 1945 alive. I watched my second Fiddler performance with a lump in my throat, realizing that the culture and lifestyle portrayed on the stage virtually vanished into the ovens of Auswitchz and Dachau and their ilk. I dislike the attitude currently displayed by the state of Israel regarding those who threaten it, but I understand where it comes from. It is a very sad legacy, to behave so heartlessly out of the memories of one's own past.
This issue has come up in my inner life in a number of ways in the past months. As I read theology, I am driven more and more away from the conservative Christian notion that God "saves" only those who make a specific Christian profession of faith. Since scripture everywhere tells us that the Creator loves the creation, that humans of all kinds are God's children, I am more and more comfortable with the ideas of universalism. If we emerge into an afterlife, or another life, I can't believe that any humans are left out of this transformation. Of course, some may wish to exclude themselves. I have no idea what to do with that. But I don't believe that faithful Muslim, or even a faithful humanist, would be shut out because of different beliefs!
Which leads me to my theological dilemma. If all of humanity is loved by God, and if the transformation that occurs is for all, then could we say that ultimately, Hitler is 'saved?' Or Idi Amin? Or Joseph Stalin? If I say no, then where is my universalism? If I say yes, what is the quality of the morality in life that I embrace?
I know, I know, it's all in my head. And yet…are not our ideas and our thoughts part of reality as much as our actions? When Jesus said, "live in the kingdom of God," was he just blowing smoke? As you can see, I still think and ponder. I do feel that sometimes my tired old brain isn't up to this kind of complicated stuff. But I think it anyway. "Ah well," as Tevyeh would say, "would it spoil some vast eternal plan…?"
Seeing Fiddler brought back all kinds of memories, many of them about David's family. His father and mother dashed out of Lithuania in 1929, seeing the signs of 'things to come' in Europe. As it turned out Hymie and his wife were the only ones of his generation in the family to reach 1945 alive. I watched my second Fiddler performance with a lump in my throat, realizing that the culture and lifestyle portrayed on the stage virtually vanished into the ovens of Auswitchz and Dachau and their ilk. I dislike the attitude currently displayed by the state of Israel regarding those who threaten it, but I understand where it comes from. It is a very sad legacy, to behave so heartlessly out of the memories of one's own past.
This issue has come up in my inner life in a number of ways in the past months. As I read theology, I am driven more and more away from the conservative Christian notion that God "saves" only those who make a specific Christian profession of faith. Since scripture everywhere tells us that the Creator loves the creation, that humans of all kinds are God's children, I am more and more comfortable with the ideas of universalism. If we emerge into an afterlife, or another life, I can't believe that any humans are left out of this transformation. Of course, some may wish to exclude themselves. I have no idea what to do with that. But I don't believe that faithful Muslim, or even a faithful humanist, would be shut out because of different beliefs!
Which leads me to my theological dilemma. If all of humanity is loved by God, and if the transformation that occurs is for all, then could we say that ultimately, Hitler is 'saved?' Or Idi Amin? Or Joseph Stalin? If I say no, then where is my universalism? If I say yes, what is the quality of the morality in life that I embrace?
I know, I know, it's all in my head. And yet…are not our ideas and our thoughts part of reality as much as our actions? When Jesus said, "live in the kingdom of God," was he just blowing smoke? As you can see, I still think and ponder. I do feel that sometimes my tired old brain isn't up to this kind of complicated stuff. But I think it anyway. "Ah well," as Tevyeh would say, "would it spoil some vast eternal plan…?"
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