BUANASENI

Jesus Loves You

MORMONS were unknown to me (initially). Being a Muslim from Malaysia, I only knew the existence of a few main religions, namely Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Hindu, Sikhsm and Judaism. As I mix with the society, more religions came to my knowledge. I only learnt about some of those when I was studying in Melbourne, Australia. To name a few, Shinto, Taoism, Jainism, Zoroastrianism, Confucianism, Baha’i, Paganism, Atheism, Free Thinkers, Agnostics, Polytheism, Scientology, Animism, Mandaloriansm, and whatever “ism” there are. Even Christianity is split into Catholicism, Anglican, Protestantism, Greek Orthodox, Seventh-day Adventists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Lutheranism, Methodism, Assyrian Church of the East and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; also known as the Mormons.

As I was waiting for the bus on the not-so-busy streets of Melbourne, a Mormon sat next to me. I was eighteen years old. I was a student studying Accounting, a religion in-itself, because it teaches balancing of accounts, like many other religions. I was with long hair and was wearing a heavy metal t-shirt with the infamous demon, Eddy of Iron Maiden, on the front, looking very unreligious. All I needed was eye shadow, colour my hair green and an upside down cross on my necklace; for me to look like a Satanist. So, the Mormon spoke, “Hello! There.”

“Hello.”

“I am William. You are?”

“I am Jo.”

“Are you a Christian?”

“No, I am not.”

“Well, today is your lucky day. I am here to say that Jesus loves you.”

“Well, I love Jesus too.”

“How can you say that you love Jesus when you are not a Christian?”

I looked at him and smiled, “Let me tell you who I love apart from Jesus or Isa. I love Adam. I love Enoch or Idris. I love Noah or Nuh. I love Lot or Luth. I love Abraham or Ibrahim. I love Ishmael or Ismail. I love Isaac or Ishak. I love Jacob or Yaakub. I love Joseph or Yusuf. I love Jonah or Yunus. I love Jethro or Shuaib, I love Aaron or Harun. I love Moses or Musa. I love Job or Ayub. I love David or Daud. I love Solomon or Sulaiman. I love Samson or Sami’un. I love Elijah or Ilyas. I love Samuel or Shammil, I love John the Baptist or Yahya; and I love Muhammad. Peace be upon them all.”

The Mormon looked at me with a confused face, “What religion are you again?”

“You know all those Prophets that I mentioned? Yeah!, all the religions that they preached, we just took it lock, stock and barrel. I am a Muslim my friend; and my religion is Islam.”

“I think you are a confused child. I would like to invite you to my church. We shall explore a better and more focused way of life for you,” said the Mormon.

“Well, I think you are myopic. Perhaps you should follow me to the mosque?” uttered me while climbing up the mini staircase to the bus. “Peace be upon you brother.”