September 18

Amy Hill
Journal Entry
The Forum
On the eighteenth of September, 2007, students at the BYU Jerusalem Center went to class and studied. It was one of those relatively rare days with an afternoon class, and as a result, most of us stayed in the Center all day, instead of exploring the city.
I probably could say some things about the majority of the day, but I would rather focus on the evening’s forum. That evening Dr. So and so, a Palestinian Christian, came to talk to us about current political events in the Holy Land. He is a member of the Palestinian Parliament, and was previously teaching at Bethlehem University. Brother Huntington introduced him to us as a good and honest man, and it quickly became clear that Brother Huntington’s statement was accurate.
Allow me to list some of the things our speaker said that night:
“If we do not touch base with others’ truths, we cannot begin to understand them.”
“The best way to deal with differences is to accept the differences without believing in them.”
“Here in Jerusalem we walk down the streets and talk of King David, Muhammad, and Christ as if they lived yesterday. And yet we don’t live our religions! That failing, I think, has political implications.”
“There is hope, but we all need to give something.”
His observations were astute and I think all of us left with a lot to ponder.
Despite the seriousness of the topic, Dr So and so had a delightful sense of humor. At one point he told us that he had grown up in Jerusalem but attended a university in the southern United States. In response to a question at the end of the forum, he said that one day at the university a preacher found him and asked if he was a Christian. Dr So and so nodded, and the preacher started asking him questions about his personal conversion. Finally, after the question “do you know Jesus?” our speaker responded, “Do I know Jesus Christ? We practically grew up in the same neighborhood!” We all roared at that, and Dr. So and so grinned, saying, “I guess he thought I was crazy, because the preacher walked away after that.” It was an excellent end to an excellent forum.