Understanding World Religions

[Stan]

Here is the deal

Quote:

Traditions Covered: Buddhism • Islam • Christianity • Hinduism • Judaism • Postmodernism

Finding Common Ground

The modern-day dilemma of knowing what to do or say when meeting people from other cultures and world religions is apparent now, more than ever before. Perhaps finding common ground could pave the way to enriching, inter-cultural friendships.

Dr. Ganoune Diop, a cross-cultural pastor, educator and theologian, has produced Understanding World Religions, a set of four DVDs that opens the door to comprehending the beliefs, values, and practices of four major religious traditions and postmodernism.

By identifying areas of common understanding--such as respect, honor, family relationships, justice, love, cooperation, support for one another--the series can help build bridges between faith groups.

Through lectures and interviews with experts, Dr. Diop shares simple yet sensitive ways to understand, appreciate, and reach out to people of differing faiths in the world's major religions.

Here is my offer, I believe this is one of the greatest DVD sets our Church has ever produced.

We are offering these for $40 a set, including shipping to Canada, the US, Great Britain, Australia, and New Zealand.

Here is my personal guarantee, if you purchase and watch all 5 of these and do not believe it was worth the $40 I will refund you the money, and you can keep the set.

Paypal your info to stanjensen@mac.com

If you want to send me a check instead my address is

Stan Jensen

PO Box 2690

Sumas, WA 98295

I will need your shipping address.

[Gail]

I'm interested! :)

[teresaq]

i like the idea. far too many times we are more worried about "justifying" christianity, than about seeking common ground in order to win souls...its more work and takes longer. lol

i cant right now, i have a lot of catching up, but will when i can afford it.

[Overaged]

This kind of thing is a very good idea. I will definitely take you up on your offer! What do we do if we just want to send a postal or bank money order? You can PM me if you have an address you don't want on the forum.

[Overaged]

OOPs! Sorry; I just saw the address above! I was going too fast!

[Overaged]

I presume that's $40.00 in US funds?

[Stan]

Yes US $

Paypal works best if you are using another currency..

Just wanted the Islam on, fascinating..

[Stan]

Wish more would facebook this..

[Outta Here]

[Overaged]

Wish more would facebook this..

This is the first religious thing I have ever Face-Booked; but I decided it was worth it.

[Stan]

the first batch has been sent yesterday (Friday)

My next batch will be this coming friday.

If you order it, I can send you an invoice, message me here or send your email address and mailing address to

Stanjensen@adventistan.com

[Gail]

I have some spare time tonight- will go put it in and push the button!

I'll let you know what I think of it when I'm done!

[Gail]

I finished the first disc and I really, really like it!

It's heady but interesting! I like its attitude, too- one that I agree with, of tolerance and empowerment through information.

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

testing post

[skyblue888]

Stan, is this not what the ecumenical movement has been seeking to accomplish? finding "common ground" with all the churches and religions of the world? We are told that "there has been for years a strong and growing sentiment in favor of a union based upon common points of doctrine." G.C.444.

"To secure such a union, the discussion of subjects upon which all were not agreed, however important they might be from a Bible standpoint, must necessarily be waived." Ibid,444.

Prophecy tells us that in these last days there will be "a universal bond of union, one great harmony" between all the religions of the world and this powerful movement will oppose and persectue those who refuse to join it in order to remain faithful to God. This union of the churches and religions of the world upon "common ground" will lead to seeking the aid of the secular power to force their agenda upon all. This is how the Sabbath of the Lord will become the separating wall between those who follow human devisings and those who obey God.

What say you?

sky

[Gail]

I don't get the feeling that is where he is going with this, sky. What you are talking about sounds like what the Emerging church movement aims for (as I understand it)

I think it is an understanding of what the culture and beliefs are in order to better witness to those groups. I have seen this with Stephen Dickie in his book, Islam God's Forgotten Blessing. That man is able to witness within the borders of Islamic nations with the 3rd Angel's message because he has the information about them that he can do so and still gain their respect. He reaches where mainstream Christians can't.

[phkrause]

I don't get the feeling that is where he is going with this, sky. What you are talking about sounds like what the Emerging church movement aims for (as I understand it)

I think it is an understanding of what the culture and beliefs are in order to better witness to those groups. I have seen this with Stephen Dickie in his book, Islam God's Forgotten Blessing. That man is able to witness within the borders of Islamic nations with the 3rd Angel's message because he has the information about them that he can do so and still gain their respect. He reaches where mainstream Christians can't.

I have to agree with you Gail. I believe what Stan is getting at is individual members having a common ground to helping each other.

[remnant]

Love your enemies is a very good thing, but remember Ephesians 6:12

[phkrause]

Love your enemies is a very good thing, but remember Ephesians 6:12

But it doesn't say not to understand world religions. Besides now do learn about other religions? You have to read about them. If you are strong in your faith, nothing will move your foundation. But you do make a good point, we do need to be aware.

[skyblue888]

I don't get the feeling that is where he is going with this, sky. What you are talking about sounds like what the Emerging church movement aims for (as I understand it)

I think it is an understanding of what the culture and beliefs are in order to better witness to those groups. I have seen this with Stephen Dickie in his book, Islam God's Forgotten Blessing. That man is able to witness within the borders of Islamic nations with the 3rd Angel's message because he has the information about them that he can do so and still gain their respect. He reaches where mainstream Christians can't.

okay, thanks Gail. I am willing to give Stan the benefit of the doubt. hehe

It was nice to see Stan and you again a while ago.

sky

[aldona]

Originally Posted By: remnant

Love your enemies is a very good thing, but remember Ephesians 6:12

But it doesn't say not to understand world religions. Besides now do learn about other religions? You have to read about them. If you are strong in your faith, nothing will move your foundation. But you do make a good point, we do need to be aware.

I'm disappointed to see what appears to be a lot of fear, suspicion and automatic assumption that understanding more about other religions will automatically turn you into some kind of wishy-washy ecumenical who doesn't know what he/she believes.

If reading about someone else's faith makes you lose your grip on your own, then your faith must not have been very strong to begin with. If you are secure in what you believe and why, then when you find out more about some other religion you are more likely to think "that's interesting, but I'll stick with my own faith because it makes more sense."

How could Paul have communicated effectively to the citizens of Athens on Mars Hill if he did not have at least a basic understanding of what kind of gods the Greeks worshipped, and what they believed?

He even quoted from one of their poems/ hymns to Zeus ("in him we live, and move, and have our being, etc") when referring to our Creator God.

How many of us know enough to quote from the Qu'ran when witnessing to our Muslim friends? No, we are too frightened to even open the cover and look inside, for fear of being contaminated in some way.

Driving home from work yesterday I listened to a very interesting interview on the radio in which a Buddhist scholar and writer was explaining what he believed. It has not made me want to rush out and convert to the Buddhist faith. But it has helped me understand, the next time my Buddhist co-workers and patients talk about their religion, a bit more about where they are coming from.

AJ

[Gail]

Surprisingly enough, the sermon I heard on the weekend was along the lines of Aldona's point. I say, "surprisingly enough," because I don't hear much about this preached from the pulpit. But I agree with it.

The sermon was about ways your spiritual life can die. It can die if you, as a congregant, do one of these three things:

- isolate yourself from the world (and becme exclusive)

- integrate yourself into the world (so that there is no difference between you and a secular person)

- try to exert control within the church family (make others just like you or force them to see things exactly how you want them)

The pastor's point was that for faith to grow it needs to be tested in a real world. It needs exercise to become stronger, just as your body needs exercise.

[skyblue888]

In the Ministry Magazine of June 1966, on pp.19,20 we read:

"The Adventist Church today is better prepared to make common cause with these other evangelicals than at any previous time in its history."

This statement was made nine years after the leaders of the church had held 18 meetings with the Evangelicals, between 1955 and 1957. The purpose of these meetings on the part of the Evangelicals was to ascertain whether Adventists were Christians or not. Our leaders then were very anxious for our church to be reckoned with the popular churches of Christendom. So in their efforts to find "common grounds" and thus "build bridges" with them in order to gain their friendship, the leaders went so far as to compromise the pillars of our faith, so much so that after it was all said and done, the Evangelicals apologized to us for having categorized us as an anti-Christian cult in the past and they declared that we were now members of the body of Christ!

To "make common cause" with these other churches implies that we can no longer teach the three angel's messages to them, that our mission in the world is no different than what their mission is, that their Gospel is the same as the Gospel we have been called to preach.

The book that came out of those meetings in the 1950s and which was published in 1958 had this to say, "We are one with our fellow Christians of denominational groups in the great fundamentals of the faith once delievered to the saints." Questions on Doctrine, p.32,

In the Adventist Review of July 10, 1990, p.6, the words of Joan Campbell, director of the United States office of the World Council of Churches, are quoted:

"It is my pleasure to be with you again. I bring the warmest of greetings from the World Council of Churches and from all our member churches around the world. When I was at your worship service yesterday, it seemed as though it was my own time of worship, as well as yours. And it said to me that there are many things we hold in common. So as fellow Christians, like those of Pentecost in the earliest of days, we look at one another, and we say that we hold all things in common.” Joan Campbell, director of the United States office of the World Council of Churches, as quoted in Adventist Review, July 10, 1990, p.6.

We hold all things in common! Most startling statement! But what was more startling is that this declaration was printed and published in our own Review as though the hand of God was in it!

The ecumenical spirit is alive and well in the church today and it is here to stay. Since those days there have been many efforts to build bridges with other religions. This is what the ecumenical movement has been doing for decades. We are simply following in their track because we have become so much like them that no difference can be seen. As a people we have lost our bearings. In fact we lost our bearings a long time ago.

In 1896 the Spirit of the Lord said, "The people to whom God has entrusted eternal interests, the depository of truth pregnant with eternal results, the keepers of light that is to illuminate the whole world, have lost their bearings." Testimonies to Ministers, p.397.

Now do you understand why some of us may be questioning what is the real purpose or motive behind the desire to find "common grounds" and wanting to "build bridges" with the other churches and other religions? Is it really about the desire to bring the third angel's message to them or merely to show to them how much we have in common with them? It is as though we were saying to them how we are all in the same boat, so to speak, and how we are more than prepared to make common cause with them simply because, as a people, we have lost our spiritual bearings!

Aldona and Gail, no doubt there are those among us who really want to reach out to the other churches and to the other religions with a sincere desire to win them to the truth but at the same time one cannot deny that the ecumenical spirit has made serious inroads within the Seventh-day Adventist organization.

God bless,

sky

[John317]

I wonder if that is one reason we hear so little said in our churches about the Investigative Judgment and the fact that we are living in the antitypical Day of Atonement.

[skyblue888]

I wonder if that is one reason we hear so little said in our churches about the Investigative Judgment and the fact that we are living in the antitypical Day of Atonement.

Exactly John. I would say that it is the main reason. Of course most members in the church are honest but I will dare to say that they have no idea of what is really going on. In the 1950s when the leaders met with the Evangelicals, our teaching on the Investigative judgment was ridiculed. According to the Evangelicals our teaching on the atonement was nothing but a face-saving idea and that it was childish and even heretical. The Evangelicals explained that as long as we held such teaching as that we could never be recognized as Christians. The leaders replied that the atonement was finished at the cross and somehow were able to convince the Evangelicals that our position on the atonement was the same as theirs. Also the Evangelical leaders convinced our leaders to remove that statement from our book, Bible Readings for the Home, to the effect that "Jesus lived a sinless life in sinful flesh." It was immediately agreed upon and when the new edition was published it read thus, "Jesus lived a sinless life in the flesh" to the satisfaction of the Evangelicals of course. They had declared that our original statement was offensive and therefore had to be expounged from our literature. It could not be accepted as sound. But it was Biblically sound and yet it had to be repudiated if there was any hope that we would be recognized as Christians by the WCC.

sky