Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: bcsaic!carroll@beaver.cs.washington.edu (Jeff Carroll) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: gulf crisis, spiritual help for peace Message-ID: Date: 18 Sep 90 08:53:50 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Boeing Computer Services AI Center, Seattle Lines: 70 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article howard@53iss6.waterloo.ncr.com (Howard Steel) writes: >In article pmafire!geoff@uunet.uu.net >(Geoff Allen) writes: >>[franco@iro.umontreal.ca (Jonathan Franco) called for a common time >>of prayer for world peace. The call was directed towards people of >>many religions, but had a rather new age flavor... >>This brings up an interesting question. *Should* Christians join this >>sort of activity?... >>...by participating in this particular effort to heighten the >>consciousness or whatever in the Gulf, Christians would be, in effect, >>giving their approval to the other ``methods'' and ``gods,'' and >>agreeing that ``they are all with us'' and it doesn't matter if one >>prays to *the* God or to Vishnu. >The fear of the other is so entrenched in some "Christians" that they will >cut off their nose to spite their face. Let's say you were a visitor to >a foreign country and your child had fallen ill. A local who worships >the sun and the moon and the stars, has become aware of your plight and tells >you that "I will beseech the sun to drive the night breezes from your childs >body; come join me". You of course being an elightened Christian would of >course reply "No thanks, I don't belive in any of that mumbo jumbo, I pray to >God the Father, Creator of heaven and earth...". I think it would be much >wiser, more Christian and in keeping with the intent of prayer, if you simply >prayed in your way and kept quiet about it. The savage pagan you met was >exhibiting exemplory Christian attributes, the least you could is the same. I hope no one is of the opinion that we should deliberately *not pray* about the situation in the Gulf because some new age loony asks us to do so. I hope that each of us was already praying about this before this invitation arose. For me, it is easy to share prayer with people whose doctrinal and sacramental orientations differ widely from my own. It is often not so easy to share other features of the spiritual life - sacraments, liturgy, etc. While I grew up in the Church of the Nazarene and the United Methodist Church, the things that are important to me in worship are so badly mangled by the Methodists (Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Disciples, etc.; the Nazarenes do a better job, in their own way) that I find it difficult to attend their services, and I would prefer that they stay away from mine unless they are willing to attend a confirmation class. The "cult-bashing" that goes on in this newsgroup is almost amusing to me sometimes, since I often am able to spiritually identify with the victim group (be they Mormon, JW, SDA, Unitarian, or whatever) nearly as much or more than the supposedly orthodox Protestant group to which the basher belongs. On the other hand, there are limits to what I can accept as "prayer", too. They have usually to do with my ability to affirm that we are all praying to the same God - thus it would be difficult for me to join in the application of the Maharishi Technology of the Unified Field (see April 5 Wall Street Journal for details) or other such "new age" stuff. I think that, were I to be confronted by a person making such a request, I would invite him/her to accompany me to our daily Evening Prayer service (which, admittedly, I usually attend only when officiating - far too seldom.) The general issue that seems to be arising here is how far it is proper for Christians to collaborate with members of other religions. I think most people who have posted in this thread would oppose belonging to "Associated Churches" groups which include synagogues, mosques, and Bahai and Buddhist groups along with Christians. I would agree inasmuch as such groups tend to engage in what I consider to be betrayal of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in favor of an egalitarian mishmash which professes no firm belief in anything. Jeff Carroll carroll@atc.boeing.com