Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: daveh@tekcrl.labs.tek.com (David Hatcher) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Christians abetting Satan? (Was: gulf crisis, spiritual help...) Message-ID: Date: 20 Sep 90 07:35:19 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Tektronix, Inc., Beaverton, OR. Lines: 70 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu >[Maybe we mean something different by oppose. I do not suggest that >you should be stopped from believing or talking about things contrary >to Christinaity. Rather, Christians have a duty to say what they >believe, and to answer contrary claims. Part of this duty includes >pointing out where things that have been confused with Christianity >actually contradict it. This is not in principle different from what >you do (including this posting): you argue for your viewpoint. I >don't know whether you are an enemy of Christ in your heart. Only God >is capable of making that judgement. That you are opposed to some >significant Christian teachings however seems simply an observation of >fact, which you yourself agree with. --clh] I am not opposed to any of the Christian teachings that bring a person to know and experience, from their soul, the light and glory of God These are teachings were a person is brought to that place were they are in fact turning towards God with their hearts, mind and soul. What I am oppose to are the teachings that seem to cause division because the direction that those teachings take (which do not point towards the soul open to God) and the type of energy behind them (often anything but understanding of others) is the cause of separation between people. I can not see how these teachings actually cause one to turn their soul towards their Beloved. And in the same breath, I do not see how those teachings that do cause division between people fit into the teachings of Christ. And that is what I am opposed to. Even between elements of different sects with in Christianity itself, that very same force that causes division is actively at work. When it divides families, (and it does) it is the cause of distruction of the worst kind. And the Christian family is *very* divided. Why, if this is the body of Christ, is it set upon itself in such a distructive manor. It's as if Christ's own worst enemy is His very own Church! The whole energy of all of this is a distrator in that it turns a persons eyes everywhere except towards God. And I'm very opposed to that because it is in turning towards God that we reach out and become ever more human in our sense of humbleness and understanding that comes from an open heart filled with the love of God. I know for a fact that that attitude of "them vs us" need not be a Christian teaching. I know far to many Christians whom are open to and understanding of religious paths that are not Christian. And that attitude does not in the least take away from their own Christianity. One last thought, many of todays people whom are being labeled as the "Enemy of Christ" are going to other spiritual traditions because they are in need of a much deeper sence of spiriutal union with God than what they feel the Church is able to teach. They see the division that is being created by the teachings of the Church as the very force and energy that prevents one from opening up to that *spiritual* aspect that allows one to turn towards God with all of their hearts, minds and soul. There is a *spiritual* depth and experience of God that they hunger for. The Church does not seem to understand that hunger with the result that it not know how to satisfy those hunger pains. In response, it often sees them now as "Enemies of Christ". It's really all a miss-understanding of whats in their hearts, IMHO. David Hatcher A mystic is not a special kind of human being; rather, every human being is a special kind of mystic. Brother David Steindl-Rast _Gratefulness, the Heart of Prayer_