Path: utzoo!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: sandrock@aries.scs.uiuc.edu (Mark Sandrock) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Review -- _In_The_Light_of_Truth:_The_Grail_Message_ Message-ID: Date: 18 Mar 91 16:43:08 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana Lines: 92 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu crf@math.princeton.edu (Charles Ferenbaugh) writes: >In article sandrock@aries.scs.uiuc.edu (Mark T. Sandrock) writes: >[commenting on Scott Whitmore's book review, deleted for space reasons] >> >>What I say to you is this: you have understood little if anything of the >>Grail Message, described it very poorly and superficially, and done >>grave injustice to "In the Light of Truth" all around. ... >>Almost everything you have said about the Grail Message is flat wrong. >Mark, >Would you care to back up your assertion with some concrete examples? >In other words, actually pulling up some of Scott's statements and showing >him (and us) where he is wrong? If everything he has said is wrong, this >should not be difficult to do. Dear Mr. Ferenbaugh, no, it would not be at all difficult to do. But I shall not do so. But I shall give you a simple analogy that you can surely understand... Suppose that someone who was unfamiliar with the Bible undertook to read through it and pass judgment upon it in a matter of several months. Suppose that this person was already unfavorably predisposed towards the Bible beforehand, and consequently did not find much of value in the word of the Bible, and reported this "fact" to others. How would you feel then? This is precisely what Mr. Whitmore has done with the Grail Message, and he very well knows it. It was nothing but a crude "hatchet job", to try to justify his own point of view, as far as I can tell. As I have said before, those who are not seriously interested in new knowledge and explan- ations should stick with what they have and leave the Grail Message alone. >>I have said it before, and I'll say it once again: Those who seriously >>and objectively seek the answers to the great spiritual questions in life >>may want to consider examining the Grail Message as the value of the vast >>knowledge which it mediates to the human spirit.... >Scott has apparently done this. In his considerations, he has raised some >pertinent questions which you have utterly ignored. I'll repeat some of >them here: who is Abd-Ru-Shin, and why should we listen to him when he >says, do not listen to any of the world's religions (and implicitly says, >listen to me instead)? No, Mr. Whitmore has definitely not done this. I recently heard from some- one who has been reading the Grail Message very slowly and carefully over the past year and a half, and who has come to the same conclusion as I also have, namely, that the Grail Message is a tremendously valuable work, and that the clear explanations it mediates to mankind are quite correct. If you do not see the difference between skimming through more than a thousand pages of profound knowledge in a few months, versus studying it closely and carefully over years, then nothing I can say would convince you anyway. Regardless of the time factor, however, if one is not "open" to new knowledge, then one cannot find it in any case. As far as the identity of Abd-ru-shin, I am NOT presenting my convictions about that to people, but rather speaking clearly and specifically about the value of the work itself. I see this same phenomena here at the univer- sity. Before people will listen to a person, they want to know "who he is". Does he have a PhD? Is he "well-published"? My reply is this, that the vast knowledge of the Grail Message is itself the best and only proof necessary. Those who want to judge from externals are the same people who would have refused to listen to Christ, since He was only "the son of a carpenter"! Those who truly seek from the heart shall find -- all others shall not. And this is simple justice, is it not? >It seems to me that you are in no position to protest. You are wrong. Mr. Whitmore, as I have pointed out, is in no position to attempt a "book report" on the Grail Message. As someone who has studied the Grail Message for 14 years or more, I think I am actually in a very good position to point out the injustice that has been done here. And I must say that I do not consider such activities in any way "Christian". Regards, Mark Sandrock -- BITNET: sandrock@uiucscs Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Internet: sandrock@aries.scs.uiuc.edu Chemical Sciences Computing Services Voice: 217-244-0561 505 S. Mathews Ave., Urbana, IL 61801 [While I can understand why you feel the way you do, I'm also not convinced it is fair to criticize Scott Whitmore. I'm not suprised that someone who has immersed himself in a document for years will find more meaning in it than someone making a first reading. But Scott can hardly be expected to spend years studying a document that does not appear to merit that study. If the only information you are prepared to give is advice to read it for ourselves, then clearly our reaction to a first reading is going to be critical. --clh]