Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!mips!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: oracle@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Brian T. Coughlin) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: On Daoism, Buddhism & Confucianism Message-ID: Date: 11 May 91 03:02:27 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH Lines: 66 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu Re: James Hwang In article , dhsy@vax5.cit.cornell.edu writes: > Would any of the true Christians here explain this: can we worship, > pray and idolize our ancesters and the same time be a christian? For > example, pray to Jesus and Confucious (or one of the ancesters of our > specific root) for help at the same time when we have a problem? I > don't see why we can't. Hello! (I couldn't make out your name; sorry!) An answer to your question would depend on several things. For instance, I'm not sure if your definitions of "worship" and "idolize" are the same as the typical Christian usage of the terms. Christians take "worship" to mean total, uninhibited surrender, devotion, and adoration of the One Being who is worthy of that supreme trust: God. In this sense, then, it would be idolatry (a rather serious sin, in the Christian tradition) to worship anything except God... in that it would be a misapplication of that supreme trust. It's almost a contradiction in terms to say, "I worship something which is not God," to a Christian. To worship something, in Christian tradition, is to make that something into one's supreme focus of devotion: in other words, one's "god". As far as praying to Confucious and to one's ancestors, it depends on the denomination of Christianity that one is considering. For example, Catholicism allows prayer to the deceased, and even encourages it, provided that a CLEAR distinction is made between prayer and worship. Prayer to a deceased person, to a Catholic, is like talking to a friend: no worship is involved. Even to the extent of praying to Saints for aid: Catholics believe that the Saints can intercede for the living, and petition God to do what the pray-er asks; this is viewed as being QUITE different from "praying" directly TO the Saint, hoping that the saint can somehow grant one's prayer by him/herself. Reverence to the memory of the departed person is certainly allowed and encouraged, but worship is not. On another perspective, some fundamentalist protestant Christians condemn the practice of praying to deceased friends, Saints, and such. Again, it depends on the denomination and on the particular group being dealt with. (I'll let others speak to those other points, as I'm not terribly familiar with them.) One thing to keep in mind, when talking about prayer to Jesus: with few exceptions, Christians believe that Jesus is God. Therefore, prayer to Jesus is literally prayer to God. To a Christian, prayer to Confucious is quite a different matter, as Christians do not acknowledge Confucious as being God. So in that sense (in answer to your last question), it would be permissible to pray to Confucious and to Jesus, provided that the prayer to Jesus was quite different (and more worshipful) than the prayer to Confucious. In the eyes of Christianity, Confucious (provided that he's in Heaven; I like to think so) has no power to grant petitions; only God can do that. If one keeps this in mind, there are no real problems with prayer to Confucious. (Mind you, I'm speaking from a Catholic perspective; some would disagree.) I hope this helps in some way! Take care! Sincerely, Brian Coughlin oracle@eleazar.dartmouth.edu