Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!swrinde!mips!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: gilham@csl.sri.com (Fred Gilham) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Campus Crusade Message-ID: Date: 22 May 91 05:07:12 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Computer Science Lab, SRI International, Menlo Park, CA. Lines: 39 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu Louie Crew writes: ---------------------------------------- Campus Crusade and Intervarsity are heterosexual cults..... ---------------------------------------- Isn't this just your way of saying that they don't agree with your theology? My own experience with Inter-Varsity Christian fellowship, which occurred during the early '70s, was quite positive. I found the summer training camps they had to be very enlightening, opening up the bible to me in a way I hadn't found previously. Their so-called `inductive' bible studies have become something of a methodological fad, but I think the principles behind it are good, namely that the bible should be read as a piece of human literature, with the reader bringing the same skills and methods to bear as on any other piece of human literature. The difference being, of course, that the bible is `authoritative' to those who have Christ as their lord. I also found that Inter-Varsity was quite open to issues of social concern. In fact, my own awareness of this aspect of Christianity was first stimulated by my participation in various Inter-Varsity functions, including conferences and an `Urban Plunge', which consisted of a week spent in San Francisco exploring the various areas where the churches there were working to help the poor and needy. As a result of this, my roommates and I, at different times, took several people in off the street to stay with us. (Not to boast about it; in fact those experiences were, for various reasons, quite humiliating, but they would never have come about if not for Inter-Varsity.) While Louis Crew's remarks may have reflected his experiences, it should be noted that his experiences are almost 40 years old, while mine are 15 years old. This probably means that neither of us is able to give an accurate picture of what Inter-Varsity is like now. In my mind at least, however, it is unfair to characterize Inter-Varsity as a cult, given the way most people think of cults these days. -- -Fred Gilham gilham@csl.sri.com