tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22980286.post4477402886886014896..comments2024-03-28T10:26:20.408-04:00Comments on Ponderings on a Faith Journey: Finding Our Religious VoicesRobert Cornwallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04581876323110725024noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22980286.post-71917254999123368062011-10-27T12:37:27.295-04:002011-10-27T12:37:27.295-04:00Hey, atheists (4) were invited for the 1st time th...Hey, atheists (4) were invited for the 1st time this year to the pope's interfaith thingy, oh, and kung-fu monks too-<br /><br />Benedict welcomed some 300 leaders representing a rainbow of faiths to the hilltop Italian town of Assisi to commemorate the 25th anniversary of a daylong prayer for peace here called by Pope John Paul II in 1986 amid Cold War conflicts.<br /><br />Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/10/27/rainbow-religious-leaders-join-pope-for-peace/#ixzz1c05njqr8Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16496392728357471483noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22980286.post-34346839913212061752011-10-25T23:07:50.986-04:002011-10-25T23:07:50.986-04:00"So how do we, in a way that is respectful, h..."So how do we, in a way that is respectful, honorable, and up front, invite them in to relationship with God?"<br /><br />* By being more concerned with openingly living the Good News than with preaching it;<br /><br />* By being the Kingdom of the God here and now;<br /><br />* By being the hands and arms and feet and sweat and exertion of Jesus, the body of Christ - by being the tangible and effective presence of God in the world;<br /><br />* By feeding, quenching, clothing, housing, including and visiting - being here and now the unrestrained love and unconditional grace of God;<br /><br />* By enthusiastically and persistently advocating justice as restoration and compassion as a community norm and hospitality and generosity as a personal norm.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22980286.post-27097535475468600412011-10-25T10:59:39.242-04:002011-10-25T10:59:39.242-04:00John,
I think one of the questions we need to wre...John,<br /><br />I think one of the questions we need to wrestle with in the Christian community is this:<br /><br />Is there a difference between proselytism and evangelism? By definition evangelism is sharing the good news that one has experienced in one's walk with God as revealed in Jesus. Proselytism is often used as a synonym, but it has a more sinister element.<br /><br />In my interfaith work I've not tried to convert my Muslim, Jewish, or Hindu friends. On the other hand, in America, the numbers of unattached is pretty high. So how do we, in a way that is respectful, honorable, and up front, invite them in to relationship with God?Robert Cornwallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04581876323110725024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22980286.post-79604306911575026142011-10-25T10:06:23.758-04:002011-10-25T10:06:23.758-04:00I am a religious pluralist; I am certain that God ...I am a religious pluralist; I am certain that God speaks. Not only in our own language, but within the context of our own cultures, in a voice and with symbols that make sense to each of us wherever we are. <br /><br />God is not human, yet God took on human form as a Jew in Palestine so that a portion of humanity would have a better comprehension of God and God's will for humanity. So too God has manifested the Divinty in India and elsewhere in forms and through symbols that make sense to the people of each of those cultures. The symbols and the idiom representing each culture's encounter with the Divine are not necessarily consistent and may even be in conflict, as those cultures so find themselves in conflict. I believe it is the will of God that we learn from one another about what it is God wills for each of as well as for the whole of humanity. I believe that what God wills transcends faith traditions and has much to do with love, compassion, kindness, acceptance, forgiveness, and being in relationships, with God and with one another. How these values are lifted up in each faith tradition differ markedly.<br /><br />All that being said, I have to wonder how we as Christians, or Jews or Muslims, etc, respond to our brethren in our faith traditions who confront other faith traditions as existential threats, if not to the will of God, then to the spiritual health of the adherents of the respective faith traditions. And I think this is especially a concern in those fath traditions which lift up their proselytizing work as critical to living out their faith.<br /><br />It is within our own faith traditions that most of us encounter the front lines in God's battle for hearts and minds.<br /><br />!!!!! My verification word is INAINISM. !!!!!Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06245470576919732592noreply@blogger.com