refWrite...page2

Disaster: Fiji flood Jan23: Christian agencies assist flood victims of tiny Pacific country of islands

2012-02-02T13:18:00.002-05:00

After Fiji flood,

churches, Christian agencies help thousands

(ENInews)--Christian agencies are assisting thousands affected by last week's severe flooding in the western part of Fiji's main island, Viti Levu, which killed six people, including four from one family whose house was buried in a landslide. Nearly 3,500 people are in 74 evacuation centers run by churches and community groups. The Fiji interim government has declared a state of emergency in the area. The 23 January tropical rainstorm submerged buildings and caused FJD$33 million (US$18.7 million) in damage and destroyed half the crops and livestock in the area. [320 words, ENI-12-0057]

Ecumenical News International (Jan31,2k12)

refWrite comment: Fiji is an independent political entity that in recent years became a military dictatorship, while civil government was abated, if not entirely abolished. Since that t+m, the military govt has given many powers over an "interim government" which hopefully will not only address the current emergency, but will further prepare for future clean and fair elections of a new independent civilian govt, including an empowered legislature. Underlying ethnic tensions between the India immigration community, and the historic indigenous population of native Fijians are at play. The India community is largely Hindu, while the ancient stock of Fijians includes both Christians and animists. Clan-based local govt has affected the pattern of ethnic voting on the national level as well, in order to maintain Aboriginal Rights and recognition of seniority (the "first nation" principle that functions in Canada as well, both conceptual descendants of the British Empire). But the India immigrant generations and their descendants will have none of that, were they to hold sway.

— Hat Tip to Bruce Wearne, Australia, for reporting and commenting on Fiji developments over the years.

ENI text reposted here by Owlb, general editor
and refWrite columnist reporting disasters around the world

Follow @Owlb

Pisteutics: USA / Philippines Christianity/ies: Some notes for today on Christian community development from early Church

2012-02-01T15:14:00.000-05:00

This is a heart-stirring video snippet from the Charismatic Community Development Association in Chicago, Illinois. A passage by Ray Bethke. It's about welfare initiatives from the bottom via strong discipleship of first and second-century early Church people. — refWrite comment by Owlb

Hat Tip Jack Alvarez, Evangelical Development Practioners, Philippines

You can resource YouTube Services for this repost on refWrite video's channel yUT2be.

— All materials reposted here by Owlb, general editor and pisteutics (faith-factor) columnist for refWrite page 2. Follow @Owlb

Pisteutics and Politics: Philippines: Churches set aside differences to face national political crisis together as Christians united

2012-01-29T02:50:00.002-05:00

During week of prayer for unity,

Philippine churches set aside differences

Maurice Malanes
19 January 2012

Baguio City, Philippines (ENInews). In the midst of a governance crisis that threatens to divide the Philippines, several churches say they are marking the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity by setting aside doctrinal differences, praying and working for change.

"Even amidst new political trouble that threatens to polarize again our country, we Christians can take the lead in getting together in prayer," the Rev. Felipe Ehican of the Lutheran Church of the Philippines told ENInews on 18 January.
———————————————————————
Ecumenical News International (Jan19,2k12)
— reposted here by Owlb,Follow @Owlb
general editor, refWrite page2 and Faith-Factors (Pisteutics) columnist
---------------------------------------------------------------------

The week of prayer usually takes place between 18 and 25 January. Resources such as texts for ecumenical servicees are sponsored jointly by the Geneva-based World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Roman Catholic Church's Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity.

Ehican was referring to the current Senate impeachment proceedings of Supreme Court Justice Renato Corona, which began 16 January, also the start in the Philippines of the celebration of the week of prayer.

The Rev. Joie Galinato of the United Methodist Church likewise stressed the importance of strengthening the unity of the Christian population to prevent the country's division as a result of the impeachment trial of Corona.

"The impeachment trial is now dividing the country between the pro-Corona and the anti-Corona," Galinato told ENInews. "But we can help a lot in bridging divisions by our coming together in prayer as Christians from various denominations, united in our common desire for righteous and good governance."

Roman Catholic lay leader Dr. Raylita Calimlim also acknowledged and prayed for Bukal, an ecumenical pastoral group. She said Bukal volunteers from Baguio City travelled to southern Philippines to counsel and rehabilitate traumatized survivors of a deadly storm there last December. "Bukal has been doing a great job in helping bring change," she said.

The week of prayer in this northern Philippine city was organized by the Baguio-Benguet Ecumenical Group, an interdenominational organization, which has been celebrating the Vatican and WCC-led weekly activity since 1999.

As a spin-off of the week of prayer in past years, the ecumenical group has been actively involved in social and political advocacies such as honest, peaceful and clean elections, anti-gambling drives, and good governance. "We seek to sustain these as we continue to pray and work together," said Galinato.

PisteuticsHaiti: Voodoo/s and Christianity/ies: Wave of conversions

2012-01-28T23:03:00.003-05:00

Haitians turning to Christ,

abandoning Voodoo practices

2 years after Earthquake

by Stoyan Zaimov | Christian Post Reporter

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Christian Post > World|Jan27,2012

— CP materials reposted by Owlb, refWrite page 2's editor and

Pisteutics columnist Follow @Owlb

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Text

RSS

E-mail

Two years after a devastating earthquake killed an estimated 300,000 people in Haiti, Christianity is fast replacing Voodoo in the lives and practices of the people, a missionary has revealed.

(Photo: Reuters/Shannon Stapleton)
Men who lost relatives in the country's January 2010 earthquake visit the mass grave site in Titanyen on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince March 21, 2011.

Displacement of Jews theory by award winner Palestinian Lutheran is slammed by B'nai B'rith

2012-01-28T12:29:00.002-05:00

Jewish group criticizes German Media Prize candidate

Berlin (ENInews)--Jewish organization B'nai B'rith International on 27 January called for the committee of the prestigious German Media Prize to reconsider its recognition of Mitri Raheb, an Evangelical Lutheran pastor in Bethlehem. Raheb is due to be presented with the prize on 24 February in recognition of his creation of schools, health centers and meeting places. But B'nai B'rith, a humanitarian, human rights and advocacy organization, said Raheb's views "echo the widely eschewed replacement theology maintaining that Christians have superseded Jews in the Divine plan and have inherited God's promises to Jews." Ecumenical News International [370 words, ENI-12-0050]

refWrite Comment: 'Replacement' or 'Displacement' ?, asks Owlb. I think there's a big difference. And hope to explain it soon on this refWrite page. The question for me in the present case, where does Mitri Raheb fall, for me, on the displacement side or the replacement side. Replacement is the narrower concept, displacement is a more general category into which replacement fits among several other options. So, were Lutheran Christian pastor, Mitri Raheb a replacement theorist and doctrine teacher (as alleged by implication), then what kind of dispacement theorist is he? — actual narrow replacement or another variety of displacement, say, of the egalitarian kind or one of the non-egalitarian varieties of displacement (barring replacement, nevertheless).

In the meantime, however, I doubt the morality of a great and good organization like B'nai B'rith targetting the leader of Lutherans in Bethlehem who is credited with "creation of schools, health centers, and meeting places."

Let's face it: B'nai B'rith is here overwhelming the possible questions as to what Mitri Raheb believes, teaches, or expresses opinions about in the news media or in regular conversation. Overwhelming such a doctrinal question with BB's own political agenda of Israel, Israeli settlements in the Occupied Zone where the Palestinian Authority is seeking UN recognition, etc. Shame on B'nai B'rith for conflating a German Media Prize (ENI doesn't give the actual name of the prize in Mitri Raheb's case. Please calm down and let the Germans recognize the good works of Mr Raheb — creating schools, health centers and meeting places — for all the people of Bethlehem, Israeli Occupied Zone, Palestine.

— reposted material and comment by Owlb, editor for Pisteutics, Science, Journaletics (etc), reWrite page 2.
Follow @Owlb general editor and Pisteutics editor, RefWrite page 2.

Science/s: Living Fossils: Rock-like structures in Australia built by blue-green microbes

2012-01-27T00:16:00.003-05:00

Living fossils of Shark Bay, Western Australia

Where are stromatolites found? What makes them so special?

To find out go to our fact sheet!

Stromatolites are rock-like structures built by microbes (single-celled cyanobacteria, also known as blue-green algae). Shark Bay’s stromatolites are only 2,000 to 3,000 years old, but they are similar to life forms found on Earth up to 3.5 billion years ago! They provide a unique insight into what the world was like at the dawn of time.

Until about 500 million years ago, stromatolites were the only macroscopic evidence of life on the planet.

The microbes that built the stromatolites were an essential building block for the evolution of more complex life forms.
One kind of microbe found in Shark Bay is thought to have
descended from an organism that lived 1.9 billion years ago –
one of the longest continuing biological lineages known.
Learn more about Shark Bay’s living fossils here.

Click here to view a video (1min44sec)

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Nature of Shark Bay (January27,2k12)

— Materials reposted here by OwlbFollow @Owlb

general editor, refWrite page 2- Science/s

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Shark Bay’s Aboriginal Heritage

Aboriginal people first lived in Shark Bay some 30,000 years ago. They were possibly the first indigenous Australians to make contact with Europeans, and among the first to be described to the Western world by European explorers. Since European colonisation, the fortunes of Shark Bay’s Aboriginal people have fluctuated. Many have suffered exploitation and injustice. Today the history, traditions and achievements of Aboriginal people are recognised and celebrated, encouraging a resurgence of pride in identity, culture and language.

Aboriginal occupation of Shark Bay

Shark Bay has a long history of use and occupation by Aboriginal people.

There are more than 100 Aboriginal cultural heritage sites, and possibly

many more yet to be discovered. Uncover Shark Bay’s ancient cultural history here.

Aboriginal languages of Shark Bay

Shark Bay is the traditional country of three Aboriginal language groups:

the Malgana, Nhanda and Yingkarta. The Malgana name for Shark Bay

is Gathaagudu, which means “two bays”. Learn some local language here!

rW2, refWrite's page 2 is joining a blog network, Hat Tip to Rick Pearcey

2012-01-24T19:07:00.000-05:00

Follow this blog

Pisteutics: Christianity/ies // Hinduism/s: Reformed philosopher of religion converts to Vaishnava Hinduism

2012-01-23T10:46:00.002-05:00

Reformed philosopher Michael Sudduth

converts to Vaishnava Vedanta

The New Year has brought me quite a lot of surprising e-mail, but the following missive wins the surprise prize. (Since Dr. Sudduth has sent his open letter to numerous correspondents, and has posted it on his Facebook page, I feel entitled to post it here in its entirety without his explicit permission.) Comments later, perhaps. A fascinating document.

An Open Letter to My Facebook Friends　

Knowing me as the enjoyer

of all worship, the Lord of all worlds,

the dearest friend of all beings,

that man gains perfect peace.

(Bhagavad Gita 5:29)

-----------------------------------------------------

Maverick Philosopher (January 21, 2012)

— reposted here in its entirety by Owlb

Follow @Owlb

general editor, refWrite

I have tried to conform to the sense of Dr. Sudduth's piety and new devotion.
At the same time, from my own reformational Christian philosophical
standpoint, I want to alert readers of a book that Dr Hendrik Vroom has
a marvellous book on philosophy of religion, that allows us effective
comparison among religions on the topic of "truth." The title is
Religions and the Truth: Philosophical Reflections and Perspectives,
an early title in the "Currents of Encounter" series (trans. J. W. Rebel.
Pp. 388. (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdman, and Amsterdam: Rodopi;
1989). I haven't checked it on this occasion, having read it in full about
two decades ago and having referred to it often since then (before I lost
my library of books; so I can't say whether or how much it analyses the
concept/s and attitude/s toward truth in Vaishnava Vedanta as such,

and even more specifically in Dr Sudduth's Hindu denomination, Gaudiya

Vaishnavism (GV), there being so many varieties of Hinduism, as is the case

also in Christianity/ies.

— Owlb

Back to Dr. Sudduth's text:

--------------------------------------

Since summer 2011 I have received a number of emails from Christian

friends who have inquired about a perceived shift in my theological

beliefs. I think it’s been relatively clear in my various status updates

and comments to respondents on Facebook that I have developed a very

positive appraisal of eastern religion, specifically the bhakti tradition of

Vaishnavism. For a number of years I have had a growing interest in and

appreciation for the insights of Vedanta philosophy and the various

Vaishnava traditions.

I wish now to disclose to my Facebook friends that I have come to personally embrace many of the fundamental beliefs and practices of Gaudiya Vaishnavism (GV). While I still retain many of my former Christian beliefs, the move in the direction of GV marks a decisive break with my long-standing adherence to traditional Christianity. I feel it’s important at this time to explain the nature, grounds, and evolution of this substantial and dramatic change in my theological perspective and spiritual practice.

I. From Christianity to Vaishnavism: The Move Eastwards

I have spent twenty-five years as a Protestant Christian, a tradition that I came to through my reading of the Bible and personal experience of the Lord Jesus Christ in my early 20’s. For most of these twenty-five years I have been an adherent of the Reformed theological tradition, though with an appreciation for both Catholicism and Protestant traditions other than my own. As a professional philosopher of religion since the mid 1990’s, I have devoted much of my work to bringing as much clarity as possible to important questions concerning the nature of religious knowledge, the concept of God, and the project of natural theology (i.e., rational arguments for God’s existence). I have regularly streamlined these interests in the philosophy of religion with their relevance to and development in the context of Reformed philosophical theology.

Despite my long-standing adherence to the Christian tradition, my spiritual journey has now moved me eastward and outside the framework of Christian theism. For the past few years I have been increasingly drawn to the Indian philosophy of Vedanta, specifically the bhakti tradition of Vaishnavism. By being “drawn” to Vedanta I mean both a philosophical attraction to the ideas of Vaishnava Vedanta (and GV in particular) and an experiential attraction to the person of Lord Krishna in my spiritual/devotional life. This began with my readings in the Bhagavad Gita over the past several years (including a reading of Ramanuja’s Gita Bhasya), dramatically intensified in 2011, and culminated in a powerful religious experience of Krishna in the fall of 2011. It was this personal experience of Krishna that inspired me to visit Audarya, a Gaudiya Vaishnava ashram in northern California, during Thanksgiving of last year. There I discovered what I had in a sense known for quite some time: the depth of my love for Lord Krishna as the person who now reveals God to me in a way essential to my spiritual life.

I would like to share the details of my conversion process, as well as briefly explain how I see my new perspective in relation to my former religious identity as a Protestant Christian.

II. The Bhagavad Gita and Spiritual Transformation

I started teaching the Bhagavad Gita in my world religions classes several years ago. It was a time of great transition in my personal life, and, as is often the case with times of transition, it was also a time of intense spiritual struggle. While I was drawing wonderful support and guidance from the Bible during this time, as I began my systematic and in-depth exploration of the Bhagavad Gita, I found myself profoundly affected by this text. Krishna’s words would stay with me, often arising spontaneously in my mind at times of crisis. They not only instilled a wonderful serenity in me, gradually they began illuminating many aspects of my life and relationship to God. I will discuss some of these insights below. Most importantly, though, I sometimes found myself overwhelmed with a powerful sense of the presence of God while reading from the Bhagavad Gita, in much the same way that I had often experienced God through reading the Bible.

Many of my Facebook friends are aware of the many past references to my “jetted tub,” which I know many of you found humorous. But I tell you now that I liked that tub most because I spent countless nights there reading from theGita, with tears of joy running down my face as I read the words of Lord Krishna and felt the presence of God.

The man who sees me in everything

and everything within me

will not be lost to me, nor

will I ever be lost to him.

He who is rooted in oneness

realizes that I am

in every being; wherever

he goes, he remains in me.

(Bhagavad Gita, 6:30-31)

This dynamic engagement with the Bhagavad Gita intensified in early 2011, shortly after my near fatal car accident on March 28, 2011. The accident was in itself a catalyst for profound personal and spiritual transformation, and it’s fair to say that my relationship with the Bhagavad Gita would never be the same after this. It’s difficult even at this time to adequately express the decisive break I experienced with my former life in the aftermath of the accident. At the moment of impact I accepted the inevitability and imminence of my own death for the first time in my life. In that moment I let go of everything, every attachment (e.g., family, friends, career, belongings, projects, future plans), even the attachment to life itself. In a sense, I actually died in that moment. When the vehicle came to a stop and the shattering glass had settled, I was conscious, but I was not the same. In letting go of my attachments, I had shed the harder layers of my self, or more precisely the self I had become through my various attachments to non-enduring aspects of my life. In the aftermath of the accident, which miraculously my then five-year old son and I survived, I found myself with the most beautiful gratitude for life. I found myself with a bliss and enjoyment of God that I had not known for many years in my life, and perhaps had never known at all. I had the most profound sense of God’s presence in the sight of the sky, clouds and mountains, and in the fragrance of the air and each breath I took, and ultimately a sense of the divine presence within my own heart. If I died on that day in March 2011, clearly I was reborn.

Abandoning all desires,

acting without craving, free

from all thoughts of ‘I’ and ‘Mine’

that man finds utter peace.

This is the divine state, Arjuna.

Absorbed in it, everywhere, always,

Even at the moment of death,

he vanishes into God’s bliss.

(Bhagavad Gita, 2:71-72)

Many of Krishna’s identity claims would spontaneously arise in my mind in the days following the accident.

There is nothing more fundamental

than I, Arjuna; all worlds;

all beings, are strung upon me

like pearls on a single thread.

I am the taste in water,

the light in the moon and sun,

the sacred syllable Om

in the Vedas, the sound in air.

I am the fragrance in the earth. . .

I am the primal seed

within all beings, Arjuna.

(Bhagavad Gita, 7:7-10)

I am the heat of the sun.

I hold back the rain and release it;

I am death, and the deathless,

And all that is and is not.

(Bhagavad Gita, 9:19)

As before, words such as these illuminated my life, comforted me, and guided me, but this time I began to feel the presence of God through Lord Krishna himself, not merely his words. Better put, I was beginning to experience Krishna himself through his words. Krishna and his words were becoming one. And I found God directly present to me in such experiences, but present to me in such a way that I experienced both tremendous awe and reverence for God and a deep intimacy with God through my consciousness of Lord Krishna. And I began to see my former “God conceptions” as limited expressions of a fuller, richer, and more experientially meaningful view of God that was now present in Lord Krishna himself.

In summer 2011 I began listening to lectures on the Bhagavad Gita by Swami B.V. Tripurari, a Vaishnava sannyasi(renunciate) and the guru of one of my former students. Under the guidance of Swami Tripurari I began digging deeper into the Gita and acquired a wonderful understanding of the GV tradition’s understanding of the Gita, which interestingly corresponded in many ways to my own.

Feeling more deeply drawn to Krishna, throughout summer 2011 I had regularly devoted time to meditating on the lilasof Krishna, that is, his activities on earth as described in the Bhagavad Gita and the Shrimad Bhagavatam. It was at this time that I began regularly reciting the maha “Hare Krishna” mantra as part of my daily routine as well as listening to and singing bhajans, often on my iPhone while driving.

Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna

Krishna, Krishna

Hare, Hare

Hare Rama, Hare Rama

Rama, Rama,

Hare, Hare

I experienced a wonderful sense of God’s presence in the chanting and singing of this mantra.

III. My Religious Experience of Sri Krishna

Having spent the entire summer deeply engaged in readings in the Gita and the lectures of Swami Tripurari, I began the fall semester with a wonderful enthusiasm for teaching the Gita once again. But I did not anticipate what would happen to me on September 16, 2011: a profoundly moving religious experience of Krishna himself, of even greater intensity than I had felt before in my readings of the Gita.

On Thursday, September 15^th I spent time in the afternoon meditating on Krishna’s lilas while listening to singer and musician Deva Premal’s “Homeage to Krishna.” Later in the evening I spent some time working on my final lecture on the Bhagavad Gita, to be given the next day, and then I went to bed. I meditated for a few moments on the later part ofGita chapter 18, on which I had spent some time earlier in the evening. These passages in particular:

If you focus your mind on me

and revere me with all your heart,

you will surely come to me; this

I promise, because I love you.

(Bhagavad Gita, 18:65)

Krishna, I see the truth now

By your immeasurable kindness.

I have no more doubts; I will act

according to your command.

(Bhagavad Gita, 18:73)

Around 4:20am (Friday morning) September 16^th, I woke suddenly from a deep sleep to the sound of the name of “Krishna” being uttered in some way, as if someone was present in my room and had spoken his name out loud. Upon waking I immediately had a most profound sense of Krishna's actual presence in my bedroom, a presence no less real than the presence of another living person in the room, though I was alone at the time. I responded to this felt presence, first through my thoughts that repeated Krishna’s name (and inquired of his presence), and then verbally out loud by uttering Krishna’s name twice: Krishna, Krishna. I was seized at this moment with a most sweet feeling of completeness and joy. I felt as if Krishna was there with me in my room and actually heard my voice, and that my response had completed a process that began with his name within my mind. I pondered this experience for several minutes, while at the same time continuing to experience a most blissful serenity and feeling of oneness with God, not unlike I had experienced on many occasions in the past in my relationship with the Lord Jesus. It was a most profound sense of both awe and intimacy with God in the form of Lord Krishna.

I should add, and I think this is very important, that I felt I was experiencing the same God that I had experienced on many occasions throughout my Christian life. However, I felt like this being was showing me a different face, side, or aspect to Himself, or – better yet – a different mode of my relationship to Him. I felt a certain validation of my spiritual journey, both past and present. I had gone so far in my Christian faith, but it was now necessary for me to relate to God as Lord Krishna.

After my journey to Audarya in November 2011 (See my facebook note Reflections on Audarya), I had further confirmation that my heart had taken root in the soil of the eastern bhakti traditions. I can only describe my experience as one of being irresistibly drawn to Sri Krishna, overwhelmed with His power and beauty, convinced of his Godhead – in short overflowing with love for Him as the Supreme Personality of the Godhead, and through him love for all beings, as He resides in the hearts of all beings.

Since this time I have experienced Krishna’s presence in the air, mountains, ocean, trees, cows, and equally within myself. I experience Him in the outer and inner worlds, and my heart is regularly filled with serenity and bliss. In short, I have learned the essence of the Gita. As Ramakrishna once said, repeat the name “Gita” ten times and you will know the essence of the Bhagavad Gita: GITA GITA GITA GITA GITA GITA GITA GITA GITA GITA. The name “Gita” will transform verbally into the word “Tagi.” “Gita” means “song” (Bhagavad Gita – song of the Lord) and “tagi” means “absolute surrender.” Having surrendered to God, the Gita has become the actual song that passes through my lips in every moment of awe and intimacy with the creator as He manifests himself through his shaktis (energies) in the world. And the love is returned: flowing from Him to me. And I have the strongest of conviction that love arose in me by virtue of his own love, drawing me to Himself.

Concentrate your mind on me

fill your heart with my presence,

love me, serve me, worship me,

and you will attain me at last.

(Bhagavad Gita, 9:34)

Now listen to my final words,

the deepest secret of all;

I am speaking to you for your own welfare,

since you are precious to me.

If you focus your mind on me

and revere me with all your heart

you will surely come to me; this

I promise, because I love you.

(Bhagavad Gita, 18:64-65)

IV. Exploring Gaudiya Vaishnavism (GV)

Although my movement towards Vaishnavism has been largely experiential in its genesis, as indicated above over the past few years I have increasingly found different aspects of Vedanta theologically and philosophically appealing to me. Here are some of the points of intellectual attraction in connection with GV in particular.

(1) GV articulates a model of love of God (bhakti) in which “intimacy” and “separation” are both acknowledged as essential and dynamically coordinated elements in the human-divine love relation. Moreover, there is not only a detailed model of bhakti itself in GV but a set of spiritual practices that are efficacious in cultivating it.

(2) In connection with (1), Krishna as the Supreme personality of the Godhead embodies both aishvarya (lordship) andmadhurya (sweetness) qualities, which make Him the most perfect object of bhakti (under the separation-intimacy assumption embedded in (1) above). Krishna’s aishvarya qualities are His majestic qualities (e.g., omnipotent, omniscient creator and controller of the cosmos), which give rise to feelings of awe and reverence for the Lord. Theaishvarya elements induce in us a profound sense of the distinction or separation between the self and God. This is essential to bhakti since love of the other presupposes the actual otherness of the other and therefore a certain degree of separation between lover and beloved. This idea of separation is half of the Gaudiya Vaishnava philosophical equation and works to intensify one’s love for God when properly cultivated. Krishna’s madhurya qualities are His human qualities that engender a deep sense of closeness and intimacy with Him (e.g., his playfulness as a child in Vrindavan, His friendship with Arjuna, flute playing cowherd, youthful dancer, His relationships with the gopis, His physical beauty, etc). This is the second part of the equation and equally essential in the bhakti tradition because one’s love for God manifests in varying degrees/modes of union with God.

(3) Related to (1) and (2), the GV tradition specifically views the relationship between God and the self as an inconceivable and simultaneous difference and non-difference (achintya bheda abheda tattva). This strikes a wonderful balance between the monism of Advaita Vedanta and the strong dualism of the Dvaita schools originating from Madhva (and also reflected in most streams of the Christian tradition). As I see it, the ways of unqualified oneness and unqualified separateness (between self and God) each tends ultimately to dissolve the love relationship between the self and God. Love requires a merging of two beings into one, yet without a loss of their individuality. This is inconceivable, but its truth is the precondition for the possibility of real love between the self and God. Consequently, I now accept a panentheistic metaphysics in which the universe and human souls are, to put it roughly, in the being of God.

(4) GV has the intellectual resources for a reasonable inclusivist understanding of religion. By this I mean a few things.

A sensible way of acknowledging religious truth found across different religious traditions.

A sensible account of the efficacy of different religious traditions to guide their adherents to salvation, whilst

retaining the truth of a particular, robust, and historically grounded religious tradition.

http://www.gaudiya.com/index.php?topic=history

V. The Road Ahead

My conversion to Vaishnava Vedanta will not alter my continuing interest in the areas of philosophy of religion that have interested me for many years, but it will signal a shift in emphasis to working on these issues now in the context of Gaudiya Vaishnavism and its relationship to western theism. While there have been many books written on the relationship between Vaishnavism and Christian theism, there’s still a lot of work that needs to be done in this area. At an earlier time I announced that I had started working on a book on Yoga and Christianity. While I still think that popular Christian criticisms of yoga are pretty silly and riddled with misrepresentations and over simplifications of so-called “Hinduism,” I have decided to focus rather on a book on theism and modes of transcendence for my philosophy classes.

I wish to express my appreciation for those Christian friends who have expressed patience and openness regarding my spiritual journey and theological changes. I wish to especially thank my Christian friends who – due to their love for me and passion for truth – will continue to be gracious interlocutors with me on matters that we equally deem of ultimate importance, even if we should approach this truth from different paths. Since two eyes are better than one, I hope they will benefit as I have from the broadening of vision that comes from dialogue across traditions. I have no interest in converting any of my Christian friends to Vaishnavism, but I do hope that we shall each help make each other better devotees in our respective faiths.

Hare Krishna, Jai Krishna, Jai Radhe

Michael Sudduth

1/20/12

Morals, Mores, and Manners: Signpost: Arab Muslims and Arabic-speaking Christians in community witness to peace in Syria, says Ashraf Dali

2012-01-21T03:44:00.004-05:00

Peace is better than war

[Ashraf's Tales of Arab]

Ashraf Dali

Egypt, Editor, Al-Arabi Magazine

Early next morning, some 33 centuries ago, in the city of Kadesh, to the north of Damascus, near the Syro-Lebanese border. The young Egyptian king Ramses II launched a massive assault, but was outnumbered by the Hittites, and the assault was lacking in terms of chariots, and soldiers suffered from their wounds. Both sides realized that a protracted war would result in nothing but further losses, and thus decided to disengage and follow a policy of wait and see.

The wise Mowatallis, who wasted his financial resources on preparing for the Kadesh battle believed that diplomacy was the best means to solve the problem, and he himself had previously experienced peace with King Siti I. He sent a delegation to the pharaoh with proposals for peace, hailing Ramses II’s bravery and ending his message:

History and Memory

I wasn’t therefore to distinguish between Muslims and Christians as I was in the home of my host Sheikh Makram Jaross and all his guests recounted stories of friendliness and fraternity, as if Al-Qusair had only one artery the Asi in whose blood the cells of joint living and peace flow. Kadesh as a symbol of war and peace featured prominently during our talk.

That day I hoped the Syrian government, under a joint project with archaeological expeditions, would fulfill people’s aspirations here to rediscover history and revive memory. They hope one day tourists will flock to an area which in their view is the most beautiful and the most neglected. This is how they view the Asi, poplar and willow trees and the tales of thousands of years which nobody listens to.

A sense of injustice is common here among the people of this city who are proud of its history which never knew feudalism. You may meet a peasant who owns nothing more than a straw mat but behaves like a prince wandering in a vineyard, apricot, apple, walnut and fig orchard or wheat and potato fields and is generous enough to donate everybody from the bounties of his land… an old habit never affected by years of drought.

Everybody is interested in the history of their heroes who shared in the great Syrian revolution, and in the struggle against French mandate wishing to find reference to them is school books and newspapers and on television.

Entering the library of engineer Muhammad Mohib Eddin (Abu Hassan), I was received by Firmans (Royal Law Decrees written during Ottoman Empire) and manuscripts and the first issues of some newspapers and rare magazines. I was almost lost among numerous books, volumes and documents, starting with a four-century-old family tree the length of the alley he was born in. He allowed me to hold one end of the tree and he held the other which probably reached the birth place of his grandfathers born in Kadesh or around it. The document was initiated by the grandfather who worked in land zoning at Al-Qusair and was responsible for collecting incoming mail at Josiah on the Lebanese border.

Abu Hassan said:

“I have a document written by the grandfather of the poet Muhammad Walid Al-Masry (“Al-Masry” family name means the Egyptian) who was the only literate person here 150 years ago. He came here as an Ottoman soldier and, like others, decided to stay.” He continued: “One of the rarest documents I exhibited at a national document exhibition was one written by the inhabitants of Hama requesting that they be the exclusive owners of the Asi, denying the people of Homs access to its water.

Those who live in Syria know the historical stories that show how the two cities were not in peace with each other!

Abu Hassan is usually seen driving his car with its trunk full of a moving library carrying books or papers to his home library. His latest paper invasion was in Lebanon where he is making preparations to buy a 5000-book-library from an 80-year-old man.

Al-Arabi magazine issues hold a special place in Abu Hassan’s collection which contains 100,000 manuscripts and printed items, including 8.000 copies of the magazine right from issue one (many copies are similar). He is keen to buy any available number of copies even if extra, and has even designated a year to be Al-Arabi’s exhibition year.

Manners, Mores, Morals: Moralism produces immorality, says Tullian Tchividjian

2012-01-09T21:42:00.003-05:00

Here's a fascinating brief article adapted from Tullian Tchividjian's blog (he's the grandson of Billy Graham, or something like that and is now pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, Florida, a congregation of Presbyterian Church in America). The article is interesting in the first place becawz it dares to name "legalism" and "moralism" — but not, I may add, biblicism and propositionalism.

Resurgence (January6,2k11)
Thanks go out to Tullian Tchividian
Hat Tips to Mark Driscoll at Mars Hill Church, Seattle, Washington state,
and to Bob Robinson, The Daily Vanguard, USA
Hat Tip to Steve Bishop, The reformational Daily, UK

CBN.com (September21,2k11)

Follow @Owlb

Moralism Produces Immorality

The ironic thing about legalism is that it not only doesn’t make people work harder, it makes them give up. Moralism doesn’t produce morality; rather, it produces immorality. We make a big mistake when we conclude that the law is the answer to licentiousness. In fact, the law alone stirs up licentiousness. People get worse, not better, when you lay down the law.

To be sure, the Spirit does use the whole Word in our sanctification: the law as well as the gospel. But the law and the gospel do very different things. The law reveals sin but is powerless to remove sin. It points to righteousness but can’t produce it. It shows us what godliness is, but it cannot make us godly. As Martin Luther said, “Sin is not canceled by lawful living, for no person is able to live up to the Law. Nothing can take away sin except the grace of God.”

“

The ironic thing about legalism is that it not only doesn’t make people work harder, it makes them give up.

”

Law Crushes, Gospel Cures

The law is impotent–it has no strength, it has no power, it offers us nothing. Sinners already are powerless to obey the demands of the law, and the law offers them no assistance–absolutely none. Law apart from gospel can only crush. It can’t cure.

The law could promise life to me,
If my obedience perfect be;
But grace does promise life upon
My Lord’s obedience alone.
The law says, Do, and life you’ll win;
But grace says, Live, for all is done;
The former cannot ease my grief,
The latter yields me full relief. (Ralph Erskine, 1745)

So, the law serves us by showing us how to love God and others. But we fail to do this every day. And when we fail, it is the gospel which brings comfort by reminding us that God’s infinite approval of us doesn’t depend on our keeping of the law but on Christ’s keeping of the law for us. And guess what? This makes me want to obey him more, not less!

As Spurgeon wrote, “When I thought God was hard, I found it easy to sin; but when I found God so kind, so good, so overflowing with compassion, I smote upon my breast to think that I could ever have rebelled against One who loved me so, and sought my good.” Indeed, it is “the kindness of the Lord that leads to repentance” (Romans 2:4).

This article was adapted from Tullians's blog

Manners, Mores, Morals: Abortion debate re-igniting in Canada?

2012-01-09T05:10:00.001-05:00

CBC blacks-out abortion discussion by preventing embedment of its news video as evidence in the new debate on when is a human human with protection of the law? This is a state broadcaster supported by our taxes. Why does CBC black-out information it doesn't want to spread in today's society?

CBC wants to retain its monopoly on information (including video-info) the state-broadcaster generates. It can do this becawz presumably it holds a copyright to said info, but this is an archaic view of ownership of info, especially when it becomes the last refuge of woud-be statist controllers of the flow of information, including video reports. News shoud be protected only by a half-hour copyr+t. after which info, including video-info shoud be in the public domain and reproducible by anyone interested in any given item.

— Politicarp

The Debate Is On: What is Human?

Posted: 05 Jan 2012 06:30 PM PST

The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada regularly issues press releases. Depending on the topic, the timing and what is currently capturing the attention of Canadians, it may or may not get picked up by media outlets or blogs.
This week, echoing Members of Parliament Stephen Woodworth (Kitchener –Centre, CPC) and Jeff Watson (Essex, CPC), we issued a press release urging Parliamentarians to examine section 223 of the Criminal Code, which essentially defines what Canadians consider human. In the words of Mr. Woodworth, the existing language “defines a human being as a child who has completely proceeded in a living state from the mother’s body, whether or not the child has breathed. This means that in Canada a child is legally considered to be sub-human while his or her little toe remains in the birth canal, even if he or she is breathing.” We stated our agreement that the legal definition of “human being” is an important issue, and in a matter of hours, our press release had been widely circulated. It was republished on numerous blogs and we received a number of requests for interviews with major media outlets.

Of course, the media discussion is not limited to the comments in our press release. Mr. Woodworth and Mr. Watson are sharing their perspectives in print and television interviews. A number of Canadian bloggers quickly took to their keyboards and weighed in on the debate.

Some outlets are framing this call for an examination of the Criminal Code definition of ‘human being’ as a covert attempt to re-open the abortion debate. To be frank, engaging a national discussion on what is human and carefully parsing through the relevant sections and subsections of the Criminal Code will be all-consuming in and of itself. If you’ve spent any time sitting in the gallery of the House of Commons, or have witnessed a parliamentary committee hearing, you know very well that the debate around a word or phrase can take hours or days. Imagine the time necessary to consider these very complex sections of the Code. Further, and as Mr. Woodworth suggested last night on CBC, listening to the testimony of various medical experts, ethicists and scientists on what is human will take time and reflection as well.

And so it should. As a nation that prides itself on being a global human rights leader, we should really determine what we consider to be “human”, rather than relying on legislation inspired by 400 year old concepts.
That said, given the media attention and the voices calling out from the blogosphere, I’d say a national discussion on what is human has been engaged. Wouldn’t you?

Watch this CBC clip where EFC’s Don Hutchinson debates Joyce Arthur on whether the child in the womb is human.

Pisteutics: Christianity/ies: Russia's supreme pontiff, Kirill demurs from Kremlin line on corrupt elections

2012-01-02T09:05:00.016-05:00

Disputed Voting Turns Church, a Kremlin Ally, Into Its Critic Pool photo by Alexsey Druginyn

Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin with Patriarch Kirill I, leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, in May.

by SOPHIA KISHKOVSKY

NewYorkTimes (December30,2k11)

Published: December 29, 2011Related

MOSCOW — Among the thousands of Russian voices raised against the Kremlin this month after parliamentary elections widely dismissed as fraudulent, perhaps the most surprising was that of Patriarch Kirill I, the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, who defended popular protests as a “lawful negative reaction” to corruption.

Russians Rally for Activist in Hopes of Inspiring a Movement(December 30, 2011)
Political Promotions in Russia Appear to Belie President’s Promise of Reform (December 29, 2011)
Unlikely Agitator, an Insider, Speaks Out Against Electoral Fraud in Russia (December 29, 2011)
Times Topic: Russia

.

Enlarge This Image

James Hill for The New York Times

The patriarch has defended protests like the one on Saturday.

Always a reliable pillar of support for the government of Prime MinisterVladimir V. Putin and his United Russia Party, the powerful Orthodox Church has been noticeably — to some, shockingly — critical of the elections. Arguably the only major national institution outside the state, the church could potentially play a significant role as the current political and social crisis unfolds.

Patriarch Kirill is by no means the only religious critic of the government since the elections, and certainly not the toughest. “People of the most varied convictions are now gathering on the square, but they are united by one thing, their unwillingness to live like this any longer,” Archpriest Aleksei Uminsky, a popular Moscow priest who hosts a television program about Orthodoxy, said at a public gathering last week. “The same thing is happening right now in the church.”

Read more ...

refWrite comment: The pattern of development of Russian Orthodox hierarchy and publically-active priests in critiquing the Russian state under Putin and Medvedev is of historical importance. It carves out a space in Russian society for an independent witness by Russian Orthodoxy for social justice.

— Owlb

Follow @Owlb

Pisteutics: Prayer: Boy and dog

2012-01-02T02:20:00.004-05:00

Follow @Owlb

Hat Tip to Abbess Eleanor Abbott

Reposted here by Owlb

Media: Reformational media people: Steve Bishop UK, My list of top books 2011

2011-12-29T01:53:00.006-05:00

-
My top books of 2011

An Accidental Blog (December29,2k11)

Pirated and reposted here by Owlb

who plans to respond with his own top-books list, for the fading year....

by Steve Bishop

Follow @Owlb

My top books of 2011 - in no particular order:

Jason Zuidema (ed.) Reformational Thought in Canada: Essay in Honour of Theodore Plantinga

Bert Cusveller, Maarten Verkerk and Marc de Vries The Matrix Reformed

Richard Mouw Abraham Kuyper: A Short and Personal Introduction

Abraham Kuyper Wisdom and Wonder

Geoff Hall The Cultural Way of Being

Ernst Conradie Creation and salvation: Dialogue on Abraham Kuyper's Legacy for Contemporary Ecotheology

Mike Goheen A Light to the Nations

Michael P. Schutt Redeeming Law [technically this was released in 2007 but I read it in 2011 so it makes the list - it's my blog and my rules :) ]

James K. A. Smith Letters to a Young Calvinist

Tom Nelson Work Matters [review to come shortly]

Anthony Tol Philosophy in the Making

Jonathan Chaplin Herman Dooyeweerd: Christian Philosopher of State and Civil Society

Robert A. Wauzzinski Ruth: The Story of God’s Unending Redemption

Best books of 2009
Best books of 2008

Pisteutics: Christianity/ies: Australian denomination Uniting Church thinker reflects on 'Unity in Diversity'

2011-12-24T13:40:00.003-05:00

PeterJBlackburn.net & his Diverse Papers page (no date, found December 24, 2011)

Confessing Christ

in a Pluralist Church

[with my interspersed responses along the way — Owlb]

It has become fashionable in recent times to talk about "unity in diversity". The theme is promoted in both Christian and secular circles.

Dr Mark A. Foster, of Johnson County Community College, Kansas, has set up a campaign for "unity in diversity" which he calls an "ethical principle". He says, "In a time when tolerance is frequently lacking, the promotion of unity in diversity could now be more relevant than ever… Rigid conceptions of right and wrong, which appeal to the most puritanical aspects of many cultures, lack an appreciation for what Ken Wilber referred to as a spectrum of consciousness. The diversity of strokes in a painting reflects a unity of thought in the mind of the artist. Could it be therefore," Foster concludes, "that diversity is ultimately an expression of unity?"1

We accept, of course, that within society there must be tolerance. Not only do we abhor racial intolerance and racial violence, but we do not believe there should be victimisation and violence against political and religious groups with whom we disagree. We are, after all, a multi-cultural society and therefore committed to a measure of acceptance of diversity. Indeed, we go beyond acceptance of diversity to a celebration of the richness that ethnic diversity has brought to our Australian nation.

The question that this situation raises periodically (most recently in Pauline Hansen’s One Nation Party) is – How much diversity is it possible to have and retain our unity as a nation? We want migrants to value their cultural heritage – so long as they all learn English! Ethnic restaurants have become popular, but Australian hygiene requirements must be maintained. In general, Australians are very welcoming, provided these newcomers understand that they must now live by the accepted practices and enacted laws of this country. If they fall foul of our law, they will not be able to plead, "but the laws of our home-land are different".

A thawt-experiment:
let's make a list of other distinctions on the paradigm in foregoing paragraph. - Owlb

The integrity of our nation depends on citizens, migrants and visitors accepting the restrictions of law – the limits on our diversity. Governments have to consider what level of conformity must be demanded so that society can function effectively. There are rebels in every society. The actions of some of them land them in jail. Australia would cease to exist as a viable nation if the level of compliance with the limits on diversity fell too low. Anarchy would prevail.2

But woudn't absolute conformity to "the limits on diversity" in Australian society 2012 dry up the imagination life in each of us, perhaps guilt also if one internalizes the ideology of conformity (faux patriotism is still possible, another matter that coud generate guilt) ? So, neither anarchy nor full conformity shoud reign as absolute values of a moral community, nor of one's own values in their individuality and community-conforming particualrity. — Owlb

Many of these principles from the practical workability of a nation and society apply equally well to the Christian Church. In recent times within the Uniting Church in Australia, the ideal of "inclusiveness" has gone hand-in-hand with "unity in diversity". We have, in effect, failed to celebrate Christ and acknowledge our diversity. Instead, we have celebrated our diversity and sought a "way forward together" when issues have become too difficult and relationships frayed.

When the Congregational, Methodist and Presbyterian Churches came together to form the Uniting Church in Australia on 22 June 1977, they declared "their readiness to go forward together in sole loyalty to Christ the living Head of the Church; they remain open to constant reform under his Word; and they seek a wider unity in the power of the Holy Spirit" (Basis of Union, 1). Quite clearly, they were expressing the conviction that the focus of our unity is our confession of Christ together according to the Scriptures.3 The only "way forward together" envisaged by the framers of the Basis (and therefore presumably by the churches uniting) was "in sole loyalty to Christ the living Head of the Church", being "open to constant reform under his Word" and (from and assuming this focal point) seeking "a wider unity in the power of the Holy Spirit".

Diversity in Unity

Our confession of Christ together according to the Scriptures is the centre-point of our unity. We should therefore be speaking about our "diversity in unity" rather than "unity in diversity". We are celebrating Christ – not our diversity or inclusiveness.

When the Interim Report on Sexuality came out in May 1996, a younger minister in his first parish told me he was uncertain about what his attitude to this document should be. His work prior to candidature and ordination had left him with no illusions about homosexuals and their behaviour, but, he confided, "we are supposed to be an inclusive Church." My reply was straightforward, "The question is whether we are going to be a Christian Church."

In other words, when we affirm that we will "go forward together in sole loyalty to Christ the living Head of the Church" and "remain open to constant reform under his Word," we are in fact acknowledging that there are limits to our diversity – limits to our inclusiveness. We have to be as wide in our welcome as Jesus was – and in our expectation of repentance and in our offer of the gospel of grace for all repentant sinners. All are included on the same basis.4

Arising from our central unity in Christ, and by the gracious gift of God through the Holy Spirit, there is diversity. Each one of us is different – our personalities, our dispositions, our abilities… Some of that is because this "new creature in Christ" still has elements of the "old" that have not yet "passed away" (cf. 2 Cor. 5.17) – elements that are a continuing struggle for us and a pain to others! But we are different in good positive ways too. Mature personalities in Christ are not meant to be identical. Society and the Church are both enriched by this diversity.

The same is true of spiritual experiences. The route by which Zacchaeus came to faith in Christ (Luke 19.1-10) was markedly different from the experience of Nicodemus (John 3). Not all who received the Lord’s forgiveness wept on his feet and poured expensive perfume over them (Luke 7.36ff). Central to these diverse experiences is Christ himself and their response to him. It is unwise to make a doctrine out of our spiritual experience – and tragic when we make our particular experience the hallmark of true discipleship and a condition of fellowship.

But equally unwise to assume all who wept had the money to pour expensive perfumes or wines over our Lord's feet. There are many ways to honour the Lord, and differences even in "the measure of faith" are integral to one Christian community in principle inclusive of all— Owlb

Likewise, there is diversity of spiritual gifts. Paul likens the church to a body (1 Cor. 12.; Eph. 4.1-16). The different parts of the human body have different attributes (gifts) which work together for the proper functioning of the body. So it is with the Body of Christ. Each member has received a spiritual gift. The different spiritual gifts contribute to complete the Body of Christ and the work God wants to do through us. A human body could not function if there was selfish pride and disharmony among the members. Each part, endowed with a different ability, coordinated and directed by the head, completes the working of the body. And in the Body of Christ each gift is important. If an individual fails to recognise and exercise the gifts God has given, the Body of Christ will be unable to function properly. The body is an excellent example of diversity in unity.

I like very much the distinction between 'spiritual experience' and 'spiritual gifts." There are some other nuances I coud contest or praise, but I want to see where this line of thawt is going. Onwards! — Owlb

The authenticity of our diversity – our personalities, our experiences, our gifts – is to be tested by the Scriptures as to whether it represents a faithful expression of our common confession of Christ and whether it tends towards the "unity of the Spirit" and the "building up of the Body" (Eph. 4.8-16). The diversity of which Paul writes constantly draws focus and meaning from the one Body which we are in Christ. Diversity is not good in itself. It is good when it flows from
our unity in Christ and builds us up in our ability to do the will of Christ in the society in which
we live. We need to be a "diversity in unity".

This diversity of gifts is recognised in the Basis (13), "The Uniting Church affirms that every member of the Church is engaged to confess the faith of Christ crucified [and risen! and ascended to the right hand of God the Father Almighty, and the Holy Spirit descended upon us, praise the Lord — Owlb] and to be his faithful servant. It acknowledges with thanksgiving that the one Spirit has endowed the members of Christ's Church with a diversity of gifts, and that there is no gift without its corresponding service: all ministries have a part in the ministry of Christ…." This paragraph rightly focuses the diversity of gifts and ministries on "the ministry of Christ."

With our "unity in diversity" model, however, we have moved the emphasis from "the ministry of Christ" (though we may still want to own the term). In practice, we have thought in terms of many different autonomous bodies which somehow manage to get along together, individually working, thinking, talking, espousing a number of different (and sometimes contradictory) causes, but – don’t you worry about that! – we acknowledge a common belonging or allegiance or cause which (hopefully) succeeds in binding us together.

Pluralism

The Uniting Church began in 1977 as a pluralist Church. Among ministers and people, there were folk whose persuasions were evangelical, charismatic, neo-orthodox, liberal, sacramental… These terms are used here, not as definitive descriptions, but broadly to acknowledge some of the diversity of the theological convictions we brought into Church Union.5 There was also a measure of overlap between these groupings. The worship styles in Uniting Church congregations around Australia varied from strictly liturgical to casual and informal – with everything in between.

This could work (though not without tensions) because we had a Basis of Union. This document was ambiguous enough for us all to be personally comfortable about working within its parameters. Some of us may have been hesitant about this ambiguity in our initial voting, yet came to see that it did provide a strong basis for our ministry. On the other hand, the document was clearly enough defined for us to have a reasonable measure of trust in one another in affirming together a trinitarian and christological faith.

Among us were widely divergent attitudes to the various forms of Biblical criticism and hermeneutics. Just who were the "faithful and scholarly interpreters" – radical* or conservative – whom we considered as having "reflected deeply upon, and acted trustingly in obedience to, God’s living Word" (Basis 11)? Did we, for instance, have a preference for F.F. Bruce or for Rudolph Bultmann? The Basis (5) says some rather strong things about the Scriptures ("the Biblical witnesses"). In them we "hear the Word of God", by them our "faith and obedience are nourished and regulated" and our message about Jesus Christ is "controlled by" them. In spite of diverse attitudes to the Scriptures, it was nevertheless broadly accepted by all that the Scriptures are authoritative for our doctrine, worship, life and witness.

[Leap of faith — Owlb]

Ministers, elders, deaconesses and lay preachers coming into the Uniting Church were expected to "adhere to the Basis of Union". This phrase was interpreted to mean "willingness to live and work within the faith and unity of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church as that way is described in this Basis. Such adherence allows for difference of opinion in matters which do not enter into the substance of the faith" (Basis 14). The Church has hesitated to define just what is meant by "the substance of the faith." Diversity within the "unity of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church" was expected and respected.

The Inaugural Assembly made a "Statement to the Nation" which affirmed "our eagerness to uphold basic Christian values and principles, such as the importance of every human being, the need for integrity in public life, the proclamation of truth and justice, the rights of each citizen to participate in decision-making in the community, religious liberty and personal dignity, and a concern for the welfare of the human race." The statement included an affirmation "that the first allegiance of Christians is God, under whose judgment the policies and actions of all nations must pass…" and a pledge "to hope and work for a nation whose goals are not guided by self-interest alone, but by concern for the welfare of all persons everywhere – the family of the One God – the God made known in Jesus of Nazareth the One who gave His life for others."6

We read and affirmed that statement. It was a reasonable and good way for a new Church to address the Australian nation. We read and understood it in the light of the Biblical heritage of the three uniting churches and our continued commitment to Christian mission in the Australian context.

A Major Shift

Twenty years later, that situation appears to have changed. The change, of course, has been becoming apparent over a period of time. It is just that present circumstances have made it clear that it has indeed arrived.

Questions were being asked about the continuing role and authority of the Basis of Union in the Uniting Church. We had been assured that it was an historical document and could never be changed.7 Most of us naively assumed that it would therefore continue to have both respect and authority in the life of the Uniting Church. Our preparation of candidates for confirmation and our training of Elders both assumed that this would be so. Others in the life of the Church apparently thought the document too restrictive. The Constitution, in fact, made no mention of the Basis. The matter was referred to a Task Group to report with recommendations to the Eighth Assembly in Perth (July 1997).

The Eighth Assembly in fact stepped back from adding to the Constitution statements which would have committed the Church to "determine, declare and interpret matters of doctrine, worship, government and discipline in accordance with clause 2 of this Constitution in such a way as to maintain consistency with the Basis of Union" (as proposed by the Synod of Victoria – emphasis mine). Assembly instead opted for the much softer addition of a new clause 2, "The Church, affirming that it belongs to the people of God on the way to the promised end, lives and works within the faith and unity of the one holy catholic and apostolic church, guided by its Basis of Union" (emphasis mine). No longer will ordinands be asked to "adhere to the Basis of Union", but rather to be "guided by" it. The deliberate choice not to give the Basis any authority that could be legally binding on the Church – the debate in Assembly was quite clear on this point – has in fact diminished what we affirm in common.

The major business of the Eighth Assembly included the final report of the Assembly Sexuality Task Group entitled Uniting Sexuality and Faith.8 The Interim Report on Sexuality9 did not reflect a Biblical understanding of sexual morality and was heavily biased toward a pro-homosexual viewpoint. Those who expressed initial alarm were told that the document had faithfully reflected responses received during the "Year of Listening". Assembly Standing Committee commissioned Peter Bentley to prepare an independent summary of responses to the IRS. This statistical report indicated that over 90% of respondents rejected the conclusions of the IRS. Assembly Standing Committee in early 1997 resolved that this document was to be "shredded" and a more "user-friendly" (less statistical) summary prepared.10 This second summary11 failed to mention the weight of caring and carefully-prepared responses against the IRS, instead briefly highlighting some that were harshly reactionary. In response to the question why the final report did not reflect the responses to the interim document, Assembly was told that the process had been inadequate and could not be said to have produced a true statistical sample.

In the debate in Assembly it became quickly clear that the issue did not centre on the Bible and hermeneutics, nor on the question of whether or not homosexual orientation might be genetic in origin, not even on issues like AIDS and health. The emphasis was solely on stories – "I have been nurtured in this church. I have an intimate relationship with another woman. Is the church going to affirm me and recognise my gifts?"12

The willingness to set aside the clear Biblical witness and the careful and prayerful reflection of 91% of the church’s membership was only halted because the UCA is strongly committed to the Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress and because we are a "multicultural" church with a significant number of ethnic congregations. These groups are not yet as culturally advanced (!) as we are and their relationship within the UCA would be strained if the debate had been taken further.13

Sadly, because of the manner in which the whole sexuality issue has been handled by the Assembly, a large measure of trust has now gone. We have shown ourselves to be a diversity held together at this point by the name "Uniting Church".14

How diverse…?

The urgent question we face in the Uniting Church is how diverse a church denomination may become in doctrine and practice and still maintain the "unity of the Spirit." Can the Uniting Church truly express "the unity of the Spirit" if in fact it ceases to order its affairs "in sole loyalty to Christ the living Head of the Church… open to constant reform under his Word"?15

Paul expressed the goal that "we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ" (Eph. 4.13 NIV). "The Uniting Church in Australia lives and works within the faith and unity of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church" (Basis 2). Can we truly be said to live and work within "the unity of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church" without living and working within "the faith of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church"?

Aside from the author's rhetorical decision to play the ' "become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ" (Eph. 4.13 NIV) ' " thematic, we must conceive that the Australian author, a cleric in the Uniting Church of Australia where he is a national spokesman for evangelicals in the UCA, the author doesn't regard the mentally-challenged (for instance, brilliant idiot savants and persons with certain psychoses that make them obsessive of certain kind/s of knowledge but with mostly normal psychic freedom in other settings or relations of life). There's a TV show that thrives on the adult idiot-savant-like character who is a professional police detective. Foibles galore! he makes his way to successful arrests of real-thing criminals in each episode, to our entertainment. There's also Dustin Hoffman as the idiot-savant character in Rain Man (1988: IMDb), co-starring Tom Cruise as the brother, a normal like most of you and me. — Owlb

As expressed earlier, the issue is not inclusiveness, but whether in fact we are Christian. Paul wrote, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Gal. 2.28). In recent times we have heard this verse quoted with the addition of "heterosexual nor homosexual". But Paul was not focusing on inclusiveness, but on the grace of God in Christ for each of us. No one was accepted because of diversity. All had become "one" solely because of the grace of God in Christ – grace received in repentance and faith.

The Uniting Church has reached a crisis point. The three Ex-Presidents have been charged to find a way forward with the unresolved sexuality business. Their response is unlikely to be satisfactory because it will want to continue to "accept" everyone currently in membership and therefore cannot deal with the deeper issues of our relation to "the faith and unity of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church".

Confessing Movements

The 1934 Barmen Declaration16 was drafted by Reformed theologian Karl Barth and Lutheran theologian Hans Asmussen. Hitler had signed a concordat with the Pope in 1933, supposedly guaranteeing freedom to practise the Catholic faith. About the same time the "German Christians" movement arose among Protestants aimed at close ties with the Nazis. This movement worked to unify the twenty-eight regional Protestant bodies under a single bishop, Ludwig Müller, who was a fervent Nazi. They also introduced the Führer principle into church government and adopted the "Aryan paragraph" to expel Jewish Christians from church positions.17

The Barmen Declaration represented the response of many Christians in Germany – from a variety of theological persuasions – to this encroachment of Nazi ideology on the Church’s confession of Christ. Its adoption at Barmen hailed the emergence of the "Confessing Church" in Germany.

This declaration was very direct. Each of its six parts has a confession of Biblical truth and a rejection of false doctrine. Here are the positive affirmations:

"Jesus Christ, as he is attested to us in Holy Scripture, is the one Word of God whom we have to hear, and whom we have to trust and obey in life and in death."18

[Too cut off from Creation, there's no speech from nature, or history (that we must screen in order to perceive at all, so be it). Thus nothing we have learned in the unfolding of time that has corrected, for instance, the form of marriage that entailed parents choosing parent for the obtaining the precious commodity of the other parents, namely, their son or dawter (this was a customary choice made over time by a clan Is the son bawt? Is the dawter bawt? Which is the most desirable offspring for our dawter? Son? Whose desire? The parents, until the idea of romantic love arose in Western Europe's Christendom (with some Arabic overtones) and then subsequently became customary, in the works of many poets, dramatists, painters, sculptors, film directors, parried-and-thrust as in the works of Christian Anglican poet, "the theologian of romantic love," Charles Williams, applying Dooyeweerd's words in the same time-period (con•see•quent, in the full Vollenhovian sense), I think of Charles Williams in the whole corpus of his work in several literary genres as marking distinctively (tho not the first) what Dooyeweerd regards as the full flowering (effoliation) of the most normative form of the societal sphere of marriage (and before it courtship) in the fully mature form to which it attained in the history of "family"

and "marriage" in Western civilization. — Owlb

"As Jesus Christ is God’s comforting pronouncement of the forgiveness of all our sins, so, with equal seriousness, he is also God’s vigorous announcement of his claim upon our whole life. Through him there comes to us joyful liberation from the godless ties of this world for free, grateful service to his creatures."

Author sets up dichotomy between "this world" and "free grateful service to his creatures." If all the implied nuances are worked out logical from the UCA formulation, I wonder if I woud like the results. —Owlb

"The Christian Church is the community of brethren in which, in Word and sacrament, through the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ acts in the present as Lord. With both its faith and its obedience, with both its message and its order, it has to testify in the midst of the sinful world, as the Church of pardoned sinners, that it belongs to him alone and lives and may live by his comfort and under his direction alone, in expectation of his appearing."

[This was Abraham Kuyper's viewpoint sufficient to make contact at this precise point (in the Australian author's discourse). — Owlb]

"The various offices in the Church do not provide a basis for some to exercise authority over others but for the ministry [lit., ‘service’] with which the whole community has been entrusted and charged to be carried out."

]The service which the whole community assembled in this institutionalized sphere of the church and its denominational societal entities and agencies are appropriately active — the classical definition of church offices distinguishes minister of word and sacrament as teaching elder,

the ruling elders who are not ordained to the above, but are, for instance, responsible to visit parts of a congregational subgroup for official church visiting to each of its members in all parts of the city or area, a group who perhaps live in a particular population-zone where an elder is resident (an arrangement which encourages elders-visiting districts in the church duties worked out in congregational law, a kind of Constitution of offices and responsibilities of the Executive Committee of the Church, which is the body of elected ruling elders who are elected by the laity (the voters holding each one's own membership.

And, because in contrast, the Church is actually the assemblage of Christ-principled people wherever they work in society as Christians who are work-principles-responsible people in their places of work, in their professional organization memberships, and active in community with other Christians who are seeking the inner-reformation of the work-relations from, say, ClassWarfare above ground or secretly in the corporation, vs. a familyOwnershp-type firm (incoporated or not, determining control, succession and inheritors and transition to a family partnership [special case of Dupont, Inc, where the company based in US State of Delaware had an ownership-inheritor stock-inheriting owners system of over 400 stockholders who were accredited family members and inheritors), from the foregoing kind of militant unionism,

To a mutual forum for ownership/management in constant dialogue at a given nexus, with a multi-union business employer and the duly-elected union/s whose membership votes for that particular unions' representation on the mutual forum. If you don't see the

whatever the industry or industrial sector of the (national economy) — Owlb]

The author continues:

"Scripture tells us that by divine appointment the State, in this still unredeemed world in which also the Church is situated, has the task of maintaining justice and peace, so far as human discernment and human ability make this possible, by means of the threat and use of force. The Church acknowledges with gratitude and reverence toward God the benefit of this, his appointment. It draws attention to God’s Dominion [Reich], God’s commandment and justice, and with these the responsibility of those who rule and those who are ruled. It trusts and obeys the power of the Word, by which God upholds all things."

"The Church’s commission, which is the foundation of its freedom, consists in this: in Christ’s stead, and so in the service of his own Word and work, to deliver all people, through preaching and sacrament, the message of the free grace of God."

The declaration concludes with the statement, "The Confessing Synod of the German Evangelical Church declares that it sees in the acknowledgment of these truths and in the rejection of these errors the indispensable theological basis of the German Evangelical Church as a confederation of Confessing Churches…"

The Confessing Churches in Germany did not seek to become a new denomination, but simply "a body to defend the orthodox Christian faith against innovations."19

In more recent times Confessing Movements have arisen in the United Methodist Church (USA) and in the Methodist Church (UK). The parallel confessing statements20 express the common concern, "The Methodist denomination is now incapable of confessing the orthodox Trinitarian faith with one voice of integrity, particularly Jesus Christ as the Word become flesh, true God of true God, Son of God, Saviour of the world, and the Lord of His Church.

And King of Creation "by Whom all things that are made were made, and without Him nothing was made ..."
Whilst giving assent to Jesus Christ as Lord, our denomination tolerates opinions that ‘strike at the root of Christianity’ (John Wesley). Our Church suffers from private versions of the faith that do not find their root in Scripture."

Like the Barmen Declaration, each of the three sections – confessing Jesus Christ as Son, Saviour and Lord – includes both affirmation and repudiation. While the United Methodist Church has been under strong pressure from a homosexual lobby (as has the Uniting Church in Australia), the statement focuses on the centrality of Christ.

"We confess, in accordance with Holy Scripture and with the Holy Spirit's help, that Jesus Christ is the one and only Son of God. Confession of Jesus as the Son is essential, not a matter of personal opinion. It is a matter of revelation, which was given to Peter and to the Church by God whom Jesus called Father. With Peter and the other Apostles, we confess that Jesus is the Christ. We confess with John and the other Apostles that in Jesus of Nazareth, the Word made flesh, the eternal Son of God has come into the world to make known the fullness of God’s glory in grace and truth (John I). Therefore we confess, in continuity with the apostolic witness of the Church, that Jesus Christ is ‘true God from true God’ (the Nicene Creed), the Second Person of the Holy Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit."

The original creed from the Council Nicaea concluded with a number of anathemas that made it quite clear that the heresy of Arius was excluded.21 The later Nicaeno-Constanipolitan Creed (which we call the Nicene) omitted the anathemas but nevertheless expressed clearly (and continues to do so) most of the false teachings about the Person of Christ. The present statement specifically rejects more recent theological claims that would reject the whole concept of the Incarnation, that find offence in the maleness of Jesus and that express the view that it is possible to know God fully apart from Jesus Christ. Some of the statements from our own Working Group on Relations with Other Faiths tend to deny the uniqueness and divinity of Jesus.

"We confess, in accordance with Holy Scripture and with the Holy Spirit’s help, that Jesus Christ is the one and only Saviour of the world. In him, we see not only the fullness and the glory of God, but also the model and power for our own freedom from the bondage of sin and death (Heb. 2:14-18). Through his obedient life, teaching, and ministry, his death on the cross for the sins of the world, and his bodily resurrection, he is the Saviour of the world. God through Jesus Christ conquers sin and death, brings salvation to this rebellious world, and reconciles ‘the world to himself’ (2 Cor. 5:18-21)."

If our teaching about Christ is truly "controlled by the Biblical witnesses", it is impossible and unthinkable to escape the uniqueness and importance of the Christian way of salvation – and the centrality of "Christ crucified" in Christian preaching. This has too often been compromised. Indeed, we seem to prefer to speak about "acceptance" rather than "salvation", about "affirmation" rather than "forgiveness". "Grace" has come to mean "niceness" rather [than] a gift flowing from costly sacrifice.

Hold on! Hold on! there, a minute. As noted already at the mention of "Christ crucified" rather than Christ risen! and ascended to sit at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth, who thru Christ created the Creation and thru Christ His Son earned my salvation to fullfill all the stipulations of His requirements for public justice, that's how I see the soteriology in relation to the Creator / creature, where "/" equals for some reformational philosophical thinkers as "law-order" that norms the creation in its history and destiny. — Owlb

"We confess, in accordance with Holy Scripture and with the Holy Spirit's help, that Jesus Christ is the one and only Lord of creation and history. In the midst of many competing voices, the Church seeks to hear, trust, and obey Jesus the Lord and his commandments (1 Cor. 8:5,6). True authority in the Church derives from, and furthers obedience to this Lord. True authority in the Church holds the community accountable to this Lord, especially when teachings and practices arise that undermine or deny his Lordship."

Here our intrepid thinker seeks to make an ethics of commandments and self-crucifixion normative within the Church, therefore, I'm guessing, establishing a non-inclusive soceital sphere out othe church. — Owlb

We identify with the U[nited] M[ethodist] Church in regard to "MISUSE" of "principles of inclusiveness and tolerance to distort the doctrine and discipline of the Church." The replacement of Biblical morality with ethical relativism is occurring progressively. The "Lordship" of Jesus Christ is rejected, not principally because the word is said to have "male" overtones but because we repudiate submission of any type.

But the 'Biblical morality' turns out to be an ideological biblistic piety and practice — namely, Biblicism — where everything dry-rots into propositionalism, moralism, and legalism; while the ethical relativism of the naturalists (cf. Alvin Plantiga's dismemberment of that ruse), libertines (who take libertarian anarchy to the extremes of individualism, and sexual libertinism in morals),
and power-trippers (dominance, sometimes accompanied by sado-masochist role reversals in visits to dominatrices). Did you see that extension of thawt coming? Why not? — Owlb

The issue of "experimenting with pagan ritual and practice" may seem far removed from us at the moment. However, once the belief in any final revelation of God has been rejected for whatever reason, we begin to hear liturgies representing doubtful or false theology. Some of us note that much of the liturgy offered in our church councils is lacking in essential trinitarian substance or understanding – even though it may refer to Creator/God, Jesus and the Spirit. However, since the Uniting Network 22 is having its Daring 98 Conference with the theme "Re-Imagining Love", it may be important for us to be informed about the "Re-Imagining God" conference in Minneapolis in November 1993. This conference was part of the WCC’s Decade of Churches in Solidarity with Women and was well supported with over 2000 participants from 27 countries, 49 states and 15 denominations. The content of the conference evidently included "direct attacks on traditional Christian doctrine and the celebration of homosexuality, overt paganism, witchcraft and New Age/Occult ritual".23

In October 1997 the New Zealand Methodist Conference received into full connexion a practising homosexual.24 An initial pastoral letter from leaders of the evangelical-charismatic group AFFIRM states, "Shortly after Conference, leaders from Methodist AFFIRM, Sinoti Samoa, the Tongan and Fiji Advisory Committees, as well as the Evangelical Network Caucus, met together. Because of the similarity of our concerns as five individual groups we decided to work together under an umbrella group which has been called the Wesleyan Methodist Movement. This group has no official standing in the Church but allows us to present a united voice. We hope the group will be able to provide support for those feeling disenfranchised by the Church’s decision."25

At this stage the Wesleyan Methodist Movement in New Zealand has not adopted any equivalent of a confessing document. Instead, they indicate they would embrace the "Wesleyan Essentials of Christian Faith" adopted by the World Methodist Council in Rio de Janeiro, August 7-15 1996.26

The Call to

Confess Christ in the Uniting Church

The Church is intended to be a "diversity in unity", as Paul so clearly taught. We can only be that when, at the heart of our being, we confess Christ together according to the Scriptures.

[The author immediately sets out to place a straitjacket on the discussions. — Owlb]

[What if a discussion-partner is not up to snuff (whose snuff? what aroma?) on the "according to the Scriptures" tag? — Owlb]

The Uniting Church is coming perilously close to breaking-point. We say we will be "guided by" our Basis of Union but not legally bound by it. On the one hand we "acknowledge the authority of the Scriptures", but then make statements that "For Christians the central interpretative framework is Jesus Christ, the Word of God. The church recognises as authoritative only the Word, not the words of the Bible…"27 But our christological understanding is deficient. Some feminist theologians have described the Incarnation as the greatest divine insult possible. We have, not only the liberal weakening of the divine Sonship of Christ to his being our "elder brother", but a rejection of both the divinity and humanity of Christ. Then, as mentioned earlier, our doctrine of the Trinity is seriously weakened as reflected regularly in our liturgy.

This National Evangelical Summit needs to explore and address the ways in which we need to confess Christ in our pluralist Church. The time has come, as a matter of urgency, for us to prepare and declare our own "confessing statement" – for our own integrity and the recall of our Church to its orthodox roots.

The time has also come for those of us who share this confession and concern (whatever differences of emphasis or outlook we may have) to covenant together:

·	to develop strategies that will promote the recall of our Church to its orthodox roots,

·	to maintain a network of information,

·	to give support to one another’s activities and programmes wherever that is possible, and

·	to work together from time to time in sponsoring conferences and international speakers.

We need also to get away from the "sacredness" of our own organisations – which God has undoubtedly raised up and used over a period of time. Do they best express the way in which we need to confess Christ at the present time? It is, after all, his truth, his grace and his glory that we seek to express and affirm. Is there some structural way in which we may better fulfil his will?

We desire that the whole Uniting Church be again able to confess Christ together according to the Scriptures. Meanwhile, let us affirm one another and covenant together in Christian love to express our own diversity within the unity of our confession of Christ.

End Notes:

1 http://www.johnco.cc.ks.us/~mfoster/crimson.html. Ken Wilber writes from the standpoint of transpersonal psychology. "The point is simply that the interior dimensions of the human being seem to be composed of a spectrum of consciousness, running from sensation to perception to impulse to image to symbol to concept to rule to formal to vision-logic to psychic to subtle to causal to non-dual states. In simplified form, this spectrum, appears to range from subconscious to self-conscious to superconscious; from prepersonal to personal to transpersonal; from instinctual to mental to spiritual; from performal to formal to postformal; from instinct to ego to God." (Ken Wilber, An Integral Theory of Consciousness, http://www.zynet.co.uk/imprint/Wilber.htm). His approach appears strongly influenced by Zen Buddhism.2 A week ago the Constitutional Convention ended in Canberra following a fortnight of debate on what propositions on a republic should be put to the Australian people in a referendum. From time to time there has been reference to the "McGarvie model" – which is not the finally recommended model. It is interesting that Richard McGarvie's major concern is that, whatever the final outcome, we need to end up with constitutional stability. In July 1997 he commented, "Unresolved constitutional dispute erodes the consensual acceptance of the constitutional system as the natural way of resolving political differences… Australians will not vote themselves into a position which may have grave dangers for our democracy or the validity of our constitutional system. Many who would vote for a republic if the model and method of constitutional amendment were both clearly safe, would vote against it… If a great majority favoured the general principle of a republic but a referendum failed because of the flawed model, their faith in the ability of our democracy to reflect public preference would be severely damaged." Maintaining our Democracy in Monarchy or Republic(http://www.chilli.net.au/~mcgarvie/maintain_democracy.html).3 Recently in the life (and debates) of the UCA, there has been a tendency to avoid the enscripturated Word. It is insisted that the "Word" is Christ. In this first paragraph of the Basis, there can be little question that the Scripture itself is in mind.4 In Rom. 3.22-26 Paul makes it quite clear that, since all alike are sinners, "the righteousness of God" (justification) in only possible for any of us by the act of God's grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.5 We have an unfortunate tendency to categorise people – and then fail to listen to them. There are others who object to the "claiming" of some terms because they want to consider themselves as "evangelical", "charismatic", "liberal"… without some of the associations of these terms. I fully acknowledge this problem. I am using these terms as commonly understood, rather than in their lexical sense.6 A full copy of this statement is available at http://assembly.org.au/documents/statement1977.htm.7 Minimal revisions were in fact made in 1992 to make the document more gender-inclusive. This 1992 edition is available at http://assembly.uca.org.au/documents/basis_of_union.htm.8 Assembly Task Group on Sexuality, Uniting Sexuality and Faith (Melbourne: Uniting Church Press, April 1997).9 Assembly Task Group on Sexuality, Interim Report on Sexuality (Melbourne: Uniting Church Press, 1996),10 Fortunately (and to the embarrassed surprise of Alistair Macrae, the chairperson of the ASTG at Assembly), the document had not been shredded and copies were made available to Assembly members who requested them.11 Report on the Responses to the Interim Report on Sexuality (Sydney: Uniting Church National Assembly, April 1997), prepared by Assembly Media Officer, Ruth Sandiford Phelan.12 Immediately after Assembly, I communicated to the General Secretary, Gregor Henderson, my reflections on the process in Assembly and drew attention to the obvious assumption of the pro-homosexual lobby that homosexual orientation implied the right to practise. They were obviously going to lean heavily on earlier resolutions which in fact assumed that there was a distinction between orientation and practice. His reply indicated awareness that they had shifted the ground, but that he himself "did not necessarily agree with them".13 The statements made are a shocking example of spiritual arrogance. The issue is not cultural progress or appropriateness, but spiritual regression in western society which we have allowed to seep into the Church.14 Unfortunately, yet understandably, a number of individuals and congregations (including some of our largest) have left the Uniting Church. They have felt themselves no longer able to trust either the church establishment or the on-going consultation process.15 I am, of course, presuming on an acceptance of Scriptural authority here. If we are to be "guided by" the Basis, we must accord the Scriptures some residual authority. We must not use "fine" words about Christ being the only Word of God and that we are "guided by the Spirit" to lead us to conclusions which are far removed from the word of Scripture!16 A copy of the Barmen Declaration is available at http://www.ucc.org/believe/barmen.htm.17 For a simple and clear description of the dynamics of this period, see Bruce Shelley, Church History in Plain Language (Waco: Word, 1982), pp. 443-444.18 It is noteworthy that Jesus Christ is affirmed as "the one Word of God" "as he is attested to us in Holy Scripture." This statement – and the use of Scriptural texts at the head of each section reinforce the strong authority accorded to the Scriptures.19 Bruce Shelley, op. cit., p. 443.20 http://members.iquest.new/~confessingumc/statement.html. The statement of the Confessing Movement in the Methodist Church in the United Kingdom is almost identical.21 Henry Bettenson, Documents of the Christian Church (O.U.P.: London, 1959), pp. 35-36.22 The full name is Uniting Network for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender concerns within the Uniting Church in Australia.23 Craig Branch http://www.watchman.org/reimagin.htm. Other comments on the conference are inChristianity Today, 4 April 1994 and November 1994 issues. A number of other Internet references are no longer available. Presbyterian minister, Parker Wilkinson, was reported by Washington Post as saying that some of the significant conference themes were "antithetical to the Christian faith, seismic shifts in theology, implying that since God is a product of one's imagination to begin with, so He can thus be re-imagined" ("Re-imagining Foments Uproar among Presbyterians", 4 June 1994, p. C07).24 Rev. Dr David Bromell, superintendent minister of Christchurch Methodist Mission in New Zealand and one of the major speakers at the Daring 98 conference.25 From Pastoral letter for Connexional Mail by Andrea Williamson and Bryan White of Methodist AFFIRM, drafted Sunday 7/12/97 (http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~brycom/maffirm/pastoral971207.html).

========================================================================================

Pisteutics:Multi-faith party: Celebrations for 18 years every weekend in December

2011-12-23T07:33:00.000-05:00

-
-

-

Israeli city of Haifa 'throws a multi-faith party
on December weekends. Now in its 18th year.'

Haifa's Holiday of Holidays festival embraces differences

Haifa, Israel (ENInews)--Both Christmas lights and Hanukkah dreidels (spinning tops) are appearing as decorations as the northern Israeli port city of Haifa throws a multi-faith party on December weekends. Now in its 18th year, the Holiday of Holidays -- which also includes the recently-celebrated Muslim Eid al-Adha -- is meant "to share the differences and honor them," said Assaf Ron, director of the Beit Hageffen Jewish-Arab Center which organizes the festival along with the Haifa municipality. "We want to show Jews, Christians, and Muslims that we can celebrate our holidays together, we can be together in a big open venue, mix together, and not feel strange or fearful," Ron said.

— Ecumenical News International

Today, the Magi would have a tough time finding frankincense

(ENInews)--The world may still have gold and myrrh, but it's quite possible that frankincense could become a thing of the past, given ecological pressures on the arid lands where it grows in Ethiopia. The storied resin -- known to millions as one of the three gifts of the Magi, the wise men who visited Jesus after his birth -- is made from gum produced by the boswellia papyrifera tree. It is used as incense in religious rituals in many cultures, as well as an ingredient in perfume and Chinese traditional medicine, reports USA Today via Religion News Service. Dutch and Ethiopian researchers studying populations of the scraggly, scrublike trees in northern Ethiopia found that as many as 7 percent of the trees are dying each year, and seedlings are not surviving into saplings.

— Ecumenical News International

Academia: Prof of Pedagogy: Teach all sides of the controversy between Creation and Evolution

2011-12-23T04:09:00.000-05:00

Evolution News (IntelligentDesign-motivated) December 16, 2k11)

Emory University Professor of Pedagogy

Endorses Teaching the Evolution Controversy

Casey Luskin December 16, 2011 9:30 AM | Permalink

An op-ed on CNN.com by Arri Eisen, professor of pedagogy at Emory University's Center for Ethics, Department of Biology, and Graduate Institute of the Liberal Arts, endorses teaching the controversy over evolution in public schools. Under the title "The case for including ethics, religion in science class," he writes:

High school educators in Wisconsin showed that students who read original texts from Darwin and intelligent-design scholars, and discussing those texts, critically learned evolution better (without rejection of other worldviews) than those taught it in the traditional didactic manner. Teaching potentially controversial science can work if done in an interactive, engaging fashion and in a rich historical and societal context.
(Arri Eisen, "The case for including ethics, religion in science class," CNN.com (December 15, 2011).)

This is what we have been saying for years. In fact, the big secret of the debate over teaching evolution is that leading science education authorities agree that students learn the science best when they learn about scientific disagreements and are allowed to study scientific topics through critical analysis. Many other science education authorities agree.

In 2000 the National Research Council published a guidebook for teachers, Inquiry and the National Science Education Standards (NSES), which explains:

Inquiry is a multifaceted activity that involves making observations; posing questions; examining books and other sources of information to see what is already known; planning investigations; reviewing what is already known in light of experimental evidence; using tools to gather, analyze, and interpret data; proposing answers, explanations, and predictions; and communicating the results. Inquiry requires identification of assumptions, use of critical and logical thinking, and consideration of alternative explanations.

In 2001, the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) and American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) co-published the Atlas of Scientific Literacy, which emphasizes that students should "[i]nsist that the critical assumptions behind any line of reasoning be made explicit so that the validity of the position being taken -- whether one's own or that of others -- can be judged." The Atlas further suggests that students "[n]otice and criticize the reasoning in arguments in which fact and opinion are intermingled or the conclusions do not logically follow from the evidence given."

Likewise, in 2009 the College Board, which issues the SAT exam and Advanced Placement course curricula, released recommended science education standards that strongly emphasize the importance of inquiry-based science learning:

In the course of learning to construct testable explanations and predictions, students will have opportunities to identify assumptions, to use critical thinking, to engage in problem solving, to determine what constitutes evidence, and to consider alternative explanations of observations.

The standards go on to recommend that "[b]oth the evidence that supports the claim and the evidence that refutes the claim should be accounted for in the explanation. Alternative explanations should also be taken into consideration."

In 2010, we reported on an article in Science titled "Arguing to Learn in Science: The Role of Collaborative, Critical Discourse," in which education theorist Jonathan Osborne explains the importance of using debate, argument, and critique when teaching science. According to Osborne, there are "a number of classroom-based studies, all of which show improvements in conceptual learning when students engage in argumentation."

In Osborne's view, "Critique is not, therefore, some peripheral feature of science, but rather it is core to its practice, and without argument and evaluation, the construction of reliable knowledge would be impossible" (emphasis added). He cites work from sociology, philosophy, and science education showing that students best understand scientific concepts when learning "to discriminate between evidence that supports (inclusive) or does not support (exclusive) or that is simply indeterminate" (emphasis added).

Arri Eisen closes his CNN.com article by saying something else we've been saying for a long time:

Clearly, there are a multitude of reasons for America's polarized politics and decreasing science literacy and innovation that go beyond just teaching science better. But sometimes a little creative wrestling with and engagement in systems and programs that already exist can make a difference.

Again, this is exactly right.

Leading scholars on various sides of this debate agree that science education is in crisis. In 2001, the U.S. Commission on National Security/21st Century predicted that "[s]econd only to a weapon of mass destruction detonating in an American city, we can think of nothing more dangerous than a failure to manage properly science, technology, and education for the common good over the next quarter century."

If there are problems with science education, then obviously they must be linked to the status quo. In this regard, for decades the Evolution Lobby has had near-complete control over science education and has successfully pushed the one-sided teaching of neo-Darwinism in virtually all U.S. public schools.

Given the current state of American science education, obviously something about their approach isn't working. Why not try something different? Allowing students to weigh the both the pros and cons of modern evolutionary theory would work towards solving those problems. Teaching students the evidence for and against Darwinian evolution would both improve critical thinking skills and increase student interest in science. And whether they ultimately agree or disagree with Darwinian theory, they will understand it better. No matter how you slice it, this inconvenient truth stands: teaching the controversy over Darwinian evolution can only improve scientific literacy.

Let's close by taking a little inventory. Who supports teaching the controversy over evolution?

U.S. Supreme Court? Check.
U.S. Congress? Check.
American voting public? Check.
Self-identified liberals, Democrats, and college graduates? Check.
Leading science education theorists? Check.
Hundreds of credible Ph.D. scientists? Check.
Charles Darwin himself? Check.

Many of these groups undoubtedly include evolutionists. Thus, another oft-forgotten secret of this debate is that you don't have to agree with a view to support its being taught in public schools. Just as ID proponents support teaching the evidence for Darwinian evolution in schools, there are some evolutionists who understand the importance of teaching students both sides of the scientific debate over evolution.

But not all evolutionists feel this way. Despite all of the authorities who stand in their way, certain elite elements in the mainstream media, academia, and the scientific community, who together form the Evolution Lobby, oppose teaching any science that challenges neo-Darwinian evolution in public schools.

The chart below explains how one of the most basic differences between the Evolution Lobby and ID proponents is that we are comfortable with students learning about views we disagree with, and they aren't:

Elite Evolution Lobbyists praise inquiry-based science education but jettison that fruitful educational philosophy when it comes to teaching evolution. Critical thinking, skepticism, and consideration of alternative explanations are thrown out the window. In the process, Evolution Lobbyists throw away one of the most promising solutions to the problems facing science education: teach the controversy over evolution.

Pisteutics: Government restrictions: Hungary's Constitutional Court rescues freedom of religion in the country

2011-12-23T03:42:00.000-05:00

Warsaw, Poland — Hungary's Constitutional Court has annulled a new law that would have withdrawn legal recognition from all but a handful of the country's registered religious associations. However, a church commentator warned that the ruling was "just a technical delay," and predicted the law would still be enforced from the start of 2012. "Several petitions were received from individuals, legal entities, and churches, citing the unconstitutional nature of the whole law or certain provisions," the Court said in a statement accompanying its detailed 15,000-word 19 December ruling.

— Ecumenical News International (ENInews)

Pisteutics: Christmas Observance: Denver Indian Center transformed 'to share a Christmas Pagaest'

2011-12-23T01:38:00.000-05:00

The Banner (December 16,2k11)

Denver Indian Center

offers new look

at Christmas

by Sarah Boonstra

Dec 16, 2011 — In early December, a group of about 150 Native Americans and non-Natives gathered in Denver, Colo., to share a Christmas pageant. But there was no singing of “Silent Night” or passing of a candle. Instead the group chose to share the story of Christ’s birth in their own way.

A Christmas pageant at the Christian Indian Center.

“We asked the question ‘What if missionaries told us [Native Americans] about Christ and then just left it at that. How would we share that with our own people?’” said Richard Silversmith, elder of the Christian Indian Center (CIC), a Christian Reformed ministry in Denver. “The answer would be through song, dance, and chants.”
According to Silversmith, only 8 percent of American Indians consider themselves Christians. In response, the CIC sought to communicate the story of Christ’s birth using Navajo and southwest Indian influences.
“We took out the Western worldview and the dualistic worldview and made it more so the physical and spiritual are one,” Silversmith said.
The result was a Christmas pageant complete with a manger scene, Joseph, Mary, and baby Jesus, told through Scripture reading, song, dance, and chants.
“We’re not using any of the sacred song or dances. This is totally innovative, brand new stuff,” stated Silversmith. “We’re borrowing from different tribes to display how our people would bring the story of Christmas to Native Americans.”
“We wanted our audience to know it’s OK to worship Jesus culturally,” said Silversmith. He felt that some youth, who had previously felt confused living in two worlds, felt relevant participating. “They found out that they can be a Christian and a Native American,” he said.

Pisteutics: Religions Demographics: Christianity/iest largest population, Islam second

2011-12-21T14:29:00.000-05:00

Booker Rising (Shay Riley)

20 Dec 2011 11:14

A church in Kenya

From the Associated Press (hat tip: Carol M. Swain): "The Christian population has shifted dramatically over the last century away from Europe to Africa, Asia and the Americas, yet Christians overall remain the largest religious group in the world, according to a new analysis released Monday. Europe is home to about one-quarter of the world's Christians, compared to two-thirds a century ago, according to the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life. About one-quarter of the global Christian population can now be found in sub-Saharan Africa, while 37 percent live in the Americas and 13 percent reside in the Asia-Pacific region."

The article continues: "Brazil has twice as many Roman Catholics as Italy, while Nigeria has more than twice as many Protestants as Germany, where the Protestant Reformation began, the study's authors said. Despite these changes, Christians are still the world's largest faith group, with nearly 2.2 billion adherents. Muslims comprise the second-largest group, with about 1.6 billion people, or slightly less than a quarter of the global population, the study's authors said."

More about the demographic shift: "The shifting Christian population has been a major concern of church leaders, as they try to build stronger ties with fellow believers across geographical boundaries and reconcile differing views of the Bible. As just one example, mainline Protestants in the developing world tend to be more theologically conservative than church members in the United States and Western Europe. The tensions have been most visible in the global Anglican Communion since 2003, when the Episcopal Church, which is the Anglican body in the United States, elected the first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire. The 77-million-member fellowship has been fracturing ever since. Pew researchers concluded that the Christian population is so widely distributed that no specific region can claim to be the center of the faith."

refWrite...page2

Disaster: Fiji flood Jan23: Christian agencies assist flood victims of tiny Pacific country of islands

After Fiji flood,

churches, Christian agencies help thousands

Pisteutics: USA / Philippines Christianity/ies: Some notes for today on Christian community development from early Church

Pisteutics and Politics: Philippines: Churches set aside differences to face national political crisis together as Christians united

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PisteuticsHaiti: Voodoo/s and Christianity/ies: Wave of conversions

Haitians turning to Christ,

abandoning Voodoo practices

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Two years after a devastating earthquake killed an estimated 300,000 people in Haiti, Christianity is fast replacing Voodoo in the lives and practices of the people, a missionary has revealed.

Displacement of Jews theory by award winner Palestinian Lutheran is slammed by B'nai B'rith

Science/s: Living Fossils: Rock-like structures in Australia built by blue-green microbes

Living fossils of Shark Bay, Western Australia

——————————————

Nature of Shark Bay (January27,2k12)

——————————————

Shark Bay’s Aboriginal Heritage

Aboriginal occupation of Shark Bay

Aboriginal languages of Shark Bay

rW2, refWrite's page 2 is joining a blog network, Hat Tip to Rick Pearcey

Pisteutics: Christianity/ies // Hinduism/s: Reformed philosopher of religion converts to Vaishnava Hinduism

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converts to Vaishnava Vedanta

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