[Peace-discuss] RE: The Christmas He Dreamed for All of Us

[C. G. Estabrook]

"John said, 'Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your
name, and we tried to stop him, because he does not follow
with us.'  But Jesus said to him, 'Do not stop him; for
whoever is not against you is for you.'" (Luke 9.49-50)

Given that there's a lot of demon-casting to be done, it seems
to me that we, Xns and non-Xns alike, should follow this bit
of dominical advice.  --CGE


---- Original message ----
>Date: Thu, 29 Dec 2005 16:16:09 -0600
>From: "Paul M. King" <pmking at uiuc.edu>  
>Subject: [Peace-discuss] RE: The Christmas He Dreamed for All
of Us   
>To: Peace-discuss <peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net>
>
>> you choose to brand me a fanatic, worthy of rejection,
>> and if your views are similar to those of other AWARE 
>> members, it explains a lot.
>
>You're right, Phil. Janine said it nicely: "To me, it's not
>about compromise but alignment on a couple key points for a
>greater cause." Debate about core beliefs and identities is
>fruitless and rejection is foolish. It's better to work
>together contentiously than isolate ourselves in peaceful
>ignorance.
>
>Also, I'm sorry if I've inadvertently branded any Christians
>on this listserv as fanatic. However, I and many others feel
>branded as unregenerate sinners by Christendom and I don't
>like it. It's presumptive, arrogant, dismissive and wrong.
>Most importantly, it separates me from you.
>
>> On the issue of materialism, would you agree that
>> rejecting fundamentalists reduces the social justice
>> movement to a humanist position?  If God is removed
>> from the equation, doesn’t that just leave humanistic
>> reasons for supporting social justice?
>
>Phil, I have a question for you. I'm reborn but I reject Jesus
>as my savior. How do you reconcile this?
>
>I think most people in the social justice movement are
>spiritually mature. I can feel it when I'm with them. You do
>too, don't you, Phil? We are brethren with an unspoken and
>holy bond to one another. Many, I'm sure, have experienced a
>rebirth outside of the ideological confines of Christianity.
>The science of rebirth transcends and predates any specific
>creed and has been documented in (many pagan) cultures
>throughout the world. We are not Godless just because we
>reject Jesus as our savior. God is still part of the equation.
>We just don't conceive of God as a brand name with a logo. The
>language of humanism is simply a semantic bridge between
>tolerant people within a pluralistic society.
>
>> What you're describing has a Christian counterpart
>> called the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.  It's a
>> continual process, and exceedingly fascinating. It's
>> joyful, at times painful, and it does have something
>> to do with realizing when we are wrong.  I assure you,
>> Christian faith doesn't stop when you're born again.
>
>I've never heard of the indwelling. Sounds like a beautiful
>idea.
>
>> For Christians, love is externalized, focused on God
>> and neighbor. ... For non-Christians, there seems to
>> be a greater love of self.
>
>I don't think so. Again, I think this is a failure to
>acknowledge the value and legitimacy of other faiths, whether
>it's organized or home-grown and personal. This is the
>essential arrogance of Christianity and it is also very
>dangerous (for the reasons Mark enumerated).
>
>> Christianity, true Christianity, is not about public
>> appearances or doing lip service, it's about deep
>> abiding faith, and transforming your life to serve God.
>
>I wish more Christians felt this way, Phil.
>
>Question: What would it mean for AWARE to have substantive
>dialogue with the mainstream Christian community? What do we
>want from them? What can we give them? What is the best way to
>develop genuine relationships with them for the purpose of
>building future coalitions?
>________________
>_______________________________________________
>Peace-discuss mailing list
>Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net
>http://lists.chambana.net/cgi-bin/listinfo/peace-discuss