We have
compiled a list of twenty trends, in the news, for 2007.
You can read this
review by clicking on the link below
http://www.understandthetimes.org/yir200
7.shtml
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February 3 - U.S. Methodist Church renews drive for divestment from Israel
Article: .Israel And The Last Days
Tensions are re-emerging between
Jewish organizations and
some mainline Protestant churches in the wake
of a
renewed drive for churches to divest from
companies doing business
with Israel.
The United Methodist Church
opened discussions last Friday on a
resolution calling for
divestment from Caterpillar, the tractor
manufacturer, because the
company supplies Israel with bulldozers used
in building the separation
barrier and in demolishing Palestinian homes.
The divestment resolution
comes only months after the publication of a
church-sponsored report referring to the
creation of the State of Israel
as the "original sin."
Relations with the
Presbyterian Church (USA) are also strained,
following remarks by church
officials criticizing
Israel because of the Gaza
closure. A recent study by an affiliate of
the Presbyterian Church called
on American Jews to "get a life" instead
of focusing on defending
Israeli policies.
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February 2 - I'll be president of Europe if you give me the power - Blair
Article: One World Governement
Tony Blair has been holding discussions
with some
of his oldest allies
on how he could mount a
campaign later
this year to become full-time president of the EU
council, the
prestigious new job characterised as "president
of
Europe". Blair, currently the
Middle East envoy for the US,
Russia, EU and
the UN, has told friends he has made no final
decision, but is
increasingly willing to put
himself forward for
the job if it comes with real powers to
intervene in
defence and trade affairs.
Blair, who is being
actively promoted by the French president
Nicolas Sarkozy,
recognises he would need to abandon his well-paid,
private sector jobs
if he won. His wife Cherie -
often portrayed as seeking ever more
wealth
and well-paid
consultancies for her husband - is understood to be
supportive of him
accepting the job.
The president
of the European council of ministers is a post
created under the
Lisbon treaty. The president
will be the
permanent chair of the council of ministers, Europe's
chief decision-
making body.
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February 4 - Clinton urges respect with conservatives
Article: Misc.
ATLANTA (BP)--
Former President Bill
Clinton's exhortation to moderate Baptists: Treat
conservative Baptists with humility, love and respect
"because all of us might
be wrong."
Clinton, a member of Immanuel Baptist Church in
Little Rock, Ark., in addressing
the closing session of the New Baptist Covenant
Celebration Feb. 1, noted,
"We came here to seek a
covenant of reconciliation."
"He looked at me and he said, 'I want to ask you
a question, a simple question,
and I just want a yes or no answer. I don't want one of
those slick political
answers. Just answer me yes or no. Do you believe the
Bible is literally true? Yes or no?' "I said, 'Rev.
Young, I think it is
completely true, but I do not believe you or I or any
other living person is
wise enough to understand it completely,'" Clinton
recounted to applause. "He said, 'That's a
political answer.' I said,
'No, it's not. You asked a political question.'"
"... The reason why we have to put love above
everything else is because we see
through a glass darkly and know in part," he
said.
"Therefore, it almost doesn't matter whether the
Bible is literally true because
we know in part, we see through a glass darkly.
Humility is the order of the
day. The reason we have to love each other is
because all of us might be
wrong."
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February 4 - Benedict XVI tells seminarians that the world needs "the adventure" of the priesthood
Article: Roman Catholic Church And The Last Days
Rome, Feb
4, 2008 /
02:18 pm (CNA)
.-
On Friday
afternoon the Holy Father visited "his
seminary"- as the
bishop of Rome -
for the feast of its patroness, Our Lady of Trust.
After presiding at
Vespers, the Pope spoke to the seminarians and
their parents,
telling them that the
priesthood is
"the most interesting of adventures and the most
necessary for the
world."
Pope Benedict
also noted the Marian
dimension of the
priestly call, "All this cannot but induce
great trust,
because the gift received is amazing, it fills us with
wonder and sates
us with intimate joy. And thus you are able to
understand the
role Mary has in your lives. ... Just as 'the Son was
born of woman', of
Mary Mother of God, the fact that you are
children of God
means you have her as mother".
The Pope then
addressed the parents of the future priests, saying
"you are
probably the most surprised of all about what has
happened
and is happening
to your children. You had perhaps imagined for them
a mission different
from the one for which they are now preparing.
... Let us look to Mary. The Gospel helps
us
to understand that
she too asked herself many question about her Son
Jesus, and
reflected on Him for a long time.
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February 3 - The unexpected monks
Article: Bridges To Rome
S.G. PRESTON IS a
Knight
of Prayer. Each morning at his Vancouver,
Wash.,
home, he wakes up and prays one of the
50-odd
psalms he has committed to memory,
sometimes donning a Kelly green monk's
habit. In
Durham, N.C., Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove
and
fellow
members of Rutba House gather for common
meals
as well as morning and evening prayer
based
on the Benedictine divine office. Zach
Roberts, founder of the Dogwood Abbey in
Winston-Salem, meets regularly with a
Trappist
monk
to talk about how to contemplate God. Roman
Catholic monastic traditions loom large in
their
daily
routines - yet all three men are
evangelical Protestants.
The image of the
Catholic monk - devoted to a cloistered life
of
fasting
and prayer, his tonsured scalp hidden by
a
woolen cowl - has long provoked the disdain of
Protestants. Their theological forefathers
denounced the monastic life: True
Christians,
the
16th-century Reformers said, lived wholly in
the
world, spent their time reading the Bible
rather
than chanting in Latin, and accepted that
God
saved them by his grace alone, not as reward
for
prayers, fasting, or good works. Martin
Luther
called monks and wandering friars "lice
placed
by the devil on God Almighty's fur coat."
Of all
Protestants, American evangelicals in
particular - activist, family-oriented, and far
more
concerned with evangelism than solitary
study
or meditative prayer - have historically
viewed
monks as an alien species, and a vaguely
demonic one at that.
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February 5 - Pastor Argues Faith is Missing Link
Article:Emerging Church
Rev. Rick
Warren, the founder and leader of a
nondenominational megachurch, argued
that faith-based
organizations provide the missing link to
successfully face the world's
biggest problems yesterday in
Gaston Hall.
In his
speech, Warren argued that
the solution
of the world's greatest problems
lie in what he called the "third
partnership." The third partnership
involves a relationship between faith
communities, the government and the
business sector.
"If
business and government were able to
solve the world's problems by themselves,
they would have done it by now. A
combination of the public, profit and parish
sector is needed,"
Warren said. "The
government has the administrative power
to form agendas and set goals, the
business sector can provide the expertise,
the capital and the managerial
skills, and the church can provide the
distributive network and the local
credibility."
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February 6 - Embryos created with DNA from 3 people
Article: Cloning And Genetic Engineering
LONDON (AP) -- British scientists say
they have created human embryos
containing DNA from two women and a man in a
procedure that researchers hope might be
used one day to produce embryos
free of inherited
diseases.
Though the preliminary research has
raised concerns about the possibility of
genetically modified babies,
the scientists say
that the embryos are still only
primarily the product of one man and one
woman.
"We are not
trying to alter genes, we're just trying to
swap a small proportion of the
bad ones for some good ones,"
said Patrick Chinnery, a professor of
neurogenetics at Newcastle University
involved in the research.
The
process aims
to create healthy embryos for couples to
avoid passing on genes carrying
diseases.
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February 6 - US: al-Qaida in Iraq training children
Article: Wars And Rumors Of Wars
BAGHDAD - Boys in soccer jerseys don
black masks and grab
weapons. They scramble over mud-brick walls, blast
down doors and hold guns to
the heads of residents inside. The
U.S. military said
videos seized from suspected
al-Qaida in
Iraq hideouts show
militants training children who appear as
young as 10 to kidnap and kill.
It's
viewed as a sign that the terror
network - hungry for recruits - may be using younger
Iraqis in propaganda to lure a new crop of
fighters.
"Al-Qaida in Iraq wants to
poison
the next generation of Iraqis,"
said Rear Adm. Gregory Smith, a
U.S. military spokesman. "It is offering
children as the new generation of
mujahedeen," he added, using the Arabic
term for holy warriors.
The video, shown to
reporters Wednesday, depicted an
apparent training session with black-masked boys -
ammunition belts draped across their
small chests - forcing a man off his
bicycle at gunpoint and marching him off
down a muddy lane. An off-camera
voice, speaking with an Iraqi accent,
instructs children how to take firing
positions with assault
rifles.
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February 6 - Russia worried over Iran's missile test
Article: Wars And Rumors Of Wars
A senior
Russian diplomat on Wednesday
voiced concern
about Iran's launch of a rocket, saying
it has raised suspicions about its nuclear
program, Russian news
reports said.
Russian news agencies quoted Deputy
Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov as
saying that
Monday's
launch of an Iranian research rocket
has raised questions about the direction
of Iran's nuclear program.
The
statement appeared to indicate that
Moscow, which in the past has been
skeptical about Iran's missile
capability, increasingly shares
Western concerns about Teheran's
course.
"It adds to general
suspicions of Iran regarding its potential
desire to build nuclear weapons,"
Losyukov was
quoted as saying.
"Long-
range missiles are one of the
components of such weapons. That
causes concern."
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February 6 - More Evangelicals Value Lent Disciplines
Article: Bridges To Rome
As
thousands of Catholics line up to
receive the sign of the cross in ashes on
Wednesday to mark the start of
Lent, more
Protestants are joining the tradition to
observe Easter more
meaningfully.
Still, "Easter
must have preparation," Shaw
said. And some non-
liturgical churches are embracing
Lenten disciplines.
"There is a
trend ... toward more sacramental forms
and it is not surprising to see the recovery
of imposition of ashes on Ash
Wednesday," said the Rev.
Daniel K. Dunlap, vice president of Houston
Graduate School of Theology and a liturgy
expert, according to the Houston
Chronicle.
The Rev. Jeremy Rutledge, pastor of Covenant
Baptist Church in Houston, said
he will
administer ashes at a service Wednesday
night, as reported by the local
Chronicle.
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February 9 - Spanning the U.S. to Bridge a Rift
Article: Misc.
Promising that
he would engage in "a spirited debate"
with whomever the Democrats
nominate, the senator
promised to adhere to his
party's values. "I am proud to carry the
banner of a conservative
Republican, with a record of conservative
voting," he said.
McCain
also said that he plans to meet with Romney,
whom he fought openly with
during the campaign, so
they can work on "uniting
the party and move on to victory in November."
While the
senator tried to appeal to conservatives on
the stump, his top advisers
were trying to set up meetings with some of
the nation's more influential
evangelical ministers,
including
Rick Warren,
author of "The Purpose
Driven Life," and
Joel Osteen,
to find common ground.
The effort has been spearheaded by
Sen. Sam Brownback
(Kan.), who endorsed McCain
after dropping his own presidential bid in
November.
When asked about that
effort, McCain said,
"I'll be glad and willing to meet with
anyone who wants to meet
with me." He added that there is no
formalized strategy to reach
out to religious leaders.
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February 6 - Indian guru Maharishi Yogi dies
Article:Misc.
The Maharishi, thought to have
been 91 years old, died in his sleep on
Tuesday evening at his home
in the Netherlands. He
introduced the Transcendental
Meditation movement to the West in 1959,
with the intention of creating
individual peace and enlightenment.
Based on the theory and practice of
yoga,
transcendental meditation
involves a mental technique that can
reportedly be easily learnt and
practised by anyone to reach a "state of
pure consciousness"
and gain deep rest. By repeating in the mind a
Sanskrit mantra, a short word
or phrase, a practitioner is supposedly
able to find deep relaxation,
which in turn leads to enhanced inner joy,
vitality, and creativity.
"Don't fight darkness. Bring the
light, and
darkness will
disappear," the Maharishi said in an
interview in
2006, repeating one of his
own mantras.
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February 6 - Obituary: Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
Article: Misc.
During two years of Himalayan
silence, the precocious sage honed his
thoughts on TM, what he called "a spontaneous,
effortless march to one's own
unbound essence."
By 1959, his
"technique" - that of
unfolding
the potential of Natural Law to
improve all areas of life - was
complete, and he set off on his
first international mission of peace.
The Beatles were
spending a weekend with Mahesh Yogi in Bangor,
Wales, when their manager,
Brian Epstein, committed suicide in August,
1967. Their enlightened teacher told them
to
"forget it, be
happy".
Despite these setbacks,
by 1972, the glamorous
guru had attracted 100,000
members to his Academy, set up Institutes of
Meditation across the world
and made the cover of Time
magazine.
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February 7 - Syria says Golan Heights the key to peace with Israel
Article: Israel And The Last Days
DAMASCUS (AFP) - Foreign Minister Walid
Muallem said on Thursday that peace
with
Israel would follow the return to
Syria of the strategic Israeli-
occupied Golan Heights.
We are ready to establish
a just and comprehensive peace in the
region based on the application of UN
security council resolutions,"
Muallem told a
news conference with his visiting Austrian
counterpart
Ursula Plassnik.
He
said
both sides must strive for peace and that
Israel must be willing to return
the key Golan plateau.
"Syria will examine the
issue of security on the two sides of the
(Syrian-Israeli) border and the
normalisation" of relations between
the two countries,
he said.
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February 8 - Wheaton College Administrators Remove Names From Christian-Muslim Statement
Article: Misc.
The Wheaton College student newspaper,
The Record, reports
today that the
influential evangelical
college's president, provost, and chaplain have
removed their names from a
letter to Muslim leaders that has attracted
criticism in some
quarters."Loving God and
Neighbor Together"
was
published
in the November 18, 2007,
New York Times as a response to
an October
statement
from 138 Muslim scholars and
clerics calling for interfaith cooperation.
Wheaton College president
Duane Litfin and provost Stanton Jones were
among the signatories, along with pastors Rick
Warren and Bill Hybels,
National Association of Evangelicals president
Leith Anderson, Youth With a
Mission chairman Lynn Green, Frontiers
mission founder Greg
Livingstone, theologians Miroslav Volf and John
Stott, and Christianity Today
Media Group editor-in-chief David
Neff.
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We hope the Weekly News In Review has been a
blessing to you.
In Jesus,
Roger Oakland
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