The Weekly News In
Review
Newsletter is a
compilation of the news articles that have appeared
on the Understand The Times website during the
previous week.
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October 27 - Church delights in choosing its own way
Article: Apostasy
Sometimes-
controversial topics relating to religion
-- such
as homosexuality, science and tolerance
toward other faiths -- are
anything but taboo at Peace Lutheran Church.
"We don't fit inside some sort of
category and
have no interest in doing
that," said the Rev. Steve Harms,
senior pastor.
Located a block from the
Blackhawk Plaza shopping center, the church
is known throughout the San
Ramon Valley for
organizing meetings with
congregations of many faiths. And Peace
Lutheran doesn't shy away from discussing the
complementary -- not
separate -- ways of science and religion.
Peace Lutheran also
installed Danville's
first labyrinth, a walking
meditation
tool. "It is amazing to see
how the congregation
has grown in spiritual wisdom
and depth," Harms said. "It's
filled with people who really
care."
For its 50th anniversary,
the church has undertaken
a
commemorative art mosaic project in conjunction
with other faith traditions --_
Judaism, Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism and
others.
The 13-by-14-foot
mosaic is expected
to be finished next month and
features spiritual symbols such as a dove,
a yin-yang, a lotus flower and a
feather. It will hang on the outer wall
of the sanctuary facing the
labyrinth.
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October 29 - Spiritual Wellness Week to help de-stress students
Article: Emerging Church
The Sacred Space,
Northeastern's spiritual center located in
Ell Hall, is hosting
NU
Spiritual Wellness Week, an annual series of events
to help
students deal with stress. Between
today and Nov. 5, the
center
will offer various workshops daily, all of which are
free.
Tomorrow, participants will have an
opportunity to "Walk the
Labyrinth," a traditional maze that
requires focus and energy, known to have
a calming effect.
Described as a "peaceful
experience," the workshop offers
different approaches to the meditative
process. Guided
workshops are offered at 6 pm. Other
activities include
yoga and meditation sessions. Each
activity
provides a spiritual perspective on relaxation and
mindfulness.
The series of events offered at the
Sacred Space
give
students a chance to test out methods of relaxation
they
may
not have tried before. "It's about the mind,
body and spirit
connection," Jankowski-Smith said.
"
[Our activities] are all about the integration of the
three."
Considered one of the more
anticipated
workshops, Reiki is classified as a bio-
field energy technique
and will be explained and
demonstrated Nov. 5 from 12 - 3
p.m.
Another anticipated series, the "Yoga
Sampler Weekend Extravaganza" is
Saturday and Sunday, and offers
four
different yoga workout options. Led by Matthew
Daniels, a
former
Buddhist monk, students will have an opportunity to
experiment with yoga at different levels
and concentrations,
including gentle yoga with breath-focused
meditation.
Whether interested in gaining a mind,
body,
spirit connection through yoga or Reiki, or even
acquiring
a new
perspective on energy-based healing practices,
Northeastern's Spiritual Wellness Week
offers something for
everyone, Jankowski-Smith said.
Each event is run on a
first-
come, first-serve basis, and with the exception of the
Reiki
mini-sessions, requires no pre-registration.
"It's a safe place to
try
something
new," Jankowski-
Smith said.
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October 30 - What is Robert Schuller 'rethinking'? - Crystal Cathedral conference accused of twisting biblical Christianity
Article: Emerging Church
It's an all-star
conference set for the Crystal
Cathedral in Garden Grove, Calif., Jan. 17-
19. Former
President George H.W. Bush will speak.
Chuck Colson will make a
presentation. Larry King will be there.
Rupert Murdoch will address
attendees. Ben Stein will appear. And Kay
Warren, wife of Saddleback Church
mega-pastor Rick Warren, will join Robert
Schuller, the white-haired,
bespectacled purveyor of "possibility
thinking."
"From
my perspective as a former New Age
follower, I believe
that Robert Schuller's mission has
always been to 'rethink' and 'change'
biblical Christianity into something
'new' - as in New Age/New
Spirituality," he says.
Smith says it was Jampolsky who first
introduced him to "A Course in
Miracles," the
best-selling book New Age bible that
taught him "there is no sin," "a slain
Christ has no meaning" and
"the recognition of God is the recognition of
yourself." All of Jampolsky's
books, according to Smith, are based on
"A Course in Miracles." But yet,
there was Schuller on his TV show
recommending all
of Jampolsky's "fabulous" works.
He even noted he sold some of them in
the Crystal Cathedral bookstore. And,
according to Smith, for awhile,
Schuller even hosted "A Course in
Miracles" study groups in his church.
"Never before have we
gathered such dynamic leaders who will
challenge us to think
outside the box as
we grapple with a changing culture and our
response to it," said Schuller.
"These culture pioneers know what is
center-stage in our culture right now and
also what is breaking on the
horizon," says Rethink Conference
executive director Bill Dallas.
"This
conference will confront
outdated and pre-conceived
ideas, offer new
perspectives and open our minds to all
kinds of possibilities
that connect us with out shifting culture
without compromising our core
values."
"The church does not
need to 'rethink' and 'compromise' its God-
given biblical doctrines to
accommodate the world,"
he says.
"It
needs to rethink its willingness to
follow worldly leaders like Robert
Schuller."
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October 29 - Holy Spirits! Aussies turn pub into church
Article: Emerging Church
MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Jesus Christ
may have
turned water into
wine,
but for a group of
Australian churchgoers the ideal place to worship
on a Sunday is a
pub.
Devoid of a church in the docklands
entertainment
area of
Melbourne, a group of
Christians have
created the
"Docklands Church" inside the James
Squire Brewhouse.
"Jesus did
turn water
into wine, he was
kind of radical, he was connected with his
culture, and yet he
had a great message for our world,"
Docklands Church
minister Guy Mason said after his first service on
Sunday.
Mason told local media that worshippers
were
offered not only a
message from the bible but also a meal and tea
and coffee, but
anyone could have a pint
before or after the
church service. The choice of location was a way
of
modernising the
church, he said.
"All we want
to be is
relevant, we want
to be applicable and contemporary
and...we're going
to keep the bible open as well,"
said one parishioner, with a beer in
his hand.
Another parishioner said:
"I think a lot of people who do
want to go out
and have a drink or
go out and have a party often feel that they're
excluded from
God".
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October 29 - Donovan Plans Meditation University
Article: Rising Interest IN The Suoernatural
Donovan,
famous for '60s pop hits such as "Hurdy
Gurdy Man" and
"Mellow Yellow," has announced plans to
open the
Invincible Donovan University,
where students will
adhere to the principles of
transcendental meditation.
"I know it sounds like
an airy-fairy hippie dream to go on about '60s
peace and love," said the
61-year-old singer, who was born Donovan
Leitch in the Maryhill area of
Glasgow. "But the
world is ready for this now, it is
clear this is the time."
"The Maharishi told me during
that 1968 visit
that I should build a university
in Edinburgh. I went to my room and
drew a beautiful dome-
shaped
place of learning,"
he said Friday.
"I didn't know what to
do because I couldn't do this on my own.
But then
I met
David Lynch,
who told me about the
positive effects
of TM in education. Although
it's taken me 35 years, I will do what the
Maharishi told me to do."
"For a country the size of
Scotland it would
take only 250 students
meditating to protect Scotland from its enemies
and to bring peace, to stop
violence and drug abuse," Lynch said.
"That
is just a byproduct of the
students meditating together."
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October 27 - Couple brings Zen enlightenment to Toledo
Article: Emerging Church
The
individuals chant, in deep and
serious tones, poet Shih T'ou's
"Liturgy of Relative and
Absolute," which includes such lines
as: "High and low are
relative. In light there is darkness.
Confronted, it cannot
be fathomed."
Then, after half an hour
of silent meditation, the Zen practitioners line up
single file for
a brisk "walking meditation," in which they
are advised to "try not to think too
much," moving silently with hands clasped
around the edges of the dojo
where, on alternate nights, the Weiks, both multiple-
degree black belts, teach
the martial art of Aikido
And although it came from
Buddhism, the Weiks say it can be practiced by people of
any faith, or of no
faith.
Diana Schnuth, 31, of
Toledo, said she was raised in a Christian home but came
to the realization that "I no longer believed what I
was raised to believe."
She found that practicing Zen
gives her a peaceful
feeling. "I always come home from here feeling
a lot better than when I
arrived," she
said.
"I took a
class on Oriental philosophy at Berklee," he
said.
"I was looking for someone who
would talk about that kind of
stuff with a Catholic framework.
That's when I encountered
Thomas Merton.
That was a big influence on me."
"I don't want to say that mystics
transcend their religion, but
they are not bound to it in the normal form," Mr.
Weik said.
"Both of us are
Catholics
who studied Christian mystics and had
incredible experiences," Mrs.
Weik said. "In Christian mysticism, the steps are
not clearly laid out. But in
Zen, which has a 2,500-year tradition, there are very
reproduceable steps to
follow."
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October 28 - Mass appeal to Latin tradition
Article: Emerging Church
Roman
Catholic churches nationwide are rushing to
accommodate a surge in demand for the
traditional Latin
Mass, which is
drawing a surprising
new crowd: young people.
"I love the Latin Mass,"
said Audrey Kunkel, 20, of Cincinnati.
"It"s amazing to think that
I"m attending the same Mass that
has formed saints throughout the
centuries."
In
contrast to the New Order Mass, which has been in
use since the
Second Vatican Council in 1969 and is
typically celebrated
in vernacular languages such as English,
the Tridentine Mass
is "contemplative,
mysterious, sacred, transcendent, and
[younger people are]
drawn to it,"
said the Rev. Franklyn
McAfee, pastor of St. John the Beloved in
McLean.
"Gregorian chant is the
opposite of
rap, and I believe this is a refreshing
change for them."
Susan Gibbs, the director of
communications from the Archdiocese of
Washington, said the attraction
demonstrated by the young adults is
"very interesting."
Besides the liturgy"s rich
historical content and
spiritual significance, the younger
generations show an
interest in the old becoming new
again, said Louis
Tofari of the Society of St. Pius X, an order
of clergy that
opposed the reforms of the Second
Vatican Council.
"People who never grew up with the
traditional
Mass are finding it on their own and falling
in love with
it."
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October 30 - Russian FM due in Tehran on surprise visit
Article: Wars And Rumors Of Wars
"He will examine a
series of subjects linked to the
situation of the
Iranian nuclear programme
and questions concerning
bilateral relations,"
he added. Lavrov was due to
arrive later in the afternoon
from
Kazakhstan.
Putin has in
recent weeks been
increasingly critical of US
moves for more UN sanctions
and unilateral sanctions as
well as Washington's refusal
to rule out military action
against Tehran over its
nuclear
programme.
China also issued an
unusually blunt statement
saying it
remained opposed to
further
sanctions against Iran
and insisted diplomacy was
the best way to resolve the
issue.
The White
House has recently ramped up
its rhetoric against Iran, warning
the world about "nuclear
holocaust" and "World
War III" if
Tehran obtained
atomic weapons.
"All the plans to stop
the Iranian people have failed
and the enemies know that
they cannot prevent the
progress of Iran."
He backed
the Iranian nuclear
programme and spoke out
against the use of force, much
to the delight of his hosts.
State media quoted him as
telling Khamenei his visit had
opened up a "new
page" in relations.
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October 30 - Got sin? YouTube, shredders your modern confessional
Article: Emerging Church
It never
goes out of style, but
confession
is undergoing a
revival.
This
February at the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI
instructed
priests to make confession a top priority.
U.S. bishops have
begun promoting it in diocesan
newspapers, mass mailings and
even billboard ads. And in a dramatic
turnaround,
some
Protestant churches are
following suit. This summer, the second-
largest North
American branch of the Lutheran Church
passed a resolution
supporting the rite, which it had all but
ignored for more
than 100 years.
To make
confession less
intimidating, Protestant churches have
urged believers to
shred their sins in paper shredders or
write them on rocks
and cast them into a "desert"
symbolized by a giant sand
pile in the sanctuary.
Several factors
are feeding the resurgence. Aggressive
marketing by churches has helped
reinvent confession as a
form of self-improvement rather than a
punitive rite.
Technology is also creating new avenues
for redemption. Some
Protestants now air their sins on videos
that are shared on
YouTube and iTunes or are played to
entire congregations.
And the appetite for introspection has
been buoyed by the
broad acceptance of psychotherapy and
the emphasis on
self-analysis typified by daytime talk
television.
In their attempt to revive the rite, Catholic
leaders have
portrayed it as a healing sacrament.
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October 31 - Pope says that living a Christian life also means doing civic duty
Article: One World Religion
While the
Christian's gaze is turned
towards Heaven, he must not forget
his obligations to society -
including the more general
duty of paying taxes - actually,
he must pay even
greater attention to them, in
order to combine his
activities in society and his
religious commitments "in
a vital
synthesis".
This led him to "preach
on the
deepening relationship
between the duties of a Christian
and those of a
citizens", because
"living a Christian life means
observing one's civic
duties".
In the Pope's words "his homilies
reflect a growing awareness of
the responsibility of
Christians to
promote a just social order
grounded in
solidarity with the poor",
while the bishop warned that
"one does not think of the
needs of the other, in fact
many Christians not only do
not share their goods, they
even steal those belonging
to others".
"The Council - he added -
urges the faithful to 'carry
out its earthly duties under the
guidance of the Gospel
spirit, and that those who neglect
their earthly duties in the belief
that their future
citizenship belongs to the
Kingdom of God are
mistaken, and
do not reflect the fact that
the faith obliges them to
always observe their duties".
Let us make the Councils
hopes our own", concluded the
Pope "for a vital synthesis
between human, technical and
scientific efforts with
"religious goods"
for the good of society".
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October 31 - Christians look with hope to Global Day of Prayer 2008
Article: One World Religion
The massive
event will unite Christians from
all denominations and
traditions to pray for the
transformation and revival of
the capital when it takes
place at the south
London football stadium on
Pentecost Sunday 2008.The
Bishop of Barking, the Rt Rev
David Hawkins, who chairs
GDOP London, said,
"We want to gather more of the
Christian community across
London into this activity of
united prayer and reclaim the
significance of Pentecost
while at the same time
celebrating all the different
styles of Christian
expression and worship and
ways of praying, to uplift
our community mission and
local transformation.
"There is such a
desperate need of prayers for
a
spiritual reawakening in this
huge multicultural city that so
many people across the
world look to.
He added that it was only
faith that could bring
change to London. "It is not
common sense or good
sense that establishes the Kingdom
of Heaven. It is the Holy
Spirit."
Churches all across
London are currently taking part
in the Year of Prayer for
London, in which churches are
taking it in turns to pray for the
city for 24 hours
non-stop.
"We want to pray the
Lord's Prayer and to see the
churches challenged to the
task of being the salt and
light in their communities, and
we
want to give space to the Holy
Spirit to inform and
challenge people as to the
mission that exists in our
city now," he
said.
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October 31 - UN head reaffirms 'strong' collaboration with World Council of Churches
Article: Ecumenical Movement - Misc.
"As the
UN faces the 21st century
highlighting the interrelatedness
of development, security and
human rights, the WCC
strongly believes
multilateralism is the only way to
respond to the challenges of
today," said WCC
general secretary Samuel
Kobia at the meeting."It was
a good and constructive first
meeting as both leaders
expressed their desire to continue
strong and close
collaboration," said Rev
Christopher Ferguson, WCC
representative to the United
Nations in New York.
Kobia thanked Ban for the
participation of several UN
officials who are contributing
to the week-long
discussions attended by
some 80
church leaders, policy and
advocacy officers of churches
and ecumenical organisations
from all over the world.
Affirming the interrelatedness
of the concerns about the
integrity of creation, justice
and peace, Kobia
brought to the attention of the
UN secretary general some of
the issues on the churches'
advocacy agenda, namely the
situation in the greater
Horn of Africa, nuclear
disarmament,
the struggle for peace in the
Middle East, as well as
the work to overcome poverty
and economic injustice,
closely related to the UN
Millennium Development Goals.
In view of the conviction
that
"religion has a big,
positive role to play in the search
for global peace and
harmony", the WCC general
secretary announced the
council's intention to propose
that the UN declare a "Decade of
Inter-religious Dialogue and
Cooperation for Peace".
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NEWS ALERT - October 30, 2007 - Warren challenges Baptists to promote peace worldwide, starting in Texas
Article: One World Religion
Comments from
Understand The
Times
Pastor Rick
Warren, presenting
a keynote address at the annual
meeting of the Baptist
General Convention of Texas has
encouraged Christians once
again to "establish the kingdom of
God" here on planet
earth.
Warren is
well known
for a three-legged stool plan
designed to implement his
global PEACE plan. Warren learned
about such a plan from his
mentor Peter Drucker, a well known
consultant who promoted
church growth methods focused on
a market-driven
Christianity.
Warren's three-legged
stool plan
has three legs -
business, government and the
church.
Establishing the kingdom
of God on planet earth is one of
the goals of the PEACE plan
and the Purpose Driven Church. It
can be documented that the
purpose driven plan and the emerging
church plan both have a
plan to work together with people
of various faiths,
unifying together for a common
cause. This is interesting in
light of Pastor Warren's previous
statements that he can
work together with those of diverse faiths
and beliefs such
as Muslims, homosexuals and the
Roman Catholics.
It should also
be noted
in the article that follows that
the "P" in the PEACE plan
now stands for something different than
what was
originally stated when
the PEACE plan was first announced.
Initially the "P"
stood for "planting churches."
Now, the
"P" apparently stands
for "promoting
reconciliation."
The "three-legged-
stool"
plan is also very interesting in light
of Bible prophecy,
especially if you expand the concept
of a three-legged stool
on a global stage - global government,
global economy and
global spirituality centered on the name of
Christ.
If the
PEACE plan
continues to promote the establishment of
the "kingdom of
God" here on earth by working
together with people of all
faiths including Roman Catholics, the
stage will be set for
the fulfillment of Bible
prophecy.
Pastor
Warren has stated
in Purpose Driven Life that
Christians should not
waste their time "trying to figure out
Bible prophecy."
AMARILLO, Texas (ABP) -- Developing a
heart for missions can
be simple, according to best-selling
author and California
pastor Rick Warren.
"If you want the blessing of God in your
life, the power
of God in your life, the anointing of God in
your life and
ministry, you must care about what God
cares about most and
get on God's agenda," Warren said during
a keynote address
at the Baptist General Convention of
Texas' annual meeting.
"God's agenda
is the kingdom of God,"
said the author of The Purpose Driven
Life. "It was
the most preeminent thing on Jesus'
mind."
Like Moses, Warren said, church
members must learn to use
their own "staffs" for the work of the
kingdom. The PEACE
plan presents an opportunity for
Christians to do just that,
he added.
The PEACE plan, announced in 2003
at Saddleback and since
expanded, reflects Jesus' example of how
to combat the
five major problems,
identified by
Warren, that face the planet: Spiritual
emptiness,
self-centered leadership, poverty, disease,
and illiteracy.
Warren identified the issues after training
ministers and
helping his wife, Kay, in her work with
orphans around the
world.
He urged Baptists to:
-- Promote
reconciliation.
"Jesus said be right with God and be right
with each other;
he called it the Great Commandment,"
Warren said.
-- Equip servant leaders. Warren noted
that Jesus trained
12 disciples but only mentored three,
investing time with
those who would bear the most
responsibility.
-- Assist the poor. In his first public
sermon, Jesus
announced his purpose of preaching
good news to the poor,
Warren said.
-- Care for the sick. "Jesus didn't just
care about
people's spiritual health but also their
physical health,"
Warren said. "Jesus was a healer, unlike
any other religious
leader."
-- Educate the next generation. Jesus
was a teacher, and
he focused on teaching the next
generation. "Every
generation is one generation away from
Christianity's
extinction," Warren said.
Putting the plan into practice is
sometimes difficult,
Warren admitted, but Jesus gave
instructions about how to do it. In
Matthew 10, he
told Christians to avoid throwing money at
problems, to
leave any symbols of power at home, to
adapt to local
customs as much as possible, and
to
find a "man of peace" in villages in order to
start the
ministry with someone who is open and
influential.
Although business
and government
entities can make an impact, Warren said,
change will not
come until the church
gets involved.
"The church has
the mandate of the
gospel, the
longevity of history and the promises of
God, so what are we
cowering about?" he asked BGCT
participants. "Let's take
Texas and the world and tell them that
this is the kingdom of God."
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November 1 - Saudi king meets British PM
Article: One World Religion
Saudi
Arabia's king has met Britain's
prime minister to discuss the
Middle East peace process as
part of his controversial
visit to the European country.
"The Saudis
have done more than many
over recent years to get us to
where we are today,"
Brown said of Saudi Arabia's
effort on the Middle East peace
process.
Brown and Abdullah are
understood to have
discussed Abdullah's 2002 Arab Peace
Initiative,
which
calls on Arab countries to make peace with
Israel if
the Jewish state withdraws from
Palestinian territories.
"I am
confident we will
find from the government of your
majesty every help
to end the tragedy suffered by
our Palestinian
brethren through genuine peace that
can protect the
rights of all parties,"
Abdullah said
during the event.
The countries' relationship had
already attracted
controversy in recent months over
alleged illegal payments made
as part of an
armaments sale. The British
government stopped an
investigation by
Britain's Serious Fraud Office in
December into
whether a Saudi prince received
illegal
commissions in a $62bn deal with BAe
Systems, a British
weapons manufacturer.
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October 31 - Pope to meet Saudi monarch
Artcile: One World Religion
VATICAN CITY -
Saudi Arabia's King
Abdullah will meet
Pope Benedict XVI on
Tuesday in the first
encounter between a pope
and a Saudi monarch, the
Vatican said.
Abdullah is on a
European tour and Benedict has
been trying to increase
dialogue between Catholics and
Muslims.
The Vatican and
Saudi Arabia do not have
diplomatic relations,
but the Holy See
has ties with many
other Islamic nations.
It is
forbidden to
practice Christianity inside Saudi Arabia,
and it is illegal
to bring symbols from religions other than
Islam into the
country. Bibles and crosses, for instance,
are confiscated
at the border.
The Vatican has
repeatedly
stressed its demands for
"reciprocity" -
meaning that countries such as Saudi
Arabia should ease
limits on worship by Christians and other
non-Muslims.
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October 31 - Witchcraft goes mainstream
Artcile: Rising Interset In The Supernatural
LONDON (Reuters) -
Witchcraft got its annual public
outing on Wednesday
with the celebrations
surrounding Halloween when the
occult comes into its own. And
prominent witches say
that after
generations in the
dark, witchcraft is becoming
increasingly mainstream
boosted by television
programmes such as "Sabrina, the
Teenage Witch" and
Harry Potter mania.
"Witches are
getting more and more in
demand. People want a pagan
wedding," said
Maxine Sanders, high priestess of
the sacred mysteries and a
promoter of the modern
nature-based witchcraft
movement of Wicca.
People are more
tolerant on the whole
nowadays, she added, and more
interested in
witchcraft.
Inbaal, 33,
is a high priestess and
spokeswoman for the large
witch community "Children of
Artemis", appearing regularly on
television and
radio.
More and more
people are practising magic
but they are not necessarily
interested in the spiritual side
of witchcraft,
said John Cole, high priest of
a Manchester coven and
owner of an occult shop
selling everything from
cauldrons to Viking rune
charms.
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November 2 - Gliding mammal linked to humans
Article: Creation/Evolution - Misc.
A gliding mammal
that lives in the forests of
south-east Asia is our closest
relative after apes,
monkeys and lemurs, a DNA
study shows.
Colugos are the "sisters" of
primates, sharing a common
ancestor some 80 million
years ago when dinosaurs
had their heyday, say US
scientists. Until now, many
experts thought tree shrews
were closer to primates.
Colugos are known colloquially
as flying lemurs; despite this
they do not fly and they
are not true lemurs.
After comparing the three
groups to about 30 other
mammal species, they found that
primates and colugos shared
seven genetic changes that
were very rare in other
mammals. The research
revealed that colugos and primates
are more closely related than
tree shrews and primates,
solving a decade-long debate.
"This study resolves
a long-standing question to
primatologists and
mammalologists on
who the
closest relative of
primates was," co-
author William J Murphy of
Texas A&M University told
BBC News.
"This will help us
better interpret early primate
evolution and those changes
at the DNA level and in
skeletal appearance that led to
modern primates and
ultimately to the human lineage
itself."
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November 2 - Church Losing the Institution, Following Jesus
Emerging Church
"I think we're in a
new era in the Church,"
said the Rev. Robert A.
Schuller, senior pastor of the
Crystal Cathedral in
Garden Grove, Calif. "And that era
is 'denominationless.'"
Already, Americans have come
years into
waning
membership across mainline
denominations and an
increasing thirst for something
less institutional,
something closer to a
relationship with God and
Jesus Christ.
So what's church going
to look like in the near future?
"I
think the Church is actually going
to reflect what Jesus Christ
has envisioned the Church
being since day one - a body
of believers, not
necessarily congregated in a
specific location, but
those who have a sincere faith
and a heart and love for
Jesus Christ, who are
committed to him, and worship God
and worship the tri-nature of
the Holy Spirit and Jesus
Christ in
unique ways that is yet
to be determined,"
commented Schuller in an
interview with The Christian
Post.
Schuller
leads a mega congregation
that is part of the Reformed
Church in America. But the
church his father, the Rev.
Robert H. Schuller, built
is
anything but traditional in the
denomination's sense and
communicates across the globe
that it's a church to the world, a
church literally
without walls. The Crystal
Cathedral is made of 10,000
windows.
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October 31 - Teachers ordered to dress up as Muslims
Article: Islam
Teachers at a primary
school have been ordered to
dress up as Muslims to
promote multi-culturalism.
The West
Midlands school is belatedly
celebrating the Muslim festival
of Eid and
told its
pupils and teachers to
don traditional Muslim dress
for the day.
All 257 pupils,
most of whom are
Christians, and 41
teachers - two of whom are
Muslims - dressed up.
Sally
Bloomer, head of Rufford primary
school in Lye, West Midlands,
told The Sun: "I have not
heard of any complaints. It's all
part of a diversity project to
promote multi-culturalism."
But a
relative of one of the staff
reportedly said: "Who would put
their job on the line? They
have been told they have to
embrace the day to show their
diversity. But they are
not all happy."
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November 3 - Pastor on trial for refusal to work with female minister
Article: Sign Of The Last Times
A pastor
who refused to work with
a female minister because of
his biblical convictions
has been charged with
criminal discrimination by
a Finnish court.
Ari Norro will be on trial
Nov. 16
for
allegedly violating Finland's
laws barring discrimination in
the workplace or in
public based on gender and
other grounds, including
sexual orientation,
Christianity Today magazine
reported.
Norro is a member of the
Lutheran Evangelical
Association in Finland, a group
within the Evangelical
Lutheran Church of Finland that
believes the Bible does not
allow women to serve as
pastors.
Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen,
former president of IsoKirja
College in Finland, insisted the
government has nothing to do
with religion and wants to
stay out of the discussion.
"This case has nothing to do
with religion; it has everything
to do with a perceived
lack of equality,"
he told Christianity Today.
Norro, who probably would
be fined if found guilty,
argues
other denominations, such
as the Greek Orthodox Church
and the Catholic church, do
not ordain women, but they are
not accused of committing
a crime.
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November 2 - Editor-in-Chief of The Economist Publishes 18-Page Global Special Report on Religion
Article: One World Religion
NEW YORK, Nov.
2 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- President
Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad of Iran, not usually a reliable
authority on current affairs, got it right in an
open
letter to George Bush: "Whether we like it
or
not," he wrote,
"the world is
gravitating towards faith in the
Almighty."
Whether this prospect is frightening or
inspiring is the subject of a special report
in
this
week's issue of The Economist, on
newsstands from November
2nd.
The report explains that
the idea that religion has
re-
emerged in public life is to some extent an
illusion. Although
some
theocracies survive in the Islamic world,
religion has returned to the stage as a
much
more
democratic, individualistic affair: a
bottom-
up marketing success, surprisingly in
tune
with globalization. Secularism was
not as
modern as many intellectuals imagined,
but
pluralism is. Free up religion and ardent
believers and ardent atheists both do
well.
Topics
include:
-- The increasing variety of
and competition between religious beliefs
-- The potential
resurgence of religion in Europe
-- The conflict over the
Holy Land
-- Religion and public life in India
-- Why Turkey matters so much to Islam
-- The love-hate relationship
between religion and modernity
-- The relationship between religion and
politics in America
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November 3 - 'Pray for the Dead' says Cardinal Arinze
Article: Roman Catholic Church And The Last Days
VATICAN CITY (CNS)
- While
Christians should hope
that their deceased loved ones
are in heaven, they must
pray for them in case they are
in purgatory, said
Nigerian Cardinal Francis
Arinze.
"Only God knows if that
person is already in heaven;
we
cannot know and, therefore, we
pray for that person because
he could be in purgatory.
However, if the person already is
in heaven, God certainly will
use all of those prayers
for another person,"
Cardinal Arinze said.
"They certainly will arrive
in heaven," the cardinal
said, "but for the moment they
suffer in purgatory."
The Catechism of the Catholic
Church said,
"All
who die in God's grace and
friendship, but still imperfectly
purified, are indeed
assured of their eternal
salvation; but after death they
undergo purification so as to
achieve the holiness
necessary to enter the joy of
heaven."
The church teaches that
prayer, particularly the Mass,
and sacrifices may be offered on
behalf of the souls in purgatory
in the belief that
believers can help one
another, before and after death,
he said.
"Our faith tells us
this: The
souls of the deceased pray for
and help us. Exactly how
they do this, we do not
know," Cardinal Arinze
said. "But we do know
that
in Christ the savior
there is a communion
between those who have arrived in
heaven, those in purgatory and
those still on earth."
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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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