Posted on 07/10/2009 5:04:53 AM PDT by Frumanchu
ANAHEIM, Calif. (ABP) -- The presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church called the evangelical notion that individuals can be right with God a "great Western heresy" that is behind many problems facing the church and the wider society.
Describing a United States church in crisis, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori told delegates to the group's triennial meeting July 8 in Anaheim, Calif., that the overarching connection to problems facing Episcopalians has to do with "the great Western heresy -- that we can be saved as individuals, that any of us alone can be in right relationship with God."
"It's caricatured in some quarters by insisting that salvation depends on reciting a specific verbal formula about Jesus," Jefferts Schori, the first woman to be elected as a primate in the worldwide Anglican Communion three years ago, said. "That individualist focus is a form of idolatry, for it puts me and my words in the place that only God can occupy, at the center of existence, as the ground of being."
Jefferts Schori said countering individualistic faith was one reason the theme chosen for the meeting was "Ubuntu," an African word that describes humaneness, caring, sharing and being in harmony with all of creation.
"Ubuntu doesn't have any 'I's in it," she said. "The 'I' only emerges as we connect -- and that is really what the word means: I am because we are, and I can only become a whole person in relationship with others. There is no 'I' without 'you,' and in our context, you and I are known only as we reflect the image of the One who created us."
Jefferts Schori said "heretical and individualistic understanding" contributes to problems like neglect for the environment and the current worldwide economic recession.
"The sins of a few have wreaked havoc with the lives of many, as greed and dishonesty have destroyed livelihoods, educational possibilities, care for the aged, and multiple forms of creativity," she said. "And that's just the aftermath of Ponzi schemes for which a handful will go to jail."
She said in order to be faithful, "we need to be continually rediscovering that my needs are not the only significant ones."
"Ubuntu implies that selfishness and self-centeredness cannot long survive," she said. "We are our siblings' knowers and their keepers, and we cannot be known without them."
"We have no meaning, no true existence in isolation," she said. "We shall indeed die as we forget or ignore that reality."
About 200 Episcopal bishops and 850 clergy and lay deputies were expected to convene for the 10-day meeting. Business items are set to include debates over human sexuality, politics and poverty.
One resolution being considered calls for "generous discretion" to be extended to clergy in exercising pastoral ministry in six states -- Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont -- where the civil marriage of same-gender couples has been legalized as well as other states that may follow suit in the next three years.
The 2.1-million-member denomination has argued vociferously about homosexuality since 2003, when the group approved the election of its first openly gay bishop, Gene Robinson of New Hampshire. Many more conservative Episcopalians and a handful of congregations have begun breaking away from the church in the years since.
Southern Baptist mega-church pastor Rick Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life, took sides in his sister denomination's debate recently by showing up in Texas to encourage about 800 Episcopalians attending the first annual meeting of a conservative breakaway group calling itself the Anglican Church in North America.
Warren, who spoke out last fall against legal gay marriage in California, said in January that any nearby Anglican congregation that loses its property after breaking with the U.S. Episcopal Church was welcome to meet on the campus of his Saddleback Church.
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Bob Allen is senior writer for Associated Baptist Press.
And therefore the importance of trying the spirits, of asking as Jesus did "What think ye of Christ?" (Matt 22:42)
If a person responds that He is "a" God or "a" Creator or "a" Way or "a" Truth or "a" Life - then it is the spirit of anti-Christ.
Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name. - Psalms 91:14
Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven. – Matthew 10:32-33
And ye shall overthrow their altars, and break their pillars, and burn their groves with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods, and destroy the names of them out of that place. Ye shall not do so unto the LORD your God. – Deut 12:3-4
Thanks for the ping.
BLESSED BE THE NAME OF THE LORD.
BLESSED BE THE WORD OF THE LORD.
BLESSED BE THE WAYS OF THE LORD.
Perhaps it's semantics, but there is only one "mechanism" by which God dispenses saving grace -- faith in His Son as Lord, King and Savior, made known to us through the Scriptures as we are guided by the Holy Spirit.
Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds" -- Hebrews 1:1-2"God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
Cheers!
According to Catholicism, Christ saves the Church. If you are in the Church, then you’re saved. If not, then you’re in trouble because there is no salvation outside the Church.
I’m sure you can show me where the Catholic Church says that, say, from the Catechism or some such document.
I’m not inclined to believe you, mostly because I’m quite certain you are wrong.
But notice in the clip, the swimmer is terrified by the approaching "doodie," and is desperately trying to get away from it. This is where the analogy breaks down: The Maitreya addicts are desperately trying to "grasp" the "doodie."
Which they never can do. Based on the literature (Creme's books, and even more so, Alice Bailey's), the whole deal is a rigged game. If one comes across some particularly outrageous claim in the text, one is advised that one just doesn't understand the wisdom buried therein; but that if one will only have just another "initiation" or two, THEN maybe one would get it. Meanwhile, go work on trying to figure out your own personal "rays"....
Once one gets on that treadmill, it can be tough to get off.
Alamo-Girl, thank you for this ping, thanks for sharing your wisdom, I appreciate the contrast you made between John and Paul, as well as the similarities you pointed out.
It is a blessing to be who we are, know what He wants, and to do it, there is lasting fruit in that. And, indeed, we must stay focused on loving the LORD God with all our hearts. May our Father help us to love Him most of all, our Most Beloved.
Oh so beautifully said, dearest sister in Christ!
And this from Dr. Eckleburg bears repeating:
And how do men show their love to God? By obeying Him and worshiping Him in truth and love.I'd further add: Absent God, we cannot even be right with ourselves. As Benedict says, "Without God man neither knows which way to go, nor even understands who he is."If that is done, everything else falls into place.
But if we worship something other than the Triune God and swear allegiance to part of the creation instead of the only Creator, we can never be right with God because that skewed trajectory is only taking us ever farther from Him.
Thank you so very much, dearest sisters in Christ!
All those God-given "channels" aid our sanctification, but as Paul says "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast." (Eph. 2:8-9)
Saved by grace through faith.
"Be not afraid; only believe." -- Mark 5:36
I’m glad to hear that what I was thinking was not correct. I had been under the impression that traditional Roman Catholic doctrine holds that the Roman Catholic Church is the one and only Church, outside of which there is no salvation.
That Chesterton is (astutely) remarking on it goes to show how far back in time this "movement" goes. It was in full bloom around the turn of the last century in the influential theosophist Madame Helena Blavatsky's London salon. She had many, many notable visitors including, it is said, Henry Ford and Frank Lloyd Wright.
Anyhoot, the Maitreya doctrine is a muddled mess of Buddhism and Christianity — mainly some sort of ersatz Buddhism with a tiny (yet reassuring to some) increment of Christianity added into the brew. It's interesting to note, however, that the Christian symbols are stripped of their accustomed meanings and given new ones altogether. I don't know whether a similar operation has been performed on Buddhist symbols. (I'm not at all well versed in traditional forms of Buddhism.) But I wouldn't be surprised if it had.
The anti-Christs have really outdone themselves with this Maitreya confabulation. For this time, they claim that Christ is not even "a" Way; he's actually pretty much a big stumblebum in the grand scale of things, only a third-degree initiate who must take a fourth initiation, which he might fail.
If Christ can "fail," then it logically follows that reliance on him is misplaced. Enter the "lord" Maitreya....
Cheers!!!
Don't really know, grey_whiskers. But I imagine they wouldn't be too enthusiastic about "the reappearance" of any "Hidden Master of the Hierarchy" — unless (of course) it be the Hidden Imam, the Mahdi.... There seems to be a strong analogy here; but note the cultural underpinnings are completely different. [Which may only point to the amazing versatility of the Spirit of Evil.]
cheers dear grey_whiskers!
LOLOL! Well, please let me know when you're sure!
Have you read the encyclical markomalley? IMHO, it's awesome.
Thank you for sharing your insights, dearest sister in Christ!
Thank you oh so very much for sharing your insights, dearest sister in Christ, and thank you for your encouragements!
If Christ can "fail," then it logically follows that reliance on him is misplaced. Enter the "lord" Maitreya....
Thank you so very much, dearest sister in Christ, for sharing your insights into this anti-Christ cult!
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