Preaching Against Other Religions vs. Teaching Your Own

[BFD_Zayl]

Each religion should be left to its own, happy with itself. instead of angry with others.

 

[Fluffy]

*bounce*

Is it really possible to divide it up in that way?

It seems that if you wish to assert that certain things are true then you are inevitably going to be preaching against those things which are contradicted. Furthermore, if other schools of thought become systemised and set out their own contradictory beliefs then the overlap can be debated upon and part of teaching is showing how your beliefs stand up to critcism therefore necessitating the justification for not simply this religion but this religion amongst others.

There is nothing wrong with declaring why another religion has got it wrong. Afterall, there must be a reason why you are a member of this religion and not that religion. In fact it would be dishonest to try and hide that belief.

 

[Kcnorwood]

Each religion should be left to its own, happy with itself. instead of angry with others.

This is true however there are some people who can't leave others alone.
They believe that everyone should worship the same God.
I'm not picking on christiany here, but from what I've seen they have the most history of telling people of other religions thay they are wrong. You might have a few other religions out there doing the same, but again no one cares about those.

 

[Bishka]

This is true,however christiany being the donmiant religion it dones't look very good to the people that they are preaching too. The outside world doesn't really care if Pagans & Muslims, ETC are fighting among each other.

And the outside world shouldn't care if Christianity fights among itself as well. To each their own, and don't worry about what the others believe, you should only care about what you believe.

 

[Kcnorwood]

And the outside world shouldn't care if Christianity fights among itself as well. To each their own, and don't worry about what the others believe, you should only care about what you believe.

They do care that christians fight among each other & it's because christian have put themselves in the limelight. They have become so mainstream they the world views them in a different light. I myself do not care what someone else believe's not untill you attack mine anyhow & try to tell me how wrong I am.

 

[Ody]

Do you think that churches should preach against other churches or stick to teaching what they believe to be true?

I believe certainly that Rabbi's must do all they can to keep Jews in the fold and fight opportunists like MJ's who target the less educated. Why can't a church fight for what it believes in when a choice in religion can have possibly such an effect on the future after life?

 

[jonny]

*bounce*

Is it really possible to divide it up in that way?

It seems that if you wish to assert that certain things are true then you are inevitably going to be preaching against those things which are contradicted. Furthermore, if other schools of thought become systemised and set out their own contradictory beliefs then the overlap can be debated upon and part of teaching is showing how your beliefs stand up to critcism therefore necessitating the justification for not simply this religion but this religion amongst others.

There is nothing wrong with declaring why another religion has got it wrong. Afterall, there must be a reason why you are a member of this religion and not that religion. In fact it would be dishonest to try and hide that belief.

The problems come when you are declaring why another religion has got it wrong, but the reasoning you give is 100% false. I could preach all day and night that pagans are going to hell because they worship Satan to convince people not to become Pagan or associate with pagans, but it's a lie - even if I thought it was true.

 

[Ody]

Each religion should be left to its own, happy with itself. instead of angry with others.

I cannot with a sound heart let Jews be lead astray.

 

[jonny]

I cannot with a sound heart let Jews be lead astray.

Then teach him about Judaism. If your religion isn't strong enough to stand up on it's own, what's the point?

 

[Ody]

Then teach him about Judaism. If your religion isn't strong enough to stand up on it's own, what's the point?

I believe full in teaching Judaism and its incompatibility with other faiths, the failed sycrenism (sp) of the 'Messianic Jewish' movement is becoming a problem that has to be faced. Education a purely "teaching your own" style is needed and indeed in the end
more important in this time, due to the fact that thier still are a majority of Jews who keep in some semblance to HaShem yet fail to take up thier entire mission. I don't think I read the OP clearly, my sinuses are going wacky and I'm trying to do two things at once due to the Penn MC. :cover:

 

[Katzpur]

There is nothing wrong with declaring why another religion has got it wrong. Afterall, there must be a reason why you are a member of this religion and not that religion. In fact it would be dishonest to try and hide that belief.

To me, it's not the fact that someone may declare that my religion is "wrong" that bugs me. It's the fact that they misrepresent the doctrines of my religion. For example:

It's okay to say: Mormonism is wrong because it teaches that God the Father is a corporeal being.

It's not okay to say: Mormonism is wrong because it teaches that the moon is made of green cheese.

It's okay to say: Mormonism is wrong because it teaches that marriages can endure beyond the grave.

It's not okay to say: Mormonism is wrong because it teaches that only people with blue eyes and blonde hair will go to heaven.

See what I'm saying?

 

[Sunstone]

It's pretty sad when someone knows more about why other religions are wrong than they know about their own religion.

 

[Ody]

It's pretty sad when someone knows more about why other religions are wrong than they know about their own religion.

Truely.

 

[Tigress]

Do you think that churches should preach against other churches or stick to teaching what they believe to be true?

I bring this up because I remember when I was in elementary school that many of my friends would come home from Sunday School after they watched videos about my church and were taught about why my church wasn't true. They would tell me I was going to Hell, which was very troubling for a 10 year old. I also had an experience where my sister and I went to a Vacation Bible Camp at an Evangelical Free church with some friends. While there we had a lesson about why the LDS church wasn't true and they even taught the kids some song about those scary mormon missionaries. :sarcastic Let's just say that my mom had some words with the pastor, who was our neighbor.

I personally never had any lessons like this at my Church. We were always taught about what we believe and encouraged to pray about it to determine if it is true. I never in my life have had a Sunday School lesson on why "Church X" isn't true. I have always felt that the only reason that there could be to preach against another religion in this manner is because you are afraid of people believing it and leaving your church. In essence, the church is trying to create a bias against the religion before the members have a chance to do the research and make an educated decision for themselves.

What do you think?

Lately, a similar situation happened in our area where a Baptist pastor preached a sermon entitled 'The Deadly Threat of Islam.' Now, while I believe in the right to that opinion, I think the sermon was in poor taste. Anyone who feels the need to bring others down in order to elevate themselves and to promote their own agenda is a sad case indeed.

 

[standing_alone]

Religions need to learn to not act as though they have a monopoly on "truth" and spirituality and respect other paths that differ from their own and accept that perhaps these other paths have some "truth" and validity to them as well. When religions seem to (dishonestly) believe they know the "truth" or "what's best for everybody" that is when intolerance and worse is born.

 

[Kcnorwood]

There is nothing wrong with declaring why another religion has got it wrong. Afterall, there must be a reason why you are a member of this religion and not that religion. In fact it would be dishonest to try and hide that belief.[/quote]

Yes, there is something wrong with that, just because you don't agree with the pratcies of one religion does not mean you should belittle it. The reason people don't choose to follow one religion over another is more then likley they tried it & did not find what they were looking for.

 

[Booko]

I cannot with a sound heart let Jews be lead astray.

Of course not. But you'll use the arts of persuasion, not insults, lies and the arts of war, eh? That makes a big difference.

 

[Ody]

Of course not. But you'll use the arts of persuasion, not insults, lies and the arts of war, eh? That makes a big difference.

I never said that I thought such actions where needed.

And of course it does.

 

[Booko]

I never said that I thought such actions where needed.

Of course not... I can't imagine you ever would. :cover:

 

[jonny]

hi

Lately, a similar situation happened in our area where a Baptist pastor preached a sermon entitled 'The Deadly Threat of Islam.' Now, while I believe in the right to that opinion, I think the sermon was in poor taste. Anyone who feels the need to bring others down in order to elevate themselves and to promote their own agenda is a sad case indeed.

This reminded me of a recent devotional at BYU. The university has a spiritual meeting weekly and invited Alwi Shihab, the former Indonesian minister of forum affairs, to come and speak to the students at BYU.

http://speeches.byu.edu/reader/reader.php?id=11324&x=48&y=4

This is how I believe we should learn about other religions - invite experts who are members of that religion to come and speak.