Ed Stetzer : Agreeing to Disagree

Global Faith Forum: Ed Stetzer is talking right now about "Agreeing to Disagree" because, as he says, you cannot both reach out to a people without loving a people. He is still reinforcing that we don't all worship the same God – Ed has a conservative following and I think he is making sure they know he is not lowering his standards or compromising. He is speaking against an "interfaith" idea but then Bob has already cleared the air. Hopefully he moves beyond this to have something interesting to say.

[update – see Ed in comments on this]

OK – Ed is doing better now and here is his message:

4 commitments to help us live in a multi-faith world:

1. A commitment to allow each religion to speak for themselves. Christians should read the Ramayana if they want to understand Hinduism. [Ed didn't say it but I spoke this week about the Ramayana being translated and published by William Carey, another Baptist leader.]
2. A commitment to talk about individuals and not "faiths"
.  People are people, not religions. Muslims did not attact the World Trade Center – some fundamentalist Muslims did. [This is good and it reinforces what the two Jewish men on the panel about the two of them having three opinions.]

3. A commitment to learn how to mutually respect other people's beliefs without compromise. KKK does not represent Christian followers and Al Qaeda does not represent
We should be quick ot point out our own extremists who do not act according to our beliefs and apologize for them. [This is what one of the panelists was alluding to earlier when he mentioned the Florida pastor who tried to burn the Koran and make world-wide news – He was lamenting that this great gathering has almost no global coverage but it should]. We should be able to proselytize. Muslims do. Buddhists do. Christians do. Woe to us if we do not preach the gospel.

4. A commitment to grant to each person the freedom to make their own decisions. To attend or not attend church. Ed is reading from the Koran here where it says something similar. Hinduism allows freedom also. Jesus advised his followers against the use of force. Muslims should be free to build a mosque where they want [Ground Zero] but Christians should be allowed to build churches in the Middle East [I think he said Dubai] [Agreed.]

Ed is wrapping it up. Good comeback. Looking forward to saying hello over icecream in a few minutes.

Andrew

Andrew Jones launched his first internet space in 1997 and has been teaching on related issues for the past 20 years. He travels all the time but lives between Wellington, San Francisco and a hobbit home in Prague.

5 Comments

  • Ed Stetzer says:

    >> Ed has a conservative following and I think he is
    >> making sure they know he is not lowering his
    >> standards or compromising. He is speaking against
    >> an “interfaith” idea but then Bob has already
    >> cleared the air. Hopefully he moves beyond this
    >> to have something interesting to say.
    Or, it could be that he genuinely thinks that it is important that we address the historic dangers and failures of interfaith dialogue before suggesting another way he considers more faithful.
    Ed

  • brambonius says:

    So andrew, how would you describe a multi- or interfaith perspective viewed from a non-conservative angle?

  • Andrew says:

    Hi Bram. non-conservative Christian or Muslim angle?
    its a bit too early to say – those terms are still being discussed here.

  • Andrew says:

    Ed, your interpretation of Ed is probably more accurate than mine, considering that you are actually Ed.
    And thanks for the history lesson.
    Sorry I missed you at the ice cream event.

  • brambonius says:

    I’m a christian who seems to fail at being conservative, so I was thinking of a non-conservative christian angle… But maybe the muslim POV is even more interesting…
    (and, is there such thing as non-conservative muslims? bring on the emerging mosque!)

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