http://www.standardpub.com/Content/Site130/FilesSamples/43394pdf_00000005973

Contents Introduction.......................................................................................................2

WE ARE UNIQUE Episode 27

We Are Unique .............................................................. 6

Episode 28

Buddhism.................................................................... 10

Episode 29

Hinduism..................................................................... 14

Episode 30

Islam............................................................................ 18

Episode 31

Judaism....................................................................... 22

Episode 32

Kabbalah..................................................................... 26

Episode 33

Scientology.................................................................. 30

Episode 34

Mormonism................................................................. 34

Episode 35

Jehovah’s Witnesses................................................... 38

Episode 36

Universalism............................................................... 42

Episode 37

Wicca........................................................................... 46

Episode 38

Atheism....................................................................... 52

Episode 39

Relativism.................................................................... 58

Feature

Standing in Front of You .. ........................................... 62

Daily Bible Readings ..................................................................................... 64 Faith Café Editors: Kristi Cain, Laura Derico Writer: Chris Maxwell DVD Video Producers: Charles Powell, Michelle Wheeler Faith Café is a registered trademark of LifeSprings Resources and is used with permission. Licensed adaptation Copyright © 2009 Standard Publishing. All rights reserved. Published by Standard Publishing, Cincinnati, Ohio. Printed in USA. Scripture, unless otherwise indicated, taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. Scriptures marked The Message taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. When passages are paraphrased by the editor for the sake of clarity, they are consistent with a commitment to the verbal, plenary inspiration of the Bible. Cover photo © Jon Feingersh/Corbis. Interior photos from Dreamstime.com: p. 2 © Zoom-zoom, p. 6 © Stefan Hermans, p. 10 © Ahmad Faizal Yahya, p. 14 © Peter Wey, p. 18 © Aaron Koepp, p. 22 © Photowitch, p. 26 © Sergey Fedenko, p. 30 © Charlotte Leaper, p. 34 © Alysta, p. 38 © Bubamarac, p. 42 © Stuart Monk, p. 46 © Photowitch, p. 51 © Lewis King, p. 52, 57 © Kucsma Gábor, p. 58 © Tan Jace, p. 62 © Nikhil Gangavane, p. 63 © Joel Calheiros, p. 64 © Boguslaw Kupisinski; from BigStockPhoto.com: p. 3 © Dirk Paessler. All Web site addresses were accurate at the time of printing. Any corrections can be sent to Standard Publishing, www.standardpub.com.

75155-FCLG Body-AQ.indd 1

11/21/08 2:07:44 PM

Introduction

I

was eight years old when I realized not everyone believed in Jesus. One day on the way home from church, I voiced a question about the sermon I had just heard on other religions. “Mom,” I asked, “if the Muslims think they’re right, and we think we’re right, how do we know who’s right?”

I can’t recall her response, but that day I became intrigued by different belief systems.

Growing up in a loving home of Christ followers gave me a solid foundation for my spirituality. Because of it, I could examine other beliefs without compromising my own.

Though not an expert on world religions, I’ve learned about them through their adherents.

When I approached them as people instead of evangelism experiments, I discovered they could be my close friends. They’ve inspired me more than once to reevaluate my beliefs.

I’ve helped them do likewise. Honest conversations with Jews, Buddhists, Wiccans, and agnostics have helped me see Jesus (and my need for him) more clearly.

I’ll never forget the first time I talked about religion with a New Age friend. She said many Christians refused to listen care-

fully to her and focused solely on converting her. Because I listened to her, she listened to me. Although she has yet to allow Jesus to direct her life, our exchanges have brought us to a place of respectful understanding. Our friendship would never have developed if we hadn’t asked each other sincere questions.

I’ve heard Christians condemn the study of other religions because it might lead to the scandal of asking questions. Throughout these thirteen episodes, I encourage you to behave scandalously. If you don’t ask hard questions now, how will you answer non-Christians later? How will you explain your answers?

Pray that God will increase your compassion and discernment and decrease any arrogance or fear. We must never demonize those who have yet to find the truth. The study of other religions is not a fight over who makes the most sense. It is about God’s love and equipping ourselves to guide people to find its ultimate expression—Jesus.

ENTER In our gatherings we do not want you just to sit back and listen. Faith Café invites you to enter into an environment where it is safe to ask for and seek answers. Phrases lure your mind toward deeper paths; quotes dare you to stare into your real self; questions give you a chance to talk to yourself and your friends about what is relevant in your lives.

2 Faith Café

75155-FCLG Body-AQ.indd 2

11/21/08 2:07:45 PM

I n t ro d u c t i o n 3

DRINK

WALK

This segment highlights portions of Scripture to help you gain a better understanding of truth, while friends beside you voice their own reflections about how the biblical story inspires them to believe in new ways. Your soul can be refreshed by drinking in the living water of God’s Word.

As we examine society’s trends and scrutinize Christianity’s core beliefs, we choose not to leave it there. We offer suggestions to walk out with the truth you’ve explored and straightforward strategies for declaring doctrine daily to those around you. Actions such as writing letters, serving meals, or visiting hospitals will allow you to take your faith and share the delight with desperate people.

Every session includes an invitation to experience the truth you’re studying on a regular basis. Spiritual disciplines such as intercession, silence, worship, study, and journaling help move you toward transformation. Your heavenly Father can guide and change you as you evaluate your habits and lifestyle.

SAVOR You will savor the stories of the struggles, musings, and triumphs of imperfect people like us who are journeying into a deeper relationship with Jesus. You will get a taste of ancient reality as it touches our fast-paced culture. And these bites of life will help to guide, challenge, and focus you.

EXPERIENCE Faith Café also offers statistics to investigate, books to read, video clips to watch, Web sites to peruse, and thoughts to ponder. The discussions of our society today will provoke groups to enter and experience lessons together. You’ll create community and, in doing so, learn more about yourself.

75155-FCLG Body-AQ.indd 3

You are invited to taste and see, to drink and be refreshed. By reflecting and exploring, by examining and investigating, by meditating and applying, you just might discover a way to know God more and to get closer to the person he created you to be. We have no doubt you’ll be glad you decided to sit, sip, and talk about life at Faith Café.

11/21/08 2:07:46 PM

EPISODE 27 WE ARE UNIQUE

We Are Unique SUPPLIES NEEDED Faith Café DVD Local phone book Newspapers White board or chalkboard Dry-erase marker or chalk

ENTER They are your friends, family, or neighbors—people just like you. You could list the ways you are similar, but you could also name one overwhelming difference: they do not worship your God. Who am I talking about? Recently they have been labeled the “unChristian”—those who believe in other religions or no religion at all. In the next thirteen episodes, we will get to know them. Listen to them. Learn from them. And by the end, we hope, love them.

Read off some names from a phone book. Ask the group to consider that each name represents a life Christ died to save. Pray together, asking God to help you love people as he loves us.

Throughout history how have Christians failed those who worship other gods? n When have Christians succeeded in being Christ to those with other beliefs? n How might learning about other religions help you love others more authentically? n What would help you become more confident about your own faith? n How do we love others who don’t share our faith without compromising our beliefs? n

Read the Consider it quote aloud and allow a few moments for discussion. Ask: In what ways can a study of other religions enable us to “dispel the misunderstandings” and “improve relationships”?

Consider it “Christians must seek to understand the religions around them to dispel the misunderstandings they have long held about others. The Christian church and evangelicals in particular have not seen it as in their interest to improve relationships with those of other religions.”

—James F. Lewis and William G. Travis Watch the Episode 27 clip on the Faith Café DVD. Discuss the interview with Dale Reeves regarding the importance of understanding the beliefs and customs of those outside the body of Christ. Ask: n Do you agree that Christians have to “earn the right to be heard” before sharing the gospel? Why or why not? n Have Christians forgotten the difference between living the truth and being a bigot? Explain. n Does tolerance have a place in Christianity? Why or why not? n What are some ways we can share the gospel in an inoffensive manner without compromising the truth of the message? Is it always possible to do so?

DRINK In reply Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.”

6 Faith Café

75155-FCLG Body-AQ.indd 6

11/21/08 2:07:47 PM

S e a s o n Tw o E p i s o d e 2 7 7 “How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!”

Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. . . .

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

—John 3:3-6, 16, 17

s s n t s

Jesus interrupted Nicodemus’s world, causing the Pharisee to question everything he believed.

Nicodemus confessed what few in his position had the courage to say: “Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God.” Jesus’ response to the Jewish leader challenged him, but also revealed the love of God. Do our replies to people’s questions do the same?

s

GO deEpER Many of us have read, studied, quoted, and memorized John 3:16, but how often do we view this verse in light of the ones surrounding it?

This week, as we begin a journey to examine other religions, let us first review what many consider a summary of our doctrinal statement.

Prior to verse 16, the text describes an encounter in which Jesus introduces the phrase “born again” to a devout Jew named Nicodemus. As a ruler in the Jewish council, Nicodemus knew the law, custom, requirements, expectations, and religious view on how to obtain right standing before God. He knew about consequences of improper conduct. He had memorized long portions of what we call the Old Testament. He regularly studied the journeys of Moses, prayed and sang the confessions of David, and investigated the words of the prophets.

75155-FCLG Body-AQ.indd 7

Jesus interrupted Nicodemus’s world of wisdom and custom, causing him to question everything he believed. So at night, when other Jewish skeptics would not notice their fellow scholar engaged in dialogue with a man they considered a false prophet, Nicodemus visited Jesus. He stated what few in his position would say out loud: “Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him.”

Christ’s miracles persuaded Nicodemus to ask questions, and Jesus responded with the instruction that no one can see God’s kingdom unless he is “born again.”

Those two words, common for modernday Christians, were a foreign concept to Nicodemus: “This does not make sense,” he said. “How can an old person enter a mother’s womb and be born all over again? What are you saying?”

Christ responded by explaining what he meant by the odd phrase, helping Nicodemus grasp the new way of being reconciled to God: it wasn’t a work of the flesh like a normal birth, but a birth through God’s Spirit. Through this spiritual birth, people become new creations.

Nicodemus wanted to know more, not about the state of affairs or the proper religious history; he wanted to know how God was with Jesus.

Jesus continued his answers, linking the traditional beliefs Nicodemus held about Moses with what Jesus was offering him at that moment: the truth that no one needed to perish but “whoever believes in him” would have life forever.

This new birth, this transformation, this change, does not come through knowledge or obedience to laws. It happens through faith. A new birth is the result of trust and belief in the Father who sent his Son, Jesus.

Following that dialogue, Jesus proclaimed the familiar verse we cite as this week’s text and answered Nicodemus’ questions:

11/21/08 2:07:47 PM

What did God do? Loved the world.

What were the results of that love? God gave his Son, Jesus. n Why? Not to condemn the world but to save the world. n How does that happen? By believing in him. n What about those who don’t believe?

They miss out on God’s redemptive love and an eternity with him.

Jesus knew the beliefs, laws, and customs that Nicodemus followed. It is also important that we be aware of the beliefs of others. This knowledge will allow us to demonstrate respect and love, and it also enables us to be responsible Christians who are prepared for conversations about faith.

Just as Nicodemus asked questions, others will wonder at our decision to follow Christ.

However, that shouldn’t prevent us from building relationships with nonbelievers. We need to commit every day to love people, no matter their opinions or fears, no matter their religion or doubts. Recognize that anyone may become a “Nicodemus” who is hungry for Christ. n n

Divide into groups of two, three, or four. Give each group a newspaper. Instruct everyone to look in news reports, pictures, columns, book reviews, and even movie releases for things that are opposed to the views of Christianity. Have the groups discuss how God’s love can be introduced into those places and people, and also how our negative reactions to opinions or lifestyles can keep us from showing God’s love to those writers, editors, actors, athletes, etc. Spend a few minutes in small groups praying for those who are blind to the gospel of Jesus.

Write this portion of this week’s Scripture on the board and read it again as you move into the story: “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” (John 3:17).

SAVOR After speaking eight times in twelve days, I boarded a plane. Although rest was all I wanted, things changed when I sat down in seat 16A on a flight from Atlanta to Daytona. My time of rest became a classroom, an interview, and a chance to make a new friend.

I glanced from my window seat to the lady sitting beside me. We said hello as I hurried to send a few more texts before being instructed to turn off the device. Yvette, the passenger in seat 16B, started reading a book about Buddhism. I realized then that I wasn’t going to get a nap.

After takeoff, I initiated small talk, confessing I had seen her book. I asked if it represented her beliefs. The answer was a yes that began a conversation about her twenty-three years in Buddhism.

Our discussion became concentrated on one question to which Yvette provided multiple answers. I asked, “What do people of your religion think of Christians?”

I listened to Yvette, an attorney who had grown up Catholic, talk about a performance-based religion that offered punishment without grace and formality without relationships. She mentioned that her spiritual desires were often ignored in the Christianity she had experienced. She longed for a church family. Her experience didn’t provide that.

She couldn’t even talk to God herself; she thought she had to go through a priest.

“Christianity might have a better reputation,” Yvette said, “if [Christians] spoke words of encouragement, and if they approached those who disagree with them more kindly, maybe discussing instead of debating. Today’s culture wants answers to real-life questions in a world of pain. We need people to share hope, not hate.”

I had much in common with Yvette. Though our beliefs about eternity and God were different, we laughed at our similarities: both babies of the family, writers, and public speakers. We ate peanuts, drank ginger ale, and agreed, “It wasn’t an accident we met today.”

8 Faith Café

75155-FCLG Body-AQ.indd 8

11/21/08 2:07:47 PM

S e a s o n Tw o E p i s o d e 2 7 9 Ask: n Put yourself in the seat beside Yvette. How would you have expected her to respond to the question? n Are you willing to take advice from those of other religions? Explain your response. n Do Christians need to improve their image? Why or why not?

EXPERIENCE “Christianity: 2.1 billion; Islam: 1.5 billion; Nonreligious/Agnostic/Atheist: 1.1 billion; Hinduism: 900 million; Buddhism: 376 million; Judaism: 14 million; Neo-Paganism: 1 million; Unitarian-Universalism: 800 thousand; Scientology: 500 thousand.

—from information presented on www.adherents.com (2007)

Look into it Dick Eastman, The Hour That Changes the World n James F. Lewis and William G. Travis, Religious Traditions of the World n Mel Lawrenz, I Want to Believe: Finding Your Way in an Age of Many Faiths n www.4truth.net/ n delveintojesus.com/articles/17/Is-ItIntolerant-to-Say-Jesus-is-the-OnlyWay.aspx n www.religionfacts.com/christianity/ beliefs/other_religions.htm n

Just as you’d prepare for a foreign mission trip, plan for your interactions with your community.

Write down ways you can intentionally and creatively show Christ’s love to your community. n Pray for the people on your street, in your building, and at your workplace. n Plan an informal, open activity or event with these people in mind. Invite everyone to come. n

This week’s spiritual discipline is creating a routine: Each week we offer more than information—we suggest ways to connect with God by practicing spiritual disciplines. By incorporating these spiritual disciplines into our lives we respond to the God who desires to be in relationship with us. Prepare for the upcoming lessons by concentrating on the importance of time with God. Find a few extra minutes to talk with God as you prepare for the episodes in this guide. Savor time with your maker.

End your time together by spending time with God. Offer a few moments of silence when each person can be “alone” with God, and then conclude by singing a song together and/or offering a group prayer. Ask God to guide the lessons and to give each person an increased love for those who have not found Christ.

Notes

WALK Youth group trips, missionaries in foreign lands, and medical staff serving in other countries—just a few examples of mission work. But what about our neighbors? Are we as concerned about their spiritual welfare as we are about those across the ocean?

75155-FCLG Body-AQ.indd 9

11/21/08 2:07:47 PM