- Activist Feedback
- Essay: The Importance of Monotheism
- This Week’s Sermon from Rev. Frank and Mary Hoffman
1. Activist Feedback
Jennifer, with Jen
and Jen’s son Hung (12), leafleted at the Women of Faith event on
February 18 in Billings, MT. She writes:
When we got there,
there was a long lineup. We started leafleting right away to people
were in line. After a while there was no queue, we had to scatter to
approach people from different directions. When our booklets were
about to run out, I found booklets on top of the garbage bin, and some
even threw them in the garbage bin. So I collected the discarded
booklets and we finished them all in an hour.
We always
approached people with "do you want a brochure," and many took it.
Some looked at the title and refused, and I always smiled at the
person with a "thank you". It's okay to say no, but it's not okay to
dump it in the trash, because it has Jesus' name on it! Overall, it
was successful, considering it's Montana and some of the conference
attendees told us they are ranchers.
All the 300 booklets
found their way to people who now get to face the factory farming
facts and thought provoking questions each of them need to answer.
With God's Love,
Jennifer
Upcoming Outreach Opportunities
3/1
ID Boise
The Rock and Worship Road Show
3/2
OR Portland The Rock and
Worship Road Show
3/2-3
OK Tulsa
Extraordinary Women Conference
3/2-3
TX San Antonio
Acquire The Fire Youth Conference
3/3
WA Seattle
The Rock and Worship Road Show
3/3
WA Spokane
The Rock and Worship Road Show
3/3
NY Rochester Women of Faith Dream
On For Teen Girls!
3/3 LA
Shreveport Women of Faith One Day
3/8-9 NC Charlotte
Benny Hinn Miracle Crusade
3/9
CA San Diego The Rock and Worship
Road Show
3/9-10 IN Muncie
Acquire The Fire Youth Conference
3/10
FL Tampa
TABLE Bark in the Park
3/10 CA
Sacramento The Rock and Worship Road
Show
3/10 WI
Milwaukee Women of Faith Dream On
For Teen Girls!
3/11 CA Fresno
The Rock and Worship Road Show
6/23
VA Richmond
TABLE Richmond Vegetarian Festival
3/15-17 NC
Winston-Salem Joyce Meyers
Ministries Conference
3/16-17 SC Greenville
Extraordinary Women Conference
3/16-17 OK Tulsa
Acquire The Fire Youth Conference
3/17
FL Miami
Women of Faith One Day
3/17 PA
Pittsburgh Women of Faith Dream On For
Teen Girls!
3/23-24 NC Greensboro
Acquire the Fire Youth Conference
3/23-24 CA San Diego
Acquire the Fire Youth Conference
3/24
IN Indianapolis Women
of Faith Dream On For Teen Girls
3/24
NV Las Vegas Women of Faith One
Day Conference
3/30-31 MO Cape Girardeau Extraordinary
Women Conference
3/31 TX Austin
Women of Faith Dream on For Teen Girls
3/31
KS Wichita
Women of Faith One Day
3/31 MD
Baltimore Women of Faith One Day
3/31 TX Austin
TABLE Texas Veg Fest
4/22 CA San
Diego TABLE EarthWorks' EarthFair
2012
4/22 MO St. Louis
TABLE Earth Day Festival
4/28-29 CT Hartford
TABLE Connecticut Vegetarian & Healthy
Living Festival
5/20
CA Van Nuys TABLE WorldFest
2012
2. Essay: The Importance of Monotheism
The
First Commandment mandates that the Hebrews were to worship only one
God, which was a radical departure from the polytheism that
characterized other ancient religions. For one thing, monotheism made
it more difficult for the ancient Hebrews to project their own desires
and conflicts onto God. People believing in polytheism could envision
their own rivalries and conflicts as having parallels in the rivalries
and conflicts among the gods. With only one God, it was harder for the
ancient Hebrews to defend bitter rivalries or vengeful sentiments by
pointing to analogous squabbles among deities.
The ancient
Hebrews’ monotheistic outlook did not guarantee an end to
scapegoating, however, because they still saw God as multifaceted. God
could still be angry and jealous, as well as loving and compassionate.
Consequently, the ancient Hebrews feared God’s anger just as they took
comfort in God’s general sentiment of love and concern for the Hebrew
people.
Despite numerous regressions, the Bible gradually
reveals an image of God as loving all creation, from the early Hebrew
accounts of God’s concern for the “chosen people,” to the later
prophets who often described God’s concern for all victims, to the New
Testament stories about Jesus reflecting a God of boundless love.
Benefiting from the Judeo-Christian revelation, and perhaps aided by
the Holy Spirit, today we have opportunities for a broader
understanding of God’s love than did most people in the past. It is
possible that future generations will have an even greater grasp of
God’s love.
People have always tended to envision their gods
in anthropomorphic terms. In other words, people have created gods in
their own image, believing that their gods have human attributes and
human desires. In contrast, I think that monotheism favors seeing God
as having only one essence. Perhaps one reason that the ancient
Hebrews were repeatedly drawn to worship pagan gods was that they had
difficulty seeing God as having but one essence. Polytheism makes it
easier to regard the gods as having diverse and conflicting attributes
and desires, because each god can manifest a distinctive personality
trait. However, I think the common practice of seeing God as a single
person somewhat misses the point of monotheism, because this view
permits people to regard God as having many personality traits. Such a
god somewhat resembles polytheistic deities, with the varied
personalities of polytheistic gods melded into the multiple attributes
of one deity.
Belief in multiple gods or in one God with
multiple personality traits can facilitate scapegoating, because there
are no absolute standards to guide values and behavior. People may
pick and choose among a range of deities or divine attributes to
admire and worship. One day, people can admire a god known for
compassion and mercy, and they may attend to the needs of weak and
vulnerable individuals. The next day, agitated by a crisis, the people
can convince each other that they should admire a god known for
wrathful vengeance, and proceed to scapegoat those same weak and
vulnerable individuals. Monotheism undermines, but does not eliminate,
such fickleness.
Next week, I will reflect on what might be
the single essence of God in a truly monotheistic faith.
Stephen R. Kaufman, M.D.
3. This Week’s Sermon
from Rev. Frank and Mary Hoffman
Learning to See the
True Intent of Man’s Heart (Part V)