http://religionsofman.com Studying other faiths in obedience to the Great Commission Tue, 12 Jan 2010 16:13:07 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Mark Rogers recently posted an article on The Gospel Coalition Blog with a list of 10 ways to encourage missionaries based on responses he got from missionaries themselves. Read the full article here. 1. Pray for them and let them know that you are doing so frequently. 2. Send “real mail.” 3. Pray ... http://religionsofman.com/2010/01/12/10-ways-to-encourage-missionaries/ In the latest issues of International Journal of Frontier Missions (26:2), Eric Adams, Don Allen, and Bob Fish discuss the characteristics of effective field practitioners in Muslim contexts in their article Seven Themes of Fruitfulness (pdf). They identified the seven themes of fruitfulness after surveying and interviewing 300 missionaries from ... http://religionsofman.com/2009/10/22/seven-themes-of-fruitfulness-in-muslim-contexts/ I recently came across an article in The Salt Lake Tribune in which the author highlighted some statistics about members from the LDS church that came from Pew's U.S. Religious Landscape in 2007 .  I wanted to mention some of the stats that I found interesting: LDS: 1. The Latter-Day Saints (LDS) ... http://religionsofman.com/2009/08/16/interesting-stats-on-lds-and-jehovahs-witnesses/ I came across an interesting article in the Salt Lake Tribune about how the LDS church is seeking to contextualize their faith around the world. From the article, it appears that the church is trying to remove some of the American cultural trappings that have been such an important ... http://religionsofman.com/2009/07/07/lds-contextualization-and-christian-missions/ Similarities: 1. Pre-existence of humanity: LDS: All humans pre-existed in the spirit world before being born on earth. Scientology: People were thetans in past lives + belief in reincarnation. 2. Unlimited potential for humans: LDS: Heavenly Father (God) is an exalted man and LDS men may become gods with omnipotence and omniscience. Scientology: People may become thetans again, ... http://religionsofman.com/2009/04/21/lds-mormonism-and-scientology-a-brief-theological-comparison/ When studying other religions it is important to understand how those within the tradition approach their sacred text(s).  Different religious traditions have different understandings of revelation.   Because of this, believers in the various traditions read their texts differently.  We cannot assume that Muslims approach the Qur’an the ... http://religionsofman.com/2009/02/15/not-all-holy-books-are-the-same/ A few days ago I finished a study on the Gospel of Mark and realized just how many times Mark notes that Jesus was surrounded by a crowd of people (18 different times from what I saw). Although many rejected Jesus during his three-year ministry, he always attracted crowds ... http://religionsofman.com/2009/01/04/the-beauty-of-christ/ Last month I went to the annual meeting for the American Academy of Religion. The most interesting session I attended was titled "The Disobedient Prophet? Tensions between Qur'anic Verses and Prophetic Practice." The first presenter discussed the tension between minimalism and comprehensiveness in the development of Shariah law. He argued that ... http://religionsofman.com/2008/12/05/the-disobedient-prophet/ I recently came across an intriguing concept while reading Encountering New Religious Movements: A Holistic Evangelical Approach (ed. Hexham, Rost, and Morehead II). According to the introduction, the various authors in this book intend to bridge the gap between apologetics and contextual missiology. As part of this project, ... http://religionsofman.com/2008/10/11/seeing-cults-as-people-groups/ I just finished writing a paper on Buddhism in Thailand and I wanted to point out 2 ideas that are important in understanding Buddhism. These observations apply specifically to Buddhism in Thailand, but I think they also play a role in other contexts. 1. 2 ways of being Buddhist: a. Monks: - ... http://religionsofman.com/2008/09/20/buddhism-in-thailand/