LEFTIST CHRISTIANS SORT OF AGREE WITH IRAN

[mord]

     

2007 Friday 30 March
Eschatology You Can Do Business With
The religious left makes its peace with Ahmadinejad's Madhist doctrine.

by Mark D. Tooley

Weekly Standard

GERALD SHENK, who teaches at Eastern Mennonite Seminary in Harrisonburg, Virginia, attended a theology conference on "Madhist doctrine" in Teheran last September. (For many Shiite Muslims, the Twelfth Imam is the Mahdi, or messianic savior, who returns at the end times to establish a reign of righteousness. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad prophesied about the Twelfth Imam's glorious return when he addressed the United Nations last October.) Apparently Shenk liked a lot of what he heard and he has written about it in a current issue of Presbyterian Outlook.

Ahmadinejad's dreams of a triumphant apocalypse, which involves the destruction of all infidels, are less than reassuring to many in the West. But Shenk believes that Christians can find common ground with Ahmadinejad's understanding of the prophecy.

Shenk was among a handful of Christians and 4,000 Muslims, including the Iranian president, at the Mahdist doctrine conference. The Mennonite professor explains that this "messianic expectation" among Shiites "hopes for a righteous ruler to return and establish justice, re-ordering human affairs according to G-d's will."

For Iranian Shiites especially, the Mahdi is "identified as the Twelfth Imam in succession after the Prophet Muhammad, understood as being hidden but not dead for the past eleven centuries." This Shiite savior will "return after a lengthy period of injustice and immorality to establish justice and restore righteousness on earth."

According to Shenk, "Allusions to the precedents in Christian teaching are frequent, and in some versions the return of Christ and the Mahdi figure are linked."

Shenk described Ahmadinejad, during his speech at the Mahdist conference, as having the "earnest intensity of a lay preacher" and considerable "fervor of conviction." And the Iranian theocrat was optimistic: "The whole movement of the world is toward justice, religion, and piety," Ahmadinejad declared, inviting all people to "come to the right path, the way of the prophets."

According to Shenk's account, Ahmadinejad rejoiced that Marxism had been thrown "into the garbage bin of History," and that "the day of empires is finished." He also took aim at American imperialism, denouncing "people who put their hands on the bomb and want to talk." Such people suffer from a "superiority complex," which is the "source of all wars." Those who "claim to represent the whole world" suffer from an "arrogant spirit that is robbing the world," Ahmadinejad warned.

According to Shenk, the Iranian president met with the conference's "foreign guests" at his office in downtown Tehran, where he emphasized that "righteousness must characterize true rulers, and justice must mark the affairs of nations." Shenk observed with admiration that Ahmadinejad "reportedly lives in austerity, driving an ancient Peugeot, and has avoided the corruption that enriched the cronies and relatives of his predecessors."

Indeed, Shenk explained that, "Religious values go far to explain [Ahmadinejad's] passion for dignity, respect, and a more decent share of the earth's bounty for the masses of those currently living in poverty."

AFTER THE INSPIRATIONAL GATHERING in Teheran, Ahmadinejad asked to meet with American religious officials, which he did on September 20 in New York City. The Mennonite Central Committee pulled together about 40 church officials, with several Muslims. According to Shenk, "While ready to give credence to the value of framing geopolitical issues theologically, the Christian representatives also voiced strong reservations about Ahmadinejad's widely cited views on Israel and the Holocaust." How strongly these were voiced is a subject for debate.

"I heard Christian participants in this event say they had been primed to expect to encounter a lunatic," Shenk recalled. "Afterward, they reflected instead on having met a man who spoke knowledgably within a theological framework and who meaningfully (at least on some levels) addressed issues of justice and moral righteousness." Shenk urged that the United States make "tough agreements" with Iran on nuclear weapons, perhaps offering a "fresh round of reductions in our own U.S. nuclear stockpiles" to salt the plate. Meanwhile, the United States needs a "readjustment of rhetoric" about Iran, he says.

As a model for America to follow, Shenk describes how his own Mennonite church has been building a bridge to Iran for more than a decade: "Our students have gone to Iran and studied theology in Islamic seminaries; Muslim students have come to North America in exchange and pursued topics in theology and peace building," he says. "If we want to crack the code with Iran, we must take the theological dimensions of their way of seeing the world more seriously."

Iran's rulers no doubt appreciate the admiration of visiting American religionists. They recognize useful friends when they see them. Many of these same U.S. prelates, across the years, have expressed fears about the ostensible Christian end-times beliefs that supposedly have influenced some American politicians. They have hunted for any evidence that U.S. officials, however inwardly, are guided by some expectation of the Second Coming of Christ. But anticipating the "righteous" advent of the Twelfth Imam is apparently much less threatening.

Mark D. Tooley directs the United Methodist committee at the Institute on Religion and Democracy.    http://www.iranpressnews.com/english/source/022410.html

iN OTHER WORDS THESE LEFTIST FIND SOMETHING TO ADMIRE IN AHCMADJOB BUT SCORN EVANGELICAL CHRISTIANS

[dawntreader]

They recognize useful friends when they see them.

Ah yes...like Hitler, Ahmedenijad and the Iranians recognize useful idiots when they see them.

I think the entire world is waiting for a savior. We Jews are looking for the Moshiach to return. The Christians (sans the Catholics most likely) believe Jesus is the Messiah and that he is going to return. The Muslims believe their twelfth Imam is coming....

I would tend to believe that there is really something to some of this, something to these beliefs.

It is also interesting to note the end dates of the Mayan calendar, the Egyptian calendar and even the Jewish calendar (In a 7,000 year period) are all rapidly coming up. From 2012 - 2018, this is the window that some believe will harbor the end of this world and the beginning of a new age, a new world etc.

I wonder if we will find the Moshiach and a real, new world coming very shortly.

[mord]

They recognize useful friends when they see them.

Ah yes...like Hitler, Ahmedenijad and the Iranians recognize useful idiots when they see them.

I think the entire world is waiting for a savior. We Jews are looking for the Moshiach to return. The Christians (sans the Catholics most likely) believe Jesus is the Messiah and that he is going to return. The Muslims believe their twelfth Imam is coming....

I would tend to believe that there is really something to some of this, something to these beliefs.

It is also interesting to note the end dates of the Mayan calendar, the Egyptian calendar and even the Jewish calendar (In a 7,000 year period) are all rapidly coming up. From 2012 - 2018, this is the window that some believe will harbor the end of this world and the beginning of a new age, a new world etc.

I wonder if we will find the Moshiach and a real, new world coming very shortly.

YES IT'S TRUE ABOUT THE 7,OOO YR CYCLES,ALSO MENNONITES HAVE CONNECTIONS TO QUAKERS AND THE ISM

[TruthTyper]

dawntreader, I'm not sure if this is an april's fools joke or not lol, but I also believe a new age is coming around the 2012 area. Almost Every religion has thier doomsday prophecy ofcourse but a lot of them seem to point towards the 2012 area. 2012 is supposedly the Age of Aquarius

[MassuhDGoodName]

Re:  "...I wonder if we will find the Moshiach and a real, new world coming very shortly..."

Sure hope so.

But as the old saying goes, "Praise the Lord, and pass the ammunition".

[Lewinsky Stinks, Dr. Brennan Rocks]

Shenk is deeply, deeply mentally ill. If he so understands and sympathizes with Mahdiism so much, he should go move to Iran to be with his Shiite brethren and leave us alone.

[Din Rodef]

It is also interesting to note the end dates of the Mayan calendar, the Egyptian calendar and even the Jewish calendar (In a 7,000 year period) are all rapidly coming up. From 2012 - 2018, this is the window that some believe will harbor the end of this world and the beginning of a new age, a new world etc.

Hrmmm...you noticed that too???

All of the false religions and philosophies believe there is a new age coming. The Muslims believe they are going to bring the world to Islam. The occultists believe that the Mayan calendar signals the beginning of a new age of "mass consciousness." The Capitalists believe that all barriers to free trade are being dismantled and soon there will be a global free market utopia. ETC ETC ETC

[MassuhDGoodName]

mORD,

Here is the key sentence which unlocks this "mystery"...

"...GERALD SHENK, who teaches at Eastern Mennonite Seminary in Harrisonburg, Virginia, attended a theology conference on "Madhist doctrine" in Teheran last September.

This fraud, as well as any of the other "academics" or "ministers" who "attend" demonstrations of mental illness displayed by "mullahs", or sit through "lectures" about psychopathic murderers and sexual criminals which are considered "prophets" or "mahdis", are all "on the take".

It's so obvious that it's almost laughable.

These con men who make a salary and often a tenured position pretending to be "professors" and "ordained ministers", go to the #1 Terrorist State in the world, led by a greasy little bastard who denies the Holocaust while promising to destroy Israel and the U.S., and return one week later; promoting Islamic thought, praising Islamic politics, and begin lecturing about the evils of the U.S. vs the wonder and the beauty of Islamic Jihad.

Follow the money.  Works every time.  You'll find that their colleges and universities ALL just accepted hefty donations and fundings from Teheran and/or the Saudis...creating huge "Dept. of Islamic Studies" and "Near-East Studies Depts." (which, almost without exception, are merely "fronts" for Islamic Jihad propaganda).

I mean...let's get serious here....nobody in their right mind goes to Teheran, Iran, for any reason!.

Look at every so-called "Christian Denomination" which has recently cast their lot in calling for the destruction of Israel and the creation of a "palestinian" state...each is one so desperate for income that they have fully embraced homosexuality as a Christian doctrine of faith; that done in spite of having already accepted large grants and funds from UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iran, etc.... .