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Subject: [AR-talk] SPEAK Mag Rebuttal
From: Richard Abanes <richardabanes@earthlink.net>
Date: Sun, 15 Oct 2000 16:29:14 -0700
To All, As many of you remember, there was a series of posts a while ago regarding an interview with J. Gordon Melton that appeared in SPEAK magazine. I took it upon myself to write a letter to the editor of SPEAK detailing the problem with Melton being a so-called "Christian" and stating that Revelation was a "channeled" document. My letter appeared in the latest SPEAK issue (Fall 2000), so I thought that many of you might want to have that letter for future reference. It reads as follows:
_____________________ BEGIN LETTER This is in response to the Speak interview with J. Gordon Melton (Summer 2000), in which Melton states, "[C]hanneling as we know it today is a common phenomenon in religion and many religions are partially or totally formed on channeled documents. For example, the Book of Revelation in the Bible is a channeled document."

Channeling, as it is defined by contemporary society (especially within the New Age movement where the practice was first popularized), has nothing to do with how Christianity understands God's method of communicating to the writers of the New Testament. Channeling is a spiritist-mediumistic practice whereby an individual is possessed by a discarnate spirit that speaks through the controlled medium. Christians, however, believe that Scripture was given to humanity through holy men of God who were "inspired" to write the message God wished to communicate, all the while having full control of their faculties, indeed using their own writing styles, vocabulary, and experiences to transmit God's Word onto paper.

Melton is a widely seen as a defender of religious groups variously termed "cults," especially groups commonly recognized as being both spiritually and psychologically harmful, e.g., Aum Shinrikyo (the notorious Japanese death cult), Scientology (reputedly a rigid authoritarian group that uses verbal and physical intimidation against its members), and The Family of God (a sex cult that has produced child pornography, practiced a religious form of prostitution, indulged in wife-swapping, and approved of child-adult sexual contact).

Although Melton identifies himself as a Christian, his personal beliefs do not coincide with historic Christian doctrines (he is an ordained minister in a "liberal" denomination). For instance, in a March 30, 1984 letter to Walter Martin, Melton stated, "I do not believe in the supernatural, since I believe in the imminence of the Creative, sustaining God in all of his creation at every moment ... God's extraordinary acts are no more supernatural than the coordination of my muscles to hit a typewriter key."

This view is more in line with New Age Pantheism than with Christianity, which for two thousand years has preached the existence of an imminent and transcendent God, whose creative powers are indeed supernatural.

Moreover, in a December 8, 1990 interview with the Santa Barbara News, Melton declared: "I see God using religions of all types in leading people into the ultimate truth. Since I see Christianity as the ultimate religion, I see all religions leading to Christ. I don't see other people's religions as Devil's work. I see God working in all people." Again, this does not parallel Christianity's teaching that Jesus Christ is the only way to eternal life (John 14:6).

To disagree with the tenets of Christianity is an acceptable position in our free country, but claiming to be a Christian, while denying the very core of Christian beliefs is an altogether different issue.
Richard Abanes author, Cults, New Religious Movements. and Your Family Rancho Santa Margarita, California _____________________ END LETTER


I am sincerely interested in hearing any explanations from anyone who understands how Melton can be an "evangelical" and still hold to the views he holds. Am I incorrect to think that his beliefs are incompatible with orthodox Christianity? If they do indeed conflict with essentials of the Christianity, would this not put him outside the household of faith?

In response to the last go-around about this issue, Melton himself posted a fairly unsatisfactory response. I then posted a rebuttal to his points, which should still be available from anyone who files away AR-Vent posts.
In Christ, Richard Abanes :===End Quote=== About Richard Abanes http://www.gospelcom.net/apologeticsindex/a25.html Why J. Gordon Melton is considered a cult apologist http://www.gospelcom.net/apologeticsindex/m06.html About AR-talk http://apologia.org/mainpages/AboutARtalk.html Consumer Alert: What Scientology is all about http://www.gospelcom.net/apologeticsindex/s04.html Anton (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
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