The News Tribune from Tacoma, Washington • 17

RELIGION wwwtribnetcomnewsreligion THE NEWS TRIBUNE SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 2 2000 God speaks to all who listen author says Neale Donald Walsch who wrote popular trilogy with speaks Thursday in Seattle Conversations with God an uncommon dialogue Bv Sieve Mwihm The News Tribune Sometimes divinity speaks with a whisper in the ear Or the i Neale Donald Walsch will speak at 7 pm Thursday at Seattle Unity Church Tickets for the threehour seminar are $52 and $62 The pro-gram Is sponsored by Mishka Productions Seattle Unity Church Is at 200 Eighth Ave Seattle For tickets and more Information call Mishka Productions at 1-877- 300-7352 More Information about Walsch is available at wwwconversationswlthgod org Those three and with have been translated into 26 languages Walsch has traveled to 43 UJ3 cities and 15 foreign countries to speak about their message It will come as no surprise if his next book due out Oct 23 is another bestseller That book with God" (GP Sons $2295) centers on recognizing and overcoming illusions and misconceptions people have about themselves and God So what explains the enormous ap prejudice abound human race has lost patience with life has at times been frustrating for 56-year-old Walsch as well He has been married four times and is the father of nine children He was a newspaper reporter and editor in tire 1960s and 1970s In tire 1980s he worked for Terry Cole-Whittaker then a minister and author in San Diego Walsch moved to Klickitat in south central Washington in 1986 then to Portland for a time and later to Ashland in 1988 He and his wife Nancy live 7 miles outside Ashland where he runs hia ReCreation Foundation which sponsors retreats and supports study groups journey took a dramatic turn in 1992 at a time when he was feeling that his life was a failure He vented by writing a letter to God which concluded had I done to deserve a life of such continuing And then Walsch says in his first bode "Abruptly the pen began moving on its And the conversation with God began Walsch calls this conversation a dialogue a process in whidi he was dictating the words of God He wrote down some of his questions saying as hell like to hear" the answers The response came back: are as about a bt of things But it be nice to be as Sometimes Walsch said felt like literally somebody was whiB-in my ear" At other times i popped into his head or a song on the radio inspired him These are the ways he and God conversed Unusual? Not really WalBch said Hundreds of people have told him about their conversations with God Donald Walsch isn't he said of us can speak with the voice of divinity and many -VS i i rs iBsitt'M may come indirectly with the sign on a highway billboard or with the poignant lyrics of a song on the radio Whichever way God does speak says bat-selling author Neale Donald Walsch Walsch says he has had conversations with God And many people tell him they also communicate with God In his books including his mega-seller with series Walsch makes the supernatural seem natural And exactly hia point The question is not to whom does God said Walsch who will speak at Seattle Unity Church on Thursday question is whob listening? am not the first person nor the last to say spoke to Walsch said experience has been that God will use any device to inspire us In this regard God is The author who lives near Ashland Ore has become one of the most popular writers in the burgeoning field of spirituality His books have sold more than 5 million copies including more than 3 million of the with God trilogy which focuses on exchanges with God The first book of with God An Uncommon was released in 1996 and stayed on the New York Times bestseller list for 139 weeks At one point all three with bodes were on the bestseller list peal of WalBchh writings? a reflection of the willing-of people to at least explore al Neale Donald Watsch of us do without even knowing it don't know of a pastor in America who hasn't said Tfird give me the right And he's been given those And what is the divine message in his books? Walsch sums it with four words: are all The day people recognize that their actions inevitably hurt or help each other and themselves is "the day we heal all that has gone wrong in our humanly created Divinity comes from the inside not the outside Walsch said are divinity made manifest in human Walsch said success has changed his life in several ways the least of which is materially He paused before agreeing when a reporter said he must be a millionaire of me wants to shiver when I hear you say Walsch said The more important change he said is that learned how to interact with people and have lasting relationships lxx)k 1 Neale Do nald Walsch ternate ways of thinking about Walsch said during a phone interview from his home He writes about moving to friendship with God" God I know is a God of unconditional love That's tough for many people to deal But Walsch said the primary reason people buy his books is out of frustration with the direction the world is heading are enormously dissatisfied with our progress as a Bpecies in terms of solving the dilemmas we have freed since the beginning of he said Hunger greed and would be too he said Staff writer Steve Maynard covers religion Beach him at 253-597-8647 or Steve maynardmail tribnetcom He also has sought to use his influence in the political world supporting John Hagelin as the Natural Law Party candidate for president But Walsch refused to label himself religiously and said he isn't part of any particular religious community Jewish forgiveness requires repentance restitution by wrongdoer iane was a cheerful and bubbly person il the day she exploded in rage Nobody why die exploded not even Diane Diane until the knew why die exploded though I haven't forgotten what he did to me when I was a teenager I did forgive him I told him that I was willing to let return to our finest self return to God It is a very specific process that involves several steps The wrongdoer must acknowledge those painful memories and only those parts of the make me a better and MARK GUCKMAN Religion columnist to retain experience that stranger person Perhaps one day 111 understand why he did what he did and I might even sympathize but this will in no way excuse his evil deeds He treated me like a piece of meat but I know Diane the Jewish New Year Rosh Hashanah and the Day of Atonement Yom Kippur are coming up The mqjor theme of those holidays is repentance not forgiveness The ball is in his court now and you've got a good life that you've got to go on That evening Diane phoned her uncle and recanted her forgiveness She was about to tell him that he was welcome to apologize if he was serious about it but Unde Fred hung up on her before she got to that part The next day some of friends noticed that although she still wasn't' her old bubbly self she was walking a bit taller than in recent days and that she was showing a sense of peaceful dignity they had never before seen in her Perhaps they thought she was learning to let things go to let the difficulties of life bounce off and not matter anymore to forgive and forget Nothing could have been further from the truth Rabbi Mark Glickman is rabbi of temple Beth El in 2b coma foil responsibility for what he or she did apologize make restitution promise never to commit this misdeed again and then actually follow through on that promise" Diane was sitting straighter now hanging on the every word insist that the victim forgive a victimizer who has not done trahuvah would be to ask that victim to behave like a doormat It would effectively be asking them to say Go ahead walk all over me Abuse me all you want Uncle Fred molest away for there will come a time when HI let you off the hook and forget all about "Diane you're not a doormat a person and you deserve to be treated with dignity and respect And when you were a little girl you fold a right to be protected not abused Until he does his trahuvah I think you owe your Uncle Fred a damn Diane's eyes welled with tears She quietly dabbed at them with a tissue "But another type of forgiveness too It doesn't involve calling Uncle Fred and it definitely doesn't involve letting him off the hook This one is internal It involves gaining the ability to say to yourself Uncle Fred did to me was horribly wrong but I don't have to continue living with all of the shame and hurt that he caused As an adult I am free not to be enslaved by bygones be bygones and that I hoped we could mend our relationship and be close once how did he There was this horrible silence it probably lasted only about 10 seconds or so but it seemed like an eternity Then he asked me how my kids were doing in school this The jaw dropped let me make sure I understand He the so-called grownup abused you an innocent child in unspeakably horrible ways for years Not once has he apologized not once has he acknowledged the horror of what he did and for all you know he could still be doing this to other kids And your therapist suggested that you call and forgive yes you need a new "Look there are different types of forgiveness One involves telling the person who has wronged us that even though what they did was wrong OK now We no longer hold it against them and we can all be friends think what my therapist was telling me to do" In Judaism we are only supposed to forgive people in that way if they repent first The Hebrew word for repentance is teshuvah it literally means return herself at least not at first All anyone knew was that after a typical day of errands she came home found her wet bathing suit left on the bedroom floor blew up at the world and nothing was ever the same fin-her again A few days later after her fury had settled to a silent sneer at everyone she saw Diane went to meet with her rabbi about another matter The rabbi sensing that something was amiss cut right to the chase he said wrong? You seem so angry" bet Tm angry!" she replied and told the rabbi about her messy house the incompetent grocery store cashier bridge traffic and several other annoyances that she mistook for the source of her wrath the rabbi asked calmly really going ith just that She paused let out her breath and began speaking more slowly don't know wrong Something just snapped the other day I mean Tm trying to do everything supposed to do but I cant ever seem to get it right Tm keeping the house clean for my husband getting the kids to their lessons and helping them with their homework I made my forgiveness call to my Uncle Fred and Tm volunteering here at temple doing everything I should be doing but I feel so The rabbi took the bait forgiveness call to Unde yes I suppose I need to explain that After making sure she was speaking in confidence Diane told the rabbi about how her Unde Fred had regularly molested her for several years during her adolescence She still sees him at family events and for years neither had mentioned their secret to one another or anyone else The pain and hurt and shame remained however and as a result die had recently begun to see a therapist therapist suggested that she needed to forgive Uncle Fred that she was not going to be able to get on with her life until she let go of the past and all of the painful memories He advised her to rail her uncle and forgive him That way they could dear the air and ease the tension that had been straining their relationship for so many years finally I got the nerve to call him she contintud told him that even RELIGION CALENDAR Peace summit hits raw nerves What situations challenge you? Tme Today and alliances were formed mostly on a person-to-peraon level The absence of the Dalai Lama a Nobel Peace laureate from the peace summit made news Although the United Nations didn't sponsor the summit Secretary-General Kofi Annan gave the gathering his support and even unofficial ties produced political strains The United Nations warned conference organizers that China would be outraged if the Dalai Lama attended And the Chinese delegation walked out when Tibetan Buddhists read a statement on the Dalai Lama's behalf gin at 7 pm at Mountain Christian Ministries 22717 Orting-Kapowsin Highway Graham: 3608933005 Upcoming A garden party is scheduled from 11 am to 3 pm slept 9 at SL Joseph-St John Episcopal Church 11111 Old Military Road SW Lakewood 2535845143 S- pnpmiic nMi worarap winmiinco featuring speaker Vivien Hibbert will begin at 10 am and 7 pm Sept 9 at Mountain Christian Ministries 22717 Orting-Kapowsin Highway Graham 360-893 3005 Iteme for the religion calendar mud be received by 5pm Ykdneeday 10 day prior to daleaf publication I ndude a name and phone number for verification purposes Send items to: Tim Bell Religion Calendar The New Tribune POBox 11000 Tbcama 98411 NEW YORK For four days dozens of nuns monks and swamis mingled in the lobby of the Waldorf-Astoria Some took photographs of the religious leaders with the highest hats and most elaborate caftans like Brontoi Yang Bedyurov a spiritual leader from Siberia in his gold-lined velvet robes and fox hat with tassels Beginning Monday the Millennium World Peace Summit brought together more than 1000 religious leaders with a goal ofmarshaling resources to resolve global conflicts and find ways to collaborate with the United Nations In the end a "Commitment to Global was signed some longtime adversaries sat down and discussed strategies to end bloodshed Friday Sacand Phase will be in concert from 7:30 to 9 pm at Dlghtman's Bible Book Store 3802 Cedar St Tacoma 253-4750990 or dbbcOdightmanscom A holiday craft bazaar will take place from 10 am to 4 pm today and Sept 9 at SL JoseptvSL Episcopal Church 11111 Old Military Road SW Lakewood 2535848143 Father A son retreat featuring swim-mi archary canoeing and climbing will take place today through Sept10 at Warm Beach Camp 20800 Marine Drive Stan-wood 425-7435471 or 260552-7575 Home Grown Ravtvai uniting three days of renewal refreshing and revival will begin at 7 pm today and Sept 9 and atlO am and 6:30 pm SepL 10 at Summit Christian Christian Center 2824 112th SL Tacoma 253531-2142 The event Is sponsored by Summit Christian Pacific Christian Center and New Ufa Church of God Seventh Day Worsen of Purpose meets at 7:30 pm Sound Ufa Church 6001 Warner SL Tacoma 253472-2600 Bel Chavsttm open house will take place along with a Shabbat service at 7:45 pm at Bet Chaverim 25701 14th Place Dee Moines 2539484406 riwpnvBw nun mnnp vwiMranm featuring speaker Vivien Hibbert will be Next month as the What's Right? column celebrates its fourth anniversary turning the tables and asking readers to suggest ethical quandaries What situations do you find ethically challenging? In a few sentences please outline a scenario and say how you would I it tIS II respond One of the quandaries will be the focus of the Sept 28 column We're looking for topics that haven't been addressed so far in the column Past quandaries have included what to do if a friend tells a racist or sexist joke if you see someone shoplifting or how to respond to a panhandler Please suggest your ethical quandary to TRIBfine at 253-596-6500 Ext 7900 by Friday Spell out your first and last names and tell us the city you live in Leave your phone number for verification Or e-mail to steve maynardm ail tribnetcom Whitman's analvanary cslebfsftlon wM ice from 9 am to 9 pm at Dlght-man's Bible Book Store 3802 Cedar SL Tacoma 2534750990 or dbbc0dight-manscom A rummaga sals will take place from 9 am to 3 pm at the Episcopal Church of St Matthew 123 St NE Auburn 360-825-3131 flrend opening celebration wM take place from noon to 5 pm at Millennium Awakening Center 9311 Bridgeport Way SW Lakewood 2535888050 Tuesday AlcohoSeie A Belated Issues explores substance abuse In a study of God's Word from 6:308 pm at Lutheran Church of SL Paul Graham 253-847-3084 Wednesday A parcHcaMMisdstnonsIratlon begins at 7 pm Wednesdays at Tacoma Church of Divine Man 4604 38th SL Tacoma: 253-759-7460 Thursday Interactive Satellite Seminars Youth Pastors Forum is an educational opportunity at 10 am or 7 pm St Luke's Lutheran Church 515 312th SL Federal Way 253-941-3000 Saturday Church 6:00 PM Gospel Concert From Brooklyn NY Darrell A Veronica Moses with Joanne Lawrence in concert Brooklyn's newest gospel recording artists along with the Morning Star Praise Singers Sunday Sept 3 7:00 pm La Quinta Inn 1425 27th St Tacoma juinta Inn 2 1 of) innpwi aI'- TLt New Jerusalem Church of God in Christ The church in tfo heart of the city with the city heart' Sunday School 9:45 am Sunday Worship 8:30 A 1 1 :00 am 7:00 pm Tuesday Vbuth Service 7:00 pm Wednesday Prayer A Bible Study 7:00 pm Friday Evangelist Service 7:30 pm Join us 1623 11th Tacoma 572-6785 9:30 am 11:00 am 7:00 pm 7:00 pm Sunday School Morning Worship Sunday Night Tuesday (Bible Study) Friday Evangelistic Strrice 7:30 pm 1121 So Aldwimer Street Tacoma Cajl 27-9695 or 572-6751 hr 4pnri he In wrrr Sundiy Sdwol MOun Morning 10:50 im Bible Study Prayw Meeting 6:30 pm Wednesday Service 12:00 noon Bethlehem Baptist Church 4818 Portland Ave 472-1147 fc Flownon lore Himhi HSm ftr fempmMha 4W4UA or raws M- Sponsored by Greater GrocoCOprcQj MMT2 53-584-3778 IMMi PMortStotel.