"...the most insightful and practical guide 1 have seen on this subject." RAVI ZACHARIAS THE COMPACT GUIDE TO I l 1 t-Tl Understanding and Reaching Followers of THE NEW AGE and Other World Faiths Dean C. Halverson, General Editor World Religions Specialist for International Students Inc. THE COMPACT GUIDE TO W O R L D RELIGIONS World Religions and Cults Resources From Bethany House Publishers General The Compact Guide to World Religions—Halverson, ed. The Kingdom of the Cults (Updated 2003)—Martin Buddhism Sharing Your Faith With a Buddhist—Thirumalai Hinduism Sharing Your Faith With a Hindu—Thirumalai Islam Sharing Your Faith With a Muslim—Abdul-Haqq Mormonism Out of Mormonism—Robertson T H E C O M PA C T G U I D E T O WORLD RELIGIONS Dean C. Halverson General Editor BETHANY HOUSE PUBLISHERS MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA 55438 Note: On 8/24/2017, Rebekah Miller of International Students Inc., gave permission by e-mail for Endtime Ministries International Bible University to convert this book to E-book format for use as a textbook for their accredited all online extension, www.universityontheair.org. © 1996 by International Students, Inc. Published by Bethany House Publishers 11400 Hampshire Avenue South Bloomington, Minnesota 55438 www.bethanyhouse.com Bethany House Publishers is a division of Baker Publishing Group, Grand Rapids, Michigan ISBN 978-1-55661-704-1 Printed in the United States of America All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data The compact guide to world religions / Dean Halverson, writer and general editor. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 1-55661-704-6 1. Religions. 2. Christianity and other religions. I. Halverson, Dean C. BL87.C66 1996 291—dc20 96-4435 All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New Inter- national Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc.– Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 In keeping with biblical principles of creation stewardship, Baker Publish- ing Group advocates the responsible use of our natural resources. As a member of the Green Press Initia- tive, our company uses recycled paper when possible. The tent paper of this book is composed in part of post-consumer waste. g green press INITIATIVE Dedicated to the team members and co-laborers of International Students, Inc., who exemplify what it means to live tirelessly, sacrificially, and joyfully in the service of the Lord as they share their lives and the love of Jesus Christ with their friends—international students. About the Contributors Dr. David Clark grew up in Japan. He received his Ph.D. in the Philosophy of Religion from Northwestern University and is Professor of Theology at Bethel Theological Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota. He wrote The Panthe- ism of Alan Watts (InterVarsity, 1978) and coauthored with Norman Geisler Apologetics in the New Age (Baker, 1990). Dr. Norman Geisler is one of the best-known Christian apologists of our time. He has written some forty books, including A General Introduction to the Bible (Moody, 1986) and When Skeptics Ask (Victor, 1990). He is Dean of the Southern Evangelical Seminary in Charlotte, North Carolina. Mr. Dean C. Halverson works for International Students, Inc., as their World Religions Specialist and Ministry Resource Development Team Leader. Be- fore joining ISI in 1988 he worked for the Spiritual Counterfeits Project, researching and writing on the new religions. He has written a book on the New Age movement, entitled Crystal Clear: Understanding and Reaching New Agers (NavPress, 1990). Rev. William Honsberger is working with Mission to the Americas (formerly Conservative Baptist Home Missions Society) as their missionary to the New Agers. He earned his M.A. in the Philosophy of Religion from Denver Seminary, and he is taking classes at the University of Colorado, Boulder, with the hope that he will be accepted into their Ph.D. program in History. Mr. Kent Kedl is earning his Ph.D. in Mass Communications with an em- phasis on China from the University of Minnesota. He is studying how the mass media brings about change in China. Mr. Kedl earned his Master's degree in the history and philosophy of China. He has made several trips to China and speaks Mandarin fluently. Dr. Thomas I. S. Leung received his Master's degree from the New Asian College in Hong Kong, which is a key center for promoting neo-Confucian- istic thought. Dr. Leung then studied under two Confucian masters, but later became a Christian. He went on to earn his Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Hawaii, writing his dissertation on the methodology of Confucian philosophy. He now works as president of the Culture Regen- eration Research Society in Burnaby, British Columbia, and he edits a jour- nal called Cultural China. Dr. Richard Robinson is a senior staff member at Jews for Jesus in San Fran- cisco, where he directs the Research Library and is in charge of developing the organization's World Wide Web site. He received his Ph.D. from West- minster Theological Seminary and is an adjunct professor for Fuller Theo- logical Seminary. Mr. Rick Rood works as Director of Publications for Probe Ministries. He is also a member of Probe's speaking team for Mind Games conferences (a college survival conference for students). Plus, he occasionally writes and produces programs for Probe's daily radio program, which is aired on ap- proximately 300 stations. Mr. Rood developed his approach to pluralism while working on a Ph.D. degree at Dallas Seminary. Contents Introduction ...................................................................... 11 World Religions Overview ................................................. 13 Animism ................................................................................. 37 Buddhism ............................................................................... 54 Confucianism .............................................................. 70 Hinduism ........................................................... 87 Islam ..................................................................................... 103 Judaism and the Jewish People ........................................ 121 Marxism ................................................................................ 144 New Age Movement .............................................................. 160 Secularism ............................................................................ 182 Shinto ................................................................................... 198 Taoism .................................................................................. 216 Is Jesus the Only Way to God? ........................................ 235 How Can We Know the Bible Is the Word of God? .......... 252 Introduction You will see periodical references in this book to "international students." These chapters were written originally as Religion Profiles to equip the staff and volunteers of International Students, Inc. (ISI) as they seek to share the love of Christ with the hundreds of thousands of international students. ISI is a nationwide Christian organization, founded in 1953, whose mission is to work with the church to reach the goal of offering every international student the opportunity to hear the good news of Jesus Christ. These students have come from virtually every nation in the world to study in the U.S. at the undergraduate and graduate levels. They are the best and brightest of their nations, and many of them will return to become lead- ers in their nations. The Lord has given us Christians in the U.S. an exciting opportunity to impact the world for Christ by reaching these international students whom He has sent to our neighborhoods. Through them, the mis- sion field has come to us! These chapters, however, are relevant not just to those who work with international students, but to any Christian who wants to understand where his or her non-Christian friend—whether American or international—is coming from spiritually and to consider some ideas as to how to share the love of Christ with him or her. This book was written primarily with the Christian in mind but not ex- clusively for the Christian. If you are not a Christian, I invite you to consider the arguments for Christianity that are presented here. Introduction 12 I hope that as a result of reading this book, whether or not you are a Christian, you will have a better appreciation for the uniqueness of Chris- tianity. In our tolerant and relativistic age it is not in vogue to talk about a particular religion as being unique. But such attitudes cloud the claims to exclusivity that Christianity and other religions make, not allowing a person to actually grapple with those claims. If you would like to know more about ISI, please contact us at: ISI P.O. Box C Colorado Springs, CO 80901 Phone: (719) 576-2700 Fax: (719) 576-5363 World Religions Over view Dean C. Halverson What is a religion? The definition that we will be working from in this book is that a religion is a set of beliefs that answers the ultimate questions: What is ultimate reality? What is the nature of the world? What is