Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God.

As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people. Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.” (2 Corinthians 6:14-18)

What Fellowship Can Light Have With Darkness?

Recently on his blog Emerging Church Pastor Doug Pagitt told us, “I will part of the Seeds of Compassion event in Seattle April 14-17” (Online source). I began to cover this very serious issue in a previous Apprising Ministries post Doug Pagitt, Rob Bell and the Seeds of Compassiom Event.

Pagitt also informs us that his “friend” Rob Bell, a hugely popular icon in the Emergent Church will also be joining him. The Seeds of Compassion website explains that this event will be, “Anchored by the deep wisdom of His Holiness the Dalai Lama” (Online source) and features people from a variety of religious persuasions and backgrounds including the United nations, humanists, Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, Roman Catholics and liberal aka “Progressive” Christians.

Among the most notable for our purposes here would be:

• His Holiness the Dalai Lama, a simple Buddhist monk
• Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Episcopal Archbishop of South Africa and Nobel Peace Prize Recipient
• Steven Shankman, the UNESCO Chair in Transcultural Studies, Interreligious Dialogue and Peace (Online source)

As near as I can tell, and depending on how many days Bell and Doug Pagitt are at the Seeds of Compassion Event (SoC), they would be involved in various forums, and possibly plenty of panel discussions as well (Online source). There are some who see this as a secular event, but this is clearly not the case as Ingrid Schlueter at Slice of Laodicea correctly brings out in her post Doug Pagitt, Rob Bell to Join Dali Lama, Desmond Tutu, UN at Interspiritual Event:

In one of the boldest moves yet in their promotion of New Spirituality, Doug Pagitt and Rob Bell are joining the Dali Lama, Desmond Tutu, and a whole line-up of New Spirituality proponents for the Seeds of Compassion Interspiritual Event in Seattle on April 15 to nurture “spirituality” in youth. Doug Pagitt says on his blog that he is “extremely excited” about the event.

Rob Bell and Pagitt will be joining Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhists, Episcopalians, Catholics and the United Nations (UNESCO) at this event. The reason that Pagitt is “extremely excited” about this New Spirituality celebration is that he believes that the Gospel is found in other world religions, and he told me so on my radio show.

Expect the emerging leaders like Bell, Pagitt, McLaren and others to become increasingly bold in their interspiritual alliances with New Age/New Spirituality proponents. The world, and the false church, is ready for it. (Online source)

Those there are as well who are quick to defend this kind of violation of 2 Corinthians 6:14-18 by Emerging Church pastors Bell and Pagitt still trying to say that SoC is not a religious event. But this is easily dispelled as we look at how the secular media is portraying the event. For example, Live Daily (LD) news blog promotes an appearance by the Dave Matthews Band at SoC by informing the public this “benefit concert celebrates the five-day ‘Seeds of Compassion’ event centered on His Holiness the Dalai Lama”.

We are further told by LD that this “five-day public event—anchored by the Dalai Lama” will be “an interfaith/spiritually dialog” (Online source). And, it should be obvious that the Dalai Lama is unquestionably a religious leader.

The Seeds of Compassion Events To Promote Teachings Of Dalai Lama

More on the Kirlin Foundation, as well as an exposition of 2 Corinthians 6:14-18 next time, but for now let me just point out that the Tenzin Dhonden is “Lama Tenzin Dhonden, Emissary of Peace for His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Co-Founder” (Online source) of SoC. Then under “The Seeds of Compassion Team” we find out more about Guru Dhonden himself and how this SoC originated:

Tibetan Buddhist Monk, Scholar and Artist
Co–founder Seeds of Compassion

Seeds of Compassion has benefitted from the special relationship with and hard work by the Venerable Lama Tenzin Dhonden. The vision for Seeds of Compassion came about after a meeting between His Holiness, the Ven. Tenzin Dhonden and Dan Kranzler from the Kirlin Foundation in 2005. Having discussed concepts for the program over the past few years, Lama Tenzin traveled to India to consult with His Holiness and the program in Seattle was confirmed. In November Lama Tenzin and the Organizing Committee presented the full program to His Holiness in Dharamsala. His Holiness expressed excitement about the goals and long-term potential for Seeds of Compassion.

From the age of eight, the Venerable Lama Tenzin was trained in the monastic tradition of Namgyal Monastery, the personal monastery of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala India. In addition to over 20 years of Monastic training, the Venerable Lama Tenzin is a master of the arts of creating traditional Tibetan Buddhist sand mandalas and butter sculptures, as well as Buddhist ritual dances. Lama Tenzin has been living part-time in the US for the past 10 years, sharing his teachings with groups across the US and internationally.

Lama Tenzin has planned and coordinated numerous programs for His Holiness the Dalai Lama throughout the United States…
(Online source, emphasis theirs)

Unfortunately we live in a time when so many professing Christians are quite naïve—for some it’s wishful thinking—that they believe this is a chance for Rob Bell and Doug Pagitt of the Emergent Church to share the Gospel. But my personal contention is that they don’t preach the genuine Gospel of Jesus Christ to their own churches and they certainly won’t be doing so at SoC.

No, this is not going to be a place where Bell and Pagitt—even if they understood the Gospel of Jesus Christ—will impact people for the Jesus of the Bible. There is no way a Christian pastor can be yoked together in this event the Dalai Lama, which not only bills him as “His Holiness,” but will beyond any reasonable doubt feature his Buddhist teachings about, and offerings of, “seeds of compassion.” However, the Lord says — but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons (1 Corinthians 10:20).

For those who really wish to know, the video below will provide enlightenment as to what Buddhists mean as far as it concerns seeds of compassion. We’re told this is part one of “[Venerable] Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche [as he] travels to the Noble Land of India making offerings and contributions to others. He discusses how the seeds of compassion blossom for the benefit of all beings.”

You see, the reason why Buddhists place such emphasis on their concept of compassion is because to Buddhists “all beings” are also divine. It can be stated this way: As drops of water are to the ocean, so are we all god. If you see nothing wrong here then you need to make time to understand the kinds of Buddhist [read: pagan] teachings that Dalai Lama and his Seeds of Compassion Event wish to indoctrinate your children with.

And sadly, Dalai Lama is now being set up to do so into the Christian community with an able assist through the credibility of Emerging Church pastors Rob Bell and Doug Pagitt:

Our compassion is our Buddha seed or Buddha nature, our potential to become a Buddha. It is because all living beings possess this seed that they will all eventually become Buddhas… Compassion is a mind that is motivated by cherishing other living beings and wishes to release them from their suffering. (Online source)

See also:

IS ROB BELL EVANGELICAL?

DOUG PAGITT AND THE CULT OF THE EMERGENT CHURCH