Interfaith Spirit Quest

Purpose of Interfaith Spirit Quest

Interfaith Spirit Quest  was created for all people, male and female, people of all faiths, all mindsets - from spiritual to philosophical to scientific, personalities from all walks of life - intellectuals, professionals, religious leaders, and people of every political persuasion.

We are transforming ourselves spiritually as we enhance and deepen our personal relationship with God.  At Interfaith Spirit Quest, we incorporate and work with ancient philosophies and belief systems by understanding their sacred, illuminating texts and applying their gems of truth to modern life; thereby enhancing the development of exceptional, well-balanced individuals.  We recognize and incorporate three bold, basic values consistent with existing and revelatory truth:

• Love
  • When one possesses the capacity for true love, they can love unconditionally, act unselfishly and live altruistically.   
• Wisdom
  • Wisdom is gained through experiential living, a consequence of moral, ethical and religious choices. 
• Worship
  • In addition to creative and divine, reciprocal fellowship with God and humanity, worship provides illumination, spiritual and physical nourishment, and an eternal perspective.   

Our objective is to create opportunities for spiritual transformations which ultimately produce deeper, more satisfying, personal relationships with God, better communication with the divine, and exceptional, well-balanced individuals.

Mere study and idealization is not enough to initiate or light a sparkler for spiritual transformations.  If one is to be spiritually transformed, they must experience truth, beauty and goodness.  We provide opportunities for these experiences.   

Spiritual Transformation Center:

Through the creation and development of opportunities for individuals in our local communities to experience spiritual transformations, we contribute to the development of exceptional, well-balanced individuals.  The effects of these transformations are 1) happier, better connected, wiser, altruistic, loving persons, and 2) a local community that quivers on the brink of brilliance and joyfulness, not to mention a correlative reduction in crime, a natural solution to social problems, and the setting of a good example for others.  It's a win-win situation for the individual, the communities they live in, and ultimately the world we all share. 

Here's what we're doing, and what we're working on:

Interfaith Spirit Quest –  a Cosmic Café.  We are currently having an interfaith spiritual dialogue each week with a diverse group of spiritual seekers where we are  creating opportunities for individuals to experience spiritual transformations which ultimately produce deeper, more satisfying, personal relationships with God, better communication with the divine, and exceptional, well-balanced individuals.

Educational Resources.  We develop educational materials designed to create opportunities for individuals to experience spiritual transformations which ultimately produce deeper, more satisfying, personal relationships with God, better communication with the divine, and exceptional, well-balanced individuals.

 

Interfaith Spirit Quest - Goals:

Spiritual Retreats:   We will soon be developing spiritual retreats designed to create opportunities for individuals to experience spiritual transformations which ultimately produce deeper, more satisfying, personal relationships with God, better communication with the divine, and exceptional, well-balanced individuals.  

Spiritual Transformation Center:  In five years time, we will see the development of an actual spiritual transformation center, a place where anyone can come to learn how to use their own mind, body and soul to create their own spiritual transformations.  This spiritual transformation center will be a place of comfort, challenge and empowerment, a place where programs are conducted on a regular basis, and opportunities for personal connections to develop into long lasting, friendly relationships are possible.  We will be a force for spiritual transformation and a point of light that beckons the community to join us.

 

Thank you for stopping by,

Rev. Osri Hansen

Interfaith Minister

Interfaith Spirit Quest

 

About Interfaith Spirit Quest

Interfaith Spirit Quest (ISQ) is a ministry of Truth, Beauty and Goodness.  We are about the discovery of enlarged concepts of truth.

All religions and philosophies contain some truth; let's work toward intellectual, intelligent, emotional and spiritual harmony as we discover and unravel the mysteries of God, the Universe, Religion, Spirituality, and Ourselves. Let's focus on becoming one, instead of many.

Numerous organizations have been created to focus on cooperative and positive interaction between people of different religious traditions.  Our purpose is to make progress toward oneness.  Interfaith Spirit Quest is about deepening spiritual insight so that the choices between good and evil, truth and error, material and spiritual, human and divine, time and eternity, become clear and meaningful to all.   Human survival may depend on our ability to develop a well-balanced and majestic personality capable of choosing values that achieve the oneness of humanity.  Let's retain our uniqueness as individuals - notice the photo of unique individuals holding hands around the earth globe - but when faced with choices, let us choose those values that advance us toward oneness. 

When we incorporate these values into our thinking process, we progress toward oneness:

1. Logic of Science = physical certainty
2. Wisdom of Philosophy = moral certainty
3. Truth of Religious Experience = spiritual certainty

Do you know of any religious, philosophic or scientific practice that incorporates these three crucial elements?  There is one book I've discovered that does combine the true values of science, philosophy, religion and spirituality to present an enlarged concept of truth, beauty and goodness.  It recognizes that the interpretation of the universe requires spiritual wisdom; that the the physical body and physical mind is concerned with survival, but the spirit-indwelt intellect loves unconditionally; that an upward looking soul, a worshipful soul, through religious experience, receives a taste of the divine and a glimpse of eternity.  This book of truth is capable of changing the way we think, no small task, it may help us realize the unity, or oneness, of the Universe.

So, while we endeavor to have a fruitful 'dialogue' with all belief systems, from Christian to Jewish, Muslim to Buddhist, or Atheist to Scientist; it is oneness, unity, we're really after.  Or, you might say, the discovery of enlarged concepts of truth.   We hope you benefit from our endeavor.  Thank you for stopping by. 

Thank you for stopping by,

Rev. Osri Hansen

Interfaith Minister

Interfaith Spirit Quest

Oh, by the way, here's the name of the Book of Truth I've been referring to:

The Urantia Book 

See also: 

Planet Urantia

Truth Book
 

Ministry, Religion and Church - What it could be like

In our weekly Interfaith Spirit Quest spiritual discussion group, we had a free-flowing conversation about what it means to be a minister, what church should look like, what are they doing right, etc.  Here are some of our thoughts:  
 

1.  What does it mean to be a minister?

Service to humanity
Putting people at ease
Helping people in need (materially and spiritually)
Lessons in application of spiritual truth
Provides help with spiritual growth and emotional issues
Opportunity to share personal spiritual experiences
Opportuniity to share struggles in search of solutions
Performs important stage of life ceremonies

2.  What is religion doing right?

They help a lot of people materially
Not much! (kidding, right?)
Church attendance is good for kids
Teaches good rules to live by
Religion is  a habit that can be useful
Good at performing important stage of life ceremonies

3.  What would you like church to be like? 

A place to worship and offer praise
A place to  hear uplifting and relevant spiritual messages
Bigotry free
Serves Beer (as opposed to a wine communion service? :)
Masterminding monthly group - close knit support group
A place to share joys and struggles - and get answers
Welcoming of all types of people and diversity
Uplifting music is preferable to depressing dirges
Opportunity to pray in a sacred space or serene setting
Being prayed for by a prayer ministry of sorts
It should be like Interfaith Spirit Quest :) 

Thank you for that last one! 

This was a very interesting and fruitful conversation!  Thank you to all who participated. 

One Love – Christian Universalism - Is it Possible?

  Christian Universalists - What They Believe

1. We believe in a God who is Love, Light, Truth, and Spirit, the Creator of the universe, whom we are called to seek, know, and love; and whose nature was revealed to the world in the person and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ.

The Bible tells us that God is Spirit (John 4:24), transcending such physical attributes as gender, race, species, and any other categories of this world. God is pure Light, and in Him there is no darkness, no evil (1 John 1:5). God is perfect Love (1 John 4:8,16), full of kindness and patience, never failing (1 Cor. 13:4-8). God is the Truth, meaning that He determines what is real and what is imaginary (Ps. 51:6, Isa. 65:1-2,17, John 3:33, Rom. 1:18-20, 11:33-36). Our own fantasies and ideologies may seem real to us, but there is such a thing as Absolute Truth -- and that is God and that which emanates from the mind of God.

Learn more about this teaching: Who Is God?

2. We believe that the universal commandment is to love and serve one another as each loves oneself.

All people are God's children (Mal. 2:10, Rom. 8:16, Eph. 4:6), and therefore we must view and treat each individual as our brother or sister. Anything less is to demean the station of the human being, and therefore to demean oneself. There are no exceptions to this rule: not even the most wicked, crooked, corrupted, vile, filthy, deviant, or otherwise undesirable person is beneath our spiritual obligation to love (John 13:34-35, Eph. 3:16-19, 1 Pet. 4:8). And that includes oneself! Loving others begins with loving oneself as the son or daughter of God that you are. No matter who you are or what you have done, you are worthy of God's love, and therefore worthy of love from yourself and others. And if worthy to be loved -- with your faults and all -- then you are called to give love to others regardless of their faults. This is the universal commandment.

Learn more about this teaching: The Golden Rule

3. We believe in the law of justice by which actions generate consequences, whether to be manifested in this life or the life to come.

Another thing the Bible makes clear is that the purpose of "hell" or suffering is not to torture people, but to cause them to learn from their mistakes and grow closer to perfection. Divine judgment is reformative, not vindictive. The word used in the original Greek New Testament is kolasis, which means a beneficial chastening such as a gardener prunes a vine to remove dead vegetation and make it grow more fruitfully.

Learn more about this teaching: Divine Justice and Life After Death

4. We believe in the ultimate triumph of divine mercy and grace: that no being ever created will be condemned or allowed to suffer forever, but God has arranged through a benevolent plan of learning and growth for all souls to attain salvation, reconciliation, restoration, and reunion with the Source of All Being, in the fullness of the ages.

Our belief in the ultimate salvation of all is based on a strong trust in God's omnipotence and benevolence. He is neither powerless to save rebellious and suffering souls, nor is He unwilling to do so. Instead, God is both powerful enough and loving enough to cause all souls to be rescued from a state of separation and returned to their intended state of unity and harmony with the divine (Isa. 46:10-11, 55:11, 1 Tim. 2:4-6). All things that are good will be preserved and restored to their fullest manifestation, but all things that are bad will perish (Mat. 3:12, 1 Cor. 3:13-14). Since no human being is totally bad, no human will perish eternally. It is God's plan to take what is good in each individual and multiply it, and replace the bad within us with an infusion of His divine goodness, until only the good remains.

Learn more about this teaching: Universal Salvation

5. We believe every person is the divine offspring of God, created in the image of the Heavenly Parent of all; and that every person is destined to be raised up from imperfection to maturity according to the pattern of the archetypal Christ, the Son of God, the Perfect Human in whose image all humanity shall be transformed.

The Bible makes it clear that God should be regarded as the Father of all people (Mal. 2:10, Mat. 6:9, Eph. 4:6); that all human beings, both male and female, are created in the divine image according to God's own likeness (Gen. 1:26-27), which therefore encompasses both genders (Isa. 66:13, Mat. 23:37); that the Light or Spirit of God is within us (Job 33:4, Ps. 51:10-11, Mat. 5:14, Mark 1:8, Luke 11:35-36); that we are literally God's offspring (Acts 17:28), and in a sense are "gods" (Ps. 82:6, John 10:34); and that someday we will actually be able to manifest the powers of gods, as Jesus was already able to do (Mat. 17:20, Luke 6:40, John 14:12, 1 Cor. 6:2-3).

Learn more about this teaching: Human Nature and Destiny

6. We believe in miracles and mysterious spiritual phenomena, such as the resurrection of Jesus Christ, which transcend materialistic views of reality.

Modern philosophies and ideologies that limit their horizons solely to the realm of material science are impoverishing themselves, in our opinion, by shutting out other important truths that go beyond what any scientific instruments or purely materialistic theories could ever measure or understand. One of the reasons why miracles sometimes happen is because God wants to open people's eyes and minds to the realms of reality that transcend their present understanding and worldly limitations (John 14:11). We do not know all that there is to know about how the universe works. There is such a thing as mystery, and it is an essential element of religious faith (1 Cor. 13:12).

Learn more about this teaching: The Mystery of Faith

7. We believe that God's Holy Spirit has inspired numerous prophets, saints, philosophers, and mystics throughout history, in a variety of cultures and traditions; and that by reading the Bible and other great texts of spiritual and moral wisdom with a discerning mind, and meditating to connect to the Spirit within, we may all gain a greater understanding of truth, which should be applied for the betterment of ourselves and our world.

As Universalists, we also recognize that the revelation of divine truth is not limited to the pages of the Bible. For one thing, many great Christian thinkers, such as church fathers, saints and mystics, have written texts which are just as inspiring and valuable as canonized Biblical books. Looking beyond the confines of Christianity, all people throughout history have been able to seek and find God in nature (Rom. 1:20), as well as through the rational discourse of philosophy (Prov. 4:5-9, 24:14, Isa. 1:18, Acts 17:28). Some attained great levels of understanding in these ways. Furthermore, there have been various holy persons and prophetic figures who have lived within the context of a wide variety of cultures and spiritual and philosophical traditions, whose explorations led them to gain and share important ideas in the progress of humanity's search for the divine.

Learn more about this teaching: Divine Revelation and the Pursuit of Truth

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Christian Universalist Association: In the Christian Universalist Association, there are several important spiritual and moral beliefs that we as an organization agree upon and proclaim. This list is short and simple, leaving much room for diversity of thought, personal opinion and conscience, while upholding the basic essentials of the Gospel. Here are the beliefs our organization teaches as truth. Click on the links below each statement to read a short article explaining it, including Biblical references in support of our beliefs.

Learn more about these teachings online:

What We Believe: http://www.christianuniversalist.org/beliefs.html

Christian Universalist Association: www.christianuniversalist.org

An Invitation to Transformation - "Field of Dreams" Workshop

  Interfaith Spirit Quest presents: 

An Invitation to Transformation
* Workshop * Ceremony * Celebration *

Last Chance:  Call to Register - 920 968-7738

Saturday, May 23, 2009
*  1:30-6:30 PM  *
Appleton, Wisconsin

Workshop: 

"Living and Serving
Joyfully and Courageously
in a Field of Dreams"

Ceremony: 
Public Ministerial Ordination Ceremony

Celebration: 
Fellowship and Food

What's in your Field of Dreams?  Incredible things can and do happen when we believe the impossible. Do you have a seemingly impossible but uplifting idea for a service project or mission that you believe will transform the world, a community, or a life? Are you inspired and committed to making a difference? Perhaps you are motivated to do something, but don't know where to begin. The process of creating a service project that expresses your vision may seem overwhelming. This is where you begin. This workshop is designed to move you toward accomplishing your vision for change and transformation - joyfully and courageously.

Will be held at the Monte Alverno Retreat & Spirituality Center in Appleton, Wisconsin.  Come for a day of spiritual transformation, relaxation and celebration. This is an interfaith event open to everyone, sponsored by Interfaith Spirit Quest, a non-denominational, God-centered ministry of truth, beauty and goodness.
Get away for one joy-filled day!

Open the PDF document below for all the details of the Field of Dreams Workshop, Ministerial Ordination Ceremony, and time of Fellowship and Food!  This workshop is for you if you desire to make a difference in the world, in your community, or in your own heart.

Please join us for one joy-filled day!