A doorbell. My husband opens the door. There is a woman and a man standing in front of him. Neat and educated by appearance. In the process of communication it turns out that the man is a Canadian who speaks Russian quite well. Moreover, he is a seeker by nature. It also appeared that they had come to introduce the teaching of the Seventh-Day Adventists to my grandfather. My husband answered that the grandfather lived quite happily and if they wanted to talk to somebody they could talk to him.
The unexpected guests started with the fact that there is God. The truth is incontestable. But then the conversation turned to the topic of salvation. According to their point of view, only those will be saved who follow their, so to speak, religion.
My husband asked, “Do you mean to say that the whole world, except your followers, will be put into a sack and thrown overboard? From the Creator’s point of view, it is quite illogical. There is a part of God in everybody”.
Then the Adventists started to constantly appeal to the Bible as to the highest and indisputable authority.
A lyrical digression: I remember, when in the university, a highly developed clergyman of the Orthodox Church came to the university to give an official talk. From his speech I remembered the idea that if one takes quotations from the Bible, he can prove and justify any situation. The context from which the words are taken is very important: when, where and to whom the words were said. Otherwise, all the words can be interpreted differently.
Returning to my husband’s dialog with the Adventists: the aim of quoting is simple – the one who is listening cannot deny the Bible. The promoters-Adventists are prepared quite well for various remarks and questions of the person who they are talking to. The smallest pause from the part of interlocutor – immediately the Bible is opened on the needed page (however, sometimes the words which are read are not quite to the point –but there are trifles 🙂 ). But my husband did not deny the Bible, he explained it and added some deeper meaning into it 🙂 .
In the beginning he said that Christ did not have any religion. The woman was very surprised: “How come?” The fact is that the religion was established later and additional explanations, ideas and interpretations were interlaced with Christ’s words though quite often they did not keep step with what Jesus had really meant.
Then my husband told them about forgiveness – the quality Christ was teaching human beings. He told them that Jesus resides in our Aghia chakra. The Canadian took this information silently – he had heard about chakras before. But the woman reacted immediately, “How can Jesus fit in there?” To this Valera (my husband) pointed out (dug deeper, to be more exact 🙂 ) that the gates to the Paradise are very narrow and these gates are Aghia chakra. If we do not forgive, this chakra is blocked up by the two halves of our brain (on the physical level) and because of it Kundalini = Holy Spirit = Rukh cannot rise (the idea of how one can feel his/her Holy Spirit and the fact that the Holy Spirit is called differently in different religions were also introduced, a bit later). When some religions/trends speak only about Christ and deny all the other Masters, they close a big portion of world outlook from themselves and their followers.
Then the Adventists started to appeal to the idea of “God’s fear”. Valera answered that neither Christ nor his disciples spoke about fear because fear is a sin as it blocks up the heart chakra. He also recommended the “guests” to take the idea of fear away from their leaflets and discussions. Paul was the one who invented the idea of fear but he had never seen Christ. The only good thing he did was that he was actively promoting Christ’s teaching but, unfortunately, he also intertwined his own ideas, the idea of fear among them, with the ideas of Jesus. For what? Fear is one of the control arms that the ones who are striving for power need. The teaching which Paul started to spread was claimed by the ones who had power for them to justify their activity (crusades and things like that). In the end it turned out that the whole information was distorted by these interlacements. In the process of communication Valera told the Adventists about the chakras in a very detailed way. And when he was telling them about all these things, they started “cleaning”: the woman felt heaviness in the area of swadistana chakra and the Canadian’s heart also felt uncomfortable. So, my husband had to tell them that if something causes pain in the body, one can improve the situation making several “shaking off” movements from this place with his/her hand. The left side can be also cleaned with a candle: circular clockwise movements. It is helpful to look at the sky, grass and sun. And in the evening one can put his/her feet into a basin with water and a bit of salt. At this point the woman mentioned that her mother had done exactly like this. Specially for the Canadian, Valera said that if there are problems with the heart one should go to the mountains where the air is clean as the element of the heart of air. But for that time the Canadian was quite satisfied after he had made circular movements above the area of his heart as he stated that it had really worked out.In such a way, the three of them were standing outside for an hour or so until the Adventists became very cold. When parting, they invited Valera to their centre. My husband’s answer was simple and short-spoken, “I can come to give you a talk if you’d like – about the subtle system and the methods how to clean it”. The woman said that he should also listen to what they are saying.
Valera replied that he had read the Bible some 15 years before and that he himself could speak for some more hours. To such words no words in the Bible were found and the Adventists merely said, “Eh, we have understood”.
Thought for the day: “The true religion is to know the law that is higher than all the human laws and the only one for all the people in the world” (Leo Tolstoy, Russian writer).
The picture is taken by the Author of the blog (April 23, 2007)
Know Thyself 
Your story reminds me of a moment when I too was visited by Adventist. When I looked down from my second story study, I could see a pair of persons were canvasing the area for prospective believers of their faith. I had had Adventists to my home before and I remembered they loved to provide you with a handout you could read after their visit. So, I promptly accessed a short writing of mine about EveryOne’s search for oneness within the files of my computer. As the printer zipped along cranking out the first page, they were two doors down. The second page ended and they were next door. The third and final page ended just in time for me to hear the door bell and make my way down the stairway to the front door. As I opened the door, they introduced their self to me and handed me their handout. At which I promptly and gently said….”This is for you my friend!” and gave to them my paper. I smiled as they seemed stunned another had shared with them something. I said, “since you seem like you have nothing to say and something to read….I guess I will leave you to continue your journey.
Your story made me smile (positively). When I told my husband about your adventure, he remembered that before (when we lived in another apartment) he had also met with Adventists. At that time a young man came up to our door and my husband asked him what Christ was doing during all the period of time starting from his childhood up to the time when he turned 30. The young man did not know what to answer and all his courage was lost (obviously, he had not been taught about that). The next time he came with his companion and the companion started telling my husband all about those 20 or so years of Christ’s life. My husband simply recommended him to tell that info not to him, as he was aware of it, but to the first guy :).
I always get very uncomfortable when approached by persons who come to our door or visit our home and introduce their belief system to me. It’s kind of a like the feeling I used to get with an approaching car salesman. I remember as a child, growing up in a Roman Catholic home, my mother pulling me into the bathroom when she had noticed a couple Jehovah Witness approaching the house. I stood on the head looking out the bathroom window as these nicely dressed in black suited fellows walk down our steps toward the house. Although I was too young to understand at the time the reason for my mother’s behavior, I could still remember thinking how it must have felt in the movies when monsters were approaching. I would eventually come to know these folks as simply carrying out the motives of their beliefs…And, in many ways have not a clue how uncomfortable it is to try to “sample” another’s belief system in a couple of minutes…Eventually EveryBody will become EveryOne…..