Our Lord and God is Christ, Our Message is His Gospel, and Our Context is God's Love.
Let’s start the discussion we should have had long ago.
Is Islam a religion of peace? Yes or no
And
How do we know? What is the basis for our conclusion?
A rational civil discussion.
Insults and crude language we be sandblasted off this post, as will ridicule.
The application fits-
14″But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ.”
15″But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart.“
16″Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.”
17“Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”
(2 Corinthians 3:14-17, The Bible )
Dear Muslim,
leave Islam, come to Jesus Christ, for God came as Jesus Christ for you.
John Quincy Adams, President of the United States, served on the Board of Trustees in 1832. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
6th President of the United States of America John Quincy Adams on Islam: 1824-1829
“In the seventh century of the Christian era, a wandering Arab of the lineage of Hagar [i.e., Muhammad], the Egyptian, […..] Adopting from the new Revelation of Jesus, the faith and hope of immortal life, and of future retribution, he humbled it to the dust by adapting all the rewards and sanctions of his religion to the gratification of the sexual passion. He poisoned the sources of human felicity at the fountain, by degrading the condition of the female sex, and the allowance of polygamy; and he declared undistinguishing and exterminating war, as a part of his religion, against all the rest of mankind. THE ESSENCE OF HIS DOCTRINE WAS VIOLENCE AND LUST.- TO EXALT THE BRUTAL OVER THE SPIRITUAL PART OF HUMAN NATURE…. Between these two religions, thus contrasted in their characters, a war of twelve hundred years has already raged. The war is yet flagrant … While the merciless and dissolute dogmas of the false prophet shall furnish motives to human action, there can never be peace upon earth, and good will towards men.”
Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 and from 1951 to 1955. Deutsch: Winston Churchill, 1940 bis 1945 sowie 1951 bis 1955 Premier des Vereinigten Königreichs und Literaturnobelpreisträger des Jahres 1953. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Winston Churchill on Islam:
“How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live.”
“A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property, either as a child, a wife, or a concubine, must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men.”
“Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities, but the influence of the religion paralyzes the social development of those who follow it.”
“No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science, the science against which it had vainly struggled, the civilization of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilization of ancient Rome.”
— Sir Winston Spencer Churchill (The River War, first edition, Vol. II, pages 248-50 (London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1899)
These were not uneducated men who knew nothing of their subject and had simply spoken recklessly.
Rather, both of these great leaders of the free countries of Great Britton and of the United States of America spoke the real truth.
The word Islam means ,”Submit”. (Choice is ultimately not respected, and force is doctrine).
Qur’an (3:151) “We will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve”
In America we do not understand that Islamic doctrine demands NO SEPARATION between church and state. All Muslims believe Islam must advance until all the world submits to Allah, that apostates must be killed, and what the Quran says must be followed. Unlike old Testament violence in the Bible only in a couple of special circumstances, the Quranic verses that call for violence in the name of Allah do so under all circumstances, even today.
There is no new testament in the Quran.
But in the Bible Jesus said,
“So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”(John 8:36)
“He,(Jesus), stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down.
The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him.
He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
(Luke 4:17-21)
One religion will bind you, the other resonates, defines, and inspires freedom.
filled in your hearing.”
(Luke 4:17-21)
One religion will bind you, the other resonates, defines, and inspires freedom.
One rules by fear, the other by faith and love.
These representations are based on the central tenets of the religions compared here and not the misrepresentations of said core beliefs. In short, it is when Christianity is misrepresented that violence is perpetrated. Islam is genuine when violence is perpetrated. The confusion comes when we mistake the natural tendancy for evil in human nature with religion in general. Islam is specifically designed to appeal to the darkness in men’s hearts. Genuine Christianity displaces the darkness.
One rules by fear, the other by faith and love.
http://www.salon.com/2015/11/14/it_was_probably_not_the_amish_bill_maher_urges_liberals_to_wake_up_about_islam_after_paris_attacks
http://wikiislam.net/wiki/The_Story_of_Umm_Qirfa
80+ dead’ after truck crashes into crowd at Bastille Day celebrations in Nice ‘terror attack’. http://tiny.iavian.net/b8cx
July 14, 2016
Christ Centered Teaching
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This book is the logical follow up to Nabeel Qureshi’s “Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus “, a New York Times best seller.
I was so impressed with Qureshi’s first book that I’ve re-read it four times.
Readers will vicariously witness what it is like for a devout Muslim and loving son to struggle with the conflict between western critical examination of truth, and Muslim unquestioning obedience to authority.
You will follow this quest for truth through the heart and mind of a top student and scholar, a trained and accomplished debater, as he pursues his Doctorate of Medicine degree.
Qureshi has a brilliant mind, a heart for God, and a love for mankind.
That is why I’m thrilled to recommend Nabeel Qureshi’s latest book that goes on sale today, “Answering Jihad “.
You can trust Nabeel’s heart and mind as a former devoted Muslim who is now fully devoted to Jesus Christ and the Biblical truth of Christianity.
Qureshi does not give a filtered version of Islam. This was a major concern I had when I first read the subject title.
I have a friend who is a former Muslim and already knew the shocking truths about Islam, Muhammad, and the Quran that most Muslims are not aware of.
As a Christian, I’ve found the foundational truths of my faith strengthened substantially by reading and studying Qureshi’s books.
Anyone who is concerned about civil liberty, freedom, civil safety and security, should buy and read this book.
I give it my highest rating for credibility and resource on a highly volatile subject concerning all the world.
http://www.amazon.com/Answering-Jihad-Better-Way-Forward/dp/0310531381
Dear Muslim,
It is fitting to address you this way and reflect the context of Nabeel Qureshi’s latest book due to be released on March 8th, 2016 by Zondervan Publishing. Qureshi’s book is titled Answering Jihad.
As a former devout Muslim who applied the same level of critical thinking to Islam and Christianity as his academic work, Qureshi is compassionate and credible to speak to the subject of Jihad and Islam.
By the age of 6, Nabeel had read the entire Quran and memorized several Islamic prayers as his parents raised he and his sister to be fully devoted Muslims.
If you are currently a Muslim, you owe it to yourself and your loved ones to make yourself aware of the knowledge and facts contained in this dynamic new book. It is particularly surprising to see that much of Qureshi’s conclusions against Islam come from the very sources that should support Islam, the Quran and the Hadiths.
If you are a Christian, you owe it to your community, whether they are Atheist, Muslim, Christian, or something else, to raise awareness of the truth about Islam. Whether it is examined from a doctrinal or a historical standpoint, Islam is clearly not a religion of peace.
I cannot overstate the thorough quality of writing and diplomatic yet direct stating of the truth that Qureshi brings to this difficult subject.
Answering Jihad is as interesting as it is informative, and in my opinion, it is also well written. I view this book with the highest regard and highly recommend it to you.
http://www.amazon.com/Answering-Jihad-Better-Way-Forward/dp/0310531381
Other books by Nabeel Qureshi :
http://www.amazon.com/Seeking-Allah-Finding-Jesus-Christianity/dp/1501262947
February 28, 2016
Christ Centered Teaching
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USS Philadelphia burning at the Battle of Tripoli Harbor during the First Barbary War in 1804
“All new news is just old news happening to new people. ”
~Malcolm Muggeridge~
Things certainly are getting sporty on the world scene. Islam is increasingly in the news to where you can’t escape from it.
And I have a friend who is ex-Muslim and a Doctor, so I already knew more than I wanted to know about Islam.
One thing that we should know is in our history. It was about the year 1800.
Thomas Jefferson and John Adams asked the Ambassador of Tripoli why they were attacking U.S. merchant ships and enslaving the sailors without provocation from the U.S.
Thomas Jefferson then wrote a letter to John Jay that read:
“The Ambassador answered us that it was founded on the Laws of their Prophet, that it was written in their Koran, that all nations who should not have acknowledged their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as Prisoners, and that every Musselman [Muslim] who should be slain in battle was sure to go to Paradise.”
This is loosely based upon the Qur’an’s teaching from Surah 47:4 which reads,
“Therefore, when ye meet the Unbelievers (in fight), smite at their necks; At length, when ye have thoroughly subdued them, bind a bond firmly (on them): thereafter (is the time for) either generosity or ransom: Until the war lays down its burdens. Thus (are ye commanded): but if it had been Allah’s Will, He could certainly have exacted retribution from them (Himself); but (He lets you fight) in order to test you, some with others. But those who are slain in the Way of Allah,- He will never let their deeds be lost.”
This cycle of violent and unprovoked oppression started with Muhammad and has been repeated throughout the 1300 plus year history of Islam, having at one time conquered and held 3 times as many square miles as the ancient Roman empire.
Islam is not a religion of peace. Even Shia and Sunni Muslims have been in conflict since Muhammad died. To be fully devoted to Islam means militant aggression against all infidels.
Moderate Islamic people flee devoted Islamic people and seek refuge in predominantly Christian countries, only to have the devoted eventually follow.
Islam demands Muslims fight to advance Islam until all the world submits. They believe this will end war even though Sunni Muslims and Shia Muslims have been in conflict since Muhammad died 1300 years ago.
Other books on the Barbary Wars: American Independence in the Atlantic World, by Frank Lambert (2005);Jefferson’s War: America’s First War on Terror 1801–1805, by Joseph Wheelan (2003); To the Shores of Tripoli: The Birth of the U.S. Navy and Marines, by A. B. C. Whipple (1991, republished 2001); and Victory in Tripoli: How America’s War with the Barbary Pirates Established the U.S. Navy and Shaped a Nation, by Joshua E. London (2005). Most recently, Power, Faith, and Fantasy: America in the Middle East, 1776 to the Present, the Israeli scholar Michael Oren.
January 16, 2016
Christ Centered Teaching
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Francis Schaeffer (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Written in 1984 ,Francis Schaeffer’s last book “Marking the Watershed” reads like a prophetic foretelling of what our future would look like if we fail to put Christ first in our hearts. In fact, it reads like a prequel to Ravi Zacharias‘s 2013 open letter to America.
Schaeffer uses a watershed as an illustration.
A Watershed is a place where snow would accumulate in the mountain peaks, and is it melts, the water would separate go in opposite directions and eventually end thousands of miles apart.
Schaeffer saw this beginning to happen to Christianity in regards to Biblical infallibility among evangelical Christian leaders as early as the early 1970’s.
My summary-Christianity ,in the past, has influenced the moral consensus for political debate, art, and books and movies in the United States of America, and the World. Now we are the minority, and so is our ability to influence culture.
As I’ve said before ,the will of the people is good so long as the people are good .</strong
These following excerpts,though almost thirty years old, resonate with current relevance.
“the Bible’s absolutes provide a consensus within which freedom can operate. But once the Christian consensus has been removed, as it has been today, then the very freedoms which have come out of the Reformation become a destructive force leading to chaos in society.” Francis Schaeffer
“The primary emphasis of biblical Christianity is the teaching that the infinite-personal God is the final reality, the Creator of all else, and that an individual can come openly to the holy God upon the basis of the finished work of Christ and that alone. Nothing needs to be added to Christ’s finished work, and nothing can be added to Christ’s finished work. But at the same time where Christianity provides the consensus, as it did in the Reformation countries (and did in the United States up to a relatively few years ago), Christianity also brings with it many secondary blessings. One of these has been titanic freedoms, yet without those freedoms leading to chaos, because the Bible’s absolutes provide a consensus within which freedom can operate. But once the Christian consensus has been removed, as it has been today, then the very freedoms which have come out of the Reformation become a destructive force leading to chaos in society. This is why we see the breakdown of morality everywhere in our society today — the complete devaluation of human life, a total moral relativism, and a thoroughgoing hedonism.”
“Without a strong commitment to God’s absolutes, the early church could never have remained faithful in the face of the constant Roman harassment and persecution. And our situation today is remarkably similar as our own legal, moral, and social structure is based on an increasingly anti-Christian, secularist consensus.”
The New Neo-Orthodoxy
There is only one way to describe those who no longer hold to a full view of Scripture. Although many of these would like to retain the evangelical name for themselves, the only accurate way to describe this view is that it is a form of neo-orthodox existential theology. The heart of neo-orthodox existential theology is that the Bible gives us a quarry out of which to have religious experience, but that the Bible contains mistakes where it touches that which is verifiable — namely history and science. But unhappily we must say that in some circles this concept now has come into some of that which is called evangelicalism. In short, in these circles the neo-orthodox existential theology is being taught under the name of evangelicalism.
Martin Luther said, “If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at the moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved and to be steady on all the battle front besides, is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point.” (1)
“For the existentialist it is an illusion to think that we can know anything truly, that there is such a thing as certain objective truth or moral absolutes. All we have is subjective experience, with no final basis for right or wrong or truth or beauty. This existential world view dominates philosophy, and much of art and the general culture such as the novel, poetry, and the cinema.”
May 22, 2013
Christ Centered Teaching
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The EU has already given over a lot of land to Islam without a single shot being fired.
They occupy, use gangs to harass, put up signs declaring Sharia law, and then throw stones at first responders, so that even law enforcement agencies won’t go there.
Sweden just started allowing public prayers to go out morning,noon, and night.
Can’t happen here?
All they need is persistent patience and time.
And more presidents like O.
Did you know the head of our CIA is Muslim?
I’ve studied Islam. The Koran does not separate the powers of church and state. The Koran insists they be combined and that the supreme law be Sharia law, the law of Islam.
The idea of Islam being a peaceful religion should have been clearly disproven to everyone by know.
What can we do?
Laws may help, for sure, but what about the example I talked about above? Islam took over an entire district of the third largest city in Belgium. Could Dearborn be taken over the same way?
Here’s my answer. Know what you believe.
Muslims know what they believe and that they believe is that people must submit to Allah, it is forced religion enforced by Sharia law. In fact the word “Islam” means “Submit”.
Here’s what I believe.
Christianity today in America is confused and no longer provides a consensus of integrity whereby it can effectively influence a free society to be responsible with the very freedoms it once crafted and that we have long enjoyed.
The truth is that for decades now, Christianity has been a poor reflection of the love of God while also attempting to influence society to embrace it’s moral standard.
Someone said, “Rules without relationship breeds resentment.”
True Christianity isn’t a set of rules though Christianity has rules, the heart of being a Christian is being able to say, Jesus Christ died for me and I trust His sacrifice for my sin, He is my savior.
Then if its genuine, Christ puts His Spirit in us and begins to influence our hearts only God can do from the inside out.
And He promises never to leave us or forsake us.
No other religion on earth has a relationship like this, where a God became man, lived humbly and sinless with us and then died for us to take away sin, then offers it as a gift of love by faith.
Islam offers no assurance of salvation besides dying for Allah.
Christianity does offer assurance of salvation, but God as Christ died for us.
Someone said that radical Islam is not the greatest threat in the world. Mediocre Christianity is the greatest threat in the world.
Last word.
If you don’t like what you see in Christians, look at Christ in the Bible. You’ll find nothing wrong with Him.
My motto is,Don’t follow Christians, follow Christ.
Your loving brother,
May 5, 2013
Christ Centered Teaching
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Map showing the relative proportion of Christianity (red) and Islam (green) in each country. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The essence of any religion is the fundamental truths it is founded upon.
That would comprise a religion’s Fundamentalism.
A “Fundamentalist”,is one who attempts to strictly adhere to a religion’s fundamentals.
The word fundamental can mean something good or bad, depending on a religion’s core truths.
The Supreme Doctrines of Christianity and Islam are polar opposites.
“Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:34-40)
“Do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good.” Romans 12:21
God wants us to love Him, and has provided the ultimate reason to desire to love Him by loving and giving His one and only Son, Jesus Christ as a sacrifice, the just for the unjust, on the cross. God WINS our love and trust.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”(John 3:16)
In contrast to that, Islam means,”Submit to Allah”, and force is the means Allah’s word, the Koran, imposes.
Free will is forcefully denied by this fundamental belief of Islam.
(Read the following quotes from the Koran)
Qur’an:8:39 “Fight them [who do not believe] until all opposition ends and all submit to Allah.”
Ishaq:324 “He said, ‘Fight them so that there is no more rebellion, and religion, all of it, is for Allah only. Allah must have no rivals.'”
Qur’an:8:65 “O Prophet, urge the faithful to fight. If there are twenty among you with determination they will vanquish two hundred; if there are a hundred then they will slaughter a thousand unbelievers, for the infidels are a people devoid of understanding.”
Qur’an:9:5 “Fight and kill the disbelievers wherever you find them, take them captive, harass them, lie in wait and ambush them using every stratagem of war.”
Qur’an:9:29 “Fight those who do not believe until they all surrender, paying the protective tax in submission.”
Qur’an:47:4 “When you clash with the unbelieving Infidels in
battle (fighting Jihad in Allah’s Cause), smite their necks until you overpower them, killing and wounding many of them. At length, when you have thoroughly subdued them, bind them firmly, making (them)captives. Thereafter either generosity or ransom (them based upon what benefits Islam) until the war lays down its burdens. Thus are you commanded by Allah to continue carrying out Jihad against the unbelieving infidels until they submit to Islam.”
Free World listen!! It is clear! Democracy was born out of Christinity’s “Unalienable rights” and the belief that “all men are CREATED equal”.
Allah demands we all SUBMIT to him. Or die.
Islam is fundamentally tyrannical.
God’s desire is for us is to LOVE Him, and He personally came down to us to die for our sins and defeat death for us.
What more could He do ?
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
God did this to set is free from sin and death. Christianity is fundamentally liberaiting.
“If the Son of Man sets you free you shall be Free indeed.”
Different core beliefs, different fundamentals, different fundamentalists.
Additional verses and links
Qur’an Sura 4:34, “Men have authority over women because [Allah] has made the one superior to the other… Good women are obedient… As for those from whom you fear disobedience, admonish them and send them to beds apart and beat them. Then if they obey you, take no further action against them…”
http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php
November 1, 2012
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July 21, 2012
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June 8, 2012
Christ Centered Teaching
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We love because he first loved us.
1Corinthians 16:14 , 1John 4:19
Christ Centered Teaching 