Hello and PEACE everyone,
My oh my, you guys are tearing into each other. I have already made the statement that this is what happens when you take Jesus simple message and make it complicated by making him equal with God.
Now I am going to introduce some interesting points to ponder. After doing some more thinking I have, uh, revised my thoughts on these matters.
I have decided that I am not a Muslim, but neither do I deny Mohammed as a prophet. And yet, I may not be exactly what everyone thinks is a Christian.
Here is what I think:
God has made it clear throughout the Bible that he WILL BE PRAISED one way or another. Has he not in numerous places done so?
Look at Romans 14:11
“It is written: ‘As surely as I live, says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.’”
and it seems that he still finds violence acceptable for those who "do not want him to be King."
Look at Luke 19:27
"But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them-bring them here and kill them in front of me."
If this symbolically refers to Jesus, then it makes no sense with the rest of his message of peace. However, if we use this to get insight to God's heart over wanting Lordship over his creation, it makes much more sense.
You guys have got to look at the big picture.
Jesus came to bring the way of love. He gave us the best way to know God and to be able to praise him. I sincerely believe that faith in God, through Christ is the best route to God.
But according to Romans 14:11, if people reject God’s message of love, God is still interested in having “every knee bow before him.”
Correct?
So, I still believe that Jesus' message was quite distorted as the Roman Empire picked it up and used it for its own purposes.
There were many Christians that believed that God was the most high and that Jesus did what he said he was going to do, sit at the right hand of the father, but that Jesus was not equal with the Father.
So I agree with the Muslims, this Trinity stuff is ridiculous. They are not all three equal or Jesus wouldn't have been shown to us as God's subordinate like this.
And yet, to those who take to heart Jesus message of love for neighbor and God, and his focus on works (yes, yes, look at what Jesus says), then many people throughout the earth will know God in the most intimate way possible.
And yet, for those who refuse to know God, there is judgment for remember what I said earlier, "GOD WILL BE PRAISED".
So EXACTLY 500 years after the destruction of the temple (I have adopted post millenialism so the destruction of the temple in 70 AD is of particular importance to me), God sends Mohammed. What is Mohammed's role? Well, for those who do not accept the message of Jesus's love, God has sent his message of justice and submission.
In so many ways, Christianity and Islam are polar opposites, but that does not make Christianity good and Islam bad.
In fact, ideally, the violence that Islam allows (not aimless senseless terrorism as we have seen recently, but the forms of violence that can be arguably just) is nothing more than God saying "If you won't bow down to me willingly, then I will make you bow down to me."
So Islam was sent to the world as a judgment to those who do not want to worship God. What are the scriptures that point out that if God cannot get his people to praise him, that he will make the rocks cry out?
We are both, Muslims and Christians, the agents of God bringing about his praise all over the earth. While I believe that there is much more joy and power to be found in Jesus message of love, there is, on the contrary, much more order and practicality to be found in Mohammed's teachings.
Together, we take on the world from different ends of the spectrum, while both accomplishing the same thing, THE WORSHIP OF GOD.
Now, for all those people who are out there fishing for people who might help the terrorists, as a Christian, I would never agree to help a Muslim do anything against the laws of my land (nor would I ever agree to hurt anyone-for that is not what Jesus has called me to do.) My mission is to show the love of God to everyone AND I MEAN EVERYONE.
(Personally, I don't understand how anyone can kill another human for any reason and still be sane, but that is why I have choses the Way of Love over the Way of Justice).
The Muslim's mission is just the opposite to MAKE those who do not want God to be their king, bow down to him. Yes, the religion does NOT have much freedom and it was designed that way.
Jesus, the ultimate idealists with the way of love that best focuses on the individuals relationship with God.
Mohammed, the ultimate pragmatist, with the way of justice that best focuses on making society obedient to God.
Christians, as I have argued before, are at their best when they refuse to fight and are willing to die for their peace loving beliefs as martys.
Muslims on the hand, are the hand of God against those who refuse to bow down to him. They are willing to die fighting those who hate God.
Is there not enough violence in the Old Testament for you guys to see that God has not changed and that he will bring judgment against people for their decadence and hatred for God's ways?
Please don't list me all the Muslim atrocities over the years because I don't agree with many of them just as I don't agree with what the Christians did in the Crusades.
Ideally, Islam only uses violence when it is truly just. What about all the Christians who have gone to war to kill in the name of their government's political cause? Are they all guiltless?
Do we not remember that the Christians we are supposed to look up to were the ones in Early Rome who refused to fight for a secular government and who actually held all things in common as they took care of their brothers and sisters?
They died for a variety of reasons, but chiefly because their government wanted some things from them that they were not ready to give. The best of them went to their deaths willingly and joyfully (when it was necessary), just as Jesus calls us to do.
I hope the Muslims who I have befriended will not be offended and will appreciate that I still believe Mohammed (PBUH) to be a prophet of God. I also do not think that Jesus IS God, but that he IS at the right hand of the Father. I haven’t dug into the theology enough on this subject to figure out how it all fits, but it all makes perfect sense when you accept the idea that God desires to be praised in all the earth-one way or another. And, no, I don’t believe in dispensationalist view of the rapture and the Tribulation bringing this about.
Anyway, please stop bickering over all these gory details with each other. Do you not see that these arguments are going on and on for ever, ad infinitum?
Look at the big picture: WE BOTH HAVE A UNIQUE MISSION ON THIS EARTH. Muslims are supposed to agree to treat Christians with civility as long as they are not hostile to Muslims and Christians are never supposed to be hostile to anyone for any reason. So we should all get along just fine.
The point I tried to make when I first came to this site was this:
God wants our praise and he wants us to love each other and to obey him and to take care of those in need.
Both religions call for that. Both religions trace their ancestry back to the same God AND both religions seem to be quite blessed shown by the number of believers worldwide.
If we will all do these things as well as attempt to reform the faiths we follow, (Muslims too zealous, Christians not zealous enough for true Christianity) then we can make the world a better place together for God.
Peace to ALL,
Peace2God'sPeople
I would love to hear what you guys think as long as no one takes off my head either figuratively or literally, however, I rather expect the former.
To Truth Seeker Joshua: I have done what you said and yet I know you won’t agree with what I have just said.