Posted 15 March 2006 - 12:15 AM
SPARKYBLUE, I haven't read anything from you that has replied to any of my comments, but here are some brief points. I'd be interested to hear your response.Firstly, why do you think that false Christians causing wars makes Christianity false? You mention the Crusades as if muslims have remained peaceful throughout their many centuries. I know that not all muslims are terrorists, otherwise I would think you were one, but I also know that no Christian is perfect either. A religion does not make a perfect group of people anymore than a cheese label would make me a block of cheese, because people who call themselves followers of Christ and don't act like Him aren't truly faithful anyway. And people who say that Muhammad was a peaceful man and don't act peaceably aren't true followers of Muhammad either. Now, I don't believe Jesus and Muhammad are equal, but their followers are equally bad examples. I am a Christian because of Christ's love and gracy and His works, not my own. Yet out of my transformed heart and mind by the Holy Spirit of God, I am so grateful for my salvation and eternal life that I become more sanctified as my life continues.I won't try to prove that Christians are better than muslims, because it's not about historical or any other kind of evidence. But I can declare that God is not a control freak. In His Sovereignty, nothing can thwart His will, so He allows evil, but He will ultimately work all things to good for those that love Him. He does not make us slaves, but it pleases Him if we humble ourselves and become slaves to the Holy Spirit out of our own willing response to His forgiveness. God's angels do not grip people against their will and make them feel like they are about to die. Gabriel says "do not fear" or "do not be afraid," rather than saying RECITE, RECITE, RECITE!!!!! until an unwilling man submits to "God" out of sheer fright. It is certainly a frightful thing to fall into God's hands in judgment, but if you don't love Him already, He won't make you reveal His Word to the world. It's the devil who tries to manipulate people with fear against their will. So why did Jibreel seize Muhammad? Is God a God of love who uses only those who also love Him? Or is God like a puppetmaster who controls humans and we don't really have free will? Because surely, if God will grip one man, He will be consistent and grip all men... A consistent God would have angels controlling us when we sin, too, which would make Him the author of evil as well as good... Unfortunately, extreme Sufi philosophy reaches that point and some admit that they believe God places bad angels on people shoulders as well as good ones, sooo anyway, the trinity isn't any worse than a God who is either inconsistent or the author of evil or unable to keep His Word in tact right from the beginning (apparently, He let people corrupt the Torah and the Gospel, so what makes you think the Qur'an is unblemished? more than likely, the Bible is consistent and the Qur'an is a revelation other than God's)I think it was you who commented that Christian, Muslims, and Jews, do all worship one God, because there is only one and it's impossible to worship another God. I fully agree. The problem is, obviously, how do we worship Him? The fundamental mistake of people who criticize the trinity is that they do not understand it. Neither do trinitarians, because Christ's relationship with God is a perfect mystery. BUT I will say this: a true Christian does NOT believe in three gods or three separate persons being God. It might sound very pedantic, but the trinity (or, better said, triunity) of God is that the One God of Abraham, Isaac, Ishmail, and Jacob has expressed Himself in three ways, forms, ideas, or personalities. They are not separated persons or beings and do not conflict (but complement each other, like Jesus praying out of His human humility, "not my will but yours be done"), because "all three" to put it simplistically are of the same essence. We know that Jesus was a man, but we also believe He was divine. Colossians calls Him the image of the invisible God. Jesus was the Christ, Messiah, or Anointed One. He was not anointed like a priest, prophet, or king of the Old Testament era, or like any believer with the Holy Spirit in the New Testament era, but He was gifted, anointed, smeared, however you word it, with the Holy Spirit as the only begotten Son of God. God was in full control of the body that was Jesus, Isa, Yahshua... I've said before, by the way, that when we say begotten, we do not mean that God gave birth to a Son like a mother does. That would be blasphemy. We mean that such was Jesus' eternal relationship with God that He, as an expression of God's perfection walking around in the flesh as an example for us and to become a willing sacrifice for our otherwise unatonable sins, was the Son of God. And He gave us the right to become as adopted sons of God. But these things are spiritually discerned, just like the role of the Holy Spirit in all of this. The Father is unseen and unfelt on Earth, the Son was visibly sent to bear witness of the Father's nature (love, grace, truth), and the Holy Spirit is felt throughout history to draw and empower believers. One God, but three expressions of the same divine nature. But it's up to you if you accept it on the basis of testimony or if you reject it because it doesn't fit human logic. Unfortunately, God never fits human logic, because His ways and thoughts are higher than ours. Only grace through faith makes us acceptable to Him, rather than rationalism.Is God one of grace and truth and love and life and spiritual rewards... or mercilessness and contradiction and anger and violence and fleshly, sexual rewards in "eternal life"?Note, these questions are to provoke thought, not anger or offence
