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Click on an article name or scroll down to the heading |
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| Written for the WVU school newspaper 1998-1999 | |||
| atheist | bible science | christmas | |
| christian life | evidence | exceptional jesus | |
| God's love | inheritance | judgement | |
| more evidence | religion | victory | |
| why | truth | ||
| Other articles written | |||
| iraq | my opinions | obama and christianity? | |
| life origins | political-correctness | Apologetic Tactics | |
| aclu | shameful | christianity vs. islam | |
| threats | history quotes | church state separation | |
| wmd | Apologetics | christians and drinking | |
| obama | |||
| Atheist Now that you know who the author of this article is, are you cheering or jeering? Is it more religious to say God exists or to say God is dead? Are atheists correct in their assertion that there is no God? After all, one should always look for the simple explanation rather than the complex, right? Surely, by now, an infinite being would have been able to settle this debate once and for all. The Bible declares in Psalm 14:1, “The fool has already said in his heart, There is no God”. Is this a valid response or an arrogant judgement? By definition, atheism is the absolute denial of God’s existence. A popular atheistic protagonist, Madalyn Murray O’Hair, wrote, “We atheists…try to find some basis of rational thinking on which we can base our actions and our beliefs, and we have it…There are no supernatural forces, no supernatural entities such as gods, or heavens, or hells, or life after death…Matter is. Material is.” Etienne Borne defined it as the “deliberate, definite, dogmatic, denial of the existence of God.” Atheists usually argue that God’s existence is rationally unprovable and, thus, it is illogical to even consider His existence. However, before they can sincerely and logically call themselves an atheist, they must prove that God does not exist, not arrive at such a position by default. Furthermore, even if one’s arguments for the existence of God are not well-grounded, that does not logically make that which is being argued for untrue. Mr. D. S. Clarke wrote, “before any man can say that there is no God he must analyze all the matter in the universe, he must track down all forces, mechanical, electrical, vital, mental and spiritual-he must hold converse with all spirits and understand them thoroughly; he must be in all points of space at every moment lest God somewhere and somehow elude his notice.” Before one can say from his own pool of knowledge that there is no God, he/she would have to possess infinite knowledge and wisdom. A truly atheistic standpoint denies even the slightest possibility that God exists. If God does not exist, then EVERYTHING must be explained through natural means, including intelligent life. Evolution is based on naturalism, as Madalyn Murray O’Hair put it, “Matter is. Material is.” You cannot talk about evolution without noting Darwinism. Although, it is interesting that even Darwin acknowledged an intelligent designer and that he never intended God to be excluded from the picture. I wonder if agnostic-turned-atheist, Bertrand Russell, actually believed that we ultimately came from nothing? Associate Professor of Biochemistry at Lehigh University, Michael Behe, challenged in his book, Darwin’s Black Box, naturalists to try to explain biochemical evolution. Dr. Behe points out that after having done an extensive survey of all the biochemical research journals, books on evolution, national conferences on evolution, biochemistry and biology textbooks, and internet sites, he was not able to find even one conclusive detail of the evolution of complex biochemical systems. Richard Dawkins, a fierce proponent of Darwinism simply dismissed Dr. Behe as being intellectually lazy. In his book, The Blind Watchmaker, Dawkins wrote that anyone who denies evolution was either “ignorant, stupid or insane (or wicked-but I’d rather not consider that).” I wonder what his reaction would be to the July 1997 issue of Reason magazine, which pointed out that thinkers are now lining up to inflict mortal wounds to Darwinism. Nobel Prize winner, Francis Crick (remember DNA?), found, after performing his own statistics of probability, that the chances of life generating through random processes (without intelligent direction) is absolutely zero. Wanting a naturalistic explanation, he proposed, and reiterated in a 1992 interview, that life may have begun when aliens from another planet sent a rocket ship containing spores to seed the earth. Some quantum physicists propose that microscopic entities can simply pop into existence from borrowed energy, and that even the universe itself just popped into existence from nothing-“a quantum fluctuation from nonbeing to being”. Does all this sound like rational thinking? Since an atheist cannot be all-knowing, but he still does not wish to acknowledge God’s existence, he must be either agnostic or biased. The word agnostic comes from two Greek words, alpha, and ginosko. Alpha means the negative and ginosko is “to know”. An agnostic is one who does not know. If one cannot be sure, is it not logical that he at least consider the claims of Christianity? If many scholars, archeologists, and scientists, with their impressive credentials and years of experience, are now taking a closer look at the Bible, should we not at least consider what all the fuss is about? Let us heed President Andrew Jackson who wrote, “The Bible is the Rock on which this Republic rests.” President George Washington said, “It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible.” Polls indicate that 90% of all Americans do believe in God. Consider why politicians invoke the name of God regularly, especially during election time. Why do sports teams pray before a game? Why are there so many religious paintings, prominent businessmen holding prayer meetings, airports and hospitals having chapels, or an increase of Christian musicians and music being sold, even in non-Christian stores? Why does our Declaration of Independence read, “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights”? Can naturalism account for why human beings have intrinsic worth and dignity and that “We hold these truths to be self-evident”? As a country, we honor Martin Luther King, whose actions were deeply rooted in a belief in God (and Jesus Christ). Why don’t we lay aside our preconceived notions about Christianity and realize that we are all sinners and need Jesus Christ’s forgiveness. We need Him to be the Leader of our lives? Then, we can all proudly say with the U.S. Supreme Court Justice George Sutherland, “We are a Christian people” (said in 1931). |
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Bible Science The Bible is full of nothing but fallacies, Right? How could a person base their belief system on fairy tales, Right? After all, science has already proven that I am a fool for reading such junk and, given more time, will prove every single Christian to be the frauds they really are, Right? I will make a deal with you, O.K? I will continue to stay a Christian just until science shows me that I do not have prayer in heaven of ever being right, and then I will quietly convert into another religion that is more suitable to your liking. I will then write a bunch of articles in the national paper (perhaps even the D.A.) in which I publicly denounce all my former beliefs and pray to the almighty god of science. Does this not sound reasonable to you? You know, there is just one small problem I think you should know. It will never happen! Why? It is because science has already been providing substantial support for the Bible for years. The question that really should be asked is, “Mr. Oh, how many scientific discoveries does it take to get to the center of disproving just one point in the Bible?” The world may never know! The first Law of Conservation of Energy says, “energy can be neither created nor destroyed.” The Bible says how this is so because Jesus Christ, who created all things, is “upholding all things by the word of His power”(Hebrew 1:3). The Book of Genesis and Hebrews teach that God completely finished His acts of creation. This would account for this Law of Conservation. Furthermore, the Law of Conservation of Energy proves that the universe could not have created itself. It had to have been created by a supernatural force outside the universe, then. The psalmist David wrote in Psalm 19 that the sun traveled in “his circuit unto the ends of it [the heavens]”. Recent discoveries by the Hubble Telescope have proven that the sun does indeed move through space in a circuit taking over 260 million years to make one orbit. In Isaiah 40:22, the prophet Isaiah records, “It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth…” Farther advanced than the knowledge in that day, God revealed through Isaiah that the earth was a globe. In Job 26:7, Job wrote, “He stretcheth out the north over empty space; he hangs the earth on nothing.” Pagans of that time believed the earth was balanced on the back of an elephant, which in turn, rested on a turtle’s back. Other pagans believed that the mythological hero Atlas carried the earth on his shoulders. Scientists believed that the earth and stars were supported by some kind of ether. Yet, the Bible teaches the earth moves through empty space. Recently, astronomers have been astonished to discover that, in contrast to other directions, the area to the north of the axis of the earth toward the polar star is relatively devoid of stars. One scientist described the area to the north as the “30 million light-year gap”. The Book of Proverbs teaches, “A merry heart does good, like medicine, but a broken spirit dries the bones.” Modern psychiatry has proven that good humor and laughter truly does improve overall health. In Leviticus 17:11, Moses declares. “For the life of the flesh is in the blood.” At that time, pagan and Egyptian medical knowledge was extremely ignorant of even the most simple medical knowledge of today, which lead to high mortality rates. In fact, there was absolutely nothing about preventative medicine. For centuries, ignorant doctors would fight diseases by “bleeding” the patient. We now know that blood is extremely essential to many bodily processes. The existence of germs was unknown until about A.D. 1890. After leading them out of Egypt, God told Moses to tell the Israelites that He would protect them from sickness and disease if they would follow His commandments. The transmission of disease was thought to be entirely by chance. God told the Israelites through Moses to discard broken pottery (because the cracks could contain harmful germs). Another commandment was to disinfect by scouring and rinsing in water any metal pots. Moses told the Israelites not to “eat of the flesh of any animal that has died naturally of disease or by wild animals.” The Israelites learned how to deal with the sick among them, including those with leprosy, so as not to infect themselves. How could Moses have known all this advanced medical knowledge unless inspired by God? He was raised as an Egyptian and would not certainly not have access to any more knowledge than his contemporaries. In fact, many of the sanitation practices God instructed the Israelites to follow parallel those used by doctors today. In the midst of fear and panic in Vienna during the bubonic plague, some church leaders searched the Bible for a solution. After having found and then followed God’s laws of sanitation and health, the deadly epidemic stopped. There now stands in Vienna a statue memorializing the victims of this plague and the church leaders who helped stop it. |
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Christmas What does Christmas mean to you? Retailers want you to think that it is about buying the most extravagant gifts you can for your loved ones (and they seem to always get their wish). Hollywood wants you to think it is about magically falling in love with that perfect someone who will finally replace their cat as a dance partner. Teachers want you to think it is about regretting having ever registered for that class you thought would be an easy ‘A’. Sadly, for many others, it means having to try to quench that feeling of desperation in the pit of their stomach. As carolers sing, “Joy to the world”, I wonder how many of them actually live joyfully. Many people experience happiness now and then, but joy gives you the strength to stand strong in the midst of trouble. Feelings are dependent upon our circumstances. Our happiness indicates the level of comfort we experience in our bodies. How many people can honestly say they are happy when they are sick? Joy, on the other hand, is a spiritual force and is dependent upon the condition of one’s heart. Thus, if the spiritual condition of your heart is strong, then joy will naturally flow. The Bible teaches in Nehemiah 8:10, “The joy of the Lord is [our] strength.” Joy gives strength because it is firmly rooted. How do you know the spiritual condition of your heart, then? Jesus said, in Mathew 7:21, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Your heart will mimic what you cherish most of all. If you cherish something that is temporary, then your heart will never be firmly grounded, and joy can never develop. The Bible teaches that the Word of God, “will by no means pass away.”(Mathew 24:35) So, abide in God’s Word and, before long, joy will flow. When joy flows, it will keep you strong. People today give gifts to each other out of their love for them. Even if they end up returning the gifts, they appreciate the sentiment involved in that gift. Likewise, the St. Nicholas on whom our mythological Santa Claus is based was known for his generosity. This saint devoted his life to God, helping the poor, performing miracles, and spreading cheer all around him, always giving God the credit. St. Nicholas represented the giving heart of God. The true meaning of Christmas is not about a jolly, old fat man riding in a sleigh. Christmas is about the ultimate gift God gave to us, Jesus Christ. We get warm feelings when we sing Christmas songs or go to a Christmas Eve church service. We cherish pictures of baby Jesus lying in a manger. Is that all Christmas is to us, or do we truly appreciate the gift? Jesus Christ is no longer a baby! He willingly endured pain, rejection, and death (rising 3 days later) here on earth so that we could choose to believe in Him and enjoy the benefits of our salvation in our lifetime. You can reject this gift, but it does not change the sentiment involved in the offer. The Bible teaches that the Word of God became flesh in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.” (John 15:11) Jesus was the physical manifestation of God here on earth. God and His Word are synonymous. So, everyone who believes in Jesus Christ and studies God’s Word can live in complete joy, not just at Christmas, but all-year-round. Christmas is not a time to feel sorry for yourself because you think nobody loves you. It is a celebration! “Christ mass” means “anointing celebration”. We celebrate, “How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.”(Acts 10:38) The great news is that you too can live under that anointing. You, too, can make this Christmas the most exciting holiday season you have ever had. You, too, can be strengthened with joyfulness. You might not understand this now, but you will once you put your trust in Jesus and spend time in God’s Word. People often talk about a, “spirit of Christmas”, or the “magic of Christmas”. They contribute every good thing that happens to this, “spirit of Christmas”. It sounds as if people want to believe in some causal force greater than their own reasoning. People seem to believe that Christmas is the time where improbable things can happen, right? ”. Logic should tell you that nothing just happens! How can something happen from nothing? The Bible teaches me that God is the giver of EVERY good gift. I mentioned previously that Jesus is Christmas. He is the reason to celebrate! Why don’t you make Him your reason? Jesus is not a religion. Jesus will take you just as you are if you just accept what He did for you on Calvary. Just say, “Dear God, I ask that you forgive me of every sin in my life and wash me clean. I ask for Jesus to come into me life, right now. Thank you for my new life. Amen.” Congratulations! |
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Christian Life I am writing this article to share a burden that has been on my heart for a long time. I have dealt with many Christians in my short, young life that unfortunately have been living the “Christian life” for years but have never shown any outward changes in their lifestyle. While it is true that we cannot judge a man’s heart, what is begun in a person’s heart after salvation is naturally expressed outwardly. Living apart from what we believe is hypocrisy. Christians are to walk by faith and not by sight. But, for the general public, seeing is believing. Today’s society is so full of different religions that it is hard to get away from people sharing their belief systems with us. I believe that for the most part, people do not care about what we believe. Who cares what we believe as long as it doesn’t affect our interactions with them? They are more interested in their perceptions of us. People interpret things based on what they see. This is real life where we must interact with real people. People do not want an eloquent orator that is not backed up by authenticity. I am not interested in making a case here for Christianity. I want to urge all reading not to judge Christianity based solely on what is seen in people. Christians face the same troubles that everybody else does. We whine, we worry and we have bad days in which it is easier to hate than love. But, a Christian truly surrendered to Christ is expected to change over time. The point of a Christian’s life, as life in general, is not the absence of problems, but how we deal with such problems. It saddens me to interact with people who call themselves Christians, yet behave worse than any atheist I know. Over my lifetime, I have seen the aftermath of good-hearted people emotionally scarred and battered from bad experiences with supposed Christians. A Christian’s life is centered on the Bible. Everything a Christian believes and does is based on that one book. Whether we believe the Bible is a great hoax or we devote our life to it, it should be known that without the Bible there would be no Christianity. Christianity would not have survived all these years based solely on hearsay. I was not alive during the time of Jesus Christ. So, the only full record I have of Jesus Christ’s life and how He wants me to live mine is the Bible. Even the term, “Christian”, has no meaning apart from the Bible. Jesus frequently taught that Christians are to bear good fruit. Jesus warned against “false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing” and that we would “know them by their fruits”. (Mat 7:15,20). Colossians 1:10 reads that Christians are to be “bearing good fruit in every good work”. As a Christian yields his life to Jesus, the Spirit of Christ moves into that person. The more he yields, the more of Christ’s Spirit lives inside him and the more his life changes. According to Galatians 5:10, the fruits of the Spirit are “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” Fruit is born naturally from within the plant. We cannot force a plant to make fruit. Likewise, we cannot force ourselves to produce the fruits of the Spirit. We cannot force ourselves to love if our heart is full of bitterness and rage. These fruits can only come from the Spirit Himself. We get them by letting the Spirit reside in us. The more of the Spirit living in us, the easier it is for us to love. This does not mean that Christians do not get angry or worry. A stronger root is able to give better nourishment to the plant. A stronger Spirit is defined in terms of our relationship with Jesus Christ. The stronger our relationship is, when we do get angry or worry, the Spirit in us gives us what we need to counter-act our anger and experience more peace. The demonstration of spiritual fruit in is indicative of the Christian life. I get very wary when I hear people publicly announcing, “I am a Christian”. I believe that if we are Christian, we should not have to tell people we are one. It should be evident from the way we live our lives. Christianity is all about who we are as a person. If affects our actions, our words and our attitudes. I believe that small things speak volumes about people. It does not take a genius to be a good observer of human nature. Everything about a person can tell us all we need to know about that person. Most people I knew that told people they were Christians showed their true nature by the way they said it and whom they were addressing when they said it. Instead of them promoting Christ, they were using Christianity to promote themselves. There is a spiritual kinship that occurs when one has a genuine salvation experience. Such an experience establishes an implicit understanding among all Christians that needs no embellishment. I don’t care how many times a person calls himself a Christian, talks about church or prayer, or even how many scriptures he knows. People are not stupid. They will eventually learn whether we are genuine by noticing the way we interact with them on a daily basis. A Christian’s outward appearance should reflect what is in his heart. A Christian should not be in a constant hateful mood, always making us feel inferior or fearful. A Christian should not condemn us but lovingly stand with us through our pain. How do I know? The Bible teaches me so. We should never lose sight of the fact that “The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.”(1 John 4:8). |
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Evidence I get amused (and saddened) every time I hear somebody say that, “Christianity is just a myth”, or “Jesus Christ was just a hoax”, or the infamous, “The Bible cannot be trusted as truth”. No matter how intelligent they may sound when giving such criticism, they speak out of ignorance. Questions do not show ignorance, but prejudicial statements do (i.e. the mere notion of a question should open one’s mind to the possibility of an answer, not harden one’s heart). Evidence must first be weighed from all angles before a verdict can be given. If I say evidence exists and you say it does not, then obviously, we cannot both be right. In fact, if evidence exists, right or wrong, it is your responsibility to at least consider it or be guilty of bias. If I am lying, then I am delusional to perpetuate a hoax by referring to non-existent evidence. Also, my lies would cast more suspicion towards a “foolish” Christianity, which, if I were lying, would be exactly what I would not want to do. For lack of space, I will delve into more detail as the semester progresses. For the most part, we learn new things every day that we do not question. We know there are those whose lives center around the study of historical and scientific data. If we ever so desired, we could further investigate the archeological evidence or scientific experiments on which our textbooks base their information, but most of us probably have not, nor would we. In weighing evidence, one aspect to consider is that it is sensible. Consider why Christians would “create” a god with such harsh demands for justice and righteousness? After all, over the centuries man has done his best to rid himself of a moral law. A law restrains man by its very nature, right? Can man be counted on to preserve values over centuries and across cultures? One need not look far to see the perpetuation of individual liberalism, both now and in our nation’s history. Does it make much sense that “religious” people create a god who condemned them for their own hypocrisy? Many religious leaders of Biblical times were also members of the powerful elite. Lastly, it is conceivable that a person would be passionate about an idea. Powerful, motivated individuals can hold together a conspiracy based on a lie (remember Watergate?). But, how long would you persist in this lie when faced with lengthy, inescapable torture and continual death threats, especially when all you had to do to escape your “death sentence” was to admit you were fraudulent? Historical records of the first century prove that the Lord’s apostles were martyrs in the highest regard. They possessed an unshakable personal knowledge of having seen Jesus Christ raised from the dead that eventually led to their grim deaths. Furthermore, statistics show that in this century alone more Christians (around the world) have been persecuted than in all 19 centuries put together. In most cases, a simple denial would have been sufficient to spare their life. D Is the Bible reliable? How can I know if I can trust it? There are more than 24,000 original manuscript copies (handwritten) of portions of the New Testament (5000 in the original Greek) written between A.D. 40-100 in existence. The earliest copy is from A.D. 125. Given such a large number of manuscripts, scholars can trace and check the accuracy and authenticity of these writings. Only a few trivial differences such as spelling variations and copying errors were found. From historical research and biblical archeology, most scholars are convinced that the Gospels and Epistles were written within 35 years or less of the events which they describe. Compare this manuscript evidence to that of Caesar’s Gallic Wars (composed between 58 and 50 B.C.), of which we have only 9-10 manuscripts dating from 900 years after Caesar’s day. The earliest manuscript upon which the 7 plays of Sophocles is based was written 1400 years after the poet’s death. Every one of Shakespeare’s 37 plays has gaps in the printed text. We know with absolute certainty that nothing was lost in the transmission of the Biblical text. In fact, there is no other book of ancient literature that compares to the manuscript evidence of the Bible (Homer’s Iliad comes in second with 643 copies). Furthermore, the Greek originals were widely copied and immediately translated into other languages, making the Bible one of the first major books to be translated. Are Christians foolish to think Jesus Christ was real? Would others be? Cornelius Tacitus was a Roman historian and governor of Asia in A.D. 112. Having access to the government archives of Rome, he was a careful historian. He confirmed many details of Scripture, including that Christ was, “put to death by Pontius Pilate”. Lucian, a man who lived in Samosata a century after Christ, wrote in his book, The Passing Peregrinus, that Jesus was “the man who was crucified in Palestine because He introduced this new cult into the world.” Flavius Josephus was a well-known Jewish historian alive during the time of the apostle Paul. He confirmed many facts in Antiquities of the Jews (a history of the Jewish people) regarding the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, as well as the death of James, brother of Jesus, and John the Baptist. Surely, his historian’s curiosity would have lead him to investigate the popular Christian movement at that time. Every single ancient copy of Josephus’ book contains the passages about Jesus. Although some suspect forgery of these passages, there is no evidence whatsoever to think that is the case. Josephus’ writing style has been proven to be constant throughout the book. Thallus, a pagan historian who lived in A.D. 52, recorded in his history that there was a miraculous darkness covering the earth at the Passover in A.D. 32. His is but one of several ancient historical references (e.g. Philegon, a 1st century historian) to a supernatural darkness which covered the earth at Christ’s death on the cross. It was the season of the Paschal full moon when Christ died, and modern astronomers agree that a normal eclipse cannot occur at the same time as a full moon. Researcher and scientist, Henry M. Morris, Ph.D. wrote, “no statement in the New Testament has to this date been refuted by an unquestioned find of science or history.” My point here was not, nor ever will be, to try to convince you, but that you consider before making any rash judgments. My Christian faith does not rest solely on evidence, but the evidence substantiates my faith. |
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Exceptional Jesus Who is Jesus, and who cares? Everywhere you go, people seem to have an opinion on Jesus Christ. Some love Him, others hate Him, some say He was a “good” man. No other person has stirred up as much controversy as this Jesus has done? There have been countless books written about Him (for and against), and He has spurned numerous debates worldwide. Anybody could probably tell you something about His birth, life, and death. They could summarize his teachings and miracles. They probably even know its relation to sin. Most people are at least somewhat aware of the prophetic biblical revelations concerning judgement. Countless movies have been based on this very premise. How many people know about the life of Mohammed, or Confucius? Jesus was not typical, but exceptional. Other than John, Mathew, Mark, and Luke do not offer any theological reflections on His deity, but rather present a sort of dispassionate, investigative account of what Jesus said and did. We learn that not even Jesus’ worst enemies could accuse Him of any wrongdoing. Pontius Pilate, whom Jesus stood before in His trial, could not find anything faulty in Him, pleading repeatedly for the crowd to let Him go. As much as people wanted Him dead, nobody could agree on any of the false charges brought against Jesus. The Pharisees, usurping every possibility to accuse Him of wrong, were never able to point blame to Him. Read the biographies of any of the great men or women of our past or present and you will soon find escapades of their moral failings. This is not so with Jesus. Consider the uniqueness of His teachings. Most leaders command authority by pointing to strict adherence to rules. Jesus spent most of His life arguing with the Pharisees over their legalistic, no-holds barred approach to following rules, and Jesus was never the one who brought up the subject! The Pharisees hounded Jesus wherever He went over whatever He did. Some religions teach that isolation from society is the key to knowing God. Other religions teach that one relates to God by relating peaceably to your fellow man. Not only did Jesus emphasize relationships over rules, He taught that our selfless love for others demonstrates our love for God, and simultaneously, that we can only selflessly love others when we enter into our own personal intimacy with God. Jesus never claimed to point people to truth. He claimed to BE truth. He said that He was the light of the world and that He came to set the captives free. He claimed to be divine, a representation of God to us. Jesus never said, “thus says the Lord”, or any other prophetic formula, but rather, “I say to you”. Jesus claimed the right of revealing God to man: “No one knows the Son, except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him”(Mathew 11:27). Jesus never felt the need to defend his divinity, but rather assumed it. He claimed the divine authority of offering forgiveness (Mathew 2:1-12). He referred to Himself as being the ruler of a kingdom and the ultimate judge of every human (Mathew 7:21-23; 19:28). Jesus claimed that our relationship with God hinges on our reaction to His ministry. Consider why a wise teacher using insightful parables and propagating moral values would be considered a threat to anyone. Given that the Jews held a strong monotheistic belief, do you think that His outrageous claims would have gone unnoticed? Several times Jesus foretold His resurrection to His disciples. The whole purpose of God being manifested on earth was so He could gives up His life as “a ransom for many”(Mathew 20:28). Jesus rebuked Peter for trying to dissuade Him. He taught that it was necessary for Him to die so that man and God could be once again united. His claim is unique in that it either provides substantial reason to believe in Him, giving all Christians the great impetus to evangelize the world, or completely undermines every previous claim Jesus made about Himself. What makes Christianity unique among all religions is that God expressed his desire to establish a relationship with us through His Son’s death as payment for our sins. God showed us unmerited favor through Jesus Christ. If Jesus has no divine authority, then Christianity is nothing more than another man-made attempt to get into heaven, for there would be no perfect, sinless sacrifice to atone for an imperfect, sinful generation. Oriental scholars admit that Buddha, Confucius, Lao-Tzu never made any claims that parallel Jesus’ claims. A Christian doesn’t claim that all non-Christian religions are completely false. Scottish writer, George MacDonald, said, “Truth is truth, whether from the lips of Jesus or Balaam.” Rather, we believe that God’s revelation in Jesus Christ is true and anything that contradicts the Christian revelation is wrong on that particular point. Jesus made claims no other religious founder did. Jesus forgives sins, hears our prayers, helps us at all times, among other things. God has listed in the Bible over 60,000 promises made available to us through Jesus Christ. It is not what we must do to get into heaven, but what Jesus Christ has already done for us, if we just accept what He did. The biblical prophet Isaiah recorded, “Seek the Lord while He may be found. Call upon Him while He is near.” Jesus said, “For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” Will you not seek Him today? He loves you and wants you to know greater truth. All you have to do is say, “Jesus, forgive me of my sins and lead me into eternal life with you, Amen.” |
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God's Love Did you know that there is absolutely nothing in this world that you can do to make God stop loving you? You can argue all you want but it still does not change the fact that He does. It amazes me the lengths that people will go to deny such love. People try to offend Christians to avoid hearing about God. Organizations try to ban the mere mention of God from textbooks. I had a friend to whom I had been witnessing for several days and he brought up every philosophical and intellectual argument of which you could possibly think. When it is was all said and done, though, he finally got to know this Jesus about whom I was talking. He now says that he cannot understand how anybody could reject such love. In fact, it burdens him that his own family members reject any notion of the Christian message. What brought about this change in my friend? It is the loving power of Jesus Christ. This Christian message is the gospel. It is simply translated, “good news”. It is easy to reject this gospel when all your friends are around you deterring you from listening to that “crazy” preacher. It is easy to reject this gospel when you are having fun drinking yourself into a stupor. But, what happens when your friends desert you and the fun dies down? What happens when you do not have the support of even your family? I know what it is like to go through moments of depression (psychological) in which you cry out to be loved by somebody. I know what it is like to think that things are so bad that nobody could possibly understand what you are going through. I know what it is like to have low self-esteem and be highly insecure. I have been there many times in my past. The good news is that there is somebody who wants to wrap his arms tightly around you and comfort you until your tears dissipate. The good news is that there is somebody who will never desert you for his love is UNconditional. His name is Jesus. There are many that will tell you that Jesus is not real and that Christians promote false ideals. But, those same people will not be around to satisfy your aching heart. Metal detectors may be one step closer in preventing another school shooting incident but they cannot detect a broken heart. But, Jesus can. He fills my heart with joy even though I may feel miserable and He can for you too. Why did Jesus come to this earth? It is because God so loved it (John 3:16). Everything about God speaks of love. That is His very character and nature. The entire reason God made mankind was to have fellowship with him. God wanted children so that He could show off His love for them. The Bible states in Genesis that when God created this or that He inspected it and said it was good. God the Father wanted us His children to enjoy His goodness, simply because God is love. When sin entered the world and messed everything up God gave His son Jesus to us to help us. He loved us so much that even though we were at fault God was ready to fix everything. In other words, God’s hatred for sin did not supersede His desire to fellowship with us. Jesus Christ was God in the flesh so that we might identify with Him and everything wrong would be made right, praise God! Jesus Christ is God’s gift of eternal salvation to you. You are free to reject Jesus. But, please do not reject the gift without even knowing anything about the gift or at least the sentiment involved in His gift. Furthermore, God’s desire for fellowship is so deep that He provided the Bible as our handy guide to fellowship with Him. He provided prayer as our means to communicate with Him. He provided worship as our way of celebrating with Him. Jesus can be your “friend who sticks closer than a brother.” (Proverbs 18:24) Blood is thicker than water, but there are things that you can confide in a friend that you would not tell a family member. Jesus can be your guardian who will “establish you and guard you from the evil one [satan].”(2 Thessalonians 3:3) Jesus can be your peace for “we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”(Romans 5:1) and there is “no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”(Romans 8:1) Jesus is a “companion of all who fear You [God], and of those who keep Your precepts.”(Psalm 119:63). Jesus can be your contentment for God “shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”(Philippians 4:19) Jesus is God’s ultimate show of love for us. Jesus is the very demonstration for us of God’s character for “he who loves Me [Jesus] will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”(John 14:21) There is a difference between knowing about Jesus and actually knowing Jesus. Knowing Jesus places you into a deep relationship full of God’s love. This relationship draws you deeper into the transforming loving power of Jesus Christ. This transformation takes place in your heart. It cannot be explained but must be experienced. The more you grow in your relationship with God the more He starts revealing to you His character. The more revelation you receive the greater the transformation your heart undergoes, leading to an even deeper relationship with God. Allow God’s love to start working in you today. Just say, “Jesus, forgive me of my sins and come into heart and change me from within, Amen.” |
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Inheritance Can man live without God? Is life here on earth worth being a Christian? Is my only hope in Jesus that someday when I die I will go to heaven or are there possibly any other reasons? If the only incentive one has for trusting in Jesus Christ is to go to heaven, then being a Christian is boring. Do not get me wrong, I would rather trust in Jesus and be ensured Heaven then not and go to hell, but if that is all there is to the story, then what is my life worth? After all, who, besides other Christians, respects a Christian? I want to know what will Jesus do for me, NOW! I know this statement might sound very selfish, but if Jesus expects me to make a lifelong commitment to Him, then He better make it worthwhile, don’t you agree? It is for this reason, my friends, that I am writing this article. I am here to tell you that being a Christian is much more than just, “making it into Heaven”. Let me explain. The Bible teaches us that all Christians have been adopted as Sons of God. As Sons of God, we are, “partakers of the inheritance”(Collosians 2:13). In addition, Christians are, “joint heirs with Christ”(Romans 8:17). Big deal, right? Wrong! The Bible continually teaches us that God is our King. I remember singing songs as a child about being a king’s kid. All this tells me that I have a legal right as a Christian to claim my inheritance in Christ Jesus. Well, what is this inheritance? I have a right to live in perfect peace. Jesus never taught that Christians would never have trouble in life, but He did promise that when there is trouble He would comfort and help us through it. I think it is fair to say that all of us face difficult times now and then. I can recount countless times in which I was on the edge of having a nervous breakdown. I would sometimes take a break and go watch a movie (I was a movie buff), or I would go exercise. However, these things only temporarily got my mind off of my problems. Many times I got angry because even that would not ease my mind. I cannot explain it (and I wish I could!), but as soon as I asked Jesus for help, I felt as if a 2-ton barbell was lifted off my shoulders and I could once again take a deep breath. I have learned the hard way that Jesus wants to ease your pain, you don’t have to beg Him! Christians also have the right to be healed from sickness and disease. Let us face it, no matter what we do, we will get sick. It is a fact of life. Furthermore, being sick can make your life miserable, whether it is suffering a headache or having cancer. God does not take any pleasure whatsoever in seeing people He loves suffer. The Bible teaches a lot about healing. Why? It is probably because sickness is such a prevalent aspect of our society, and God knows that as long as you are suffering with sickness (and most likely feeling sorry for yourself), you cannot and/or will not help anybody else. None of these verses end with a question mark. There is no, “maybe God will heal me if He’s not too busy.” Jesus came so that you, “may have life, and that [you] may have it more abundantly.” The Bible teaches that whomever was sick and came to Jesus, Jesus HEALED THEM ALL, not a selective few, but ALL! Unless you witnessed it yourself, you would probably not believe the many testimonies people give (on T.V., in church, recorded in books or magazines) pertaining to God’s healing power. You may not experience instantaneous healing, but he did promise healing, and God honors every promise He makes. God promised Christians that they would NEVER be alone. National surveys indicate that people suffer from loneliness more than anything else in this world. It contributes to everything from overeating, to suicide. It is no respecter of persons, affecting every social class, race, and gender. The Bible teaches that satan came to steal, kill, and destroy. However, Jesus came to help the broken-hearted. Joyce Meyers came from an abusive childhood. Jesus helped her conquer long battles with insecurity and loneliness. She is now one of the most listened-to, well-known, and joyful Christian teachers I know. Deion Sanders lived a life full of power, money, and sex. He bought a $275,000 Lamborghini sports car, lived out many of his dreams, partied with women many men only dream about, but realized throughout that he was desperately lonely, which culminated in his attempted suicide. But, now Deion Sanders travels everywhere testifying of the day, “I put my trust in Jesus and asked Him into my life”, and that Jesus alone takes away the loneliness. Jesus said, “For whoever does the will of God is My brother and My sister and mother.”(Mark 3:35) Jesus felt the pain of loneliness when he was being beaten beyond recognition and then hung naked on a cross for all to see. God cares so deeply for you and does not expect you to go through anything alone! God promises many things to those who love Jesus. You will never know how much God loves you until you yield your life over to Him. Being a Christian is much more than just going to Heaven, it is about living in complete contentment while here on earth. Life is not easy, but God’s promises make the Christian life more than worthwhile. Why don’t you give Him the chance to love you? Just say, “Dear Jesus, forgive me of my sins and wash me clean. Come into my life and show me your love. Amen.” |
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Judgement All Christians are just too judgmental? How can we be so arrogant and intolerant? After all, the Bible teaches, “Do not judge, or you too will be judged.”(Mathew 7:1). I feel so frustrated whenever I hear this passage quoted. It is because it is THE most frequently misquoted and misused verses in the Bible. It is even more upsetting that many Christians turn into cowards when challenged with this verse as if self-condemned. What is judgement? Does it mean, “considering someone to be wrong”? Are homosexual activists right in accusing Christians of being intolerant because we “judge” them too harshly? People haphazardly throw around terms such as “intolerance” and “judgmentalism” without first defining what they mean. Thus, it can be said that the accuser is being just as “judgmental” and arrogant as the one who is being accused. By no means was Jesus saying that all judging is wrong! For one thing, Jesus was speaking out against self-righteousness and legalism, for which the Pharisees were prominent in those days. Self-righteousness is about strict adherence to self-imposed rules. Followers of legalism tend to think of themselves as morally superior over another because of that person’s moral failures. Jesus never condoned tearing someone else down so you could build yourself up. This kind of judging is all about seeking self-gratification rather than God’s admonition. Rather, Jesus promoted, above all else, humility and love. John 7:24 teaches us, “Do not judge according to the appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.” It is theological blindness to ignore everything else Jesus said concerning judgments. For example, what is righteous judgment? 2 Timothy 3:16-17 teaches, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness…” Furthermore, 1 Corinthians 2:15-16 teaches, “But he who is spiritual judges all things…we have the mind of Christ.” The bottom line is that the Bible is a Christian’s standard of truth. We are taught that God and His Word are one, you cannot separate the two. So, a Christian is to judge all things, including themselves, according to God’s Word. Before we call out the reproach in another man, we should FIRST see if that problem exists in us. Only after we confront that same problem within ourselves can we then effectively help correct the other person using the same standard by which we judged ourselves (the Bible). By doing this, we are showing our humility before others, which, in turn, shows our humility before God. A man once said that a Christian’s interactions with others should focus on our own sinfulness and other’s humanness. Jesus’ teaching on removing the speck in another’s eye still implies that a problem does exist and must be confronted. Does this make us arrogant? From which set of standards is arrogance born? A Christian, in living by the Word of God, has the mind of Christ. The mind of Christ is one born in love. Contrary to popular belief, true tolerance means, “putting up with error”, not “accepting all views”. Does one tolerate what one enjoys? No, he tolerates that which he disapproves or believes to be erroneous. Disagreements are the spice of life, and a wise person will learn the strength and weaknesses of another’s beliefs. Not everybody will agree with everybody else’s viewpoint. This does not mean, though, that one cannot act dignified. It should be noted that holding firm to one’s convictions does not automatically preclude rivalry. The apostle Paul wrote that we (Christians) are to, “lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence [or dignity]”(2 Timothy 2:2), “speaking the truth in love”(Ephesians 4:15). True tolerance gives people the right to disagree. Paul wrote that we must, “work out [our] own salvation”(Philippians 2:12). I can disagree with a Buddhist’s theology, but still respect him as a moral person. Contrary to popular belief, Christians do not hate homosexuals (at least, they shouldn’t!). Rather, we hold firm to our convictions as to what the Bible teaches concerning homosexuality. The same goes with abortion. Am I being arrogant if I persuade people to change beliefs by offering valid reasons? I am expressing my concern for their welfare. People dialogue under the notion of equality of people (a showing of respect), not views. In fact, dialoguing forces people to reevaluate and/or clarify their own views. It is actually the person who tries to stop a Christian from proclaiming, “Jesus is Lord”, who is being intolerant and arrogant. He is trying to persuade others to believe the Christian is crazy and should not be heeded. The bad new is as follows. All of us deserve eternal damnation in hell for our sins. Each of us will be judged according to God’s word. If that were the whole story, then we all would be doomed! The good news is that Jesus Christ died on a cross and thus, by the shedding of His sinless blood, bridged that eternal gap that separates us from God. Now, even though our sin still condemns us, for anybody who believes, Jesus steps in and proclaims, “For there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”(Romans 8:1) We can choose to accept His blood covering or reject it. If you accept it, not only will you enjoy the joys of heaven after you die, but the myriad of promises God has made available to us in THIS life through Jesus Christ. Reject Him, and your sins still condemn you to, as Jesus taught, a punishment far worse than you could ever imagine for eternity. The choice is a no-brainer! Choose life or choose death? What do you have to lose? Get Jesus, He is the real deal! Just pray, “Jesus, I ask you to forgive me and come into my life to be my leader, Amen.” Congratulations! |
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More Evidence Every Christian bases his/her faith on the Bible. There are about 3800 references in the Bible to being the Word of God. If it is the Word of God, then it must be infallible and without any error. If even the slightest error can be found (not a copyist’s or printer’s error), then it cannot be what it claims to be, the Word of God. Without its foundational basis of being the Word of God there is no basis for us to believe anything else written in the Bible. But (pay attention!), not one claim made against it has ever been substantiated, especially when examined through archaeological findings. Nelson Glueck, a specialist in ancient literature, wrote, “It can be stated categorically that no archaeological discovery has ever controverted a biblical reference.” For example, the early chapters of the Bible contain detailed accounts about powerful people in the days of Abraham called the Hittites. Many scholars thought they were a myth since the only record such a people even existed was the Old Testament. However, through archaeological findings, we now have hundreds of references spanning over 1200 years of Hittite civilization proving that everything the Bible said about the Hittites was true. The Bible records the history of the reign of King David. However, some scholars did not believe he was a historical figure. Then, in 1993, a stone fragment of an Aramaic inscription was found at Tel Dan in the Galilee in northern Israel referring to the “house of David” and that David was the “king of Israel”. In 1994, 2 more fragments of the original stone inscription were found confirming these references. Professor John Garstang wrote, concerning his excavations of Jericho, “As to the main fact, then, there remains no doubt: the walls fell outwards so completely that the attackers would be able to clamber up and over their ruins into the city.” All other archaeological digs around ancient cities in the Middle East reveal the walls of the cities always fall inwards as the result of invading armies pushing their way into the city. The Bible teaches that the Walls of Jericho fell down flat so that the people could march straight into the city and overtake it. By far, one of the most extraordinary discoveries were made by a Bedouin Arab (1947) in a cave in Qumran near the Dead Sea. This cave contained literally hundreds of biblical and secular manuscripts dating before A.D. 68. Multiple copies of other biblical manuscripts were found in a nearby cave that contained every book of the Old Testament except the Book of Esther (which had since been validated by other discoveries). Scholars found that, other than a few spelling variations, manuscript copies of the Hebrew text, which spawned other Bible translations, were exactly identical. One translated scroll contained information about a messiah who would suffer for the sins of his people, being “pierced” and “wounded” and “put to death”. Another scroll referred to the Messiah as the “son of God” and “son of the Most High”. Several quotes from New Testament passages have also been found on different scroll fragments. It cannot be denied that the Bible is unique. A professor once said, “If you are an intelligent person, you will read the one book that has drawn more attention than any other, if you are searching for the truth.” Over the centuries, men have tried to burn the Bible, ban it, and outlaw it, and rather than it dwindling out of existence, its circulation increases. No other book has been read by more people and translated in more languages than the Bible. Webster defined the word unique as being “different from all others”. The Bible covers a time-span of 1500 years written over 40 generations. It was written by over 40 authors from every occupation from fisherman to doctor to political leader. It was written in different places (e.g. Moses in the wilderness, Paul in prison), and in different cultures. The Old Testament was written in Hebrew, New Testament in Greek, and the Book of Daniel in Aramaic. Although different literary types are used to discuss a wide variety of topics, there is a common theme of God’s redemption of man. Would a writer who deliberately intended to defraud millions of people write a message about love, joy, and a lifestyle that would effect good in the very people he meant to deceive? In addition to more than 24000 partial and complete manuscript copies of the New Testament, we have about 86000 quotations from the early church fathers. Even if we did not have a single copy of the Bible, scholars could still reconstruct all but 11 verses of the New Testament simply from these quotations. If it is the Word of God, then everything in it is trustworthy. This means that Jesus Christ did willingly sacrifice His life to pay the penalty for our sins (even though we didn’t deserve it). The good news is that He miraculously rose from the dead so we could live in victory (if we so chose to). We choose by asking God to forgive us of our sins and asking Jesus to lead us. There is no magic to it, He will not disappoint! |
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Religion Is Christianity a religion? Is Easter a “religious” holiday? I think it is safe to say that just about everybody is sick and tired of hearing about religion, at least I am. Life is too hectic to worry about some religion that may or may not be true. I am here to tell you that Jesus would say the same thing if He were among us today. How do I know that? Jesus encountered the same thing in His day. Jesus walked among people who had already heard enough teachings about rules and regulations. In fact, the entire Jewish custom was built around laws. The whole place was filled with rabbis and profound teachers who used proper religious rhetoric to attract followers. Surely, Jesus would not be considered special among people accustomed to such things. Mathew 7:28 records, “And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching.” Jesus grabbed people’s attention not by talking about religion but a relationship that He was meant to restore. Jesus did not like religion, either. He was condemned by the religious community of that day. Religion tells people what they must do to get to heaven. People devote their entire lives to “being good” so that in the end their good might outweigh the bad and, thus, earn their way into Heaven. However, at what point does your good outweigh your bad? An all-knowing God would be able to tally points, but could you? Also, where do you think God draws the line between good and bad deeds, not to mention those “gray areas” that could go either way. You may strive to get to Heaven, but how do you really know when you have done enough? The Bible teaches that you can NEVER do enough, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”(Romans 3:23) Faith in Jesus saves you, “not of works, lest anyone should boast”(Ephesians 2:9). Muslims can only hope for Allah’s compassion and mercy, never knowing how Allah rewards or punishes. Thus, one must continually work at being “good” enough to deserve Allah’s love. The Bible teaches, “Nevertheless, the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Let everyone who manes the name of Christ depart from iniquity.”.” Reincarnation is based on the premise of a continual returning to earth to work out one’s “karma”. You can think of it as reliving over and over again until you finally get it right, fully redeeming yourself into Heaven. Buddhists strive at attaining a higher level of consciousness, whereupon they attain their inner god-like status. Until that happens, man is considered worthless. The Bible teaches, in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” The verse says, “whoever will”. Jesus does not exclude anybody from salvation. Romans 10:9 teaches, “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” Who needs to earn their way when Jesus already did EVERYTHING! God made it so simple that even a child can understand. But, we have replaced the simple awe and wonder we had as a child with pseudo-intellectualism in which, right or wrong, we like to argue over everything! We would rather revel in our own offenses than learn the truth. There is nothing wrong with debating, as long as you are open to new discoveries. The main point for my articles is not to convince you to be a Christian, but to help you to be objective enough to openly discuss with Christians their reasons to believe. We have MORE than enough reasons to believe in Jesus. A stubborn heart will not change by a “sign in the sky”. We, as Christians, are willing to boldly stand up for what we believe, even to death, gladly sharing with anybody who will listen. Are you not curious as to why we act this way? This is NOT religion that has captivated our hearts. If you reject Jesus simply because you disagree without first getting your facts straight as to why you are rejecting, it will NOT affect me in the least, but it leaves you in ignorance and condemned on judgement day. Truth is truth no matter what your opinion. If I stab somebody through the heart with a sharp knife, that person will die. I may deny it, but the truth is that he is dead and that I killed him. Whether or not I am guilty of malice of forethought is another matter to be debated in a court of law, but I will have to live with the fact that he is dead and I killed him. Likewise, Jesus taught, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Even though they are important, you can still go to Hell attending church every week, being water baptized, even taking communion. The truth is that God loves you so much and Hell is an awful place to live with the fact that you rejected Jesus and ALL His promises. God cares about where you are at right now in relation to Jesus Christ. It is NOT about what you have done before, nor if you knew Him 5 years ago, nor what you might do in the future, but right now! Come to Jesus and know your infinite worth! Knowing Jesus personally is the truth that, “shall make you free”(John 8:32). Just say, “God, I know I am a sinner. I ask to be forgiven and that Jesus come into my heart to lead me and change me. Amen.” |
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Truth Imagine one day you walk into a restaurant, sit down at a booth, and are handed a menu by a waitress listing today’s specials. At first, you cannot make up your mind because everything looks so appealing. But, you are too hungry to waste any more time debating the finer points of each entrée selection and beckon for the waitress. You tell her, “I would like to have a small taste of Buddhism, a slice of Mohammed’s theology, a few of Jesus’ parables on the side, and wash it all down with a drink from the universal god. Many students at this school, as do many around the nation, hold the view that all truth is relative, and if what you do helps you feel good then it must be O.K. If anything is labeled bad (or misguided), it is usually based not on what is objectively known, but on one’s preconceived notions about it. Four fundamental questions every thinking person must answer are that of origin, meaning, morality, and destiny. These answers must then be tested for coherence and seen to correspond with reality. This is how one constructs a world-view upon which all of life’s choices are made. Should all world-views be considered valid, then? Mortimer Adler said, “The logic of truth is the same for all exclusionary claims to truth. Any claims that are correctly judged to be true also imply that all judgements to the contrary are false. The proposition may be a theorem in mathematics, a scientific generalization, a conclusion of historic research, a philosophical principle, or an article of faith.” An absolute is an unchanging point of reference or certainty by which every other thing is measured. Relativism, on the other hand, denounces absolutes, making morality an individual decision. When there is no point of reference, truth becomes elusive. If truth were not exclusive, then nothing would be false. If nothing is false, then what is the definition of truth? In addition, believing in the equality of all ideas will eventually lead to the loss of good ones. For the Christian, the starting point is God. He is our absolute. The Bible repeatedly claims to be the Word of God. The Bible teaches us about Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father except through me.” He was claiming exclusivity. He was implying that nothing He says can be false. Even if you do not agree with what He says, by the very definition of truth He was making a meaningful statement. Jesus then made another astonishing statement, saying, “Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”(John 18:37). This statement made by Jesus Himself (not Christians) implies that to reject Jesus would be to choose a lie. Before testing His claims, one must first be intent in the pursuit of truth and be willing to submit to it. Many skeptics love to use the Law of Noncontradiction and the Law of Rational Inference to prove their case against God /Jesus. However, truth must exist for either law to be applied. The Law of Noncontradiction does not test for truth but for falsehood. A statement can be noncontradictory but still false. It is intellectual hypocrisy for you to pose a question to a Christian without first answering the question yourself. A Christian’s “world-view” is centered on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Many assume the resurrection was just a myth. If the resurrection truly did not occur, then we are, as Paul, an apostle of Jesus, wrote, to be “pitied more than all” for that would mean we live by false hope. However, nobody ever takes the time to objectively examine any evidence available to see whether it was an historical event. Scholar Giza Vermes said, “It should not be beyond the capabilities of an educated man to sit down and with a mind empty of prejudice read the account of Mark, Mathew, and Luke as though for the first time.” There seems to be a concerted effort to instantly mock and abuse any Christian for simply taking a stand for his/her convictions, more so than any other religion. If a Christian conviction is made known, it is immediately silenced for being “too judgmental” or “offensive”. Traditional Christian values that were once cherished in America (look it up and see for yourself!) are now done away with in favor of a more pluralistic society. But, one of the greatest strengths of Christianity is that it allows attacks upon its truths. There are other religions that would respond to such suppression with unbridled violence. But, it is our hope in Jesus that gives us hope in other people and the great impetus to tell everybody we can about Jesus. One does not, and should not, arrive at truth by a process of elimination. It would be nearly impossible to test every other number before proving that 2+2=4. The Bible makes many exclusive statements, which, if legitimate, prove other sacred books and gods to be false. Remember that truth can only exist if there is an unchanging absolute, which is God. Truth by definition demands exclusivity. That truth was manifested in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”(John 8:31, 32). His peace sets you free from the enslavement of alienation so many people seem to increasingly experience in this world. Truth is valuable for it leads us to the source of truth, God Himself. Just say, “God, I ask that you forgive me of my sins and that Jesus Christ be my leader, Amen.” |
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Victory There’s no need to fear, God Almighty is here! Do you want victory over sickness, depression, poverty, fear? Such burdens prevent us from enjoying the life God gave us. We were not meant to perish by these things, but to be set free from them through Jesus Christ, Hallelujah! I see many people, Christians included, walking around defeated. Could you fathom why an Almighty God chose to leave the splendors of heaven, be born a man in a pitiful surrounding, just to grow up and die by crucifixion? Please, realize that Jesus Christ shed his blood not just to redeem your soul into Heaven, but to free you from any curse you might face in this life. Anything that oppresses you is a curse to you. Anything that plagues your mind to the point of weakness is a curse to you. Salvation through Jesus brings healing, deliverance, prosperity, and wholeness. God’s Holy Spirit gives our inheritance of salvation to us. It is not a hard concept to grasp. God loves you! God is eager to offer you the inheritance of salvation through Jesus Christ. Every Christian has the supernatural power of God inside of them. We know that God enables us to succeed at anything He calls us to do. Our faith ensures us victory over anything that prevents us from doing what God calls us to do. Believers are given a new spirit in Jesus Christ. The change inside changes us on the outside. We are ensured success by the power of the Holy Spirit. God wants us to have everything He has to offer us. Not only are we, “more than conquerors through Him who loves us”(Romans 8: 37), but we can be endued with power by being baptized in the Holy Spirit (Acts 2). With this baptism comes the evidence of speaking with tongues. Praying in tongues strengthens our inner man using His words. Our natural flesh is weak, troubled by many things coming against it, and limited in understanding. The chaos of life often mentally paralyzes us in fear and unwelcome burdens. But, our spirit is in contact with God (Romans 8:26-27), and so, praying in tongues releases us from the natural into the spiritual so we can then pray the perfect will of God for our lives (1 Corinthians 14:2). God knows exactly what you need when you need it. The spirit-man, at that moment, OVERPOWERS the heaviness of the mind to bring you the needed victory, verbalizing what your mind cannot put into understandable words. 2 Corinthians 3:17 teaches, “Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” Drawing nearer to God places you in a position to obtain victory. Oppressions frequently (NOT always!) originate in the supernatural. The Bible makes it clear that there is a very real supernatural realm that we are to be aware. Only a supernatural answer can remedy a supernatural problem. Thus, people who deny the supernatural may never find the answers for which they are looking. It is EASY to believe that an all-knowing Creator would know everything about His creation, including what bothers His beloved people. As long as we are weakened by circumstances, we are not yet completely “whole”, mentally and/or spiritually lacking in ourselves. However, we can lean on our inheritance of salvation fully guaranteeing us wholeness and deliverance, saying, “But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”(1 Corinthians 15:57) Jesus said, “And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.”(Mathew 11:6) Jesus did not perform miracles in a city because they were offended at Him and would not believe. The Pharisees many times got offended at Jesus and, thus, never saw Him as the Messiah. Jesus never ran after those whom He offended. He directed His attention to those who wanted to learn. As long as you are busy being offended, you will never understand the true promises of God. Jesus taught that one must first be willing to hear, then he can understand what is being said. After he understands, it takes root in his spirit. After it takes root, it produces fruit. But, people are too busy being offended at what they do not understand, shielding themselves even further from understanding. Without understanding, there cannot be root. Without root, there cannot be any fruit. Jesus Christ’s resurrection ensures us victory, praise God! Victory in Jesus is a constant supply. Faith is the key to this victory! It affects every area of our lives. But, we must train it. Romans 10:17 teaches, “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” Jesus is not a religion but a relationship that requires effort to sustain. However, this relationship comes with guaranteed benefits if you are willing to take the first step. Once you receive Jesus, you enter into a blood covenant that guarantees you all the promised blessings of the covenant. God treats you like royalty because of who Jesus is and what He did for you. Jesus NEVER said that life would be easy, but that we would still have victory despite of trouble. What do you have to lose? I am either right, and you receive all the luxurious provisions of a covenant with God on earth and in Heaven, or you find out I am wrong and go on living the way you used to before you believed. I know I am right, but it is your choice! God is waiting for you to pray the following: “Dear God, forgive me of my sins and wash me clean through the blood of Jesus. I ask for Jesus to come into my life, right now, and lead me. Amen.” |
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Why Why? I believe this is the single most important question that anybody will ever ask. The answer separates the Christian from the atheist, the intellectual from the ignorant, and the knowledgeable from the wise. It defines who we are and, consequently, what we do. It is very unfortunate that many people think they are immune to this question. Many evolutionists cannot convincingly answer this question for themselves, neither can a Buddhist, nor any cult member, not even many Christians. There are people who seek images of the virgin Mary, believe in U.F.O’s, even see Elvis. We seemed to have lost the natural curiosity and wonder that we had as a child, substituting it with pseudo-intellectualism. It is easy for anybody to “believe” in something, but asking the question, “why”, tests the very foundations on which we stand. As a child, we asked, our parents answered us. We had a sure foundation that we could trust them. Many people use the phrase, “blind leap of faith”, when referring to Christians. There is even the New Age philosophy that if you believe hard enough you can make it happen. About a month ago, I wrote about the trustworthiness of the Bible. This, to me, is the sure foundation upon which every Christian stands. The point of that article was to show that everything that we as Christians do or say can be traced back to the Bible. I then wanted to show why I believe the Bible is trustworthy. Why waste my time doing this? You see, many debates I observe between non-Christians and Christians are pointless. However, debating is useful if one can learn something from it (unknown facts, for example). People usually start attacking a Biblical doctrine or ask some philosophical type question on a certain issue. The Bible guides Christians in everything they believe. It is our ultimate reference for life itself. The problem is that I believe the Bible is trustworthy, but the other person doesn’t. As long as you believe the Bible is not trustworthy, you will not consider anything I say to be valid. You will probably snicker at anything that sounds the least bit religious. If you believe the Bible is biased, then my viewpoints will seem biased as well. If you believe the writers of the Bible were delusional, then I will sound foolish too. So, I believe the real issue is to establish whether the Bible can be trusted. For example, I believe the central issue (not the only) between creationism and evolution is whether the Bible is trustworthy. Evolution says we came about one way, the Bible teaches that God created all things. The Bible makes 3600 references to being the irrefutable Word of God. If there is even one error, it cannot be what it claims to be. In Mathew 6:33, Jesus tells us to seek the kingdom of God. The Amplified Bible translates these words as meaning, “God’s way of doing and being right.” My point is that unless you trust the Bible, you will never understand why a Christian is so opposed to homosexuality, or abortion. Unless you trust the Bible, it would seem crazy to give 10 percent of your finances to the church, even in a financial crisis. Unless you trust what the Bible teaches, you would probably call me crazy for having voluntarily spent two weeks of my summer at a camp where I would attend church services every morning and evening. To be honest, if I were not a Christian, I probably would support gay rights. I can understand how a non-Christian would see us as too judgmental. After all, who gave us the power to judge what is acceptable and what is not? To be honest, if I were not a Christian, I would certainly find it more logical that women should have the right to choose to have an abortion. In fact, I find many arguments non-Christians make very convincing. It does seem rational to me to believe that aliens might exist in the universe. But, I am a Christian, and when the Bible tells me this is wrong, or that is wrong, I believe it, no questions asked. I go to church every Sunday because it is a biblical mandate, even when I do not feel like attending church. I do not blindly believe the Bible is trustworthy, but I believe in the facts that have consistently proven that it is right. Once I made this determination, I had a sure foundation on which I could base other things. I admit that there are many things in the Bible that I still do not understand, and some I will never understand. I also admit that there are times I still doubt. But, if the Bible is truly God-inspired, then by disregarding the Bible am I not, in essence, placing myself above almighty God, claiming for myself to have greater knowledge? There were many times I rebelled against authority just to learn a hard lesson later that I was wrong. Please believe me when I say that I respect any position you have other than mine. But, please do not judge Jesus Christ based on what you see in Christians, for we are often poor representations of the real thing. I, just like you, resent those over-bearing, cram-down-your throat every chance they get, finger-pointing pseudo-Christians. The Bible tells me that there is only one way to God, and that is through Jesus Christ. Jesus told Nicodemus that unless a man is born again (accept Jesus as leader of your life), he cannot see the kingdom of God. You can say the Bible is factual, but it takes Jesus to actually help you understand God’s way of doing things. Jesus loves you so much and wants you to know Him. Say, “Jesus, I ask you to come into my heart and forgive me of every sin. Lead me now. Amen.” Congratulations! |
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My Opinions
**These are my own personal opinions. I do not assume to speak for
the majority or think that my opinions are the only ones that exist. I
support and welcome all dissenting opinions from my own and do not think
in any way that those who disagree with me are somehow evil and do not
deserve to be heard. I believe that racism it so vile and disgusting, it is beyond wrong. However, I do believe that racial profiling is a necessary evil, depending on who is doing it and for what reason. Like Ann Coulter says, when 100 percent of successful terrorist attacks on commercial airlines in the past 20 years have been committed by Muslims, it is no longer called racial profiling but a "description of the suspect." I believe the true martyrs are not the Muslim suicide bombers but rather the thousands of Christians who die every day at the hands of Muslims, Communist regimes and other Christian haters simply because they refuse to deny their love for Jesus Christ.
A Christian reads and quotes from the Bible, attends church services and
prays. But reading or quoting from the Bible, attending church services
or praying does not make one a Christian. Also, just because sadly
there are hypocrites within the church body does not invalidate the truth
of Christianity nor does it mean that every Christian is a hypocrite.
Being Christian does not mean being superhuman or that you are no
longer flawed and prone to making mistakes, even serious ones. However,
there is a distinction between making mistakes and struggling while still
depending on God and repeatedly excusing bad, unbiblical behavior in will-full
defiance against God. After all, the only exposure to Jesus
Christ some may ever have is their encounter with a Christian.
I enjoy watching movies, but I do not respect many celebrities in Hollywood and have been increasingly annoyed at their constant whining and Bush-bashing hate-speech. Does anybody really believe they will all move to Canada? If any Republican said about a Democrat what many of them say about Bush, that person would be under such attack. Hollywood prides itself on being diverse and individualized,
but the more celebrities speak on political issues, the more they demonstrate
how like-minded they all are as if they all take the same course on indoctrination. In my opinion, the title of "Reverend" needs to be taken away from Jesse Jackson. He often misuses scripture to his own advantage and takes un-biblical stances on many issues. I cannot judge the man's heart, but his actions sure seem to be far away from producing any real fruit at all. I think that from the very start of the election, many Democrats held the opinion that if Kerry won, the election was legitimate but if Bush won it would not be legitimate. I support George W. Bush not because I blindly go where Republicans
go, but because I believe in absolute truth, moral and biblical living,
and admire the unwavering, righteous stance Bush takes on many domestic
and foreign issues. I have no doubt that Bush's Christian faith plays a big part in the stances that he takes on many issues, but I also believe that even if he were not a Christian he would still take many of the same stances that he does now. For example, you do not have to be a Christian to see that partial-birth abortion is a heinous and unnecesary procedure. You do not have to be a Christian to see that legalizing same-sex marriages not only infringes on the sanctity of marriage but has far-reaching negative implications. You do not have to be Christian to know that federal activist judge rulings have run amock and needs to stop. I think that George W. Bush did the right thing in deciding to go to war in Iraq to remove Sadam Hussein from power and stop him from someday attacking us and other places with biological and chemical weapons and other weapons of mass destruction. I think that had we not gone into Iraq, Democrats would be right now opposing Bush on the stance that we should have done so and John Kerry would have run on the platform that Bush was wrong in not going to war. The Republicans did not make the 2004 election about John Kerry's vietnam past, John Kerry did. John Kerry is the one who used his war record as his impetus to get into the White House. Certainly, it is fair game then to call that very record into question that Kerry so proudly flaunted. Mr. Kerry not only disagrees with the war in Iraq, he seems to disagree with any war being justified. Whenever anything bad came out about Kerry, Kerry immediately called on Bush to denounce it (which Bush did), but whenever anything bad came out about Bush, Kerry never denounced it and even milked it for all it was worth. George W. Bush got blamed for not acting quickly enough to stop 9/11 from happening and blamed for acting too quickly in the war in Iraq. I think that whatever Bush does or does not do, Democrats will always take the other side no matter what the circumstance. I think that many Democrats' hatred of Bush clouds their judgement so much that it prevents them from thinking clearly on what is right for this country and from even considering the possibility that Bush may ever be right in anything. I believe that George W. Bush really struggled with his decision to go to war in Iraq, praying earnestly for God's strength and guidance, and when all was said and done, believed it to be the right thing to do for everybody. I am sick and tired of hearing Democrats complain about George W. Bush's re-election. I wonder if Hillary Clinton would concede to the possibility that voter fraud could have contributed to her husband's election and re-election. Rev. Jesse Jackson talks so much about disenfranchised voters in Ohio, but what about what occured in the Washington state governor's race or the hundreds of voter complaints in Pennsylvania or other blue states. Why just Ohio? I think it is because Kerry lost in Ohio. I think that Democrats fear that if there ever was an investigation done over voter fraud in Pennsylvania or in other blue states, Bush just might end up winning those states too.In my mind, Democrats are sore losers that just don't get it. They don't understand the importance moral values had in this election. They don't seem to get that the majority of Americans do not want same-sex marriages legalized, do not want activist federal judges making rulings based on their own liberal opinions rather than constitutional law and that there is such a thing as good versus evil on which to take a stand. Not only did Bush win the electoral vote, but the popular
vote as well. Democrats complained so much after the 2000 election to
get rid of the electoral college because Bush did not win the popular
vote, but Bush won both and now they still complain about the legitimacy
of the election.
The supreme court got involved in the 2000 election to stop the Democrats from doing what they got away with doing in the Washington state governor's race. In 2000, Democrats tried scavenging around for any reason they could find to count a vote for Al Gore, even looking in the waste paper basket, and they still could not find enough votes for Al Gore to win over George W. Bush. I have four more words for people who complain that Bush failed in diplomacy in not getting countries like France and Russia on our side in the war in Iraq...UN Oil For Food. Do you really think that any amount of diplomacy would have helped with them knowing what we know now about this scandal that seems to grow bigger by the minute?I think what happened during the Clinton administration was probably the ultimate in spin control in convincing many Americans that the Kenn Starr investigation and Clinton's impeachment trials were all about sex, which it was NOT. Sure, I thought the whole thing involving Monica Lewinsky and the President of the United States was shameful, but Clinton's repeated lying to federal prosecuters and shameful cover-ups was even more reprehensible and cause for more concern. |
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Why I voted against Obama
My reasons for opposing Barrack Obama |
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Iraq Did you know that in 1998, a policy mandate was given to then President Bill Clinton by Congress to liberate Iraq and then signed into law by Clinton? The Iraq Liberation Act read : "It should be the policy of the United States to support efforts to remove the regime headed by Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq and to promote the emergence of a democratic government to replace that regime." Among 12 hours of translated audio tapes from Saddam's secret presidential palace, Saddam's son-in-law, Hussein Kamil al-Majid, talks about how successful they were in hiding Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programs from UN inspectors. In the tapes, Saddam also makes reference to using chemical weapons against the U.S., but making it seem like Iraq was not involved. The Senate Intelligence Committee released a memo that was prepared by the CIA and other U.S. intelligence agencies such as the Defense Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency that says lead 9/11 hijacker Mohamed Atta met as many as four times in Prague with Iraqi intelligence agent Ahmed al Ani prior to the 9/11 attacks. Not only have five high-ranking members of the Czech government confirmed the meetings between Atta and al Ani, but Czech intelligence continues to insist that the meetings took place. The 9/11 Commission dismissed this piece of evidence without even bothering to interview a single witness. Ahmed Shakir, an Iraqi Intelligence operative based in Malaysia, facilitated one of the Sept 11 hijackers into Malaysia for a meeting in Kuala Lumpur on January 2000. This meeting is widely acknowledged to be where the 9/11 attacks were first planned. When Mr. Shakir was detained in Qatar on September 17, 2001, he possessed contact information for several terrorists such as the those involved in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, the 1998 embassy bombings, the 2000 attack on the USS Cole, and the September 11 hijackings. He was also found with information on "Operation Bojinka,", an al-Qaeda plot to blow up 12 jets over the Pacific. The Mukhabarat, Saddam’s intelligence Agency, tried to recruit jihadists to bomb Radio Free Europe in Prague in the late 1990’s. Sudanese intelligence agents had observed meetings between Iraqi intelligence agents and bin Laden starting in 1994. Sabah Khodada, a captain in the Iraqi army who defected from Iraq testified that he worked for eight years at a terrorist training camp located southeast of Baghdad near the town of Salman Pak. This camp trained people on assassination and kidnapping, including the use of a Boeing jetliner to train hijackers on how to seize a plane. When Khodada saw the twin towers fall, it was obvious to him that it was done by graduates of Salman Pak. Farouk Hijazi, Hussein's former ambassador to Turkey, admitted that he had met with senior al Qaeda leaders at Saddam's request in 1994. In 1998, Ayman al-Zawahiri, bin Laden's No. 2 man, met with Saddam's vice president, Taha Yasin Ramadan. That same year, a large payment of money was given to al-Zawahiri. Seized Iraqi Intelligence Service records indicate that as early as 1992, bin Laden was perceived as an important asset by Saddam’s intelligence agency. To repay Bin Laden for establishing the 'World Islamic Front for Jihad Against the Jews and the Crusaders.', Saddam promised bin Laden and his key lieutenants secure refuge in Iraq if they were ever forced to flee Afghanistan. When bin Laden sent a delegation of his top Al Qaeda terrorists to Baghdad on April 25, 1998, Saddam's son, Uday, agreed to receive several hundred Al Qaeda recruits for terrorist training in techniques unavailable in Afghanistan. Captured members of Ansar al-Islam, a terrorist group operating in northern Iraq, allege that:
German prosecutors believe that Abu Musab al Zarqawi, the Iraq-based WMD specialist and former director of an al Qaeda training base in Afghanistan, was behind the foiled Millennium bomb plot to blow up LAX airport in December 1999. Mr. Zarqawi fled from Afghanistan into Baghdad after being injured as the Taliban fell and about fifteen months before the U.S. invasion into Iraq. One of the al-Qaeda plotters of a foiled WMD plot in Jordan confessed that Mr. Zarqawi trained him in Iraq two years before the U.S. attack. The terrorists entered by the Syrian border. Former Oklahoma City television reporter Jayna Davis uncovered the following in a multi-year investigation into the 1995 Oklahoma city bombing plot.
A Manhattan U.S. District Judge Harold Baer ruled that Iraq played a material role in the 9/11 attacks when families of two World Trade Center victims filed a suit against Baghdad. The Clinton administraton's indictment of Bin Laden stated, "Al Qaida reached an understanding with the government of Iraq that al Qaida would not work against that government and that on particular projects, specifically including weapons development, al Qaida would work cooperatively with the Government of Iraq." High-ranking Clinton administration officials continue to claim that the 1998 retaliatory strikes against a Sudanese pharmaceutical factory was justified because the factory was a chemical weapons hub tied to Iraq and bin Laden. The same year that our American embassies were bombed in 1998, Iraqi Intelligence Service operatives were dispatched to meet with bin Laden. One of the men involved in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center was Iraqi and returned to Iraq for safe haven after the attack. Iraqi Intelligence files show that this bomber received financing from the Iraqi government. Ramzi Yousef masterminded the 1993 attack and entered the U.S. with an Iraqi passport. He had a laptop computer that contained plans to crash U.S. airliners into the World Trade Center and Pentagon. Clinton’s Iraq advisor contends that Yousef was working for the Iraqi Intelligence Services. When the FBI captured Yousef in 1995, they flew him over the World Trade Center and reminded him that he failed to destroy the Twin Towers. His reported response was "Not yet." According to General Sada, a former senior military advisor to Saddam Hussein, Saddam also planned to launch his own WMD attack against Israel but was finally persuaded not to do it. Iraqi intelligence documents that were confiscated by U.S. forces show that Saddam's government possessed five kilograms of mustard gas and three vials of anthrax. The documents also contained a memo from Saddam instructing that Americans who are on Arabian land, especially Somalia, should be hunted down. Nine months after the dating of that memo, American soldiers were ambushed in Mogadishu, Somalia. According to a cache of documents found by U.S. forces in Tikrit, Iraq, Saddam harbored and gave a monthly salary to al-Qaeda member Abdul Rahman Yasin, the 1993 World Trade Center bomber. Iraqi Intelligence documents discovered in Baghdad show that an Al-Qaeda envoy was secretly invited to Baghdad in March 1998. The purpose of the meeting was to establish a relationship based on Al-Qaeda and Iraq's mutual hatred of America and Saudi Arabia. Richard Clarke, Clinton’s counter-terrorism official, asserts that based on intelligence reports in 1999, Saddam offered bin Laden asylum after the American embassy bombings. Iraq has increasingly been supportive of extremist Palestinians and funded suicide bombers in Israel. Saddam gave shelter to the terrorist Abu Nidal, one of the most ruthless Palestinian guerrilla commanders responsible for over 90 terrorist attacks. Saddam gave shelter to Khala Khadr al-Salahat, the man who allegedly designed the bomb that brought down Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in December 1988. Saddam gave shelter to Abu Abbas, the Palestinian terrorist who masterminded the 1985 hijacking of the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro. Cell-phone records indicate that just before and after the Philippine city of Zamboanga was attacked on October 2, 2002, Hisham al Hussein, the second secretary at Iraq's Manila embassy, spoke with two leaders of the Islamic militant group Abu Sayyaf. Saddam Hussein paid $25,000 to each family of a Palestinian suicide bomber. According to the State Department, the Abu Nidal Organization, the Arab Liberation Front, Hamas, the Kurdistan Worker's party, the Mujahedin-e-Khalq Organization and the Palestinian Liberation Front all had offices based in Iraq. One of Saddam's top nuclear scientists had hidden away centrifuge parts and blueprints. According to Clinton Defense Secretary William Cohen, Saddam's top nerve gas experts met with several members of al Qaeda in Baghdad in 1998. Over 500 mustard gas shells that were declared by Saddam to U.N. inspectors during the early 1990s disappeared later in 2002 when Hans Blix asked to see them. One of these mustard gas shells was found in Iraq in early May 2004. In addition, a 155mm nerve gas shell that was rigged to kill U.S. troops but failed was discovered outside of Baghdad airport. The day before U.N. inspections resumed in Iraq, Colin Powell played an audiotape before the U.N. of a monitored conversation between an Iraqi colonel and an Iraqi general talking about a “modified vehicle” and ending with the colonel saying “We evacuated everything. We don't have anything left.” Although that conversation alone could be left to interpretation, it should also be considered that U.S. satellites detected large convoys of unspecified equipment flowing into Syria just prior to the war. Furthermore, General Sada, a former senior military advisor to Saddam Hussein, warned that the chemical weapons that Abu Musab al Zarqawi tried to use in a foiled 2004 plot to attack Amman, Jordan were the same weapons that Saddam transported to Syria before the U.S. invasion. According to an Iraqi intelligence document, Osama bin Laden met in Sudan with senior Iraqi intelligence agents on Feb. 19, 1995. About a month or so later, Saddam Hussein approved bin Laden's request for help in conducting "joint operations against foreign forces" in Saudi Arabia. On November 13, 1995, terrorists trained by Osama bin Laden attacked Saudi National Guard Headquarters in Riyadh. Eight months later, The Khobar Towers military barracks was attacked in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. Al Tuwaitha, Saddam's nuclear weapons development facility, was largely destroyed in U.S. bombing raids during the first Gulf War. However, satellite photos from 2002 showed that facility was being reconstructed. In the 1991, we stopped fighting the Persian Gulf War on the condition that Saddam would not only give up his WMD program, but sufficiently prove that he had done this. But, since that time, Saddam continued to repeatedly lie, violate U.N. resolutions and conceal things from U.N. weapons inspectors. He even kicked out U.N. weapons inspectors from Iraq in 1998. According to an Interim Progress report delivered to Congress in October 2003, investigators in Iraq found dozens of WMD-related program activities, hidden equipment and strains of biological organisms that could be used to make biological weapons hidden in a scientist’s home. According to the former head of the Iraqi survey Group, Dave Kay, Saddam had a missile program that had the potential to include WMD’s in their warheads and that Iraqi documents showed that Saddam Hussein attempted to purchase prohibited long-range missiles from North Korea. He stated that there was no doubt in his mind that Saddam would develop and use WMD’s if he were left in power. Based on millions of pages of internal government documents recovered from Saddam's regime, David Kay, former head of the Iraqi Survey Group, said that he was convinced that Saddam had WMD’s. He also said that, based on interrogations of former Iraqi officials, he believes that Iraq’s WMD’s were moved to Syria shortly before the American invasion. In Amman, Jordan in 1995, Hussein Kamal, Saddam’s son-in-law and former head of Iraq's Military Industry who defected to Jordan, was debriefed by UNSCOM. He revealed information about Iraq’s special weapons program such as research that was done on the Ebola virus and hemorrhagic fevers, with the main focus being done on anthrax. In 1996, Saddam’s son, Uday Hussein, managed to lure Kamal back to the Iraq from Jordan before leading an assault on Kamal's home. Kamal, his brother and his infant son were all killed. Even though, a Pentagon report on Iraq and Terrorism came out claiming that there was no direct link Between Iraq and Al Qaeda, it also stated that the 2 organizations would work together in pursuit of shared goals while still maintaining their own autonomy. Page 42 of the report reads, "Saddam supported groups that either associated directly with al Qaeda (such as the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, led at one time by bin Laden's deputy, Ayman al Zawahiri) or that generally shared al Qaeda's stated goals and objectives." Captured Iraqi documents prove that Saddam was willing to use operatives affiliated with al Qaeda as long as Saddam could have these terrorist-operatives monitored closely. Saddam's use of terrorist tactics and his support for terrorist groups remained strong up until the collapse of the regime. Years after the Iraq war began, democrats were saying that there was more peace in Iraq under Saddam Huessein than now. Really? Under Saddam’s rule, victims had their hands and feet drilled through with electric drills. People suspected of speaking out against the regime had their mouths pulled apart until their jaws broke or their tongues cut out. Men were forced to rape their wives in front of their children and parents were forced to watch their naked children in a room with a bee hive, being stung hundreds of times. One of Saddam’s sons, Uday Hussein would regularly grab a different girl at a school or on the street that he liked and repeatedly rape her. He would then sometimes have his bodyguards gang-rape her. One student who rejected him was thrown naked to a pack of wild dogs as he laughed, watching her be ripped to pieces. Uday learned rape and murder from his father. Saddam would kill people just to feel better. |
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WMD Quotes
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| Historical Quotes "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and pursuit of Happiness: that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." Declaration of Independence "Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect every one who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are inevitably ruined." Patrick Henry "The first and almost the only Book deserving of universal attention is the Bible." John Quincy Adams "Go to the scriptures...the joyful promises it contains will be a balsalm to all your troubles." Andrew Jackson "Government is instituted for the common good; for the protection, safety, prosperity, and happiness of the people; and not for profit, honor, or private interest of any one man, family, or class of men; therefore, the people alone have an incontestable, unalienable, and indefeasible right to institute government; and to reform, alter, or totally change the same, when their protection, safety, prosperity, and happiness require it." John Adams "Every child in America should be acquainted with his own country. He should read books that furnish him with ideas that will be useful to him in life and practice. As soon as he opens his lips, he should rehearse the history of his own country." Noah Webster "Government, in my humble opinion, should be formed to secure and to enlarge the exercise of the natural rights of its members; and every government, which has not this in view, as its principal object, is not a government of the legitimate kind." James Wilson "Patriotism is as much a virtue as justice, and is as necessary for the support of societies as natural affection is for the support of families." Benjamin Rush, signer of Declaration of Independence "We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all our political institutions upon the capactiy of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God." James Madison "The foundation of our society and our government rest so much on the teachings on the Bible that it would be difficult to support them if faith in these teachings would cease to be practically universal in our country." Calvin Coolidge "...we neglect the only means of establishing and perpetuating our republican form of government; that is, the universal education of our youth in the principles of Christianity by means of the Bible." Dr. Benjamin Rush, Founder of Public Schools "Whatever makes men good Christians make them good citizens." Daniel Webster "We cannot diminish the value of one category of human life - the unborn - without diminishing the value of all human life...there is no cause more important." Ronald Reagan "I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth: that God governs in the affairs of man..." Benjamin Franklin "...we ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of heaven cannot be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which heaven itself has ordained." George Washington "Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed the conviction that these liberties are the gift of God?" Thomas Jefferson "Lastly, our ancestors established their system of government on morality and religious sentiment. Moral habits, they believed, cannot safely be trusted on any other foundation than religious principle nor any government be secure which is not supported by moral habits." Daniel Webster "All the good from the Saviour of the world is communicated through this Book [the Bible]; but for the Book we could not know right from wrong. All the things desirable to man are contained in it." Abraham Lincoln "...the Bible...is the one supreme source of revelation of the meaning of life, the nature of God and spiritual nature and need of men. It is the only guide of life which really leads the spirit in the way of peace and salvation." Woodrow Wilson "The religion which has introduced civil liberty is the religion of Christ and His apostles...to this we owe our free constitutions of government." Noah Webster "The moral principles and precepts contained in the scriptures ought to form the basis of all our civil constitutions and laws. All the miseries and evils which men suffer from vice, crime, ambition, injustice, oppression, slavery and war, proceed from their despising or neglecting the precepts contained in the Bible." Noah Webster "It is the duty of nations, as well as to men, to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God and to recognize the sublime truth announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord." Abraham Lincoln "The good [in the United States] would never have come into being without the blessing and the power of Jesus Christ..." Charles Malik, Ambassador to the United Nations from Lebanon "Our Laws and our institutions must necessarily be based upon and embody the teachings of the Redeemer of mankind. It is impossible that it should be otherwise, and in this sense and to this extent our civilization and our institutions are emphatically Christian...This is a religious people. This is historically true...These, and many other matters which might be noticed, add a volume of unofficial declarations to the mass of organic utterances that this is a Christian Nation." Supreme Court Decision, 1892 Church of the Holy Trinity v. United States "When you have men who no longer believe that God is in charge of human affairs, you have men attempting to take the place of God by means of the superstate. The Divine Providence on which our forefathers relied has been supplanted by the Providence of the All-Powerful State. I believe that this is the source of deep weakness in America, because it is a transgression of the first and greatest of the Ten Commandments." Senator Jesse Helms "I am so much afraid that schools will prove to be great gates of hell unless they diligently labor in explaining the Holy Scriptures, engraving them in the hearts of youth. I advise no one to place his child where the Scriptures do not reign paramount. Every institution in which men are not increasingly occupied with the Word of God must become corrupt." Martin Luther "The history of liberty is a history of limitations of governmental power, not the increase of it. When we resist, therefore, the concentration of power, we are resisting the powers of death, because concentration of power is what always precedes the destruction of human liberties." Woodrow Wilson |
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ACLU Although I think it is wrong to say that the ACLU has never done any good for anybody (there have been sporadic cases here and there that were for the good), I think people need to be made aware of the deep anti-American, anti-Christian far left bias the ACLU demonstrates in a predominance of its cases and that the bad far outweighs any of the good the ACLU has ever done. This really should not be any surprise considering the ACLU was founded on communism. To quote the ACLU founder Roger Baldwin, "I seek the social ownership of property, the abolition of the propertied class, and sole control of those who produce wealth. Communism is the goal". The ACLU was founded in the 1920's mainly to defend the communists and other radicals. The ACLU seems proud of its pro-communist, anti-American, anti-Christian stances and they completely abuse our constitution and courtrooms as a way of bullying people to acquiesce or submit to their way of thinking. Despite the ACLU's repeated claims of being patriotic and upholding the Constitution, it seems pretty clear to me that they support an agenda that coincides with a list of communist goals that were read into the Congressional Record by Congressman Albert S. Herlong Jr., D-Fla. on Jan. 10, 1963. Such goals include... - Make repeated claims in court that basic American institutions continue to violate people's civil rights - Use the schools to transmit socialism and communist propaganda through the teachers and school textbooks - Weaken the culture by degrading all good forms of artistic expression and promoting repulsive and meaningless art - Weaken the culture by discouraging the teaching of American history and the overriding principles of freedom, liberty and private ownership that governed it. Emphasize that American history is only a minior part of the "big picture". - Claim that all laws govering obscenity is a violation of free speech and press and should be eliminated - Erode cultural standards by promoting pornography and obscenity in all forms of media (e.g. movies, magazines, etc.). - Present homosexuality, promiscuity and other forms of degenerate behavior as being normal and healthy - Infiltrate the churches, discrediting the Bible, eliminating prayer and other forms of religious expression because it violate the principle of "separation of church and state". - Discredit the institution of the family by encouraging promiscuity and divorce - Support any socialist movement that gives centralized control over any part of the culture such as health care or education.
The ACLU sued a school because it was taking too long to allow a lesbian student start a gay and lesbian student club but sued a school to try to get a student Christian club removed. The ACLU sues schools, military acadamies, companies, organizations, towns, governments etc. over anything that may have even a remote resemblance to being Christian (or a belief in God) even though about 90% or so, if not all, of the citizen, students or employees have no problem whatsoever with the very thing that motivated the ACLU to sue in the first place and would tell you themselves how much they resent the ACLU for what they are doing. The ACLU claims the Constitution gives pornography shops a "fundamental right" to sell sex toys Those courageous enough to stand up against the ACLU to fight for and win their right just to keep a tradition that nobody except the ACLU has ever had a problem with end up finding themselves almost going bankrupt in monetary funds and buried in mounds of paperwork. The ACLU represented a Virginia nudist camp wanting to overturn a law that prevented teens from attending unless accompanied by a parent The ACLU claims the movie ratings system is "particularly offensive" and is a "restriction on parents' ability to raise their children as they see fit." To help raise money for a state chapter, the ACLU offered an abortion at an auction. The ACLU sued the city of Baltimore and four Maryland counties, claiming their state laws making same-sex marriages illegal is unconstitutional. The ACLU pledged to pressure all U.S. counties or goverment agencies to remove any religious symbols from their official seals, no matter how small. The ACLU has worked againsts the President's right to detain terrorists. The ACLU's first openly homosexual executive director in 83 years has promised to increase his attention to "reproductive freedom" (i.e. abortion), feminist rights and homosexual equality. The ACLU actively opposes any Judeo-Christian displays from public places, even if they are privately funded but fights for federal tax-exempt status for satan-worshipping cults. |
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| Shameful Quotes "Not only are we going to New Hampshire ... we're going
to South Carolina and Oklahoma and Arizona and North Dakota and New Mexico,
and we're going to California and Texas and New York! And we're going
to South Dakota and Oregon and Washington and Michigan. And then we're
going to Washington, D.C. to take back the White House, Yeeeeeaaaaaargh!"
Howard Dean |
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| Church and State Separation? In the year 1802, Thomas Jefferson responded to a letter from a group of Baptists who were fearful of a rumor they heard that the new American goverment was going to establish a national church, like the Anglican Church in England. Jefferson explained in the letter there is nothing to fear because the Founding Fathers wisely set up a wall of separation of church and state to prevent that from happening. He was addressing their fear of the new American government controlling the church's affairs. After all, they had left England because they hated having a national church with government interfering with church matters. Contrary to popular myth, the term "separation of church and state" is found nowhere in our Constitution or Declaration of Independence. In fact, the First Ammendment forbids Congress from prohibiting the free exercise of religion. The Constitution does not give teachers the right to tear a Bible away from a child who is reading it during recess claiming the kid is not allowed to read that here. It does not give the Court the right to rule that a display of the Ten Commandments be removed from public property, the same courts that have a plaque of the Ten Commandments hanging on their wall. It does not give a University the right to deny a student a state scholarship because that student declared his major to be pastoral studies. By the way, all of the above has already happened and the same continues to happen. Two days after writing his letter from which we get this "wall of separation",
Jefferson attended church services in the Chamber of the House of Representatives
in the Capitol building and did so throughout his two terms in office.
As governor of Virginia, he proclaimed days of "thanksgiving and
prayer to Almighty God". As President, Jefferson prayed
during both of his inaugural addresses and signed bills to appropriate
money for congressional chaplains.
Although, many of the writers of the constitution were not Christians in the full sense of the word, our founding fathers well understood that man was accountable to his Creator and was created to serve God and not the state. They recognized the eternal, absolute truths of the Bible. The purpose of government to them was to protect the lives, liberty and property of its citizens and to help man secure rights that were "endowed by their Creator". Thus, they set limits on what government could and could not do.
Dr. Benjamin Rush was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, the most eminent American physician of his generation, the founder of five universities and colleges, is known as the Founder of Public schools and started the first American Bible society. He believed the Bible was the most important textbook to be used in school. In an 1802 letter, Jefferson wrote that he did not want his administration
to be a "government without religion," but one that would "strengthen
… religious freedom." "I consider the government of the U.S. as interdicted [prohibited]
by the Constitution from intermeddling with religious institutions, their
doctrines, disciplines, or exercises. This results not only from the provision
that no law shall be made respecting the establishment, or free exercise,
of religion, but from that also which reserves to the states the powers
not delegated to the U.S. [10th Ammendment]. Certainly no power to prescribe
any religious exercise, or to assume authority in religious discipline,
has been delegated to the general government. It must the rest with the
states as far as it can be in any human authority." |
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| Christianity In comparing Christianity with Islam , do not compare the life of a Christian with the life of a Muslim. Rather, you should compare the Bible with the Qur'an, books upon which Christians and Muslims, repectively, base their lives. The Qur'an is the sacred scripture of Islam. A chapter or division
within the Qur'an is called a Sura. The Hadith contains additional sayings of Mohammed and his early disciples. Islam means submission or surrender. Muslim means "the one who
submits". Christians believe in the Trinity or one God in three distinct persons
- the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In John 10:30,
Jesus states "I and the Father are one." When Christians
call God "Father", thoughts of love, compassion, tenderness
and protection are evoked. Romans 1:18-19 of the Bible reads "For the truth about God is known to them [His creation] instinctively. God has put this knowledge in their hearts." Genesis 1:27 of the Bible reads "So God created people in His
own image; God patterned them after Himself; male and female He created
them." According to Muslims, Allah can always make an abrogation or substitution of scripture at his will. This replacing of scripture for some purpose is neccessary for progressive revelation. Sura 2:100/106 reads "And for whatever verse we abrogate or cast into oblivion, we bring one better or like it." Sura 13:39 reads "Every term has a Book. God blots out, and he
establishes whatsoever he will; and with him is the Mother of all Books." Every Muslim must observe five religious practices along with Jihad
or men required to go to war to spread Islam or defend it against infidels
when the need arises. The Bible, on the other hand, makes it clear to us what God's standards
of righteousness are and that we "all have sinned and fall short
of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23) Biblical standards of righteousness are derived from the very nature
of God. Malachi 3:6 reads "I am the Lord, and I do not change." Hebrews 13:8 reads "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." Furthermore, Christians are redeemed and made righteous by Jesus Christ. No person born of this earth could ever meet God's perfect standards of righteousness. That is the whole reason for why God "gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16) Jesus said "I did not come to abolish the Law of Moses or the
writings of the prophets. No, I have come to fulfill them. " (Mathew
8:17-18) The Qur'an upholds Biblical claims that Jesus performed Miracles (Sura 3:49, 5:110), was sinless (Sura 3:46) and was called "the Messiah" and born of a virgin (Sura 3:45-57). Sura 42:5 reads "Ask forgiveness for those on Earth." Sura 48:2 reads "that Allah may forgive thee of they sin." Muhammed may be considered among Muslims to be the greatest prophet, but he was still one of "those on Earth" who had to "ask forgiveness". In addition, Muhammed did not perform miracles. Sura 13:8 reads "thou
art a warner [of coming divine judgement] only." Other supporting
verses are 6:37, 6:109, 17:59 and 17:90-93. Apostle Paul states that "if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are sill in your sins...we [Christians] are to be pitied more than all men. But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept." (1 Corinthians 15:17) Apostle Peter wrote "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again
to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead."
(1 Peter 1:3) Is Islam a religion of peace? Many Muslims say that it is, many on the
Left say that it is, even the President says that it is. Now, I am a big
supporter of George W. Bush and I understand the political reasons why
he would say Islam is a religion of peace, but I respectfully disagree
with him. Compare the quotes I have listed below from the Qur'an and Hadith to quotes taken from the Bible, also listed below. Bible ScripturesFor God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son [Jesus Christ] that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world but to save the world through Him. - John 3:16-17Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. - James 1:17 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. - Romans 8:28 But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God – John 1:12 Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. – Romans 5:1 It is God who gives us, along with you, the ability to stand firm for Christ. He has commissioned us, and he has identified us as his own by placing the Holy Spirit in our hearts as the first installment of everything he will give us. -2 Corinthians 2:21-22 His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into His own family by bringing us to Himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave Him great presence. –Ephesians 1:5 And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus. –Philippians 4:19 So, now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. –Romans 8:1 For I can do everything with the help of Christ who gives me the strength I need. –Philippians 4:13 For God has not given us a Spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline. – 2 Timothy 1:7 Because of Christ and our faith in Him, we can now come fearlessly into God’s presence, assured of his glad welcome. –Ephesians 3:12 Qur'an QuotesWhen the sacred months are over, slay the idolaters wherever you find them. Arrest them, besiege them, and lie in ambush everywhere for them. If they repent and take to prayer and render the alms levy, allow them to go their way. God is forgiving and merciful. Sura 9:5 at-Taubah 9:5Strike terror (into the hearts of) the enemies of God and your enemies. Surah 8:60 al-Anfal 8:60 Fight (kill) them (non-Muslims), and God will punish, (torment) them by your hands, cover them with shame. Surah 9:14 at-Taubah 9:14 I will instill terror into the hearts of the unbelievers, smite ye above their necks and smite all their finger-tips off them. It is not ye who slew them; it was God. Surah 8:12-17 al-Anfal 8:12-17 Believers, take neither Jews nor Christians for your friends. They are friends with one another. Whoever of you seeks their friendship will become one of their number. Allah does not guide the wrongdoers. Sura 5:51 al-Ma'idah 5:51 Prophet, make war on the unbelievers and the hypocrites and deal rigorously with them. Hell shall be their home: an evil fate. Sura 9:73 at-Taubah 9:73 Fight against such of those to whom the Scriptures were given as believe neither in Allah nor the Last Day, who do not forbid what Allah and His apostle have forbidden and do not embrace the true faith until they pay tribute out of hand and are utterly subdued. Sura 9:29 at-Taubah 9:29 Let those who would exchange the life of this world for the hereafter, fight for the cause of Allah; whether they die or conquer, We shall richly reward them. Sura 4:74 an-Nisa' 4:74 Whether unarmed or well equipped, march on and fight for the cause of Allah with your wealth and your persons. Sura 9:41 at-Taubah 9:41 Ye (Muslims) are the best of peoples, evolved for mankind... Surah 3:110 Al-Imran 3:110 If any one desires a religion other than Islam, never will it be accepted of him. Surah 3:85 Al-Imran 3:85 Hadith QuotesNarrated Abdullah: Allah's Messenger said, "The blood of a Muslim who confesses that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah and that I am His Messenger, cannot be shed except in three cases: in Qisas (equality in punishment) for murder, a married person who commits illegal sexual intercourse and the one who reverts from Islam (Apostate) and leaves the Muslims." Bukhari, volume 9, #17Narrated Ali, "Whenever I tell you a narration from Allah's messenger, by Allah, I would rather fall down from the sky, then ascribe a false statement to him, but if I tell you something between me and you, (not a Hadith), then it was indeed a trick (i.e., I may say things just to cheat my enemy). No doubt I heard Allah's messenger saying, "During the last days there will appear some young foolish people, who will say the best words, but their faith will not go beyond their throats (i.e. they will leave the faith) and will go out from their religion as an arrow goes out of the game. So, wherever you find them, kill them, for whoever kills them shall have reward on the Day of Resurrection. Bukhari volume 9, #64 I have been ordered by God to fight with people till they bear testimony to the fact that there is no God but Allah and that Mohammed is his messenger, and that they establish prayer and pay Zakat (money). If they do it, their blood and their property are safe from me (see Bukhari Vol. I, p. 13). Mohammed said, "I have been ordered to fight with the people till they say, none has the right to be worshipped but Allah." Hadith vol. 4:196 Mohammed also said, "Know that paradise is under the shades of the swords." Hadith vol 4:73 Mohammed said, "Whoever changes his Islamic religion, kill him." Hadith vol. 9:57 Mohammed said: "No Muslim should be killed for killing a Kafir (infidel). " Hadith vol. 9:50 Mohammed said to the Jews "The earth belongs to Allah and His apostle, and I want to expel you from this land (the Arabian Peninsula), so, if anyone owns property, he is permitted to sell it. " Hadith vol. 4:392 Mohammed's last words were: "Turn the pagans (non-Muslims) out of the Arabian Peninsula." Hadith vol. 5:716 Mohammed once was asked: what is the best deed for the Muslim next to believing in Allah and His Apostle? His answer was : "To participate in Jihad in Allah's cause" Al Bukhari vol. 1:25 Mohammed was quoted as saying : "I have been ordered to fight with the people till they say, none has the right to be worshipped but Allah" Al Bukhari vol. 4:196 Mohammed also said, "The person who participates in (Holy Battles) in Allah's cause and nothing compels him to do so except belief in Allah and His Apostle, will be recompensed by Allah either with a reward, or booty (if he survives) or will be admitted to paradise (if he is killed)." Al Bukhari vol. 1:35. |
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Christian Threats I really, really believe that we, as Christians, need to know our Bible and get a firm grasp on our theological beliefs. There is just too much deception out in the world today and too many false teachers leading people astray. We need to learn to engage our minds and think critically about things. Believe me when I say that I know how easy it is to want put your mind into neutral. There are times in which I just want to shut my mind off to the world and not think. But, there is just too much deception going on in the world today and too many people propagating falsehoods about our faith that we cannot afford to be silent. I consider two of the greatest threats to Christianity to be Islam and Buddhism. With all due respect to President Bush, whom I strongly support in many areas but also disagree on a handful of other areas, Islam is not a religion of peace. In an overabundance of white guilt and political correctness, many people are subjecting themselves to the rapid encroachment of Islam here in America. Many, some Christians included, are actually embracing Islam, with many even saying that there is no difference between the Christian faith and the Muslim faith or the Judeo-Christian ethics upon which America was founded and Islam. As Christians, we need to know that is utterly wrong. In fact, I do not believe there is such a thing as radical Muslims. There are Muslims that do not know or embrace everything that is in their Koran, just like there are Christians that do not know or embrace everything that is in their Bible (unfortunately). That actually begs the question on whether or not you really are a Christian if you know what is in the Bible but reject it, but that is a whole separate topic of discussion. But, to say that Islamic terrorism is a perversion of Islam shows a complete lack of understanding of the Muslim faith. Also, when somebody like Rosie O'Donnell says that radical Christians are just as dangerous as radical Muslims, we, as Christians, need to be aghast at the audacity of such a statement. Even though as Christians, we are called to stand up for life, we should also know that our faith does not condone someone blowing up an abortion clinic in the name of Christianity. However, for a Muslim following the edicts of their Koran, becoming a suicide bomber or a killing an Infidel for Allah is condoned by their faith. I believe that political correctness is going to kill us if we do not start wising up fast. As long we continue to look at the war against terror from a western mindset, we are not going to effectively deal with the root of the problem. It is an ideology of hate that is the root cause of islamofascism. It is not about our invasive foreign policy, our stance with Israel or the decadent moral lifestyle emanating from Hollywood. We believe that if we only left the middle east alone, they would leave us alone. If we only talked peacefully with them and they could understand our side and if we only had greater sympathy for their plights, then we could stop the violence. Wrong! It is about what is in their Koran and the Hadith that muslims follow. Going all the way back to Ishmael and Isaac, there has been constant fighting between their descendants. Isaac’s descendants were always surrounded by enemy kindred. In Genesis 17:20, God said that Ishmael would become the father of 12 princes. Ishmael’s 12 sons became desert princes. Hagar and her son were on their way to Arabia when an angel appeared to them. In Genesis 21:21, we learn that Ishmael grew up in the wilderness of Paran or northern Arabia and married a woman from Egypt. In Genesis 25:18, we learn that Ishmael’s descendants “dwelt from Havilah to Shur, which is opposite Egypt in the direction of Assyria”. These areas are located in central and northern Arabia. The 1st century Jewish historian Josephus called Ishmael the "founder" of the Arabians and described the Ishmaelites as an "Arabian" people. The descendants of Ishmael are referred to in the Bible as the children or people of the East. Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, traces his lineage back to Ishmael through his first born son, Nabaioth. According to the Book of Jubilees, an ancient Jewish work, the descendants of Ishmael became the “Arabians” or Arabs. Whereas Islam is a more in-your-face, blatant opposition, Buddhism is a more subtle attack on Christianity. It creeps in ever so slightly such that if you are not paying attention, you can be easily deceived. For example, I was asked recently to look up a NY Times article about Dr. Jill Taylor, a neuroanatomist who suffered a stroke on the left side of her brain. She wrote a book about her stroke experience and insight she gained from it. In addition to reading the NY Times article, I watched an 18 minute video of a lecture that she gave, and listened to two audio interviews that she gave to Oprah. The concepts that Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor present very closely parallel that which many other authors have already espoused in their own books and whose books have become widely popular, especially in California and among Hollywood celebrities. Although, she talks mostly from a medical viewpoint, the concepts are nonetheless Buddhist in nature. I can certainly understand how many people can be mesmerized by what they hear. It was very easy for me to sit back and disengage my mind as I heard this woman speak about things that seemed so profound. It was not really until I would pause and then rewind portions of the audio and video and take notes on what she said that I realized that much of what she was saying was steeped in Buddhist theology. According to Dr. Taylor, we are all energy beings connected with the energy around us through the right hemisphere of our brain as one human family. Dr. Taylor teaches that the right hemisphere thinks serially and is about the present or the right here and now, interpreting information received from our senses. She also teaches that the left hemisphere thinks in parallel or linearly and methodically. Left hemisphere is all about the past and the future. It takes information from our present and associates it with our past. According to her, the left hemisphere thinks in language and connects your internal world with your external world. She talks about an esoteric, mystical oneness with the universe and a sort of psychodelic experience when talking about her stroke experience. She talks about having found nirvana and that we all can find nirvana. She states that we can choose to step into the right brain consciousness of the universe in which we then become the life-force power of the universe. We can also choose to step into the left brain consciousness where we become a single individual when our inner voice says "I am". Her main point is that the more time we spend in our right hemisphere, the more peace we project into the world and the more peaceful our planet becomes. Nirvana is the human experience of oneness with the absolute or unconditioned consciousness. which transcends conditioned consciousness. You abandon your own individual identity to acheive this state of unconditioned consciousness. Only then, do you get insight into the unity of the world (samsara), body, mind and soul. The Hindu principle of Moksha is about releasing yourself from the worldly conception of self. Only by escaping the shackles of experiental duality (i.e. reality with its inherent extremes), can you then experience true happiness and know pure consciousness. Zen Buddhism is all about shutting off the conscious world of self and becoming one with the universe. The universe is seen as an interdependent whole and by freeing your mind of all meaningful thought, you become that whole. Koans in Zen are nonsensical riddles used to attack reason or logic and help you empty the mind of all ideas and opinions. The contradiction in Zen is that the desire to have a "don't know" mind is in itself an idea. Also, having a "don't know" mind doesn't stop us from hurting other people. Christians are not called to empty their minds, but instead to be filled with the Holy Spirit and to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. We meditate by focusing on Scripture and on the personal and knowable Creator of the universe. We don’t hope to achieve Nirvana someday by ridding our minds of our individuality and of any and all ideas about reality. Rather, we can live the abundant life that Jesus Christ wants us to have by knowing that our true identity is in Christ. John 10:10 reads, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly." We can intimately know God through Jesus Christ. Jesus says in John 14:7, "If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well". We can know God through knowing Jesus Christ. We do not know God by freeing our minds into not knowing. But, you can only know Jesus Christ by talking with him and thinking clearly about him. Christianity is not about releasing consciousness and abandoning logic and reason to achieve a higher concept of God. On the contrary, God created us as thinking individuals and expects us to use the mind He gave us as a tool to know Him better. Matthew 22:37 reads “Jesus said unto him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your MIND." 2 Timothy 2:15 reads "Study to show thyself approved unto God..." Isaiah 1:18 reads "'Come now, let us reason together' says the Lord." 1 Peter 1:13 reads "So think clearly and exercise self-control." 1 Peter 3:15 reads "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect." Although I am a fan of the Star Wars movies, Buddhist theology is evident throughout the films. The whole concept of The Force is very Buddhist in nature in that it is an energy that is all around us that can be wielded and used at will and binds us all together as human beings. In other words, we are all integrated as one in the universe of life. So, why can't we all just get along, right? Truth is also seen as very subjective and elusive. Obi-Wan Kenobi says to Luke “you're going to find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view.” Truth is not a subjective concoction of the mind, but is an objective reality that does not depend on what we call it or how we view it. Truth, by nature, is exclusive and is not dependent on one’s opinion or interpretation of it. Jesus said "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." (John 14:1-6). Jesus also said that "you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." (John 8:32) Jesus also said, "No one can rightly know me without knowing the Father, because I and the Father are one." (John 14:10-11) It is the truth of who Jesus Christ really is revealed to us in the Bible that is talked about in John 8:32, "Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." A main premise of Buddhist theology is escaping the individual self by abandoning reason and logic to attain a higher state of consciousness or become one with the universe or the collective consciousness. Buddhist thought of being one with the universe and forsaking individual identity to attain a collective consciousness is what I see at work today in our society. Communism and socialism is about the abolition of or the moving away from private ownership or individuality to a common collectivization. Liberals argue a lot about the need to be a part of the global community. They also seem to argue frequently in favor of having international law supersede our own American constitution. From Barrack Obama’s “global poverty act” introduced in the Senate to the Law of the Sea Treaty, liberals seem to favor giving away our individual nation’s sovereignty to the U.N. world body. One of the main arguments liberals make against the Iraq war is that we invaded unilaterally. Even though we had a coalition involving 30 other nations, liberals seem to argue that the international community or the collective consciousness of the world trumps our own individuality as a nation. Other than the impetus to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, our nation was founded on the principle of individual freedom and self-governance. The Judeo-Christian value system permeates throughout our system of government and laws. Well, at least the system as it was originally constructed. Long before there was even a federal government, each colony then state had their own freedom to govern themselves. Even when the states ratified the Constitution, several states had written clauses reserving the right to withdraw from the union if they ever thought the federal government was overstepping their authority and interfering with a state's right of self-governance. In fact, the Civil War was more about the preservation of the Union as a whole versus a state’s right to withdraw from the Union than it was about slavery. The other part of becoming one with the universe is the abandonment of reason and logic or any other thought or idea for that matter. You are called to question everything, including reality itself as you experience it in the effort to dismantle the mind and reach a higher state of consciousness that only some can hope to acheive. Society today is slowly being deconstructed as people are asked to question everything that has been fundamental to the bedrock of our society such as God, marriage and gender. In my own opinion, there seems to be a trend today in which people no longer actively engage their minds anymore to think critically, but rather leave themselves to the whims of others and are happy being told what to believe rather than bother to seek out truth themselves. The accusation alone seems to be the only thing that matters to people in pronouncing one’s guilt or innocence rather than finding out whether or not the accusation itself has any validity. It also seems that many people seem to argue primarily based on emotion rather than using logic and reason. Even though one party may argue using logic and reason, the other party who is arguing emotionally is too impassioned to even bother listening to reason or facts, but only hears their own arguments. People such as Oprah Winfrey and Barrack Obama keep talking about how they are Christian and believe in Jesus. Well, the Bible teaches that even the demons believe in Jesus. The more and more I listen to what Oprah and Obama actually say, the more I think that they really have no clue as to what being a Christian really means. My point is that it is really easy to be deceived, especially if you do not know what to look out for and do not decipher what people are actually saying in terms of what you already know. There is a preponderance of people who are always ready to take advantage of one’s own lack of knowledge and try to tell you what to believe. We need to be so familiar with our Bible that when we hear a false teaching that contradicts the Bible, we either know it instantly or at least know enough to conclude that something does not sound quite right. I am not talking about being legalistic, but knowing how to guard ourselves against false teachings and false teachers. Not only do we need to protect ourselves, but we also need to help others who are being led astray by false teachings. |
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| Political Correctness "Muslims sooner or later will be the moral leadership of America. It depends on me and you. Either we do it now or we do it after a hundred years, but this country will become a Muslim country. And I think if we are outside this country, we can say, 'Oh, Allah, destroy America.' But once we are here, our mission in this country is to change it." - Abdurahman Alamoudi, developer of the Peeennntagon's Muslim chaplain corps and a former goodwill ambassador for the State Department. Click here to read more Rod Dreher of the Dallas Morning News, who has been covering the Holy Land Foundation trial, cites Husain Haqqani, the head of Boston University's Center for International Relations (and himself a former Islamic radical) whose testimony corroborates that the Muslim Brotherhood "has run most significant Muslim organizations in the U.S. as part of the plan outlined in the strategy paper." Dreher notes that the Brotherhood "operates as a self-conscious revolutionary vanguard in the United States. The court documents indicate that many leading Muslim-American organizations -- including the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) and the Muslim American Society -- are an integral part of the Brotherhood's efforts to wage jihad against America by nonviolent means." Click here to read more About 1.5 million Europeans and Americans were enslaved in Islamic North Africa between 1530 and 1780. Various Muslim states in North Africa, which harbored the notorious Barbary pirates, engaged us with war that lasted 30 years. When Jefferson went with John Adams to wait upon Tripoli’s ambassador to London n March 1785, they inquired by what right the Barbary states preyed upon American shipping, enslaving both crews and passengers. They were told that “It was written in the Koran, that all Nations who should not have acknowledged their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon whoever they could find and to make Slaves of all they could take as prisoners.” The FBI headquarters has an Arabic curriculum that exposes agents to Islam and its faith and is heavily recruiting Muslim agents. FBI counter-terrorism agents in Florida attended a “sensitivity training” workshop conducted by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, a U.S. front for the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas. Some Arab-Americans translating Arabic intercepts for the FBI spoke approvingly of the terrorist attacks on America and demonstrate other questionable loyalty issues that may be compromising al-Qaeda investigations. Due to a chronic shortage of Arabic translators, the FBI has been forced to hire mostly immigrants from the Middle East, which makes background checks more difficult. For six hours every week, only women will be allowed in one of Harvard University's three major gyms, in response to a request by female Muslim students. The American Islamic Forum for Democracy organized “A Rally against Terror” to give Muslim moderates “an opportunity to speak out publicly” against terrorism and condemn it. Despite the organizer having working hard to reach out to Muslim organizations, mosques and the local newspaper, only about 100 or so Muslims bothered to show up for the rally. The majority in attendance were non-Muslims who went to denounce the stereotyping of Muslims. The Muslims who did show up carried peace" and "anti-war" signs, not anti-terror or anti-Islamist signs. Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean told American Muslims gathered in Rosemont, "You need to run for political office," Dean said Saturday. "The only way you can achieve your goals is to stand up and say who you are and be proud of it." Keith Ellison, America's first Muslim congressman, compared President George W Bush to Adolf Hitler and hinted that he might have been responsible for the September 11 attacks when he spoke to a gathering of atheists in his home state of Minnesota. The University of Michigan has constructed two foot-washing areas that were requested as an accommodation by a Muslim Student Association's task force. The Muslim students use foot-baths to wash their feet before prayer. Kansas City International Airport constructed four foot-washing benches. The Kansas City Aviation Department spokesman Joe McBride insisted the wash areas were for any wash purposes. However, Mark VanLoh, director of the Kansas City Aviation Department said, "The majority of our drivers are Muslim, so preventing them from praying at all was not an option, especially in our public terminal restrooms." In October 2005, the KCI Airport Police first solicited advice from other law enforcement regarding "wash bench facilities for those of Islamic faith," One student was suspended at Lewiston Middle School for placing a ham steak in a bag on a lunch table where Somali students were eating. Muslims consider pork unclean and offensive. The holiday traditions of Halloween and Christmas were facing elimination in some Oak Lawn schools this year after complaints that the activities were offensive, particularly to Muslim students. School Officials agreed earlier in the month to change the lunch menu to exclude items containing pork to accommodate Muslim students. Gelatin is no longer on the lunch menu because it is made with tissue or bones of pigs or other animals. A teacher's aide of an elementary school in San Diego was leading children in an Islamic prayer and she was given a lesson plan allowing an hour of class time for Islamic prayers. There is a case in Oregon, where parent Kendalee Garner objected to having her son being taught Islam, including the memorization of the "Five Pillars" of Islam and dressing up as a Muslim. A review online of information from the text used in Oregon shows that it teaches Christianity spread because "it gave meaning to peoples' lives, appealed to their emotions and promised happiness after death." It praises how the Muslims for valuable contributions they made to society, but no mention of the Quranic instruction that Muslims must behead infidels, or nonbelievers. Middle East Forum director Daniel Pipes has repeatedly expressed concern about the "privileging of Islam in the United States" and warns the stakes go well beyond 7th-grade texts. Six Muslim men removed from a plane after being accused of suspicious behaviour sued not only the airline but the passengers who complained. Minneapolis police, along with U.S. Federal Air Marshals, decided the collective behavior of the group was suspicious enough to detain the men and question them. Muslim leaders saw the incident as racial profiling or discrimination The FBI and Homeland Security Department distributed a bulletin to law enforcement across the country warning that Muslims with "ties to extremist groups" are signing up to be school bus drivers. They also noted "recent suspicious activity" by foreigners who either drive school buses or are licensed to drive them. "Islamic terrorists are already in place in the U.S. and, yes, that includes bus drivers, cafeteria workers and also airport workers," added Grossman, a former Army Ranger and West Point professor. When two Tampa-area students were arrested near a South Carolina Naval base and charged with possession of explosive devices, a prominent Muslim leader in Southwest Florida from the organization Council on American Islamic Relations or CAIR rushed to their defense screaming "racial profiling". At the 2002 Iowa Muslim Student Association Conference, a speaker gave a speech entitled "Martyrdom in Islam." Also speaking there was Siraj Wahhaj, an individual that is alleged to have been a co-conspirator of the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. At the 2003 Conference, a feature speaker was Nihad Awad. Awad, the Executive Director of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) and an ex-member of the Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP), a front group for the terrorist organization Hamas. Muslim taxi drivers at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport refused to transport passengers visibly carrying liquor. In July 1997, a New Orleans taxi driver, Mahmoud Awad, got so incensed at his passenger, Sandi Dewdney, trying to bring a dog into the cab that he physically yanked her out of it by the arm while yelling "No dog, No dog, Get out, get out." CAIR came to his defense. In Cincinnati in February 1999, Annie McEachrin, blind since birth, tried to get into Hassan Taher's cab but refused to let her dog in. When McEachrin complained to the city, Taher noted that Islam holds dogs to be impure and CAIR came to his defense. One driving force behind the move to accommodate the drivers' beliefs is the Minnesota Chapter of the Muslim American Society. MAS was founded by U.S. members of the Muslim Brotherhood, which promotes the spread of Islamic influence through political parties and militant groups in the Middle East. Some Muslim cashiers at Target refuse to handle pork, which means they will not scan any pork products customers purchase. Amina Said, 18, and her sister Sarah, 17, were shot dead in Irving, Texas, on New Year’s Day. Their father, Yaser Abdel Said, performed an Islamic honor killing. In Canada, 16 year old Aqsa Parvez was strangled to death by her father, Muhammad Parvez, because she refused to wear an Islamic hijab. The daughter of a British imam is living under police protection after receiving death threats from her father for converting to Christianity. A young Saudi Arabian woman was murdered by her father for chatting on the social network site Facebook. Facebook is blamed by Saudi preachers for corrupting the youth of the nation. According to recently released FBI documents, many detainees' complaints at Guantanamo Bay were either exaggerated or fabricated. What is this torture we keep hearing about? Some complained about lack of privacy, lack of bed sheets, being unwillingly photographed, the guards' use of profanity, and bad food. One detainee was interviewed prior to the end of Ramadan, for which his interrogators later apologized. Erik Saar served as an army sergeant at Gitmo for six months. In his book, he revealed that loudspeakers broadcast the Muslims' call to prayer five times a day and that each detainee received "two hot halal, or religiously correct, meals" a day in addition to an MRE. Each detainee also receives a prayer mat and a Koran and can read from a library stocked with Jihad books. In each cell block, a painted arrow points toward Mecca to help the detainees know which direction to face when praying. Schonhoff, overseer of the food galleys at Guantanamo Bay, said "Meats for the detainees have to be handled a certain way under Muslim requirements. When I order meat for military people, I just say I want 50 pounds of chicken, and it doesn't matter how that chicken has been handled as long as it's USDA approved. For the Muslims, I have to have a certificate from the company that says it's halal approved. I'm required to keep the certificate on file in case I'm ever questioned." Country Western Singer Charlie Daniels wrote an article about his visit with U.S. troops stationed at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. In the article, he writes that, "They [Taliban prisoners] are fed well, able to take showers and receive state of the art medical care, and have their own Moslem chaplain. I saw several of them in a field hospital ward where they were being treated in a state of the art medical facility." |
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Origins “The current scenario of the origin of life is about as likely as the assemblage of a [Boeing] 747 by a tornado whirling through a junkyard.” - Sir Frederick Hoyle, world-renowned astronomer “More than 30 years of experimentation on the origin of life…have led to a better perception of the immensity of the problem…rather than its solution.” - Klaus Dose, President of the Institute of Biochemistry at the University of Johannes Gutenberg, Mainz Germany. “In fact, if one considers the possible constants and laws that could have emerged, the odds against a universe that produced life like ours are immense.” —Stephen Hawking “A common sense interpretation of the facts suggests that a superintellect has monkeyed with physics, as well as with chemistry and biology, and that there are no blind forces worth speaking about in nature.” —Fred Hoyle "Biologists are simply naive when they talk about experiments designed to test the theory of evolution. It is not testable. They may happen to stumble across facts which would seem to conflict with its predictions. These facts will invariably be ignored and their discoverers will undoubtedly be deprived of continuing research grants." -Professor Whitten, Professor of Geneticssss “Do not be afraid to be free thinkers. If you think strongly enough, you will be forced by science to the belief in God.” William Thomson (a.k.a. Lord Kelvin), a leading physical scientist and the greatest science teacher of his time. He wrote early papers on electromagnetism and heat. More and more biologists, biochemists, astronomers and physicists are contradicting evolutionary theory by their own scientific findings. All this time, evolutionary theory has not been able to explain for the origins of life. Even leading evolutionists support that for evolution to be true, then it must be able to explain for the origins of life. Biochemist Michael Behe spent at least 1 year scouring through medical journals, scientific journals, research papers, gone to countless conferences around the world on evolution, read through various biology school textbooks and even scoured the Web looking for an evolutionary explanation for the origins of life. Although he found many references to evolution being stated fact, he was not able to find a plausible explanation even offered on how evolution could explain life’s origins. Charles Darwin stated that if you could find a complex organ that did not come about by slighter better modifications, then his theory completely breaks down. Well, at the time of Darwin, the human cell was thought of as nothing more than a gelatinous lump of matter. We now know that each cell is more like its own metropolitan city and that the so-called simple, single-celled organism from which Darwin concluded we evolved and turned into a more complex organism is actually not so simple in its structure after all. Biochemistry is proving to be a major hurdle to evolutionary theory. Over the past several years, many different alternative theories have been proposed to explain how life began because evolutionary theory has had no such luck in this area. However, every alternative theory that has been proposed at conferences has been quickly denounced and disproven by other scientists, some by even the very same scientists that proposed the theory in the first place. The chance of a life-prohibiting universe forming is much greater than a life-sustaining one. Most science textbooks teach that the universe started 14 billion years ago. Mathematicians say that, according to their calculations, even 100 billion years is not long enough for complex life to develop from a single cell. Within the past 40 years, scientists have found that the Big Bang event was not a chaotic, Haphazard event but rather was a highly ordered event that contained enormous amounts of information fine-tuned to such immense detail needed to sustain life. After this Big Bang event, if the universe’s expansion was slowed down by even a very small percentage (I think it was 1 part in one-hundred thousand million million), the universe would have shriveled up and imploded in a fireball. If the force of gravity or any of the weak forces or the many constants in the universe were changed even slightly, life would not be possible. An Amino acid is the building block of protein. 100 or so amino acids linked together make up one protein molecule. There are an equal number of left-handed and right-handed amino acids and only left-handed amino acids are used in making protein. Furthermore, peptide bonds must form in the right places in order for a protein molecule to have its 3-dimensional shape. Each protein molecule has a different 3-dimensional shape to it. The precise sequence that amino acids form in a protein molecule creates a certain protein molecule that has a specific function in the cell. Lastly, amino acids are more reactive with other molecules than they are with each other. So, not only do left-handed amino acids have to form in a precise sequence with peptide bonds forming in the right places, but for proteins to form, amino acids must react with only other amino acids. Science textbooks tout the Miller-Urey experiment as being proof positive that life originated from a primordial soup on the primitive earth, thus contradicting Intelligent Design. The problem, however, is that this experiment has been invalidated. Stanley Miller wrongly assumed that the atmosphere on primitive earth consisted of ammonia, methane, hydrogen and water vapor. In a closed chamber, he boiled these fluids and sparked the gases with electrodes to simulate lightning for a week. Amino Acids were created from this experiment. Miller chose the three gases on purpose, because they were very convenient for the formation of amino acids. He also purposefully interfered with the natural conditions of the experiment in order to get a desired result. Also, it is believed by scientists that a great amount of oxygen naturally occurred in the primordial atmosphere. This free oxygen would have decomposed any amino acids that formed. First, since 1980 NASA scientists have shown that primitive earth’s atmosphere consisted of carbon dioxide, nitrogen and water vapour. Second, only 2% of the material that was produced was amino acids. Third, before an amino acid can be hooked together with another amino acid, a water molecule must first be removed for each amino acid added to the chain. However, amino acids are highly soluble in water. So, even though water was a necessary part of the Miller-Urey theory, the presence of water prevents amino acids from forming proteins. Even Miller himself said that his experiment was not valid proof of anything. |
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| Obama and Christianity When Senator Barack Hussein Obama was asked if he considered himself an “evangelical.”, Obama said, “Gosh, I’m not sure if labels are helpful here because the definition of an evangelical is so loose and subject to so many different interpretations. I came to Christianity through the black church tradition where the line between evangelical and non-evangelical is completely blurred. Nobody knows exactly what it means...Does it mean you're born-again in a classic sense, with all the accoutrements that go along with that, as it's understood by some other tradition? There are aspects of Christian tradition that I’m comfortable with and aspects that I’m not. There are passages of the Bible that make perfect sense to me and others that I go, ‘Ya know, I’m not sure about that.’” Young's comment: The bible is not true because we believe it. We believe it because it is true! Also, you either believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who came to earth to save mankind from their sins and put your faith in Him or you don't. There is no middle ground here. In his book, Senator Barack Hussein Obama describes himself as a Christian but "a lonely witness for secular humanism." In an interview, Obama said "I believe that there are many paths to the same place...I am a big believer in the separation of church and state...There’s the belief, certainly in some quarters, that if people haven’t embraced Jesus Christ as their personal savior, they’re going to hell...What I believe in is that if I live my life as well as I can, that I will be rewarded. I don't presume to have knowledge of what happens after I die." Young's comment: Jesus said "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."(John 14:1-6) "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. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son" (John 3: 16-18). "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from youselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." (Eph. 2:8,9). It is appointed for man to die once, and then comes judgement. (Hebrews 9:27) In Matthew 13:42, Jesus says: "And shall cast them [rejecters of Christ as savior] into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth." At an evangelical church in Greenville, South Carolina, Senator B. Hussein Obama said to Redemption World Outreach Center that "We're going to keep on praising together. I am confident that we can create a Kingdom right here on Earth." In the same speech, he also said that Christians and Muslims worship the same god. Young's comment: The Kingdom of God already exists to all bible-believing Christians. But the actual kingdom on Earth will be created by Jesus when He returns. When asked about the teaching of intelligent design and evolution in schools, he responded as follows. "I believe in evolution, and I believe there's a difference between science and faith...I think it's a mistake to try to cloud the teaching of science with theories that frankly don't hold up to scientific inquiry." Young's comment: Apparently, Obama doesn't know that scientific discoveries are actually confirming the Christian worldview. Science does not contradict intelligent design, but rather supports it. Scientists of the past such as Newton and Pascal were avid students of scripture and saw their scientific inquiries as a search for God's truth in His creation. Findings in biology, astronomy, biochemistry, geology, etc. are pointing to an intelligent designer. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) told a crowd at Hocking College in Nelsonville, Ohio, that he believes the Sermon on the Mount justifies his support for legal recognition of same-sex unions. He also told the crowd that his position in favor of legalized abortion does not make him "less Christian." Young's comment: Did not he who made me in the womb make them? Did not the same one form us both within our mothers? (Job 31:15). The LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being (Genesis 2:7). You shall not murder (Exodus 20:13). Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter.(Proverbs 24:11-12) So God created man in his own image...male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:27) Jesus says "Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?" (Mathew 19:4-5) Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable. (Leviticus 18:22) Christians are no longer under the dietary laws dictated by Mosaiac law. However, the moral laws still apply. Jesus said, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them."(Mathew 5:17-19) In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire (Jude 1:7) Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools...Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another...Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion."(Romans 1:22-27) The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness. (Romans 1:18) Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders. (1 Corinthians 6:9) In 2002, as an Illinois legislator, Obama voted against the Induced Infant Liability Act. That same year President Bush signed into law the Born Alive Infant Protection Act, which was opposed by only 15 members of the House and passed the Senate unanimously on a voice vote. Both the Illinois and the federal bill sought equal treatment for babies who survived premature inducement for the purpose of abortion and wanted babies who were born prematurely. Even NARAL did not oppose such a federal bill. But Obama voted against this bill in the Illinois senate and killed it in committee. Then, when the bill was referred to the Illinois senate’s Health and Human Services Committee, which he chaired, Obama never called the bill up for a vote. The Born Alive Infant Protection Act would have required hospitals to care for infants who survived an abortion. Obama says he would have voted for the Born Alive Infant Protection Act in Illinois if it were only worded the same as the federal bill. However, when the senator sponsoring the bill tried to amend the one paragraph which had different wording, Obama himself, as chairman of the committee hearing the bill, refused, then killed the bill. The Born Alive legislation passed in 2005, with Obama no longer in the state Senate. Clinton voted for the federal Born Alive bill, putting her on record as being more pro-life than Obama. As a senator, Obama has opposed measures to criminalize those who transport minors across state lines for the purpose of obtaining an abortion. The Illinois senator, Senator B. Hussein Obama, told the national conference of the United Church of Christ, meeting in Hartford, that right-wing evangelical leaders had exploited and politicized religious beliefs. "Somehow, somewhere along the way, faith stopped being used to bring us together and started being used to drive us apart. It got hijacked," he said. Young's comment: This sounds a lot like those who say in blatant ignorance that all faiths are the same, whether you're muslim, jewish, hindu or christian. We do not oppose abortion and gay marriage and support intelligent design because we desire political division, but because we live out our biblical convictions. In a speech held at a conference organized by the liberal Christian group, Call to Renewal, Sen. Obama referred to Christians as people who just “want a sense of purpose, a narrative arc to their lives...They’re looking to relieve a chronic loneliness...they need an assurance that...they are not just destined to travel down that long highway towards nothingness....Democracy demands that the religiously motivated translate their concerns into universal, rather than religion-specific, values.” Young's comment: How condescending can this man be? He defined those universal values elsewhere in his speech as "personal morality and social justice." If you ask me, such remarks are not only condescending, but show a complete lack of understanding of Christianity from one who claims to be a fellow believer. When Obama characterized opponents to abortion on his website as “right-wing ideologues", was he indicating his own peronal morality or a universal value? Also, social justice is code word for solving inequality by re-distributing things such as wealth, property, rights from those deemed to have too much and give it to those deemed to have too little. Sen. Barack Obama invited Grammy winning gospel artist Pastor Donnie McClurkin to headline a series of concerts. However, immediately, demands were being made to drop McClurkin from the concert because Donnie is a pastor of a church that offers help for those who hurt by the behavior and indoctrination of homosexuality. Donnie himself was a practicing homosexual until Jesus Christ saved and delivered him. Obama came out a day later to repudiate McClurkin, his beliefs, his experience, and his ministry. Obama then invited an openly homosexual white "minister" to say a few words. Since the 1980s, Obama has attended The Trinity United Church of Christ on the South Side of Chicago. Obama’s church had been headed by Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Wright recently presented Nation of Islam founder Louis Farrakhan with a "Lifetime Achievement" award. Farrakhan has expressed consistent anti-Israel views. Wright preaches black liberation theology, which views the Bible in part as a record of the struggles of "people of color" against oppression. Black liberation theology teaches that Jesus Christ came to be a political revolutionary. It does not teach about having an individual relationship with God through Jesus Christ, but that white racism is the source of all sin. James Cone, the most prominent theologian in the "black liberation" school, teaches that Jesus Christ himself is black and wrote "If God is not for us and against white people, then he is a murderer, and we had better kill him." Wright has blamed the 9/11 attacks on American's foreign policy and on American racism, frequently refers to the "United States of whiter America", said that the Israelis have illegally occupied Palestinian territories for over 40 years and that the Israel is a racist state. Wright also frequently preached about the Iraq war being an "illegal war" that is "based on Bush's lies" and is being "fought for oil money". Wright was also known to frequently drop the f-bomb a lot, blame the war on "Bush administration bulls--t", and talk about the George Bush-controlled media, all from the pulpit. He has also made racist claims that are easily disproven by facts. I do think that Obama's close friendship with Rev. Jeremiah Wright and the fact that he continued to attend such a hate-filled church for 20 years does say a lot about Obama, at least to me. Obama's choosing to attend this church for 20 years, donating lots of money to it and calling Rev. Wright his mentor and close personal friend is more than just an association. I cannot judge his heart, but I can judge him by his fruit. I am also troubled by the fact that the former principal foreign policy adviser to Sen. Obama advocated negotiating with and providing international assistance to the anti-Israeli terrorist group Hamas. The advisor, Robert Malley, has consistently blamed Israel for numerous policies he says harm the Palestinian cause. This includes blaming Israel for the collapse of the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations at Camp David in 2000, which even President Bill Clinton, then-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and primary U.S. envoy to the Middle East Dennis Ross strongly refute. Ed Lasky, a contributor to the American Thinker blog, calls Malley a "[Palestinian] propagandist" who, he charged, bends "the truth to serve an agenda that is marked by anti-Israel bias. ... Malley's writings strike me as being akin to propaganda." |
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Apologetic Tactics
Apologetics is about defending the Christian faith, using arguments of reason, logic, philosophy, science, history, archaeology, prophecy, etc. It is about showing people evidence that our faith is based on something real and provable.
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| Apologetics
Christian apologetics is basically studying evidence showing people that Christianity is not about having blind faith, but is rooted in something real and provable. Christians can have solid assurance that their faith is not based on something imaginary.
The Bible, a unique book- It was written over a 1,500 year span.- It was written over 40 generations. - It was written by over 40 authors rangiiiinng from fishermen, to poets, to kings. - It was written in different places suchhhh as the wilderness, prison and a palace. - It was written on Asia, Africa and Eurooooppe. - It was written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and GGreek. Twenty-seven different documents were written on 27 different scrolls by 9 different writers over a 20-50 year period, which were all collected into one book called the Bible. We have not yet discovered any of the original documents, but we have a large number of manuscripts (copies of the original) that were written not long after the original. All ancient literature is reconstructed using manuscripts. The more manuscripts available and the closer to the date of the original they are, the more accurate is the reconstruction. By 1966, the bible had been translated into 240 languages and dialects. There are over 5,300 known ancient Greek manuscript copies, 10,000 Latin Vulgate and over 9,300 manuscript versions in other languages, yielding a total of over 24,000 manuscript copies. At least 30 historical figures and 140 historically confirmed details are mentioned by the New Testament writers. The 4 gospels were written approximately 40-60 years Christ died. They can be dated back to before 70 A.D. or the destruction of Jerusalem. Of the four Gospels alone, there are 19,368 citations by the church fathers dating back to the late first century, when eyewitnesses such as John were still alive. Paul’s letters were written approximately 30-50 years after Christ’s death.
No surviving manuscripts exist for any of William Shakespeare’s 37 plays, written in the 1600’s. We have two manuscripts of the entire New Testament dating back to the 4th century and fragments dating back as far as 125 A.D. These five fragments contain every book except Titus, 1 and 2 Timothy, James, 1 and 2 Peter, 1, 2, and 3 John and Philemon. By 150 A.D., the Church in Rome had compiled a list of the New Testament books matching our list of today. Many of the errors critics cite in these manuscripts are mostly grammatical variations that do not change the meaning of the text. Biblical documents have been found to be 99.5% textually pure. In the entire text of 20,000 lines, only 40 lines or about 400 words are in doubt about the textual meaning and none affects any significant doctrine. Lastly, a spelling variation of 1 letter of 1 word in 1 verse of 2,000 manuscripts is counted as 2,000 “errors”. Researcher and scientist, Henry M. Morris, Ph.D. wrote, “no statement in the New Testament has to this date been refuted by an unquestioned find of science or history.” Archaeology- Archaeology has confirmed countless passssssages rejected by critics. Nelson Glueck, a specialist in ancient literature and Palestinian acheologist, wrote, “It can be stated categorically that no archaeological discovery has ever controverted a biblical reference.”Archeology revealed hundreds of references spanning over 1200 years of Hittite civilization. Before these findings, scholars thought the Hittites were a myth. Some scholars did not believe King David was a historical figure. Later, multiple inscriptions were found referring to King David. Other archeology findings: - Bethsaida, the birthplace of Peter, Anddddrrew and Phillip. - Cana, the wedding feast where Jesus turrrrnned water into wine. - Simon Peter’s house - Ancient inscriptions describing the Redddd Sea crossing. - Jacob’s well - King Nebuchadnezzar’s inscription aboutttt the Tower of Babel. - Jericho, including evidence showing theeee walls fell outward, not inward. - Pontius Pilate inscription - The tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, Jesus’’’’ burial place. - Galilee boat with coins and pottery dattttiing to New Testament times. - Seven churches of Revelation The Dead Sea Scrolls- Multiple copies of biblical manuscriptssss were found containing every book of the Old Testament except the Book of Esther (which had since been validated by other discoveries). Scholars found that, other than a few spelling variations, manuscript copies of the Hebrew text were exactly identical. Several quotes from New Testament passages and references to Jesus of Nazareth were also found on different scroll fragments.Even if we did not have a single copy of the Bible, scholars could still reconstruct all but 11 verses of the New Testament simply from the 86000 quotations from early church fathers. Non-Christian sourcesJewish historian, Josephus, wrote a lot about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, as well as the death of James, brother of Jesus, and John the Baptist.Roman historian, Tacitus, confirmed many details of scripture, including Jesus’ execution by Pilate in his writings. Satirist of the second centry, Lucian of Samosata, wrote scornfully of Christ and the Christians. Thallus, a pagan historian, recorded in his history that there was a miraculous darkness covering the earth at the Passover in A.D. 32. Philegon, a 1st century historian, also wrote about an eclipse of the sun that occurred during the full moon. It was the season of the Paschal full moon when Christ died, and modern astronomers agree that a normal eclipse cannot occur at the same time as a full moon. The first Law of Conservation of Energy- Energy can be neither created nor destroyed.Genesis and Hebrews teach that God completely finished His acts of creation. The universe could not have created itself, but had to have been created by a supernatural force outside the universe. Hebrew 1:3 states that Jesus Christ, who created all things, is “upholding all things by the word of His power”, Astronomy and MedicinePsalm 19 reads that the sun traveled in “his circuit unto the ends of it [the heavens]”.- Discoveries by the Hubble Telescope have proven that the sun does indeed move through space in a circuit taking over 260 million years to make one orbit. Isaiah 40:22 reads, “It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth…” - God revealed through Isaiah that the earth was a globe. Job 26:7 reads, “He stretcheth out the north over empty space; he hangs the earth on nothing.” - Pagans believed the earth was balanced on the back of an elephant, which in turn, rested on a turtle’s back. Other pagans believed that the mythological hero Atlas carried the earth on his shoulders. Scientists believed that the earth and stars were supported by some kind of ether. The Bible teaches the earth moves through empty space. - Astronomers discovered that the area to the north of the axis of the earth toward the polar star is relatively devoid of stars. One scientist described the area to the north as the “30 million light-year gap”. Proverbs 17:22 reads, “A merry heart does good, like medicine, but a broken spirit dries the bones.” - Modern psychiatry has proven that good humor and laughter truly does improve overall health. Leviticus 17:11 reads. “For the life of the flesh is in the blood.” - At that time, pagans and Egyptians had extremely poor medical knowledge. For centuries, ignorant doctors would fight diseases by “bleeding” the patient. We now know that blood is extremely essential to many bodily processes. The existence of germs was unknown until about A.D. 1890. But, after leading them out of Egypt, God told the Israelites through Moses that He would protect them from sickness and disease if they would follow His commandments. The Israelites were told to discard broken pottery (because the cracks could contain harmful germs) and to disinfect by scouring and rinsing in water any metal pots. Until the 20th century, there was no awareness of the contagious transmission of diseases. Doctors thought such transmissions were governed by chance or bad luck. The Israelites learned about the methods of quarantine and other methods of dealing with the sick so as not to infect themselves. Not only were the Israelites not to eat the flesh of any animal that had died naturally of disease or by wild animals, but that anything that even touched a part of that carcass was unclean. How could Moses have known about the danger of germs from animal carcasses? God also gave the Israelites instructions to incinerate the germ-filled waste of the sacrificed animals. God told Abraham to circumcize every Hebrew male child at the age of eight days. Two different blood clotting factors, Vitamin K and prothrombin, are at the highest level on the eighth day of life. Vitamin K is formed in the blood of a baby between day five to day seven. Thus, the eighth day is the most opitmal day for such an operation to ensure rapid healing and resistance to infection. PropheciesExodus 12:41 contains the prophesy that Israel would be held in Egyptian captivity for 430 years. This captivity ended precisely at 430 years. Jeremiah 25:11 contains a prophesy that the Jewish exiles would be held in Babylonian captivity for 70 years. The Babylonian army conquered Israel in 606 B.C. and the captivity ended exactly 70 years later in the spring of 536 B.C.Isaiah 44:28-45:1 contains a prophecy that Cyrus as king would command Jerusalem to be rebuilt and the Temple be restored. But, it was not until more than100 years later, that they city and Temple would be destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar. After the Babylonians conquired Jerusalmen, the Persians conquered it. Shortly after that, Cyrus gave the decree to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. According to Ezekiel 26:8, many nations would come against Tyre. According to Ezekiel 26:21, Tyre would “never be found again”. Nebuchadnezzar II waged a 13 year war on Tyre. Alexander the Great laid seige to the city of Tyre and demolished it, laying the remains of the city in the midst of the water. This fullfilled the prophecy in Ezekiel 26:12, that Tyre’s stones, timber and debris would be thrown into the water. After Alexander’s conquest of the city, Tyre continued to be rebuilt and armies continued to beseige it. After 1600 years, though, Tyre permanently fell and was never rebuilt again. IsraelAccording to Ezekiel 11:17, the people of Israel would be scattered throughout the world, but that one day they would return and reclaim Israel as their own.When the Babylonians took the Jews in captivity, some Jews fled to Egypt and others fled to North Africa. Those that did return to Jerusalem after Babylon was conquered were later scattered by the Romans. According to Isaiah 43:5-6, the Jews would return to their homeland from the east, the west, the north and the south. The north and south are specifically singled out with words that suggest reluctance on their part to release the Jews. During the mid-1900s, hundreds of thousands of Jews living in the West (Europe and the United States) began moving to Israel. Many Jews living in the Middle East moved to Israel by the early 1900s. The former Soviet Union (Russia), to the north of Israel, started allowing Jews to return to Israel during the 1980s. At first, Russia refused to allow Jews to leave. Many countries pressured Russia for years before it finally relented. Ethiopia, to the south of Israel, started allowing the Jews of Ethiopia to move to back to Israel in 1985. At first, Ethiopia also refused to allow Jews to leave. Israel had to strike a deal with Ethiopia's communist government before they finally relented. During the past 100 years, Jews living in China, the United States, as far north as Scandinavia, and as far south as South Africa, have moved to Israel. As of the year 2001, about 6 million Jews now reside in Israel. After 2000 years of being dispersed, a nation has been reborn. Ezekiel 36:11 reveals that Israel would be more prosperous than it was in the past. Today, Israel is one of the world's most prosperous countries. In 1999, Israel had the highest per capita Gross Domestic Product of any nearby country, even though the surrounding countries have many oil resources. During the 1900’s, Jews irrigated, cultivated and reconditioned the land. Many of the country's swamps were converted into farmland. Although described as a wasteland in the late 1800s, Israel is now a source of food for many countries. Prophecies about the Messiah- Born of the seed of woman (Genesis 3:15555;; Galatians 4:4; Matthew 1:20) - Born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 11:18, 24, 25) - Son of God (Psalm 2:7; Matthew 3:17) - Seed of Abraham (Genesis 22:18; Matthewwww 1:1; Galatians 3:16) - Son of Isaac (Genesis 21:12; Luke 3:23,,,,334) - Son of Jacob (Numbers 24:17; Luke 3:23,,,,334) - from the Tribe of Judah (Genesis 49:10;;;; Luke 3:23,33) - from the family line of Jesse (Isaiah 111111:1; Luke 3:23,32) - from the House of David (Jeremiah 23:5;;;; Luke 3:23,31) - Born at Bethlehem (Micah 5:2; Matthew 2222::1) - be presented with gifts (Psalm 72:10; IIIIssaiah 60:6; Matthew 2:1,11) - be preceded by a messenger (Isaiah 40:3333;; Matthew 3:1,2) - begin his ministry in Galilee (Isaiah 9999::1,2; Matthew 4:12,13,17) - have a ministry of miracles (Isaiah 35::::55, 6a; Matthew 9:35) - be a teacher of parables (Psalm 78:2; MMMMaatthew 13:34) - enter Jerusalem on a donkey (Zechariah 99:9; Luke 19:35,36,37a) - be betrayed by a friend (Psalm 41:9; Maaaattthew 10:4) - betrayed for 30 pieces of silver (Zechaaaarriah 11:12; Matthew 26:15) - His betrayal money thrown in the Templeeee then used to be a potter’s field (Zecharaiah 11:13, Matthew 27:5-7) - Forsaken by His disciples (Zechariah 13333::7; Mark 14:50) - accused by false witnesses (Psalm 35:11111;; Matthew 26:59-61) - be silent before accusers (Isaiah 53:7;;;; Matthew 27:12-19) - be wounded and bruised (Isaiah 53:5; Maaaattthew 27:26) - be smitten and spit upon (Isaiah 50:6; MMicah 5:1; Matthew 26:67) - be mocked (Psalm 22:7,8; Matthew 27:31)))) - Fall under a cross (Psalm 109:24; John 119:17; Luke 23:26) - His hands and feet would be pierced (Pssssaalm 22:16; Luke 23:33) - He would be crucified with thieves (Isaaaaiiah 53:12; Matthew 27:38) - People would gamble for His garments (PPPPssalm 22:18; John 19:23,24) - He would suffer from thirst (Psalm 69:222211; John 19:28) - Gall and vinegar would be offered to Hiiiimm (Psalm 69:21; Matthew 27:34) - His forsaken cry on the cross (Psalm 22222::1; Matthew 27:46) - His bones would not be broken (Psalm 34444::20; John 19:33) - His side would be pierced (Zechariah 12222::10; John 19:34) - Darkness over the land (Amos 8:9; Matthhhheew 27:45) - Buried in a rich man's tomb (Isaiah 53::::99; Matthew 27:57-60) The odds of all 17 of these prophecies being fulfilled by one person at random would be astronomical. According to one statistician, the probability of just 8 of these prophecies being fulfilled in just one man would be the equivalent of stacking the whole state of Texas with silver dollars, each stack about a mile high, and marking just one of those coins red. Then, you blindfold a person and have him walk through the state and at random, that person stops and picks up one of those coins. The odds of that person picking up the coin with the red marking on it is equivalent to just 8 prophecies being fulfilled by one single person. TruthDefending the Christian faith is not the same as saying that everything else other than the Christian faith is a lie. Let me explain. Truth by nature is exclusive. This means that you cannot have one thing be true and at the same time, have its opposite also be true. This is the law of non-contradiction. Eastern thought says that you can have 2 opposites co-exist together. They do not believe in the Law of non-contradiction.Christian apologetics teacher, Ravi Zacharias, was questioned once by a student after he gave a lecture at a university. The student told him that he was teaching from a very Western mentality but that in Eastern thought, 2 contradictions can exist simultaneously. Having been born and raised Hindu in his hometown of India, Mr. Zacharias knows all about Eastern thought. He told the student that even in India, when a person crosses the road at the same time a truck also crosses, only one of them will make it, not both. Buddhism, Hinduism, etc. is false where it contradicts the Bible. There are true statements in other religions, but any statements made in those religions that contradict the Bible cannot be true. Buddhism can help someone become a better person, some spiritual gurus can have wise things to say and good lessons can be learned from a good Chinese proverb. However, when any of those teachings contradict the Bible, then they must give way to the truth of scripture. But, how can you know what contradicts the Bible if you do not know what is in the Bible. God said that His people perish for lack of knowledge. I believe this pertains to knowledge about everything, including knowledge about your health, history, science, other religions and the Bible itself. According to Eastern religion, dual extremes in life or opposites such as light and dark, good and evil, right and wrong, god and the devil, etc. are the root of all suffering and pain in the world. By either balancing these 2 extremes or ridding your mind entirely of them, you can achieve true peace and god-like consciousness. The god in Kaballah is taught as the perfect harmony of these opposites. In Buddhism, you meditate through yoga as a way of ridding your mind of these opposites in life or as they call it, experiential duality. Scientology uses a type of therapy called auditing in which they search out these dualities in your life and rid you of them. Truth is not only exclusive, but absolute and knowable. In fact, if truth is not knowable, then what is the point of science? Also, without a knowable truth, reason itself is pointless. Reason assumes that there is such a thing as truth and logic. Francis Bacon, the father of modern science, said that “True knowledge is knowledge by causes”. The wonders of creation testify to the glory of God. Newton, Pascal, Lord Kelvin and other great scientists of the past were avid students of scripture and saw their scientific inquiries as a search for God’s truth in His creation. Some may say that Christianity is just our interpretation. But, does that mean that our interpretation is wrong? It is their interpretation that we are wrong. All conclusions involve making an interpretation. For them to know that our interpretation is wrong, they have to know what the right interpretation is. Saying there is no objective interpretation is, in itself, an objective interpretation. We conclude that Christianity is false. They conclude that it is true. We cannot both be right. We present our evidence to show that we are right and they must present their evidence to show that they are right. Denying that we do not have any evidence is not evidence. Truth is discovered by looking at the evidence. Truth is not determined by how many people believe it. People exclude themselves from Christianity, not the other way around. ReligionPeople who say that there is no absolute truth and that all religious beliefs should be equally tolerated are not being honest in their assessment. Such religious pluralists are being dogmatic when they insist that any disagreement with their way of thinking is wrong.They are being absolute by saying that they “know” that all religions are right and exclusive by asserting that it is wrong to question anybody else’s beliefs. Jesus never told us not to judge. He told us not to judge hypocritically. Of course, if all beliefs were right, then Christians should also be tolerated in their right to question other religious beliefs as the Bible commands us (2 Deut. 13:1-5, 1 John 4:1, Galations 1:8, 2 Cor 11:13). 1 Thessalonians 5:21 teaches us to “test everything”. All religions differ in the nature of God, the nature of man, sin, salvation, heaven, hell and creation. Jews, Christians and Muslims believe in a theistic God and that evil is real. Hindus and believe in a pantheistic force called God that exists in everything and that evil is just an illusion. Christians believe in a personal, knowable God and that we saved by grace. Muslims believe in an impersonal, unknowable God and, like all other religions, that salvation is through good works. The Hindu principle of Moksha is about releasing yourself from the worldly conception of self. Only by escaping the shackles of experiental duality (i.e. reality with its inherent extremes), can you then experience true happiness and know pure consciousness. Zen Buddhism is all about shutting off the conscious world of self and becoming one with the universe. The universe is seen as an interdependent whole and by freeing your mind of all meaningful thought, you become that whole. Koans in Zen are nonsensical riddles used to attack reason or logic and help you empty the mind. Nirvana is the human experience of oneness with the absolute or unconditioned consciousness. which transcends conditioned consciousness. You abandon your own individual identity to acheive this state of unconditioned consciousness. Only then, do you get insight into the unity of the world (samsara), body, mind and soul. Christians are not called to empty their minds, but instead to be filled with the Holy Spirit and to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. We meditate by focusing on Scripture and on the personal and knowable Creator of the universe. We don’t hope to achieve Nirvana someday by ridding our minds of our individuality, but we can live the abundant life in Jesus Christ. We do not know God by freeing our minds into not knowing. We know Him by talking with him and thinking clearly about Him. Christianity is not about releasing consciousness and abandoning logic and reason to achieve a god-like status. On the contrary, God created us as thinking individuals and expects us to use the mind He gave us as a tool to know Him better. Morality If there is a moral law of right and wrong, then there has to be a moral law giver. Morality is not arbitrary, but it is written upon our hearts. If there is no God, then what Hitler did was just a matter of opinion. Core moral values are absolute. How these values are practiced may differ, but the same core value still gets expressed. Morality is also not dictated by current behavior. Morality is what ought to be done, not what actually is done. Just like truth is not dependent on one’s feelings or on who believes it, morality is also not dependent on how one’s feels or on who commits it. Moral disagreements are usually based on a suppression of the moral law, not the absence of it. Furthermore, struggling with a moral dilemma is in itself proof that a moral law does exist. If morality was subjective, then there would be no point in struggling with a decision since it would not really matter what happened. Lastly, a person’s reaction to a violation of this moral law proves its existence. For example, Hitler had to dehumanize the Jews to rationalize killing them. A student claiming to have received an unfair grade by a teacher indicates the violation of fairness. MartyrdomWhile it is perfectly conceivable that a person is willing to die for what they believe in, it is not conceivable why a person would die for something they know is a lie. The New Testament writers suffered persecution, torture and death. They could have spared their own lives if they had only recanted their stories and admitted to having lied.Mathew was killed by a sword wound in Ethiopia. Mark was dragged by horses through the streets of Alexandra, Egypt until he was dead. Luke was hanged in Greece for his continual preaching. Peter was crucified upside down on an X-shaped cross. He felt unworthy to die in the same way Jesus did. James, son of Zebedee, was beheaded at Jerusalem. When the Roman officer who guarded James watched him defend his faith at his trial, he declared his new faith to the judge and knelt beside James to accept his own beheading. Andrew was whipped severely and then crucified on an X-shaped cross in Patras, Greece. He continued to preach for 2 days until he died. Bartholemew was whipped to death in Armenia for preaching. Thomas was stabbed with a spear in India during a missionary trip. Jude was killed with arrows when he refused to deny his faith. Matthias was stoned and then beheaded. Barnabas was stoned to death in Salonica. Paul was tortured and then beheaded by Roman Emperor Nero. James, the brother of Jesus, was thrown over a hundred feet down from the Temple in Jerusalem and then beaten to death. John was the only apostle to die peacefully. However, he still endured persecution of his own, having been boiled in a huge basin of oil in Rome and then exiled to the prison island of Patmos. He was later freed and became the Bishop of Edessa in modern Turkey. Not only were they willing to die, but they were joyful at being given the chance to die for Jesus Christ. As Jews, the New Testament writers were already considered to be the chosen people of God. They had no earthly reason to leave behind a 2000 year old religion to make up a new religion that included non-Jews. Only Jews were considered to have an exclusive relationship with God. They would have known they would be considered outcasts by their own Jewish peers for rejecting the faith of their forefathers. Origins“The current scenario of the origin of life is about as likely as the assemblage of a [Boeing] 747 by a tornado whirling through a junkyard.” - Sir Frederick Hoyle, world-renowned astronomer“More than 30 years of experimentation on the origin of life…have led to a better perception of the immensity of the problem…rather than its solution.” - Klaus Dose, President of the Institute of Biochemistry at the University of Johannes Gutenberg, Mainz Germany. “In fact, if one considers the possible constants and laws that could have emerged, the odds against a universe that produced life like ours are immense.” —Stephen Hawking “A common sense interpretation of the facts suggests that a superintellect has monkeyed with physics, as well as with chemistry and biology, and that there are no blind forces worth speaking about in nature.” —Fred Hoyle "Biologists are simply naive when they talk about experiments designed to test the theory of evolution. It is not testable. They may happen to stumble across facts which would seem to conflict with its predictions. These facts will invariably be ignored and their discoverers will undoubtedly be deprived of continuing research grants." -Professor Whitten, Professor of Geneticss “Do not be afraid to be free thinkers. If you think strongly enough, you will be forced by science to the belief in God.” William Thomson (a.k.a. Lord Kelvin), a leading physical scientist and the greatest science teacher of his time. He wrote early papers on electromagnetism and heat. More and more biologists, biochemists, astronomers and physicists are contradicting evolutionary theory by their own scientific findings. All this time, evolutionary theory has not been able to explain for the origins of life. Even leading evolutionists support that for evolution to be true, then it must be able to explain for the origins of life. Biochemist Michael Behe spent at least 1 year scouring through medical journals, scientific journals, research papers, gone to countless conferences around the world on evolution, read through various biology school textbooks and even scoured the Web looking for an evolutionary explanation for the origins of life. Although he found many references to evolution being stated fact, he was not able to find a plausible explanation even offered on how evolution could explain life’s origins. Charles Darwin stated that if you could find a complex organ that did not come about by slighter better modifications, then his theory completely breaks down. Well, at the time of Darwin, the human cell was thought of as nothing more than a gelatinous lump of matter. We now know that each cell is more like its own metropolitan city and that the so-called simple, single-celled organism from which Darwin concluded we evolved and turned into a more complex organism is actually not so simple in its structure after all. Biochemistry is proving to be a major hurdle to evolutionary theory. Over the past several years, many different alternative theories have been proposed to explain how life began because evolutionary theory has had no such luck in this area. However, every alternative theory that has been proposed at conferences has been quickly denounced and disproven by other scientists, some by even the very same scientists that proposed the theory in the first place. The chance of a life-prohibiting universe forming is much greater than a life-sustaining one. Most science textbooks teach that the universe started 14 billion years ago. Mathematicians say that, according to their calculations, even 100 billion years is not long enough for complex life to develop from a single cell. Within the past 40 years, scientists have found that the Big Bang event was not a chaotic, Haphazard event but rather was a highly ordered event that contained enormous amounts of information fine-tuned to such immense detail needed to sustain life. After this Big Bang event, if the universe’s expansion was slowed down by even a very small percentage (I think it was 1 part in one-hundred thousand million million), the universe would have shriveled up and imploded in a fireball. If the force of gravity or any of the weak forces or the many constants in the universe were changed even slightly, life would not be possible. An Amino acid is the building block of protein. 100 or so amino acids linked together make up one protein molecule. There are an equal number of left-handed and right-handed amino acids and only left-handed amino acids are used in making protein. Furthermore, peptide bonds must form in the right places in order for a protein molecule to have its 3-dimensional shape. Each protein molecule has a different 3-dimensional shape to it. The precise sequence that amino acids form in a protein molecule creates a certain protein molecule that has a specific function in the cell. Lastly, amino acids are more reactive with other molecules than they are with each other. So, not only do left-handed amino acids have to form in a precise sequence with peptide bonds forming in the right places, but for proteins to form, amino acids must react with only other amino acids. Science textbooks tout the Miller-Urey experiment as being proof positive that life originated from a primordial soup on the primitive earth, thus contradicting Intelligent Design. The problem, however, is that this experiment has been invalidated. Stanley Miller wrongly assumed that the atmosphere on primitive earth consisted of ammonia, methane, hydrogen and water vapor. In a closed chamber, he boiled these fluids and sparked the gases with electrodes to simulate lightning for a week. Amino Acids were created from this experiment. Miller chose the three gases on purpose, because they were very convenient for the formation of amino acids. He also purposefully interfered with the natural conditions of the experiment in order to get a desired result. Also, it is believed by scientists that a great amount of oxygen naturally occurred in the primordial atmosphere. This free oxygen would have decomposed any amino acids that formed. First, since 1980 NASA scientists have shown that primitive earth’s atmosphere consisted of carbon dioxide, nitrogen and water vapour. Second, only 2% of the material that was produced was amino acids. Third, before an amino acid can be hooked together with another amino acid, a water molecule must first be removed for each amino acid added to the chain. However, amino acids are highly soluble in water. So, even though water was a necessary part of the Miller-Urey theory, the presence of water prevents amino acids from forming proteins. Even Miller himself said that his experiment was not valid proof of anything. ResurrectionPaul references 500 eyewitnesses to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. His readers would have been able to easily verify whether or not those eyewitnesses existed. The resurrection could not have been a hallucination.Hallucinations are experienced by individuals, not groups. Jesus appeared to over 500 people over a 40-day period. People saw Him walking, talking and eating, including the disciples. Jews and Romans would have known which tomb that the body of Jesus was in and would have paraded the body of Jesus around the city to disprove any claims of a resurrection. Jesus was placed in the tomb of Joseph of Arimethea, a member of the Jewish Sanhedrin, The Romans placed guards outside the tomb of Jesus. According to a Greek scholar, the phrase Pilate used when giving instructions about securing the tomb of Jesus can only refer to a Roman guard and not Temple police. To keep the peace and make certain the disciples did not steal the body of Jesus, Pilate was certain to have assigned Roman guards to protect the tomb. Roman guards were trained to guard the tomb with their lives. It was a capital crime for a Roman guard to sleep on the job. Romans were professional executioners. They whipped and beat Jesus severely. They did not break His legs because Jesus had already died by asphyxiation, which was common with crucifixion victims. Archaeology and non-Christian sources have verified the Roman crucifixion techniques described in the Bible. Luke 22:44 reads, “And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.” Under certain cases of extreme mental stress, small capillaries located just under the forehead can burst, causing blood to leak out through sweat pores. Thus, you get a combination of perspiration mixed with blood. John 19:34 reads, “…one of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water.” Historical and medical evidence indicate the following likely scenario. Fluid first collected in the lungs and the pericardium sac around the heart due to heart failure from stress. Once the pericardium was punctured, water flowed out. When the right side of the heart then became punctured, a large flow of blood subsequently flowed out. A study of the Greek word for "side" used in the passage is pleura, which refers to the chest. Our lungs and the walls of the internal chest cavity are lined with a thin, clear membrane called the "pleural lining." Jesus most likely died from a combination of blood loss, exhaustion, circulatory collapse, circulatory shock, and suffocation. Had he not died on the cross, Jesus would have probably bled to death during the 36 hours in the tomb or suffocated after his embalming. Jesus was embalmed in 75 pounds of bandages and spices. It is highly unlikely that neither Joseph of Arimethea nor Nicodemus would have noticed they were embalming a living Jesus. A Jewish tomb was usually 4.5 – 5 feet high. It would take a 1.5-2 ton stone to roll against the doorway. An official Roman seal was placed on the stone. Any breaking of this seal meant automatic execution by crucifixion upside down for those responsible. The commonly used16-man Roman guard unit and the disciples would have been too afraid of the consequences of breaking that seal. Besides, the broken seal itself would be enough evidence against a bodily resurrection. Roman write Phlegon wrote, “Jesus, while alive, was of no assistance to himself, but that he arose after death, and exhibited the marks of his punishment, and showed how his hands had been pierced by nails.” |
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| Christians and drinking I do not believe that any Christian should ever drink in public. The key phrase for me here is "in public". If a christian wants to drink beer or wine in the privacy of his own house, that is between him and God. But, once that christian is out in public, it is no longer about him anymore. Look, I have been out in public with people, christian and non-christian, who drank and I raised no objections. Even though I may have felt uncomfortable at times, I have never condemned them nor ever forced my views on them. I also would never think any less of a christian who does drink, unless he gets stone cold drunk. I understand that my interpretation of scripture is not perfect nor is it the only view out there. We can disagree without being disagreeable and I know good, mature Christians who may not share my view. But, this is my own opinion based on what I know. In 1 Corinthians 12:23-31, Paul writes that "Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others." At first, he writes that if you are invited to a meal, you should eat whatever is placed before you "without raising questions of conscience". However, he then writes that if you are specifically told the meal was offered in sacrifice, that you should not eat it for the sake of that man's conscience, not your own. What I learn from that passage is that it is no longer about you. You may and should feel clean in your own conscience before God to eat and drink whatever you want for "the earth is the Lord's, and everything in it." However, Paul also wrote in 1 Corinthians 8 (and I paraphrase) that somebody else of a weaker conscience may emulate your behavior or justify his own by your actions and thus, defile himself. Unless you lived your entire life in a cave somewhere, you know what alcohol is, why people drink it and the dangers it presents to your body and your mind. In my mind, being someplace where alcohol is served is like being told this meal was offered to an idol. Like it or not, perceptions are reality in this world. I may be out with a friend and both of us know that I will limit myself to only 1 beer. However, somebody else may just happen to see me at that moment drinking a beer and think I am actually getting drunk. It is not about what I think, but about what he thinks. There is no way for me to know who may be watching me at what time and what they may think. But, I do have control over the image that I portray to others as a Christian and what they think of me is usually projected on to the church and on Christ. It is not about me, but about that younger new christian who looks at me as a role model and will now do with what he just saw. It is about the mormon who does not drink and thought christians also should not drink and see me drinking. It is about the atheist or muslim who does not drink but sees me drinking. Also, what about the issue of churches that serve actual wine during communion? What if somebody in that congregation is a recovering alcoholic? Now, somebody might say that it is up that person to know he should not drink that wine. However, what if he does not know that actual wine is being served? I have been in churches in which I did not know they served actual wine. Now, I drank it out of respect, but what if I were a recovering alcoholic? Also, we learn in Jude 22 and Romans 14-15, that we who are stronger in faith are to help those who are weaker in faith. Also imagine what sort of things would be said by non-christians if somebody like Pat Robertson or Joel Osteen was seen drinking or was pulled over by a cop for drunk driving. You do not have to be smashed to be legally drunk. Different people have different tolerance levels. Some get buzzed on only 1 beer or glass of wine while others can drink several and not be affected. Tolerance is something that can be learned. Just like a boxer who learns to tolerate pain by getting hit a lot, so too a person can build up their tolerance level for alcohol by getting drunk. But, we know that getting drunk is wrong, even though we may disagree on whether a christian can drink in moderation. My main point is that when you are in public, it is not about you and your own conscience. It is about other people and their conscience and about representing Christ in all things. I am not saying that I am perfect or that I always portray a healthy image of Christ to people. But, we need to be very careful about what we do in public and how it gets portrayed. |