Posted on 08/27/2006 12:41:00 AM PDT by Crazieman
Per Fox News
"do you believe if they had lived five minutes longer and repented of it, they would have received salvation back, instead?"
I know that you were not asking this question of me. I apologize if it is rude to break into your conversation. After reading this thread, which I find appalling at best, I thought your question was a good one and I wanted to answer.
Our salvation is a gift from God. He gives it freely and out of love for us. We cannot earn it, because it is given. We can reject it, but only God knows whether we have rejected him, as he is the only one to know our hearts. To base our salvation on our repentence or failure to repent puts us in control. We are not in control, God is. Therefore, our salvation is in his hands alone. He is powerful. We are not.
I'll forgo the Peter analogy, as it has already been done on this very thread. Blessings!
I think you are correct.
I was quoting what the reporter said. Please make certain that there is not a misunderstanding that I, ARMSF, have anything approaching respect for the evil of Islam.
Hey, not *all* the Bible thumpers! There's extremists in every religion, please don't lump us all together!
Sorry to see ya go. It still has not been ascertained whether these men had any religious conviction prior to the kidnapping. Some here have attempted to stay above the fray regarding specific doctrine, and they are to be commended. Yet there has been no question about what the other concessions were, that led up to the release. The tape was claimed as the third and final concession. Nobody is asking the pertinent question.
What, exactly, were the first two "concessions"?
You can't "lose" your salvation by breaking the 10 Commandments or any other law--Jesus said there was only one unforgivable sin, denying the Holy Spirit. If Hitler had sincerely repented of his sins, he would have been forgiven, despite all the evil he committed--although that is a hard idea for many people to grasp. Not very likely he repented before killing himself though--but we don't know these things, it is between each individual and his Maker!
Amen. In the meantime let us rejoice with their families that they have been released.
Now let's go catch the bad guys who did the kidnapping (I would add "kill" but I don;t want to offend those posters who believe Christians should never exercise a vigorous reponse against evil men).
Basically, they 'converted' to Islam to save their lives. I understand that and don't blame them. But when they were free and had the chance to repudiate what they did, make statements against these barbarians, they took a pass. I have a problem with that. These journals put their own liberal moral relativism above all else. I find that perverted.
And then they crossed the International Date Lie????
"Nope...Gloria Gaynor."
Oops... Cue Gloria in that case.
I always hated disco.
I hope I would have the courage not to deny Jesus. This is so horrible and sad. It has reminded me of the Left Behind series, where people dies when they refused to take the mark. Again, I hope I would have the same courage...
Date Line
Oh boy. Just when it looked like it was safe to discuss the media influence on public and government policy.....Not rapping you personally. These men made a statement. The media carried the statement as "news". In a rather unusual turn of events, there has been no comment other than Ailes saying the tape was "problematic". No comment on ransom paid, how many Islamics were freed from American prisons, and zilch from the State Department. And most concerning is that ALL media outlets are treating this as a one-off oddity. Like Americans and New Zealanders deserved this.
Well, the comment has been made that it was 'young men fervent in their religion' who were behind this (not verbatim) and in all probability, I doubt that anyone was released from prison or $$$$$ paid for their safety or whatever...from the flowery tone of the so-called 'conversion video', that was probably enough to satisfy the terrorist-wannabes...I bet Hamas was really ticked off at these kids for doing this, and this was the best face-saving way to bring this whole ordeal to an end.
LOL. That's like those liberals who swore to leave the country if Bush was ever re-elected! :-) They're still here, aren't they?
Actually, I read on another thread that Hamas was probably fully involved in it and knew the kidnapper, who has a long terrorist track record; furthermore, supposedly ransom was paid for them, through the UK. I don't know if this is true, but it would seem, from what they said, that the "three concessions" would have been letting the kidnapper go free, paying the ransom, and having the reporters declare their conversion to Islam.
Far below the demands to 'release ALL Muslims from prisons', thank goodness.
Your anger is misplaced. Many of us have said we hoped we would have the courage. We did not put the hostages down. Yes, I DO hope I would have the courage to stand up and declare my faith in Christ, but I don't know because I have not been tested in that situation. It is because of the deep feelings of something being terribly wrong that has many of us stirred up inside. It is because we are wakening to the knowledge that our beliefs in Christ may put us in danger and what this truly means. And what might we be called on to do in His name.
I agree with you that we should not cast stones. But I support ALL Christians here to examining ourselves how faithfully we follow - when the going is hard, and our very lives are at stake.
I just had a conversation with my mom, who said no problem the hostages were just keeping themselves alive. ButI worry that is the wrong answer.
Please allow the rest of us to examine how deep is our faith. Not for those two men, but for ourselves...
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