Posted on 10/07/2007 8:01:14 PM PDT by JSDude1
President George Bush has repeated his belief all religions, "whether they be Muslim, Christian, or any other religion, prays to the same God" – an assertion that caused outrage among evangelical leaders when he said it in November 2003.
(Excerpt) Read more at wnd.com ...
Here's a couple verses below.
All of us are God's children. He loves us all and Jesus came to save us all. Do you really think that you are something special because you were born into a society where Jesus teachings are known? Somehow you are more important than the billions of people who never heard of Jesus? Such pride! Such hubris!You might want to review what Jesus said about pride and what He said about those who put themselves above other people. Todays Gospel was about humility, it might deserve a quick look.
Jesus taught us how to join Him in heaven. Not one word of these teachings has to do with us declaring who will or will not be saved. Why some feel it is beneficial to spend time on discussing judgments only God can make is beyond me.
I have enough trouble getting the plank out of my own eye let alone spending time discussing someone else's eyesight.
"Then hear thou in heaven, in the place of thy dwelling, and forgive, and do so as to give to every one according to his ways, as thou shalt see his heart (for thou only knowest the heart of all the children of men)". I Kings 8:39
"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!"'
There are so many valuable lessons learned by Israel of the past, which we as believers today should remember as nations.
God not only judges by individuals but also by group and by nation. The lessons of the stages of Divine Discipline to believing nations is wonderfully expanded upon in the Old Testament.
I suspect we are resurfacing many a lesson already taught to the Hebrew nation unnecessarily.
All power, strength, riches, wisdom, blessing, glory, honor and praise to Him for ever and ever.
John 3:3: “...no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.”
John 3:15: “...everyone who believes in him [Jesus] may have eternal life.”
John 3:18: “...whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”
John 14:6: “Jesus answered: ‘No one comes to the Father except through me’”
Acts 3:23: “And it shall be, that every soul that shall not hearken to that prophet, shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.” (ASV)
Acts 4:12: “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved”
Romans 10:9: “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved”
Hebrews 9:28: “...he [Christ] will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him”
1 John 5:12: “...he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.”
So why would God come in the flesh, allow Himself to be beaten and grieved in every way humanly imaginable, while remaining faithful to the Father, if it wasn’t necessary for Him to provide that perfect Sacrifice?
With the perspective of good vs evil, I encourage you to discern between human good and Divine good. Human good, independent of Him might last days, weeks, years, maybe even a couple of centuries, but Divine good has eternal merit. Human good is parlayed into evil by the Adversary in an attempt to counterfeit God’s Plan and the Adversary to promote his false system while attempting to make himself as God.
There is a difference in trying to determine who is a believer and who isn’t from understanding what is meant by the Gospel.
There is a wedding feast awaiting those who persevere through faith in Christ, and a bema seat where crowns will be given as rewards for our victories through faith in Him. Meanwhile, others will endure a Great White Throne Judgment which will open the books. If a person’s name is there in those books, then by God’s predetermination they are saved, but if not a second set of books will be reviewed. If the good works as judged by Divine Standards, Not human standards, are shown to manifest a persons righteousness, then God is free in His immutable nature to give that person eternal life.
The reason why human good works independent of faith through Christ will not persevere is the same reason the Adversary shall not prevail in the future for all eternity. I tmight be better expressed, that if one values Heaven, then we better hope human good works independent of faith in Christ will not be rewarded, becasue if they are acknowledged, then God also must allow evil for all eternity future and the death of His Son was for nothingness.
So it really boils down to which God you seek to serve. Do we serve the God through faith in Christ as being trustworthy, or do we chose an Adversarial accuser who is known as the father of lies, murder and deception?
But faith isn’t rationalism. All faith comes from God and faith through Christ provides eternal salvation.
Actually no. Lucifer, who became HaSatan upon his declaration of his five "I wills", is a fallen angel, a cherub to be exact. Angels have volition just as man has volition, as does God Himself (also known as His Soveriegnty).
As humans with volition, we can choose to remain in fellowship with God through faith in Christ, or we can turn away from Him, thereby falling out of fellowship with Him (not leaving the royal family once saved, but not walking with the Holy Spirit, or Grieving the Holy Spirit).
The object of our thinking when we turn away from Him, isn't necessarily upon Satan. It simply is on anything BUT God through faith in Christ.
There are many, many, many good people who think, decide, and behave daily in a myriad of fashions independently of faith through Christ, which have no respet for Satan whatsoever, nevertheless still in sin.
In the Garden of Eden, after man was found to have disobeyed God, man was driven out, in our dying we would surely die. But also Satan was punished by not being given what he sought. Satan sought to be worshiped by the creature God had created in His own image. Instead as a result of sin, God mandated then that enmity would be the heart of man towards Satan.
This is interesting to note, because in the natural man, even in unbelievers, the natural man, the old sin nature, still has an aversion towards Satan, even if that person has no relationship with God.
Most humans out of fellowship with God aren't seeking Satan, but are instead merely seeking something other than God as a counterfeit to what He has already provided.
There is no other name under heaven which provides an intercessor between the perfect holiness of God (composed of His Perfect Righteousness facing His Perfect Justice) and man.
I don't judge Bush in his statement, but do discern a lack of delivery of the good news available to ALL mankind, but only through faith in Christ.
After reading ALL the posts (up to this point - which took quite some time), let me offer the following "kind" hypothesis:
Religion is merely an illusion. It's a massive attempt at wish fulfillment. Religion is based on nothing more than our infantile feelings of helplessness and the consequent desire to be protected by an all powerful person who becomes God.
Religion is a dangerous illusion because it keeps humankind in a childish state.
As science matures humankind should stand on its own.
I hope this helps.
You have missed something not revealed to those who only live by the body or the soul. There exists a spirit life which isn’t known by those who do not exercise faith through Christ.
The human spirit is discernible from activity in the mind or in the heart. Without that human spirit being regenerated by God the Holy Spirit, no man is able to understand the significance of that new life. It has absolutely nothing to do with psychology. Psychology might influence a believer’s continuing growth in the spirit by God’s Plan, but only the soulish person confuses the human spirit with the human soul.
These issues have been known for millenia. Surely one cannot consider themselves very well educated if they haven’t grasped such rudimentary basics available even to children.
I don’t hope this helps, but instead I express my love for my fellow man enough to encourage you not to take my word for it, but rather take His Word for it and afford Him a simple amount of faith so that He might lead you to understand what this Christianity thing is all about.
Science might provide some assurances in empiricism and rationalism, but is void with respect to the perception system only available through faith in Christ.
You have been missing out on one of the most enthralling adventures available to you. It begins with faith through Christ, not imagination, not illusion, not feelings, not religion.
I see you must have taken a Psych class. Good for you. Now explain how the first life form was created.
Yep
I would like to add one more comment...
Having "the calling" ain't exactly a joy ride. In fact it's a real pain in the arse sometimes. Trust me.
Also, the idea that that science could ever be exact is a myth...the more you know about science, the more you will find that we don't know jack dittle.
So I take it you do not believe Jesus Christ, and that Christ is a liar? After all, He specifically said that there is ONE way to the Father - and that is through Him (Jesus Christ).
If my Lord and Savior says that HE is the only way, then I believe Him. To deny Him would be proof positive that an individual has chosen eternal damnation.
Yeah, when someone throws a Mohammad slam to someone who doesn’t believe as they do, you can quote the whatever all you want- as long as you include, ‘judge not lest ye be judged.’
Ye shall know them by their fruits (Matthew 7:16)
By these fruits, we know that Bush is not speaking the truth. If he truly believed that Jesus is the Christ, he would never say that Christians, who pray in Jesus’ name (Jesus who made it clear while he walked the Earth that he is God), are praying to the same God as Muslims, who teach that Jesus is just a prophet, not God.
Bush has made a grievous error here, and it appears to be intentional. Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is attributing works of Satan to the Holy Spirit. Bush’s teaching here is getting pretty close to that, IMO. (However, my opinion isn’t what matters, only God’s declaration matters. It is not my place to judge anyone’s salvation; that is entirely up to God.)
With this and Bush’s argument with Texas about the jurisdiction of the International Court, all I can say is how did we ever stick ourselves with this guy? But I guess we knew he was a “globalist” from the first and just discounted it.
You know what you believe but you are pretty far out of the mainstream of Christianity. The Jesus/God identity is pretty basic to Orthodox, Catholic, Monophysite, Nestorian, and almost all Protestant versions of Christianity.
Nope, it’s a relationship with God, not a “wish fulfillment”.
Hope this helps your understanding of Christianity!
“Himself”.
That’s not what I said.
Again I insist that your statement is in direct opposition to God’s WORD.
Were raised a Witness?
Nope. Methodist/non-denom.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.