Posted on 11/19/2001 11:54:59 AM PST by Stand Watch Listen
But `evil and wicked' quote doesn't cancel Christian love, he says
While saying he is called to love people regardless of their faith, evangelist Franklin Graham on Sunday wouldn't back away from his recent statement on a national news program that Islam "is a very evil and wicked religion."
In a prepared statement released to The Observer through a spokesman, Graham said his Samaritan's Purse ministry in Boone will continue providing millions of dollars in aid to Muslims in need around the world. But he did not take back the controversial comments aired Friday night on "NBC Nightly News" and repeated on cable stations.
Those pieces were based on an interview Graham gave last month near Wilkesboro, at the dedication of a chapel in his parents' name, when he said: "We're not attacking Islam but Islam has attacked us. The God of Islam is not the same God. He's not the son of God of the Christian or Judeo-Christian faith. It's a different God and I believe it is a very evil and wicked religion."
In his prepared statement Sunday, Graham said: "It is not my calling to analyze Islam or any other religions, though I recognize that all religions have differences. In the past, I have expressed my concerns about the teachings of Islam regarding the treatment of women and the killing of non-Muslims or infidels."
Graham, 49, does not plan to comment publicly on the issue, and only will release Sunday's statement in response to questions.
His response comes a day after his ministry's Operation Christmas Child began processing 1 million shoe boxes in Charlotte for needy children overseas - including thousands destined for largely Muslim nations.
His comments were challenged by former Charlottean Ali Akber, who helped organize a meeting between local Jews and Muslims after Sept. 11, before he relocated to Maryland.
"That's spreading hatred," said Akber. "It is the same God. We just don't worship the same way. We all believe in God and charity and worshipping and not doing any evil."
Franklin Graham's views run counter to those expressed on Sept. 17 by President Bush, who called Islam "a faith that brings comfort to a billion people around the world."
It also stands in contrast to the message delivered by Graham's father at the National Day of Prayer and Remembrance service at the National Cathedral in Washington, on Sept. 14. "We come together today to affirm our conviction that God cares for us, whatever our ethnic, religious or political background may be," Billy Graham preached. "The Bible says that he is `the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles.'"
No. Each considers Jesus differently. Jesus to the Muslims is merely a prophet. Jesus to Christians is the Savior, God incarnate.
Ted, a Christian.
Ahhh, yes. But since Jesus is the Christ and the same God as the Father accepting Him is accepting Him.
My sheep hear My voice, and I know them and they follow Me. And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand. My Father, who gave them to Me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of My Father's hand.Even the Jews of Jesus day knew Who He claimed to be. But is was hidden from many of them because they were not His sheep, just as the scriptures say.I and My Father are One."
Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him.
Jesus answered them, "Many good works have I shown you from My Father. For which of those works do ye stone Me?"
The Jews answered Him, saying, "For a good work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy and because thou, being a man, makest thyself God."
When we equate God with anything made of man, it's idolatry, be it a stone statue, a religion, a book, or a concept of God handed down for generations. God hates idolatry.
Jesus clearly claimed to be Almighty God. Will you reject Him or accept Him?
As for Allah being a moon god, Yahweh began as a war god. All gods gotta start somewhere.
It is true that all "gods" gotta start somewhere, but my God came from nothing; He is Self-Existing.
You see, Jesus is not some mouldy pile of bones decaying and scattered like that false prophet of Islam. He is! He has not ever slapped me, though He has chastened me.
BTW, this is the way Jesus Preached:
And He came to Nazareth where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read. And there was delivered unto Him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:Repent or you will be like the ones in these verses!"The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor. He hath sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord."
And He closed the book, and He gave it again to the minister and sat down. And the eyes of all those who were in the synagogue were fastened on Him. And He began to say unto them, "This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears."
And all bore Him witness and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth. And they said, "Is not this Joseph's son?"
And He said unto them, "Ye will surely say unto Me this proverb: `Physician, heal thyself! Whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country.'" And He said, "Verily I say unto you, no prophet is accepted in his own country. But I tell you in truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land. But unto none of them was Elijah sent, save unto Zarephath, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow. And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed, except Naaman the Syrian."
Then all those in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, and rose up and thrust Him out of the city; and they led Him unto the brow of a hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast Him down headlong.
Here is some fruit for you to ponder:
For ye were sometimes darkness, but now ye are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth), proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them, for it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret.
And likewise, nobody goes to the Son except that the Father first draw him near! There is a reason that they don't believe.
Sorry to inform you that Jesus is coming again with vengence to repay:
God shall likewise destroy thee for ever; He shall take thee away, and pluck thee out of thy dwelling place, and root thee out of the land of the living. SelahRepent or you shall perish at the hand of the Living God.The righteous also shall see this and fear, and shall laugh at him: "Lo, this is the man that made not God his strength, but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his own wickedness."
But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God; I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever. I will praise Thee for ever, because Thou hast done it, and I will wait on Thy name, for it is good before Thy saints.
The haters of the LORD would pretend submission to Him, but their fate would endure forever.No, I did not exclude the Jews talked about in that passage I quoted. God himself did. Those are His words!!!
So the Hebrews, of which triber Rabbi Joshua was a member, worshiped G-d for millenia before Christ while hating him?
A little more about what God said about some of the Jews before Christ:
"Harden not your heart as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness when your fathers tempted Me, proved Me, and saw My work. Forty years long was I was disgusted with this generation, and said `It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known My ways.' Unto them I swore in My wrath, that they should not enter into My rest."Also, it may be true that "The haters of the LORD would pretend submission." But your quote does not say that only the haters would do so. The true believers would, as did the Jews, submit to the lord.
There is an eternity of difference between submitting and pretending to submit. Please try to be on the right side by repenting!
You read the Bible very thoroughly, and I admire that. But thinking is not precluded by that and, in fact required. For it is the lack of sufficient reflection and humility that leads good hearts, such as yours, to hate and prejudice.
Sorry to burst the argument that you think you have found. I only have understanding of the Bible because I have Christ in me. The particulars of my prayer and meditation with Him are private. When I stray, He is quick to bring be back. This is, BTW, good evidence that I am a partaker in Him and not an illegitimate.
Zoroastrianism was once a proselytizing religion. When a significant portion of their community was forced to flee Muslim oppresion in Iran once the latter had siezed control there, the Zoroastrians went to India. There they became known as Parsees and Parsees refuse to accept non-Zoroastrians as converts. The Hindu community which allowed them to settle there forbid proselytizing and hence this became accepted practise among Parsees and they developed some interesting and convoluted ideas to explain this prohibition, none of which really makes sense from the persepctive of original Zoroastrian practise. It was merely a response to pressure from the surrounding non-Zoroastrian community. Zoroastrians which remained in Iran, and are closer to their historical roots, do welcome converts.
I think the situation with Judaism may be similar.
To reinforce my theory, in eastern Europe in the early Middle Ages, there was no reluctance on the part of Jews to convert the Khazars and these non-Semitic people adopetd Judaism as their state religion. But in that situation there was no Christian presence and resultant anti-Semitic feeling.
Why shouldn't a religious faith seek to proselytyze? As long as they are not COMPELLING anyone or making themselves obnoxious, I view it as a form of free speech.
You may be right about Islam being behind Christianity in its development. Since Christianity evolved about 2000 years ago and Islam about 1400-1300 years ago, they are about 600 to 700 years behind us. That would place them where we were in the 1400's and 1500's.
However, both Muslims and Jews regard Christ as a prophet. His importance is far greater in Islam than in Judaism. To the Muslims, He was the greatest prophet next to Mohammad. They also have a particular reverence for his mother, as previous postings by Catholics on this subject have indicated.
Finally. Someone said it.
It also stands in contrast to the message delivered by Graham's father [...] on Sept. 14. "We come together today to affirm our conviction that God cares for us, whatever our ethnic, religious or political background may be," Billy Graham preached. "The Bible says that he is `the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles.'"
Franklin's comments do NOT contradict what his father said. God does love all people, whether they love Him or not. And President Bush is the one needing the lesson in theology here.
SWL, thank you for posting this.
The Christian God is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The Muslims do not worship Jesus, who is God incarnate, God the Son. And there is the final sticking point, because Jesus said you can't get to the Father without going through Him. All who were born before Him, but who put their hope in the God of Israel, will find their faith realized in Him at the resurrection of the dead.
Graham on Sunday wouldn't back away from his recent statement ... But he did not take back the controversial comments
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