Shortly after the attacks of September 11, Graham had commented, "I don't believe [Islam] is a wonderful, peaceful religion." Asked by NBC News on Friday to clarify his statement, he repeated his charge that Islam, as a whole, was evil.Posted on 11/21/2001 9:28:59 AM PST by truthandlife
In what is believed to be a first in American history, there were prayers to Allah last night at the White House where President Bush hosted a formal Ramadan celebration with dozens of Muslim leaders.
The Ramadan event was another effort by the Bush Administration to prove its war on terrorism is not a war against Islam. However, conservative voices like Gary Bauer have been sharply critical of that effort. He says he has heard from a number of people within the U.S. intelligence community who are shocked and demoralized that some of the Muslim leaders who have been spending time with the President have been known to speak out in favor of terrorism.
Bauer notes that while these people are getting the red carpet treatment at the White House, reports indicate the President is distancing himself from one of the country's best-known evangelicals. According to reports, Franklin Graham upset the Bush Administration when he recently referred to Islam as being "wicked, violent, and not of the same God."
Shortly after the attacks of September 11, Graham had commented, "I don't believe [Islam] is a wonderful, peaceful religion." Asked by NBC News on Friday to clarify his statement, he repeated his charge that Islam, as a whole, was evil.
"It wasn't Methodists flying into those buildings, it wasn't Lutherans," he told NBC News. "It was an attack on this country by people of the Islamic faith."
In a follow-up statement yesterday, Graham said he is deeply concerned with "the teachings of Islam regarding the treatment of women, and the killing of non-Muslims or infidels."
The son of Rev. Billy Graham and the designated successor of his father's extensive evangelical ministry, Graham delivered the benediction at Bush's inauguration in January. As NBC News observed, "A presidential friend and supporter now finds himself at odds with both the Muslim world and the message from the White House." But conservative columnist Chuck Baldwin calls Graham "a breath of fresh air" for standing firm and not apologizing for his statements.
Meanwhile, The New York Times reports a Muslim advocacy organization has sent a letter to Graham inviting him to meet with them to discuss his remarks. In the letter, Nihad Awad of the Council on America-Islamic Relations says, "Negative impressions of Islam are most often based on a lack of accurate and objective information."
Positive Outcome
As a national holiday approaches, President Bush says Americans of various faiths will be "joined in prayer" this Thanksgiving. "On this holiday, we give thanks for our many blessings and for life itself," Bush said. "Thanksgiving reminds us that the greatest gifts don't come from the hands of man, but from the Maker of heaven and earth. This week, American families will gather in that spirit."
Since the September terrorist attacks, church attendance has increased and there have been more prayer gatherings on Capitol Hill. Evangelist Pat Robertson believes people have been shocked into examining what their true values are.
"What we're seeing is that this awful attack, as horrific ... and as heart-rending [as it was], is bringing about one of the greatest spiritual revivals in the history of America," Robertson says. "[T]he churches are full ... people are turning to God, they're turning to their families, they're turning to the fundamental values, and they're getting away from all this fluff of the last decade."
Robertson made his comments today on CNN.
So there is more to salvation than accepting Jesus Christ as your personal savior. The old bait and switch tactic trick. I bet it gets really complicated the deeper you get. The old bait and switch tactic trick.
There are only two great commandments that all the laws of God our based upon:
1. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind, and all strength.
2. Love your neighbor as yourself.
This not complicated at all to understand. Very few will actually enter heaven, because very few actually love God.
ACCEPTANCE requires dedicating your life to honor Him.
Never saw anything in the Bible to say "You are free to ignore those 10 Commandments now that Jesus has paid your debt of Original Sin."
Which of the 10 Commandments means less to God?
Adultry?
Not honoring your mother and father?
Murder?
Theft?
Idol worship?
Multiple gods?
Are they ranked by weight? If so, then false gods ranks higher on offense than murder.
There are only two great commandments that all the laws of God our based upon:
1. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind, and all strength.
2. Love your neighbor as yourself.
This not complicated at all to understand. Very few will actually enter heaven, because very few actually love God.
If you are too tied to monetary possessions and physical pleasures, you are too fixated on this temporary world to truly love God.
Glad to see you posting so actively on "Islam is a sham" threads < /sarcasm >. Your posts here have been to knock Christianity (which was hardly the topic of this thread as posted). Recent registration. Are you a disrupter?
A) Man is born a sinner.
B) To be saved from his sins he must accept Jesus Christ as his personal savior.
Now you are telling me that man, the born sinner, should not commit sins. How can this be?
If man is a born sinner, he will sin. If he sins, then acceptance of Jesus Christ is salvation.
If man, the born sinner, does not sin, why does he need Jesus Christ to save him?
In order to be saved by Jesus Christ, man has to sin. Man has to sin yet you are claiming he must not sin.
Scratching my head in wonder.
Many people struggle with temptations.
No man can live a sinless life. Only Jesus Christ was capable of this because he is the son of God. God knew what he was doing when he created us. He didn't want perfect little robots that would automatically do whatever he says. No, God wants man to Love him because he Loved us first by giving his only son to pay for our sins.
Jesus showed us that the way, the truth, and the life. God wants us to love him so much, that we lose our fear of death because we know we have eternal life.
God is not your enemy, he is your only true friend.
What kind of God wants people to love him just because he loved them.
If I demanded a woman love me because I loved her and declared she was going to punished if she did act like she loved me I would be labeled as insane, probably criminally insane.
Yikes!
Excellent point.
Ramadan is their most holy time, Easter is "ours". George W Bush should invite these same muslims to partake of a nice Easter ham next Spring.
If a woman professed to love you (e.g. in the bond of marriage), and you let her enter into your home ("kingdom"), if she betrayed that love, you might not let her stay there until she showed more proof of her testament of love (in our realm, many couple seek a divorce for this reason, God, like your parents perhaps, continues to love you even when you do things that don't please Him).
True, but god is not offering the choice of stay here or not. He is offering the choice of stay here or go to hell and suffer for enternity. This is the same as my not only kicking my wife out, but forcing her to go live under the Taliban.
Ok Babe, either truely love me or I am sending your butt to Kabul. I will still continue to love you while you suffer. Bye.
That is the only thing you have posted that we can believe.
Had you read the entire chapter, rather than focusing on one sentence, you could have seen that my point was obvious to any attentive Bible reader. - Try reading some commentaries.
Chapter? What chapter. I see not reference to any chapters in the chain of posts.
You want me to take the time and effort to study the bible when the popular expressions of Christians about Christianity are self contractictory and illogical? Why should I waste the time if the bible is source of all these contradictions?
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