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.
He didn't have to create your ungrateful ass.
No. I am saying that you humans who dream up fables about the creator are wrong.
The god you have dreamed up is frightening, egotistical and vengful. You have created your god in the image and likeness of yourselves.
The truth is simply this--God gave us life designed to be lived in loving relationship with Him. We chose to break that relationship by doing what He asked us not to do for our own good. All actions have consequences, and the consequences of sin is eternal separation from God. Why it's in a very hot place I don't know--but that's what the Bible says, and that's good enough proof for anyone with a teachable, reachable heart and mind. Thus, the conclusion is that God sends no one to Hell, we chose it ourselves rather than belief that God through His son, Jesus Christ, paid the penalty. He took the sentence of death that was pronounced against us and overcame death and the grave. Why He did this still amazes me and will amaze all creation throughout eternity. There is no earthly reason; I have nothing about me that would merit the God of the Universe to constrain Himself to the form of man with the sole purpose of dying in yours and my place. Truly, it is as the Bible says in John 3:16, "For God so LOVED the world, that He gave His only begotten son that whosoever believes in Him, shall not perish (reap the consequences of his sinful disobedience,) but have everlasting life."
You're one of those whosoevers, and all you have to do is believe that 1)you're a sinner (Big Step--don't let pride get in your way.) 2)Ask God for forgiveness of your sins and help with resisting future temptation to sin, and 3)Believe and surrender your life back to Him so that the orignal loving relationship that you were created to have will be restored.
Now, do we immediately become sinless upon this confession of faith? Unfortunately, no. We continue to sin and repent and be forgiven, but the wonder of it all is that we sin less and less in proportion to the amount of God's love that we let into our lives. The great hope of a Christian is that one day we will cease this unrelenting struggle with sin, and that one day either by death or rapture we will be ushered into the eternal presence of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, where there will be no more sorrow or no more tears.
I hope you choose to believe the truth rather than reject it. However, rest assured that no amount of your disbelief, opprobrium, or straw man argument will change one iota of that truth. Aren't you tired of tilting at windmills?
This has been the just of your posts on this thread. Entirely off the topic of comments on Bush's hosting a Ramadan Celebration and Franklin Graham's response.
Your posts have just been to doubt the validity of Christianity. If that is your beef, start an "opinion" thread to discuss that elsewhere on FR. I'm sure that others will counter your arguments there.
This is a great symbol of the Freedom that is allowed in this country in that people can choose to worship freely even though we do not agree with those religions. I do not agree with Judaism but I respect their right to openly worship and agree that it can be brought into the WH. This war is a spiritual war and will only be one in the hearts and minds of the muslim world. We need to open those countries to the Lord Jesus Christ and he has chosen GW who is born again and we must bow to his leadership. The revival has started and the truth is being spoken. America Bless God.
Pray for GW and the Truth!
Please don't waste a single second of your very short time here on Earth; you'll have eternity to mull these things over (and over, and over...)
There are no contradictions, only contrary fools who imagine them.
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