Not for justice, but salvation

Let me know when you find some relevant scripture.

He did, ...and he posted it, ...and you didn't even read it. So, I'll post it below for you to read:

2 Corinthians 9
7 So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.

He also said: What hate filled people like you don't want to believe is that there are people out there who are joyful followers of the Messiah Jesus and they get a kick out of helping others.

Why didn't you respond to that, Tiassa?

See? Tiassa, you're just being overly self-righteous ...which is something that you "claim" that you dislike in others, especially in religious people. Seems to me, Tiassa, that you're just filled up with hate.

Get help, Tiassa.

Baron Max
 
Baron Max said:

He did, ...and he posted it, ...and you didn't even read it. So, I'll post it below for you to read

Explain to me how that passage is relevant.

He also said: What hate filled people like you don't want to believe is that there are people out there who are joyful followers of the Messiah Jesus and they get a kick out of helping others.

Why didn't you respond to that, Tiassa?

Because there's no need to, Max. If he doesn't want to read my post before complaining and posting irrelevant Bible passages, why should I bother responding to it?
 
You can bring a horse to water but you cannot make it drink.

For others who are not blinded by hate.

Christianity is not Christians. Christianity is the Word revealed in the Bible.

Not the sometimes weird and wonderful variance in the many who claim to follow it.

Tissa has attacked The Love of the Truth because she judges those who have embraced the Love of the truth to be doing so out of greed. But the love of the truth is independent of reasoning that different people have for embracing it. God knows the motivations of people and He will judge.



All Praise The Ancient Of Days
 
That's awesome, Adstar. So the love of truth is the pursuit of one's redemption above all else? Absolutely smashing, dude.
 
No the Love of the Truth is Gods mercy on the hopeless sinner who is repentant of the sins they do. The Love of the truth is that The Word of God became flesh and dwelt amounts us and willingly suffered the price of Sin, death, to take that penalty away from those who embrace the Love of the Truth.

I hope you overcome your hate and desire for vengeance, maybe then you will be able to look beyond the human beings around you and see God.



All Praise The Ancient Of Days
 
Baron Max said:

I'm sure he feels just as good with his preaching as you do your own preaching, Tiassa.

And you with your Zen vacuity, Max. I'm just waiting for him to get relevant.
 
Tiassa, you seem to have found the worst in a few Christians and have exploded it to be all Christians. A central tenant of Christianity is that there is nothing one can do that is good enough to satisfy God. Christians do "good works" because they feel good doing it and they want to live their lives as Christ-like as they can.

No one can buy their way into Heaven; this murderer cannot sell his life to God for forgiveness. This is the whole point behind salvation by grace and faith. This is what makes Christianity so very different from most religions like Islam.

-- Clay
 
Please elaborate this...

A detailed explanation would merit a separate thread – I really don’t want to hijack this one. Religions are generally divided into those where salvation comes from faith, and those where salvation comes from deeds.

In short, Christians are saved through their relationship with God; grace is a gift from God. Christians good deeds reflect that they are motivated by the Holy Spirit which dwells within them.

Muslims on the other hand, have no saving grace; they live in fear of eternal punishment. Muslims are rewarded or punished only after a judgment based on weighing their actions. If they are sufficiently obedient to Allah, they can go to paradise, a rather erotic place that appeals mostly to young men. One must be obedient to Sharia Law, a complex set of rules. So complex in fact that Islamic clerics are called “jurists”.

There is actually, one and only one way for a Muslim to be guaranteed of going to paradise. That is to die in Jihad.
 
Revolvr said:

Tiassa, you seem to have found the worst in a few Christians and have exploded it to be all Christians

No, not all. In fact, if you actually read my posts in this topic, you'll discover that your statement is exactly wrong:

When nonbelievers note that Christianity "preaches selflessness", it is this idea they are referring to.

And it is conspicuously missing throughout much of Christianity today. (It is also present through much of Christianity, and the difference is a matter of trust, but this is a separate discussion for now.)

As nature abhors a vacuum (or so God wills, so to speak) that void must necessarily be filled in with something. And that something is a selfish attitude that through history has spawned many terrible crimes against humanity and God alike. It is what turns Christ's modified Golden Rule into a nightmare that justified crusades, inquisitions, parts of the American slave trade, and without which Manifest Destiny would have been considerably harder an argument.


(#1638111/27)

In order for your point to be accurate, you would have to ignore the parenthetic note. Additionally, you would have to twist history and apply the sins of the crusades, inquisitions, American slave trade, and Manifest Destiny onto all Christians.

I don't go that far. Why do you?

A central tenant of Christianity is that there is nothing one can do that is good enough to satisfy God.

Shall we split hairs? Or shall I simply note that I know what you mean?

Christians do "good works" because they feel good doing it and they want to live their lives as Christ-like as they can.

I think you made the point better in made the point better in your response to JLocke.

No one can buy their way into Heaven; this murderer cannot sell his life to God for forgiveness. This is the whole point behind salvation by grace and faith.

I think we can agree on this. Part of me does wonder where Rodriguez got such a notion into his head. (Most likely, it wasn't from a Muslim.)
 
Feel better for that Adstar?

Yes indeed. It always feels Good to express the Love of God, The evil reaction to it by others does sadden me but the joy of the truth is greater than the sadness of the rejection.

All Praise The Ancient Of Days
 
*************
M*W: Please give examples of what kinds of things are considered to be "Jihad."

The objective of the Islamic “Jihād” is to eliminate the rule of an un-Islamic system and establish in its stead an Islamic system of state rule world wide. Islam is a revolutionary ideology and programme which seeks to alter the social order of the whole world and rebuild it in conformity with its own tenets and ideals. This is done through Jihad. Jihad of Islam is not merely a “struggle”; it is a “struggle for the Cause of Allah”.

--ABUL A’LA MAUDUDI, International Islamic Federation of Student Organizations, 1934.

"And fight them until there is no persecution and religion is professed for Allah." (2: 193).)

"If you do not do (that you are enjoined) there will be mischief in the earth and tremendous disorder". ( 8: 73)

"He is Who sent His Messenger with guidance and the religion of truth, he may make it dominant over all religions, even if the polytheists resent it". ( 9: 33)

-- Qu’ran

All of the Islamic violence we see today, whether it be terrorism or genocide (as in Sudan) are examples of Jihad.
 
No, not all. In fact, if you actually read my posts in this topic, you'll discover that your statement is exactly wrong:

Before I reply let me see if I understand your position. Are you saying that Christians are motivated by greed (to avoid Hell) and are therefore responsible for much of the violence on the world?

Sorry but your posts are so emotionally laden that it is difficult for me to be sure I know what you're trying to say.
 
Revolvr said:

Are you saying that Christians are motivated by greed (to avoid Hell) and are therefore responsible for much of the violence on the world?

That's one way of looking at it. Sure.

Sorry but your posts are so emotionally laden that it is difficult for me to be sure I know what you're trying to say.

Which is why it's best to simply accuse? Do I have that right?

I shall endeavor in the future to be mechanical and robotic enough to make things easier on you.
 
Tiassa, your education it seems has lead you to condemn all of Christianity, but I see it as not being well founded in Christian beliefs. I don’t know where on Earth a Christian education is required by law. Certainly not in the US where atheists are doing their best to eliminate any references to God or any moral absolute from the education of our youth.

Certainly power corrupts, even the power of an old man over children. It corrupted the Catholic Church, which lead to the Protestant Reformation (Protestant meaning to protest). But even acknowledging that corruption exists, virtually no evil and murder in this world is due to Christians.

The great mass murders in history are usually atheists. Hitler’s Nazi’s despised Christians: the Nazi’s became Gods. Stalin, Lenin, both atheists responsible for the murders of tens of millions. Mao was a communist not a Christian, allowed more tens of millions to die. Cambodia – not Christian, 3 million deaths. The various genocidal regimes in Africa – not Christian. Sudan where some 200,000 people have died in the last 5 years – Muslim. Nowhere will one find such evil at the hands of Christians.

Even the Crusades were defensive wars. They were a direct response to Muslim aggression, an effort to defend against Muslim conquests of Christian lands. Muslims were gunning for Christians to wipe them out. The Christians of 11th century Europe were not paranoid fanatics. Muslims were and still are. Islam struck out against the Christians shortly after Mohammed's death. They were extremely successful. Palestine, Syria, and Egypt-once the most heavily Christian areas in the world-quickly succumbed. By the eighth century, Muslim armies had conquered all of Christian North Africa and Spain. In the eleventh century, the Seljuk Turks conquered Asia Minor (modern Turkey), which had been Christian since the time of St. Paul.

From the perspective of medieval Christians, Muslims were the enemies of Christ and His Church. It was the Crusaders' task to defeat and defend against them.

By the 1500’s the Protestant Reformation, which rejected the papacy and the doctrine of indulgence, made Crusades unthinkable for many Europeans, thus leaving the fighting to the Catholics. The Protestant Reformation enabled the Renaissance which led to great economic growth and new science and engineering – by Christians: the Muslim lands had no such Renaissance, leaving ultimate defeat of Islam due to economic power not military power.

Today power still corrupts. And perhaps there are some who call themselves Christians who do good works to try to buy themselves into Heaven. Nevertheless much of the good in this world comes from Judaeo-Christian values and devoutly religions people. Much of science and technology, from Kepler, Newton to Einstein, came from devoutly religious people. Christians are not killing people because their God tells them to.
 
Revolvr said:

The great mass murders in history are usually atheists. Hitler’s Nazi’s despised Christians: the Nazi’s became Gods. Stalin, Lenin, both atheists responsible for the murders of tens of millions. Mao was a communist not a Christian, allowed more tens of millions to die. Cambodia – not Christian, 3 million deaths. The various genocidal regimes in Africa – not Christian. Sudan where some 200,000 people have died in the last 5 years – Muslim. Nowhere will one find such evil at the hands of Christians.

How strange. Help me out here, this tired, bitter argument has anything to do with what? Given its insistence that a dynamic history operating in at least four dimensions be static and two-dimensional, it's not particularly effective.

Furthermore, your endorsement of atrocities committed in the name of Christ doesn't help your argument much. Of course, I'm not sure what that argument even is at this point, so it doesn't much matter.

Christians are not killing people because their God tells them to.

You're right. It's marginally more complicated than that.


History is not as simplistic as you would treat it, Revolvr.
 
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