What the west needs to know...

Most of the Islam in the world is charismatic version that is basically do whatever you please as long as you follow God's will and worship him (note very loose language), called Sufism.

A muslim may call themselves Shi'a even though they may be a Sufist. Sufism is more of a practice then a belief, and the splits are rather weird, with hypocrites where certain sects are prosecuted.

Note to self: question self before taking class...
 
Dark Virtue said:
So you are saying that 85-90 percent of those that follow Islam, which amounts to roughly 1.17 billion people, don't understand their religion? And that these radicals are actually the only ones that do?
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I would have to say the same about Christianity unfortunately. How many people are just content to go about life with "fire insurance", and never seek to fulfill the great commission. "Go and make disciples" But alas that is another thread. Im just trying to make the point, and Im sure you will agree with me DV.
 
Dark Virtue said:
Because Christianity isn't currently killing anyone that opposes them? Sorry, but Christianity has a LONG history of doing just that.
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I agree, we do. It's pretty dumb. Giving a religion its own politics or military is asking for trouble.

Ark also makes a very valid point.
 
I think George Bush made a huge mistake at the beginning of this whole thing. During one of his speeches he said something to like of this (the war on terror) being a crusade to end terrorism. That word crusade has many many bad connotations to a Muslim. They hear crusade and think of THE crusades and what we(as Christians) did to clean up the Holy Land. Islam already calls the USA the great Shaitan (Satan) and sees us as the enemy. The fact that the Muslims already living here haven't risen up against what they call the infidels amazes me. I'm sure we are just one big terrorist attack away from rounding up all the Muslims and putting them in concentration camps like we did with the Japanese during WW2. Its a razors edge we live on. I'm NOT placing blame on anybody for all this because I see it as God's plan to bring about the end of the age. The great struggle between good and evil is never ending and its playing out in front of us on the front page news. However we still have reap the harvest that God has planted. Being content to sit idly by and watch it pass is a mistake. I would direct you to read Matthew 25:14-30. Jesus gives us a pretty good description of what God thinks about those he gives talents to and they do not use.
 
hescominsoon said:
we aren't one terrorist attack away form locking up the Muslims. The gov't has shown it's willing to sacrifice it's own land to appease them. What will happen is any Constitutional rights we have left will be given away by a populace too lazy to do it's duty..which is to manage the leaders appointed over them.
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Too right mate.
 
hescominsoon said:
we aren't one terrorist attack away form locking up the Muslims. The gov't has shown it's willing to sacrifice it's own land to appease them. What will happen is any Constitutional rights we have left will be given away by a populace too lazy to do it's duty..which is to manage the leaders appointed over them.
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So what is your solution?
 
What is scary is what the US would do to civilians revolting their government. Makes you wonder if the majority went weather they would step down...so much for democracy...
 
No the problem is you arguing pointless topics just for the sake of knocking the subject off topic. You do that just to annoy us. If you have a problem with us, discuss it in PM not in the topic please.
 
Eh? Everything that I've posted thus far has been completely ON topic.

VK, shouldn't you take your own advice and have sent that last post to me in a PM?
 
DV, any thoughts on the topic?

I've noticed that you are usually inquisitive to the point that some may take it as contradictory. Would you care to chime in with some knowledge and your own personal views?

As for me, I think that this whole situation in the Middle East is going to come to a very big head in the near future. And since that is the final battleground in scripture, one can only contemplate.

[offtopic]
DV, what is holding you back from throwing in the towel and surrendering yourself to God's grace and salvation? There is no trial period. You can't just half-believe. There are those who say and act like believers and then one day lose their faith. They weren't true believers. Once you truly believe, nothing can sway your belief. Don't you worry about your soul? You don't just have a soul, you ARE a soul. What do you think happens to you when your body dies? Do you just cease to exist? Wouldn't you rather know that you'll wake up in eternity, reunited with God and your loved ones? Eternal salvation has been bought and paid for by the blood of Jesus. All you have to do is accept it and it's yours.
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astrod00d said:
DV, any thoughts on the topic?

I've noticed that you are usually inquisitive to the point that some may take it as contradictory. Would you care to chime in with some knowledge and your own personal views?

As for me, I think that this whole situation in the Middle East is going to come to a very big head in the near future. And since that is the final battleground in scripture, one can only contemplate.
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I honestly don't know. While our efforts are a bit misdirected in the Middle East, they are necessary. I don't subscribe to the notion that we brought this upon ourselves. We are in a position to help others. Not doing so would make us morally bankrupt. Some may say that we stick our nose where it doesn't belong, but as a global superpower, EVERYTHING other nations do affects us one way or the other.

Once you throw religion into the mix, things get hairy fast. What we can't do is point our fingers at another people and make overly general judgements, because invariably, those same judgements can be made against us.

[offtopic]
DV, what is holding you back from throwing in the towel and surrendering yourself to God's grace and salvation? There is no trial period. [/quote]

Sheesh, that was out of the blue :)

Let's see what I can do to answer your questions. First, what is holding me back from surrendering myself to God? The same thing that holds you back from surrendering yourself to Zeus or Loki or Ganesh. I simply haven't experienced anything in my life that would lead me to believe that God exists any more than any of the countless other gods throughout history. As the saying goes, "I believe you and I are both atheists, I simply believe in one god fewer than you. And when you understand why you don't believe in all those other gods, you will understand why I don't believe in yours".

You can't just half-believe.
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Agreed! That is why I don't believe at all. I have no reason to. Nor do I have any reason to DISbelieve.

There are those who say and act like believers and then one day lose their faith. They weren't true believers. Once you truly believe, nothing can sway your belief.
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This is not true. There are many people that truly believed and have set their faith aside. The problem here is that you don't want to accept that fact. Why? Fear. Because YOU believe that you, er, believe, and you are afraid that if someone else truly believed and turned away from Christianity, you could too. Also, there is a HUGE difference between belief and truth. Believing that Santa exists doesn't make him exist now does it?

Don't you worry about your soul? You don't just have a soul, you ARE a soul.
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Like gods, I have nothing to lead me to believe in the existence of souls. If I asked 10 different Christians what a soul was, I'd get 10 different answers. That should tell you something.

What do you think happens to you when your body dies? Do you just cease to exist?
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Yes. Like a flame that has blown out. Poof. The end. I don't have reason to believe otherwise.

Wouldn't you rather know that you'll wake up in eternity, reunited with God and your loved ones?
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Sure. But it's impossible to KNOW that. You don't KNOW that. You believe it, but the knowledge of it is impossible. I choose not to guess because it would make me feel warm and fuzzy inside. I don't have a problem saying that I simply don't know.

Eternal salvation has been bought and paid for by the blood of Jesus. All you have to do is accept it and it's yours.
[/offtopic]
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If I said those words today, I would be dishonest with myself. How can I accept something that I don't believe in?
 
I see what you are saying. But the conundrum you are facing is that you must see to believe. You cannot know Christ firsthand without faith. Unless you DECIDE to believe, the proof you are looking for may not surface until it is too late. God will not grant you hard proof.

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
Hebrews 11:1
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But the Scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe.
Galatians 3:22
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Hebrews 11 and Galatians 3 are all about faith.

My apologies to have knocked this off-topic but I felt compelled to reach out to you. I've read some of your conversations in the past and have prayed for you. It is what we as Christians have been commissioned to do.

[ontopic]
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,226018,00.html?sPage=fnc.world/iran
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,226281,00.html?sPage=fnc.world/iran

I don't think this is going to end on a high note. ^
[/ontopic]
 
astrod00d said:
I see what you are saying. But the conundrum you are facing is that you must see to believe. You cannot know Christ firsthand without faith. Unless you DECIDE to believe, the proof you are looking for may not surface until it is too late. God will not grant you hard proof.
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Isn't that a bit of a vicious cycle?

You're telling me I can't believe unless I first decide that I want to believe?

There's something incredibly wrong with that position.
 
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