fromIslam2Christ

Try rubbing olive oil into her fur and onto her skin.... Even if she licks herself, it is safe, and it will moisturize her skin and help her shed less...

My native language is French, but when I read the Bible in English, I like the NIV version best. The amplified version for study because it gives all the other words that could have been used to translate certain Greek words. I find that the NIV flows more easily and I don't have to struggle to understand the meaning as much. The King James really prevents me from getting into it because the words are such stumbling blocks...

AMEN. Took the words right out of my mouth (ahem fingers)...

Hi Ivanette and welcome!! Light extinguishing darkness.... How interesting, because sometimes we think we can extinguish darkness in our lives on our own. When in reality, it is God, the Light, that through Love, overcomes the darkness (anger, hatred, jealousy, immorality, debauchery etc) in our lives...

I think they shouldn't have used fiberglass material to build it. With thunderstorms it isn't safe. The contractor they hired should have thought about that when choosing the material, IMHO.

Oww, Nebula, I was going to post this and you beat me to it!!

Wow, thanks! It boils down to always staying in the Light of God, and all our lives seperating ourselves from darkness of any kind. One day, soon after I had become Christian, I emailed my testimony to a friend of mine, whom I had always thought was Christian. We had been having our New Age discussions together for years and had become really close. She sounded happy when I first told her I had accepted Christ. Yet after she read my testimony, she became literally "enraged". She said to me: Why do you call yourself a sinner ? Why do you say that you weren't worthy before Christ? She then went on to tell me that the problem with Christianity was this constant guilt-tripping etc... and that she was really disappointed that after all my own "spiritual enlightenment journey" I had regressed back to letting my life be ruled by guilt. That day I was shaken. I started questioning my faith. I was on the highway driving to work, and then I couldn't take it anymore. I parked my car and I just cried out to God. He gave me that verse Romans 13: verse 9-12. (NIV) "Love your neighbor as yourself." 10Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. 11And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. 12The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. I knew at that moment that God had answered me about clinging to Christ. Which meant clinging to love, with the faith of salvation through Christ. So interesting.

NIV 3 And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning

This shows how much Christians are persecuted, even in a nation that was founded by believers in Christ! *shaking my head in utter exasperation* I have noticed how it is "cool" and OK to be anything BUT Christian... Sad story though, when you think of it. Maranatha!!

Hi Dearest Sis Nebula, I may have gotten it wrong, but when I read Fez's message I thought he meant going and doing something completely new and different. It made me think of examples like: going away for one year in another place; starting a new hobby...??? Maybe I am projecting my own dreams on you Sometimes I tell myself that if I didn't have my kids to raise, I would go somewhere in South Asia or Latin America for a year and live there, and take up Spanish/Hindi classes or something. You know like the TEFL teachers: you go and teach English somewhere and they pay you and lodge you.... Anyways.... ahem... back to reality

Hi Dear sister Nebula, I hadn't replied till today because I felt a bit emotional reading your OP. Someone said this to you in their reply: That is how I feel about you and you have been someone whose postings I always am excited to read here on Worthy!

Thanks Isaiah6... You made my day. Such a message of hope. It reminded me of Luke 18: 16 But Jesus called them to Him and said,

I know I am a bit ignorant about this but I think atheism must be a really sad, lonely, and cold place... how can life come from nothingness? Agnosticism is a good step in the right direction I think.

So the first obstacle facing a Christian when we meet a Muslim is their belief system about Jesus, and Christians. For Muslims, Muhammad received a revelation from God in order to correct the theological deviations that occurred after Jesus. So they view themselves in the same way Christians view themselves in relation to Jews: as the next and latest recipients of a more complete revelation from God. So i will just list the main belief obstacles so that we as Christians know what to expect and therefore know how to preach the gospel... I am quoting Quranic verses for the sake of information only. These are good to jot down as references. it always impresses Muslims when they see we know already what's in their book about us. As Muslims, they are warned from a young age that Christians are nice people, but very much deluded!! Because Christians are so deluded in their beliefs, discussion with them should be avoided because it could lead to turning away from islam: So already, you can understand why a Muslim would "close their ears" to Christians coming onto them about the Bible and the message of Christ. In the view of Muslims, Christians mistakenly believe in 3 gods instead of one, as a result of twisting Jesus' teachings after his departure. Muslims also do not believe that Jesus was crucified. They believe God raised Him up to Himself and the people (believed to be the Jews) crucifying him were left with an image of Jesus. Finally they believe that Jesus was just a prophet and that He will testify against Christians on Judgment Day that He never asked them to worhip Him. That's for a start.... God bless.

For all of us who have a heart for ministering to Muslims and sharing the gospel with them, it was suggested we started a new thread on the subject. Muslims are particularly difficult people to approach with the Gospel because they completely deny the divinity of Christ, the crucifixion, death and resurrection, and the concept of the atoning sacrifice for our salvation. At the same time, as Christians we tend to have highly emotional reactions to the violence about their religion and its history, the moral debasement of their prophet, and finally the aggressivity of contemporary Muslims when it comes to talking about faith. So with this thread we can talk about our challenges, approaches and methods of reaching out to them. And also common arguments they like to throw at us about the Bible. Great idea Charitow!!! Lets get started!!!

Thanks Nebula! It is just like Hebrew, right to left. Actually when I was studying Arabic, there were lots of Jewish students in my class and they had it much easier than the rest of us because Arabic and Hebrew are so similar!!! A bit like, shall I say, German and English? Or Italian and Portuguese. ... It makes sense I guess since they are both of the same family of semitic languages. Interesting though that Muhammad would reverse the letters of the name of Yesu'a and make it into 'Isa. I did some research since my last post and found this for the nerdy ones like me who want to dig this up further. This is from an article you can find here:

I agree that finding the balance is tricky!!! The Holy Spirit should guide us in that matter, because on our own we can't. I just wanted to point out something peculiar i Noticed. Arab Christians use the name Yesu'a instead of 'Isa. But I was shocked to find out that 'Isa is the reverse of Yesu'a in Arabic spelling. What i mean is the letters are backwards... Isnt that odd? I need to dig up on that. I don't want to hijack the thread... so God bless you all.

Yes, let me clarify. Bold Believer, I think you are very brave to even post in a Muslim forum and to have hurled the truth about their prophet at them. I am not surprised they labeled you Satan,At first when I became saved I thought that being blunt with them the same way Muslims are would work. Matter of fact, my own mother has labeled me Satan since I accepted Christ and actually you would not believe the behaviours of Muslim relatives around me: they either change sidewalks, or are scared of me cause they think I am demon-possessed. That said, in our network for evangelizing Muslims here, we have learnt that hurling these truths at them makes them more aggressive and less likeley to hear the gospel message that we intend to preach. On top of that, from my own experience of first mistakes with Muslims, what attracts Muslims to the Christian faith worldwide is the love and the lack of aggressivity that Christians have demonstrated when faced with Muslim insults and attacks. Surveys conducted by Christian missionaries in the Muslim world asked what made Muslims want to investigate the Christian faith. Most of them asnwered that it was the Christians love, patience, and peaceful behaviour that touched them. That is why I agree with Axxman's comment that angering them by attacking their faith (especially Muhammad) bluntly is not the best way to touch their heart. Now Charitow, when I mentioned that a good way to start with a Muslim is to discuss Muhammad's character, it is within the context of a casual dialogue/conversation between us and a Muslim, where we can bring up those facts gradually, usually by presenting them as questions. The questions prompt the Muslims to go and research for themselves in the Islamic sources themselves. And WHAMMMM.... the myth of the holy wonderful Muhammad is thrown off balance. The soul searching begins.... In the meantime, the Muslim person reflects on you, the Christian's loving and peaceful and polite approach.... They will want to find out what can make someone behave with so much love.... You have just gotten them one step closer to want to know who this Jesus is... That said, I believe our God is Mighty to save and that Bold Believer's comments will prompt some to find counter-arguments... which may lead them to find out facts for themselves. However, the Christian love v. Islamic hate/anger leverage won't be there. Much love to all and God bless.

Ditto to that!

I know that for Hindus, this is part of the traditional way of finding a spouse, and Vedic astrological compatibility is used to tell the most appropriate age, height, date of birth, region of origin, etc of the future bride or groom. Parents routinely do this before searching for a spouse for their child. Are they of Indian descent? That could explain it.

Thanks lol. This really threw me off, I almost spit out my water!! HiS Girl, thanks, thats what I kind of told myself, that maybe it could mean the bride (the church) and Christ (groom)??

OK. Thank you Amor.

One book that has always puzzled me in the Bible is the Song of Songs. I always struggle with it, because I don't understand its purpose, what it is trying to teach. And also it seems to be so much about a (sexual) love affair that I don't see the theology or spirituality behind it (?).

I am researching the Quakers these days and would like to know if any Christian Quaker would share their experience with their faith with me. You could do it through PM as well. I would greatly appreciate it. God bless.

Hi Gerda, Here are verses from the Bible concerning astrology and its practice: When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. (Deuteronomy 18:9-11 NIV). Also there is this passage: 2 Chronicles 33:5-6 (NIV): In both courts of the temple of the LORD, he built altars to all the starry hosts. He sacrificed his sons in [a] the fire in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, practiced sorcery, divination and witchcraft, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the eyes of the LORD, provoking him to anger. However, in the New Testament the magi who came to worship Jesus observed the stars in order to know that he had been born and where to find him.... In this passage: ( Matthew 2:1 NIV)After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him." I'm interested in reading what explanations others have as well.