Why Choose Christianity?

[Guest]

Does this mean that you are not sinning anymore? If you say so, I won't believe you.

Is Jesus A Prophet?

Of sin, because they have not faith in me; John 16:9 (Bible In Basic English)

Does God Lie?

What then? If some did not believe, their unbelief will not nullify the faithfulness of God, will it?

May it never be! Rather, let God be found true, though every man be found a liar, as it is written,

"THAT YOU MAY BE JUSTIFIED IN YOUR WORDS, AND PREVAIL WHEN YOU ARE JUDGED." Romans 3:3-4 (New American Standard Bible 1995)

Will You Obey?

The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand. He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; John 3:35-36a (New Kings James Version 1979)

Or Not....

and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. John 3:36b (New Kings James Version 1979)

____________

Believe

Nicodemus said to him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb, and be born?"

Jesus answered, "Most certainly I tell you, unless one is born of water and spirit, he can't enter into the Kingdom of God!

That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Don't marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born anew.'

The wind blows where it wants to, and you hear its sound, but don't know where it comes from and where

it is going. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit." John 3:4-8 (World English Bible)

And Be Blessed Beloved

Love, Joe

_____________

My Dear Holy Father Who Is In Heaven

But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:

In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. 2 Corinthians 4:3-5 (Kings James Version)

Bind The Mind Blinder And Free This Dear Man

In The Name Of Jesus Of Nazareth

Your Beloved Son

And My LORD

My God

Amen~!

I Love You Jesus

I Love You

[Guest]

you are saying that works don't save us but only faith through Jesus, does this mean that there is no need to work, do good deeds and avoid sins?

Truth To Tell

As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:

There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.

They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:

Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:

Their feet are swift to shed blood:

Destruction and misery are in their ways:

And the way of peace have they not known:

There is no fear of God before their eyes. Romans 3:10-18

Jesus Is The Truth

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. John 14:6

Will You Believe

Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: John 11:25

Beloved?

Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. Revelation 3:20

[nebula]

A Muslim -

When referring to the prophecies about the Messiah, here are some of them:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Isaiah 9:6 - For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

A son born to man (the "Son of Man") would be called "the Mighty God." How can a man be called "God" unless He is God incarnate?

Isaiah 7:14 - Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him "God with us".

Again, the child is known as God incarnate - "God with us."

Genesis 3:15 - " And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel."

Again, Messiah would be known as the offspring of woman.

Also, the Messiah is prophesied as the one who will crush the head of the serpent, but also that the serpent would strike his heel. One can see the two being a simultaneous event, as when Jesus died.

Isaiah 9:7 - Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.

Messiah would be a descendant of King David. Mary was a direct descendant of David.

Isaiah 6:9-10

9 He said, "Go and tell this people: " 'Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.' 10 Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed."

---The Jews would have a hard heart against the Messiah when he came to this earth. (confirmed in such passages as John 12:37-40)

--- the Messiah would speak in parables (confirmed in such passages as Matthew 13:15)

Isaiah 8:14 - and he will be a sanctuary; but for both houses of Israel he will be a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall. And for the people of Jerusalem he will be a trap and a snare.

Messiah would be a stumbling block for the Jews. History bears this as having happened.

[nebula]

All right, I know I've been stumbling through my explanation of this, but here is what I've been trying to say with regards to works:

"As a Christian, I have already stood in the docket and have been declared righteous. I have been to the judge and my account has been settled. I put my faith in Christ and he imputed to me his righteousness and I stand before God justified on that basis and that basis alone. My works will be judged one day, and I will be rewarded proportionately for my service here on earth, but I will NEVER stand to be judged for salvation. That decision was made a long time ago, and according to Jesus, I will not come into judgment, but have passed from death to life. I have been redeemed from the curse, my sins were nailed to the cross with Jesus and He bore them away, Himself. I am no longer separated from God, but am in union with Him through Christ."

[A Muslim]

Even if the quote ends at John 3:15, Jesus still said:

14 "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; 15 so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.

And how is this related to the concept of atonement? Jesus here is just talking about rising to Heaven which we both agree on. No mention for crucifixion.

What happened when Israel looked upon the bronze serpent? What was the bronze serpent for?

It was for cure, and believing in Jesus is also a cure, but that doesn't mean that his crucifixion is the cure. Jesus was sent from God and people must believe in him to live. Jesus was lifted up to Heaven and we must believe in him to live, but that doesn't mean that his crucifixion is the cure for our sins.

Neb never stated the bronze serpent was crucified. Christ was speaking according to the langage of His time, slang so to speak. Being lifted up then had to do with being crucified. Once again go to my previous question to you. There is a reason why He stated this, and it had to do with what was going to take place. Paul wisely spoke when he stated: "For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God". 1 Co 1:18

Well, it can mean being lifted up to Heaven instead of the cross, and I see it more appropriate.

So this will lead to a contradiction, Jesus in John 17 says that Jesus accomplished the work he came for, then when he died, he said: it is finished. How can we solve it?

Phi 2:8

And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

And how could this be a solution to the contradiction?

[A Muslim]

If I have the ultimate evidence that Jesus said so, then I will believe him, but I fail to see that ultimate evidence in the Bible. I really see its evidence is so weak compared to the Quran.

If you want to compare inconsistencies - how do you handle the inconsistencies within the Quran?

Of course.

For example, how did a Samaritan mold the Golden Calf when the Samaritans did not exist until after the Northern Kingdom of Israel fell to the Assyrians?

Did the Quran say that Al Samiri is from Samaria? Actually it didn't, and this is not what the Prophet Muhammad's disciples and early interpreters understand from the Quran. Al Samiri was from Samurraa in Iraq, he was a calf worshipper and he tempted Israel to worship the calf.

Since you like to refer to web pages, here are some for you to browse through:

Well, I refer to my articles not to others, I am not copying and pasting, as for the links you gave from answering Islam, I have been through these issues for a long time, but if you want answers to them, you could browse answering Christianity. There has been lots of polemics between both sides.

If you have a child, would you want the child to do what you require of him because he has love and high regard for you, or because he is in terror of you?

If your child obeys you in deed out of terror of punishment, but his heart is still in rebellion against you, is he pleasing you?

And was this the case I was talking about? I don't know why do you insist on showing that I negate that love is the main thing although I never said so.

I take it English isn't your native language? "Awful lot" means "a whole lot". I guess it's a slang expression.

I am Egyptian, thanks for clarification.

When one is healed of the root behind the stronghold of temptation, one does not need incentives.

The reason there is still sin in my life is because the roots still need to be dug up and dealt with. The Lord does not dig up every root all at once because we can't handle it. He refines us slowly, surfacing the dross when we are ready to confront and face it. As dross is removed, incentives become meaningless.

Ok, you may get rid of some sins, others still may not, and vice versa, you may still have some sins you are still tempted to do, while others may not have the temptation. Incentives help to catalyze the concept of refining, if someone before sinning imagined God's reward if he didn't commit the sin or imagined his case if he committed it, this may help him a lot staying away from it, he may keep struggling the temptation to commit the sin, but if he resisted it every time, temptation will vanish as a matter of time. Actually to ask God His reward and fearing him also cannot happen without faith otherwise he cannot imagine it.

Repentance would have been to cry out to God, confessing his sin, and asking for forgiveness. There is no indication Judas ever did this.

So why did he remorse and give the money back?

[A Muslim]

There are a couple things you are failing to consider.

1. You've never seen men dying on a cross. None of the ones you have mentioned had to face a comparable death.

Actually there was a disciple of the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) who was crucified and he wasn't concerned, when he knew that he will be crucified he said a poem telling he is not concerned as long as this will be for the sake of Allah.

2. When trying to convince a Christian that His agony evidenced lack of faith and weakness, you do no understand that we know He was also facing spiritual agony, not just physical. I may not convince you of this, but you will never convince a Christian out of this.

What do you mean by a spiritual agony? I mean through scriptures and what Jesus said?

Your Allah has to entice with rewards and punishments.

My YHWH works on the heart to weed out those things that caused sin to lay a hold on us in the first place.

Your answer indicates that you don't want to understand what I said. I never negated the work on heart and kept on insisting that it is the main thing, but it is not the only thing, refer to what I said on the bird example, love is the head of the bird, if the bird is beheaded, it will die.

What do you believe the man issue of Christianity to be?

The main belief and reason Christians adopt Christianity for which is that Jesus died for our sins, you quote Isaiah 53 as the main OT evidence for it although Jesus didn't recognize it to be talking about that issue when he talked and quoted OT verses about much more trivial issues and quoted.

[A Muslim]

A Muslim -

When referring to the prophecies about the Messiah, here are some of them:

And where did Jesus quote any of them? Even Isaiah 7:14 was quoted by the writer of Gospel of Matthew not Jesus.

All right, I know I've been stumbling through my explanation of this, but here is what I've been trying to say with regards to works:

I understand your point, and that's what we are already discussing.

Edited June 11, 2011 by A Muslim

[nebula]

For example, how did a Samaritan mold the Golden Calf when the Samaritans did not exist until after the Northern Kingdom of Israel fell to the Assyrians?

Did the Quran say that Al Samiri is from Samaria? Actually it didn't, and this is not what the Prophet Muhammad's disciples and early interpreters understand from the Quran. Al Samiri was from Samurraa in Iraq, he was a calf worshipper and he tempted Israel to worship the calf.

Interesting. Things must have gotten mixed up in being translated into English, because even Muslims have said "Samaritan."

OK, I am trying to find information on "Samurraa", and the closest match I can find is "Samarra," and that city wasn't built until much later as well. What information do you have on the existence of this place back then?

If you have a child, would you want the child to do what you require of him because he has love and high regard for you, or because he is in terror of you?

If your child obeys you in deed out of terror of punishment, but his heart is still in rebellion against you, is he pleasing you?

And was this the case I was talking about? I don't know why do you insist on showing that I negate that love is the main thing although I never said so.

You haven't mentioned love before, only external deeds.

And you certainly haven't talked about how a heart is transformed. People can be very good at "going through the motions" but those actions not changing the thoughts and intents of the person

I am Egyptian, thanks for clarification.

You're welcome!

Your English is spoken well. But let me know if there are any other words or phrases you are not familiar with in context.

When one is healed of the root behind the stronghold of temptation, one does not need incentives.

The reason there is still sin in my life is because the roots still need to be dug up and dealt with. The Lord does not dig up every root all at once because we can't handle it. He refines us slowly, surfacing the dross when we are ready to confront and face it. As dross is removed, incentives become meaningless.

Ok, you may get rid of some sins,

Actually, I never "got rid of some sins". I have overcome, but I cannot credit this to myself. My ability to save myself is too weak.

As an example, I was tempted with suicide for most of my life. The only reason I didn't follow through with the temptation was because Jesus showed me that it would cause Him pain if I did that. Deliverance came one night when the Lord was interacting with me about a verse in Scripture. To make a long story short, from that interaction He showed me how all the pain in my life had been and was being used for my good. In receiving this I was able to, for the first time ever, thank Him for the pain in my life. It was hard to speak it, but I did. As soon as I said that, literally, I felt a breaking of the bondage of darkness over my life. It was as if I had spent my entire life in a thick fog, and for the first time that fog was completely gone and I could see the sunshine! It was that dramatic. I have had no desire to put an end to my life ever since then.

So, no, I did not get rid of this sin. My God did!

others still may not, and vice versa, you may still have some sins you are still tempted to do, while others may not have the temptation.

Of course, for we are all different.

Incentives help to catalyze the concept of refining, if someone before sinning imagined God's reward if he didn't commit the sin or imagined his case if he committed it, this may help him a lot staying away from it, he may keep struggling the temptation to commit the sin, but if he resisted it every time, temptation will vanish as a matter of time. Actually to ask God His reward and fearing him also cannot happen without faith otherwise he cannot imagine it.

Not necessarily. Quite often those who self-motivated themselves out of temptation fall back into the sin when pressures pile on and their defenses and resistances are weakened.

Addiction to alcohol is a classic example of this; there is actually an expression, "Once an alcoholic always an alcoholic." Those who ceased drinking will tell you that they can never pick up an alcoholic drink again or they will fall back into their addiction. But yet I have heard testimonies of people who were set free from the the desire for alcohol and drunkenness through the blood of Jesus.

Likewise, quite often it is only when we realize that we cannot free ourselves from our sin that we turn to God with it.

One man I know shared how it was not until he almost killed the family dog that his eyes were opened to the fact he had an out of control anger problem. This is what led him to repentance, and turning to God to heal him of the anger. While yes there was an element of his needing to make decisions with regards to his emotions, he testifies that he could not have done even this had not God begun to work change in his heart. But it took him giving his life over to God for this to take place.

[nebula]

Repentance would have been to cry out to God, confessing his sin, and asking for forgiveness. There is no indication Judas ever did this.

So why did he remorse and give the money back?

Before one can answer this question, one has to ask why Judas betrayed Jesus in the first place. There is speculation among some that Judas did not believe Jesus would actually get arrested, but that He would slip away from the guards the same way He slipped away from the crowds who tried to stone Him previously. Maybe perhaps he thought that by forcing Jesus into a confrontation with the Romans, this would push Him towards starting an uprise against the Romans. For this is what the people were looking for in Messiah - the Conquering King. Their hearts were hardened and eyes blinded and ears closed to the understanding and acceptance of Messiah as Suffering Servant.

"Then when Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw that He had been condemned," - this here is an indication that Judas did not believe Jesus would actually get arrested and taken away.

So when things did not go as he had planned, he felt agonized. He didn't "give" the money back, he threw it back - again an action of agony, trying to run from his sin, trying to run from himself. And so he ended his life, not being able to live with himself for what he had done.

There is no indication in this that he turned to God, that he asked God forgiveness or that he placed himself at the hands of God's mercy. He took his life into his own hands, not God's.