Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Sharks in the Septic Tank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: one_less who wrote (40274)	12/4/2001 9:14:55 AM
From: Bald Eagle	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 82486

RE:When boiled down the real differences are a hair line. I disagree. At least, there is a lot more than a hair line of difference between the way Muslim and Christian societies operate. Christian cultures are mostly democratic, Muslim societies are run mostly by despotic regimes. There is institutionalized abuse of women in Muslim cultures, as well as polygamy. That "hair line" sure seems to make a lot of difference.

To: one_less who wrote (40274)	12/4/2001 9:38:17 AM
From: DMaA	Respond to of 82486

The conditions for Jesus to act on your behalf is that you aggree to worship Jesus as God or in front of God as if God without Jesus is inadequate. Not quite correct. Jesus/God/Holy Spirit are one. One God, three persons. Christians are as fiercely monotheistic as Muslims. The conditions for Jesus to act on your behalf is the most central and most hotly debated questions (and most misunderstood by Christians ) in Christianity. Does it take an act of the man's will to accept Jesus as your savior? Or is it completely God's act of grace, and he chooses who is saved or not saved. Another contentious question is, once saved can you loose your salvation?

To: one_less who wrote (40274)	12/4/2001 10:16:00 AM
From: J. C. Dithers	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 82486

IMO, most "believers" have very little theological knowledge about their religion. Whatever instruction they may have received probably came in childhood, and is largely forgotten as adults. Only a small percentage have the intellectual curiosity to think deeply about their belief system, or to study it continually. A very large percentage belong to a particular faith for no better than reason than that they were "raised that way." Thus, the kind of discussion that goes on here by very knowledgeable people, comparing and evaluating the tenets of different religions, probably has very little relevance to the great majority of religious believers. I'm not saying that intellectual discussion isn't useful, only that it doesn't explain why most people believe what they do or act as they do. Therefore, I think that the measure of any religion is not so much the validity of its underlying tenets, but more the effect that a religion has on the behavior of its adherents. In that sense, I think it is clear that in the modern world Christianity produces populations that exhibit qualities such as justice, mercy, forgiveness, peacefulness, and charity, while predominantly Islamic societies exemplify qualities such as hatred, vengeance, oppression, and violence. I'm drawing this broad-brush conclusion not on the basis of prejudice, because I personally do not care what people believe in. I'm drawing it simply on the basis of common-sense observation. Irrespective of theological foundations, I think that Christianity has been shown to bring out the best in people, while Islam has demonstrated that it brings out the worst. It seems to me that in evaluating religions, the results are far more important than the causes. I'm just saying what I see, and I'm sorry it if causes any offense. JC

To: one_less who wrote (40274)	12/4/2001 11:33:59 AM
From: Greg or e	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 82486

Thanks again for a very thoughtful response. I would have to disagree with your evaluation of the Christian perspective, but I can see how you might arrive at it, since there is disagreement even within Christianity itself on the matter. What you see as a hair I would compare to a continental divide. I live near such a divide, and water that falls millimeters apart on that divide end up ultimately thousands of miles apart and in completely different oceans. That analogy breaks down if taken to extreme but I think it illustrates my point. Islam and Christianity may have some apparent similarities but their underlying differences are indeed profound. They are not reconcilable, If Jesus is God, If He really did die on the cross, (as Islam denies), and if He really did rise from the dead, then Islam is a false religion that can do nothing but damn those who follow it, to a eternity apart from God. Transversely, if Islam is the true religion, then Christians are idolaters and will be judged accordingly. Those that want to deny this are not being true to what their own scriptures say, they are simply making things up to tickle their ears. The big difference is that Christianity is a religion of Grace and Islam is a religion of works. Islam, is front loaded with works, it is do do do do do, and then do some more, then, possibly, if you have done enough, God may show you mercy, but in essence you have earned that mercy by all your doing. How do you know when you have done enough? Perhaps this is why people want to fly planes into buildings, because apparently martyrdom is enough. All religions of the world including much that calls itself Christian are the same in this respect. They all must make themselves worthy before God, by the things they do. There is only one religion that proposes anything different and that is biblical Christianity. Ephesians 2:8-10 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. I would point out two things to you about this scripture; First, even the faith that we must exercise and place in the person of Christ, is a divine gift, so even that faith, is not something we can claim credit for. Second, notice that good deeds, or works, are very much a part of Christianity, only they are done in response to God's grace, not in order to earn it. As I pointed out yesterday, if you wish to earn God's favor, you must be perfect. I don't know about you, but that requirement would disqualify me. You can bow and pray all day, but that will never remove the stain of sin on your life. Only the blood of Christ is able to do that. Jesus laid aside the use of His divine attributes so He could become a man. He lived a perfect, and sinless life as a man, and then He laid that life down as a propitiation for God's wrath. God gives some men Grace, every one else gets justice, you don't want justice. I pray that God will reveal the truth about Jesus to you, before it is too late Jewel. In Christ; Greg