religions

Thank you danjograss3 for your interesting post on ‘Religion?’ Sorry I missed most of the interesting discussion, but it got me thinking about some related issues. I know that some of it is rehashing arguments already made, but I hope I can bring a slightly different slant into the recent discussion.

Human beings could be just a fluke of God. Like the dinosaurs and just like all things on this planet. They appear to have independent being before they dissolve back into chaos. Science comes out of a high density of people trying to answer questions that are not answerable. What caused us to be here? What is the future? Can we stop ourselves from dying? Will we learn how to achieve eternal life…?

The continuing and escalating row over the Mohammed cartoons has pitted Muslims against the secular, largely western, post-Christian world - though no doubt fuelled by the perception of that world as Christian, and hostile to Islam (the televised burnings of the Danish flag clearly depict its design based on cross).

In the row that is going on, which could spiral dangerously out of control with Iran’s interventions, where is the Christian voice, and what should that voice be saying? Is there anything to be learned which might affect the beliefs and practice of the emergent church?

The US president recently made a speech containing the following

These militants believe that controlling one country will rally the Muslim masses, enabling them to overthrow moderate governments in the region, and establish a radical Islamic empire that reaches from Indonesia to Spain. If they are not stopped, the terrorists will be able to advance their agenda to develop weapons of mass destruction, to destroy Israel, to intimidate Europe, to break our will and blackmail our government into isolation.

What was the purpose of this statement and how do we respond?

The progress of science makes it clear that living beings have an extremely complex structure and an order too perfect to have come into being by coincidence. This is evidence to the fact that living beings are created by an All-Powerful Creator with superior knowledge. Recently, for instance, with the unravelling of the perfect structure in the human gene-which became a prominent issue due to the Genome Project-the unique creation of God has once more been revealed for all to see.

The Universe and its elements : all the galaxies, stars, planets, asteroids, the Milky Way, the Sun, the Earth, the Moon and billions of other immense bodies are rotating and revolving in excellent harmony. If scrutinized in terms of cosmic, physical, mathematical and bio-chemical aspects, from micro level to macro level, the Universe proves to be supplied with the most suitable design for human life.

From the expansional rate of the Universe to the location of Earth in the Solar System, from percengates of athmospheric gases to properties of sunlight, innumerous equilibriums are sustained each second and each hour. Not even one of these arrangements may occur by chance. All obey the infallible wisdom of God exhibiting His might and art.This web site displays the evidence for the creation of the Universe and it reveals the eternal might and wisdom of God, who created this great universe from nothingness.

Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, reportedly pointed out that the tsunami could well test people’s faith in God. This theme was picked up in an interesting online BBC magazine article, which represented the views of a Christian, a Hindu, a Buddhist, a Muslim and an Atheist, (why not a Jewish viewpoint, however?) “coming to terms with events in SE Asia.” Appropriately enough, in our supposedly postmodern, pluralistic age, the final and probably most balanced comment was by a pagan, urging people of all faiths and beliefs to continue in them as well as in the strength of the human spirit.

there is a thought that we evolved from monkeys, this belief is totally opposite to Islam. We are created by God, and every living organism, plants, animals, space was also created by God. What are the things you hear and know about this monkey belief? check also informative online book Evolution Deceit at http://www.evolutiondeceit.com/

In the last years, televisions newspapers started to talk about the Signs of the Last day. For example it was not talked ten or fifteen years ago. According to the Hadith, there are definite signs for the Last Day. And professionals of this subject tells that these signs are being seen. I have read a book which has detailed information about the Hadith and the Signs about this subject, its name is The Signs of the Last Day at www.harunyahya.com

A number of years ago, the missiologist Lesslie Newbigin suggested that Western Christianity needed to listen to non-Western Christians’ critique of the manner in which it practiced Christianity. He correctly suggested that Western Christianity is laden with Western culture and blinders have formed that must be taken off. By listening to criticisms by non-Western brothers and sisters Western Christianity could learn where cultural blinders had formed and grow in a deeper appreciation for the diversity of Christianity.

To a certain degree, this can also be true of listening to religious others. By listening to the criticisms launched by other religions we can begin to identify areas where Christianity has fallen short of living the Christian life. This is what I have attempted to do in the article about what I’ve learned from the Druids.