http://www.news.com.au/comments/0,23600,22662994-2,00.html
The above article are general comments responding to an article where a Muslim youth leader is talking about how more hatred and this enfranchisement (is that a word?) of Muslims will lead to radical extremists who will decide to go and be martyrs and go suicide bombing.
Cue response of "Leave this Country" and more virtol and hatred.
Recently as part of a missionary group at uni I met up with this Muslim guy and discussed our faiths. I do believe that it was more than a coincidence as the next day other missionaries also bumped into the same guy.
The thing is:
1) They are certainly more zealous about their faith. I mean that in a good way - meeting him challenged me a lot on my faith. I know that I'm right - but he prayed a lot more, fasted a lot more and was more dedicated to his faith then I was.
2) Islam is a peaceful religion - it is true there are passages telling them to infidels. Just as there are passages in the Bible where God tells Israel to wipe out entire nations and burn everything to the ground. Still the moral code given by Islam is probably not as high as the Christian one. However when I spoke to this guy he kept going no no - killing someone is bad. That's something that actually he couldn't grasp when I tried telling him about grace. I was like you know I know that I've sinned today before I spoke to you, and I probably will sin many more times before the end of the day. And he was like They do believe that good works will get them to heaven, but are never assured of their salvation, it all depends on the judgement of Allah. (God forbid I mention that on a Christian site) But what I got most out of these discussions was that - killing someone would pretty much mean you won't get to heaven (a very big difference then with extremist islam?)
He told me he wasn't even sure if Osama was Muslim.
3) So I get the sense that actually although they are more dedicated then we are, their faith and doctrines are a whole lot more confusing, and in the end contradict themselves. It's probably important to note what type of Muslim this guy was - his biggest problem with Jesus was that he wasn't the son of God, he *believed* in Jesus as a prophet and a great teacher - since his english wasn't very good I couldn't actually work out when I spoke about the Messiah of the Jewish Torah, whether he agreed with me or not that it was Jesus. I'm pretty sure he did, and took Mohammed to be "the Comforter" whereas we would say its the Holy Spirit.
Anyway back to the point. I agree with the Muslim guy in the article in saying their probably will be a terrorist attack in Australia. I actually said way back in 2001 - there would be one within 5 years, (hasn't happened thank God) because of our involvement in Iraq, and Afghanistan. It's going to happen - once again - it is going to be love that unties this whole mess.
Pray that we draw ourselves closer to God for this fight.
The above article are general comments responding to an article where a Muslim youth leader is talking about how more hatred and this enfranchisement (is that a word?) of Muslims will lead to radical extremists who will decide to go and be martyrs and go suicide bombing.
Cue response of "Leave this Country" and more virtol and hatred.
Recently as part of a missionary group at uni I met up with this Muslim guy and discussed our faiths. I do believe that it was more than a coincidence as the next day other missionaries also bumped into the same guy.
The thing is:
1) They are certainly more zealous about their faith. I mean that in a good way - meeting him challenged me a lot on my faith. I know that I'm right - but he prayed a lot more, fasted a lot more and was more dedicated to his faith then I was.
2) Islam is a peaceful religion - it is true there are passages telling them to infidels. Just as there are passages in the Bible where God tells Israel to wipe out entire nations and burn everything to the ground. Still the moral code given by Islam is probably not as high as the Christian one. However when I spoke to this guy he kept going no no - killing someone is bad. That's something that actually he couldn't grasp when I tried telling him about grace. I was like you know I know that I've sinned today before I spoke to you, and I probably will sin many more times before the end of the day. And he was like They do believe that good works will get them to heaven, but are never assured of their salvation, it all depends on the judgement of Allah. (God forbid I mention that on a Christian site) But what I got most out of these discussions was that - killing someone would pretty much mean you won't get to heaven (a very big difference then with extremist islam?)
He told me he wasn't even sure if Osama was Muslim.
3) So I get the sense that actually although they are more dedicated then we are, their faith and doctrines are a whole lot more confusing, and in the end contradict themselves. It's probably important to note what type of Muslim this guy was - his biggest problem with Jesus was that he wasn't the son of God, he *believed* in Jesus as a prophet and a great teacher - since his english wasn't very good I couldn't actually work out when I spoke about the Messiah of the Jewish Torah, whether he agreed with me or not that it was Jesus. I'm pretty sure he did, and took Mohammed to be "the Comforter" whereas we would say its the Holy Spirit.
Anyway back to the point. I agree with the Muslim guy in the article in saying their probably will be a terrorist attack in Australia. I actually said way back in 2001 - there would be one within 5 years, (hasn't happened thank God) because of our involvement in Iraq, and Afghanistan. It's going to happen - once again - it is going to be love that unties this whole mess.
Pray that we draw ourselves closer to God for this fight.