Is the Truth More Important than Just
Getting Along?
What stops people from all getting
along?
Hard-heartedness?
Arrogance?
Ignorance?
Emotionalism?
Language barrier?
Religious or ideological differences?
Skin color?
Economic differences?
Cultural differences?
Lies?
All of the above?
I am going to pick four.
1.
The hardness of the heart.
2.
Language barriers.
3.
Religious and/or ideological differences.
4.
Lies.
James 4:1 says, ‘From whence come wars
and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in
your members?’
The war starts within the individual
whose heart is hardened toward God. They
are ruled by the things of the material world instead of the things of
God. If a man is jealous of his neighbor’s
house, job, or wife, why not expand that to jealous of the neighboring nation’s
houses, land, and people? If a man or
woman is not at peace with God, they cannot possibly establish a real or
lasting peace within themselves, much less with their own family, and much less
with those around them.
Language barriers certainly make for
misunderstandings and lack of unity.
Even the same language but spoken in a different dialect can cause
misunderstandings.
Religious and ideological differences
naturally pit people against each other.
If one is right, the other must be wrong. Nobody likes to have their
personal life challenged.
Lying is a common denominator for all
of the above.
A hard heart is first necessary to be
a lying heart. To be a bold and bald
faced liar requires a very hard heart.
This requires an ability to lie to one’s self on some level. Ultimately, war begins in the heart of the
individual and it spreads as far as it can go.
Liars are not always easily
spotted. That is because they usually
are able to lie to themselves. Liars are often quite cunning as well. One very
effective tactic is to tell a lot of truth mixed in with a dreadful lie. Another
very effective tactic they use is to simply change the subject. Instead of trying to lie their way out of or
into a particular situation, they simply act like the question is really
something else. For instance the war on
terror has become a ‘question’ of ‘racial profiling’ instead of actually
fighting a war on terror. To a rational mind
it is insane for homeland security to do what amounts to a physical assault on
elderly people and small children who are simply trying to board a passenger
plane. It has absolutely nothing
whatsoever to do with locating terrorists.
It is about cowards and bullies being careful not to profile likely
terrorists.
As hideous as the homeland security
assault on the freedoms of the innocent may be, there is an evil
circumnavigating the globe that is far worse. It is an assault on the truth that is straight
from hell. There is a hideous coalition
between Moslems and ‘Christians’ looking for similarities between Islam and
Christianity that will bring about peace.
Evangelicals are not included in these meetings because Evangelicals
would not be able to restrain themselves from attempting to convert
Moslems.
The absolute and unquestionable truth
is that the Bible clearly states there is one way and only one way into
heaven. Allah’s book clearly gives a
totally different way to get into the place Allah calls heaven. THAT is the reason there is conflict between
the two. Can we find similarities
between the two? If they look hard
enough and long enough there can probably some things that appear similar. So what?
There are similarities between poison mushrooms and edible
mushrooms. If you find the similarities
does that mean you can eat both poison and non-poison mushrooms without
suffering the consequences? The
similarities do not change the fact that eating poison mushrooms will kill
you! Any so-called similarities between
Islam and Christianity do not change the fact that both claim there is only one
way into heaven, but they claim the way is different. What matters is not any ‘similarities’. What matters is which is the truth. Is Jesus Christ who He claimed/claimes to be
or is Mohammad correct in demanding worship of the god of the book written
entirely by Mohammad?
Eating or not eating poison mushrooms
is a life or death situation. Choosing
to follow Jesus Christ or Mohammad is a matter of eternal life or death. Jesus Christ says following Him is the way
that leads to life everlasting. Jesus
also says that rejecting Him leads to eternal torment in a place called hell. Allah’s book claims he is the way into the
place he calls heaven. Allah demands
murder of those who reject him as a guarantee of entrance into his heaven. Jesus Christ requires simple belief in
Him. Those who have committed their life
to Jesus Christ don’t have to do anything else to enter heaven. The God of the
Bible died so sinners could be saved from hell and enter the kingdom of
heaven. The god of the Koran demands
that people die slaughtering others in order to get into his paradise. I really don’t see the benefit of working so
hard to get into a place filled with murders.
Actually, that sounds like hell to me.
I could list a lot of differences
between Christianity and Islam, but the main difference, the deal breaker in any
sort of ‘compromise’ or ‘merger’ between the two, is Jesus Christ. Christians accept Him as God, pre-existent,
virgin born, crucified to death, buried, risen from the dead by his own power,
and returning to earth to set up His kingdom. Islam claims Jesus was just a
minor prophet, and very unimportant prophet at that.
Now how is anyone who takes either
Jesus or Allah seriously going to find any similarities in that? You cannot reconcile those differences. Either Jesus Christ is telling the truth
about who He is, or Mohammad is telling the truth about who Allah is.
A second deadly difference between
Christianity and Islam is the method of conversion. If the God of the Bible had wanted people in
His kingdom who had no choice in the matter, He would not have given human
beings free will to choose Him or reject Him in the first place. Those who go to Christ go of their own free
will. There have been instances where so-called
Christians converted by force. That is
totally against what the Bible teaches and is an abomination to God. Islam on the other hand is only following the
Koran’s teaching when they convert by force.
If there is no conversion, they slaughter those who refuse to
convert.
That makes two differences in
Christianity and Islam over which there can be no compromise.
Either Jesus Christ is the Son of God
or He isn’t.
Either salvation is by grace through
faith as the Bible says, or it is brought about through bullying to the point
of murder.
Practically speaking – what does this
mean?
It definitely means there is a fork in
the road.
Those following Allah to paradise are
absolutely NOT going down the road that leads to heaven where Jesus Christ is
preparing a place for those who love Him.
Looking for similarities instead of
pointing out the irreconcilable differences between Christianity and Islam
paves the path to hell for many of the lost.
It is important to mention one more
thing. Over and over we hear that Islam
is a religion of peace that has been hijacked by evil people. This is not the truth. Actually in this you can find a similarity
between Islam and Christianity. Many and
probably most people professing either faith are marginal adherents. They don’t really read their book or apply it
to their lives. When a person begins to
take their faith seriously, they read the book and begin to apply what it says
to their lives.
The Koran undoubtedly teaches to kill
those who don’t accept Islam. When a
Moslem begins to take his religion seriously, he begins to do what the book
says to do.
The Bible definitely teaches to love
one another as Christ loves us; that Christ took the penalty for the sinner;
that salvation is by grace through faith; and people have free will to accept
or reject Jesus Christ. When a Christian
begins to take his/her faith seriously he/she begins to do the things Christ
says to do.
There are millions of people in the
middle in both Christianity and Islam.
They are social, or cultural believers, but they don’t take it really
seriously. In the case of Islam, they
may be followers of Allah just to protect their lives, but they still don’t
actually take it seriously as in actually doing what the book says to do.
So, the question becomes how seriously
do you take your faith? If it is just a
cultural or social or political convenience, then you may be able to be content
to look for the similarities between major religions of the world. If you believe the Bible is true and that
Jesus is the Son of God, then you will have to speak up when given the
opportunity.
What Christians have on their side is
the truth which is that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. The word of God has a power all its own, far
beyond the ability of any orator to excel.
Memorize and remember this:
Hebrews 4:12
For the word of God is quick, and powerful,
and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of
soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the
thoughts and intents of the heart.
Pray that Christians will have the
courage to simply tell the truth. Jesus
saves.
