Christ Daily

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama has praised the contributions of American Muslims at a dinner to celebrate the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

Obama joined Cabinet secretaries, ambassadors and members of Congress to pay tribute to what he called “a great religion and its commitment to justice and progress.”

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/09/01/obama-calls-islam-great-religion-ramadan-dinner/

Islam may be a “great” religion. But guess what – it’s WRONG. No offense, but it’s wrong. Plain and simple. The Lord is the way, the truth, and the light, and He is the only way, truth, and the light.

“You shall have no other gods before Me. 4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; 5 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6 but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

- Exodus 20:3-6

Today, public schools in America teach practically every religion to students except Christianity, and that’s because it teaches it’s the only acceptable religion – and that’s exactly the case.

Sorry, Mr. President, but you’re wrong.

written by Josh \\ tags: Christ, God, idols, Islam, Obama, Religion, salvation, schools

First off, I want to give some major props to my Pastor, Steve Whipple, for inspiring this post.  You rock, man.

So, let’s talk about ‘that guy,’  That Guy is the one who always wears the Jesus T-Shirts.  That Guy is one that knows the Bible inside and out; able to quote any passage at any time, and can speak Hebrew and Greek.  That Guy’s the one that points and says ‘That’s sinful’ and accuses everyone of being dirty sinners, where he sits upon his pedestal, holier then thou, thinking he’s an angel.

We all know someone like that.  From work, from school, even our own families, and maybe even you might read that and say ‘That’s me!’   They have their actions down to a science, and want everyone to know it, too.  Jesus had a word for these type of Religious people: Pharisees.

⁶ Jesus replied, “You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote,

‘These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
⁷ Their worship is a farce,
for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.’    -Mark 7:6-7

That’s where the analogy of ‘Under the Hood’ comes in.  See, a car can be absolutely beautiful on the outside.  It can be waxed, buffed, and shined twice daily, it can have the most awesome paint-job, and have spinning rims and all that, but if, under the hood, it’s a lemon, the car is worth nothing.

Same with us.  Like Jesus said, if we honor God with our lips and actions, and our heart is in the wrong place, they mean nothing.  If we’re broken and dirty ‘Under the Hood,’ then we’re not worth having around.

This, by no means, is saying ‘I can do whatever I want!  Jesus said so!’  Like some people who believe that they’re Christians because ‘God picked them to be’ or ‘Because Grace covers me, so I can do what I want without penalty,’ they’re extremely wrong.

¹ Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? ² Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it?  Romans 6:1-2

I don’t think that needs explaining.  Let’s look at the bottom line: God cares about our hearts.  That’s it.  We can play the Christian game all day, we can be super-religious, live a sheltered life, and say all the right things, but if your heart does not belong to God, then you are, for lack of better or less harsh words, worthless as a Christian.  God desires your heart – once you’ve given it to him, your actions will follow.

Thanks for reading!  Next time, I plan on extending a bit more on the whole idea of Heart over actions, and talking about the ‘Sheltered’ lifestyle.  We all know of some Christians that live in a little Jesus-bubble, and never get out, and I think it’s important to know why you/they SHOULD!  Anyway, until next time…

Lots of Love,
Matt

written by Matt \\ tags: Actions, Bible, Blogs, Calvinists, Catholics, Christ, Christians, control, Fake Christians, God, Heart, Jesus, life, Lifestyles, Mark, Problems, Religion, Romans, Sheltered, Sin, World

Here’s an interesting concept ladies and gents:
Not too long ago, a parent of a child in a public school complained about prayer in public schools. The school board did something about it, thus not allowing schools to pray in unison because it might “offend” or “discriminate against” those of other religions (or the lack there of).

Skimming through Yahoo! News, I found an exceptionally exciting article about a convert to Islam.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090812/ap_on_re_eu/eu_france_burquini_banned;_ylt=AgcwXIIyof5YH.yKchngW1.CfNdF

She went to a pool in France, trying to wear her “burquini” but the “pool-keepers” (for lack of better words) denied her access because it would pose a hygiene problem. This is completely understandable, and if those are the regulations, they should be adhered to.

However, the Muslim lady seemed to think of it as “religious discrimination” and decided to get an anti-discrimination group to help her protest. Remember, this is in France.

Here in America, someone can complain about an icon, a list of commandments, and the world’s most influential book being offensive to them, and we will bend over backwards and change. For THEM. We will remove the material that they found offensive, and sometimes even go as far as apologizing.

Is this really the change you’re asking for, America? :/

For once, I think France is right in banning the Muslim lady’s attire, because it is indeed a hygienic issue, and whether she feels they are discriminating or not doesn’t seem to really matter to them.

I never thought I’d ever say this, but… why can’t we be like France in situations like that? Even though they weren’t denying her for religious reasons, why can’t we stand up and say “No. That cross is staying there because it has a right to be there, and it isn’t coming down”?

All I’m saying is, I’m cleaning my armor and preparing to start standing up for God. I hope you, valued reader, will soon choose to do the same.

Thank you for your time.

written by Amy \\ tags: Burquinis, Discrimination, France, Islam, Religion