Where do I go?

You want to go here first.

What does Tat have to say about The Qur’an

Tat,

I wanted to know how you think about jihad because that concept is unique to Islam. There is no equivalent among followers of Jesus and I really don’t think there is among Jews though in those days there were conquests and they, the Jews were conquered many times in their history.

You asked me to read the Qur’an. I have already read much of the Qur’an. I have been reading it for the last two years. I have about 4 copies of it in different translations right here. As I said in my Authenticity of the Bible for Muslims series, it reads very differently from the Greek and Hebrew scriptures.

There are many great admonitions in there. The call to holiness is fantastic. Muslims live clean and upright and are to be commended for that. Yet, I am baffled by the seeming contorted concept of sin;in that, it is not a sin if only committed in the heart or if not discovered by an authority as sin.

True Christians have a very explicit understanding of sin. Sins are both acts and thoughts. but that is a subject for another day.

I don’t think you received a good understanding of the person of Jesus. He is wonderful, He is Savior, He is Lord and deserves worship because, unlike the claims of so many today, he is the God-Man. He is not just humanity. He took on flesh but existed eternally with the Father and Spirit. Also He is the bestower of grace with a capital G. One cannot understand the grace of God apart from Him.

The journey with Jesus starts at His cross. He did go there–well documented–biblical and secular. And as John Yoder says, “…at the cross is the man who loves his enemies, the man whose righteousness is greater than that of the Pharisees, who being rich became poor, who gives his robe to those who took his cloak, who prays for those who despitefully use him.” He as a suffering servant was an example for all of humanity whether considered a prophet or not, Ah, but he is so much more.

In addition to the Hebrew and Greek, I love Biblical archaeology. Did you know that no archaeological discovery has ever brought into question any history of civilizations in the Bible?

I took on the study of Biblical archaeology to show to myself that the writing of the Hebrew and Greek scriptures are accurate. They have proved themselves over and over. I’ve also pursued the historical Jesus and researched and evaluated His claims. I would not say that I am through with any of these because archaeological discoveries are being made every day. But, based on what I have studied thus far, I have found the Bible(Hebrew and Greek) to be absolutely reliable. Jesus has proven Himself over and over, in my own life, my wife’s life and in hundreds of people around me.

I have been a follower of Jesus a long time but Jay, a new friend of mine, has not. He came to our church with his fiance. He told me that when he first came he was floored–”these people are all fake, they can’t be as happy as they appear or claim to be.” Today, Jay follows Jesus, has real joy, and he understands what all these people around him understood before.

So, just like Jay, a person must submist to and come to know Jesus as the Lord God and the Savior from sin. It is impossible to know the joy that He gives without knowing him in this way. AND, how to know Him is described in detail in the New Testament.

Following Jesus is liberating and freeing. There is no law to follow, there is only grace from Him which then gives the motivation to willingly obey Him. Law is easy, grace is difficult. Law is binding, while grace is liberating. It is not an easy life but it has been and will continue to be so rewarding. I don’t assume that other people have an unrewarding or unfulfilling life–no. But, since I worship, serve and submit to The God, I feel my life is the best one I could have been given or ever lived. Jesus said that He is the giver of life. He has certainly given richly to me and I am not disappointed.

I hope you can say something similar about your submission to Allah.

Have a great day!

The Problem of Sin

The greatest of all our problems is that although God is our primary need, we are faced with an impossible dilemma : Sin separates us from God’s presence and His gifts to us. The results of sin can be seen everywhere. I worked in a hospital at one point in my life. I saw health problems that resulted from sin. Gun shot victims in the Emergency Room. Murder, rape, selfishness, idolatry and many other things are all around us to point to the fact that man is sinful.

The New Testament tells us that the results of sin in our lives is death – Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” Romans 6:23 says the wages or payment of our sin is certain death… And Galatians 6:7, what we sow we will reap.

THREE SINS A DAY

Suppose I sinned only ten times a day, or even five, or even just three. Why, I would be practically a walking angel. Imagine if no more than three times a day did I think unkind thoughts, or lose my temper, or fail to do what I ought towards God and man – I would be a pretty fine person, would I not?

Even if I were this good, I would still have over 1,000 transgressions a year! If I lived to be the age of 70, I would have 70,000 violations of the law of God on my record. Think what would happen to a habitual offender in a criminal court with 70,000 transgressions on his record.

This illustrates that not only am I a sinner, but also that my sin is a very serious issue.

Some people say there is no sense of sin in the Qur’an. But they haven’t read Suras 51: 59-60 and 29:40.

These verses have much to say about the progression from sin to judgment. Surah 51 indicates that those who are evil and do evil will get their punishment. But Don’t rush God to punish them, because it will be a terrible day for them when God starts giving them their punishment. In Surah 29 we see that God catches each person for all the sins that person commits. Some of the people referred to in this aya were stoned and others were seized by a plague. Some were swallowed up by the earth, and some were drowned. The point here is that God deals with sin. Everyone is dead in his sins. God does not wrong them when He punishes them, but they wrong themselves by sinning, which inevitably bears the fruit of the punishment.

Some of you may be saying who is this guy calling us sinners. I tell you now, I am chief among sinners and I know that I can never do enough to earn God’s favor, so what do I do?

It is interesting that every religion follows ritual practices, which signify cleansing? They are essentially no more than symbolic tokens and obviously do not really effect anything by themselves. While we may clean our body by such rituals on the outside, we are well aware that water can never wash away sin nor create a clean heart!

Jesus once made a very remarkable statement when confronted about the ritual washing of hands before meals:

“Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man ‘unclean’.

For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what make a man ‘unclean’.” (Matthew 15:16-20)

Rituals are really no more than a reminder of our need for purification—because we know that we are impure.

After having committed a particularly ugly sin, David expressed his longing beautifully in one of his psalms:

Wash away all my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.
Against you, you only have I sinned…Hide your face from my sins
and blot out all my iniquity.
Create in me a pure heart, O God! (Psalm 51:1-4, 9-10)

You may be Hindu, Sikh, Muslim, Jew, Christian, agnostic, or other, and have a need for forgiveness from sin. Truly, this is our greatest need.

I am reminded of the story of Dr. Paul Gupta, born is a very high caste in India and carried the name of a Hindu god. Though he had from his family inheritance everything he could want in life—a home, land and a thriving business, he was over and over again from childhood made keenly aware of his sin. Though he searched, he could not find freedom from His person sins. Early in his life he sought ways to relieve the pain and guilt of sin. Those included swamis and Hindu teaching about how to deal with the problem of sin. His life illustrates that many people are well aware of their personal sins, and even burdened down with those sins.

Now, If you want to get into heaven by your good works, then all you have to do is to be perfect (quote Matthew 5:48 “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect”). God’s standard is complete obedience to Him in all things and at all times. Guess what!! We all fall short of this. There is a better way than trying to be perfect.

Do you see now why it is impossible for anyone to get into heaven by their good works?

I invite you to get in touch with me and let’s discuss our way out

Thanks and have a wonderful day!!