[CS-FSLUG] [TD] Re: You ain't gonna believe this!

[Timothy Butler]

Appending [TD] to this thread.

On Oct 20, 2008, at 2:52 PM, Fred A. Miller wrote:

> I spent part of today writing this. Some will gladly read it, others
> will question, and some others will be mad, but those are the ones who
> will go to their death condemning the truth, only to find out later  
> they
> were wrong. Oh well - here is the truth, like it or not. I felt it was
> of paramount importance to write and share it with everyone.
>
> Fred
>
> You'll see signatories to this like Joel Osteen, who inherited a mega
> church from his father, who also taught a false theology. You'll  
> read in
> this "Yale Center for Faith and Culture letter to Moslems" asking
> forgiveness from the "All Merciful One"; stating that Christians,  
> Jews,
> and Muslims all worship the same god; drawing theological conclusions
> about God from the Koran; referring to Muhammad as a true prophet of  
> God
> and his life as exemplary on a par with Jesus Christ; and carefully
> making no reference to the deity of Christ or the Trinity.


	What I find interesting about this is it could mean one of two things.

	A.) It is simply a bunch of liberal theologians who have failed to  
recognize the distinctiveness of the Christian Gospel.
	B.) It is Pauline evangelism at its best.

	I'll explain B, since it is provocative. Consider Paul at the  
Aeropagus in Acts 17. "I perceive you are very religious." Paul  
proceeds to affirm the the good parts of the Greek religions and  
philosophical beliefs, adapting hymns to Zeus to apply to one true God.

	With that in mind, I am of mixed mind on this particular statement. I  
am not a fan of "Purpose Driven," but generally I have few qualms with  
Rick Warren (doesn't he use the New Living Translation? What's wrong  
with that? It is amongst my "main" translations -- NIV, ESV, NLT). The  
fact that he signed on, makes me hope perhaps they are doing B rather  
than A.

	Either way, I'll say this is healthy. The last thing we want is for  
Muslims to believe we see them as the enemy. Islam is a false  
religion, yes, but Muslims are not our enemies, they are children of  
God to whom we are called to preach the Good News. We can do that a  
whole lot better /if/ we affirm those things that are common in the  
spirit of Paul.

>
> The majority of Americans, NOT being Christians, would sell their  
> souls
> for any promise of financial security. It has taken a little over 100
> years to liberalize the US, (Europe and Asia are already there),  
> making
> ready for a one-world-government and the Antichrist.

	I have a distinctive eschatological perspective, but I'll leave that  
for now, lest I merely muddy the waters. I'll claim to be a curmudgeon  
here, if Ed doesn't mind me stealing his trademark claim.

> Some of you are going to think, "Man, Miller has really lost it." I
>


	Nah, I knew that a long time ago! ;-)

	-Tim

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