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Last night, our Nicaragua team (see this post) held a fundraiser at our church. We served food, poured drinks, swept, mopped, etc.
I was the official drink pourer. Many teams allow their guests to pour their own drinks. I did things differently. I spoke to each person, young or old, even if it was only for 5 seconds, while I poured their lemonade, tea, or water. During our short conversation I made sure to thank each person for their contribution, ask them how they were doing, and put a smile on their face. Many people commented on how much they appreciated my service and positive attitude.
I say all of that to say this:
I’ve noticed that my attitude, my approach, and my thoughts are incredibly positive whenever I am serving God’s people. The amount of time that I spend on my feet, the amount of sweat I lose, the amount of dirt under my fingernails - none of these things seem to matter. I make no conscious effort to become so positive. It’s quite automatic.
It’s almost as if I’m doing what I’m created to do.
He now showed the disciples the full extent of his love…
And since I, the Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. John 13
In my opinion, this is a form of evangelism.
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“I’ve noticed that my attitude, my approach, and my thoughts are incredibly positive whenever I am serving
God’speople.”Does it matter it they are God’s people or godless people? I mean do you get the same joy from helping in a soup kitchen or putting up a building for strangers? I think that we all feel better when we believe that we’re helping others.
Well, if the definitions I found on the Internet are anything to go by, I’d have to disagree, and say that what you did isn’t evangelism. And, good for you - it seems a little silly to “tell people the good news” when they’re in a church, as they probably already have some notions about that.
hov,
“God’s people” & “people” = one in the same to me. So yeah, I agree with ya!
yinyang,
You’d be surprised at the number of non-Christians who come to our church. It’s awesome!
Thanks Bill. I’ve only just managed to register that “God’s People” were the Jews…at least that’s how I remember it being explained to me. The idea that a universal creator would favour a particular nation or race over all the others does seem counter intuitive although the Old Testament does say that. Actually it singles out other groups for special condemnation which is similar but not precisely the same.
I was confused by ‘God’s people’ as well. So you’re saying I can assume you meant ‘people’ when you said ‘God’s people’?
So I really like how Jesus puts our spiritual well-being first and de-emphasizes the social good - especially here: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%202:1-12;&version=31;.
It’s hard not to notice how different a paralytic is than a healthy man or woman. It’s probably one of the more heart breaking afflictions someone can suffer. However, the man’s physical problem wasn’t what Jesus first noticed but his faith. The first words out of Jesus’ mouth were “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
The man’s sins were forgiven and he was also healed, but Jesus emphasized the importance of the spiritual problem over the physical.
It’s pretty easy to see why Jesus made this so clear in this situation. He had the teachers of the law as an audience. The law - what we do - is only a rule book. All the morality and social good in the world can’t forgive us our sins.
In contrast, I’d like to think that the paralytic’s friends would have been high fiving (well, maybe not in ancient Capernaum) and been full of cheer had Jesus decided to forgo the healing and only focus on the greatness of forgiveness. And I think therein is reason faith is so powerful.
You can look at the pain in the world, the suffering of a paralytic and the evil in Jesus’ own crucifixion and still be certain that God has a plan for you, and you can still be amazed at the vastness of Christ’s love.
Dude I disagree. I know that our spiritual well-being comes first but I don’t think Jesus wants to “de-emphasize” social good. Besides, you can talk all about spiritual well-being until the cows come home. But if a person is starving, depressed or whatever, it will likely go from one ear and out the other.
I’m not saying that the social good is not very important. I’m only saying that faith and forgiveness are more important. Sorry if I came across differently than I meant too.
it’s all good.
Hi all i dont want to enter into any arguements with you brothers and sisters with islamic views you may say this is not your place to leave a comment but as you are asking for a view i hope i could can leave a positive thought as opposed to the argumentative blogs that are around the net who spend too much time on personal arguments making little sense of core issues with religion and faith.
firstly if i insult or offend anyone with these views then i apologise in advance i have only put them forward for people to reflect. ok here goes the whole of christian faith is based on the doctorine of redemption!
so here is a pause for thought….. 4. Islam disagrees with Christianity on the Doctrine of Redemption. The Doctrine of Redemption is based on the Doctrine of the Original Sin: that mankind had been condemned by God because of the sin of Adam and Eve which was consequently inherited by their children. Islam denies the whole Doctrine of the Original Sin; God did not condemn mankind because a sin was committed by a couple at the beginning of time. (This will be made clear in the following inquiry.) There is no original sin; therefore, there is no need for redemption to mankind out of a sin that did not exist.
Furthermore, suppose that there is an original sin. To forgive mankind their original sin, God does not need a sinless person, such as Jesus, to be crucified. He can forgive the human race without causing an innocent person to suffer. To say that God does not forgive mankind unless mankind crucifies Jesus, is to put Him in the position of a ruler who was disobeyed by his own subjects. When the children asked the ruler to forgive the sin of their fathers, he refused to do so unless they kill one of his beloved ones. If they commit such a terrible crime, he will forgive them; otherwise, he will not. I do not think that the advocates of the original sin would be willing to put God in such a position. God, the Most Just and Merciful, does not condemn people because of their ancestor’s sin. He may forgive them their own sins without requiring them to commit a bigger one. Also christianity claims that it had to be a sinless person that did not inherit the genes of adam and eve hence jesus was wasnt born of man and the immaculate conception but logic tells us if this was the case then surely mary who was the mother of jesus would have had the gene of sin through her ancestry anyway!!! this statement would also be completely untrue!!! as we all know that a child carries the genes of the mother as well as the father. This is just a mere starting point of the flaws in the christian faith one they do not discuss often as it forms the whole foundation of the faith i would love to hear your views please but constructive rather than arguementative
having abosrbed the following comments there is even further confusion lets take it that jesus was to be the saviour for the sin then this would mean that god is playing games with his creation as he then sends his son or himself(depending on the type of christian you are) to die in order to save mankind from who??? himself!! further more it took all these dramatics to save us from one sin a mere eating of an apple from a claimed wisdom tree!!!! yet after jesus it is merely acceptable to go to church on sunday and say to a priest father forgive me for i have sinned and hey presto!!! your sins are gone ?? and this could be for far greater sins like adultry and everything else that goes on in the world today??
I know that the followers of various religions have differed on the issue of Jesus Christ. Some of them can be considered anti-Jesus because they deny his holiness and the holiness of his mother, disbelieve in his miracles and reject his truth; some of them are neutral, neither for nor anti-Jesus; and some of them are pro-Jesus, believing in his holiness and accepting all his teachings and believing in his miracles. Muslims ought to be considered pro-Jesus, as well as the Christians themselves. What remains now is to see the points in which the Muslims and the Christians disagree concerning Jesus.
1. Although Islam accepts the holiness of Jesus, it denies his divinity. According to the teaching of Islam, Jesus is no deity. He is not God, nor is he united with God. He is worthy of reverence and great respect, but he is not worthy of worship. Islam is uncompromising in its Monotheism. God is only One, and there is no God but He, the Almighty, the Ever-Living, the Self-Subsistent, the Infinite in life, knowledge, and power. Jesus is not ever-living. He was born less than 2000 years ago, and according to the gospels, he died after a very short life. He is not almighty because he was a subject of persecution; nor was he infinite. He could not be the Creator of the world because the world is over four billion years old, while he was born less than two thousand years ago. He is not worthy of worship because he himself was a humble worshipper of God.
Islam agrees with Christianity, in general, on the following points:
1. Islam advocates the holiness of Jesus. As a matter of fact, it is an essential part of the Islamic teaching to revere Jesus and to believe in his holiness, and that he lived in this world as a pure person free of any sin. From the Holy Qur’an:
“When the angels said: ‘O Mary! Surely God gives thee good news of a word from Him whose name is the Messiah, Jesus, Son of Mary, worthy of regard in this world and the hereafter, and of those who are highly accepted by God.’ ” 3:45
2. Islam declares the holiness of Mary, the mother of Jesus. No Muslim can doubt the decency and purity of Mary. She, according to the Qur’an, had been the most noble among the women of the nations:
“And when the angels said: ‘O Mary! Certainly God has chosen thee and made thee pure and has preferred thee above the women of all nations. ‘O Mary! Be obedient to thy Lord, prostrate thyself and bow with those who bow (in worship).’” 3:42-43
3. Islam declares that Jesus was miraculously born from a virgin mother with no father. From the Holy Qur’an:
:)>-
But Jesus is not like us. He, according to the Qur’an and the Bible, was born from a virgin mother without a father. Does not this mean that he is more than a human being?
Being born from a mother without a father does not make Jesus more than a human being. Adam was created without father and mother, and that did not make him more than a human. From the Holy Qur’an:
“Certainly the status of Jesus in the eyes of God is like the status of Adam. He created him from dust. He said to him: ‘Be,’ and so he was.” 3:59
Neither Jesus nor Adam is a god because neither of them is the Creator of the universe.
In addition to this, the Holy Qur’an ascribes to Jesus a miracle that is not recorded in the gospels: Jesus spoke clearly while he was in the cradle:
“Then she came to her people with him, carrying him. They said: ‘O Mary, thou hast indeed brought a strange thing. O sister of Aaron, thy father was not a wicked man, nor was thy mother an unchaste woman.’ But she pointed to him. They said: ‘How should we speak to a one who is a child in the cradle?’ He said: ‘I am indeed a servant of God. He has given me the Book and made me a prophet; and He has made me blessed wherever I may be, and He has enjoined on me prayer and purity so long as I live. And to be kind to my mother; and He has not made me insolent, un-blessed. And Peace be on me the day I was born, and the day I die, and the day I am raised to life (in the Hereafter).’ ” 19:27-33
I could go on and on but would love to hear some views as this is a mere tip of the discussion. Just going back to the point of sins and forgiveness. the islamic view on this point is that no man or woman in this world is or will be perfect. the way to salavation in islam is through sincere repentance to god one god the creator. This need not be anywhere in particular either as god is everywhere he see’s heres and listens to all his servants. he is the most forgiving and indeed he made us knowing full well that we are going to make mistakes in life after all he is the all knower all wise. The mere fact that we turn to him and ask for forgiveness is worship in itself as god likes us to turn to him as often as we can even if its to ask for forgiveness for then at least he knows the importance and faith you place in him. Repentance should be a spiritual experiance between the creator and his creation and not a human to a human experiance. how can creation be responsible to creation for forgiveness.
How many people can tell me the 2nd commandment??
well here it is !!
Thou shall not make or worship any graven image - Think about this please the next time you are stood in church and take a long hard look immediately behind the priest you will alwys find an immediate breach of the very 2nd commandment what do we see?? i GREAT BIG image of a cross with what?
then you take a look around the windows !!!! it would be great to live by the basic principles laid down by god wouldnt it??
Cool, someone not a Christian or an atheist! Hooray diversity. Welcome to the site, Islamicview.
Our opinions of original sin are very similar.
I echo Sara’s welcome and opinion on original sin. Then again I’m not really a believer in sin at all so that’s fairly obvious.
As far as I know though the tree of wisdom wasn’t an apple tree. The apple was added as a representation by later artists. It’s a minor point but I do love the taste of apples.
Could you go over repentance again please. Are you saying that in Islam it isn’t required or are you saying that it is directly between the petitioner and God? Does God forgive or just enable you to forgive yourself? Is prayer the mechanism for redemption, is it a symbolic form of sacrifice or something else.
Finally the graven image thing. I understand that Muslims take this very seriously and extend it to the prophets, particularly to Mohammad. Why do you think it is important? I can see the logic of not killing, stealing, coveting, cheating, etc but graven images have always confused me. I don’t mind if a Christian, Jew or Muslim has an answer for this. It’s the same commandment from the same god as far as I’m concerned.