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Prayers to Allah last night at the White House
(AgapePress)
| November 20, 2001
Posted on 12/09/2001 8:41:41 PM PST by TonyTheTigger
November 20, 2001 (AgapePress) - In what is believed to be a first in American history, there were prayers to Allah last night at the White House where President Bush hosted a formal Ramadan celebration with dozens of Muslim leaders.
The Ramadan event was another effort by the Bush Administration to prove its war on terrorism is not a war against Islam. However, conservative voices like Gary Bauer have been sharply critical of that effort. He says he has heard from a number of people within the U.S. intelligence community who are shocked and demoralized that some of the Muslim leaders who have been spending time with the President have been known to speak out in favor of terrorism.
Bauer notes that while these people are getting the red carpet treatment at the White House, reports indicate the President is distancing himself from one of the country's best-known evangelicals. According to reports, Franklin Graham upset the Bush Administration when he recently referred to Islam as being "wicked, violent, and not of the same God."
Shortly after the attacks of September 11, Graham had commented, "I don't believe [Islam] is a wonderful, peaceful religion." Asked by NBC News on Friday to clarify his statement, he repeated his charge that Islam, as a whole, was evil.
"It wasn't Methodists flying into those buildings, it wasn't Lutherans," he told NBC News. "It was an attack on this country by people of the Islamic faith." In a follow-up statement yesterday, Graham said he is deeply concerned with "the teachings of Islam regarding the treatment of women, and the killing of non-Muslims or infidels."
The son of Rev. Billy Graham and the designated successor of his father's extensive evangelical ministry, Graham delivered the benediction at Bush's inauguration in January. As NBC News observed, "A presidential friend and supporter now finds himself at odds with both the Muslim world and the message from the White House." But conservative columnist Chuck Baldwin calls Graham "a breath of fresh air" for standing firm and not apologizing for his statements.
Meanwhile, The New York Times reports a Muslim advocacy organization has sent a letter to Graham inviting him to meet with them to discuss his remarks. In the letter, Nihad Awad of the Council on America-Islamic Relations says, "Negative impressions of Islam are most often based on a lack of accurate and objective information."
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To: TonyTheTigger
I'm sure there is a freeper who will know this---isn't there something in the Bible that states one should not knowingly participate in worshipping a false god?
To: TonyTheTigger
According to reports, Franklin Graham upset the Bush Administration when he recently referred to Islam as being "wicked, violent, and not of the same God."Shortly after the attacks of September 11, Graham had commented, "I don't believe [Islam] is a wonderful, peaceful religion." Asked by NBC News on Friday to clarify his statement, he repeated his charge that Islam, as a whole, was evil.
Bump for Franklin Graham, a man of principle who isn't afraid to tell the truth, even when the truth is politically incorrect.
To: TonyTheTigger
Confronting Islam: Examining the Quran by Wayne Jackson Article Description Should we avoid exposing the errors in the Quran to spare the feelings of our Moslem friends?
An article appeared in July, 1997 edition of The Christian Chronicle under the title, The Islamic World. The author, managing editor Glover Shipp, suggested that Churches of Christ are at the amateur level in communication with and converting Muslims . . . .
Citing Wesley Jones, who is reputed to have a better insight into this matter than most of us, brother Shipp lists some principles which he feels will help us in reaching out to the Moslem community. Some of these suggestions are useful, but one of them is puzzling.
Know the Quran, but dont attack it. As there are slanderous opinions circulated about the Bible, so there are about the Quran. Intellectual honesty forbids that we repeat these. And obviously, attacking the Muslim Holy Book itself closes minds (p. 17).
A Response We believe that several things need to be said in response to this statement.
First, there are common-sense guidelines in the New Testament that will enable the devout Christian to know how to approach potential converts of any religion within a variety of international backgrounds. Granted those who have lived among certain peoples may have some keener insights into the cultural peculiarities of a country. These matters, however, are not the paramount aspect of seeking the lost. In the first century there was simply a compassionate proclamation of the pure gospel, brought to bear upon honest hearts; this produced an explosive growth of the kingdom of Christ.
Second, no lover of souls possessing intellectual honesty, has any desire whatever to misrepresent the teachings of the Moslem Quran, by appealing to unfounded slanderous opinions regarding Islams sacred book. Nothing is ever gained by misrepresenting an opponent, or in exhibiting a mean-spirited attitude. However, it would have been helpful if the author had cited a few examples of this unscrupulous methodology so that such tactics might be avoided.
Third, the suggestion that we should adopt a hands off policy with reference to Islams holy book is strange indeed. How could one possibly hope to convert those of the Islamic persuasion without demonstrating the fact that the Quran is not a sacred work?
The word attack is very loaded, of course, but the bottom line is this. If Moslems claim that the Quran is a divine production, and yet it is not, then this book represents a perversion of truth. No Moslem will ever be led to the Lord until he renounces this fraudulent document and acknowledges the Bible as his solitary source of divine guidance. The fact of the matter is, there is great value in showing that the Quran is not supported by the sort of evidence that would be characteristic of an inspired production.
Moslems sincerely believe that the Quran is a divine book. It is styled The Holy Quran. This volume consists of 114 sections called Suras, each of which is divided into verses. Each Sura (except 9) begins with: In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
It is alleged that the Quran was revealed to Mohammed verbatim by the angel Gabriel over a period of 23 years (but compiled after his death). One passage asserts: Praise be to God, Who hath sent to His Servant [Mohammed] The Book [the Quran], and hath allowed Therein no Crookedness (18:1).
Is the Quran from God? Inasmuch as the Quran declares itself to be a revelation from God, we have every right to examine this claim. If the book does not meet the standard that one has a right to expect from a document that claims to be from Heaven, it must be rejected as false, and its weaknesses should be exposed.
Geisler and Saleeb review eight lines of argument that are employed to demonstrate that the Quran is sacred. These may be summarized as follows:
The Qurans unique literary style is such that it could have been authored only by God (10:37; 17:88).
Since Mohammed was an unlettered Prophet, he could not have produced the book himself (7:157).
The claim is made that the Quran is the only book that has been preserved in its exact original form (Haneef, 19).
The Quran is believed to contain prophecies that demonstrate its inspiration.
Its alleged unity, or lack of discrepancy (4:82), is supposed to argue for its divine origin.
The Quran is allegedly marked by a scientific accuracy and foreknowledge that can be explained only in terms of inspiration.
Supposedly the Quran is characterized by a mathematical precision based upon the number nineteen.
It is argued that the Quran has changed lives, thus it must be sacred (pp. 181-203). When these arguments are critically examined they simply do not establish the case. For example: The Quran does not have a profound literary style. It is characterized by numerous grammatical aberrations. Moreover, as McClintock and Srong observed, it is exceedingly incoherent and sententious, the book evidently being without any logical order of thought either as a whole or in its parts (V.151).
The so-called prophecies are merely vague political speculations that do not even begin to rival biblical prophecy either in precision or in chronological proximity to the events they supposedly depict (cf. 30:2-4). Scientific accuracy can hardly be claimed when the Quran suggests that the human fetus results from sperm that changes into a clot of congealed blood, which then becomes bones, later to be covered with flesh (23:14).
The Quran is morally flawed in numerous respects. For example, those who oppose Mohammed should be subjected to execution [i.e., decapitation], or crucifixion, Or the cutting off of hand And feet from opposite sides . . . (5:36). Women are treated shamefully in the Moslem religion. If a woman is guilty of ill-conduct, she may be admonished, deprived of sex, or beaten in moderation (4:34).
Conclusion How could one deal with Islam without exposing the errors of the Quran? Surely our brethren who advise: dont attack [the Quran], have not carefully considered this matter. We must be kind, but we cannot ignore error.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SOURCES Geisler, Norman and Saleeb, Abdul (1993), Answering Islam (Grand Rapids: Baker).
Haneef, Susanne (1979), What Everyone Should Know About Islam and Muslims (Chicago: Kazi Publications).
McClintock, John & Strong, James (1969), Cyclopedia of Biblical, Ecclesiastical, and Theological Literature (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House).
The Holy Quran (1946), Abdullah Yusuf Ali, Translator (Islamic Propagation Centre International).
To: queenofsardonia
The Old Testament is full of illustrations where the Jews were punished for worshipping false gods--beginning with the Golden Calf in the wilderness. In the end, they were overrun by pagans because of they're turning from the one, true God. They turned from God and God turned by them.
To: queenofsardonia
I wonder if the White House has scheduled a goddess Fertility Rite for the spring equinox and a satanic Black Mass for Halloween?
To: spycatcher
Yes makes you wonder
To: TonyTheTigger
November 20, 2001 (AgapePress) - In what is believed to be a first in American history, there were prayers to Allah last night at the White House where President Bush hosted a formal Ramadan celebration with dozens of Muslim leaders. I hope and pray that he is only using Mohammed's Medina/Mecca strategy against them.
Otherwise he's treading on thin ice with his soul.
To: Centurion2000
thats is what I am hoping also
To: TonyTheTigger
Know the Quran, but dont attack it. As there are slanderous opinions circulated about the Bible, so there are about the Quran. Intellectual honesty forbids that we repeat these. And obviously, attacking the Muslim Holy Book itself closes minds (p. 17). The koran is not a religious or spiritual document but the muterrings of a faker, a mass murderer and pedophile (Mohomad). No differant than the cultist Bob Jones or whatever his name was down there in Guiana just more successful in deceiving large numbers of people.
To: TonyTheTigger
Correct their errors, do not join them in their wickedness....
To: CreekerFreeper
How do we know Islam doesn't worship the same God in a different way?
12
posted on
12/09/2001 9:28:49 PM PST
by
Djarum
To: Djarum
I see you don't read your Bible or you wouldnt have made this statement.
To: queenofsardonia
I'm sure there is a freeper who will know this---isn't there something in the Bible that states one should not knowingly participate in worshipping a false god?
How is what Bush did participate in another religion? If we are holding him to those standards I guess that all Christians that went trick or treating on Halloween did the same thing. Down here in my little liberal hell the college students that worship the devil said Halloween is a holiday for them.
14
posted on
12/09/2001 9:37:39 PM PST
by
jf55510
To: TonyTheTigger
I've read the Bible but not the Qur'an. From what I know Islam has the same description of God as Christianity.
15
posted on
12/09/2001 9:42:00 PM PST
by
Djarum
To: TonyTheTigger
Especially with a Republican in the White House, I think equal time should be demanded for Ganesh, the elephant-headed Hindu god, and my all time favorite pagan deity.
Muslims are not politically correct, because they are still spreading their empire by slaughter and genocide of other faiths.
16
posted on
12/09/2001 9:42:43 PM PST
by
crystalk
To: TonyTheTigger
Young Graham is not afraid to tell it as it is. And he is not afraid to stand his ground.
To: spycatcher
"I wonder if the White House has scheduled a goddess Fertility Rite for the spring equinox and a satanic Black Mass for Halloween?"
It would be a shame to leave anyone out. That would not be pc of us.
Comment #19 Removed by Moderator
To: TonyTheTigger
There have been prayers to Allah in the White House ever since it was built. Most all scholars agree that Allah is the same as the old Testament God of Moses, and the same as the Christian God. Lots of disagreement from that point on of course, but people from all three religions, Jewish, Christian and Islam, are "people of the book".
As far as worshiping false gods, all three religions agree on that, for all include the 10 Comandments, one of which is (variously translated of course) "Thou shalt have no other Gods before me". Later in the Koran this is expressed as "There is no God but the God". Allah translating from Arabic as "the God".
20
posted on
12/09/2001 9:54:21 PM PST
by
El Gato
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