Teaching and Transformation--A Difference?

Rick Warren said,

"...that there's a difference between teaching and transformation. I'm in the life change business. I'm in the transformation business. You know what motivates me? – not size; in fact, I don't even like big
churches. I mean, my favorite size was 300 people. What motivates me is that I am addicted to changing lives. I love seeing lives changed and that is the untold story. Everybody tries to attribute the growth of churches to everything else but what makes them grow – and it's changed lives...."

David Brooks says,

"I do think there is a shopping-for-faith aspect – maybe there always has been in American culture. Henry Steele Commager had a line: "In the 19th century, religion prospered while theology slowly went bankrupt." And he meant that Americans are not doctrinal in their faith. We had presidential candidates like George Bush who switched denominations in the middle of his life, but he couldn't quite tell why. You had Howard Dean who switched denominations over a bike path. And then you had Wesley Clark who switched four or five times. And that's not atypical for Americans. And so we're just not a doctrinal people, but I think,nonetheless – not only in mega-churches but maybe throughout American culture – you have, I think, a lightening of religion, certainly a walking-away from the old Jonathan Edwards trembling before an angry God. It's certainly more happy, more upbeat, more optimistic. And to me, one of the most interesting things about this book is the way it's both part of the culture but in some ways very counter-cultural. It's very against the culture of narcissism, the culture of "me," but on the other hand, it's not Jonathan Edwards either. And so it's the negotiating – being part of the world and being opposed to it, marketing and at the same time sort of counter-marketing – that's the great tension and the temptation, it seems to me, looking from the outside. or a lot of the evangelical community it's the temptation to just be so easy, so undemanding and sometimes so vacuous. That is also part of the consequences."

Bro Joe's reflection--I am reminded of the John 15:19  "If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you..." 

A Matter of Faith

Bro Joe
Suppose a stranger came to me and offered to hold my wallet for safekeeping. If I let him, that would be blind unfounded faith. However, if my father came to me and made an identical proposal, and I accepted, that would be faithbased on a long loving relationship.

If you trusted the stranger, I would say you were gullible at the very least, foolish would be another word that comes to mind. Conversely, to refuse the offer of a loving father would itself be a fool's choice.

John the Apostle knew what faith entailed. He did not put his trust in a stranger, but in one who he knew face to face. Someone whom he had observed daily for a period of at least three years. So when he wrote the Gospel that bears his name, he did it with a goal
in mind.

So, when you choose to examine the evidence presented by John you are not
making a blind leap. John asks you to carefully consider his evidence
and base your faith on the facts. Never leap into the dark--jump into
the light.

Why Do They Seek Martyrdom?

Why do they seek martyrdom?

Perhaps you have wondered why the terrorists would so willingly go to martyrdom. If so, it is because they are in total despair when faced with their fate after death.

They have no hope, or very little at best, in avoiding hell and attaining paradise. So they are looking for a way out. We may scoff at their desire for “72 virgins”, but their terror at the destiny of the sinner if easier to understand. How can we counter? By praying that God will reveal the hope of Jesus Christ. How wonderful is it to know that your sins are forgiven and that you can know that you are free from the “wrath” of God. If you are interested in helping or finding out more see: Center for Ministry to Muslims link below. I have studied and worked with this group.

I cannot vouch for the truthfulness of all on the following web address, but this part at least matches up with what I have found from studies and talking with Muslims.
The following is from: http://www.cattail.nu/wraithproject/0201deathandshabah.html

Al-Barzakh:

Whereas the matter of what happens after death and in the grave might be a fairly open-ended concept for non-Muslims, the Muslim knows with some certainty what's to happen. They call this Al-Barzakh: the time after death, and before the resurrection.

The Al-Barzakh for the faithful Muslim and the kafir (non-believer) are near-mirror images of one another. The Angel of Death sits at the head of the dying person, and brings news of Allah's forgiveness for the believer, and wrath for the kafir.

Once death occurs, the soul is removed from the body. For the believer, this is easy, and brings with it the scent of fine musk. The unbeliever, however, is torn painfully from the body, and is accompanied by the stench of rotting meat. The believer has the gates of Heaven opened for him, has the book of his life placed in the high places, and is then returned to his body. The unbeliever does not have the gates of Heaven opened to him, and once the book of his life is placed in the low places, he is tossed roughly back into the grave.

Afterwards, the mental faculties of the deceased are returned. He can feel the presence of the righteous people around his grave for as long as it takes them to sacrifice a camel and distribute its meat. He can also feel the pressing-in of the grave as it is filled in around him, and the footsteps of the mourners as they leave the side of his grave.

Then two sternfaced, black and blue colored angels - Munkar and Nakir - come to the grave to question the deceased. The believer is unafraid and answers truthfully, while the kafir is frightened and professes ignorance.

The believer is rewarded for his faith. A handsome man smelling of perfume comes to tell him of his good deeds, and he is shown both the hellfire from which Allah has delivered him, and his place in Paradise. He will wish to go there at once, but the man with his good deeds will ask him to wait. His grave is widened about him as far as the eye can see, and filled with greenery and bright light. And he spends his time until Judgment Day sleeping, seeing his place in Paradise and basking in Allah's blessings.

The kafir, however, is truly condemned. An ugly, scruffy man comes along to tell him of his bad deeds. Not only can he see the place in Hell that awaits him, but a small crack is opened so that he can see the Paradise denied to him. The grave is constricted about him so that his ribs crack.

And then, after being smashed to dust with an iron chain, he spends his time until Judgment Day being tortured in accordance with his sins. Those who neglected prayer have their heads endlessly smashed in with a rock, adulterers are eternally roasted as though in an oven, and so on. His injuries heal up so he can be tortured again and again, and no matter how loud he screams the living cannot hear him. (Animals, on the other hand, can)

According to the haddiths, the Prophet (PBUH) said that certain things would give protection from the punishment of the grave. Anyone who died as a martyr for Islam, or protected its borders in life, would be granted that privilege. It would also be given to anyone who recited the Surah Tabarakah, died from a stomach disease or died on a Friday - which is the holy day of Islam.