Is Paul a Hijacker of Early Christianity ?

Dear friends:
I highly recommend you to read the above book" Seeking Allah , Finding Jesus", just a few paragraphs from that book for you to sample.

Click the link below for more details:

Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus: A Devout Muslim Encounters Christianity

Feb 11, 2014

by Nabeel Qureshi and Lee Strobel

... Nabeel Qureshi had been taught to despise Paul as a hijacker of early Christianity (181), but now he started to ask himself why a devout Jew would turn Jesus into God. The core doctrine of Islam was the “oneness” of God. To call Jesus God was an unforgivable sin that led to hell. So this was a major issue.

Interestingly, it was his study of science at Old Dominion that made him realize that a Triune God was not out of the question. As he explains it, “One molecule of nitrate is three resonance structures all at the same time and never just one of them. They are three in one” (191). So why couldn’t one God be three persons at the same time?

He was further shaken by his study of the life of Muhammad. Allegiance to the prophet is allegiance to Islam and vice versa (203). Taught that Muhammad was a flawless man who all Muslims were to emulate, Nabeel discovered that, among other nasty things, Muhammad was a violent, petty leader who murdered without provocation, ordered his soldiers to rape the women they took captive in battle, and consummated marriage with a girl of only nine. What shocked him further was the fact that he got this negative information from Muslim sources, not Christian ones.

Qureshi writes:

It was then that I realized the value of apologetics and what arguments had done for me. All my life, barriers had been erected that kept me from humbly approaching God and asking Him to reveal Himself to me. The arguments and apologetics tore down those barriers, positioning me to make a decision to pursue God or not (241)

Did Something Come From Nothing?

http://www.christianpost.com/news/atheists-did-something-come-from-nothing-145015/

Atheists: Did Something Come From Nothing?

BY DAN DELZELL , SPECIAL TO CP

It seems atheists would much rather believe that something came from nothing, than to believe that Someone has always existed. Of course both beliefs are a matter of faith.

So did the universe come from nothing, or from God? Is there a rational mind behind the mathematical precision of the universe, as well as human DNA, or did it all just happen by chance?

In his book, "The Grand Design," Professor Stephen Hawking writes, "Because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist."

But Hawking's premise is illogical. Without the cosmos, there would be no law of gravity. And if the law of gravity truly helped create the universe as Hawking suggests, then the universe was not created from nothing, but from something. In that case, how did the law of gravity originate, and how could it have been in existence prior to the creation of the universe? Impossible and irrational.

You mean to tell me that the man who is perhaps the world's most famous living scientist actually believes the mystical doctrine that something came from nothing? Yes indeed. Hawking's confession of faith is unequivocal. And a multitude of others in our world today have also chosen to place their faith in such imaginative science fiction. True science, on the other hand, recognizes that something cannot be created from nothing.

By the way, Hawking recently revealed his latest theory. He now believes that passing through a "black hole" could lead you to another universe. And his latest theory comes less than two years since Hawking made headlines with this bold statement: "There are no black holes."

But the man who believes the law of gravity helped create the universe has been digging a little deeper on the question of black holes. And he wants you to be prepared in case you ever find yourself inside one. Seriously.

Hawking now says that "if you feel you are in a black hole, don't give up. There's a way out." A way out? And Hawking knows this for a fact? Actually, it's just more science fiction from an intelligent physicist with a creative imagination.

Obviously, man is susceptible to embracing the myth that nothing created something. The Christian mind, on the other hand, has been delivered from such irrationality. Christians believe in a personal God who loved us enough to send His only Son to save us from our sin. Christians have been given "the mind of Christ." (1 Cor. 2:16) That is, we now see a number of things the way Christ sees them.

But how can that be?

Well, wisdom from God gets poured into a believer when he meets Christ through faith. Without this wisdom, how in the world could we possibly believe in a personal God? After all, we are not born into this world possessing "the mind of Christ." We only possess human reason. And those who reject God admittedly don't know where human reason originated.

Karl Popper delivered the first Darwin Lecture at Darwin College, in Cambridge, on Nov. 8, 1977. It was entitled, "Natural Selection and the Emergence of Mind." Popper stated, "I conjecture that life, and later also mind, have evolved or emerged in a universe that was, up to a certain time, lifeless and mindless. Life, or living matter, somehow emerged from nonliving matter; and it does not seem completely impossible that we shall one day know how this happened. Things look far more difficult with the emergence of mind. While we think we know some of the preconditions of life, and some of the substructures of primitive organisms, we do not have the slightest idea on which evolutionary level mind emerges."

That's simple. The rational mind of man was created by an intelligent and rational Creator. He is all-powerful and all-knowing, and so it was easy for God to create both the body as well as the mind of man.

Consider for a moment the mathematical precision of human DNA. Francis Collins is the director of the Human Genome Project. Collins stated, "I have led a consortium of scientists to read out the 3.1 billion letters of the human genome, our own DNA instruction book. As a believer, I see DNA, the information molecule of all living things, as God's language, and the elegance and complexity of our own bodies and the rest of nature as a reflection of God's plan."

Perry Marshall noted, "Dr. Jean-Claude Perez started counting letters in DNA. He discovered that these ratios are highly mathematical and based on 'Phi,' the Golden Ratio 1.618. This is a very special number, sort of like Pi." Perez' discovery was published in the scientific journal Interdisciplinary Sciences / Computational Life Sciences in September 2010.

Since God's mind is obviously a million (million million...infinite times * emphasized by this blogger) times more advanced than the human mind, it was a piece of cake for the Creator to place this mathematical perfection into the DNA of Adam and Eve. "Wait a minute! Who believes in that Adam and Eve stuff?" Well, Jesus for one. Christ said, "Haven't you read that at the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female.'" (Matthew 19:4)

And we have all descended from that first man and woman. It requires faith to believe that God is an eternal Being who created man at a special time and place. On the other end of the spectrum, it requires far greater faith (and a blind faith at that) to believe that something came from nothing.

Scriptures reveals the origin of the cosmos: "By Christ all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together." (Colossians 1:15-17) God is not a thing, but a Person. Actually, three Persons in One God. And when you meet Christ through faith, you enter an eternal relationship with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Francis Collins said, "I had always assumed that faith was based on purely emotional and irrational arguments, and was astounded to discover, initially in the writings of the Oxford scholar C.S. Lewis and subsequently from many other sources, that one could build a very strong case for the plausibility of the existence of God on purely rational grounds. My earlier atheist's assertion that 'I know there is no God' emerged as the least defensible. As the British writer G.K. Chesterton famously remarked, 'Atheism is the most daring of all dogmas, for it is the assertion of a universal negative.'"

So did the universe create itself out of nothing? And did the human mind come into existence without the work of a rational designer? Or has God always existed? You make the call.

But just remember. The Lord is going to reign in heaven forever, whether you want to be part of that eternal celebration or not.

Free Will or Full Wiring: Are Real Choices Even Possible?

Dear friends:
Do we really have free wills or are we simply fully wired?
See the whole article in the following link.
http://coldcasechristianity.com/2015/do-neurological-studies-prove-free-agency-is-an-illusion/

...In the years since Libet’s famous studies, many other scientists have conducted similar experiments. John-Dylan Haynes, professor at the Berlin School of Mind and Brain, conducted experiments using an MRI instead of an EEG. His discoveries seem even more astonishing. He gave his subjects two buttons (one for each hand) and told them to push one of the two buttons the instant they made a decision to do so. Haynes discovered unconscious brain activity preceding and predicting their movements. This activity (recorded by the MRI) began seven to ten seconds prior to the conscious decision and action. Once again, scientific research seemed to confirm the deterministic, physical nature of the universe. According to experiments such as these, our choices are not really our own but are instead the result of a deterministic series of purely physical events in our brains.

But do these studies truly prove we have no free agency? No. Although Libet and Haynes concluded a physical brain sequence preceded any non-physical “free” decision, their work fails to demonstrate our physical brains are really in charge and our conscious decisions are only illusory. In the years since these experiments were first conducted, their resulting conclusions have come into question. How do we know this brain activity isn’t simply a signal reporting the beginning of thought processes prior to a final decision? When choosing between two options, we often ponder the decision (even while we are unaware) prior to making a free choice. There are good reasons to believe this is what Libet and Haynes’ experiments recorded. Haynes’ experiments, for example, identified activity in the prefrontal cortex and the BA10 regions of the brain. Independent studies indicate these regions of the brain are not relevant to free decisions, but are instead involved in the formation and storage of plans and intentions.

This seems consistent with Haynes’ findings of a seven-to-ten-second gap between activity in these regions and the conscious decision to act. Given this delay of several seconds, it’s far more reasonable to believe activity in these two areas of the brain is related to the unconscious time it takes to form a plan prior to making a final decision, than the much shorter period of time we experience when actually making a decision.

Our unrestricted plan formation and our final choices would, therefore, result in the findings recorded by Libet and others. These experiments fail to disprove free will because free agency is, after all, required for us to form plans as well as to make choices. For a more extensive discussion of alternate interpretations of Libet and Haynes, refer to Mark Balaguer’s book, Free Will, (MIT Press), and for a more lengthy explanation of the role free agency plays in the case for God’s existence, please refer to God’s Crime Scene, Chapter Six – Free Will or Full Wiring: Are Real Choices Even Possible?

Can God Save Marriages in Crisis?

Dear friends:
I've just found by chance, this website "Marriage Helper: Home of Marriage Helper 911 workshop"
http://www.marriagehelper.com/
by clicking "Limerence" in the article related to Ashley Madison of How to Get Over Limerence After Ending an Affair in CP website;

it has lots of valuable articles; perhaps you want to help some couples to save their marriage and don't know how or you may even know some couples who may need to use their counseling service and advice? You may sample the article in this link below and judge for yourself.

http://www.marriagehelper.com/my_husband_or_wife_is_in_love_with_someone_else.php

...Admittedly, I become frustrated with leaders or counselors who too quickly encourage the abandoned spouse to accept that it’s over and move on. Yes, that advice is sound when there is no hope. However, my experience is that too often we don’t count on the power of God and, therefore, make premature judgments about how hopeless a situation might be. I’ll make another admission; I’ve gone through marriage intensives with couples that at the end I would have predicted there was no way they would heal their marriage. Yet I saw it work out.


Miracle?

I think that’s a fairly good word to use when God’s involved.

 For example, recently a couple came through our weekend intensive workshop for marriages in crisis that shared a remarkable story. Though highly involved in their church, she had gotten too close to another member and that had gradually led to adultery. Neither meant for it to happen. No one went looking for that kind of relationship. Like so many others they didn’t understand the danger and forged ahead with a friendship that was destined to become a passion. By the time they realized they were on the wrong path, they were so enmeshed with each other that they were convinced that the best thing for everyone – spouses, children, church – was to divorce their spouses and marry each other. The night she told her husband her plans, the emotion was so intense that soon she was in a deep sleep. He interpreted that as her not caring. The real cause of her deep slumber was the depth of her emotional state. Nevertheless, he spent the rest of the night praying over her sleeping body. He prayed that God would convict her heart; that He would somehow reduce or remove the emotions she had for the other man.

   It worked.

The next morning she awakened with the realization that she wanted to save her marriage and wanted very much to get past the feelings she had for her lover. Shortly thereafter they were in our workshop to learn how it happened, how to heal it, and how to grow in love like they never had before.

That’s the only time I’ve heard the story work just that way.

More often the abandoned spouse prays and prays but the abandoning spouse reacts callously. They don’t want to see the error of their actions. They don’t want to face the guilt of their wrongdoing. They seek any counsel, from Christians or otherwise, that empathizes with their position and gives any encouragement whatsoever.

Does that mean prayer has no power?

Not at all.

It means that sometimes God works directly on a person’s heart in ways beyond human understanding, and sometimes He uses other methodologies. Praying is powerful. So is doing the right things.

If your spouse has told you that he or she is in love with someone else, I suggest you do the following things...

Click the link below to finish reading the whole article.

http://www.marriagehelper.com/my_husband_or_wife_is_in_love_with_someone_else.php

Life is Short: Repent and Get Right with God !

'Life Is Short; Repent, Get Right With God,' Greg Laurie Says on Last Night of SoCal Harvest Crusade 2015

*Click the above link for the whole report of above crusade

In his last nightly message at the 26th annual SoCal Harvest Crusade on Sunday, evangelist and Pastor Greg Laurie urged tens of thousands of Californians to realize that life passes too quickly, and that they needed to repent without any delay, rather than "have an affair," as the Ashley Madison website suggests.


"You can't ignore the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead," Laurie said as he began his message titled "Hope for the Afterlife," speaking at the packed Angel Stadium in Anaheim in southern California on Sunday night. Harvest Crusade organizers told The Christian Post that 32,000 people attended the event in Angel Stadium on Sunday night, and 3,488 people made decisions for Christ that evening.


...The Bible says that we live once and then comes the judgment, he said. "Every sin you've ever committed is recorded."


Laurie mentioned the Ashley Madison website, which is designed for people to have extra-marital affairs and whose tagline is: "Life is short. Have an affair." It gives anonymity, so that no one can find out, Laurie said. But now, when the information about who all had their accounts with the site has come out after it was hacked, people are seeing it differently, he added. They now recognize that, "Life is short, so repent and get right with God because everything is recorded."


Laurie added, "A secret sin on Earth is an open scandal in Heaven."

Our sins can either be confessed and forgiven by God, or they can "remain unconfessed and you'll have to face the ramifications," he warned.


The good news is that God can forgive as well as forget all of your sin, if you ask Him to, the pastor went on to say. "No one's good enough to get into Heaven." At the same time, there's no work bad enough that can keep you from Heaven, he added, provided you have been forgiven through Jesus Christ...

Also if interested, you may read 
Life Is Eternal. Don't Have an Affair.

Ashley Madison: Original Sin Plus Modern Technology

Dear fellow Christians: 

Here is a very good article worthy of our deep thinking and reflections.

May we put on all of God's armor to resist all kinds of temptations the new modern technology seems to offer us anonymously. 

(Ephesians 6:11 Put on all of God's armor so that you will be able to stand

 firm against all strategies of the devil. )

See how Jesus has warned His disciples,

"Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees,
 which is hypocrisy. "But there is nothing

covered up that will not be revealed, and hidden that will 

not be known. "Accordingly, whatever you have said in 

the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have 

whispered in the inner rooms will be proclaimed upon the housetops." (Luke 12: 1b-3)

May we all pray like Psalm 139: 23-24 said:

Search me [thoroughly], O God, and know my heart! 

Try me and know my thoughts!

And see if there is any wicked or hurtful way in me, and 

lead me in the way everlasting.

May we all not bring shame to God's name! "We are never anonymous to God" as the author of the following link says.

Click the link below for the whole article.

Original Sin Plus Modern Technology: Ashley Madison Is Just the Beginning

...The brokenness of sexuality all around us demonstrates something far deeper than a crisis of culture. The brokenness of sexuality around us demonstrates a crisis of worship. We will not get out of this with better Internet filters or more accountability groups. We must recognize that technology will continue to offer fallen humanity what it thinks it wants — the illusion that we can transgress God and not surely die. Our only hope starts with the kind of vision which sees that, no matter the technology, we are never anonymous to God.

And we need to listen to what Paul's said in 1 Cor.10:12

Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he 

does not fall. 

also in Romans 12:1-2

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters,
in view of God’s mercy, to offer your 

bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and 

pleasing to God—this is your true and proper

worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the
renewing of your mind. Then you will be 

able to test and approve what God’s will is—

His good, pleasing and perfect will.

Was Jesus Influenced by Pagans?

Dear friends:

You may click the link below for the whole article. 

Archaeology and Nazareth: Was Jesus Influenced by Pagans?

BY ERIC METAXAS

...What's more, it seems Nazareth was even more Jewish than previously believed. To understand how this is possible, you have to realize that a few hours walk from Nazareth was the city of Sepphoris, the administrative center of Roman Galilee. Sepphoris was rich, cosmopolitan and religiously pluralistic.

Many people, most famously some members of the "Jesus Seminar," have speculated on the impact of Sepphoris on Jesus. They go so far as to suggest that the Greco-Roman culture of Sepphoris shaped his thinking.

But the archaeology tells a very different story. The people of Nazareth, based on what they left behind by way of pottery and other material goods, "chose a strictly Jewish material culture." As the Review put it, "nowhere in the Roman Empire is there such a seemingly clear-cut boundary between people accepting and those rejecting Roman culture."

It's highly unlikely — actually, ridiculous is more like it — that Jesus would avoid pagan pottery yet embrace pagan thinking.

No, the more we learn about Nazareth, the more we realize it was "exactly the sort of place we might expect to find a rural craftsman like Joseph," as he is described in the Gospels.

...

What's being discovered in Nazareth paints a portrait of life in Jesus' time and home very familiar to readers of the Gospels. It's a reminder that our best source of knowledge of Jesus of Nazareth is not the Jesus Seminar, or even worse, spurious writings like "The Gospel of Judas" or the "Jesus' Wife" papyrus fragment, but Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

They not only tell us what we need to know about Jesus, but also where to dig.