God Hates Religion
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Interesting thought from a christian... What do you guys think?
http//www.christinyou.net/pages/godhatesrel.html
God Hates Religion
A survey of the Scriptures reveals that there is one category that God hates above all others. God hates religion! Many will be confused, if not offended by such a statement, for they have identified God with religion. Religion, therefore, needs to be defined and differentiated from the Christian gospel.
The English word "religion" is etymologically derived from the Latin word religo, meaning to "bind up." Religion binds people up in rules and regulations or in ritualistic patterns of devotion.
Christianity, on the other hand, was never meant to be a religion. Christianity is the dynamic spiritual life of the risen Lord Jesus indwelling the spirit of man so as to create functional behavior to the glory of God. Granted, men have attempted to force Christianity into the molds and forms of religion. That is evident by all the steeples and sanctuaries and ecclesiastical programs that dot the landscape of our society.
It is the propensity of man to formulate religion ? to take that which is of the invisible God and attempt to make it visible, tangible and controllable. Man-made religion! The apostle Paul refers to it as "self-made religion" (Colossians 223), and goes on to indicate that it is of no value against fleshly indulgence. In essence, Paul is saying that "religion is of no value against man's sinfulness." In fact, religion is a co-dependent enabler of the sins of mankind. It is itself an addiction.
Religion is essentially idolatry. Men worship their man-made formations and structures ? their ideological idols formed in the concrete of inflexible minds. When the apostle Paul came to Athens (Acts 1722), he observed their idols and exclaimed, "Men of Athens, I observe that you are very religious in all respects." The Greek word that Paul used for "religious" literally means "to have great respect for demons."
To document that God hates religion, note the following passages of Scripture
"...every abominable act which the Lord hates they have done for their gods, for they even burn their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods." (Deuteronomy 1231)
"I have had enough of burnt offerings...Bring your worthless offerings no longer...I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts; they have become a burden to Me... So when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you... I will not listen..." (Isaiah 110-15)
"I hate, I reject your festivals; nor do I delight in your solemn assemblies...take away from Me the noise of your songs; I will not even listen to the sound of your harps." (Amos 521-24)
These passages bear out the fact that God hates religion, and all of its procedures and programs; rituals and regulations.
Religion is inevitably the result of man taking that which is of God and forming it, formulating it, in such a way that men end up "playing God." Men can form idols out of wood or stone in an attempt to represent God, or they can formulate ideological idols (belief-systems, doctrinal definitions, theological theses). The men who thus form and formulate become the "chief priests" of the new religion because they are regarded as knowing the most about what God is like, and well they should for they formed "it."
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Thank you so much for this link!
It looks very, very interesting and intriguing...
Looking forward to read many of the articles there.
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How do we know how much credibility to give to each source of scripture? the Bible, the Qur'an etc.
All these books supposedly are divinely inspired how do you judge truth from falsehood?
The Qur'an says it confirms previous scripture yet what role should the Bible play in any Muslim's life. I've always been interested in the books of the Bible because obviously the Qur'an and the Bible are connected but I think most Muslim's would say the Bible is corrupted.
Shouldn't a Muslim have some sort of knowledge of the Bible though if the Qur'an claims to confirm its truths?
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The Qur'an says it confirms previous scripture yet what role should the Bible play in any Muslim's life. I've always been interested in the books of the Bible because obviously the Qur'an and the Bible are connected but I think most Muslim's would say the Bible is corrupted.
Shouldn't a Muslim have some sort of knowledge of the Bible though if the Qur'an claims to confirm its truths?
Being a muslim doesn't have any correlation with 'what book he considered to be true, half true, quarterly true, 87% true etc..'
You seem to be mixed up between being Muslim (tm) a member of cult of Islam and being a muslim who possessed/shows the attitude of islam.
What you think of bible, quran, tao te ching, veda, mein kampf, harry potter is all up to you...
It is a man's own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways
-- SiddhartaSalam / Peace
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What you think of bible, quran, tao te ching, veda, mein kampf, harry potter is all up to you...
It is a man's own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways
-- SiddhartaIt sounds nice, but sounds also somewhat neo-hippie
But @Jafar, it is such a naive statement! That all should depend on each individual's mind?? ???
We know that it all depends what that mind was fed with, and what data/doctrine it swallowed, and which parents/environment brainwashed it! Not to mention personal self-mysticism!
For once I realized that @good logic is right in insisting that either your are led by God or by man's opinions... And then, God leads whomever He wants and leads astray whomever He wants. Then we come again to the same point in questioning whether that statement, being from Quran, has the real authority of God or it is not the direct word of god?...
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How do we know how much credibility to give to each source of scripture? the Bible, the Qur'an etc.
All these books supposedly are divinely inspired how do you judge truth from falsehood?
The Qur'an says it confirms previous scripture yet what role should the Bible play in any Muslim's life. I've always been interested in the books of the Bible because obviously the Qur'an and the Bible are connected but I think most Muslim's would say the Bible is corrupted.
Shouldn't a Muslim have some sort of knowledge of the Bible though if the Qur'an claims to confirm its truths?
I agree with your question.
If the Quran is ONLY the confirmation of the Bible, than everything is in the Bible!
Quran is composed not only of materials from the Bible, but from other Jewish sources such as Midrash, Gemara etc!
So those are binding to Muslims, too! )jedi
peace
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But @Jafar, it is such a naive statement! That all should depend on each individual's mind?? ???
We know that it all depends what that mind was fed with, and what data/doctrine it swallowed, and which parents/environment brainwashed it! Not to mention personal self-mysticism!..It's not naive, it's true...
A strong heart & mind can withstand any bad / evil influence...
Case Study Noah, Abraham, Sidharta, Lot, Muhammad, Lao Tse, Jesus, John and millions or billions of others..Salam / Peace
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I agree with your question.
If the Quran is ONLY the confirmation of the Bible, than everything is in the Bible!
Quran is composed not only of materials from the Bible, but from other Jewish sources such as Midrash, Gemara etc!
So those are binding to Muslims, too! )jedi
peace
Why you always need 'a book which tells everything'?
In reality there are no such book...And why do you think that there are things which 'are binding' only to Muslim (where Muslim is a member of a cult named Islam).. and not to other human?
God's Law, the true God's law that is.. is binding to everyone... if it's not binding to everyone then it is NOT God's law.. believing and not believing in the law doesn't have any impact on the binding aspect of (the true) God's law..If you jump down from high rise building, your bone will be crushed due to gravity..
That's God's law, whether one believe in gravity or not it doesn't matter as it's binding to all...And please differentiate between God's law and things which (some) human said to be God's law..
A nice quote from the article above
" Religion is essentially idolatry. Men worship their man-made formations and structures ? their ideological idols formed in the concrete of inflexible minds."Salam / Peace
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The Qur'an says it confirms previous scripture yet what role should the Bible play in any Muslim's life. I've always been interested in the books of the Bible because obviously the Qur'an and the Bible are connected but I think most Muslim's would say the Bible is corrupted.
Shouldn't a Muslim have some sort of knowledge of the Bible though if the Qur'an claims to confirm its truths?
I read the bible first in a language that I understand having attended catholic schools. Then read the Koran as opposed to just brainlessly reciting in Arabic which I did growing up not knowing what the heck I was reciting and purpose it served. Ok - if the Quran claims to confirm its truths then I should find it in the bible right? so went back to the bible to see if this was indeed the case.
I had all these questions about revelations. Did God write the scriptures and sort of drop it from the sky so to speak? Or did he send the scriptures via an angel? Or did God directly talk to Jesus and Muhammed with the revelation who then relayed it to the public? Or did God reveal his message via angels? Did the angels talk and the prophets transcribed in written format word for word, or memorize word for word and then relay the message to the general public? Basically, who wrote it down? Was there a committee? who was part of the committee? Was Jesus head of this committee making sure that the words were transcribed just exactly as it was revealed to him by God? Considering Jesus and Muhamed had many enemies - possible that some committee members could have been corrupted/influenced having ulterior motive.
was Jesus and Muhammed alone when the angels relayed the message. were there witnesses? If we are to believe that God revealed his messages to Jesus and Muhammed then we have to place our trust that they were just relaying the message and not inserting their own words. We have to trust that they had certain qualities like integrity and good memory and that angels/God was keeping a check on them. If they insert their own or put a twist to it then the words are theirs and not words of God.
Bible that we have today is not the 'original' scripture. From reading various translations of the Koran, I appreciate how meaning can be lost or mistranslated. This is one corruption. Bible that I have with me is basically similar to hadiths - compilation of what people heard or saw Jesus say and do regarded as authentic. Do you trust the source? I don't. I think and I do believe that parts of the bible are words of God. If you read some passages and compare it to what is said in the Koran - you will find it is the same or similar. Bible talks about Jesus final sermon saying that another messenger will come and asking people to support him.
To answer your question, no.... a muslim shouldn't have to have some sort of knowledge about the bible. s/he can simply accept the quran. and then there are those who need to confirm things. ok - when i read in the koran that people before bowed down (as in physical act of worship) or fasting was enjoined before, I needed to verify this for myself and went looking for verification doing my research.
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A nice quote from the article above
" Religion is essentially idolatry. Men worship their man-made formations and structures ? their ideological idols formed in the concrete of inflexible minds."I agree. I thought this was a good quote as well.