One Road or Many?
In the Washington Post, Kathleen Parker states a strong opinion about the Christian doctrine that the only way to God is through Jesus Christ. She took aim at Franklin Graham who was jilted by the Obama administration for his belief that non-Christian religions such as Islam and Hinduism are evil because they pull people away from the truth. She sites statistics saying that 47% of Protestant pastor view Islam as “a very evil and very wicked religion.” I actually find that shocking. I expected it to be higher. Have we learned nothing from 9-11? She also sites a survey that shows that nearly two-thirds of evangelicals under 35 believe non-Christians can go to heaven, vs. 39% of those over 65. She also mentions a study in which it is revealed that our brains light up the same way when we pray, no matter to whom we pray.
I have a few things to say about this. That’s a scary thought if two-thirds of young evangelicals believe that non-Christians can go to heaven. Why is that scary? Because that means we’ve gotten our eye off the ball. Even if these Christians are truly Christians and have trusted Christ as their personal savior, if they believe that non-Christians can go to heaven then they will have no incentive to preach the gospel. If our only incentive is to have larger churches we will focus our attention on the people we are most likely to win and assume the others are okay since they at least have a religion. We need to get it through our heads that hell real, people are going there and God is the judge who will send them there. If a judge tells you what you need to do for forgiveness and you don’t do it, it doesn’t make sense that the judge would forgive you anyway.
Now, does it really matter what part of our brain lights up when we pray? Does it matter that a Hindu can pray and light up the same area as a Christian? Let’s compare that to radio transmitters. If I send a signal on one and you send a signal on another, don’t you think they are going to function in about the same way? Sure they would. The big question is whether or not there is someone on the other end to receive the signal. Prayer is nothing unless we are praying to a living God. People talk about how powerful prayer is, but that isn’t true. It is God who is powerful. Prayer to a dead god will result in nothing.
If some of what Kathleen Parker says is true, the future of Christianity is bleak. She doesn’t see it that way because she says, “transcending the notion that only some prayers are the right ones might get us closer to the enlightenment we purportedly seek,” but what she says would indicate that the younger generation is getting farther and farther from the core beliefs of Christianity. And yet, that isn’t what I’m seeing with many of the young Christians I know. Many young Christians are as dedicated or even more dedicated to the faith than their parents. Despite the statistics Kathleen Parker mentions, I keep seeing strong indications that God isn’t through yet.
Comments
What kind of wine has Mikey Weinstein been drinking?
As an anti-Christian Jewish supremacist and as the president of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, he's doing all he can to create an anti-Jewish backlash and help bring about the predicted endtime Holocaust of Jews that'll be worse than Hitler's.
Neither Falwell, Hagee nor any other Christian initiated this prediction. But Weinstein's ancient Hebrew prophets did.
In the 13th and 14th chapters of his Old Testament book, Zechariah predicted that after Israel's rebirth ALL nations will eventually be against Israel and that TWO-THIRDS of all Jews will be killed!
Malachi revealed the reasons: "Judah hath dealt treacherously" and "the Lord will cut off the man that doeth this."
Haven't evangelicals generally been the best friends of Israel and persons perceived to be Jewish? Then please explain the hate-filled back-stabbing by David Letterman (and Sandra Bernhard, Kathy Griffin, Bill Maher etc.) against followers of Jesus such as Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann.
Weinstein wouldn't dare assert that citizens on government property don't have freedom of speech or press freedom or freedom to assemble or to petition the government.
But God-hater Weinstein maliciously wants to eliminate from government property the "free exercise" of religion - especially by evangelicals - a freedom found in the same First Amendment. Significantly, this freedom was purposely listed FIRST by America's founders!
And Weinstein wouldn't try to foist "separation of church and state" on strongly-Jewish Israel, but he does try to foist this non-Constitution-mentioned phrase on strongly-Christian America.
In light of Weinstein's Jewish protectionism and violently anti-Christian obsession, Christians in these endtimes should be reminded of Jesus' warning in Mark 13:9 (see also Luke 21:12) that "in the synagogues ye shall be beaten."
Maybe it's time for some modern Paul Reveres to saddle up and shout "The Yiddish are Coming!"
PS - Some, like Weinstein, are so treacherously anti-Christian they will even join hands at times with enemies, including Muslims, in order to silence evangelicals. It was Weinstein, BTW, who put pressure on the Pentagon to dis-invite Franklin Graham from speaking there on the National Day of Prayer!
PPS - Weinstein is an echo of the anti-Christian, anti-American Hollywood which for a century has dangled every known vice before young people. We seriously wonder how soon the lethal worldwide "flood of filth" (global harming!) that Hollywood has created will engulf and destroy itself and help to bring to power the endtime Antichrist (a.k.a. the Man of Sin and the Wicked One)!