Faith: The Basics and The Life

Why is it important to look forward to this pivotal year? Why am I interested in telling people about it? For a long time, people who study Bible prophecies, Cults or Orthodox Christians, have been assigning or at least building expectations around relevant dates that mark certain phases. Jehovah's witnesses have been the best failures in assigning dates. They started by 1884, 1887, 1914, 1925, 1975, generation of 1914.. Etc. Seventh Day Adventists had one failing prediction of 1844. Recently, some small groups of Born Again Christians started also assigning some dates.  May 21, 2011 was one widely marketed date, while Hal Lindsay assigned the generation ending 1988 to witness the end of the world. All of the above dates did not witness anything unusual, in the supernatural sense of the world.  Now the question arises: Are we supposed to know when Christ will come and the end of the Current world will be reached? 1. The Bible clearly says that the exact dates are

It has been a while since I first decided to write about this idea that has been going around in my head. But, as a Bible student aware of end time prophecies in both the Old and New testaments, I can’t but say how I see the link between the days that we live in and the end of this age. Therefore, it is a time to speak my words load. From the political scene, to the natural, cultural and ethical situation of the world, I see the signs of the imminent end of this world. Not that I believe the Mayan Calendar is correct and the world will end in three weeks time, because somehow I know it won’t. But it is a sense that I see in the news that I read every day. The least I can say is that the world cannot continue the way it is. And the direction of world events is down into darkness. So either Nuclear Dark Ages are ahead, or God will get fed up with the Awfulness of man and will interfere to save a remnant of people who still cherish ethics, and value human life. And with my knowledg

It is getting clearer by the second that the riots and incidents that are taking place as a result of the release of the “Innocense of Muslims” Movies trailer are pre-organized and politically motivated incidents. The US ambassador in Lybia was killed not as a result of protests getting out of hand, but rather as an organized attack of Al Qaeda who made sure it falls on September 11, to remind the Americans of September 11, 2001. Now, viewing all this, I am seriously outraged at the direction things took recently and the hypocrisy shown in media and by politicians. 1.        The movie is stupid and I personally do not endorse it or its content in addition to its worst movie production ever… and there are much more serious videos that attack Islam on the web. As a result I do not see that the reaction done is spontaneous, but rather pre-arranged and timed for political targets from those who led these riots. 2.        I believe in the ultimate freedom of speech. You can s

أقوم حاليًا بكتابة كتيّب جديد بعنوان "المسيحية الجديدة". إليك أحد المقاطع المأخوذة من المسودة الأولى...  دور الكنيسة تلعب وسائل الإعلام، وخاصةً الغربية منها، دورًا كبيرًا في تشويه سمعة الكنيسة المسيحية في هذه الأيام. فعندما تتحدث عن الكنيسة لا تسمع سوى إشارات إلى التعصب والتطرف، عدم قبول الآخر وعدم القبول بالنظريات العلمية الحديثة... وكأن العالم ينحصر فقط في أوامر الكنيسة بقتل غليليو اول من نشر نظرية كروية الأرض خلال العصور المظلمة. لكن بالرغم من الدعاية السلبية التي تتلقاها الكنيسة في هذه الأيام من جميع الأطراف، وبالرغم من حقيقة بعض الأحداث التي تنشر حول اخطاء ارتكبتها الكنيسة بمختلف أطيافها وطوائفها، لا يجب أن ننسى الإنجازات العظيمة التي حققتها الكنيسة عبر التاريخ والتي تتخطى بما لا يقاس السيئات والأخطاء التي مرت بها الكنيسة في حقبات محدودة من تاريخها الطويل الذي يقارب الألفي عام. لقد كان للكنيسة التأثير الكبير ليس في مجال تقريب الناس إلى الله وإلى الإيمان بالكائن الأسمى فحسب، بل كان لها تأثيرًا إيجابيًا على المجتمع فتراها تنشر الثقافة والتعليم في مختلف

Thousands and thousands of books have been written discussing the reasons why some believe and why some do not believe in the existence of the Supreme Being, we call God. Some try to make it a scientific case, while others insist that it is a personal matter of Belief. Both parties might have points that support their belief system. The question that always bothered me was: “should I have an answer to all questions before I make my mind whether to believe in God or not  believe in God?”  With our limited knowledge and span of life, and with Science jumping to new levels by the second, I doubt that any human being can decide for himself in a rational way whether Faith in a Supreme Being/Creator is proper or not. Actually, I see two main conflicting messages around me: 1.        There is order in the world, thus there should be an intelligent creator. 2.        There is chaos in the world, thus there is no intelligent creator, but rather a set of billions and billions of

It is amazing how good-hearted believers in the Gospel of Jesus Christ tend to believe that God is a Loser... He lost in Eden, when men fell in sin, he Lost again time after time after time when the world went astray. Even when Jesus came to earth, He lost his Life to save humanity, and in their opinion He only restored a few (a maximum would be 10% of the world, who claim to be born again). Even nowadays, the Loss is repeated day after day with the defeated mentality of some. But wait a minute. God is no loser. He is an over-comer. He created the whole world to be His. when man sinned, He still loved him and announced the coming victory, the Seed of the Women will crush the serpent's Head. Across history, He announced in His word that Salvation is near, His kingdom is near... and then when time came, He died on the cross to crush death, and removed the sting of Hades and Death.  Christ rose from the Grave to give life to all those that Adam gave death, to save ALL. Some w

It is simple: people are getting away from religion and searching for spirituality. Why? Because people with awareness, those who read the news everyday and look at least a little farther than that, can realize that religion (or the abuse of it) is the reason behind several wars which are taking place around the world, even in our days. One can definitely argue that it is not religion, but people who are using religion as a cover up for their selfish greed or ambition. and I cannot agree more. Still, I can't deny that several religious beliefs and dogma have been the driving force behind violence led by the naive, thinking that by killing others who differ from them, in their religious background, or even race or color, they are doing a favor to "God". At least religious beliefs have left space for such violence and inhuman behaviors, if not promoted it firsthand. Therefore, and since people have been searching anywhere other than the traditional religions, we see a tr

“You can tell what they are by what they do" (Matthew 7:15 CEV). With these words Jesus explained to his listeners how they can differentiate between true and false prophets. For a long time, I heard this verse being explained to reflect the opposite of what Jesus said. Religious guys out there have been using the above verse to judge all others by any mere mistake or “SIN” done by those “others”. But they missed that the mentioned verse comes in a context were Jesus said just a few minutes before “Don’t condemn others, and God won’t condemn you” (Matthew 7: 1 CEV). But what did Jesus want us to do, saying these words?!!! For me, I believe that Jesus wants us to go through our whole “system of Beliefs”, our “prophet” and check the outcome of such “prophet”. Every bad that comes out of our “system of Beliefs” is a proof that there is something wrong with our system that need to change. For this reason, I believe that behavior is the result of our way of thinking. If ther

Around three years ago I become a Universalist, believing that all people, by God's utmost Grace, will end up reconciled with God in a Heaven-symbolized situation after the Judgement day. Gehenna, originally a literal place in the suburbs of Jerusalem, is a symbol of a persons situation outside the circle of God's love. But every person who did not experience death with Christ, who passed through hell on the Cross for us, will go through the judgement day, in which he/she will stand before God's "White" throne, to experience the purification through Christ at the Throne of God. Then we all, good and evil, will end up in unity with the God of the Universe, in the heavenly wedding between God and Men. Now some people still ask me, and does not your Universalism indicate that all ways will lead to heaven? Does it mean that all religions are equally good, and all roads lead to Rome? How can you reconcile your Universalism with the concept of evangelism, the testimo

Evidently, with all the failures of religion to reflect the true nature of God, it has actually failed the most in explaining good and evil, halal and haram, sin and virtue. Clergy has depicted God as a being who is impacted by human sin. They say that God is angry with Sin, "God hates sin, but loves the Sinner". The wrath of God is against sin... All these terms are found in a way or another in the Bible, and they reflect a 2000 year old belief which is rooted in Christian churches as well as in other religions. But really?!  Is God really impacted by sin? The belief that God is impacted by sin is contradictory to one of the major principles of theology which states that God is unchangable, " without body, parts, or passions,  immutable..." (per the Presbyterian Creed)  and has no emotional changes since he is independent and does not need humans to be Him. How can God hate sin if its existence or lack of it will not impact him in whatever case, and will not

As you go around asking people about their views related to the existence of a higher power/God, you will definitely encounter several types of reactions. These views vary from the highly right wing religious fanatics who think that the subject is definitely above discussion. God Exists and He/She (definitely fanatics consider God as a HE) has set his one and only way, which is definitely their own view, that they already follow. The other extreme would be the one denying any existence of any higher power. For them, the world has been there since the big bang, evoluting from its initial state by mere chance and random incidents and billions of possibilities... In this blog, I would like all views to be expressed freely. No taboo, and no subject forbidden, except those carrying disrespect to the view of others, and with Disrespect, I mean insulting the value of the different views, and using profane language in the discussion. So let us discuss it: What are the reasons For and aga