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When I joined the church that I’m now a member of I was asked to give a verse that was important to me, a verse that talked about my understanding of the truths of God’s Word and that testified to my belief in Christ. I chose Acts 4:12:
Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
There are two key parts to this verse. The first is that salvation can only be found in Christ. The second is that we must be saved by belief in that name.
Obviously President Bush fails to grasp this truth:
President George Bush has repeated his belief all religions, “whether they be Muslim, Christian, or any other religion, prays to the same God” – an assertion that caused outrage among evangelical leaders when he said it in November 2003.
— snip —
“Well, first of all, I believe in an Almighty God, and I believe that all the world, whether they be Muslim, Christian, or any other religion, prays to the same God. That’s what I believe. I believe that Islam is a great religion that preaches peace. And I believe people who murder the innocent to achieve political objectives aren’t religious people, whether they be a Christian who does that – we had a person blow up our – blow up a federal building in Oklahoma City who professed to be a Christian, but that’s not a Christian act to kill innocent people.
“And I just simply don’t subscribe to the idea that murdering innocent men, women and children – particularly Muslim men, women and children in the Middle East – is an act of somebody who is a religious person.
Hat Tip: Christian Research Network
How a person that understands what true salvation is can also say that Muslims, Christians or any religion all prays to the same God misses the truth found in the verse above.
It’s not my place to judge a person’s heart– that’s between a man and God. What I do know is that President Bush’s fruit seem to look less like that which comes from those that are saved and more like someone trying to have it whatever way is most politically expedient.
Please provide your definition of salvation(which, I know, of course, is the only definition allowed), before I finish my comment.
While I would strongly defend against Bush’s understanding, I don’t know that I would call his salvation into question. Truly, there are MANY Christians who believe the same way. I think that maybe their pastors just haven’t done a very good job in addressing the issue, in addition to their own lack of bible study on the issue. Of course, with Bush, I think that a lot of it is also trying to be “politically correct”. As year go by, maybe because he catches so much heat, he weakens more and more on every issue, trying to appease everyone. Maybe someone forgot to tell him that that isn’t good leadership. 🙂
Musicguy, I answered your question at the beginning of this post– that there is no other way to God but through Jesus Christ.
Jenna, I can’t judge the President’s heart. I don’t know if He’s saved– only God can tell that. What I can say is that anyone that is saved would be saying that Jesus made a difference in their life and would want everyone they met to find what they have found. They would not be encouraging people to follow their own beliefs because they are the same– or worshipping the same god.
I totally agree that he’s under political pressure to be the nation’s leader, and not a Christian one. It’s also possible that he is not taught in strong doctrine. But this is something basic– either there’s a difference between the religions or there is not. Either they all lead the same way or they don’t.
The point of the Gospels was that there is only one way.
1John 4:1-3 tells us to test every spirit and see if it is from God and any spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God.
Ephesians 1:13 tells us that once we put our faith in Christ Jesus we are sealed with the Holy Spirit.
John 14:6 tells us that Christ Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life and that no-one comes to God except by Him.
1Corinthians 8:4 tells us that all idols are nothing at all.
1Chronicles 16:26 tells us that all the gods of the nations are idols. (And idols are nothing at all.)
2Corinthians 4:4 tells us that the god of this world(or age) is none other than satan, the fallen star of God.
Anyone who claims that Jesus is just one god among many gods or that all gods are really the same god is confessing a false christ, not the Christ Jesus of the Bible. It’s anti-christ.
I’m so glad to hear a Christian conservative speak out against Bush’s claims of Christianity. But I tell you, don’t be suprised, Bush is a freemason and a bonesman. Those are cults which worship the morning star, or lucifer.
Cristianity, despite the way the world views it, is not simply a matter of choosing one ‘god’ over another. Christianity is a matter of accepting one’s imperfection and accepting the existance of the omnipotent, eternal God (YHWH). IT is accepting that the perfect (God) cannot be the same as the imperfect (sin). It is accepting that Life and God are the same thing for God created all living things and without God there can be no life, hence the result of sin is death. It is accepting that the only way to fix sin is by the payment of life, which is impossible because perfection (life) cannot take part in death (sin). Therefore if that which is perfect (God) was to die (Christ) He would have to rise again, having exercised that which the forces of sin (satan) claim cannot happen, that God could not defeat death (sin). Having proven the enemy wrong, Christ rose victorious over death, by merit of the perfection of God. Therefore, being a perfect payment for the debt of sin, God has given redemption to the whole world whom He created and Loves. All you have to do is accept that payment for yourself and you are a Christian, one of God’s chosen, reborn in Spirit, and heir to the Kingdom of Heaven.
But anyone who has not done that is already dead in their sin, needing no condemnation from men, because they stand condemned already.