From: Wong Wie Khiong The Gospel Coalition
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Having spoken to several friends, I learn that not too many are aware of The Gospel Coalition, which is the brainchild of D. A. Carson and Tim Keller. Their purpose is to serve the churches as well as parachurch organizations, by providing and sharing materials and information. In their own words, allow me to quote an excerpt: "We are a fellowship of evangelical churches deeply committed to renewing our faith in the gospel of Christ and to reforming our ministry practices to conform fully to the Scriptures. We have become deeply concerned about some movements within traditional evangelicalism that seem to be diminishing the church's life and leading us away from our historic beliefs and practices. On the one hand, we are troubled by the idolatry of personal consumerism and the politicization of faith; on the other hand, we are distressed by the unchallenged acceptance of theological and moral relativism. These movements have led to the easy abandonment of both biblical truth and the transformed living mandated by our historic faith. We not only hear of these influences, we see their effects. We have committed ourselves to invigorating churches with new hope and compelling joy based on the promises received by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone." You may like to learn and read more from http://thegospelcoalition.org/about.php. Just for a side remark, may I recommend the article "The Gospel of Jesus Christ" by D. A. Carson (http://thegospelcoalition.org/articles.php?a=81), which I personally think is very, very sobering in these days of ours when the Gospel has often been reduced to a mere self-help with various packagings. It reminds me of a letter in which the senior devil Wormwood was coaching the junior devil how to tempt his patient (a Christian): "The real trouble about the set your patient is living in is that it is merely Christian. [...] What we want, if men become Christians at all, is to keep them in the state of mind I call 'Christianity And'. You know--Christianity and the Crisis, Christianity and the New Psychology, Christianity and the New Order, Christianity and Faith Healing, Christianity and Psychical Research [...] If they must be Christians let them at least be Christians with a difference. Substitute for the faith itself some Fashion with a Christian colouring. Work on their horror of the Same Old Thing" (C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters, XXV). I am by no means implying we must adhere to obscurantism, but I see the connection between what C. S. Lewis has written to what is emphasized by The Gospel Coalition and especially Dr. Carson's article, that there are certain fundamentals in the Gospel without which it becomes "another gospel." Rgds, Khiong. =========================================== From: "Bayo Afolaranmi" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Dearly Beloved, ABOUT TO GO.GOING.GONE! "Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:12-14, NASU). If you are reading this message the very day I sent it, year 2007 is about to go an end. If you are reading it the second day, the old year would be going to an end. However, if you read the message after the second day, it means the year has gone to an end! Whenever you may be reading it, the year has gone with its entire best, better, good, bad, worse, and worst. There is nothing we can do about it. If the year brought good things for us, let us thank God. If it is otherwise, let us still thank Him. The fact that we could see the end of the year is a great success on our part. We started the year with many people that are not alive today. We are not better than most of them. We are alive today by the grace of God. We should not continue to live in what happened to us in the old year. Paul the apostle gave a good advice about this: forget what lies behind and reach forward to what lies ahead. No matter your achievement in the year 2007, forget it and strive toward greater achievements in the year 2008. Do not let the successes of the year 2007 be an obstacle to your greater successes in the year 2008. Let the new year be a year that you will do greater exploits for God. Let it be a year that you will move to higher ground. No matter your failure in the year 2007, forget it also and hope that the year 2008 will bring better things. With the help of God, you will make it in the new year. The old year has gone. The new year is here with its new challenges. The new year has many opportunities that are beckoning for utilization. Be prepared to excel in the new year. Be prepared to put the devil and his cohorts to shame. No matter the case may be, you will praise God in the new year. The Lord will glorify Himself in your life in the new year in Jesus' name. Amen. Happy New Year (2008) in advance! In His service, Bayo Afolaranmi (Pastor). +234 805 515 9591 http://www.afolabayo.org/ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/spiritualdigest2003/ "I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. FOR TO ME, TO LIVE IS CHRIST AND TO DIE IS GAIN" (Philippians 1:20-21, NIV). ============================================= The God of Bible vs. the God of Qur'an Adam, where are you? What is the fundamental difference between the nature or character of God in the Bible and in the Qur'an? In the Bible God "draws near", "comes down" and seeks after us in order to enter into an intimate relationship with us. The whole Bible is the story of God seeking man. In the first chapters of the Bible about the creation and the fall of mankind we read that after the first sin/disobedience of Adam and Eve they are plagued by their conscience and try to hide from God. God comes to them in the garden and calls out to them, "Where are you?" (Genesis 3:9) Man is on the run before God because he knows that he is guilty before God. However, God comes and seeks us and wants to reestablish a relationship of mutual love. It is God who takes all necessary steps to make this possible again. That is the story of the Bible from the first to the last book where we finally read about the new heaven and the new earth: "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people and God himself will be with them and be their God." (Revelation 21:3) Finally the desire of God has been established. Read all of Revelation 21, it is a marvelous chapter. Indeed God is a God who seeks after us, who comes down to be near us. He reveals his character, his heart and his desire to establish a loving relationship with his creation. Will you be part of his people that are mentioned in Revelation 21:3? That is the topic of the Bible, it reveals God to you so that you can respond to him and become part of his people. In contrast, the Qur'an portrays God as one who is "far", who is transcendent only. As a Muslim theologian has said, "God reveals only his will, not himself. He remains forever hidden". Even though he is near as the jugular vein as the Qur'an states, but this is a "technical" nearness, since just as we are not "aware" of our jugular vein most of the time and don't have a personal relationship with it this only conveys that God is "everywhere" (far and near) like the air that is around us, but in the Bible God doesn't want to be with us only on the basis of his omnipresence and omniscience because being God he is "everywhere" anyway. No, he wants to be near to us like someone we love. Islam is about man trying to please God by obeying his will. The Bible reveals God as taking the initiative and coming down to seek after us. The movement is in the opposite direction. More about this topic in The Qur'an & the Bible on God's Love, "The Love of God in the Qur'an and in the Bible", and in Steven Masood's article God so loved the world .... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Answering Islam Home Page
