We evangelicals make a really bog deal about having a “personal relationship” with Christ, as if those who have not received/accepted Him as Savior have no relationship. Consider the following:
nWhoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not obelieved in the name of the only Son of God. – John 3:18 (The Holy Bible : English Standard Version. Wheaton : Standard Bible Society, 2001)
The instrumental means of salvation is believing in the finished work of Jesus on the cross. But people who reject the light of the Logos are in the dark (1:5; 8:12) and are therefore already under God’s judgment. They stand condemned. They are like those sinful, dying Israelites who willfully rejected the divine remedy (Num. 21:4-9). A believer in Christ, on the other hand, is under “no condemnation” (Rom. 8:1); he “will not be condemned” (John 5:24). (Walvoord, John F. ; Zuck, Roy B. ; Dallas Theological Seminary: The Bible Knowledge Commentary : An Exposition of the Scriptures. Wheaton, IL : Victor Books, 1983-c1985, S. 2:282)
The above passage, words of Jesus in His dialogue with Nicodemus, speaks of two kinds of people, those who are not condemned (under judgment) because they believe in Christ, and those who are condemned already because they do not believe in Christ. The Apostle Peter, during his visit to the household of Cornelius, told his listeners:
And ahe commanded us [the Apostles]to preach to the people and to testify bthat he [Christ] is the one appointed by God to be judge cof the living and the dead. Acts 10:42 (The Holy Bible : English Standard Version. Wheaton : Standard Bible Society, 2001
Is it a stretch to say, from these passages, that all men do in fact, at this very moment, have a ‘personal relationship’ with Christ?
Some would say that we missed the point here – that when we evangelize and talk about ‘personal relationship’ we are speaking about a ‘saving’ relationship. True, and that point was not missed. What we do often ‘miss’ in our evangelizing is the relationship of ‘already condemned’. We don’t like to mention it, or if we do, we talk about being ‘eternally separated’ or something ‘milder’ than condemnation, because that might cause people to feel badly about themselves, lose their self- esteem, and run away.
We propose that the person with whom we share the whole truth about ‘relationships’ with Christ, who has been regenerated by the Holy Spirit, will be more likely to run to the Cross of Calvary!
n ch. 5:24; [Mark 16:16]
o See 1 John 5:13
a See ch. 1:2
b ch. 17:31; 24:25; John 5:22, 27; 2 Cor. 5:10; See Matt. 16:27
c 2 Tim. 4:1; 1 Pet. 4:5; [Rom. 14:9, 10; 1 Thess. 4:15, 17]
The Battle Cry 
A Big Mistake
It is unfortunate that some people mistakenly believe that Muslims worship a different God than Jews and Christians, and that “Allah” is just the “god of the Arabs”. While word Allah is also used by Arabs Cristian . Last words of Jesus waere ” Ilahi Ilahi Lima sabaqtani” It means O my God O My God why left me”. Word Ilah is rood word of Allah. This myth, which has been propagated by the enemies of Islam, is completely false since the word “Allah” is simply the Arabic name for Almighty God. It is the same word for God which is used by Arabic-speaking Jews and Christians. However, it should be clarified that even though Muslims worship the same God as Jews and Christian, their concept of Him differs somewhat from the beliefs of other religions – mainly because it is based completely on Divine Revelation from God. For example, Muslims reject the Christian belief that God is a Trinity, not only because the Quran rejects it, but also because if this was God’s true nature, He would have clearly revealed it to Abraham, Noah, Jesus and all of the other prophets. Islam was religion of Abraham, Jackob, Isaq, Ishmael. (Peace and blessings of God upon all of them). Because Islam literally means path of submission to God Almighty only worthy to be worshiped and only worthy to be begged.
for more http://islam100.wordpress.com
“Islam” is an Arabic word which means “submission to the will of God”. This word comes from the same root as the Arabic word “salam”, which means “peace”. As such, the religion of Islam teaches that in order to achieve true peace of mind and surety of heart, one must submit to God and live according to His Divinely revealed Law. The most important truth that God revealed to mankind is that there is nothing divine or worthy of being worshipped except for Almighty God, thus all human beings should submit to Him.
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Muqeem,
I am not sure why you commented concerning the debate about Allah of the Quran being the same God as the God of Christians, other than to cause a reader here to investigate the issue, however I have studied at length the Quran, the sayings of Muhammad (Hadith) concerning the God of Islam, as well as the God of Christianity. I have paid particular attention to the character, knowability, approachibility, and attributes of each.
Pure study could give one pause concerning their being the same God, but I am not taking a stand either way here. I think one could reasonably say, that either God will be either Savior or Judge in terms of living eternally.
I have also visited the Middle East countries of the UAU, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Itaq. My stay in Iraq was for 15 months as a trainer of the New Iraqi Army. I have had many opportunities to speak of religion with followers of Muhammad.
So I do not take these matter lightly.
There certainly are significant issues between religions concerning the manner in which men are ‘saved’. In Islam, it’s a toss-up, if you will, based on the works (good and bad), while in Christianity salvation is all of grace and when a person belongs to God by grace, God will cause a person to perservere in faith until death. The assurance that the God who will save a person here and now through grace, will also keep that person is not a tenet of Islam, save for certain cases, such as jihad.
If fact, the assurance of personal salvation here and now is the main reason (statistics show) for conversions from Islam to Christianity. This difference concerning salvation is the core difference between Christianity and Islam, and in fact between Christianity and every other religion on Earth. Christianity alone offers salvation as a gift from God apart from human works. It is the only religion in which good works are a natural result of having been given the gift of salvation instead of the means to ‘earn’ salvation.
I would also add that there are former followers of Muhammad and the religion of Islam, born and raised in Islam, who would and do say with conviction that the God of Islam is NOT the God of Christianity.
But like I said, I am not taking a stand. Perhaps between your comment and mine, others will find reason to investigate further, and a couple of comments not to the point of this post, will prove profitable.
Perhaps your subject would be the subject of another post.It is an interesting one.
Thanks for stopping by!
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The basis of the distinction between the “not condemned” and the “already condemned”, according to their opposing positions concerning Christ, is impartially refined in terms of their attitudes of love or hate to the “light” (John 3: 19-21).
This is equivalent to the firsthand evidence for real faith promised in the vision of Jesus’ divine identity and authority (Ibid, 1: 47-51) to be opened in Jesus’ upcoming perfect and transfigurative death on the cross (Ibid, 8: 21-28; 14: 15-21; 19: 30-37) complete with powerful point of change for man from one “born of the flesh” to another “born of the Spirit” (Ibid, 3: 5-8).
By the way, isn’t this exactly what is faithfully recorded in the Koran, S. IV, 156-159?
The “Commander of the LORD’s army” is, indeed, no respecter of men and their petty religious differences! PTL!
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