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Friday, May 14, 2010

COEXIST?


By Justin Edwards

You've all seen them on car bumpers and rear glass, maybe you even have one on your own car. If that's the case, please continue reading. Perhaps you've never considered this before, but the idea behind these COEXIST bumper stickers is among the greatest lies ever told. Let me explain.

I was actually behind this bumper sticker earlier this week. In addition to COEXIST, they also had an interesting PEACE bumper sticker with the same play on religions, as well as this one, “FREEDOM OF RELIGION MEANS ALL RELIGIONS”.

Granted, that simple statement is true as far as our U.S. Constitution is concerned (and rightly so), but the context behind it, or at least in context with this driver’s other bumper stickers, only led me to think they believe all religions are valid. After all, who is anyone to say only one is correct (especially Christianity)? It made me sad to think how widespread this deception is. So after reading Mike Ratliff's article Wednesday, Are You Ashamed of That Stumbling Block?, I decided to go ahead and write this article. And if you get a chance, please read Mike's timely article as well.

In the name of Universalism, many a soul will be damned.  Universalism is the belief that all roads eventually lead to heaven, including atheism. All mankind will be saved no matter the path they follow. This cannot be further from the truth. Jesus said in John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." I've met professed Christians who know of this eternal truth who continue to claim "to each his own" or "my way is not necessarily right for everyone" or "it's not my place to tell someone they are wrong in what they believe". My friend, you are in grave error!

An essential doctrine of Christianity is that absolutely no one can enter heaven except they go through the blood of Jesus Christ. God is holy and there will be no unrighteousness in heaven, therefore, the only way one can become righteous in His sight is by receiving the righteousness of Christ by the grace of God through faith alone (Ephesians 2:8-9). This faith comes through trusting in Christ as Lord and Savior and repentance from yourself in turning to God in surrender. You cannot save yourself nor can you work for your salvation, which is the deception of all other religions.

Christianity is the only religion (to use the term loosely) that does not require works to go to heaven. Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Mormonism and Roman Catholicism all require the practitioner to perform works to some degree. In Christ, there is freedom - true freedom that can only come through the washing of sins and justification by faith alone in Christ and His finished work on the cross. These religions create a system of bondage where one can only hope their good works outweigh their evil deeds in the end. The cult of liberalism is largely responsible for this idea entering the church, and more recently through Emergence Christianity of this post-modern society. This intermixing of ideologies, religions, and the New Age is the foundation of what will become the universal religion during the Tribulation period. The co-mingling of religions is largely responsible for the falling away that we see in 2 Thessalonians 2:3, which must take place before Christ returns. It is one of the greatest tangible evidences the Wrath of God is ready to be poured out on earth and its dwellers.

If you are one who believes all religions should coexist peacefully, I agree with you. Christians especially must express their love for all people in word and deed. We are to be the salt and light of this world, else how will the lost see the love of Jesus Christ but through His own children? Unfortunately, however, coexisting in the name of tolerance and moral relativism is impossible as there is only one God and one path through His Son Jesus Christ. Ultimately, darkness and light contradict one another as Ephesians 6:12 says,

12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

To put it bluntly, all other religions are derived from the pit of hell. They are a means for Satan to deceive the masses away from the truth and grace offered by a holy and sovereign God. To deny that Jesus is the only way for salvation is to diminish His blood sacrifice. To deny there is an eternal hell is to belittle the torment and excruciating death of the Savior. To deny these truths is to call God a liar.

If you are a professed Christian who believes there is more than one path, I plead with you to study the Bible for yourself and repent from this heresy. If you do not believe in Christ, I plead with you to search the Scriptures and pray the Holy Spirit reveals Himself to you. The average human life span is around 75 years, where will you be 1 TRILLION years from now? For 1 trillion years, will you have been worshiping and serving the Lord in heaven or will you have been suffering in the darkness of eternal hellfire? What about 100 TRILLION years after that?  Isn't an eternity worth spending a few hours or days searching out these truths now?

Don't put your trust in man-made traditions or in the god you have made up in your own mind. If you say you believe in God, then do yourself a favor and make sure you believe in the God of the Bible. The consequences will be the difference between an eternity with Jesus or an eternity of damnation. Matthew 7:13-14

Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

 

10 comments:

  1. I'm a professing Christian... Love Jesus Christ with all of my heart, and truly believe that faith in Christ is the only way to salvation. Logically, from that, I believe that faith in yourself or any other deity, will not lead to salvation, but to eternal damnation.

    I still proudly display my "coexist" bumper sticker. NOT because I believe that all faiths are equal. NOT because I believe that "what's right for me may not be right for everyone else", and NOT because I'm too scared to tell someone what I believe.

    I proudly display it because I believe that on this side of eternity, we ARE called to coexist with other faiths. By that I mean that no one should be discriminated against, belittled, shot, bombed, etc for their religious beliefs. We can coexist without reaching an agreement, or without meeting in the middle. I have a good friend who is muslim. He is well aware that I don't agree with his beliefs, as i'm well aware that he doesn't agree with mine. However, we don't manifest that through fist fights or shootouts, we have honest dialog about it, a mutual respect and friendship, and at the end of the day, we manage to "coexist" despite our differences.

    Keep in mind, this statement is also a call for other faiths to not violently attack christians for their beliefs. This isn't a one way street telling Christians to stop speaking against other religions. It's not a call for universalism, it's a call for civility.

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  2. Hi Anonymous,

    Thank you for the comment. As I mentioned in the article, coexisting peacefully should be the charge of every born again Christian in order to exemplify the love of Jesus Christ. But compromising the message of the Gospel for the sake of "unity" cannot be tolerated.

    Unfortunately, there is one certain religion - that of your friend - whose very fundamental tenets allow for peaceful coexistence only under Sharia Law. Outside of this dhimmitude, the faithful Muslim cannot live peacefully among Jews or Christians unless they are following their ideological agenda to spread Islam. There are peaceful Muslims who do this through government, education, and politics; and there are fundamental Muslims who carry out the commands of Allah by the sword - both have the same endgame to dominate the world under the global caliphate.

    On a more important note relevant to the discussion, I meant to post the following link to the Coexist Foundation in the article but it slipped my mind: http://coexistfoundation.net/coexistfoundation/index.htm The home page will reveal what's behind this movement. Here are the quotes from the page to illustrate my point:

    "I am convinced this is one of the most helpful methods of improving integration."
    Sheikh Ibrahim Mogra, Chairman of the Interfaith Relations Committee, the Muslim Council of Britain;

    "God has given us many faiths but only one world in which to co-exist. May your work help all of us to cherish our commonalities and feel enlarged by our differences."
    Sir Jonathan Sacks, the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations";

    "[This] work is a vital test of our determination to find new ways of managing conflict in the new world order."
    The Bishop of London

    Do you see a pattern? This coexist movement is not just about living peacefully amongst one another, but rather to integrate the major world religions for the sake of solving poverty, feeding the hungry, and global peace. A sort of Utopia, if you will. The Bible, however, does not say this. On the contrary, it says those who do not accept Jesus Christ as Lord will be judged, and there is a great and terrible day coming where the nations of the earth will come under the Wrath of God. There will be no peace until Jesus Christ comes to set up His earthly kingdom.

    I hope you might consider that your noble effort in promoting interfaith peace may at the least give others a misconception as to where you stand in matters of faith, and at worst how it could be a stumbling block for someone else. Anything promoted under the banner of interfaith diversity is a tool used by Satan to take people's eyes off Jesus, who is the only means of salvation. These movements, while often led by so-called Christian organizations, leave out the Gospel of Jesus Christ and actually prohibit its message.

    There is nothing wrong with dialoguing with your Muslim friend. I encourage you to take it a step further, if you have not already, and seriously try to witness to him beyond just sharing what your beliefs are. Try sharing how Jesus has changed your life and the work He is doing in you today. Explain to him there is a way out of the religious bondage he is in, and that only true salvation comes through the Son of God. Here's a resource for you if interested: http://www.livingwaters.com/witnessingtool/howtowitnesstomuslims.shtml

    Something to consider: what's more important - the soul of your friend or a temporal friendship?

    Thanks again for sharing your thoughts here, and I hope you'll be back for further comment on this post or future ones.

    In Christ,

    Justin

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  3. Hey again, Justin!

    First of all, I hope my first post didn't come across as disrespectful. I completely understand where you are coming from, and completely agree with your call to standing firm to your faith.

    When I dialog with my friend about faith, I am very clear that I have a deep concern for his eternity. I also do my best to tell (as well as show) how Jesus has changed my life. It is my prayer that I won't have to choose between his eternal salvation and our temporal friendship, but that the friendship would lead to his salvation. At the same time, I believe it would be more productive to be patient with him and invest in the friendship, than to burn the bridge there and no longer be a voice of truth in his life.

    I think it's also important to note that the "coexist movement" has hijacked the "coexist" logo. The logo itself originally only had the symbols of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and started as a grafiti display, not attached to any one organization. It gained popularity through Bono's use of it with U2, in a call for us to stop bombing each other in the name of our respective ideals, which I do and will always agree with. While I may not agree with the beliefs of Islam, I don't believe that anyone should be killed because of that belief (just as I don't believe that any Christian or Jew should be killed for their faith, though particularly as Christians, we should be willing to die as martyrs for that faith.)

    At the same time, while I may not agree with the motives behind it, I would never discourage a muslim, jewish, buddhist, etc etc person from serving the poor. I believe that our job as Christians should be to do a better job of that than anyone, so that the love of Christ can't be denied.

    Anyways, that's enough rambling on my part. I just wanted to say that I respect and completely agree with your call for Christians to be a people "set apart" and "different," as well as not compromising on the message that Jesus is the only way.

    Thanks for sharing your heart. God bless you, and all of your efforts in that!

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  4. Hi Matt, I didn't find your comment to be disrespectful at all. It's good to see where your heart is with your friend. Planting seeds here and there may bring a harvest indeed.

    While I would not discourage a nonbeliever to serve the poor, it must be understood that any service outside the heart of the Gospel is essentially done in vain. What good is it to feed a mouth but starve a soul? No doubt the philanthropy of such an effort is noble, but the payoff is only temporary. Jesus Himself said the poor will always be among us, so we need to be sure any service or charity we partake is always, always, always coupled with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Fishers of men and all. ;)

    At any rate, I appreciate you coming back to elaborate on where you are coming from. Perhaps next time someone asks you about your bumper sticker, you can turn it into a witnessing opportunity.

    Hope you have a great weekend. :)

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  5. Interesting article, Justin.

    Coexist bumper stickers are very popular in my hometown; I see them everyday.

    As a born again believer in Jesus Christ I would not display one on my bumper and this is why:

    Jesus Christ said to love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you. I believe that a true fellow follower of Jesus Christ would understand Christ's basic teaching and, therefore, not need to be urged by a bumper sticker to refrain from aggressive behavior directed at a follower of another faith. "Coexistence" is frankly very hands-off and sterile, and Jesus Christ said that we should not simply "coexist," but "LOVE."

    And if I felt compelled to wear a bumper sticker to convey a message to a follower of another faith, I just don't feel like "coexistence" is the message I'd care to convey. I'd opt for something more evangelistic. I don't know what. Honestly, I don't have any stickers on my bumper.

    Lining up the cross right along with symbols of other belief systems, in my mind, puts the cross on the same level and, to me, the cross represents something so different and superior, it seems inappropriate alongside belief systems that aren't true.

    I'd also not wear a coexist sticker because, while I do not display aggression towards believers of other faiths, I also wouldn't want to even hint that their belief systems have any merit whatsoever. A belief system that turns a person away from the true and living God and leaves him lost for eternity gets no affirmation from me.

    In my opinion, the "coexist" mentality is not unlike the "pro-choice" mentality that, at first glance, seems so liberating and freeing, but with a closer look, is so uncaring and cold-hearted.

    I, too, have Muslim family members and my deep love for Jesus Christ combined with my deep love for my Muslim family members forbids me from ever saying anything in defense of Islam, because I would never want anything that I said to contribute to their being misled. I understand that love is so much superior to mere coexistence or tolerance and I always try to convey love to them, and I will continue to grieve at their rejection of Christ. It gives me no comfort knowing that their destructive decision was their own, any more than I would be comforted that in my friend's suicide be remembering that that is what she wanted for herself. Am I making sense? Probably not...

    In conclusion, if I wanted to advocate for a "better way" to non-believers, why not advocate for life and love through Christ, rather than sterile coexistence?

    And if I wanted to advocate for a "better way" to fellow believers in Christ, coexistence is so much less and so much more cold-hearted than what Jesus already taught so I wouldn't be saying anything worth listening to anyway!

    Thanks Justin, for this very interesting article and great website!!

    God bless you.

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  6. Anonymous #2, thank you so much for the reply - I share your sentiment for certain. The cross of Jesus Christ stands alone and to reduce it to relativism among other religions is to reduce the Price Paid on that cross. I agree with everything you said and just wanted to say a hearty, Amen!

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  7. Thanks Justin. This was my favorite part: "Unfortunately, however, coexisting in the name of tolerance and moral relativism is impossible as there is only one God and one path through His Son Jesus Christ. Ultimately, darkness and light contradict one another..." Not something too many of our peers are saying out loud these days.

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  8. We are certainly in the minority, brother, and I'm afraid our numbers will continue to get smaller in these dark times.

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  9. The church needs to take hold of the foundation of our faith and the source of our strength needs to be ingraved into our minds so we can counter the lie that is in the world.

    ONLY through faith in Jesus, the Christ can we be free'd from the devestation of sin. No comprimise on the foundation of our faith, and the evidence of a changed life will be a witness to the world that we are His.

    Jesus is God's final word on everything He has made, said, and done for us. Nothing else will work, or will bring peace to the soul and heart. The world is going to get darker very quickly, WE need to be a light in this world while we are here so that others, searching for the truth will see The Light (Jesus) and come to Him for salvation and hope. Terry

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