The Development of Fighting in the Quran

Tim Haile of the Parkway church of Christ has done extensive study on Islam and the teachings of the Quran, particularly in regards to carnal warfare in the name of Islam. He has recently recorded two audio lessons about the development of teachings about fighting in the Muslim holy book.

In the lessons, he explains how a consideration of the Quran’s chapters in chronological order, rather than the order in which they have been arranged, shows how Mohammed’s teachings progressed. The progression occurred in four stages: advocating peace, allowing defensive fighting, requiring defensive fighting, and finally, requiring offensive fighting.
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Read Through the Bible in 2010

The new year is upon us. Many people are making resolutions. A good number of them will be making the resolution to spend more time studying the Bible or even to read through the Bible. If that’s what you’ve decided to do (and it is certainly a worthwhile exercise), here are a few resources online that can help you.
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Audio Sermons from Bill Reeves

The Parkway church of Christ hosted a Gospel Meeting October 18-21 and invited Bill Reeves to come preach. Brother Reeves has spent many years preaching the gospel and there are a number of valuable lessons and reminders in his sermons. The audio files are  posted on the church’s website. I also have them listed here:

These links are to the MP3 audio files. You can either click on a link to listen to the sermon, or right-click to save the file to your computer.

If you visit Parkway’s website, you can find the audio files for various other sermons and radio programs, articles, and more.

The Rapid Spread of Islam: Should Christians be Concerned?

Muslim prayer

A new report from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life has found that approximately 1.57 billion people are now Muslim. This means that nearly 1 in 4 people in the world practice Islam.

To have this kind of growth, the religion is obviously spreading beyond the countries already dominated by Islam. The report noted that “more than 300 million Muslims, or one-fifth of the world’s Muslim population, live in countries where Islam is not the majority religion. These minority Muslim populations are often quite large.”

Should this rapid growth of Islam be of any concern to Christians? The answer to that is a resounding yes!
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A Biblical Examination of the Problem of Racism

Racism has long been a problem in our society. While it has evolved and changed forms over time, sadly, it still exists. Society as a whole suffers because of it. As race relations naturally pertain to how we interact with our fellow man, the Bible has some important lessons for us on this subject. There is a good article about racism written by Wayne Jackson that has recently been posted on the Christian Courier website. Below is an excerpt from the article:

“Racism is an insidious evil. It dishonors God’s plan of human development and ethnic diversity. It is judgmental. It constitutes “respect of persons” and thus is not God-like (Acts 10:34; James 2:1); the Greek text literally reads, “God is no respecter of faces.” Human beings ought not to be either.”

You can click on the link to read the rest of the article: The New “R-word” Label.

Preparing to Preach

In an article posted August 4 on the Christian Courier website, Wayne Jackson has some good advice for men desiring to preach the gospel and how to prepare for that work. His advice about attending a “Christian college” is particularly good. His concerns about such an education are some of the ones I have as well. This is what he had to say:
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Read the New Testament in 6 Months

Back in January, I mentioned Edwin Crozier’s site – Give Attention to Reading. His site contains a reading plan that will take one through the New Testament in 6 months. On most days, he posts a short article about something that was in that day’s reading.

It is certainly important that we read and study our Bibles. By following along with the posts, then at the very least we get almost daily reminders and encouragement to read the word of God. These reminders alone are valuable. The articles that correspond to the readings are an extra benefit.

I’m posting this again because Edwin is about to start a new trek through the New Testament. If you’ve been thinking that you should try to read and study the word of God more, this is a good way to help keep you on track. So visit Give Attention to Reading, follow along and read through the New Testament before the end of the year.

Read Through the New Testament With Us Beginning July 6, 2009