Please take the time to read what I have written above (the Gospel in a nutshell) and as you claim to be a learned scholar of religion perhaps you can scholarly refute what I have written; all based on the Word of God, the Bible.

Firstly, we need to understand that the gospel is not a religion, a sect, church, organisation or institution. It is definitely not any dogma of any particular church whether it is Baptist, Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist, Anglican or Assembly of God etc. In fact there are many churches that distort, deny or otherwise simply ignore the gospel.

So what is the Gospel?
The gospel is God’s way of salvation to redeem (save) a person from everlasting hell and damnation.
We need to understand what the Bible says about ourselves. The Bible clearly declares that we are all sinners.

“Who can say, “I have cleansed my heart, I am pure from my sin”? Proverbs 20:9

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” Romans 3:23.

“For in Your (God’s) sight no man living is righteous.” Psalm 143:2

“As it is written, ‘THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE;’” Romans 3:10

So we see that all, every single one of us, is a sinner. So what does that mean?
The consequence of SIN is death (to spend all eternity in hell ).
“Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned—“ Romans 5:12
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23
Thus not a single person can claim to be good or righteous.

But the good news (gospel) is “that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. For God so loved the world (you), that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever (you) believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world (you) might be saved through Him .He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” John 3:14-20

So what must our response be to be saved?

1. Repent:
After admitting that we are hopelessly lost sinners God calls us to repent. Repentance is to confess our sins to God and turn from our sinful ways.
“If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:6-9
2. Believe:
Believe that Christ died for our sins; He shed His precious blood to pay the penalty for our sins; He died the death we should have died; He was our substitute on the cross. But death could not keep Him because He is the holy sinless Son of God and He rose triumphant over death and hell. By His death and resurrection we are justified (just as if we had never sinned).

“In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our sins, according to the riches of His grace.” Ephesians 1:7

“He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” 2 Corinthians 5:21

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life.” John 6:47

“God raised Him up on the third day … that through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins.” Acts 10: 40-43

3. Be Baptized:
We are not talking about baptism as taught by religion but believer’s baptism, which is by full immersion in water in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, publicly declaring unashamedly that we have become believers, having been born again by the Spirit of God.
Jesus answered… “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God… “Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ John 3:3-7
“When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.” Acts 2:37-39
4. Obedience
Obedience to God’s Word the Bible is what follows being “born again”.
Jesus said to him, ” ‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’ “This is the great and foremost commandment. “The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’” Matthew 22:37-39
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” John 13:34
“For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’” Galatians 5:14
“Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him”. John 14:23
5. Consequences of not accepting the Gospel
“But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to each person according to his deeds: to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life; but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation.” Romans 2:5-8
“The Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution (wrath) to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.” 2 Thessalonians 1:7-8
‘” And he said to me, “These are true words of God.” And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war.
… and His name is called The Word of God and the armies which are in heaven… were following Him on white horses. From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.” Revelations 19
“The King will reply, “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” Matthew 25:40-41

Those who have chosen to reject Jesus Christ as Saviour and LORD will tragically never know the glorious unimaginable wonders of living in heaven with God Himself.

“But just as it is written, ‘THINGS WHICH EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND EAR HAS NOT HEARD, AND which HAVE NOT ENTERED THE HEART OF MAN, ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM.’”
1 Corinthians 2:9

If you want to know more and are not sure where to start reading the Bible I suggest you read John’s Gospel and also the Psalms.

“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” John 14:6

“And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:11-12

These are just some of the main Scriptures. All quotes are from the New American Standard Bible.

Prepared by Ron Hume ronhume@xtra.co.nz

How dare she be called a Christian if she does not believe the basic tenement of Christianity?
Her prayers are certainly not to the God of the Bible.

“And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:11-12

At the beginning of this article I thought finally a christian came to the point that both religions are the same just bible and islamic rules has been changed.but wow :
she says:So why would I spend time to try to reconcile all of Christian belief with all of Islam?
then I see how idiot some one should be not to care about the differences.
at last I came to the point that she is Christian so why is she trying to call herself a Muslim.the only thing she does as a Muslim is 5 times prayer.

Its also offensive for you to suggest that faith and strict adhearence to our faith is some sort of mind control. I’m not some brainwashed fool I’m a willing participant. So enough with your hippie crap. To be very honest with you I’m not liberal or wishy washy on my beliefs enough to accept any fruit cake who wants to invent a religion so you’re going to have to accept that I find this womans beliefs offensive. If she desires spirituality so bad then she can go worship the Sun or practice yoga but dont call yourself Muslim and Christian when you are clearly neither.

DB, you didn’t just disagree or critique her views. You flat-out said you hate people who do not view religion as their path — your exact words. To me, that’s beyond defending your faith and has moved squarely into the realm of attempted mind control. You have every right to defend your own way of life, but if you are going to hate people who believe that following G’d can come through a structure different than your own, even when their beliefs have no influence over your life, that’s not rejecting hippie b.s. That’s just wanting to institutionalize how others think in order to maximize power in the hands of those who have the most to gain from it. I mean, if this woman had a huge following that threatened to kick down the doors of Islam and Christianity, and really caused a threat to billions of people and long-standing cultures, I would understand your fear. But hating some innocuous woman who is following her own path in life and trying to forge some peace? Please.

Come clean, DB. You want others to practice religion the way you do so you can get something out of it, not so they can. You don’t want to minister to people to help ensure they preserve sacred traditions or because you feel it will improve their lives. You are clear that “religious deviants” should be hated because you don’t like it. That is mind control in the rawest sense. No thanks.

But many were downright insulting because she has the nerve to think outside the box. That borders on mind control and I don’t like it,

Its fair to say that your interpretation of religion is different than many of us. I dont believe many of us view our faith as a “box” that you can think outside of. If thats how you see it thats perfectly fine but its wrong to dictate to others your expectation of how we view people who corrupt the origional rules of the faith. For me personally religion is a set of rules both physical and spiritual sent down from God, I accept the “box” that God has provided and I accept that going outside of it is wrong. This is my faith, I dont feel opressed by it or restrained, I have chosen to live by these rules. Because religion is a personal and highly regarded relationship with God it is of course offensive when people live faaaaaaaaaaar outside of that box with no shame and continue to call themselves Muslim or Christian or whatever.

Its also offensive for you to suggest that faith and strict adhearence to our faith is some sort of mind control. I’m not some brainwashed fool I’m a willing participant. So enough with your hippie crap. To be very honest with you I’m not liberal or wishy washy on my beliefs enough to accept any fruit cake who wants to invent a religion so you’re going to have to accept that I find this womans beliefs offensive. If she desires spirituality so bad then she can go worship the Sun or practice yoga but dont call yourself Muslim and Christian when you are clearly neither.

the kind of play you suggest for this matter, is a proper one. now, we should find the answer of this question:

Q1- can someone be both Muslim and also Christian at the same time?

to answer the above, first we should answer the blow:

Q2- What is Islam? What is Christianity?

if we find that there is not a standard definition of either Islam or Christianity (or at least common practices believed by all of the followers of each faith), then we can conclude that there is no definite answer for Q1.

though I admit that there is a very wide spectrum of somehow different understanding(s) of Islam and not all of Muslims belive in the same ‘Thing’ as Islam, there are some certain ‘Facts’ in which all muslims believe. these Facts constitute the general meaning of Islam, and by definition, one who doesn’t believe in these Facts can’t be named a Muslim.

note: if I conclude finally that this woman is not a muslim, this doesnt mean that I (or any other person) see her beliefs as being worthless; no, she may be much closer to God than me, at least for the good deed/heart/mind she probably owns, but just she is not a muslim

now I’m going to ask that woman if she believes in these certain beliefs of Islam (these ideas are explicitly stated in Quran/Sunna):

1- Muhammad is the last prophet of God.
2- Quran is the exact message of God: not even on word of it has ever changed since it was descended by Gabriel.
3- Jesus was not crucified.
4_ Testaments are distorted messages of God.

and so on. Can she believe in these statments and still stay a Christian? or there is a need for further explanations?

Can’t we freaking express our opinions without being labeled around here?! Jeez. I guess the only way to be accepted is to take everything at face value, without questioning or debating it!

Esra’a, I’m not sure what you mean by being labeled, or who your post is responding to. If you are talking to me, my problem is not with your views or how you express them, it’s with the posts that insulted, belittled, and disrespected this woman with no acknowledgement whatsoever that she seems to have decent motives. To some people on here, it’s not even, “thanks but no thanks,” it’s just a flat out stfu, dumbshit” as a way to intimidate people like the reverend not to think freely or express themselves openly. That’s totally uncool, and I’m gonna say something about it.

everybody in this forum understands why this woman does all these contradictory things; being a little optimistic we may say that she is really trying to reconcile this and that, and make a way to avoid that ‘war of civilizations’ you mentioned.

Thanks, Mohammed M., but as we can see on this blog and elsewhere, if something or someone doesn’t conform to status quo thinking, they often get slammed by certain people, being called idiot, crazy, worthy of being hated, etc.. That’s not justice or reasonable debate. That’s just intimidation.

Let’s not pretend that many of the comments here were constructive criticism. If they were, fine, let’s go at ‘em. But many were downright insulting because she has the nerve to think outside the box. That borders on mind control and I don’t like it, which is why I felt the need to speak out.

Examples of what I am talking about:

I hate people like this, sorry to be pessimistic but America is full of them.

she says:So why would I spend time to try to reconcile all of Christian belief with all of Islam?
then I see how idiot some one should be not to care about the differences.

but I feel that this is my very human responsiblity to tell that you are either an idiot or a stupid actor.

Does that sound mentally healthy??

I’m fine with a robust and honest debate. Explain to me why her views don’t make sense without casting aspersions upon her character and I very well may agree with you. If you’re gonna be rude, reserve it for those whose corrupted notions of religion come with severely negative abuse against others, not her. She doesn’t deserve it.

Bottom line is that I’m not okay with referring to this woman as a mentally unstable idiot who deserves to be hated because all that type of language does is stifle dialogue, not open it up. If she’s wrong, tell me why. I’m open minded to evidence. But don’t just tell me to trust you that her views are not as worthy as yours merely because they fall outside of institutionalized thinking. Sorry, I don’t play that.

everybody in this forum understands why this woman does all these contradictory things; being a little optimistic we may say that she is really trying to reconcile this and that, and make a way to avoid that ‘war of civilizations’ you mentioned.

ok, we admire her intentions, but this is not the way this job must be done.

Listen I know its politically correct to accept every ones personal decisions and even to find it pleasant and awe inspiring especially in matters of faith, its all very sweet and nice and makes me want to hug a stranger but to me its a bunch of hippie nonsense.

Hmm … actually, there are plenty of ways she can make a positive contribution to society.

For example, she would probably make an excellent prison chaplain because they are often needed to host religious rites for various confessional groups inside the system due to lack of resources for spiritual staff. In many American prisons, there is a definite overlap of religious leadership out of necessity, in which leaders of one faith have to oversee prayers for members of other faiths. That’s just a logistical reality because many prisons are unable to fill all their needed clerical positions. So you see, maybe her views could be rather useful in such a setting (amongst numerous others, btw — this is one example) by maximizing her interfaith messages of peace to a variety of people who have lost their way. That’s not hippie nonsense, DB. That’s practical public safety because most people get out of prison one day and their experiences inside the system matter.

What I am trying to say is that there are plenty of opportunities for her views to result in positive outcomes that may not seem immediately available. I have no doubt there is a place for her in the world to elevate the human condition. It just takes a moment to look for it outside the normal box.

I answer you Esra’a with a question, I consider myself a muslim but I don’t wear hijab for instance.. It is stated in Islam that a woman should, what am I considered?
I do not follow ALL Islam’s teachings, but I still consider myself a muslim

Hijab is pre-islamic pagan practise incorporated in islam through
christianity. Kuranic(Allah’s) mandate is complete veil/burkha/black tent. But if you use hijab/no hijab/no burkha,
now a days Allah don’t mind. May be you don’t know but I know
Allah liberalised himself a lot. In my neighborhood I see bikini-clad
young women are playing beach volleyball. Allah is watching and enjoying a lot but hardly interested to stone them.

one may violate some of Islamic rules, even those which are explicitly stated in Quran or Sunna, but as long as he/she accepts that his/her act is against Islam, he is not out of Islam.

I am 100% with that statement.
I would change the words (against Islam) and have it as (acts not abiding to Islam)

Halim, I chose this article in the 1st place because it does bring controversy and I wanted to see different ideas about the subject. (I got you to comment! ) however hilarious and sarcastic you may be..

one may violate some of Islamic rules, even those which are explicitly stated in Quran or Sunna, but as long as he/she accepts that his/her act is against Islam, he is not out of Islam.

when he/she tries to say: ‘No, Islam doesnt forbid this act’, now he/she is out of Islam and no longer believes in Islam. though still we may consider him/her as a believer, but he/she doesnt believe in Islam anymore, cuz he/she doesnt believe in some necessities of Islam.

Shobrawy, what are the basics of Islam? alshahadatain (believe there is one God allah and acknowledge that Mohammed is his messenger) these two acknowledgements make a person muslim. Then we have the five pillars that Islam stands upon (Now does it say that you can’t believe in another religion to be muslim? )
I don’t think you should judge.. I don’t know if it’s right from wrong (even religious leaders were baffled by her statements and found it contraversial between accepting her as a Muslim or a Christian.. many accepted her with open arms in both religions!)

Religion is a personal choice.. in MY opinion.. You can take the best of all.
In the end it is the relationship you as an individual have with God.

What a great article from Rasha(S.A.). Could you believe last five
years I am practising both Islam and Christian faith.
In the morning I become muslim with sahada, ” La illaha ila Allah,
wa Mahamood rasul Allah. Allah is the supreme ‘GOD’ and only
one god. All other gods including god of Bible ‘YAEHEW’ is fraud and false. Mahamood, the messanger of Allah, is the seniormost
prophet and all other prophets are subordinate to him including
Isa and Musa. Isa is the son of Marry. Allah never copulated any
women to beget a son.

In the evening I go in reverse mode, switch my allegience to Christianity. I take sahada, ‘ Oh lord Yaehew, you are the supreme and only god. All other gods are false including Allah.
Jesus is your son and you his father. Bible is your commandment
and Kuran is gobble-de-gook of Arab bedouin. Mahamood is fraud, a wolf in ship’s clothing. Jesus is the seniormost prophet
sealed by you. This is the way I please both heavy weight god
and reserve birth in paradise. I feel eternal peace in my mind by
worshipping this two eight hundred pound gorilla. Remember, both are very dangerous and their hellfire is not running short of
gasoline.

Hi, Rasha, Esra follow me.