The Qur'an and the Scales

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Three passages:

21:47

And We place the scales of justice for the Day of Resurrection, so no soul will be treated unjustly at all. And if there is [even] the weight of a mustard seed, We will bring it forth. And sufficient are We as accountant.

23:99-104

[For such is the state of the disbelievers], until, when death comes to one of them, he says, "My Lord, send me back. That I might do righteousness in that which I left behind." No! It is only a word he is saying; and behind them is a barrier until the Day they are resurrected. So when the Horn is blown, no relationship will there be among them that Day, nor will they ask about one another. And those whose scales are heavy [with good deeds] - it is they who are the successful. But those whose scales are light - those are the ones who have lost their souls, [being] in Hell, abiding eternally. The Fire will sear their faces, and they therein will have taut smiles.

42:16-18

And those who argue concerning Allah after He has been responded to - their argument is invalid with their Lord, and upon them is [His] wrath, and for them is a severe punishment. It is Allah who has sent down the Book in truth and [also] the balance. And what will make you perceive? Perhaps the Hour is near. Those who do not believe in it are impatient for it, but those who believe are fearful of it and know that it is the truth. Unquestionably, those who dispute concerning the Hour are in extreme error.

Comments: This is "works" salvation and the antithesis of the "grace" salvation of Biblical Christianity: Ephesians 2:8-9:

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast

Coming alive in Christ (Ephesians 2:4-10)

Coming alive in Christ

Comment: Towards the end there is a good John MacArthur quote on faith as a gift of God!

Stuff Out Loud: Why Jesus Had To Die

Stuff Out Loud: Why Jesus Had To Die

Comment: A Scriptural message on the death of Christ!

aut Deus aut malus homo

"aut Deus aut malus homo" is Latin for "Either God or a bad man"

In discussing his apologetic method, C. S. Lewis once stated that he usually found the aut Deus aut malus homo quite useful in demonstrating the validity of Christ's claims. (C. S. Lewis, "Christian Apologetics," in C. S. Lewis, God In the Dock, ed. Walter Hooper (Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1970), p. 101)

C.S. Lewis quotes:

"I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: "I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God." That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic--on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg--or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to." (C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (New York: Macmillan Co., Inc., 1943), pp. 55-56)

Lewis said there are three options:

1. Jesus was telling falsehoods and knew it, and so he was a liar.
   
2. Jesus was telling falsehoods but believed he was telling the truth, and so he was insane.
   
3. Jesus was telling the truth, and so he was divine.
   

"There is no half-way house and there is no parallel in other religions. If you had gone to Buddha and asked Him, "Are you the son of Bramah?" he would have said, "My son, you are still in the vale of illusion." If you had gone to Socrates and asked, "Are you Zeus?" he would have laughed at you. If you had gone to Mohammed and asked, "are you Allah?" he would first have rent his clothes and then cut you head off. If you had asked Confucius, "Are you Heaven?", I think he would have probably replied, "Remarks which are not in accordance with nature are in bad taste." The idea of a great moral teacher saying what Christ said is out of the question." (C. S. Lewis, "What Are We to Make of Jesus Christ?" in C. S. Lewis, God In The Dock, ed. Walter Hooper (Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1970), pp. 157-158)

Jesus said: "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me" (John 14:6)

Jesus said: "He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?" (John 14:9)

Jesus asked: "Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?" (Matthew 16:13)

Jesus asks you! "But who do you say that I am?" (Matthew 16:15)

Liar, Lunatic, or Lord: you decide!

C.S. Lewis wikipedia

My salvation: 3 documents - Part 1

I became a Christian in November 1969. My salvation did not just happen. There were people, events and documents that shaped my salvation. There were three documents that predicated my salvation experience. This blog is about document # 1.

Document # 1 is Sinners in the hands of an angry God

A sample (you are encouraged to read it in its entirety!):

The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked: his wrath towards you burns like fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the fire; he is of purer eyes than to bear to have you in his sight; you are ten thousand times more abominable in his eyes, than the most hateful venomous serpent is in ours. You have offended him infinitely more than ever a stubborn rebel did his prince; and yet it is nothing but his hand that holds you from falling into the fire every moment. It is to be ascribed to nothing else, that you did not go to hell the last night; that you was suffered to awake again in this world, after you closed your eyes to sleep. And there is no other reason to be given, why you have not dropped into hell since you arose in the morning, but that God's hand has held you up. There is no other reason to be given why you have not gone to hell, since you have sat here in the house of God, provoking his pure eyes by your sinful wicked manner of attending his solemn worship. Yea, there is nothing else that is to be given as a reason why you do not this very moment drop down into hell.

Why did I read this? When did I read this? What was my reaction? Should you read this? This is the story.

Two full years before my salvation, I read "Sinners in the hands of an angry God". It was assigned reading in my Freshman English class at the University of Cincinnati. In the Fall of 1967, I was a Freshman at the University of Cincinnati. English was my least favorite class and the class in which I most struggled (as my "D","C","C" grades would testify). (For my blog audience, it may seem at times that English is my 2nd language!).

Why would "Sinners in the hands of an angry God" be assigned reading? It is great literature. It is historic (see the Great Awakening below!). It shaped the United States. And it is famous! I did not seek this document out ... it sought me out.

What was my reaction to "Sinners in the hands of an angry God"?

1. It did not make me comfortable but did not move my heart immediately.
   
2. It seemed antiquated and irrelevant.
   
3. These concepts did not register with me: God is wrathful, God is angry, I'm a sinner, hell is real.
   
4. I read it simply as literature, as an assignment only, for a test, a quiz, a grade!
   
5. It was later that the Spirit of God used the truths of this message in my life!
   

Who was Jonathan Edwards? Read about him here!

What was the Great Awakening? Read about it here!