Random Questions; Bible-based answers

As long as we are talking about the Middle East, what about this RQ: Is it possible for a Muslim to be a Jew?

Yes.
I posted a testimony of a Muslim who now lives in Israel and is married to a Jewish woman.
I’m on the phone now but I can post it later.
It’s under the Arab section of the forum.

Hmm. I had in mind RM 2:28-29.

Oh I see

Well, when you asked that question earlier I didn’t think that you had in mind GL 3:28 but yes that’s true.
There’s just one minor thing, in the Albanian Bible that word “circumcision” is used differently in this passage to capture the essence of GL 3:28.
Because if you said in Albanian “circumcision of the heart “ they’d look at you like you have two heads. So the word “circumcision” is used sparingly and in that passage they’re using a synonym which implies a more spiritual meaning.
Just some background info for you

If they think I have two heads when saying that, I wonder how many heads they would think I have for saying this?:

Christianity is God’s bridge uniting monotheistic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam, etc.) rather than a wall separating them. This truth is derived from a statement by the apostle Paul (in 1TM 2:3-4) indicating that Yahweh/God/Allah loves all people and wants everyone to love each other as one happy spiritual family or fellowship, and He is grieved when people who claim to believe in Him quarrel (Ephesians 4:30-31).

When Judaism was reformed by Jesus and his apostles, Paul taught (in RM 2:28-29, 4:16-17 & GL 3:29) that what matters is not the religion of our parents, but whether each of us has faith like Abraham in the one true God. A spiritual Jew loves God (DT 6:4-5), a true Christian loves God and humanity (MT 22:37-40), and a genuine Muslim serves God by cooperating with His plan of salvation (MT 24:45 & 25:21). Theists can be Jewish, Christian and Muslim, because Christianity is God’s solution/plan for peace in the world (EPH 2:11-22).

The purpose of Judaism was to provide the heritage for Messiah for the benefit of all people (RM 3:21-31, 9:4-5a, IS 42:1-6, GN 22:18, DT 9:5-6), and the intent of Islam (stated by the Qur’an in Surah 2:89) was “confirming” God’s previous revelations to the Jews and Christians (the OT & NT). When Jews became Messianic, Paul and Peter agreed that they could follow the old Jewish customs that did not contradict faith in Jesus as Lord (ACTS 15:5-29 & GL 2:15-16). Because everything good and true is from God (JM 1:27), accepting Jesus as Messiah does not mean rejecting what is good and true in one’s pre-Christian experience or culture.

However, the relationship between Jesus, Moses and Mohammed needs to be harmonized. Paul wrote (in 1TM 2:5): “For there is one God and one mediator between God and humanity, the man Christ [Messiah] Jesus.” This verse clearly indicates that the Christian concept known as the Trinity should not be understood as contradicting faith in one God. Similarly, calling Messiah “God’s Son” should not be understood as contradicting the humanity of Jesus (HB 2:17), the one God ordained to die unjustly as payment of the penalty for the sins of humanity. The one God relates to humanity in three primary ways: as the Creator or Father over all, as the Holy Spirit (cf. Surah 2:87) within believers, and as the human Messiah/Jesus with humanity (Immanuel in MT 1:23).

Thus, Muslims–like Jews–may accept Jesus as Messiah with the understanding that the Mosaic laws Islamic five pillars do not contradict the Christian gospel of salvation. In the OT God established a covenant with Abraham (GN 15:18, 17:2) by which “all nations on earth will be blessed” (GN 8:18), Jeremiah revealed that the Mosaic covenant would be superseded by a new covenant (JR31:31, cf. HB 7:18-10:1), and Isaiah associated the new covenant with Messiah, “my chosen one”, who would also be “a light for the Gentiles” (IS 42:1,6&9, 49:5-6&8, 59:20-60:3, 61:1 & 62:2&11). God’s “chosen people” potentially includes everyone in the world who satisfies His requirement for salvation by seeking truth and finding Messiah (EPH 2:11-3:6, RM 10:1-11:32). [Whether or not the physical nation of Israel will play some political role before the end/eschaton is another issue.]

For this you'd get a round of applause actually.

Question #1: Are there other earths with human life on them?

My answer: I doubt it, although I have seen people say there must be, because there are so many billions of suns in the universe, but I do not understand how one could arrive at an estimate of probability from a known case of only one--US!

Your answer?...

The logic goes that there are so many planets..there must be life on others..

What that logic doesn't take into account is the conditions our planet has for life.

Right distance from the sun, right axis, right position to the moon, the fine balance of everything working together for growth and life etc

It's too fine tuned.

When this is taken into account it drastically changes the odds. There are so many other planets, but not these kind of conditions earth has.

Glad to do what I can to help spark a Messianic Muslim movement! :^)

If they come to believe Jesus then they will no longer be muslims.. So they cannot be messianic muslims..

They can be Messianic Muslims in the same way that Paul could be a Messianic Jew and you can be a Messianic whatever your pre-Christian heritage or culture is. (Mine going way back was Celtic polytheism, but more recently it was combined with Protestantism of the Baptist variety.) As Christians we are Spiritual Jews.

The 44th TOJ is that GRFS may be stated as "Ask/seek/knock (MT 7:7-11/LK 11:9-13); ask what is true, seek salvation, and knock on heaven’s door (cf. HB 11:6). The parallel passage in Luke says the Holy Spirit will be given to those who ask. Thus, sincerely seeking salvation is regarded by God as righteousness (cf. RM 4:3), probably because God knows that were a seeker given the opportunity to hear the Gospel, he/she would believe and be saved or sanctified {JN 17:17}. A soul enters the path of salvation at the moment he/she decides to ask/seek/knock, but all primitive paths eventually converge onto the highway to heaven at the point of accepting Christ (TOJ #49). James 1:5&17 teaches this truth in terms of wisdom. Its converse is that those who are not truth-seekers will not LGW/satisfy GRFS. {MT 21:24-27//MK11:29-33//LK 20:3-8, MT 22:18//MK 12:15//LK 20:23-24}

The reason that GRFS may be stated in terms of seeking what is true, is because a logical train of thought leads an unbiased truthseeker to have a propensity to believe in an all-loving God, who is not tricky and does not hide the way to heaven (HB 11:6, ACTS 13:10). The Bible says God’s Spirit is love and truth (1JN 4:8 & 5:6), which means all love (agape, RM 6:5-8) in all people is God’s operation, and all truth in all cultures is God’s revelation. Thus, becoming a Christian theist does not mean rejecting what is good or loving and true in one’s pre-Christian experience or culture. Again, all truth is from God and manifests God’s Spirit, so if any atheists are truthseekers, then they are not far from the kingdom of God (MK 12:34, 2THS 2:10, JN 18:37) because Jesus promised that those who seek will find (LK 11:9&13).

A person’s fellowship with God begins in a primitive and impersonal way when a soul becomes a truthseeker, because God’s Spirit is truth (1JN 5:6). The commitment to seek and have faith in the truth as revealed is a primitive “pre-theistic” satisfaction of GRFS (MT 7:7), thus the person begins a saving relationship with God although he/she does not know it (RM 1:17). As a truthseeker at any time in history and place in the world meditates upon his/her experiences, Paul indicates that they will be able to discern God’s being and love (RM 1:20, 2:14-15, GL 5:14) by means of what theologians call “natural or general revelation”. This stage occurred from Adam to Moses per RM 5:12-14.

Three ways God/Christ is encountered or found include: 1. general revelation, which includes meditating on the natural world or God’s supernatural work. Paul says men are without excuse, both because God’s eternal power and divine nature (love) are manifested by creation (RM 1:20), and because a proto-gospel has been proclaimed to everyone under heaven implicitly or in pre-NT foreshadowings (CL 1:23, RM 10:13-18, GL 3:8). 2. the inner conscience, a natural or “common” sense (RM 2:14-16), which manifests morality or a moral Authority in every culture; and 3. special revelation (1PT 1:8-12), which refers to the biblical and especially NT teaching regarding God’s history of salvation. Again, the Parable of the Talents indicates that souls are saved via faith in God/ Christ as revealed (cf. 1CR 10:1-5). Truthseekers around the world in all times are pilgrims at various places along the road of life, and all true roads eventually lead to the Way to eternal life in heaven (JN 14:6, ACTS 24:14, PHP 2:10-11). All truth leads to One Way.

The mind of Jesus is truth incarnate (JN 1:14), and all truth manifests the Spirit of Christ or God (1JN 5:6). The work of God (GRFS) is to seek and believe the truth, and part of the truth is that no one comes to know God as Father except through faith in God’s truth embodied as God the Son. If a moralist truthseeker (on the basis of general revelation) is taught about God (perhaps via the OT or Qur’an), then he/she may choose to believe in God or become a theist. If theists are taught the Gospel (NT), then they may choose to believe/accept Jesus as Christ. In both cases salvation is a gift from God received by faith “from first to last” (RM 1:17).

When truthseekers recognize the reality of God as the Creator of the universe who has a moral requirement, if they decide to become theists and worship Him, they become like Abraham and other OT believers, and their fellowship deepens or becomes personal. RM 4:1-25 teaches that Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness (v.3). Then this spiritual event was signified outwardly by circumcision (v.11). Similarly, all who believe in God are credited to be righteous and spiritual children of Abraham, although physical circumcision is optional (v.11-18).

RM 5:6-11 says that while we were powerless (unable to save ourselves via works per 3:9-20), Christ died for the ungodly or sinners or God’s enemies, so that believers (3:22-26) are justified or reconciled and saved from God’s wrath. This includes all of humanity potentially, comparable to how humanity became sinners following the original trespass (5:15-21). Presumably, God provides pre-Christian believers the opportunity to hear the gospel of Christ in a pre-NT and pre-Abrahamic or provisional form (cf. the proto-gospel), so they may repent of sin and accept the pre-incarnate One God/ Christ as Lord (JN 8:42, 1JN 1:3-4).

At the moment of repentance/acceptance, God’s Holy Spirit (HS) enters believers’ spiritual hearts (RV 3:20), uniting them with God as heavenly Father (RM 8:9) and identifying them with Christ’s worldwide/catholic body or church (CL 1:18). As noted, Paul refers to the comparable moment for Abraham as spiritual circumcision. This manifold event is also called spiritual birth or baptism (1CR 12:13). We can infer that this dynamic occurs also for pre-NT believers like Abraham, because there is no salvation outside of Christ’s ekklesia or church (ACTS 4:12). Partial knowledge of God’s Word will limit ability to cooperate with Him, so there is a need for evangelism or learning the full Gospel (MT 28:18-20, cf. ACTS 18:24-26) as well as for lifelong discipleship or spiritual training (2TM 3:16-17).

(You're quite welcome :^)

"Messianic" isn't correct either because both Jews of Judaism and those of Islam believe in a Messiah.

The term Christian means a specific Messiah/Christ which would be Jesus so a better tern would be Jewish Christian, or Arabic Christian etc. Messianic is not specific enough.

Nope.. Jew = a race.. Some Jews are religous.. So you can be a messianic Jew.. Because being Jewish is a race not a religion..

Islam = a religion, not a race.. Therefore you cannot be a messianic muslim because within the islamic religion there is a denial of Jesus being the Son of God and within the islamic religion there is a denial that Jesus was crucified and was raised from the dead..

So you cannot be a muslim and believe Jesus was the son of God or that Jesus was crucified and raised from the dead. Therefore there cannot be any messianic muslims..

Well in terms of Christian discussion the term Messianic Jew refers to Jews who specificaly believe Jesus is the Messiah..

So while it is true that Torah Jews and quranic muslims believe in the term Messiah they do not believe in the Messiah Jesus that Christians believe in..

Semantics can be trickly. There is one human race. Jewish refers to both the culture and its religion.

Muslim refers to the religion Muhammed founded for the descendants of Ishmael, which is mainly the Arabic culture.

Paul distinguished between physical Jews whose males are physically circumcised and spiritual Jews including female believers whose hearts are spiritually circumcised.

Messiah in the NT means Christ, and so messianic means Christian.

Being a messianic Muslim means believing the Gospel rather than obeying sharia law or teachings of Mohammed for salvation, although Koranic laws that align with biblical morality are good and other traditions may be permissible.

Jews are the genetic descendants of Israel therefore it is primarily a genetic identity..

Muslim is a religion that is not limited to any races.. There are just as many Indonesian muslims as there are Arabic muslims..

And you cannot be a Christian muslim but you can be a Christian Jew..

Nope.. If a mulsim does not obey Sharia law then they are not true devout muslims.. Again one cannot be a messianic muslim..