Here are two interesting articles I came across tonight.

1. The first is a spicy commentary about a prediction Donald Miller wrote for CNN about religious trends in 2011.   http://teampyro.blogspot.com/2011/01/open-letter-to-donald-miller.html
I read Donald's book "Blue Like Jazz" a couple years ago, and I think Frank Turk's comments are right-on.  Frank makes great points about the true gospel (of repentance and forgiveness, truth and love) that Jesus Christ preached.  Jesus was an "extremist"... a "radical"... in the best possible way...

2. The second one is about how Francis Chan recently left his 4000-member California church because he felt it was becoming too focused on him rather than on Jesus Christ.  http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2010/12/22/%e2%80%9cchristian-famous%e2%80%9d-pastor-quits-his-church-moves-to-asia/
Here's a quote from the article:
In his world of big conference crowds, multiple services each week, and instant access to social media, the notion of pastoral care had begun to change. His fame was straining his work as a pastor. “When there is a large constituency, there’s a lot of voices,” he said. “It makes you arrogant or it makes you want to shoot yourself. When thousands of people tell you what they think, how can I be quick to listen, like the Bible says? I don’t want to be a jerk and tune everyone out. At the same time you, can’t love every single person and answer them.”

Francis is so right about that.  And I highly admire him for his action.  The whole idea of the salaried pastoral "job" is not quite Biblical, it seems to me (though pastoral/elder roles are Biblical and voluntary financial gifts to assist them in their work are Biblical)... as are the large buildings and other trappings of modern institutionalized "church".  (For more thoughts, see my posts on Steve Atkerson's book 'House Church', e.g. http://tim223.xanga.com/725607096/house-church-reading-notes-ch10-20/ ).

Fame sometimes comes, as God's gifts attract attention.  But the modern church paradigms tend to put more pressure on pastors/elders than God intended for them to bear.  They are asked by Western culture to be CEOs of veritable religious corporations, spending their energies on building projects and christian community center programs, instead of God's charge that they take care of His people.  They are asked to be the man at the top of a pyramid of authority and honor, instead of God's paradigm:  "Do not be called leaders, for One is your Leader, that is, Christ."  Matthew 23:10

Joshua Harris commented in the above article on Francis Chan's decision: "...Not every pastor of a big church should leave.”  Whether or not Joshua is right, I suggest that every pastor of a church should seek to multiply himself; to work himself out of a job; to disciple and raise up other men to lead and teach and preach... and disciple others.

Taking a paid job as "pastor" or "clergy" in a Western institutionalized church is not necessarily evil, and I have been blessed by the friendship and preaching and mentorship of many such men over the years.  But it is a dangerous position, filled with perils and pressures that are unnecessary and not required by the Biblical plan for God's Church.

All of that to say, I admire Francis Chan for his action, and I pray that God will use him with even greater effectiveness in the future as he serves smaller groups of people.  May his desire be granted: that people interacting with him would come away thinking not about him, but about Jesus Christ.

2011....

What is the "big picture" of your life?   What metanarrative do you believe that your life fits into, making sense of your life and where you are going afterward?

Here are six short quotes that describe the metanarrative that I have come to believe; one quote from my Savior, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ.....  and four quotes from John Newton and one quote from Fanny Crosby.

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Matthew 13
44"The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
45"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls,
46and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.
-- Jesus Christ

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"I went one day to Mrs. G---'s, just after she had lost all her fortune. I could not be surprised to find her in tears... but she said, 'I suppose you think I am crying for my loss... but that is not the case; I am now weeping to think I should feel so much uneasiness on the account.' After that I never heard her speak again upon the subject as long as she lived.
Now this is just as it should be. Suppose a man was going to York to take possession of a large estate, and his chaise should break down a mile before he got to the city, which obliged him to walk the rest of the way; what a fool we would think him, if we saw him wringing his hands, and blubbering out all the remaining mile, 'My chaise is broken! My chaise is broken!'"
-- John Newton

This is my story
This is my song
Praising my Savior
All the day long
-- Fanny Crosby

"The people of this world are like children. Offer a child an candy and a bank note, he will doubtless choose the candy."
-- John Newton

"The heir of a great estate, while a child, thinks more of a few dollars in his pocket than of his inheritance. So a Christian is often more elated by some frame of heart than by his title to glory."
-- John Newton

"I feel like a man who has no money in his pocket - but is allowed to draw for all he needs upon one infinitely rich. I am therefore, at once both a beggar and a rich man."
-- John Newton

Consider this passage from the Bible, Matthew 19--

 16And someone came to Him and said, "Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may obtain eternal life?"
17And He said to him, "Why are you asking Me about what is good? There is only One who is good; but if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments."
 18Then he said to Him, "Which ones?" And Jesus said, "You shall not commit murder; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness;
19Honor your father and mother; and you shall love your neighbor as yourself."
20The young man said to Him, "All these things I have kept; what am I still lacking?"
21Jesus said to him, "If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me."
22But when the young man heard this statement, he went away grieving; for he was one who owned much property.
23And Jesus said to His disciples, "Truly I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.
24"Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
25When the disciples heard this, they were very astonished and said, "Then who can be saved?"
26And looking at them Jesus said to them, "With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."

It is interesting that Jesus didn't say "try really hard to keep the commandments", or "do your best to keep the commandments", or "try to make sure that your good deeds outweigh your bad deeds", etc.  He simply said, "keep the commandments."

In other words, 100% perfection is required.  As James said in James 2:10, "whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all."

The only way to enter eternal life is to be 100% righteous ourselves....  (which is impossible in practice)...   or to be "in" / "inside" / "covered-by" / "represented-by" the only One who is fully righteous/"good"...  Jesus Christ...

Here are some recently read books with a short blurb/synopsis, in case you might be interested in reading them too.   My previous set of reviews was September 12, 2009 if you want to read more (use the "Posting Calendar" link at the lower left side of this page).

- Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus, Volume 1, by Michael Brown - great book... addresses a lot of "I couldn't possibly consider Jesus my Messiah, because I'm Jewish, my whole family is Jewish, etc" and "Didn't Christians persecute the Jews for thousands of years?" type questions.  There are an amazing amount of carefully cited references... great resource!  There are three more volumes... I look forward to reading them...

- Genetic Entropy and the Mystery of the Genome by John Sanford - Excellent book.  Thanks to Rich for giving it to me!  The gist is that random mutations are slowly destroying the human genome, little by little, inexorably, and neodarwinian evolution (natural selection + random mutation) is not only unable to create new genetic information, but unable even to maintain our current genome.  This implies that our genome was originally created essentially perfect by an Intelligent Designer, some thousands of years ago.  The book needs some editing to make it a little less redundant, and the pictures are a little corny (sometimes he seems to be aiming for a lay audience, and sometimes for a scientific audience), but overall the points he makes are excellent.

- The Future of Justification, a response to N.T.Wright - by John Piper - great book... closely written theological rebuttal to NT Wright's New Perspective on Paul.  Piper does a good job of showing why justification is God's "forensic"/legal "writing us down NOW as if we're innocent", and how this individual forgiveness-of-sins is the heart of the gospel.   (as opposed to the NPP heresy, which teaches (similar to the RCC) that justification is God's eschatological pronouncement at the end of time that we are "in the covenant community", based on the good works that we've done during our lives through His enabling(/"infusing") power).

- Overcoming Sin and Temptation - by John Owen (new edition by Kelly Kapic/Justin Taylor) - Excellent book!  Deep reading, difficult old english, but great thoughts on putting to death sin by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Overall summary: (1) It is extremely important to be putting sin to death in our lives... "be killing sin or it will be killing you". (2) the ONLY way to kill it is by the power of the Holy Spirit, not by accountability partners, or more Bible reading, or setting rules for oneself, or telling oneself "I'm better than that", or self denial or self-flagellation, or any other type of human-power-based approach to attempting to make oneself more righteous.

- Evolution: greatest hoax on earth - by Jonathan Safarti - All of Safarti's books are worth reading.  This one dissects Richard Dawkins' latest book "Evolution: the greatest show on earth" which claims to present the most powerful and up-to-date evidence in favor of evolution.  Safarti's book carefully goes through Dawkins' claims and dispassionately blows each one out of the water.  It is a "polemical" book, but a rational, evenhanded polemic overall.

- Head, Heart, and Hands - by Dennis Hollinger - Thanks to Tom for lending me this book.  Hollinger makes the point that some Christians are wired to be more "head" (intellectual)-oriented, others "heart" (emotional)-oriented, and others "hands" (practical, gift of helps, social-justice/soup-kitchens/etc)-oriented.  He makes the point that all aspects are necessary, and we need to understand our own selves and be willing to grow in the other two areas.

- The Edge of Evolution - by Michael Behe (a RCC biology prof who believes in common-descent of man and apes, and in an old earth, but not that darwinian evolution can explain all of it) - fascinating in-depth look at what (darwinian) evolution can and can't do, using the specific examples of malaria and sickle-cell anemia resistance to malaria.  Pro: Behe is an expert on this subject, and also tries to make it accessible... he well demonstrates his point that evolution can make small destructive changes to genetic information that sometimes confer "resistance" to a particular disease, but it cannot cross the multiple-improbable-step gap to create new biological features and innovations and genetic information.  It's a little difficult to get through all the biology - I made it about halfway and then stopped for a while.

- Signature in the Cell, by Stephen Meyer - great book!  It's basically about how evolution has no plausible way to create novel genetic information (in our DNA).  Meyer reviews all the theories and shows how they don't work (and contradict each other).  The only reasonable explanation is intelligent design...   The only downside to this book is that it's so long!  If it could be shortened, it would be better.

What interesting books have you been reading lately?

Consider these 4 passages from the Torah -

Exodus 1:8-14
8Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.
9He said to his people, "Behold, the people of the sons of Israel are more and mightier than we.
10"Come, let us deal wisely with them, or else they will multiply and in the event of war, they will also join themselves to those who hate us, and fight against us and depart from the land."
11So they appointed taskmasters over them to afflict them with hard labor And they built for Pharaoh storage cities, Pithom and Raamses.
12But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and the more they spread out, so that they were in dread of the sons of Israel.
13The Egyptians compelled the sons of Israel to labor rigorously;
14and they made their lives bitter with hard labor in mortar and bricks and at all kinds of labor in the field, all their labors which they rigorously imposed on them.

Exodus 2
23Now it came about in the course of those many days that the king of Egypt died. And the sons of Israel sighed because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry for help because of their bondage rose up to God.
 24So God heard their groaning; and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
25God saw the sons of Israel, and God took notice of them.
Numbers 11
1Now the people became like those who complain of adversity in the hearing of the LORD; and when the LORD heard it, His anger was kindled, and the fire of the LORD burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp.
2The people therefore cried out to Moses, and Moses prayed to the LORD and the fire died out.
3So the name of that place was called Taberah, because the fire of the LORD burned among them.
4The rabble who were among them had greedy desires; and also the sons of Israel wept again and said, "Who will give us meat to eat?
5"We remember the fish which we used to eat free in Egypt, the cucumbers and the melons and the leeks and the onions and the garlic,
6but now our appetite is gone. There is nothing at all to look at except this manna."
 7Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its appearance like that of bdellium.
8The people would go about and gather it and grind it between two millstones or beat it in the mortar, and boil it in the pot and make cakes with it; and its taste was as the taste of cakes baked with oil.
9When the dew fell on the camp at night, the manna would fall with it.
10Now Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, each man at the doorway of his tent; and the anger of the LORD was kindled greatly, and Moses was displeased.
Numbers 13
17When Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, he said to them, "Go up there into the Negev; then go up into the hill country.
18"See what the land is like, and whether the people who live in it are strong or weak, whether they are few or many.
19"How is the land in which they live, is it good or bad? And how are the cities in which they live, are they like open camps or with fortifications?
20"How is the land, is it fat or lean? Are there trees in it or not? Make an effort then to get some of the fruit of the land." Now the time was the time of the first ripe grapes.
21So they went up and spied out the land from the wilderness of Zin as far as Rehob, at Lebo-hamath.
22When they had gone up into the Negev, they came to Hebron where Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmai, the descendants of Anak were (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)
23Then they came to the valley of Eshcol and from there cut down a branch with a single cluster of grapes; and they carried it on a pole between two men, with some of the pomegranates and the figs.
24That place was called the valley of Eshcol, because of the cluster which the sons of Israel cut down from there.
25When they returned from spying out the land, at the end of forty days,
26they proceeded to come to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the sons of Israel in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh; and they brought back word to them and to all the congregation and showed them the fruit of the land.
27Thus they told him, and said, "We went in to the land where you sent us; and it certainly does flow with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.
28"Nevertheless, the people who live in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large; and moreover, we saw the descendants of Anak there.
29"Amalek is living in the land of the Negev and the Hittites and the Jebusites and the Amorites are living in the hill country, and the Canaanites are living by the sea and by the side of the Jordan."
30Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, "We should by all means go up and take possession of it, for we will surely overcome it."
31But the men who had gone up with him said, "We are not able to go up against the people, for they are too strong for us."
32So they gave out to the sons of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, "The land through which we have gone, in spying it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants; and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great size.
33"There also we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim); and we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight."
14:1Then all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night.
2All the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron; and the whole congregation said to them, "Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness!
3"Why is the LORD bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become plunder; would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?"

So the story starts with Israel groaning because of its forced slavery and oppression in Egypt...  God has compassion on them and rescues them to freedom with awesome miracles, like the 10 plagues against Egypt (each one pointing out the impotence of a specific Egyptian "god") and opening up a canyon through the ocean for the Israelites to cross through on dry land (after having received lots of gold and other valuables from their Egyptian neighbors as a "parting gift"...)

When the Israelites get a couple days into the desert, they run out of food.  God promptly begins sending "manna" every morning, enough to feed some 1-2 million people.  They run out of water.  God splits open a rock and provides a stream to flow out of the rock in the middle of the desert.

One would hope that the Israelites would begin to "get the picture".  God has provided for them in every way in the past, turning all their almost-disasters into amazing-deliverances.

But instead they complain, because they want tastier food.  Yeah sure God had promised "a land flowing with milk and honey" in the future by-and-by-pie-in-the-sky, but they wanted it NOW.

After a while, they arrive at the Promised Land.  The spies tell them that gee whiz, sure enough, the land actually IS "flowing with milk and honey"!   God hadn't been lying to them!   One sample cluster of grapes from their Promised Land was so heavy that it took two men to carry it home.   The days of good food were here at last.

But no.  There were big scary Canaanites in the land.  "Who knows, after taking care of us for many months, God might decide to stop helping us right as we start fighting battles!  How do we know this God really cares about us?  Or how do we know he's even there at all?  Oh for the days of peaceful bliss back in Egypt, when we could eat garlic and melons and we didn't have to fight (because we just shrank back in helplessness when they beat us into submission and killed our babies)."

--

Aren't we a lot like the Israelites?   God leads us from trying/maturing situation to trying/maturing situation, with lots of miraculous provision and gratuitous pleasure along the way, with every past promise kept and lots of amazing promises written for the future.  But we often focus on how we used to have it better in the past...  when (fill in the blank) life was easier, we had fewer challenges/problems/heartbreaks, etc.

Each day however, for those of us who belong to God, He is leading us into situations full of blessings and victory just waiting for us to experience, by His power.  And we are heading to an unspeakably awesome "Promised Land" with Him after this earthly life finishes.

--

Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, "We should by all means go up and take possession of it, for we will surely overcome it."  Numbers 13:30

--

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy, and shall break
In blessings on your head.
- William Cowper

"Remember the prisoners, as though in prison with them, and those who are ill-treated, since you yourselves also are in the body."  Hebrews 13:3

http://www.worldmag.com/articles/17288

What did Jesus get really excited about?   What made him really happy?   Consider these two parallel passages:

Matt 11
25At that time Jesus said, "I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants.
26"Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight.
 27"All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.
28"Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.
29"Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS.
30"For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."

Luke 10
17The seventy returned with joy, saying, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name."
18And He said to them, "I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning.
19"Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you.
20"Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven."
21At that very time He rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit, and said, "I praise You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight.
 22"All things have been handed over to Me by My Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him."
23Turning to the disciples, He said privately, "Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see,
24for I say to you, that many prophets and kings wished to see the things which you see, and did not see them, and to hear the things which you hear, and did not hear them."

Isn't this interesting!   ... that Jesus exulted in the 'upside-down-ness' of God's revelation of Himself to humans...  that God revealed Himself to the poor and outcast of the world, the sinners who knew how unworthy they were...  rather than revealing Himself to the fine, noble, upstanding people who were proud of their own goodness and worthiness.

Some bad reasons to work:

• To make money in order to be rich and live in luxury
• To become famous
• To feel significant by having accomplished something in the world
• To be socially accepted

Some good reasons to work:

• To make money to give away to other people in need ("He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need." Eph 4:28)
• To "subdue the earth", exercising our God-given talents and abilities with creativity, doing what we were designed to do / tasked to do, bringing the earth into more and more order and beauty ("God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth."" Gen 1:27-28)
• To set a good example of a disciple of Christ to nonbelieving peers, in financial stability and diligence ("But we urge you, brethren, to excel still more, and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands, just as we commanded you, so that you will behave properly toward outsiders and not be in any need." 1 Thess 4:10b-12)
• To set a good example of a disciple of Christ to our supervisors ("Slaves, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart, as to Christ; not by way of eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart. With good will render service, as to the Lord, and not to men, knowing that whatever good thing each one does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether slave or free." Eph 6:5-8)

Thoughts?

Here's a quote from an article about the sludge dam break disaster in Hungary last week:

The prime minister said he would inform parliament about the findings of an investigation on Monday and reiterated his view that the disaster was likely the result of human error.
"We all are astonished because we are not aware of any information that could reduce (the likelihood of) human responsibility. My point is that behind this tragedy, there must have been some human errors and mistakes," he said.
"Regarding the consequences ... for those responsible, I can say that they will be proportionate to the extent of the damage, in every respect," he told a news conference in Budapest.

Why do hurt people always bring up "consequences" for "those responsible"?   Why is there an inherent thirst for justice whenever people are wronged?

This is related to the question of God's justice for us humans.   People sometimes ask about God, "Why can't He just forgive/overlook our sins?  Why does He demand punishment?  Why does He send people to hell?"

As C.S.Lewis wrote in Mere Christianity, when it's our own sins, we want lenience... but when someone has wronged us, we want retribution.   This displays our crookedness and hypocrisy.

Update: the four points below were written in response to the "burn-a-quran-day", which is now apparently (as of the evening of 9/9/2010) cancelled.  Sarah Palin's quote in Richard Fernandez' article here is quite relevant.
--------

1. The Quran-burning event seems like an expression of anger rather than a rational argument.  While anger toward Islam as a system might be justified (because it sometimes leads people to commit terrorist acts, and even worse, because it keeps precious Muslim individuals away from the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the forgiveness and eternal life that they could otherwise experience in Him), the Quran-burning seems like a bad idea for several reasons.  First, when a book is banned or burned, the usual response is that people become more interested in the book.  A better approach would be to present reasoned arguments about why the Quran is false, rather than merely burning it.  Burning the paper and ink of the book does nothing except send a message of "I don't like this book".  The ideas and teachings are what need to be addressed, to answer the question of "Why" the Quran is false.  Second, the Quran-burning will probably cause lots of violent protests throughout the world, both toward Americans abroad and especially toward vulnerable Christian families in Muslim areas throughout the world, even if they are not American.  Thus, the Quran-burning is a bad idea. (see http://www.christiannewswire.com/news/8937514887.html )

2. However, Muslims burn Bibles quite regularly.  Why do these burnings not cause Christians worldwide to go on violent protest rampages?  Perhaps the contrast (between many Bible-burnings leading to no Christian violence, versus one Quran-burning leading to lots of Muslim violence) needs to be made obvious to the world, and people need to ask themselves the question as to WHY the difference (and hopefully, read the Bible and the Quran and discover the difference for themselves).  Perhaps the aftermath of the Quran-burning event will have this good effect, even though I would personally disagree with the event itself because I prefer to show respect to other people who believe differently than I do.
(examples of Bible-burning: here are a couple links that I found with a little internet searching...  also if you search for 'churches burned', you will find hundreds more links, and often Bibles are burned along with the churches.  E.g., churches burned by Hindus in Orissa, by Muslims in Indonesia, Pakistan, etc
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/245762/re-not-my-name-jonah-goldberg
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/285123/christians_in_gaza_fear_for_their_lives.html?cat=9
http://demo.newvoicemedia.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=54&Itemid=53   )

3. A really interesting response to the 'Burn a Quran Day' is found at this Youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91AM7665cbo  It is entitled, "The Original Burn-A-Quran Day", and recounts the history of Caliph Uthman (an early Muslim) burning all Qurans other than his own standardized copy.

4. Have you ever read the Quran yourself?  I've read both the Quran and the Bible.  If you read the Quran, you will find verses like this: "Let there be no compulsion in religion; truth stands out clear from error." Sura 2:256 .... and you will also find verses like this: "Kill those who join other gods with Allah wherever you find them; besiege them, seize them, lay in wait for them with every kind of ambush...." Sura 9:5
These verses seem to contradict each other.  Peaceful Muslims take the former as overriding the latter, violent Muslims take the latter as overriding the former.  It is interesting to study the reasoning behind their interpretive decisions as to which parts of the Quran to obey and which parts to ignore.  Al Qaeda teaches that 9:5 "abrogates" (replaces, overrides) 2:256 because it was sent down later in Muhammad's life.  But liberal/peaceful Muslims tend to pick and choose only the parts from the Quran that they like, and so they tend to ignore 9:5.  Which is the "true Islam", and how would one know?

The Bible, on the other hand, is consistent... the story/invitation about the glorious God who created the universe... who did not crush us humans as we deserved because of our rebellion against Him... but instead took upon Himself the penalty for our rebellion.  The innocent volunteered to pay for the guilty... because of His love for us...

As Jesus said, "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."