If you truly love Allah, you will die for him.Your death will mean much reward for you and your family in heaven.Only death will prove your love.
It was the final test. A chance to win not only the love of Allah, but the love of her father-something she had never been able to earn. Esther took a deep breath and raised her hand in the air. At the age of eighteen, she had just volunteered to become a suicide bomber.
Defying Jihad is the true story of a girl growing up under radical Islamic rule, trained to believe her ultimate purpose was to serve Allah by dying as a jihadist. But two nights before she was to leave forever, she had a dream ... one that would change the course of her destiny.
Against all odds, Esther became a follower of Jesus-even though leaving Islam meant her death sentence. But rather than kill her immediately, Esther's furious father challenged her to a series of public debates with Muslim scholars: the Bible versus the Quran. If Esther won, she might yet survive. But if the Muslim clerics won, Esther must renounce her Christian faith. For an entire month-if she lived that long-Esther would be brought before the mob daily to defend her newfound faith. Would God give her the words to argue against Muslim leaders, former friends, and even her own family?
Defying Jihad is an amazing story of a woman prepared to surrender all for Jesus-and whose life transformed from terror to overwhelming love.
Osho es conocido como una de las figuras más provocadoras de nuestro tiempo. Este libro, compuesto de una selección de sus intempestivos discursos, nos presenta una visión general de los conceptos clave del ideal de «vivir peligrosamente».
Crítico con las religiones tradicionales y sus normas y doctrinas, que imponen una «esclavitud psicológica», su ideario pone énfasis en la responsabilidad personal y la libertad. Su misión, según él, era conseguir que regresaran a la vida aquellos que vivían como si estuvieran muertos.
Esta selección de sus discursos nos proporciona el contexto para entender el singular acercamiento de Osho al camino de la espiritualidad, destaca aquellos temas a los que recurre reiteradamente para encontrar respuesta a sus preguntas y nos ofrece sus invitaciones para un nuevo mundo poblado de seres ilustrados.
«Mi palabra para los que rezan es "amor"... el amor no es hacia un dios invisible. Es amor a todo lo visible: seres humanos, animales, árboles, océanos, montañas...»
Radical Islam has been waging war against our global civilization throughout history?and now, it's closer than ever to American soil. Dr. Michael Youssef, a Coptic Christian who was born in Egypt and now leads a megachurch in America, knows from firsthand experience that radical Islamists have goals that many American Christians believe are "unthinkable." In this book, he warns Western Christians that it doesn't help to ignore what's going on. There's a third jihad underway, and its goal is to take over the West.
The Third Jihad is a call for Christians to defend their families, protect their nation, and boldly share the good news of Jesus with their communities?especially their Muslim neighbors.
Packed with surprising insights from history, compelling and dramatic stories, and a practical agenda that one person?or one church?can immediately put into practice to make a difference in the world. Rich in encouraging biblical principles and prophetic insights, The Third Jihad leads the reader to an empowering conclusion in our troubling (and even frightening) times.
Michael Youssef's insights will inspire Christians to take their faith seriously, share their faith freely, and to truly be salt and light in a world of increasing darkness and decay.
Profoundly moving, fearlessly honest, and relentlessly hopeful, New York Times bestselling author Rachel Held Evans offers this must-read for anyone on the journey of doubt, deconstruction, and ultimately faith reborn.
Eighty years after the Scopes Monkey Trial made a spectacle of Christian fundamentalism and brought national attention to her hometown, Rachel Held Evans faced a trial of her own when she began to have doubts about her faith.
In Faith Unraveled, Rachel recounts growing up in a culture obsessed with apologetics, struggling as her own faith unraveled one unexpected question at a time.
In order for her faith to survive, Rachel realizes, it must adapt to change and evolve. Using as an illustration her own spiritual journey from certainty to doubt to faith, Evans challenges you to disentangle your faith from false fundamentals and to trust in a God who is big enough to handle your tough questions.
In a changing cultural environment where new ideas seem to threaten the safety and security of the faith, Faith Unraveled is a fearlessly honest story of survival.
This book was previously titled Evolving in Monkey Town.
What is real? What is truth? What can we know?
What should we believe? What should we do and why?
Is there a God? Can we know him?
Do Christian doctrines make sense?
Can we believe in God in the face of evil?
These are fundamental questions that any thinking person wants answers to. These are questions that philosophy addresses. And the answers we give to these kinds of questions serve as the foundation stones for constructing any kind of worldview.
In Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview J. P. Moreland and William Lane Craig offer a comprehensive introduction to philosophy from a Christian perspective. In their broad sweep they introduce listeners to the principal subdisciplines of philosophy, including epistemology, metaphysics, philosophy of science, ethics, and philosophy of religion. They do so with characteristic clarity and incisiveness. Arguments are clearly outlined, and rival theories are presented with fairness and accuracy. Here is a lively and thorough introduction to philosophy for all who want to know reality.
Winner of the 2017 Nautilus Gold Book Award!
The wisdom of the Mahavidyas, the ten wisdom goddesses who represent the interconnected darkness and light within all of us, has been steeped in esoteric and mystical descriptions that made them seem irrelevant to ordinary life. But with this book, written by a respected cardiologist who found herself on a spiritual search for the highest truth, you're invited to explore this ancient knowledge and learn how it can be applied to daily struggles and triumphs-and how it can help you find unreserved self-love and acceptance.
Pulling from Eastern traditions including tantra and yoga, and focusing on the feminine principle of divine energy also known as Shakti, this book bridges the divide between dualistic concepts and non-dual philosophy. By exploring the symbolism of the Mahavidyas (Kali, Tara, Tripurasundari, Bhuvaneshwari, Tripura Bhairavi, Chinnamasta, Dhumavati, Baglamukhi, Matangi, and Kamalatmika)-each with a veiled face representing a destructive quality that perpetuates ignorance and suffering, and a true face representing the wisdom that stimulates profound transformation and liberation-you'll learn to embrace and incorporate every aspect of who you are.
Why are we so fascinated by the Dead Sea Scrolls?
In the mid-twentieth century, several Bedouin shepherds happened upon ancient scrolls housed in a cave. These documents, called the Dead Sea Scrolls, are often considered the most important manuscript discovery of the modern era. A veil of mystery, however, shrouds these ancient scrolls.
In this 12-lecture series, you will join one of the world’s leading experts on the Dead Sea Scrolls in a fascinating journey through the history and significance of these astounding documents. You will gain a solid understanding of what the scrolls actually are and of the community associated with them.
You will begin with the discovery of the manuscripts in eleven caves near the remains of Khirbet Qumran, a place where the people who possessed the scrolls attempted to live by the teachings in them. You will survey the physical layout and the archaeology of Qumran while learning about its history and the identity of the people who used it.
Next, you will explore the hundreds of scrolls, examining their meaning and implications for the texts of the books now in the Old Testament. Learning about the scrolls will also aid in understanding the New Testament; as they were written during the time of Jesus, they allow you to appreciate more fully the world in which He and His first followers lived.
This is a must-have course for anyone wishing to learn more about the Old Testament, the historical Jesus, and biblical history. (Photo courtesy of Matson Photo Service)
What would you do if Jesus appeared to you in a dream? What if He came to you in a vision and told you to follow Him? What if these visions continued for over 30 days? Would you believe? Would you put your trust in Him? Would you devote your life to Him? Would you if you were Muslim? Pastor Tom Doyle has spent 11 years as a full-time missionary in the Middle East and Central Asia, spreading the Word of Jesus Christ. Throughout his journey, he has encountered a staggering number of Muslims who were first introduced to Jesus through a vision or dream so powerful they eventually turned from their lifelong religion of Islam and embraced Christ as their Savior. Despite living in a culture where converting to Christianity can result in execution, these former Muslims have found the hope, peace, and inspiration that comes from knowing Christ. Their stories will amaze you. Jesus is reaching out to Muslims and they are responding. Did you know that Iran has the fastest growing church in the world? Dreams and Visions is a remarkable collection of stories directly from the world of Islam. Doyle not only relates these stories but also addresses the questions: Why would God use dreams to reach the Muslim world? Can dreams be trusted? What happens after these dreams or visions occur? Travel to the heart of the Middle East to meet new believers who have truly been touched by Jesus in the most miraculous way, through their nightly dreams.
A powerful new interpretation of Catholicism's dramatic encounter with modernity, by one of America's leading intellectuals
Throughout much of the nineteenth century, both secular and Catholic leaders assumed that the Church and the modern world were locked in a battle to the death. The triumph of modernity would not only finish the Church as a consequential player in world history; it would also lead to the death of religious conviction. But today, the Catholic Church is far more vital and consequential than it was 150 years ago. Ironically, in confronting modernity, the Catholic Church rediscovered its evangelical essence. In the process, Catholicism developed intellectual tools capable of rescuing the imperiled modern project.
A richly rendered, deeply learned, and powerfully argued account of two centuries of profound change in the church and the world, The Irony of Modern Catholic History reveals how Catholicism offers twenty-first century essential truths for our survival and flourishing.
Anthropologist Susan Johnston turns a scholarly eye on one of humankind's primary interests throughout history: the spiritual belief system. Beginning her lectures with an attempt to define religion, Professor Johnston continues this intriguing study with an examination of mythology and symbols, rituals and witchcraft, gender, politics, and religion's place in the many customs surrounding death. A continuing and often contentious presence in the world today, religion, from its origins to the present, is a key component for understanding communities and cultures all over the globe.
A timely and galvanizing work that examines how right-wing evangelical Christians have veered from an admirable faith to a pernicious, destructive ideology.
Today's right-wing Evangelical Christianity stands as the very antithesis of the message of Jesus Christ. In his new book, Christians Against Christianity, best-selling author and religious scholar Obery M. Hendricks Jr. challenges right-wing evangelicals on the terrain of their own religious claims, exposing the falsehoods, contradictions, and misuses of the Bible that are embedded in their rabid homophobia, their poorly veiled racism and demonizing of immigrants and Muslims, and their ungodly alliance with big business against the interests of American workers.
He scathingly indicts the religious leaders who helped facilitate the rise of the notoriously unchristian Donald Trump, likening them to the "court jesters" and hypocritical priestly sycophants of bygone eras who unquestioningly supported their sovereigns' every act, no matter how hateful or destructive to those they were supposed to serve.
In the wake of the deadly insurrectionist attack on the US Capitol, Christians Against Christianity is a clarion call to stand up to the hypocrisy of the evangelical Right, as well as a guide for Christians to return their faith to the life-affirming message that Jesus brought and died for. What Hendricks offers is a provocative diagnosis, an urgent warning that right-wing evangelicals' aspirations for Christian nationalist supremacy are a looming threat, not only to Christian decency but to democracy itself. What they offer to America is anything but good news.
A rich portrayal of living faithfully and happily as a Christian with same-sex attraction that paints a compelling picture of discipleship for every believer.
In this powerful and personal book, author Rachel Gilson describes her own unexpected journey of coming out and coming to faith... and what came next. As she does so, she addresses many of the questions that Christians living with same-sex attraction are wrestling with: Am I consigned to a life of loneliness? How do I navigate my friendships? Will my desires ever change? Is there some greater purpose to all this?
Drawing on insights from the Bible and the experiences of others, Born Again This Way provides assurance and encouragement for Christians with same-sex attraction, and paints a compelling picture of discipleship for every believer.
Whatever your sexuality, this book is an inspiring testimony of how a life submitted to Jesus will be fulfilling and fruitful, but not always in the ways we might expect.
