Ramadan - Fast or Furious

A Danish minister has sparked outrage after claiming Muslims fasting for Ramadan could pose a danger in the workplace. 

Integration Minister Inger Stoejberg, an immigration hardliner in Denmark's center-right government, questioned in a blog post published Monday how "commanding observance to a 1,400-year-old pillar of Islam" was compatible with modern labour markets. 1

Is it fair to critique Islam and its practices like this? I do not think that because someone's faith is based on tenants and beliefs that were established long ago then that automatically makes them invalid for today. Surely the reason for accepting or rejecting a set of beliefs or morals has to be the basis upon which they were founded. In other words the validity of their origin and the genuineness of the statements that are claiming to be truth. 

In this blog I'm not seeking to undermine other peoples faith but to establish the genuineness of faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. I believe that the word of God, the Bible, can be verified to be a document which has been produced supernaturally. The 40 different writers were given God's word and within the pages of the Bible God has left on record evidence so that we might understand the validity and genuineness of this document. 

In summary, a book that was written over a span of 1500 years by 40 different authors who lived in different countries, in different cultures and different centuries or even millennia it's quite an outstanding feat. The majority of the writers had no contact with one another and yet they produced a document which from beginning to the end (Genesis to Revelation) has a standard of uniformity that is impossible purely by human management and organisation. 

I will leave you with a quotation from the Holy Scriptures which will demonstrate why Christians believe that salvation comes not from religious practices, or fasting, or praying and other religious rituals but by repentance and faith in Jesus Christ alone. 

But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, by (grace ye are saved;) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. 

The Bible - Ephesians 2:4-10

1. Evening Standard 24/5/18