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Who is Ismail Kulakçıoğlu?
İsmail Kulakçıoğlu was born in 1964. He completed his Bachelors degree (BA) at the Whitefield & Martin Bucer Seminary academy. Ismail is now doing his masters at the TCMI academy. He was head of the Protestant Churches Association between the years of 2012-2015. Ismail has written books titled; Kutsal Kitap’ta Sunu, Ondalık ve Bağış (Offering, Tithing and Sacrifice in the Bible), Tövbe (Repentance), Hristiyanlık’ta ve İslamiyet’te Tebliğ Nedir? (What is Evangelism in Christianity and Islam?), Kutsal Kitaba Göre Eşcinsellik (Homosexuality According to the Bible), Aile ve Evlilik Bağları (Family and Marriage Relationships). He is serving as the religious leader (pastor) of the Bursa Protestant Church. Ismail is married with two children.
“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them (Old Testament, ESV, Gen.1:27)”. When we look at this verse we can see that people are created in God’s image; and that we take on the attributes of a conscience for making decisions, morals to differentiate between good and evil, love that is emotional and communication to be able to communicate all these. So for this reason, people have the responsibility of reflecting God’s glory in the decisions they make, in their moral values and their emotions.
Throughout the whole of the Holy Bible, People are shown to be honoured and valued beings; This is because they were created to reflect God’s glory, to intervene on his behalf, to multiply and rule over the world within God’s values . However sadly, with the fall into sin, people have come to a state where they have lost all their godly values, especially eternal life. They have become physically and emotionally dead and are in a state where they do not know God or themselves (this is defined as alienation in psychology).
The Holy Bible considers the alienation of humans from God and alienation from themselves as the main problem that must be solved. This is because after the fall people have lost their willpower and ability to make correct decisions. They have also lost the ability and morality that enables them to differentiate between good and bad, right and wrong: Furthermore, they lose control over their emotions and-balance of their inner world. Their ability to communicate and express themselves is also spoiled. Today’s people are similar to lost and wounded sheep due to their physical- and emotional wounds: and their inability to identify these wounds due to their alienation.
The term, sin, that we simply define as mistakes or faults has a much wider meaning according to the Bible and is it is the cause of all evil, pain and suffering, greed, selfishness, hatred, malice etc. which we call sins of the flesh. Such related emotions, are the source of spiritual slavery and evil. When we look at the word Sin: it means for humans to fall short of the purpose that they were created for, to defy God, to deny His authority, to do evil, to commit an offence and to stray from the right path. The term ‘harmaita’ used to define sin in the Bible means to miss the mark, stray from the right path, do evil and commit an offence. Other words that are used in the Bible to define sin are: ‘asbesia’ which means Godlessness and malpractice; ‘anomia’ meaning lawlessness, despising and braking the law; ‘adika’ the evil committed towards a neighbour, occasional injustice and unfairness; ‘enekhos’ means offender; ‘ofeilema’ which means borrowing. All these words are words that are related to sin.
God’s word (the Bible) gives a godly solution for people who are lost by providing a way, (or the option of), for being reconciled with God. This way is to believe that Jesus Christ has died for everyone’s sins, rose on the third day, went up to heaven and will return: According to the bible verses; “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it- the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. (New Testament, ESV, Rom.3:21-24; also see. 1Kor.15:3-4; Acts.1:9-11).”
According to Christian theology, believing in Jesus Christ for salvation from sin starts the process true spiritual freedom and returning to the state that they were first created in. The term ‘born again’ is the process where people are turned or made good and regain the values of “Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control” within this life on earth. (New Testament, Gal.5:22-23). Their period of spiritual change will be completed when they are united with their heavenly bodies.
As a result: From a Christian theological point of view, people are valuable human beings created in the image of God. Without rebuilding a relationship with God they cannot become good on their own or be reconciled with God, themselves and society. . To become good, they need a good, strong being other than themselves to rescue them from their sins. They need God. If people truly want to be good then they must begin their spiritual transformation by believing in Jesus Christ who will remove their alienation by enabling them to face both themselves and God. By believing in Jesus Christ the Holy Spirit will work in that person through God’s word, enabling the person who has become alienated from God and themselves to be born again, helping them day by day to become like their first created form and when they get their heavenly bodies the Holy Spirit will wipe away all negative effects of sin.
Footnotes:
1 Krş. Akit Açıklamalı Kutsal Kitap. Yeni Yaşam Yayınları: İstanbul, 2010. s.8
2 In this article the Holy Bible states the coalition of The Old and New Testament.
3 Behnan Konutgan, Levent Kınran vd. Kutsal Kitap Sözlüğü. Acar Basım ve Cilt San. Tic. A.Ş. İstanbul, 2016, s. 245
