g6waa
22-01-2005, 05:38 AM
The Fundamental Difference between Christianit and Islam
After reading many postings on Christian newsgroups and Muslim
newsgroups I have noticed there are many posts which are aimed at
converting people from one faith to their own faith but very little
effort being made to understand the differences between the
Monotheistic faiths of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
Above all
there is a mass of postings made by Christians attempting to teach
Muslims the message of Jesus and Christianity. I myself am a Muslim
(Islam) and find it very disturbing that so many Christians seem to
have little to no understanding of just what it is that Muslims
believe.
Perhaps as a Christian you have no wish to understand either since you
have found a set of teachings that you believe are the truth and have
therefore dismissed all other religions as being false religions.
As a
Muslim my religion is Islam and the scripture that I try to live my
life by is the Koran.
In the Koran it is written that humans should
question all things and that God expects and encourages this as the way
to find truth.
Like Christians we also believe that when you here the
truth (be it gods will) you will know it and recognize it if you use
reason.
I am sure that as Christians you will believe the same thing
since to encourage blind belief in something is simply to encourage
mental suicide.
The aim of writing this post is not to attempt to
convert Christians to Islam but to point out a difference in belief
that will hopefully bring about greater understanding between the two
faiths.....As a Christian you can only benefit by knowing the mindset
of someone of a different faith...
who knows you may even end up
converting one..I know that I have benefited by reading bible text to
understand where Christian mentality is coming from.
I am about to
attempt to give a crash course on the central Muslim belief without
boring you with pages and pages of detail...I am going to try to
explain why I choose Islam and not Christianity as my religion.
If you
wish you can reply to my post to correct me if I have miss understood
something about Christianity.
Before I put my case I would like to
repeat that both Christians and Muslims believe that when you here
truth you know it and cannot find fault in it nor deny it.
As a Muslim
I believe that gods people do not live in one grouping of people on the
planet...ie.....come judgment day it is not going to be all those who
called themselves Muslim, or Christian, that are going to ascend to the
heavens but it will be a very mixed composition of people that does not
take into account such things as country, color of skin, the label you
go by be it Christian Muslim or Jew.
Everyone's fate will be decided
by their actions and the words that flow from their lips rather than
the superficial things that blind our senses. Fate will be determined
by Gods judgment and not human judgment since God is the knower of all
things both seen and unseen.
To suggest such a theory as come judgment
day all the Muslims/Christians/Jews living in such and such a country
will be "the righteous" and all the rest will face the punishment
of God for their sins is a very simplistic view and is far away from a
rational mind. Life would be a lot easier if everyone's labels
matched the way they behaved and what was in their hearts but sadly
this is far from reality.
I think the following quote sums up this
belief:
"Religion is not a club you can join..It is something you will drift in
and out of throughout your life dependant on your behavior.
Your fate
and guidance in this life and the next are not decided by the label you
go by. be it agnostic Christian, Jew, or Muslim, but by your actions,
the words that flow from your lips, and what you truly believe in your
heart.
This is my religion, your religion, and everybody's
religion......the name of this religion and teaching is XXXXX"
Of course this viewpoint is not unique to Islam, which is why I put
XXXXX instead of Islam, I'm sure many Christians reading this can
relate to the truth when they read it, and I'm sure you would tell me
this is Christianity too.
Many Christians would be surprised at reading the Koran.......the
scripture is very much the same as the bible and tells the same stories
of the profits...
sometimes with slight variation in events but mostly
the same. Muslims Claim that Mohamed was the last profit and was given
the message of God so that he can correct the human Corruption of the
original message, much the same as Christians believe Jesus was given
the message of God to correct the Jews corruption of Scripture
etc.........
The question begs to be asked What was this message that
god wants us to understand?...
.you can only look at the scripture of
the Jews, Christians, and Muslims to decide....what were the profits
teaching what is the common theme through the different versions of
mono religion?
Here is the Muslim Version and the crash course in Koran!
Muslims believe that gods message was that humans should not make
partners with god.
And that there is only one god and all praise
belongs to Him.
As Christians I am sure this is not a new concept to
you either and that you have read this many times in the bible. But
what exactly is meant by "do not make partners with God"?.
Muslims
believe that by making "intercession" between a human and god is
the one thing that defines being guided or unguided.
In other words by
assigning authority/power to anything other than god is in direct
contradiction of gods will and message.
When humans assign symbols,
statues, create hierarchies in society with saints and kings, and
create semi gods like the golden calf the Jews created when Moses went
up the mountain we are at the same time creating division among people
and causing people to see others as different due to the limitations of
our senses. If you take away Christian crucifixes, saints (holy men),
statues of Jesus, (holy buildings), semi gods and all forms of idols
what differences are remaining between mankind ???.......NONE!
...How
many wars have been fought and how many lives have been lost because of
power being assigned to the things of this life? People kill to protect
(so called) holy buildings or their other objects of worship.
Even the
instincts of atheists will say that this is what turns them away from
religion. Muslims believe that in order to find guidance to the truth
you must first give up all forms of "shirk" (partner worship) and
connect with gods guidance directly without any intercession.
Gods
message was the concept of unity and that this can only be achieved by
giving up "shirk". It is the defining line between devotion to God
and those who have gone astray.
To become a Muslim Muslims must say in
the company of other Muslim witnesses, "There is no God but
God".......which explains the above teaching
. Muslims believe that
Jesus was a Prophet of God and that he taught the above message of
unity to mankind. Muslims believe that Jesus was not the son of god but
was just an ordinary man like the rest of us who had weaknesses as we
all do. He was given Gods revelation so that mankind was given gods
message of unity and a warning for those who go against this way.
Muslims believe that when a Christian says "Jesus the son of God"
or "Jesus is God" this is assigning special power to an object of
this life (shirk/ Making Partners with God).
Praying to a profit is
considered shirk too since it is a deviation of the true goal in life
which is to worship God only. Jesus was indeed one of the righteous and
a Profit of God but he was not "a son of God
". Muslims believe that
Mohamed was the last profit of God sent to conclude the message of
unity that the prophets before him taught but he was rejected by many
without the chance of explaining that he was not teaching anything new
but simply warning those who had corrupted unity with idol worship.
As
a Muslim I see a lot of idol worship in Christianity...i.e.
superstition in crosses, and all worship being channeled in the
direction
of Jesus. This to a Muslim is a direct contradiction to Gods message
since God expects his followers to set the example of unity and all
power and Prayer belongs to God alone.
Ask yourself this question...
.If I was a Christian preaching this
truth, would you not recognize it as the truth?............
And So you have understood the fundamental message of Islam and the
Koran.
_____________________________
`v´
( `·.¸
`·.¸ )
¸.·´
( `·.¸
`·.¸ )
¸.· )´
(.·´
(*_*) g6waa (*_*)
¸.·´¸.·´¨) Miss (¨`·.¸`·.¸
(¸.·´( * Myaaaaaaaaow * ) `·.¸)
(¨`·.¸`·.¸ ¸.·´¸.·´¨)
`·.¸)
After reading many postings on Christian newsgroups and Muslim
newsgroups I have noticed there are many posts which are aimed at
converting people from one faith to their own faith but very little
effort being made to understand the differences between the
Monotheistic faiths of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
Above all
there is a mass of postings made by Christians attempting to teach
Muslims the message of Jesus and Christianity. I myself am a Muslim
(Islam) and find it very disturbing that so many Christians seem to
have little to no understanding of just what it is that Muslims
believe.
Perhaps as a Christian you have no wish to understand either since you
have found a set of teachings that you believe are the truth and have
therefore dismissed all other religions as being false religions.
As a
Muslim my religion is Islam and the scripture that I try to live my
life by is the Koran.
In the Koran it is written that humans should
question all things and that God expects and encourages this as the way
to find truth.
Like Christians we also believe that when you here the
truth (be it gods will) you will know it and recognize it if you use
reason.
I am sure that as Christians you will believe the same thing
since to encourage blind belief in something is simply to encourage
mental suicide.
The aim of writing this post is not to attempt to
convert Christians to Islam but to point out a difference in belief
that will hopefully bring about greater understanding between the two
faiths.....As a Christian you can only benefit by knowing the mindset
of someone of a different faith...
who knows you may even end up
converting one..I know that I have benefited by reading bible text to
understand where Christian mentality is coming from.
I am about to
attempt to give a crash course on the central Muslim belief without
boring you with pages and pages of detail...I am going to try to
explain why I choose Islam and not Christianity as my religion.
If you
wish you can reply to my post to correct me if I have miss understood
something about Christianity.
Before I put my case I would like to
repeat that both Christians and Muslims believe that when you here
truth you know it and cannot find fault in it nor deny it.
As a Muslim
I believe that gods people do not live in one grouping of people on the
planet...ie.....come judgment day it is not going to be all those who
called themselves Muslim, or Christian, that are going to ascend to the
heavens but it will be a very mixed composition of people that does not
take into account such things as country, color of skin, the label you
go by be it Christian Muslim or Jew.
Everyone's fate will be decided
by their actions and the words that flow from their lips rather than
the superficial things that blind our senses. Fate will be determined
by Gods judgment and not human judgment since God is the knower of all
things both seen and unseen.
To suggest such a theory as come judgment
day all the Muslims/Christians/Jews living in such and such a country
will be "the righteous" and all the rest will face the punishment
of God for their sins is a very simplistic view and is far away from a
rational mind. Life would be a lot easier if everyone's labels
matched the way they behaved and what was in their hearts but sadly
this is far from reality.
I think the following quote sums up this
belief:
"Religion is not a club you can join..It is something you will drift in
and out of throughout your life dependant on your behavior.
Your fate
and guidance in this life and the next are not decided by the label you
go by. be it agnostic Christian, Jew, or Muslim, but by your actions,
the words that flow from your lips, and what you truly believe in your
heart.
This is my religion, your religion, and everybody's
religion......the name of this religion and teaching is XXXXX"
Of course this viewpoint is not unique to Islam, which is why I put
XXXXX instead of Islam, I'm sure many Christians reading this can
relate to the truth when they read it, and I'm sure you would tell me
this is Christianity too.
Many Christians would be surprised at reading the Koran.......the
scripture is very much the same as the bible and tells the same stories
of the profits...
sometimes with slight variation in events but mostly
the same. Muslims Claim that Mohamed was the last profit and was given
the message of God so that he can correct the human Corruption of the
original message, much the same as Christians believe Jesus was given
the message of God to correct the Jews corruption of Scripture
etc.........
The question begs to be asked What was this message that
god wants us to understand?...
.you can only look at the scripture of
the Jews, Christians, and Muslims to decide....what were the profits
teaching what is the common theme through the different versions of
mono religion?
Here is the Muslim Version and the crash course in Koran!
Muslims believe that gods message was that humans should not make
partners with god.
And that there is only one god and all praise
belongs to Him.
As Christians I am sure this is not a new concept to
you either and that you have read this many times in the bible. But
what exactly is meant by "do not make partners with God"?.
Muslims
believe that by making "intercession" between a human and god is
the one thing that defines being guided or unguided.
In other words by
assigning authority/power to anything other than god is in direct
contradiction of gods will and message.
When humans assign symbols,
statues, create hierarchies in society with saints and kings, and
create semi gods like the golden calf the Jews created when Moses went
up the mountain we are at the same time creating division among people
and causing people to see others as different due to the limitations of
our senses. If you take away Christian crucifixes, saints (holy men),
statues of Jesus, (holy buildings), semi gods and all forms of idols
what differences are remaining between mankind ???.......NONE!
...How
many wars have been fought and how many lives have been lost because of
power being assigned to the things of this life? People kill to protect
(so called) holy buildings or their other objects of worship.
Even the
instincts of atheists will say that this is what turns them away from
religion. Muslims believe that in order to find guidance to the truth
you must first give up all forms of "shirk" (partner worship) and
connect with gods guidance directly without any intercession.
Gods
message was the concept of unity and that this can only be achieved by
giving up "shirk". It is the defining line between devotion to God
and those who have gone astray.
To become a Muslim Muslims must say in
the company of other Muslim witnesses, "There is no God but
God".......which explains the above teaching
. Muslims believe that
Jesus was a Prophet of God and that he taught the above message of
unity to mankind. Muslims believe that Jesus was not the son of god but
was just an ordinary man like the rest of us who had weaknesses as we
all do. He was given Gods revelation so that mankind was given gods
message of unity and a warning for those who go against this way.
Muslims believe that when a Christian says "Jesus the son of God"
or "Jesus is God" this is assigning special power to an object of
this life (shirk/ Making Partners with God).
Praying to a profit is
considered shirk too since it is a deviation of the true goal in life
which is to worship God only. Jesus was indeed one of the righteous and
a Profit of God but he was not "a son of God
". Muslims believe that
Mohamed was the last profit of God sent to conclude the message of
unity that the prophets before him taught but he was rejected by many
without the chance of explaining that he was not teaching anything new
but simply warning those who had corrupted unity with idol worship.
As
a Muslim I see a lot of idol worship in Christianity...i.e.
superstition in crosses, and all worship being channeled in the
direction
of Jesus. This to a Muslim is a direct contradiction to Gods message
since God expects his followers to set the example of unity and all
power and Prayer belongs to God alone.
Ask yourself this question...
.If I was a Christian preaching this
truth, would you not recognize it as the truth?............
And So you have understood the fundamental message of Islam and the
Koran.
_____________________________
`v´
( `·.¸
`·.¸ )
¸.·´
( `·.¸
`·.¸ )
¸.· )´
(.·´
(*_*) g6waa (*_*)
¸.·´¸.·´¨) Miss (¨`·.¸`·.¸
(¸.·´( * Myaaaaaaaaow * ) `·.¸)
(¨`·.¸`·.¸ ¸.·´¸.·´¨)
`·.¸)