A recent survey of world religions states that Islam is the worlds’ fastest growing religion with over one billion followers.[1] In others words, Islam is the faith of one-fifth of the world’s population. We’ve developed a new resource that answers all types of questions on Islam such as: Is the Islam that we hear about and their God Allah, the same God you find in the Bible? Is the Qur’an Credible? Who are the Shia? What about the Sufis? What connection does Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam have with regular Islam? What is Sikhism? How do you witness to Muslims?
Have you ever heard the words, “There is no deity except God, Muhammad is the Messenger of God.” “These the first words that every Muslim baby hears and they are often the last words that a Muslim utters upon his death bed.” For over 1 billion “this is not merely a doctrinal creed––it is the foundation for every facet of their lives. The Islamic faith is not simply an exotic Arabic religion…over the last 100 years it has awakened and is spreading worldwide at an almost unprecedented rate. If then Lord’s “Great Commission” is to be fulfilled, it is essential that we, as active, concerned Christians, understand what Islam is. We must both know how to relate to the Muslim, and how to ‘contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints’ (Jude 3), ‘with gentleness and respect’ (1 Peter 3:15).”[2]
Some quick fast facts for you about Islam[3]:
· Muhammad was born in Mecca (Saudi Arabia) in AD 570
· At age 25, he married a rich 40 year-old widow. This gave him “rank among the notables Mecca” but perhaps more importantly gave him the time he needed to devote to spiritual matters.
· Allegedly one night during the month of Ramadan (which incidentally started on August 22, 2009) he heard a voice which said, “Thou Art the messenger of God, and I am Gabriel.” It was at this point that Muhammad said “he realized his calling and prophetic mission.”
· “In AD 630 Muhammad marched on Mecca with a force of 10,000 men…the inhabitants of Mecca swore allegiance to the prophet and for the first time the ‘Muslim call to prayer’ was heard…two years later Muhammad died.”
· “The Qur’an is believed to be God’s final and complete revelation to man.”
· “The Qur’an has much to say about Jesus, but the one thing that it emphasizes more than anything else is that He was only a man, a messenger of God, not the Son of God, or God in the human flesh.”
· Orthodox Muslims maintain that Jesus did not die on a cross; they maintain that God made someone look like Jesus and the look-a-like was crucified in place of Jesus.
· Most Muslims believe the Jesus “was bodily taken up into Heaven by God. Most Muslims also believe that He will ‘come again at the last day, slay anti-Christ, kill all the swine, break the cross… He will then reign as a just King for 45 years, marry and leave children, then die and be buried near Mohammad at Medina.’ ”
· “All Muslims believe that Muhammad was the greatest apostle and prophet of all.”
· All Orthodox Muslims believe in a heaven, where true believers will exist forever in a garden of beauty and joy. In this Garden the Qur’an in Sura 55:56-57 and 52:20 says there will be “In them will be (Maidens), Chaste, restraining their glances, Whom no man or Jinn before them has touched” and they will have “beautiful, Big and Lustrous eyes.”
· Salvation is based on good works, “there is no need for a Savior, and in any case God Most High alone can save.”
Islam then has the universally know “five pillars.” This is I think one of the charms of Islam. They are easy to remember and very easily implemented. It starts out, “There is no deity except Allah, and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah”. The second pray five times a day facing Mecca The third fast. The fourth give alms. And the final pillar is the pilgrimage to Mecca.
For all this information and much, much more I encourage you check out this great new resource on Islam, entitled Islam: What You Must Know. You can get at our Website of www.equip.org or by calling us at 1-888-700-0274.
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[1] The List, The World’s Fastest Growing Religions, Foreign Policy (http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=3835)
[2] From Joseph Gudel’s article “Islam’s Worldwide Revival” in Islam: What You Must Know The Best of the Christian Research Journal (Published by CRI, Charlotte, NC, 2009), p. 30-31.
[3] Ibid., 32-43
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15 comments:
“The great irony is that, if they could but see it, Christian and Islamic Fundamentalists are the same people. Their vision of life and how to live it is driven by the same needs and neuroses. What they hate in each other is a projection of what they hate in themselves… It is Literalists who fight wars of religion with Literalists from other traditions, each claiming that God is on their side.” –Timothy Freke
To put the words of Mr. Timothy Freke into more simpler terms- Absolute belief in one religion often deteriorates into "my religion is better than your religion" and each large religious faction donates much of its energy, time, and resources on the conversion of one another. It really does just boil down to childish banter and nothing more.
I understand it is in the nature of religions to try and discredit one another but it all just looks so foolish. The Jews got it right though- they sit back and watch the Christians and Muslims battle it out while they sit back and joke about having their own country.
You both are ignorant. haha, and most likely the same person of which is more sad i am not sure. Haha good one Boris.
The difference between a Christian and one of any number of other religions is that Christianity is the only one which rests on the proposition that one's works in this life CANNOT save him. So, there is no irony, no juxtaposition, and no comparison.
Christianity, stands for the idea that no one can do enough "good works" to be significant in God's eyes, but that God loved His creation enough to send Jesus (His son and His Word in the flesh) to teach us then sacrifice Himself for us so that we who believe in Him could be saved.
I know that neither of you believe in that, and while I wish there was something I could do to help you see, I know that only the Holy Ghost can convict a man's soul (something else you don't believe). I only post this response because it shows how truly little you know about the Faith you condemn.
In Christ,
Lucas L. Thompson
and most likely the same person of which is more sad i am not sure. Haha good one Boris.
Boris says: This is a good example of how Christians will believe whatever they want without any evidence to back it up and evidence staring them in the face that what they believe isn’t true. I stay up late but not until 4:30 in the morning. Look at what time this other guy posts and when I post Anonymous. You really should stop and think before you make false accusations but thinking isn’t allowed in your religion is it? ROFL!
The difference between a Christian and one of any number of other religions is that Christianity is the only one which rests on the proposition that one's works in this life CANNOT save him. So, there is no irony, no juxtaposition, and no comparison.
Boris says: No, the difference between Christianity and other religions is that Christianity uses fear to induce a belief that salvation is even necessary. Christianity creates an imaginary problem and then offers a ridiculous and unbelievable solution, which no one can believe unless they’ve been frightened completely out of their minds.
Christianity, stands for the idea that no one can do enough "good works" to be significant in God's eyes, but that God loved His creation enough to send Jesus (His son and His Word in the flesh) to teach us then sacrifice Himself for us so that we who believe in Him could be saved.
Boris says: If God is omniscient then the fact that a majority of humanity would “forsake Jesus” (and therefore suffer an eternal roasting) – was recognized by God before he chose to create Hell, before he chose to create man, before He chose to give man an eternal soul, before He chose to make the eternal destinies of human souls contingent upon “accepting Jesus,” and before He chose to make a devil to deceive man into forsaking Jesus. Stated otherwise: If God is truly omniscient as Christians believe, then He would have foreseen that His “Master Plan” would be disastrous for humanity. Yet, according to biblical doctrine He crafted His plan of contingent salvation so that billions of individuals, whom He brought into existence, would be consigned to an eternal chamber of torture. He, therefore, would bear direct responsibility for any suffering brought upon humanity.
The Christian Church maintains that “Jesus is God,” the loving and benevolent Savior, Who died on the cross to save mankind from eternal torment. But who, may I ask, is threatening to impose this eternal torment? The answer is the very same God. So Jesus, in effect, became a victim of His own judgment when dying on the cross as a substitutionary sacrifice – a blood ritual that Jesus offered to Himself so that He could forgive “sin.” The entire biblical plan of salvation is therefore a bogus tautology (i.e. a needless redundancy). A truly benevolent and omnipotent God could simply let bygones be bygones and forgive “sinners” even though they adopted mistaken religious beliefs. If this universal and unconditional forgiveness is impossible for God to bestow, then He is not omnipotent. He is controlled and tossed about by circumstances superseding His authority. If He could forgive all “sinners” unconditionally, but refused, then He is not benevolent.
“But,” Christians respond, “without the shedding of blood, there can be no forgiveness of sin.” And God asks only that we accept the blood sacrifice that Jesus offered for us on the cross.”
And who, may I ask, established this rule that “without the shedding of blood, there can be no forgiveness of sin.”? The answer again is “God.” If truly omnipotent, God could have proclaimed that “without the drinking of apple cider, there can be no forgiveness of sin,” or “without the expulsion of farts there can be no forgiveness of sin.” God, if omnipotent, could do anything He wanted, including forgiving all “sinners” unconditionally. The fact that God supposedly demands blood before He offers forgiveness is indicative of the bestial mindset of the primitive cultures extant when the Bible was written. The biblical God was created in man’s own vengeful, bloodletting image.
I know that neither of you believe in that, and while I wish there was something I could do to help you see, I know that only the Holy Ghost can convict a man's soul (something else you don't believe). I only post this response because it shows how truly little you know about the Faith you condemn.
Boris says: First of all only people OUTSIDE a religious cult can understand it. Not the people who have ingested the Kool-Aid. You drank the Kool-Aid and blinded yourself to all the fallacies and untruths your religion is founded upon. You Christians need to understand why your God can no longer be believed by intelligent and sane people. It isn’t just your goofy boogy ghost, it’s all of your God’s other bizarre invisible friends and enemies too. Believing in your God requires that people believe in angels, demons, Satan, an afterlife, heaven, hell, that every first born Egyptian child died on one night, that vegetation was on the earth BEFORE the sun and moon even existed and that it can talk and so on. The list of Bible absurdities is endless and totally unbelievable without mind bending fear-induced religious indoctrination. Oh we unbelievers understand your faith very well. It’s you that hasn’t a clue. Oh it’s true.
"Boris says: No, the difference between Christianity and other religions is that Christianity uses fear to induce a belief that salvation is even necessary."
UMM. "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind." 2 Tim. 1:17.
"Christianity creates an imaginary problem and then offers a ridiculous and unbelievable solution, which no one can believe unless they’ve been frightened completely out of their minds."
The problem of sin and evil is hardly imaginary. The solution of following a New Covenant which teaches love above all things is hardly ridiculous. And again fear has nothing to do with it (see above). For example, someone who believes in Christ has been assured of no suffering after death. Someone who doesn't believe obviously doesn't believe in Heaven or hell either. So how could he be afraid?
After your entire 4th paragraph rant I would say that God created us (in His image) knowing we would have free will to decide whether or not to fellowship with Him by our free choices. This is a choice all His other creation does not have. As angels must worship Him, and animals haven't the higher thought to appreciate Him.
So, when humanity began making wrong choices which were leaving them out of communion with God, He offered another way--a more perfect way--through His Son. His Son is also His Word made flesh. It's the power of God's Word which you, Boris, and Hank Hanegraaff refuse to believe has any power. This is something I cannot argue with someone who has no faith because "faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God." If you choose not to hear I can't do anything about that. It is the Holy Ghost who convicts a man's heart.
I've heard the "God can't be omniscient and benevolent at the same time" argument many times. The problem is, you can't account for man's free will and penchant toward sin. God knew how we would fail to be righteous and when the time was right (so He could show us through prophesy and fulfillment and build our faith) He gave us a better way of righteousness, one that doesn't depend on works, which we will fail at, the very thing that caused our fall, but our free will to choose. This time it was our choice to make Jesus the Lord of our lives, and to follow Him.
Boris, I can't make you see that. You have a strong, emotional tie to a conclusion which you will not release. From there you work backward to find support for your conclusions. So any evidence to the contrary will be set aside or completely ignored.
In a way, faith is like that. I have made my choices and set my conclusions and any evidence that comes along trying to shake that conclusion will be pushed aside (ie. circumstances set in motion by the powers of darkness). You won't shake me (or any truly born-again Christian) becasue I have experienced God's love and power firsthand. And I won't shake you, because it is the Holy Ghost who convicts.
The question is: why are you here? I am here to fulfill the great commission and spread the Word of God. You have no such commission. So why do what you do? I know when I was doing what you do I was really searching for someone who could finally give me the answers I sought, but couldn't find from the likes of a Hank Hanegraaff (someone who's cessationist teachings bar belief in a powerful Word).
I was "OUTSIDE" the faith, as you require, and probably much more forcefully than even you. So, I have examined it from your angle (as have many former atheists). I made another choice. The funny thing is, it wasn't until after I learned to divide claims, find evidence, and build a case in law school (Washburn University class of '08), that I realized how strong of a case the Bible actually makes.
(cont'd from above)
That's actually why most people who read your posts on here won't buy what you're selling. They might think, "Ya know, Boris makes some good points about the man-made nature of religion, the fallacies of the Catholic Church, etc." but then they actually go back to the Bible and begin reading and realize that tome in and of itself is remarkable in its accuracy. Accuracy of teaching, accuracy, of prophecy, and most importantly, accuracy of reflecting their own lives. Then they go right back to remembering why they have faith, and their faith--and your irrelevancy--grows.
I spent this time saying what I have to say, because believe it or not, I love you as a brother and would rather see you accept Jesus than win Powerball. You may not like that and I am sure you will have negative things to say about it, but it's true. I feel the same way about Hank Haneraaff. For all his faulty reasoning, cessationism, as wild claims about the men and women I love and respect, I still wish no ill toward him or you.
In Christ,
Lucas L. Thompson
Lucas,
UMM. "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind." 2 Tim. 1:17.
Boris says: I’m talking about the indoctrination with the fear of eternal damnation in hell.
The problem of sin and evil is hardly imaginary.
Boris says: The Christian explanation for the problem of sin and evil IS imaginary though. If you look at it it’s the same explanation given for death, death and sin are entities that supposedly entered the world at the same time and for the same reason. Why? Because a rib woman ate from a magical tree after a conversation with a friendly talking snake. We know why biological organisms expire. Leave it to religion to give a ridiculous fairytale explanation for something we have a scientific one for. This is why science and Christianity have always butted heads and they always will. Science offers rational and most importantly useful explanations for things while religion offers ancient and absurd and most importantly useless explanations for things. We have to face the real root causes of problems if we are ever going to solve them.
...Someone who doesn't believe obviously doesn't believe in Heaven or hell either. So how could he be afraid?
Boris says: He’s afraid to seriously take an unbiased look at his beliefs for fear of being punished for the crime of doubt, honest unbelief. How is that not being afraid?
After your entire 4th paragraph rant I would say that God created us (in His image) knowing we would have free will to decide whether or not to fellowship with Him by our free choices.
Boris says: You can’t fellowship with something you don’t think exists even if there is a God. If God wants fellowship he should make his presence known to all people. But instead all kinds of religions exist that worship many different Gods. These people didn’t make a conscious effort to reject Jesus or Christianity, many of them never even heard of them.
This is a choice all His other creation does not have. As angels must worship Him, and animals haven't the higher thought to appreciate Him.
Boris says: Angels? One of the things that make the Christian God so unbelievable is all of his invisible friends and enemies like angels and Satan and demons. “You never see animals going through the absurd and often horrible fooleries of magic and religion… Dogs do not ritually urinate in hope of persuading heaven to do the same and send down rain. Asses do not bray a liturgy to cloudless skies. Nor do cats attempt, by abstinence from cat’s meat, to wheedle the feline spirits into benevolence. Only man behaves with such gratuitous folly. It is the price he has to pay for being intelligent but not, as yet, quite intelligent enough.” Aldous Huxley (1894-1963)
...It's the power of God's Word which you, Boris, and Hank Hanegraaff refuse to believe has any power.
Boris says: That’s ridiculous and it proves just how ambiguous the Bible is. Hank says that people should bow their knee to the authority of the Bible. Hank claims the Bible has magical powers and is a redemptive repository or something like that. [We atheists think the Bible is more like a superstition suppository.] Like you, Hank Hanegraaf worships a paper idol in lieu of any real evidence for God. And like you Hank is willing to take the idol’s word as evidence of its own truthiness. The only difference is that you two disagree on what the idol actually says. This is why Bible belief is so dangerous. I can demonstrate that the Bible can be used to defend just about anything good or bad and in fact has been right down through history. People who think they have absolute truth are and have been the most dangerous and delusional people in the world.
This is something I cannot argue with someone who has no faith because "faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God."
Mark Twain says: “Faith is believing what you know ain’t so.” I don’t believe there is a Word of God to hear.
If you choose not to hear I can't do anything about that. It is the Holy Ghost who convicts a man's heart.
Boris says: I’m not making a choice not to hear God. I don’t think there is a God to hear. You were never really an atheist or you would be able to understand that and wouldn’t have made that statement because you would have known how I viewed it.
I've heard the "God can't be omniscient and benevolent at the same time" argument many times. The problem is, you can't account for man's free will and penchant toward sin.
Boris says: First of all free will is natural in the animal kingdom, it wasn’t granted only to humans. Second the biblical definition of “sin” is not the accepted dictionary definition. Third Christianity attempts to criminalize the entire human race claiming even small children are born in sin.
God knew how we would fail ...This time it was our choice to make Jesus the Lord of our lives, and to follow Him.
Boris says: Whose choice exactly? Half of the people who have died in the last 2000 years never even heard of Jesus Christ. How were they given any choice to make
Jesus the Lord of their lives, and to follow Him?
Boris, I can't make you see that. You have a strong, emotional tie to a conclusion which you will not release. From there you work backward to find support for your conclusions. So any evidence to the contrary will be set aside or completely ignored.
Boris says: That's what you do, not me. My conclusions that there is no God or that Jesus Christ never existed or that all religion is nonsense are not based on emotions. I have never believed in any of these things even as a small child because I’ve never seen any evidence for them. Believe me, I’ve looked and a lot harder than you have.
In a way, faith is like that... You won't shake me (or any truly born-again Christian) becasue I have experienced God's love and power firsthand. And I won't shake you, because it is the Holy Ghost who convicts.
Boris says: What about the Muslims who have described to me how they experienced the Almighty Allah’s love and power firsthand? If I’m going to give your claim any credibility whatsoever then I have to give some credibility to Muslim claims that are based on the same “evidence.” I’m sorry I cannot accept claims about firsthand experiences of God that you yourself would not accept from members of other religions.
The question is: why are you here?
Boris says: I’m trying to get people to think for themselves.
I was "OUTSIDE" the faith, as you require, and probably much more forcefully than even you. So, I have examined it from your angle (as have many former atheists). I made another choice.
Boris says: I don’t believe you were ever an atheist. Describe exactly what you believed about God when you were an “atheist.”
The funny thing is, it wasn't until after I learned to divide claims, find evidence, and build a case in law school (Washburn University class of '08), that I realized how strong of a case the Bible actually makes.
Boris says: What evidence is there for the absurd claims the Bible makes exactly? Christian apologists attempt to prove the Bible by pointing to the few historical places and people mentioned in the Bible as if that proves anything. Almost all fiction mentions historical places and people and no historical narratives record word for word dialog between people speaking in complete sentences the way the Bible does. Let’s see some evidence from outside the Bible that every firstborn Egyptian child died on one night or that Herod ordered the slaughter of innocent children the Bible claims he did. These catastrophic events could not have gone completely unnoticed and unreported by every historian or indeed anyone who could write who might have witnessed them. Let’s see some evidence that dead people came back to life, climbed out of their graves and appeared to many people in Jerusalem or a written account from one of the supposed 500 witnesses to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. What about evidence that 9 feet tall giants lived in Palestine or that the Israelites wandered in the desert for forty years? Where’s that evidence or evidence for angels, demons or Satan? Where’s the evidence that Nazareth even existed in the first century or that any of Jesus disciples ever existed? I don’t want to hear about real places or people that supposedly prove all the absurd tales in the Bible. I want proof of these absurd tales themselves and that the people described in them, the people who’s word for word dialog in complete sentences we supposedly have, actually existed. Where’s THAT exactly?
That's actually why most people who read your posts on here won't buy what you're selling...Accuracy of teaching, accuracy, of prophecy, and most importantly, accuracy of reflecting their own lives.
Boris says: Under "Are Some People Drunk on the Millenium?" on August 25, 2009 at 12:41 AM and 1:08 AM my posts explain why the Bible only appears to contain accurate prophecies, and exactly why it doesn’t really. Check them out.
Then they go right back to remembering why they have faith, and their faith--and your irrelevancy--grows.
Boris says: People who are interested enough in their religion to even read about it let alone get on a blog and talk about it are a very small fringe minority. I represent how most of the world, including the majority of Christians views your particular brand of sectarian Christianity. So in that sense I’m not irrelevant at all to the people on this blog. I’m very relevant and that is hard for you to accept.
I spent this time saying what I have to say, because believe it or not, I love you as a brother and would rather see you accept Jesus than win Powerball.
Boris says: Why though? I’ve done quite well without Jesus so what do I really need him for? To be saved from hell? I don’t believe in an afterlife. But if you do you’d really have to hate people not to warn them about it. I understand that.
...For all his faulty reasoning, cessationism, as wild claims about the men and women I love and respect, I still wish no ill toward him or you.
Boris says: I’m curious about which prominent men and women in particular and/or which groups of laypeople or churches that you love and respect Hank is making wild claims about.
"Fanatical believers in the Bible, the Koran and the Torah have fought one another for centuries without realizing that they belong to the same pestiferous club, that they have more in common than they have against one another... A committed believer in the Koran trots out the same arguments for his point of view as a Southern Baptist... and neither can listen to reason." - Alan Watts (1915-1973)
"Show me your faith and I will show you my works" said the brother of Jesus, in a letter which has been canonized as Holy Scripture. Every newly introduced faith or denomination has to claim to be the only true faith -- otherwise, nobody would be bothered to give up their current habits for the new dispensation. But once we all settle down a little, we find its not really worth killing each other over the difference. European visitors to North America are amazed to this day to find Roman and Lutheran churches in the same villages. Never happened in the lands of the Thirty Years War.
Muslims do not worship a god named Allah. In Arabic, al-Lah means The God. Christian Bibles and Jewish Torahs in Arabic use exactly the same word.
Jesus said all the law and the prophets hang on two commandments. That doesn't make me a Muslim, but it provides ample ground for me and any Muslim to find common ground, EXCEPT one armed with a gun ready to kill anyone who doesn't follow the same dogma and rituals as himself. But, I don't abide Christians who do that either.
Oh, getting back to the original question, Islam means "submission to God." End of story. Muslims, like Christians, Jews and Buddhists, find hundreds of different ways to apply that simple principle to their lives, or the lives of others, from the admirable to the horrific. I mean, how does a Buddhist majority in Sri Lanka fight a war against a Tamil (Hindu) minority? Aren't Buddhists pacifists? Like the Zen Buddhist daimyo and samurai who ruled Japan? Maybe the same way that the Sikhs began as a pacifist faith, until their neighbors ran over them with fire and sword, at which point they became a highly militarized culture. You never know.
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