Why would a loving perfect God allow so much of humanity to be "lost" in a religion of evil. Are well behaved children of Islamic parents doing satan's work when they follow the role model set forth by their parents? This does not seem logical to me.
Thomas,
No, it's not logical at all. I haven't had time to respond to Emile's most recent attack (but don't worry, all in due time), but the question you pose emerges. We all know the road to Heaven will not be full as many people as the road to hell, but Satan misleading 1.4 billion people with a religion founded in God and God alone sounds very strange. We're saying in so many words that God allows Satan to ask for the worship of God, and then deceive those worshippers somehow.
The major problem I find when Christians learn about Islam is this: They see that Islam stresses that the most important thing is to worship one and Only one God.
Before looking further, they like what they hear. A religion that worships the same and only God that Christians do.
Reading on, they see that Muslims don't drink alcohol, pray 5 times a day, do good work, give charity, etc. And they start to wonder what is so different between Islam and Christianity? What makes this religion such a terrible one??
(For examples of the above, I offer these:
James Chapter 4: We find in this chapter a specific proposal made to humankind. That proposal is to always remember never say that I will do this or that or go here or there without adding the phrase, "If God Wills." Do we find this prevalent in most Christian societies?
Muslims, without exception, repeat the phrase, "If God Wills" daily. Any person that has ever visited a Muslim country can tell you that. The phrase is "Inshallah" which in Arabic means, "If God Wills." It's part of the language......besides being required in the religion.
Luke Chapter 10: Jesus greets his apostles by the phrase, "Peace Be Unto You." We find this many times in the New Testament. When Jesus visits this place or that, he always uses this phrase - as well as his apostles. Do we find Christians today using that phrase?
Granted it's not specifically ask, one must admit Jesus himself as well as his apostles greeted one another in this fashion.
Turning to Islam, we find that Muslims greet each other with the phrase, I'm sure everyone here has heard it, "Salaamu Alaikum." What does it mean? It means "Peace Be Unto You." In Islam, that's a requirement for all Muslims. Regardless of whether they speak Chinese or English, French or Spanish, Muslims use the Arabic phrase.
I find it curious that Muslims are doing so many things that emulate Jesus's own actions. I've pointed these out to other Christians and the argument comes back to me, "Actions are irrelevant. It's faith that counts."
I personally don't believe actions are irrelevant. I believe it shows the love and devotion people have when they try to act as God's chosen Messengers did. There certainly can't be anything wrong with it.
Sorry for wandering a bit, but getting back to the subject at hand, when we look at the entire religion, it becomes very difficult for us to believe that this religion was derived from Satan. I'll give you another example: before reading the Qur'an, Muslims must recite, "Oh God! I seek refuge in you from Satan, the accursed one."
So where do ideas like Emile's come from?? In my humble opinion, it's people who want to find a fault in the religion. And thus at some point they find out that Muslims do not hold Jesus as God's literal son. While Jesus was a magnificent prophet and born from God's spirit, the Qur'an teaches to call him the "literal" son of God is forbidden.
And everything they've learned about Islam - the good works, the emulations of Jesus's acts, the recitations, the charity, the prayers, etc. - they throw out the window. And conclude, as Emile has, that Islam must be from the devil because Muslims don't believe Jesus is the son of God.
Is it illogical? Very. And the Bible instructs us to use our heads when discussing religion (Isaiah 1).
With roughly 20% of humankind being Muslim, one would think that the Bible mentions these group of people somewhere within its covers. Emile contends that Mohammad is the false prophet - end of story. And believe it or not, all Muslims believe the Bible speaks of Mohamamd and of Islam. The Qur'an mentions it. However, they don't believe it's at the place Emile is speaking of.....
More later...
Thanks!
Ray |
