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Pastimes : Religion on SI -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Chris land who wrote (1105)	9/17/1998 3:29:00 PM
From: one_less	Respond to of 1542

First, we try real hard to deny the existence of sects and second I'm a little nervous about membership question. I don't know about the growth of one or the other either. I know that the Nations where Shia-iht are most common have fallen in disfavor with the US. So, I would guess that the others have more opportunity to grow in the west. I believe that, There is no God but God and that Mohammed is his messenger. Like I said earlier, I'm not a scholar and have some problems sorting out the differences in the groups, which are largely historical and cultural and do not influence me much at my level of knowledge. Personally, I think one key is not to give up the understanding of who your God is at the most basic level, while struggling with the complexities of life (including the formal religious structures). We have something in Islam that is like the Biblical phrase, "Through the eyes of a child." We believe that you know the truth when you are born and that it is very simple. The world and the attractions of the world presented by satan are complicating and cause distractions. So, we need the messengers and the scripture as a bridge from the faith that we are born with to gain knowledge of righteousness in the practical sense of living in the world. Similarly, with the Biblical phrase, "be in it, but not of it." We are not allowed to live monastic lives. We must accept our struggle with life in this world as a test. In fact, we believe the main purpose in life is to persevere in our faith while struggling with the tests of life. This is a main diversion from Christian perspective where I think folks are encouraged to relax and accept the forgiveness of their sins now, and move on. Some people think that means move on and Go for the Gusto. Seems like a backslide to me. We believe we should continue to until judgement day, and base the outcome on the most merciful God's judgement at the time. I'm sorry I feel like I'm skirting your question about belonging to a sect, but I don't want to be pigeon holed either, so this is the best I can do.