I will report anyone who tries to tell me to pursue Islam, or hints at it. That’s a promise. I don’t take those lightly.
I struggle with all faiths. And some impurities. And some improprieties. But Islam is the battle of my recent days. The strange pull, it being taught in school, etc.
I used answeringislam.org until I realized that they probably take the Koran and Hadiths out of context.
I am here for free apologetics sources that do it right, like Catholic Answers in regard to their target audience, atheists and Protestants.
As well, could someone answer the pull to it? Is it of the devil. But we would consider a pull to Catholicism of the Spirit. Bit of a double standard.
Please keep in mind the first paragraph and respond, Christian CAFers.
The pull of Islam may come from not everything in Islam or other religions being false. I have a girl that I feel “pulled” towards because she reminds me of my mother—human psychology. The difference embodied by Catholicism and Christianity as opposed to other religions is that only Catholicism has the straight truth, without errors. C.S. Lewis likened it to math in “Mere Christianity.” Some religions are closer to the mark than others but there is only one correct sum, just as there is only one true religion. It comes down to faith and one can’t escape it. You can build arguments and good arguments, some better than others—but that’s not what faith rests on. Faith and particularly Christian faith rests on a Person named Jesus and that Person’s trustworthiness in his teachings and promises. Answers will come later, just remember grace with faith and do your best. God will do the rest. Hope this helps—peace!
Well the Catholic Church would specifically say that the pull of other religions, especially abrahamic religions like Islam and Judaism is going to be more rooted in the truths we share with those faiths and the very real God behind them. It would be disrespectful of those faiths and the people who practice them to call the pull “of the devil.”
Since you identify as a 14 year old struggling with depression I would say that it is more of a natural exploration that comes with you developing an individual identity as you grow into adulthood that leads to feeling this confusion. What you are expressing in feeling a ‘pull’ is the emotional aspect of faith, which is definitely a core component. Since we recognize our Faith as a relationship it should go without saying that a core component of relationships is the emotional connection. Like with any relationship you can’t truly experience love without having personal encounters, and it would be contrary to Church teaching (and even simple reason) to say that Muslims do not have personal encounters.
As Catholics with thousands of years of tradition and theology we should also recognize that there is an academic aspect to faith, and that there is something to explore outside of that personal encounter. Our personal experiences are valuable, but the richness and the fullness of our faith comes from joining in and exploring the history and understanding of the Church community.
Academically, it’s that I struggle with the idea that my head can explain the Biblical proof for Jesus’s divinity away. My head says:“God is Jesus’s Father in spirit, not literally.”, “God is one with Jesus ‘in spirit’.”
asking for apologetics for Islam is like asking for apologetics for Christianity. your going to get stuff from different factions with different interpretations of Islam.
What exactly are you asking for? apologetics for the legitimacy of the founder’s prophesies and revelations?
We can be attracted to what is good – the modesty of Islam (especially for women), the praying many times a day, the fasting, but all of this is found in Christianity when it is truly lived.
In the eastern rite (accepting the Pope) the divine liturgy with the beauty of psalms sung, of many postures of prayer, and of community life (because usually their congregations are small at least here in the USA) can be a great experience to witness. In the Eastern Rite they really fast for lent, Christmas and other important days of the year. They also have feasts days etc.
But Islam does not believe in images - so icons or statues are a no, no.
Our Latin rite in the USA has had some abuses in regards to liturgy but there is always hope and surly there are many churches who are following what is asked in Cannon Law regarding the Liturgy – you just have to seek and find. Worth the effort to experience both liturgies East and West.
Here is a book by Jacques Jomier O.P. The Bible and the Qur’an
Another major difference is we have a relationship with God and he is ONE God but 3 persons – already our God brings us into relationship just by his being one. God is total happiness he didn’t need to create us but out of love and desire to share his very life with us (again relationship) he made us for himself.
Our faith in God our Father takes us always into relationship with the Triune God. God does not change – Jesus shows us how to enter into relationship with the Father – The Father, Son and Holy spirit distinct but one.
In Islam God is one and is almighty and can change – can tell you to kill those who do not believe in God as the Qur’an teaches. (that is an interpretation of Isis I would guess) it would be interesting to hear from a believer in Islam if they really see God as changing and as one that you only relate to as almighty – Catholics have a creed that say : I believe in one God the Father the Almighty etc
If you are already baptized I would really seek counsel on what’s happening in your spirit before ever leaving your particular denomination -for Islam but if you are not Catholic I would extend a welcome and an invitation to come and look into the Catholic faith – it’s been around for thousands of years.
Proof of Jesus divinity. More than the biblical quotes that my soul explains away. OT Biblical proof of the Messiah being God, the Son of Man being God. Stuff like that.
How would the OP explain the Resurrection? That has happened to no one else - ever.
Many people have undergone NDEs, but no one but Christ has been raised to life after being in the tomb from a Friday evening to a Sunday morning. And, the Biblical accounts tell us that he was alive bodily, but his body had been glorified. Everyone I know just has a plain old run-of-the-mill body!
I can understand why you might feel this pull. Islam is a very worldly religion (it promotes dominance, polygamy, and other worldly things), and worldly things are attractive to our fallen natures. Even the Islamic concept of Heaven is extremely worldly, with rivers of honey and 40 virgins for every man who dies a martyr. If it weren’t attractive, it never would have built up the following it had, which then allowed it to propagate itself through force. (historical fact, not trying to be insulting).
As for you issues with Christ’s divinity, it’s true that it is, in part, a matter of faith. However, it is also a matter of logic and rationality. Fr. John Riccardo has an episode of “Christ is the Answer” which details why it makes more logical sense to believe in the Resurrection, and therefore in Christ’s divinity, than to reject it.
Why look at Islam excluding other Eastern Christian experiences? Much of Islam developed from Eastern/Syriac Christian heresies, mixed with Arabian paganism.
I think the greatest miracle is in the beginning, God created the heaven and the Earth. If God can create the universe and life, then every other miracle like the virgin birth, healing the sick and the resurrection, are all very small by comparison.
There is no real proof, we just have to trust that God would not lie to us.
I am only 66, and still struggling with some aspects of faith, it seems to be a lifelong challenge.
To cut to the chase, so to speak, ignore the competing scriptures, as everyone has claims that theirs is the true one.
But, to quote Christ, a tree is known by it’s fruit. When you take a close look at those who have taken Christ seriously, they are changed, they become saints. Persons who character and personally abilities are often far beyond those of the masses.
Padre Pio being a good example of a man who was extraordinary in virtue and faith.
I do not think that in the entire history of Islam that there has been a single adherent who was in any way extraordinary.
Ah, there’s your problem. Most modern history books are about as fair and balanced as a weighted scale. They go on and on about the Crusades, but fail to mention the 400 or so years of Christian genocide and forced conversion we put up with before finally deciding enough was enough. They focus heavily on the Islamic golden age and it’s 200-ish years of contributions to medicine and astronomy while completely ignoring the millennium+ of scientific, medical, and cultural advancement Christianity and Christian though has brought to the West. They focus on the predominance of the Church during the medieval period, and blame her for holding people back, but ignore the fact that the Church provided the core of western civilization, and helped maintain what historical records we could from the times before the collapse of Rome. When the Barbarians invaded, it was the Church that helped rebuild society…
… I’d go on, but I’m out of time… suffice it to say, modern historians have a bias against anything which promotes Christianity, so they latch on to Islam as an alternative and promote it’s culture and historical… “contributions,” while glossing over the horrific and extensive evils that Islam has historically perpetrated through its efforts at advancement.
Are you in the United States? If so, no matter how much they claim otherwise, never forget that this country is predominantly protestant and historically anti-Catholic. Much of ‘history’ is presented in an anti-Catholic way, sometimes so subtle that’s its even difficult for scholars to separate fact from fiction.
DISCLAIMER: Catholic Answers has turned over the archive to Catholic-Questions.org and no longer owns, manages, or moderates the forums. For additional apologetics resources please visit www.catholic.com.