Is it bad to like Islamic spirituality?

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frangiuliano115 said:
Australia. Okay. Surprised at your immediate answer. I’m in Europe.

All you say if very beautiful. Jesus said, I am the vine, you are the branches. Also, the sun analogy is used by christians. We teach chlldren about the sunflower. It looks like the sun. It needs the sun. It turns in the direction of the sun. And we should be like the sunflower. The sun representing God, of course. I’m assuming you mean it the same way of course.

The fruit of the tree is, as you must know, also a big concept in christianity.

I’m not sure what you mean by the highlighted: Requirements of humanity at a point in time that the application can be different.

Are you saying Jesus came along for a specific purpose at a specific point in time to achieve something? What would you say that was?

I won’t look up the link because I pretty much know what it’s going to say. Not too humble am I??! Answers to specific questions help me more - plus I don’t have a lot of time.

I’ll be checking in later on in case you’d like to answer - no more time now.

Fran
You don’t know me - let me just say that if your answer to Jesus’ purpose is going to be the christian one you could make it very short since I know it really well.
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Indeed dear Fran, the Light is present in all religions, and if you search well you will find this analogy is also present in Hindusim and Zoroastrianism long before Christ implied them as part of Christian teaching.

The Baha’i Faith does teach that Jesus came for a specific purpose at a specific point in time. With Him as the new Adam, came a new creation, and He spoke to us to guide us to be in right relationship with God:

In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son… - Heb 1

So in that, yes, I do see a purpose for Jesus. The Word is eternal and becomes flesh from age to age, and the Word of God is designed to be utilised to advance humanity in its spiritual evolution towards its ultimate destiny under the universal banner “the Kingdom is God’s”

As the Word spoke through Lord Krishna, the following message can be discerned:

“When righteousness is weak and faints and unrighteousness exalts in pride, then My Spirit arises on earth. For the salvation of those who are good, and the destruction of evil in men, I come to this world from Age to Age” - Bhagavad Gita

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Okay.

The moderator must mean me. Although I cannot understand why.

Will not be returning to this thread.

God bless you all
Fran
 
frangiuliano115 said:
Okay.

The moderator must mean me. Although I cannot understand why.

Will not be returning to this thread.

God bless you all
Fran
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No Fran

There was another poster who’s posts have now been deleted. She was incredibly disrespectful towards Islam

I think our dialogue is all well 🙂

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Be careful of where your attraction leads you. Elements can be appreciated within Islam, but I honestly find the spiritual heritage of the western church, that includes Monasticism, traditional practice and teaching, far greater than anything Islam has to offer. If that doesn’t appeal look to the Eastern Church and to see something greater than Islam, that has some of the things you admire in Islam (though without the deficiencies of false teaching and evil practice).
 
IgnatianPhilo said:
Be careful of where your attraction leads you. Elements can be appreciated within Islam, but I honestly find the spiritual heritage of the western church, that includes Monasticism, traditional practice and teaching, far greater than anything Islam has to offer. If that doesn’t appeal look to the Eastern Church and to see something greater than Islam, that has some of the things you admire in Islam (though without the deficiencies of false teaching and evil practice).
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They all lead to the Love of God

God Bless and regards Tony
 
I never thought my posts would be deleted and I be cautioned just for exposing the truth …that too on a Catholic forum. The PC brigade strikes here as well.

I then received a email asking for financial support of CAF.

I think people would rather live in a world of make believe pluralism than face the truth.

The early Christians and then later the Spanish and Portuguese weren’t apologetic about their faith
That’s how Christianity spread. Why follow christianity then if all religions are ‘good’

If we go down this route. .we’lli one day be afraid of offending the ‘church’ of Satan.
 
JSAD said:
I never thought my posts would be deleted and I be cautioned just for exposing the truth …that too on a Catholic forum. The PC brigade strikes here as well.

I then received a email asking for financial support of CAF.

I think people would rather live in a world of make believe pluralism than face the truth.

The early Christians and then later the Spanish and Portuguese weren’t apologetic about their faith
That’s how Christianity spread. Why follow christianity then if all religions are ‘good’

If we go down this route. .we’lli one day be afraid of offending the ‘church’ of Satan.
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Things learnt from hate websites are often far from the truth.
Maybe your perspective can be presented one at a time and we can explore things fully here, and I am sure no caution will result?

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IgnatianPhilo said:
On the basis that no Muslim can affirm John 3:16. For to them God did not so love the world that he gave his only begotten son.
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Just because Islam defines the term “Son of God” as a “Messenger of Allah” does not mean that God does not love the world.

God does love the world according to Islam and He raised Jesus to the station of Prophethood as a sign of that love.

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Servant19 said:
Just because Islam defines the term “Son of God” as a “Messenger of Allah” does not mean that God does not love the world.

God does love the world according to Islam and He raised Jesus to the station of Prophethood as a sign of that love.

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I’m sure the God of Islam loves the world, but he does not so much love the world to give his only begotten son on the cross for oursake. That’s why islamic theology and spirituality is different. God in islam didn’t love the world by sending Jesus anymore than he did by sending anyone else. Muslims in fact would probably argue that God’s love was withheld until Muhammad came, thus apparently the love described by John is nothing compared to the love Muslims feel (though I don’t buy that). The distinction is this, It doesn’t have at it’s core a God who suffers and humiliates himself for our sakes, it has it’s core a distant figure, a God who always remains dignified, able to prop up someone via a servant, but never able to get personal or messy.

That’s standard monotheism, like your own and of the Jews and Old Greek philosophy. Christian spirituality takes that humiliation as the starting point for all reflection, this is why Christianity is so different from Islam or even your own religion, it sees a God who loves his creation to the point that God is willing to become that creation and die for that creation, an absurd idea, but one to which no other idea of love has any hope of standing against.

So yeah, if you’re attracted to Islamic theology, you need to reconsider the theology behind it, the story behind it and compare that with the story behind Christianity. The story behind Christianity wins in the end however.
 
As a woman, I will never be attracted to Islam.

Islam does not have a Magisterium unlike the Catholic Church which one can turn to for official doctrine. You will see a lot of teachings, at times contradictory between Islamic religious authorities. I spent my early childhood in a majority Muslim country which became Muslim not by conquest but via trade. The Muslims I interacted with were more moderate and some even permissive and tolerant towards other faiths. However they get criticized by Muslims coming from the Middle East as being Muslims in name only.

My favorite Islamic saying is the calling of God as the Merciful and the Compassionate. I agree with that.
 
IgnatianPhilo said:
I’m sure the God of Islam loves the world, but he does not so much love the world to give his only begotten son on the cross for oursake. That’s why islamic theology and spirituality is different. God in islam didn’t love the world by sending Jesus anymore than he did by sending anyone else. Muslims in fact would probably argue that God’s love was withheld until Muhammad came, thus apparently the love described by John is nothing compared to the love Muslims feel (though I don’t buy that). The distinction is this, It doesn’t have at it’s core a God who suffers and humiliates himself for our sakes, it has it’s core a distant figure, a God who always remains dignified, able to prop up someone via a servant, but never able to get personal or messy.

That’s standard monotheism, like your own and of the Jews and Old Greek philosophy. Christian spirituality takes that humiliation as the starting point for all reflection, this is why Christianity is so different from Islam or even your own religion, it sees a God who loves his creation to the point that God is willing to become that creation and die for that creation, an absurd idea, but one to which no other idea of love has any hope of standing against.

So yeah, if you’re attracted to Islamic theology, you need to reconsider the theology behind it, the story behind it and compare that with the story behind Christianity. The story behind Christianity wins in the end however.
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Indeed, one could argue that Gods love was withheld, according to Muslims, before the coming of Muhammad.

May I ask, is it a loving God that withheld the gates of heaven from the entirety of creation until the coming of Jesus?

Let us be fair in our judgements.

Yes, the Muslim perspective of God is infinitely transcendental.
In Catholicism, this transcendence exists too. It is termed Deus a se and it is EXACTLY what Muhammad refers to when He speaks of Allah.

There is no difference that Christians think that He humiliated Himself to bring Himself to humanity, or that Muslims think that He was chosen before the beginning of time (and yes Islamic teaching does teach that) to bring Himself to humanity.

The end point is this. Jesus and Muhammad offered themselves up as a means for humanity to learn more about Deus a se, or Allah (both terms are synonymous)

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Servant19 said:
Indeed, one could argue that Gods love was withheld, according to Muslims, before the coming of Muhammad.

May I ask, is it a loving God that withheld the gates of heaven from the entirety of creation until the coming of Jesus?

Let us be fair in our judgements.

Yes, the Muslim perspective of God is infinitely transcendental.
In Catholicism, this transcendence exists too. It is termed Deus a se and it is EXACTLY what Muhammad refers to when He speaks of Allah.

There is no difference that Christians think that He humiliated Himself to bring Himself to humanity, or that Muslims think that He was chosen before the beginning of time (and yes Islamic teaching does teach that) to bring Himself to humanity.

The end point is this. Jesus and Muhammad offered themselves up as a means for humanity to learn more about Deus a se, or Allah (both terms are synonymous)

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In the Catholic faith, that transcendence became man and died for creation, totally unlike islam. That action is for all people and times, to us because it happened and to those before because of their hope in God. What matters is that it is God’s action that he did. So e thing muslims deny. And there is every difference between God himself incarnate and a mere prophet.

The end point is this, muslims deny the love of God in his incarnation and thus they are deficient in all things spiritual.
 
IgnatianPhilo said:
The end point is this, muslims deny the love of God in his incarnation and thus they are deficient in all things spiritual.
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Really? Deficient in all things spiritual? That puts quite a limit on humanity, not to mention
God, his creation, and who he chooses to love.
 
ComplineSanFran said:
We are celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Nostra Aetate, which speaks of how we are to understand and dialogue with other faith traditions. I don’t see where it even begins to say that these religions are deficient.

vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_decl_19651028_nostra-aetate_en.html
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That is what the Love of Christ and God is all about.

Unity.

What stops Unity is mans Pride. How we overcome this is for each to decide.

God Bless Unity of action in the Love of our God.

Regards Tony
 
ComplineSanFran said:
We are celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Nostra Aetate, which speaks of how we are to understand and dialogue with other faith traditions. I don’t see where it even begins to say that these religions are deficient.

vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_decl_19651028_nostra-aetate_en.html
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So those religions are equally as valid spiritual paths towards God? If you are a faithful Catholic you will have to agree with me, islam is deficient, because it denies the very source of our salvation.

The thread is not about interfaith communication theory, it’s whether or not liking Islam’s spirituality is a good thing. I maintain that liking another religion, in particular the things that the Topic creator likes, is perhaps not the best thing in the world. We move towards what we are attracted to and one should be careful of what is drawing you. Naturally this applies to everything.
 
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