my husband wants to look into islam

[R_not]

Thanks.

To me, Buddhism has more going for it than ISlam.

Yeah, I have to agree with you there! I looked into that a bit and that is harder to do than I realized. And I also see no problem with its basics - right thought, right hearing, right seeing, right speech (and I forget the 5th one - it is probably an important one and one that I would fail totally at!!) and being a Christian. The whole thing based on that our life is about suffering.

 

[notsmart]

Yeah, I have to agree with you there! I looked into that a bit and that is harder to do than I realized. And I also see no problem with its basics - right thought, right hearing, right seeing, right speech (and I forget the 5th one - it is probably an important one and one that I would fail totally at!!) and being a Christian. The whole thing based on that our life is about suffering.

But, why don’t they (or can not) tie in suffering with good?

That is what I don’t get.

 

[R_not]

But, why don’t they (or can not) tie in suffering with good?

That is what I don’t get.

I have no idea! I don’t know enough about it to even begin to tell you. I have read a couple of books on it, but it was a few decades ago, and I know some Chinese Buddhists at work (I am now retired) - but I didn’t ask them anything about Buddhism since the time between my reading of it and knowing them had been so many years.

Maybe open a thread on that and see if you get any bites!

 

[notsmart]

I have no idea! I don’t know enough about it to even begin to tell you. I have read a couple of books on it, but it was a few decades ago, and I know some Chinese Buddhists at work (I am now retired) - but I didn’t ask them anything about Buddhism since the time between my reading of it and knowing them had been so many years.

Maybe open a thread on that and see if you get any bites!

I will someday. Right now, I feel like Islam is the struggle I need to get over and pass, so I can help my husband be the spiritual head of the household, that he God willing will be one day if I keep trying my best to do what I need to in all this.

 

[nebula]

My advice to you is to make it very clear that you aren’t comfortable with Islam. The fact of the matter is that if you hubby is reading up like mad on it and wants to attend the mosque, especially with everyone, he is mentally preparing to convert. NOW is the time to make your voice heard as clear as possible. Do not hold back or you will regret it six months down the road, because once he makes the decision he wants to take the plunge your opinion won’t have as much affect as it will now, when he’s still not aware of the fact that he’s preparing to convert.

Don’t spend 3 mos learning before you say this. Whatever hurt feelings it causes right now, it should help throw a huge wrench into his potential conversion. After you tell him that you are not comfortable with it and do not like it, then spend the time learning up to back up your position as necessary.

There is my professional opinion.

 

[notsmart]

My advice to you is to make it very clear that you aren’t comfortable with Islam. The fact of the matter is that if you hubby is reading up like mad on it and wants to attend the mosque, especially with everyone, he is mentally preparing to convert. NOW is the time to make your voice heard as clear as possible. Do not hold back or you will regret it six months down the road, because once he makes the decision he wants to take the plunge your opinion won’t have as much affect as it will now, when he’s still not aware of the fact that he’s preparing to convert.

Don’t spend 3 mos learning before you say this. Whatever hurt feelings it causes right now, it should help throw a huge wrench into his potential conversion. After you tell him that you are not comfortable with it and do not like it, then spend the time learning up to back up your position as necessary.

There is my professional opinion.

Well, I told him he needs to not just convince me, but my priest!

 

[the_phoenix]

Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit
of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
pray for us sinners now,
and at the hour of our death.
Amen

 

[notsmart]

Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit
of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
pray for us sinners now,
and at the hour of our death.
Amen

I love this prayer. I pray it a lot. I also pray from my heart, and just ask God why he called me to do something, but I don’t know what he called me to do really. I know he loves me, and wants me to be with him, and I saw this in my child most clearly.
He knows I have a devotion to Mary.
Islam respects Mary.
Maybe he is just challenging me to a logical warfare?

 

[ralphinal]

I love this prayer. I pray it a lot. I also pray from my heart, and just ask God why he called me to do something, but I don’t know what he called me to do really. I know he loves me, and wants me to be with him, and I saw this in my child most clearly.
He knows I have a devotion to Mary.
Islam respects Mary.
Maybe he is just challenging me to a logical warfare?

Islam respects her so much it calls her son a lier. After all, he said that he would die on the Cross and rise again and then he said that he DID die on the cross and rise again and Islam says that is not correct. Islam respects her so much it dismisses her pain at watching her son die as a deception by God himself that she fell for.

Yes, she is considered one of the Greatest Women in Islam, but that is not much.

 

[notsmart]

Islam respects her so much it calls her son a lier. After all, he said that he would die on the Cross and rise again and then he said that he DID die on the cross and rise again and Islam says that is not correct. Islam respects her so much it dismisses her pain at watching her son die as a deception by God himself that she fell for.

Yes, she is considered one of the Greatest Women in Islam, but that is not much.

They pray with beads also? I heard him say that. And he asked me to pray the ones he got and how to, and that was enough for me.
I said, if he will pray the rosary with me, I will. He needs to love Mary that much. because they claim to love her so much.
Lip service.

 

[R_not]

They pray with beads also? I heard him say that. And he asked me to pray the ones he got and how to, and that was enough for me.
I said, if he will pray the rosary with me, I will. He needs to love Mary that much. because they claim to love her so much.
Lip service.

yes, they pray with beads too. They have 99 beads, or 33 and go around 3 times and say the 99 names of allah. Some muslims reject them and prefer the way mohammed prayed. Some just use them as ‘worry beads’. And others use them to pray.

So, basically it is nothing compared to the rosary in my estimation. As for allah’s names - I prefer the name ‘I Am Who Am’, God, or Jesus and if Yahweh is written - I know that name too. They keep trying to associate allah with the God of Israel - and there is no comparison except for the fact that mohammed took out all of the other pagan gods of his pagan religion and kept allah - the main god that used to have a statue that sat on top of the kabaa. mohammed knocked down the statue though (although he tried to keep allah’s three daughters - but was advised to get rid of them too).

This was done in order to try to convert the Jews and Christians of his time - to show them that he had only one god.

The most important thing that I think about all of this is that mohammed took a relatively peaceful and benign religion and converted it into a bloody cult that basically goes against most morals of anyone’s time. It allows killing, looting, stealing, kidnapping/enslaving, lying, etc - but… just don’t do whatever mohammed said not to do (haram) and do whatever mohammed said to do (halal) and don’t shirk. It is why I say mohammed had to redefine sin because mohammed broke most of the 10 Commandments!

Anyway, I like reading from Isaiah 46 and it says that even Baal, or spelled Bel, (allah) will bow down before the One True God.

 

[notsmart]

“Anyway, I like reading from Isaiah 46 and it says that even Baal, or spelled Bel, (allah) will bow down before the One True God.”

Yep. Every knee shall bow. I like that one. I love the one in Isaiah that says how Jesus the God man, came in the flesh and dwelt amoung us.

They are missing out!

 

[tGette]

I do not want to sound like I am suggesting this, but I have always wanted to go to a Mosque and pray for the people there and for Islam. I am not sure how long Friday prayer at a Mosque lasts, but I thought of getting a small prayer ring so I could discretely pray the Rosary while everyone is praying in Arabic.

Or even just pray whatever the Holy Spirit inspires me to pray in hopes of bringing about conversion.

The reason I do not want to suggest this for you is because your situation is a bit different. Mainly because of the influence it would have on your daughter.

Anyways…some things that Islam confused me about:

First, they believe that Jesus Christ is the Messiah and that Mary was born of an Immaculate Conception. Hmm…I wonder where those ideas came from? What confuses me is, why God would take all this time to bring about this promised Messiah then to just let His time on earth go to waste until 600 years later when “Mohammad saved the Abrahamic faith”

The Qu’ran does not explain nor prove that Jesus is the Messiah, it just states that it is. The beauty of the Bible is that It has history and prophecy leading up to the promise of Christ’s first coming and the Old Testament gives evidence pointing to the coming of Christ, born of an immaculately conceived virgin.

I do no understand why, in Islam, that Jesus was so special among all the other prophets that He was the only one who did not have to die and was replaced with a “stunt double” on the cross. In Islam, every other prophet died, what made Jesus any different since they consider Him “just a prophet”? Also, if Jesus is this important in Islam, why is Mohammad and his words and actions more important for followers?

**Islam is virtually the first attempt at “sola scriptura”. **No wonder I cannot accept the idea.

Again, the Bible came about as a compilation of writings based through the ages, not a book written in one person’s life time which tries to explain the sotry of God and His people.

As someone pointed out, Islam falsely identifies the Trinity claiming it is Father, Mother (Mary), and Son. (See…even Muslims back then thought Catholics worship Mary…LOL!) How could God give mankind the Qu’ran and be so wrong about the fundamental belief of Christianity? Answer: because God did not give the world the Qu’ran.

Jesus the Christ was perfect. Mohammad the false prophet was the epitome of sinners.
Jesus the Christ is perfect. Mohammad the false prophet died. (Again, both Islam and Christianity believe that Jesus never died…must be for a good reason…because…Jesus is Lord!

Islam is an amalgamation of different religious and philosophical thoughts. It did not develop over the time of human history like Judaism, which prepared humanity for the coming of Jesus, rather it started in the lifetime of one man who misunderstood Christianity.

That’s just to name a few… … …

His Peace and Blessings!

 

[R_not]

“Anyway, I like reading from Isaiah 46 and it says that even Baal, or spelled Bel, (allah) will bow down before the One True God.”

Yep. Every knee shall bow. I like that one. I love the one in Isaiah that says how Jesus the God man, came in the flesh and dwelt amoung us.

They are missing out!

I used to question Jesus too. This is not uncommon. Then one day when I was visiting my cousin who is a nondenominational Christian who was just reading the Bible. I listened because I always listen to when someone reads it. All of a sudden it hit me! God can do ANYTHING! WHY CAN’T GOD BECOME MAN! (I capitalized that because it hit me like a wave.)

The muslims have a hard time with this one. And this is what I always tell them - God can do more than one thing at a time - God can be a man and God can be God of the Universe too! We are talking about the One who CREATED the Universe - All of the creatures, All of time, EVERYTHING! They just cannot get it. They don’t have a hard time following a very, nasty guy called mohammed - but they can’t give God enough credit that God can become Man!

To me it all of a sudden became as simple as that. Yes, I might be oversimplifying it all - but it works for me.

Well, now more so than ever I wonder how anyone cannot realize that Jesus was indeed prophesized. And you point to another verse from Isaiah which proves it.

Yes, Jesus is my Savior and I love Mary dearly too. I pray the rosary so as to ask her to ‘put a good word in for me and/or whomever I am praying for’! I like the rosary since it reminds me of Jesus’ life and it calms me too.

 

[R_not]

I do not want to sound like I am suggesting this, but I have always wanted to go to a Mosque and pray for the people there and for Islam. I am not sure how long Friday prayer at a Mosque lasts, but I thought of getting a small prayer ring so I could discretely pray the Rosary while everyone is praying in Arabic.

Or even just pray whatever the Holy Spirit inspires me to pray in hopes of bringing about conversion.

The reason I do not want to suggest this for you is because your situation is a bit different. Mainly because of the influence it would have on your daughter.

Anyways…some things that Islam confused me about:

First, they believe that Jesus Christ is the Messiah and that Mary was born of an Immaculate Conception. Hmm…I wonder where those ideas came from? What confuses me is, why God would take all this time to bring about this promised Messiah then to just let His time on earth go to waste until 600 years later when “Mohammad saved the Abrahamic faith”

The Qu’ran does not explain nor prove that Jesus is the Messiah, it just states that it is. The beauty of the Bible is that It has history and prophecy leading up to the promise of Christ’s first coming and the Old Testament gives evidence pointing to the coming of Christ, born of an immaculately conceived virgin.

I do no understand why, in Islam, that Jesus was so special among all the other prophets that He was the only one who did not have to die and was replaced with a “stunt double” on the cross. In Islam, every other prophet died, what made Jesus any different since they consider Him “just a prophet”? Also, if Jesus is this important in Islam, why is Mohammad and his words and actions more important for followers?

**Islam is virtually the first attempt at “sola scriptura”. **No wonder I cannot accept the idea.

Again, the Bible came about as a compilation of writings based through the ages, not a book written in one person’s life time which tries to explain the sotry of God and His people.

As someone pointed out, Islam falsely identifies the Trinity claiming it is Father, Mother (Mary), and Son. (See…even Muslims back then thought Catholics worship Mary…LOL!) How could God give mankind the Qu’ran and be so wrong about the fundamental belief of Christianity? Answer: because God did not give the world the Qu’ran.

Jesus the Christ was perfect. Mohammad the false prophet was the epitome of sinners.
Jesus the Christ is perfect. Mohammad the false prophet died. (Again, both Islam and Christianity believe that Jesus never died…must be for a good reason…because…Jesus is Lord!

Islam is an amalgamation of different religious and philosophical thoughts. It did not develop over the time of human history like Judaism, which prepared humanity for the coming of Jesus, rather it started in the lifetime of one man who misunderstood Christianity.

That’s just to name a few… … …

His Peace and Blessings!

I really like your post! thanks.

 

[notsmart]

I will keep all this in mind when I talk to him about this and here are some reasons I will present to ask him to re-consider even asking me to take our daughter to a mosque for now.

1. you are not committed to conversion to this faith. Why would you take her with you there? That is like divorced parents taking their child out to meet a date they just met yesterday.
2. She could be confused if you dump this idea as I think you may, upon further investigation of it. She may wonder if you are flightly.
3. why not go without us for a while and see if you still think it is for you. You need to see it to believe it I think. For every visit you make to a mosque, I would ask you attend mass with me just so you can make an educated choice.
4. why? What do they do that Jews and Christians have not already done for years before their man- who made a religion founder came about?

(okay, I will change up the wording on number 4 so its nicer)

 

[tGette]

I used to question Jesus too. This is not uncommon. Then one day when I was visiting my cousin who is a nondenominational Christian who was just reading the Bible. I listened because I always listen to when someone reads it. All of a sudden it hit me! God can do ANYTHING! WHY CAN’T GOD BECOME MAN! (I capitalized that because it hit me like a wave.)

The muslims have a hard time with this one. And this is what I always tell them - God can do more than one thing at a time - God can be a man and God can be God of the Universe too! We are talking about the One who CREATED the Universe - All of the creatures, All of time, EVERYTHING! They just cannot get it. They don’t have a hard time following a very, nasty guy called mohammed - but they can’t give God enough credit that God can become Man!

To me it all of a sudden became as simple as that. Yes, I might be oversimplifying it all - but it works for me.

Well, now more so than ever I wonder how anyone cannot realize that Jesus was indeed prophesized. And you point to another verse from Isaiah which proves it.

Yes, Jesus is my Savior and I love Mary dearly too. I pray the rosary so as to ask her to ‘put a good word in for me and/or whomever I am praying for’! I like the rosary since it reminds me of Jesus’ life and it calms me too.

Yes!

I like your post too! God CAN become man because He is God! It does not get simpler than that. I would not say you are OVERsimplifying though. Actually…speaking of oversimplifying:

I feel like Islam simplifies God. The concept of God being one and the only one in Islam seems to make God seem so insignificant. In Islam, all God does is create us, watch us, and either condemn us to Hell or reward us with Paradise.

They claim that God would never lower Himself to become a human. God becoming man is His way of teaching us humility (and even more so when He becomes bread and wine…but that is another story).

God did not want to give us just a book as some “instruction manual” on how to be a human being, He gave us Himself as a man so we could better understand Him.

God, in Islam, is separate from humanity. In Christianity, God is involved!

The Trinity helps us recognize that God is always beyond our comprehension. He is One, but He is Three. Three is One, One is Three. It makes meditating about God endless . . . because He is endless! Maybe Mohammad’s head hurt thinking about the Trinity and wanted God to be simple?

Peace

 

[notsmart]

I think it is all about the scandal of the Cross.

 

[Ruthie]

1. why? What do they do that Jews and Christians have not already done for years before their man- who made a religion founder came about?

For one, they *sanctify *murder, as long as the victim is not a Muslim. The Qur’an recommends it. No 5th Commandment there.

You might also point out that Islam allows a man to marry a girl as young as six, and that at least one prominent Ayatolla (Khomeni) said that you can’t have normal relations with her until she is 9 (9!) but, until then, you can fondle her, caress her, and *sodomize *her. We may have had a few pedophile priests, but at least our religion doesn’t *promote *it. (Did you know that Mohammed married a 9-year-old? They became engaged when she was 6. That’s how they justify it.)

You might remind him of what happened under Sharia law in Afghanistan: women were forbidden an education, could not even learn to read; no one but their husband could see their bodies - meaning no doctor visits, since all doctors were men; they could be stoned if they accidentally allowed an ankle to show; no driving; no leaving the house without a male relative in attendance - which meant widows with no male relations either starved to death or were stoned to death for trying to get food.

Great religion, that. Allah the all-merciful. Funny kind of mercy.

His friends will probably tell him that this is not true Islam, as the few Muslim posters here say. Tell them to prove it out of the Qur’an. Especially the later part.

I think you are well within your rights to refuse to go to the Mosque, and to refuse to take your daughter. Don’t let him guilt you into it. Tell him that, if he now wants a faith in a Higher Power, to look at *yours *first.

God bless all of you. I’ll be praying hard for you!

Love,

Ruthie

 

[trdchubi]

Dear not smart,

First and for all, we thank God for your ability to distinguish the difference of the christian faith from the religion of (countless modern rest in) peace. i think you should invite your husband on viewing this site: islam-watch.org/

And talk about being peaceful, maybe you should watch this covert investigation as well: youtube.com/watch?v=L4jYRoPRVrg

you draw your conclusions my sister in Christ.

By the way i would like to comment on your name. You may not be smart, but I think you are filled with Godly wisdom. To me that is the most important thing. God bless you!!!

P.S if the video download is slow, i got the Five Parts in my hard drive. i can send all of them to you.