What if I converted to Islam?

[SheepofChrist]

I am in a religious dilema. (not seriously, just curious).

Would I be rejecting Christ and rejecting his gift of salvation by doing this?

But if I reject Islam I would also be rejecting entery into Paradise in that religion, also.

How do you know which religion is true? I know for sure that God is definately in monotheism (Islam, Catholicism and Judaism) but how do I know which of the three is worshipping and viewing God in the most accurate way?

PS: How can we even compare the two religious books if they contradict each other?

I certaintly DO NOT believe that everyone worships the same God (besides monotheism) no matter what religion you’re in. I also believe that it is dangerous to think this way. You can’t make up your own philosophy regarding religion, because then you could end up like people like Dr Leary, or the leader of the scientology “church”.

What are your thoughts?

PS: Just so you know, I’m NOT really thinking of leaving Catholicism…I am just curious about this…

 

[Cinette]

*If you knew your Catholic faith you would not ask these questions - what you say demonstrates that you haven’t a clue what the Faith is all about. Why don’t you go see your Parish Priest and enrol in RCIA. That would be a start. Furthermore get some books on Apologetics (Patrick Madrid) and watch EWTN.

I would like you to know that in the Catholic Faith you are exposed to the FULLNESS of the truth. It is beautiful and extremely exciting and satisfying.

God bless you
*

 

[fnr]

I’ve posted on why I think Islam is based on false principles, and that the Quran and Hadith make historically untenable claims about the first Christians. I would point any Christian considering conversion here.

That being said, I wrote these posts to convince a friend not to convert to Islam from evangelical Christianity, but it didn’t work.

Here are my three threads, if you’re interested:
forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=704613
forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=704646
forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=704218

 

[Sam_777]

Would I be rejecting Christ and rejecting his gift of salvation by doing this?

Yes, Islam denies the most important fact of Christianity which is the Crucifixion.

But if I reject Islam I would also be rejecting entery into Paradise in that religion, also.

It seems you liked the Islamic version of paradise (lust, gold, honey rivers, etc), I think member Cinette provided a good advice for you.

 

[Dubay]

I guess its one thing to have honest disagreement with Catholicism and convert to a Protestant denomination, its a whole other thing to convert from Catholicism to being a Muslim.

 

[robwar]

I am in a religious dilema. (not seriously, just curious).

Would I be rejecting Christ and rejecting his gift of salvation by doing this?

But if I reject Islam I would also be rejecting entery into Paradise in that religion, also.

How do you know which religion is true? I know for sure that God is definately in monotheism (Islam, Catholicism and Judaism) but how do I know which of the three is worshipping and viewing God in the most accurate way?

PS: How can we even compare the two religious books if they contradict each other?

I certaintly DO NOT believe that everyone worships the same God (besides monotheism) no matter what religion you’re in. I also believe that it is dangerous to think this way. You can’t make up your own philosophy regarding religion, because then you could end up like people like Dr Leary, or the leader of the scientology “church”.

What are your thoughts?

PS: Just so you know, I’m NOT really thinking of leaving Catholicism…I am just curious about this…

Read any of robert Spencer’s books on Mohammed and Islam. It is a false religion and spread by violence. Look at the fruit of where it has been spread. I t denies the deity of Christ and claims that another man was crucified in Christ’s place. In other words they are saying what we believe is based on a lie. I am not sure why you are confused here. Look very hard at how Islam treats women and children, the view of heaven is just for men in one big sex orgie. When one is looking and comparing religion, you are going to have to look at the fruit and what kinds of societies they end up producing when they become dominate. Islamic societies are not free, there are death penalities if you leave Islam. That is not true for so called Christian societies which end up respecting free choice and thought. They do not believe or support education (especially for women), hospitals, helping the poor, etc etc. Sometimes you have to decide what is true and right and go with it and it is relativism that makes all beliefs equivalent.

 

[BListon]

I am in a religious dilema. (not seriously, just curious).

Would I be rejecting Christ and rejecting his gift of salvation by doing this?

But if I reject Islam I would also be rejecting entery into Paradise in that religion, also.

How do you know which religion is true? I know for sure that God is definately in monotheism (Islam, Catholicism and Judaism) but how do I know which of the three is worshipping and viewing God in the most accurate way?

PS: How can we even compare the two religious books if they contradict each other?

I certaintly DO NOT believe that everyone worships the same God (besides monotheism) no matter what religion you’re in. I also believe that it is dangerous to think this way. You can’t make up your own philosophy regarding religion, because then you could end up like people like Dr Leary, or the leader of the scientology “church”.

What are your thoughts?

PS: Just so you know, I’m NOT really thinking of leaving Catholicism…I am just curious about this…

The Catholic Church is THE true Church, but people can obtain salvation in other faiths as well.

 

[BListon]

Read any of robert Spencer’s books on Mohammed and Islam. It is a false religion and spread by violence. Look at the fruit of where it has been spread. I t denies the deity of Christ and claims that another man was crucified in Christ’s place. In other words they are saying what we believe is based on a lie. I am not sure why you are confused here. Look very hard at how Islam treats women and children, the view of heaven is just for men in one big sex orgie. When one is looking and comparing religion, you are going to have to look at the fruit and what kinds of societies they end up producing when they become dominate. Islamic societies are not free, there are death penalities if you leave Islam. That is not true for so called Christian societies which end up respecting free choice and thought. They do not believe or support education (especially for women), hospitals, helping the poor, etc etc. Sometimes you have to decide what is true and right and go with it and it is relativism that makes all beliefs equivalent.

With all due respect… we Christians have also had violent tendencies in the past too. Think Inquisitions, Crusades, witch trials, etc., we must not judge a religion as a whole based on the actions of a few. Just a thought.

 

[St_Francis]

I am in a religious dilema. (not seriously, just curious).

Would I be rejecting Christ and rejecting his gift of salvation by doing this?

Yes.

But if I reject Islam I would also be rejecting entery into Paradise in that religion, also.

There is not a separate paradise for Moslems. If you attain Heaven through the grace of God, you will find all those who accepted God’s grace and did the most with what they had. If a Moslem attains Heaven it is despite his Islam-ness, not because of it.

How do you know which religion is true? I know for sure that God is definately in monotheism (Islam, Catholicism and Judaism) but how do I know which of the three is worshipping and viewing God in the most accurate way?

Look at the historical basis for each. Judaism: God instructs the Jews. Catholicism: The Son of God Himself comes to us, performs miracles, teaches the Apostles, *dies for us, *rises from the dead and ascends into Heaven. And with these two, everything they are taught is good.

Islam: a man comes out of the desert and says and angel told him all this stuff. At best, the teachings are contradictory, at worst, they contain evil.

PS: How can we even compare the two religious books if they contradict each other?

By figuring out which promulgator of the books is correct. Remember too that Catholicism does *not *teach that the Bible contains all that we have been taught–that is a Protestant notion.

PS: Just so you know, I’m NOT really thinking of leaving Catholicism…I am just curious about this…

Very glad to hear this

 

[jediliz]

I am in a religious dilema. (not seriously, just curious).

Would I be rejecting Christ and rejecting his gift of salvation by doing this?

But if I reject Islam I would also be rejecting entery into Paradise in that religion, also.

How do you know which religion is true? I know for sure that God is definately in monotheism (Islam, Catholicism and Judaism) but how do I know which of the three is worshipping and viewing God in the most accurate way?

PS: How can we even compare the two religious books if they contradict each other?

I certaintly DO NOT believe that everyone worships the same God (besides monotheism) no matter what religion you’re in. I also believe that it is dangerous to think this way. You can’t make up your own philosophy regarding religion, because then you could end up like people like Dr Leary, or the leader of the scientology “church”.

What are your thoughts?

PS: Just so you know, I’m NOT really thinking of leaving Catholicism…I am just curious about this…

**
I know you are not serious…but ask yourself this…would you be willing to give up the SACRAMENTS? You can’t receive the Bread of Life, Jesus Christ, if you were seriously looking to convert.

**This a strange question…

---

 

[twf]

Consider this…Islam is founded upon the claims of one man who claims to have seen an angel.

Christianity is founded upon the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, an event that was testified to by hundreds of eye witnessess - in 1 Cor 15:6, St. Paul challenges his readers to seek out these witnesses if they are skeptical.

St. Paul, in a sense, warns us of Islam and other counterfeit religions:
But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach [to you] a gospel other than the one that we preached to you, let that one be accursed. - Gal. 1:8

 

[Contarini]

I am in a religious dilema. (not seriously, just curious).

Would I be rejecting Christ and rejecting his gift of salvation by doing this?

Depends on why. You seem to be asking the question out of curiosity, so from that perspective you would be pretty certainly damning yourself. In other words, if you have to ask the question at all–if you think that the Church’s view on the matter matters–then obviously you are not motivated by good conscience in considering Islam and thus would be cutting yourself off from God. If you were actually considering Islam in good faith, then you might not be cutting yourself off from God–but then you wouldn’t be asking the question in the first place. (I know you aren’t really considering Islam–I’m just trying to take the question as seriously as possible in the context in which you asked it.)

That’s one of the reasons I’m pretty sure I’m obligated to become Catholic. I am continually measuring myself against Catholicism as a standard. The fact that I worry about how I “fit” into the Catholic paradigm–about whether I can justify being a non-Catholic by a Catholic standard–probably means that I have no business remaining a non-Catholic.

But if I reject Islam I would also be rejecting entery into Paradise in that religion, also.

Not necessarily. Islam, like Christianity, has both inclusivist and exclusivist strains. In some ways it would seem easier for Muslims to be inclusivists, inasmuch as they base salvation far more squarely on works, which can be done by anyone. But as in Christianity, in practice the exclusivist position seems to have been historically dominant for the most part.

But why do you care, unless you have reason to think Islam is true?

How do you know which religion is true? I know for sure that God is definately in monotheism (Islam, Catholicism and Judaism) but how do I know which of the three is worshipping and viewing God in the most accurate way?

You can’t know. But you can follow your conscience and inform your conscience as well as possible, and you can be confident that whatever the truth turns out to be, God will never turn someone away for following their conscience.

PS: How can we even compare the two religious books if they contradict each other?

I don’t follow this. We compare things that contradict each other all the time. In a way it makes it easier.

I certaintly DO NOT believe that everyone worships the same God (besides monotheism) no matter what religion you’re in.

That’s an odd kind of statement. What position do you imagine you are criticizing here? Obviously someone who worships Thor does not think that Thor is the same as the one monotheistic God. So that seems to be a straw man. Are you talking about polytheistic religions that hold to one divine reality behind the gods (e.g., Hinduism), and saying that this ultimate divine reality is not in fact the same as the God of monotheism? Or are you attacking the view that someone might be truly worshiping the one God while thinking they were worshiping a limited deity?

I also believe that it is dangerous to think this way.

Everything worth doing is dangerous–that’s not much of an argument.

You can’t make up your own philosophy regarding religion, because then you could end up like people like Dr Leary, or the leader of the scientology “church”.

Well, by that logic you certainly shouldn’t drive a car, because you might drive it into the ocean and drown (not to mention the possibility of having an accident on the way there). . . .

I agree that we shouldn’t just make up our own philosophy from scratch, of course.

Edwin

 

[Cinette]

I guess its one thing to have honest disagreement with Catholicism and convert to a Protestant denomination, its a whole other thing to convert from Catholicism to being a Muslim.

Hmm… either way!

 

[CopticChristian]

I am in a religious dilema. (not seriously, just curious).

Would I be rejecting Christ and rejecting his gift of salvation by doing this?

But if I reject Islam I would also be rejecting entery into Paradise in that religion, also.

How do you know which religion is true? I know for sure that God is definately in monotheism (Islam, Catholicism and Judaism) but how do I know which of the three is worshipping and viewing God in the most accurate way?

PS: How can we even compare the two religious books if they contradict each other?

I certaintly DO NOT believe that everyone worships the same God (besides monotheism) no matter what religion you’re in. I also believe that it is dangerous to think this way. You can’t make up your own philosophy regarding religion, because then you could end up like people like Dr Leary, or the leader of the scientology “church”.

What are your thoughts?

PS: Just so you know, I’m NOT really thinking of leaving Catholicism…I am just curious about this…

Sheep,

I suggest you spend more time in the Catechism, some time in Church History and then get hold of this book…

Answering Islam: The Crescent in Light of the Cross [Paperback]
Norman L. Geisler & Abdul Saleeb

found on Amazon…

amazon.com/Answering-Islam-Crescent-Light-Cross/dp/0801038596

 

[balto]

How do you know which religion is true? I know for sure that God is definately in monotheism (Islam, Catholicism and Judaism) but how do I know which of the three is worshipping and viewing God in the most accurate way?

PS: How can we even compare the two religious books if they contradict each other?

I certaintly DO NOT believe that everyone worships the same God (besides monotheism) no matter what religion you’re in. I also believe that it is dangerous to think this way. You can’t make up your own philosophy regarding religion, because then you could end up like people like Dr Leary, or the leader of the scientology “church”.

What are your thoughts?

I can kind of relate to this sentiment. I was born and raised Catholic but I’ve come to the realization recently that you can’t learn or obtain faith by osmosis. It has to be an active process where you’re seeking the truth so I concur with the other posters that a good idea would be to seek out further research in areas where you have uncertainties. If you’re questioning whether the Gospel accounts of Jesus are accurate, then I would recommend reading “The Case for Christ” by Lee Strobel. He was a former atheist that set out to disprove the Gospel and eventually converted to Christianity so this might help you in your quest for faith. It helped me anyway.

 

[Cinette]

Yes, Islam denies the most important fact of Christianity which is the Crucifixion.

It seems you liked the Islamic version of paradise (lust, gold, honey rivers, etc), I think member Cinette provided a good advice for you.

*My husband is a descendant of El Cid who made a huge contribution to Christianity in Spain and all of Europe for that matter. You would understand what I mean Sam.

*

 

[Adonia]

Yes, you would be rejecting salvation. Jesus Christ is God Incarnate on this earth.

Yes, you could probably be Jewish and have salvation, provided you lived totally by the Old Law. Thus you would have to be an Orthodox, a Hasidic Jew.

Mohammed was just a man and Islam means nothing as regards salvation. That’s the truth.

 

[Cinette]

With all due respect… we Christians have also had violent tendencies in the past too. Think Inquisitions, Crusades, witch trials, etc., we must not judge a religion as a whole based on the actions of a few. Just a thought.

*Oh my friend how wrong you are - you need to read some well balanced books on the Crusades, the Inquisitions, witch trials etc - you have obviously bought into the lies that the enemies of the Church have put out. Do yourself a favour and go do some serious reading. There is one book you would enjoy - How the Catholic Church built Western Civilization by Dr Thomas Woods. It is full of very interesting facts about the Church. He is a convert to the Catholic Church and is an excellent teacher. He made a series for EWTN. You would really enjoy his book.

*

 

[Cinette]

**
I know you are not serious…but ask yourself this…would you be willing to give up the SACRAMENTS? You can’t receive the Bread of Life, Jesus Christ, if you were seriously** looking to convert.

This a strange question…

---

*If you believe in the Real Presence you would NEVER leave - in fact, you COULD not bring yourself to leave…
*

 

[interestedman]

Yes, you would be rejecting salvation. Jesus Christ is God Incarnate on this earth.

Yes, you could probably be Jewish and have salvation, provided you lived totally by the Old Law. Thus you would have to be an Orthodox, a Hasidic Jew.
**
Mohammed was just a man and Islam means nothing as regards salvation. That’s the truth.**

Well thats the truth as you see it. There are literally over a billion people that disagree with that.