V
ValiantDomain
Guest
Hi rien:
I find your posts very fascinating. Why? Because a little over three months ago I converted to Islam - and for the next three months of my life, I was miserable.
There’s a lot of beauty about Islam, ranging from the connection of the community, the strict devotion to no one but God, and even holidays such as Ramadan have a mystical appeal to them, I’ll grant you. On the surface, it’s a very simplistic religion relatively free from scandal (aside from terrorists and insurgents), but, at it’s core, is a very confused religion. Not only that, but in the West, and as a Westerner, our scope of Islam is particularly limited. Many Western Muslims either condemn or attempt to justify the actions perpetrated in Islamic countries such as Saudia Arabia or Iran, and they are right to do so, but (in truth), while the message of Islam preaches one thing, its adherents practice another. You may sense the same thing in some Christians: Jesus preached one thing but Christians act another way. This is human nature, for one, and is a reason why you shouldn’t judge a religion based on who practices it, but on what the religion preaches. Do you accept a religion that condemns someone to death by stoning for adultery, or a religion that teaches foregiveness and compassion for the weak in spirit?
You cite that large numbers of people are converting to Islam - but have you stopped to consider the number of Muslims who are converting to Christianity? I can vouch for this because several Muslims have e-mailed friends of mine and said, willingly, “I’m leaving Islam and converting to Catholicism.” I know that you’re in a period of your life where you’re feeling that your “cradle religion” has let you down, where you see the world of men acting in un-Christian ways, etc. But if your source and basis for all of this is the media, then you need to stop and consider that even the media is guilty of tunnel vision. How often have you read a story about Catholics who work soup kitchens every weekend? Or how often have you heard about the good Catholic lady who rescued a whole shelter of kittens from euthanasia out of the goodness of her heart? Rarely if ever, I suspect. Instead, the media, like any good tabloid, loves to focus on scandal, it loves to sling mud, and it loves to uncover what’s wrong with anything - whether that thing be politics, education, or even religion.
If you focus on the world of men, then yes, you’re going to see flaws, even in the Church - and as a Christian, you should understand why…because we are imperfect and sinful. The only perfect beings are God and Jesus Christ, and the only sinless individuals are Jesus and his mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary. Muslims believe and claim that Muhammed, like Jesus, was sinless - but after engaging in an online discussion with several Muslims, I not only uncovered hadith (“sayings of the prophet”) which record that even Muhammed was once an idolater, but that it is a complete logical fallacy that Muhammed should claim to be sinless. What does it matter that Muhammed is not sinless after all, you may be asking yourself? It matters for two reasons: the first reason is because Muhammed calls all Muslims to love him more than one’s own self (Who does that sound like? Sounds to be like Muhammed wants to usurp Jesus’ throne…) - and the second reason is because it is doctrine to believe that Muhammed was sinless…and I, along with a few others, were able to systematically prove it is a false doctrine. This should matter to you because the Church Fathers have repeatedly, time and again, proven the sinlessness and perfection of Christ…and it is a fact which even Muslims cannot dispute.
I find your posts very fascinating. Why? Because a little over three months ago I converted to Islam - and for the next three months of my life, I was miserable.
There’s a lot of beauty about Islam, ranging from the connection of the community, the strict devotion to no one but God, and even holidays such as Ramadan have a mystical appeal to them, I’ll grant you. On the surface, it’s a very simplistic religion relatively free from scandal (aside from terrorists and insurgents), but, at it’s core, is a very confused religion. Not only that, but in the West, and as a Westerner, our scope of Islam is particularly limited. Many Western Muslims either condemn or attempt to justify the actions perpetrated in Islamic countries such as Saudia Arabia or Iran, and they are right to do so, but (in truth), while the message of Islam preaches one thing, its adherents practice another. You may sense the same thing in some Christians: Jesus preached one thing but Christians act another way. This is human nature, for one, and is a reason why you shouldn’t judge a religion based on who practices it, but on what the religion preaches. Do you accept a religion that condemns someone to death by stoning for adultery, or a religion that teaches foregiveness and compassion for the weak in spirit?
You cite that large numbers of people are converting to Islam - but have you stopped to consider the number of Muslims who are converting to Christianity? I can vouch for this because several Muslims have e-mailed friends of mine and said, willingly, “I’m leaving Islam and converting to Catholicism.” I know that you’re in a period of your life where you’re feeling that your “cradle religion” has let you down, where you see the world of men acting in un-Christian ways, etc. But if your source and basis for all of this is the media, then you need to stop and consider that even the media is guilty of tunnel vision. How often have you read a story about Catholics who work soup kitchens every weekend? Or how often have you heard about the good Catholic lady who rescued a whole shelter of kittens from euthanasia out of the goodness of her heart? Rarely if ever, I suspect. Instead, the media, like any good tabloid, loves to focus on scandal, it loves to sling mud, and it loves to uncover what’s wrong with anything - whether that thing be politics, education, or even religion.
If you focus on the world of men, then yes, you’re going to see flaws, even in the Church - and as a Christian, you should understand why…because we are imperfect and sinful. The only perfect beings are God and Jesus Christ, and the only sinless individuals are Jesus and his mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary. Muslims believe and claim that Muhammed, like Jesus, was sinless - but after engaging in an online discussion with several Muslims, I not only uncovered hadith (“sayings of the prophet”) which record that even Muhammed was once an idolater, but that it is a complete logical fallacy that Muhammed should claim to be sinless. What does it matter that Muhammed is not sinless after all, you may be asking yourself? It matters for two reasons: the first reason is because Muhammed calls all Muslims to love him more than one’s own self (Who does that sound like? Sounds to be like Muhammed wants to usurp Jesus’ throne…) - and the second reason is because it is doctrine to believe that Muhammed was sinless…and I, along with a few others, were able to systematically prove it is a false doctrine. This should matter to you because the Church Fathers have repeatedly, time and again, proven the sinlessness and perfection of Christ…and it is a fact which even Muslims cannot dispute.
The day she does, I am dead.