Wouldn't it be so much better if everyone was able to know the true religion?

[MH84]

If there was no doubt as to which belief system was correct, then we would be able to concentrate more on serving God the right way and learning more together.

For instance, look at this forum. There is debate after debate here, and we are getting nowhere. Catholics remain Catholic, Non-Catholics remain Non-Catholic.

Imagine if we could just agree on what is truth. There would be no condemning of heretics, no crusading, less wars and perhaps peace in the Middle East.

Why does God not allow everyone to know the truth more clearly? Even Christians can’t agree on fundamental truths.

How can we progress when there is division? How can proclaim what is true in their eyes, when we are not sure of the truth? A faithful Christian will say that without doubt his religion is right. A faithful Muslim will say that without doubt his religion is right. A faithful Jew will say that without doubt his religion is right…You get my point.

Jesus prayed that all Christians may be one (John 17:21). Why didn’t His prayer come true?

 

[hamba2han]

Here is a useful tip for anyone who is pondering these kind of soul-searching questions:

Think with your head, NOT with your heart.

How will you know the point in time when you finally discover the true answer to your questions?

It is not difficult really because once your heart agrees completely with what your head is saying about the one true path to follow, then everything about your beliefs from that point onwards will then just click into place, God-willing.

 

[ralphinal]

There is a simple answer to this: free-will. We can choose whatever information we want to accept. We can look at things in whatever manner we see fit.

 

[MH84]

Here is a useful tip for anyone who is pondering these kind of soul-searching questions:

Think with your head, NOT with your heart.

How will you know the point in time when you finally discover the true answer to your questions?

It is not difficult really because once your heart agrees completely with what your head is saying about the one true path to follow, then everything about your beliefs from that point onwards will then just click into place, God -willing.

But this is subjective. I have looked at Islam (very limitedly), but my head and heart don’t think that it is the truth. But you on the other hand do believe it teaches the truth. Now what? Who’s right?

 

[MH84]

There is a simple answer to this: free-will. We can choose whatever information we want to accept. We can look at things in whatever manner we see fit.

Free will is a great gift from God. However, when the Church teaches that damnation is eternal, I’d rather not have free will, and be saved.

Basically, some Muslims thinks Jesus will condemn Christians for beliving He is God. While some (especially Protestant) Christians believed Muslims are not saved, and that Jesus will condemn them.

 

[ralphinal]

Free will is a great gift from God. However, when the Church teaches that damnation is eternal, I’d rather not have free will, and be saved.

If you follow God to the best of your ability, asking forgiveness when you sin and trying to help others, do not worry about free-will. If we had no free-will, we would not be human. Do not ignore the mercy of God.

Basically, some Muslims thinks Jesus will condemn Christians for beliving He is God. While some (especially Protestant) Christians believed Muslims are not saved, and that Jesus will condemn them.

True, but that is where people are in the mind of God. We cannot be sure how everyone is judged. What about those who had no opportunity to know any other faith?

This question that you ask is a very good one. What is Truth? Where is Truth? Is there Truth? Can we know the Truth? We must ask these questions.

 

[jcoldc]

I think I get you MH84.

It’s like saying, you love God and want to worship him correctly, but want to know which way is the right way. I think that is especially difficult when there are many people out there saying, you will go to hell if you don’t believe just as we do. You can’t win. If you go with group A, group B will think you’re going to hell. If you go with group B, A and C will think you’re going to hell.

I don’t know if you personally feel inner conflict, but between the devil and free will, we have these different religions and problems. If you are questioning, you can always pray that God opens your heart.

 

[MH84]

I also want to add that I wonder why God created some people who just don’t seem to be religious type people.

If being a faithful Catholic is so important, why are there so many people that seem like they wouldn’t be religious even if they knew the truth.

Some examples are that some people have weird perversions that drive them into sin, some people are so easily tempted way more than others, some people are naturally skeptics, some people just don’t feel they could have a relationship with God, some people are born homosexual (this puts them on the back foot immediately in Christianity and Islam), some people just can’t pray (unless they are desperate), some people are so mentally ill that they could not comprehend who God is let alone being able to discern religion, and some people are just downright naturally mean/bad! etc…

 

[jcoldc]

I’m not terribly knowledgable of Islam. Is Christ a prohpet to them? If Christ is not God, why would it mean that much to us for him to condemn Christians?)

 

[hamba2han]

But this is subjective. I have looked at Islam (very limitedly), but my head and heart don’t think that it is the truth. But you on the other hand do believe it teaches the truth. Now what? Who’s right?

I will give you an example of how people are thinking with their hearts.

To those who are disparaging against the life and the actions of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), how exactly does it go against the teachings and lives of Prophets like David and Moses (pbut) as described in the Bible and especially with regard to the Ten Commandments?

If people think with their heads and use simple logic, they will find no contradictions whatsoever with how Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) lived his life and the teachings of the earlier Prophets (pbut).

However, if people are thinking with their hearts instead of their heads, then they will start seeing major wrongdoing in the life of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) when compared to the teachings of the Bible.

 

[MH84]

I think I get you MH84.

It’s like saying, you love God and want to worship him correctly, but want to know which way is the right way. I think that is especially difficult when there are many people out there saying, you will go to hell if you don’t believe just as we do. You can’t win. If you go with group A, group B will think you’re going to hell. If you go with group B, A and C will think you’re going to hell.

Yeah, Ive been feeling this. Don’t we all to some extent? at least if one would reflect on the matter.

I don’t know if you personally feel inner conflict, but between the devil and free will, we have these different religions and problems. If you are questioning, you can always pray that God opens your heart.

Im starting to slowly realise that only God can give me the answers, that I, myself need to hear. But oh, how lazy I have been in my prayer life, and how dry and unmotivated I feel too.

 

[Verisimilitude]

This question that you ask is a very good one. What is Truth? Where is Truth? Is there Truth? Can we know the Truth? We must ask these questions.

Asked and answered.

John 18:37
Therefore Pilate said to Him, “So You are a king?” Jesus answered, " You say correctly that I am a king For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice."

John 18:38
Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?” And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews and said to them, " I find no guilt in Him.

 

[MH84]

I’m not terribly knowledgable of Islam. Is Christ a prohpet to them? If Christ is not God, why would it mean that much to us for him to condemn Christians?)

In Islam, I believe Christ will receive His authority from God to judge certain people. Anyway, Christ would not judge by his own authority. He will follow the commands of God, just as He does in Christian teaching.

I’m sure Hamba can explain from the Islamic perspective.

 

[MH84]

Can someone answer this:

I don’'t mean to single out Islam again, but if Catholicism is the only truth, why has He allowed Islam to grow to become equal in followers to Christians?

Why didn’t God allow the Crusaders to win for example? Or why did Protestantism grow so big? There is basically no chance that the whole world will be Catholic now, unless there is major conversion right at the end.

John 17:
20"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

www.biblegateway.com

Why didn’t Jesus’ prayer come true?

 

[Verisimilitude]

If people think with their heads and use simple logic, they will find no contradictions whatsoever with how Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) lived his life and the teachings of the earlier Prophets (pbut).

Major contradictions you refuse to see. Moses killed a single Egyptian in defense of another person before being called by God, but was denied entering the promised land. David killed in gaining the promised land but was denied the honor of building the Temple. Most other legitiate prophets did not kill anyone. Jesus did not kill anyone.

Mohammed killed for revenge as well as offensive war.

However, if people are thinking with their hearts, then they will start seeing major wrongdoing in the life of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) when compared to the teachings of the Bible.

There is just cause to see major wrongdoing in Mohammed. Jesus spoke often of the heart:
Matthew 5:8
"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Matthew 11:29
"Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS.
Mark 7:21
"For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries,
Mark 11:23
" Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him.
John 14:27
" Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.
John 16:22
"Therefore you too have grief now; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.

The god and messenger of Islam also spoke of the heart:
In their hearts is a disease (of doubt and hypocrisy) and Allah has increased their disease. A painful torment is theirs because they used to tell lies.
( سورة البقرة , Al-Baqara, Chapter #2, Verse #10)
Allah will not call you to account for that which is unintentional in your oaths, but He will call you to account for that which your hearts have earned. And Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most-Forbearing.
( سورة البقرة , Al-Baqara, Chapter #2, Verse #225)
We shall cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve, because they joined others in worship with Allah, for which He had sent no authority; their abode will be the Fire and how evil is the abode of the Zalimoon (polytheists and wrongdoers).
( سورة آل عمران , Aal-e-Imran, Chapter #3, Verse #151)

 

[Delta2]

Think with your head, NOT with your heart.

I think you must use both, the head and the heart

God is spirit, so you must understand Him in spirit, also God is intelligence so you must use your intelligence

When I asked myself : am I in the right path ? is Roman Catholic the right path ?

I made for me a list of questions, I have read apologetics and all type of theological articles, I have read all the responses form Religion X thru Religion Y

The only one that satisfied me full, without any doubt, was RCC

 

[hamba2han]

Muslims do indeed believe that Jesus (pbuh) is one of the mightiest Prophets in Islam.

It is perhaps better that the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) himself explain how Muslims view earlier Prophets like Jesus, Moses and Abraham (pbut).

Abu Huraira reports that the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said:

"My position, in relation to the prophets who came before me, can be explained in the following example: ‘A man erected a building and adorned his edifice with great beauty, but he left an empty niche in the corner, where just one brick was missing. People looked around the building and marveled at its beauty, but wondered why a brick was missing from that niche! I am like unto that one missing brick and I am the last in line of the prophets.’" (Reported by Bukhari and Muslim.)

Therefore, the Message that the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) brought is only a continuation of the revelations brought by earlier Prophets.

 

[MH84]

The god and messenger of Islam also spoke of the heart:
In their hearts is a disease (of doubt and hypocrisy) and Allah has increased their disease. A painful torment is theirs because they used to tell lies.
( سورة البقرة , Al-Baqara, Chapter #2, Verse #10)
Allah will not call you to account for that which is unintentional in your oaths, but He will call you to account for that which your hearts have earned. And Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most-Forbearing.
( سورة البقرة , Al-Baqara, Chapter #2, Verse #225)
We shall cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve, because they joined others in worship with Allah, for which He had sent no authority; their abode will be the Fire and how evil is the abode of the Zalimoon (polytheists and wrongdoers).
( سورة آل عمران , Aal-e-Imran, Chapter #3, Verse #151)

Im not going to comment on the rest of your post, but these quotes from the Quran sound similar to God speaking in the OT. You are just plucking out the verses that portray Christianity in a good light, and Islam in a bad light.

The Catholic remains a Catholic, the Muslim remains a Muslim…

 

[MH84]

Muslims do indeed believe that Jesus (pbuh) is one of the mightiest Prophets in Islam.

It is perhaps better that the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) himself explain how Muslims view earlier Prophets like Jesus, Moses and Abraham (pbut).

Abu Huraira reports that the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said:

"My position, in relation to the prophets who came before me, can be explained in the following example: ‘A man erected a building and adorned his edifice with great beauty, but he left an empty niche in the corner, where just one brick was missing. People looked around the building and marveled at its beauty, but wondered why a brick was missing from that niche! I am like unto that one missing brick and I am the last in line of the prophets.’" (Reported by Bukhari and Muslim.)

Therefore, the Message that the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) brought is only a continuation of the revelations brought by earlier Prophets.

Jesus or the apostles never said that a prophet like Muhammed would come. You don’t know if those words in the Quran are from God or not.

You are relying on more faith in the Quran than a Christian does from the Bible. But then again, that’s my opinion.

 

[Verisimilitude]

Im not going to comment on the rest of your post, but these quotes from the Quran sound similar to God speaking in the OT. You are just plucking out the verses that portray Christianity in a good light, and Islam in a bad light.

The Catholic remains a Catholic, the Muslim remains a Muslim…

Maybe you should comment on the rest of it then. There is a reason we have what we call the Old Testament and a New Testament.

Please pick any verse in the Koran that puts Islam in a good light and any verse in the Gospels that puts Chrsitianity in a bad light. Give the context for each. The Old Testament is no different because it is the same God.

The Qur’an qualifies nearly everything between Muslim and non-Muslim when it speaks of violence, compassion and charity.

The Old Testament is very specific to the Jews as a people for a reason.