If you know what I know, then why aren't you a Muslim too?

There are people who have spent their entire lives dedicated to studying every religion and have not come to the conclusion that any one single religion is the right one for everyone. I know that your faith seems like the only real answer to you, but that doesn't make it the right answer for everyone.

That's why they call it "faith." Just because you cannot understand why people would not choose Islam as their religion, I'm sure that there are Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, Wicca, Jews, Zoro Astrians, Taoists, Confusionists and atheists who wonder exactly the same thing about you.

Since we're on the topic, how extensively have you studied any or all of the above religions?

 

Only if you're a monotheist.

 

I personally don't agree with that at all -- it makes it sound as if it's some cosmic version of "Let's Make a Deal" in which you pick door #3 and pray that you've chosen "heaven" as opposed to eternal damnation.

My belief is that all religions are tools to help us achieve greater spirituality. And, although spirituality is the true goal, lots of us forget and become more focused on the rightness of our chosen religion and the wrongness of others' instead. My favorite saying of the Buddha is "Do not mistake my finger pointing at the moon for the moon itself." Meaning, if the goal is the moon (heaven, nirvana, enlightenment, oneness with the source...) don't get all hung up on the finger (religion) which is only there to show you a way to reach your destination. If the goal is spirituality and not religion, why should we fight over the individual paths we choose to get us there?

 

Actually, I do not believe that there need be one "true" religion.

If you look at the great spiritualists from each religion, they all come to very similar conclusions about what God is. Only religion has codified that into the idea of a specific path to reaching God.

I have not practiced one religious faith since I was a Christian over 10 years ago. Since then, my beliefs have leaned heavily towards Eastern philosophies but I still have a strong draw to Christian teachings as well. I'm not sure I'll ever have one single religious faith again.

I think that my life, for many years now, has been guided by one line from Shakespeare:

"There are far more things in heaven and on earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."

Honestly, I'm more interested in the journey and the discovery than I am in the destination. Since the only moment we have is the now, I'd rather focus on learning right in this moment rather than concentrating on what is or is not to come.

 

Hey, what about Jedi? Or does our religion not come up to your standards? Hatemonger.

 

I’ll take this one. It doesn’t change over time. Well, I suppose in some ways it does, just as Islam did. Before Mohamed came there was no Qura’an, right? Different prophets came at different times and contributed different things to the faith. The law remained the same, but the resources people had to understand it changed. It’s the same with Christianity.

I have some questions for you about Islam, if you don’t mind. How does Islam deal with forgiveness for sin? Do you atone for the things you’ve done wrong or are you absolved in some way?

 

"If you know what I know, then why aren't you a Muslim too?"

Because when I analyze the FACTS, I realize that there is practically ZERO proof that there is a God. You may be willing to see past this because the people who you are closest too in life taught you at a young age that there was a God and you believed it because you respect these people and because you don't like the idea that there may very well be no meaning of life and no afterlife. I cant prove to you that there is not a God, but I can certainly say that I have never seen one piece of proof that there is a God. Furthermore, when you hear people talk about "faith" it's funny to me. You know what that sounds like to me? It sounds like that at some point in history, people started questioning their religions and religious leaders of their religion (the Vatican would be an excellent example). As a result, these religious leaders came up with "faith". You expect me to believe that God doesn't want to show proof of his existence simply because he wants his people to blindly believe in his existence for the hell of it? Come on. That sounds like a human-born idea to me, not the idea of an all powerful being as God would be. Furthermore, can you explain to me why so many different religions grew in so many different parts of the world, completely different from one another? I'm talking about a time when the world was not connected as it is today when the Olmecs had no knowledge of the existence of Europe and when Europe had no knowledge of the far east. You would think God would come with one message for the entire world, not just for the people of Canaan. So in the absence of hard proof, I can only go with the most logical explanation.

 

The Quran was written by men. Whether it was written by men who were receiving prophecies from God is up for debate. Right there is where your entire post fails. You can't prove to me that the prophet Muhammad really was hearing the words of God.

 

Furthermore Sane, I realize that the Arabs were ONCE a great, very intelligent society. However, just as the Egyptains, Greeks and Romans did before them, they lost whatever it was that made them great at the time. My description of the people of the Arabian peninsula circa 1900 is pretty much generally accepted as fact. It is worth mentioning that most of my descriptions in my posts refer to the peoples of Saudi Arabia, Yemen, southern Lebanon, and Syria. I've been very careful in my posts to say that the people I'm talking about make up a minority population in their country, but that minority is large enough to constitute a threat against America. These countries/regions refuse to join the rest of the earth in the 21st century opting to continue to live life as they did 1000 years ago, making no progress. Countries like Bharain, the U.A.E., Egypt, Turkey, and Iran are populated by a more forward thinking Muslim, one that does not practice Islam as intolerantly as the populations of Yemen, southern Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia (among others). The danger I'm referring to is among the peoples of the Arabian peninsula that practice Islam and are completely intolerant of anyhting non-Muslim which is what creates the dangers to the west in the first place.

 

Sorry for the multiple posts, but I keep thinking of other things. Sane, here's another one for you. Many archaeologists believe ancient societies like the Mayans, Khmers, and Egyptians understood the concept of precession, a 26,000 year astronomical event (one they would have had to calculate not possibly being able to observe the event). Such is indicated in a lot of their ruins. At the very least, it almost universally accepted that these societies understood that the earth revolved around the sun and in the case of the Maya, were able to calculate the time to go around the sun down to parts of a second. These societies believed in religions considered pagan by Islam, yet may have made some discoveries that modern man only rediscovered 400 years ago. We know they did not believe in the single God of Christianity and Islam so God didn't tell them about such things, yet they knew about them a thousand years or more before the prophet Muhammad was born. The point is, the fact that the big bang or child birth is described in the Quran is not proof of the existence of God. Older civilizations were somehow able to understand similar complex ideas. On this one I'll give you this much....I certainly can not explain how these civilizations were able to make such precise calculations with the tools they had at the time. Something in the historic record is definitely wrong.

 

Actually, everyone only lives in the moment. What else is there? Think about it. Where does history exist? Only in books and in your minds. It does not exist anywhere else. What about the future? I hasn't happened yet so it doesn't exist anywhere except in the realm of possibility.

That means all we have is this moment. That doesn't mean you ignore setting goals for yourself or don't think about the possibilities. It just means that you keep your mind in the only place that really exists - right now - to be most efficttive at living. All of the great spiritual teachers understood living in the moment. That is what set them apart so dramatically from everyone else.

As for the goal of reaching a higher level of spirituality, if you assume that we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God as it says in the Bible, then we are all reaching for a higher level of spirituality. Yours may be heaven. Mine may be something else. But, it is still aiming for something beyond ourselves. We just have different names for it.

I think Islam is a beautiful religion just as I think all religions are beautiful. I also think they all contain truth. I just don't believe that one of them has the only truth.

 

To me I'm Christian. Some other fundimentalist Christians may not believe I'm a Christian, because of things I do believe.

A lot of what I believe is in line with what Mrs. JB and Jeff have already said.

The bible says in various places that God is love, Those who know love, know god etc. To me this supports the kinds of things that Mrs. JB was saying about not one right way. I believe there are Muslims, hindus, Jews etc. who all know love, and therefor know God. One of the ideas of Christianity is to have a personal relationship with Christ. How is having a personal relationship going to be the same for everyone? There is also a chapter in Romans that talks about each person standing on what he believes and too his own master that person stands or falls. In effect it says that if a person feels he can't eat meat, then for him eating meat is a sin. But another person believes that eating everything is ok. For that person it is ok, but the one who eats everything shouldn't try and put a stumbling block before those that don't eat meat. It also says that some people believe that one day in the week is holy, and another believes that all days are equal. Again the same message applies. Each person should firmly believe in their heart and conciences what they believe, and to their own master they will stand or fall. This is one area I have a lot of disagreements with other Christians. I don't believe anyone on earth can say who gets to heaven and who doesn't. Judging the soul is God's territory only.

Regarding heaven and hell: Early Christians weren't as concerned with his concept, and it's importance grew over the centuries. I'm totally sure about it either. I still keep searching. Here's what I believe so far. Hell when translated literally means different things when used in the bible. One time it referrs to a burned out city. The bible tells us that heaven, the kingdom of God is within us. I don't believe that God who is love would ever send anyone to an actual place where they burn in torment forever. Ghandi wasn't a Christian. Hitler was. God is loving, and just. If Ghandi is in hell burning forever, while Hitler is in heaven, how is that either loving or just. I believe that Christians who believe that only born again people will go to heaven have gotten something wrong, from my idea of what Christianity is.

Heaven, the Kingdom of God is within us according to the bible. Perhaps it means living with love, and perhaps hell means living without it. I fully admit I don't have all the answers.

Jesus: I don't know of any other religion that matches Jesus' words for peace and love. There is not one in any readin I've done that says to love your enemy, turn the other cheek, if someone steals something from you, then to actually give that person more. While Ghandi wasn't a Christian, he did acknowledge influence from JEsus' sermon on the mount. There are other religions that say to treat others as you want to be treated, just as Christianity does, but only this one that truly says to love your enemy. For example I'm sure not many of us, (including myself) have much love for Osama Bin Laden. For us here to be able to do that is, I believe, above human, and truly divine love. That kind of divine love, is I think the single greatest thing about Christianity. That being said I won't defend the acts of other christians who have done many heinous ones in the past and continue to do so today. I will only defend the concept as I believe it. To be a Christian one should believe that Jesus is the son of God and died for our sins. I do. But I believe that when Jesus died, he died for everyone not Just Christians. There are those who say Jesus never lived. Maybe the person who wrote the words love your enemy and talked of the kind of love that can only be divine wasn't named Jesus. IT doesn't matter if his name was Bob, or Jim, whoever came up with that concept is the real Jesus, and son of God. So arguing about the other stuff really doesn't matter. The concept was born, and therefor 'Jesus' whatever his name or actual history was did live.

Jesus' died so we can live. Many people say that if that's true what kind of loving God would kill his own son. But the way I look at is that perhaps because he died, Jesus was reborn with his message which does live. Look at James Dean, or Jimi Hendrix etc. These people were elevated to legendary status when they died. Their deeds, persona, works, etc. live on today at least in part because they died. A person who preaches love, and goes against the authority but does so with love, and is then killed for it, may indeed increase the power of that message many times over.

In a way I believe there may be only one truth, but that we are taking many different roads to get there. The closer to love that road is, the closer to the one truth.

I don't believe Religion or the works of God are lot of finger waggling supernatural things. It basically comes down to love. Angels are anyone who brings about a major change related to religion, and aren't some winged mythical creature. ANy of the kind of supersticious mumbo jumbo I don't really believe in.

I know there are aetheists who don't believe in God. I think they just don't know they do. Because I think almost everyone believes that Love exists. Again God is Love. I think all this talking and explaining may have made it more complex than it really is. Basically it all comes down to that. God is love.

 

Homer: Not a bear in sight. The Bear Patrol must be working like a charm.
Lisa: That's specious reasoning, Dad.
Homer: Thank you, dear.
Lisa: By your logic I could claim that this rock keeps tigers away.
Homer: Oh, how does it work?
Lisa: It doesn't work.
Homer: Uh-huh.
Lisa: It's just a stupid rock.
Homer: Uh-huh.
Lisa: But I don't see any tigers around, do you?
Homer: Lisa, I want to buy your rock.

So if Allah spoke to Mohammed, why doesn't he speak to anyone nowadays? If your best friend claimed Allah spoke to him would you believe him?

All time? The Q'uran isn't even 1400 years old. That's a drop in the bucket of all time. It really disturbs me when people think of their religion as perfect or absolute.