Debate with a Priest (8) – Would you change your religion ever?!

Abdallah,

I appreciate your reply. It may take me a few days to write back, I have not yet read your email but will do so the next chance I get. After that, I will reply. In my reply, however, I will try not to be so long - I presume neither of us are the fondest of extra-long replies, which ours seem to keep growing and growing. So I will try to keep my reply brief and to the point, though I cannot promise. 

Till then, God bless.

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Dear Abdallah,

Thank you for taking the time to write back. As I noted in my previous reply, I am going to try to say a lot without making my reply long. I simply do not always have all the time in the world to read and reply, hence why it has taken several days.

You wrote, “it’s superior of all religions because it’s from God, and what you can find and explain and work on it in Islam, you’ll never find it in other religion, because of that many of priests or rabbis or even Hindu scholars, who converted to Islam and studied”.

I agree that Hinduism is a fallacious religion – the teachings, much like Buddhism, are contradictory. There is no clear set of doctrines and teachings, there are thousands of Gods, and with a religious system that does not have a set teaching, I would personally find it difficult to accept as truth. As for the claim that Islam is “superior because it’s from God,” if I made this statement be it to an atheist, Buddhist, Hindu, or the like, they would tell me that I am using circular reasoning. I could reason the same thing and say that Christianity is superior than all other religions because it is from God, but great claims require great evidence.

“you will never find anything similar, that billions of people who leave their food and drink to fast for God sake only, and to give portion of their wealth for the poor, so our God forgive us on the day of Judgment.”

– There are many Christians who fast for God’s sake, as well as giving to the poor. The same is true of Judaism.

“Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) told us about a speech of John the Baptist…”

Debate with a Priest (7) – Islam as Religion of Peace, then why fighting people to enter Islam !! Evidences of Trinity..

Dear Abdullah,

I am well, my friend. I hope all is well with you and your family as well.

1 – Thank you – I’ll take a look at the link. Having mentioned the belief in seven universes clarifies the belief a bit for me, I appreciate it. To note, anytime you provide a link, I will always try to take a look at it.

2/3 – I agree that no one should worship Mary. The Bible in no place commands or hints that we should worship Mary. That is a widely-held Catholic doctrine (not all Catholics worship Mary of course, but many do), but I am a non-denominational Christian, and do not worship Mary.

“From above, whenever you give a person or anything other than God an attribute or name or action, that is limited only to God, then you are making him as God, and among this, when Christians call Jesus or Mary for help or support although they are humans and can’t hear them, then they are making them ‘Gods.’”

– I agree that Mary is human, and cannot hear us from Heaven. However, as I accept the Old and New Testament as God’s Word, 1^st Timothy 2:5, along with Hebrews 7:5, 8:6, 12:24, teach that Jesus is our mediator between us and the Father in Heaven, and is therefore “with [us] always” (Matthew 28:20).

“And now after understanding this concept, let’s see when Christians want to call for their help: what they mostly say: “O Jesus or O Mary help you us” !! And when entering the Churches, what are the statues and Idols that are filling all churches? They are idols of Jesus and Marry.. And what most Christians do when they want to pray in their rooms or in their streets or schools corners, they will stop in front of Marry and Jesus status and pray..”

Abdullah, most Christians do not worship Mary. This belief is generally restricted to Catholics, and I personally know many Catholics who refuse to worship Mary. Likewise, there are many Christians who will not worship statues of Jesus or images – I do not, nor do many other Christians I know. It is true that there are Christians who worship statues and images of Jesus, but it is also true that many do not. The few cannot be representative of the whole, any more than a few Muslims would represent all of Islam. Though the Catholic doctrine generally teaches that Mary is a mediator and is Holy, that she should be worship, I do not worship her, and there are many who do not either.

Debate with a Priest (6) – Difference between Jesus Religion and Christianity!!

Dear Abdallah,

First off, this is a bit of a long response, so I understand if it takes a day or two to read through or reply.

1) Thank you, figured I would ask regardless. And yes, I agree that there is only one path to God. Even if all paths led to the same door, that door is locked - and only one key fits. It is that we disagree on which key fits.

But thankfully, that does not hinder our conversation! I do agree, however, that much of the world's religions have arisen due to demonic influence, but obviously not all. If you wish to learn more about those religions, I have more material on them, I can tell you what I know if you wish.

2) Appreciate it, thanks! I will simply continue to read the Qu'ran then.

3) This is where discussion begins. I will try to answer your points one at a time - I apologize if this email response is a bit long, it likely will be. You had said:

"Jesus Christ, is one of the mightiest messengers of God, and as all messengers of God they were muslims and call for Islam, which is to submit someone’s will to God’s will, and the proof he was a muslim is in the bible:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. [Mathew 7:21] He was not crucified as Christian claims but was saved by God and raised to 2^nd heaven where he will be waiting for his second return, as ALLAH will not leave us alone in face of the Anti-Christ and all the devils with him (especially the beast)."

First of all, would you be able to elaborate a bit on the "second heaven?" I've heard it mentioned before that there are different levels or different heavens according to Islam, I should like to be informed on that belief, if possible.

Second, let's examine the text: "Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." 

Debate with a Priest (5) – What is the right Path to GOD !!

 Thank you for your information, Abdallah.

 
1) Thank you, that clears up a bit.

2) Though I'd known about much of what you described, I wanted clarification from a Muslim. Appreciate it. Likewise with 3).

4) Though I may disagree about whether or not is has been accurately preserved, I appreciate the information. (Not attempting to get into a debate, merely stating my opinion)
5) and 6) - I will read those this week, thank you. As for the translation, that may help a bit more.

If I may ask a few more questions?

To be sure, the reason my email response is rather short is due to the fact it is early in the morning and just returned home from a elsewhere, otherwise I may be sociable, so I apologize if my response seems short.

1) What can you tell me about Sikhism? From what I understand, Guru Nanak sought to create a hybrid religion of Hinduism and Islam, but ended up creating a separate religion. I know a few things about Sikhism, but perhaps you know a bit more about it.

2) What can you tell me about Baha'i? I understand it originally stemmed from Shi'ite Islam, but Mirza Husaym Ali declared himself to be the manifestation of God and proceeded to introduce a new religion, in which the followers believe that all religions are essentially equal. What do you know of it?

3) Can you tell me what the Qu'ran says about the attributes of Allah? For example, if someone were to ask me what the Old and New Testament said about God, I would point them to passages about being a God of love yet at the same time having the nature of a judge, to judge sin. In terms of the Qu'ran, what does it tell us about Allah?

4) What do you, all arguments aside, believe about Christianity and the Christian Jesus, and why?

5) This one may come across a bit odd: what do you know of/think about the Book of Mormon? I am not Mormon, merely seeking your opinion. It is not often I get to speak with a Muslim, not that you are the only one, but as I said, you are the only one I know who has a passion for what you believe.

Though I may also disagree about Christ as God, since from my Ministry you can determine that we defend the deity of Christ and the Trinity as one God (much like a pyramid - one, but three sides yet at the same time one), I understand that Islam views this as worship of three distinct gods, but that is not my view.

Debate with a Priest (4) – Few Questions about Islam..

After a break of few months of communications between me and the priest, I received the following message from him:

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Hello, Abdallah

I hope all is well with you. You may or may not remember be. We'd talked before on the comments section. I am not sending this email because of the previous conversation we had, but for personal reasons. I know that (forgive me if my understanding is incorrect), technically, Muslims are not supposed to converse much with Non-Muslims, particularly Christians or Jews, however, I understand that it depends on the person, so again, forgive me if I am incorrect in my assumption.

I had hoped to email you for this reason: though we may disagree about great many things, I have been trying to learn what I could about the different world religions and denominations.

Recently I'd covered Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Zoroastrianism, Amish and Mennonites, Sikhism, and the one I have studied the most and read (and own) the most books on is Islam. It is not that I misunderstand Islam, and indeed I have learned more about it since you and I have last talked, so my understanding is a bit clearer, but at the same time, there are things I have been curious about, and just like, if you had a question about Christians it may be best to ask a Christian, the only Muslim I know (who, last I'd checked, was rather passionate about his beliefs, much like I am with Christianity), is you.