a reply to:
deadeyedick
Sometimes we're so preoccupied with exonerating a certain group from the misunderstandings of others that we miss vital context, so I'm very grateful
for your correction, I spent time aplenty studying Matthew 10 yesterday. I'd like to think we're all being perfected through dialogue like this.
However when you write “Christianity is geared towards the flesh” it almost sounds like you're judging Christianity by way of Christian culture,
and I couldn't imagine a more ineffective way to get a handle on what Jesus taught than to look towards the modern Christian world. You have to
imagine what the exemplar of the Christian scripture would walk, talk and behave like, because to judge Christianity based upon the actions of
pedophile priests, crusaders and witch burners makes as much sense as condemning vegetarianism for seeing a so called vegetarian going to town on a
burger. We've got to get our hands dirty with the text to know who's who in this world. That's why I couldn't possibly embrace Islam as anything other
than a mistake, not wrong all the way through, but wrong at its core. Take some of these authentic sayings of Mohammad for example, which I'll do my
best to comment on in the most kindly fashion I'm able.
110 Hadith Qudsi—Allah’s Messenger said: On the Day of Resurrection, my Ummah (nation) will be gathered into three groups. One sort will enter
Paradise without rendering an account (of their deeds). Another sort will be reckoned an easy account and admitted into Paradise. Yet another sort
will come bearing on their backs heaps of sins like great mountains. Allah will ask the angels though He knows best about them: Who are these people?
They will reply: They are humble slaves of yours. He will say: Unload the sins from them and put the same over the Jews and Christians: then let the
humble slaves get into Paradise by virtue of My Mercy.
So, Christians believe that God sent Jesus the Christ who willingly died for me, you, Atheists, Buddhists and even Muslims while we yet hated him (1
John 4:10), this is an expression of God's Grace and Righteousness, both punishing sin alongside forgiving humankind. Yet Mohammad reckons that's not
the case, since Jesus didn't die upon the cross, instead the prophet of Islam proposed that Christians and Jews are going to be punished unwillingly
for the sins of Muslims! You'll find the same for reading Sahih Muslim 6665, 6666 and 6668. Are faithful Jewish husbands in Israel going to be
punished as adulterers for the sexual sins of unfaithful Muslim husbands?! How can a perfectly good God render so unrighteous a verdict? Are we merely
unaware of the goodness behind this seemingly diabolic act?
However Allah's justice gets more bizarre, more fleshy to borrow your well chosen language.
Abu Umama narrated: “The Messenger of God said, ‘Everyone that God admits into paradise will be married to 72 wives; two of them are houris and
seventy of his inheritance of the [female] dwellers of hell. All of them will have libidinous sex organs and he will have an ever-erect penis.”'
I can't imagine others seeing this as teaching rich in spiritual knowledge, but if any do I'd be glad to hear them out. My view is that God for his
righteous nature couldn't allow sinners to reside in his presence, it's like trying to mix water with oil, or a logical impossibility, yet Allah
permits sinners and unbelieving women into paradise forever, what's more his reasoning is he'd like to reward his Muslim men with sex partners of
their choosing, even taking wives from the people of the Book who're in hell fire. Add libidinousness (showing excessive sexual drive) into the mix
and ever-erect penises and Allah's paradise looks no better than a brothel, men concerned with their flesh can and do have so earthly a life
nowadays.
Muslims today can love who they believe is God with all of their heart, but if they're believing a lie they're as doomed as any an idolater they've
ever read about. Same goes for me. Moreover, I'd never be so insane as to rebuke ordinary Muslims with teachings suchlike the above, simply because
99% of Muslims haven't even read them, they don't know who they're in bed with, but you can bet your last dollar Boko Haram have read them, al-Qaeda
have read them, ISIS and Hamas too have read them. Truthfully world views can't be fought by bullets and the like, Islam has tried annihilating it's
competition for over a millennium, and others have taken their pop at sending the Muslim belief system packing to no success, views are only properly
conquered by the truth of opposing views, like that truth which people have found in Christ. If anyone doubts there's an honest conflict between Islam
and Christianity I'd simply quote Sahih Bukhari, the most authentic book of every Islamic book bar the Qur'an.
Volume 8, book 73, number 224:
Narrated by Abu Huraira
Allah's Apostle said, "The most awful name in Allah's sight on the Day of Resurrection, will be (that of) a man calling himself Malik Al-Amlak (the
king of kings)."
Volume 8, Book 73, Number 225:
Narrated by Abu Huraira
The Prophet said, "The most awful (meanest) name in Allah's sight." Sufyan said more than once, "The most awful (meanest) name in Allah's sight is
(that of) a man calling himself king of kings." Sufyan said, "Somebody else (i.e. other than Abu Az-Zinad, a sub-narrator) says: What is meant by 'The
king of kings' is 'Shahan Shah."
Anyone care to guess who owns this hated name?
Revelations 19:15-16 of The New Testament.
15 From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the
wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. 16 And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, "KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS."
And about your idea of someone being given "authority by power of attorney", I'll have to reply in short. I've never considered myself with knowledge
enough to explain Christ's nature or God's plan in any a satisfying way, it's like being asked "Explain God by using two examples." it just can't be
done! God's nature is hidden to all. Furthermore, I had long shared the Muslim dislike for the idea of God appearing to us in the fashion of man, or
that He was bloodied and brutalised for messed up things we're yet doing today, but any such dislike couldn't beat back prophecy, the language only
God can speak, and a weath of manuscript evidence that describe Jesus hundreds of years before he was born, they tell of not just his claims, but of
his atoning sacrifice. Where else could someone looking into faith go?
Sorry about the lecture everyone, I do write short posts too. Comments and corrections (if any) are welcome.
edit on 12-9-2014 by
OldSchoolContemporary because: Minor edit
edit on 12-9-2014 by OldSchoolContemporary because: Minor edit
edit on
12-9-2014 by OldSchoolContemporary because: Added info