Hello and happy 10th blog post. I am at my dads currently studying the many religions that have to do with the common topic of God and the prophets and all that.
The question is: Why are some beliefs for some religions almost completely opposite to those in relation of this one topic, and how did things get so different from each other?
Well you most likely have heard of Christianity. I would think its the largest Religion in the world. (not the fastest growing, for that belongs to Islam.) You also most likely have heard of Judaism (Jewish people in case you don't know of the term Judaism.) And lastly Islam (Muslim people in case you don't know of the term Islam.) Well I am going to explain the first part of what I have gathered. (I have also gathered little information of Jehovah's witness and Mormonism, but those wont be the main topics for this blog. I will blog about them probably Part 2 of this whole thing when I get more information.)
I did research sites that claimed they had proof that Christianity, Judaism, and Islam were all the "True Religion." This next paragraph will see my views on the Islam article I got from "www.beautifulislam.net" I'm not going to talk about parts were it just explains itself and what it is other than Islam means "submission or surrender of one's will to the only true God, known in Arabic as "Allah."
One claim they do make against Judaism and Christianity is that Islam has a name that isn't from the name of someone. Judaism from Judah and Christianity from Jesus. Saying that since those religions have been named after somebody and not God, a reason why they are false. Which I disagree with. I as a Christian believe that Jesus was the son of god (which Islam believes that God has no family and is completely alone and isolated) and one thing about it is that how can Islam judge Jesus when their main focus was on the prophet Muhammad, who has committed sin while Jesus has not. Also The Qur'an was written by Muhammad while he was alone in a cave and I also saw that he apparently also edited 63% or the Qur'an to be able to satisfy his lusts. The bible was written by humans but not as if they were reciting the word of God, but just to write down the actions of the prophet Jesus and anybody else that were involved. When they ever had something in there that was "The word of God," it was stated that Jesus or some other prophet had said so to the people. (Prophet Muhammad was not around at this time.) Lastly (this goes for Judaism as well.) How can Islam say things about Jesus when not only they were mostly following Muhammad. They didn't completely ignore Jesus but wouldn't you rather have gotten Jesus actions from his closest followers? Who knew all of what he has done? I mean what I think it could be is that since the Jewish and Islam people didn't pay as much attention to Jesus that they missed. They could have not been there to see it all, and without the visual proof that they desire, they stay Jewish or Islam. Forming that community. Another thing is how can Islam claim that Judaism and Christianity is misguided when they came after both of those religions?
I did read an article with the link of http://judaism.about.com/library/3_askrabbi_o/bl_simmons_faith.htm that talked about Judaism being the true religion. The only facts it put down were Islam, for since the Torah is just the old testament, it support Christianity in multiple ways. The "logical" explanation of the national viewing and spreading of the word of God in Judaism does exists in Christianity as well, but Judaism views the way Christianity is doing it in somehow a different way. From how I see it Jesus spread the word of God the same way Moses did. He just basically told them about it and did say things like "God as spoken to you" because that would be true unless he had, which is Judaism's argument. That you can't make false remarks about who God did speak to. I like the examples within the document in it as well. It all still supports Christianity though. I am starting believe that Judaism didn't get the full message of Jesus or just took his words and thought otherwise of it (which Jehovah's witness's do have a word back to when Jesus said "I and the Father are one" the Jewish people were about to stone Jesus. Jesus asked why even after I have preformed all these miracles? and the jewish people said not because of that but because you claim to be god when you are just a man. The Jehovah's witness and many Christians would have said Jesus wasn't God, the Jews only thought he was claiming to be God.)
Lastly, I found a site with the link of http://toptenproofs.com/article_christianty.php that basically proves that Christianity is the true religion. One thing that they state is that Jesus did allow himself to be worshipped. To Islam your not supposed to worship the Prophets or Idols but worship God. (I think that may apply to Judaism as well.) Which he was a prophet, but also the messiah and God would only allow himself to worship. Showing that God did come as a human but as the Human being the Son of God, Jesus Christ. In some biblical references that all have to do with Jesus there is in Isaiah 9:6 it is the prophesied that the Messiah that comes to earth in the flesh will be called "Might God, everlasting father." Also in Isaiah 7:14 the coming Messiah is prophesied to be called Emmanuel, which means “God
with us”. (It is important to remember that while Scripture is God's
Word, it is also historical documentation and accounts of events written
down by real people in history) Jesus came along hundreds of years
later and declared that he was the Messiah prophesied about, that he was
indeed “God with us”. He said in John 6:41 that he “came down from
Heaven” and in verse 62 that he would ascend to “where he was before”.
He said in John 8:23 that he is “from above”, in John 10:30 “I and the
Father are one” and in John 8:58 “Before Abraham was born, I am”, using
the same “I AM “ self reference God used with Moses at the burning bush. (From Isaiah 7:14 to the parentheses has been recited from the site, not my writing but proof for Christianity.)
This is Part 1 for Nate's quest for the right Religion. Please in the comments correct me if I'm wrong about something. (if it has to do something about Christianity or two of the three religions, make sure its in both holy scriptures form both of those religions and not just one. ie: in the Qur'an it says about Christianity... with nothing that says in the bible which has more about Jesus than the Qur'an. Please give me evidence from all sides which it is involved.) Thanks for taking the time to read this giant blog. Seeya -Nate
I can't say much about Christianity or Judaism, but I noticed some things in your Islam section I think isn't completely right.
ReplyDelete"…how can Islam judge Jesus…" The thing is, it kinda depends on what you mean by judge. Muslims believe Jesus is a prophet, a great person, the only difference is that they don't believe he is the Son of God. They hold all the prophets' teachings at equal and great respect as messengers of God. 2:136: "Say, 'We believe in God and what was revealed to us; and what was revealed to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, and their descendants, and what was given to Moses and Jesus and what was given to the prophets by their Lord. We make no distinction between any of them. It is to Him that we surrender ourselves.'" All the prophets and teachings from Abraham to Muhammad are equal and true, because they are all the messages from God. However, in their view none of them is the Son of God.
"…Muhammad, who has committed sin…" What sins do you refer to? And besides, this is pretty subjective. In a Christian view, he may be sinful. In an Islamic view, it is justified. The thing is, looking through the lens of your religion gives you a biased view often. You are right in your Christian view. However, the truth is closer to an unbiased view. What is that? I don't know. Besides, everybody has committed sin at some point. It's near impossible to go without committing sin at all. The impression I get it that what's more important is not that you have committed sin, but that you do not intend to do sin, you realize the consequences of your sin, and you repent. And another thing, assuming that the sin you refer to is sins relating to killing and war, Islam has an answer. 2:191: "…drive them out of the places from which they drove you, for persecution is worse than killing." Coming from the Qur'an, they say God is saying to Muhammad to kill the infidels, Because the infidels persecuting the Muslims is worse than killing them. After all, this is God's saying, and God cannot make a mistake about this because 1) He's omnipotent, and 2) His rules=reality. Muhammad is doing a good thing, eliminating religious persecution.
"Qur'an was written by Muhammad while he was alone in a cave and I also saw that he apparently also edited 63% or the Qur'an to be able to satisfy his lusts." Muhammad was illiterate! He can't read a letter, let fabricate a holy book. There's many sources that confirm this, and if you believe they aren't reliable, the entire Bible isn't exactly on stable grounds either. Besides, they've found many mathematical qualities and properties in the Qur'an and Arabs say it's masterful and intricate poetry. Pretty unlikely for an illiterate man to write that, don't you think? Where'd you get the 63% thing?
I couldn't get it all so here's part 2:
ReplyDelete"They didn't completely ignore Jesus but wouldn't you rather have gotten Jesus actions from his closest followers?", "I mean what I think it could be is that since the Jewish and Islam people didn't pay as much attention to Jesus that they missed...", "how can Islam claim that Judaism and Christianity is misguided when they came after both of those religions?" These three are related in my mind. So, first of all. They didn't ignore Jesus, as I explained before. Since all the prophets are equal and their teachings all came from God, they have all the same message. Then why is there three different religions, and twenty million denominations? Because people have taken, and sometimes distorted their messages. Muslims believe Islam is a "correction" and reaffirmation of Christianity, which in turn was a correction and reaffirmation to Judaism. They believe both are misguided, and therefore Islam had to exist to re-guide them on God's path. Really, you should ask Arhum about this, but he told me after Moses died, the Israelites altered the scriptures. Strike on Judaism. Jesus never personally wrote anything, or told people to write anything. So everything in the Bible is from humans about Jesus, God, and religious events. Ignoring the probability that 1950 year old manuscripts aren't completely reliable, it's still shaky for some people. Ever heard of Gnostic Christianity? They're branches that started even before Jesus came about. And soon after. Interestingly, they don't believe in all the stuff about the Trinity and things like that. You know where that came from? Paul. Paul was a zealot in Early Christianity. However, the Trinity stuff and other things came from his writings. In a sense, it's not truly Christianity, but Paulism. He said the Torah is irrelevant to salvation now for Christians. So, a man who is not a prophet is telling you some of God's rules don't matter anymore without actually being told from God? If you want more info in this, there's an interesting book called "Jesus Lived in India" that I'm reading. The first mention in writing of the Trinity was in the late 2nd century. Christians are around for nearly 200 years, and they don't mention the Trinity, one of Modern Christianity's tenets, until now? There's a strike against Christianity. Also, there's the famous First Council of Nicaea. Here, they took Gospels and chose which ones to follow. Especially when you consider the previous existence of Gospels that say contradictory events, such as Jesus raising a family, it's pretty self-explanatory. So Islam is a response to this misguidance. God is like, you guys haven't gotten it right, so Ima say it again and for the last time. That’s why the Qur'an is memorized. So it isn't corrupted again. That's why they don't need another prophet after Muhammad. So, Islam is based on "misguided" religions, because they all came from God.