(The following is not original with me. I do not have the original attribution.)
One of the ways to compare religions is by the norm and by the aberration. For example, Christ taught the following:
1. Love God above everything else.
2. God so loves you that he makes every attempt to create a personal, loving relationship with you
3. Love everyone else more than you love yourself.
4. Show mercy to each everyone.
5. Turn the other cheek.
6. Do unto others as you want them to do to you.
7. Recognize that in God’s eye’s everyone is equally a sinner and equally deserving of God’s mercy and love.
8. Convert people to Christianity by loving them and convincing them that God loves them and forgives them.
Christ did the following:
Forgave an adulteress by telling her accusers, “Let the person without sin throw the first stone.” And the men slowly left, first the older then the younger. Looking at the woman, Jesus asked, “Where are your accusers.” She answered, “There are none.” Then Jesus said, “Then I don’t accuse you either, go and sin no more.” [This is the amazing thing. Jesus did not deny that she had committed adultery. But while ordering her not to do that anymore, He also showered her with love and forgiveness.]
Christ’s disciples did this:
Told newly converted pagans, “Keep yourself from sexual sin and take care of the widows and orphans.” That was it, be faithful to your husbands and wives and take care of people who can’t take care of themselves. That’s it. No akillin’ the infidel.
That’s the norm. Here’s the aberrations:
1. Crusader Christians go to fight Muslims who are attacking them (Not supposed to engage in religious violence, you know, love and all)
2. Spanish Inquisition
3. Religious-based conquest by the Iberians (Portuguese and Spanish)including both the New World and the Indian sub-continent.
4. Post reformation Protestant / Catholic warfare
Here’s the norm for Islam:
Mohammed taught:
1. Live in submission and obedience to an impersonal god.
2. To be eligible for heaven, you must do the five pillars of Islam.
3. To be guaranteed to get to heaven, die while killing a non-Muslim.
4. Kill or subjugate every non-Muslim.
Mohammed did this:
Lied, broke treaties, had sex with 9 year old, and lead armies to kill and subjugate non-Muslims.
Mohammed’s disciples did this:
1. Assassinated (word comes from Islamic sect) several of Mohammed’s successors during power struggles after his death
2. Split the faith after the murder of Ali, one of Mohammed’s successors. Ali’s followers are known as Ali’s Partisans or Shi’Ali, or Shia. They fight the rest of Islam, called the Sunnis for the next 1300 years.
3. Spread their faith by military conquest
What’s the aberration?
1. Tolerance of other religions
2. Peace with non-Muslims
3. Mercy toward non-Muslims
I have no hope for an Islamic Reformation. The Roman Catholics had gone so far from the roots of the Christian faith that the Reformation sought to return the Church to those roots. Do we really want Islam to return to its roots?
“Do we really want Islam to return to its roots?”
Islam will return to its roots during the tribulation. The Lord has always used raging heathen as His instruments of discipline and judgement, and He does not change.