Posted on 06/04/2007 9:12:28 AM PDT by LiteKeeper
Fifteen years ago, when I was working at the White House, I commuted with a very close friend who worked at a think tank in Washington D.C. After the fall of the Soviet Union, our conversations in the car often turned toward what would constitute the next major world threat. My friend, who is one of the smartest people I know, didn’t hesitate in his opinion: it would be the rise of radical Islamic fundamentalism. Day after day, he presented the growing evidence that finally convinced me as well.
That was very early in the 1990’s, when Islam was the last thing on any of our minds. But that has all drastically changed now. In fact, the proper word for the speed and extent to which Islam has become such a prominent issue in the world and in our lives is simply ‘breathtaking’.
Islam is a worldview—a worldview that in some ways is similar to Christianity, but in many ways radically different. I would like to examine them, side by side. In so doing, I think we will not only learn why things are happening the way they are, but hopefully we will gain a better understanding of the great distinctions that a biblical worldview has compared to other world religions, and with Islam in particular.
As we do, several areas are going to be controversial and challenging. For example, one key area will be the issue of whether or not one believes that the canon of Scripture is closed. Is God still ‘writing’ Scripture through prophets? Another area will deal with the relationship of God and man. What kind of relationship is it and why? And certainly, we will have to deal with the claims of Jesus and Mohammed.
Obviously, this is not something that we can simply blog on once or twice and be done with it. But, I am also not interested in dealing with this every day for the next year. I don’t want to miss addressing the myriad of other issues that will undoubtedly be popping up. So, maybe we’ll shoot for something like once a week—maybe on Thursdays, for example. I’m not sure yet, but we’ll find a groove.
However, there is one thing for certain: no on can deny that the world has drastically changed in the last few years. The world before 9/11 is nothing like the world of today. And in the foreseeable future, I believe that all other issues are going to pale in comparison to this one.
So, we’re going to talk about it.
Part of the conversation has to include the remarks by Pope Benedict XVI in his “Regesburg Address” of Sept 2006. In that address, he spoke of Islam as founded on Pure Will, with less importance given to Reason by comparison to Judaism, Christianity, and the Western Tradition in general.
bump
the stage will be set, western christianity determined to turn the other cheek, and radical islam prepared to cut off the head.
teeman
I find it interesting that non-Christians can comment on Christianity, non-Jews can comment on Judaism, etc. But no one is allowed to comment on Islam but Muslims. Something curious going on here!
What is Islam based on?
Mohammed went into “trances” and fits (like epileptic fits) when he was given the “word of God” and would shout out what he was told. These would be written down by his followers. This is the makeup of the Koran.
When Mohammed was just walking and talking and acting like “normal”, his words and deeds were written down by his followers and this went into the Hadith. Now, acting “normal” for Mohammed was taking 12+ wives (including a 6 year old), taking slaves (including sex slaves), executing infidels, conducting raids for treasure, etc.
Now, this is where it gets complicated.
A large part of the words he spoke in trances were “taken back” by Mohammed. He determined them to be the work of the devil (thus they are called the “Satanic Verses” and these are the same verses that Mr. Salman Rushdie got in trouble for writing about).
Now, how Mohammed determined which verses were from God and which were from Satan I do not know.
Also, there were literally dozens of widely different versions of the Koran and Hadith floating around for several hundred years after Mohammed death until a Fatwah was decreed to destroy all but one version. Now, even Mohammed could not remember what he was told by God and forgot it (those are his words as written in the Hadith) so I do not know how the powers in charge decided which was the correct version.
Also according to the Hadith, Mohammed turned people into monkeys, you can determine a child’s sex depending on whether the male or female has an orgasm first (that advice came directly from the Angel Gabriel), dogs and cats are evil and should be killed, that the devil lives in your nose at night (and how to get rid of him in the morning), chess is forbidden, muslims have one intestine while infidels have seven, don’t pray looking up or your eyes will be snatched away, that one wing of a fly is poison but the other is the cure, that drinking camel urine is good for you and I could go on.
And that Mohammed himself didn’t even know if he was going to heaven. If even Mohammed doesn’t know, what chance does the average muslim have?
And for some non-PC info, Mohammed was described as a white man.
Now, if you can bear it, to compare to the Gospels of New Testament.
Jesus was someone who lived a very humble life and was killed for basically saying he was a King and Son of God (blasphemy) by the powers in charge (Roman and Jewish). The government wanted Jesus destroyed and wanted his growing movement destroyed (as it threatened their power). If, after 3 days, the followers of Jesus proclaimed he has risen from the dead, (just as he predicted), and is truly our Savior, the High Officials would have wanted to destroy such a “myth.” They could have easily done this by producing the dead body of Jesus and saying “Your Messiah is still dead and so is your movement” or producing many eye witnesses of the dead Jesus. But they couldn’t.
The letters that make up the New Testament were written by the eye witnesses of the events of Jesus. They were written in just one generation when many other eye witnesses were still alive. They were written without collusion from other Apostles. Even if any of the Apostles wanted to “add” to the “myth” of Jesus, they would have done so in a very disjointed and easily detectable fashion. Yet, the main Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) that describe the life of Jesus are amazingly in harmony with one another and the small differences are consistent with what we would see today if four people witnessed a major event and wrote about the event apart from each other. The Gospels can be traced back to their sources and are basically unchanged from their originals.
The Bible is the most investigated historical document in the history of the world. It has been investigated by scientists, philosophers and archeologists using technology undreamed of when the Bible was written. It is been desperately tried to be “disproved” for over 2000 years, yet, the Bible still stands as the truth.
The stories of Jesus still make sense to us today. It may be because they are true, it may be because they are based in love or it may be because they were written to tell the people of the Word of God.
Regards,
2banana
In my view Muslims should be excluded from American society. And all Muslims deported as well. It should be illegal to the point we ought to amend our constitution if necessary.
The interesting thing is that during my oral exams in 1989 the question came up as to who would be the next threat after the soviet union. The Berlin Wall had just fallen as a background item. Without hesitation I answered Islam. Dr. Alroy would have had a lot to say about the situation today, he was well ahead of a lot of people on this.
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