You were born here, so you believe what you believe. They were born there, so they believe what they believe. But had your places of birth been reversed, you'd be every bit as vehement a defender of Allah.
And so it goes.
You might have been raised by religious parents and converted, but there are people who convert from atheism to Christianity. That's how it works in a country with religious liberty. If you had been born there, you would have been indoctrinated into Islam and exposed to nothing else. Granted: what people believe is largely determined by their parents' beliefs. Someone still has to be right. Christians are the ones.
You were born here, so you believe what you believe. They were born there, so they believe what they believe. But had your places of birth been reversed, you'd be every bit as vehement a defender of Allah.
This is an argument that completely sidesteps the very issue that you are raising. It becomes apparent that you're doing this, when this is restated with a different set of facts.
You were born here, so you believe that the sky is blue. They were born there, so they believe that the sky is red. But had your places of birth been reversed, you'd be every bit as vehement of a defender of "the sky is red."
If we were to assert that -- we would be laughed out of the place, because one would maintain that the sky is blue -- because it is a "truth" that exists outside of one's own "belief". In other words, my "belief" doesn't make the sky blue -- it is only my agreement or disagreement with it. The truth of the matter remains the same, regardless of my belief. So, this is -- in essence -- what you are trying to say, that my "belief" makes something true. Or, put another way, that there is no such thing as "truth" which exists outside of whatever I wish to believe.
So, if we were to agree that if I were born there and they were born here -- we would still be faced with the truth of the matter -- i.e., that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is the one true God and all others are false gods.
It doesn't matter where one lives or what one believes. Truth stands on its own, because truth exists outside of the believer. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob exists outside of whether they believe, you believe, I believe or even that we "exist" in the first place -- at all.
Boy, that's really deep. O great one, could you teach me to reason like that?
Does that mean that since you were born in the dirt, you worship the ground? Is that the way it works?
Grow up, pup. Jettison the sophomore sociology.
I believe in Jesus Christ because He is the Son of God. [BTW, He wasn't 'born here.'] You may 'believe' in what you will -- or nothing at all -- and place your bets.
"You were born here, so you believe what you believe. They were born there, so they believe what they believe. But had your places of birth been reversed, you'd be every bit as vehement a defender of Allah."
Well said, which points to the dangers inherent in a nation of illiterates. Who was it that said ..."and the Truth shall set you free"? And so it goes.
Christians believe Jesus is sweet, the light, the truth and the way, the Prince of Peace, the heart of mercy, full of grace, the Christ.
Muhammad was a warrior messenger of Allah, a man, a prophet, judging and threatening and killing others.
Jesus's only violent act was to turn the tables of the thieves in the Temple. (Can a Christian scholar tell why Jesus chose to do this in this manner?)
Christians value all life whereas outside the confines of their religion, culture and law, Muslims don't.
Islam means "submission", "obedience" to everyone, else they are infidels and must be punished, apparently by physical death or mutilation.
Christianity encourages obedience to God, obedience to His commandments, a belief in Christ and awareness of one's own sinfulness, else one loses one's soul. But not necessarily must one lose their physical life on Earth.
As a scientific scholar, I can live and prosper among Christians, not so under Islam. The Islamic culture I think I would find stifling. And since I have the opportunity under Christianity to improve life, to make it more healthy and prosperous, then necessarily it must be attractive to everyone, including Muslims which brings me to butt heads with Islamic fundamentalists; therein lies a root of war. To justify their insanity, they call attention to trashy elements of Western culture, but they murder their own without what we consider due process and justice.
So yes people do reflect their cultural upbringing but Western principles will prevail unless these terrorist elements of Muslim culture are free to act out their insanity with biological and nuclear weapons.
Except, we do live in an age where both scriptures are available to all who want to read, and choose.
I'm reading the bible, and am not very interested, I admit, what one of the distant tribes wrote hundreds of years after the good news of man's salvation.
Then you yourself are making this particular claim merely because you were born where you were were born.
You were born here, so you believe what you believe. They were born there, so they believe what they believe. But had your places of birth been reversed, you'd be every bit as vehement a defender of Allah.
So where were you born?
Seems you have defeated your own argument.
A bit of a parochial attitude but true, kinda sorta, in a great sweeping generality sort of way...
Nice to drop in and see you are still fighting the good fight.
...on and on.
Be careful, man. You may have to account for what you've written here someday. Are you really willing to bet all you have and are, that the Christian and Muslim points of view are equivalent?