Muslims and Christians

[fullyveiled muslimah]

All that this topic shows is how little communication there is between the two major Abrahamic faiths.

The above is a quote from rojse in the Islam contribution thread. It got me thinking that it's right on the money. The muslims and the christians are always at each others throats, but why?

To both christians and muslims, do you think we could ever have peaceful and productive interaction with one another?

For christians, would you ever read the Quran?

Admit it if you come across anything you find to be true within Islam?

For muslims, would you ever read the bible for any other purpose than to find it's flaws? Would you ever read it to see its commonalities with Quran, and admit if you found some truth within its pages?

Why or why not? Can we get along peacefully, without finding one to be the enemy of the other? How much does a christian even know about Islam and vice verse for muslims?

 

[Ori]

When I was a Christian I read the Koran, they're not a million miles apart. I don't understand the friction between the two either.

 

[wizanda]

The books are one, those who state in portions; do not have the mustard seed....
Those who follow Balaam’s Grace as if truth are workers of iniquity.

 

[Popeyesays]

Of course, I'm not Christian to answer, but it was the concept that One Voice has brought God to the world is what brought me to my faith.

Regards,
Scott

 

[Terrywoodenpic]

I don't see it as problem of what is in the Bible and Koran.
It is more to do with both faiths believing in them to the exclusion of the other.

From the Christian point of view ...we see the Moslem faith as unchangeable and fixed in the period it was written...
with out the possibility of it being interpreted to suit the various times through which we live.

Some Christians view the bible in the same way, and think that some how the interpretation given it today is the same it always has been.

I think both attitudes are wrong. God has given us two Books that have been written so they can be interpreted in new ways,
to give appropriate guidance at any stage of civilization.

Most Christians think that the Bible can be interpreted to meet the modern needs and problems of today with out losing our God given ability to change, nor going against his will.

I think most Muslims think they must adjust their lives to fall in with their inherited interpretation of the Koran.
They do not believe it is Gods will that they take advantage of the worlds perpetual change.

These are quite opposite views ... "Change and interpretation" are the keys to understanding the problem.

 

[Vassal]

When I was a Christian I read the Koran, they're not a million miles apart. I don't understand the friction between the two either.

Islam is a Christianity clone, so they are similar, but their main difference is their beliefs about Jesus. Islam believes that Jesus was just a prophet, and Christianity believes Jesus is the one true God who came to save his people. The Qur'an tells readers to also read the Gospels in the Bible, and that Jesus was a holy prophet ordained by God, but when you Muslims read the Gospels they totally ignore everything Jesus said.

Jesus said things like:

John 3:3-6 (NASB) 3 Jesus answered and said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born from above he cannot see the kingdom of God." 4 Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born, can he?" 5 Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6 "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

John 5:39-40 (NASB) 39 "You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me; 40 and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life.

Ask a Muslim how they are born from above or born of the Spirit and they won’t give you an answer, or at least they never give me one. They try to say the scriptures were altered by Christians, but we have copies of the Gospel before the Qur’an, so that argument isn’t a valid one. The Qur’an constantly contradicts the Gospels, even though it says the Gospels are true, which is the one of the more funny things about Islam.

 

[*Paul*]

The above is a quote from rojse in the Islam contribution thread. It got me thinking that it's right on the money. The muslims and the christians are always at each others throats, but why?

Because we both believe we are proclaiming the truth but our truths contradict.

To both christians and muslims, do you think we could ever have peaceful and productive interaction with one another?

Not really, it would be nice but I really don't think it will happen, we keep trying to convert each other and rightly so.

For christians, would you ever read the Quran?

I have put a some effort into reading the koran and some hadiths to try to understand what islam teaches and not what people tell me it teaches and to form my own opinons.

Admit it if you come across anything you find to be true within Islam?

SInce the bible is my rule or measure for spiritual truth then I will only say that the koran is true so far as it agrees with the bible but every religion has some truth in it, but I would not drink a glass of water with a drop of arsenic in it.

 

[Bishka]

but I would not drink a glass of water with a drop of arsenic in it.

You are comparing Islam to poison?

 

[fullyveiled muslimah]

Not really, it would be nice but I really don't think it will happen, we keep trying to convert each other and rightly so.

I agree with that and then at the same time I don't because even when we disagree, we are still having it peacefully, and I would say it is productive even if it doesn't change my mind. The conversion of each other does play a bid factor yes, but I believe if we can start with our similarities rather then start with our differences, we can be more calm when we get to our differences and why we have them.

We are both correct to say we are true. I understand that our differing concepts concerning Jesus make all the hoopla we get into. It is one difference and dare I say the only one. All other discrepancies between us are rooted in that. If we could somehow resolve that, either Jesus is God or he is not, we could become the one religion we were meant to be. We speak with the same mouths, albeit sometimes it comes from an opposite place.

We both believe that fornication, adultery, stealing, murder is wrong. We agree that worshipping any but the one creator is wrong. We agree that there is life after death, a judgement day, a resurrection, an end time, an anitchrist, that christ will return to correct all the things that were skewed after his ascension. We agree that Christ did ascend to heaven, and that he is not dead.

We actually agree on alot of stuff if we sit to look. I find that we sen alot of time criticizing one another more than anything. I find a popular attack on islam by christians, is that we are not worshipping the same god, there is no good in islam, and any good to be found is merely stealing it from christians. All this is said instead of trying to see it from another POV. Why would the God that loved the bani israel so much, not love the arabs enough to guide them or send them a messeger?

I don't really want anyone to actually go to answering those question because they will spin us to another direction.

I think non-american muslims are guilty of much of the same stuff. I say non-american because many american muslims were christians at one time, so we have a sort of a soft spot if you will, and are more versed in what a christian actually believes because we have read the bible, and been to church and so on. A non-american muslim may not be as well versed in christian doctrine from experience. Unless they took it upon themselves to study it, they have probably never had a reason to pick up a bible, and all they know about christianity is that christians worship jesus. Regardless of the deeper explanation behind that, it is polytheism to us all. A non-american muslim may have a harder time getting past that to see anything else in christianity that is true.

 

[neves]

Yes I think there will come a time when Islam and Christian will have some productive interactions with each other… it might already have started…


The majority of the time I read the bible is to find the true parts in it… and there in fact is truth there… also there are many points of agreements between the Bible and the Quran…


I think we both can get along, because in the end… both our goals are to please God and in return earn his love…

 

[*Paul*]

You are comparing Islam to poison?

Lol, blessed are the peacemakers.

WHat I am saying is that it along with all other religions has deadly error in it's teachings - if I did not believe that I could happily become a muslim. why not if it won't do me any harm?

As a Christian you must believe it is the gospel that saves, salvation is though the shed blood of Jesus Christ - Islam denies this centrality of this saving message. It teaches that Jesus didn't die in my place, someone died in His place. This on it's own ought to be enough to wake Christians up, "but they recieved not the love of the truth".

I want to be kind but it is no kindness to pretend that Islam can reconcile sinful man to God. Every Christian in the world should know that much at least. Let alone the many other contradictions we have.

If a Christian is a true friend to someone they will tell them the truth no matter what.
Proverbs 27:6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.

 

[Booko]

The above is a quote from rojse in the Islam contribution thread. It got me thinking that it's right on the money. The muslims and the christians are always at each others throats, but why?

To both christians and muslims, do you think we could ever have peaceful and productive interaction with one another?

If I might post from an outsider's pov, but someone who believes both Jesus and Muhammad were who they claimed to be, there seems to something of an impasse. Unless you can get past these things, there will be a certain amount of being at each other's throats:

1. Christians (mostly) still believe that Christ is the last word in God's Word. That leaves them with the inescapble conclusion that Muhammad is a false prophet. That of course will annoy Muslims, and is an impediment to communication and understanding.

2. Muslims demonstrate a disbelief in the accuracy of the texts most sacred to Christians. That shows a level of disrespect, from a Christian's pov, that is also very difficult to get past.

For muslims, would you ever read the bible for any other purpose than to find it's flaws? Would you ever read it to see its commonalities with Quran, and admit if you found some truth within its pages?

Hm...#2 restated. I don't know why some Muslims seem unable to acknowledge as much about there being truth in the Gospels, as Muhammed did himself.

Why or why not? Can we get along peacefully, without finding one to be the enemy of the other? How much does a christian even know about Islam and vice verse for muslims?

Focus on what you have in common. Unless the mind is fixed on that, it decends into something no so pretty.

And y'all really do have a lot in common.

 

[*Paul*]

I agree with that and then at the same time I don't because even when we disagree, we are still having it peacefully, and I would say it is productive even if it doesn't change my mind.

If we could have fair competiton of our messages without threat or fear of violence - full freedom to proclaim each others message to each other, public debates where we are free to speak openely, even in Saudi Arabia and Iran we would not be fighting. Truth and freedom would win which are both from God.

 

[fullyveiled muslimah]

1. Christians (mostly) still believe that Christ is the last word in God's Word. That leaves them with the inescapble conclusion that Muhammad is a false prophet. That of course will annoy Muslims, and is an impediment to communication and understanding.

2. Muslims demonstrate a disbelief in the accuracy of the texts most sacred to Christians. That shows a level of disrespect, from a Christian's pov, that is also very difficult to get past.

This is absolutely true. These are rather large things for the both of us. However, it is why I suggest we start from the point of our common grounds. It is disheartening though when some christians discredit us at every turn. When the general idea is that we are worshipping a devil when in fact we both, the christians and the muslims, believe shaytan to be an enemy to mankind, how do we get past that?

 

[DavyCrocket2003]

Thank you so much for starting this thread! I have long been frustrated by the apparent lack of communication and understanding between Muslims and Christians!
There is soooo much that we share in common as has been pointed out allready. We have the same goals, the same values, and we definately worship the same God!
As a Christian, yes I have found Islam to contain a ton of truth! I have not read the entire Quran but what I have read seems to agree with me pretty well. Although we do share a different veiw of Jesus Christ, this is a stupid reason to throw everything else we have in common out the window!
It seems I am always having to defend Islam to people who have no idea what it is. People think the funniest things. For instance that Muslims believe in using force to spread their faith. Or that women are inferior to men and are treated horribly in Islam. Or that everyone else should be destroyed. Absurd but true! I was even taught some wrong information about Islam at school! I'm guessing that if there's so many crazy ideas about Islam running rampant here where Christianity is in the majority, there's probably quite a bit of misinformation about Christianity running around in places where Islam is predominant. Isn't it sad.

I really don't have any problem with Muslims who really live what they believe. In fact I find I seem to have a lot more in common with them than a lot of "Christians." I think that whatever you believe, do your very best to follow it, always keeping your eyes open for truth, and you can't do that bad (whether you're Christian, Muslim, Jew, Wiccan, Bhudhist, etc...)

 

[rojse]

Although I am not well versed in Islam, I cannot understand the assertations made by some people in regards to the Islam faith. I have heard many of the statements posted above, and many others I do not wish to repeat.

This lack of understanding is not confined to Christianity, or any other religion, for that matter, from my experience. I would say it is due to a lack of communication between Islam and the general population, a lack of willingness for the general population to examine popular misconceptions regarding the Islam faith, but mainly due to media sensationalisation of the Islamic faith.

However, I am glad that we are able to communicate about the Islam faith and learn the similarities and differences between the two major Abrahamic religions within these forums, and I hope that we manage to dismiss the common misconceptions regarding Islam.

 

[wizanda]

Jeremiah 2:23
(23) How canst thou say, I am not polluted, I have not gone after Balaam? see thy way in the valley, know what thou hast done: thou art a swift She-Camel (dromedary) Cross (traversing) her ways.

 

[longshanks]

It will take time but in the world of the future it is inevitable.
There is nothing to be gained by any other route or behaviour.
I am an atheist, forgive me for interupting this thread, but these trouble affect all in one way or another.
I would just like to say that i have faith in the good christians and the good muslims to build a lasting friendship.
The cost for failing would be beyond reckoning.
I praise you for this thread.

 

[Crowley]

:yes: I'm a Christian and I believe that Christianity is religion all by itself. I believe every other belief on earth is not from God, but from man's own thinking.
Jesus Christ is God.
He became flesh to die for us. He rose from the dead, he ascended on high, is coming back to judge the quick and the dead.
I believe Joseph Smith, Muhammed, Guatama Buddah, and all the others who call themselves prophets will bow before Jesus and confess that he alone is LORD.
Islam came along millenniums after Moses (at Sinai) recieved from God all the world needs.
Everything Islam teaches has already been said.
Moses said it all in those 613 commandments.
Their Koran says that God doesn't have a Son.
Christianity knows that Jesus is the Son of God.
Muhammed learned from Christians and Jews that God is one (monotheism) and if Christians had succeeded in getting him saved and converted in the 6th century AD, there would be no Islam today.

 

[Popeyesays]

Crowley,

Most of us came here because it is a good place for many points of view. Why did you come?

Regards,
Scott