Searching Islam

I am an avid reader. There have been few times when I have started a book and in boredom or perplexity put it aside. I did not do it when I first read The Bible even though the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy can sometimes be a bit tortuous being two books of laws, procedures, and a census penned by Moses. I did place The Quran aside, however, after I had gotten a quarter of the way through it. It was a mistake to do so since I began it last year, and if I had been more tenacious and focused in my reading I would have completed it by now. But just reading the first 25% of The Quran revealed something to me. The book is disjointed and disorganized. There is no logic in its' set up mainly because the book was compiled quickly and without thought by Prophet Muhammad followers after his death. His writings had been just strewn around on camel skins or anything he had happened to come across as writing material.

The Bible is a totally different case of centuries of careful work by scribes and scholars. Even though the 66 books of The Bible were written over a 1500 year period, the entire narrative is organized and flows to a logical conclusion. One theme runs throughout The Bible. God is waiting for His people to turn to Him as their protector and provider and He promises that He will ultimately send His Son to save humankind from itself. Throughout The Bible God silently begs, "Just love Me and depend on me and I will rain down blessings and protection." From the beginnng when Adam and Eve were tricked into sin, God gave the promise of salvation to ALL of humankind. Even today on the final day of 2007, He is still pleading and is holding a promise to a world that is lost and dying. I believe there is going to a castastrophic war between Christianity and Islam in the very near future. All the indiciations are there. Even if a Democrat is elected president of the United States next year, the dangers are still here and eventually horrible things are going to happen.

What is so frighting about Islam is that few, even Muslims, do not know where their religion stands. Some are even smooth westerized outright liars with a hidden agenda, but I believe the majority of Muslims are as baffled by the bloodshed as non Muslims are. Some have the moral stamina to not constantly make up conspiracy theories like comments I saw on a blog the other day saying after the murder of Benazir Bhutto that "I also do not believe Al-Qaeda to be responsible, in fact I do not even think Al-Qaeda even exists." The response by the blog writer was this, " As for Al-Qeada, it's the code word for a covert operation of cover up proportions, utilizing some 'bad' Muslims to give Islam a bad name, and further the 'divide and conquer' philosophy of some known and unknown evil forces who are constantly at war with the good and plenty." If this is the mindset of some "GOOD Muslims or those who don't practice any religion at all anymore" I think there is real cause for concern.

As a Christian I am in a sticky situation facing a Muslim or former Muslim who is lost and searching. All I can do is try to live up to the standards which Jesus Christ set and lived by when He was here on earth. His life was exemplary and unblemished. He died a horrifying and painful death, but He rose and again and lives on. The Bible says He will come again to this earth to reign, and all the signs are falling into place to show that perhaps the time is drawing near when He will appear. Jesus said these words to His followers when they asked about the signs of His return. As you read here, notice that not once does Jesus tell His followers to fight back. He only wants them to face the truth of what is going to happen, and not hide their head in the sand or place a nebula of falsehoods over reality.

Jesus answered: "Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.
"Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. (Matthew 24:4-14)

The best people to get Muslims to see the light are apostates from the faith. In my new Links on Islam I have included three sites by apostates who warn the world and other Muslims of the true meaning of their faith which they think can be summed up as a cult of bondage and death. They are Faith Freedom International, Apostates of Islam, and Islam Watch. They can be clicked here or on the links.

Resolutions and holiday slogans can get a little trivial and over used at times, but I wish for a peaceful New Year and that the hearts of many will see a need for peace change on a personal before it moves to a global level.