Posted by Illuminati on 11/6/2007, 9:01 pm
216.31.35.77
Because Islam and Christianity are based on completely different paradigms, it may well be that there are few if any members in either community who understand the other religion. In this brief essay, I am going to discuss some of the differences. Since this format favors brief posts, I will probably break this into several parts over time. Here are some of the differences between Islam and Western civilization as I understand them. If the Muslims think I have misunderstood their religion, their response should provide the basis of an interesting discussion.
1. Fundamentalism
About 1,000 years ago, Islam slipped into a profound fundamentalism in which Muslims believe the words in the Koran are God's exact words. Because Muslims believe God is perfect, Muslims believe the Koran is absolutely perfect word for word. Because God knows everything, the Koran is the perfect statement of religious truth, religious duties, political organization, and science.
Because Muslims believe the Koran is absolutely perfect, they can not submit their interpretations of the Koran to the authority of science. Therefore, although Muslims will manipulate scientific facts to try to convince other people of the validity of the Koran, their arguements from science are produced only to deceive the Kaffirs since no genuine Muslim would ever submit the Koran to the authority of science. This is why Amir quit posting as soon as he realized I was on to his game.
Although there are some Christians fundamentalists who also believe in verbal inspiration, the majority of Christians, even the more conservative ones, believe in thought inspiration in which God inspires the man or woman who then write their understanding of God's ideas in human language. Since God is so far above us, His thoughts can not possibly be perfectly conveyed in human language. Because human language is limited, the Bible is necessarily similarly limited.
This is why the Muslim's arguments about the "contradictions" in the Bible are not very effective, since Christians are more interested in the meaning of the message conveyed by the words, not by the perfection of the language. At a deeper level, although each prophet understood the message somewhat differently and expressed it in different language which on the surface may appear to contradict, as one digs deeper, there is a beautiful symmetry within the Bible describing God's love from beginning to end.
Because most Muslims are Islamic fundamentalism, Islam is much more vulnerable to the historical evidence that the Koran was not originally a perfect book, but underwent a period of evolution during which the final text of the present Koran was selected. Furthermore Muslims can not submit their beliefs to reason, logic, or science since this would be an admission that perhaps the Koran is not the absolute paragon of truth which they have imagined.
2. Fatalism
One of the most fundamental characteristics of Islam is the doctrine of submission. Because Muslims view themselves as Allah's slaves, their role is absolute obedience, submission, not understanding. One of the early Greeks defined a slave as a living tool in the hands of his master. As Allah's tool, it is not permissible for the Muslim to question his master, only to submit. This results in a profound fatalism which dominates all aspects of a Muslim's life in which his life is completely determined by fate, Allah's will, not by his own choices of efforts.
Because Muslims believe they have absolute truth above everyone else, and because they have no ability to understand how their personal choices and those of their societies cause the results which they deplore, they are forced to project all the failings of their own societies onto the kaffirs and particularly onto the Jews. It is ironic, but although Muslims are loathed to admit it, in many ways Muslims think the Jews are almost as powerful and ubuquitous as Allah himself capable of thwarting and tormenting the Muslims in every aspect of their lives. Although Muslims vastly outnumber the Jews, the entire Islamic Umma consider themselves victims of the Jews. Thir inability to accept responsibility for their own failings causes the Muslims to turn their anger outwardly in an almost inquenchable rage against the kaffirs who are the victims of their projected anger. In the mean time, the Muslims are in a vicious circle since the problems in their own societies fester unattended to produce more misery which increases the Muslim's projected anger against the kaffirs and the Jews even more.
This sense of personal powerlessness and victimhood causes Muslims to turn to conspiracy theories in order to redefine reality so it will fit with what they believe is the rightful order of the world, where the Muslims are the leaders in every field while the kaffirs grovel beneith thei Muslim's power and glory. Because of the tremendous strides modern society has achieved through human reason in sciences, technology and philosophy, the more radical Muslims realize that the only way they can restore what they consider the rightful order where Muslims dominate everyone else is for them to kill and enslave as many kaffirs as possible and to do all they can to disrupt the cultures which have made modern societies achievable. In other words, if Muslims can not win by positive achievements which bless humanity, the radicals at least intend to establish their superiority in what they know best, the art of killing, raping, and stealing. Although the more moderate Muslims may not like the behavior of the radicals, they themselves are so trapped in the malaise of fatalism that they can not come up with any viable alternative to right their world.
The Muslims are not alone in their fatalism since there are some Christians who are just as fatalistic as are the Muslims. However, the vast majority of Christians whom I have met reject fatalism in favor of personal choice. According to them, one of the most important gifts God has given us is the ability to make choices freely without coercion from God. In other words, because it is God's will that we operate as free individuals, we are automatically fulfilling God's will that we be free anytime we make a choice. The act of choosing itself, regardless of the decision we make, is in itself a fulfillment of God's will for us. God values our freedom so highly that He is willing to allow us to make choices even if they are not good ones.
In these two passages below, Jesus stated His love of human liberty.
Luke 4:16-21
16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. 17 The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
18 "The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."
20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, 21 and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."
NIV
John 8:31-36
31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free ."
33 They answered him, "We are Abraham's descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free ?"
34 Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free , you will be free indeed.
NIV
The result of Muslim's profound commitment to fatalism and Christian's equally strong commitment to freedom is readily apparent in Islamic societies when compared to Western societies. The submission to superiors in Islam prepares the Muslims to be perfect subjects in a totalitarian society called a Caliphate whereas the Christian commitment to personal freedom makes free democratic societies possible.
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