Can't be bothered to come up with a title

Well, we all had a nice discussion on Islam today. It's a common perception that Moslems and Christians worship the same god. Unfortunately, this is not true. While the word "Allah" does translate to "The Lord" which, of course, is the name for the Christian God, Islam focuses entirely on a single part of a single god. Whereas, the Trinity, although it is only implied, rather than explicitly stated ( I think, if you want to reference it, it's Mark 1:10-11). The Quran teaches that Christians worship the father, the mother, and the son. this is opposite the Christian worship of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Another idea is that Allah is a loving god just like The Lord. Therefore, if Allah loves everyone, then he must be the Christian God. Well, there's another problem. Sura 3:32 and 30:45 both explicitly state that "Allah loves not the unbelievers." This is opposed to The Christian John 3:16. (Which I'm not going to state here.)
I could also go into the commandments, jihad, or other things, but I don't have the time for that. If you want more info, comment and ask for a discussion. I'd be more than happy to oblige.

~Cody Martin

PS. I commented here

Christian and Islamic Violence

I think we all read anything to do with Islam with a hypercritical eye. Though I obviously do not believe what the Qur'an says, nor do I agree with the concept of the 'Holy War,' I must admit to the similarities of the Muslim and the Christian church of that era. In history, both Muslims and Christians have often used violence in the name of their faith. We like to point the finger at Islam being a violent religion, but we neglect considering our crusades. The Qur'an seems to contradict itself, saying not to wage war, yet the caliphs of later times were violent, raging wars for religious purposes. Christians did the same thing. Both break these rules, and seem to try to justify it. In a sense, I think Muslims could justify it more so by looking at their leader, the prophet Muhammed, who fought to protect and advance his teachings. Christians cannot justify this if they look at Christ, though; Christ is the difference, for He did not have to fight to preserve his teachings.
It amazes me how Islam and Muhammed could believe the things he does about Christianity. Jesus makes so man divinity statements--I mean, just read the Bible. I suppose if you just believe it is all made up, that is the only way to discredit parts of the religion but accept others. I have many mixed thoughts on this religion, but these are just a few.

commented on katelyn's

More to the Story?

While reading "Hadith of Muhammad's 'Night Journey'" there was something that struck me as fairly odd. If Muhammad always stressed the importance of not worshiping any gods before God then why did Muhammad make no description of God during his journey. We know that he must have seen and at least talked to God because he says that he saw the "Throne Room of God Almighty" and at the end he hears a voice that tells him "I have passed My command and have lessened the burden of My worshipers" which we can assume is the voice of God.  The only time he ever really mentions God directly is when he talks about going back to ask for a reduction in prayers per Moses advice. Muhammad makes a point to talk about all the prophets he got to see and what they said to them.  He also describes the angels, but he fails to describe what it felt like to be in the presence of God and what God must have said to him when Muhammad arrived to "the farthest boundary, beyond which no created thing, whether living or resurrection, whether human or angelic, may pass." I understand that God can sometimes be completely indescribable, but if I ever got the chance to visit Heaven I believe the part that would be the most memorable to me would be being able to stand face to face and actually have a conversation with the creator of the universe! It makes me wonder that while this may not be true if there is another version of the story or more to it that Muhammad talks about meeting God.

p.s. commented on Molly Gray's Contradictions

Totally Off Topic...

I've really enjoyed the history elements that we have brought into Honors this semester, courtesy of Dr. Brekke. To be honest, I knew very little of Islam before I read the assignments this week, and after class realized that there was still so much more I didn't know. The one thing I had gathered prior to this week was that Muslims believe they are descendants of Ishmael, Isaac's half brother. We didn't really touch on this in class, but I've always been amazed at how this feud between brothers that happened thousands of years is still present today. We can blame it all on Sarah, Abraham, or even Hagaar but where will that get us? The point is that we are to love those who believe differently than we do. From what I've gathered, Muslims don't understand true, divine judgment and Jews don't understand true, divine grace. Muslims were taught by Muhammad that if they saw injustice, whether sacrilegious or immoral, they are expected to enforce judgment and punishment as a part of their religious duty. They took it upon themselves to make this happen. But as Christians, we know that God will always enforce perfect judgement on His perfect timing. We are told to rebuke our fellow Christians out of love and to lead by example for the lost, but not to judge them ourselves because we don't have the divine authority to do that. Pick up any book by a Jewish theologian and you will find that the reason they can't make sense of God or His will, or the reason their ideas are different from ours is because their formulas lack grace. They were expecting a heroic, mighty, royal savior (lowercase intended because they sought earthly power and might) and instead found a baby in a manger. They couldn't understand that God came to save us by showing us selflessness and humility. As followers of Christ, we are they only grace and forgiveness they will see. We may worship the same God, but they still need a savior. That is what sets us apart from Judaism and Islam. We serve a loving God who came to save His people by becoming like them in body, and showing them how to live spiritually.

Commented on Tyler's "Unlikely Trinity"

burden of religion

The last section of the Night Journey talks about the observance of prayers and ends with “I have passed my command and have lessened the burden of my worshippers.” This and the entirety of Islam seem like very strict and structured legalism. Prayers are only five times a day, rather than fifty? That is a burden and a chore, and if they do not follow the rules they only have Hellfire to look forward to. That seems like such an awful way to live—constantly in fear of breaking one of the rules or not being good enough to get into heaven. The parts we read in the Qur’an support this legalistic mentality because all who do not listen and repent are destroyed. There is very little mercy, grace, or love. Islam says—if they don’t believe and get rid of the idols then kill them. So much fear must rule the lives of these people, and it saddens me. To think that Muhammad started off agreeing with Christianity and Judaism only to part with it when it didn’t match up with his “visions;” I wonder how much would’ve been different if he hadn’t rejected them. How different would the world be if Muhammad had chosen to follow Jesus? It’s an interesting thought…

On that same note… the level of devotion of Muslims is convicting to say the least. Allah is a god who demands absolute obedience and repentance or death. We have Jesus who has died for our sins and simply asks for us to follow Him. Yet so many of us are comfortable and content and take the love of Christ for granted. I am so grateful that He is loving and does not demand for us to keep the law without fault in order to somehow earn our way into heaven. I would never make it. I think Islam should cause us to look closely at our own level of devotion—how grateful do my actions say I am for the gift of salvation?

P.S. commented on Preston's "Interests in Islam"

Interests in Islam.

I really didn't think that we would touch on Islam and the journey's of Muhammad. In the Christian Ministries department, Islam comes up very often in the spectrum of Apologetics. The toughest thing about evangelism to the Muslim culture is their unmistakable amount of similarities with my own belief such as: Monotheistic focus, Old Testament inspiration, and the absolute truth of Heaven and Hell. Though these do not necessarily make evangelism harder, but they have supported Islam in the sense of their devout practices. For example, in our discussion today the prophet was led to paradise by an angel. In Heaven, he was revealed that fifty prayers were practiced daily. To think that modern Muslims practice five prayers daily is quite humbling when comparing my own faith to theirs. Typical Evangelical Christians believe in giving ten percent of their selves (monetarily, physically, and spiritually) to God, but rarely do. To think that Islamic culture gives ten percent of the prayers, which they believe are offered in Heaven everyday is astonishing. Muslims are hard to minister to because they are so close, yet so far away. I would say the biggest difference between Christianity and Islam would be it's Soteriology. Islam is completely works based, calling to keep oneself stable and Consecrated before Allah pure. Christianity mandates the same thing, but not without stating it's impossibility. Liberals will claim salvation is by the human experience, but ignore the blatant separation of definition between creation and creator.

 I understand most of this blog is my religious opinion, and i'm very sorry if it seems irrelevant. I suppose a question that I would ask is how far has Islam served us? Beginning with the journey of Muhammad and his successors, how does has this religion served the world in the testimony of it's culture and the implications it has spread socially, and politically. In keeping this applicable, how does Christianity compare, and does it contribute more positively or negatively to the world we live in? These two religions are clearly the largest in the world, and I believe if one can answer these questions they can be one step closer to finding truth. 

Preston C. Smith

P.S. I commented on Meghan Johnston's "Questions."

Contradictions

In the first section of "Excerpts from the Qur'an and Hadith" we are given a brief background of the origin of the Qur'an. It states that the Qur'an "clarifies and corrects earlier revelations", as in this corrects the revelations of the Judeo and Christian faiths. What bothers me about this statement is that this final revelations would "never become obscured or corrupted". But the Qur'an itself is a contradiction to the book of Revelations that clearly states that there would never be any more additions to the Scriptures (Revelations 22: 18-19), written prior to 110 AD with the Qur'an in the 600's.

ps- I commented on Katlyn Euwing's

An Unlikely Trinity

Does the world not seem to find it oddly convenient that three of the most influential religions in the world are very closely related?  I mean...the very fact that they all three preach about the same divine being that created the world and is actively involved in it warrants a little attention.  While the three are very different perspectives of monotheism, this unique trinity of religions has more in common than the world often gives credit.  After analyzing the texts and our discussion in class, it is obvious that Muhammad was mirroring the general idea of Judaism and Christianity.  All three present many of the same characters and ideas, which should provoke the world to investigate such an interesting phenomena; however, the world is often too intelligent to worry with petty religious activities.  I digress.  I just seem to find it interesting that the stories of the Bible are so incredibly rooted deep within a vast majority of the world and its cultures.  Even if some of them have been distorted - or perfected, depending on the point of view - surely their reoccurring behavior deserves more recognition from society. Then again...I could just be a radical, pious, bumbling baboon.

P.S. I commented on Gary Hamner's "Messiah"

Is that you, Moses?

The actions of Moses in the "Hadith of Muhammad's 'Night Journey'" surprised me. Moses wept - because he apparently knew that Muhammad would lead more people to heaven. He encouraged Muhammad to bargain with God about the daily prayer quota. The bargaining didn't seem strange to me (Moses had asked God to send a good speaker to talk to Pharaoh), but his crying did. Moses was jealous! This hadith made Moses seem petty to me.

P.S. I commented on Jasmine's post.

PROJECT IDEAS

Dear friends, here are the three suggested project ideas. Feel free to leave comments and discuss details and preferences and how we can make these better—this is YOUR final project and we want it to be something you are interested in!

(Note: Commenting on this post does not count as your comment for the blog grade this week, you still need to comment on someone else’s post about the reading—this is here for everyone to share ideas)

1.      Everyman. This is a morality play and an allegory about life, death, judgment, and salvation. You can read the plot summary here: http://www.gradesaver.com/everyman-and-other-miracle-and-morality-plays/study-guide/short-summary/

This was Dr. Abernathy’s original suggestion because there is depth and intensity but it’s also a manageable undertaking. There are many various roles and the part of “Everyman” is also divided up between scenes so one single person doesn’t have to bear such a large role.

Doing Everyman gives us a chance to explore it for ourselves outside of class, rather than reading it and spending only one day of class on it; it is a powerful play.

2.     The Tempest. This is a Shakespearean play, and Meghan worked out the details to present it as an option before the Council. You can read the plot summary here: http://absoluteshakespeare.com/guides/summaries/tempest/tempest_summary.htm

And here are the reasons why this has been suggested:
Those of us who have been working on putting The Tempest together, and I’ve [Meghan] been doing most of it for fun, wish to do this play for five different reasons:

--Everyman was done last Medieval semester, when those who were sophomores my freshman year were freshmen themselves. I know that the way we’d do the play would be different than before, but the story is the same. We want to do something fresh so that people will remember the project for years to come (like The Trojan Horse, the Trebuchet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, the last Everyman, and the Silent movie are).

--The theme of forgiveness and redemption is something that every Christian should remember. It’s something that we should all be reminded of constantly.

--The roles within the play are diverse. There are 8 major roles, 8 minor roles, and 3 medium roles. There is also the potential for a great many roles who have no lines at all, and these roles can be as many or as few as we make them.

--It’s Shakespeare, and yes it can be difficult to learn. However, because we are studying the Medieval and Renaissance time periods, we should do something that represents that time very well.

--The way we have set up the schedule, only those that are in the scenes/acts we’ll be going over on any given night will be required to be at rehearsal

3.       Medieval dance. This was recently suggested by Dr. Mitchell and probably requires the most brainstorming at this point, so please comment away! Everyone would learn a traditional dance of the era; we would dress in costume and… (here’s where you jump in!)

It would definitely be memorable and lots of fun. It would still require work beforehand to learn the dance and make costumes and such, but it would probably be less than meeting to rehearse for a play.

Personally, I think all three are great ideas, and I want to hear what y’all think. I want this project to be something you enjoy working on and something that captures the spirit of Honors- everyone coming together with a common vision and goal, working together and discovering truth along the journey.

We will be voting on the project next Thursday!

Tantum e tenebris receptum constabit

Logical Levels of Heaven

As I was reading “Hadith of Muhammad’s Night Journey,” it really bothered me when the passage discussed the levels of Heaven. In what order could this possibly be? The first level was Adam followed by John the Baptist and Jesus in the second level. Joseph the dreamer was in the third level followed by Idris (who was thought to be Enoch), Aaron, Moses and finally Abraham. There does not seem to be any logical order for these men of God. If it was in order of importance then why would Aaron come after John the Baptist and Jesus? Why would Aaron have his own level of Heaven while Jesus and John had to share a level? Muhammad seems like he is almost belittling the impact that Jesus had on the Jews and Christians and putting more weight on the Old Testament, historical figures. Someone please explain to me!

PS. I commented on Jasmine's "Religious People in Muhammad's Eyes" 

Holy War

One of the topics that was very interesting to me in the reading was when it discussed holy war.

"Slay them wherever you find them. Drive them out of the places from which they drove you. Idol-worship is worse than bloodshed."

I may be completely ignorant in saying this or even bringing this up as a legitimate point of discussion, but this seems like a pretty obvious justification of war to me. The only condition they are given is to not attack others first, other than that, the basic guideline of idol-worship being worse than bloodshed seems to be a a general rule of thumb to go by for war. I would be interested to know just how statements like this are thought of and treated with practicing muslims. It is an interesting contradiction to the Christian idea of turning the other cheek. Jesus put it very clearly in the sermon on the mount when he explained how as Christians, we have no business defending ourselves from the attacks of others. Nonetheless, we see Christian holy war many times in history in instances like the the crusades. Like I said, this may be completely ignorant, but it was an interesting thought to me.

P.S. I commented on Rebekah Dye's "My favorite difference"

Evil or Confused?

Going into this, I knew a little about Islam from prior study and the occasional Sunday school lesson on world religions. Today in class, however, I learned that I had several misconceptions about the religion in general.

For example, I always thought that Mohammad was just an evil (or possibly crazy) man who was looking to start a new movement for his own personal fame and fortune. While this really may be the case, I have no way of ever truly knowing his motives of course, today in class I found myself feeling really bad for him.  I had no idea that he originally thought he was aligning himself with Judaism and Christianity and didn't look to start a new religion. What if he just got confused and didn't understand?

Realizing several of the misconceptions I had about Islam, I started to think about the way many Christians often view people of other religions We all know that it is important to have a basic knowledge of other religions in order to further the Gospel, but we as Christians should go a step further to view to followers of those religions with compassion and love, not as if they are "evil."  While some may have selfish motives, some may just be "confused."

PS: Commented on Josh Goldman's "Good Band Name: Mohammad's Pajamas"

Questions

One thing popped into my mind while I was reading the Qur’an and from that one thing stemmed many other things. I thought about how eerily similar in many places the Bible and the Qur’an are. While the reason for this was discussed today in class, it made me think of something else. I thought about what would happen if I weren’t a devout Christian who didn’t believe that the Bible was the true and inspired word of God. If this was the case what would I be inclined to believe about both books and both religions? Which religion would I be more inclined to believe? If I was just a Christian in name, would I be easily swayed by the fact that the Qur’an is similar to the Bible and states that the Bible is not completely true?

These questions are not some that I can easily answer, especially not with any authority. What I can say with authority is that I can understand how so many people of other religions find the fighting between Muslims and Christians so strange. From the outside it looks like Christianity and Islam are both factions of the same religion. Perhaps this is what makes so many people uninterested in listening to Christians, and Muslims, about religion.

I hope everyone has a fantastic rest of their Valentine’s Day and a fantastic rest of the week!

Tantum e tenebris receptum constabit,

~Meghan Johnston

P.S. I commented on Gary’s post “Messiah”

Muslim with new eyes

It's so interesting to study the origins of Islam. I studied it briefly in highschool, but since then my family has become very close to a Muslim family from Jordan. I was fascinated by the fact that Muhammad saw the church as non monotheistic, and sought to create a truer religion. Especially since Christianity IS monotheistic. There actually are so many similarities- I think of the value of modesty and devotion to God. The reason this family respects my family so much is because they see us as devout Christians. It's amazing how much they can relate to our respect to God. For girls, modesty takes a very different look for Muslims. However, Ebtisomb (my mom's friend) respects her because my mom is modest, even though she doesn't cover her hair. It makes it so much easier for them to be friends.
I wonder if Christians were more devout, would we actually make the way for conversations to start with Muslims?

Good Band Name: Muhammad's Pajamas

Confession time: this is going to be one of my shorter posts. However, I have a good point to make. We took a look in class about the similarities between the Jews and Muslims. In our reading, we saw that many of the same people who are in the Old Testament are also in the Qur'an. Because the names of Abraham and Moses are in both writings, I think that it confirms the legitimacy of their existence. For many people, it is hard to discern whether or not some of the Holy texts are fact or faked. They believe that it is hard to believe  the accuracy of something written thousands of years ago. However, if two different books from different sources that are claiming to be factual write about the same people, it seems to me to be further evidence. It is similar in the gospels where people are disturbed that some of the same things are written about in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. However, if the writers are telling the same story, but in different ways, some of the stories are bound to coincide. Now, this might not be the  best example because the gospels are claiming the same truth, but the Old Testament and Qur'an are claiming two different beliefs. However, I think that further justifies the legitimacy of the people in these books. If they disagree on a number of things, but agree on certain things as truth, it is likely that those things are true.

What are the Similarities?

The whole point that Islam branches off makes of Judaism makes plenty of sense. The quote that Dr. Brekke gave us today from the Quran said "he who worships Muhammad, Muhammad is dead now. But he who worships Allah, He is ever living and He never dies." This is similar to the Christian religion in that we do not focus on the prophets from the Old Testament such as Elijah and Samuel. We still focus entirely on God's whole being: the Trinity (with the exception of Jesus in Islam).

However, I do not understand at what point Muhammad considered the Bible no longer correct. Did he only consider the fact that we worship God, and that is the only thing we have in common? This just seems to back up the evidence that Muhammad never read the whole bible.

Also to go along with that, in the Quran, Muhammad writes about the advocation of violence if a person does not convert to Islam or pay taxes. Is this like a transition back into the old testament days?

P.S. I commented on Susan Berner's "Learning New Things!"

The Two Monotheisms

Islam is a distinctly monotheistic religion. Its central creed, the shahada, says, "There is no god but God, and Mohammed is his prophet." Similarly, the Christian church declares, "The Lord our God, the Lord is one." What distiguishes the two monotheisms from each another is the Christians' doctrine of the Trinity.

The Athaniasian Creed (attributed to Athanasius, the 20th bishop of Alexandria) states,  "[We] worship one God in trinity, and Trinity in unity, neither confusing the persons nor dividing the divine being. For the Father is one person, the Son is another, and the Spirit is another still. But the deity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is one, equal in glory, coeternal in majesty. What the Father is, the Son is, and so is the Holy Spirit."

Orthodox Christianity rejects modalism (God is one person who appears in three different forms) and tritheism (the Trinity is three seperate Gods) as gross heresies. Instead, God is one divine essence simultaneously existing as three distinct yet coequal persons--one what and three whos. Though not formally irrational, the Trinity is utterly mysterious, beyond man's range of complete understanding.

Perhaps it is the doctrine's incomprehensibility that makes Islam percieve it as polytheism. Qur'an 112 speaks of Allah's oneness and unity. The angel says to Mohammed, "He is Allah, the One, Allah, the Eternal Refuge. He begets not, nor was he begotten; and there is none coequal or comparable unto him." To Mohammed, if there is monotheism, there can't be a Trinity, and if there's a Trinity, there can't be monotheism. Christianity stands in contrast to Mohammed's "pure" monotheism.

These notions stem from a wrong understanding of what the Trinity actually is: one God in three persons, determinedly monothesitic yet unsearchably mysterious. The Christian God is utterly unique. "Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods?" (Exodus 15:11)

For further reading:

• A Brief Definition of the Trinity by Dr. James White
• Is Christianity Rational? by Dan Philips
• The Athanasian Creed
• The Nicene Creed

EDIT: Commented on Gary Hamner's "Messiah."

Messiah

While reading the "Night Journey" I found something that I thought was very interesting. In this handout Jesus is referenced and they call him Messiah. I found this to be puzzling because Messiah means Savior or deliverer. I fail to see where the Muslims would be ok with calling Jesus the Savior. And if they are ok with calling Him Messiah then I cannot see how the Muslims would not regard him as the Savior of the world. It seems to me that by calling Jesus the Messiah they are being blasphemous, if anybody can help me understand this I'de appreciate
 it.

PS: I commented on Rebekah's post "favorite difference"

God's children

The discussion of how to treat Christians and Jews in the Qur’an is so fascinating to me, especially when you think of the comparison Dr. Brekke made in class to how we say the Jews are unfulfilled.  When the revelation to Muhammad says, speaking to Christians and Jews, “People of the Book!  Do not transgress the bounds of truth in your religion,” Muhammad is stating that the bounds of truth  are the overlapping of truth within the Qur’an and the Bible.  His confusion at the trinity is understandable, but I think what truly bothers him is the relationship that Christians and Jews claim with God.  Muhammad thinks of it as god choosing people, therefore He would have to be unjust.  After all, how can a loving and fair God only choose specific people to save?  What Muhammad doesn’t realize, however, is that Christians, who are beloved by God, become that way because we follow and accept Him.  All people have the opportunity to be God’s children, but only some accept.

P.S.: Commented on Rebekah's "My Favorite difference."

The Religious People in Muhammad's eyes

I think it is interesting to think about the way Muhammad viewed people like Abraham, Moses, and Jesus. When I think of the Muslim faith I just think they care nothing about these people, who are very important to Christians. He still believes them to be just as holy and great, but the fact that Jesus is the son of God does not sit well. He simply believes Jesus was a great prophet of The Lord. I do find it odd that he believes that these people were Muslims and that Jewish people misunderstood them so their beliefs were the same as Muslims and they just corrupted them. He only had against the Jews what he saw as misunderstandings of the prophets. This is a very interesting topic however because no one really thinks to look into this religion historically or through the eyes of Muhammad. Ps I commented on Susan Berner's learning new things.

My favorite difference

Today in class, Dr. Brekke mentioned that Muhammad thought originally that his 'new religion' started out the same as Christianity and the Jewish religion. It was his opinion that they started out the same, then the other two changed.

There are a lot of differences in Muhammad's 'religion' and Christianity but one of the differences that I love the most, is the concept of it changing.
Christians have changed the way they live, yes.
But praise the Lord, our God has never changed!!
He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

Although this may not have been Muhammad's exact point, this is what I took out of todays lecture and I loved thinking about it and dwelling on the fact that my God is unchangeable!


P.s. I commented on Susan Berner's "Learning New Things"

Learning New Things!

                I am very happy that we are learning some about the Islamic faith in this class.  In high school I had the opportunity to go to a Masque and observe the men doing their afternoon prayers and then speak to some spiritual leaders of the community.  One of the men there had memorized the entire Qur'an and was very knowledgeable about his religion.  It was really interesting to learn about another religion and to hear how the people believed their faith was similar to the Christian faith.  They tried to tell us that Jesus was only an important man like Moses or Abraham, and that their god is the same as our God.  It is obvious in our first reading that some of the messages of the two religions are the same.  For example, "Revelations of the Past" sounds a little bit like some of Moses' story when the Israelites were in the desert.  I love getting to learn about what other people believe; it reveals so much about people groups and what influences their actions. 

-Susan

I commented on Dylan Copeland