There is a possibility that you will find this reply fluffy, but here is my take ...

I know your frustration, Barney.
Sometimes, when I read the Bible or pray for guidance in some matter or another, I feel like saying (indeed quite often I do say) 'Whatever do you mean, God? Can you speak more clearly, please?!'

However, I don't think we come closer to God by using our holy books like an instruction leaflet and following the instructions step-by-step.
Jesus warned us against just following instructions/laws, without consideration for ourselves and others.

The Bible account tells us that what God desires most is our relationship with him.
How better to we get into a relationship with him than through prayerfully considering his word, through pondering and discussing his instructions?
Frustrating as it may seem at times, the more we say 'God where are you?' and 'God, what do you mean?', there closer we get to him, and the more he reveals himself.

You sound like a bit of a God-chaser yourself to me, Barney!
Direct guidance from God is so vital ... and we should never give up seeking it.

Peace be upon those who follow the guidance,

in the end we WILL all see the Truth, In Sha'a Allah! some just won't be so happy to see it then!

Greetings, Dr Trax

Can you elaborate why you think that?

Peace

I trust that a God who 'so loved the world' will be mercyful and forgiving, even to those who misunderstood him.

Speaking for myself, I believe that God knows just how much I love him and desire to serve him.
As for Barney, I believe that God knows how much he is trying to fathom him out and make sense of him and his teachings.
As for you, I believe that God knows you made your choice to the best of your understanding and in the desire to do right.

Peace

I was taking world population as 20% Christian's who were all accepting of Jesus as their lord and would all be saved. That leaves 80% non-christian's who will burn

Eric was saying God chooses who he wills to be saved and we have no choice in the matter,(I.E accept Christianity), the fact is ..very few do!

I wanted to explain what you said.
You said that: Jesus is the way to salvation!
He was the way to salvation just for that particular time and that group of people,but after him has come the Last Prophet, Muhammad(Peace and Blessings Be Upon Him),as a mercy to the World, so we should start to follow him!
Because he was and is for all humans the way to Salvation until the Day Of Judgment,!
Also Jesus said this!Try to look at the Bible,it is mentioned there!



Allah has revealed that these scriptures were guides for the societies to which they were sent. In one verse (Surah Al ‘Imran, 3-4), He reveals:

He has sent down the Book to you with truth, confirming what was there before it. And He sent down the Torah and the Gospel, previously, as guidance for humanity, and He has sent down the Furqan. (Surah Al ‘Imran, 3-4)

As is mentioned in the Qur’an, the Old and New Testaments, the Psalms and the pages of Prophet Abraham (pbuh) are scriptures sent down to prophets who lived in past centuries. A portion of these books has been lost, and what remains has been corrupted or altered. Nonetheless, they still contain many true and accurate statements regarding the true faith.

Also the Old Testament describes how Prophet Moses (pbuh) believed his people would corrupt the stipulations in the Old Testament after he had gone, and felt the need to protect the book:

After Moses finished writing in a book the words of this law from beginning to end, he gave this command to the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord: “Take this Book of the Law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God. There it will remain as a witness against you. For I know how rebellious and stiff-necked you are. If you have been rebellious against the Lord while I am still alive and with you, how much more will you rebel after I die! Assemble before me all the elders of your tribes and all your officials, so that I can speak these words in their hearing and call heaven and Earth to testify against them. For I know that after my death you are sure to become utterly corrupt and to turn from the way I have commanded you. In days to come, disaster will fall upon you because you will do evil in the sight of the Lord and provoke him to anger by what your hands have made. (Deuteronomy, 31:24-29)

Oh definatly I am
Cheers for the reply Glo. I'll have a ponder over that one .

I was raised as a Christian (Baptist), but I reverted to Islam while I was in college. Since I can remember, I have always believed in a Supreme Creator and have striven to worship this Being. When I first read the Quran, I went through the index of Yusuf Ali translation to find all of the passages that referred to people that I knew from the Bible, particularly Jesus and Mary. At first I disbelieved because it was different from what I believed at the time, but I kept reading anyway. I reached a point where I concluded that the Quran was more logical in the teaching that God is One without ancestors, descendants or equal. My fundamentally beliefs changed in a "paradigm shift" kind of way. I have not studied all of the world's religions, but I accept on faith that Islam is True. The fundamental teachings of Islam is to believe that God is One, to do good deeds, such as prayer and charity, and to avoid the bad, such as murder, adultery, dishonesty, gambling, and consuming alcohol. It is also consistent with my prior belief in a Hereafter, but with a means to gain Paradise and avoid Hellfire that was more logical than the Christian means of salvation. Ironically, I accept the uncertainty of my personal destiny as a Muslim over the certainty of salvation promised by Christianity.

I have pondered this as well, hence one of the reasons for choosing my name, Mustafa, which means "chosen". It humbles me to think that God chose to guide me from among the many Christians that have surround me for my entire life.Yes, I too see the sincerity of some Christians that I too felt when I was one. Yet True guidance comes but from Allah.

Quran 6:148-149 In response to this the mushrikin (polytheists) will promptly say: "If Allah wanted, neither we nor our forefathers would have been mushrikin, or we could have made anything unlawful." That is how their ancestors rejected the truth in the past until they tasted of Our punishment. If they say so, then ask them: "Do you have any evidence that you can put before us? The fact of the matter is, you believe in nothing but conjecture and follow nothing but falsehood." Say: "In contrast to your position, Allah's argument is conclusive; if it had been His will He could indeed have guided you all."

Quran 10:99-100 If it had been the will of your Rabb (Lord) that all the people of the world should be believers, all the people of the earth would have believed! Would you then compel mankind against their will to believe? It is not possible for anyone to believe except by the permission of Allah, and He throws filth on those who do not use their common-sense.

These ayat show that people choose to believe what they will as we have the freedom and responsibility to do so, yet the mystery of Divine Guidance remains.

Assalamualykum


The statement Islam is the only true religion is not correct!
Hang on!!!
Islam is the last and final true religion of god.

Over a period of time Allah (swt) has sent approx 125000 messengers about 25 are mentioned in the holy Quran by name.

So you could say that there were approx 125000 true religions in the world and Islam is and will remain the last and final religion till the end of time because Allah (swt) says so in the holy Quran.

why last and final?
Allah (swt) in his infinite wisdom alone knows the true reason
But we can logically satisfy ourselves.

Earlier different parts of the world was occupied by people having different culture, language, and civilization

Allah (swt) had sent messengers to these tribes, nations and these messengers were from amongst their own people and this religion or message was limited to these region or people and the rules or commandments were according to the situation prevailing at that time
During earlier time man had not progressed much and was lacking in scientific and technical knowledge, lack of long distance communication, lack of preservation of information, difficulty in transportation

Hence it was logical to send different prophets to different tribes and nations

If we take example of Jesus (pbuh)” Then he said to the woman, "I was sent only to help the people of Israel--God's lost sheep--not the Gentiles." - Matthew 15:24”

Now during this early time if a messenger wanted to spread his message to all over the world it would have been impossible, the message would have got corrupted because of lack of preserving and verifying the message this is what has happened with the bible and other religion there is no original preserved text or message to verify.
This is not so with the holy Quran.
For all the other true religions it was the responsibility of the people to preserve the message of god

But for the preservation of the holy Quran Allah [swt] himself has taken the responsibility

Verily We: It is We Who have sent down the Dhikr (i.e. the Quran) and surely, We will guard it (from corruption).
Al-Hijr 9
Translation-M. Khan

The preservation of holy Quran is not through written form but by rote or through heart (technically brain)

And We have indeed made the Quran easy to understand and remember, then is there any that will remember (or receive admonition)?
(Chapter #54, Verse #17)

It is not difficult to find children as young as 7 or 8 years old who have memorized the whole Quran

There are millions of people who have memorized the whole Quran.
During month of Ramadan tarawih prayers are held during night in which whole Quran is recited over the one month period
Also Arabic language is still spoken

When Quran is recited in Arabic it has a rhythm and if a word or phrase is missed the rhythm is broken and hence it comes to notice that something is missing or changed.

Thus Quran can be checked if there is mistake in text form whether intentional or otherwise.


Since millions of people have memorized the holy Quran it can be verified by multiple sources, also holy prophet made sure that his companion memorized the Quran.

Allah (swt) has used human brain to protect the holy Quran from corruption

As we all are aware what a marvelous peace of genius creation is brain by Allah (swt)
Allah-o-akbar!
Alhumdulliah!

If you look at the timeline of world progress during dark ages for Europe it was golden period for Muslims

Ibn al-Haytham first described pinhole camera

The modern cheque comes from the Arabic saqq, a Muslim businessman could cash a cheque in China drawn on his bank in Baghdad.

Abbas Ibn Firnas invented an artificial weather simulation room,

Plaster by Abu al-Qasim (Abucasis) in 1000

the first smallpox vaccine

Injection syringe by the Iraqi surgeon

Over 200 surgical instruments

Just Google Muslim inventions or 1001 inventions and be surprised!


If you notice from this period onwards the world started to shrink meaning people began to know a lot more about the earth and its habitants boundaries were expanded nations were captured

There were expeditions and people began to explore different parts of the world
Human knowledge was on the rise.

It began to become easier to spread the message of Islam to different parts of the world
And during last few centuries the progress has been indeed very rapid

As preservation of the message was no problem it remained uncorrupted


The progress of man has not been linear but rather exponential
And Islam had arrived just when the progress was about to take off
Hence Islam is relative young religion.

During present time it even easier to spread the message of Islam
Taking example of myself I can communicate with people practical any where in the world
Also the whole Quran and hadiths are available for people to analyze, scrutinize, verify.

Allah (swt) has also made his commandments and rules that one must follow in Islam universal; Islam does not require one to forgo his culture as long as it does not conflict with teaching of Islam
So it is logical there is no need for any new religion or prophet because all the message and information is available in any part of the world.



And Allah (swt) says

And We have sent you (O Muhammad SAW) not but as a mercy for the Alameen (mankind, jinns and all that exists)
.Chapter #21, Verse #107

“this day have i perfected your religion for you, completed My favour upon you, and have chosen for you islam as your religion..”

Chapter #5, Verse #3


Now for the question
How do we know which religion is true?

For that first you must reflect at the magnitude of his creation


How big is the Universe?

youtube.com/watch?v=Zr7wNQw12l8&feature=related


.

.
If you want to rebuild twin towers again the person to do that must have some credential and qualities he must tell what he is capable of doing and showcase some of his creation

Now to conclude which god is true god you must know what the religion say about their god.

What are his qualities?
What power he posses?
What he is capable of doing?

Collect this information from as many as religion you can get hold of.

For example

In Islam god has 99 names or attributes (one hidden) which describe him
Here are few of them

Read them very carefully


As-Salaam
The Source of Peace, The One who is free from every imperfection.

Al-Quddoos
The Holy, The One who is pure from any imperfection and clear from children and adversaries.

Al-Mutakabbir
The Majestic, The One who is clear from the attributes of the creatures and from resembling them.

Al-Khaaliq
The Creator, The One who brings everything from non-existence to existence.
Al-Musawwir
The Fashioner, The One who forms His creatures in different pictures.

Al-Ghaffaar
The Great Forgiver, The Forgiver, The One who forgives the sins of His slaves time and time again.

As-Samee^
The All-Hearing, The Hearer, The One who Hears all things that are heard by His Eternal Hearing without an ear, instrument or organ.

Al-Baseer
The All-Seeing, The One who Sees all things that are seen by His Eternal Seeing without a pupil or any other instrument.

Al-Haleem
The Forebearing, The Clement, The One who delays the punishment for those who deserve it and then He might forgive them.

Al-Kabeer
The Most Great, The Great, The One who is greater than everything in status.

Al-Haqq
The Truth, The True, The One who truly exists.

Al-Mateen
The Firm One, The One with extreme Power which is un-interrupted and He does not get tired.

Al-Mumeet
The Creator of Death, The Destroyer, The One who renders the living dead.

Al-Qayyoom
The Self-Subsisting, The One who remains and does not end.


Al-'Awwal
The First, The One whose Existence is without a beginning.

Al-'Akhir
The Last, The One whose Existence is without an end.

Az-Zaahir
The Manifest, The One that nothing is above Him and nothing is underneath Him, hence He exists without a place. He, The Exalted, His Existence is obvious by proofs and He is clear from the delusions of attributes of bodies.

Al-Ghaniyy
The Self-Sufficient, The One who does not need the creation.



Al-Badi^
The Incomparable, The One who created the creation and formed it without any preceding example.

Al-Baaqi
The Everlasting, The One that the state of non-existence is impossible for Him.


As-Saboor
The Patient, The One who does not quickly punish the sinners.



From Christianity

The father ( ask the Christians )

The ghost ( ask the Christians )

The son ( ask the Christians )



Now compare these

And if you are logical, unbiased, looking for truth then I’m sure you will find that the only entity that is capable of creating all this is Allah (swt)

Sorry for the long post, hope I have not bored you.


All the true things I said is from Allah (swt) and any unintentional mistake I may have made is from me, May Allah (swt) forgive me

Allah (swt) alone knows best




.

Well there are different ways, one can start with some assumptions, if God would provide a religion and punish those who did not follow it, then in principle, God would have to make this religion's truthfulness clear from others, if we are to believe this is a Just God.

There is the way of checking each religion, but to narrow it down one can come up with a criteria.

A Critreria which most would accept, most people I speak to face to face accept end up accepting this, would be two things:

1. We should know the people who brought the message forward.

2. We should know that the message has not been changed.

A religion which does not have this fails, and a religion who posesses this, can go through to the next stage of scrutanisation.

;)

And what if the choice is ours?

The context of the message and how the message is delivered are two different things, of course God would have to speak to us in a logical/understandble method, but the message may not be what we think is logical all the time, sometimes our logic is wrong, and if our logic was always right there would be no need for religion telling anyone what to do for we would have worked it all out.

But what about those who wilfully choose to misunderstand, or those who think they understand but don't check as much as they should, or verify as much as they would for worldly matters when it comes to the choice of religion.