I have to say, thanks for the reply guys. I have been reading the Bible, and closely examining it. I am in Genesis right now. It started, with me really taking a step back and examining things.
First off, you can feel free to read the Jewish old testament at
http://www.mechon-mamre.org/ -- this is from the Jewish people who are still practicing Judaism,
First, I examined if the Jewish Scripture, and I am currently going through it (I'm in Genesis right now) to see any mention or support of the Trinity (ie Father, Son, Holy Spirit), or any mention of a Son of God savior (Jesus)
I am going to go through the entire Old Testament for myself, and see for myself.
I thought to myself, if the Jewish text does not support the idea of a trinity, or a savior like Jesus that would die for our sins, then what's going on?
I have to examine the scripture for myself, take a hard look at everything.
Right now I am in the process of putting things together and examining the scripture.
If the Jewish scripture does not support Christian ideas (like I thought it did), then I have to believe the Islamic perspective that these texts are corrupted.
Already, just reading Genesis, I am seeing so many contradictions in the Jewish scripture.
These things, I were not even looking for them. I just noticed these contradictions as I was reading Genesis.
Listen to this,
First off, the first supportive statement that I saw for a trinity was Genesis 3:22
http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0103.htm
"And the LORD God said: 'Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil; and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever.'
"One of us" is what I am referring to. Sounds like in this scripture, God is talking to someone, it doesn't say who he is talking to, but he said Man has become as one of us, knowing good and evil.
Perhaps in this instance, God was talking with an angel when he was saying this? Perhaps this is a supportive statement of the trinity? I'm unsure.
That being said, as I continued to read through Genesis, I saw many contradictions in the scripture.
Genesis 4:6-7
6: And the LORD said unto Cain: 'Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?
7: If thou doest well, shall it not be lifted up? and if thou doest not well, sin coucheth at the door; and unto thee is its desire, but thou mayest rule over it.'
So, here God is saying to Cain, you are basically giving a weak sacrifice to me, not giving me your best. And he says, if you do well, shall it not be lifted up? And if you don't do well, sin crouches at the door, and on you is its desire, but you may rule over it (not give into it)
Then, Cain kills Abel, and he went from the presence of the Lord, and dwelled in Nod, east of Eden.
But, it says that he had a wife, and she conceived.
The problem with this though,
Genesis speaks as if there was people already on Earth besides Cain / Abel, -- like humans from a different lineage, that existed besides Adam & Eve.
Genesis 3:20 -- the man called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living
If Eve was the mother of all living, where did Cain's wife come from?
Genesis does not say at this point that Adam & Eve had a daughter,
And even if they did have a daughter that wasn't mentioned,
Cain having a child / marrying his sister, this would be incest, which is against God's Law.
Then it describes Cain's son, Enoch, having a son named Irad.
Who was Enoch's wife? Another human woman, that was not the child of Adam and Eve?
Same with Irad?
Finally, in Genesis 4:25, it mentions Adam & Eve's third child, Seth.
But then it says later in Genesis 4:26, that Seth had a child named Enosh,
But who was Seth's wife?
It seems like there any many humans alive at this point, seperate from Adam and Eve, Cain, Abel and Seth.
Cain had a wife, Enoch had a wife, Irad had a wife, Mehujael had a wife, Methushael had a wife, Lamech had two wives (named Adah and Zillah),
Then it says Adah bore Jabal, and his brother's name was Jubal,
And it says Zillah bore Tubal-cain, and that the sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah,
So, Lamech had four children with his 2 wives at this point.
But the question is, where are all these other humans coming from?
It seems a great contradiction. From this text, it seems there are others, besides the lineage of Adam & Eve,
And the children of Adam & Eve and their decendents married these other humans who came from a different lineage besides Adam & Eve.
If there is a Islamic perspective on this story, I'd be interested to hear it.
Then later reading the bible Genesis 6:5-7
5: And the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
6: And it repented the LORD that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him at His heart.
7: And the LORD said: 'I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and creeping thing, and fowl of the air; for it repenteth Me that I have made them.'
I have heard the Islamic perspective of this story as well.
Basically, it is saying that the wickedness of man was great, and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil, continually.
Then it says, God regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it greived Him at His heart (our existence greived his heart), and God says he will basically destroy man, beast, every living being, because in his heart he regrets that he made them.
How can God regret doing something, though?
I asked this question some time ago, and a Muslim gave me their perspective on it. How can God be perfect, if he regretted something he did?
This is like saying that God doesn't know the future, that he wouldn't know how things would play out, and once he had saw the wickedness of the people, he regretted creating them. But, from the Islamic perspective, God should have known that this was happening, yes? Then it says that God destroyed everything, but then he remembered Noah, and everything in the ark, and he made the waters to recede Then eventually Noah sacrificed on the an altar he made for the Lord, and God smelled the sweet savour, and God said in his heart, "I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done."
Anyways, to be quite honest, I am hearing contradiction after contradiction when reading the Bible
During one of these Muslim Christian debates, I remember hearing something. Christians just accept whatever a preacher says, without any type of proof or anything. In Islam, if a Muslim says something, he must have proof. In Christianity, we don't think about proof. So we hear statements from preachers like, the coming of Jesus was foretold in the Old Testament, and we hear all these statements, and we just hear them and don't question them. But honestly, even if the coming of Jesus was foretold, was it foretold that he was the son of God? Was the trinity ever mentioned in the Torah? These are subjects I have to explore. Because the Jewish standpoint is that there is no trinity. So, if Jewish text contradicts Christian text, then it makes me think that the Islamic perspective is the truth. So, honestly right now, I am finally leaning towards Islam. I will research some more topics, but I have to say, the Bible is full of contradictions, in such a way that it is supporting what Islam says in a way.
I think, if I become a Muslim, I will write a book or something about all of this, lol.
Anyways, thank you everyone that has responded to this topic. I have a lot of things to consider.
I would encourage anyone that wants to, to give your opinion on anything I've written in this post.
Cheers!