Hi everone, I am a Christian investigating Islam.

Welcome to the forum,

I hope this will not be your only post. Do feel free to browse through the site. Your first post is really about introduction so I won't go into commenting as yet. But as you quite rightly put it, this is life and death .....
.. and there is only one truth.

Peace

Hi dcalling,

Welcome to the forum. I hope this will be a little of help. Please don't hesitate to ask any clarification if you don't understand, or any other questions if you have.



Worship is not the introduction to additional rewards, but the result of previous bounties. Yes, we have received our wage, and are accordingly charged with the duties of service and worship.

• Because, O soul!, since the All-Glorious Creator, Who clothed you in existence which is pure good, has given you a stomach and appetite, through His Name of Provider, He has placed before you all foods on a table of bounties.
• Then, since He has given you a life decked out with senses, life too requires sustenance like a stomach; all your senses like eyes and ears are like hands before which He has placed a table of bounties as broad as the earth.
  
• Then, because He has given you humanity, which requires many immaterial foods and bounties, He has laid out before that stomach of humanity, in so far as the hand of the mind can reach, an extensive table of bounties as broad as the worlds of both the inner and outer dimensions of things.
  
• Then, since He has given you Islam and belief, which require infinite bounties and are nourished through countless fruits of mercy and are supreme humanity, He has opened up before you a table of bounties, pleasure, and happiness which includes the sphere of contingency together with the sphere of His sacred Names and attributes.
  
• Then, through giving you love of divine (muhabbetullah) and knowledge of divine (ma'rifetullah), which is a light of belief, He has bestowed on you an endless table of bounties, happiness, and pleasure.
  

That is to say, with regard to your corporeality you are an insignificant, weak, impotent, lowly, restricted, limited particular, but through His favour, you have as though risen from being an insignificant particular to being a universal, luminous whole. For by giving you life, He has raised you from particularity to a sort of universality; and by giving you humanity, to true universality; and by bestowing Islam on you, to an exalted, luminous universality; and by giving you knowledge and love of Him, He has elevated you to an all-encompassing light.

O soul! You have received this wage, and you are charged with the pleasurable, bountiful, easy, and light duty of worship. But you are lazy in this too. If you perform it half-heartedly, it is as though the former wages are insufficient for you and you are overbearingly wanting greater things. Also, you are complaining: “Why was my prayer not accepted?” But your right is not complaint, it is supplication. Through His pure grace and munificence, Almighty God bestows Paradise and eternal happiness. So seek refuge in His mercy and munificence constantly. Trust in Him and heed this decree:

Say: “In the bounty of God, and His mercy –in that let them rejoice;” that is better than the [wealth] they hoard." (Qur’an, 3:31)

~Second Fruit

Here are some sites with good info

http://www.islamreligion.com/category/33/

http://www.islamcan.com/index.shtml

Thank you Greenhill, this will definitely not be my only post. It took me over 10 years arguing with my Christian friends to finally confirm it (though still have questions, at least I can live with them), and I think it will be a life long task to live by the word of God :-)

Blessings :-)

Thanks Signor. I have done enough readings, know most of the basics of Islam and much more of Christianity. It doesn't mean I have read all, just mans I have read enough for my tiny mind to be able to understand in this period of time.
And to answer your question, yes I want salvation, and I want more people to be saved (or in my current mind, convert as many to Christianity as I can. I hope it is not too offensive to you :-)).

format_quote Originally Posted by dcalling

convert as many to Christianity as I can. I hope it is not too offensive to you :-)).

I understand how you feel but you can't do that on a forum, just like I am sure Christian forums have, this forum has rules which state you can't come and try to convert people..etc.

Hi Insaanah,

Thank you for point it out. I will try my best to obey forum rules. I have done a lot of readings for now and I will start to ask questions shortly. I am still trying to get through all my readings lately and get my questions out.

format_quote Originally Posted by dcalling

If Christianity is true, you guys can't enter heaven and be with God except through Jesus ("I am the way, truth, life, no one comes to the Father except through me"), so no matter how many good deeds you do, if not through Jesus you are not saved. However if Islam is true, then I can't enter heaven because I don't believe in Muhammad (even though I did most God's commandments and prayed to him through Jesus).

I think this might be another misconception you have about Islam. Although we believe that Muhammad (peace be upon him) is the last and final messenger sent to all of mankind by Allah, believing that Jesus (peace be upon him) has to serve as an intermediary to "save" you is the problem here. Not only is this a grave violation of the first commandment, in Islam this is considered shirk. Jesus (peace be upon him) cannot save you on the day of judgement. Jesus came and taught pure monotheism which is the same as what Moses, Abraham, David, Noah, Lut (peace be upon them all) and all other prophets taught. Even Jesus didn't pray to God through himself. That makes no sense and no other messenger did this either. Believing that God would allow a mighty messenger to be humiliated and killed by disbelievers for your sins is insulting at the least and not taking responsibility for your actions in this life should also cause you great pause.

I was a former Christian too and also prayed that God would guide me. You would do well to study the origins and changes of the Bible throughout time. Question it, examine it and ask yourself what makes more sense. Read the whole thing. Cover to cover. Different translations, too. I understand what it's like to suddenly have faith but from your introduction here it's apparent that you didn't do proper research on Islam. You learned about it from anti-Islamic websites, you probably didn't read a proper translation of the Quran(there are quite a few bad ones out there) and I wonder if you sat down and actually talked to practicing Muslims or attended services at a mosque. But joining this forum is a good start. I encourage you to learn more and seek the truth. Not a truth you have created for yourself but a truth which puts you in full submission to God and Him only.

Welcome to the forum.

Thanks YusufNoor,
1. do you claim one can enter heaven without any deeds? Is there a Quran verse for it?
2. Jesus's word passed down through the early recordings, with many old manuscripts survived till today, older than Quran. The teachings are of divine nature, that is part of the reason why I became what I am today.
3. What do you mean the Quran was complete before New Testament? New Testament was completed at around 300ad, with very little changes later on.
4. To me to be a Christian means reborn from spirit (get rid of the old self and let God take control of you). They have other debates about thing of divine nature that there is no way to understand except when God show us that. But that is similar to Muslims, which have Sunnis, Shia, Sufis.
5. What do you think Christians don't follow Jesus taught? Some fake ones maybe, and some new ones doesn't do the 1/10 contribution to God. But many try out best to follow God, I am even trying to follow the Sabbath (still drive/watch movies but not any commercial activities)
6. I am sure people can recreate bible as well, I can't recite the bible but there are people who can. Some sect of Christians has more books than ours, but I am sure someone can recite those books as well. For us Christians, the command from God is Love God, Love others, and that is the Bible in 2 words.

format_quote Originally Posted by Aprender

I think this might be another misconception you have about Islam. Although we believe that Muhammad (peace be upon him) is the last and final messenger sent to all of mankind by Allah, believing that Jesus (peace be upon him) has to serve as an intermediary to "save" you is the problem here. Not only is this a grave violation of the first commandment, in Islam this is considered shirk. Jesus (peace be upon him) cannot save you on the day of judgement. Jesus came and taught pure monotheism which is the same as what Moses, Abraham, David, Noah, Lut (peace be upon them all) and all other prophets taught. Even Jesus didn't pray to God through himself. That makes no sense and no other messenger did this either. Believing that God would allow a mighty messenger to be humiliated and killed by disbelievers for your sins is insulting at the least and not taking responsibility for your actions in this life should also cause you great pause.

I was a former Christian too and also prayed that God would guide me. You would do well to study the origins and changes of the Bible throughout time. Question it, examine it and ask yourself what makes more sense. Read the whole thing. Cover to cover. Different translations, too. I understand what it's like to suddenly have faith but from your introduction here it's apparent that you didn't do proper research on Islam. You learned about it from anti-Islamic websites, you probably didn't read a proper translation of the Quran(there are quite a few bad ones out there) and I wonder if you sat down and actually talked to practicing Muslims or attended services at a mosque. But joining this forum is a good start. I encourage you to learn more and seek the truth. Not a truth you have created for yourself but a truth which puts you in full submission to God and Him only.

Welcome to the forum.

Thank you Aprender, you and I come from the same back ground so it might be easier to communicate. From the word of Jesus, he is also God ("I and Father are one", "I am in the Father and Father is in me"). He is special, born of virgin and with many miracles. Our heavenly Father give him power to judge us, and everything come from him.

And I didn't learn/research Islam from anti islam websites only, the answering-Christianity website is pro islam, and I went to many Islam websites.

I don't create truth, I just research. One example is almost every Muslim I meet told me Bible is corrupted, that is more like creation. "The truth shall set us free", let's get to the bottom of this.

format_quote Originally Posted by جوري

Interesting, can you take this quiz and tell me how you score? For God doesn't author confusion of course

http://exchristian.net/3/

Let alone in God's words, even in a child's writings you wouldn't find so many simple controversies. It seems that not only a couple, but many people have put their inks into the Bible.

By the way, dcalling, what do you mean by 'very little changes after 300ad'? Do you have any other gods besides the three entities who have the authority to make changes in God's words?

I am sorry, but I don't believe that you made a thorough investigation of ten years before converting to Christianity. It seems more like you just surrendered because you wanted to be saved.

OK, I can't even spell your name, but thank you, that was a good one. I got 0...

The last question shocked me a bit (i.e. can is his testimonies true by himself or not, I picked not), but when I try the other answer, and go again (not to cheat, but just to see were it says he can do that by himself), it give totally unrelated answers, I think I messed up the program a bit. I will check that one again on internet.

Most of others I already seen (I was shaking a lot more when I did the researches first on Islam, there were sites that are extremely knowledgeable, some even taught ancient Hebrew translations that actually changed my mind on certain things in Bible), and can be explained (several can't, I do agree, they can't reconcile). The last one is very trouble some, as it is not some blurred memories by disciples but from Jesus himself. It is too late today, wife is angry, so I will research that.

It is going to be a lot of work but as I said truth is more important.