I've been reading on some key differences between the Christian and the Muslim religions.
The both claim to have God, either called God, the Heavenly Father, or Allah, and
they both claim to offer Heaven or Paradise to it's believers upon death.
| A depiction of angels in heaven |
But, I've come across major differences in how to reach Paradise and heaven, the goal for getting there, what you will do there, and the question of will there be any sex?
(The answer is at the bottom if you must see it right now)
Allah promises the reward of Paradise for men complete with virgins for his sexual delight. Lots of voluptuous, untouched, beautiful, virgins with appetizing vaginas and non-sagging breasts for his pleasure and permanent, eternal erection. So, the Muslim man has to do good things and he will be heavily rewarded so he may have his sexual desires fulfilled by enticing virgins. Now, for any healthy, red'blooded man, having strength to sexually pleasure virgins might very well thought to be 'Paradise'. However, if the goal for getting to Paradise, is for his sensual pleasure, that sounds pretty selfish and one-sided. Virgins are there. Is Paradise another place for the females to have to work? Is their Paradise having to use their bodies to pleasure a man? Is there any time females can have a Paradise of their own and not have to be about sexually pleasuring a man?
| In Paradise and Heaven- yes or no? |
Muhammad the messenger, had strong sexual urges and I've read he married and had sex with a very young girl. This teaching gives the impression that sex appears to be something men can't imagine ever being without and if they see more than a few inches of a woman's skin, they might have lustful thoughts. So the woman has to dress in a manner to not give the man any temptation. She is to dress modesty covering herself from head to toe so men can't view her and become sexually tempted.
The Prophet Muhammad taught sin can be forgiven by doing good and sin is just an act not an inherent nature. I also read this teaching says even though a believer can do 'bad', they can also do 'good', and that would wipe out their sin. This raises some questions. For instance, who determines how much 'good' is enough to erase sin? What is the definition of 'good' and who can claim to wear the title of 'good'? How much prayer is enough to wipe out a person's sin? How will a person know they've prayed enough? And for a person to do bad, there has to be an inherent nature within them in order to do 'bad' or think 'bad' thoughts. So if there's any speck of 'bad', how can that person remove the nature that is within himself? He/she may not do 'bad' all the time, but it's still within himself/herself even though they don't necessarily do 'bad' things all the time.
God demands perfection. Even thought Muslims know of Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his only beloved son to God. The rest of the story is God stepped in and provided a substitute for Abraham. This was an example showing that substitute later would be, Jesus, God's only Son, who was obedient and was sacrificed to have his blood shed to pay for the sin of mankind. Jesus was the perfect sacrifice because he was part of the godhead, part of the 'us' who created all things. He humbled himself to be born of a woman by the Holy Spirit. So, God, spiritually stepped down from heaven in human form to become The Sacrifice himself for us. That is of the Spirit, but also of the flesh so Man's spirit could live and not die and his sins be forgiven. No other way would have sufficed. If God provided of Himself to pay for our sins, then no imperfect man can do "good' if he is himself imperfect. When Adam and Even sinned, a sinful nature was passed on to every person born of human parents. What is a sin nature? A good explanation can be found here, and 'the misconceptions of sin nature' paragraph is especially good.
Photo credit: lebewesen from morguefile.com
In the Bible, heaven, is promised to those who repent and who's sins have been forgiven through accepting by faith of His Son, Jesus, the Messiah- whose shed blood was the once and for all sacrifice paying the penalty of sin for that person's soul. Through His Son, your 'spirit man' can live forever in a glorified body in heaven, or be out of the presence (spiritual death) of the Lord, in hell and ultimately the Lake of Fire. Sin can't enter the home of the Holy Father, whom is Holy Spirit, and heaven is eternal. and the spirit of man is eternal. Being good can't pay the price to get into heaven. There's nothing that man, a sinful person can do- no amount of good works or living good or being a martyr will rid him of his sinful nature, so man can't be a perfect sacrifice to pay for his sin, thus he is incapable of saving himself.
In heaven, even with glorified bodies, we will be recognizable. Glorified bodies will not have fleshly desires. God designed sex to be for a husband and his wife for the purpose of procreation. In heaven, there will not be a need for marriage, therefore no need for sex. The church IS the bride and Jesus whom we're eagerly waiting to be with. Marriage on Earth is for raising families. Christians will be the family of God.
The goal in heaven is to worship the Son and rule with him.
I especially like this site to read questions that are answered using Greek word translation that really help with the meaning of scripture.
So, there are many major philosophical differences.
MORE COMPARISONS ----
1. The Bible is printed 200 million copies every year.
The biggest Quran publisher has printed 240 million books since 1984.
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2.Mohammad self appointed himself as a prophet, he got his first revelation from God at age 40 and he died from and illness that was feverish.
Jesus, meaning 'The Anointed One' is more than a prophet. A prophet is a messenger with a word from God. Jesus is the Word, made flesh and came and dwelt among us. He is our Great High Priest, which is much more than a messenger.
In the Bible, the Messiah, or the 'anointed one' is Jesus, even Islamic believe Jesus is the promised Prophet and Messiah and would return to Earth to defeat the anti-christ.
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3.Mohammad was born of two earthly parents and died by the effects of being poisoned.
Jesus was born as prophesied in the line of David of a virgin and the power of the Holy Spirit. His birth was announced by angels and always was with no beginning or end.
Jesus was before Abraham, meaning he always was with the Father. He died on the Cross, spent time in Paradise to get the keys of death from Hades and was resurrected on the third day. His tomb is empty because he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God, interceding for the saints. His name is more majestic than the angels.
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4.Mohammad had many women and children enslaved and he died years after being poisoned.
Mohammad also fought in many physical battles. He did no healing or sacrificing of himself to save anyone.
Mohammad claims to have had contact with Gabriel, an angel.
Jesus was about His Father's business at an early age, and did not seek possessions, wives, concubines or have anyone killed or enslaved. He purpose on Earth was solely to spread the love of God, and be the final sacrifice so our spirits can enter heaven and thus escape the due penalty of death our sins demand, thus saving us from hell and the Lake of Fire.
Jesus only did what was pleasing to the Father. He is the Light of the World and came to free people from their sins.
Jesus has direct contact with the Father. Angels worship him.
Jesus is God's firstborn ( Hebrews 1: 6)
| Jesus came to free us from the penalty of sin |
Jesus is the immortal King of Kings, Lord of Lords of the everlasting Kingdom of God. The Kingdom is spiritual, as God is Spirit. The enemy is spirit. The battle is spiritual. Jesus has victory for us in this arena. Just have to wait for the right moment when Jesus returns and all the children of God will then see The Kingdom at hand with Jesus ruling on high. The spiritual victory has already been won.
Check out this site- three sections breaking down- The Son is God, Jesus is God, and Jesus is Jehovah.
God is Spirit (VIDEO)
-There is no intent on disrespecting anyone's belief or religion. This blog entry is only my brief understanding of the subject and is not intended to suggest that I know all there is to know about any religion-
-There is no intent on disrespecting anyone's belief or religion. This blog entry is only my brief understanding of the subject and is not intended to suggest that I know all there is to know about any religion-
Still on my journey along the narrow path set before me.
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