Friday, June 10, 2005
A Jealous God Isn't Just for Muslims
I am concerned about the amount of Islamophobia in the United States. Really, it comes from ignorance and a need to feel that one's viewpoint is more "right" than another's. The irony of it is that the viewpoint is the same if one would just look at it from the correct angle. I hear people speak about Muslims as followers of a destructive God, who will not stop until all the non-Muslims of the world are eradicated. Funny, I've heard the same thing from Muslims about Christians.
I was an ultra-conservative fanatical Christian for 33 years, and have read my Bible cover to cover several times, studied various topics in detail and taught classes on the "right" way to be a Christian. All that time I thought, just as most Americans think, that Islam was a "Golden Calf" religion. I feared Islam, was convinced I would be shot in my bed after the World Trade Center was bombed, and can be quoted as saying, "All Muslims should be killed." It shook me up completely when I finally read the Qu'ran. But, herein lies the solution to the American problem. No one REALLY reads the Qu'ran. They talk about it, they bash it, they curse the Muslims and Islam saying they're all going to bomb us to death, but they NEVER READ IT!! And when they DO read it, they do so with a biased opinion against it and do not reap the benefits. I still read my Bible. And I read my Qu'ran. It's interesting to me how similar the truths are in each one.
God/Allah is just as destructive in the Bible as He is in Qu'ran. I know the thinking here, that "Allah is an evil, awful, destructive God, who will destroy nonbelievers". Let me highlight a passage from Exodus, just after the Israelites made their Golden Calf thinking that Moses was not going to come back down from Mt. Sinai. God was LIVID!! What did he want to do? "I have seen these people," the LORD said to Moses, "and they are a stiff-necked people. Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation." Exodus 32:9-10. But, Moses, pleading greatly for the people BEGGED God to spare them, and so He did...to a point, but still, The LORD replied to Moses, "Whoever has sinned against me I will blot out of my book. Now go, lead the people to the place I spoke of, and my angel will go before you. However, when the time comes for me to punish, I will punish them for their sin." And the LORD struck the people with a plague because of what they did with the calf Aaron had made. Exodus 32:33-5
I just have a difficult time understanding why Christians and Muslims can't get along. REAL Muslims do not want to kill anyone. These are your average, ordinary, everyday Muslims who are actually following what the Qu'ran says. The militant "Muslims" aren't really Muslims at all but angry, jealous people who do not trust that God can handle the world on His own and feel that it is their right to second guess Him. They go about exacting their own form of what they think God would do, but in the end, they will find their own destruction much worse. It is these radicals that create a "dirty" picture of Islam, and because of the American ignorance, it is the radical that this country sees and not the real thing.
In the Middle East, the thinking is a little clearer as most of the population is Muslim. The Muslims and Christians live side by side without batting an eye, and there is no question as to what one believes or doesn't believe because it is an ordinance in the Qu'ran that Muslims respect all religions. (BTW, the Israeli/Palestinian thing, in my opinion, isn't really about religion. It's about land rights. Just in case you were balking at the above statement.) Muslims in America are the same way, as are many Christians. But, I find more often than not, Islam is one of the most persecuted religions because of this fear. Fear that that sweet little old covered Muslim lady down the street is secretly hiding some militants who are going to kill us all. Poppycock!
God just wants us to worship Him. That's it! Why is it that we can't just do THAT? Whether we use the name Allah, which literally means "the God", or "Jehovah", or whatever; Whether we pray in a Mosque or in a Church; whether we use a rosary or a sebha; whether we cover our heads when we pray or not, what is the difference? God is God, and He is a jealous God, and He WILL punish those who do not worship Him in the end. (All Believers go to Heaven, all non-believers go to Hell.) It sounds simple enough to me. Why does the American public wish to complicate it...? I have a lot of Christian friends and family that will be in Heaven, and some that will be in Hell. I also have a lot of Muslim friends and family that will be in Heaven and some that will be in Hell. It's not a matter of belief. Many people who BELIEVE in God/Allah will be in Hell. Sheitan/Satan BELIEVES. (Actually, he KNOWS). It's really a matter of the heart. (Do you LOVE God?)
I was an ultra-conservative fanatical Christian for 33 years, and have read my Bible cover to cover several times, studied various topics in detail and taught classes on the "right" way to be a Christian. All that time I thought, just as most Americans think, that Islam was a "Golden Calf" religion. I feared Islam, was convinced I would be shot in my bed after the World Trade Center was bombed, and can be quoted as saying, "All Muslims should be killed." It shook me up completely when I finally read the Qu'ran. But, herein lies the solution to the American problem. No one REALLY reads the Qu'ran. They talk about it, they bash it, they curse the Muslims and Islam saying they're all going to bomb us to death, but they NEVER READ IT!! And when they DO read it, they do so with a biased opinion against it and do not reap the benefits. I still read my Bible. And I read my Qu'ran. It's interesting to me how similar the truths are in each one.
God/Allah is just as destructive in the Bible as He is in Qu'ran. I know the thinking here, that "Allah is an evil, awful, destructive God, who will destroy nonbelievers". Let me highlight a passage from Exodus, just after the Israelites made their Golden Calf thinking that Moses was not going to come back down from Mt. Sinai. God was LIVID!! What did he want to do? "I have seen these people," the LORD said to Moses, "and they are a stiff-necked people. Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation." Exodus 32:9-10. But, Moses, pleading greatly for the people BEGGED God to spare them, and so He did...to a point, but still, The LORD replied to Moses, "Whoever has sinned against me I will blot out of my book. Now go, lead the people to the place I spoke of, and my angel will go before you. However, when the time comes for me to punish, I will punish them for their sin." And the LORD struck the people with a plague because of what they did with the calf Aaron had made. Exodus 32:33-5
I just have a difficult time understanding why Christians and Muslims can't get along. REAL Muslims do not want to kill anyone. These are your average, ordinary, everyday Muslims who are actually following what the Qu'ran says. The militant "Muslims" aren't really Muslims at all but angry, jealous people who do not trust that God can handle the world on His own and feel that it is their right to second guess Him. They go about exacting their own form of what they think God would do, but in the end, they will find their own destruction much worse. It is these radicals that create a "dirty" picture of Islam, and because of the American ignorance, it is the radical that this country sees and not the real thing.
In the Middle East, the thinking is a little clearer as most of the population is Muslim. The Muslims and Christians live side by side without batting an eye, and there is no question as to what one believes or doesn't believe because it is an ordinance in the Qu'ran that Muslims respect all religions. (BTW, the Israeli/Palestinian thing, in my opinion, isn't really about religion. It's about land rights. Just in case you were balking at the above statement.) Muslims in America are the same way, as are many Christians. But, I find more often than not, Islam is one of the most persecuted religions because of this fear. Fear that that sweet little old covered Muslim lady down the street is secretly hiding some militants who are going to kill us all. Poppycock!
God just wants us to worship Him. That's it! Why is it that we can't just do THAT? Whether we use the name Allah, which literally means "the God", or "Jehovah", or whatever; Whether we pray in a Mosque or in a Church; whether we use a rosary or a sebha; whether we cover our heads when we pray or not, what is the difference? God is God, and He is a jealous God, and He WILL punish those who do not worship Him in the end. (All Believers go to Heaven, all non-believers go to Hell.) It sounds simple enough to me. Why does the American public wish to complicate it...? I have a lot of Christian friends and family that will be in Heaven, and some that will be in Hell. I also have a lot of Muslim friends and family that will be in Heaven and some that will be in Hell. It's not a matter of belief. Many people who BELIEVE in God/Allah will be in Hell. Sheitan/Satan BELIEVES. (Actually, he KNOWS). It's really a matter of the heart. (Do you LOVE God?)
