In the understanding of religion it is personal. Understanding each other is personal. Often words, especially written words, just do not convey our true thoughts. Those reading those words come away with a different interpretation of the commentary. This happens on a fairly regular basis. It is at its' worst when others don't even read the narrative. Those folks just go off on their own ideas of what the text may or may not say. It is especially troubling when we only read a small portion, handpicked by others, that wish to change or form our opinion. That is what is happening right now with this religion called Islam. I am as guilty as everyone else as I have not read the entire text and have no personal experience. I do have questions. From what understanding I do have of this religion it also contains an outline for government. Sharia law it is called and it's precepts are troubling indeed. The treatment of non-believers and women and children I find reprehensible if what I am reading is true. I do know that it calls for this thing called Jihad ! That is defined as a war or struggle against the non-believers. This is to be accomplished with violence. Quite the difference from the religion I practice.
Now I know that not all those that practice this faith called Islam also believe in this Jihad concept. That is a part of the religion that I am having a hard time understanding. If you say you are a Muslim and practice that faith, except for certain parts of that same religion, are you not then saying you are a non-believer ? Shouldn't you be killing yourself ? Sounds ridiculous when put that way doesn't it ? I can only speak on a personal level about Christianity. At least the Christianity I was taught and practice. Yes, I have many faults and do not follow all the things my Bible tells me I should. The distinction is however that there are no parts of the Bible I reject. One must embrace the complete doctrine even though I will fail in following all of those same doctrines. That is why I pray for forgiveness. I question whether one can " modify " their religious text and still claim to be following that same text. Doesn't seem reasonable to me.
So, I am left misunderstanding the precepts of these Muslim people. They claim allegiance to the prophet Mohamed. Mohamed has quite the legacy of violence. That is history. A small amount of research reveals that the Quran contains 109 verses addressing Jihad and how the faithful must practice that. The text calls those that refuse, hypocrites. That is what I have read so far. How can you claim allegiance to a religious practice while ignoring 109 verses of the doctrine ? It is my feeling that what we have here is not a bunch of bad people ( muslims ) but some bad ideology. This does place those of the Muslim faith in a precarious position. How can you say you are a Muslim but don't practice being a Muslim ? Do you see the problem with that or is it just me ? Can you only be part Christian ? Or part Jewish ? Or Hindu, Buddhist, Atheist or anything else for that matter ?
I do know that Muslims are supposed to follow the doctrine of the Quran. I know that doctrine calls for Jihad. So I am left with a question. Are we only to accept the " bad " Muslims into society ? The ones that don't follow the Quran ? How can we know ? In my thinking unless one is ready to publicly denounce this ideology, I don't want you here. Is that bigoted and unreasonable ? And what of a person that will say, I'm a Muslim but a bad one. I believe in Islam, a little bit. Only the good parts. Is that the way religion works ?
The Muslim people called God, Allah. A different name for a different language but essentially the same thing. We have that in common, there is only one God. My God's messenger was his son. He was dispatched with the message of peace. No where in his doctrine does he support violence against those that refuse to believe or ridicule his words. Quite the contrary is true. His is a message of forgiveness. Now, it is my understanding that the prophet Mohamed was the messenger of Allah in the Muslim tradition. He did profess a doctrine of violence against the non-believers. In fact 109 verses of that doctrine are contained in the Quran. Exactly what the rest of it says I really don't know. I wonder if you choose to ignore or delete that part of the Quran what are you left with ? Wouldn't it be a new religion ? Isn't that how it works ? In Christianity we have many sub categories, Catholics, Methodists , Baptists, etc, etc. They all read and follow the same Bible however. Christians do not delete certain passages from that book and still claim to be Christian. Yes, yes, I know we all do not follow the book exactly, but that is not the point here. We all acknowledge the words and accept the complete message. We interpret the meaning of those words slightly different that is true. No where in the Bible do we interpret the words to mean, kill the non-believers. That is simply because it does not say that.
As I stated in the beginning of this piece the understanding of religion is a personal thing. I struggle to understand. I was not exposed to this religion of Islam. I know little of it. The parts I have read do trouble me deeply. I do not understand a God that would demand the killing of those that do not believe. Wouldn't that God just kill you himself or you not even be born in the first place ? I don't understand. If that same God sent his messenger to spread his word, why would that God then want the non-believers killed ? Just doesn't seem to make sense to me. In the Christian tradition God just flooded the earth and killed all the evil people. Sounds like a God thing to me. I wouldn't ask you to do anything I wasn't willing to do myself and neither would my God. My God then dispatched his son to spread the word. His son then commanded us all to spread the word, to testify and bring the non-believers into understanding, not kill them. If you took that " kill the non-believers " part out of the Quran and followed the rest of the Quran would you still be a Muslim ? Maybe, I just don't know, but maybe you would be more like a Christian or a Hebrew. Could be we all want the same thing and it is just the method of achieving that goal.
Now I know that not all those that practice this faith called Islam also believe in this Jihad concept. That is a part of the religion that I am having a hard time understanding. If you say you are a Muslim and practice that faith, except for certain parts of that same religion, are you not then saying you are a non-believer ? Shouldn't you be killing yourself ? Sounds ridiculous when put that way doesn't it ? I can only speak on a personal level about Christianity. At least the Christianity I was taught and practice. Yes, I have many faults and do not follow all the things my Bible tells me I should. The distinction is however that there are no parts of the Bible I reject. One must embrace the complete doctrine even though I will fail in following all of those same doctrines. That is why I pray for forgiveness. I question whether one can " modify " their religious text and still claim to be following that same text. Doesn't seem reasonable to me.
So, I am left misunderstanding the precepts of these Muslim people. They claim allegiance to the prophet Mohamed. Mohamed has quite the legacy of violence. That is history. A small amount of research reveals that the Quran contains 109 verses addressing Jihad and how the faithful must practice that. The text calls those that refuse, hypocrites. That is what I have read so far. How can you claim allegiance to a religious practice while ignoring 109 verses of the doctrine ? It is my feeling that what we have here is not a bunch of bad people ( muslims ) but some bad ideology. This does place those of the Muslim faith in a precarious position. How can you say you are a Muslim but don't practice being a Muslim ? Do you see the problem with that or is it just me ? Can you only be part Christian ? Or part Jewish ? Or Hindu, Buddhist, Atheist or anything else for that matter ?
I do know that Muslims are supposed to follow the doctrine of the Quran. I know that doctrine calls for Jihad. So I am left with a question. Are we only to accept the " bad " Muslims into society ? The ones that don't follow the Quran ? How can we know ? In my thinking unless one is ready to publicly denounce this ideology, I don't want you here. Is that bigoted and unreasonable ? And what of a person that will say, I'm a Muslim but a bad one. I believe in Islam, a little bit. Only the good parts. Is that the way religion works ?
The Muslim people called God, Allah. A different name for a different language but essentially the same thing. We have that in common, there is only one God. My God's messenger was his son. He was dispatched with the message of peace. No where in his doctrine does he support violence against those that refuse to believe or ridicule his words. Quite the contrary is true. His is a message of forgiveness. Now, it is my understanding that the prophet Mohamed was the messenger of Allah in the Muslim tradition. He did profess a doctrine of violence against the non-believers. In fact 109 verses of that doctrine are contained in the Quran. Exactly what the rest of it says I really don't know. I wonder if you choose to ignore or delete that part of the Quran what are you left with ? Wouldn't it be a new religion ? Isn't that how it works ? In Christianity we have many sub categories, Catholics, Methodists , Baptists, etc, etc. They all read and follow the same Bible however. Christians do not delete certain passages from that book and still claim to be Christian. Yes, yes, I know we all do not follow the book exactly, but that is not the point here. We all acknowledge the words and accept the complete message. We interpret the meaning of those words slightly different that is true. No where in the Bible do we interpret the words to mean, kill the non-believers. That is simply because it does not say that.
As I stated in the beginning of this piece the understanding of religion is a personal thing. I struggle to understand. I was not exposed to this religion of Islam. I know little of it. The parts I have read do trouble me deeply. I do not understand a God that would demand the killing of those that do not believe. Wouldn't that God just kill you himself or you not even be born in the first place ? I don't understand. If that same God sent his messenger to spread his word, why would that God then want the non-believers killed ? Just doesn't seem to make sense to me. In the Christian tradition God just flooded the earth and killed all the evil people. Sounds like a God thing to me. I wouldn't ask you to do anything I wasn't willing to do myself and neither would my God. My God then dispatched his son to spread the word. His son then commanded us all to spread the word, to testify and bring the non-believers into understanding, not kill them. If you took that " kill the non-believers " part out of the Quran and followed the rest of the Quran would you still be a Muslim ? Maybe, I just don't know, but maybe you would be more like a Christian or a Hebrew. Could be we all want the same thing and it is just the method of achieving that goal.
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