Jeff's Lunchbreak: E-mail Forward- Allah or Jesus?

Just the other day, I received an e-mail forward of a story written by a Christian about a supposed exchange he had with a Muslim about the Islamic attitude towards infidels. The basic gist of the story was to illustrate how superior Christianity is compared to Islam, and how intolerant Muslims are of others. The entire e-mail, interspersed with my comments and corrected for the formatting errors that come about with multiple forwards, is available below the fold.

THE MUSLIM RELIGION -
This is a must read - it's short but very informative!

The Muslim religion is the fastest growing religion per capita in the United States, especially in the minority AND ETHNIC COMMUNITIES !!!

Allah or Jesus?

By: Rick Mathes

Last month I attended my annual training session that's required for maintaining my state prison security clearance. During the training session there was a presentation by three speakers representing the Roman Catholic, Protestant and Muslim faiths, who explained each of their belief systems. I was particularly interested in what the Islamic Imam had to say. The Imam gave a great presentation of the Basics of Islam, complete with a video. After the presentations, time was provided for Questions and Answers. When it was my turn, I directed my question to the Imam and asked:

"Please, correct me if I'm wrong, but I understand that most Imams and clerics of Islam have declared a holy jihad [Holy war] against the infidels of the world. And, that by killing an infidel, which is a command to all Muslims, they are assured a place in heaven. If that's the case, can you give me the definition of an infidel?"

There was no disagreement with my statements and, without hesitation, he replied, "Non-believers!"

I responded, "So, let me make sure I have this straight. All followers of Allah have been commanded to kill everyone who is not of your faith so they can go to Heaven. Is that correct?"

Boy, it's a good thing the Bible never directs Christians to kill people for silly things, like for using the Lord's name in vain, even non-Christians who don't worship Him, or to direct people to kill the completely innocent, like babies. ("If anyone curses his God, he will be held responsible; anyone who blasphemes the name of the LORD must be put to death. The entire assembly must stone him. Whether an alien or native-born, when he blasphemes the Name, he must be put to death." (Lev. 24:15) "Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy everything that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants..." (1 Samuel 15:3) "Happy is he who repays you for what you have done to us- he who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks." (Psalms 137:8))

The expression on his face changed from one of authority and command to that of a little boy who had just gotten caught with his hand in the cookie jar. He sheepishly replied, "Yes." I then stated, "Well, sir, I have a real problem trying to imagine Pope John Paul commanding all Catholics to kill those of your faith or Dr. Billy Graham ordering Protestants to do the same in order to go to Heaven!"

Of course. I could never imagine a pope commanding Christians to kill Muslims.

The Imam was speechless. I continued, "I also have a problem with being your friend when you and your brother clerics are telling your followers to kill me. Let me ask you a question. Would you rather have your Allah, who tells you to kill me in order to go to Heaven, or my Jesus who tells me to love you because I am going to Heaven and he wants you to be with me?"

Yup, Jesus's message was always one of love ("If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple." Luke 14:26)

You could have heard a pin drop as the Imam hung his head in shame. Needless to say, the organizers and/or promoters of the Diversification training seminar were not happy with Rick's way of dealing with the Islamic Imam and exposing the truth about the Muslim's beliefs.
I think everyone in the US should be required to read this, but with the justice system and media, and the ACLU, there is no way this will be widely publicized. Please pass this on to all your e-mail contacts. This is a true story and the author, Rick Mathes, is a well known leader in prison ministry.

Yup, a true story. There's no way Mathes would make this all up, embelishing a story about a seminar where an inmate, not a Muslim minister, gave a presentation on Islam. He certainly wouldn't have invented the entire "jihad" exchange out of thin air.

Plus, it's a good thing we can let one person speak for an entire religion, like those Christians who still believe the earth is flat.

Oh, by the way, I was being sarcastic.

Comments

Sorry, man. I totally agree with you that this story is a ridiculous propaganda lie (something of which I am not fond). However, you are taking the Luke quote out of context and misinterpreting it. Christ was metaphorically talking about the requirement of personal sacrifice that is necessary to truly follow him. This is illustrated by the very next verse: "And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple". Luke 14.27.

Also, as far as the Pope not ordering the deaths of people of other faiths, forget the Crusades, has this guy ever heard of the Protestant Reformation? Catholics killed Protestants and vice versa. Catholic v. Protestant is certainly a more subtle difference than Christian v. Muslim.

Posted by: Robb Heier | March 28, 2006 5:05 PM

Good blog, enjoyed reading it. KaylaX

Posted by: Wendy | April 26, 2006 3:19 PM

Aren't YOU doing basically the same thing here?

Posted by: jason | September 26, 2009 3:45 PM

Jason,

If you check back on this site, could you please elaborate? I was trying to point out the futility of cherry picking aspects of a religion to tar the entire religion, or condemning the entire religion because of the statements of a single individual.

If you read the rest of this blog, it's obvious that I don't think Islam is any more right than Christianity (otherwise I'd be a muslim and not an atheist), and I think there are plenty of reasons to doubt both, but I don't like seeing poor arguments being used to advance that doubt, or to use those arguments to spread xenophobia. There are certainly problems with some cultures that practice Islam, but there are also problems with some cultures that practice Christianity (think of the modern day witch hunts in Africa). The problems are mostly cultural, and people will find ways to interpret whatever their religion happens to be to support their cultural biases. (Would the world be better off without religion? Maybe. Maybe not. I think it depends a lot more on how people arrive at their beliefs - i.e. critical thought and self reflection - and that giving up religion will just naturally come out of that type of thought. But people could abandon religion for other reasons, such as apathy, a dictatorial government, or even just bitterness, which wouldn't have a positive outcome.) I also get a bit tired of the people (like the author of this e-mail), who don't seem to be familiar with, or who seem to conveniently ignore, the less savory parts of the Bible and Christian history.

Posted by: Jeff | September 28, 2009 1:28 PM

Hi.
I found your Web Site by Google
And I wish you the best you can get,
the peace of God through Jesus Christ.

Welcome to visit my Site.
Allan Svensson, Sweden
www.algonet.se/~allan-sv/INDEX.HTM

The Bridegroom comes, Come out to meet him. Matt. 25:6.
From where shall we go out? We shall go out of the great
Babylon, the great whore. Rev. Chapter 17 and 18. This
command of the Lord in Rev. 18:4 is now highly topical.

Never before we have been so nearly Jesus' coming as we
are now, but how are God's people prepared? How is the
unity in the faith? Sorry, very bad! God's people are more
divided now than ever before. Instead of following what
the Bible teaches about the Assembly of God, they have
followed Satan's false assembly doctrine. They believe
that the Assembly of God is constituted of church systems
and many religious organizations.

Most Christians have not yet begun to prepare for Jesus'
coming. They can speak and write that Jesus shall come,
and about the signs of the time, yet they do not make any
preparation to meet Jesus. How can we make a preparation?
To make preparation and be ready for Jesus' coming, God's
people must get the knowledge of the Assembly of God.

All God's people must in the first hand begin to study what
the Bible teaches about the Assembly of God. What we
need now before the restoration of the Assembly of God,
it is humility before God's word and a forgivable disposition
to each other.

The Assembly of God is no Pentecostal church. Please,
consider what this expression "the Assembly of God" in the
reality implies. The Assembly of God must be the same as
the Greek word "ekklesia", and the Body of Christ. 1 Cor.
12:12-31. Then it is easy to understand that this has nothing
to do with the Pentecostal Movement. Pentecostal churches
have existed about 100 years, but the Assembly of God has
ever existed since Jesus baptized his first disciples by the
Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit gave them the new life in Christ
so that they became born anew. Then the Assembly of God
was born.

The Bridegroom comes, Come out to meet him
www.algonet.se/~allan-sv/CRY.HTM

Evil spirits in the churches
www.algonet.se/~allan-sv/SPIRITS.HTM

The great falling away
www.algonet.se/~allan-sv/MESSAGE.HTM

What does hinder the Antichrist to appear?
What is the Restrainer?
www.algonet.se/~allan-sv/MESSAGE.HTM#Antichrist

KJV, "the best English Bible" but not perfect
www.algonet.se/~allan-sv/KING.HTM

Why did the Pentecostal Revival take an end?
www.algonet.se/~allan-sv/CRISIS.HTM

Posted by: Allan Svensson | November 13, 2009 5:42 AM

Allan,

People have been predicting the end of the world for probably as long as we've been able to conceive that the world could end. What makes you think that the end is now, finally, upon us?

I read your essay on The Atheist's Dilemma. I think you're wrong in assuming that all atheists live unfulfilled lives, or have no peace. I also take exception where you wrote, "Many people who are not willing to believe in God and deny his existence, they are yet angry with God, and want to use him as a scapegoat to put the blame on for all misery, which they and the devil caused." I am no more angry with Yahweh than I am with Zeus, Thor, Tlaloc, or Santa Claus. I can't be angry with an entity I think is imaginary.

To get a full understanding of my stance on religion, the comment section of this blog entry probably isn't the best place to do so. It's tangential to the original post, and I already have a separate section dealing with the issue:
Religious Essays

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