FaninAma
11/19/2014, 12:15 PM
http://www.raymondibrahim.com/islam/islams-protestant-reformation/
This is a very disturbing possibility. The author reasons that the results of the Muslim reformation differ from the results of the Christian reformation because Islam and Christianity are very different in the concepts of how their followers should promote and spread their respective doctrines of faith.
How Christianity and Islam can follow similar patterns of reform but with antithetical results rests in the fact that their scriptures are often antithetical to one another. This is the key point, and one admittedly unintelligible to postmodern, secular sensibilities, which tend to lump all religious scripture together in a melting pot of relativism without bothering to evaluate the significance of their respective words and teachings.
Obviously a point by point comparison of the scriptures of Islam and Christianity is inappropriate for an article of this length (see my “Are Judaism and Christianity as Violent as Islam (http://www.meforum.org/2159/are-judaism-and-christianity-as-violent-as-islam)” for a more comprehensive treatment).
Suffice it to note some contradictions (which will be rejected as a matter of course by the relativistic mindset):
The New Testament preaches peace, brotherly love, tolerance, and forgiveness—for all humans, believers and non-believers alike. Instead of combatting and converting “infidels,” Christians are called to pray for those who persecute them and turn the other cheek (which is not the same thing as passivity, for Christians are also called to be bold and unapologetic). Conversely, the Koran and Hadith (http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/quran/023-violence.htm) call for war, or jihad, against all non-believers, until they either convert, accept subjugation and discrimination, or die.
The New Testament has no punishment for the apostate from Christianity. Conversely, Islam’s prophet himself decreed (http://www.usc.edu/org/cmje/religious-texts/hadith/bukhari/084-sbt.php) that “Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him.”
The New Testament teaches monogamy, one husband and one wife, thereby dignifying the woman. The Koran (http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/Quran/017-polygamy.htm) allows polygamy—up to four wives—and the possession of concubines, or sex-slaves. More literalist readings treat women as possessions (http://www.raymondibrahim.com/from-the-arab-world/islamic-fatwa-husbands-should-abandon-wives-to-rapists-in-self-interest/).
The New Testament discourages lying (e.g., Col. 3:9). The Koran permits it (http://www.raymondibrahim.com/islam/taqiyya-about-taqiyya/); the prophet himself often deceived others, and permitted lying to one’s wife, to reconcile quarreling parties, and to the “infidel” during war.
It is precisely because Christian scriptural literalism lends itself to religious freedom, tolerance, and the dignity of women, that Western civilization developed the way it did—despite the nonstop propaganda campaign emanating from academia, Hollywood, and other major media that says otherwise.
And it is precisely because Islamic scriptural literalism is at odds with religious freedom, tolerance, and the dignity of women, that Islamic civilization is the way it is—despite the nonstop propaganda campaign emanating from academia, Hollywood, and other major media that says otherwise.
This is a very disturbing possibility. The author reasons that the results of the Muslim reformation differ from the results of the Christian reformation because Islam and Christianity are very different in the concepts of how their followers should promote and spread their respective doctrines of faith.
How Christianity and Islam can follow similar patterns of reform but with antithetical results rests in the fact that their scriptures are often antithetical to one another. This is the key point, and one admittedly unintelligible to postmodern, secular sensibilities, which tend to lump all religious scripture together in a melting pot of relativism without bothering to evaluate the significance of their respective words and teachings.
Obviously a point by point comparison of the scriptures of Islam and Christianity is inappropriate for an article of this length (see my “Are Judaism and Christianity as Violent as Islam (http://www.meforum.org/2159/are-judaism-and-christianity-as-violent-as-islam)” for a more comprehensive treatment).
Suffice it to note some contradictions (which will be rejected as a matter of course by the relativistic mindset):
The New Testament preaches peace, brotherly love, tolerance, and forgiveness—for all humans, believers and non-believers alike. Instead of combatting and converting “infidels,” Christians are called to pray for those who persecute them and turn the other cheek (which is not the same thing as passivity, for Christians are also called to be bold and unapologetic). Conversely, the Koran and Hadith (http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/quran/023-violence.htm) call for war, or jihad, against all non-believers, until they either convert, accept subjugation and discrimination, or die.
The New Testament has no punishment for the apostate from Christianity. Conversely, Islam’s prophet himself decreed (http://www.usc.edu/org/cmje/religious-texts/hadith/bukhari/084-sbt.php) that “Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him.”
The New Testament teaches monogamy, one husband and one wife, thereby dignifying the woman. The Koran (http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/Quran/017-polygamy.htm) allows polygamy—up to four wives—and the possession of concubines, or sex-slaves. More literalist readings treat women as possessions (http://www.raymondibrahim.com/from-the-arab-world/islamic-fatwa-husbands-should-abandon-wives-to-rapists-in-self-interest/).
The New Testament discourages lying (e.g., Col. 3:9). The Koran permits it (http://www.raymondibrahim.com/islam/taqiyya-about-taqiyya/); the prophet himself often deceived others, and permitted lying to one’s wife, to reconcile quarreling parties, and to the “infidel” during war.
It is precisely because Christian scriptural literalism lends itself to religious freedom, tolerance, and the dignity of women, that Western civilization developed the way it did—despite the nonstop propaganda campaign emanating from academia, Hollywood, and other major media that says otherwise.
And it is precisely because Islamic scriptural literalism is at odds with religious freedom, tolerance, and the dignity of women, that Islamic civilization is the way it is—despite the nonstop propaganda campaign emanating from academia, Hollywood, and other major media that says otherwise.