knowingjesus
Member
- Joined
- Mar 6, 2009
- Messages
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I put together some questions to ask muslims. Can you help me make them better?
The following questions are meant for the muslim's benefit. They are intended to show them what the god they worship is *really* like and ultimately, hopefully, lead them to the One True God, the one whose love they were created for and who gave his life to be with them, so they could be cleansed and separated from their sins, transformed from within and experience a whole and lasting life in a relationship with the One they were created for!
Can you make any suggestions or revisions? Do you have any further ideas to help/reach the muslims? Do you know a muslim personally? Do you have any thoughts on reaching their hearts?
Together we can reach those who have followed after the Enemy of their souls and are so far away from the relationship with the Creator they were created for. (And of course, God is ultimately the one who convicts us of our sin and our need for forgiveness and for Jesus).
Questions For Muslims
1) Can you trust, love and give your life to a god who identifies himself as a liar and “the best of deceivers”? If “all deception/scheming is Allah's”? Can you trust allah if *“none”* can “deemeth himself secure from Allah’s scheme”? Can you trust and give your life and heart to a liar who lies without hesitation and is not above using the same evil schemes of his opponents? Who lies and deceives both believers and unbelievers without discrimination (he deceived Muhammad himself into thinking that the fighting men at Badr were fewer in number than they actually were)? A god whose schemes and deceptions are so troublesome that they even scared Muhammad, who was so afraid of the schemes of his god that he prayed that Allah would not deceive him but deceive on his behalf? (S. 86:15-16, 27:50, 7:99, 3:54; 8:30, 27:50, 7:99, 3:54; 8:30, 7:182-183, 68:45, 7:195m 12:5, 12:28, 20:64, 53:46, 77:39, 4:142, 11:34, 8:43-44)
2) Can you trust and rely on a god who does not even make it clear what exactly it takes to enter paradise? Is it your own good works or allah's mercy? Your goodness or god’s goodness? You or god? What can you rely on and depend on? Do you rely on the mercy and goodness of god? If it is allah’s own mercy that allows you into paradise (as is claimed), why would he then also require that you do a certain amount of good works yourself and obey him to enter paradise? How much good exactly do you have to do to outweigh the bad? Can you ever be sure that you've been good enough/done enough to get into paradise? Enough praying, fasting, giving to the poor, pilgrimages? Why would allah never give a real guarantee or something you can absolutely depend on when it comes to where you will spend *eternity*? Can you trust a god who is so fickle and unreliable (on even the most basic and important of matters) that Abu Bakr used to utter, while weeping, “would that I have been a bitten tree!” and--whenever he was reminded of his position in Allah’s sight-- “By Allah! I would not rest assured and feel safe from the deception of Allah, even if I had one foot in paradise"?
3) Can you worship, love and serve a god who ”loveth not”/hates sinners, those who are “sinful”, those “given to...sin” and “those that do wrong”--which I would say includes everyone, wouldn’t you? A god who ruthlessly hates anyone who does wrong, is “ungrateful” to him, “arrogant”, given to excess or who breaks their covenant with him to live and abide by Islamic law and practice? Can you worship, love and serve a god who hates anyone who doesn’t believe in him and has in intense “aversion” toward unbelievers? (“Aversion”, by definition, means a fixed, intense, extreme dislike, repugnance and hostility toward something that causes you to avert, turn away from it and avoid it)? A god who “desire”s--whose “purpose” is--“to afflict them for their sins” and “to punish them. And truly most men are rebellious”? Who (instead of saving them) “will not forgive them nor guide them to any way--except the way of Hell, to dwell therein for ever. And this to Allah is easy.”? And weren’t you an unbeliever once? (Surah 4:168-169; 3:140; 4:107; 6:142'7:31; 2:276; 4:36; 16:23; 31:18; 57:23; 6:141; 7:31; 5:49; 4:168-169; 7:179; 9:2; 40:10, 5:87)
4) Can you love a god whose love is fickle and entirely dependent on (and changes based on) your actions and work and who cares nothing for your heart of hearts, your truest self? Who loves you and wants you only for your works, what you do for him, your obedience and service to him and whether you do what he wants? Who does not love or want you for just *you*--your heart of hearts? Who in fact has no apparent interest in your heart or your deepest needs? A god who requires his servants to make ritual prayers five times in a day--prayers which are repetitious and memorized, perfectly designed for addressing and appeasing a transcendent force with no personal interest in its creatures? And when you pray to him, is there any certain knowledge that allah even cares or takes notice? Can you love and worship a god who doesn’t love *you* (your heart, your true self)?
5) Can you follow a god who does not even meet the deepest need of your heart: to be loved? A god who created you with a deep need to be loved and then never met it? A god who is someone to be worshipped and served from afar, even in paradise and never meets the deepest need of humanity’s heart?
6) Can you love and serve god who you can never know? A god who says you "cannot comprehend anything out of His knowledge except what He pleases"? Who says it is "impossible" for him to reveal himself to anyone? Who only reveals his will, not himself? Who is so unknowable, impersonal, transcendent, far-off, aloof, transcendent and exalted that he would never “lower” himself to man on a personal level of friendship and fellowship or allow you to know him intimately or claim any sort of close, personal fellowship with him (in fact to even assume you can is a sin/blasphemous)? Do you want to know and spend eternity with a god who is to be worshipped and feared, but never fellowshipped with or approached in a personal, familiar manner?
7) Can you love and give your heart and life to a god who is only about rules and never about relationship? Who cares more about what you do for him than who you are to him? Were you not made for love and relationship?
8) Can you follow a god who does not solve or even address the biggest problem of the heart and humanity: sin? We all have sinned/done wrong things and have a tendency to sin/do wrong; no one is perfect, wouldn’t you agree? Can you follow a god who does not provide a way to be made clean from sin in God’s eyes, renewed by grace, separated from your sins, or changed on the inside and given a new heart, nature and life?
9) Can you follow, respect and love a god who never asks us to truly repent--put away sin permanently; seek a complete change of life and make a conscious choice to avoid sin? Who instead just keeps on forgiving as the muslim keeps committing the same sin over and over again and asking for forgiveness again and again--avoiding punishment for sin by merely performing a ritual or asking for allah’s forgiveness? Would you follow a god who is not even especially concerned with the biggest problem and struggle of the human heart (sin), who himself is not presented as “holy” and who never provides a way for the sin problem of mankind to be dealt with? A god himself who is not so holy that he cannot allow sin into his presence and whose “justice” never demands a penalty be paid for sin? Would you respect and follow a god who is not about a system of perfect holiness and perfect justice?
10) Can you respect a god who is not just? For how can allah be just if there’s no penalty for wrongdoing if you have done enough good things to offset it? How can allah be just if he’ll overlook your bad deeds if you’ve done enough good deeds? Justice would say that people would have to pay the penalty for every sin, and no one would get into paradise, wouldn’t it? So isn’t allah denying perfect justice in order to be merciful?
11) Can you respect a god who hauls those who break his laws before his court completely defenseless, with no hope of ever being redeemed from their sin or saved from his wrath?
12) Can you worship a god who claims no absolute, concrete, underlying moral system, code, principle or real moral line? Whose system of morality is entirely situational--dependent entirely on the situation, not an underpinning principle? In some circumstances isn't it quite acceptable for a Muslim to lie, to cheat, to steal, and even to kill, if these will be to the benefit of the Islamic system and the advancement of the ummah and the “greater good” of expanding the power and control of the Islamic system? Would you worship a god who accepts such acts (lying, cheating, stealing, killing...) as situationally “good” and “necessary” to fulfill the assigned role and duty of the Muslim (which is to see the rule of Allah's established over the whole earth)? A god who defines “right” as whatever in that situation will get him what he wants?
13) Can you worship, follow and respect a god who claims he is the lord of the Devil and that Satan belongs to him. (“O my Lord!....” said Satan to Allah. “[Allah] is your Lord, and unto Him you shall be returned.” S. 11:34)
In short, can you love, worship, serve, obey, trust, give your heart and life to and spend eternity with a god who...
--Is unreliable and fickle
--Doesn’t even make it clear what it takes to enter paradise (is it based on his goodness or your goodness? him or you? his work or yours? and how much good do you have to do? can you ever know if you’ve done enough?)
--Identifies himself as a liar, schemer;deceitful;“the best of deceivers”--no one is “secure from allah’s schemes”
--Is vindictive and “desires” to hurt/”afflict” others
--Hates anyone who sins, is given to sin, does wrong or breaks his laws (doesn’t that include you?)
--Hates/finds repugnant/will not forgive/desires to afflict/punish/guide straight to hell anyone who does not believe in him (“unbelievers”)(weren’t you one at one point?)
--Hauls those who break his laws before his court completely defenseless with no hope of ever being redeemed from their sin or saved from his wrath
--Does not love you or want you for *you*, your heart of hearts--only your works and service from afar
--Doesn’t want to have any kind of relationship, friendship or fellowship with you
--Doesn’t want or allow you to know him; only his will and wishes
--Doesn’t seem to even care or take notice of your prayers to him (ever wonder why your prayers to him are repetitious and memorized?)
--Has no personal interest in you
--Whose love and goodness towards you is dependent entirely on your actions (what you do for him; if you obey him, do what he wants, believe him)
--Never provides a solution for the problem of sin (a way to be cleansed and separated from your wrongdoings and be given a new heart and nature and changed life)
--Never expects his followers to seek a complete change of life and make a conscious choice to avoid sin
--Is not holy himself
--Is not just (if allah were just, he would require a penalty for every sin and not simply dismiss the penalty for and overlook your bad deeds if you’ve done enough good deeds)
--Whose system of morality is entirely situational (there is no real moral line or underlying principle; whether something is “right” or “wrong” is based entirely on the situation and the furthering of allah’s rule/system)
--Whose main desire and intent is to rule the world (and your duty as a muslim and purpose as a human is simply to make that happen)
--Who (most of all) never meets the deepest need of your heart: your need to be loved?
The following questions are meant for the muslim's benefit. They are intended to show them what the god they worship is *really* like and ultimately, hopefully, lead them to the One True God, the one whose love they were created for and who gave his life to be with them, so they could be cleansed and separated from their sins, transformed from within and experience a whole and lasting life in a relationship with the One they were created for!
Can you make any suggestions or revisions? Do you have any further ideas to help/reach the muslims? Do you know a muslim personally? Do you have any thoughts on reaching their hearts?
Together we can reach those who have followed after the Enemy of their souls and are so far away from the relationship with the Creator they were created for. (And of course, God is ultimately the one who convicts us of our sin and our need for forgiveness and for Jesus).
Questions For Muslims
1) Can you trust, love and give your life to a god who identifies himself as a liar and “the best of deceivers”? If “all deception/scheming is Allah's”? Can you trust allah if *“none”* can “deemeth himself secure from Allah’s scheme”? Can you trust and give your life and heart to a liar who lies without hesitation and is not above using the same evil schemes of his opponents? Who lies and deceives both believers and unbelievers without discrimination (he deceived Muhammad himself into thinking that the fighting men at Badr were fewer in number than they actually were)? A god whose schemes and deceptions are so troublesome that they even scared Muhammad, who was so afraid of the schemes of his god that he prayed that Allah would not deceive him but deceive on his behalf? (S. 86:15-16, 27:50, 7:99, 3:54; 8:30, 27:50, 7:99, 3:54; 8:30, 7:182-183, 68:45, 7:195m 12:5, 12:28, 20:64, 53:46, 77:39, 4:142, 11:34, 8:43-44)
2) Can you trust and rely on a god who does not even make it clear what exactly it takes to enter paradise? Is it your own good works or allah's mercy? Your goodness or god’s goodness? You or god? What can you rely on and depend on? Do you rely on the mercy and goodness of god? If it is allah’s own mercy that allows you into paradise (as is claimed), why would he then also require that you do a certain amount of good works yourself and obey him to enter paradise? How much good exactly do you have to do to outweigh the bad? Can you ever be sure that you've been good enough/done enough to get into paradise? Enough praying, fasting, giving to the poor, pilgrimages? Why would allah never give a real guarantee or something you can absolutely depend on when it comes to where you will spend *eternity*? Can you trust a god who is so fickle and unreliable (on even the most basic and important of matters) that Abu Bakr used to utter, while weeping, “would that I have been a bitten tree!” and--whenever he was reminded of his position in Allah’s sight-- “By Allah! I would not rest assured and feel safe from the deception of Allah, even if I had one foot in paradise"?
3) Can you worship, love and serve a god who ”loveth not”/hates sinners, those who are “sinful”, those “given to...sin” and “those that do wrong”--which I would say includes everyone, wouldn’t you? A god who ruthlessly hates anyone who does wrong, is “ungrateful” to him, “arrogant”, given to excess or who breaks their covenant with him to live and abide by Islamic law and practice? Can you worship, love and serve a god who hates anyone who doesn’t believe in him and has in intense “aversion” toward unbelievers? (“Aversion”, by definition, means a fixed, intense, extreme dislike, repugnance and hostility toward something that causes you to avert, turn away from it and avoid it)? A god who “desire”s--whose “purpose” is--“to afflict them for their sins” and “to punish them. And truly most men are rebellious”? Who (instead of saving them) “will not forgive them nor guide them to any way--except the way of Hell, to dwell therein for ever. And this to Allah is easy.”? And weren’t you an unbeliever once? (Surah 4:168-169; 3:140; 4:107; 6:142'7:31; 2:276; 4:36; 16:23; 31:18; 57:23; 6:141; 7:31; 5:49; 4:168-169; 7:179; 9:2; 40:10, 5:87)
4) Can you love a god whose love is fickle and entirely dependent on (and changes based on) your actions and work and who cares nothing for your heart of hearts, your truest self? Who loves you and wants you only for your works, what you do for him, your obedience and service to him and whether you do what he wants? Who does not love or want you for just *you*--your heart of hearts? Who in fact has no apparent interest in your heart or your deepest needs? A god who requires his servants to make ritual prayers five times in a day--prayers which are repetitious and memorized, perfectly designed for addressing and appeasing a transcendent force with no personal interest in its creatures? And when you pray to him, is there any certain knowledge that allah even cares or takes notice? Can you love and worship a god who doesn’t love *you* (your heart, your true self)?
5) Can you follow a god who does not even meet the deepest need of your heart: to be loved? A god who created you with a deep need to be loved and then never met it? A god who is someone to be worshipped and served from afar, even in paradise and never meets the deepest need of humanity’s heart?
6) Can you love and serve god who you can never know? A god who says you "cannot comprehend anything out of His knowledge except what He pleases"? Who says it is "impossible" for him to reveal himself to anyone? Who only reveals his will, not himself? Who is so unknowable, impersonal, transcendent, far-off, aloof, transcendent and exalted that he would never “lower” himself to man on a personal level of friendship and fellowship or allow you to know him intimately or claim any sort of close, personal fellowship with him (in fact to even assume you can is a sin/blasphemous)? Do you want to know and spend eternity with a god who is to be worshipped and feared, but never fellowshipped with or approached in a personal, familiar manner?
7) Can you love and give your heart and life to a god who is only about rules and never about relationship? Who cares more about what you do for him than who you are to him? Were you not made for love and relationship?
8) Can you follow a god who does not solve or even address the biggest problem of the heart and humanity: sin? We all have sinned/done wrong things and have a tendency to sin/do wrong; no one is perfect, wouldn’t you agree? Can you follow a god who does not provide a way to be made clean from sin in God’s eyes, renewed by grace, separated from your sins, or changed on the inside and given a new heart, nature and life?
9) Can you follow, respect and love a god who never asks us to truly repent--put away sin permanently; seek a complete change of life and make a conscious choice to avoid sin? Who instead just keeps on forgiving as the muslim keeps committing the same sin over and over again and asking for forgiveness again and again--avoiding punishment for sin by merely performing a ritual or asking for allah’s forgiveness? Would you follow a god who is not even especially concerned with the biggest problem and struggle of the human heart (sin), who himself is not presented as “holy” and who never provides a way for the sin problem of mankind to be dealt with? A god himself who is not so holy that he cannot allow sin into his presence and whose “justice” never demands a penalty be paid for sin? Would you respect and follow a god who is not about a system of perfect holiness and perfect justice?
10) Can you respect a god who is not just? For how can allah be just if there’s no penalty for wrongdoing if you have done enough good things to offset it? How can allah be just if he’ll overlook your bad deeds if you’ve done enough good deeds? Justice would say that people would have to pay the penalty for every sin, and no one would get into paradise, wouldn’t it? So isn’t allah denying perfect justice in order to be merciful?
11) Can you respect a god who hauls those who break his laws before his court completely defenseless, with no hope of ever being redeemed from their sin or saved from his wrath?
12) Can you worship a god who claims no absolute, concrete, underlying moral system, code, principle or real moral line? Whose system of morality is entirely situational--dependent entirely on the situation, not an underpinning principle? In some circumstances isn't it quite acceptable for a Muslim to lie, to cheat, to steal, and even to kill, if these will be to the benefit of the Islamic system and the advancement of the ummah and the “greater good” of expanding the power and control of the Islamic system? Would you worship a god who accepts such acts (lying, cheating, stealing, killing...) as situationally “good” and “necessary” to fulfill the assigned role and duty of the Muslim (which is to see the rule of Allah's established over the whole earth)? A god who defines “right” as whatever in that situation will get him what he wants?
13) Can you worship, follow and respect a god who claims he is the lord of the Devil and that Satan belongs to him. (“O my Lord!....” said Satan to Allah. “[Allah] is your Lord, and unto Him you shall be returned.” S. 11:34)
In short, can you love, worship, serve, obey, trust, give your heart and life to and spend eternity with a god who...
--Is unreliable and fickle
--Doesn’t even make it clear what it takes to enter paradise (is it based on his goodness or your goodness? him or you? his work or yours? and how much good do you have to do? can you ever know if you’ve done enough?)
--Identifies himself as a liar, schemer;deceitful;“the best of deceivers”--no one is “secure from allah’s schemes”
--Is vindictive and “desires” to hurt/”afflict” others
--Hates anyone who sins, is given to sin, does wrong or breaks his laws (doesn’t that include you?)
--Hates/finds repugnant/will not forgive/desires to afflict/punish/guide straight to hell anyone who does not believe in him (“unbelievers”)(weren’t you one at one point?)
--Hauls those who break his laws before his court completely defenseless with no hope of ever being redeemed from their sin or saved from his wrath
--Does not love you or want you for *you*, your heart of hearts--only your works and service from afar
--Doesn’t want to have any kind of relationship, friendship or fellowship with you
--Doesn’t want or allow you to know him; only his will and wishes
--Doesn’t seem to even care or take notice of your prayers to him (ever wonder why your prayers to him are repetitious and memorized?)
--Has no personal interest in you
--Whose love and goodness towards you is dependent entirely on your actions (what you do for him; if you obey him, do what he wants, believe him)
--Never provides a solution for the problem of sin (a way to be cleansed and separated from your wrongdoings and be given a new heart and nature and changed life)
--Never expects his followers to seek a complete change of life and make a conscious choice to avoid sin
--Is not holy himself
--Is not just (if allah were just, he would require a penalty for every sin and not simply dismiss the penalty for and overlook your bad deeds if you’ve done enough good deeds)
--Whose system of morality is entirely situational (there is no real moral line or underlying principle; whether something is “right” or “wrong” is based entirely on the situation and the furthering of allah’s rule/system)
--Whose main desire and intent is to rule the world (and your duty as a muslim and purpose as a human is simply to make that happen)
--Who (most of all) never meets the deepest need of your heart: your need to be loved?
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