Friday, October 23, 2009

Not the Same


Islam and Christianity are not the same. Today it is trendy to blur the distinctions between the two.
The teachings are not the same. Allah is not the same as God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The description of humanity is not the same. The way a person is justified before God is not the same.
The way that God interacts with man is not the same.
It might be helpful to present a clear comparison for those Christians who are flirting with universalist tendencies just because this particular false religion happens to be monotheistic in flavor. I present two similar stories that I have found to reveal the striking difference between the one, true faith of Christianity and the religion of Islam.
Story 1 - Hadith
Imran ibn Husain, a companion of Muhammad and a Narrator of Hadith, reported that a woman from Juhiana came to Muhammad and confessed that she had become pregnant because of adultery. She said, "I am pregnant as a result of zina (extramarital sex)." Muhammad said, "Go back, and come to me after the birth of the child."
After giving birth, the woman came back to Muhammad, saying, "Please purify me now." Next, Muhammad said, "Go and suckle your child, and come after the period of suckling is over." She came after the period of weaning and brought a piece of bread with her. She fed the child the piece of bread and said, "Oh, Allah's Apostle, the child has been weaned."
At that Muhammad pronounced judgement about her and she was stoned to death.
Story 2 - John 8:2-11
Early in the morning [Jesus] came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst they said to him, "Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the Law of Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?" This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground.
And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her." And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus stood up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" She said, "No one, Lord."
And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more."