Islam is a unique religion because it is the only one which explicitly denies Jesus' divinity as a part of its formal doctrine. No other religion teaches this so explicitly and makes it such an important part of its public belief. This is why Islam is rightly called a religion of the antichrist, because "this is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son" (1 John 2:22).
This false witness about Jesus comes from Muhammad, the founder of Islam's teachings. He claimed he was telling the truth because Allah "revealed" it to him, along with many other teachings. This is very important, because while there is clear historical evidence to show Muhammad's idea of "Islam" grow from being what was a nondescript cult influenced by the various heresies of his day (and is the reason why many great saints, such as St. John of Damascus and Bl. Peter the Venerable of Montbossier regard Islam as the culmination of all Christian heresies), the fact is that for at Muslim, this "truth" comes directly from Allah through his mouthpiece in Muhammad and is NOT to be questioned. Not only does Islam make it impossible to debate and discuss their beliefs, but they emphasize that they believe what they do because of the divine revelation - the dogma- that Allah has revealed to man.
Dante and Virgil see Muhammad in Hell
Islam is a complete way of life that consumes everything an individual and a society does. However, the roots of all of this lay at the theology because the theology gives divine structure and permanence to it. Muslims say they act the way they do because Allah had told them to act this way, and that it is the most perfect way, which is rooted in their dogma. This means that the violence of Islam is rooted in its dogma as well- it is an inherent part of "divine revelation". Most importantly, it cannot be changed without changing Islam itself. To put it in the words of one Muslim apostate I knew, she said that to take away the violence from Islam would be to create a new religion, because the violence is inherent to it.
That said, many people, including Christians, are under the impression that external factors can stop Islamic violence. This is absolutely not true. Yes, while people are people and can choose to do good or evil, the problem with Islam is Islam itself, and there is no way to "reform" it because "reform" presumes a change from one state to, especially here, a state that is ideally better. If your religion teaches as part of its doctrine that one particular state or viewpoint is the most perfect viewpoint because it was given by the creator of everything, then anything outside of this would be an abberation- in fact, it would be a sin against the creator himself to say that he was wrong and you know better.
Yet this is precisely what people who say that Islam can be "reformed" are saying, and is the reason they are not paid attention to. Most Muslims are not willing to consider this because they do not want to incur the wrath of Allah and the Muslim community if they believe, and many Muslims (like many people in all different religions) simply do not care because their belief in, practice of, and knowledge of Islam is superficial or nominal. It's a losing position because, especially from the Christian perspective, it implies a compromise with evil, that Christians can take an anti-christ religion and help to "reform" it.
There is no reforming Islam. It cannot be altered. It also cannot co-exist with Christianity, for they are inherently in conflict with each other. One must overtake the other in time.
However, this does not stop Christians from holding such erroneous beliefs, such as a recent article in the Christian Post which describes an apostate Muslim who was tortured by ISIS who believes that "education" is the way to stop Muslim terrorists:
Shaffie believes the solution has to come from Muslim nations working to change hardline jihadi ideology, with a "big focus on education."
Considering that nations like Pakistan are giving children textbooks that incite hatred towards Christians and other non-Muslim groups, ridding schools of radical indoctrination is an ideal place to start.
"ISIS is not the problem, before them it was al-Qaeda, before them it was Hezbollah and Hamas and before them there were other organisations," he stressed. "The problem is the ideology of the extremists and the Muslim community has to work with us."
The radical ideology that Shafie speaks of is not found only jihadi groups and radical lone wolves but also in many Arab, African and Asian governments that imprison and kill Christians and other religious minorities for apostasy or blasphemy and also turn a blind eye when Muslims persecute those communities.
To the credit of Egyptian president Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi, he issued a remark similar to Shafie when he gave a speech to leading Muslim clerics at the 1,000-year-old Al-Azhar University and argued that they are responsible "before Allah" for helping lead a "religious revolution." (source)
With all respect to Mr. Shaffie, he is very wrong.
Contrary to what we are taught, education is neither bad nor good. It is morally neutral. What makes an education beneficial or harmful is the moral disposition of the person being taught and the moral lessons, if any, that are imparted during the teachings. And the teachings of Islam's are morally corrupt. Therefore, the more a person becomes educated in Islam, the more morally corrupt he will become in the sense that he will become more inclined to follow the violent, evil theology that makes up the soul of Islam and was embodied in the life of Muhammad.
The fact that education causes Islamic violence has been known for years. But why do people, most of all Christians, still insist upon assuming what is a liberal narrative that comes from an anti-god, anti-christian, secular agenda?
I believe the answer is because the truth hurts and we do not want to hurt others.
Islam, while many people are interested in it, makes a lot of people uncomfortable. People will stop talking to you. You will get uninvited from parties and unfriended on Facebook. People will threaten you and may try to follow through on their threats. While it can be said worldwide, as Theodore pointed out in one of his recent videos, American Christians are more concerned about popularity and conformity than truth because we do not want to hurt others, especially those we love. We want to see the best in others, and even that sometimes means denying reality to try to make truth fit a certain point of view.
However, truth does not change with respect to anybody's opinion. Truth is truth, and it remains so no matter who likes it or does not.
Yes, there are many good people who are Muslims in the world. However, the truth is they need Jesus because He is "the way, the truth, and the life, and nobody comes to the Father except through Him," and it is also a truth that Islam is the source of its own problems, and studying and practicing Islam better will only make those problems worse.
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