The Religious Success of Islam?

Has it ever occurred to you to think along the following lines? There are a lot of wars going on among the Muslims and the Western world. The Muslims believe their religion is correct to the point of killing multiple people in pitiless and savage ways and even killing themselves to become "martyrs" in the process. In many Muslim countries it is against the law to point of a penalty of death to attempt to proselytize Muslims to the truth. When you are trying to find out what you believe in, many people seem to come to the universal idea of a single omnipotent and omnipresent God or a "Great Intelligence" or Providence. The Muslim and the Judeo-Christian Gods would fall under these categories.

If you do believe there must be a God Who created all this, isn't it reasonable to assume that He would want us to know Him? We know scientifically that it is unlikely that God is appearing in any physical form today, so how are we to know Him? Many of the varied religions have a book or more to which they refer as Scriptures in which they believe that God in some form or manner communicates with them (The Bible, the Torah, the Book of Mormon, etc.) In the case of the Muslims, there scriptures are called the Qur'an or the Koran. They claim to believe in the Jewish and Christian Scriptures, but they almost never refer to them. Their most important book is the Koran. In some places you can meet a savage death by desecrating this book. Many religions also have one or more prophets who claim to represent God's presence, proclaim His messages and even write their scriptures. In the case of Christians this person is Jesus Christ, Who is also believed to be the Son of God. In the case of the Jews, these are people such as Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah and many other minor prophets. In the case of Muslims, their prophet is a man named Muhammad who lived in the seventh century, well after the Jewish and Christian prophets. Again in some Muslim places, if you desecrate the name of Muhammad, you can meet a merciless death. Over all, I think you can draw one conclusion from Islam; it is a religion in which a lot of needless death occurs.

If you are a sincere seeker of truth, you may have discovered that there are many criteria by which religions can be compared or judged. I've looked at several comparisons among these three religions. I want to focus on what I think is the most basic one which is expressed by the question, "Which one does God give His blessings to?" If you look at Judaism for example, the best place we can look to is the Jewish state, Israel. Has God blessed the nation of Israel? Their track record is very good. Jews, as individuals, by and large seem to be very successful in all they set their hands to. As an example most of nuclear and theoretical physics has been the baileywick of the Jews (Albert Einstein was a Jew). The nation of Israel, was founded in 1948 after a war with Arab states in which Israel won hands down. In several subsequent wars, Israel overcame her enemies by what some would call "miraculous" means. Much technology and innovation has come out of Israel. Before the Jews occupied the land of Palestine it was pretty much useless land and was not being very well administered or exploited by its inhabitants. When it became the nation of Israel, the desert bloomed. It is now a very beautiful place in which to reside or visit .
How about the Christians? Western civilization, especially where there is a majority of the "protestant" persuasion has done very well. Let's take the United States of America as an example. Founded by various orthodox protestants trying to escape European religious persecution almost 234 years ago, it has flourished beyond the wildest dreams of its founders. Most of the world's greatest inventions, discoveries and innovations have all come from the predominantly Protestant United States. Of all the nations of the Earth, it has risen to become the most dominant nation in the World and has even conquered the Moon itself!

What about Muslim "civilization". Few of them seem to have done well with oil wealth beneath their soil, but what else can they claim? Many, if not most of them are still living in the 7th century or at least want to live there again under what they call "Sharia Law". Wait a minute, you might contend, didn't the Arabs invent our numbering system, and innovate much in the way of higher mathematics and astronomy? These accomplishments occurred long before the founding of Islam which again, began in the 7th century. None of the nations which are Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu and many other religions are very successful. (Japan is probably one exception to this, being a non-judeo-christian nation.

So, why doesn't an intelligent Muslim ask himself why they cannot defeat Israel nor can they win this current war in which Al Queda, the Taliban and many other sects are arrayed against Western Civilization? Where is their God? Where is Muhammad? Do they not call upon Him 5 times per day and keep one of the most rigorous religious regimes there are among religions with their many fastings, feasts, and pilgrimages? Why do they come in dead last when it comes to blessings? Is this the religion that one must believe in or die a horrible, pitiless death as the Koran says? Instead of following a man who preached the idea of killing one's enemies long after Jesus Christ told us to "Love [our] enemies", why don't we follow the Man who was both Man AND God. A God Who came down to Earth as a man, to strip of Himself most of His Godly powers which could have saved Himself from death, and laid down His own life ...and rose again... so that ALL of His creation might be saved? Then, you can enjoy the life of those who are surrounded and overwhelmed by His bountiful and rich grace (his unmerited favor)!

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