Questions Muslims have – 1

Religiousness or the truth

Some years ago I compiled a slight show to answer Muslims many questions they have and things they do not understand and cannot comprehend. I pray it will be a blessing to you!

Imagine you were God and look down on the world to see the people and all their doings. How they strive for power, fame and honor, driven by greed, to have more than they really need and to be more than the other and everyone wanting to feel as something better than the others. Wouldn’t that make you want to cry also?

How did the world get into such a sorry state? And is there perhaps a happy ending after all? But who wants to or can believe in a God about whom he knows next to nothing and who is simply beyond human understanding? That’s what we want to find out here. All you need is a hunger for the truth and a longing for the Creator of all things!

As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. – Psalm 42,2-3

When we talk about God, we have to talk about religion, because God is linked to religion. But is God religion?
There are very many religions in the world, and each claims to be the only correct one. But worse, some teach people to feel better than the rest of the world (the unbelievers), which has always led to conflict and war everywhere.
If we are to hold on to something, we also want to be able to grasp it, understand it, and want logically comprehensible explanations and clarifications so that we can stand securely on this unfamiliar ground.
But which religion is actually the right one? What is a religion?

A religion is a practice of reverence to God made through a human understanding of God, which includes keeping commandments and laws in its practice. It is a human understanding of what God is, His character and nature, His plans and relationship to man.
With so many religions, how do we know which is the right one? If you approach this with love for the truth, absolute honesty is a prerequisite. Honesty first and foremost with yourself. Because if you can’t be honest with yourself, how can you be honest with others or even with God Himself? And then you need so much confidence in yourself that you trust yourself to be able to recognize the truth when it stands before you.

God tells us through the prophet Isaiah that his word endures forever, meaning it is not changed, because God holds his protective hand over it. For me personally, that God proves to be the only right one who tells his worshippers and followers to tell everyone who doesn’t know him about him – does your God do that? Or does your religion ask you to teach others about the love God has for everyone in this world?

Für alle Zeit, HERR, hat dein Wort im Himmel Bestand. – Psalm 119:89
“Forever, O LORD, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens. – Psalm 119:89
89 يَا رَبُّ كَلِمَتُكَ تَدُومُ ثَابِتَةً فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ إِلَى الأَبَدِ.

Is there evidence for the authenticity of the Bible?
In 1947, 2000-year-old scrolls were found in a cave in the Jordan Valley near Qumran, confirming the authenticity of the Old Testament. In addition, there are many other ancient writings and proofs. Where, however, does this claim in the Quran that the Bible is falsified come from?
I can only explain it by saying that certain things in the Bible, or the Tanakh, were misrepresented and therefore misunderstood.
God warned his people against false prophets, gave clear instructions on how to recognize a true prophet, namely that what he prophesies comes true and it does not contradict what God has given before.
There were indeed false prophets who gave false hopes to the people and were exposed by true prophets, like the prophet Jeremiah. However, just because there were indeed false prophets who twisted God’s word, that doesn’t mean that the entire writings of the Tanakh and consequently the New Testament, which is based on the Old, are falsified. So trust that God holds his protective hand over his word.

But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”– Jesus, John 4,23-24

The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. – Acts 17,24.25

God is Truth and Justice, Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Godness, Faithfulness, Gentleness! God is truth and in Him there is no untruth, no lie, no falsehood. Truth is symbolized with light, so God is light and in Him there is no darkness. And truth is something you either embrace in your heart or reject – for whatever reasons you reject it. But you cannot make truth into a religion that you practice.

As we saw, God is spirit, and his spirit is: love, joy, peace–all that is good and wonderful–and also truth and justice. Another expression for spirit is power or energy. And this power can be compared to electricity. We cannot see electricity, but we can see what its power can do. It is visible in everything that ’switches on‘ through electricity, like light, machines or devices. But that power won’t do you any good unless you make the connection.

In the picture below the people tapped into the energy of the high-voltage lines to make their fluorescent lights glow. In the same way, we can „tap into“ God, experience and use His power. Prayer is for us the means to connect with God. You close your eyes and focus your thoughts on the Creator, and then simply speak to Him from your heart.

God’s power, then, is something we can experience because His power is first and foremost love, and love is a feeling, an emotion, something tangible. But we also see His power through this wonderful world that He created. God’s power is creative and as His creations, we are a part of His power! Think about this thought and let us continue in this thought, because God is also love! So God is love and power and light! It is like an equation: if on one side God is equal to power and light and He is equal to love on the other side, then love is equal to power and light! „Love is the power and light of God!“ – Thoughts to get quiet and think about it.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. –Genesis 1:1-3

This is how the Bible begins: God created heaven and earth. Why then does it continue to say the „Spirit of God“ hovered over the water?
Was that someone other than God?
And if God is spirit, how can he speak? Did he perhaps speak through someone else?
What I want to point out here is that the Bible tells us from the very beginning that this power and force that we call God is a unity of three personalities, united in one God, one force, one Spirit.

We can compare this oneness of God with the sun. The sun is not dark and cold like the earth and moon, but it is a ball of fire and radiates light and heat that give life. The sun, the light and the heat – does that make the sun three? Or is the light a partner to the sun? Of course not, but this is one way we can roughly imagine the trinity of God.

God is love, but love is not love until we give it. It is giving that makes love to be love.
And so God can be Love in himself, in his character, because the three share love among themselves. But that was not satisfying God, and so he created beings with whom he could share his love in the same way: Angels and spiritual beings and finally he created man. God was very close to human beings, which we learn in Genesis 3

Now, how do you imagine God creating souls?
When a man loves a woman, he plants his seeds in her soil and a new human being is created. However, only a new body is created, because only God can create a soul. Then, when a man dies, the soul goes back to God:
The dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. – Ecclesiastes 12:7
But how does God create souls?
Does he have some kind of factory in which he lets souls automatically on an assembly line be produced?

Assembly line manufacturing? Certainly not. Because each of us is different, no one is the same as the other. Therefore, he does it more like in a craft workshop, where he creates with his own hands one soul in its personality after the other. He holds you very close to him for this and loves what he creates there. This is also how the prophet Isaiah compares it in chapter 64:8:
But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.
King David also says it this way in Psalm 139:13-14:
For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.

God loves what He creates and everything beautiful in the world expresses God’s love for us: every flower is a smile, every bird song is a love song and every sunrise or sunset is a caress to your soul by God’s hand. You just have to look at nature and you can see in it that God loves you! Look at the beautiful trees and flowers! Look at the sea, the mountains and the sky! God created all this for you to enjoy! He was not obligated to make everything so beautiful, but he made it that way on purpose: for you and me!
– Of course God loves you!

And God still speaks today to people who are completely devoted to him. He says the following about each one of us:
I remember when I formed you. With great care and special attention, I handpicked each talent, each gift, each characteristic, each fiber of your being, until the combination was exactly the right portion–each specification perfectly in sync to accomplish my will and my purpose in your life and in the lives of all those you were to touch on the great journey of your life.
I remember the moment when I breathed into you the very breath of life. The love welled up so intensely inside me I could not contain it! For I knew the joy you would bring not only to me, but to those who would cross your path along the road of life.
I love you from everlasting to everlasting and in you I am well pleased

If God was so close to us when he created us and made us individual personalities, and he loved to create us, took pleasure in each one of us, then surely he wants to be close to us after he sends us into the world, don’t you think so too?
However, in this he tied his own hands by giving his beings, humans as well as angels, their own free will whether they wanted to be close to him or not. He could have made them so that they automatically worship God, love him in a natural way. But that is not what God wanted. He wanted to have beings around Him, each of whom makes a personal choice whether to love and honor God or not.
God is high and mighty, but for that very reason does not think the way we humans think and does not consider many things important that we consider important and at times does things, that go far beyond our limited human understanding

Religions are important to us human beings, but if God wants each person to decide for himself what he wants to believe or not, then it does not matter which religion we are born into. Parents should teach their children to honor God, but everyone must ultimately make their own choice.
That God created us with a free will – in his image or likeness, as he puts it – together with the angels, is shown to us by many examples in the Bible as well as the Koran
In the Koran, we have the example of Iblis, who did not want to bow to the will of Allah and did not want to worship Adam – to worship in this case means to serve man, to be a guardian angel for them. If angels had no choice, he could not have refused.

So all of us, each one of us, has the freedom of free will as to what we want to believe and whom we want to worship. And we are surrounded by angels who serve us and God himself is close to us. And because he is so close to us, we can find therefore so many promises from God in His Word, the Bible, that tell us:
„Fear not“
… I am your shield, and your exceeding great reward.
… he will not fail you, or forsake you: fear not, neither be dismayed.
… for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
… I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.
– You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.

More thoughts on religions:
The Creator of heaven and earth fills the whole universe. Why do we mortal humans think we have to squeeze Him into our little brains and understand Him completely?
He is so great and powerful, how can we ever understand Him? If we could understand Him and everything about Him perfectly, He would be on the level of us humans and therefore not worthy of worship.

There is a story of a big, majestic eagle that had to spend its life trapped and chained to a pole. Today, you hardly see this anymore, as birds are usually kept in aviaries. But years ago it was common to see such large birds chained to stakes, kept from flying away by a chain with a ring on the leg.
But what they saw was rather a sad sight. All day long, the bird could do nothing but strut around that pole, as far away as his chain would allow. He had walked around so many times already that over the years he had trodden a path, a little furrow circularly around the stake.

Many years passed and the eagle was now quite old.
Finally, the owner felt sorry for the aging bird and wanted to grant him his last years in freedom. He freed him from the chain, lifted him up on his hand, ready to let him fly.
The great moment of freedom for the eagle had finally come.
The man spoke a few more words of thanks to him, wished him luck and, with a great swing, he threw the eagle high into the air into the sky.
But what do you think happened? Did the eagle soar away, up and out into freedom – free at last?

No, that’s not what happened.
The poor old bird just fluttered pitifully back to earth, unable to properly fly anymore. His wing muscles were lame and atrophied and all he could do was go back to his old furrow, to walk around the furrow in his old rut as he had been used to doing for so many years.
Only this time without a ring, without a chain.
All that held him there now was the old habit. He was free and yet not free, chained to his old habit.

How many of us are like this bird?
Chained to our habits? Habits that, like chains, were put on us from an early age and are finally so heavy and tightly bound to us that we can’t easily discard them and „fly away“, away to freedom. Away from tradition, imposed religion and our own lethargy, inertia and indifference!
God has given each of us the free will to decide for ourselves what we want, but if we are born into a religion that, out of tradition, sense of honor, and belief, requires us to remain faithful to that religion throughout our lives, are we then not like that eagle, chained to tradition and culture from birth? All we can see and how far we can go is as far as the chains allow us. Our horizon does not extend much further than what is predetermined by the chains.
I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. – Psalm 121:1-2

 

We all are like Adam and Eve, weak and sinful. But Jesus is different in that God has put his Word into Maryam therefore he was born without the sinful nature of Adam. And he became our high priest before God:
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. – Hebrews 4:15

He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, – Hebrews 1:3
Jesus tells us: “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” – John 8:12
Jesus is our light.
If you focus on that light, you will be drawn magnetically to the light. But if you give in to bad, negative pessimistic thoughts, they will pull you back into the darkness.
So, stay focused on the light, the lover of your soul