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THE CARPENTER GOD!
I am T. A. Gardener, 25 years. Jesus was a carpenter when he was twelve years of age and remained so until he was thirty, as The New Testament tells. He was earning his bread through carpentry, and there is certainly nothing wrong with that.
However, I could not swallow the idea that God was a carpenter for eighteen years. I could not either swallow the idea that God was not only a carpenter, but just an apprentice in the early years of his career learning carpentry. I could not swallow the idea that Jesus until the age of thirty was behaving like a normal human being and waited until the age of thirty when he began to play the so-called role of God. The Christian God is the only god that was a carpenter! Jesus was a carpenter like thousands of human carpenters, and suddenly he became not a god, but God, God the carpenter or the carpenter God!
My modest explanation is this. Jesus is a human being, and when he was thirty, God sent to him His revelation and ordered him to convey the message to the people of Israel only. Jesus is God's messenger. That is all. God gave him miracles as he gave to all messengers before and after him.
This was my personal solution to the Christian dilemma. Later, I discovered that my understanding completely agrees with the Islamic understanding. This has convinced me to embrace Islam, which explains all my questions in a very convincing manner.
(67)
AMERICANISM
I am J. B. Miller, 36 years. I was a teacher. Because I was a devoted Catholic Christian, it happened once that I criticized Darwin's evolution theory and stated to my students in class that Darwinism is merely a theory, not a law; he could be wrong. I told my class that there must be the Creator, Who created all beings and all animals in their different forms.
Two days later, I was called by the school principal. To my surprise, he gave me a written final warning for my anti-secular tendencies and my pro-religion attitude. I told him that the US constitution guarantees both the freedom of belief and the freedom of expression and that he has no right to deny me my constitutional rights. He replied that I am free to say anything except preaching God in class and he said, "No God in class." I could not believe what I heard; I was utterly shocked that secularism has become America's new religion.
I have come to the conclusion that freedom in the USA is a big lie. I have realized that there is no difference between Americanism and communism: both are godless and atheistic.
In contrast, I like the spirituality of the Islamic countries, where God is reminded of everywhere: at school, at home, at mosque, in media, and on all occasions. The Islamic life is more natural, more spiritual, and more balanced than our Western life, where God is imprisoned at church and is never allowed out!
The Western life is a schizophrenic life. You have to be two persons in one: one on Sunday and one on other days; one at; church and one outside it. You have to be with a double personality: two minds, two souls, two tongues, two sets of standards, and two faces. It is a life of utterly unbearable hypocrisy.
In Islam, you believe in God and Islam, and you carry your belief wherever you go. You have one mind, the mind of the believer. You have one soul, the soul of a surrenderer to God. You have one tongue, a tongue of a worshipper. You have one set of ethics, the ethical set of Islamic values. You have one face, the face of a pacified Muslim.
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THE TRIO
I am V. P. Hansen, 27 years. I spent years and years trying to understand how God can be three in one, and I simply couldn't. My brain can understand that God could be one, two, or three, but no human brain can possibly understand how God can be three gods in one God. It is too mysterious to be true.
Why does God need to be three in one when He can be one and function as one? Multiplicity implies incapability. If He needs other partners, assistants, or godly copies, this means that he is not perfect and, hence, he is no more God. He would be a god, not God. I have come to the belief that the Trinity is one form of polytheism, that the Trinity contradicts God's Oneness, preached in The Old Testament and all prophets.
I felt that the whole Christianity is collapsing before my eyes because its basis, i.e., the Trinity, is simply wrong, unreasonable, and groundless.
I could not understand the chaos caused by the Trinity. Sometimes the church says that Jesus is God and sometimes it says that Jesus is the son of God. There is no possible confusion beyond such confusion. I didn't know who my God is: Is he Jesus or God? I did not know who God is and who Jesus is.
I began to wander if there is a more convincing religion with a reasonable concept of God. I found the answer in Islam: God is one; God is eternal; God has no equals and no partners; God did not beget; nor was He begotten. This is the God I was looking for: one, not three; eternal, not dead on the cross; unique, not with three copies; able, not with two assistants. In Islam, I find everything logical, simple, and reasonable. Thanks to God that I am on the right path, the straight way of Islam.
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WHAT SAVES?
I am G. A. Mackin, 34 years. The church has never made what saves man clear to me or to any Christian. Sometimes, we are told that the crucifixion of Jesus saves humans. Sometimes, the church says that if you believe, you are saved. Sometimes, it says that belief alone is not enough; you have to do good deeds. The whole church story has never been, nor will it ever be, clear in my mind.
The New Testament says, "The tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be at the end to this world."(Matthew 13:40). If sinners will be punished, why was Jesus' crucifixion then? What for?
Islam is crystal clear on this: you save yourself through your faith and good deeds. That is Islam: logical, consistent, and clear. I like the logic and consistency of Islam.
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NO INTERCESSORS
I am C. M. Hill, 23 years. Christianity tells me that if you want to ask God, you cannot ask Him directly. You have to go through a process. First, ask the Holy Spirit. Next, if the Holy Spirit approves, he will pass your request to Jesus. Then, if Jesus approves, he will pass it to God. You have to reach God through secretaries or intercessors.
I understand that Islam does not require such a process. There is none or nothing between you and God. Just address God directly with no mediators. I like this Islamic concept of God. That is why, among other reasons, I have chosen Islam.
(71)
USELESS CRUCIFIXION
I am R. D. Hockett, 43 years. The basic comer-stone of Christianity is Jesus' crucifixion since it is essential to salvation although such a concept has never convinced me.
To my surprise, The New Testament itself has evidence against the concept of salvation through crucifixion. Jesus says, "Not every one that hath saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my father which is in heaven." (Matthew 7:21). Doing God's will means obeying God. This evidence proves beyond doubt that what saves you is faith and good deeds, not Jesus, crucifixion.
This text undermines the whole basis of Christianity. Islam has this view: believe in God, obey Him, and you are saved. The Islamic view I makes sense. Christianity, in fact, encourages people to sin because Jesus bore their sins! Islam makes everyone bear his own sin, which makes much more sense. That is why I have become a Muslim.
(72)
WHY ASK FOR
FORGIVENESS?
I am N. W. Jersild, 44 years. Whenever I attended prayer at the church, the pastor asked the audience to repeat after him asking God through Jesus, or Jesus through God, to forgive them. The church music added to the hypnotic effect of the situation. Everybody, except me, was pleased or seemed pleased.
I began to question the whole thing. Now we ask God to forgive our sins. All right! But didn't Jesus bear our sins? The church tells us this night and day: Jesus offered himself on the cross to bear our sins, and he did bear them. If Jesus bore our sins, why are we asking God to forgive our sins? I felt that Christianity is a loose inconsistent belief; it does not hold well together. I began to look for the truth and started to read more about religions in general.
My readings led me to the truth: Islam is the only true religion. It is the religion of all prophets including Moses and Jesus. Believe in all the messengers of God, not only one. Believe in all. God's Revealed Books, not only one. Love all humans and all races, not the white race only. Islam is the only right choice; I repeat that Islam is the only right choice. Indeed, it fully satisfies the mind, the heart, the body, and the soul of any objective unbiased person.
THE AUTHOR'S BOOKS
In English
Language Teaching
Programmed TEFL Methodology
A Workbook for English Teaching Practice
A Dictionary of Education: English-Arabic
A Dictionary of Theoretical Linguistics: English-Arabic
A Dictionary of Applies Linguistics: English-Arabic
Teaching English to Arab Students
The Teacher of English
A Contrastive Transformational Grammar: Arabic and English
Learn Arabic by Yourself (English and Arabic)
A Dictionary of Islamic Terms: English- Arabic
Simplified English Grammar
Improve Your English :. .
The Light of Islam 1'-'.
The NeedforIslam ft .
Traditions of Prophet Muhammad
Sayings of Prophet Muhammad
The Truth about Jesus Christ
Islam and Christianity
Questions and Answers about Islam
Introduction to Linguistics IN ARABIC
Dictionary of Phonetics
Study Skills
Linguistics Studies
The Student's Guidebook in Teaching Practice
Language Teaching
Living with Two Languages
Frequent Structures in Arabic
Learn Spelling in Arabic
Arabic Transformational Grammar
Language Phones
Introduction to Linguistics
How to write a Research Paper
The False Glimmer of the Western Civilization
The Truth about Jesus Christ
A Comparison between the Four Gospels
The Corruption of the Old Testament
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