By Their Fruits You Shall Know
Them
The Dissimilarities Between Islam And Christianity
By Jim Croft
In their attempts to lure people from Christian backgrounds into the web of
Islam, Muslim activists often claim that there are significant similarities between
Islam and Christianity. They assert that Islam completes that which is lacking
in Christianity by establishing Mohammed as the superior successor of Jesus Christ
as God's final messenger, prophet, and apostle to the world. The purpose of this
article is to unveil the reality that these assertions are gross distortions of
the truth. This will be demonstrated by examining the dissimilarities between
the respective fruit that has been produced by the two religions. Jesus said that
objective observations of the fruit within the lives of prophets and their followers
was the criterion for discerning whether a spiritual leader was a true or a false
prophet. He compared them to fruit trees, stating that a good tree would bring
forth good fruit and that a bad tree would bring forth bad fruit (Matt. 7:15-20).
Our exploration will prove conclusively that there is a vast disparity in the
quality of fruit that has been produced by the two religions.
At the onset it is crucial that the reader understand that the viewpoints that
are expressed in this article are built upon three interrelated premises. First,
there is a subtle, yet viable, correlation between a nation's prominent religion
and that nation's potential to produce a long-term fertile environment for the
good of its people and the welfare of the global community of mankind. In this
context, a country under the predominant influence of a good religion will have
equitable laws and provide educational and economic opportunities for all of its
citizens. When a nation's psyche has been imprinted by a corrupt religion, it
will have unjust laws and fail to produce diverse opportunities for its people.
The second premise is that there is a significant difference in the teachings
of Islam when it comes to aspirations for political power over nations and that
of Christianity's New Testament. The goal of Islam is to transform every nation
into a holy nation by subjugation to Islamic Law. In
nations where this goal has been realized, it has diminished the nation's potential
to bless its people and make meaningful contributions to the global community.
The teachings of the New Testament, Jesus, and His apostles do not concur with
Islam's aspirations for global domination. The Bible does not imply that every
person on earth will become a Christian. Within Christianity, the collective born-again
believers of every nationality are God's holy nation.
They are sprinkled as salt among the people groups of the planet. As the salt
of the earth they have three functions. They present the Gospel message to all
in hopes that many might willing accept the revelation of the Lordship of Jesus
Christ. They accentuate the flavor of that which is productive in the systems
of this world. As preserving agents they prevent the corrupting influences of
Satan and sin from totally destroying the earth and mankind. Christians are to
bless the world in these functions until Christ returns, destroys all evil, and
establishes His global millennial reign. Islam's concept of how God's rule is
to be established over the entire world is incompatible with that of Christianity.
Within Islam it is the Muslim's responsibility to do it by any means possible,
including war. The biblical concept is that Christians will win as many people
as they can through love before Christ raptures all the converted from the earth.
Then Jesus and His heavenly warriors will declare war on the rebellious and be
victorious over them. Subsequently, Christ will return with His people and set
up His millennial kingdom.
The third and final premise is that membership in an unfruitful religion does
not necessitate that a person is inherently evil. There are many good Muslims
that have immigrated to Western democracies in the pursuit of political freedom
and financial opportunity. The majority of these are sweet, productive people
that would have languished had they remained in Islamic-controlled environments.
They are free to prosper because they do not have religious legalisms governing
their pursuits. There are good and bad Christians just as there are good and bad
Muslims. The difference is that Christians that commit unbecoming acts do not
have the backing of their Founder and the Bible to support their behavior. Muslims
that commit similar sins can often point to the example of Islam's founder, Mohammed,
to legitimatize their actions. With this foundation laid, we will begin the article.
The Apostleship Of Christ Vs The Apostleship of Mohammed
- Contemporary Christians, like those of the first century church, are responsible
to examine the claims of those that claim apostleship (Rev. 2:2). The biblical
signs of a true apostle are perseverance and miracles (2 Cor. 12:12). Anyone that
does not have ample evidence of these two graces is lying about being an apostle.
Mohammed was definitely a deceived deceiver.
- Jesus and His apostles performed many miraculous cures (Act 10:38, Acts 3:1-8,
Rom. 15:18-19). There are no historical accounts of Mohammed and the subsequent
leaders of Islam performing miracles.
- Jesus and His apostles persevered by maintaining meek and forgiving attitudes
in the midst of hostility. Jesus and Stephen, while in their death traumas, forgave
their cruel executioners (Lk. 23:24, Acts 7:20). Even though the Apostle Paul
suffered numerous floggings and imprisonments at the hand of the Jews, his persevering
love for them inspired him to state that he would exchange his own salvation for
theirs (Rom. 9:3-4). When Mohammed's new movement encountered resistance, he mutated
from being the "peaceful prophet of Mecca" into "the vindictively hostile warrior
of Medina". On his deathbed he called for the expulsion of all Jews from the Arabian
Peninsula.
- Jesus was non-violent, and He forbade His apostles to react with violence
against agitators (Matt. 5:39). When Peter severed a soldier's ear with a sword
in the garden, Jesus healed the man and commanded Peter to put away his sword
(Matt. 26:51-52). Biblically, subsequent to the resurrection of Christ, not one
of His apostles or those of the Church advocated violence as a means to spread
the Gospel. History records that millions of Christians have been persecuted and
martyred without lifting a hand to defend their lives. The Epistles emphatically
state that anyone that is a brawler, is given to outbursts of anger, or retaliates
with violence is disqualified from spiritual leadership (1 Tim. 3:3, Titus 1:7).
Mohammed was a warrior that took lives to spread his message. Through the centuries,
and to this day, thousands of Islam's clerics have incited violence for the cause
of Jihad.
The Mandate for Moral Purity Within Christianity Vs The Liberty
For Debaucheries Within Islam - Within Christianity, spiritual leaders
are required to be joined to one wife in marriage (1 Tim 3:2). Not so in Islam.
Contemporary Muslims are allowed up to 4 wives. Mohammed had 11 wives and an unknown
number of concubines. He married one hapless girl when she was 6 years old and
consummated the sexual relationship when she was only 9.
- Fornication is a scriptural term that covers every form of deviate sexual
activity from adultery through sodomy. For conscientious Christians, fornication
is not an option (1 Cor. 6:9). Those that persist in any form of sexual immorality
risk spending eternity in hell (Rev. 21:8). Islam is far different. Men that give
their lives for Jihad are promised 70 virgins in paradise. Supposedly, each girl's
virginity is miraculously restored after each sexual encounter. In addition, beautiful
young boys are available as sex objects for the warriors in heaven.
- A man that was guilty of committing fornication with his father's wife was
excommunicated from the church at Corinth until his repentance was complete (1
Cor. 5:1, 2 Cor. 2:6-8). In contrast, Mohammed seduced and married his son's wife.
On another occasion, he learned that a fellow Muslim had freed a slave boy that
had been used in pedophile activities. Mohammed recaptured the boy and sold him
to another man. In 2002, a 12-year-old Pakistani boy was convicted of the crime
of walking with un-chaperoned girls. As a punishment, the Islamic elders of his
village sentenced his 15-year-old sister to be gang-raped by five men. The press
reported that this was not an isolated incident for Pakistan.
Health And Education Within Christendom Vs That Within Islam
- In this section we will look at the cumulative infant mortality, literacy, and
life expectancy rates in 5 prominent Christian nations and 5 prominent Islamic
nations. The Christian countries will be America, England, France, Germany, and
Switzerland. The Muslim states will be Afghanistan, Egypt, Iraq, Pakistan, and
Saudi Arabia. The statistics are taken from Time Almanac 2001and
various Websites.
| |
Christian Nations |
Islamic Nations |
| Infant mortality rates |
5.14 deaths in 1,000 births |
78.62 deaths in 1,000 births |
| Literacy rates |
98.6% |
46.8% |
| Life expectancy |
77.8 years |
57.9 years |
Industrial, Scientific, And Technological Advances In Christian
Nations Vs Those from Islamic States - Without question Christian
nations lead the world in making contributions for the good of mankind. The major
medical advances, mechanical inventions, industrial innovations and cutting-edge
business technologies have all been birthed in the heart of the Christian world.
The Nobel Prize has been awarded to hundreds of Christians and Jews. In its history
only 6 recipients have been from Muslim-controlled nations. Most of these Islamic
recipients were privileged with educations in Western democracies. Though Islam
claims to have led the world in the arts and sciences from 700-1200AD, there was
a curious cessation of their leadership after the eleventh century. Religious
persecutions, wars, and harsh environments cannot be blamed. Every Christian nation
has experienced the same and risen above the adversities. During the past 800
years not one major contribution to the welfare of mankind has been birthed in
an Islamic state without the assistance of Christian education and technology.
The oil would still be in the ground if the Westernized world had not pointed
the way to the Islamic OPEC nations.
Christian Mercy Missions Vs Islam's Brand Of Benevolence
- Whenever and wherever tragedy strikes, organizations founded on the teachings
of Christ respond with acts of compassionate mercy. Christian organizations never
use religion, race, or past political animosities as excuses to deter them from
mercy missions. Christian nations help rebuild the nations that have been at war
with them. Islam is far different. How often do you hear about Islamic states
rushing to aid the victims of natural disasters in non-Muslim countries? Is there
any record of Iraq lifting a finger to rebuild Kuwait after they devastated it
in 1991? The answers to the preceding questions are, "you don't" and "none"! The
truth is, Islam simply does not foster compassionate hearts of mercy for anyone
other than Muslims. In fact, it is rare to see Muslim nations giving aid to the
unfortunate of any nation, including their own. The Islamic brand of benevolence
prompted Saudi Arabia and Iraq to reward the families of Palestinian homicide
bombers with financial gifts. If given the opportunity, Christian organizations
would gladly assist the bereaved financially and offer them counseling to prevent
them from encouraging their remaining children to kill themselves and innocent
people.
If one uses the criteria of good or corrupt fruit for assessing the value of
a religion, Islam does not earn a favorable report. One would be hard pressed
to cite objective examples of nations or people that are experiencing ongoing
tangible benefits for following Mohammed and the Koran. There are 3 points wherein
Christianity and Islam are similar. They both originated in the Middle East, have
Holy books, and encourage devotion to one God. Beyond these there are far more
dissimilarities than there are similarities between the two religions. Any objective
assessor would conclude that when it comes to long-term good fruit, if measured
and weighed beside Christianity, Islam is found sorely lacking.
Jim Croft's book, The Muslim Masquerade, is available
through JCM, 8130 Glades Rd. #327, Boca Raton, FL 33434. His teaching newsletter,
In Search of Truth, may be obtained by contacting him
via e-mail:
jcroft8942@adelphia.net
www.pccchurch.org/jc_ministries.htm
www.pccchurch.org/gccchurch.htm
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