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[Throwaway]

They believe that Islam is actually a continuation of Christianity, just as Christianity is the continuation of Judaism?

Islam is more or less simple. There is a God, just one. No trinity, to complicated sacrifice needed. For me, I feel that any universal truth needs to be timeless and cannot be limited by where you live or when you lived. For example, within the Christian view, only those born after Jesus can ever be saved. And only those who hear and resonate with the (very complicated) story of the trinity, sacrifice, resurrection etc can be saved.Whereas with Islam, it is very simple in my opinion.

[jimwalton]

I have problems with viewing Islam as a rational choice. One of the things about Islam that doesn't make sense to me is the radical transcendence of Allah: the distance between man and God is simply impossible to cross. Repetition and submission are the rule, not any kind of a relationship. And there is no certainty of heaven for the common person. It is all "the will of God," they say. One's destiny is left at the mercy of an unknown and unknowable will. Zacharias says, "When relationship is swallowed up by rules, political power and enforcement become the means of containment." We've seen that to be true.

Islam is a religion of the Book, as opposed to Christianity, which focuses on the person of Jesus. But how does one hold that the written text is perfect (which it is not; there are textual variants)? Also, Jesus didn't come to give a certain group of people ethnic worth. That's Islam. Jesus loved the world and came to save the world.

My other problem with Islam is its violent nature. 64% of the Qur'an is driven by the question of what to do with the kafir—the infidels, the unbelievers. The Kafir have no human or civil rights. Any non-Muslim can be killed, sold into slavery, sexually abused, raped, mistreated, dismembered, or mutilated. In total there are over 100 verses in the Qur'an encouraging Muslims to fight, kill, torture, rape, pillar, and conquer in the name of Allah against the kafir. Here are just a few selections: Surah 2.190-196, 216; 4.89, 91; 5.33-35; 6.45; 8.39; 9.5; 33.60; 40.35; 47.4; 66.9.

> For example, within the Christian view, only those born after Jesus can ever be saved.

Just so you know, this is not true. Many people from before Jesus were saved. Hebrews 11 makes that abundantly clear.