A discussion between me, Morass, Inquirer, Amina, syed baqar ali and Nashoo:

Me

Hello,

Thanks for the link. I'll check it out right away...

reza

A discussion between me, Morass, Inquirer, Amina, syed baqar ali and Nashoo:

Inquirer

Salam
Without going into a big historical essay on this subject between Catholics and the Prostestant beliefs I'll just try and give a straight down the line answer.
Catholic Priests are celibate: they don't marry.
Catholic Nuns are celibate: they don't marry either.
Catholics believe that Baptism in a sense is salvation.
Catholics believe in purgatory which is like, I guess, a stop over between heaven and ####.
Catholics believe in the acension of Mary. She went to heaven and didn't die.
Mary did not have children only for Jesus and remained a virgin even during and after childbirth.
Peter was the first Pope.
The pope is infallible and is the Vicar of Christ on earth.
In other words what he says goes.
The Word Catholic means universal.
Catholics believe their church is the mother church.
Catholics believe that saints and Mary can intercede for them to God. Hence the prayer of the Rosary.
Catholics worship Mary.
Catholics believe in Jesus as the Son of God and the Trinity.
They believe that Jesus died for our sins and to offer freely the gift of eternal life through belief in him.
Catholics have only one main interpretation of the bible taught by the Holy Catholic Church.
There is much more and I would like to make one point.
I have some wonderful catholic friends. They are lovely people.
Protestants:
Ministers can be Male or Female and can marry. Some sects even have homosexual ministers.
They can be very fundamental or very liberal in their interpretation of the bible.
They don't worship Mary or saints.
They believe Mary had other children. Jesus had brothers and sisters.
Mary did not ascend to heaven but died a natural death.
Peter was not the first pope or even the leader of the first church.
Most respect the pope but that's all.
Jesus is the only intercessor between man and God.
Jesus is the son of God. And believe in the trinity in most cases.
Jesus died for our sins and offers eternal life through belief in him.
The bible is open to different interpretation depending on what Church you attend.
Some believe in the gifts of the Holy Spirit, such as speaking in tongues and interpretation, prophecy, teaching , healings, and miracles. All these gifts are a blessing of Baptism in the Spirit. A Penticostal teaching that the works of Jesus are still ongoing through the faithful.
They don't believe in Purgatory, it's either heaven or ####.
Prostestants don't believe baptism (water) is necessary for salvation.
If you believed in reincarnation you could spend a 1000 lifetimes on this subject and still not work it all out.
Somewhat confusing don't you think?
Blessings
Inquirer.

A discussion between me, Morass, Inquirer, Amina, syed baqar ali and Nashoo:

Inquirer

Salam
Dear Reza
You're correct. The Jehovah's Witnesses don't have a cross on their church or in their church.
The Jehovah's Witness are looked upon by Christendom as a cult.
And they in turn look upon Christendom as Babylon the whore etc.
The Seventh Day Adventist. Named thus because they keep the Sabbath and worship on a Saturday, do not have a cross on their churches either and they see themselves as the Remnant Church mentioned in the book of Revelation that keep God's commandments.
Most Spiritualist churches don't display a cross but are prone to wear them. Now they're the ones who contact the spirits of the dead and whomever and have mediums instead of ministers.
There's actually one Pentecostal Church that believe the name of God is The Lord Jesus Christ. That there is no trinity but Jesus chose to reveal himself as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in different dispensations. So they are saying there is only one God but his name is not Allah but the Lord Jesus Christ.
Reza isn't this fascinating stuff, but alas it gets you knowhere.
Who was it who said: "The more I learn, the less I know."
I think it was Einstien.
Thanks for your input my friend.
Inquirer
Gary

A discussion between me, Morass, Inquirer, Amina, syed baqar ali and Nashoo:

Inquirer


Dear Reza
That's one thing you can say about Muhammed (pbuh) and that's he didn't mince words.

I tell you what Reza, I've got a fair idea #### is going to be a bigger place by the sounds of it than heaven!

Here's a good question you may wish to answer on this point.
Do you think we are going to suffer eternally in #### fire or that the #### fire will exterminate us for eternity?

What's your personal opinion?
Inquirer
Gary

A discussion between me, Morass, Inquirer, Amina, syed baqar ali and Nashoo:

Inquirer


Salam
Dear Brothers
Thank you for your insight on this subject of ####.
Would not one be a fool not to choose heaven?
The way Christianity looks at judgement day is a little different though.
The belief is that the non-believers will be sent to ####.
From the Living Bible: John 3:18 "There is no eternal doom awaiting those who trust him (Jesus) to save them. But those who don't trust him have already been tried and condemned for not believing in the only Son of God."
And yes, it's the same conditions: #### fire for eternity, a fire and thirst that will not be quenched.
For believers there will be a judgement but not a naughty boy kind of judgement. In fact judgement is the wrong word for what I was taught.
More like a presentation. "Best Actress" "Best Supporting Role" etc.
One thing I find difficult to accept is this:
Life is a lot of suffering for many people in many differing ways.
Say, I am 10, 25 maybe 40 and I am diagnosed with cancer or something life threatening. I am not necessarily evil, nor am I necessarily good, just the average person etc. I linger on in hospital, out of hospital, in hospital, nearly die just to live in pain and agony for another couple of months then finally I meet death.
The end.
But then, after all that suffering, I'm resurrected to be "judged and found guilty" only this time to suffer for enternity.
I don't know, that doesn't seem like the act of a compassionate God to me. Wouldn't it be better if he just left us dead?
In the old testament it says something like "in the grave there is no knowledge, no awareness." Death was always looked upon as a likeness to sleeping.
What do you think about this?
Inquirer

A discussion between me, Morass, Inquirer, Amina, syed baqar ali and Nashoo:

Hello,

Some questions that I hope someone can answer:

1. What are the key differences between these 2 sects of Christianity?
2. Why don't protestants believe in the Pope and Jesus as the son of God?

I have never quite understod the differences inthe Christian faith and wanted to learn more about it.

reza

A discussion between me, Morass, Inquirer, Amina, syed baqar ali and Nashoo:

Amina

i always wondered the differences also so thnks for the link and thanx for asking the questions Reza....
that is some mix Morass!!
we always studied relgion at school and the main focus is always on Chritianity and i have to say no offense but i never understood a lot of reason in the catholic religion. Why do u need the Pope? why can't u pray straight to god? why does a priest forgive your sins? why don't u pray staright to god for forgiveness?? why can't u use contreception or family planning?? i don't expect u to answer morass but it's always something i've wondered...i don't want to preach so i won't go into the islamic religion and why i chose to follow it.....u know anyone can go anyway and choose what religion to practice or not to practice...it whichever makes u comfortable...and closer to god if that's what u believe spiratually....

salam

A discussion between me, Morass, Inquirer, Amina, syed baqar ali and Nashoo:

Me

Thanks for the info Inquirier. It surely cleared things out for me. I think that one of the 2 sects don't have Jesus on the cross in their churches, right?

reza

A discussion between me, Morass, Inquirer, Amina, syed baqar ali and Nashoo:

Me


Thanks for the info.

Quote

Reza isn't this fascinating stuff, but alas it gets you knowhere.

Indeed! As you might already know there are thousands of beliefs, religions and sects in the world today. And only 1 is the true path to paradise. It would be good if everyone were on this path. Even among the Muslims, the Prophet Muhammed said:

"There shall be after me -among my people- 73 branches. Only 1 branch will be saved and the other 72 will all burn in ####"

reza

A discussion between me, Morass, Inquirer, Amina, syed baqar ali and Nashoo:

syed baqar ali


Dear Gary, Reza and other friends

As far as I am aware, Islam clearly holds that #### is for ever. And a 'horrid' and 'torrid' place it will be.

I think Christianity and Judaism also have similar beliefs.

Personally, I believe life both in Heaven as well as #### will be like living in a different dimension altogether, where the laws of physics and chemistry as known to earthlings will not apply.

Because in earthly terms, I cannot imagine a Merciful God consigning anyone to 2000 Celsius + temperatures for ever. If God is as merciful as generally understood to be, the laws of science must be different there.

The Quran gives some evidence to this effect in the assertion that the skin will burn but re-generate itself. Also, man will live for ever, which is contrary to biological laws here. So the laws of science there will be different.

Does not mean #### will be a nice place to be in, though.

There are other possibilities which the human mind cannot envisage with its earthly comprehension.

Also, if you ask me, I don't think there will be any sex in heaven. The Quran promises 'companionship' of the opposite sex, but no sex.

There is also the possibility that after 'reckoning', some sort of divine amnesty will reduce the actual number of #### goers to the barest minimum.

I also believe that heaven goers will not all have 5-star apartments. I believe the quality of one's lot will depend on his place in the merit list.

A discussion between me, Morass, Inquirer, Amina, syed baqar ali and Nashoo:

Me


Salam,

Quote

I also believe that heaven goers will not all have 5-star apartments. I believe the quality of one's lot will depend on his place in the merit list.

Very true, brother. One of the names of judgement day is "Yawmol Hesr" which translates to: "The day of sorrow" because many faithful believers will regret not working harder to get those higher levels in Paradise. Sure they'll be in, but at the very bottom.

Quote

I tell you what Reza, I've got a fair idea #### is going to be a bigger place by the sounds of it than heaven!

The Quran agrees with you...In most verses we have:

"And most of them are infidels"
"And most of them are nonbelievers"
etc....

and on the opposite side we have verses that say:

"And few are those who are thankful"
etc...

As for your question, I think brother syed baqer ali answered a large portion of it. I think I can add that as Muslims we believe that anyone who says the shehadetain:

"I believe that there is no God but Allah, and that Muhammed is the last Prophet" will not burn eternally in ####. After some billion trillion gazillion years Allah will take him out of there.

Do not give up on the mercy of Allah, brother. Sometimes I become so strict in my life and try to do everything exactly as found in verses of the Quran and still fear that I will burn in ####. If that were so, then who would heaven be for? I believe that one should follow the path of Allah and obey his every word and be confident on the judgement.  Now that would be nice! It's like preparing for a final, we work hard knowing that it will pay off very soon.

Allah says in the holy Quran (sorry I won't footnote the Surah/verse cos it's 50AM  nor is the translation accurate):

"..., obey me and you shall become my equal...I say to an object be and it be's and you say to the object be and it be's"

True story: One day a small boy climbed up on top of the dome of the shrine of Abul Fadhl Al-Abbass (Imam Ali's son) in Iraq. Everyone was screaming down below afraid that the boy would fall. A very high-authority scholar was present there and saw the whole thing.

All of a sudden the boy fell from the dome. While in mid air a poor farmer came along, raised his hands and shouted: "stop!" and the scholar says: "The boy stopped between the sky and the Earth and came down like a feather.

The scholar wondered how this could be, for he was in a better position to perform such a miracle than an old and poor farmer. So he came to the man and asked him: "How did you do that, Are you some Prophet or Apostle?" the man replied: "No Sir, however, everything that God told me to do I did and everything he told me not to do I obeyed".

The scholar was Mullah Ali Al-Hemedani and this story happened only a short time back.

reza

A discussion between me, Morass, Inquirer, Amina, syed baqar ali and Nashoo:

Nashoo


In Islam, reckoning is an undisputable component of the shape of things to come.

No escape !

Whether one is forgiven after that (and only God can answer that question) is a different matter.