Mary
I have to be completely honest- I don’t think I have ever been so confused trying to read something. It wasn’t so much the material, but between the way it was formatted and the three different translations, it was easy to lose my place and lose some of the story along with it. The stuff I could decipher was very interesting. I figured out on the last couple pages that the voices in the text were talking to Mohammed. The end sounded a lot like the Bible….damned will be people who stray from God, and rewarded will be the faithful followers. I also recognized some of the people from the Bible as well as Mary, the virgin mother, being discussed. The different perspective on these characters and their meaning in a different religion was very peculiar. I never recalled Mary by a palm tree in the Bible, but it has been a few years since I’ve seen the inside of a church. I was raised, baptized, and took my first communion as a Catholic, but my family decided to leave the Catholic Church for a Methodist one when I was 14. Unsatisfied with that, we stopped going when I was 16, and never really took initiative to find a church that really appealed to me. Though this is not a forum for my religious background, I can recognize the different people and relate the two religion’s views on them.
House of Imran
Again, the text is confusing! I am trying really hard to understand….but things get lost in translation for me. The “Book” was sent down by Allah for men to read and take guidance from so people can live as Allah wishes. Allah is the almighty god and sees everything, much like the Lord God in Christianity. Again, I found it very cool that Jesus Christ and Mary are present in the text, but they are of completely different importance. Jesus was considered a prophet, not the Savior of mankind. And the ultimatum that is given for those who didn’t worship Allah; “and whoever desires a religion other than Islam, it shall not be accepted from him (Allah), and
in the hereafter he shall be one of the losers” was a threat to anyone who doubted his power. And if they did anything against Allah they would not be “washed from their sins” and a “painful doom” would ensue.” This reminded me much of the Bible warning against idolizing false prophets to avoid “eternal damnation.”
My Personal Thoughts
I don’t know why I am so fascinated by this, but it’s such an intriguing topic. Who does one believe? How can anyone really know if there really is one true religion? And if there even is one true religion, how could we ever know which it is? Who is right? Again, I was raised in a very religious household, and though raised Catholic, I don’t know what I should believe. What if there really are different Gods and different cultures really do have different places they go when they die? I grew up praying on a rosary, eating communion bread and drinking wine every other Sunday. I even took classes on Catholicism so I could be “eligible” to take my first communion. Now looking back at it from an objective point of view, it all seems so foreign. What is right? Do we even need to know what is right, or do we all just believe what we will and hope that we were the lucky ones who picked the right religion to put our faith into? I’m beginning to rant, but I just wanted to get my feelings out there. Does anyone have any thoughts on this topic? I’d be interested in some different points of view.
I have to be completely honest- I don’t think I have ever been so confused trying to read something. It wasn’t so much the material, but between the way it was formatted and the three different translations, it was easy to lose my place and lose some of the story along with it. The stuff I could decipher was very interesting. I figured out on the last couple pages that the voices in the text were talking to Mohammed. The end sounded a lot like the Bible….damned will be people who stray from God, and rewarded will be the faithful followers. I also recognized some of the people from the Bible as well as Mary, the virgin mother, being discussed. The different perspective on these characters and their meaning in a different religion was very peculiar. I never recalled Mary by a palm tree in the Bible, but it has been a few years since I’ve seen the inside of a church. I was raised, baptized, and took my first communion as a Catholic, but my family decided to leave the Catholic Church for a Methodist one when I was 14. Unsatisfied with that, we stopped going when I was 16, and never really took initiative to find a church that really appealed to me. Though this is not a forum for my religious background, I can recognize the different people and relate the two religion’s views on them.
House of Imran
Again, the text is confusing! I am trying really hard to understand….but things get lost in translation for me. The “Book” was sent down by Allah for men to read and take guidance from so people can live as Allah wishes. Allah is the almighty god and sees everything, much like the Lord God in Christianity. Again, I found it very cool that Jesus Christ and Mary are present in the text, but they are of completely different importance. Jesus was considered a prophet, not the Savior of mankind. And the ultimatum that is given for those who didn’t worship Allah; “and whoever desires a religion other than Islam, it shall not be accepted from him (Allah), and
in the hereafter he shall be one of the losers” was a threat to anyone who doubted his power. And if they did anything against Allah they would not be “washed from their sins” and a “painful doom” would ensue.” This reminded me much of the Bible warning against idolizing false prophets to avoid “eternal damnation.”My Personal Thoughts
I don’t know why I am so fascinated by this, but it’s such an intriguing topic. Who does one believe? How can anyone really know if there really is one true religion? And if there even is one true religion, how could we ever know which it is? Who is right? Again, I was raised in a very religious household, and though raised Catholic, I don’t know what I should believe. What if there really are different Gods and different cultures really do have different places they go when they die? I grew up praying on a rosary, eating communion bread and drinking wine every other Sunday. I even took classes on Catholicism so I could be “eligible” to take my first communion. Now looking back at it from an objective point of view, it all seems so foreign. What is right? Do we even need to know what is right, or do we all just believe what we will and hope that we were the lucky ones who picked the right religion to put our faith into? I’m beginning to rant, but I just wanted to get my feelings out there. Does anyone have any thoughts on this topic? I’d be interested in some different points of view.
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