Moslem vs Christianity (was Fw: Mithras

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RON
Situations change. It is not inconceivable that God would provide 
further guidance for the Church through her heirarchy (for instance 
through the Pope and Church Councils, yes I'm Catholic). This does not 
preclude private revelations to other individuals sometimes verified by 
the Church authorities. 
  Unfortunately, in spite of my admiration for Islam I am not convinced. 
As for Baha'ulah, he simply believed that all religions reflected the 
same God. Maybe so, but we cannot accept the conflicts between the 
religions, for instance Hindu monism vs Christian distinction between 
God and Creation.   

CREA
    I, too, find the pretensions of the "perennial philosophy" to be
ultimately unsupportable.

    As for Islam, if it is a valid revelation, then according to that revelation,
Christianity is seriously defective, and should be left in favor of God's one, 
true and final text, the Quran.  Not only is it maintained, as the veritable 
WORD OF GOD/ALLAH, that Jesus is in no way, shape, or form to be 
equated as God or even the Son of God, it is also proclaimed that HE did
not truly die on the Cross, thus there is no such thing as his atonement,
and salvation by faith is just a fairy tale told by deluded disciples.

RON
Agreed. As much as I admire the wisdom of Islam I cannot accept it as 
the complete truth. Muhammad was apparently influenced by some of the 
apocryphal gospels as is evidenced by some of the stories of Jesus' 
childhood related in the Quran. Still I think we can learn much from 
study of Islam and the teachings of its saints, which we can apply to 
our Christianity.

CREA
    So, which is it?  Was Muhammad merely influenced by apocryphal gospels
(and thus relied on second-hand information), or did he indeed receive (as
he maintained) veritable revelations from God?  You're starting to waffle,
Ron -- and it's an ugly sight.

RON
 It is my own considered opinion that Muhammad, unfortunately, suffered 
from what is described in Orthodoxy as "prelest", or fancy. Whether this 
was self-originating I do not know. As you would know if you had studied 
Islam, even Muhammad initially doubted his visions. As the Bible says 
"even if...an angel of God should come to you with another gospel, do 
not believe him". He did not sufficiently "test the spirits". I believe 
this was due in part to Muhamad's lack of an experienced spiritual 
director. This does not preclude the possibility that God DID speak to 
him on occasion, or that the Quran contains wisdom or truth, inspired or 
otherwise. If soemone could prove to me otherwise I might be a Muslim. 
Where I primarily disagree with Islam is the matter of Christ's divinity 
and atoning death.      

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