Orthodox Christians become a Muslim

Con believes that Mohammad was "the most remarkable man that ever set foot on this earth." Let"s compare him to Jesus and see if that is true: (1) Jesus was miraculously born of a virgin (Sura 19, Maryam, verses 16-21; Luke 1:26-38), Mohammad had a natural birth (2) Jesus performed miracles (Sura 3:49; Matt 1:19-25; Mark 2:6-8; Matt 3:14-17), Muhammad did not (Sura 17:59, 89-93; 21:5, 6; 6:37; 13:7; 2:118; 10:38; 11:13; 6:109) (3) Jesus never sinned (Heb 7:26; 1 Peter 2:21-22), Mohammad sinned when he gave the satanic verses and engaged in idol worship. (4) Jesus ascended to heaven and is still alive (Matt 24:51), Mohammad is still dead and buried. (5) Jesus uttered prophecies that were fulfilled, Mohammad didn"t. Prophecy: Luke 19:41-44; 21:20,"21: "He [Jesus Christ] viewed the city [Jerusalem] and wept over it, saying: .".". "The days will come upon you when your enemies will build around you a fortification with pointed stakes and will encircle you and distress you from every side, and they will dash you and your children within you to the ground, and they will not leave a stone upon a stone in you, because you did not discern the time of your being inspected."" Two days later, he counseled his disciples: "When you see Jerusalem surrounded by encamped armies, then know that the desolating of her has drawn near. Then let those in Judea begin fleeing to the mountains, and let those in the midst of her withdraw." (Prophecy spoken by Jesus Christ in 33"C.E.) Fulfillment: Jerusalem revolted against Rome, and in 66"C.E. the Roman army under Cestius Gallus attacked the city. But, as Jewish historian Josephus reports, the Roman commander "suddenly called off his men, abandoned hope though he had suffered no reverse, and flying in the face of all reason retired from the City." (Josephus, the Jewish War, Penguin Classics, 1969, p. 167) This provided opportunity for Christians to flee from the city, which they did, moving to Pella, beyond the Jordan, according to Eusebius Pamphilus in his Ecclesiastical History. (Translated by C. F. Crus", London, 1894, p. 75) Then around Passover time of the year 70"C.E. General Titus besieged the city, an encircling fence 4.5 miles (7.2 km) long was erected in just three days, and after five months Jerusalem fell. "Jerusalem itself was systematically destroyed and the Temple left in ruins. Archaeological work shows us today just how effective was the destruction of Jewish buildings all over the land.""The Bible and Archaeology (Grand Rapids, Mich.; 1962), J. A. Thompson, p. 299. What of Muhammad"s revelation in the Quar"an? Con boasts about its scientific accuracy, let"s see: In sura 18:86 it states, "Until, when he reached the setting of the sun, he found it set in a spring of murky water: Near it he found a people." So the sun was found in a pond? The Bible contains no such nonsense. Suras 16:15; 21:31; 31:10; 78:6-7; 88:19 tell us that God placed or threw down mountains on the earth like tent pegs to keep the earth from shaking. For pre-scientific man this would sound logical, since mountains are large and therefore, their weight would have seemingly, a stabilizing effect on the earth. Yet we now know this logic to be quite inaccurate. Mountains do not render the earth"s crust stable. In fact, the very existence of mountains is evidence of instability in the earth"s crust, as they are found and pushed up by the colliding of tectonic plates (i.e. the migration of Arabia toward Iran has resulted in the Zagros range, France pushing against Italy produced the Alps, and the Indian plate nudging Tibet has given us the Himalayas). Sura 18:9-25 tells the story of some youths and a dog who sleep for 309 years with their eyes open and their ears closed. In Suras 2:65-66 and 7:163-167, Allah turns certain fishing people who break the Jewish sabbath into apes. Backward evolution? Con claims Islam hasn"t changes in 1400 years, but the Quar"an on which it is based certainly has. What are we to do with the many contradictions, the factual errors and bizarre claims it makes? Furthermore, when we look more carefully at the text that we have in our possession today, which is supposedly that of Uthman"s final codification of the Qur"an, compiled by Zaid ibn Thabit, from a copy of Hafsah"s manuscript, we are puzzled by the differences between it and the four co-existing codices of Abdullah Masoud, Abu Musa, and Ubayy, all of which have deviations and deletions between them. So much for Con"s claim the Quar"an hasn"t been changed. The nation which Con praises Mohammad for creating discriminates against women: The Quar"an says that women can be beaten (or scourged) for not obeying their husbands (Sura 4:34). No privilege of a corresponding nature is reserved for the wife. Men have double the inheritance of women (Sura 4:11,176). In addition to the four wives allowed by law, a Muslim man can have an unlimited number of slave girls as concubines (or sexual partners) according to Sura al-Nisa 4:24-25. Even paradise creates inequalities for women. Suras 55:56; 56:36 and 78:33 state that paradise is a place where there are beautiful young virgins waiting to serve the "righteous" (Sura 78:31). These virgins, we are told, will have beautiful, big, lustrous eyes (Sura 56:22); they will be Maidens who are chaste, who avert their eyes out of purity (Sura 55:56), and have a delicate pink complexion (Sura 55:58). Nowhere are we told what awaits the Muslim women of this world when they get to paradise. It is therefore not surprising that much of the Muslim world today reflects in its laws and societal makeup such a total bias against women. Though statistics are hard to find, we do know that currently, of the twenty-three countries with the worst records of jobs for women, seventeen are Muslim countries (Kidron 1991:96-97). Similarly, of the eleven countries with the worst record for disparagement of opportunity between men and women, ten are Muslim states. The widest gaps were found in three Muslim countries: Bangla Desh, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt (Kidron 1991:57). With this kind of data before us we need to ask whether the Qur"an is God"s absolute word for all people for all time, and if so, then why only half of the world"s population (its males) receive full benefit from its laws, while the other half (its women) continue in an unequal relationship? Does not the previous revelation, the Bible, have a more universalistic and wholesome concern for women? Take for instance Ephesians 5:22-25 where we find the true ideal for a relationship, saying: "husbands love your wives as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself up for her." This scripture demands a sacrificial love by the husband, one which puts the interests of his wife ahead of himself. This sacrificial love is best explained in 1 Corinthians 13:1, 4-8.