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Date:         Fri, 20 Nov 1992 15:45:48 EDT
From:         Leo W <Leo_W@QM.CIRCA.UFL.EDU>
Subject:      The Koran is not Holy

I have read the Koran three times.  While admitting there is some good teaching
in it (One Creator God over all, commands to do good and avoid evil, future
punishments for evil doers and rewards for good doers, etc.), it is also
obvious that Mohammed was a self-made prophet (not a sent one).  There is no
spiritual justification for the dim crescent moon to overshadow the light of
God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The first problem Mohammed had was his ignorance of the Word of God in the
Bible.  Although he refers to many personages and events in the Bible, his
knowledge of them seems gained second hand, the corruptions possibly from other
illiterates like himself.  This resulted in anachronisms and errors in his
repetitions of many Bible stories, and his flawed understanding of the
Christian Trinity (Father, Mother, and Son).  Part of this problem must be laid
at the door of Christendom, for during Mohammed's lifetime (circa 700 A.D.)
there existed no Arabic translation of the Bible!

His second problem was his tying of the hands of God in His dealings with
Israel.  While eagerly pointing out that God had divorced His Chosen People and
thrown them out of the Holy Land, Mohammed falsely taught that this divorcement
was permanent and that God would never regather His People to the Land and
fulfill His promise to Isaac and Jacob.  The fact that the nation of Israel
exists in the Land today is a living testimony to the falsehood of some of
Mohammed's teachings (not to mention some of the teachings of Christendom which
was also eager to take over territory).

His third problem was that his own sinful flesh, that old man in every one of
us, affected his teachings on Paradise.  Mohammed's Paradise is a heterosexual
candy store for males.  Islamic males who are true believers and live faithful
and righteous lives can look forward to many sexual encounters with the
"Ever-Virgins," who are beautiful women beyond compare and who do not loose
their virginity after repeated sexual intercourse.  Just what every Godly man
needs for all eternity!

His fourth problem was that he taught the same path to God as every other
anti-Christian prophet, being ignorant of the grace of God in Christ Jesus.
Had he been able to read and understand Paul's epistle to the Romans, he would
have known about God's grace and love and he would have written about this
fundamental Truth (one way or the other).  Not knowing the Truth of God's grace
in Christ for all men, he taught the all too familiar, unsure, and lonely
gospel of good works plus faith in God.  Without the Savior, what else can one
do but work and believe to save oneself and hope that God really doesn't give
one what one really deserves?

His fifth problem was that he denied Christ's death on the cross.  Mohammed
taught that Christ Jesus was too good and pure for God to allow wicked hands to
kill Him.  He wrote that Judas, not Christ, was crucified and that Christ's
disciples were fooled into thinking Christ was crucified.  To anyone who knows
anything of the historical records concerning Christ's death, such an assertion
proves conclusively that Mohammed was not a prophet sent by God.

Enough problems.  There is one great, very, very, great thing that Mohammed did
accomplish, and I believe in this one capacity alone he was sent by God.
Mohammed did inspire and lead the Arabs to put away their polytheism and their
idols, and to turn to the one true invisible God.  A Christian might think that
by 700 A.D. the Christian missionaries would have accomplished this in their
own backyards, but no, they did not even translate the Bible for the Arabs.  It
was left for Mohammed to lead his people out of the terrible excesses of
idolatry and into faith in God (as best he knew Him).

The Koran is truly a mixed bag, and although very true in many parts, the fact
that some truth is mixed with untruth proves that Mohammed is not the divine
prophet his disciples claim him to be.  Although I recommend Christians read
the Koran in order to better understand Islam and the Middle East crisis, it is
no substitute for the Bible.  One has a dim light, as the crescent moon, but
the other has the brighter light of the Holy of Holies, brighter than the sun.


As we saw during Desert Shield, it takes an Islamic tyranny to keep the light
of the good news of God's Son from being seen in Islamic Arabia.  The Truth has
nothing to fear from the Lie, but the Lie has much to fear from the Truth.

Yours in Christ Jesus,
Leo