a.l.e.x59 said:
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True.
I was born and raised Christian (Lutheran and Baptist). As a child I wholly accepted these ideals I learned in Church and from my parents as truth as pretty much any child does. However, as I got older (pre-teens) I began to question some of the teachings do to differences in scripture and scientific theories regarding our history, dinosaurs, etc.
At that point I generally called myself Atheist, though in reality I was just anti-biblical history.
Then at 18ish I started to really think about religion and what made sense and what didn't. I came to the conclusion that I did believe in a God, but which path to that God made the most sense and wasn't an obvious craft designed by men.
I then spent the next 10 years or so reading various holy books (3x Bible, 2x TaNaKh, 4x Qur'an, 1x Vegas, 1x various teachings of Budda, etc) and a lot of other material about every major religion. I took a University classes on histories of each as well as religious history and thought in general. (At one point my Major was Theology)
During that time I focused my ideology around Islam with the undestanding that if anything ever came out that made me question the Qur'anic ideas presented, (i.e. I wholly ignored all of the Hadiths since they are no different that the Bible in that they were written many, many years after respective prophet and greatly differ from eachother and themselves).
Over the last few years I have slightly altered my view from being a strict follower of Islam, in the sense of daily prayers, etc, NOT extremist, to that of someone who believes that I am by definition a Muslim (One who submits his will to God).
I don't pray in the formal way, I don't fast in Rahmaddan, I do eat pork, etc. My reasoning is pinned on a couple of verses in the Qur'an.
Paraphrasing...
1. Of the Muslims, the Jews, the Christians, the Sabians, and all those who believe in God and do good works, there shall be no fear. For they will receive paradise.
Basically this means ANYONE who believes in God and is a good person will go to Heaven.
2. The other verse is something like...there many paths to God and their followers should treat it like a race. If God had willed God could have made only one path. For God is Great....
Basically this shows that Islam and by expandsion all other faiths are not the only paths. God created them all on purpose with their own differences and similarities. This also fits in perfectly with the Islamic idea that God has sent a prophet to every group of people and obviosly they don't all follow Islam.
So, with that I have come to the conclusion that I am a Muslim, one who submits my will to God, however religions themselves in a structured life are meant for the weak. Those who cannot simply do good things and be a good moral person without that structure and forced obediance.
Peace be upon you all.
