{"id":76,"date":"2010-09-11T14:03:00","date_gmt":"2010-09-11T14:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/muslimahinprogress\/2010\/09\/11\/god-is-not-linear\/"},"modified":"2010-09-11T14:03:00","modified_gmt":"2010-09-11T14:03:00","slug":"god-is-not-linear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/muslimahinprogress\/2010\/09\/god-is-not-linear.html","title":{"rendered":"God is Not Linear"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Bismillahi Rahmani Rahim\u00a0<\/i><\/b>

<\/i><\/b>
Salaam Alaikum wa Rahmatullah<\/i>

<\/i>
I am a revert to Islam. \u00a0Over the years, people have asked me hundreds of times why I converted to Islam. \u00a0Did I covert to please a husband? \u00a0No. \u00a0Did I convert after hearing a particularly moving sermon? \u00a0No. \u00a0I converted out of conviction after studying Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.<\/p>\n

Perhaps it\u2019s the German in me, but I appreciate the logical consistency of Islam. \u00a0Since the creation of the first man, Adam, peace be upon him, Islam has always taught the same simple unequivocal message of\u00a0tauheed, <\/i>belief in the Oneness of God. It\u2019s a simple message, but profound. <\/p>\n

But Christians believe in one God also, don\u2019t they? \u00a0Christianity and Judaism are considered to be monotheistic religions, right? \u00a0Well, they may be called <\/i>that, but Christians fell into idol worship when they decided to treat Jesus, peace be upon him, as a deity rather than what he was, a prophet of God.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what I think when I consider the mental gymnastics required for a Christian to believe, at the same time, that God is One and <\/i>\u00a0that God is Three \u2013 the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. \u00a0I would have less trouble understanding that people believe this if they had believed it from the very beginning. \u00a0If God had created Adam and Eve and had said \u201cI AM THREE\u201d in a booming metaphysical voice, if He had revealed that to Noah and Abraham and Lot and Moses and the rest, then I would say, okay, I don\u2019t believe that, but at least it\u2019s consistent.<\/p>\n

When God created mankind, He communicated clearly the teaching that He was the only God. \u00a0No one else shared the Godhood with Him. \u00a0He was \u201ca jealous God\u201d. \u00a0\u201cThou shalt have no other God before Me\u201d is one of the Ten Commandments. \u00a0The declaration of faith of the Jews, the Schma<\/i>, declares \u201cHear O Israel, the Lord Thy God, the Lord is One\u201d. \u00a0It is a simple lesson reinforced throughout the entire Torah and other books of what became the Jewish Tanakh and the Christian Old Testament. \u00a0No person who reads it can make any mistake; God is One.<\/p>\n

Ages of mankind have taught this message, tauheed, until someone came and spoke a different message. \u00a0Did Jesus, peace be upon him, bring a new math to mankind? \u00a0No. \u00a0Indeed, he never wavered from reinforcing the message of tauheed. \u00a0There are too many verses to quote here, but I defy anyone to find one where Jesus said he was God. \u00a0Nor did anyone who witnessed his prophethood call him a god \u2013 they referred to him as a prophet or a Rabbi, but at no time did the Jews of Palestine try to elevate him to the position of deity. \u00a0This process was started later by Paul (formerly Saul) of Tarsus, a Roman Jew steeped in the mythology of his pagan surroundings. \u00a0The concept of Trinity was introduced and became entrenched among some over time, though not until the Council of Nicea almost four hundred years later did belief in Jesus\u2019 divinity become a tenet of the faith.<\/p>\n

The details of all this are online and in dusty libraries for those who wish to search. \u00a0Having considered this information, here\u2019s what strikes me. \u00a0Bear with me because this is kind of stream-of-consciousness so I may ramble a bit.<\/p>\n

Okay, God is God, right? \u00a0As such, He created and sustains the universe. \u00a0One of His creations is time. \u00a0<\/i>Time? \u00a0Yes, time. \u00a0Time is a created thing. \u00a0Hard to grasp, but true. \u00a0Some wag once said time is the universe\u2019s way of making sure everything doesn\u2019t happen at once. \u00a0Funny, but there\u2019s an element of truth in that only <\/i>for us humans. \u00a0God, on the other hand, being the Creator of time and Master of it, is not bound by time. \u00a0What does that mean? \u00a0That means that it is meaningless to use the terms past, present, and future when you are talking of things happening from God\u2019s point of view. \u00a0For God, the beginning of creation is as immediate as today, and as immediate as Judgment Day. \u00a0He is separate from His creation and is not bound by the rules he put in motion to control our universe and whatever lies beyond it. \u00a0Yes I know it\u2019s kind of a brain twister, but if God were a slave of time, then He wouldn\u2019t be God, would He? <\/p>\n

Now that we have determined this, \u00a0it makes it completely impossible to understand why He would allow an inconsistent message to be taught by His prophets over time. \u00a0From God\u2019s point of view, if I may be so bold as to put myself in His realm, Adam and Moses and Abraham and Jesus and Muhammad are all contemporaneous. \u00a0We see this on a practical level in Islam when God sent Muhammad to the heavens on the night of the Israa and Miraaj. \u00a0He took Muhammad to a place out of time as we normally understand it, where he met the prophets of previous ages. \u00a0Think of them, all at the same \u201cplace and time\u201d in the heavens. \u00a0Especially consider Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad, for instance. \u00a0Moses was taught \u201cGod is One\u201d, Muhammad was taught \u201cGod is One\u201d. \u00a0So does Jesus stand there in the presence of his fellow prophets and say, \u201cUh, yeah, about that. \u00a0There\u2019s been a bit of a mixup, you see. \u00a0God USED to be one, but then I came along and now He\u2019s three. \u00a0Why not two? \u00a0Well, uh, there\u2019s this other entity, the Holy Ghost. \u00a0I don\u2019t know much about him, but apparently he\u2019s God, too.\u201d \u00a0Now, I don\u2019t mean to put words in the mouths of prophets of God and mean no disrespect, but can you see the logical fallacy of this situation? \u00a0Even if you don\u2019t believe in the Israa and Miraaj, if you believe in the Day of Judgment you do comprehend a time when every human who has ever lived will be brought back to life and will stand together.<\/p>\n

Imagine Judgment Day. \u00a0Some poor shmoe who was born in, say 1200 CE is standing there, and he is finding out that he\u2019s going to hell because he did not believe Jesus Christ was God. \u00a0\u201cBut, but, that guy\u201d<\/i>, he stammers, pointing at Abraham, or Moses, or Adam, or Noah, \u201cthat guy <\/i>\u00a0believes there is only One God.\u201d \u00a0\u201cAh, but he was born\u00a0before <\/i>\u00a0Jesus\u2019 time\u201d he is informed, and thus falls under the Old Testament guidelines. So this poor man is doomed to the hellfire for believing the exact same thing <\/i>\u00a0as all the prophets of old, only for believing it at the wrong time. \u00a0How much sense does this make?<\/p>\n

So you see, time undoes this argument for believing Jesus is God. \u00a0It\u2019s not the only <\/i>evidence, to be sure. \u00a0There actually is no evidence that I see to believe Jesus is God, but this particular paradox strikes me, perhaps because I\u2019ve watched a lot of programs on the Discovery Channel, or because I like to read books on quantum physics (yes, I\u2019m a nerd), or just because it offends my logical \u00a0German sensibilities. \u00a0A truth must be a truth, yesterday, today, and tomorrow, else we cannot rely on it. \u00a0The consistent truth of the matter is that God is One. \u00a0That is the message revealed by God from Adam to Muhammad, peace and blessings be on all the prophets and messengers of God. \u00a0If you don\u2019t believe it, go back and study. \u00a0Study with an open skeptical mind without preconceived ideas and memories of what some preacher told <\/i>\u00a0you was in the Bible. \u00a0Read all the Bibles out there and marvel at what verses are being expunged nowadays by Christian scholars as being interpolations. \u00a0Then go read the Qur\u2019an, and talk to Muslims about what you read, because it requires context. \u00a0But don\u2019t just sit there in your pews and mindlessly mouth \u201cGod is Three\u201d without understanding and think to yourself that his is just a mystery of your faith. \u00a0The fundamentals of your faith shouldn\u2019t be a mystery; they should be clear. \u00a0As clear as 1 = 1.<\/p>\n

Fi Aman Allah,<\/p>\n

Nancy<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bismillahi Rahmani Rahim\u00a0Salaam Alaikum wa RahmatullahI am a revert to Islam. \u00a0Over the years, people have asked me hundreds of times why I converted to Islam. \u00a0Did I covert to please a husband? \u00a0No. \u00a0Did I convert after hearing a particularly moving sermon? \u00a0No. \u00a0I converted out of conviction after studying Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. 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