By Their Fruits You Shall Know Them

The Dissimilarities Between Islam And Christianity By Jim Croft

In their attempts to lure people from Christian backgrounds into the web of Islam, Muslim activists often claim that there are significant similarities between Islam and Christianity. They assert that Islam completes that which is lacking in Christianity by establishing Mohammed as the superior successor of Jesus Christ as God's final messenger, prophet, and apostle to the world.

The purpose of this article is to unveil the reality that these assertions are gross distortions of the truth. This will be demonstrated by examining the dissimilarities between the respective fruit that has been produced by the two religions. Jesus said that objective observations of the fruit within the lives of prophets and their followers was the criterion for discerning whether a spiritual leader was a true or a false prophet. He compared them to fruit trees, stating that a good tree would bring forth good fruit and that a bad tree would bring forth bad fruit (Matt. 7:15-20).

Our exploration will prove conclusively that there is a vast disparity in the quality of fruit that has been produced by the two religions. At the onset it is crucial that the reader understand that the viewpoints that are expressed in this article are built upon three interrelated premises.

First, there is a subtle, yet viable, correlation between a nation's prominent religion and that nation's potential to produce a long-term fertile environment for the good of its people and the welfare of the global community of mankind. In this context, a country under the predominant influence of a good religion will have equitable laws and provide educational and economic opportunities for all of its citizens. When a nation's psyche has been imprinted by a corrupt religion, it will have unjust laws and fail to produce diverse opportunities for its people.

The second premise is that there is a significant difference in the teachings of Islam when it comes to aspirations for political power over nations and that of Christianity's New Testament. The goal of Islam is to transform every nation into a holy nation by subjugation to Islamic Law. In nations where this goal has been realized, it has diminished the nation's potential to bless its people and make meaningful contributions to the global community. The teachings of the New Testament, Jesus, and His apostles do not concur with Islam's aspirations for global domination. The Bible does not imply that every person on earth will become a Christian. Within Christianity, the collective born-again believers of every nationality are God's holy nation. They are sprinkled as salt among the people groups of the planet. As the salt of the earth they have three functions. They present the Gospel message to all in hopes that many might willing accept the revelation of the Lordship of Jesus Christ. They accentuate the flavour of that which is productive in the systems of this world. As preserving agents they prevent the corrupting influences of Satan and sin from totally destroying the earth and mankind.

Christians are to bless the world in these functions until Christ returns, destroys all evil, and establishes His global millennial reign. Islam's concept of how God's rule is to be established over the entire world is incompatible with that of Christianity. Within Islam it is the Muslim's responsibility to do it by any means possible, including war. The biblical concept is that Christians will win as many people as they can through love before Christ raptures all the converted from the earth. Then Jesus and His heavenly warriors will declare war on the rebellious and be victorious over them. Subsequently, Christ will return with His people and set up His millennial kingdom.

The third and final premise is that membership in an unfruitful religion does not necessitate that a person is inherently evil. There are many good Muslims that have immigrated to Western democracies in the pursuit of political freedom and financial opportunity. The majority of these are sweet, productive people that would have languished had they remained in Islamic-controlled environments. They are free to prosper because they do not have religious legalisms governing their pursuits. There are good and bad Christians just as there are good and bad Muslims. The difference is that Christians that commit unbecoming acts do not have the backing of their Founder and the Bible to support their behavior. Muslims that commit similar sins can often point to the example of Islam's founder, Mohammed, to legitimatize their actions.

With this foundation laid, we will begin the article.

The Apostleship Of Christ Vs The Apostleship of Mohammed -

Contemporary Christians, like those of the first century church, are responsible to examine the claims of those that claim apostleship (Rev. 2:2). The biblical signs of a true apostle are perseverance and miracles (2 Cor. 12:12). Anyone that does not have ample evidence of these two graces is lying about being an apostle. Mohammed was definitely a deceived deceiver.

Jesus and His apostles performed many miraculous cures (Act 10:38, Acts 3:1-8, Rom. 15:18-19). There are no historical accounts of Mohammed and the subsequent leaders of Islam performing miracles.

Jesus and His apostles persevered by maintaining meek and forgiving attitudes in the midst of hostility. Jesus and Stephen, while in their death traumas, forgave their cruel executioners (Lk. 23:24, Acts 7:20). Even though the Apostle Paul suffered numerous floggings and imprisonments at the hand of the Jews, his persevering love for them inspired him to state that he would exchange his own salvation for theirs (Rom. 9:3-4). When Mohammed's new movement encountered resistance, he mutated from being the "peaceful prophet of Mecca" into "the vindictively hostile warrior of Medina". On his deathbed he called for the expulsion of all Jews from the Arabian Peninsula.

Jesus was non-violent, and He forbade His apostles to react with violence against agitators (Matt. 5:39). When Peter severed a soldier's ear with a sword in the garden, Jesus healed the man and commanded Peter to put away his sword (Matt. 26:51-52). Biblically, subsequent to the resurrection of Christ, not one of His apostles or those of the Church advocated violence as a means to spread the Gospel. History records that millions of Christians have been persecuted and martyred without lifting a hand to defend their lives. The Epistles emphatically state that anyone that is a brawler, is given to outbursts of anger, or retaliates with violence is disqualified from spiritual leadership (1 Tim. 3:3, Titus 1:7). Mohammed was a warrior that took lives to spread his message. Through the centuries, and to this day, thousands of Islam's clerics have incited violence for the cause of Jihad.

The Mandate for Moral Purity Within Christianity Vs The Liberty For Debaucheries Within Islam -

Within Christianity, spiritual leaders are required to be joined to one wife in marriage (1 Tim 3:2). Not so in Islam. Contemporary Muslims are allowed up to 4 wives. Mohammed had 11 wives and an unknown number of concubines. He married one hapless girl when she was 6 years old and consummated the sexual relationship when she was only 9 (and still a virgin according to Islamic Sources).

Fornication is a scriptural term that covers every form of deviate sexual activity from adultery through sodomy. For conscientious Christians, fornication is not an option (1 Cor. 6:9). Those that persist in any form of sexual immorality risk spending eternity in hell (Rev. 21:8). Islam is far different. Men that give their lives for Jihad are promised 70 virgins in paradise. Supposedly, each girl's virginity is miraculously restored after each sexual encounter. In addition, beautiful young boys are available as sex objects for the warriors in heaven.

A man that was guilty of committing fornication with his father's wife was excommunicated from the church at Corinth until his repentance was complete (1 Cor. 5:1, 2 Cor. 2:6-8). In contrast, Mohammed seduced and married his son's wife. On another occasion, he learned that a fellow Muslim had freed a slave boy that had been used in paedophile activities. Mohammed recaptured the boy and sold him to another man. In 2002, a 12-year-old Pakistani boy was convicted of the crime of walking with un-chaperoned girls. As a punishment, the Islamic elders of his village sentenced his 15-year-old sister to be gang-raped by five men. The press reported that this was not an isolated incident for Pakistan.

Health And Education Within Christendom Vs That Within Islam -

In this section we will look at the cumulative infant mortality, literacy, and life expectancy rates in 5 prominent Christian nations and 5 prominent Islamic nations. The Christian countries will be America, England, France, Germany, and Switzerland. The Muslim states will be Afghanistan, Egypt, Iraq, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia. The statistics are taken from Time Almanac 2001 and various Websites.

	Christian Nations	Islamic Nations
Infant mortality rates	5.14 deaths in 1,000 births	78.62 deaths in 1,000 births
Literacy rates	98.6%	46.8%
Life expectancy	77.8 years	57.9 years

Industrial, Scientific, And Technological Advances In Christian Nations Vs Those from Islamic States -

Without question Christian nations lead the world in making contributions for the good of mankind. The major medical advances, mechanical inventions, industrial innovations and cutting-edge business technologies have all been birthed in the heart of the Christian world. The Nobel Prize has been awarded to hundreds of Christians and Jews. In its history only 6 recipients have been from Muslim-controlled nations. Most of these Islamic recipients were privileged with educations in Western democracies. Though Islam claims to have led the world in the arts and sciences from 700-1200AD, there was a curious cessation of their leadership after the eleventh century. Religious persecutions, wars, and harsh environments cannot be blamed. Every Christian nation has experienced the same and risen above the adversities. During the past 800 years not one major contribution to the welfare of mankind has been birthed in an Islamic state without the assistance of Christian education and technology. The oil would still be in the ground if the Westernized world had not pointed the way to the Islamic OPEC nations.

Christian Mercy Missions Vs Islam's Brand Of Benevolence -

Whenever and wherever tragedy strikes, organizations founded on the teachings of Christ respond with acts of compassionate mercy. Christian organizations never use religion, race, or past political animosities as excuses to deter them from mercy missions. Christian nations help rebuild the nations that have been at war with them. Islam is far different. How often do you hear about Islamic states rushing to aid the victims of natural disasters in non-Muslim countries? Is there any record of Iraq lifting a finger to rebuild Kuwait after they devastated it in 1991? The answers to the preceding questions are, "you don't" and "none"! The truth is, Islam simply does not foster compassionate hearts of mercy for anyone other than Muslims. In fact, it is rare to see Muslim nations giving aid to the unfortunate of any nation, including their own. The Islamic brand of benevolence prompted Saudi Arabia and Iraq to reward the families of Palestinian homicide bombers with financial gifts. If given the opportunity, Christian organizations would gladly assist the bereaved financially and offer them counseling to prevent them from encouraging their remaining children to kill themselves and innocent people.

If one uses the criteria of good or corrupt fruit for assessing the value of a religion, Islam does not earn a favourable report. One would be hard pressed to cite objective examples of nations or people that are experiencing ongoing tangible benefits for following Mohammed and the Qur’an.

There are 3 points wherein Christianity and Islam are similar. They both originated in the Middle East, have Holy books, and encourage devotion to one God. Beyond these there are far more dissimilarities than there are similarities between the two religions. Any objective assessor would conclude that when it comes to long-term good fruit, if measured and weighed beside Christianity, Islam is found sorely lacking.

Jim Croft's book, The Muslim Masquerade, is available for $7.00 (postage paid) through JCM, 8130 Glades Rd. #327, Boca Raton, FL 33434. His teaching newsletter, In Search of Truth, may be obtained by contacting him via e-mail:

jcroft8942@adelphia.net

Source: http://www.islamreview.com/articles/theirfruits.shtml

IHS