by Abdul-Haqq

At around age 12, I asked myself, “What if I die right now? What will happen to me? Where will I go?” This was the defining moment in my life that caused me to begin my religious search.

So, what happens after death? I read what various religions had to say. The classical Catholic Popes said that there is Heaven for Saintly Catholics and those who did their sentence in Purgatory. There is purgatory for Catholic sinners. There was limbo for babies who were not baptized. Last, the Catholic Popes wrote that there was hell, which was for all people who are not part of the Catholic Church and for those Catholics who were guilty of heresy or major sins. Then, at the 2nd Vatican Council that all changed. Limbo disappeared. Purgatory may or may not exist. Good non-Catholics who were ignorant of the Catholic faith were now allowed access to Heaven. The fact that these beliefs change demonstrate that they are unreliable. Either limbo or purgatory existed or they never existed. If they did not exist, then what happened to all of the souls that were supposedly there?

I read the writings of the Evangelical Christians and Protestants that stated that if one believes in the Trinity, Christ’s Vicarious Blood Atonement, and Christ’s Resurrection, they will automatically go to heaven no matter what bad they did. On the flip side, if one does not believe in the Trinity or the Crucifixion and Resurrection, one is going to hell no matter what good they did.

Many Muslims made similar claims. They claimed that if anyone has learned about the true Islam and does not become a Muslim, he/she will burn in hell forever no matter what good they did while on earth and that Muslims no matter what bad they did on earth will eventually go to heaven even if they have to go to hell first. Buddhists and some Jews taught that one will either go to heaven or hell or be reborn either as a human or another life form in order to make up for the wrong he/she did in a previous life. Atheists taught that this life is it and when you die nothing happens. You cease to exist.

Hell and Purgatory were described as places where one is burned with fire constantly and at times frozen. It is a place where one experiences the most excruciating and endless pain and suffering both physically and mentally and one experiences the painful extremes of extreme heat and extreme cold. I thought to myself, “If there is such a place, I don’t want to go there.” And, if the Catholics are right, I don’t not want to be Catholic; if the Christians are right I don’t not want to be Christian; and if the Muslims are right, I don’t not want to be Muslim. If none of them are right, what did I lose by studying them to see? Nothing – so, by studying the religions to see if any are right, I have everything to gain and nothing to lose, but if one of them is right and I don’t take time to study to discern, then I risk losing everything in the afterlife if I go to Hell. It made perfect sense to me.

So, this began my study of religion and my search for truth. I started by reading the Bible. Over a period of time, I would read almost every word of the whole Bible from beginning to end and took notes. I wrote almost everything the Bible said about God, the Messiah, Jesus, women, and every commandment and law in the Old and New Testament as well as other things. Since I read these before learning Christian doctrine, I was able to be honest and objective. When most religious people read the Bible, they are reading through their doctrines and looking to prove them, while ignoring everything that goes against their doctrine. They are not trying to find the truth, but convince themselves that they are right. What these people say is that they are reading the book with the “Holy Spirit.” The problem is that each Christian religion claims to have the “Holy Spirit” that leads them to the truth, despite their different interpretations, religious beliefs, and religious practices. Luckily, I had learned few religious doctrines before reading the book, so I could read the book and find out the truth without trying to justify what I already think.

By reading the Christian Bible, I learned the following:

1. There is only one God who loves and hates, is all powerful, all-knowing, cannot be seen, cannot change, is different from everything we can see, alone and has
   no partners, never gets tired, is ever-living, is independent and free of any needs, is not a man, cannot be tempted, and will come near to you if you come near to Him.
2. Only God is to be worshipped and the greatest sin a human being can do is to worship anything or anyone besides Him or making an image of God. Doing so is worse than murder and will bring God’s punishment to you either in this life or the next life.
3. Jesus was God’s messenger, prophet, servant, and one of those whom God gave the title “His Son.” (like Adam, the angels, Israel, Ephraim, and the righteous)
4. Jesus taught people how to avoid Hell and go to Heaven. Certain actions, such as murder, adultery, homosexuality, idol worship, pre-marital sex, practicing witchcraft, fight, hatred, prejudice, jealousy, greed, stealing and getting drunk will cause one to go to Hell.
5. Men who are not priests can marry as many women as they want.
6. Women are not allowed to be priests, reverends, or ministers and are not allowed to hold any position where they have authority over men.
7. One should have as few material possessions as possible and feeding the poor is an obligation.
8. One cannot have faith if one is not doing good works.
9. Everything that happens has been destined by God.
10. Women cannot wear gold, pearls, expensive dresses, fancy hair styles, or Expensive jewelry.
11. Women are not allowed to teach.
12. God has given permission to marry anyone from any race or culture and condemns and punishes those who oppose interracial and intercultural
    marriage.

(Bear in mind, my understanding of the Biblical stance on women does not reflect my own personal view.)

All these things were clearly stated in the scriptures. It is not my interpretation. Anyone who can read on a 5th – 7th grade level can find them. I will quote some of the verses below, so you can see for yourself.

(God said,) “I will not let you see my face because no one can see me and stay alive.” (Exodus 33:20)

“No one has ever seen Him (God). No one can ever see Him (God).” (1 Timothy 6:16)

“No one has ever seen God.” (1 John 4:12)

“There is no one like the Lord, our God.” (Psalms 113:5)

“How great you are Sovereign Lord! There is none like You. We have always known that You are the one true God.” (2 Samuel 7:22)

“No one is holy like our Lord. There is none like Him.” (1 Samuel 2:2)

“He (God) never changes. No one can oppose Him or stop Him from doing what He wants to do.” (Job 23:13)

“Every good gift and every perfect present comes down from Heaven; it comes down from God, the Creator of Heavenly Lights, who does not change…” (James 1:17)

“God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent” (Numbers 23:19)

“Everything that happens in this world happens at the time God chooses. He sets the time for birth and the time for death.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-2)

“God in His grace chose me before I was born and called me to serve Him.” (Galatians 1:15)

“God cannot be tempted by evil.” (James 1:13)

“The Israelites ate the food and worshipped the god Baal of Peor. So the Lord was angry with them and said to Moses, ‘Take all of the leaders of Israel and in obedience to Me execute them in broad daylight and then I will no longer be angry with the people.” (Numbers 25:2-4)

“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing loving kindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.” (Exodus 20:2-6)

“So watch yourselves carefully, since you did not see any form on the day the LORD spoke to you at Horeb from the midst of the fire, so that you do not act corruptly and make a graven image for yourselves in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the sky, the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water below the earth.” (Deuteronomy 4:15-18)

“Then the sons of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD and served the Baals, and they forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed themselves down to them; thus they provoked the LORD to anger. So they forsook the LORD and served Baal and the Ashtaroth. The anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He gave them into the hands of plunderers who plundered them; and He sold them into the hands of their enemies around them, so that they could no longer stand before their enemies. Wherever they went, the hand of the LORD was against them for evil, as the LORD had spoken and as the LORD had sworn to them, so that they were severely distressed. Then the LORD raised up judges who delivered them from the hands of those who plundered them. Yet they did not listen to their judges, for they played the harlot after other gods and bowed themselves down to them. They turned aside quickly from the way in which their fathers had walked in obeying the commandments of the LORD; they did not do as their fathers. (Judges 2:11-17)

“So as I live,’ declares the Lord GOD, ’surely, because you have defiled My sanctuary with all your detestable idols and with all your abominations, therefore I will also withdraw, and My eye will have no pity and I will not spare. One third of you will die by plague or be consumed by famine among you, one third will fall by the sword around you, and one third I will scatter to every wind, and I will unsheathe a sword behind them.: (Ezekiel 5:11-12)

“And the crowds said, ‘This is the prophet Jesus of Nazareth of Galilee.” (Matthew 21:11)

“Jesus left that place and went back to his hometown followed by his disciples. On the Sabbath, he began to teach in the synagogue. Many people were there and when they heard him they were amazed. ‘Where did he get all this?’ they asked. ‘What wisdom is this that has been given to him? How does he perform miracles? Isn’t he the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon? Aren’t his sisters living here?’ And so they rejected him. Jesus said to them, ‘Prophets are respected everywhere except in their own hometown and except by their relatives and their family.” (Mark 6:1-4)

Acts 3:13 states, “The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our ancestors has glorified his servant Jesus…”

In Acts 4:27, Peter and John made a prayer to God and stated in that prayer, “…For in this city, in fact, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, gathered together against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed…”

Luke 13:32-33 states, “He (Jesus) replied, “Go tell that fox, ‘I will drive out demons and heal people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.’ In any case, I must keep going today and tomorrow and the next day–for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem!”

Luke 24:20 states, “”About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people.”

John 6:14 states, “After the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus did, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.”

John 17:3 states, “And this is eternal life – that they may know you the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”

Jesus was referred to as the son of God, but so were others throughout the Bible.

“In the dawn of the day, the stars sang together and the sons of God (the angels) sang for joy.” (Job 38:7)

“…Adam the son of God.” (Luke 3:38)

“You must tell them that I, the Lord say, ‘Israel is my first-born son.” (Exodus 4:22)

“I am like a father to Israel. Ephraim is my oldest son.” (Jeremiah 31:9)

“I am ascending to my Father and your Father, my God and your God.” (John 20:17)

“Those who are led by God’s spirit are God’s children.” (Romans 8:14)

“When the day came for the sons of God (the angels) to appear, Satan was amongst them.” (Job 1:6)

“When the day came for the sons of God (the angels) to appear again, Satan was amongst them.” (Job 2:1)

As we can see Jesus, Adam, the angels, Israel, Ephraim, and all men who follow God’s spirit believe in Jesus, love and make peace and does what is right are God’s sons. In the Aramaic language, the language of Jesus, the term son of God was used for any person who was good and the people use it today. In English when someone dies, some say, he kicked the bucket. In Jesus’ language (Aramaic) when a person was very good and religious, he was called the son of God.

“Go in through the narrow gate for the gate to Hell is wide and the road that leads to it is easy, and there are many who travel it. But the gate to life (Heaven) is narrow and the way that leads to it is hard, and there are few people who find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14)

“Surely, you know that the wicked will not possess God’s kingdom (Heaven). Do not fool yourselves: people who are immoral or who worship idols or adulterers or homosexual perverts or who steal or are greedy or get drunk or slander others or are thieves – none of them will possess God’s kingdom.” (1 Corinthians 6:9-10)

“What human nature does is quite plain. It shows itself in immoral, filthy, and indecent actions; in worship of idols and witchcraft. People become enemies and they fight; they become jealous, angry, and ambitious. They separate into parties and groups; they are envious, get drunk, have orgies, and do other things like these. I warn you now as I have before. Those who do these things will not possess the Kingdom of God (i.e. go to Heaven).” (Galatians 5:19-21)

“Once a young man came to Jesus. ‘Good master,’ he asked, ‘what must I do to receive eternal life?’ ‘Why do you call me good?’ answered Jesus. ‘There is only one who is good; the Lord, our God. Keep the commandments if you want to enter eternal life.’ ‘What commandments?’ he asked. Jesus answered, ‘Do not commit murder. Do not commit adultery. Do not steal. Do not accuse anyone falsely. Respect your father and mother and love your neighbor as you love yourself.’ ‘I have obeyed all these commandments’ replied the young man. ‘What else do I need to do?’ Jesus said to him, ‘There is still one more thing you need to do. Go sell all you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have riches in heaven; then, come follow me.’ When the young man heard this, he went away sad because he was very rich. Then, Jesus said ‘I assure you it is very hard for rich people to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. I repeat: it is easier for the camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.’” (Matthew 19:16-24; Luke 18:18-25)

“I (Jesus) tell you, then, that you will be able to enter the Kingdom of Heaven only if you are more faithful than the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees in doing what God requires.” (Matthew 5:20)

“(Jesus said) Do not store up riches for yourself here on earth, where moths and rust destroy and robbers break in and steal. In stead, store up riches for yourself in Heaven where moths and rust do not destroy and robbers do not break in and steal. For your heart will always be where your riches are.” (Matthew 6:19-22)

“You cannot be a slave to two masters. You will hate one and love the other; you will serve one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” (Matthew 6:24)

According to the Bible, men who aren’t priests or ministers can have as many wives as they want. Rulers of nations were discouraged from having too many wives because it would interfere with the great responsibilities, one will have as a ruler. There are even rules on who can be a co-wife and who cannot. According to the Bible, the six greatest prophets are Jesus, John the Baptist, Moses, Abraham, Jacob, and Noah. God blessed Abraham and Jacob by giving them many wives who would grant them many children and make them a great nation. David who was considered the greatest of worldly kings appointed by God has an exorbitant amount of wives. Solomon who was considered the wisest man on earth had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines. There is even evidence according to some Christian scholars that the Virgin Mary was one of Joseph’s many wives. As a matter of fact, there is not one verse that specifically says that a man cannot have more than one wife, but there are many verses that say a man can. Many Europeans changed Christianity to suit their culture, so some began to take verses out of context to say that one can and break the rules of scriptural interpretation when it suited them. (In other words, they were hypocrites who worshipped their desire and not God.) According to the rules of scriptural interpretation in order for something to be a sin, there has to be a clear verse of the Bible (that has no other interpretation) that specifically says it is a sin. In the absence of such a verse, an action is considered permissible by God.

However, there were some limits to polygyny. For example, one cannot marry or have sex with any of his father’s wives. In Leviticus 18:7-8, it says that God stated, “Do not disgrace your father by having sex with your mother. Do not disgrace your mother. Do not disgrace your father by having sex with any of his other wives.” In Leviticus 20:11, there is a prescribed punishment for this action: “A man who has intercourse with one of his father’s wives disgraces his father, and both he and the woman shall be put to death.”
“God wants everything to be done peacefully and in order. When God’s people meet in church, the women must not be allowed to speak. They must keep quiet and listen, as the Law of Moses teaches. If there is something they want to know, they can ask their husbands when they get home. It is disgraceful for women to speak in church. (1 Corinthians 14:33-35)

“I (St. Paul) would like for women to wear modest and sensible clothes. They should not have fancy hairdos, or wear expensive clothes, or put on jewelry made of gold or pearls. Women who claim to love God should do helpful things for others, and they should learn by being quiet and paying attention. They should be silent and not be allowed to teach or to tell men what to do. After all, Adam was created before Eve, and the man Adam wasn’t the one who was fooled. It was the woman Eve who was completely fooled and sinned. But women will be saved by having children, if they stay faithful, loving, holy, and modest.” (1 Timothy 2:9-15)

“What [is] the profit, my brethren, if faith, any one may speak of having, and works he may not have? Is that faith able to save him? And if a brother or sister may be naked, and may be destitute of the daily food, and any one of you may say to them, `Depart ye in peace, be warmed, and be filled,’ and may not give to them the things needful for the body, what [is] the profit? So also the faith, if it may not have works, is dead by itself. But say may some one, Thou hast faith, and I have works, shew me thy faith out of thy works, and I will shew thee out of my works my faith: thou — thou dost believe that God is one; thou dost well, and the demons believe, and they shudder! And dost thou wish to know, O vain man, that the faith apart from the works is dead? Abraham our father — was not he declared righteous out of works, having brought up Isaac his son upon the altar? Dost thou see that the faith was working with his works, and out of the works the faith was perfected? And fulfilled was the Writing that is saying, `And Abraham did believe God, and it was reckoned to him — to righteousness;’ and, `Friend of God’ he was called. Ye see, then, that out of works is man declared righteous, and not out of faith only; and in like manner also Rahab the harlot — was she not out of works declared righteous, having received the messengers, and by another way having sent forth? For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also the faith apart from the works is dead.” (James 2:14-26)

Some say God loves them. I wondered how they would know since the Bible says God loves and hates. How do they know that they do not fall under the category of people that God hates? According to the Bible, God loves those who love Him and keep His commands, obey His commandments, do good deeds, do what is right (according to what the scripture says is right), hate evil, are just, and stand up for justice. Many of the people who say, “God loves me” do not even know God’s commandments never mind obey them.” The Bible also says that God hates men who wear women’s clothing and women who wear men’s clothing, people who do evil, those who cheat other people in business, wrongdoing, the arrogant, wicked, violent, and deceitful people, liars, murderers, and people who stir up trouble between friends, condemning the innocent and letting the wicked people go, oppression and crime, and idols. Many people like to talk about how God is forgiving and the Bible says He is, but it also says that He is also a punishing God. In the Old Testament it says that He punishes people with disease, plague, famine, war, natural disasters, and genocide for people’s sins. In the New Testament, it says that God is going to burn sinners in Hell for their sins.

In Numbers 12, Moses (AS) married a black woman and Aaron and Miriam were opposed to his interracial/intercultural marriage. God called Moses, Aaron, and Miriam into the tent and God reprimanded Aaron and Miriam for opposing Moses’ interracial/intercultural marriage and punished Miriam by giving her leprosy on the spot, which she had to endure for seven days.

After I studied the Bible, I began to search for a Christian religion that believed in and practiced all of its teachings. What I found surprised me. I found that most churches taught that in order to go to Heaven, one has to believe that Jesus is God. The Unitarians didn’t, but they rejected the concept of destiny as well as many of the New Testament Laws. Many taught that one is saved not by following the commandments, but by believing that Jesus died on the cross for your sins and was resurrected and anyone who does not believe that would be eternally condemned to Hell forever. Many churches had women ministers. With the exception of the Mormons, the Nestorians, and Christians in parts of the Middle East and Africa, polygyny was banned in Christian churches. Even the Mormons did it wrong since their leaders had the most wives. The Catholic Church went as far as having Michelangelo paint a supposed image of God on the Sistine Chapel and offering prayers to Mary and various saints some of whom never existed (i.e. St. Christopher). Many churches taught that one does not need to do good works to be saved as long as one has faith. Churches all throughout the U.S. had been segregated. People wore their best clothes to church; many preachers were wealthy; and many churches (not the Quakers) showed partiality to the rich despite the commands of Jesus and James.

Many Christians tried to argue that believing that Jesus is God is a must for salvation. Besides all the verses that said he was a prophet and a messiah, there is not one verse that says he is God, but the Bible is filled with proofs that he wasn’t. In fact, the only way one could believe that Jesus was God was if they were taught the doctrine before reading the scriptures and one had no understanding of theology.

Mark 13:32 states that Jesus (AS) said, “No one knows when the Day of Hour (Day of Judgment) will come-neither the angels in heaven, nor the son (i.e. Jesus); only the Father (God) knows.” The Bible says that God is all-knowing and that Jesus does not know the answer to a question. Therefore, Jesus cannot be God.

Luke 2:52 states that Jesus (AS) increased in wisdom and years, while God is supposed to be without a beginning and the one who knows everything. If God already possesses all knowledge and wisdom and Jesus (AS) gained knowledge, than Jesus (AS) cannot be God.

Matthew 4:1 states that Jesus (AS) was tempted by the devil, while James 1:13 states that God cannot be tempted. Therefore, if God cannot be tempted and Jesus (AS) was tempted than Jesus (AS) cannot be God.

John 5:19 states, “Very truly, I tell you, the son can do nothing by himself, but only what he sees the Father doing.” If God is all-powerful and Jesus (AS) says that he cannot do anything by himself, then he is saying that he is not all-powerful and if he is not all-powerful, than he cannot be God.

John 5:30 states “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge; and my judgment is just, because I seek to do not my own will, but the will of Him who sent me.” If God is one, then He has to have only one will. If Jesus (AS) has a separate will from God, then he cannot be God.

John 8:28 states, “I do nothing on my own, but I say only what God has instructed me to say.” See also John 12:49-50.

John 14:28 states, “If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father because the Father is greater than I.” God cannot be greater than Himself and if God is greater than Jesus (AS) then Jesus (AS) cannot be God.”

John 20:17, “And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” If Jesus (AS) were God, then why would he call someone else the only true God? The word only means that no one else besides Him can be God.

Hebrews 5:7 states “…Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.” If God is the only one who can save one from death and Jesus (AS) could not save him self from death, than he cannot be God. Also, if God is ever-living, then he cannot die.

If Jesus died, then he cannot be God because God is ever-living and also if He is controlling everything and He dies, then who is going to control the world?

If God is the only one who can bring the dead back to life; then if God dies, who can bring Him back to life?

If Jesus was a weak, helpless baby, then he was not all-powerful. If God is all-powerful, than Jesus (AS) cannot be God. If Jesus (AS) was inside the womb of Mary (AS) and was dependent on her menstrual blood and food to survive, then he was dependent and therefore cannot be God because God is independent. Likewise, if he needed food, sleep, and water, then he cannot be God because God has no wants or needs.

Christian priests and ministers have ready made answers. Everything is a mystery and is beyond human comprehension. What is a mystery is that Jesus did not believe he was God. His disciples did not believe he was God. The Bible proves that he wasn’t God. And good old-fashioned common sense proves that he wasn’t God, yet people still believe it and say that one must believe it in order to go to Heaven and if one doesn’t then he is going to Hell. It is like this. Let’s say, you were with someone and they shot someone right in front of your face and told you that in order for you to go to Heaven, you have to believe that he didn’t shoot that person and if you believe that he shot that person, then you are going to Hell. You would think that person is crazy, untrustworthy, a trickster, et cetera. So, my question is this: Is God trying to trick you by showing you something that is as simple as 1+12 and then telling you that you cannot believe what He is showing you or He is going to punish you eternally in Hell? The Bible says that God is not the author of confusion. Either God is confusing us or this teaching isn’t from God.

Some Christians use the verse in John 10:30 that state “the Father and I are one.” There are two reasons that this verse is easily be refuted. First, if one begins reading from John 10:23, it becomes clear that the context the verses are written in mean that they are one in purpose and not in entity. Second, in John 17:20-22, Jesus (AS) mentions that his followers may all be one as Jesus and God are one. Using the same method, we would have to say that either all Jesus’ followers are God too or are all one person, so these do not add up. One cannot apply the meaning to one and not the other.

Some Christians use John 14:8-9 to prove that Jesus (AS) is God, but if one reads John 6:46 and 1 John 4:12, one will understand the context of this verse. Those who use this verse as a proof are violating the rules of scriptural interpretation in order to suit what they desire to believe.

Next, I was taught that the Bible is God’s word and since God is all-knowing and incapable of making a mistake, then the Bible cannot have mistakes in it. Yet, the Bible is filled with scientific errors. For example, the Bible states that humans have only existed for 6,000 years; all humans and animals except for Noah and those with him were destroyed in 2200 B.C.; plants existed before the sun; languages were created in an instant when humans tried to build a tower to look at God; the fourth human being was a farmer; rabbits chew their food; all animals were originally herbivores; plants did not evolve; all animals are afraid of humans; and in 2400 B.C., there was only one language on earth. All of this we know for a fact is wrong, so this information could not have come from God. Therefore, the Bible must be the words of fallible men and not an infallible God.

I remember talking to a Catholic priest who told me that the modern belief is that the Bible is not the literal word of God. The Catholic belief is that God inspired the writers of the Old Testament to prove that Jesus would come as THE Messiah or Christ and the whole Old Testament exists for that purpose. That viewpoint could have made sense, but there were several things wrong with that view. I eventually put my research into an article on how different religions view Jesus. Below is an excerpt of my article on Jesus in traditional Judaism.

1.According to Isaiah chapter seven, the messiah would come when the Jews were being ruled and persecuted by the Assyrians (Iraqis). However, at the time of Jesus (AS), the Assyrians (Iraqis) were not ruling or persecuting the Jews. The Jews were under Roman occupation.

2.According to Isaiah chapter eleven, the Messiah would come when Israel was being occupied by non-Jews. He would then gather the Jews from the ends of the earth to unite and fight wars against what would today be the Palestinians, Syrians, Jordanians, Iraqis, and Egyptians. The Israelis would defeat these nations in a war and bring peace to those who survived the war. Many Christians believe that Jesus (AS) will accomplish these things when he returns to this earth. This is also part of the reason that some Jews reject the state of Israel today because they believe that the state of Israel is not supposed to exist until the messiah comes.

3.According to Jeremiah chapter thirty-three, when the messiah comes, his descendants will rule forever and the Levite priests will always offer burnt offerings for the people of Israel from that point on. The messiah and the Levites will also have so many children that they will not be able to be counted. Well, once again, Jesus (AS) did not have any children and the Levite priests are not offering burnt animals as sacrifices to God in the Christian Church.

4.According to Ezekiel chapter thirty-seven, the Jews will be brought back to Israel when the messiah comes and he will rule in the land of Israel. The dead Jews will be resurrected to live in the land of Israel forever and the other nations will know that the Jews are God’s chosen people. None of these events happened at the time of Jesus (AS).

5.In addition, the book of Deuteronomy 21:22-23 states that anyone who is hanged on a tree or cross has been cursed by God. Therefore, the Jews cannot believe that Jesus (AS) was a messiah (Christ), or even a true prophet. If Jesus (AS) was hanged on the cross, then this would be a sign that he was a liar and a criminal who received God’s curse. St. Paul explains this contradiction in the New Testament by stating that Jesus Christ (AS) became a curse for us. This explanation works for a Christian who already believes that Jesus (AS) is the messiah (Christ), but it does not make sense to the Jews because they believe that God told them directly in the Old Testament that anyone who hangs on a cross has been cursed by God. It makes more sense to believe what God told you directly than believe a man who claims to bring a new message.

6.One final point does not necessarily state why the Jews rejected Jesus (AS) as the messiah (Christ), but can further explain why the Jews rejected the teaching that Jesus (AS) was the son of God and God was a trinity-or one God in three persons: the father, Jesus the son, and the Holy Spirit. In the Old Testament, especially in the Book of Deuteronomy, it is stated that God told the Jewish people that if anyone comes to them with a God that they do not know that they should reject that person and consider them a liar. There are so many verses discussing this throughout the Old Testament. The God that they knew as described in the Old Testament was one without any partners, literal sons, daughters, and was not a human being. Some Christians came with a God that was three persons and one of them was his human son. This was considered an unforgivable sin according to the Jews. The Christians argue that the three-person God was the same God, but was not recognized by the Jews because they do not have the Holy Spirit.

Another problem I had with the Bible was that the writers of the Gospels used verses of the Old Testament totally out of context in order to prove their belief of Jesus just like many Muslims do to prove their belief in Muhammad. The New Testament authors used verses of the Old Testament that had nothing to do with the life of Jesus (AS) to pretend that they were predictions of the coming of Jesus (AS). For example, the Gospel of Matthew 2:15 states “Out of Egypt I called my son” from Hosea 11:1 as a prediction of Jesus (AS) returning to Palestine after fleeing to Egypt. However, if one turns to Hosea 11:1, he/she will find that this is not a prediction at all. Hosea 11:1 is talking about how the Israelis came out of Egypt and then began worshipping the false god Baal. Also, in the Gospel of Matthew 27:9-10, the author quotes Zechariah 11:12-13 as a prediction of the burial of Judas, but if one turns to chapter eleven of Zechariah, one would find that these verses have nothing to do with Judas. Even in the Old Testament, there are predictions, which never came true, such as those in chapters 11-12 of the Book of Daniel.

When the truth is evident to people and it is too painful for them to accept, many say one of three things: “That is just your interpretation;” “everything is subject to interpretation;” or the quintessential religious answer, “you are not reading the book with the Holy Spirit.” First, I would say that there is a difference between an interpretation and an explanation. If there is a contradiction between one verse and another, one would resort to explaining the reason for the difference. One could have a general meaning without all of the specific details and the other could provide a detail that the other verse left out. One verse could have a different historical and cultural context than the other. Some one who seeks an explanation is using a method to try and seek the truth and try and understand what the text means. There are rules to explaining a text. Below, I explain the rules.

Before one can interpret a passage, he/she must know the context that the verse or verses are written in. He/she must identify the environment and setting that the passage is written in. One must also identify who is speaking or doing the action, what is he/she talking about or doing, why is he/she saying something or doing it, when is this happening, where is this happening, and how is it happening. Identifying the context is necessary to understand most passages.

One must approach the text objectively. One should throw everything that they previously believed out. When one is reading, one has to be trying to find the truth of what it means; he/she CANNOT be trying to verify what they desire to do. One must be willing to try and find the truth and submit to that truth. This is probably the most important rule in interpreting a passage.

The next most important rule is understanding that certain principles that are necessary to know when interpreting. If one is going to interpret a passage on a topic, he/she must include every verse/passage on that topic. The best interpreter of a Biblical verse is another Biblical verse. “For example, in John 15:7 Jesus says, ‘…ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.’ Does that mean that you can ask anything at all from God and He will give it to you? The answer is no! The Bible has much more to teach about prayer than just one statement, such as asking according to God’s will (1 John 5:14) and asking with the right motivation (James 4:3). These scriptures and more just be considered when evaluating this subject.” (Arthur p. 61-62) Next, verses that are dealing with doctrine and law will always be literal. Literal verses take priority. Any other verse has to be understood within the context of a literal verse. One cannot say that a literal verse is incorrect because of something an allegory or any other type of figurative language says. For example, according to the literal verses of the Bible, homosexuality is a major sin. One cannot take any allegories or figurative verses to prove that homosexuality is an acceptable behavior. The only verse that would be able to cancel out a verse on homosexuality would be another verse dealing specifically with the topic of homosexuality and since there is none, the ruling stands that homosexuality is a major sin. Also, a law can be cancelled if a later passage cancels it out. For example, if something is said to be unlawful in the Old Testament, but later on a gospel or Epistle says that it is lawful, than it is lawful. If something is said to be lawful in the Old Testament and the gospels, but unlawful in the Epistles, than it is unlawful.

It is also very important for one to take a couple of weeks or months and learn how to read the Aramaic language. Get an Aramaic-English dictionary and read the Bible in the language of Jesus (AS). Contact the Aramaic Bible Society and try to learn the figurative uses of languages, such as the idioms used at the time of Jesus Christ (AS). Read any of George Lamsa’s books, such as Gospel Light and Old Testament Light. If you understand the language of Jesus Christ (AS), you will understand what is meant. For example, if someone translated an English passage that said that John kicked the bucket into Chinese, the person who read the Chinese passage will not know that John kicked the bucket meant that John died. He will think that John literally kicked the bucket. Likewise, there are passages of the Bible that Jesus (AS) stated that have a meaning in Jesus’ (AS) language that do not mean the same thing in English and unless you familiarize yourself with Aramaic, you will never really know what Jesus (AS) meant. It also helps to get Bible commentaries, so that you will know the history and geography where the passages that you are reading occurred. You also need to familiarize yourself with all of the different literary types that exist in the Bible and their purpose and meaning.
There are idioms, allegories, symbols, history, prophecies, parables, proverbs, metaphors, as well as many other types of literary styles. Each has a purpose. One needs to learn their purposes. It also helps to try and study the Bible by topic. For example, let’s say that you want to know what the Bible says about God, you can read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation and list all that the Bible says about God.

On the other hand, what many people call interpretation is just people trying to use the Bible to fulfill and justify one’s desires. They have a belief or a viewpoint they are trying to verify or prove. Therefore, they pick all of the verses that support what they want to believe and refuse to acknowledge or discuss the verses that contradict their beliefs. They are not searching for truth – they just want their whims satiated.

As far as reading with the spirit, which Christian sect has it? How do they know that they are right? How do you know that the conclusions that you came up with were not guided by the spirit (just because they contradict the doctrines of your Church, they’re not guided by the spirit)?

Also, I have challenged those who say that I am interpreting things and taking things out of context to sit down and show me the context and show me the correct interpretation. Needless to say, they refused to take up that challenge.

Another problem that I had with many Christian churches is that some say “We are free thinkers; we are liberal – we don’t believe in those rules anymore.” Some say that they can’t be applied in our time. My problems are the following. First, why would you believe in the doctrines and not the rules? If you believe the doctrine is from God, then how could you not believe the rules are from God? If you don’t believe they are from God, then how could you believe in any of it? Based on what do you accept or reject? Some believe in some of the rules and not others. Well, which rules do you believe in? Why? Why would you reject the other rules? Based on what are you accepting or rejecting them? Who decides which rules to believe in and which not to? How do they decide? Grant it, these same people are incapable of answering any of the questions. The reality is that many of them are hypocrites and liars who worship their own desires and nothing else.

With the Catholics, I saw that they worshipped and prayed to angels, saints, and the Virgin Mary despite the fact that God said this was totally forbidden in the Bible and one of the worst sins a human being could commit. According to the Bible, doing this was worse than murder. Likewise, the first commandment also said that one will not make an image of God. Yet, the Pope hired Michelangelo to paint an image of God on the Sistine Chapel. Again, this was one of the worst sins that God punished people over and over again for throughout the Bible by sending wars, natural disasters, plagues, and famines for doing this and yet the Pope is commanding this. They even went as far as forging a verse of the Bible sometime in the 4th  or 5th century, placing it in the Bible, and lied at an “infallible” council that John wrote this verse in his manuscript that was divinely inspired. In the 20th century, it was discovered that this verse was a fraud and had to be removed from the Bible. If you read 1 John 5:7 from an older translation and compare it with the modern translations, you will find that the verse is no longer there. The old 1 John 5:8 is now 1 John 5:7. The Church added it to try and prove the Trinity. I could not believe that an organization that openly committed and supported blasphemy, breaking God’s greatest commandment, forgery, and swearing by God and lying is really representing God and teaching you the truth from Him.

When I was in eighth grade, the movie Malcolm X came out. I had never heard of Malcolm X before and now I was told he was a Muslim. What’s a Muslim? I went to the encyclopedia and looked it up. I found out that Muslims believe in a series of prophets, such as Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad and scriptures, such as the Torah, Gospels, and the Qur’an. Who was Muhammad? What was the Qur’an about? In ninth grade, I read a biography of the Prophet Muhammad that I took out the library and went to the book store and bought an English translation of the Qur’an. I found that the Qur’an and the religion of Islam made obligatory acts that Jesus made obligatory on his followers, but Christianity didn’t, such as a mandatory poor tax due by anyone who was not poor and fasting. The five daily prayers embodied the teachings of James and John. The Qur’an taught that Jesus was born miraculously by the Virgin Mary, performed miracles by God’s permission, taught the Gospel, and was the Christ. The Qur’an said that Jesus was not God and would reject those who said he was on the Day of Judgment and that it was not possible for God to be a man.

“Christ, the son of Mary, was no more than a messenger; many were the messengers that passed away before him. His mother was a woman of truth. They had both to eat their (daily) food. See how God makes His signs clear to them; yet see in what ways they are deluded away from the truth!” (Qur’an 5:75).

“O people of the scripture, do not exaggerate in your religion nor utter aught concerning Allah save the truth. The Messiah, Jesus the son of Mary was only a messenger of Allah and His word which He conveyed unto Mary, and a spirit from Him. So believe in Allah and His messengers, and say not “three.” Desist, (it is) better for you. Verily Allah is one God. Far exalted is He above having a son. His is all that is in the heavens and the Earth, and suffice in Allah as a Trustee. The Messiah will never scorn to be the slave of Allah, nor will the favored angels.” (Qur’an 4:171)

“They do blaspheme who say: God is one of three in a Trinity: for there is no god except One God. If they desist not from their word (of blasphemy), verily a grievous penalty will befall the blasphemers among them.” (Qur’an 5:73)

The Qur’an taught that only God should be worshipped and prayed to. People who believe in God demonstrate their faith through their actions. The Qur’an taught that people must obey God and that the races, tribes, and nations should come together and get to know one another because God gave them each something special that the rest of the world could benefit from. The Qur’an also teaches that the Christians went astray out of a loss of religious knowledge as well as excessive praise and that the Qur’an confirms and corrects the mistakes that the followers of the previous religions made. All this made sense. Almost every Christian I knew was living a life that Jesus would be ashamed of and almost none of them knew what the Bible taught. The Qur’an did confirm many of the teachings of Jesus and the Bible that the Christians were not practicing and corrects the mistakes that they made and that I have been seeing my whole life. It also spoke how some of the Christians believe in part of the scripture and reject part of the scripture. That was something that I had seen in all Christian sects all of my life.

Contrary to popular belief, the Qur’an was nowhere near as strict on women as the Bible, but one thing I noticed about Muslims was that large numbers of them be they male or female followed the rules that were in the Qur’an and if they weren’t, they were not trying to justify their actions. They would day, “I know what I should be doing. I’m just weak now.” There was sincerity towards God amongst Muslims that I never saw amongst Christians. For the most part, Christians that I knew are always trying to get around every rule that they don’t want to follow. If you need money, there were Muslims who will never see you again, but will give you the money on the spot. There are people I barely knew or have never seen again who gave me money when I needed it. They don’t even know where to find me and probably don’t remember my name. Why? The only reason was they wanted God to reward them in the afterlife. My father still doesn’t believe this. He still believes that everyone is looking to get over on people and get something from him in this life. That is mainly because he deals with non-Muslims who talk about God as the judge, but really don’t believe it. They really do not believe they will be accountable in the afterlife and therefore they live like it. This does not mean that there are not bad Muslims, there are horrible Muslims who are racists, murderers, and untrustworthy people. However, when you meet good Muslims, there is no comparison between a group of good Muslims and a group of good non-Muslims. You will see numbers of Muslims who go to the mosque five times per day including times like 4:30 A.M. Why? They want to get closer to God and do extra good to please Him in hope that they may be rewarded in the afterlife. My father didn’t even want to hear this. It didn’t make sense to him. One of the things that makes non-Muslims uncomfortable around Muslims is because we are living proof that their excuses are not valid. One thing that you hear non-Muslims say all of the time is “I’m a good person.” This is because they judge themselves by looking at other ungodly people who are only concerned with this world.  However, when they meet good Muslims, the bar is raised so much higher. They have to judge themselves against people who do things only for God and seeking rewards only in the next world. This makes them uncomfortable. How can they see themselves as good when they see others who are so much better? It is like the best basketball player at the park stepping into Duke University. He thought he was good at the park, but now that he sees people who really are good, his self-esteem is in jeopardy. Besides, good Muslims will not call themselves good because being able to recognize your own goodness proves that you’re not actually a good person. This is because real good people can see their flaws, judge themselves by a standard, and are always seeking to get rid of their flaws.

I believed I had found what I was searching for and was already to convert until I read 4:157, “The Jews said, ‘We killed Christ Jesus, the Son of Mary.’ You killed him not nor crucified him, but it was made to appear to you that you did. God raised him to Himself. Certainly, you did not kill him and those who differ therein follow nothing but conjecture and have no certain knowledge.” After reading this, I said, this book is not from God. The Bible said all of these things happened and people died for this. Now, you are saying, they didn’t. I put the book back on my shelf.

I was still lost, but one day I was watching Unsolved Mysteries and it talked about the alleged miracle of Fatima and how there were hundreds of witnesses who all reported seeing the sun dance, change colors, and surge towards the earth where it dried everything after pouring rain at the same time the little girls promised. I watched and read about other Catholic miracles, but never heard of any other religion having miracles, so I believed the Catholic religion must be the true religion of God. However, I also decided that in order to be a Catholic believer, I had to stop reading the Bible because I saw the contradictions. I joined St. Theresa’s Roman Catholic Church on Fox Road in Edison, New Jersey and would go to mass almost every week with my grandparents. I tried to follow all of the rules of the New Testament and the Catholic Church. Everything that they said I had to do in order to go to Heaven, I would do and everything I couldn’t do, I wouldn’t do, so I didn’t go to Hell. These became dry, but I had to do it because the Gospels were what gave my heart light. However, the Gospels were calling me away from Catholicism and towards believing in God and His prophet Jesus. About two weeks before I went away to college, thoughts entered my head. “Am I just behaving a certain way only to avoid Hell? Will God accept me deeds that are done without love since I don’t love Him or anyone else in the world but myself?” The week before I went to college, the priest gave a sermon on the questions I had asked in my head. During the sermon he said that if you are not doing your deeds/works out of love for God, then God will not accept them from you. There was my answer. I thought to myself if I’m not going to go to Heaven, I might as well do whatever I want and have a lot of fun on the highway to Hell.

I went off to college and decided to fulfill all of my desires. I would go to parties, get drunk, meet girls, join a fraternity, smoke weed, et cetera. There were required courses that I had to take as a history major. Two of them were nonwestern civilization and the other was a language. I saw Islamic Civilization and since I always had an interest in Islam and Middle Eastern culture, I took that course. I also said to myself, “Hey, let me see if they have the Arabic language also.” Unfortunately they didn’t and I ended up taking Italian instead. During the Islamic Civilization class, I was a non-practicing Catholic, but unlike most Catholics, I was actually a believer. A public speaker (who later became a friend) Ramazan Zuberi came in and gave a lecture called “Islam from the Bible.” During his lecture, he mentioned how Song of Solomon 5:16 mentions the Prophet Muhammad by name in its original language. That statement sparked an interest in me to investigate this matter. Although, I no longer believe that this verse or any Biblical verse have anything to do with Muhammad, I read more on it. I went to the Muslim Students Association at Montclair State University and asked them for books and literature, which they gave me. I read Muslim propaganda pieces on the topic of Muhammad in the Bible by Jamal Badawi and Ahmed Deedat. This also reignited some of the feelings I had as a ninth grader reading the Qur’an, but I tried to ignore them, but this one verse kept disturbing me. In a book of prophecies, Isaiah 29:12 stated, “the book (scripture) shall be given to he who cannot read and he shall reply, ‘I cannot read.’” In the famous story of the cave, the Angel Gabriel tried to bring the Qur’an to Muhammad and told him to read and he replied, “I cannot read.” I thought, “Could this be a prophecy? If it is, then I have to accept and follow it.” To get an answer, I called the now deceased parish priest of St. Theresa’s Father Crupi and asked him the meaning of Isaiah 29:12. He told me that it seems that it means that there will be a prophet who will be illiterate and he will respond in this manner (or something similar to that statement). I thanked him and hung up the phone and said that now I have to exert all of my energy into disproving this religion. From this point, I began a heavy study of Islam, miracles, Christianity, et cetera.

With my study of miracle stories, I found that almost every religion has miracle stories, which they use to prove their doctrines. Most of these cannot be proven, but let’s say for a minute that they exist. If they all have them, they don’t prove that any of the religions are true. The Miracles of the Lady of Fatima and the Catholic saints don’t prove that Catholicism is true any more than the miracles of Muhammad and those of the Sufi mystics prove that Islam is true or those of the Buddhist monks and Hindu Yogis prove their doctrines to be true. Catholics can also claim that their miracles are from God and those of the Muslims are of the devil and visa versa. Specifically, I learned by studying the miracles at Fatima more that there were many people who were present there who saw absolutely nothing at all. They were standing where others were and they did not see the sun dance, charge towards the earth, or change colors. Their clothes did not become dry. The solar observatory in the area didn’t see or record anything unusual. If it happened, wouldn’t everybody have seen? These people’s stories were not told on Unsolved Mysteries or other shows however. One last thing was that I noticed that the messages that were allegedly given to people by the Virgin Mary throughout the world conflicted with the Bible and encouraged people to worship Mary instead of God.

Also, through my studies of Christianity, I discovered that no one knows who wrote the Gospels or the Epistles of the New Testament. The Gospel of Matthew was ascribed to Matthew as that was the custom of his time (the same things with the Gospel and Epistles of John, Peter, and James). Many Christians state that one has to believe that Jesus died on the cross for your sin and rose from the dead in order to go to Heaven and the reason one has to believe this is because these books in the Bible said so. So, let me get this straight in order for me not to go to Hell, I have to believe that something happened that there is no proof ever happened because someone (and no one knows who that someone is) said so. If I don’t believe an anonymous source who we know nothing about, then God is going to punish me in Hell forever. This doesn’t even begin to make sense. If we were in court and I said someone is guilty of murder because someone told me that someone else said so and they don’t even know who that someone is, I’d be laughed out of court.

Next, through my studies of Christianity and its history, I discovered that there were many versions of Christianity in the early days. Some followed Jewish Law; some didn’t. Some believed that Jesus died on the cross and some didn’t. Some believed that Jesus was God and some didn’t. Some believed the Kingdom of Heaven as spoken of by Jesus is in the next world, while others believed it was in this world and in one’s heart. All these different types of Christianity existed and many had their own Gospels and Epistles. After the Council of Nicea, the Catholics took hold of Christianity and joined with the Roman Empire. Next, they persecuted other Christian sects and burned some of their books. They also chose the Gospels and Epistles that are part of today’s New Testament. Two of the major books that were considered canonical by many Christians today were excluded from the text: The Shepherd of Hermas (with its staunch monotheism, reading it would oppose the idea that Jesus was God) and Apocalypse of Peter, which taught that Jesus was not crucified, but it was made to appear to the people as if he was. This clarified the verse of the Qur’an that was the obstacle to me becoming Muslim when I was in 9th grade.

I also read Muslim propaganda literature that I bought for a time being. These propaganda pieces along with all of the evidence from the Bible and the Qur’an discussed earlier convinced me that I should become Muslim, so during the first week of May in 1998 (on a Friday after Friday prayer), brother Atif Johnson gave me my Shahada at Masjid an-Noor (now known as Masjid Ansar-us-Sunnah) on Washington Street in Paterson, New Jersey.

I pursued an intensive study of Islam beginning with books. I never read so much in my life. I read book after book after book after book…I was a zealous convert who was trying to convince people that the Qur’an is from God and the proof of this is its scientific miracles and that Islam was the religion of the Bible and Muhammad was the prophet whose coming was predicted in the Bible.

However, I still questioned interpretations of Islam that were fed to me. I began to read from the web sites www.answering-islam.org and the information on Islam from atheism.about.com. I realized that some of the same lines of logic that I was using to discredit Christianity can also be used against Islam. I no longer believed in Islam and therefore left Islam (although I kept this a secret from most people for a while). However, I was not without religious beliefs. Because of many experiences with ESP, I believed that events must have been destined and we still had free will. I also believed that if events are destined, then a creator must have destined things. I believed that there is only one creator who is beginningless, endless, independent, omniscient, and incomparable. I also believed that God created everything with a purpose.

I now came up with a new question in life. What is the path to happiness? I went through an experimental phase. I experimented with various Buddhist Meditations and philosophy, Taoist meditation and philosophy, Shamanism, partying, women, evangelical and Unitarian Christianity, Noahide Judaism, Sufism, and many other lifestyles. I even became a Christian Reverend and got a charter to start my own evangelical ministry.

There was a multi-faceted path to my reverting back to Islam. First, I continued to pray Salat-ul-Istikharah for guidance or a prayer with similar meaning in English. When I was forming my ministry, I wanted to make sure that I was doing the right thing, so I prayed an American prayer similar to Salat-ul-Istikharah and my heart was guided to the book The Methodology of the Saved Sect. [On another occasion, the other book I read was Principles of Islamic Jurisprudence by Muhammad Hashim Kamali.]  I read the book and some emaan was placed back in my heart.

The second aspect of my return was the realization that out of all the lifestyles that I tried, none made me happier than going to the mosque, spending time with Muslim company, reading Husnal Muslim, and studying the Qur’an. No matter what I did, nothing replaced that.

The third aspect was my praying for guidance to try and figure out what I was put on this earth to do and the answer that came back to me was to write about Islam to the world. Therefore, I decided to take up my calling in life and here I am.