Islam main criticisms

5 – Major differences on salvation, heaven

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Major differences between Christianity and Islam regarding the concepts of: salvation, heaven and human nature.

Salvation

Muslims are never sure about their salvation. Muhammad himself has expressed doubts about his own salvation. For the Muslims, when they get to see Allah he decides where they’ll spend eternity balancing their good versus their bad acts.

Christianity says that salvation is given by faith in Jesus sacrifice, and is sure.

Christianity says that people, independently of their efforts in this world or how much they strive, are not able to win their own salvation. The gap between their sinful nature and the holiness of God is simply enormous and the only way is to have one to pay on their account. So Christianity is therefore very different when it states that only your personal faith in Jesus Christ saves you, not your efforts, what you do. Salvation is a totally free gift from God, His solution full of love for human beings.

By contrast, all the major religions of the world teach Salvation through human effort. Only Christianity declares that human salvation rests only in the provision of God.

God’s salvation plan in Christianity is about: absolute love & absolute justice. This reconciliation of the 2 concepts is another major and unique characteristic of Christianity. Absolute love does not exist in Islam as the Qur’an, given specific circumstances, teaches violence and agrees (recommends actually) the killing of the infidels (see more here). Reconciliation between absolute love and absolute justice – that is impossible to achieve by human beings- is only found in Christianity through Christ death.

 

Heaven

For Muslims the concept of heaven is sensual, carnal, men making love with dozens of virgins, devoted to their pleasures and finally allowed to drink.

Christianity says that heaven has nothing carnal. It is not made for drinking and eating, all people will be like angels –men, women, children- and equal in joy.

 

Human nature

Christianity teaches that humans by nature are sinners. And for this they claim evidences abound: the every day struggle one encounters when trying to keep the 10 commandments for example or the way a child manifests himself when very young –if not corrected-, the evidence that we do good only if we like it and it is really difficult to love God and our neighbor. We would rather trust ourselves than God, we can not demonstrate perfect love, tolerance or justice. Selfishness dominates our every day lives and our limited minds are a constant trap for prejudices or indifference.

Islamists –similarly with atheists, communists especially- believe, on the contrary, that the human being is good- sometimes weak and forgetful but essentially good- and they believe that the human being can be made good/perfect through religion or governing.

But history seems to demonstrate how wrong these ideas are.

 

(Sources: Bible, Qur’an, Ravi Zacharias Ministries)