Islam - Who, What, How

I won't pretend to know what the "one-world religion" will be but Babs is right when she says that there is a theory that it will come about with Catholicism joining with Islam. I won't say that I believe that but it's not an entirely crazy theory.

The current Pope has spoken in favor of Islam many times.

He has called for Christians to "open their arms and hearts" to Muslim immigrants. Sure, support for immigrants has been a longstanding Catholic policy, but this feeds into those who fear that Catholicism might unite with Islam in the Last Days.

While calling upon Christians to open their arms to Muslims, the Vatican has taken in only two carefully selected refugee families.

The Pope has gone beyond that, routinely taking the Muslim side in anything related to the Middle East.

Despite heading a Christian church that, by its very nature, has traditionally been in opposition to non-Catholic religions, the Pope has only good things to say about Islam.

He published an editorial not so long ago in which he seemed to be saying that Islam is the way it is, and must be accepted as such.

When I was growing up, we were told that Catholics were going to hell, and my Catholic friends were told the same thing about Protestants, so whatever you might believe today, there has been a sharp change, and these things play into such theories.

While I agree that, whatever your faith or agenda, you're not likely to reach anyone who you feel the need to reach by insulting them, or by refusing to have anything to do with them, these statements lend themselves to that theory.

More salient to the theory is that the Pope said that Christians need to find "the ties that unite" them with Islam. Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean joining together as a one-world religion, but it ties into the theory.

Pope Benedict XVI once said that, "Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new and there you will find things only evil and inhuman." So there is a definite change in thinking, and that concerns people.

Pope Francis has frequently spoken of his respect for Islam, and made statements about the need for "mutual understanding" between Christians and Islam. Surely, you can see how this feeds into concerns about the upcoming one-world religion.

A year ago, in an address, he told Muslims that he expected their Ramadan observances to "bear abundant spiritual fruit."

Think about it. The purpose of Ramadan is to "magnify Allah." Doesn't it seem strange that a Catholic would consider the magnification of Allah to be a spiritual fruit?

Often, in Pope Francis' addresses, he speaks of religion as if one religion were the same as another.

I'm not trying to persuade anyone that Catholicism is going to unite with Islam to become a one-world religion, but that's not a crazy theory.

My own opinion is that yeah, it could be. But that's about as far as I would go.

Protestant leaders have said similarly questionable things. But, since no one Protestant leader holds the power over Protestantism that the Pope does over Catholicism, it doesn't get the same play, and doesn't generate as much concern.

If Catholicism were to unite with Islam, I am sure that many of the mainstream Protestant churches would join with them.

When China hosted the Olympics a few years back, Franklin Graham cautioned Christians attending the Olympics not to use this as an opportunity to evangelize the Chinese. Now, if he had done this in order to caution them that it was against the law to evangelized the Chinese so that they wouldn't find themselves imprisoned, that would be one thing, but he said that trying to evangelize them would be an insult to Chinese culture.

That would make perfect sense to a non-believer but if I believe that Jesus is the only way to salvation, should I be more concerned about offending a non-Christian's culture or about the salvation of his soul?

There have been plenty of Protestant church leaders who have made statements to the effect that there are many paths to God and that one religion is as good as another, although they don't generally state it so bluntly.

So no, I suppose that my best guess would be that the coming one-world religion will consist not only of Catholicism and Islam, but of many of the Protestant churches besides.

 

As far as fearing Muslim refugees more than the many dangerous people who have been born and raised here, isn't that a little like saying that you may as well invite a rattlesnake into your house because you've already got a Cottonmouth?

I don't think we should be taking in any new immigrants until we can straighten out our economy and our country and, even then, we should accept people on a case by case basis, based on the needs of our country, not their needs, and only after rigid vetting.

 

On the semi-related topic of religious prejudices, let me tell you that when I am writing about something having to do with Catholics and Protestants, I repeatedly find myself referring to Protestants as "Christians" and Catholics as "Catholics," yet that is not what I believe. My own belief is that most people who consider themselves to be Christian will not be in heaven, but I have no doubt that there will be Catholics in heaven, and I wouldn't be at all surprised to find that the percentages of Catholics in heaven will equal that of Protestants. But, because I grew up thinking that Christians were Protestants, and Catholics were something else, it often comes out that way.

 

That's all any of us can do.

 

@Chrissy Cross, sometimes my words carry me away and the intent is lost. More briefly, I don't believe that salvation has anything to do with a person's relationship with a church, but that it has everything to do with their relationship with Christ.

 

I totally agree with that statement, @Ken Anderson , and I think that this was what Jesus was trying to tell us in the Bible when he said we should love our neighbors and I think that means we should live at peace with everyone as much as possible.
Even if the leaders of (any) church become corrupt, that has nothing to do with the people who attend that church and believe what the church teaches them. The saying is that "power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely", and I think that this can be as applicable to churches and anything else in life.
The Bible says that God looks at our hearts, and I think that will be much more important than where we go to church, once we stand in front of God to be judged.
The Bible also tells us we are not to judge other people, and that if we do judge them, we will be judged with the same manner as we judge.
I am happy that you have found a church that you want to check out, @Chrissy Cross , and I hope that it turns out to be a place where you enjoy fellowshipping.

 

Yes, and it goes on to say, "Judge not, unless you too be judged." As you say, we will be judged. I think the intent of the verse is that we shouldn't judge others more harshly than we would want to be judged ourselves.