People are born into a religion? I was born into a Christian family. We don't have to blindly follow whatever the previous generations followed.
I beleve some of the Bible is from God. I don't believe that about, say, the stuff from Paul. I don't see him as having any authority whatsoever.
I don't even deny that there may be some accurate prophecies in the Bible.
There are accurate prophecies in the hadith. Go to Dubai. I'm sure you'll see some tall buildings.
I think some of the Bible is true. Islam doesn't entirely deny the authenticity of what's in the Bible. Islam claims that those scriptures, however, have been tampered with. And some, like Paul's writings- I don't think Paul has any authority whatsoever from an Islamic perspective. I think any sound Muslim would have to be somewhat hostile towards his theology- being that Paul's basic, overall messages boils down to attacking Tawheed. You boil down what he was saying and his writings were basically a long, sustained attack against Tawheed. I think Paul was a dangerous person.
I think 2 Corinthians 12:7-9 suggests that Paul was dealing with a shaytaan who possible was influencing him. I wonder if a shaytaan was whispering in his ear and those "teachings" were flowing from Paul. I can't copy, paste but I encourage people to look up what i cited.
Slightly off-topic.... Socrates was referred to as "demonic". I wonder if Socrates was subject to..... not benevolent..... inspiration.
I think the same about Paul to be honest. He was a murderer who suddenly became a Christian "leader" or something.
He was a murderer who it appears had an evil jinn who may have been influencing him. And then who pressured people against belief in Tawheed. I find the guy eerie.
The guy murders people, washes the blood and gives flowery dissertations on "love". That would be great for a horror movie character. Psycho might have been even more spooky if Hitchcock had had Norman Bates give a lectures on "love".
Now obviously, to find Paul's attack against Tawheed shocking... obviously we have to accept Tawheed in the first place. So if you haven't accepted that, obviously I don't think it will be convincing. Although it's weird the murderer-turned-religious-leader thing.
If someone is a murderer and then supposedly discovers God.... hopefully God forgives them and that's nice.... but I don't think that's who I'd want as a religious leader. Muhammad (PBUH) was a military leader, that is true, but he wasn't a murderer. There's a difference between Patton and Norman Bates.
Anyways..... evidence. You want to talk about evidence. Let's talk about evidence.
This thread has gone on for 60-something pages and I'm still waiting for anyone to refute this:
Can you refute this?
@Red Sky at Morning I didn't advocate forming a conclusion and then finding stuff to back up a predetermined conclusion. I've studied both sides. I'm well aware of the Christian side. Having studied both, I believe the Muslim side is stronger in terms of logic and evidence. I think people reject Islam for cultural reasons.
Also, your response to Bart Ehrman is throwing a smoke grenade. You make the issue seem more complex and confusing than it really is. If people read Misquoting Jesus (PBUH)- it is very clear that the Bible has been tampered with and he shows you basically a mountain of evidence.
And the Bereans... I believe good Bereans if they are objective and rightly guided will become Muslim. It is a matter of good Bereanship or not. Being a good Berean will lead people to Islam.