Wednesday 21st October 2020 Devotion
Scripture:- John 4:1-24
Topic:- Why I Change From Muslim To Christian [1]
Text:- John 8:32
My name is Mario Joseph. My great grandparents are from Turkey. They came and settled down in South Kerala, India.
When I was in the womb of my mom, there was an infection in her womb. All the doctors said, “the child will die”, but my mom, being a devotee of Allah, did not accept the Doctors’ advice to terminate the pregnancy.
Instead, she turned to Allah and prayed that if Allah could save the baby, she would dedicate the child to him. That was her offering.
Miraculously, I was born, inspite of the initial assumption that I would die in the womb. Being that I had been dedicated to Allah, my parents didn’t send me to school.
My childhood was very bad because when other children all went to school, I wasn’t allowed to go. At the age of 8, I was sent to a Muslim Arabic college to become a Muslim Maulana.
My childhood was not really happy because I was offered to Allah against my wish.
To become a Muslim Maulana, you have to study Philosophy and Theology. You have 5 years in which you will be studying Metaphysics, Epistemology, Logic, etc.
You will also study the Arabic language during this period. The second term is your Theology period. The first period is called Muktuser and the second, Motowel.
In the Motowel period, you will be studying moral Theology, Koranic Theology, Sharia law, etc.
It will take about 10 to 12 years for you to complete your study. I finished mine in 10 years in an Arabic college that is in South Kerala.
One notion I held from my childhood is that law should not be forcibly compelled on human beings. For example, my daddy would beat me if I didn’t stay in the Mosque.
I must fast in the Ramadan period or else I would not be given food. This punishments made my childhood very unhappy.
While I was working in a Muslim Mosheet as an Imam, as a Parish Priest, I once preached that Jesus is not God.
For me, God was only Allah. I believed Allah never married not to talk of having a son. While I was preaching that Jesus is not God, somebody asked me, “Who is Jesus?”
He may be a Muslim but he asked me who Jesus is. To know who He is, I started studying the Quran once again.
As I study the Quran, I found that the name of Prophet Muhammad was found in 4 places while the name of Jesus was mentioned in 25 places.
There itself, I was a little confused. Why does the Quran gives more preference to Jesus than Muhammad.
The second thing I observed is that I couldn’t see that name of any woman in the Quran; not Prophet Muhammad’s wife’s name, nor the name of his mother was in the Quran.
The only woman name mentioned in the Quran is Mariam, the mother of Jesus. In the Holy Quran, chapter 3, the name of the chapter is “Family of Mariam”.
Also, the name of the 19th chapter itself of the Quran is Mariam. I was very curious to know why the Quran says all these things about Mariam.
Quran chapter 3, from verse 34 onwards says that Mary was born without original sin; she was ever a virgin.
Quran chapter 50, verse 23 says that she went to heaven with her physical body.
When I read Quran chapter 3, from verse 45 to 55, there are ten points which the Quran made about Jesus.
The first thing is an Arabic word which means “Word of God”.
The second is that Jesus is the Spirit of God.
The third is that the Quran calls him Jesus Christ meaning that he is the Messiah. The Quran calls Jesus the Word of God, the Spirit of God and Jesus Christ.
The Quran also says that Jesus spoke while he was a baby, like 2 days old. Jesus shaped a bird from mud, breathe into it and then it became a living bird.
So, I think that Jesus can give life. Also, the Quran talks about Jesus curing a man born blind and a man with leprosy.
Curiously, the Quran says that Jesus gave life to dead people; Jesus went to heaven, He is still alive and will come again.
When I saw all these things about Jesus, my thinking was “what did the Quran says about Muhammad.”
According to the Quran, Prophet Muhammad is not the word of God, not the spirit of God, never spoke when he was two days old, never created any bird from mud, never cured any sick and never rises any dead person.
Muhammad himself died and according to the Islam, he is not alive and he will not come back. So, there is a lot of difference between these two Prophets.
My idea was that Jesus was a Prophet greater than Muhammad.
Prayer Point:- Oh Lord God, help me to know more and more the truth about You better henceforth by fire, in the name of Jesus Christ.
Happy Mid-Week!
