I am ethnically a Russian Jew. My quest began when I was 19 years old. I was recovering from my stint with Scientology (yes I was brainwashed into it).<\/p>\n
My belief in God was uncertain. My goals in life were to be a rock star. I was living in my Pasadena apartment and working as a secretary. Funny, I know.<\/p>\n
One night I was walking to the kitchen, and encountered a dark fellow. I remembered asking him: \u201cCan I keep this vodka in the fridge tonight?\u201d We shook hands and went to sleep. After that point, my life changed drastically\u2026<\/p>\n
This dark fellow, a Muslim, was the first Muslim I had ever met. Extremely curious, I conversed with him about his faith. What\u2019s this stuff I hear about praying 5 times a day? And about Holy War? Who is this Mohammed guy?<\/p>\n
Our talks were accompanied by our Christian roommate, Wade. Together, we created \u201cThe Jewish, Christian, and Muslim dialogue sessions\u201d. In it, we discovered many differences, and many commonalities.
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\nMy interest had then shifted from sex, drugs, and parties, to a massive search for the truth. A search that I had to complete. A search for God. And a search for how to follow him.<\/p>\n
In my quest for the truth, I asked myself: \u201cOk let\u2019s start simple, how many God\u2019s do I think are out there?\u201d I figured only one; knowing that a divided God is weaker than One God; figuring that if one God didn\u2019t agree with the other, there might be arguments and feuds. One God was my choice.<\/p>\n
Once I opened up my mind to the possibility of the existence of God, I analyzed both atheist and theist beliefs. The thing that directed me to the latter was the quote \u201cEvery design has a designer\u201d. With that in mind, eventually I woke up with certainty that God exists. I can\u2019t explain why, I just felt it somehow.<\/p>\n
This newfound excitement was accompanied by a sense of responsibility to follow the Creator. The world of religion was my next frontier.<\/p>\n
Then I asked myself, \u201cWhere do I start?\u201d There are literally thousands of them. I need a way to narrow them down to a just a few. How do I accomplish such a task? \u201cFind the ones that are monotheistic\u201d entered my mind. \u201cHey that makes sense, since I believe in only One God.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ok, then. This ruled out Buddhism and Hinduism, both being polytheistic faiths. The major religions I encountered that fell under the title of Monotheistic, where Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Well since I\u2019m a Jew, I started with Judaism. One God, some prophets, 10 commandments, Torah, Jewish souls\u2026uh, what: \u201cJewish souls?\u201d<\/p>\n
While doing research this idea was brought to my attention. The story goes, \u201cif a person is born Jewish, then they have a Jewish soul, and they must follow Judaism.\u201d Hold on a sec\u2026that\u2019s discrimination, isn\u2019t it? That\u2019s not universal.<\/p>\n
So God makes Jewish souls, and Christian souls, and Muslim souls, and Hindu souls? I thought all men are created equal? So, because one is born into a religion that means by the decree of God he must remain in it\u2026 even if the person believes it to be false? Hmm\u2026I don\u2019t agree with that.<\/p>\n
Another thing really bothered me\u2026there is no strict concept of hell in Judaism\u2026then why be good? Why not sin? If I don\u2019t have fear of strict punishment, then why should I be moral?<\/p>\n
Moving on, I discovered Christianity. Ok, one God, a father, a son, and a holy ghost\u2026one more time: one God, a father, a son, and a holy ghost. Uhhh, please explain. How can all those things be one God? 1 + 1 + 1 = 3 right? So how can you say you believe in only one God?<\/p>\n
Explanation after explanation, equation after equation, comparison after comparison, analogy after analogy, I couldn\u2019t grasp this concept. Ok let\u2019s keep looking here.<\/p>\n
Ok, next major doctrine: Jesus died for our sins and he did this because we all are polluted with \u201cOriginal Sin\u201d. So, Jesus Christ, the \u201cson of God\u201d, had to be murdered to save everyone from Hell and cure us of our sin \u201cgiven\u201d to us by Adam.<\/p>\n
Ok then, so are you saying that we are all born as sinners? And to sin is to do something wrong right? Then you\u2019re telling me that a one-year old baby is guilty of sin or doing something wrong? Ok that\u2019s strange, so based on the actions of one man, all of mankind must suffer? What\u2019s the moral of that story? Punish the whole group if one deviates? Why would God create such a rule? That\u2019s just not in agreement with my logic.<\/p>\n
So Jesus died because he \u201cloves mankind\u201d. Hold on, it says in the Bible that Jesus said \u201cfather, why have you forsaken me?\u201d So, apparently, Jesus didn\u2019t understand why he was being brutally murdered. But you just said he \u201cvolunteered\u201d to be sacrificed. Anyway, I couldn\u2019t accept this belief. Ok, what\u2019s the next religion?<\/p>\n
Islam. Islam means submission. The main beliefs are as follows: One God, worship God five times a day, give 2.5% annual charity, fast during Ramadan (to be closer to God and appreciate life\u2026among other reasons) and finally journey to Mecca for Hajj if you are able financially. Ok, nothing hard to understand so far.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s nothing that conflicts with my logic here. The Quran is a book with all of these interesting miracles and timeless wisdom. Many scientific facts only discovered recently where proclaimed 1400 years ago in this book.<\/p>\n
Ok, Islam had passed my initial religious prerequisites. But I wanted to ask some deep questions about it. Is this religion universal? Yes, anyone can understand these basic beliefs\u2026no analogy or equation are needed. Does it agree with science? Yes, dozens of verses in the Quran agree with modern science and technology.<\/p>\n
As I sifted through the countless logical facts that I read through and researched, one thing took my attention the most. \u201cIslam\u201d. The name of this religion. I noticed it is written many times in this Quran.<\/p>\n
However, recalling my prior studies, I didn\u2019t remember once seeing the word \u201cJudaism\u201d in the Old Testament or \u201cChristianity\u201d in the New Testament. This was BIG. Why couldn\u2019t I find the very name of the religions in those two books? Because, there is no name in these books! Thinking\u2026I noticed that \u201cJudaism\u201d could be broken down to \u201cJuda- ism\u201d and \u201cChristianity\u201d could be respectively \u201cChrist-ianity\u201d.<\/p>\n
So who is Juda? Or Judah, rather. He was the tribe leader of the Hebrews when God revealed his message to mankind. So this religion was named after\u2026a person. Ok let\u2019s look at who Christ is. He was the person who delivered the message of God to the Jews. So this religion was named after\u2026a person.<\/p>\n
So in recollection, we can deduct that the names of these religions are people\u2019s proper names attached to \u201cism\u201d and \u201cianity\u201d. Regardless of that fact, the very names of those religions are not mentioned in their scriptures. I thought that was very odd.<\/p>\n
If I went door to door selling a product, and I said \u201cWould you like to buy this _______\u201d? Wouldn\u2019t the logical question be: \u201cWhat is this _____ called?\u201d I would make no money off of a product without a name.<\/p>\n
Naming is the very basis which humans identify with objects, both physical and non-physical. If religion is supposed to be practiced and spread to every person on earth, shouldn\u2019t there be a NAME for it?<\/p>\n
Moreover, shouldn\u2019t the name be given to us from God Almighty? YES, my point exactly. The names \u201cChristianity\u201d and \u201cJudaism\u201d were not written in the Holy Scriptures. Humans named them, not God. The notion that God would ordain a religion for mankind to follow without a name is impossible for my mind to accept.<\/p>\n
At that point, both Christianity and Judaism lost their credibility as pure, logical, and complete religions, at least from my perspective.<\/p>\n
Islam is the ONLY of these religions to include the NAME of the religion in its scriptures. This is so huge for me.<\/p>\n
I realized I would follow Islam at that point. I then became a Muslim. I knew the truth. I was out of the darkness. I came into the light\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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