Peace Orthodox,
The difference between other religions who believe in one God is that they do not acknowledge the covenant with Abraham and his descendants. Muslims claim to be a part of the descendants of Abraham and claim to be a follower of the same religion that Abraham followed. The Quran challenged the Jews and Christians by telling them to follow Abraham because he was neither Jew or Christian, but he worshiped THE GOD and made a covenant with God for himself and his descendants.
Abraham has many children, but he sent them away except for Isaac. God made His covenant with Isaac's second son, Jacob, and that was the first covenant. The second or new covenant is for all people and it was brought to us by Jesus Christ.
Abraham was not a follower of your faith because he NEVER built the Kaabah. See, not even Ishmael ever went intro Arabia. He settles in Paran, a region in the Sinai. His descendants eventually migrated into Arabia. I see your faith teaches falsehood about Abraham.
"apes" is meant to be symbolic, meaning that their nature became like those of frustrated and angry apes .... Why not reveal to a 'desert pagan' when He revealed Himself to a poor shepard and carpenter who too has ancestry in paganism. Were not the fathers of Abraham worshipers of idols? Its not about 'forfathers' in Islam, its about the guidance of God and submission to what is right.
Like Jesus was a a Jew and He was sent to the Jews to correct them and to set an example for all of us, if there was falsehood in Christianity then God would have sent a prophet that was Christian and correct Christianity and set an example for others of what the true path is. He would never go to some pagan. This is common sense.
This life is a life of trials and tribulations, to test the faith and sincerity in man. Why send prophets and messengers instead of coming to earth on multiple occasions? What need is there of prophets whem God can come to earth Himself? Why doesnt God visit us on earth often? Whats there to hide? God does not reveal His physical appearance upon earth for a reason. There are only spokepersons and prophets. This is a part of the philisophical purpose God has created, and also deals with trials and tribualtions. Can you believe and have faith in something that your 5 senses fail to detect?
If God really loved us He would show His face to all of us. He would walk among us, that is why.
Without the revelation how would we know God and His will? We need to know what God wants in order to submit to Him, otherwise there would be no sumbission to Him because we would fail to recognize His will. Thus we find out through revelation what the will of God is and we submit to it.
There is so much more than submission. God had a very advanced plan for us. He sent us revelations, but alot of people don't want to believe them.
When I say religion I mean man-made religion and man-interpreted doctrines and ideas and a belief system created by man to follow these doctrines and ideas - on the other hand a divine principle is the requirement of God or the purpose of our very lives. My point initially was that "Judaism" and "Christianity" were not divine principles but man-made religions who do not invite to the will of God rather to a religious cause. The institution of every religion is by man, but there's a difference between man-made religions and a way of life prescribed by the prophets and God Himself. Let me show you what I mean.
This is ironic becasue Islam contains man-made things.
Your entire concept of salvation, for instance, is based on works and good deeds are weighed against bad sdeds, this is the exact same belief that the Persians had.
The laws in your faith are all humanistic. They are not the laws that are in heaven that the angels live by. Jesus gave us this law from heaven, that exists in heaven. It's based around love for one another and there are little to no legalistic laws. It is not a product of human beings. Our concept of faith in God for salvation is not a product of human beings. Salvation by works is a beliefe in many human religions.
Do you fail to see these things?
The will of God may have varied from time to time and God gave different requirements for specific time periods, situations and for specific people, but the concept of submitting to God and His will has never changed. Regardless of the will of God altering to fit God's plans, the concept of submitting to Him has always been the same. So initially islam always existed, and revelation elaborated on the will of God.
The Will of God never changed. It had different periods where different actions were done by God, but all in one will, one divine plan.
I can glorify and praise God all day and all night, but if I fail to submit to Him I would become a hypocrite in my glorification and worship of Him. The biggest glory comes not through words but actions. Actions mean that we are physically or emotionally doing something in submission to His will.
To submit to God may require one to accept His revelation.
If He reveals His Son to us we accept that God has a divine Son.
This is why we need to follow the Quran.
Because of this book so many Muslims are trying to kill "infidels" and they hate, so much hate is in their hearts. So much corruption and legalism exists.
The Gospels are the greatest Law of God. There is no legalistic human doctrine that can cause corruption. There is more emphasis on God's love for all and how much we should love others.
Show me from the OT somewhere where the Holy Ghost has moved someone to write something?
He is the source of Word of God the prophet's speak and their divine power.
1 Samuel 10:10
When they arrived at Gibeah, a procession of prophets met him; the Spirit of God came upon him in power, and he joined in their prophesying.