Christians and atheists, please explain?

Question

How can you be so sure that Allah is not the one true god, and that Islam is not the way to reach heaven? Those muslims sure seem to think they've got it right. Maybe they're on to something!

But I know you Christians are just as sure that Islam is a false belief, as we atheists are sure that Christianity is. I'm genuinely curious to see if the Christian/atheist answers are in any way similar. :)

Solly, perhaps if you read the question, you would understand.

Matt C - you're not really that thick, are you?

That's okay, Solly, you don't have to answer the question if you don't want to. Thanks for stopping by though.

Answer 1

The names of GOD
Abba Abonsam Absolute Ada Adelphia Adonai Afra Aglibol Agni Ahriman Ahura Mazda Ahuramazd Akongo Aksobhya Ala Alatangana Alfalfa All Light All Darkness All Soul Allah Allmighty Alochem Alpha and the Omega Amaterasu Amaterasu-Ohmikami Amerissis Amitabha Amma Amoghasiddhi Amon Amora Anat Ananta Ancient of Days Anuket Aondo Apap Aphrodite Arebati Aries Arion Asase Yaa Ash Asherah Ashtoreth Aslan Astarte Astrea Ataa Naa Nyongmo Atete Athena Atum Augusto Augustus AUM-EN-RA Babaji Balaji Balaramaji Bast Beautiful Great One Bes Bhaga Bithala Bob White Brahma Brahmi Brother Bumba Cagu Cghene Cha Ara Chi Coach Conflict Conquering Lion of Tribe of Judah Cosmic Consciousness Creation Creator Creator of The Universe Dad Death Deidad Demeter Deprivation Desire Despotas Déu Deus Deva Devi Dios Discipline Discord Divine Durba Durga Duty Edeke Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh Ekanetra EKNATH El El Hai Eloah Elohim Elohim El Elyon Elohim El Olam Elohim El Roi Elohim El Shaddai Energy Enki Enlil Enoch Enundu Eos Epimetheus Eurynome Eve Everlasting God Everyone Father Father of Lights Father of my Father Fidi Mukullu Fire Freya Ganesha Gaunab Gauri Matta Gautama Gayatri Geb Gibini God God Almighty God Most High God Over Troubled Water God Sees Gott Grand-father Grand-mother Great Mother Great Spirit Gurudeva Ha Shem HaShem Hadad Hades Hanuman Hao Hari Harmony Ha'shem Hathor Hatred He Who Has No Name Health Heh Hehet Hemantadevi Hiranyagarbha Holy Trinity Hu Huang Ti I am Imana Inanna Infinite Infinity Io mataaho Io matangaro Io matanui Io matua Io matua te kore Io nui Io roa Io take take Io te pukenga Io te toi o nga rangi Io te wananga Io te whiwhia Ishi Ishtar Ishwara Isis Itonde Jah Jahmanjah Jave Jehovah Jesus Christ Jove Joy Jupiter Justina Ka Tyeleo Kali Kalisia Kalunga Kalyopee Kartikeya Kek Keket Kesava Khnum King of All Kings King of Heaven Kotisri Krishna Kronos Kuan Yin Kuladevata Kurios Kwoth Kyumbe Lakshmi Lao-Tzu Legba Lesa Libanza Life Light of the World Light of Light Logos The Listener to the space between words Loki Lord Lord God Lord of Hosts Lord of the Universe Lord our Master Love Lover Ma Kiela Maat Mahaveera Maiterya Manjushri Masri Mbomba Mbongo Mbotumbo Meresger Michael Minerva Mizu-Ha-No-Me Money Most High Mother Mother of God Mukulumncandi Mungu My Creator Na Ngutu Nana N'nami Natural Order Nature Naunet Ndaula Necessity Neith Nekhbet Nephthys Ngai Niamye Nut, Mother of rebirth Nyame Nzambi Oak Odin Oduduwa Ogiuwu Oi Omichle One Onuris Ophion Orunmila Osanobua Osho Ostara Our Father Oversoul Padma Sambhava Padmanabha Pain Pallas Athena Paramatama Parvati Patar Pavan-Suta Pemba Pestilence Phyi-sGrub Poseidon Powers That Be Prime Mover Prince of Peace Prometheus Providence Ptah Purusottama Queen of Heaven Quetsalquatl Quintessence Ra Radha-Krishna Rain Raluvimbha Rama Ramakrishna Rastafari Ratnasamhava Ratri Reason Rubanga Sa Sarasvati Sati Saule Donna Satyanarayana Sekhmet Self Sesanag Shaddai Shankpana SHEKINAH Shiva Shiva Baba Shri Rama Shu Sia Sister Sky Son of Air Sovereign Lord State Success Suchinito Suffering Suku Sun-Teleia Supreme Being Surrender The Supreme Fascist Takkiraja Tar Tara Te Kore Tefenet Theos Thor Thunor Thy Maker Toro Torout Truth Tsunigoab Tzevaot Umvelinkwangi Universal Mind Unkulunkulu Un-nameable One Unumbote Vairochana Vaivasvata Manu Vajrasattva Vamana Vayu Venilateshwer Venkatachalapath Venkateshwara Vighneshwer Vinayail Virat Vishnu Vishwa Waka Wakan Tanka War Water Weri Kumbamba Wind Woden Ya 'Aahad Ya 'Aakhir Ya 'Aazalee Ya 'Aallah Ya 'Aawwal Ya 'Aadil Ya 'Azeez Ya 'Azeem Ya 'Alim Ya 'Ali Ya Ba'eeth Ya Baaqiy Ya Baari Ya Barr Ya Baseet Ya Basir Ya Batin Ya Fatih Ya Ghaffaar Ya Ghanee Ya Ha'iy Ya Hadi Ya Hafiz Ya Hakim Ya Hakim-al-Mutlaq Ya Halim Ya Hameed Ya Haqq Ya Hasib Ya Hatim Ya Jaami Ya Jabbar Ya Jaleel Ya Jameel Ya Kareem Ya Khabeer Ya Khafeez Ya Khalaaq Ya Lateef Ya Majid Ya Malik Ya Malik-al-Mulk Ya Manee' Ya Mannaan Ya Mateen Ya Mu'akhherr Ya Mu'idd Ya Mubdee Ya Mughnee Ya Muhayim Ya Mujeeb Ya Mukeed Ya Mukhbeer Ya Mumeed Ya Mumeen Ya Muntaqim Ya Muqaddeem Ya Muqsit Ya Muqtadir Ya Musawwir Ya Muta'alee Ya Nafi' Ya Noor Ya Qadeer Ya Quddos Ya Ra'oof Ya Rabb Ya Raffee Ya Raheem Ya Rahmaan Ya Raqeeb Ya Rasheed Ya Razzaaq Ya Saboor Ya Salaam Ya Samee' Ya Sammad Ya Shaakir Ya Shahid Ya Shakoor Ya Tawwab Ya Waahid Ya Waarith Ya Wadood Ya Wajeed Ya Kabeer Ya Muhyee Ya Mutakabbeer Ya Qawee Ya Qayyoom Ya Quahhar Ya Wahhab Ya Wakeel Ya Walee Ya Walee al-Ahsan Ya Waliy Ya Wasi' Yah Yahweh Yahweh Adonai Yahweh Elohim Yahweh Elohim Israel Yahweh God of Israel Yahweh Jireh Yahweh Maccaddeshcem Yahweh Nissi Yahweh Our Banner Yahweh Our Commander Yahweh Our Healer Yahweh Our Peace Yahweh Our Provider Yahweh Our Righteousness Yahweh Our Shepherd Yahweh Roi Yahweh Ropheka Yahweh Sabbaoth Yahweh Shalom Yahweh Shammah Yahweh Tsidkenu Yaro Yemekonji Yezdan Yogananda Zarathustra Zeus Zurvan
IsIs ~ Demeter ~ Arinna ~ Yemaya ~ Diana ~ Inanna ~ Ishtar ~ Hecate ~ Brigid ~ Freyja ~ Nammu ~ Astarte ~ Sophia ~ AuLat ~ Maat ~ Minerva ~ Nut ~ Otohime ~ Hathor ~ Mawu ~ Aphrodite ~ Kanayama-hime ~ Luna ~ Kali Ma ~ Quan Yin ~ Selene ~ Kore ~ Amaterasu ~ Pandora ~ Medusa ~ Nathor ~ Venus ~ Gaia ~ Funadama ~ Sedna ~ Iris ~ Corn Mother ~ Dana ~ Kannon ~ Cerridwen ~ Irene ~ Macha ~ Rhiannon ~ Kishimo-jin ~ Hel ~ Mary ~ Benzai-Ten ~ Frigga ~ Vinca ~ Lady of the Beasts ~ Uba ~ Rowan ~ Artemis ~ Ma ~ Ki ~ Gabjauja ~ Lhamo ~ Amentet ~ Gabija ~ Laka ~ Selene ~ Allat ~ Uac Rapito ~ Pavasiya ~ Lahar ~Zemyna ~ Securitas ~ Sechat-Hor ~ Pandara ~ Saps ~ Rheia ~ Ma-Zu ~ Ran ~ Quiritus ~ Prende ~ Kishi-Bojin ~ Flora ~ Mayahuel ~ Chup- Kamui ~ Mafdet ~ Diti ~ Fauna ~ Aradia ~ Kaminari ~ Vaisgamta ~ Atabey ~ Pales ~ Zeme pati ~ Kaupuole ~ Rasyte ~ Marisha-Ten ~ Artemis of Ephesus ~ Kami-Musubi ~ Aparajita ~ Hina ~ Oya ~ Zenenet ~ Bona Dea ~ Uma ~ Daphne ~ Heket - ~ Ixtab ~ Saule ~ Caca ~ Baubo ~ Eye Goddess ~ - Ixchel ~ Helene ~ Quilla ~ Izanami ~ Queen of Heaven - ~ Unut ~ Ostara ~ Benzai-Ten ~ Zana ~ - Bastet ~ Anuket ~ Sothis ~ Ana ~ Oshun ~ Hygeia ~ - Sengen ~ Pele ~ Sauska ~ Aditi ~ Lilith ~ Toyouke-- Omikami ~ She Who is Many ~ Athena ~ Zemes Mate ~ - Ceres ~ Fulla ~ Ningal ~ Marama ~ Uni ~ Lucina ~ - Grandmother Spider ~ Am-No-Tanabata-Hime ~ Nepit ~ - Adraste ~ Persephone ~ Ba ~ Jord ~ Cybele ~ Hera ~ - Anath ~ Parvati ~ Jian Lao ~ Asthoreth ~ Inar ~ - Laka ~ Epona ~ Uzume ~ Circe ~ Damona ~ Camunda - ~ Anat ~ Rosmerta ~ Zuimaco ~ Anahita ~ - Pomona ~ Eos ~ Tyche ~ Peitho ~ Korrawi ~ Sachmet ~ - Isara ~ Nemetona ~ Kubaba ~ Fortuna ~ Aurora ~ - Jurate ~ Antum ~ Hine-nui-te-po ~ Ala ~ Karitei-mo ~ - Ahurani ~ Kybele ~ Kaltes ~ Nana ~ Ida ~ Pachet ~ - Milda ~ Zemyna ~ Fravasi ~ Brigantia ~ - Blodeuwedd ~ Yuki-Onna ~ Artio ~ Nakatsu-Hime ~ - Selket ~ Tlazolteotl ~ Abundantia ~ Alpan ~ Uli ~ - Neith ~ Krumine ~ Venus of Laussel ~ Vinca Bird Goddess ~ - Ame-No-Mi-Kumari ~ Medeine ~ Bride ~ - Asherah ~ Jurakan ~ Ihuanaboina ~ Acatl ~ Pergubre ~ - Moon Goddess ~ Laima ~ Giltine ~ Laksmi ~ Gusti - Kanjeng Ratu Kidul ~ Minoan Snake Goddess ~ - Brigit ~ Gaea ~ Kali Ma ~ Kuan Yin ~ Mother Earth ~ - Neoilithic Goddesses ~ Dolni ~ Haniyasu-hime ~ - Kojin ~ Kishijoten ~ Goddess of the Amazons ~ - Dewi Sri

Regardless of what you call God;
God Loves you and wants you to come home.
All paths lead back to Goddess.
Some are just longer than others.
"Each seeker must find their own path"
The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.
-- J R R Tolkien

Answer 2

How can I be sure that Allah IS the one true God?

Is that the answer you wanted? I suspected you did, so you can argue that this is why you don't believe in OUR God as well. Well, nice try, but I actually believe that Allah AND the Christian God are BOTH perfectly well able to co-exist... because they are the same thing. Christians and Muslims have different ways of worshiping and understanding God, but God is God. Same holds true for Hindus and Buddhists and Jews and any other religious or spiritual person. There is some kind of higher being that created everyone, and obviously he created a very diverse population, so naturally there would be diverse ways of assessing God and understanding him.

If you don't believe that, then that is fine by me. Stereotyping all of us who do doesn't make that not so. I'm a Christian, but I, for one, don't think Islam is a false belief at all. It is just a different belief.

Answer 3

"But I know you Christians are just as sure that Islam is a false belief"

Generalizing, much?

I am a Christian and I don't think that Islam is a false belief. I'm not a Muslim because I don't believe in many of the Islamic practices. No matter what the religion is, I would never take part in it if I didn't agree with its teachings.

Disagreing with the teachings and thinking it's a false belief are two different things.

And I'm not totally convinced that the Muslim "Allah" and the Christian "God" are two separate dieties. Someone before me said that they don't think Allah and God are the same as they seem to speak of very different lifestyles. The God of the Biblical Old Testiment (the first 5 books of which make up the Jewish Torah) is even a seemingly different "God"- even though Christians believe He is the same being. I also don't agree with many Jewish teachings...it definitely doesn't mean that I think Judiasm is a false belief- especially since we worship the same God!

From what I have gathered, there are 2 ways of "getting to Heaven"

1.) Muslims seem to believe that their Heavenly status is determined by the works that they do

2.) Christians believe that their Heavenly status is determined by their faith in God's grace and a belief that Jesus died to pay for our sins- NOT by works

It's not a label of being "false" or not- it's works vs. faith

Answer 4

The God that was before Muhammad was a differnt God with differing ways even the order of God is not the same yet Allah says he is the God of Abraham. This makes God either schizo or the god of Islam is not the God of the Bible.It is easy to disregard Allah as god because he claims ot be the same God. Now How do I know the God of the Bible is God or that there is a God at all? This only comes through revealtion of God. Those who love and seek the truth receive a gift called faith and through faith comes revelation and a personal relationship with a very real God.

Answer 5

If a god were to exist that wanted praise and worship, like people say about Allah and the Christian God, he would make himself known. If the Christian God were to exist he wouldn't let Muslims believe that Allah is the one way to heaven. Therefore, I'm sticking with the obvious choice of atheism.

Answer 6

Pascal's wager:

"If god exists, it's infinitely better to believe, since you get heaven instead of hell for eternity. If he doesn't, it doesn't matter since you're dead anyway. So overall it's better to believe"

This is, of course, false.

Some of the problems with the argument:

* The implied assumption that god may exist (with a 50% probability, no less!)

* The assumption that there is an afterlife with a heaven and hell

* The assumption that the god cares about belief in him/her above all else

* The assumption that if you believe in a god, it will definitely be the same god that actually exists.

* The assumption that you lose nothing if it's false. You have lost a great deal, from time praying to a nonexistent entity (some people pray several hours a day!!!) to morality (your god may ask you to hurt other people) and much more besides.

* The assumption that people can believe in something simply because it benefits them. Would you believe goblins exist for twenty bucks? Why not?

* The assumption that any god won't see through the "believing just to get into heaven" ploy.

For more:
http://www.abarnett.demon.co.uk/atheism/wager.html <-- this one in particular answers your question
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/pascal-wager/
http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/theism/wager.html

Answer 7

Three routes, basically...

One: the statistical. Since a variety of beliefs state that they are "the one and only" it reduces the odds of any one of them in particular being right.
A secondary observation from that is that none of them appear to have such overwhelmingly convincing evidence (historical, logical or miraculous) so as to overwhelm the others.

Two: specifically for Islam, it is is possible to trace the influence of neo-Platonism on certain aspects of the Qur'an and especially on it finding the death of Jesus unacceptable.
(Which obviously depends on no historical account, and sits at desperate odds with the bible versions)
It's a fascinating example of a philosophy working out into a doctrine.

Three: the relative strength of the case for atheism, weighing the possiblilities in cosmology, genetics, human history, evolution...
(I'm with Darwin: I can't see a beneficent God allowing parasitic wasps and much worse, and as for deliberately cursing all women to extremely painful childbirths, well that fits better as an explanatory myth than a historical account of a "loving God" acting like a tyrant. )

Answer 8

I generalize. When I found my baby teeth in the back of the cupboard I knew the tooth fairy wasn't real. Santa, the Easter bunny and God went down at the same time. Now that I'm older, and know several other reasons to bury God, I know those same reasons apply to all gods. So, I don't know for sure, never studied the Koran, but unless it conforms to and contains much of the massive body of scientific knowledge we have captured, it's just make-believe. I guess I just base my beliefs on evidence. But, of course, I could be wrong...

Answer 9

Listen and I will tell you a little secret. All these different names for God are just that, names. It is the same thing that everyone is describing. All these rules and regulations are man made but the one Divine thing is real. Some call it Allah, some Jehovah, some God, Some call it Force, Spirit, it is all just in how you interpret it.

Answer 10

Well number 1. The fact that christians believe in their god as the one and only is because they follow their bible blindly.

The problem in it is the simple fact that they only hear what they want to here.

Far too many fail to see the contradictions brought forth, for instance the whole 'free will' thing that he 'gives' them? Last time i remember reading about Sodom and Gomorrah in the bible, he destroyed the city for falling corrupt. Now, whats the point in giving free will, if you punish those who use it?

The whole reason christians believe their god is sole is because of fear. They fear what will happen if they believe otherwise and its right. Yet out of all of them, christianity has the strongest punishment for none believers from what i remember.

Answer 11

Dude just get up from there and start doing something! kool avatar! lol (.-))

sorry about my smily he is missing an eye because he is a pirate.

Allah is the revival of the Jewish fighting god. We believe in the prophets but not in everything the way the Scribes wrote. That is the reason Jesus did not like them.