ANNOTATION:
Enter Now, the Christian...

Dear Friends,

With your indulgence, I will put forward only a few, brief remarks.

 I wish to mention at the outset, that the Islamic fellow who attempted a lengthy refutation of all the various objections to theistic proofs for the existence of God, is right and wrong about the "God" of Islam being fundamentally different from the God we Christians worship. 

He is wrong only in that there is but one God. Is he the God of Abraham and Issac?  Well, of course, he is.  So, we worship the same God. With this said, the Islamic "IDEA" of God is quite different from my "IDEA" of God. 

How are our "ideas" of God different? Islam tends to see and approach God in all of His stunning, raw power, As the essence of perfect justice - Almighty Allah who is the friend of righteous men and enemy of evildoers, Allah most just who will smash the wicked and grind their bones into dust, Allah the majestic - the awesome, magnificent, fearful God of all creation! Well, God certainly is all powerful, just, and majestic beyond words.  But, that's only the beginning - there is so much more that Islam sometimes overlooks:

God is also our redeemer, our salvation, our ever-present friend who has promised us a place in paradise with Him and His Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, Mary the Mother of God and all the many angels and the saints who have done His perfect will througout the ages.  God is love.  God is beauty.  God is truth.  God is peace.  Like a masterpiece of art, God refreshes our senses and delights our hearts.  I hope, my Islamic friend, that you will pay attention to these attributes of the Almighty as well.

As for all of those theistic proofs that you have tried valiently to uphold, I say:  Thanks!  Sadly, you didn't fare too well against the better arguments of the atheist.  Howcome?  Well, you see, its like this:

Taken together, all of the various arguments for the existence of God - Ontological, Teleological etc... are defective.  They simply do not hold up.  Some are more plausible than others, but in the end, they are just not very good arguments.  A fellow named Phyrrho of Elis once said that no argument is as good as the objections that can be raised against it.  This isn't entirely true, of course, but if you are a beleiver in Almighty God, you had better get used to coming up short in the "proof" department.  The good news is that the atheist's arguments against you stink too!  Bottom line?  He cannot win.  You cannot win. No one can win - if the objective is to PROVE or DISPROVE the existence of God.  So, stop wearing yourself out with it.

Instead, ask yourself "Given all the evidence to the contrary, why do I beleive in God?"  If you are like me, you will say in reply:  I simply KNOW that He exists.  I KNOW God as if He were visible, standing before me.  God is unseen, yet I know he "is".  My belief is not rational.  (You will note that your atheistic opponent accuses you of irrationality.  No problem, its true!  Accept this, acknowledge it and move on).  Yet, despite the fact that my beleif, indeed my FAITH is not in conformity with reason, I BELIEVE nonetheless.  I cannot say how I know or why.  I cannot refute any rational arguments, so I won't try.  In the end, none of this matters to me because I beleive, in faith, in love, in God.  Where His holy word appears contradictory - don't give it a second thought.  On this website, it is argued that the given a diversity of religions, God must be the God of one of them ONLY or He cannot exist!  What nonsense!  If God has all the attributes we know that He does, isn't it reasonable to think that he can reconcile things which appear irreconcileable to us with out limited human wisdom?  Certainly!  My friend, God is powerful indeed. Our reason can take us so far....and no further.  This is where faith comes in.  Powerful, strange and magnificent as God is, doesen't it stand to reason that there are great and magnificent MYSTERIES associated with Him that we cannot know or comprehend?  Oh, there can be no doubt that he can reconcile the irreconcileable.  That which now appears illogical, may be perfectly logical in his sight.  Or, it may be absolutely illogical in his sight - but, perhaps illogic operates to His ultimate perfection anyway - WHO KNOWS?  Remember, He's God, my friend, and with Him, anything is possible.

So, hold fast to your beliefs, pray, fast, do good works and avoid evil ones.  In your heart, you know that God is perfect - and all that He has said, all that He as caused to be written, is for the perfection of your immortal soul - and mine too.  Don't be too much concerned with reason - rationality means what? Rational to whom?  "Rational" is just a word.  Sometimes it is meaningful for the beleiver - sometimes not.  Don't expend too much energy on it.

With all of this now said, I wish you all the peace of our Lord Jesus Christ.  May he save us from ourselves and bring us to everlasting life.

Best wishes,

Paolo