We Can Learn Alot

   First off I'd like to say that all religions are not the same. If you believe all of them, you don't believe any of them. However all religions have things we can learn from. Take Islam for example. I personally don't believe what Islam teaches, but there are definitely things I admire. (When I say Islam, I'm referring to the religion of peace not the doctrine of terrorists.) I think there is alot we can learn from Muslims. For example, they hold Allah and the prophet Muhammad to the highest reverence. Not unlike Christians do with Jesus, however the difference is the Christians allow the name of Jesus to be dragged through the mud, sometimes from their very own mouths. Muslims would never allow this of their God or prophet. In one word maybe its "anger" that we are missing. It should anger us when anyone curses the name of Christ. Not anger from a vengeful standpoint but anger from the standpoint of taking right and wrong very serious. Muslims will not stand for blasphemy of any sort and will go to any extent to protect the revered names of Islam. Another thing we can learn from Muslims is about prayer. No matter what, a practicing Muslim will pray five times a day whether they want to or not. Imagine if every professing Christians had such discipline and consistency in their prayer life. On the downside this can be seen as a bit ritualistic, in fact praying when your heart is not in it is the kind of vain repetition that Jesus warned us about. That is not the part I think we should be trying to mimic. The part we should mimic is Islam's absoluteness of God and the need for absolute submission, surrender and obedience at all times. If we recognized this in our own lives, we would choose to pray more. There is a "fear of the Lord" that I'm afraid many Christians have lost, and this can be very hard to get back.  I've known only a few Muslims in my life, but each time I couldn't help to also notice their focus on the sacredness of the family, children and hospitality. It is an honor to be invited and welcomed in a Muslim's home and they make you feel special. If invited in for a meal, take this as a compliment. We can learn from everyone in life and as usual there are pros and cons to all things. Being a Christian myself, I have many points of contention with Islam, however I chose not to focus on those points. I think the disagreements are highlighted enough in our world. Maybe instead we should be focusing on learning what we can from Islam, instead of holding ourselves as superior or somehow better than.-BDB (Google Images)