God'ed & MisGod'ed

In Malaysia, most of us were born Islam and learn Islam as Muslims since childhood, just like me. We were not really exposed to religion comparison like in the west where this is taught in some universities. I work in MNC and met many kind of people from different background and religions. One of my friend who is an Atheist and who also claim to be a thinker, loves asking questions and debating about religions. He claimed that he read Bible, Quran and knows Hinduism, Buddhism and many more.



I tried to understand and just to get some idea what are the other religions all about. Of course this topic is quite heavy and we need to be extra careful so as to preserve our iman and taqwa. One of the books I read was God'ed & MisGod'ed by Dr Laurence B. Brown, MD, the top American surgeon who embrace Islam. www.leveltruth.com



Actually, I read this book in Year 2008 and blog about it before. I would like to share this with all of you in here. Here it goes:

Originally was written in a single book titled The First and Final Commandment. But later was split into two books:

God'ed?: The Case for Islam as the Completion of Revelation

MisGod'ed: A Roadmap of Guidance and Misguidance in the Abrahamic Religions

It lay down a roadmap of guidance and misguidance within Abrahamic Religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

Judaism is the religion of Jewish people. According to traditional Rabbinic Judaism, God revealed his laws and commandments to Moses on Mount Sinai in the form of both Written and Oral Torah (Old Testament).

Christianity is the teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical Gospel and other New Testament writings adhered by the Christians.

Islam is the monotheistic religion articulated by the Al-Quran and by the teachings and normatives called Sunnah and Hadith of Prophet Muhammad SAW. Al-Quran which was revealed to Prophet Muhammad SAW is the divine guidance and moral direction for mankind.

Interestingly, Islam acknowledges both Moses (Nabi Musa) and Jesus (Nabi Isa) as prophets of Allah SWT. Prophet Moses, Prophet Jesus and Prophet Muhammad SAW (Nabi Muhammad) are descendants of Prophet Abraham (Nabi Ibrahim). Islam also acknowledges both Torah or Old Testament (Kitab Taurat) and Gospel (Kitab Injil) as the preceding revelations. These are all specified in the faith of Islam (Rukun Iman). Unfortunately, the contents of these revelation now may not be the original ones. Al-Quran is the final revelation which completes the preceding revelations.

The book discusses about each of the religions and their similarity and differences. I find it as a good reading. You may give it a try :-)

Here's the table of contents:

PART I – MONOTHEISM
1. Judaism
2. Christianity
3. Islam – Part 1
4. Islam – Part 2

PART II – UNDERSTANDING AND APPROACHING GOD
1. God’s Name
2. God’s Name and the Royal Plural
3. Understanding of God

PART III – DOCTRINAL DIFFERENCES
1. Unitarians vs. Trinitarians
2. Jesus Christ
3. Word of God
4. Messiah (Christ)
5. Virgin Birth
6. Jesus Begotten?
7. Jesus Christ – Son of God?
8. The Trinity
9. Divinity of Jesus? – An Inquiry
10. Divinity of Jesus? – The “Evidence”
11. Holy Spirit
12. Crucifixion
13. Lamb of God
14. Original Sin
15. Atonement
16. Return of Jesus

PART IV – BOOKS OF SCRIPTURE
1. Old Testament
2. New Testament
3. Inconsistencies in the New Testament – Part 1
4. Inconsistencies in the New Testament – Part 2
5. Problems in the New Testament Canon
6. Old Testament Meets New Testament Meets Holy Qur’an
Conclusion
Appendix – Hadith Methodology
Bibliography