Discussion with Non-Muslim 2

Non-Muslim: So even though we're using the intelligence he gave us to ask for evidence of his existence, God will only accept those people who chose to believe in something for which there was no evidence. Seems a little arbitrary dontcha think?

AbdulAziz: I don’t think so, you see when humans act; they are in fact asking for something in return, when a human does anything, he is expecting something he will get, whether that returns is given by nature, animals, god….etc for example if I paid 5000$ for charity am expecting something I receive, if I was a Muslim I am expecting God’s reward in the afterlife, if I am atheist I am expecting to make the poor happy which itself gives me a feeling of satisfaction, or I am expecting the media to tell the world how great I am, if I am Buddhist I might do so to free myself from attachment of money, so we all when we act we are actually looking for something in return.

The difference between those who do so for the sake of God and those who do for sake of other things besides (God) is that we were told by God in his books that if you do such acts of kindness for my sake I will reward you in this life or hereafter or both. However, those who don’t believe in God and don’t believe there is God why should be rewarded for something they don’t believe they exists, so usually they get their rewards in this life (Which they deserve) but they don’t deserve to be rewarded in both lives. It wouldn’t be fair; you can’t equal someone who believed in both this life and hereafter with someone’s belief which was limited to this world alone. If you ask someone who is not learned, by common sense, they know they are not equal, and since they are not equal each should be given what he/she deserves. I can’t give A for someone who got 2/10 in exam and give A for someone who got 10/10 it’s not fair and not logical.

Non-Muslim: I think many of us are wondering, 'why is faith is seen as a virtue'? ...Believing something without evidence (ie. reason to believe) equates to gullibility. So why does the test to enter heaven favor the gullible while condemning the scientific minded?

AbdulAziz: Good question, answering your question 'why is faith is seen as a virtue’ well simply because faith is what drives most people do acts of kindness or stop doing acts of evils. For example, I am someone who have faith in God and his promises, rewards…etc the motivation I get to do act of kindness is far more than not having such faith. Similarly, if I saw money in an empty house, I know it’s my neighbor’s money, however, if the house was empty, and the amount of money was great, I really needed that money, the drives for stealing are great, it’s true that if I was a good person I wouldn’t steal but the chances for stealing is far greater than someone who is originally good person in addition to that he is having faith that an Almighty God exists who sees everything and can see what I am doing, hear what I say, who will punish me for stealing….etc this faith alone can push away the drives for stealing.

No one can deny the benefits of faith, giving money for charity is considered virtue, saying good words, being honest, integrity…etc they are all great virtues and faith is driver to achieve such virtues so that’s why Faith alone can be considered a virtue. We can go to the next village, city by walking but we can go there easier by car, plane…etc thus we appreciate cars for their benefits, same thing goes for faith.

As for science, it’s important to know that Scientifically-proven-facts can never contradicts with God’s words (For us Muslim we believe it’s Quran) so until now scientifically-proven-facts never contradicted Quran that’s why Muslims are proud of that book, because for more than 1400 years there was no contradictions, we Muslims believe there will NEVER be scientifically proven fact contradicting Quran because we believe that Allah is all wise, all knowing, he created laws of nature….etc so his words and his world can never contradicts.  

Now the difference is again by those who believe in God and those who are scientific-minded is that they only believed in what they see, their mind couldn’t accept something they only hear about so they will not be given like those believed. I will give you example, suppose that I am a very kind & rich person, told you who ever comes to my house I promise I will give him/her 10 Million dollars, those who believed in my words if they came I will give them while those who I wouldn’t give them, I would simply say: “Well I am sorry guys, I told you, but you didn’t believe me” so don’t blame me but blame your minds for not believing that I was rich, kind and I will give for those who come, it’s not my problem at all. 

Why we (Who believe in God) follow what he says and find no difficulty in believing in his existence is simply because we never found that believing in his existence contradicts reasoning...

To Be Continued