I just heard an article on NPR this morning (Sunday June 9) in which an American woman (ex-Catholic) describes her prayer to god asking to make the switch to Islam easy for her. Her testimony is a few minutes into the article (the audio won't be posted until noon EST today). She describes a feeling of peace and that her path will be made easier. Gives me the shivers that Mormonism and Islam gain converts the same way. My DH described Mormonism as the American Islam to me just this weekend. Both religions have too much control over the thoughts and actions of their converts. Here is the link: http://www.npr.org/2013/06/09/189917833/making-the-switch-an-american-womans-journey-to-islam

I'm going to order a printed copy of the article and make a copy of the audio to use as discussion material with my son when he returns from his mission. I hope to make him think about the whole "holy ghost/burning within as confirmation of the truth of Mormonism." It works for Islam as well as Mormonism - so much for the LDS monopoly as the only religion to receive god's confirmation!

I heard that interview this morning and have the same thought....

The converted person is probably going through mental and or social issues when they decided join. Very common for many who convert and start a new crazy religion or make a massive change in their lives. They were just vulnerable and made a stupid decision that they may regret later in life. Humans are often at the mercy of their emotions.

Islam is a cult just like the Mormons....people will argue this all day, but they have more commonalities than differences. Both have similarly bizarre lifestyle restrictions, both accept Jesus but downplay his role,(they believe god swapped out Judas for Jesus on the cross) both are the 'correction' of Christianity, both have extremely high levels of mental conditioning, both lie all over the place to get you to join, I.e. saying that the god of Christianity is the same god they worship but it isn't, and theirs is also a mean nasty bastard. The biggest doctrinal difference is that Islam has a magical pixie horse that flew muhammed to and from Jerusalem one night. At least that's always the one that stuck out to me. Joseph smith had the city of Enoch falling out of the sky and muhammed flew around on a white Pegasus.

After a few years of devout study of Islam, the Quran, hadith, etc. I realized that the difference between religion and a cult is that a relgion is part of your life and a cult takes over your life. This is definitely on par with Mormonism.

Hmm. I would say that the BIGGEST doctrinal difference is the method with which members of the two religions are encouraged to proselytize their faith.

The Quran orders its followers to spread the faith through violence and coercion. The Book of Mormon orders its followers to spread the faith through annoying people.

The only reason Mormons still aren't going around slashing throats and stomping out guts is because they were based in the US, and thus had to abide the law if only on the surface, to avoid the whole lot of them being swept up and thrown in jails. But Islam began at a time when there wasn't much if any established governmental entity, so they had more flexibility to be a more violent culture with little repercussion.

They also like to claim that the Quran has been preserved throughout the ages, even to the dot...problem is quarashi Arabic (the original text language of the Quran) doesn't have punctuation and there are ten different 'accepted' versions of the quran, which is why African Muslim women can go around in sleeveless tops with no issues, but a Saudi woman can't even show her face. They even had the same battle over who was going to be the new leader after their prophet died, a family member or a follower.
As mark twain said, history doesn't repeat itself, it rhymes.

insert Mormonism and you would have had the perfect mormon testimony. Please, someone help me understand how mormons think their somehow special.

Unbelievable.

There are many people who want someone else, or something else to take over their lives. To tell them what to do. To praise them for being good. To take responsibility from them.

It's a great relief/escape for these people when a stronger force just says, "Relax this is my worry. I'll take over from here. Just follow me and everything will be fine."

Have the article handy when every anyone says that the "feeling
of peace" they got when praying about the BOM, or Mormonsim, or
how many earrings to wear, HAS to have come from God, because
"Satan can't give a feeling of peace" (I have no idea why they
believe that . . . it's not in the scriptures).

Point out that this woman prayed and got a "feeling of peace"
just the same as Mormons do. If the "feeling of peace" is a
valid way to discern truth, then this woman has found TRUTH.

From the interview:

"What made me believe is that I had a prayer. I sat in my dorm
by myself and I kneeled on the ground and I picked up the Qur’an
and I said, “God if this is what you want me to follow, it
better be easy for me. You know, I can’t have any doubts." And
I put my head down in prayer and I began crying and I lifted my
head up and I felt calm and at peace and cool and that was my
sign. So then I just moved forward knowing the Qur’an was going
to be my guide."

Let's make a few changes:

"What made me believe is that I had a prayer. I sat in my
dorm by myself and I kneeled on the ground and I picked up the
Book of Mormon and I said, “God if this is what you want me to
follow, it better be easy for me. You know, I can’t have any
doubts." And I put my head down in prayer and I began crying
and I lifted my head up and I felt calm and at peace and cool
and that was my sign. So then I just moved forward knowing
that the gospel was going to be my guide."

Sounds Mormony to me.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/09/2013 04:21PM by baura.

Thanks for quoting that part. This is exactly what caught my total and rapt attention.

If you want to read more on how common the conversion experience is across various denominations and faiths, you may want to read William James "Varieties of Religious Experience" which explores it pretty thoroughly. It's really academic and over a century old, so it can be tough to read at times.