Our grandfathers would have got on very well.
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I do believe that Mohammed based his teaching on old testament stories passed to him orally. The material I've read about him claimed that Mohammed was illiterate and that the Koran was written by literate "scribes."
This explains the huge differences between Islam and Judaism, but Christians don't concern themselves over the promises made to Ishmael as he is outside redemptive history. I assume that Ishmael's descendants would have maintained an oral tradition if not a written one, but oral traditions are notable for their corruptions and exaggerations. Comparing scripture to the antiquities of the Jews by Flavius Josephus reveals a lot of discrepancies derived from the Hebrew oral traditions.
Though Jesus was a teacher of the law, His teaching was radical for His time in revealing God's grace through the law. His teaching was exceptional in His claims regarding Himself which can only lead to one of three conclusions about Him. He had to be either a liar, a mad man, or the Son of God.
I was raised and confirmed in the RCC but left the church immediately after my confirmation with the approval of my father (a superstitious man at best), because confirmation was considered entry into manhood and personal responsibility for my own decisions.
I started reading scripture while very young and loved seeing Jesus in messianic passages, but I wasn't even aware that the bible was written through many scribes over the course of centuries.
I was confused by what seemed contradictory between the "picture" scripture presented of God in the Old Testament and the image of God in the person of His Son.
I saw Jesus as my master and desired to emulate Him, but had serious doubts about His divinity because of the books of the law. My carnal mind was incapable of reconciling the differences and this was a confirmation of the testimony of scripture itself. The theology of the New Testament seemed entirely contradictory to me and incomprehensible.
As my desire for truth was driving my carnal mind, I started studying the sciences at a very early age as well. There were soft cover books designed for children that covered topics like astronomy and biology in the simplest terms, with large picture stamps to paste into place to engage young readers. I loved them, so reading through pop's national geographic, scientific American, popular mechanics and similar magazines was a natural transition.
I learned at an early age that science is fluid, theoretical, changes constantly with new discoveries, and is not immune to hoax and fraud, e.g.: piltdown man
So, I expanded my studies to religion and philosophy. My dad also had a small collection of paperbacks about subjects like the teachings of kung fu tsu, Buddhist and other eastern philosophy and religion. I read books on the occult, witchcraft, satanic conspiracies, UFOs, Fortian studies, the popular series by Carlos Castaneda about his Yaqi brujo, Lao Tzu, Chaung Tsu, Sun Tzu, and a host of books on oriental martial arts, etc.
Nothing that I read compared to scripture or to the way my mind recieved Christ's teachings, though some of the Taoist texts seemed to share parallels. However, I lived my entire life convinced in the existence of a benevolent God and that He was able to guide me through life and to understand who He is.
Unrelated to my "quest" for truth, I was harrassed and abused quite a bit in my youth. I was a large kid, on the tall side and heavy, but of a timid bent. It made me a target for bullying so my focus for personal growth became one of seeking physical fitness, strength, and the ability to defend myself. However I never sought to study any martial arts in school because of a conflict with the teachings of Christ.
My emphasis on "body building" probably helped counter my deplorable eating habits, but had the unanticipated consequences of creating a lifetime of chronic back problems. The worst of these was a compressed disc in my lower back while trying to "rack" a weight machine.
Since my employment sometimes involved moving heavy electronic equipment in and out of boxes, I kept injuring my spine. Then a closure of the regional center where I was employed left me injured and without medical insurance, so my injuries became complicated with muscular atrophy.
I was partially disabled but still managed to secure a decent job as a regional engineer for an out of state company, but when I sought medical help for my physical problems, the atrophy that set in to some muscular groups made my response to Chiropractic care very slow and painful.
At this time I found a class in Tai Chi for health and self defense being offered at a local college. I was familiar with the Tai Chi classics and the claims of its regenerative nature, so it seemed like a chance to pursue complete mobility and I enrolled. Within just a few weeks my Chiropractor noticed a marked improvement in my spines ability to adjust under His manipulation and an expanded range of movement.
As my client base was concentrated at a distance from my residence, I decided to move to the New Jersey shore for the sake of convenience as well as a more active social life and landed in the town of Red Bank. Within my first few weeks in my new location, I discovered a martial arts school "right down the block" where my former Tai Chi instructor was a weekly visiting teacher, so continuation of my practice of Tai Chi seemed providential.
I practiced under that "sifu" for 3 years until he succumbed to a long term battle with brain cancer. I continued my studies for another year with his teacher, though I had to travel a bit to his farm. I participated in a number of martial arts festivals and was exposed to a variety of teachings on the "internal" martial arts which have a strong spiritual element to them. I personally experienced "spiritual" phenomena that couldn't be explained by physical science and manifested some of these myself.
During my time in Red Bank, I also became acquainted with the town "psychic", who claimed to see me "floating " my way down the street and was anxious to work out my horoscope. He also demonstrated real psychic forces applied to my body by no more than his gaze. All these things only contributed to my awareness of a spiritual reality which goes largely unobserved.
My preoccupation with youthful lusts had been guided by a former manager into spending time regularly in gogo bars, indulging in sexual fantasy with pole dancers. In that environment I also learned about sex magic and a mental discipline of sorts that many women in that employment engage in for the sake of a good tip. I also discovered that I could replicate it by force of will. For all intents and purposes I was deeply involved in demonic influences without realizing it.
Disappointed by small salary increases despite good salary revues and an ever expanding work load, I switched employers. There I met and worked with a number of born again Christians. One of these worked closely with me and was unashamed to share his faith, patiently giving satisfactory answers to my questions about biblical "contradictions" (in my perception.) Even so, my personal social life was spiraling downwards further and further into iniquity.
I found myself in an adulterous relationship, justifying my behavior on the seeming abuse of my interest by her husband, but knowing that I was under the condemnation of scripture. As providence would have it, I found myself being preached the gospel by a street preacher. I wanted to believe it, but ran into the same mental objections to the simplicity of the cross that my mind always had.
I discussed this with my coworker and "friend" who'd been so patient with me, and he ran through the essential elements of the gospel with supporting scripture as we ran through our days end tasks in the shop and our walk out to the parking lot.
I was able to receive everything he said as true so in that parking lot he took my hands and we prayed together for me to receive the Holy Spirit in a commitment to faithfulness to the Lord Jesus Christ. With our "Amen", I felt the sudden rush of those spiritual energies which I associated with the Chinese concepts of "Chi" and "shen" moving violently to my head top and exiting my skull at the region directly above the spine.
In retrospect I realized that those energies were in reality deceiving entities and that I'd literally been delivered from demonic possession.
At this point my mind was opened to spiritual truth and I spent 3 years wearing out my inexpensive KJV copy of the bible, reading cover to cover repeatedly and seeing Jesus everywhere in scripture. This wasn't a complete reconciliation of scripture to my understanding, but each subsequent reading of scripture has always revealed more than the previous and always with application to real life experience.
I can't speak to your experience. Nor can I lean on my own experience as the source of my faith, but my experience confirms scripture in all things, so I've come to see all things through the lense of scripture.
Jesus is Lord. He's also my older brother through adoption.
I may be the poorest example of Christianity, my behavior frequently stained by ungodly habits, but " I know whom I have believed and am convinced that He is able to keep that which I've committed to Him until that day." Amen
