Haven’t read much of the OT have you. You know the parts where the Israelites are told to kill everyone including the women and children.
NT Christianity was founded on a position of secular weakness, and that is its strength. I obviously believe it is the one true faith, otherwise I would not be going to church, praying, and reading my Bible.
Even still you have passages in the NT that can be viewed as advocating violence against unbelievers, but you really have to distort it to get to this point. You do have individuals that try to use OT commands and examples as methods of setting up government today. They gloss over the many different capital crimes that would have to be enforced by establishing a complete OT government. Jesus commands, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke or a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law (the Old Testament) until everything is accomplished.” Matt 5:17-18
The Koran is akin to the OT. The NT is different, but Christ’s own linkage of the texts allows for much interpretation. I have my own intepretation which might be viewed as heresy in my church.
I would urge Muslims to read their Koran and decide for themselves if this is the faith they want to follow. I guess the same could be said for Jews and Christians. The OT is a blood soaked book - most of the blood shed by God in response to the disobedience of his creation but some of it done by his followers in his name and per his instruction.
I've read every word of it many times (I try to read the entire bible each year although this year I'm running behind)
The parts you are referring to are in very specific circumstances for a very specific reason. God commanded Israel to kill everything living in the promised land. Why? So that those people would not infect Israel with their cultures and their sins and their idolatries.
Contrast this to how the children of Israel were to deal with the nations they went through on their way to the promised land. They were not to attack them (they could defend themsleves of course) and were explicitly told NOT to attack certain ones (Edom if I remember correctly)
After they were given the promised land they were not told to exterminate any peoples around them.
Even still you have passages in the NT that can be viewed as advocating violence against unbelievers, but you really have to distort it to get to this point.
It must be quite a distortion as I can't think of any.
The Koran is akin to the OT.
Not even close. Nowhere in the OT is man commanded to lie, cheat or steal. In fact the non-believer living in the midst of the children of Israel is commanded to be dealt with as if they were one of the children. Living under the same laws and with the same priviledges (except for access to the temple). The stranger living in a koranic society is seen as nothing more than a slave.
I would urge Muslims to read their Koran and decide for themselves if this is the faith they want to follow.
I would urge them to read the bible and then compare the two and then see which is right. The OT is a blood soaked book - most of the blood shed by God in response to the disobedience of his creation but some of it done by his followers in his name and per his instruction.
You must be reading a vastly different version than the KJV that I normally read. I don't find much bloodshed in it at all (other than that attributable to sin) once the children get into the Promised land.