When I interact with people, I have one goal, Jesus's goal. The word "convert" should simply mean "turn", and people being turned to God the Father is a good thing

That's what I thought all along. Thanks for confirming.

I'm not saying I agree. To me this is exactly what the empire did not long after Jesus's death. And in the 4th century under Constantine, Church's transformation was complete. A movement that began as Jewish resistance to Rome, became Rome's official religion. A teacher who preached against wealth and power, became the spiritual justification for a hierarchical church that accumulated vast wealth and power. A message about inner transformation, became a message about institutional obedience.

If your pursuit of truth leads you to Islam, your keen grasp of issues will reveal to you the issues with Islam too

The Ebianites who believed Jesus was a human prophet, not divine, who continued to follow Jewish law, and who rejected Paul theology were declared heretics. Same thing happened later to the Marcionites, also declared heretics. Their texts were destroyed. Their communities were suppressed. James the Just who led the Jerusalem community for decades, was written out of the story in the NT. He barely appears. Paul is a hero, James is a footnote. The Ebianites eventually left Jerusalem. Some went to Arabia where their ideas influenced the development of Islam. If you read the Quran carefully, you'll see every slight influence. Jesus is revered as a prophet. He's not divine. He didn't die on a cross. He taught submission to God. The kingdom of God is both spiritual and political. So in a way, the original Jesus movement survived, but not as Christianity. It survived as a threat within Islam.

Later we have Medina in Arabia. There is a prophet Muhammad who is promising religious tolerance for all. All can practice their faith in peace. So it makes sense for a lot of these Jews, not all of them but a lot of them to join this early movement. At this point Islam Muslim is not a distinct religion. All these people are called believers because Muhammad himself is the final messenger of God. Abraham was the first. Then you had Moses. Then you have Jesus and now Muhammad is the very last. So all these three different traditions, the Christian tradition, the Jewish tradition and the Islamic tradition in the beginning were all just one religion, one idea which is to bring God to earth and make everyone understand that God is the true God. To create monotheism on earth, that's the origin of this new religion of Islam. And this is the constitution of Medina which is in the Quran and which we know to be historically true.

"God, the Holy Spirit, and Jesus are separate but equal": I understand your confusion seeing as the church doctrine is that they are not separate.

I'm not the only one confused by this church doctrine. This is the kind of logical paradox that has caused theological debates for 2,000 years, and we still don't have a clear answer. So, remember before the Council of Nicaea in 325, societies were paganistic or polytheistic. Then with emperor Constantine God became the Holy Trinity. The Holy Trinity is the weirdest idea in human history. The Holy Trinity is this; God is nothing and everything. And what this means is God is both real and not real. God is a symbol and reality itself. And because of this idea, people are now forced to think abstractly about the world. And it gives rise to money, nation state and science. Serves perfectly the imperial interests.

When I interact with people, I have one goal, Jesus's goal. The word "convert" should simply mean "turn", and people being turned to God the Father is a good thing

That's what I thought all along. Thanks for confirming.

I'm not saying I agree. To me this is exactly what the empire did not long after Jesus's death. And in the 4th century under Constantine, Church's transformation was complete. A movement that began as Jewish resistance to Rome, became Rome's official religion. A teacher who preached against wealth and power, became the spiritual justification for a hierarchical church that accumulated vast wealth and power. A message about inner transformation, became a message about institutional obedience.

If your pursuit of truth leads you to Islam, your keen grasp of issues will reveal to you the issues with Islam too

The Ebianites who believed Jesus was a human prophet, not divine, who continued to follow Jewish law, and who rejected Paul theology were declared heretics. Same thing happened later to the Marcionites, also declared heretics. Their texts were destroyed. Their communities were suppressed. James the Just who led the Jerusalem community for decades, was written out of the story in the NT. He barely appears. Paul is a hero, James is a footnote. The Ebianites eventually left Jerusalem. Some went to Arabia where their ideas influenced the development of Islam. If you read the Quran carefully, you'll see every slight influence. Jesus is revered as a prophet. He's not divine. He didn't die on a cross. He taught submission to God. The kingdom of God is both spiritual and political. So in a way, the original Jesus movement survived, but not as Christianity. It survived as a threat within Islam.

Later we have Medina in Arabia. There is a prophet Muhammad who is promising religious tolerance for all. All can practice their faith in peace. So it makes sense for a lot of these Jews, not all of them but a lot of them to join this early movement. At this point Islam Muslim is not a distinct religion. All these people are called believers because Muhammad himself is the final messenger of God. Abraham was the first. Then you had Moses. Then you have Jesus and now Muhammad is the very last. So all these three different traditions, the Christian tradition, the Jewish tradition and the Islamic tradition in the beginning were all just one religion, one idea which is to bring God to earth and make everyone understand that God is the true God. To create monotheism on earth, that's the origin of this new religion of Islam. And this is the constitution of Medina which is in the Quran and which we know to be historically true.

"God, the Holy Spirit, and Jesus are separate but equal": I understand your confusion seeing as the church doctrine is that they are not separate.

I'm not the only one confused by this church doctrine. This is the kind of logical paradox that has caused theological debates for 2,000 years, and we still don't have a clear answer. So, remember before the Council of Nicaea in 325, societies were paganistic or polytheistic. Then with emperor Constantine God became the Holy Trinity. The Holy Trinity is the weirdest idea in human history. The Holy Trinity is this God is nothing and everything. And what this means is God is both real and not real. God is a symbol and reality itself. And because of this idea, people are now forced to think abstractly about the world. And it gives rise to money, nation state and science. Serves perfectly the imperial interests.

When I interact with people, I have one goal, Jesus's goal. The word "convert" should simply mean "turn", and people being turned to God the Father is a good thing

That's what I thought all along. Thanks for confirming.

I'm not saying I agree. To me this is exactly what the empire did not long after Jesus's death. And in the 4th century under Constantine, Church's transformation was complete. A movement that began as Jewish resistance to Rome, became Rome's official religion. A teacher who preached against wealth and power, became the spiritual justification for a hierarchical church that accumulated vast wealth and power. A message about inner transformation, became a message about institutional obedience.

If your pursuit of truth leads you to Islam, your keen grasp of issues will reveal to you the issues with Islam too

The Ebianites who believed Jesus was a human prophet, not divine, who continued to follow Jewish law, and who rejected Paul theology were declared heretics. Same thing happened later to the Marcionites, also declared heretics. Their texts were destroyed. Their communities were suppressed. James the Just who led the Jerusalem community for decades, was written out of the story in the NT. He barely appears. Paul is a hero, James is a footnote. The Ebianites eventually left Jerusalem. Some went to Arabia where their ideas influenced the development of Islam. If you read the Quran carefully, you'll see every night influence. Jesus is revered as a prophet. He's not divine. He didn't die on a cross. He taught submission to God. The kingdom of God is both spiritual and political. So in a way, the original Jesus movement survived, but not as Christianity. It survived as a threat within Islam.

Later we have Medina in Arabia. There is a prophet Muhammad who is promising religious tolerance for all. All can practice their faith in peace. So it makes sense for a lot of these Jews, not all of them but a lot of them to join this early movement. At this point Islam Muslim is not a distinct religion. All these people are called believers because Muhammad himself is the final messenger of God. Abraham was the first. Then you had Moses. Then you have Jesus and now Muhammad is the very last. So all these three different traditions, the Christian tradition, the Jewish tradition and the Islamic tradition in the beginning were all just one religion, one idea which is to bring God to earth and make everyone understand that God is the true God. To create monotheism on earth, that's the origin of this new religion of Islam. And this is the constitution of Medina which is in the Quran and which we know to be historically true.

"God, the Holy Spirit, and Jesus are separate but equal": I understand your confusion seeing as the church doctrine is that they are not separate.

I'm not the only one confused by this church doctrine. This is the kind of logical paradox that has caused theological debates for 2,000 years, and we still don't have a clear answer. So, remember before the Council of Nicaea in 325, societies were paganistic or polytheistic. Then with emperor Constantine God became the Holy Trinity. The Holy Trinity is the weirdest idea in human history. The Holy Trinity is this God is nothing and everything. And what this means is God is both real and not real. God is a symbol and reality itself. And because of this idea, people are now forced to think abstractly about the world. And it gives rise to money, nation state and science. Serves perfectly the imperial interests.