Discussion on Islam's concept of "Afterlife," "Predestination," and "Free Will"
OP - March 18, 2016, 09:37 PM
Hello guys,
I recently joined this forum and I wanted to discuss a few things related to Islam on this thread. I'm an ex-Muslim who left Islam at the age of 16 (I am 17 now), and what I am going to discuss in this thread are some of the main reasons that I stopped believing in Islam and became an 'agnostic atheist'.
Islam's concept of afterlife is that *all* Muslims go to heaven- no matter how good or bad they are. The only difference is that good Muslims go to heaven right away and bad Muslims go to heaven after a period of temporary hell in which they serve their punishment for the sins they committed in their lifetimes. However, eventually all Muslims end up in heaven; even the worst of the worst Muslims will be pulled out of hell eventually and will be granted heaven. Sounds good so far? However, it gets bad when it comes to the non-Muslims. There are only two groups of non-Muslims that have a chance to go to heaven and they are as follows- 1) non-Muslims who never heard about Islam, and 2) non-Muslims who heard about Islam in the wrong light. These two groups will be tested in the afterlife and they may be granted heaven. But, speaking of non-Muslims who heard about Islam in the true/proper way (third group) and still chose to not accept Islam for whatever *reasonable* criticisms they had that never were satisfactorily dealt with will go to hell for all of eternity. It doesn't matter how good or bad they were, they will be tortured in hell forever. So, what does this tell us? It tells us that going to Islamic heaven has nothing to do with being good or bad (morals/ethics). It only has to do with belief/faith. If you are a Muslim, you are guaranteed heaven. No matter how good or bad you are, you will eventually end up in heaven (even after a temporary time period in hell-for how bad you were-you will end up in heaven). Besides the two groups of non-Muslims that are not held accountable (those who never heard about Islam or heard of it in the wrong way), the remainder of non-Muslims who heard of Islam and still chose to not accept will be doomed in hell for all of eternity. They may be good people, even better than some Muslims (that will go to heaven), but they will still go to hell forever. So, let me propose something here- pretend that the most "good" person in the world is a non-Muslim who heard about Islam in the true/proper way, and that the "worst" person in the world is a Muslim. What is going to happen? Well, according to Islam, the most "good" person in the whole world will go to hell forever since he/she chose to not accept Islam even when shown the truth about Islam (due to whatever reasonable criticisms), and the "worst" person in the world will go to heaven after serving their time in hell (temporary time) just because they are a Muslim. This concept is absolutely nonsense; it is a pile of illogical BS. This is a merciful, just, and loving God? To me this is a horrendous monster; the exact opposite of merciful, just, and loving.
Moving on to the next point of discussion- predestination and freewill. Islam contains both concepts, which is ironic, since even a person with half a brain can tell you that the two concepts are contradictory to each other. This is Islam's explanation- God knows each and everything that you will do and he wills for you to do whatever you will do (all of which is decided before you are born- predestined/predetermined), but you still have the free will to choose whatever path you want to take in life, which will ultimately lead you to either heaven or hell. Well, what's the problem with this? The issue is apparent- if God knows all of the choices you will make before you make them and he wills for you to make whatever choices you make before you make them, then logically speaking, do you even have a choice? What I'm saying is, if choices are predetermined (through God's foreknowledge and will), then there is no choice. You will do whatever God has already foreseen and willed for you to do; you cannot do the opposite. If you have been predestined to make bad choices in life (through God's foreknowledge and will), you cannot make good choices since you will do whatever God has foreseen and willed for you to do. It is illogical to think that there is still a choice even when choices are predetermined through God's foreknowledge and will before you are even born. To put it into perspective- pretend a person by the name of "Tom" is going to be born next year in 2017. Now, at this moment, God already knows through his power of foreknowledge what Tom is going to do in his life (choices, etc.) and where he will end up (heaven or hell). In addition to that, God not only knows what Tom will do, but God also wills for Tom to do whatever he will do (whether that is good or bad). Now, let's pretend that according to God's foreknowledge and will, Tom will go to hell due to the bad choices he will make in his life (for instance, the choice of not accepting Islam). Now, does Tom really have a choice when he is born? Is there anyway he can choose to accept Islam and go to heaven? Does he have the free will to do whatever he wants to do? The answer to all that is no. He doesn't have free will since he will only do whatever he is predestined/predetermined to do through God's foreknowledge and will, and ultimately he will not accept Islam and go to hell no matter what. He does not have the free will to choose otherwise. So, logically speaking, there is no choice (free will) if all your choices are foreseen and willed for in advance by God (before you are even born). There's only an illusion/appearance of free will, but you will only do whatever you are predestined/predetermined to do. With that being said, are you to blame for whatever bad you do? Can God blame you for doing bad? Can God punish you by throwing you into hell forever if you didn't accept Islam? The answer to these questions would be no. God can't do that since he already knew and willed for in advance for you to do whatever you did and for you to end up wherever you end up. God can't hold you accountable since you only did whatever he had already foreseen and willed for you to do. Therefore, God is to blame; not you. He could have easily saved you by either changing your destiny (through his will) or by not even creating you. Thus, the Islamic God is not merciful, just, and loving. He knows what everyone will do (good/bad) in advance and he wills for all of that to happen (all the good/bad), and then he punishes you for whatever you did (hell). That is psychopathic behavior- the exact opposite of merciful, just, and loving.
Anyways, it was due to the above reasons I stopped believing in Islam and eventually lost faith in God. I can't accept the idea that God will doom good non-Muslims (who heard about Islam in the proper light) to hell forever, and what's funny above all? God knew that they will not accept Islam and God knew that they will go to hell forever (before they were even born). More importantly, God willed for them to not accept Islam and God willed for them to go to hell forever (before they were even born). Therefore, God is the one who is 100% at fault (not the people). This is absolutely a monstrous, psychopathic God who I cannot accept or even believe in.
What are your thoughts on all of this?
Thank you for reading and I look forward to hearing your thoughts on all of this.
Topic: Discussion on Islam's concept of "Afterlife," "Predestination," and "Free Will"