Believing the wrong thing and having the wrong faith according to Islam, somehow is justifiable enough under Islamic Law to be prosecuted and even killed for.

That was my crime: believing in something that Iranian authorities and Islam deemed dangerous for their existence.

Coming from a family with secretive Christian beliefs, I always loved Christianity, even though I wasn’t always practicing it when I was a child.

My father had several paintings of Jesus Christ and Mother Mary, an old Bible from before the Iranian revolution, several books about Christianity, and crosses, statues and several other things.

They had direct and indirect influence on my belief system. When I was very young, I used to open the Quran and the Bible and read from them. I always felt a strong connection to Christianity when reading the New Testament, but in contrast, I never felt anything positive when reading the Quran. Chapter and verse, I would encounter things that I could not convince myself were from a merciful God.

Schools forcing us to pray and attend religious speeches. I never felt right about them. The often stinky rooms filled with smells of unwashed socks. The loud unpleasant noise of Islamic prayer, hearing chants of death to America and Israel left and right, systematic sexism against women and discrimination against other religious minorities or belief systems, claiming the moral high ground while calling for the annihilation of Israel and America and lots of other things. Never felt right, nor something Divine.

I always felt a strong contradiction between the merciful divine God mentioned in Christianity and the “Allah” of Islam.

I was extremely lucky to be born into a family that gave me a chance to know Christianity and understand Islam. Not everyone is that lucky.

I always felt peace when reading the Bible, even watching TV shows and movies and seeing scenes from the Church yet completely unrelated to the show’s plot, I found peace and comfort just in watching the Christians pray in a church.

My brother used to listen to a lot of Rock music. I remember watching Guns N Roses November Rain music video. I didn’t know what the song was about at the time, but when Slash came out of the church in middle of nowhere, I felt a strong connection.

He would also listen to a band named ERA. They make music mostly about Christianity and are mainly religious. Listening to them felt very peaceful and was inspiring.

As you can tell, my brother and father had great influence on me both mentally and spiritually, since I was a kid.

Officially, we were born Muslim, all of my family. Because apostasy is punishable by death in Islam, my father was always scared of us getting arrested. He would never admit to his faith even in private, and he always advised us to be careful about what we spoke to others about our family or even our opinion of Islam.

He would tell me stories of pre-revolution Iran and how he worked at places full of Christians and foreigners. He also mentioned one of his close friends who was also a Christian and was executed after the revolution. He always advised me to be careful about my actions because faith in Iran is no joke. And you can easily get arrested for saying the wrong thing about Islam.

Years passed and I felt more and more open to Christianity and far more away from Islam. I had my doubts, as every healthy person would, until I came across a turning point.

I read about the story of Lourdes in France and how its water spring healed lots of people. I was a little skeptical at first, but after realizing that around 69 of the cases were scientifically proven miracles, along with many witnesses, I knew it was a modern day miracle and I knew at that point that I want to be what I always felt right about: a Christian, a believer in the true God.

I was around 18. I was studying in college. The nearest route to home was an alley that had an old church in it. This church was built before the revolution. For several weeks I was passing by and I would look at the building and the cross on top of it. I felt fresh, I would fantasize about going inside in the middle of the night to light a candle and pray, or playing guitar outside it, like Slash did on November Rain.

It was just taking a look and feelings until I decided to visit the church and ask a priest about the safety of church-attending people and baptism. I knocked and a middle-aged man answered the door. I asked for a priest and he asked me whether I was born a Muslim and if I want to convert and I said Yes, maybe. He told me to wait in the yard so he could call the priest. But that was the spell of doom. He actually went to call in the intelligence agents. After about 20 to 30 minutes, two plain clothes agents entered the yard and without hesitation pushed me to the ground and cuffed me. They later took me to their car and blindfolded me and told me to stay under and not to come up, otherwise they would smash my head.

Continue reading on
https://www.jihadwatch.org/2017/08/persecuted-christian-my-ordeal-as-an-ex-muslim-in-iran-and-turkey

lagostokd:
Believing the wrong thing and having the wrong faith according to Islam, somehow is justifiable enough under Islamic Law to be prosecuted and even killed for.

That was my crime: believing in something that Iranian authorities and Islam deemed dangerous for their existence.

Coming from a family with secretive Christian beliefs, I always loved Christianity, even though I wasn’t always practicing it when I was a child.

My father had several paintings of Jesus Christ and Mother Mary, an old Bible from before the Iranian revolution, several books about Christianity, and crosses, statues and several other things.

They had direct and indirect influence on my belief system. When I was very young, I used to open the Quran and the Bible and read from them. I always felt a strong connection to Christianity when reading the New Testament, but in contrast, I never felt anything positive when reading the Quran. Chapter and verse, I would encounter things that I could not convince myself were from a merciful God.

Schools forcing us to pray and attend religious speeches. I never felt right about them. The often stinky rooms filled with smells of unwashed socks. The loud unpleasant noise of Islamic prayer, hearing chants of death to America and Israel left and right, systematic sexism against women and discrimination against other religious minorities or belief systems, claiming the moral high ground while calling for the annihilation of Israel and America and lots of other things. Never felt right, nor something Divine.

I always felt a strong contradiction between the merciful divine God mentioned in Christianity and the “Allah” of Islam.

I was extremely lucky to be born into a family that gave me a chance to know Christianity and understand Islam. Not everyone is that lucky.

I always felt peace when reading the Bible, even watching TV shows and movies and seeing scenes from the Church yet completely unrelated to the show’s plot, I found peace and comfort just in watching the Christians pray in a church.

My brother used to listen to a lot of Rock music. I remember watching Guns N Roses November Rain music video. I didn’t know what the song was about at the time, but when Slash came out of the church in middle of nowhere, I felt a strong connection.

He would also listen to a band named ERA. They make music mostly about Christianity and are mainly religious. Listening to them felt very peaceful and was inspiring.

As you can tell, my brother and father had great influence on me both mentally and spiritually, since I was a kid.

Officially, we were born Muslim, all of my family. Because apostasy is punishable by death in Islam, my father was always scared of us getting arrested. He would never admit to his faith even in private, and he always advised us to be careful about what we spoke to others about our family or even our opinion of Islam.

He would tell me stories of pre-revolution Iran and how he worked at places full of Christians and foreigners. He also mentioned one of his close friends who was also a Christian and was executed after the revolution. He always advised me to be careful about my actions because faith in Iran is no joke. And you can easily get arrested for saying the wrong thing about Islam.

Years passed and I felt more and more open to Christianity and far more away from Islam. I had my doubts, as every healthy person would, until I came across a turning point.

I read about the story of Lourdes in France and how its water spring healed lots of people. I was a little skeptical at first, but after realizing that around 69 of the cases were scientifically proven miracles, along with many witnesses, I knew it was a modern day miracle and I knew at that point that I want to be what I always felt right about: a Christian, a believer in the true God.

I was around 18. I was studying in college. The nearest route to home was an alley that had an old church in it. This church was built before the revolution. For several weeks I was passing by and I would look at the building and the cross on top of it. I felt fresh, I would fantasize about going inside in the middle of the night to light a candle and pray, or playing guitar outside it, like Slash did on November Rain.

It was just taking a look and feelings until I decided to visit the church and ask a priest about the safety of church-attending people and baptism. I knocked and a middle-aged man answered the door. I asked for a priest and he asked me whether I was born a Muslim and if I want to convert and I said Yes, maybe. He told me to wait in the yard so he could call the priest. But that was the spell of doom. He actually went to call in the intelligence agents. After about 20 to 30 minutes, two plain clothes agents entered the yard and without hesitation pushed me to the ground and cuffed me. They later took me to their car and blindfolded me and told me to stay under and not to come up, otherwise they would smash my head.

Continue reading on
https://www.jihadwatch.org/2017/08/persecuted-christian-my-ordeal-as-an-ex-muslim-in-iran-and-turkey

Chose to suffer over nahtin.

Good luck all the same