Here is my story: I became Catholic after reading Chapter 19th of Quran when my son randomly pointed at that chapter and wanted me to read it to him; let me mention that I was born and raised Muslim. After i read it to my son i wanted to share it another time with a Christian lady at work trying to show her the similarity between Islam and Christianity about the miraculous birth of Jesus. The verse 33 where Jesus Says " Peace be upon me the day that I was born, the day that I die and the day that I shall be resurrected " changed my life that day for the better. Although I had read the chapter many times, that verse stood out one day and never left me, It seems Jesus wanted me to know He died for me.
I started questioning the fact that the Quran says that Jesus wasn't crucified nor did he die and that it was made to appear as so and that God exchanged him and raised Jesus to Heaven (surah 4 verse 157); I didn't stop until I researched and found the truth. There is way too much evidence of the death and resurrection of Jesus, I thought " Why would Islam deny that and make God seem like a deceiver and Jesus to be a Failure?"; "Why would God promise a redeemer and take it at the last minute ? " and then I found odd that In islam Jesus is coming back at the end of times to judge the world, in the Quran (Surah 43:61) he is the sign of Judgment day; in the hadith on that verse the Prophet elaborates and says that Jesus will come to judge the world as Fair Judge and Ruler.
I thought interesting that it was Jesus who was coming to Judge us but that we couldn't worship him directly. How powerful is it that God left Judgement day up to Jesus? Could this make him God then? I kept researching and reading the life of the Prophet Mohammad through trusted Islamic sources and i encountered a face of Islam i wasn't raised to know; Unfortunately many Muslims don't really read their sources nor do they think critically ; I felt deceived because I always thought Islam was love and peace but i realized that the love and peace mentioned in the Quran is only towards other Muslims not even moderate muslims who are viewed as hypocrites; I also found some very disturbing behavioral traits about the prophet Mohamed and also found that He had become confused at some point about the source of his revelations ( God or the devil) and that's when verse 94 of chapter 10 of the Quran was revealed to him and in that verse God wants him to seek clarity with the people to whom the Bible has been revealed because they had the true book revealed by the Lord.
It's interesting there seem to be 2 forces contradicting each other in the Quran when you read carefully. I also found that Mohammad had revealed some disturbing verses referred today as the "Satanic verses" (Sura 53, 19-20) where he revealed the name of 3 other Goddesses to be worshiped along with Allah who are called al-Lāt and al-‘Uzzá and Manāt. He blamed those verses on a magic spell and the devil. I found this very disturbing for a religion claiming to be monotheist . I started doubting everything and wondered "Could the devil have played a major role in the revelation of the Quran to Mohamed because the story on how his revelation started was quiet intriguing. Islam believes that Its Angel Gabriel who appeared to him and revealed the Quran to him , the same one that appeared to Mother Mary to announce Jesus , so according to Islam Angel Gabriel is the author of the Quran . I thought it was weird because the angel Gabriel who appeared to Mother Mary to announce the Good news, knows God has a son because he told her that.
How can the same Angel appear to Mohammad 600 years later and tell him that God doesn't have a son?(Muslim don't believe Jesus is the son of God; the Quran says he is a prophet and that God has no begotten child. Also, It seems by denying the death and resurrection of Jesus , Islam could be taking away from us the very Key of our salvation which is to believe in Christ and the price he paid for us , but instead Islam takes a big unnecessary detour?
If Jesus is the destination why not go straight to him? Could the detour from Jesus, all while recognizing him as a Prophet of God, lead to hell? I refused to find the answered at my death and chose to follow Jesus. In the same Quran God promises Jesus that all his followers will be uppermost until Judgement day (Surah 61 verse 14); I found some disturbing info about the circumstances of the death of Mohamad in the Hadiths . He seems to have died the same way he said God would have punished him if he was found to have fabricated words in the name of God thus be a false prophet (Surah 69 verse 44 to 46) which is by cutting his aorta.
In the hadiths, at the time surrounding his death, he mentions feeling his aorta being severed while suffering from a poison he was fed by a Jew woman whose family he had slaughtered; The same woman tells him that she poisoned him to test his prophecy and that God should save him if he was a real prophet but God doesn't save him. Why isn't any of this alarming Muslims? All af it is int he Islamic sources ( Quran and Hadith); I guess because the penalty for leaving Islam in extremist countries , is death. The history of the steps of the pilgrimage to Mecca, what's inside the kabbalah (the black cube), and the real place of women in Islam sealed the deal for me. I was out. I couldn't deny the truth and I decided to follow Jesus.
When I started reading the bible, I found myself, my true self. Reading the word of Jesus overwhelmed me with Joy and peace ; Plus I had a very revealing dream and a confirmation of my dream ; in my dream , there was a glowing light behind my door and through the glowing light something which appeared to be a shadow seemed to be walking a away and said " I AM" . and I thought the message was not complete; I later found that in the bible Jesus said "I AM" a lot to show he is divine; I went from thinking " I AM is not complete" to thinking " I AM IS EVERYTHING"; lol; I believe Jesus healed my depression.
I chose the catholic church because the source of my conversion involved Mary and Jesus (the chapter 19th Chapter of Mary in the Quran) it's interesting they are the 2 beings that God has made without sin. So i knew Jesus couldn't lie to me when he said that he would die for us and come back to life because he is deprived of the ability to lie or deceive. You may not believe this but my name is Myriam which is the Hebrew name of Mary and I was born on a 19th just like the chapter that triggered my conversion and I got the last name Christian though my ex husband. Way too many points to be a coincidence; I felt Mary and Jesus knew me before I was born and that all my life there were blue prints to lead me to that moment they show me the way "Home". They wanted to make sure that when the day comes, i would know it was them and none of it was a coincidence. This makes me the first Christian of my entire family. I feel i was made a sign for my family, that through me they shall see the truth and find their way "Home".