Dear Azzu and Shahid,

Since both of you are Muslims, I thought I would address both your e-mails together.
If my colleagues have anything to add, I'm sure they will chime in.

Usually, I keep information on visitors to our web site private to protect their privacy rights but because both of you are Muslims who have a strong interest in Jesus and Catholic Christianity, I thought it would be better for the two of you to connect with each other.

[This has been done privately due to the reprisal that Muslims receive if they leave Islam and join another faith.]

To both of you: Your interest in the Church is the Holy Spirit calling you to have a closer friendship with our Loving, all warm God.

Unlike Islam, where there is a Master/Slave theology; In Catholic Christianity theology, there is a Loving Heavenly Father/Loving Son, Jesus relationship.

This is what makes Christianity appealing to many Muslims who have no interest in being a slave to a God or to an earthly man.

To Azzu:

You said:
I am suffering badly. I don't know what to do, so many times my mind tells me to die.

One of the mysteries of every ones life is that God's ways, many times, can be confusing, painful, and incompressible.

The key to remember is that each person as a specific purpose in life and each one of us has a great impact on each others life — more than we are aware of. That said, if your mind is telling you to die, that is wrong and from the evil one.

Life is good and precious, even if there are some painful, confusing periods we have to go through.

You said:

• I ask Jesus why is He playing with me?

I don't have a family but have been unemployed for a while as well. No one seems to want to help me, but I know I am still serving a purpose in life in serving the Lord. Part of everyone's life is accepting His will for us, whether it is joyous or painful.

While none of us are Pope Francis, I can offer some advice similar to what he would advise:

• Keep on praying to Jesus and asking him for help
  
• Keep on trying to learn more about Jesus and the Catholic Church.
  
• Try to find a Catholic priest in the Malaysia/Pakistan area who can help you to become a Catholic. Just go to a Catholic diocese and tell them you want to become a Catholic.
  

To (both of you) Azzu and Shahid:

I have had other Muslims and non-Catholic Christians ask for material from overseas but because I am almost broke myself, cannot afford to do anything.

For this reason I created a Christian Basics home page.

There you will find:

• Christian basics
  
• You can read about the history of the Catholic Church
  
• You can read about what we believe
  
• You can read sources on the Holy Christian Scriptures, and
• You can read about the first Christians
  

I hope this helps,

Mike