Thinking Out Loud with Alan Shlemon - A Changed Life Towards What Standard?

Episode Date: August 3, 2026

Although conversion to any religion will result in a changed life, not all change is good. Alan addresses a more fundamental question that needs to be answered first.

A changed life due to religious conversion is certainly noteworthy, but it's not necessarily noble. There's a more pressing question that needs to be answered first. That's what I want to discuss in this episode of my podcast, Thinking Out Loud with Alan Shleman. People convert to Christianity aren't the only ones who experience a change life. In fact, I've met both Muslims and Mormons who have told me about how their lives have been changed as a result of converting to their religion. In fact, recently I was at one of the largest mosques in the southeastern United States. It's in downtown Atlanta. I was partnering with another Christian ministry, and we had brought like 100 Christian high schoolers to this mosque to observe their services, and then of course to engage Muslims with some challenging questions.

But anyways, as we were there, one of the Muslim leaders there was speaking to our group, and he talked about how he experienced a change life when he conversed. from Christianity to Islam. And he told us a story about how he had gone to Vietnam, had experienced PTSD, as a result of that had turned to a life of alcohol and alcoholism. And then eventually he converted to Islam. And because, of course, in Islam, you know, you're not allowed to drink alcohol.

That led him to eventually abandon the substance abuse that he was experiencing. So he left using alcohol. That was one of the aspects of his changed life. In fact, he even told me that his parents were Christian, but they were okay with him converting to Islam because it helped him get off of alcohol. So there was an example of a change life, right?

And so the reason I'm bringing this up is because my colleagues, Greg Kokel, who started Stand to Reason, current president of Stand a Reason, he was on the diary of his CEO with Stephen Bartlett a little while ago, and he was on that show with, of course, the host, as well as Alex O'Connor and Dr. Kay,

and they were discussing the meaning of life, you know, value in life, you know, what is the significance of life and so on and so forth, and one of the subtopics was about whether a changed life as a result of conversion to a religion is evidence for the truth of that particular religion. Now, I'm not here to discuss that question. that was debated in the diary of a CEO episode.

But to me, there's a more fundamental question that I thought is more critical to ask and to answer. And that question is this. Towards what standard is the religion changing a person's life? Towards what standard is that religion that the person's converted to? Is it changing a person's life? In other words, is it a good change? or is it a bad change, right?

Not all change is good, right? Is it a change towards something that is good behavior or bad behavior? And my point here is that you can't really answer that question until you first evaluate the veracity of the standard that you're moving towards, right? You can't evaluate the answer as to whether the change is good or bad until you first evaluate the veracity of the standard that you're moving towards. because as I said, not all change is good. So take, for example, a person who converts to the religion of Hinduism.

Obviously, Hinduism entails certain worldview elements, right? Now, and of course, a person who converts to Hinduism will have a change life according to those worldview elements. For example, Hinduism entails the worldview of samsara, which is this idea that there is a cycle of life and then death and then rebirth, right? You have karma and reincarnation that entails the concept that how you live today or in this life will affect a future reincarnated life. And also how you're living now is a result of a past life. So that would also be a part of the Hindu worldview. There's, of course, the caste system where there's a very specific social stratification structure in, for example, India, where Hinduism is significantly

practiced. And in that caste system, there's people in higher levels of society and lower levels of society. And then, of course, there's even people who are what's called untouchables, people that you don't even, you know, deal with at all. Now, all of these worldview elements, when you combine them, are going to affect how a person who converts to him, Hinduism is going to behave. And for example, obviously a person, a consistent Hindu who comes across a lower caste person or an untouchable is going to see that person's plight and not act to try to better it or to try to help them. Because this would be undermining the principles of samsara and karma and all the other aspects of the Hindu worldview. Now, I realize that's just

only one aspect of Hinduism. Not saying that, of course, encompasses all of the Hindu worldview but that's that's one example of how specific worldview components are going to affect how a person changes his life and how sometimes that change might be good, but in this case, that change would be a bad change. Let's talk about, for example, a conversion to Islam. Again, like Hinduism, Islam entails a whole bunch of worldview components. and a person who converts to Islam is going to experience a changed life. But again, the question is, is towards what standard? And is that standard, a true standard or a false standard, right?

So a shift to the Islamic worldview, of course, is going to entail a number of elements. A person who becomes a Muslim is going to adopt a view that the Quran is the literal words of Allah and the absolute highest authority in that person's life. So whatever the Quran affirms, a Muslim must also affirm. And whatever a Quran commands, whatever the Quran commands, a Muslim must also obey. Furthermore, in Islam you have what's called the sunnah, which is the life example of Muhammad. In other words, in Islam, Muhammad is believed to be the perfect embodiment of how a Muslim is supposed to live. So how Muhammad lived in his day is authoritative for Muslims today. And so that, of course, means Muslims are going to study how Muhammad lived and try to act accordingly.

In Islam, you also have the concept of takia. Takia is the idea that you can engage in deception or lying if, for example, you're under duress, or perhaps that you need to protect Islam or you need to predict yourself, right? So that's also a part of Islam. Treating women a certain way and having a certain anthropology about people and women and denying women equal rights to men is, frankly, it's a part of the Quran and the authoritative teachings of what Muhammad said and how he lived as well. And then, of course, as everybody knows, the concept of jihad, this is not just some belief system of a few extremists in Islam. No, jihad is a valid doctrine in Islam. And it's taught in 164 verses in the Quran.

It's talked about by Muhammad himself routinely. And it's practiced by Muhammad. So all of the authoritative sources in Islam say that, yes, jihad is a valid doctrine in Islam. Now, of course, a Muslim is going to say, well, jihad doesn't mean fighting or holy war. Jihad just means to strive, right? or to struggle towards something. And that's true. But when you, and there are many types of jihad.

Don't get me right. I'm familiar with this because I've studied Islam. But jihad as a fighting for the causes of a law is a valid teaching in Islam. And the Quran is pretty clear as well as Muhammad himself that a Muslim has to adopt jihad as a valid doctrine or financially back it. or participated in it themselves when they are called to do so. Again, these are just a part of Islamic worldview. I'm not saying this encompasses everything, but I just want to be clear that if a person becomes a Muslim,

they are going to then behave or try to behave more like Muhammad, try to engage in jihad when called upon, treat women a certain way, and these are all a part of authoritative teachings. in Islam. And so as I said, my point is this. Yes, conversion to any religion is going to result in a change in behavior. But a change life, while it's noteworthy, isn't necessarily noble because it depends upon the standard by which you're changing your life towards. Now, I'm going to argue, I would argue that Hinduism and Islam are false religions. And I realize

I'm not going to make that case here. It's not something. the purpose of this particular episode, but I would argue they are false religions, and as a result, their standard is a false standard. Okay, now, I'm not saying everything that Hinduism entails or that Islam entails is necessarily bad. For example, in Islam, one of the required pillars in Islam is to give 2.5% of your annual savings towards the poor needy. Is that a bad thing? No, it's not a bad thing. of course it's noble to help people who are in poor. But overall, if the religion is false, then the ultimate standard of behavior

by which you're going to change your life towards is also going to be a false standard and eventually lead to bad behaviors. Again, although every conversion to another religion is going to result in a change behavior, it's not necessarily always a noble change or a good change. because some change will result in bad behavior. Now, since all religions are not the same,

all religions contradict each other in fundamental ways, then, of course, every religion cannot be true. And therefore, not every change life as a result of a religious conversion is going to count as positive change. Now, obviously, I believe as a Christian that Christianity is the true religion. Again, I'm not going to make my case here, because that's not the purpose of my post. or of this particular episode.

But Christians for thousands of years have experienced changed changed lives. And that's why oftentimes Christians will report that, right? This is why in the Diary of a CEO episode with my colleague Greg Kochel, he talked about some of the changed lives of Christians and how, yes, there is some validity to the truth of religion if there is a changed life. Again, it's not a knockdown proof, but he was arguing that way. And yes, in Christianity, we have seen a lot of people for thousands of years who've experienced changed lives. People have been rescued from failed marriages.

People who have been in slavery to substance abuse have been freed. People who have left a life of crime and who are now living a life serving God's kingdom or helping others. I mean, there's a whole range of these things. I'm not going to go into all of them. But here's the key. since Christianity is the true religion, I think that the standard that it produces is going to be a standard by which when people change their lives

it's going to lead to positive changes in their lives. These changes will be good changes, right? Or at least they should be good changes because, of course, not everybody lives consistently with the religion that they've adopted. But the idea is that Christians are we going to become more, like Jesus, right? After all, Jesus is the paradigm for the Christian. I'm not saying, you know,

W, W.W.J.D., what would Jesus do? And everything Jesus did, we're supposed to do as well. But it is true that how Jesus lived does inform how we as Christians should live. And I think we as Christians as well as other people would all acknowledge that is a good thing, right? Because Jesus is the goal standard because he's the God standard. Okay, well, that's all I have for you today. I hope you've enjoyed this episode, and I encourage you if you have enjoyed it, to share it with a friend.

Also, don't forget to subscribe to this podcast, and that way you don't miss any future episodes. And thanks for listening. I look forward to thinking out loud with you next time.