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What did Jesus really say? A book by Dr. Mishaal Abdullah Al-Kadhi
1.2.3: The "Son of God" "And unto Him belongs whosoever is in the heavens and the earth and those who dwell in His presence do not scorn to worship Him nor do they weary. They glorify Him night and day; They flag not. Or have they chosen gods from the earth who raise the dead If there were therein gods besides Allah then verily both (the heavens and the earth) would have gone to ruin. Glorified be Allah, the Lord of the Throne from all they ascribe (unto Him). He is not questioned as to that which He does, but they will be questioned. Or have they chosen other gods besides Him, say: Bring your proof (of their godhead), this is the reminder of those with me and those before me, but most of them know not the truth so they are averse (to it). And we sent no messenger before you but we inspired him (saying): There is no god save Me (Allah) so worship Me. And they say: The Compassionate has taken unto himself a son. Nay! but (they) are but honored servants. They speak not until He has spoken and they obey His command. He knows what is before them and what is behind them and they cannot intercede except for those whom He accepts and they quake for awe of Him. And whosoever among them says: I am a god other than Allah, the same shall We reward with Hell. Thus do We reward the wrong doers." The Qur'an, Al-Anbia(21):19-29 "And the angles said 'O Mary, Allah gives you glad tidings of a Word from Him, his name is Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, High honored in this world and the next, of those near stationed to Allah." The noble Qur'an, A'al-Umran(3):40. We as Muslims do not differ with Christians in the fact that Jesus (pbuh) was indeed born miraculously without a human father. Muslims only differ with Christians in the Christian's claim that Jesus (pbuh) must have a father. Trinitarians believe that if he has no human father then his father must be God. Muslims believe that he had no father whatsoever, and this was the essence of his miraculous birth. "The similitude of Jesus before Allah is as that of Adam, he created him from dust, then said to him: 'Be' and he was" The noble Qur'an, A'al-Umran(3):59. "They say: Allah has taken a son. Glorified be He! He has no needs! His is all that is in the heavens and that is in the earth. You have no warrant for this, do you say regarding Allah that which you know not?" The noble Qur'an, Yunus(10):68 "The Messiah, son of Mary, was only a messenger, messengers (the like of whom) had passed away before him. And his mother was a saintly woman. They both used to eat (earthly) food. See how we make the signs clear for them, then see how they are deluded!" The noble Qur'an, Al-Maidah (5):75. "And this is life eternal, that they might know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent." John 17:3. Notice the above words of the Bible: "YOU the ONLY true God." Most Christians always manage to see a hidden abstract meaning for the verses of the Bible. Even when they read the above verse they always manage to understand something totally different than that which they are reading. They always interpret the word "you" to be "we," and thus, understand the above verse to say "WE the only true god." Jesus (pbuh) is obviously talking to a distinctly different entity than himself and telling that entity that He ALONE is the only true God. Is Jesus (pbuh) incapable of saying "I the only true God" or "We the only true God" if that is what he meant? Can we see the difference? Mr. Tom Harpur says in the preface to his book: "The most significant development since 1986 in this regard has been the discovery of the title "Son of God" in one of the Qumran papyri (Dead Sea Scrolls) used in relation to a person other than Jesus.....this simply reinforces the argument made there that to be called the Son of God in a Jewish setting in the first century is not by any means the same as being identical with God Himself." For Christ's Sake, pp. xii. (please read chapter 7 for more on the Dead Sea Scrolls) With regard to your second comment, Mr. J, I am not "implying" anything. The Qur'an clearly states in no uncertain terms that God "created" Jesus. Let us quote from the unbiased Webster's dictionary as to what is "implied" by the word "begotten": "To procreate as the father, sire, to produce as an effect or an outgrowth." Muslims feel such claims with regard to God Almighty are an abomination.
1.2.3.1 Anglican Bishops declare that Jesus is not God Muslims are not the only ones who believe that Jesus (pbuh) is mortal and not a god. The Jews also believe this, in addition to the very first groups of Christianity such as the Ebonites, the Cerinthians, the Basilidians, the Capocratians, and the Hypisistarians. The Arians, Paulicians and Goths also accepted Jesus (pbuh) as a prophet of God. Even in the modern age there are churches in Asia, in Africa, the Unitarian church, the Jehovah's witnesses, and even the majority of today's Anglican Bishops do not worship Jesus (pbuh) as God. In the British newspaper the "Daily News" 25/6/84 under the heading "Shock survey of Anglican Bishops" We read "More than half of England's Anglican Bishops say that Christians are not obliged to believe that Jesus Christ was God, according to a survey published today. The pole of 31 of England's 39 bishops shows that many of them think that Christ's miracles, the virgin birth and the resurrection might not have happened exactly as described in the Bible. Only 11 of the bishops insisted that Christians must regard Christ as both God and man, while 19 said it was sufficient to regard Jesus as 'God's supreme agent'" But what is a messenger of God? Is he not "God's supreme agent" ?. This is indeed what God Himself has already told us in the noble Qur'an 1400 years ago, and exactly what Jesus (pbuh) himself testified to in the Bible: "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." John 17:3 Astounding, isn't it? With every passing day, the most learned among the Christian community are slowly recognizing the truth and drawing closer and closer to Islam. These are not Muslims who issued this statement. These are not "liberal" Christians. These are the most learned and most highly esteemed men of the Anglican Church. These men have dedicated their whole lives to the study of the religion of Jesus, and their study has driven them to the truth which God had already revealed to them in the Qur'an 1400 years ago: That Jesus was not God. That God is not a Trinity. And that the stories of the ministry of Jesus in the Bible have been extensively tampered with by the hands of mankind. "And when Allah said: O Jesus, son of Mary! Did you say unto mankind: Take me and my mother for two gods beside Allah? he said: Be You glorified. It was not mine to utter that to which I had no right. If I used to say it, then You knew it. You know what is in my [innermost] self but I know not what is in Yours. Truly! You, only You are the Knower of things hidden. I spoke unto them only that which You commanded me, (saying): Worship Allah, my Lord and your Lord, and I was a witness over them while I dwelt among them, and when You took me You were the Watcher over them, and You are Witness over all things." The noble Qur'an, Al-Maidah(5):116-118 The Church, as Heinz Zahrnt put it "put words into the mouth of Jesus which he never spoke and attributed actions to him which he never performed." One of those who has shown that most of what the church says about Jesus is baseless is Rudolph Augustein in his book "Jesus the Son of Man." Another very comprehensive study of this matter can be found in the book "The Myth of God Incarnate" which was written by seven theologian scholars in England in 1977 and edited by John Hick. Their conclusion in this matter is that Jesus was "a man approved by God, for a special role within the divine purpose, and..... the later conception of him as God incarnate ... is a mythological or poetic way of expressing his significance for us." See also John Mackinnon Robertson's "Christianity and Mythology" T.W Doane's "The Bible Myths and their Parallels in Other Religions" (A good summary of these studies is available in M.F. Ansarei, "Islam and Christianity in the Modern World"). A University of Richmond professor, Dr. Robert Alley, after considerable research into newly found ancient documents concludes that "....The (Biblical) passages where Jesus talks about the Son of God are later additions.... what the church said about him. Such a claim of deity for himself would not have been consistent with his entire lifestyle as we can reconstruct. For the first three decades after Jesus' death Christianity continued as a sect within Judaism. The first three decades of the existence of the church were within the synagogue. That would have been beyond belief if they (the followers) had boldly proclaimed the deity of Jesus." Is there any confirmation of this in the Bible, yes! If we were to read the Bible we would find that long after the departure of Jesus, his faithful followers continued to "keep up their daily attendance at the Temple" (Acts 2:46) It would be beyond belief to imagine that had Jesus indeed preached to his apostles that he was God, and if Jesus had indeed commanded them to forsake the commandments, that they would then disregard all of this and continue to worship in a Jewish synagogue on a daily basis, let alone the great Temple itself. It is further beyond belief that the Jews of the Temple would stand idly by and allow them to do this if they were preaching the total cancellation of the law of Moses and that Jesus was God. Can any Trinitarian Christian, even in their wildest fantasies, imagine that the Jews in an orthodox Jewish synagogue would stand idly by while he took out his cross and prayed to Jesus in the midst of their synagogue and was publicly calling others to worship Jesus and forsake the commandments? How much more preposterous to imagine that they would have nothing to say to someone who did that in their most sacred of all synagogues, the Temple, on a daily basis yet. This is further evidence in support of the Qur'an, that Jesus only called his followers to a continuation of the religion of Moses and not by any means to the total cancellation and destruction of that law. In the previous section, we read the following verses of the Bible:
Now we should begin to ask ourselves: If there was no god before or after God Almighty, then how was Jesus (pbuh) "begotten" as a god? The answer is: he was not. He was a mortal man, not a god. We even have the testimony of the majority of today's Anglican Bishops in defense of this basic truth. If we want the testimony of a trustworthy witness then how much more trustworthy a witness shall we ever find than the majority of the most learned and respected conservative Christians of the Anglican Church? The Bible only preaches that Jesus is God and that God is a Trinity to those who do not know it's innermost details and the truth of the history of the Church as these men have come to know it. But let us move on in our study of the Biblical verses so that we can see only a small sampling of the evidence that has made the truth clear to these men.
1.2.3.2 How many "Sons" does God have? Many people tell us "but the Bible clearly says that Jesus is the Son of God. How can you say that Jesus is not God's only begotten son when Jesus says it so clearly in black and white in the Bible?" Well, first of all, as seen in the previous section, we first need to know the language of his people, the language of the Jews to whom he was speaking. Let us see how they understood this proclamation. Let us begin by asking: How many sons does the Bible tell us that God Almighty has?
As we can see, the use of the term "son of God" when describing normal human beings was not at all an uncommon practice among Jesus' people. Well then, was Jesus the only begotten son of God? Read Psalms 2:7 "I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me (King David, King), Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.". Indeed, the Jews are even referred to as much more than this in the Bible, and this is indeed the very trait which Jesus (pbuh) held against them. When the Jews picked up stones to stone Jesus (pbuh) he defended himself with the following words "Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, 'I said, Ye are gods?' If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken..." John 10:34: (he was referring to Psalms 82:6 "I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High..") As we can see from these and many other verses like them, "son of God" in the language of the Jews was a very innocent term used to describe a loyal servant of God. Whether the translators and editors chose to write it as "Son of God" (with a capital S) in reference to Jesus and "son of God" (with a small S) in reference to everyone else does not diminish the fact that in the original language, both cases are exactly the same. Are we beginning to see what drove the most learned men of the Anglican Church to recognize the truth? But let us move on. Grolier's encyclopedia, under the heading "Jesus Christ," says: "During his earthly life Jesus was addressed as rabbi and was regarded as a prophet. Some of his words, too, place him in the category of sage. A title of respect for a rabbi would be "my Lord." Already before Easter his followers, impressed by his authority, would mean something more than usual when they addressed him as "my Lord.".... it is unlikely that the title "Son of David" was ascribed to him or accepted by him during his earthly ministry. "Son of God," in former times a title of the Hebrew kings (Psalms 2:7), was first adopted in the post-Easter church as an equivalent of Messiah and had no metaphysical connotations (Romans 1:4). Jesus was conscious of a unique filial relationship with God, but it is uncertain whether the Father/Son language (Mark 18:32; Matt. 11:25-27 par.; John passim) goes back to Jesus himself" . There seems to be only two places in the Bible where Jesus (pbuh) refers to himself as "son of God." They are in John chapters 5 and 11. Hastings in "The dictionary of the Bible" says: "Whether Jesus used it of himself is doubtful." Regardless, we have already seen what is meant by this innocent title. However, Jesus is referred to as the "son of Man" (literally: "Human being") 81 times in the books of the Bible. In the Gospel of Barnabas, we are told that Jesus (pbuh) knew that mankind would make him a god after his departure and severely cautioned his followers from having anything to do with such people. Jesus was not the son of a human man (according to both the Bible and the Qur'an). However, we find him constantly saying "I am the son of man." Why?. It was because in the language of the Jews, that is how you say "I am a human being." What was he trying to tell us by constantly repeating and emphasizing to us throughout the New Testament "I am a human being," "I am a human being," "I am a human being"?. What had he foreseen? Think about it!. Do Christians emphasize this aspect of Jesus? The New Testament Greek word translated as "son" are "pias" and "paida" which mean "servant," or "son in the sense of servant." These are translated to "son" in reference to Jesus and "servant" in reference to all others in some translations of the Bible (see below). As we are beginning to see, one of the most fundamental reasons why Jesus (pbuh) is considered God is due to extensive mistranslation. We shall see more and more examples of this throughout this book. Islam teaches that Jesus (pbuh) was a human being, not a god. Jesus (pbuh) continually emphasized this to his followers throughout his mission. The Gospel of Barnabas also affirms this fact. Once again, Grolier's encyclopedia says: "...Most problematical of all is the title "Son of Man." This is the only title used repeatedly by Jesus as a self-designation, and there is no clear evidence that it was used as a title of majesty by the post-Easter church. Hence it is held by many to be authentic, since it passes the criterion of dissimilarity."
1.2.3.3 Because God was his "Father"? Is Jesus (pbuh) a divine son of God because he called God "Father"? Well, how do all Christians refer to Him? What does Jesus himself have to tell us in this regard? Let us read "That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven..." Matthew 5:45 and "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." Matthew 5:48: ...etc. There are countless verses in the Bible to this effect. To understand what is meant by the reference to "Father" we need only read John 8:42: "Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me." So the love of God and His prophets is what makes God someone's "father." Similarly, "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do." John 8:44 Obviously neither the Devil nor God is the physical father of any of them. The term "Father" in that day and age was used by the Jews in the same sense that Christians use the word "father" today to address a priest. It was not meant to be taken literally. Otherwise, the Bible would bear witness that every believer in Jesus (pbuh) is also the "physical" son of God. Further, please note that Joseph is called a "father" to Pharaoh in Genesis 45:8, and Job is called the "father" of the poor in Job 29:16. Once we read all of this we begin to understand how the Jews used to understand the reference to God Almighty as "Father."
1.2.3.4 Because he performed miracles? Well then, is Jesus the son of God because he raised the dead? If so, then what about Ezekiel who is said to have raised many more dead bodies than Jesus ever did. Ezekiel is said to have raised a whole city from the dead (Ezekiel 37:1-9) If we are looking for Godly powers and miracles as proof of godliness then what about Joshua who is said to have stopped the sun and moon for one whole day: (Joshua 10:12-13). Can anyone but God Almighty do this? Elisha is said to have raised the dead, resurrected himself, healed a leper, fed a hundred people with twenty barley loaves and a few ears of corn, and healed a blind man: (2 Kings 4:35, 13:21, 5:14, 4:44, and 6:11.) Elijah is said to have raised the dead, and made a bowl of flour and a jar of oil inexhaustible for many days (1 Kings 17:22 and 14.) To say nothing of Moses (pbuh) and his countless miracles. Of his parting of the sea, of his changing of a stick into a serpent, of his changing of water into blood, ..etc. And so forth...... Even Jesus (pbuh) himself tells us that miracles by themselves do not prove anything: "For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect" Matthew 24:24 So even false Christs can supply great wonders and miracles of such magnitude that even the most knowledgeable among men shall be deceived. Jesus (pbuh) had a beginning (the begetting) and an end ("and he gave up the ghost") Melchizedec, however, is said to have had no beginning of days nor end of life but was "made like unto the Son of God" !. "For this Melchizedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him; To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace; Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually. Now consider how great this man [was], unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils." Hebrews 7:1-4 Solomon is said to have been with God at the beginning of time before all of creation, Proverbs 8:22-31. Well then, is Jesus (pbuh) god because he performed his miracles under his own power while others needed God to perform them for them? Let us then read:
So we see that even the apostle of Jesus (pbuh), Peter "the Rock,"* bore witness many years after the departure of Jesus not that Jesus was "God, the Son of God, who did miracles through his Omnipotence," rather, he openly bore witness before all those present that Jesus was "a man." He then went on to make sure that the masses would not be mislead by Jesus' miracles into thinking that he was more than a man by emphasizing that it was not Jesus who did the miracles, rather, just as was the case with countless other prophets before him, it was God Himself who did these miracles and that God's prophets are simply the tools through which He performed His miracles. In other words, the point that Peter was trying to drive home to these people was for them to remember that just as Moses' parting of the seas did not make him God or the son of God, and just as Elisha's raising of the dead did not make him God or the son of God, so too was the case with Jesus. What was the goal behind the performance of these miracles? Let us read John 11:42 where we find that just before Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, he made a point of making sure that the crowd would not misunderstand what he was about to do or why he did it, so he publicly stated before God while they were listening that, just as was the case with all previous prophets, the reason why he was given these miracles was in order to prove that God had sent Him and he was a true prophet: "And I knew that Thou hearest me always; but because of the people standing around I said it, that they may believe that Thou didst send Me.". John 11:42
1.2.3.5 Because he was filled with the Holy Ghost? Well then was Jesus (pbuh) the son of God because he was filled with the Holy Ghost? Let us read
Is Jesus(pbuh) a god because he was filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother's womb? If this is the case then John the Baptist should be a god also, as claimed in Luke 1:13-15.
1.2.3.6 Because he was the "Image of God"? Some will now say: But in the Bible we read: "....Christ, who is the image of God." 2 Corinthians 4:4 Surely this makes Jesus God. Well then, we should also read "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them." Genesis 1:27
1.2.3.7 Because he was "from above"? In John 8:23 we read "And he (Jesus) said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world." Does this make Jesus (pbuh) a god ? No! Why not read "I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world" John 17:14 and "They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world." John 17:16 There are many more similar examples.
1.2.3.8 Because he was the "Messiah/Christ" and the "Word"? Many people believe "Messiah" to be a mystical Biblical term which had been reserved by God from the beginning of time as a direct equivalent of "only begotten Son." For this reason, when they see that Jesus is referred to in the Bible as "The Messiah" they immediately translate this to mean "The Son of God." In order to clear up this misconception, let us first define the true meaning of the word Messiah and then show it's exact usage in the Bible. The word "Messiah" is the English version of the Hebrew word mashiyach {maw-shee'-akh}. The literal meaning of this word in the Hebrew language is "to anoint." In our present day, it is customary for those who are appointed to high office (ie. the President of the US, Supreme Court justices, etc.) to attend a solemn ritual wherein that person is consecrated into office. During this ritual, certain rights of passage or ascension must be performed, such as repeating a solemn oath and so forth. Once such rituals have been successfully completed, only then is that person considered to have officially received the rights and obligations of this office. In a similar fashion, in ancient times it was a common practice among the Jews to "anoint" those who were appointed positions of high authority. If we were to read the Bible we would find that every priest and king of ancient Israel was "anointed" by their people as a sign of official consecration to office. Further, we find that it was not at all uncommon for inanimate objects and even pagans to be "anointed." For example: Solomon: 1 Kings 1:39 "And Zadok the priest took an horn of oil out of the tabernacle, and anointed Solomon. And they blew the trumpet; and all the people said, God save king Solomon." David: 1 Samuel 16:13 "Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah." Jewish priests: Leviticus 4:3 "If the priest that is anointed do sin according to the sin of the people; then let him bring for his sin, which he hath sinned, a young bullock without blemish unto the LORD for a sin offering." Cyrus the pagan: Isaiah 45:1 "Thus saith the LORD to his Messiah, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut;" A pillar: Genesis 31:13 "I [am] the God of Bethel, where thou anointedst the pillar, [and] where thou vowedst a vow unto me: now arise, get thee out from this land, and return unto the land of thy kindred." The tabernacle: Leviticus 8:10 "And Moses took the anointing oil, and anointed the tabernacle and all that [was] therein, and sanctified them." A cherub: Ezekiel 28:14 "Thou [art] the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee [so]: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire." Sick people: Mark 6:13 "And they cast out many devils, and anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed [them]." Jesus anoints a blind man John 9:6 "When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay," When this word was translated into ancient Greek, the words used were "Messias" {mes-see'-as} and "Christos" {khris-tos'} (see John 1:41, 4:25). This is where we get the word "Christ" from, it was originally derived from the Greek word for "anoint." Jesus was indeed "christened," or "anointed," or "baptized," by John the Baptist before the beginning of his ministry as seen for example in Matthew 3:16 among many other verses. This is not to say that just because the word "Messiah" was applied to others that it was not a specific designation for Jesus. It only goes to show that this title does not imply a position as "Son of God." For example, all of the prophets of God are "friends of God," however, only prophet Abraham received this title as an official designation for himself (James 2:23). In a similar manner, all of the prophets of God in ancient Israel were all "anointed" prophets, however, as an official designation, this title was reserved exclusively for Jesus. This is indeed confirmed in the noble Qur'an: "And the angles said 'O Mary, Allah gives you glad tidings of a Word from Him, his name is Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, High honored in this world and the next, of those near stationed to Allah." The noble Qur'an, Aal-Umran(3):40 In fact, prophet Abraham is also fondly referred to by Muslims as the "Khaleel-ullah" ("Friend of God"), and prophet Moses is referred to as "Kaleem-ullah" ("The one spoken to by God"). However, just because prophet Abraham is the "friend of God," this does not imply that all other prophets (Noah, Moses, etc.) are all "enemies of God." Similarly, just because Jesus (pbuh) is a "word" from God and a "spirit" from Him does not imply that that he is "part of" God, or that this designation is exclusive to him. For example, in the Qur'an we read: "So when I (God) have fashioned him (Adam) and breathed into him of My spirit, fall you (Angels, and those in attendance) down in prostration before him." The noble Qur'an, Al-Hijr(15):29 "Verily! Our (Allah's) Word unto a thing when We intend it, is only that We say unto it "Be!" - and it is" The noble Qur'an, Al-Nahil(16):40 (please also read chapter 14) To make such terminology clearer, let us take the example of the term "house of God," or "My house" as seen in the Bible and the Qur'an in 1 Chronicles 9:11, and Al-Bakarah(2):125. If God is not confined to a specific house or location (both Muslims and Christians agree to this), then what is meant by the words "house of God"? Every house on earth belongs to God, however, we do not call bars or brothels "houses of God" but we do call houses of worship "houses of God." The true meaning is that God is showing favor upon this house by associating it with His name. God bestows such titles upon those whom He wishes to bestow His favor upon from among His creation by virtue of the piety and worship which is displayed to God in association with this creation. It was the selfless dedication and piety of Jesus (pbuh) towards his Creator which was rewarded by God by associating Jesus' spirit with His name. In a similar manner, the reference to Jesus being a "word" from God does not mean that Jesus is "part of" God. For example, in many places in the Bible God refers tp His "word." We can see this for example: "Aaron shall be gathered unto his people: for he shall not enter into the land which I have given unto the children of Israel, because ye rebelled against my word at the water of Meribah." Numbers 20:24 Does "my word" here mean "Jesus"? There are numerous other examples.
1.2.3.9 Because he was called "Lord"? Was Jesus God because people addressed him as "my lord." Not according to the Bible. In the Bible we find that this was a common practice with many others besides Jesus. For example: Prophet Abraham: "Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord (Abraham) being old also?" Genesis 18:12 Esau: "And he commanded them, saying, Thus shall ye speak unto my lord Esau; Thy servant Jacob saith thus, I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed there until now:" Genesis 32:4 Joseph: "And we said unto my lord, We have a father, an old man, and a child of his old age, a little one; and his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother, and his father loveth him." Genesis 44:20 David: "And fell at his feet, and said, Upon me, my lord, [upon] me [let this] iniquity [be]: and let thine handmaid, I pray thee, speak in thine audience, and hear the words of thine handmaid." 1 Samuel 25:24 ...etc.
1.2.3.10 Because God "gave His only begotten Son.."? "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16 The above is the King James "translation" of John 3:16. If we were to open up the Revised Standard Version of the Bible on this exact same verse we would find it now translated as "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only son, ...." What is going on here? The RSV is the work of thirty two Biblical Christian scholars of the highest eminence backed by fifty cooperating Christian denominations. They produced the RSV in an effort to correct the "many" and "serious" errors they had found in the King James Bible. So why have they scrapped the word "begotten" from this cornerstone of Christian preaching? The reason is because they have decided to be honest with us when translating this verse. The Greek term for "begotten" in ancient Greek is "gennao" {ghen-nah'-o} as found for example in Matthew 1:2. In the verses under consideration, however, the word used was not "gennao" but "monogenes" {mon-og-en-ace'}. "Monogenes" is a Greek word which conveys the meaning "unique" and not "begotten." Thus, the true translation of this verse is "His unique son." Some of the more honest translations of the Bibles, such as the New Testament by Goodspeed and J. M. Powis Smith (published in 1923) have indeed given the same translation as that of the RSV. However, such "tell it as it is" Bibles were not generally met with a lot of enthusiasm since they forced the reader to face the fact that much of what the translators of the KJV have "translated" for them was not in fact part of the Bible. We have already seen in previous sections that the Bible bears witness that God has "sons" by the tons. So what does the Bible mean by "only son" or "unique son" when referring to Jesus? It means what the Bible has told us and the Qur'an has confirmed for us, namely, that Jesus was "unique" in that he was born of a human mother without a father. God merely said to him "Be!" and he was.
1.2.3.11 What about "Unto us a child is born"? "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." Isaiah 9:6 When someone reads this verse of Isaiah they immediately see a clear prophesy of God coming to earth in the form on a human child. Is this not what the verse says? Does it not say that Jesus shall be the "incarnation" of God on earth? Actually, it does not. Let us study it together. Firstly, it is important when applying a prophesy to someone to not selectively pick and choose catch phrases from the prophesy and disregard the rest. In this prophesy we find that the very first stipulation presented for this person is that he shall carry the government upon his shoulders.* However, as is popular knowledge, Jesus (pbuh) never in his whole lifetime ever formed a government nor became a head of state. In fact we find him saying in the Bible quite explicitly:
So according to the Bible, Jesus never tried to establish a government nor to challenge the authority of the pagan emperor Caesar over himself and his followers. Now, if someone were to go the extra mile and to make the case that Jesus commands a "spiritual" government in the hereafter, then we need to know whether the hereafter shall be a place of governments, kings, laws and regulations? Secondly, when we study the words "mighty God" carefully, we notice an interesting fact. For some reason, the words used are not "Almighty God" but rather "mighty God." Naturally, this makes one curious as to what the original Hebrew text actually says. So we decide to study it. The word for "Almighty" as applied exclusively to God in the OT is the Hebrew word "Shadday" {shad-dah'-ee}. However, this is not the word used in this verse. The actual word used in this verse is the Hebrew word "Gibbowr" meaning "mighty" and not "The Almighty." Now, although to us such a difference might seem subtle and insignificant, still, to the Jews, the difference was quite pronounced. Let me elaborate. In the famous Hebrew and Chaldee Dictionary by James Strong the word "gibbowr" or short "gibbowr" {ghib-bore'}, is translated as; warrior, tyrant:-champion, chief, excel, giant, man, mighty (man, one), strong (man), valiant man. On the other hand the word "Shadday" {shad-dah'-ee}, is translated as, the Almighty:-Almighty. The word translated as "God" here is the Hebrew word "El" {ale} which in addition to it's use to refer to God Almighty in the Bible is also used to refer to mighty men, to demons, to angels, and to idols. As we have already seen in the previous section, it was a common practice in the Bible to use the word "god" to convey an air of authority or power. Some of the examples presented were: "I have said, Ye (the Jews) are gods; and all of you are children of the most High" Psalms 82:6 and "And the LORD said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh" Exodus 7:1 as well as "the god of this world (the Devil) hath blinded the minds of them which believe not." 2 Corinthians 4:4 When reading such verses we begin to understand the reason why Isaiah 9:6 refers to a "mighty god" and not an "Almighty God." If the author did indeed mean to convey that this person would be the "incarnation" of God Almighty who would come down to earth in the form of a human being in order to walk among us and die on the cross, then why did this author chose to "water down" his statement by only referring to him with the generic term used for humans, demons, idols, and angels, and not the specific term reserved for God Almighty alone? And finally, we study the term "everlasting father." In the Bible, the term "everlasting" or "forever" is often used as a figurative term and does not necessarily convey its literal sense, for example,
..etc. The same goes for the use of the term "father". It does not necessarily mean; "the Heavenly Father" (God), or the biological father. Let us read for example:
..etc. So, just as king David shall be an "everlasting prince" so too shall this person be called an "everlasting father." This is the language of the Jews. This is how it was meant to be understood. We can not simply interpret a verses in a vacuum of the culture, customs, and verbal constructs of the people who wrote them. We must always be careful when "translating" such verses to make sure that we translate them as they were intended by the author and as his people had come to understand them. I am sure that the people of this age would be quite upset if one of them were to write to their closest friend "you are an angel and a prince" and then centuries later a Japanese speaking person were to say: "See? The author has just born witness that his friend is a divine creature with wings that came down to earth and became royalty. He says so very clearly right here!" Well is all of this only my own personal attempt to pervert the verses and manipulate their meanings? Far from it. Many Christian scholars have known and recognized the true meaning of this verse and translated it into English accordingly, however, their translations were not met with a whole lot of enthusiasm and thus, they did not receive the same degree of publicity as has such translations as the King James Version. For example, Mr. J. M. Powis Smith in "The Complete Bible, an American Translation," quotes this same verse as follows: "For a child is born to us, a son is given to us; And the government will be upon his shoulder; And his name will be called 'Wonderful counselor is God Almighty, Father forever, Prince of peace'" "The Complete Bible, an American Translation," Isaiah 9:6 And again, if we were to read the translation of another Christian, for example Dr. James Moffatt, we would find that in his translation "The Holy Bible Containing the Old and New Testaments" the verse reads: "For a child has been born to us, a child has been given to us; the royal dignity he wears, and this the title he bears - 'A wonder of a counselor, a divine hero, a father for all time, a peaceful prince'" "The Holy Bible Containing the Old and New Testaments" Isaiah 9:6
1.2.3.12 How did Jesus' people know him? So if the followers of Jesus (pbuh) considered God to be their "Father," then how did they regard Jesus? To answer this let us read together: "And when he would have put him to death, he feared the multitude, because they counted him as a prophet." Matthew 14:5 (compare with Matthew 21:26) "And the multitude said, This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee." Matthew 21:11 "But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the multitude, because they took him for a prophet." Matthew 21:46 "And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people:" Luke 24:19 "The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet." John 4:19 "Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world." John 6:14 "Many of the people therefore, when they heard this saying, said, Of a truth this is the Prophet." John 7:40 Indeed, how did Jesus himself describe himself? Let us read: "Nevertheless I (Jesus) must walk to day, and to morrow, and the [day] following: for it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem." Luke 13:33 And they were offended in him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and in his own house. Matthew 13:57 This is once again confirmed in the noble Qur'an: "And when Jesus son of Mary said: O Children of Israel! Verily! I am the messenger of Allah unto you, confirming that which was [revealed] before me in the Torah" The noble Qur'an, Al-Saf(61):6
1.2.3.13 Is God a man? In the Bible we read "God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?", Numbers 23:19
1.2.3.14 Does God pray to Himself? Now, does God pray? Let us read the Bible:
All of these verses do not speak of Jesus (pbuh) "meditating," "interceding," "consorting," or "consulting," but PRAYING. But to whom? To Himself? To another side of his own personality? Is Jesus not "the same essence" as God, and all are one Trinity? If Jesus and God are not "the same essence" then this means that there is more than one God in existence, and thus, we have just directly opposed verse, after verse, after explicit verse of the Bible, all of which emphasize that there ever was, and ever shall be, only one God. Further, Jesus (pbuh) and his disciples are continuously being described in the Bible as "falling on their faces and praying" which is exactly the way Muslims pray today (see section 5.6). They pray the way Jesus (pbuh) did. Have you ever seen a Christian "fall on his face" and pray to God as Jesus (pbuh), Muhammad (pbuh), and all Muslims do? Mr. Tom Harpur says: "In fact, unless we are prepared to believe that his prayer-dependence on God was nothing more than a sham for our edification, a mere act to set us a good example, it is impossible to cling to the orthodox teaching that Jesus was really God Himself walking about in human form, the Second Person of the Trinity. The concept of God praying - let alone praying to Himself - is incomprehensible to me. To say that it was simply the human side of Jesus talking to God the Father (rather than his own divine nature as Son of God) is to posit a kind of schizophrenia that is incompatible with any belief in Jesus' full humanity" For Christ's Sake, pp. 42-43. Think about it, when we are told that Jesus was in the garden earnestly begging and pleading with God to please, please save him saying "let this cup pass from me" and "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" etc., then:
God has given us the answer in the Qur'an over 1400 years ago. He says: "And from those who said: "We are Christians," We took their covenant, but they forgot a good part of the message which was sent to them. Therefore We have stirred up enmity and hatred among them till the Day of Resurrection, and Allah will inform them of what they used to do. O people of the Scripture! Now has Our messenger (Muhammad) come to you, explaining to you much of that which you used to hide in the Scripture, and forgiving much. Indeed, there has come to you a light from Allah and a plain Scripture. Wherewith Allah guides him who seeks His good pleasure unto paths of peace. He brings them out of darkness by His will into light, and guides them to a straight path. They indeed have disbelieved who say: Lo! Allah is the Messiah, son of Mary. Say : Who then has the least power against Allah, if He had willed to destroy the Messiah son of Mary, and his mother and everyone on earth? And to Allah belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth and all that is between them. He creates what He will. And Allah is Able to do all things. The Jews and Christians say: We are sons of Allah and His loved ones. Say; Why then does He punish you for your sins? No, you are but mortals of His creating. He forgives whom He will, and punishes whom He will. And to Allah belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth and all that is between them, and unto Him is the return (of all). O people of the Scripture! Now has Our messenger (Muhammad) come unto you to make things plain after a break in (the series of) the messengers, lest you should say: There came not unto us a messenger of cheer nor any Warner. Now has a messenger of cheer and a Warner come unto you. And Allah is Able to do all things." The noble Qur'an, Al-Maidah(5):14-19
1.2.3.15 Jesus is God's servant All of mankind are the servants of God. If a man were to own another man then that man would be his servant. Obviously this servant would be held in a lower regard than this man's own children (or himself). We do not usually find people telling their sons (or themselves): "come here my servant," or "Go over there my servant." Let us compare this with what God has to say about Jesus (pbuh):
The Actual Greek word used is "pias" or "paida" which mean; "servant, child, son, manservant." Some translations of the Bible, such as the popular King James Version, have translated this word as "Son" when it is attributed to Jesus (pbuh) and "servant" for most everyone else, while more recent translations of the Bible such as the Revised Standard Version (RSV) now honestly translate it as "servant." As we shall see in later chapters, the RSV was compiled by thirty two Biblical scholars of the highest eminence, backed by 50 cooperating Christian denominations from the "most" ancient Biblical manuscripts available to them today. Chances are that no matter what your church or denomination you are able to name, that church took part in the correction of the King James Version of the Bible which resulted in the RSV. The exact same word "pias" is attributed to Jacob(Israel) in Luke 1:54 and translated as "servant": "He hath helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy;." It is also applied to King David in Luke 1:69, and once again, it is translated as "servant": "....the house of his servant David;" (also see Acts 4:25). However, when it is applied to Jesus (e.g. Acts 3:13, Acts 4:27), NOW it is translated as "Son." (notice that it is not only translated as "son" but as "Son".) Why the double standard? Why the dishonest translation techniques? "And verily, among them is a party who twist their tongues with the Scripture that you might think that it is from the Scripture but it is not from the Scripture; and they say, 'It is from Allah' but it is not from Allah; and they speak a lie against Allah while [well] they know it!" The noble Qur'an, A'al-Umran(3):78 "The Messiah will never scorn to be a servant of Allah, nor will the favored angels. Whosoever scorns His service and is proud, all such will He assemble unto Him; Then as for those who believed and did good works, unto them will he pay their wages in full and shall increase them from His bounty. [But] as for those who were scornful and proud, He shall punish hem with a painful torment, nor will they find for themselves other than Allah any ally or champion" The noble Qur'an, Al-Nissa(4):172-174
1.2.3.16 Does God have a God? In John 20:17 we read: "Jesus saith unto her, ...I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your." Not only is God Jesus' father, but He is also his GOD. Think about this carefully. Also notice how Jesus is equating between himself and mankind in these matters and not between himself and God. He is making it as clear as he possibly can that he is one of US and not a god. Why did he not just say "I ascend unto my Father, and your Father ." ... and stop !? Why did Jesus feel it necessary to add the words "...and to my God, and your God." What additional information was he trying to convey to us with these extra words? Think about it carefully.
1.2.3.17 Is God greater than Himself? Okay, If Jesus and God are two distinct gods and one is greater than the other ("my Father is greater than I" John 14:28) then this contradicts such verses as Isaiah 43:10-11 and the very definition of the "Trinity" (see section 2.2.5) which includes the words: "..Co-equality.." in it's definition (see section 2.2.8). However, if they are not two separate gods, but ONE god, as claimed by all Trinitarians (like Mr. J), then is Jesus (pbuh) praying to himself? Is, for instance, his mind praying to his soul? Why?
1.2.3.18 More to think about Matthew 11:11 "Verily I (Jesus) say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist." Not even Jesus? Jesus (pbuh) was born of a woman. Job 25:4: "How then can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is born of a woman?" Once again, Jesus (pbuh) was born of a woman. Shall we now apply this to him? Not as far as Muslims are concerned.
1.2.3.19 Was God ignorant and savage? The Bible describes Jesus (pbuh) as follows: "And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature." Luke 2:52 and "Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered." Hebrews 5:8 If Jesus is God and they are not two separate gods, then did God start out as an ignorant and savage god and then become a learned (wisdom) and prestigious (stature) god? Does God have to learn? Does God start out savage and increase in stature? Does God need to learn obedience to God? If there is only one God in existence, and this god is a "Trinity" with three faces: God, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost (required by Isaiah 43:10-11 and countless other verses), then is Jesus (pbuh) learning obedience to another side of his own personality? If as we are constantly told, God Jesus and the Holy Ghost are ONE God, and if God surrendered some of His godly attributes and became man, then did He also surrender His knowledge and become ignorant, and His stature and become savage? Did He have to rebuild His knowledge and His stature from scratch? Mr. Tom Harpur says: "In fact, if you read Mark's whole Gospel carefully you will discover that the disciples were far from recognizing the divinity later attributed to Jesus. The very ones who should have been most able to see through the 'disguise' are at times depicted as dull-witted and even downright stupid....Some scholars, indeed, have calculated that Mark deliberately showed the disciples in a rather bad light because he was conscious of a serious problem. If Jesus was the Son of God in the later; more orthodox sense, how was it that his closest associates - the witnesses of his miracles and the confidants of his deepest teachings - never knew who he was until well after the resurrection?" For Christ's Sake, pp. 59. Remember, most Christian scholars today recognize that the authors of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke used the "Gospel of Mark" as the source document from which they obtained their material. In Grolier's encyclopedia, under the heading "Mark, Gospel According to", we read: "Mark is the second Gospel in the New Testament of the Bible. It is the earliest and the shortest of the four Gospels. ...Much material in Mark is repeated in Matthew and in Luke, leading most scholars to conclude that Mark was written first and used independently by the other writers" Well, what then is the Islamic perspective on all of this? Islam teaches that God does not need to lower Himself in order to display His love and mercy for humanity, rather, He retains His glory, majesty and sovereignty and then raises humanity: "Allah will exalt those who have believed from among you, and those who have been granted knowledge, to high ranks. And Allah is Well-Acquainted with what you do." The noble Qur'an, Al-Mujadila(58):11 "Whosoever desires honor, power and glory, then [let them know that] to Allah belongs all honor, power and glory. To Him ascends the good word, and the righteous deed does raise it; but those who plot iniquities, theirs will be an awful doom; and the plotting of such (folk) will come to naught." The noble Qur'an, Fatir(35):10
1.2.3.20 But he must be God, or else we can not be saved But the Church will tell us that it is necessary for Jesus (pbuh) to be the son of God and to die on the cross as an ultimate sacrifice in atonement for the original sin, otherwise they are all destined for hell. As Paul taught them "without shedding of blood is no remission." Hebrews 9:22. Let us study Paul's claim: If the sin of one man can make all mankind sinners as claimed in Romans 5:12, then: 1) This requires that all babies are sinners from birth and are only saved if they later "accept the sacrifice of their Lord and are baptized." All others remain stained with the original sin and destined for destruction. Till recently, unbaptized infants were not buried in consecrated ground because they were believed to have died in original sin. Saint Augustine himself is quoted as saying: "No one is clean, not even if his life be only for a day" A dictionary of Biblical tradition in English literature, p.577). This, however, contradicts the words of Jesus himself "But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 19:14 (also Mark 10:14, and Luke 18:16). So Jesus (pbuh) himself is telling us that children are born without sin and are destined for heaven without qualification. In other words, no one is born stained with an original sin. Once again, the teachings of Islam. Islam teaches that you are destined for salvation from your very birth. This will be your reward unless you refuse this gift and insist on disobeying God. 2) All the many millennia of previous prophets (Moses, Abraham, Jacob, Noah, ...etc.) and their people are all condemned to never receive true salvation simply because Jesus, the alleged "Son of God," arrived to late to save them. In other words, they have sin forced upon them (by Adam, 1 Corinthians 15:22) and the chance for redemption withheld from them (By Jesus' late arrival after their death, Galatians 2:16). Paul says "Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come." Romans 5:14 "For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath reason to boast; but not before God." Romans 4:2 If Jesus had only arrived as soon as Adam committed his sin and not thousands of generations later then maybe all of these generations could have received true salvation (like this generation). Did Abraham or any of the other prophets ever preach the "crucifixion"? Did they preach the "Trinity"? I am asking for clear and decisive words and not personal forced interpretations of their words or "hidden meanings" for their words. If you are not sure then why not ask the Jews who we are told faultlessly transmitted two thirds of the Bible to us? Have any of them ever worshipped a Trinity? Many people do not bother to think about this. As long as they are going to heaven, what does it matter what happens to others? 3) What right did the prophets of God have to deceive their people and tell them that they would receive eternal salvation and expiation from their sins if they but kept the commandments? What right did they have to teach them all of these commandments and the observance of the Sabbath and other hardships if all of their works were worthless and belief in Jesus' sacrifice which would not occur till many thousands of years after their death was the only way to salvation, or as Paul put it : "a man is not justified by the works of the law ... for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.." Galatians 2:16. 4) Explain Ezekiel 18:19-20 "Yet do you say: Why shouldn't the son bear the iniquity of the father? When the son hath done that which is lawful and right, and hath kept all my statutes, and hath done them, he shall surely live. The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.." This verse was revealed long before the birth of Paul and his claims of "original sin" and "redemption." It clearly states that all mankind are not held accountable by God Almighty for the sin of Adam. "The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin.." Deuteronomy 24:16 "In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children's teeth are set on edge. But every one shall die for his own iniquity: every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge." Jeremiah 31:29-30 "The word of the LORD came unto me again, saying, What mean ye, that ye use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge? As I live, saith the Lord GOD, ye shall not have occasion any more to use this proverb in Israel. Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die. But if a man be just, and do that which is lawful and right, And hath not eaten upon the mountains, neither hath lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, neither hath defiled his neighbor's wife, neither hath come near to a menstruous woman, And hath not oppressed any, but hath restored to the debtor his pledge, hath spoiled none by violence, hath given his bread to the hungry, and hath covered the naked with a garment; He that hath not given forth upon usury, neither hath taken any increase, that hath withdrawn his hand from iniquity, hath executed true judgment between man and man, Hath walked in my statutes, and hath kept my judgments, to deal truly; he is just, he shall surely live, saith the Lord God" Ezekiel 18:1-9 "Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy." Micah 7:18: "So ye shall not pollute the land wherein ye [are]: for blood it defileth the land: and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein, but by the blood of him that shed it." Numbers 35:33 5) Isaiah 43:11 "I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no savior." How is Jesus the savior if God Himself denies this? Remember, we have already discarded the doctrine of "Trinity." "I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me," Isaiah 46:9 "the LORD he is God; there is none else beside him," Deuteronomy 4:35 "See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me," Deuteronomy 32:39 "That all the people of the earth may know that the LORD is God, and that there is none else," 1 Kings 8:60 "Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any," Isaiah 44:8 "I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me," Isaiah 45:5 "and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Savior there is none beside me," Isaiah 45:21 "I am God, and there is none else." Isaiah 45:22: 6) "Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him." John 14:23. "If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love." John 15:10. So what were Jesus' words to us?: "And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness. Honor thy father and [thy] mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet? Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go [and] sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come [and] follow me." Matthew 19:16-21. Jesus (pbuh) refutes that he is even "good." This is a characteristic of a MAN. When you compliment a man, and this man is humble, he will say: "why are you complimenting me? I am not so good, I am just a humble man." This is how good and decent men speak. It is how they display humility before God. However, if Jesus (pbuh) is God then he must claim to be good. This is because God is the source of ultimate good. If God claims not to be good then he will be a hypocrite and a liar which is impossible. Jesus then goes on to completely bypass any mention of an original sin or an atonement. He does not tell this man that "a man is not justified by the works of the law ... for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.." Rather, he tells him that the keeping of the commandments and the selling of one's belongings is the path to perfection. No mention of an original sin. No mention of an atonement. No mention of a crucifixion. No mention of faith without work. As we have seen in sections 1.2.5 through 1.2.7 (and we shall see much more of this in later sections), all of these beliefs were the beliefs of Paul and not Jesus. Paul, a disciple of Jesus' disciple Barnabas, is quoted to have said that the law of Moses is worthless. Belief in the crucifixion is the only requirement "Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified" Galatians 2:16 Also: "Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law." Romans 3:28 And: "In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away" Hebrews 8:13. And: "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned." Mark 16:16 Please compare the above with "The law of the LORD [is] perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD [is] sure, making wise the simple." Psalm 19:7 Jesus (pbuh), however, tells us that "For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled, Fulfillment of Law of Moses. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 5:18-19. Even James emphasizes that: "What [doth it] profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be [ye] warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what [doth it] profit? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent [them] out another way? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also." James 2:14-20 It comes down to this: Who's words carry more weight with us, Jesus or Paul? Jesus and James both say "have faith in God and obey the commandments and you shall be saved." Paul on the other hand says "Forget the commandments, just have faith in the death of Jesus!" So who do we trust, Jesus or Paul? When God Almighty sent down the Noble Qur'an in order to "bear witness" over the previous scriptures and to "rectify" the changes which have crept into them over the ages, He also provided us with the path to salvation. Strangely enough, in the Qur'an we find a confirmation of the message of both Jesus and James: "And whosoever does of the righteous good deeds, be they male or female, and has faith, such will enter Paradise and shall not be wronged even so much as a 'Naqeer'(the speck on the back of a date stone)" The noble Qur'an, Al-Nissa(4):124 "And whosoever works deed of righteousness and has faith, then he shall fear no injustice nor any curtailment [of his reward]." The noble Qur'an, Ta'ha(20):112 "Verily, those who believed and did righteous deeds, they are the best of creatures" The noble Qur'an, Al-Bayyinah(98):7 "[God swears] by all time!. Verily, humanity is in loss. Except such as had faith, and did righteous deeds, and encouraged one-another in truth, and encouraged one-another in patience." The noble Qur'an, Al-Asr(103):1-3 Jesus (pbuh) himself never said "Believe in my sacrifice on the cross and you will be saved." He didn't tell this young man "You are filthy wicked and sinful and can never enter heaven except through my redeeming blood and your belief in my sacrifice." He simply said repeatedly "keep the commandments" and nothing more. If Jesus (pbuh) was being prepared and conditioned for this sacrifice from the beginning of time, then why did he not mention it to this man? Even when this man pressed him for more, Jesus only told him that to be "PERFECT" he only needs to sell his belongings. He made no mention whatsoever of his crucifixion, an original sin, or a redemption. Would this not be quite sadistic of Jesus (pbuh) if Paul's claims are true "for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified"? We do not know when or how this young man later died. However, supposing he died the very next day, right after receiving this command directly from the mouth of Jesus, would he then be destined for Hell since he never believed in a Trinity, an original sin, a crucifixion or an atonement even though he was following the command of Jesus to the letter? If Jesus' (pbuh) whole mission in life was to die on the cross in atonement for the "sin of Adam," and if this was the founding reason why he was sent, would we not be justified in expecting him to spend night and day drumming this into the minds of his followers? Should we not expect him to speak of nothing else? Should we not expect him to spend night and day preaching that the commandments shall soon be thrown out the window (Galatians 3:13) and faith in his upcoming crucifixion shall be the only thing required of them? (Romans 3:28). Should we not expect Jesus (pbuh) to echo the teachings of Paul who never in his life met Jesus but claims Jesus (pbuh) was preaching these things to him in "visions"? Should we not expect Jesus (pbuh) to tell everyone he meets "The commandments are worthless. I shall be dying on the cross soon. Believe in my sacrifice and you shall be saved"? Is this not dictated by plain simple logic? Can we find such an explicit statement from Jesus anywhere in the whole Bible? 7) We read in the Bible that Jesus (pbuh) taught his followers to pray to God as follows: "..And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." Matthew 6:12. Also: "And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us." Luke 11:4. Jesus is asking us to pray to God that He forgive our sins. But how does he want God to forgive our sins? By a blood sacrifices of a sinless god? No!. That is not what he said. Rather, he taught us to ask God to forgive us "as we forgive those who are indebted to us." Therefore one must ask, if someone owes us money and we want to forgive them, what do we do?:
Therefore, did Jesus teach us to pray to God that He should:
In the Qur'an we are told that Adam (pbuh) did indeed repent "And Adam received from his Lord words (teaching him how to repent) and He relented toward him. Lo! He is the Relenting the Merciful" The noble Qur'an, Al-Bakarah(2):37 So Adam (pbuh) received a revelation from God showing him how to repent and he did so. God Almighty did not mandate a gruesome and torturous death for "His only begotten son" or anything else. He simply accepted Adam's repentance and relented. This is true mercy. Tom Harpur, a former professor of New Testament, author of "For Christ's Sake," and an Anglican Minister writes; "Perhaps I am lacking in piety or some basic instinct, but I know I am not alone in finding the idea of Jesus' death as atonement for the sins of all humanity on one level bewildering and on the other morally repugnant. Jesus never to my knowledge said anything to indicate that forgiveness from God could only be granted 'after' or 'because of' the Cross." For Christ's Sake, p.75 1.2.3.21 But he must be God, he was lifted up A Christian gentleman from Canada once quoted John 3:14-15 in an attempt to prove that Jesus (pbuh) died and was resurrected. The actual words are: "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.." If we are to conclude that the act of God raising someone up is a sign that that person is a god or God Himself then we need to wonder how we shall then interpret the fact that God also raised Elijah (2 Kings 2:11) and Enoch (Genesis 5:24) neither of which, according to the Bible and the consensus of the Christian scholars, died natural deaths but were instead "raised up" or "taken" by God because of their piety, uprightness, and their "walking with God." Further, anyone who would simply read the above verses carefully will notice that they never mention either a "crucifixion" or a "resurrection." They also do not mention an "original sin" or an "atonement." They do not even mention a "Son of God." So, what do they say? They say exactly what Muslims say: That Jesus (pbuh) was not forsaken by God to the Jews, but was raised by God! "And because of their saying (in boast): We killed the Messiah Jesus, son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah, but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but a similitude of that was shown to them, and those who differ therein are full of doubts. They have no (certain) knowledge, except the following of conjecture. For surely; they killed him not. But Allah raised him up unto Himself, and Allah is All-Powerful, All-Wise" The noble Qur'an, Al-Nissa(4):157-158. This is what the "Gospel of Barnabas" says too. If you were to read the Gospel of Barnabas (see chapter 7), you would find that when Jesus (pbuh) was allegedly crucified, all of the faithful were weeping in the streets and they began to have serious doubts about his truthfulness and his true prophethood. They said "Jesus told us that he would not die until just before the end of time. Now he has been crucified by his enemies. Was he a liar?" (by the way, Muslims also believe that Jesus, pbuh, will return to earth just before the end of time and will guide mankind to the final message of God. The message of Islam). The same Gospel then goes on to describe how Jesus (pbuh) returned a few days later with four angels to the house of his mother Mary (pbuh) and was seen by the apostles. He described how God had saved him from the hands of the Jews, and had made it so that Judas resembled him and was taken in his place. He told them that those who believe in him must believe that everything he had preached to them was true. If they believed that he was raised by God and not forsaken to the Jews to be crucified, then they would have eternal life. Is this not what the verses say? Please read sections 5.10, 5.16 and chapter 7. To read the rest of this book, please visit: Page 4 To go back to the Table of Contents of this book, please visit: What did Jesus really say? |
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