I did not mean to offend you nor have you come off the subject at hand. These were articles to address what you and Chris were talking about more accurately. In my opinion these articles are pretty well documented and look like there pretty reputable.
They offend me because they are false. Don't you think if any of it were true that every Church and Christian would know about it? Why is it when we look in the Encyclopedia Biblica, a product of the Catholic Church, do we find their words that there "Is no good explanation of where Islam originate from?" Do you think they have yet to stumble on this information you have been posting to the board?
That article will only convince 2 kinds of people: (1)Those that hate Islam and (2) those lazy enough not to investigate further. I explained in detail where the Crescent and Star originated from (1453) and provided numerous sources. If you do not believe them, then it is obvious you choose to believe that which agrees with your faith instead of that which is proven (1 Thessalonians 5:21).
Here are Three Christian writers and their commentary on the type of info being spread here on these boards.
"I have read in Moslem writings such deep and tender expressions of respect and reverence for Jesus that for the time I almost forgot, I was not reading the words of a Christian writer. How different, it is sad to say, has been the way in which Christians have spoken and written of Muhammad. Let us put it down to it's true cause, ignorance"
Reverend R. Maxwell King
"The lies which well-meaning zeal has heaped round this man (Muhammad) are disgraceful to ourselves only"
Heroes and Hero Worship and the Heroic in History, Thomas Carlyle, p. 57
"The use of false evidence to attack Islam was all but universal."
Islam and the West, Norman Daniel, p. 267
Norman Daniel's comments hit straight home with this most recent attack of somehow "Allah" being a former Idol. It's both an act of insult and ignorance to all that read it.
1. Who is Jesus Christ?
Muslims believe Jesus Christ is an elite Messenger from God. He was created from God's spirit sent unto the Jews (Matthew 15:22-28). Jesus was a faultless human being that only preached the same laws that had come before him (Matthew 5:18-19). He was born to a virgin Mary, selected by God.
Some selected verses from the Qur'an about Jesus:
"When God saith: O Jesus, son of Mary! Remember My favor unto you and unto thy mother; how I strengthened you with the holy Spirit, so that you spoke unto mankind in the cradle as in maturity; and how I taught you the Scripture and Wisdom and the Torah and the Gospel; and how you did shape of clay as it were the likeness of a bird by My permission, and did blow upon it and it was a bird by My permission, and you did heal him who was born blind and the leper by My permission; and how you did raise the dead, by My permission and how I restrained the Children of Israel from (harming) you when you came unto them with clear proofs, and those of them who disbelieved exclaimed: This is naught else than mere magic" Al-Maidah(5):110
"And (remember) when Moses said unto his people: O my people! Why persecute you me, when you well know that I am God's messenger unto you? So when they went astray God sent their hearts astray. And Allah guides not the deviant folk. And when Jesus son of Mary said: O Children of Israel! Lo! I am the messenger of God unto you, confirming that which was (revealed) before me in the Torah, and bringing good tidings of a messenger who comes after me, whose name is Ahmed. Yet when he had come unto them with clear proofs, they said: This is clearly magic. And who does greater wrong than he who invents a lie against God when he is summoned unto Islam. And God guides not the unjust folk. Fain would they put out the light of God with their mouths, but God will perfect His light however much the disbelievers are averse. He it is who has sent His messenger with the guidance and the religion of truth, that He may make it conqueror of all religion however much the idolaters may detest it. O you who believe! Shall I show you a commerce that will save you from a painful torture? You should believe in God and His messenger, and should strive in the cause of God with your wealth and your lives. That is better for you, if you did but know. He will forgive you your sins and bring you into Gardens underneath which rivers flow, and pleasant dwellings in Gardens of Eden. That is the supreme triumph." Al-Saf(61):5-12
"(And remember) when God said: O Jesus! Lo! I am gathering you and causing you to ascend unto Me, and am cleansing you of those who disbelieve and am setting those who follow you above those who disbelieve until the Day of Resurrection. Then unto Me you will (all) return, and I shall judge between you as to that wherein you used to differ. As for those who disbelieve I shall chastise them with a heavy chastisement in the world and the Hereafter; and they will have no helpers. And as for those who believe and do good works, He will pay them their wages in full. God loves not wrongdoers. This (which) We recite unto you is a revelation and a wise reminder." A'al-Umran(3):55-58
2. Do you recognize sin? How do you reconcile your relationship to God, when you have sinned, when clearly God states you must have reconciliation?
Here is the Islamic view towards sin:
Humanity is created by God destined for heaven unless they chose to disobey Him and refuse His mercy. God can very trivially and effortlessly forgive the sins of all of Humanity no matter if they were to fill the lofty regions of the sky. Such a matter would be trivial and inconsequential for Him since He has already done much more than that such as creating everything we can ever see, hear or imagine. He loves to bestow His mercy and forgiveness on His creation and rewards the most trivial acts with the most tremendous rewards. In order to achieve God's reward one must have faith as well as works.
Adam "atoned" for his sin by saying "My Lord I have sinned and if you do not forgive me and have mercy upon me then I shall indeed have lost." So God forgave him. Similarly, all human beings have the door to forgiveness left open to them by God until the day they die. There are no intermediaries between mankind and God. If they sincerely repent to God, ask His forgiveness, and forsake their evil deeds before their hour comes then He shall forgive them and there is nothing more pleasing to Him than to forgive the sins of one who comes to Him in sincere repentance.
As I have stated before, the Bible mentions numerous times that each person is responsible for their own deeds. Jesus stressed to keep the Laws before he departed.
Both Muslims as well as Christians affirm that God Almighty is a just and merciful God. Muslims believe that the sign of God's mercy is that He multiplies the good deeds of mankind from ten to seven hundred times, or even more. He also counts an evil deed as a single evil deed or forgives it. The Church, on the other hand, claims that the sign of God's mercy is that He sacrificed His only begotten son to save mankind. Let us study this claim:
If God Almighty decided to sacrifice His only son for the redemption of mankind, then we have one of two cases:
1) Jesus (pbuh) did not know of this plan and the fate God had decreed for him.
2) Jesus (pbuh) knew of this plan and the fate God had decreed for him.
In the first case, if Jesus (pbuh) did not know of God's plan, then this insinuates that God either tricked Jesus (pbuh) into this fate, or God forced Jesus (pbuh) into this fate. In other words, Jesus' mercy and sacrifice require God Himself to be savage, blood-thirsty, and ruthless. This, of course, is preposterous.
In the second case, if Jesus (pbuh) did know of this plan, then we are faced with three problems:
a) If Jesus' (pbuh) sole mission to mankind was to die on the cross, free them from the original sin, free them from the law of Moses (pbuh), and provide salvation for them, then why did he never in his lifetime mention it to his followers? Why did he not spend night and day drumming these new concepts into their minds? Why did he himself observe the commandments of Moses (pbuh) so completely and so faithfully even up till his alleged death? In Matthew 19:16-21 when Jesus (pbuh) was asked for the path to heaven, why did he emphasize the keeping of the commandments of Moses but never mention the crucifixion nor the redemption or having "faith" in them? Why, when he was pressed for more, did he still not mention either a crucifixion nor a redemption but only claim that anyone who kept the commandments of Moses (pbuh) and sold his belongings would be "perfect"? Why did he not say "have faith in my crucifixion and forsake the commandments and you shall be 'perfect'"?
B) If Jesus' (pbuh) sole mission to mankind was to die on the cross, free them from the original sin, free them from the law of Moses (pbuh), and provide salvation for them, then why, when he was in the garden of Gethsemane did he plead with God Almighty and implore Him "Eli, Eli Lama sabachthani", meaning "my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46)? Why are the words of Matthew 27:46 the only words of all of the New Testament reported in their original Aramaic form (The Language which Jesus (Pbuh) spoke in)? Could it be that Jesus' alleged helpless cry left such a vivid impression of a man seemingly bereft of hope that anyone who heard them would remember the exact words? Why did he allegedly beseech God to "let this cup pass" (Matthew 26:39, Mark 14:36, Luke 22:42)? Did he get cold feet? Was he trying to back out of a fate he had previously accepted? Was the redemption of mankind not so important any more?
C) If Jesus' (pbuh) sole mission to mankind was to die on the cross, free all of Mankind from the original sin, free them from the law of Moses (pbuh), and provide salvation for them, then why when he spoke to the Canaanite woman in Matthew 15:22-8 did he refuse to heal her daughter on the grounds that he was sent to the Jews alone "I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel,"? According to Jesus' words in these verses, his mission was for the Jews alone, therefore it was not fitting for him to even heal a non-Jewess woman since in his own words "It is not meet to take the children's bread and to cast it to dogs." Was Jesus to die on the cross for the Jews alone? If Jesus (pbuh) did not see fit to even heal non-Jews then how could we claim that he knew and accepted from the beginning of time that he was going to endure torture, humiliation, and finally a very gruesome death in order to provide eternal salvation for all of mankind? Did God and Jesus (pbuh) not know when he was first sent what his ultimate mission would be? Did his mission change later on? Did they not decide that it was necessary for Jesus (pbuh) to die for the "original sin" until the end of Jesus' mission?
Once again, we find both alternatives preposterous. As has been previously proven from both the Old Testament as well as the Qur'an, mankind does not inherit sin, nor does God hold them responsible for the same (for more evidence from the Bible, please ask). God only judges mankind according to their own individual actions and forgives much of their transgressions. Jesus (pbuh) was human messenger of God sent to the Jews alone in order to return them to the message of Moses and discard the innovations that had crept into their book over the ages. The "universal messenger" would not come until six hundred years later. He would teach mankind that God Almighty was capable of all things and that mankind's salvation lies within their own hands if they worship Him as He commanded and seek His boundless mercy.
May the Peace and Blessings of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful, Be Upon You,
Ray |
