E.
Some Notes on Islam and Terrorists
E1.
Basic
Issues between Islam and Christianity - Nov
24, 2006
Muslims would argue that they have been saying for 1400 years criticisms of Christianity, which our own Christian writers are now saying:
- Immanuel Kant, “The doctrine of the Trinity provides nothing, absolutely nothing, of practical value even if one claims to understand it; still less when one is convinced that it far surpasses understanding. It costs the student nothing to accept that we adore three or ten persons in the divinity…. Furthermore, this distinction offers absolutely no guidance for conduct.”
- Thomas Jefferson, “When we shall be done away with the incomprehensible jargon of the Trinitarian arithmetic, that three are one, and one is three; when we shall have knocked down the artificial scaffolding, reared to mask from the view the very simple structure of Jesus; when, in short, we shall have unlearned everything, which has been taught since His day, and got back to the pure and simple doctrines inculcated, we shall then be truly and worthily His disciples.”
- Dorothy Sayers, “The Father is incomprehensible, the Son is incomprehensible, and the whole thing is incomprehensible. Trinity is something put in by theologians to make it more difficult – nothing to do with daily life or ethics.”
The Qur’an offers two verses specifically referring to the doctrine of the Trinity:
- Sura 4:171 “O people of the book! (Jews and Christians) Commit no excesses in your religion: nor say of Allah aught but the truth. Christ Jesus the son of Mary was a messenger of Allah, and His Word, which He bestowed on Mary.” “Say not ‘Trinity’: desist: it will be better for you: for Allah is One God: glory be to Him.”
- Sura 5:73 “They do blaspheme, who say: Allah is one of three in a Trinity: for there is no God except One God. If they desist not from their word (of blasphemy), verily a grievous penalty will befall the blasphemers among them.”
Background:
Muhammad felt he was a monotheist like the Jews and Christians and a prophet like Moses and Jesus. He was not very well educated and did not have first-hand knowledge about the Jewish or Christian scriptures. Yet, he thought that he agreed with Jews and Christians on the essentials and that his Qur’an was a confirmation of the previous Scriptures, which were the “Word of God”. Later in Islamic history, as Muslims came in contact with Jewish and Christian communities and began to read the Scriptures, they realized that there were serious contradictions to the Qur’an in them. Hence, came the doctrine of “tahrif”(corruption), claiming that the Jews and Christians had corrupted their scriptures and that accounted for the contradictions with the pure and true teachings of the Qur’an – God’s last attempt to set the record straight. This view is supported by some modern Christian scholars, who say that translators put their own words into the scriptures as though God, Christ, Moses, had said them.
Islam has great appeal to people of all backgrounds because it presents itself as a very rationale, intellectual, easy-to-understand faith. Muslims believe that Christianity is filled with mysteries and mumbo jumbo that nobody can understand – people simply have to take it by faith. But Islam presents itself as a very rationale, simple religion – the religion of nature that any child can understand.
Some examples of Christian “mumbo jumbo” to be taken by faith alone would include:
- The Fatherhood of God. How can God beget a Son? This implies sexual relations. It sounds like blasphemy to call on God as though He, the Creator, has any obligation towards or need for intimacy with humanity.
- The Theory of Atonement. Why must God punish at all? If punishment is necessary, how can guilt be transferred to someone else? How can the suffering of an innocent person take away my guilt?
- The Doctrine of the Trinity. Islam believes in pure Monotheism – One God and One alone. The doctrine of the Trinity is incoherent, illogical, and not understood by Christians, who can not even explain it to themselves much less to an outsider.
The Fatherhood of
God:
- This was a radical departure from Jewish tradition
- Christ infuriated His enemies with this, suggesting His intimate relationship with God
- Matt 17:5 God addresses Christ as His beloved Son.
- Jesus bears the Title, “Son of God” (ie the Only begotten of the Father = monogeneis)
o Never been any understanding among Christians that the Son had a beginning.
- John 8:33, 39 If the Jews had been sons of Abraham they’d do the works of Abraham
o Indicates that Christ was the Son of God in ethical not biological terms
o Indicates Christ was “perfectly obedient to the Creator God”
- I suggest that God imagines Himself as a human born of a woman, ie Son of God
o None of the other images of God are “born of a woman”. Christ is unique.
- Matt 6:9 Christ taught us to pray to God as our Father in heaven. (Rom 8:15)
- Islam never developed the concept of a personal relationship with the Creator
o Islam originally sought to oppose the pagan views that the gods married humans
o Islam emphasizes the absolute sovereignty of God. Not fitting to beget a son.
o To talk about God as a Father implies sexual relations derogatory to God.
o It is blasphemy to say that God begets a son like a human or an animal might.
o Islam does not allow for intimacy between humans and God
§ God is the master and humans are his servants
The Theory of Atonement:
- The idea that God forgives human sin by punishing an innocent figure in our place.
- Islam claims individuals as morally autonomous and responsible for their own actions
- Why must God punish at all? If necessary, how can guilt be transferred to another?
o How can the suffering of an innocent person remove my guilt?
o Christian Enlightenment Movement agrees with this view
- I suggest that we are not “Saved from the consequence of our sins” since we still die.
o The wages of sin is death, since sin is a choice to do what will kill you
o Christ dies with us to show us that:
§ God created this Great Controversy for essential reasons
§ God loves us enough to die with us
§ His resurrection is the hope of our resurrection one day.
§ Where He is now we can follow, ie to join the angelic kingdom of heaven
o In God’s Plan for humans, we will be recreated without sin as angelic beings
§ We will watch the replay of the human drama and understand good & evil
§ Sin will never arise again in the kingdom of heaven
§ Thus it will be understood that Christ died to save us from our sins
§ We must “choose to trust” God’s promise/gift of Everlasting Life
The Trinity of God:
- Islam says Trinity is an illogical and incoherent notion, which most Christians believe is not to be understood.
o They cannot explain it to themselves so they say it is a mystery of faith.
o Complexity is one thing; incoherence is another; Paradox vs nonsense
o Sounds like Christians believe in more than one God even though they don’t want to
- I suggest that anyone who can imagine has exactly three distinct persons in themselves
o The thinker, the image of the thinker in their thoughts, and their thoughts/spirit.
o All are distinct yet each is the same being
o The being must have all three persons to exist at all.
o It must work the same for the Creator God.
- God creates by imagining, ie imagination is creative thought
o We are made in the “image” of God because we can imagine
Islam denies both the Death of Christ and His Divinity:
- Islam teaches that Jesus was an historical figure, ie a human prophet, like Moses
o They “trust in the words of Jesus”, but now believe the Bible texts were corrupted
§ God sent Muhammad as a messenger to set the records straight again
o They believe that the Crucifixion was staged to make Jews believe they killed Jesus
§ Sura 4:157-8 God actually raised up Jesus and Jesus will come again
§ Muslims believe that God’s prophets cannot die such shameful deaths
§ Muslims do not believe there was any need for Christ to die for us.
§ The Qur’an has no understanding of what the Titles for Christ in OT meant
· Eg Messiah, Word of God,
o The Theory of Atonement is a continuation of the Traditions in Torah, ie Leviticus
§ From the beginning of the OT, sacrifices had to be made as atonement for sin
- The Qur’an denies the divinity of Christ (Sura 5:72, 75; 9:30), as do some Christian scholars
o Only the Father knows the time of His return
o Only God is “good”
o Who was Christ talking to when praying to the Father?
- The NT (1 John 5:11-12) tells us, Believing in Christ is the key to Everlasting Life.
o How did Christ answer the Question in Matt 16:15?
§ Matt 9:6 Only God can forgive sins
§ John 6:35; 10:7; 14; 8:58 All statements by Christ where He claimed divinity
o How can Christ be God incarnate, ie Totally Human yet totally Divine?
§ I think my model of God as the Thinker totally explains this like nothing else
§ Think of any other model that works – there are none.
§ This mystery is being revealed to us in these End Times.
25 November 2006
For more on this and a response to any questions, please email any comments to nasamike@nasamike.com