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In short, from the verses above adduced it is perfectly certain that Christ
openly and clearly claimed Deity
(أُلُوهيّة) as belonging to Himself. Hence whoever is
with all his heart searching for the truth, and who, putting aside all prejudice
and bigotry, is willing to accept what the holy Scriptures tell us Christ
Himself taught, can no longer entertain any doubt or hesitate to accept the
doctrine of the Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Word of God.
But some one may say: 'Others besides Christ have claimed Deity; for example,
Mansuru'l-Hallaj, who said, "I am 1 the truth" (i.e. God). Moreover
in recent times somewhat similar claims have been made by Baha'u'llah in Persia,
and by others elsewhere. Some of these men were Sufis, some were impostors, some
were maniacs. Why should Christ's claim be accepted rather than that of one of
these men?' Of course this objection could not be raised by a true Muslim; but
even an unbeliever has a right to an answer, when he is really in earnest and
asks courteously for a reply. Hence we proceed to answer this objection.
Some of these men may have been merely mystics, and may have meant to say
that they had submitted their will and conduct to God and brought themselves
into entire harmony with His most holy will. If this is what was meant by any of
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PROOF OF THE DEITY OF CHRIST
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57
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them, the meaning should have been plainly expressed. It was both wrong and
foolish for a man who meant no more than this to call himself God. It was
blasphemy. But we have already seen that no such explanation will suit the
claims made by our Lord Jesus Christ. We believe our Lord's claim to Deity, and
we reject the claims of all other men for the simple reason that we have
sufficient proofs of the truth of the claim of the Lord Jesus Christ and
have no proof whatever that any one else had any right to call Himself
God, or the Son of God, or the manifestation
(مظهر) of God, or by any similar title.
In the case of no one else do we find (a) the testimony of angels in
support of the claim, (b) nor that of a voice from heaven, (c) nor
preceding prophecies in the Old Testament, (d) nor the power of working
such great and beneficent miracles, (e) nor a transfiguration, (f)
nor a resurrection from the dead, (g) nor power to give new spiritual
life to believers, and to deliver them from sin and enable them to serve God
faithfully unto death, (h) nor the fulfilment of prophecies afterwards, (i)
nor, above all, a perfectly sinless and beautiful character, such as that of the
Lord Jesus Christ, the 'Sinless Prophet'
(النّبيّ
المعصوم). Even were we to leave out of
consideration everything except Christ's own spotless character, which alone can
give men any proper conception of a God worthy of love and reverence,
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