Al-Kadhi writes:
This is very brief, and definitely not complete.
a) Jesus on his pre-existence:
Jesus is the only man in the history of the world who existed before
his birth. (I am not talking about
people who believe in reincarnation, since both Christianity and Islam
reject it)
John 8:
56 "Your father Abraham rejoiced
to see my day: and he saw it,
and was glad.
57 Then said the Jews unto him,
Thou art not yet fifty years old, and
hast thou seen Abraham?
58 Jesus said unto them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Before
Abraham was, I am.
59 Then took they up stones to
cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and
went out of the
temple, going
through the midst of them, and so passed by."
The words "I am" are exactly the same God used when Moses asked Him
who He was. Most
Muslims do not accept this, so let us just forget about the controversy
about the "I am" for a moment, and focus on one astounding fact: Jesus
claimed to have been alive before Abraham was born.
John 17:
5 " And now, O Father, glorify thou me
with thine own self
with the glory which I had with thee before
the world was."
Again Jesus says that he existed before. In fact, he existed before the creation of the world.
Not even Mohammed claimed this, the closest parallel in Islam is the
doctrine of the pre-existence of
the Qur'an.
b) The descent and ascent of Jesus:
Again we look at John 17:5:
"And now, O Father, glorify thou me with
thine own self with the
glory which I had with Thee before the world
was. "
Jesus had glory with God, but laid it aside (since he did not have it when he was praying this), and after his resurrection, he was reinstated in that glory.
Paul said exactly the same thing:
Philippians 2:
5 Let this mind be in you, which
was also in Christ
Jesus:
6 Who, being in the form of God,
thought it not robbery to be equal
with God:
7 But made himself of no reputation,
and took upon him the form of a
servant, and was
made in the
likeness of men:
8 And being found in fashion as
a man, he humbled himself, and became
obedient unto
death, even
the death of the cross.
9 Wherefore God also hath highly
exalted him, and given him a name
which is above every name:
10 That at the name of Jesus every
knee should bow, of things in
heaven, and things in earth, and things under
the earth;
11 And that every tongue should
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to
the glory of God the Father.
Paul teaches that:
c) Jesus says that he can duplicate every act of God:
John 5:
19 "Then answered Jesus and said unto them,
Truly, I say to you,
The Son can do nothing of himself, but what
he sees the Father do: for
whatever the Father does, the Son also does."
Since Jesus said himself that he existed before the creation of the world, he has seen the creation.
THIS IMPLIES, THAT BECAUSE HE SEES THE FATHER CREATING, HE HIMSELF IS
THE CREATOR. This is why God says in His word:
John 1:
1 In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
2 The same was in the beginning
with God.
3 All things were made by
him; and without him was not any thing made
that was made.
Whatever the Son sees the Father doing, he does.
All things were made by the Word of God:
Genesis 1:
3 " And God said, Let there be light: and there was light."
God spoke His Word, and the Universe was created.
Even the Qur'an calls Jesus "Kalimatullah", The Word of God!
d)Jesus claims that God has made him the judge of the whole human race.
Co-equality:
"... my Father is greater than I." John 14:28
Obviously if God is greater than Jesus (pbuh) then they can not be equal.
"But of that day and that hour knoweth no man,
no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father."
Mark 13:32
If Jesus and God were equal then it follows that
they will be equal in knowledge. But as we can see, God is greater in
knowledge than Jesus (pbuh).
"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 God and Jesus are equal to one-another then
did God too have to "increase in wisdom and stature"? Did God too have
to
learn obedience? To whom would He have to be
obedient? To another side of his own essence?
Some translations of the verse from Philippians 2 above say that "He
emptied Himself to take on the form of a servant". Jesus emptied himself
of being God, and became a man, in obedience to his Father.
Co-eternity:
Con substantiality:
In most of his arguments in this section, Mr. Al-Kadhi uses the fact that there are more than one person in God to prove that since these Persons interact, they cannot be the same being. Well, we will say something later on how one Being can be more that one Person. Remember that the word "God" is not synonym to "Father" because God is also the Son and the Spirit. "Son" and "Father" are not synonyms, because although both is the same one God, they are different Persons.
I have remixed the quotations from the book in
this section, mainly to put it in a more logical sequence, but also to
keep the best for last.
"He (Jesus) went away again the second time, and
prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me,
except I drink it, thy will be done." Matthew
26:42
And "I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me." John 5:30
So what about Jesus praying not to be crucified?
In order to understand the following, it is important that the reader should first read the article on the Blood Sacrifice. If you have not read it yet, please read it now!
Let me tell you a short parable to illustrate the point: (the persons of the father and son in this parable do not necessarily coincide with the Father and Son)
A man had a son, who became very ill. He took
him to hospital and the doctor told him that his son would die if he did
not receive a kidney transplant very soon. The problem was, there was none
available. The father told the doctors that he would donate a kidney to
save his son.
After they examined the father, they found that
he was a poor anesthetic risk and would probably not survive the operation.
Since it was the only chance his son had of survival, he decided to go
ahead.
The night before the operation, the father became very scared, because he knew that there was a chance that he would die. He phoned the doctor, and pleaded him to find another way of saving his son. The doctor confirmed that the only way the son's life could be saved was if the father donated his kidney. So in spite of his fear and terror, the father went ahead with the planned kidney transplant. To save his son, possibly at the cost of his own life.
Of course this father did not want the operation. What he really wanted was for his son to be healthy and not to need the operation. But the fact was that his son would die without the operation. So because of the reality of his sons disease, the father wanted the operation.
Did the Father want to sacrifice His own Son? What does God really want?
God wants mankind to be pure and holy, and to love Him:
Deuteronomy 6: 4 Hear, O Israel:
The LORD our God is one LORD:
5
And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all
thy soul, and with
all thy might.
But the reality is that mankind is separated from God, and therefore morally diseased, unable to love God the way He intended. The law of God requires that sinners (us!) be separated from God eternally (cast into hell). But since God loved us He decided to perform painful surgery: The death of His Son on the cross, even though God would prefer not to do it! In Jesus' supplication not to be crucified we see Jesus' human terror of going to hell, but more important, we have a glimpse of God's horror at the sacrifice that was about to take place. In Jesus' decision to be crucified we see God's incomprehensible love for us: that He did not spare his only Son in order to save us.
Matthew 8:
11 "And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east
and west,
and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom
of
heaven.
12 But the children of the kingdom (of Satan) shall
be cast out into
outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
According to Jesus, hell is the "Outer Darkness". It is where God chooses not to be. It is the final, complete separation from God.
Jesus was forsaken by God. He was in hell. Because of our sin, that is where we all should go. Read the verses from Isiah 53 quoted in the Blood atonement article again. This was written hundreds of years before Jesus came to earth.
Isiah 53:
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our
iniquities (sin); the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and
by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his
own
way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity (sin) of us all.
Jesus went to hell because I was heading that way. Because he went there
in my place, and paid my debt, I can be certain of being with God in heaven
for all eternity.
If God, Jesus and the Holy Ghost are "the same substance" then how can a blasphemy against Jesus be forgiven while a blasphemy against the Holy Ghost can not be forgiven?
The "Mystery of the Trinity"
The Trinity is no mystery because God is omnipotent,
this means He can do whatever He wants, and He can be whatever He wants.
If He chooses to be a Trinity, or anything else that I cannot understand,
then it is His choice, there is nothing I can do to force Him to conform
to my idea of how He should be. An ant cannot deny the existence of my
computer just because he cannot understand it!
As far as I am concerned, to trust one man on just his word alone with your eternal life is the definition of blind faith...
The Rebuttal to "What Did Jesus Really Say?"
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