:salam2: all Brothers/Sisters in Islam.
I see that there is a mini-debate against Christianity going on here. If this is in the wrong place, please tell me as I have only seen the past 2 posts and assumed there was a debate going on.
I'd like to contribute with some questions:
1) Why does Paul contradict Jesus?
2) Why is Paul such a sexist (I.E Women should never speak in church)
3) Why do Christians "pick and choose" in the Bible which parts to take literally and which ones to not do so? If it's trully God's Holy Word, wouldn't all understand it equally?
4) How come Christians believe that the Bible is 100% accurate even though the Gospels were written down way after the lives of the Apostles? Even if it was passed down orally and then written, don't you think there would be some corruptions after it was written?
5) Why is there no mention of the Trinity in the Bible? Why would God want to confuse His people as to not mentioning such an earth-shaking belief in His Holy Book?
6) Why, at the Council of Nicea, was the Bible put together? Who's to say that the people (who were Christian humans, BTW) didn't "pick and choose", as modern Christians do, so that the Bible agrees with their theologies?
7) Why did the Council of Nicea ban the Apocalypse of Peter (which, might I add, was written by Peter himself and contradicted current Christian theologies)?
8) How the heck did crucified Jesus "not break a bone in his body" (there's an Old Testament verse saying this I think in Isaiah)? Wouldn't him "not breaking a bone in his body" sugest that he wasn't crucified at all?
9) Why didn't God forgive Adam and Eve (as He did according to the Qur'an)? Why can God forgive me of killing 100 people if I asked, but not forgive a man and woman for eating an apple?
10) "Adam, where art thou?" were the words of God according to the Bible book of Genesis. God is All-Knowing, so why would He ask a question? The same can be asked with the verse: "Woman, why weapest thou?" (which Jesus said according to the Bible).
11) Why do some Christians try and disprove Islam by saying "Allah isn't loving because He doesn't always forgive His servents"? The mere fact that the Christians say that "God will always forgive them of their sins" tells me that God isn't God, seeing as to how He must forgive you of your sins. If He doesn't have to forgive you of your sins, then that attempted Islam rebutal is dead.
12) God is eternal, correct? Then this raises two questions:
12a) If God is eternal, and Jesus is God, then how is Jesus God's son? His begotten son?
12b) If God is eternal, and Jesus is God, then why did Jesus die? If something is eternal, death is not possible.
I'll come up with more later. But, Alhamduallah for these refutals were revealed to me from Allah. I couldn't possibly have come up with these by myself.
Salam,
Thanks for the questions, they are all good. I only have time for a quick reply, but I will do my best to the best of my knowledge:
1. I don't think Paul contradicts Jesus, I think he backs him up and reinforces what he was teaching.
2. I don't think Paul is sexist - please see my earlier postings for more on this including your quote.
3. Some parts of the Bible are easier to understand, but Christians believe it is all God's word, so they do not pick and choose. All passages have to be understood in their correct context, this is not picking and choosing.
4. All four Gospels were written within the life time of the Apostles. MArk was around 60, Matthew and luke within the next 20 years and John last in about the year 90.
At that time (especially for Mark) there were many people alive who remembered Jesus and would have discredited the Gospels if they had written lies.
Written copies of the gospels were made and the originals are lost. However, the gospels were copied then distributed widely, and those copies were copied. There are many copies and fragments (ie hundreds) which survive today that were found all over the mediteranean area before the year 300, and all of these are remarkably similar. This means that very few (if any) corruptions of the text occured because if they had, the copies would be different.
5. The word Trinity is not in the Bible. But the concept is there clearly and God the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are all affirmed clearly as being God, and being one God. (Christians are not polytheists. Like Muslims, they believe in one true God).
6. Where the Bible was put together, it was a recognition of the books that were widely in use in the church and had Apostolic authorship or connection. The council was not presented with a menu of books that they chose and rejected from. It was more a formalisation process than a selection process.
7. The Apocolypse of Peter was banned because it was clearly not written by the Apostle Peter. It reflects a Gnostic view point. Gnosticism was a heresy that grew up after 200, so Peter could not have written it.
8. There is a verse in Psalms saying none of Jesus' bones were broken. Crucifiction would not neccesarily break your bones. The hands and feet are nailed to the cross. The hand nails normally went in between the bones in the wrist, so they didn't break the hand.
9. The Bible suggests that God did forgive Adam and Eve. Adam taught his sons to worship God, so it is clear he was still a believer.
They still had to suffer consequences for their sin, which is the stuff listed in Genesis 3.
10. Sometimes a person asks another person even if they know, as a way of talking to them. Sometimes I ask my child why they are crying when I already know, so they can tell me and I can comfort them better.
11. Why? I don't know.
12 a. The Bible says Jesus is God come to earth in human form.
He is not a son like you or I have a son. He is a son like a representative, ambassador, yet still God himself.
12 b. The Bible says that Jesus died, His human nature experienced death. God cannot die and Jesus human body was raised up again.
I hope these help clear things up.
I have a question for you: In the Bible verses below, what was Jesus claiming when he said "Son of Man?"
Luke 5:17-25
One day as he [Jesus] was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law, who had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem, were sitting there. And the power of the Lord was present for him to heal the sick.
Some men came carrying a paralytic on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus.
When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus.
When Jesus saw their faith, he said, "Friend, your sins are forgiven."
The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, "Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?"
Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, "Why are you thinking these things in your hearts?
Which is easier: to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up and walk'?
But that you may know that the
Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins...." He said to the paralyzed man, "I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home."
Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God.
(NIV)
Thanks