7t,it6!

tf,;re

RESERVED
 LET
LET
THEBIBLE
THE BIBLE
SPEAK
SPEAK
by
All
AD Muhsln
Muhsln
FOREWORD
FOREWORD

Being totally
Being totally convinced
convincedthat
that this
this book (Let the
book (Let the Bible
Bible Speak)
speak) contains
contains
good infonnation
good informationabout
aboutThe
Thc Bible
Bible and
andThe
TheHoly
Holy Qur'an,
Qu/aq The The Dammam
Dammam
IslamicDaWah
Islamic Dabah and
andGuidance center decided
GridanceCenter decidedtoto reprint
reprintitit again.
again.But
But as
aswe
we
prepareto
prepare to do
do the job we
thejob we have
havenoticed
noticcdthat
thatthe
the copy
copythat
that was
was available
availablewas
was
too blurred
too blurredand
andnot good enough
not good enoughforfor reproduction.
reproduction.

Due to this
Due probler4 Danunam
this problem, DamrnamDawah
Dabatr and
and Guidance
GuidanceCenter
Centerwork it out
out
review, retyped,
to review, retlped, annotates andcorrects
arulotatesand correctsthe
thc whole
whole book, suchas~
book, such as;

l. Some
1. Somereferences
referencesare
aremissing
missing
2. Some
2. quotation
Some quotation
3. Misspelling
3. Misspelling
4. Typing
4. Typing errors
errors
5. Some
S. Somechapters
chaptersand
andverses
versesare
arenot
not accurate.
accurate.

have tried our utmost

We have reproduce the
utmost to reproduce the book asas it is
is with some
some
mirurtechanges
minute ensre that
changesto ensure the book will not lose
that the lose its internal
internal beauty
beauty
the benefit
for the of all who
benefitof read it.
who read

To the author, Ali Mutrsiq

author, Ati Muhsin, We praypray that the Almighty Allah
Almighty Allatr
continuously showers Mercy and
showers His l9Iercy and Grace
Gracc to him and
rnd add
add the
virnre of this book to his
virtue of of good decds.
scaleof
his scale deeds.

We ask Allah's pardon

ask Allah's any mi$skes
pardon for any mistakes that we commit unlcnowingly,
unknowingly,
as
as itit has been for us in prcparing
has becn preparing it.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

My
My thanks
thanlcsare
are due
due to Kingsley
Kingslcy Green,
Grecn, an
an Australian
Australian biology teacher
tcacher
in the Mazengo
inthe Mazengo Secondary School, Dodo~
SecondarySchool, Dodoma" Tanzania, as
Tanzania"who as a lay
preacherused
preacher payus
usedto pay prison. From him I learn
us visits in prison. learn to study
shrdy the
Bible systematically.
systematically.

To the many
many Christian
Christian preachers
preachersat College and in priso~
College and prisorU fellow
students and
students and fellow inmates,
inmates, with whom I used
used to have
have fruitful
fruitful
discussionslowe
discussions grstitude.
I owe gratitude.

I would also expressthanks

also like to express thank to the Amnesty
Amncsty International
International for
keeping me
me supplied
supplied with reading whioh enlarged
reading matter which cnlargcd my
knowledge
knowledge of
of present-day
present-dayChristian
Cluistian thinking.
thinking.

To Zainab
Zainab Sabri,
Sabri, daughter
daughter of
of a very good Egyptian
Eg;ptian friend of
of mine,
mine,
Mr. Fathi Sabri,
Sabri, I must say : Thank
must say Thank you! tlping the first
you ! for typing
manuscript.
manuscript,

To my dear flzra\ I am
dear wife, Azza, am indebted
indebted for her courage to sustain
her courage sustain
difficulties
difficulties and
and for the peace
peacc of
of mind which she grve me
shegave me and
and which
enabled
enabledme me in prison
prisonto study,
study,to meditate,
meditstg and
and to write dl that
writc all thEt I have
have
written . On her
her lonely shoulders
shouldcrurested
rcct€d the burden
burdcn of aftcr
of looking after
herself
herselfand
and our six
six children
children for ten yearswhile
tcn long years whilc she
shewas livfug as
was living as
refirgeein Egypt.
a refugee Eg1pt.

Over and above all I thank Allah who has

and above gulded me
hasguided dong the
me along thc right
p a th .
path.

2
PREFACE
PREFACE

The
The writing and publication of this
and publication this essay
essayis
is not
not intended
intendedto bebe anan
exercise polemics. Rather
exercisein polemics. is it motivated
Rather is motivated by by the
the desire
desire to
to
enlighten
enlighten both
both Christians
Christians and Muslims who in many
and Muslims parts of
many parts of the
the
wrirld have
world have to live together as fellow countrymen
together as counfirymenand and neighbors.
neighbors.
Their enlightenment
Their regarding the
enlightenmentregarding the original
original fundamentals
fundamentalsof of each
each
other'sfaith
other's would, it is
faith would, is hoped, makethem
hoped,make them appreciate
appreciatethethe basic
basicunity.
unity
that binds
that bindsthem
them as
asadherents the same
adherentsof the sameoriginal
original faith,
faith, the
the Universal
Universal
Religionwhich teaches
Religion teachessubmission
submissionto to the the one
the will of the oneTrue
True God
God asas
the basis
the basison which man's
man'smoral
moral behavior
behavioris founded.
founded.

unfortunate that
It is unfortunate that Jesus
Jesus Christ
Christ has
has left for us us nothing
nothing asas
authoritativeas
authoritative as the
the Prophet
ProphetMuhammad
Muhammadhas hasdone.
done.In the
the Qur'an
Qur'anare
are
the teaching
the teaching of Islam
Islam in their unsullied purity. We do
unsullied purity. do not fmd
find the
the
same the Gospels
slrme in the (Injeel). The
Gospels(Injeel). The latter may be
latter may comparedto the
be compared the
traditions of
traditions of the
the Prophet (the Hadiths
Prophet(the Hadithsor Sunna).
Sunna).OfOf the
the sayings
sayingsand
and
the actions
the of Jesusas
actionsofJesus asreported
reportedin thethe Bible there areadmittedly
thereare admittedly many
many
are spurious,
which are false,jr:st
spruious,false, asthere
just as therewere
were established
establishedand
and the
the weak
weak
and false
and were weeded
falsewere weededout.
out. It is undeniable
undeniablethat
that attempts
attemptswere
were made,
made,
sectarianand
for sectarian andother
otherdivisive
divisive reaso.ns,
reaso.ns, fake sayings
to fake sayingsand
and attribute
attribute
them to the
them the Prophet.
Prophet.

Impartial criticism would

Impartial would have
have to admit,
admit, however,
however, that
that there
there was
was
much
much more scientific methodology
more scientific methodology whenwhen the
the Prophet's
Prophet'straditions
traditions
cameto be
came collected and
be collected shifted than
and shifted there has
than there beenat the
has been the adoption
adoption
of the canonical
of Gospels.The
canonical Gospels. great scholars
The great (Imams).who devoted
scholars(Imams) devoted
collecting the
their lives collecting the traditions
raditions of thethe Prophet
Prophet made
made their
thcir best
best
endeavors
endeavors(Ijtihad) usingusing strictly scientific standards
srictly scientific veriff the
standardsto verify the
genuinetraditions.
genuine traditions.But eveneventheir best
bestendeavors
endeavorsandand their scientific
scientific
methods
methodswere after all human
wereafter humanandand not infallible. Fortunately
Fortruratelythere
there is
is
the
the Qur'an
Qu/an whose
whose authenticity
authenticity has
has never
never been
been questioned
questioned by fribnd
friend or
foe.
foe. That
That is
is the
the unshakable
unshakablefoundation Islam on which the
foundationof Islam the tenets
tenets
of
of the are based
the faith are the final criterion of
based. It is the of the genuinenessof
the genuineness of
any
any tradition,
nadition, and
and the
the rock on which the the structwe of Islam has
stnrctureof has been
been
built.
built.
3
 pages itit will
In the following pages be seen
will be seen that II have
have tended to reproduce
tended to reproduce
many quotations.
many quotations. This is my way of dealing with
of dealing the subject
with the subject
seriously,
seriously, particularly a subject
subject of
of such
such transcendent
transcendent importance
importance as
as
religion. I do not want to be
religion. be among "Those who woald
among "Those would argue about
God without knpwledge, and without
wilhout knpwledge, without guidance without an
guidance and without
enlightening book, " as
enlightening bookr" Qur'an puts
as the Qu'an puts it.

Studying the Bible in the

Studyingthe the long
long solitude of my prison
solitude of att~mpted
prison cell II attcmpted
to search the tnre
searchfor the true teachings of Jesus
teachings of and the Hebrew Prophets
Jesus and Prophets who
had preceded him. Ten years
had preceded years and months of
and five months of imprisonment
imprisonment
became
became tenten years and five months
years and months of intensive Bible study.
of intensive study.
Painstakingly
PahstakinglyI kept removing bit by bit the
kept removing the hard encrustation which
har4 encrustation
had
had piled up on what
what I knew must
must be
be a lustrous
lustrous lying beneath.
beneath.

found it.
I found

I would appeal both my Muslim brothers

appealto both brothers and sisters who know
and sisters
very
very little of Christianity,
Christianity,andandto10 my Christian friendswho know next
Christianfriends next
to
to nothing
nothing about
abouttrue (and true
Islam (and
true Islam tnre Christianity
Christianity for that matter) to
that matter)
come
comealong
alongwith me, andin the
me, and the following pagespagessearch
searchfor thethe truth.
truth.
We
We will
will fmd
frnd it, for the tnrth is the
the truth housethat has
the house has been founded upon
been founded
the
the Rock,
Roclq and
and rain
rain shall
shall fall, the winds shall
and the
fall , and the house
shall blow, but the house
shall
shall not
not fall. Therein Holy Jerusalem
fall . There whenceboth
Jerusalemwhence Muhammadand
both Muhammad and
Jesus
Jesusrose
rosein spiritual ecstasyto
spiritual ecstasy to the Presenceis aa symbol
HeavenlyPresence
the Heavenly symbol
glaring significance,
of glaring denotingthe
significance,denoting trrlth that bids
the truth Muslim and
bids both Muslim and
Christian bow to
Christian bow to the
the same
sameGod worshipped with equal
who is worshipped
God who equal fervor
and
anddevotion
dcvotion in the Mosque upon
the Mosque upon the
the Rock and in the
Rock and the Church
Chr.uchofof the
the
Holy Sepulchre.
Sepulchre. That
That Truth bids
bids us
us rid ourselves
ourselves of
of the
the taditions
traditions of
of
men
men and
and follow the commandments
follow the commandmentsof of God. That Truth bids us
God. That us
relinquish
relinquish the tendencyto divide Religion
the tendency and uphold the
sectsand
Rcligion into sects the
Unity
Unity that
that binds us together.
binds us together.

4
Allah say's
Allah say's in
in the
the Holy
Holy Qur'an
Qur'an ::

"And We
"And We verilygave
gave Moses
Moses the Scripture, haplythey might
Scripture,that haply might go
go
aright. And We
arighl And We made made the son of Mary
of Mary and his mother a portent,
portent,
and We gavethem a refuge on oa height, a place
We gave place oftlock and water-
offlocks and
springs.
springs,O0 ye Messengers!
Messengen ! Eat ofthe
of the good things,
things, and do righl Lo!
right. Lo!
II am oware
aware of whotye do.
ofwhat do. And
And lot thisyour
lo! this religion is one religion
your religwn religion
and II am your
your Lord, so keep keep your
your duty unto Me. But But they
(mankind) have
(man*ind) havehroken religion among them inlo
broken their religion sects,each
into sects, each
sect its tenets.
sectrejoicing in its tenets.So leave them in their
So leave their error till a time."
error lill time. "
Qur'an 2J:49'54
Qur'an 23:49-54

Let us
us not keep on wandering
not keep error when
wandering in enor when the
the Straight Path is clear
Straight Path clear
before us.
before us. Let us
us understand
understand one
one another appreciateone
and appreciate
anotherand another's
one another's
honesty in seeking
honesty seekingfor the
the truth.
truth.

Ali Muhsin
Muhsin

5
Table of Contents
Table Contents
Foreword
Foreword
Acknowledgement
Acknowledgement
Preface
Preface
Tableof Contents
Table Contents
TheTeaching
The Teachingof the
the Church
Church
TheBible
The Bible
OriginalSin
Original Sin
Paul
St.Paul
St.
TheOnly
The Only Son
Sonof God
God
God and
God andJesus arethey
Jesusare they one
oneand
andthe
the Same?
Same?
Miracles,But
Miracles, But Whose
WhoseAuthority?
Authority ?
The Virgin Birth
The Birth
Jesus-- Prophet
Jesus ProphetFrom
From Nazareth
NazarethThe
The Servant
Servantof God
God
ProphetTo
A Prophet To Israel
Israel
SalvationBy Blood
Salvation Blood
PaulOr Jesus,
Paul Faith or Works?
Jesus,Faith Works ?
GuideInto
Guide Into All The Truth
All The Truth
The The Qur'an
The Bible And The Qur'an
DeathOn
Death The Cross
On The Cross
"They
"TheyKilled Him Not"
Him Not"
andThe
The Law and
The License
TheLicense
ProperPerspective
Proper Perspective
PaganSources
Pagan Sources
Jesus Fulfilled
Prophecy Of Jesus
Prophecy
Counselor, Comforter,Admirable
Counselor,Comforter, Admirable
Conclusion
Conclusion

6
"II PIETY
PIETY BASED ON ERROR IS INDEFENSIBLE
ERRONT,S INDEFENSIBLE "
Father
Father John
John L. Mackenzie
Mackenzie

THE TEACHING
THE TEACHING OF THE
THE CHURCH
CHURCH

By the
the term
tenn "the church ll is meant
lithe chuch" meant thc
the body
body of
of Christians, more
Christians,or more
precisely, the professional
precisely I the priesthood which has
professional priesthood taken upon
hastaken upon itsclf
itself the
task of
task of formulating doctrines
doctrines and as well
and rituals as as rendering
well as rendering certain
religious services accordancewith what
servicesin accordance are believed
what are believed to be
be the
the
teachings of
teachings Jesus Christ.
of Jesus chtuch" may
liThe church"
Christ. "The also mean
may also mean the sect to
the sect
which an
an individual Christian belongs.
Christian belongs.

All the main Christian

All Churches,or sects,
Christian Churches, sects,teach following as
teach the following as the
principal dogmas,
dogmas, or articles of faith to be
articles of be believed
believed in without
question:
question:

1.
l. There
Thereisis One
OneGod.God.
2.
2. In God thereare
God there are three Persons,th~
divine Persons,
threedivine thq Father,
Father,the
the Son and the
Son and the
Holy Ghost,
Ghost, Holy Spirit.
Spirit. These threePersons
Thesethree Personsare arecalled the
called the
blessed
blessedTrinity. areequal
They are
Trinity.They andthey
€qualand areeternal
they are eternal i.e. they have
i.e. they have
no
no beginning
beginningand and nono end.
end.They
They areare not
not three gods,but One
threegods, One God.
God.
3.
3. The
The Father
Fatheris is God
God and the frrst
and the fust Person
Personof of the
the blessed
blessedTrinity.
4.
4. The
The Son
Son isis God
God andandthe
thc second Personof
secondPerson of the
the Trinity. He Jesus
He is Jesus
Christ
Christ wl}.o
who is is God
God who
who took thethe human form. He
human fonn. was born
He was of the
born of the
Virgin Mary aboutabouttwo thousand yearsago
thousandyears ago in Palestine,
Palestine,waswas
crucified,
crucificd, died
died and
and rose
rosc again
againfrom
fiom the d€ad.His death
the dead. and
deathand
suffering on thethe cross was intended
crosswas intended to be bc aa sacrifice the
sacrifice for the
forgiveness
forgivenessof the the sins
sinsof
of men. This is
men. This calledthe~
is called thc-Atonement,
Atonement, and and
he
he is entitled
cntitled the
the Savior
Saviorandandthe
the Redeemer.
Rcdecmer.
5.
5. The
Thc Holy Spirit is thc third Person
is the Pcrsonof of the After the
blessedTrinity. After
thc blessed the
death
deathofof Christ thethe Holy Spirit descended
dcscendcdupon upon the Apoitlcs (or
thc Apostles
early
early Missionaries)
Missionarics) of of Christ, and the
Christ, and lead the
continuesto lead
the Spirit continues the
Church.
Church.
6.
6. Every human
human child bearsbearswith him the the stain
stain of what is called
of what the
called the
"Original Sin" inherited
inherited from thethe transgression
tarugression of Adam.Adam.

7
7. BAPTISM,
7. BAPTISM, the theceremony
c€remonyof sprinkling somebodywith water,
sprinkling somebody water,or,
or,
accordingto
according to some
somesects,
sects,immersing
immersinghim in water,
water,asasmaking
making his
his
beingaccepted
being acceptedasasaa member
memberof the
theChurch,
Church,and
andbelief
belief in Christ's
Christ's
atonementis
atonement is the
the only means
meanswhereby
wherebyman
man shall
shall be
be saved.
saved.

Let us
Let us examine
examinethethe sacred
sacreddoctrines
doctrinesof
of the
the Church
Church in the
thc light of the
the
writings of the
writings the Bible
Bible which
which the
the Church
Churchaccepts
acceptsaa canonical,
canonical,that
that is
is to
to
say,as
say, asthe
the authoritative
authoritativeWord
Word of God.
God.

THE BIBLE

The word Bible

The word Bible comes
comesfrom
from the Greek..hihIiL
the Greek biblia meaning "books".It
meaning"books".
is collectionof many
is aa collection many books
bookswhich
which form
form thethe foundation
foundationof Christian
Christian
belief. Admittedly
belief. Admittedly they have been
they have written by
been written by aa large
large number
number of
authors,known
authors, known and
andunknown.
unknown.But those
thoseauthors
authorsare
arebelieved
believedtoto have
have
been inspiredby God
beeninspired Godand
andthey wrote the
they wrote the books
Dooksunder the supervision
underthe supenision
and guidanceof
and guidance of God;
God; hence
hencethe
the Bible isis referred
ret-enedtoto as
as The
The Word of of
God. The
God. The Catholic
Catholic Bible, however,
however,is is somewhat
somewhatdifferent
different from
from the
the
ProtestantBible.
Protestant Bible. The
The former
formerconsist of 73
consistof 73 books,
books,while thethe latter
latter has
has
only 66
only 66 books.
books.

general the
In general the Bible is is divided
divided into two main portions, The
main portions, The Old
Testamentwhich was
Testament was written
written before
beforethe
the advent
adventofof Jesus
JesusChrist,
Christ, and
and
the New Testament
the Testament which was was written after
after Jesus
Jesus Christ
Christ and
and
describesthe
describes the life and teachingsof
and teachings of Jesus
JesusChrist
Christ and
and the
the activities
activities of
of
his disciples,
his disciples,or apostles,
apostlcs,in spreading
spreadingthe
the Christian
Christian faith.
faith. The
The New
Testarnentcontains
Testament containsalso lettersaddressed
also letters various Christians
addressedto various groups
Christiansgroups
individuals.These
andindividuals.
and Theseletters
letterswere written mostly
werewritten mostly by Paul,
Paul,aa Jew who
Jewwho
converted
converted to Christianity
Christianity and becamethe
and became exponents of
the chief exponents of the
the
Christianfaith as
Christian as it known today. He has
known today. has at
at times
times described the true
described the true
founderof
founder of modern
modern Christianity.
Christianity,

The books
The of the
books of Testament in their present
the Old Testament present form were
were probably
probably
written afterthe
written after of the
return of
the retum the Jews
Jews from the Babyloniur
from the Babylonian captivity i.e.
captivity i.e.
after 536 B.C.
after 536 Those of the
B.C. Those New Testament
the New Testament were
were collected
collected and
and
8
accepted as
accepted legal in the
as legal the fourth
fourth century
century after Christ (about
after Christ (about 367
367 A.D.).
Besides the
Besidesthe Four
Four Gospels
Gospels (describing
(describing the
the life and
and teaching
teaching of
of Christ)
Christ)
are in the
which are the Bible
Bible there
there are
are a number
number of of other Gospels which
other Gospels
were not accepted
were accepted by the the Church elders, and
Church elders, and some
some of them are
of them are
available even
available e'/en today.
today. The books which could
The books could have fonned part
have formed part of
of the
the
Bible, and
Bible, indeed were
and indeed were and
and are
are accepted
accepted by some Christians, but
some Christians,
which the
which the main
main body
body of the
the Christian Church rejected,
Christian Church rejected, arc called the
are called the
Apocrypha, a GreekGreek word
word meaning "Hidden", but which now has
meaning "Hidden", has
wrongly been
wrongly been understood
understood as as meaning "false, not genuinc".
meaning "felsc, genuine". TheThe
officially accepted
accepted books
books are
are called "Canonical". It is these
called "Canonical". these canonical
canonical
books the Bible
books of the Bible which
which are
are regarded as THE WORD
regarded as WORD OF GOD. GOD.

ORIGINAL SIN
SIN

In the
the Old Testament
Testamentthe
the first book, Gencsis,has
book, Genesis, hasthe
the story of creation
story of crcation
and
and the
the fall of
of man.
man.Thus
Thus is described
describ€dthe
the fall of
of Adam grace.
Adam from grace.

"The Lord God Godtook

took the
the man gardcn ofEden
nan and put him in the garden otEden to
till keepit.
till it and keep it. And
And the Lord God
God commanded
commandedthe thc man,
manDSaying,
Saying,
"You
"Yott maymayfreely eat ofevery
freely eat of everytree
tree of
of the
lhe garden; but
hut ofthe
olthe tree of
tree of
knowledge
knawledgeofgoodof gaod and
and evil
evilyou shall
shallnot eat,far in the
noteat,for daythat
theday yau
thatyou
eat
eat of it you shall
shall die. "
die."
2s :15-16
Ge n e s i2:15-16
Genesis

Adam,
Adam, however, persuadedby
however,persuaded by his wife, Eve,
his wife, transgressed
Eve, transgressed God's
God's
command
commandand
and ate
ate of the
the forbidden
forbiddentree
tree of knowledge. God cursed
knowledge.God crrrsed
them
themboth.
both .

To the
the woman
woman He said ; "1
He said; "I will
will greatly
greatly multiply
multiply your pain in
childbearing; in pain
painyou shall desire
hringforth children, yet your desire
shall bringforth
shall befor
shatlbe for your husband,
hwband, and
ond he
he shall
shall rule
rule over
over you"
you. "

And to
to Adam
Adam He said ; "Because
He said; "Becauseyou have listenedto
havelistened to the voiceof
lhe voice ot
your wife, and have eaten of the tree
wde, and have eatenof the fiee oJ of which
which I comnunded
commanded you,
you,
"you
"you shall
shallnot of it",
eatof
not eat il", cursed
cursedisis the ground because
the ground of you; in
bccatueofyou; in
99
 toil you shaO
toU of it all
shall eat of all the days
daysofyour
otyour life;
life; thorns and thistles
thistles it
it
shall bringforlh
shall you; andyou
bringtorth to you; and you shaH
shall eat planF ofthefield.
eot the plants of thefteld. In
In
the sweat of your face
sweat ofyour face you shall till you return
shall eat bread till return to the
groundrfor
ground,jor out of of it
il you were taken; you are dust,
weretaken; dust, and to dust
dustyou
shall
shall return."
Ge n e s i3:
Genesis 3:16-19
s 16-19

On account
On account of
of their
their sin, the Church
sin, the Church teaches,
teaches,Adam
Adam andand Eve
Eve lost
lost
sanctifying grace,the
sanctiffing grace, the right of
of Heaven
Heavenand
and their special
special gifts; they
they
became subjectto death,
becamesubject death,to suffering
suffering and
and to aa strong inclination to
strong inclination
evil and they were
and they were driven from the gardenof
the garden of Paradise.
Paradise.On account
accountof of
Adam's sin
Adam's sin all human
humanbeings
beingsare
areborn
born deprived
deprivcdof of sanctifying grace
sanctiffing grace
and inherit his punishment.
and punishment.This called THE
This is what is called THE ORIGINAL
ORIGINAL
SIN.

St. Paul's
8t. Paul'stheology
theology developed
developedthe
the doctrine of Original
doctrineof Sin to justiff
Original Sin justify
another doctine, REDEMPTION
anotherdoctrine, REDEMPTION by the the death of Jesus
deathof Jesuson the
the cross.
cross.
letter to the
In his letter the Romans
Romanshe wrote:
he wrote:

"Therefore
"Therefore as sin came
assln carfieinto
into the world
twrld through
through one man and death death
through sin,sin, and so
so death
death spread
spreadto all
aII men
men because
becauseallall men
nun sinned
•- sin indced was
sk indeed wasin thethc world
rwrld before
before the law
law was given,but sin
wasgiven, sh is not
counted where there is no law. law. Yet
Yet death
deuth reigned trom Adsm to
from Adam
Moses,
Moses,even
evenover
over those
those whose
whosesins were not
sinswere not like
like the transgression
lransgression
otAdaa who
ofAdam, who was
wasa typetypeofthe
otthe one
one who
who was
wasto come.
comc. But
But thefree
gtft is not like
gift like the trespass.For if
the trespass. il many
nany died
died through one one man's
trespass,
tresposs,much
much more
rrurrchave graceofGod
havethe grace otGod and the gilt in the
free gift
thetree
grace ofthat
grace of that one
one man Jesus
JesusChrist aboundedfor many. many.""
Romans5:12-15
Romans 5:12-15

To the Corinthians
Coriuthiens St.
St. Paul
Peul wrote: "For as in Adam aU
" For as die, so
all die, so
also
aho in Christ
Christ shall
shall all
aII be
bc made
made alive.
alive.""
1I Corinthians 15:22
Corinthians15 :22

t0
\0
The Pauline
The Pauline doctrine
doctrine of Original Sin is, however,
of Original contradicted by
however, contradicted
other passages
other passages from the
the Bible.
Bible. In DeuteroRomy, example, which
Deuteronomy, for example,
is one of the
one of the five books
books of
of Torah,
Torah, Moses say's: "Thefathers shall
Moses say's:
put to death
not beput death for
for the children, nor shall the children beput
children, nor put to
death for thefatlters;
deathfor thefathers; everyevery man shall be
be put
put to dealhfor
deathfor his
his own
sin.
sin.""
Deuteronomy 24:16
Deuteronomy 24: 16

read:: "In
Jeremiah we read
In Jeremieh "In those
thosedays they shall no longer say;
days they say,'
."TheIllthers have eaten
"The Jathers hsve grapes, and the children's teeth
eaten sour grapes, teeth are
set on edge."
set edge. " But every
every one
one shill
shall diefor
diefor his
hisown sin; each man who
sin; each who
eats
eatssour
sourgrapes,
grapes,hkhis teeth
teeth shall be set
shall be edge. "
seton edge."
Jeremiah 31:29-30
Jeremiah 31 :29-30
And in Ezekiel
Ezekiel it is
is more
more categorically stated :
categoricallystated:

""Yet
Yet you say,
say,Why should not the son
Why shoulil son sufferfor
sufferfor the
the iniquity of the
iniquity ofthe
father?
father ? When
When the son
son has
has done
done what
what is lawful
lawful and right, and has
has
been
been careful to observe
observeall mymy statutes,
statutes,hehe shall
shall not sufferfor the
for tlte
iniquity of
of the father, nor the
thefather, father suffer
thefather for the
sufferfor the iniquity of
of the
the
son; the righteousness
son;the righteowness ofthe
of the righteous
righteorc shall
shall be
be upon
upon himselJi
himself, and
the
lhe wickedness
wickednessoftheof the wicked
wickedshall
shall be
be upon
upon himself.
himself.""
Ezekiel l8:19-20
Ezekiel18: 19-20

In the
the New
New Testament
Testementtoo
too there is the
there is evidenceof Jesus
the evidence himself
Jesushimself
contradicting
contradictingthe
the theory
theory of inherited sin :
inheritedsin:

"As
"As he
he passed
passedby,
hy, he
he (Jesus)
(Jesus)saw
sswa4 man
manblindfrom
blindtrom hishis birth, and
birth, and
his
hb disciples
disciplesasked,
asked,"Rabbi,
"Rtbhi, who
who sinned,
sinned, this
this man
man or his
his parents,
parents,
that 'ilt was
wasnot this man
lhis man
ftat he
he was
wasborn
born blind ?" Jesus
blind 7" Jesusanswered,
answered,';It
sinned,
sinned, or his
hisparents,
porenls, but
hut that the of God
works of
the works God might be made
be made
manifest
nunifest in him."
hin "
9:l-3
John 9:1-3
John

ll
11
Contraryto
Contrary to the
the teachings
teachingsof
of the
the ChW'Ch
Church,, which goes
goesunder
underhis
his name,
name,
that all
that all children
children are
are born
bom in sin,sin, Jesus
Jesus Christ confirms their
innocencein the
innocence the following pes$rgefrom the Gospel
following passage Gospelaccording
nccording to
Matthew:
Matthew:

"Truly,
"Truly,II say unlessyou turn and become
sayto you, unless like children you
become/ike
neverenter
will never enter the
the kingdom
kingdom ofheaven. "
of heaven."
Matthew
Matthew 18:3
l8:3

Thus we
Thus we see
seethat
that the
the doctrine
doctrineof inherited
inheritedsin proporrndedby Paul
sin propounded Paul as
as
his first
in his letter to
first letter to the
the Corinthians (quotedabove)
Corinthians(quoted above)is contradicted
contradictedby
God and
God and Moses
Moses in moremore authoritative evidence from
authoritative evidence from the
the Bible,
namely in Deuteronomy,
namely Deuteronomy,Jeremiah
Jeremiahandand Ezekiel (all of the
Ezekiel (all the Old
Testament)as
Testament) as well asas by Jesus
JesusChrist the Gospels
Christ in the Gospelsaccording
according to
to
Johnand
John andMatthew
Matthew (in the Testament).The
the New Testament). The Church
Church however
however isis
inclined to disregard
inclined disregard thethe categorical evidence of
categorical evidence of the
the Torah,
Torah, the
the
Prophetsand
Prophets and the
the Gospels,
Gospels,which
which form
form the
the main parts of
main parts of the
the Bible,
and rely on the
and the letters 'of 81.
letters'of St. Paul which for no
Paul which earthly reason
no earthly reasonwere
were
appendedto and
appended andthen
then incorporated
incorporatedin the
the Bible.
Bible.

But who is
is this Peul ~i
this Paul

ST.
ST. PAUL

St. Paul
St. was aa Jew
Paulwas Jew whom
whom waswas born
born in Tarsus what is now Turkey.
Tarsusin what Turkey.
When he
When he was
was born
born the
the country was part
country was part of Roman
RomanEmpire,
Empire, and
and thus
thus
althoughby race
although raceand
and religion
religion aa Jew,
Jew,he yet enjoyed
he yet enjoyedthe privilegeof
the privilege of
beingaa Roman
being Romancitizen.
citizen.St.
St. Paul was not
Paulwas not one
oneof the
the disciples
discipleschosen
chosen
by Jesus
by Jesusin his -time. Indeed
his life -time. Indeedthere
thereis no indication
is no that he
indicationthat he ever
ever
met
met Jesus. What is
Jesus.What known is
is known is that
that he was fanatical
he was hatred for
fanaticalin hatred
Christians, and engaged
Christians,and engagedhimself
himself in hounding
houndingout out Christians
Christiansfrom
from
hiding and
hiding and bringing
bringing them
them toto be torturedand
be tortured killed. He
andkilled. He was presentat
was present at
the stoningof St.
the stoning St. Stephen,
Stephen,the the first
first Christian
Christianmartyr.
martyr.

t2
12
While on
While on his
his way
way to
to Damascus
Damascus hc he is reported to
is reported to have experienced aa
have experienced
vision ofChrist, and thus became
vision of Christ"andthusbecame a
a staunch
staunch propagatorof
propagator Christianity
ofChristianity
which he claimed
which he claimed had
had been
been revealed
revealed to
to him
him by
by Jesus
Jesus in
in visions.
visions. This
This
"revealed"
"revealed" version
version of
of Christianity
Christianity was
was fundamentally
fundamentally different
different from
from
what the
what the chosen
chosen disciples of Jesus
disciples of knew to
Jesus knew be the
to be the teaching of the
teaching of the
Master, so that there
Master, serious conflict between
there was a serious and the
Paul and
between Paul
original followers of Jesus had never
of Christ who like Jesus deviated from
never deviated
of Moses
the law of Moses and Judaic monotheism.
and the strict Judaic monotheism.

THE ONLY
THE ONLY SON
SON OF GOD

Gospels of
In the four Gospels of the
the Bible there
there are number of
are a number references to
of references
Jesus
Jesus Christ as the "Son of God". The
asthe "Son of Cod". The following are
are a few examples:
examples:

"And
"And when
whenthe centurion,
centurion,who
who stood
stoodfacing
lacing him, thst he thus
sawthat
him, saw thus
breathed
breathedhis ltsl, he said.
hislast, said."truly
"truly this
this man
man was
was the
the Son
Son olGod!"
of Godl"
15:39
Mark 15:39
Mark

And
And the
the angel said
said to her,
her, "The
"The Holy Spirit
Spiril will come upon you,
comc upon
and the
the power ofthe
of the Most High will
wiII overshadow
ovenhadow you; therefore the
the
child
chitd to be
be born
horn will
will be
be called holy,
holy,the of God,"
SonofGod.
the Son "
l:35
Luke 1:35
Luke

And they
theyaU
all said, t'Areyou the
said,"Are the Son
SonofGod, then ?"
of God,then he said to
and he
?t' and lo
them,
them, You saythat 1I am.
Yousay "
afir."
22:70
Luke 22:70
Luke

He trustin
He trust in God;
God;let
let God
Godthliver
deliverhim now,If
him now, If he desires;for
he desires; he said,
for he said,
"/
"I am
am the
the Son
SonofGod.
of God-""
27:43
Matthew27:43
Matthew

And
And whenever
wheneverthe
the unclean spirits beheld
unclesnsplrilr hcheldhim, theyfe[ down
hittt'theyfeU before
down before
him and cried
him and cried out,
onl, "You
"Yon are
ure the
the Son
Son of
of God."
God" And
And he
he strictly
strictly
ordered themnot
orderedthem notto
tomake
nake him
him known.
known.
3:l l-12
Mark 3:11-12
Mark

l3
13
And when
And when he
he came
camc to
to the
the other
other side,
side,to
to the
the country ofGadarenes,
of Gadarenes,
two demoniac metmct him,
hit4 comiilg
comiag out ofthe
of the tombs,
tombs,sofierce
softerce that no
possthat way.
one could pass
one way.And behold,
hehold,they
they cried
cried out, ltlfhat have
out, "What have
you to
lo do
do with us, Son0/
us,0O Son God 7 Have
of God? Have you come
cotnehere
here to torment
us beforethe
rc be/ore the time?
time?""
Matthew 8:28-29
Matthew 8:28-29

the Gospels
In the Gospelsof Matthew, Mark Merk andrnd Luke there
therc are
are about
rbout 2222
such referetrcesto Jesus
such references Jesusas esthe
the Son
Sonof God,
God, but in allrll of them
them not
once did he
once he call himself so. so. Matthew
Matthew27:43 quotedabove
2l:43 quoted aboverefers
refersto
to
the allegation
the allegationof the priestwith the
the chief priest the scribes
scribesand
andthe
the elders
elderswho
who
mockedhim.
mocked him. It was
was not
not fIrst
first hand
handreporting
reporting of Jesus's
Jesus'sown statement
statement
the author
by the author of the Gospel.It was
the Gospel. wasnonna1ly
normally either
eithermadmen,
madmen,the the so
so
called demoniac
called demoniacand and unclean
uncleanspirits, paganRoman
spirits, or pagan Roman soldiers
soldierswho
who
refenedto
referred to him as
as the
the Son
Son of of God.
God. His own preference was
owu preference wrs for the
Ben Adam, which
title of Ben which just meant
meantmanman or son
sonof man.
man. That
Thrt title
is repeated
is rbout 80
repeeted about E0 times
times in the Gospels.
Gospels.His Jewish persecutors
Jewishpersecutors
out of
out of malice allegcdthat
malice alleged that hehe claimed
claimed toto be
be King ofof the
the Jews
Jewsthat
that he
he
the wrath
might incur the wrath of
of the
the Roman
Romanrulers,
rulers, and
and that he
hc claimed to be be
the Son
the of God
Son of God to enragethe
to enrage the Jewish people.
Jewishpeople.

Frsncis Young , Lecturer

Francis Lectuer in the
the New Testament
Testament Studies at
Studies at
Birmingham University,
Binningham University, writing in The
The Myth
Myth of Incemrte
of God Incarnate
says:"Apart/rom
says: "Apartfrom fohnJohn where
whereinterpretive material
naterid ifis clearlyplaced
clearlyplaced
upon the
upon the lips
lips ofJesus,
of fesus,the
the Gospels portray not Jesus
kwriably portrcl
Gospelsinvariably fesus but
as using phrares
others as phrases like the"Holy
the"Holy One of of God", or "Son of of
David", or Son
David", Son 0/of God". Alone ofof all
all the titles nSon of
titles rISon of Man"
regularly appears
appearsas as used
usedby Jesus
Jesushimself.••.•
himsef.....""

It should
should be be remembered
remembered thatthat at
at the
the time
time of Jesus it was
of Jesus was
commonplace to invest
commonplace invest with divinity not only non-existent
non-existent
mythological figures but historian
mythological fIgures historian mortals as well. Laertus,
mortals as the pagan
Laertus, thc pagan
Author of the Lives
of the of the
Lives of Philosophers, writcs
the Philosophers, of aa numbei
writes of number of of
philosophen as being
philosophers as sonsof
being sons of God. Plato was
God. Pleto describedas
was described as being of
being of
divine parcntage; and so
parentage; and so was Pythagoras who was
was PJrthagor$ supposedto be
was supposed be the
the
incamate
incarnate son
sonof the god
of the Hermes. Empedocles
god Hermes. Empedocles was allegedto be
alsoalleged
was also be
14
l4
 animmortal
an immortal god
godwho
whohealed
healedthethesick, andhis
sick, and followers worshipped
hisfollowers worshipped
him and prayed to him.
him and prayed.tohim. PlutarchPlutarch regards
regards it
itas
as beyond
beyond that
thatAlexender
Alexander
the Great
the Greet was
was ofdivine
of divine descent
descent and
and Romulus
Romulus the
the legendary
legendary ancestor
ancestor
of the Romans
of the Romans was
was the
the Son
Son of
of Mars,
Mars, the
the god
god of
ofwar.
war. He
He was
was supposed
supposed
to have
to have been
been raised
raised toto heaven
heaven in cloud. An
in aa cloud. inscription of
An inscription of48
48 B'C.
B.C.
refers to
refers Julius Ceesrr
to Julius Caesar as "god manifest
as "god offspring of
manifest offspring Ares and
of Ares and
Aphrodite and
Aphrodite and common
common savior
savior of human life"'
of human Another inscription
life". Another inscription
referring to
refening Augustus caessru
to Augustus Caesan says:
says: "The Caesar,, son
Emperor caesar
"The Emperor Son of
of
God, god
God, god Augustus,
Augustus, overseer
overseer ofof land and sea."
land and sea."

These titles
These titles of
of "god"
"god" ,, "son of god"
"son of god" ,,and common and
being common
and "lord" being and
widespread
widespread in the Mediterranean
Mediterranean region
region about
about the time of
of Jesus
Jesus could
not but
not but influence
influence the
the general who were
public who
general public infused with
deeply infused
were not deeply with
the Judaic
the Judaic monotheism.
monotheism. TheyThey were tenns loosely
were terrns used by all and
loosely used and
sundry.
sundry.

The myths
The myths around
around those other personalities,
those other mythological and
personalities, mythological and
historical,
historical,were
were strikingly
strikingly similar
similar to
to those later adopted
thoselater Christians
adoptedby Christians
in the caseof the
the case the Prophet
ProphetJesus,
Jesus,on whom be
on whom peace.Francis
be peace. Young
FrancisYoung
in his essay,Two
his essay, TwoRoots
Rootsor a Tanrled
or.a TangledMass? writes inter
Mass? writes inter alia:
alia:

"Moreover,
"Moreover,one onecannot
cannotdismiss
dismissout out of hand theview
handthe thatsomething
view that something
of the same kind happened
of the samekind happenedin the in the case
case of
of Jesus.
Jesus. There
There are,
are, to
to takebut
take but
one example,
oneexample, general
general similarities
similarities between
between Livy's
Livy's account
account of
of Romulus
Romulus
and
andsome
somesynoptic
synopticnarratives
narrativesabout
aboutJesus: virgin birth,
Jesus:aa virgin conception
birth,conception
by
by aagod,
god,aaremarkable
remarkablecareer,
care€r,no tace of
no trace remainsafter
his remains
of his an
death,an
after death,
appearance
uip*.r*.. afterafterdeath
deathto
to commission
commissionhis successors,
hissuccessors, the of
offering of
theoffering
prayers
pr"y"rr toto him.
him. ItIt would
wouldbebeimpossible
impossibleto to make a convincing case
makea convincing case for for
direct
iiti"t influence;
influence;but butpeople
peopleliving atroughly
living at roughlythe timedo
sametime
thesame seem
doseem
to have produced mythological
to have producedmythological accounts
accounts with
with parallel
parallel motifs."
motifs."

To
Toreturn
rcturnto
tothe
thetext
textof
ofthe
theBible, whenJesus
Bible,when wasbrought
Jesuswas broughtbefore the
beforethe
court
courthe
herefused
refusedtotoconcur
concurtotothe
thecharge
chargethat heclaimed
thathe tobe
claimedto the.Son
bethe Son
of
ofGod
Godasasmadmen
madmenand andpagans
pagans had
hadbeen propagatin$
beenpropagating about him: And
abouthim:'And
the high priest stood up and said;
the high priest stooduP and said;

l5
15
 "Have you no
"Have you answerto
no answer lo make?
nuke? WhatWhatis is itit that
that these
thesemen
nun testify
testify
against you ?"
againstyou ?" But
But Jesus
Jesw was wassilent
silenl And
And the the high
high priest
priestsaid
said to
to
him, "]
him, "I adjure you by
adjureyou hythe
the living
living God,
God,tell
tell us
usifyou
ifyou are
are the
the Christ,
Christ,
the Son
the son ofof God.
God"" Jesus
Jesussaid
said to
to him.
hittt "You
"you have havesaid
said so.
so.But]
But I tell
tett
hereafteryou will
you hereafter will see
seethe sonofman
the son otman seated
seatedat at the
the right
right hand
hand
of Power,and
ofPower, and coming
coming onon the
the clouds
cloudsofheaven.
o! heaven.,, "
Matthew
Matthew 26:62-64
26:62-64

The three
The threeGospels
Gospelsof Matthew,
Matthew,MarkMark and
and Luke
Luke (called
(called"synoptic"
"synoptic"
meaningcommon
meaning coffrmonview
view because
becausethey
theyagree
agreeinin fonn
form and
andcontent)
content)do
do
not refer
not referto
to Jesus
Jesusas
asthe
the"only"
"only" Son
son of God.
God.It It is
is the
theGospel
Gospelof John
John
whichlays
which laysspecial
specialstress
stressonon the divinity of Jesus,
thedivinity Jesus, and
andcalls
callshim,
him, the
the
Only Sonof God.
Only Son God.

the Word
"And the Wordbecameflesh
becamefleshand
and dwell
dwell among
among us,full
us,full ofgrace
of grace and
truth; we
truth; we have
have beheld
beheldhis
hisglory,
glory, glory as
as ofthe
otthe onlySonfrom
only Sonfrom the
Falher.""
Father.
John
J o b n1:14
l :14

"For God so
"For God so loved
loved the world that
lhat he gave
gave his
his only Son,
Son, that
whoeverbelieves
whoever believesin him should not
nol perish but have
have eternal life.
hfe.""
John
J o hn3:16
3:16

What
What is special
special about
about the
the use
use of
of the
the term
tenn "Son
"Son ofof God"?
God"? Going
Going
through
through the
the Bible we find
fmd such
such terms
tenns being used in reference
being used reference to many
many
others
others besides
besides Jesus
Jesus Christ.
Christ. In the
the Old Testament,
Testament, all of
of it having
having
been
been written before
before the birttr
birth ofJesr:s
ofJesus we find
fmd the following examples:
examples:

"When men began

"71/hen began to multiply
multiply on the face
face of
of the ground
ground and
daughters
daughters were
were born to lhem,
them, the sons of God saw
sons of saw that the
daughters
daughters of
of men were
werefoir;
fair; and they took wives
wivessuch of them as
such of as
they chose."
they chose. "
Genesis 6:l-2
Genesis 6: 1-2

l16
6
 "On what
"On werei8its hasa
whatwere orwho
bases sunk,or whobA laidiE cornerstone,when
its cornettlonc, whenthe
the
morning stan sang together,
morning slarx songtogcthcr, and
and all
aII the
the sotts
sons of
ofGod
God shouledfor
shoutedfor
joy?"
joY?"
Job 38:6-7
Job 38:6-7

,,Yet
" Yet the number of
fhenumher ofthe people of
thepeoptc o/Israel shallhe
Isrocl shall li*c tIP
be he sandof
the sand the
ofthe
sea,
sea,which can be neither ncasured
be neithet measured nor numbered, end
nor numheted, IUIdin theplace
in the place
was saidto
where ilit ncs
where to then, "You arc
them, "You not my
are not myPcople" shallhe
people."ItIt shsll besaid
said
to them "Sons ofthe
tothcm"sonsotthelivinSGod"living God."
Hosea l:10
Hosca 1:10

Apparently itit was quite common practice befqfc

Apparently time of
before the time of Jcsus
Jesus
even for
even use thc
suQiects to usc
for Hebrew writers on religious zu\iccts the tcnn
term "sons
"sons
of God"
of God" inin referencc those who wcre
reference to thosc of God. An
beloved of
were bcloved An Italian
Italian
Biblical authority,
Biblicat authority, Marcello craveri,
Craveri, who wrote Thc
The LV<
I ifc of rcsrc.
IlI/fSus.
however, believes
however, believes that the term has
has in history undergone
undergone changes
changes
mistranslation. He writes:
through mistranslation.
through

"Actually, phras€(bed
the phrase
contain the Yahweh'
cbcd Yahwc!J.
"Actually, the
the Old Testament
Testamentdoes doescontain
which,
which, however,
howevcr, meansmeans"the "the servant
scrvantofof God", "th€
God", "the slave of God",
slave of God",
God's liege subject. The
God's liege subject. The Gre€k Greek text of Septuagint
Septuagint translates
translates it
it
equivocally as fJzais TheON,
equivocaliy as (poblheoil, in
in as
as much
much asItEI"
asJJlli,t, like the
the L*;n
LatinI1J«L
Us'
can
can mean
mgan either
either "little
"little boy" or or "slave", subscquently,it
"slav€", subsequently, it was quite
was quite
simple to replace llJli,t in the sense
scnse of
of nboy"with
"boy" with tlaJW, , ufrich
which mcalut
means
simple to replace lerh in thc &I4,t
nson'.
"son".

Indccdin
Indeed in Hebrew
Hcbrewliterature
literatureeven term "god"
theterm
eventhe seemsto
"god" seems been
havebeen
to have
rather loosely used. In Exodus
rattrcr looscly uscd.In Exodus we
we read
rcad of
of God
God addlcssing
addressing Moscs
Moses and
and
telling him about
tetling him about the
thc relation
relation ufrich
which would
would bc
be bcnveen
between him
him and
and
Aaron:
Aaron:

"He slid SJHlfIk/or you to tile people;""d hcslid

pcoptc; andlie shailbe nnulhfor
bcaa1IIOIIthfor
"Hc shallsphfor Jnu to thc
,vr4 ",,4
lOll, at dyou shaltbe
Youslid bcto
tohim Gd'""
osGod.
himtIS
Exodus4:4:16
Exodus 1"6

17
17
Noteagain:
Note egain:

"l say, "You

"I say, arc gods,
"You are gods, sons
sonsofof the
the Most
Most High,
High, all
all of
of you
you
neverthelus,you
nevertheless, you shall
shalldie
dielike
likemen
menandfall
andfall like
liheany
anyprince. "
prince,i
Psalm
Psalm82:6-7
EZ:6-7
All those
All quotationsare
thosequotations from the
arefrom theOld restamentlet
old Testament letus
usnow
now see
seewhat
what
theNew
the New Testament
Testamenthas
hastoto say.
say.Luke
Lukereports
reportsJesus
Jesuspreaching:
preaching:

II"But
But love your enemies,
loveyour etumies, andand do good and
dogood, and lend,
lend expecting
expectingnothing
nothing
in return,'
in r&rrn; andyour
and your reward
renard wiUwill be great,andyou
hegreat, and you wi/I
wilt be
besons
sonsofthe
of tie
Most High;
Most High; for he is
for he kind to
is kind to the
the ungrateful
ungrateful and
and the
the selfish."
selfish"
Luke
Luke6:35
6:35
In the
In theGospel
Gospelaccording
accordingto to Matthew
MatthewJesus
Jesusis
is reported
reportedtoto say:
say:

are the
"Blused are
"Blessed thepeacemakersfor
peacema*asfor they
they shall
shallbe
becalled sons
sorc ofGod"
of God.,,

Matthew
Matthew 5:9
5:9
Paulin
Paul in his
his letter
letterto
to the
the Romans
Romanswrites:
writes:
uFor aII who are led by the Spirit
"For all Spirit ofGod
of God are
arc sons
sorc ofGod
of God,II

Romans 8:14
Romans 8:14
The
The two menmen who areare said
said to have
have done
done their utmost
utmost to ascribe
ascribe
divinity to Jesus
Jesus christ
Christ are
are John and paul;
John and Paul; and
and yet from the above
above
quotation Paul
Paul definitely
definitely admits
admits that resus
Jesus was
was not the only son of
son of
God, but "all
God, "all who are led by the Spirit of
ofGod
God are sons ofGod"
sorrsof God."

Let us see what

us see what John
John has
has to
to say,
say, he who has coined
who has coined the phrase, ,rthc
the phrasc, "the
only son of God".
only son ofGod". In In the
the course
course of
ofan
an argument
argument Jenrs had with
Jesus had with the
the
Jews who
rews who wanted
wanted toto stone
stone hinr,
him, he
he asked
asked ofofthem
them for
for which
which of
ofthe
the
good works that
good.works that he
he had
had shown
shown them
them werc they stoning
were they stoning him?
him?

l18
8
 The Jews
The allswered him, ulfe
Jewsanswered stoneyoufor
"We stone no good
you for no works butlor
good wor*s butfor
blasphemy,' because
btasphemy;because you
you being
being a
a man,
mon, make
make yourself
yourself God"
God. " Jesus
Jesus
answered
answered them,
them, "Is
"Is it
it not
not written
wriflen in
in your
your law,
law, II said,
said, you
you are
are gods!
gods!
IfIf he
he called
called them
them gods
godsto to whom
whom the the word
word ofof God came (and
God came (and the
the
scripture cannol
scripture cannot hebe broken),
broken), do do yoa
you say him of
ofhim
sayof whom the
ofwhom the Father
Father
consecrated ond
consecraled and sent
sent into
into lhe world. "You are
the world, are blaspheming"
blaspheming"
because II said
hecouse "1 am the son
said "I of God?"
sonof
JJohn
o h nl10:33-36
0 :3 3 -36

In other
other words Jesus was
words Jesus pointing out to his Jewish
was pointing persecutors that
Jewish persecutors that
tenn Son
the term Son of God was
of God was no more
more blasphemous than the
blasphemous than the tenn t'godsl'
tetm "gods"
the
had been
which had been used
used in respect previous to him. At
others previous
of others
respect of At least
least
that is what
that what the
the writer of
of John's Gospel implies.
John's Gospel Jesus's own personal
implies. Jesus's personal
preference was
preference was for the rIson of
tenn "son
the term of man", Hebrew, Arabic and
man ", in Hebrew, and
nBen
Swahili: "Ben Adam",which
Swahili: Adam", which just "man". This
means "man".
means repeated no
This is rep€ated
less than
less than 80
80 times
times in the Testament, mostly
the New Testament, spoken by Jesus
mostly spoken Jesus
himself.
himself. Not once
once is he
he reported
reported to categorically
categorically call
call himself the
the Son
Son
of God
God in any
any special
specialsense.
sense,

Finally
Finally let
let us
us consider
considerChrist's last words
Christ'slast when he
words when was about
he was to
about to
ascend
ascendtoto heaven
heavenas
asrelated the Gospel
relatedin the John:
Gospelof John:

"I am
"J am ascending
ascendingto
to my
my Father
Fother and your Father, to my God
Filher, to God and
your God. "
God-" John
John 20:17
20: 17

It
It is
is very
very clear
clear to
to understand what Jesus
understandwhat Jesusmeant by this
meant by single
this single
sentence,
sentence,that
thathis
his sonship wasin
sonshipwas in no way different
no way differentfrom sonship
thesonship
from the
of
of all
all men.
men.

The
TheAmerican
Americanwriter,
writer,Upton saysin
Sinclair,says
UptonSinclair, hisbook,
in his book, "A" A Pmonal
Pqnonol
~ ::
Jeuus" "And
" And lest
lestanyone that : in
think that:
anyonethink in calling
calling God his Father
Godhis Fatherhehe
was
wasproclaiming
proclaiminghimself
himselfthe let itit be
Son,let
theSon, bemade clearthat
madeclear thathe called
hecalled
God
God your
your Father,
Father, too.
too. He said itit eighteen
He said eighrcentimestimes in New
the New
in the
Testament:
Testament:"Your
"Your Heavenly
HeavenlyFather K1oweth",and
FatherKnoweth", andsosoon.
on.He meant
He meant
that
thatwe
wewere
wereall
all sons
sonsof
of God, andhe
God,and wasone
hcwas oneof them."
of them."

t9
19
GOD
GOD AND
AND JESUS (arethey
JESUS (are theyone
oneand
rnd the
rhesame
seme?)
?)

christianChurches
Christian Chuchesteach
teachthat
thatJesus
JesusChrist
christ isisnot
notonly
onlythe
theSon
sonof
of God,
God,
butthat
but that"he isvery
"heis veryGod".
God".The TheFather,
Father,The
TheSon
son andthe Holy spirit are
and the Holy Spirit are
one.Three
one. Three in
in one,
one,and
andoneone in
in Three.
Three.They
They are areco-eternal
co-etemaland
andco-
co-
equal.Jesus
equal. Jesus isisGod,
God,and
andGod
GodisisJesus.
Jesus.That
Thatis is the
thcChristian
christiandogma,
dogm4 toto
whichthe
which themajority
majorityof of those
thosewho
whocall
callthemselves
themselves Christians
christianssubscribe.
subscribe.

St.Paul
St. Paulin
in his
his first
first letter
letterto
to the
the Corinthians
Corinthianswrote:
wrote:

"We areeven
"we are evenfound
found toto be
bemisrepresenting
misrepresenting God,
God,because
becausewe wetestified
testfred
of Godthat he
ofGod he raised
raisedChrist.
chrisL whom
whomhehe did 1I0t raiseif
not raise tf it
rt is
ir true that
the dead
the deadare
are not
nol raised.
raised'l
"
I Corinthians15:
1Corinthians t 5:15
t5

spite of
In spite of Paul's
Paul'salleged
alleged belief that
that Christ
christ was
was the
the same
samebeing
being as
as
God, he could
God, he could not
not but
but say:
say : "God
"God Raised
RaisedChrist".
Christ". If
If Jesus
Jesusand
and God
God
were one
were one and
and the
the same
sa,mewould
would it not
not have
have been
beenmore
more appropriate
appropriateto
speakof
speak of the
the operation
operationin the
the following terms
terms : Christ
Christ raisedhimself
raised
If God
? If God raised
raisedChrist,
christ, the
the two could
could not possibly
possibly be
be the
the same
strmebeing.
being.
One was definitely
One was definitely the
the perfonner
performer and
and the
the other
other upon
upon whom the the
operation
operation was
was performed,
performed.

John,
John, the
the other
other strong
strong advocate of the
advocate of the divinity of
of Christ"
Christ, reports
reports in his
Gospel
Gospel that
that Jesus
Jesus said: not yoru
said: "Let not your hearts
hearts be
be troubled;
troubled; believe
believe in
God,
God, believe
believe also
also in me." The word "also"
me." The "also" emphasize
emphasize the
the distinction
distinction
between
between God
God and
and Christ.
Christ.

In the Acts of of the Apostles read: ,,And

Apostles we read: "And he (Stephen)
(Stephen) said,
said,
"Behold, II see
see the heavens
heavensopened
opened and
and the Son of
ofman standing at
man standing at
the right
right hand olGod"
ofGod. "
7:56
Acts 7:56

20
20
 TheSon
The Sonof ofman,
man,as Jesusprefened
asJesus preferredto callhimsctf,
tocatl seenby
himself, isissecn by Stephen
Stephen
to
to be
be standing
standing at
at the
the right
right hand
hand of
of God.
God. Hence
Hence he
he cannot
cannot at
at the
the same
same
time be
time be God;
God; and
and this
this is description of
is aa description situation in
ofaa situation heaven, He
in heaven, He is is
no longer
no longer the
the Jesus
Jesus of ofthis
this world described in
world described in Hebrew
Hebrew 22 as as having
having
been ',made
been like his
Il made like his brethren
brethren inin every respect, so
every respect, so that he might
that he might
become aa merciful
become merciful andand faithful high priest
faithful high in the
priest in service ofGod".
the service of God ll •

On the
On the Mount
Mount of
of Olives
Olives to
to which Jesus fled
which Jesus hunted by
fled hunted the Jews,
by the Jews. he
he
took occasion to
took occasionto withdraw
withdraw from
from his
his disciples,
disciples, and
and there
there in
in seclusion
seclusion
prayed to God:
prayed God:

"Father, ifif thou

"Father, thou art wHling, remove this
willing, renurvethis cupfrom me; nevertheless
cup/rom rfl'e; nevertheless
not my will, but thinc
not my thine he
be done-"
done." And appeared to him
And there appeared him an
angel/rom heaven, strengthening
angelfrom hetven, strengthening him.
hiruu "
Luke 22:4243
22:4243

We
We Dote
note here
herc three
three important things:
thingr:

1.
L Jesus
Jesusprays
praysto God,
God, Jesus
Jesusworship
worship God. Hencethey
God- Hence are two
they are
separate
separatebeings
beingsof unequal
unequalstatus extent that
the extent
statusto the one has
that one pray
has to pray
to the other.
to the othcr.

2.
2. They
Thcy have
havetwo separate
separatewills, but will of Jesus,
the will
butthe the son
Jesgs,the man'
sonof man,
is
is subordinate
subordinateto
to that
thatof
of God. God'swill must
God.God's prcvail.
mustprevail.

3.
3.Jesus,
Jesrs,being
beingman,
mar\ loses
loscsheart
heartand weakens,and
andweakens, andGod as
Almighty, as
God Almighty.
the sourceof all strength,scndsan angel
the source of all strength, sends an angel to
to strcnghen
strengthen Jesus.
Jesus.

In
In the
theGospel
Gospelof
of John,
John,Jesus
Jesussays
sayscategorically:
categorically:

"For John l4:28

John14:28
"For the
the Father is greater
Father is grcater than
lhan !"
It'

And
And finally
finalty on
onthe cross: "And
thecross: "And aboutaboutthe hoat Jesus
ninth hour
theninth cried
Jesrtscried
?r', that is' t'My
with a loud voice, "EIi,
with a loud voice,"Eli, Eli,
Eli, la
la ma
ItUI sabach-thani
sabach+hani ?", that is, "My
God,
God,mymyGod,
God,why
whyhast
hostthou/orsaken
lhouforsaken me?" nte?t'
27:46
Matthew27:46
Matthew
2l
21
ItIt isisclear
clearfrom
fromthe
theabove
abovequotation
quotationthat
thatJesus
Jesus and
andGod
Godare
arenot
notonly
only
separate entities but their
separate entities but their will will are
aredifferent
differentand
and could
could be
be even
even
contradictory;the
contradictory; the superior
superiorwill
will must
must however
howeverprevail.
prevail. What
what isis
shocking,
shocking, however,isisthe
however, thedespairing
despairing toneof
tone of Christ's
christ'ssupplication
supplicationonon
thecross.
the cross.Far
Farfrom
frombeing
beingthe
theonly
onlybegotten
begottenSon sonofof God
Godor
orGod,
God,we
we
couldnot
could notexpect
expectsuch
suchweakness
weakness evenfrom
even froman anordinary
ordinarymortal
mortalwith
with
aatrust
trustinin God.
God.

MIRACLES
MIRACLES:: But
But in
in whose
whoseAuthority
Authoriry ??

Among the
Among proofsadvanced
the proofs advancedby by some
someto to substantiate
substantiatethe
thedivinity
divinity of
of
Jesusare
Jesus are the
the miracles
miracleswhich
which he he is
is reputed
reputedbyby the
the Gospels
Gospelsto to have
have
performed.Examples
performed. Examplesof of such
suchmiracles
miraclesarearethe
the turning
turning ofof water
waterinto
into
wine, thehealing
wine, the healingof the
the leprous
leprousandandthe
the paralytic,
paralytic,the
the exorcising
exorcisingof
the possessed,
thepossessed, theraising
the raisingof thethedead,
dead, and
andwalking
walking onon water.
water.But
But the
the
verysame
very sameGospels
Gospelstell
tell us
usthat
thatJesus
Jesusattributed
attributedall
all thosemiraclesand
those miracles and
everythingthat
everything that he
he ever
everdid
did to
to the
the God
God who
who had
hadsent
senthim.
him. Hence
Henceareare
aa few
few examples:
examples:

"For I have
"For have not spoken
spoken on my own
own authority; the Father who
who sent
me has himself given me commandment
himselfgiven commandment what to say sayand
and what
what to
speak-
speak. And
And [I know that his commandment is eternar
his commandment eternal life,
life. II say,
say,
therefore,
therefore, II say
sayas the Father has bidden me.,,
hasbidden me. "

John l2:49-50
John 12:49-50

"1 can do nothing on my own authority; as II hear,I

"I hear, [judge; and my
judge; and
judgement
judgement is just, because
is just, because I[ see*
seek not
not my
my own
own wilr
will hut
but the will
will of
of
him
!lim who
who senl
sent me."
me. "
John 5:30
John 5:30

Jesus takesjustifiable
Jesus takes justifiablepride in speaking
pride in speaking and
and acting
acting on
on God's
God's authority
authority
and in
and in obedience
obedience to to his command. In
his command. In the
the story
story· of
of the
the raising
raising of
of
Lazarus
Lazarus from
from the
the dead
dead as
as related by John
related by John we
we read:
read:

2?
22
 "Then Jesas,
"Then Jesus, deeply
deeply moved
moved again, came to
again,canv to the tomb; ItIt was aa cave,
the tomh; cave,
and a stone lay upon it Jesus said,
and o stonelay upon it Jesussoid,"Take "Take away
away lhe stone". Martha,
tile stone't. Martha,
the sister
the ofthe
sisterof the dead
dead mon,
man, said to
to him, "Lord, by
lIim, "Lord, time lhere
by this time there
will be
witl he an
an odor,for
odor,for he
he has
has been
been deadfour
deodfour days.
days. "Jesussaid
"Jesus said to
to her,
her,
"Did
"Did I[ not tell
tell you
you that
that if
if you
you would
would believe
believe you
you would
would see
see the
the glory
glory
o/God?"
of God?" So So they took away the stone.
awaythe And Jesus
stane.And lifted up
Jesuslifted eyes
up his eyes
and said, "Father, II thank thee
said,"Father, thee that
that thou hearest always,hut
hearest me always, but IJ
have
havesaid
said this on account of ofthe people
people standing
standing by, that they may
hy,that
believe
helievethat thou
thau didst
didsthear
hear me. "
me."
Iohn I11l:38-44
John :38-44

From the
the above note three
above we note three things:
things:

I. Jesus
L Jesus tells
tells Martha
Martha that
that she
she "would
"would see the glory
see the of God,"
glory of and not
God," and not
Jesus own glory,
Jesus glory, for Jesus
Jesus always
always seeks the glory of
seeks the God who sent
of Ood sent
him.
him.
2. Jesus prays to God
Jesusprays God for miracle,
miracle,and thanksGod
and dutifully thanks God for
answering
answeringhishis prayers.
prayers
3.
3. Jesus
Jesustakes
takespains
painsto convince
convincethe
the spectators that it is indeed
spectatorsthat God
indeedGod
who
who has
has sent
senthim,
him. and
andthat
that what
what he doeshe
he does God's
doeswith God's
he does
authority.
authoritY.

Much
Much is is also
alsomade
madeof Jesus's
Jesus'sown
own rising
rising from the dead,
from the dead,the so called
the so called
resurrection.
resurrection.ButBut all
all references
refcrencestoto the
theevent
event in theBible
in the Biblc make clear
makeclear
that it was God who raised
that was God who raisedhim. him. He
He did
did not
not rise
rise of his
his own
own volition.
volition.
Indeed
Indeedneither
neitherwas
washehe unique
uniqueinin the
theact.
act.

In
In 22 Kings
Kings4:32-35
4:32-35we readof
weread of aa child
childwho wasraised
whowas raisedfrom dead.
thedead.
from the
Another caseis
Anothercase is reported
reportedin
in II Kings
Kings 17:22 . The
17:22. Bible also
The Bible of
tells of
alsotells
people
peoplewhowho went
wentupupto
to heaven.
heaven.

"And
"And as
asthey
rheystill
stillwent
wenten
cn and
and talked, hehold,aa chariot
talked,behold, chariot offire and
oflire and
horses offire
horsesof lire separated
septroted the
thc two
two ofthem.
of thent-And
And Eliiah
Elijah went
went up by
uphy aa
whirlwind
whirl*ind into
intoheaven.
heaven,""
2:l I
Kings2:11
22 Kings

23
23
 nEnoch wslked with God: and
"Enoch hewas
walked with God: and he was1101,/0'
noglor God
Godtook
too* him.
hlmn"
Genesis5:24
Genesis 5:24

suchlegends
Such legendsabout
aboutoutstanding
outstandingpersonalities
personalitieswere
wenereplete
rcpletebefore
beforcandand
atthe
at thetime
time of
of Jesus.
Jesus.Josephus
Josephuswriting
writingrnAntiquities
in Ant;quitie$ sayssaysof
of Moses:
Moscs:
"a cloud suddenly
"a cloud suddenlystood
stood over
over him
him and
andhehe disappeared
disappearedin in aa certain
certain
valley,although
valley, althoughhe hewrote
wroteinin the
theholy
holy books
booksthatthathe
hedied,
died,which
which was
was
doneout
done out of
of fear,
fear, lest
lestthey
they should
shouldventure
ventue toto say
saythat,
that, because
bccarrseofof his
his
extraordinary virtue,
extraordinary virtue, he
he went
went toto God."
God.uJosephus
Joscphusalsoalso mentions
rncntionsthat
that
some peoplethought
somepeople thoughtthat Moses"had
thatMoses "hadbeen
beentaken
takentoto the
thedivinity."
divinity.',

According to
According to J. Jeremiasin
J. Jeremias in JIlQ)BI: ,tThqe went
moyrcr: "These up to
wentup to hellVen:
hcavcn:
Moses and Elijah.
Enoch, Moses Elijah.t,"

VIRGIN BIRTH
THE VIRGIN BIRTH

The virgin
The virgin birth
birttr of
of Jesus
Jesusis regarded,
regarded,perhaps,
perhaps,asas the
the most powerful
powcrful
of all miracles
ofall miracles supporting
supporting the claim for his divinity.
di"i"ity. Maurice
Maruicc Wiles,
wilcs,
Regius Professor
Regius Professor ofof Divinity
Divinity and
and Canon
canon ofof Christ
christ Church,
church, Oxford,
oford,
and Chainnan
and chairman ofthe
ofthe Church
church ofEngland Doctrinc
Doctrine Commission,
commissioq writes
in his article
article_Gfuitlignifitwithout Incunation ?
Christianity without Incarllation Ik
7 in the book, .Itc
il{ilh
Myth of Incarnate:
fit God Incarnate:
"when
"When around
around the beginning of of this century, doubts
doubts were expresscd
expressed
about
about the literal truth of
of the virginal conccption
conception of
of Jesw,
Jesus, these
these werc
were
frequently treated
treated as "itginal upon
as direct attacks
attacks of incarnation.
incarnation.
the doctrine of
The virgin
virgin birttr
birth was so firmly
finnly regardcd
regarded as
as the msans
means by ufrich
which the
incarnation
incarnation waswas effected that
that the
the two
two weri
were widely
widely regarded
regarded as
as
standing
standing or falling togethcr."
together."

strong
Strong and
and irrefutable
inefutable argumcnts
arguments have
have down the pagcs
down thc been
of hiStory been
pages ofhiistory
presentcd
presented against
against thc
the doctrine
doctrine of
ofincarnation, i.e. the bcticf
incaroatioq i.c.thc that,God
beliefttrat God
Almighty
Almighty took
took thc
the human
human form
form as
as Jesus
Jesus ofNazarcth"
ofNazareth. The The arguments
arguments
range
range from
from the Quranic ufrich
the Quranic which draw the parallel
draw the parallel ofofthc
the creation
creation of
of
Adarn
Adam from
from no-fathcr
no-fatherand
and no
no mother,
mother, and the conccption
andthe conception ofofElizabeth,
Elizabcth
24
24
 the wife
the wife of Zachariah~who
ofZachariah, barrenand
who barren having passed
andhaving menopause, did
passedmenopause, did
yet give birth to John.
yet give birth to John.In In the
the case
case of
of Zachariatr,
zachariah, the
the Qur'an
Qur'an says:
says:

"Thus doth
"Thns doth Allah
Allah accomplish
accomplish what he willcth."
whathe wUleth. " Qur'an 3:40
Qur'an 3:40

And in
And in the
the case
case of
ofMary
Mary the
the Qur'an
Qur'an says:
says:

,,Even
"Even so: Allah createth
so:Atlah createth what
what He He hath
When He
wUleth: When
He willeth: hath decreed
decreed
a plan, He but saith to it ttBett
"Be" and it
and it his !"
/" Qur'an 3:47
3:47
a plan, He but saithto il Qur'an

But these
these are
are scriptural argwnents; they are
scriptural arguments; people who have
are for a people have
faith. There
faith. There are
are those
those who have dismissed the whole thing as
have dismissed as purely
mythological, and
mythological, and have
have presented many similar claims
presented many of virgin birth
claims of
for pagan Jesus Christ.
pagan divinities prior to Jesus Persus of
Christ. Persus Greece was
of Greece was
supposed to have
supposed have been
been born Danae. The
born by a Danae. The virgin Rhea Silvia gave
Rhea gave
birth to Romulus
birth Romulus of of Rome.
Rome. The
The Egyptian Horus was
Egyptian Horus was bom Isis, the
born by Isis, the
immaculate
immaculate virgin
virgin queen
queen of heaven.
heaven. The
The argument
argwnent is that
that these
these
legends
legendswere
were current
culrent in the
the Mediterranean
Meditenaneanregion the time
about the
region about of
time of
Jesus
Jesuswas
wasmost
most likely
likely equally
equallylegendary.
legendary.

Rationalist
Rationalistinterpreters
interpretersof the
theBible
Bible have
havefound the current
fault with the
found fault current
translations, and have sought
translations,and havesoughtto to place
place on
on record
record what
what they
they believe
believe is
is
the more correct
the more correct rendering
rendering of the
the original
original text.
text. Mafcello
Marcello Craveri
Craveri
accuses
accusesthe the Church
ChurchFathers
Fathersofof launching into aa search
launchinginto searchfor every
for every
passage
passagein in the
the Scriptures
Scriptureswhich
which could
couldbe in any
seenin
beseen way to
any way foretell
to foretell
the
itrecoming
comingof of aa "Son
"Sonofof God"
God" through
throughvirgin birth. As
virgin birth. As an example
an example
Craveri
Craverirefers
referstoto Isaiah
Isaiatr7:14
7:14as
asthe
themost
mostquoted prophecyregarding
quotedprophecy regarding
the
thevirgin
virgin birth:
birth:

'tThereforethe
"There/ore theLord
Lord himselfwill you aasign.
giveyou
himself will give virgin
Beholdaa virgin
sign,Behold
shall
shallconceive,
conceive,and
andbear
hearaason,
son,and
andshaH callhis
shallcaU ImnruueL"II
narnellllnUlnueL
hisname

Craveri
Craveriargues
arguesthat
thatthe
theprophecy
prophecyhad nothingto
hadnothing todo thebirth
with the
dowith of
birth of
Jesus. The original text
Jesus.The original text speaks,
speaks,not
nol Q.(a
of a "vier;n"
"virgin" but
but of
Q.(aa "vouor
"young
woman".
tryoman".The
TheRevised
RevisedStandard
StandardVersion
Versionof Biblc agrees
theBible
of the with
agreeswith
Marcello
MarcelloCraveri
Craveriin
inthis
thisrespect.
respect.The
The actual
actual meaning
meaning of
of the
the prophecy
prophecy
25
25
isisadmitted
admittedto to be
bedifficult
diffrcult by
by the
thesame
sameChristian
christian commentators
cornmentators who
who
claimthat
claim thatitit refers
refersto
toJesus.
Jesus.Craven
Craverisays
saysthat
thatisisas
asexpected
expected"since',sincethe
the
excerpthad
excerpt hadnothing
nothingto to do with the
dowith thebirth
birthof Jesus.ItIt isisthe
of Jesus. theending
endingof of
aa discussion
discussionthat thatIsaiah
Isaiahsays
sayshe hehad
hadwith
with King
King Ahaz,
Ahae,in in which
which the the
prophetreassured
prophet reassured theking
the king of
of the
the imminent
imminentdestruction
destructionof of his
his two
two
enemies,the
enemies, theKingsKingsof of Syria
Syriaand
andIsrael".
Israel".

Anotherrationalist
Another rationalistG. vermesin
G. Vennes in Jesus
resusthe Jew argues
thgJew iuguesthat
that"virgin"
"virgin"
evenas
even as applied
applied to
to Mary
Mary could well have
could well haveoriginally
originally meant
meantoneone too
too
young for
young for chi~d-bearing,
child-bedng, just as
asSarah,
sarah,Hannah
Hannahandand Elizabeth
Elizabethwere
were
old, or
old, or barren.
barren.

Lastly we
Lastly we have
havethe
the opinion
opinion of aa scientist
scientistand
and aa medical
medicalpractitioner
practitioner
regardingthe
regarding generalquestion
the general questionof conception
conceptionby by aa virgin. Dr.
Dr. T.H.
T.H.
Van de
Van Velde M.D.
de Velde M.D. writing
uniting in his
his best
bestselling
selling book
book onon sexology,
sexology,
Idcal Marriqre.
Ideal Marriage, says:
says: "There
"Therre are
are numerous
numeroui though;
though; of of course,
course,
exceptional instances
exceptional instanceson record of
on record of impregnation
imprcgnation or conception
conception
following the penetrationof spenn
the penetration sp€rm cells
cclls into the
the female
female genitalia
genitaria
completejAanUlC.pCa&
without complete entance of
jmmissiopenis or entrance of the
the male
male organ.
organ.Such
Such
cases are of
casesare great practical
of great practical importance.
importance.They
They plainly proveprove two
things; ~
things; Firstly, that
that under
wrder certain
certain circumstances
circumstancesimpregnation
impregnationcan can
result evenwhen
resulteven when the..b.mJm
thebt4nremains
remains unbroken.
unbroken. And secondlY. that a
Andsecond(urthat
qtennatozoon
spermatozoon can can reachthe
reach the female
female orgarur
organs indirectly, e.g.
e.g. through
through the
the
contact of a finger..."
contact of finger..."

The profundity of of all thesc

these speculations,
speculations, medical,
medical, scientific or
rational,
rational, is undoubted;
undoubted; but it is the
the Qru'an
Qur'an which spells
spells out the truth
in words
words simple
simple enough
enough for babcs
babes to urderstand:
understand:

"The similitude of
of Jesus before Allah
Jesus betore Allah is as that of
of Adam:
Adam: He
created
created himfrom dust, then said
him from dust, him.' "8e,,:
soid to him: "Be": and he was.
was. The
truth (com*)
truth (comes)/romAlloh so be nol
trom Allah alone; so ofthose
not of doubt."
thosewho doubt"
Qur'an 3:59-60
Qur'an 3:59-60

26
26
 Prophet from
JESUS -- Prophet
JESUS from Nazareth
Nazareth the
the serryant
servant of
of God
God

"Christ disdaineth
"Christ disdainethnot to serve
serveand worship
worship God" Qur'an 4:172
Qur'an 4: 172

Quranic truth. In number

bears out this Quranic
The Bible bears of places
number of places we note
note
Jesus saying
Jesus with pride that he has
saying with has been sent by God, and a number
been sent number
of times
of times he is referred
referred to as "servant of
as the "servant of God"

"And this tr
"Andtlrir is eternal life, that they
they nay thee the only true God,
nuzy know thee God,
and
and Jesus
lesus Christ whom thou has
Chrkt whom hassent. "
senl."
John 17:3
John 17:3

Thus Jesus
Thus Jesus in befitting humility addresses
befitting humility God as
addresses God "the only true
as "the true
God", and
God", he himself
and he himself has
has been sent as
been sent as a messenger of God.
messenger of God.

"God
"God having raised up his
raisedup servant sent
hissenant ht.tt to youtirct,
senthi~ youflrst, to blessyou
lo bless
in turning
turning every
everyone
one ofyou from yoar
of youtrom your wickedness.
wickedness." "
3:26
Acts 3:26
Acts

"The
"The GodGod ofAbraham
of Ahraham and ofof Isaac
Isaacand of
of Jacob,
Jacob, the God of our
God ofour
fathers,
fathers, glorified his
his servant
semant Jesus,
Jesus, whom
whom you delivered
delivered up and
and
denied
denied in the presence
presenceofol Pilate,
Pilate, when
when he
he had decided release
decidedto release
him."
hittt "
3 :1 3
A c ts3:13
Acts

"And
"And now,
now,Lord,
Lordr look upon
upon their
their threats,
threa&, and grant to setl'ants
to thy servants
to
ta speak
speakthy
thy word
ward with
with all
all boldness,
holdness,while
while thou stretches lhy
stretchesout thy
hand to
to heal,
heol, and sign
sign and wonders
wonder$are are performed
perforped through the
through the
name
nameofthy
of thy holy servant
sertant Jesus.
Jesus." "
4:30
Acts4:30
Acts

The
The sick
sick are
ere healed,
healed,signs
signsand
rnd wooden performed:who
are performed:
wonde6 are does
who does
all this?
all this ? ItIt is
is the
thq hand qf God The
handQ,fGod Thename
nameof
of Jesus may be
Jesusmay invoked,
beinvoked,
but
but that
thatisis only
only instrumental,
instrumental, as
asan
aninterceder, for he
interceder,for heat only
bestisis only
at best
"the
"theholy servantof
holy servant of God."
God."

27
27
 Jesnsisisreported
Jesus tosay
rcportedto sayaccording
accordingto
to the
theGospels: nwhoever receives
Gospels:"Whoever receives
nu, receives
me, not me
receivesnot mi but
hutHim
Him who
whosent
sentme. "
me.rl
Mark
Mark 9:37
9:37

The Qur'an
The express€sthe
Qur'anexpresses samesense
the same s€nsein
in the
the following
following words: rrtrIe
wonds: "He
whoobeys
who obeysthe
theApostle -saws)obeys
(Muharunad -saws)
Apostle(MuhanutUld oheysAllah.
Allah.,,"
Qur'an4:80
Qu'an 4:80

And in the
And in thefollowing
following verse
versethe
theProphet
ProphetMuhammad
Muhammadis
is told
told by
by Allah:

"Say: If ye do
",Scy;Ifye do love
love God,foliow
God,follow me:
me: God
God wil/love
will loveyou andforgive
andlorgive
youyour
you sins:for
your sins: for God
God is
is oft-forgiving,
oft-torgiving, Most MercifuL
Mercful" "
Qur'an
Qut'an3:31
3:31

In the
In the Gospel
Gospelof John
JohnJesus nys: "Myfood
Jesussays: "Myfood is to do
do the will
wiII ofhim
of him
who sent
who sentme,
me, and to
to accomplish
accomplishHis
His work.
work""
John
John4:34
4:34

That is
That is indeed
indeed the
the literal
literal translation
translation of
of the word ISLAM,
the word ISLAIVI, which
means, "Submission
means, thc will
"Sabmissian to the will ofGod.
af Godn"

"My teachms is
"My teaching ir not
not mine,
mine, but
bw his
hit who sent
sentme;
rru; ifany IIUln's will
tf artyrffin,s will is
do His
to do His will,
will, he shall
shall know whether the teaching isfrom
is from God or or
whether I am
amspeakhg
speaking on nVmy own amhorigl
authority. He who
who spealcs
spca*son hishis
own aathority his own glory; hat
seehshis
authority seeks but hc
he wha
who seeks glory of
seeksthe glory of
Him
Him who sent
senthim is true,
trae, and in him
him therc
there is nofalsehoodt,
nofalsehood. "
John 7:14-18
John 7:14·18

"He receivesyou receives

"He who receives receivs me,
tsu, and he who receives me receives
receivg nu recciva
Him
Him who sent me. me. He who receives prophet beca~e
receives a praphet hecauschehe is
is aa .
prophet receives a prophet's
prophet receives prophet's reward, and hc
reward, and he who
who receives
reccives aa
righteous mtn
righleous becausehe ls
man' because is a righteous
righteor.s man
IrUJn shall receive
recclvc aa
righteow
righteous manb
IIUln's reword"
reward. "
Matthew 10:40-41
Matthew 10:4041

28
28
We thus
thus see
see on the
the strength
strength of of Christ's
Christ's own testimony that he he is Iia
righteous scrvantof God,
righteousservant Go4 aaprophet
prophet sent by God,
sentby Go4 an apostle. Time and
anapostlc.Time and
time
timc again
again he
hc repeats
repeatsthat
that he
he has
hasnot come
comc on his own authority, that
he
he does
does not even
even actact or speak
speakon his own authority; but that he he says
says
and
and acts
acts in fulfillment
fulfillment ofthe
of the commandment and the
commandmentud ttre will ofwill of God who
has
hassent
senthim. These
Thescarearethe
the true qualitiesof
true qualities prophet and
of aa prophet and messenger
mcssenger
of
of God.
God. And
fuid that
that indeed
indecdis what
what his followers
followers who saw saw him and
and lived
with him took him to be. be.

Read
Read the
the Gospels:
Gospcls:

'tlfhen the people

"When people saw
sawthe sign which he
signwhich hc had done,
done,they
they said, nThis
sai4 "This
is indeed the prophet
prophet who is to come
come into the world.
world.'l"
John
John6:14
6:14

"But
"Bttt when
when they tried
tricd to arrest
arrest him,
hin they feared
feared the multitude,
multilude,
because be a prophet"
they held him to be
becaruethey prophet. "
Matthew 21 :46
2l:46

ttAndthe
"And the crowds
crowdssaid, "This is the
saidr"This prophet Jesusfrom
thepruphd Nazareth of
laustromNazlreth of
GaIUee."
Galilee."
Matthew21
Matthew 2l:l:11I

"And )'What things

things ?"
"And he said to them,
then4 "What ?'t And
And they
they said
sald to him,
hiry
fesus0/
"Concerning Jesus Nazareth, who
otNazareth, as a prophet mighty
who as rtghQ ink deed
deed
and word before God
God and aU
aII the people.?l
people. " -
Luke 24:19
24:19

Jesus denied that he

Jesrrsnot only denied was God, but also
he was also refused be
refirsed to be
considered
consideredeven good:
evengood:

"And
"And asas he was
wassetting hisjournqr a
sfrhg out on hisjourney, s man
,run ran
run up and knelt
uP iUld hnclt
be/ore
betore him,
hhn, and
and asked
ashcd him, nGood Teacher,
hittt, "Good Tcachcr, what must 1I do to
whu IlUlSt
inherit
inherit eternalli/e?"
eternal lite?" And
And Jesus sald to him,
fcsrc said nWhy do yOIl
httt+ "Wlly you caB nu
call me
good?
good? No one good but God
one is good God alone.
alona'l"
Mark 10:17-18
Mark 10:17-18
29
29
A PROPHET TO ISRAEL ISRAEL
We have
We have seen
seenfrom the extracts we have~eproduced
the extracts havereproduced from the
thc Bible
that
that Jesus
Jesuswas
was sent
sentby God.
God.

To whom was
Tq:phom h.esent?
Wgshe senlLTo
To the lforld? •- Let the Bible speak:
theWorld? sperk:

"And Jesuswent
"And Jesus went away
awayfrom there and withdrew
from there withdrew to the district
dhtrict of
of
Tyreand
Tyre andSidon.
Sidon.And
And behold,
behold,AA Cannnanite
CannnanitewoltllUlfrom
twnmnfromthe the region
region
cameout
came oat and cried,
cried, "Have
"Hsve mercy
mcrcy on me,mc, 0O lord, Son
Soi ofDavid;
of D.avid; my
daaghter is severely
daughter possessed
severelypossessed by
hy demon.
demon."" But
Bul he did not answer
cnswer
word And
her a word. And his dbciplescame
his disciples cameand begged
heggedhim saying,
saying, "Send
away,for
her away, sheis crying after us.
for she (Jesw) answered,
" He (Jesus)
us." answered,"1"I was
ntas
sent only tothe
sent lo the lost
lostsheep
sheepofIsraeL"
of Israel"
Matthew
Manhew 15:21-24
15:21-24

When Jesus
When Jesuswas
was despatching
despatchinghis
his twelve
twelve chosen
chosendisciples
disciplesto go
go out
and spread
and spreadthe
the Gospel
Gospelhe
he instructed
instructedthem
them to avoid going into non·
avoid going non-
Israelite
Israelitetowns.
towns.

reports: "These
Matthew reports: 'tGo
"These twelve
twelveJesus
Jesussent
sentout,
out, charging
charging them,
them, "Go
nowhere among
nowhere amrrngthe Gentiles (ie non-Jews),
Gentiles (i.e. non-fews), and enter no town ofof
Samaritans,but go rather to the lost
the Samaritans, lost sheep
sheepof
of the house
honre ofof
Israel"
IsraeL"
Matthew
Matthew 10:5·6
l0:5-6

then+ "Truly,
"Jesus said to them, "Tralyr I say you, in
sayto yot+ h tile
thc new
ncw world, whcn
twrl4 when
Son of
the Son of mIIn
nan shall
shall sit
sit on his
his glorious lhronc, you who
gloriotu throne, have
who have
nu will
-followed me
tollowed wi// also
alsosit
sit on twelve thmna, judging the
tvclve thrones,judging ttucttv tr~
thc twelve tihs
of Israel"
ofIsraeL"
Matthew
Mattlrcw 19:28
l9:2t

The claim that Jesus

The JesusChrist
Ctuist is aa redeemer
rcdeemcr of
of the
thc world from sin is
rebutted
rebutted by his own categorical
categorical statement rccordcd in the
statementrecorded the Gospel
Goryel
according
according to John. prayer to God
John. In prayer God hehe declares
dcclareshis own limitations
consistent
consistentwith the generalspirit of
the general of his mission.
mission-

30
30
"1
"I am praying for
am praying for them;
them; II am
am not praying for
not praying for the
the world
world butlor
hut for
lhose whom
those whom thou
thou hast givenme,lor
hastgiven me,for tl.ey
theyare
are thine. "
thine.'r
John
John17:9
l7:9

If we
If we allow
allow ourselves
oursclvesto judgefrom
tojudge from the
thestatement
statementofJesus
of Jesu asasreported
reported
by Matthew
by Matthewand andMark
Mark that
thathe
hewas
wassent
sentonly
only toto the
thelost
lostsheep
sheepoflsrael,
of Israel,
andhis
and his clear
clearinstructions
instnrctionsto to his
his disciples
disciplesthat
thatthey
theyshould
shouldgogo nowhere
nowherc
amongnon-Jews
among non-Jcwsbut but rather
ratherto to the
the lost
lost sheep
sheepof the the house
houseof Israel.
Israel,
and his
and prophecythat
his prophecy that he
he and
andhishis twelve
twelve disciples would be
discipleswould bejudging
the twelve
the nrelve tribes Isracl in the
tibes of Israel the hereafter,
hcreafter,wewe would not be be wrong to
to
conclude that the
conclude people referred
the people refened to in Jesus's
Jesus'sprayer
prayer quoted
quoted above
above
must be
must the same,
bethe same,the
the Israelites.
Israclites.It is aa historical fact that
historical fact that Cluistianity
Ctuistianity
was not preachedto
was not preached to non-Jews
non-Jewsuntil after aftcr the
the conversion Paul. It
conversionof Paul.
was he
was who insisted
he who insistedonon doing
doing thatthat in the
the face
face of strong
suong opposition
opposition
the chosen
from the chosenapostles
apostlesof of Jesus.
Jesus.They
They regarded
regardedsuch such action
action as
as
violation ofof the
the explicit instructions
instnrctionsand and practice
practiceof the the Master.
Master.Dr.
Marccllo Craveri
Marcello Craveri writes
rryritesin his
his book
book TheThc Life
r ife gfJesUSi
qf fesus:

"Meanwhile, Paul had

"Mcanwhile, Paul hadcome
comeinto the picturc. With his
tlre picture. his over-whelming
over-whelming
personalityand
personality and his ambition,
ambition,he
he lost
lost no
no time in interjecting
intcrjecting himself
himsclf
amongthe
among the "pillars" ofthe
of the community,
community, asashe
hc himselfrather
himsclf rattrerironically
spoke of James
spoke Jamesand
and Peter.
Peter.Quarrels
Quanels and
and conflicts between
benveenthem
them and
and
Paul soon
Paul soon arose,
aros€, especially over the
especially.over the new
new converts
sonverts outrageous
outageous
proposalto carry
proposal carry the
the religion beyond
beyondthethe borders
bordersofJudaism."
of Judaism."

scholar,Dr.
Biblical scholar, Dr.Hugh Schonfiel( in his
Hugh Schonfield, book, Thou
his book, Tharsc'''credible
rncndiblc
Cirirtian+ writes thus of
Chrittigll$, of Paul's
Paul's conllicts
conflicts with
with he
he genuine
genuine original
followers
followers of
of Christ:
Christ:

"The Saul
Saul of
of today, who uscd Roman name
used the Roman name of
of Paul,
Paul, was
was soen
seen alr
as
demon-driven encmy
the demondriyen enemy ofof the new David. When eventually hc he
became aprisonerof
bccarnc a prisoner ofthe Romans, thc
thc Romans, Christians ncither
the Christians neither of
ofJerusalem
Jenrsalcm
nor Rome lifted a fingcr
Rome liftcd finger to aid him. None of Paul's efforts, including
of Paul's
raising funds for the poorsaints
funds forthe poor saints of Judea, bad
of Judca, had mitigatcd
mitigated opposition
opposition to
more inhansigent
him. For the morc intransigent of legitimate Church Paul was a
of the legitimarc
dangerous. and disruptive influencc,
dangerous. influence, bcnt
bent on enlisting a large
3
31l
following from among Gentiles in order to provide himself
among the Gentiles himsclf with
a numerical superiority
superi-oritywith
with the
the support
support ofof which he he could set
sct at
defiance
defiance the
the Elders
Elders at Jerusalem. Paul had
Jerusalem.Paul had been
bcen the enemy
enemy from the
beginning,
beginning, and
and because
becaus€hehe had
had failed in his former
formcr open
open hostility
hostility he
hc
had craftily insinuated
had insinuarcdhimself
hims€lf into the fold to destroy
desEoyit from within.
within.
was doing by setting
This he was sctting aside
aside the sacred
sacredTorah andand recruiting
willing to join
anyone willing
anyone join him on thethe merest
mercst profession
professionof of belief.
belicf. He
should never
should never have
have been
been received;
received; but there
there were
were those
thosc who were
were so
so
innocentand
innocent and unsuspicious
unsuspiciousthat
that they had
had not realized
realized what he was up
he was
to. And see
to. seeto what a state
statc of
of affairs their misplaced confidence had
misplacedconfidence had
led! The
led! The whole Nazorean
Nazoreancause,
cause,the
the cause
causeofMessiah himsclf, was
of Messiahhimself, was in
jeopardy
jeopardy of being
being utterly
utterly discredited
discreditedin Israel.
Israel.Because
BccausePaul
Paul seemed
seemed
be on of
to be of its chief spokesmen
spokesmenand and was
was announcing
announcingthat thethe Torah
Toratr
was invalid as
was as a means
meansof of salvation
salvationit would be be believed
believed by pious
pious
Jews that the
Jewsthat the followers
followers of
of Jesus
Jesu were
were the
the worst
worst kind ofrenegades.
of renegades."
It

The wisdom
The wisdom of of Jesus
J6susin restricting
resnicting his
his teaching Isracl lay in his
teachingto Israel
preservc the
desire to preserve
desire the monotheism
monotheism of Abraham
Abraham from being being
pagan influences
contaminated by pagan
contaminated influences which prevailed
prevailed all around
around him
amongthe110n-Jews.
among thenon-Jews.As far as ashe rms concerned
he was concernedthe
the rest
rest ofhwnanity
of humanity
was not yet ready
was ready to receive
receive the
the whole truth. His fears
fears became
becamemoremor€
than fully realized
than realized when,
when, with Paul's
Paul'sconversion
conversionand
and consequential
consequential
missionary activities,
missionary activities, not only was
was the
the sacred
sacredLaw ofof God branded
brandeda
cursed,but the
cursed, the pagan
pagancults of Mitlua, Orpheus,
of Mithra, Orpheus,Osiris, Attis
Attis etc
etc were
were
systematically
systematically absorbed
absorbedand and became
became part
part and
and parcel
parcel ofof official
offrcial
Christianity.
Christianity.

The
The Church's
Churchs alleged
allegedauthority propagateChri.¢anity
authority to propagate Chri-stianityto non-Jews
non-Jews
(apart from Paul's
(apart Paul's assertion)
assertion)derives
derives from the
the following
following passages
passagesof
of
the
the Gospels:
Gospels:

t'Go there/ore
"Go therelore and IIIJIk,z
nale disciples
disciplesofaU
of aII nations,
natioru.,baptking
baptizing them
thcm in
the nanu of
thc name of the
thc Father
Fathcr and of of the
the Son
Son and of of the
lhc holy Spirit
Spirit
teaching thcm to observe
teaching them obsenv allall that I have corrrntandedyou; and 10,
hovc c01lUlUlndedYOu; lo, I
sn with you always,
am alwalnr to the
thc close
clascollhe
of thc age.
aga""
Matthew
Matthew 28: 19-20
28:19-20
32
32
"And
"And that
that repentance
rcpentanceandforgivellesJ
udforgivencss o/sim
a/sirs should
should bebc preach.
pnuhcd
ill
in his
his name
narneto alilladom,
aII naliotts,beginning
beginrtng from
fum Jt!I'IlSakllL
Jazsalem" "

Luke
tuks 24:47
24:47
"And
"Arrd he
IE said thcr4 "Go
saidto tIaenr, "Go into all
aII the
tlreworld
rwrW andpl'tUU:h tlu Gospel
prcach tlte Gospd
to
to the
tlrcwhdc dfrion He
whole creotioIL who believes
Hewlp belicl,6 and is baptir.ed
arrdir bqdqnwiW will be
bc saved;
savcd;
but he who does
but does1I0tnot believe wiII be
bcliarc will be condemned.
condemacd.""
Mark
Mark 16:16
16:16

All the
the three
threeabove-quoted passagesrefer
above-quotedpassages refer not
not to the
the historical
historicalJesus
Jesus
when
when he he lived. preachedand
lived, preached and walked
walked with his his disciples. They refer to
disciples.They
the "risen"
the "nsen" Christ
Christ after
after the
the so
so called
called resurrection,
resurrection, when
when he
he appeared
appeared
to the
the chosen
chosenfew.
fEw.It is
is known
knownthat
that among
amongthe the four Gospels
Gospelswhich areare
in the Bible thethc earliest
earliestto be
be written was was that
th&t of
of Mark.
ldark. The
The others
others
were written later beingbeing based
based on Mark,
lvlarlq but with embellishments
embcllishments
added
addedaccording
accordingto thethe writers' tastes. It is known also
writers'tastes. also that the
the whole
pas$agein Mark about
passage about Jesus's
fezus'srising from the dead.dead,which includes
includes
the
the instruction,
instruction" contradicting
contradicting all hishis previous
previous ones,
on€s, of
of preaching
prcaching
Christianityto non-Jews.
Christianity non-Jews,isis a later
later addition.
addition.

The
TheEncyclopedia
EncyclopediaBritannica
Britamica 11th
I lth edition
edition vol.
vol. 17
l7 page
page730
730 says
saysthat
that
the passage
passagewaswas added
addcd later,
later, possibly
possiblyearly
early in the second ccnhry to
sccond century
take the
the place
place of
of missing
missing words or words which were werc regarded
reglrdcd
deficient.
deficient.

William Neil writing

uniting in Harper's
llarper's Bible Commentary
Commentarysays:
says:

ulfthere
"If there is any
anypoint
poiff in gospel criticism
ingoqpel aboutwhich aU
criticisfirabout dl the
thc experts
orpcrts are
are
agreed, it is that at this
agreed, this point Mark's
MarHs gospel
gospcl ends.
ends. The restrest of
of the
chapter
ctnpter (19:9-20) b so-called
(19:9-20)is so-calledlonger
longer Ending to the gospel
gospel which does does
not appear
appearin the oldest manuscripts. and
oldest manuscripts, rnd which is a second
sccond century
oentury
pastiche of
pastiche of added
added excerpts
orccrpts from lvlatthew,
Matthew, Luke and Acts..... the
and Acts..... thc
etIl'Iiat written evidence
efrlirrir+,t#crr of ilrc ~II
ariilctuc o/the rrg,trrcrlion is
ir IIOt tlu lOIpe&
ill tIu!
nal in gospck but
ill St. Ptull'sjint
ir,Sl Paul's ftnt letter
lda to the Codnthiou 15:J-8".
thc Corinthians I 5:3-tn,

33
33
If
lf the passagein the
the passage l6th chapter
the 16th chapterof Mark (verse9 to 20)
Mark (verse 20) is
is an
an
interpolation,
interpolation,as as it is
is hereby proven and
herebyproven and admitted
admittedto to be,
be, then
then the
the
wholestory
whole storyof Christ's risingfrom
Christ'srising from thethedead andordering
deadand orderinghishis disciples
disciples
go and
to go preachto
and preach to all
all creation
creationbaptizing the name
baptizingin the nameof the the Father,
Father,
the
theSon andthe
Sonand the Holy
Holy Spirit,
Spirit,is
is aa later
laterday addition.The
day addition. The author
authorof the
the
legend
legendas as far as can
far as can be tracedfrom
be traced from the readingof the
the reading the Bible,
Bible, is
is St.
St.
Paul, for the
Paul,for the earliest
earliestrecord
recordis is not
not in the
the Gospels
Cospelsbut Paul'sletter
but in Paul's letterto
to
the Corinthians.
the Corinthians.As Craveri putsit in Tile
Craveriputs The Life qfJesusi
of Jesus:

"psul convinced
"Paul convincedhimself that though
himself that thoughJesus
Jesushadhad really died, he
really died, he must
must
have risen, leaving
have risen, leaving his
his earthly
earthly body
body behind
behind in order
order to take
take on
on aa
"spiritual"
"spiritual" one....
one.... blending
blending his
his own
own semi-pagan
semi-pagan conception
conception of the
the
assumptionof Jesus
assumption Jesusinto aa new
new life as
as aa reward vlrtues with
rervardfor his virtues
the
the Jewish doctrineof the
Jewishdoctrine the necessity
necessityof aa reconciliation
reconciliationwith Yahweh,
Yatrweh,
and "secondcovenant",
and aa "second covenant",Paul taughtthat
Paultaught that exactly
exactlythis
this had
had been
beenthe
the
task
task of
of Jesus, and these
Jesus,and had been
thesehad his merits
beenhis the eyes
merits in the eyesofof God:
God: aa
vicarious sacrificethrough
vicarioussacrifice throughhimself
himself in his
his saintliness and innocence
saintlinessand innocence
that
thatexpiated the collective
expiatedthe guilts of all."
collectiveguilts all."

Iftherefore
If thereforcthe
the basis
basisofthe whole story
of the whole storyofJesus's
of Jesus'srising frcm the
rising from dead
thedead
is
is at
at its best open to
bestopen question,if
to question, if not palpably false,
not palpably then there
false,then no
there is no
groundfor the
ground the belief that
that Jesus
Jesusat
at any historicalmoment
any historical momentordered that
ordercdthat
his gospel should
his gospel should be
be taught
taughtto the gentiles.Equally
the gentiles. Equally the
the reference
referenceto
the Three Persons
the Three Personsof the attributedto Jesus
the Trinity attributed Jesusis baseless.
baseless.

SALVATION OF BLOOD

The
The theory
theory is that
that Adam and Eve
Adam and Eve sinned eatingthe
sinnedby eating forbidden fruit.
the forbidden frtit.
Their transgression
transgressionis inherited childrcn of
inherited by all children Adam and
of Adam and Eve.
Eve.
Since
Sincethus
thusthey depriveGod
they deprive God of part of what
of aa part what is due there is
due to Him, there
no
no way to escape the just punishment
escapethe punistrmentof of God exc€pt by restoring
God except the
rcstoring the
loss
lossthat
that men
men have
haveimposed
imposedon God. The argument
God. The haveit that
argumentwould have
since
sinceall the goodthat
the good that can
canbe
be done
doneis owed
owed to God, nothing is
God, nothing gained
is gained
by undoing wrong once
undoing aa wrong once committed.
conmitted. Hence perfect being,
Hence only aa perfect being,
who agreesto be
who agrees punishedfor the
be punished the sins of other
sins of other men,
men, can molliff
Ganmollify
34
34
God's wrath.
God's wrath. Since perfect itit must be He then who must
Since only God is perfect
take the
take the human
human form,
form, come
come forward
forward and
and allow himself to be tortured
tortured
and be
and the faults
be killed for the faults of
of his creatures.
creatures.

Craveri notes:
Craveri notes: "Thus enter the
"Thus we enter staggering vicious circle of
the truly staggering of a
god who punishes
god be able
order to be
punishes himself in order able to forgive the
the men
men and
and
women who have
womei have offended
offended him!"

"And
"And Jesus called them
Jesuscalled them to him and said tl,em, "You know that
saidto lhem,"You
those who are supposed
those supposed to rale
rule over the Gentiles lord itit over thery
Gentileslord them,
and their great menmen exercise
uercise authority over
over them. But itit shall
thetn But shall not
be so
he so amrrng you; but whoever would be great amt
among YOUi among you must
ng you mtut he
be
your servant,
your whoever twuld
selr'ant, and whoaryr would befint among you must
be first arrurng must hc be slave
slave
0/
of aiL For the Son
all For Son 0/
of man also
also came
came not to be served but
be sened hut to serve,
serae,
and to give
givehis
his life
lde as
as a ransom/or
ransomfor many."
many."
Mark 10:42-45
l0:42-45

The
The above
abovepassage
passageis one
one ofthe
of the Biblical quotations as an
quotationsput forward as an
argument
argument for the
the doctrine
doctrine of
of salvation
salvation by the
the blood of
of Jesus. us
Jcsus.Let us
examine
examinethe
the passage:
passage:

1.
l. Jesus
Jesusdeclares
declaresthat he
he "came
"camc not to be.served
be.servedbut to senre". In the
troserve".
previous pageswe
previoru pages we have
haveseen
seenhow by word andand deed
dcedJesus was proud
Jesuswas
to serve
serveand
andworship God In this passage
worship God. passagche he would not have
havc anyone
anyonc
believe
believe that he
he came
cameto bebe served,
scrvd far less
lessto be
bc worshipped.
worstrip$.

2.
2. The phrase
phrasc "to give
give his life asas aa ransom
ransom for manymany is obviously aa
figure nWhoeverwould be among
fignre of speech
speechin the
the same
samevein as as "Whoever bc first among
you must be slave of all." Surely
be slave Surcly no no one
one would suggest Jesus
suLgcstthat Jesus
means
mearuiby by "slave"
"slave" literally that
thatone
onebecomes propsrty to be
bccomesproperty bebought
boughtand and
sold-.
sold Similarly it is is abswd
absurdtoto interpret
int€rpr€t"giving one'sonc'slife as
asaa ransom"
ransomn
as the ~
asthe physicaldeath
ag of physical dcathbeing
bcing aa sacrifice
ssificc for the atonemcntfor the
the atonement thc
sins
sins of others.
others. WeWe often
oftcn hear leadersin all walks of
hear of leaders of life being
being
referred
referred toto as
as.sacrificing
racrificing themselves
themselvesfor their people.It
ttreir people. ncver occur
It never oecur
to
to us to understand
usto understandby that phrase
by that ptuascthat deathin
thcir death
thattheir in any way confers
any way confers
benefit
benefittoto their
their people.
pcoplc. On
On the
the contrary what itit all
contrary what amountsto is
all amounts is that
tlut

35
35
such leaders
such leadershave
have spent
spenttheir
their lives
lives working
working for
for the
the good
good of
of their
their
followers.
followers.

This reminds
This remindsme meof of aacartoon
cartoonthat
thatappeared
appearedin
in the
theEgyptian
Eglptian daily,
daily, AI-
Al-
Akhbar, of
Akhbar, of 19th
l9th October
october 1976.
1976,The
The cartoon
cartoondepicts
depictsaa mock
mock funeral
funeral
processionfor
procession parliamentarycandidate.
for aa parliamentary candidate.AA sprawling
sprawlingbanner
bannerover
over
thebier
the bier reads:
reads:

I'THE MAN WHO

~'THE WHO EVERYDAY DIES DIES FOR
FOR YOU"
ribbon round
A ribbon round aa wreath
wreath carried
carriedin front
front of
of the
the solemn
solemnprocession
procession
reads"TO
reads "TO YOUR LAST RESTING PLACE -- A SEAT
RESTING PLACE SEAT IN THE
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY"
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY' someone
someoneintones
intones'VOTE
"VOTE FOR FOR HIM !" l.
Among the
Among the "mourners"
"moumers"isis one who sheds
onewho shedsaa tear,
tear,but
but his
his friend
friend beside
bcside
reminds him:
him reminds him: "Control vourseif. man.
"Control WurseV. man. this
this is
is only (orpubU,
ohlylor puhlic
relalions I"
relations !tl
'If
thereforeJesus
'If therefore Jesusdid die
die on
on the
the cross
crossfor the
the sins
sinsof men,
men,and
and if
if it was
was
true that he was God,
he was God, then
then the processwas
the whole process was stage-acting,
stage-acting,for
God could
God could not really suffer
suffer the
the tortures,
tortures, and
and his death
deathmeant
meant nothing
actually he
to him, for actually he did not die,
die, being
being God.
God. The procedrue
The whole procedure
takes the
takes the form ofof outrageous
outrageonscheating.
cheating. And if if the exercise was
the exercise was
predestined, and Jesus
predestined, and Jesus knew itit as
as we are
are made
made to believe,
believe, and
and that it
was in fulfillment of
was of prophecies and the
prophecies and the mission
mission of Jesus, then
of Jesus, then those
those
inflicted punishment
who inllicted punishment on him and and killed him, should
should be hailed as as
benefactors of
benefactors of mankind
mankind and
and the
the beloved
beloved ofof God for their fulfilling
fulfilling to
the
the letter God's own desires.
letter God's desires.

Another quotation used as

quotation which is used as further argument
argument to strenglhcn
strengthen the
doctrine
doctrine of
of salvation
salvation by blood is this from Luke:

"Blessed be the Lord

"Blessed Lord God ofof kraeffor
Israelfor he has and redeenud
has visited and redeemed
hispcopk,
hb has raised
and has
people, snd rabcd up a horn
horn of
ofsalvation in thc
for us in
salvatbntor the house
honsc
ofhis servant
othis David, 6as he spok
servantDayi4 spoke by the moulh
nwuth othit prqphctr
ofhis holy prQphets
from of
trom old, andfrom
ofold, andfrom thcthe hand
hand of aU who hates
ofaU hales us.
us.""
1:68-71
Luke l:68-71

3366
lbis prophecy of
This is the prophecy of Zachariah when his son
Zachariah when son John
John was
was born.
born. But
it is clear that he says it is God who has
he says has redeemed people, by
redeemedhis people,
raisingamong
raising them "a hom
amongthem horn of salvation,"
salvation,"which is thethe Messiah
Messiatrwho
was
was being expectedby the
being expected the Jew
Jew to deliver them
them "from their enemies",
enemies",
the Roman
the rulers. The
Romur rulers. The coming of of the
the savior,
savior, says
says Zachariah,
Zachariatr, is in
fulfillment of
fulfillment of ancient prophecies. It
ancient prophecies. It is distorting the meaning
meaning ofof
words to interpret
words intcrpret this expected
e:qccted deliverance
deliverancc from the thc enemies
enemiesofof the
the
Jews, were the
Jews,who were the Roman
Roman rulers,
rulers, as
as meaning salvation by blood of
meaning salvation of
Jesus.
Jesus.'Another allegedtestimony
'Another alleged testimony for thethe doctrine
doctine of
of atonement
atonementby
blood:
blood:

"The
"The next day, He (John the Baptist)
next day, Baptbt) saw
sow Jesus
Jesru coming toward
hb4 and said, "Behold,
him, "Behold, the Lamb ofGod,
ofGod, who takes
tahesaway
away the sin
sin
ofthe
of the world!"
world!" John1:29
John l:29

Granted
Grantedthat
that these words were
thesewords were not the the invention ofthe
of the inventive
inventive John
John
the
the evangelist
evangelist(for theythey are
arenot borne
borneout by any any other
other Gospel)
Gospel) is this
not much thethe same
same thing as as when we speakspeak ofof any
any earthly
earttrly leader:
leader:
"Here
"Here is he
he who bears
bearsall our otu burdens
burdensfor us" us" ? or when
when we advise
advise
someone:
someone: "You will witl kill yourself, man,
kill yourself, ging to heap
man, trying heap on your
shoulders
shouldersthe problemsof
the problems of the
the world!" The The taking
taking away
away of of sin is not
not
necessarily
necessarilythethe same
samethingthing asas the
the forgiveness
forgivenessof of sin
sin by the
thc death
dcath of
Jesus;
Jesus;rather
rather isis it by living up up to his
his teachings
teachingsand and treading
treading on his his
footsteps (againaa figure
footsteps(again figure of
of speech)
speech)thatthat men
men shall attain salvation. It
attain salvation.
is through~doing
through-doing the will of God
the will God who sent his servant,
sent his Jesus,as
servant,Jesus, as aa
prophet and
prophet and messenger,
messenger,as as hehe himself soso often sai4 that
often said, that men
men shall be
shall be
saved.It is through
saved. though righteousness
righrcousnessthe the doing of tighq
of what is morally right,
according to God's laws, that everyone
God's laws, everyonewill will save
savehimself. Credit is,
however, rcflcctcd on him who points the
however, reflected the way, andand indeed
indeed he thus
he thus
becomes
becomesthethe savior of of the pcople.
the people.

The
Thc teaching
tcaching of
of Jesus
fesus are
Erc what
what is essential, his suffering
cssential, his sutlering in the
aounscofhis
course of hit work
*vrk is
b incidentIIL
hcidaual Are nu justified
Are we Justifud laying
in sttesson
laying stress
hcidental and ignoring,
the incidentIJI ignorhg, or even
evcn belittling, cssentfuI'!?
Minling,thcthe essential

37
37
The following passage
The following passage from the Gospel
Gospel according
according to John
John is believed
believed
to put the docnine
doctrine of vicariOlm atonement
of vicarious atonement more
more forcefully and clearly
forcefully and
than any
than any other:
other:

"For world tha

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son
his only that whwr
Sonthst whoever
believes
helievesin him should notnot perish
perish but have
haye eternal life. For God
lifa For
sent the Son
wnt Son into
into the world,
world, not
not to condemn
condemn the world, but that
world, bU tha the
thc
might be
world might be saved
sdvedthrough himn
him. "
John
John 3:16
3:16

Here we
Here we have
have to appreciate John's Gospel
appreciatethat John's Gospel is very different from
the three.
the three. It was
was written much
much larcr.
later. It was
was not intended
intended to be
be a factual
factual
narrative, but rather
narrative, subjective religious propagurda
rather subjective propaganda highly
highly charged
charged
with sentimentalism. It was
with sentimentalism. was obviously intended push definite
intended to push defurite
doctrines
doctrinesfanatically adheredto by the
fanatically adhered the writer. By the
the time this Gospel
Crospel
was
was being
being written Pauline
PaulineChristianity must
must have
havebeen quitc prevalent
beenquite prcvalent
and
and the writer
writer more
more than a faithful
faithftl adherent.
adherent. In this Gospel
Gospel the
thc
absolute
absolutedivinity
divinity of
of Christ is stressed,
stessed,andand Jesus
Jesusis referred
rcfened to as
as "The
only SonSon of
of God."
God." The
The doctrine
doctrine ofof salvation is however even
even in this
Gospel
Gospelnot definitely asserted. At best,
asserted.At best,one
one might say, glanccdat.
say,It is glanced at.
It is only one
one whose
whose mind is already
already made
made up who
ufio will
will interpret the
sentence
sentence"For God sent sent the
the Son
Son into the world not to condemn
condcmn thethc
world,
worl4 but that thethe world might
night bebe saved him.o to mean
savedthrough him." meanthat
it is by his death
deattron the
the cross: nufrocverbelieves
cross:or "whoever believesin him"
himn to mean
mean
"believes in his death
"believes deathasas expiation for other people'ssins."
othcr people's sins."

Dr. Hugh Schonfield

Schonfield in rnercdiblc Chrqtjpns
Thos( Incredible
inThosc Christians presents
prcscntsto us
us
in graphic
graphic terms
terms the
the value ofof the Gospel
Gospel according
according to John
John as
as an
an
authentic record of
authentic record of the
the life and
and teaching
teaching ofJesus
of JesusChrist. He says:
says:

"Thus in thethe Fourth Gospel,

Gospel,asas in the
the letters
letters to the
the Seven
SevenChurches,
Churches,
the real
it is not the real Jesus
Jesusspeaking,
speaking,but John
John the speaking
the Elder who is speaking
in his
his name.
name.The
The fraud
fraudcan
canbebc detected, howevcr,not only because
detecte4however, becauscthethe
Christ ofthe
Christ of the Fourth
Fountr Gospel
Gospelexpresses
expresscshimself maurer which so
himself in aa manner so
often is unJewish,
unJewish, but far
far more
morc because
because the
thc evidence
evidence of
of the
the first
epistleof
epistle of John
Johnreveals
rcvealsthat
ttratJesus
Jesusspeaks
speaksin thethe way
ulay the
the creator of his
crcator of
38
38
 supposed utterances
supposed writes. We
utterances writes. have to
We have be very
to be thankful for
very thankful for the
the
existence of
existence ofthat
that epistle.
epistle. There
There is is no
no call
call for us to
for us to be horrified at
be honified at the
the
idea that
idea that aa gifted
gifted and
and even
even spiritualty minded Christian,
spiritually minded whose work
Christian, whose work
has a place in a collection
has a place in a collection of
of what
what many
many hold
hold to
to be
be inspired
inspired
documents, could
documents, could be be guitty
guilty of such gross
ofsuch should be
deception. ItIt should
gross deception. be clear
clear
to us
to us byby now
now thatthat there
there ars are scv€ral books in
bogus bools
several bogfrs in the
the New New
Testament, and
Testament, and others
others which
which are are purposefully
purposefully misleading.
misleading. OrrrOur ownown
moral judgment
moral judgment must must not applied to
not be applied to the literary productions
the literary productions of of
where itit was
antiquity, where was not considered at all improper to
not considered to forge,
forge,
slant documents in
interpolate and slantdocuments
interpolate in agood
a good cause. John would certainly
cause. Johnwould
have believed
have believed that his designdesign was righteous and
was righteous God-guided. He
and God-guided.
would not doubt for a momentmoment that he [1a1l had been
been specially raised up by
specially raised
God for the task
task to be performed, that he was
be performe{ being led by the Spirit.
was bcing
remarkable way in which evcrything
The remarkable everything was working with with him at
every stage
every stage confirmed
confirmed it."it. 1\

PAUL
PAUL OR
OR JESUS? WORKS?
OR WORKS?
JESUS? FAITH OR
Consider
Considerthe
the Sermon
Sermononon the
the Mount.
Mount. Quite
Quite early the Sermon
early in the Jesus
SermonJesus
made
madeclear
clearhis
his mission:
mission:

"Think
"Think not notthat
thatI have
havecome
corneto to abolish
abolbh the the law andthe
law and propheb;
theprophets;
I have come not to abolish
havvcorne not to abolish them them but
hut to fulfil
tofu{il them
them. For truly,I
truly, say
I say
to
to you,
you, till
till heaven
heaven and
and earth
earth pass
Pass away,
awo!, not an
an iota,
iota, not
not a
a dot,
dot, will
will
pass from the
passfrom thelaw until an
law until all is
is accomplished.
accomplished"WhoeverWhocvcrthen relaxes
then relaxes
onc ofthe
one of theleast
leastofthese
of th6;ccommandments
comnundnun$ and 1aachetmen
andteachu mcn so,so,shall
shall
hccalled
be calledleast
lcastin
in the
thekingdom
khgdom ofheaven;
of heavcn;bill hut lie who40es
he who loa them and
them and
teaches them shall be
teacha thcm shall bc callcdcaUed grcat
great in
in the
thc kingdom
kingdom of hcaven
ofheaven. For
For II
tell
tcllyou
you unless
unlcss your
your righteousness
rightcousncss exceeds
ucecds that
lhat of
of thc
the scrihes
scribes and
and
the
thcPharisees,
Pharisecs, you
you will
will never
neverenter
cnterthethekingdom of heaven"'
*ingdom ofheaven. "
Matthew5:
Matthew 5:17-20
17-20

39
39
Tbe sermon
The sermononon the
thc Mount
Mount consists
consistsof the most
of the most important
important teachings
tcachings
of Jesus
of JesusChrist. can say
We can
Christ. We saythat
that here lies true
herelies Christi*ity; that
tnrc Christianity; that is
is if
if
we believe
we that it
believethat it is
is Jesus
Jesuswho
ufuo is
is the
the founder
founder of of Christianity
Christianity and
and not
not
St. Paul.
St. Paul.

In the
In the above quotcdpassage
abovequoted pat;sageJesus
Jesussays
saysthat
that itit is
is impossible
impossible toto enter
enter
the kingdom
the kingdom ofheaven
of heaven"unless your righteousness
"unlessyour righteorsnessexceeds exceedsthat
that of the
the
scribes and
scribes and the
the Pharisees."
Pharisees." Now what what isis the
the righteousness
righteousnessof the the
scribes and Pharisees?
scribesand Pharisees? It is is to follow thethe law to to the
the letter,
letter, and
and what
what
the prophets taught.
the prophets taught. lbat
That is is why Jesus said: "Think not
Jesussaid: not that
that Ihave
I have
cometo abolish
come them but
abolishthem but to fulfil
fulfil them."
them." His task taskwas was not to replace
replace
the law by something
the somethingelse,else,but rather"to
ratherto combat
combat the the purely legalistic
extemalization of
extemalization of religion among
among thethe Jews
Jews by the the addition of the the
of religion. He
spirit ofreligion. He laid emphasis
emphasison on lEACHING
TEACHING and andDOING when when
he said:
he Whoever then
said: " Whoever then relaxes
rclaxes one one ofof the the least
lcast ofof these
these
commandmentsand
commandments andl.eJl.d1.Q.
teachesmen men so,
so, shall
shall be
be called
called the least in the
the least the
kingdom of heaven;but he
of heaven; he who dJlU.
dacsthem and~
them and teachesthemthem shall
shall be
be
called greatin the
called great the kingdom
kingdom of of heaven."
heaven."

Thoseare the
Those lhe teachings
teachingsofChrist
of Chrbt himseV,·
hintself; but
hw what
whot does
doesPaul
PauI say?
say?

nEat whatever is sold in the

"Eat thc meat
mcat market rahing any
nurhet without raising
qucstionon the ground
question of corlr'ciencetl
grolUld ofconscience. "
1I Corinthians
Corinthians10:25
10:25

'tYon are severedfrom

"You severedfrom Christ, you who would bejustifud by IIlw;
woald bejustUled law;
you
you hnefallen
havefaUen awayfrom gruca For
awayfrom grace. For through
through thc
the Spirit, byfaith,
$phit, byfaith,
we waitfor
waitfor the hopc
hope of righteousncss."
ofrighteousness. "
Galatians 5:4-5
Galatians 5:4-5

outxelves,who arc
"We ourselves, are law
Jews by binh
birth and
and not
not Gcntilc shnctx, yet
Gentile sinners, yet
who know that a nan
hnow that not jtutifud
man is 1I0t justified by works
worhs ofof the law but
law bu
through faith kin Jesus
through faith fcsus Christ, even wc
Chriltt evcn havc bclicved
we have in Christ
believed in
Jesus, in ordcr
fesru, h order to bcJttstifud
bejustified bylaith in Christ,
byfaiIJI in Chdst, and not
not by works of
twr*s of
the law, becatucby worles
law, because works of thc bw
ofthe sholl no one
IIlw shall bejustifletL "
orrcbcJusfifreil"
Galatians 2:15-16
Galatians 2:15-16
40
 nLi*ewise, mybndhrtn,
"Likewise, nry you haw died
bretllnn, YOIlIuzve tlkdtoto thc IJIw through
tile law tile hody
tIIl'OlIg1l the body
o! Chrisqso that
0/Christ, so Mat you
yOIl 1tIIIY
nry bclong
belon, to
to onothcr,
IInother, to
to hirn
him who
who has
hIlS bccn
been
raised/ro",
roisedlrom thc
the dcd
dead hin ordcr
order that
tIIat we
wc nry
1IfIIY bcutruitlor
bear/ruit/or M.
God. WTrlIc
WIlik
we wcrc
we tivittgin
were living thejlDh, ow
in thctlah, DIUshtul passbns,amrccd
sinfulJ1IISSions, IUOlISedby by thc law,
tile "'w,
were at
wcre work in
at work in our nuallhento
ollr IMmMrs bellr/r"it for deulu
to hcarltaitfor deatlt. Bill now wc
Bat now we
are dischargedfrom
arc discharged/rom thc the 1IIw, dead to
law,deod to that which held
that whtch held rc captive, so
lIS copfrvc, so
that wc
we serw not undcrthe
serrr€1I0tll1lder old wrifrcn
thcold code bN
written code bill hin thc lIew lifc
the ncw life ot
01
theSpiriL"
thc s'iri'.u
Romans 7:44
Roma$r 7:4-6

"For wc
"For mIIn b
lhat oII nan
we hold that ifiustifud aput/ro", wor*s
by/Ilith apailfiom
justified bylsith worts ot
0/
law."
Igw.n
Romans 3:28
Rornans

The teachings
teachings of of Paul
Paul creatcd
created controvcsy early in the history of
controversy carly of thc
the
Church between
Church bctween his party and
and that of
of Jewish
Jcwish Christians
Christians ufro
who objcctcd
objected
of the new religion to tbg
teaching of
to the tcaching the rrncircrrmsiscd ercndles(i.e.'
uncircumcised Gentiles
non-Jews)
non-Jews) whom they regarded regaldcd asas unclean. Some of
unclean. Some the disciples
of the disciples
'uncirpumciscd" who utho did not
would not eveneven sit at table
table with
with the
the "uncircumcised"
keep
keep the
the law ofof Israel. LftilDttcly aa meeting
Isracl. Ultimately was held
mecting was bchrpcn the
hcld between
two factions, and
two frction+ and a a compromise uas
was arrived
anivcd whereby
atwhcrcby
at it was qgfod
was agreed
that no heavy burdenS
no hea*y burdens should
sbould be
bc placcd
placed on the
thc Gentiles
Gentiles ufio
who wtre
were
converted
convertcd to
to Christianity from paganism:
paganisn:

nThcnit
"Theil it seemed
sccttudgood thc tIpOSt1a
to tile
goodto aNIs IUUI thcelders,
and tile wilh tile
clden, witlt whole .
the wit_
chruch,
chuteh,tob choose
chouc men fro", IIIIIDllg
n*nftom atmag diem scrrdthca to
E .d sendtilem
thcn IIIUl AnMt
b AIIIiodI
witlt Psnl andBlll'llalHu.
with PlIlIllllld Barnafur-'"
15:22
Acts 15:22
Acts

nFor ilhllS
"For it hasseemed gnd to
secnud good b tile
thc Holy
Holt Spirit snd to.
Sptrit and b lily
to ttsIII upoa
tayIIpDII
YO" bttdcn t1uIII
gwter blUYielt
nogntIIN
yoalUI then tlleu
thrrlclI«eSSary t*dyot
thlngs:tIud
nwoty 11I111gs: YD" IJbstJJiII
ry
j*
/rolll wi.
*not illS
hasbeelt
bccnsacriJked
srcfificcd toto UlDlr, andtmm 6IiNNl,
ldols,11114/ro", endfioa
bln'g, IIIIII/ro.
-things
dings strtIIIgkd
s,tungkd IIIId/rolll
andlroa If
IUIchastity.lfyoll
nchutity. you *ecp
uep younctvalrcn
YOlII'Seha/rolll
dlt!Se,
thac, YOII
yor will do welL
wiII do ttcll FtuewelL
Farctryclln "
l5:2t-29
Acts15:28-29
Acts

4l
41
 How
How comes
comesitit then
thenthat
thatPaul
Paulwrites
unites to
to the
theCorinthians:
Corinthians:

Ed whatever
"Eat whateverisissold
soldin inthe
themeat
meatmarket
marketwithout
without raising
raisingany
anyquestion
question
onthe
on theground
grord ofconscience"?
ofmnsciencc"? Paul Paulclaims
claimsto to have
havebeen
beenappointedan
appointed an
apostle of
apostle of Jesus
Jezusin in aa revelation
rErelation andand that
that he
he continues
continuesto to receive
receive
instructionsdirectly
, instructions directlyfrom
from the
the Master
Mastereveneventhough
thoughthose
thoseinstructions
instructions
mightbe
might becontraIy
contraryto to what
whatthethedisciples
disciplesreceived
receivedfrom
from Jesus
Jesusinin person.
person.
Let us
Let us examine
examinefromfrom HolyHoly Scripture
Scripturethe the basis
basisof Paul's
Paul'sclaims.
claims.This
This
from the
stemsfrom
stems incidentof
the incident of his
hisconversion
conversion to to Christianity
Christianityon on his
his way
way
to Damascus.
to Damascus.It It should
should be be remembered
rememberedthat that S1.
St. Paul
Paul who
who waswas
prerriouslycalled
previously calledSaul.
saul, had beenan
had been an implacable
implacableenemy
enemyof Christians
christians
beforethis
before thisincident. which is
incident.Which is referred
refer-redto three
three times
times in the
the Acts of
of the
the
Apostles,and
Apostles. andeach
eachtime
time it isis differently
differentlyrelated.
related.

The first version

The version of the
the story
story runs
runs like this:
this:

"Now as
"Now lrc jwrneyed
as he journeyed he he approached Dsnqsans, and
ryprmched Damascus, wddenly a
ud suddenly
Iight from
light heaventlqhed
fiom heaven flashed about
ahout him.
him. And hehe fell to the wound and
the Eound ail
l*sd aa voice
heard xice sqying him "SauI,
savinsto him. "fuA Saul, why do you persecute
fut{ why persecute me?"
me?"
Arrdhe
And lE said,
dd "Who"Wlp&eare you Lord?"
Lord?" And
Ard he wi4 tIl am Jesus.
said, "I Jesus,whom
vu are
VOll utoa DmeCIlting.
ating.bllt rise and
butris enter the
andankr the city, andlou
citv. and you will be told
will he
whal lou
what VO! 4« ,o do.
atE to do."" Then men who
TIrcnmen who were
were travelling
travelling with him std
stood
speechless
speechless hearing the
hearing the voice
wicc but seeingno one."
but seeinr one. "
Acts 9:3-7
Acts 9:3-7

version the incident

In this version incident is related
related by the
the author
author of
of the Acts.
Acts. The
points worth noting are:
are:

a. The
a. The light
light which
which Paul
Paul saw "flashed about
saw "flashed about him".
him". ItIt is not related
related that
others saw the light,Sut
others saw they did hear
light•..but they hear the voice.
voice.
b. It
b. It was
was Paul
Paul who fell to the ground.
ground.
c.
c. He and
and the men
men who werewere with him heard
heard the voice,
voice. but they
they saw
no one
one
d. The voice ofof Jesus
Jesus ordered
ordered him to enter
enter the city and
and there
there he
he
"would be told what he he was to do."

42
The second
Thc second version
version of
ofthe
the story
story runs like this
runs litc this as
as reported in the
reported in the same'
same'
The Acts
book, The
book, Acts of
of the
the Apostlcr.
ApostkL But Butthe are ptrported
word arc
the word purported to to be
be
spoken by
spoken by Paul
Paul before
before the
the tribune
tribune andand the crowd of
the crowd ofJews
Jews as he was
as he was
answering charges
answering charges of of preaching
preaching against
against the law and
the law defiling the
and defiling the
temple by
templeby bringing Greeks into
Greeksinto it. it.

made myjourney
"As I[ made
"As journey and drew near to Damascus, about noon a
Damascus,ahout
great lightfrom
great light from heaven
heaven suddenly shoneabout me.
suddenly shone me. Ard fell to the
And IIfell
ground and heard a voice saying to me,
voice saying me, "Saul, Saul, wlry
"Saul, Saul, why do youyou
persecute me?" And I[answered,
persecute "Who are you,
answered,"Who Lord?" and he said
you, Lord?"
me, "I
to me, "[ am Jesus
Jesusofof Nazareth whom you are persecut@."
Nazareth whom persecuting. " D[98l:iJH£.
t!rose
thosewho were were with meme SaW [igh! hut
sawthe light did not
but did he" the wicc
not hcar vo;« qf()j
one who Wat
the one wasWeakinr said, q'lfihat
to . And II said,
speakingto. ~'What shall
slru,llII do,
do, Lord
Lord?" ?"
And the
the Lord
Lord said to me, "Rise,and go into
me, "Rise, into Damascus,
Damasctts, and there
there 1nu
you
will
willbebe told all
all that is appointedfor YOJ.l
Wu to do."
do. "
Acts 22:6-10
Acts 22:6-10

This version
version agrees
agreeswith the version in respect
the first version of :
respcctof

(a)
(a) The
The one
onc who fell to the grourd was
the ground was Paul and not those
Paul and were
thosc who were
with him.
him.
(b).
(b) What
What Paul
Paul was
was told was
was to enter the city
enter the and there
crty and there he be
he would be
told
told what
what to
to do.
do.

It however
however disagrees
disagreeswith the the first version in that
ftrst version the first says
that the thaf
saysthat
those who were
those who were with him
him heard
heerd the
the ~
voice. but
but it docs
does not
not say
say that
that
they saw
they saw the
the light.
light. In
In this
this second
second version
version it
it is
is stated
stated that
that those
those who
who
were
werewith
with Paul "sew the
Paul"saw the IiKht
light but did not bear
did Dot voicc."
the yojce.
herr tbe It

The
The third
third version
versionofof this
this vital
vial incident in Christian
incident in Christianhistory also
is also
history is
contained in Paul's
containedin Paul's own
own words
words as
as related
rclated in
in the
the salnc
same holy
holy book
book :ru.
The
Acts
Actsofof the
the Apostles;
Apostles:

,,Thus[journey
"Thus I journbytoto Damascus
Damascus with
withthe
theauthority andcommission
authorityand of
commissionof
the
thechiefpriest.
chief priest.At
At midday, King,1I saw
middry, 0O King, sawon the wry a IE$tIrom
on the way a light from
heaven.
heaven.brizhter
irighter than
thanthe
thqsun.
sun.shininr round me
shining round meand who
thosewho
and those
43
43
jowwywik
journey me.And
with me. '4ndwlun
when we wehadhad all fallen to
all.fallen thc rrourul,
to the Fround.II heard
heud
aa voice
voice saying
stying to to me
meinin Hebrew
Hebrqt language,
language, "Saul,
"Sau4Saul,
fuul, why
wltydodoyou
yott
perseafie me?
persecute me?It It hurts
lrurtstoto kick
kick against
againstthe thegoads.
goads." " AndI
Atrd I said,
sid, "Who
"Who
Me you ,, Lord?"
are Inrd?" and md the the Lord
Inrd said,ffii{ "/ "I am
un Jesus
Jesaswhomwhom you are are
perseafiing. But
persecuting. But rise
riseand
md stand
stmd upon
uponyourfeet;
yourfeet; forfor II have
lwve appeared
qpeared
toyoufor
to this,to
ltoulor this, qpint you
toappoint yott to
to serve
serveand and bear
beu witness
witnessto to the
the things
things
in which
in whichyou 1mt llaw
have seen
seen me
me std to
and tlnse in
to those which I will
inwhich wirl appear
qpear to to you.
1nu.
deliuvringpufro^
delivering you from the peopleand
tIrcpeople mdfromfrom the the Gentiles
Gentilesto whom I send
towhom send
yvtt to
you to open
opentheir
tlnir eyes,
eyvs,that
that they
theymaymry tum from darkness
urnfrom dorlarcssto to light
light and
md
from the tln power
pwer of of Satan
futn to to God,
M, that tlnt they
they may
may receive
receiveforgiveness
forgiveness of o!
sinsand
sins and a place amongamong thosethosewhowho are we sanctified
wnctified byfaith
byfaith in me.me.,'"

Acts
A c ts26:12-18
26:12-l g

Nmr here we
Now we see
seegreat divergences
divergenceswith
with the statements
statementsin chapter
chapter 22 0/
9 and chapter of this very same
this very samc book.
hook

(a) According
(a) According to this
this third version
versionit is
is Ilot
..ot Paul
Paul alone
alonewho
who saw
saw the
the
as related
light- as relatedin the first version,
thi first version,but
but all,
all, as relatedin the
as related the second
second
version.
version.

(b) Here
(b) HerePaul
Paulsays
saysthat theyall
thatthey fell to the
all fell ground.This
the ground. This contradicts
contradictsthe
the
and the
first and secondversions
the second versions which
which relate that it was
relate that was Paul
Paul only who
fell.
fell.

(c) Instead
Instead ofof being
being instructed
instructed by the mysterious voice
the mysterious voice of
of Jesus
Jesus to
enter
enter the
the city where
where Purl
Paul would bebe told what to do,
do, this
this version
version gtves
gives
detailed
detailed instructions
instructions as as imfarted
imparted to Paul
Paul there
there and
and then
then of
of being
being
appointed
appointed as
as the Apostle
Apostle of Jesus who also
of fesus also promises
promises him that hehe will
will
appear
appear to him again;
again; and
and violating
violating all of
of Jesus's
Jesus's teachings
teachings to his
his
disciples
disciples when
when he he was
was alive,
alive, sends
sends Paul
Paul as
as a special
special messengcr
messenger to
preach
preach the gospel
gospel to non-Jews;
non-Jews; and,
and, also
also contrary
contrary to Jesus's
Jesus's teaching
teaching
during his life-time,
during teaches justification by faith done.
life-time, teaches alone.

Why should
should Paul so ocparuive
Paul be so expansive in this third version?
version? ItIt is because
because he
is here
here addressing
addressing King Agrrppa. But we may pause
Agrippa. But pause to wonder what
we would
we would think of witness
think of witness who
who relates
relates onc
one story to the police,
to the police,
44
44
changing itit aa little
changing when he
little uftGo faces thc
be faccs the nasistrdc, and givcs
magistrate, and gives aa
completely diffe,rc,nt
complercly different version when thc
version ufi€n reaches tbc
case rcarhcs
the casc the High Court.
High Coun
But no one
But no one can
can dcscribc
describe Paul better thm
Paul b€ffief the dcscription
than tbc has glven
be has
description he given
ofhirnself
of in his
himself in letter to
his lettet to thc
the Corinthisns.
Corinthians. HeHe says andI quote:
says andl quote:

"For tlnugh
"For am free from all ncn
though II onfreefromall men, II hsee mi1de myselfa slave
have nndc slsvetoto all,
all,
mjzlrt win thc
that rI rtght the mora
more- To thc Jews II becane
the Jews became as a Jew, Jew, in
in order
order
to win Jews; to those
winJews; under the
thoseundcr the law became wder
lav I becune under tIPthe lav'tlnugh
law - though
not being nryself
rct myselfunder
under thc lav, -- that
the law tlnt I might win
win those under the
tlnse wdcr law.
tlla law.
Those
Thoseoutside
outsidcthe law became as onc
lmt I became one outside
outsidethc law - not being
the Imt'rct
without law towudGodbut
toward God but utder
under the law ofChrist -- that
lav o/Christ tlnt II might win
the weak. 1
the weah
means s,ve
Ir,"
sena
beeo"" 'a
I havc beconu
spmc, r
I do it
it
ali thin" qIl ""n, Ih,t It rtffu
all
thinls
(or
alltor the
thc
to oII
s,ke
sahc
men.
qlf
'lithe
thc
thal
gorycl
roll1fl. til.
mirbt bl
that
10' ,II
I
I nqt
all
"'4Y
means save
share
sharc in iEitt b1gsin.,
blasings.""
Corinthians 9:19-23
1I Corinthians 9: 19-23

To win converts
convcrts seems
secmsto bc be the be-all and
the bc-all of St.Paul.
and end all- of Thc
StPaul. The
doctrine of
of the end justiffing
the end justifying the means
meansseems hert to bc
ssemshere carricd to
be carried
extreme
exhcme absurdity.
absurdity.

St,Paul
St.Prul says:
styt:

"The
"The word is near
ncar yo", on your
yoq 011 lW od
lottr lips yor.t heart
in your
andill (thal is,
hcart (tiltIt is,tile
thc
word offaith
offaiih which prcuh) - bectluse,
wcpreach)
which we f you confess
bcctuse, i/YO" your
with your
contan willi
lips frat Jesus
tipsthaJ farc is Lord IIIId bclicrlain
arrdbelieH h your
Jnw heart
hcart dtlt
thd God
M t'Glsed hfim
ruhcd lIim
from the dead,
from the dead, you wUl
youwill be
bc savel!
savcd.n "
l0:8€
Romans10:8-9
Romans

But
But let rx read
let us readfrom
from the
thc epistle
epistlc of
of James,
James,the
the brother
hothcr of about
Jesusabout
of Jesus
which
wtrich Hugh Schonficldin
Hugh Schonfield Ik P4f.StJYCr
inThc PIot
Ptssov* Plot writes: "The true spirit
writes: "The tnrc sPirit
of Jesus is manifested in the epistle
of Jesusis rnanifestedin the epistlc ofJames
of Jamcs in
in thc
the New
New Tcstament.n
Testament."
Says
Sryr James:
Jeucs:

nlrhot does
"WllaJ docsittt prOfit,
profq my brcthrcn, if
nrltbredrell, { aa IfIIJII
nwt says lra hlU
sqyshe hosfllitll but
tatfi bill
hIlS
hosno
no works
nnrhs? Canhisfaitlt
1 Co savcIthn1lfa
hisfaith SIlVe hitn|. If e brother
brothcr or sistcris
ot sister irr-
it Ul-
clad andin
cM IIIId in lack
lockof
of dIIily food, od
dtilyloo4 onc ofYO" stJYS to tIIem, "Go
andone olpu saysto thcm, h
"Go ill
...
45
4S
 peace, be
peace, he warmed
warmed and andfilled,"
filled,,, without
without giving
givingthem
them thethe things
things
nudedforthe
neededfor hody,what
the body, whatdoes
doesititprofit?
profit? So faith by
sofaith itsetf,if
byitself, if itit has
hh
no works, ;s
no works, is dead
dead But Butsome
someone onewill
will say, ,,you have
say,"You havefaith
faith and and II
have worhs."
have works. Shon,me
" Show yourfaithfrom
meyour faith from youryour works,
works,andandII by hymy mt
worlrsltJill
works will show
showyou you myfaith.
myfaith. YouYoubelieve
heline that
thatGod
Godisisone;
one;you you do do
well. Even
well. Even thethe demons
dcmons believe-and
believe-and shudder.
shudder. Do Do you
you want
want to to bebe
shown,you
shown, you foolish
foolish fellow, tharfaith
fellon, that apartfrom
faith apart Irom work
work is is barren?
harren?
Was not Abraham
was not Abraham ourfather justifrcd by
ourfether justified by works,
works,whenwhen he he offered
offered
his son Isaac
his Isaac upon
IlplJn the
the altar?
altar? You
You see
see thatfaith
thotfsith was
was activealong
active olong
,soy
with his
with his works,
works, andand thethe scripture
scripture was was fulfilled
fuffilted which
which says, says,
"Abraham believed God,
"Abraham believed Go{ and and it it was
wa' reckoned
rechoned to to himhim as c$
rigldcousnes$r"'and
righteollsness;" and he he was
wascalled
calledthefriend
thefriend ofGodof God Youyou seeseethat that
aa man isiusdfrd by
mnn isjustified twrlcsand
hy works and not
notbyfaith
byfaith alone.
alone AndAnd in in the
the same
same
waywas
way wasnot1lJlhab
not Rahab the harlot justified by
theIuulotjustified by works
workswhenwhen sheshe received
received
messeng*s and sent
the messengers them out another ~",Jay?
sentthem way? For as as the body body
apartfrom
apart spirit is dead,
from the spirit fud, so sofaith
faith apart from works is dead
apartfmmworks dcad",, "

James
James2: 14-26
2:14-26
Thesedoctrine
These doctrine which
which truly depict
depict the
the teaching
teachingof
of Jesus
Jesusare
are in direct
direct
conflict with those
conflict those propounded
propounded by
by St.
st. Paul.
Paul. No wonder
wonder does paul
doesPaul
insist in undisguised
insist undisguisedwrath:
wrath:

"And what II do II will

"And will continue
continue to do, in order to undermine
do, in undermine the
chimof tlwsewfiwv,ould
claim ofthose who would liketo
like to claimtlut
chUm thllt in
in their
their boasted
boasted mission
mission
worh on the samc
they work terms as we do.
same terms do. For
For such are false
such men arc false
apostles,deceitful
apostles, deceitful worhmcn,
workmen, disguising themselves
thcmselva as apostles
apostlesof of
CfufsfArrd
Christ And no rwnda,
wonder,for
for eten
even Saan
Satan dsgliler
disguises himselfas an angel
himself as an angel
of
ofHght So iris
Eglrt ^9o stangc rf
it is not strange if his
hir servants
snants also
olso disguise
disguisethemselves
themselves
as ser1,antrof
as servants of rtghuoasness.
righteousness. lTrcir
Their end wiII
wiU correspond to their
corre:fpond to their
dceds"
deeds. "
22 Corinthians
Corinthians I11: 12-15
l:12-15

46
46
Paul's motive thus
Paul's motive madeeven
thus made even clear.
clear.He wantsto
He wants to win converts
convertsby by
hook
hook or byby crook, andto
crook,and to undermine
underminethe theclaim
claim to Christ'sdiscipleship
to Christ's discipleship
of all
all those worthy companions
thoseworthy companionsof Jesus who studied
Jesuswho studiedat his feet
at his feet and
and
shared
sharedallall the
thetribulations with him.
tribulationswith What are
him. What we to
arewe to do when weare
do when w e are
faced
faced with such such obvious contradictionsbetween
obvious contradictions betweentwo contending
contending
partiesboth
parties both claiming
claiming toto be representingChrist?
be representing Christ?The
The wise
wise thing
thing to do
do
is go to
is to go to the
the Master
Masterhimself andstudy
himself and thoseof his
studythose his sayings which
sayingswhich
are plainand
areplain enoughto
clearenough
andclear to be
be credible andwhich
credibleand generallyreflect
which generally reflect
his
his overall teachingand
overall teaching and life.
life. Jesus's
Jesus'smost
most sustained preachingis
sustainedpreaching is
embodied
embodiedin what is called
what is the Sermon
called the Sermonon on the Mount. His most
the Mount. most
categorical
categoricalstatement regardingthe
statementregarding and works
the law and works is contained in
is contained
Matthew
Matthew chapter
chapter5. With regard
5. With regardto to Jesus's own view on
Jesus'sown on those
thosewho
who
claim to be
claim representinghim
be representing him while
while at the same
at the same time
time distort
distort his
his
teachings. Jesus is reported to saYi
teachings.@tgyi

"Not
"Not evCO'
cvery one
one whowho says
sqys10 lo me.
me. "Lord,
"Lord- Loar'
Lord't shall enter the
Kinrdom
Kinpdom qfheaven.
of heaven.but but he who
who does
doesthe
the will ofmy
of my Father who is
in heaven.
heaven On that that day
day milny
,nany will sayto me,
wiII say nlr' "Lord, Lord, did we we not
prophecy in h yout
your name,
namc, and castcastout demonsin your
oat demons your name
narrE and did
milny
many wonderful
wonderfut workswork in your
your name?"
name?" And And then
then willI
wiII I declare
declareto
them,
them, "1 "I never hnewyou: depart
neverknew from me,
departfrom me, you evildoers.
evildoers." " Every
one
one then
lhen who
who hears
hearcthese wordsofmine
thesewords otmine and does doesthem will be
themwill be like
like
a wise
wise man who who built his his house upon the rock; and the rain fell,
house upon fell,
and thefloods
thefloods came,
come,andmd the
the winds
winds blew
blew and beat
heat upon
upon the house,
hotue,
but it did not fall, because
notfall, becauseit had been founded on the rock.
beenfounded roch And
And
every
everyoneone who
who hears
hean these
thesewords
wordsofmine
of minc and does
docsnotnot do
do them
them will
be
be like
like a foolish
foolbh manft&n who
wha built his house
huilt his upon the
houseupon sand: and the
lhe sand: the
rain fell, and thefloods
roinfell, thefloods came,
cann, and the the winds blewand beat
windsblew heat against
against
that house, itfcll; and great was
howe, and it/eU; thefall a/it"
wasthefall of itn
Matthew
Matthew 7:21-27
7:21-27

These
Theseareare the
the concluding words in the
concludingwords the Sermon
Sermonon on the Mount. They
the Mount. They
are
are forthright
forthright and
and unambiguous.
unambiguous.Who are are these "evildoers", these
these "evildoers", these
foolish
foolish men
men who will not
who will not follow the
the teachings
teachingsof Jesus are
Jcsuswhich are
based
basedon of the
the fulfillment of
on the the law and
and the prophetsand
the prophets and doing the
doing the
will
will ofGod? Who are
of God? Who thesemen
arethese men who pretend perform miracles
prctendto perform miraclesand
and
47
 to be
to apostles of
be apostles ofChrist. and yet
Christ, and yet contradict
contradict his his teachings
teachings by by prcaching
preaching
justification by faith
justification by faith in
in the
the salvation
salvation by by blood
blood without
without doing
doing what
what
Jesus ordered
Jezus ordered them
them to
to do,
do, nameiy
nameiy to
to live
live to
to the
the law
law and
and thc
the teachings
teachings
ofthe
of prophets? Who
the prophets? these men
Who are these men who
who uscuse Jesr,rs's
Jesus's name
name and
and yet
yet will
will
denied by him? He that has
be d€nied has understanding
understanding let let him
him understand.
understand: La Let
us not be like the foolish manman who built
built his
his house
house upon
upon the
the sand
sand lest
lest
for great will
we fall, for will be the fall of
ofit.
it.

INTO ALL
GUIDE INTO ALL THE
THE TRUTH
TRUTH

Jesus Christ's
Jesus Christ's teaching substantial, but his short life
teaching is quite substantial, and the
life and
immaturity of
of his people prevented him from completing the mission
people prevented mission
on which he
he had
had been sent into the world. ItIt is possible
been sent also that his
possible also
mission was by necessity
missionwas necessityofa ofa limited
limited nature,
nature, to pave
pave the way for
for what
was
was to come.
come. Under either
eithcr circumstances
circumstances he
he had
had to confess
confess "1Have
"f
many
mtrny thillgs
things to say
saryto !ou,
yOIl, bllt cannot bear them now.
but you callnot now. Whcn
When
the Spirit
Spifi comes,
cornes,he
hc wiD into all
gllide yOIl illto
will guidcyou trutht' "
all the trllth.

The
The gospel
gospelaccording
accordingto John
Johnreports
rcpore the as part of
the following as of a speech
speech
which
which Jesus
fesusmade
madeto his
his disciples
disciplesduring
during the
the Last
Last Supper.
Supper.

"fltt now
"But ttow1I am going to b him
himwlnwho sent yd none 0/
nu; yet
santme; you asks
of yOIl asksme,nu,
"Where
"V4here are you going?" going?" But becaasc1I have
But because havesaid said these thing to
thesething
yOIl, somowlaDs
you, sorrow filletl YOllr hearts
hasfiIledyour Nevertheless1I tell
hcartsNevertheless truth:
tell you the trllth:
It is
is to
to your
your advantage
advantagc that 1I go away,
awoy4forfor if
if 1
I d"
do not go mwy,
away, thc
the
Counsellor
C.outtsclbrwiD not come
willta b yu: but
cor7rtoYOll: but if go, 1I wiD
d 1I go, wiII send
scndhim to you. yo*
Alld
And when when he he comes,
comcs,he he will convince the world 0/
wiII convillce of sin and of
sin and of
righteounas and
righteousness 0/judgment: 0/
andofiudgmtnl: of sin, hecanse they fu not
sin, because they do not believe bdieve
,r-.^ o/righteouslless,
me; of dghteousnas, because becusc 1I go go to the Fath!!r,
to the and you will
Fath-er,alldyoll will see
sec
me ,ro nwre,·
ttg 110 ,none;oljlldgment,
ofiudgnert, because
becausethe the ruler of this world is
rub ofthis isiudgcd
judged
1I have
havemallY
many thillgs
things to to say
sayto you, but
toyou, you call1lot
hutyou cannotbear them now.
beat them now.
jfhcn the
Jf1ae1l theSpirit
Spirit comes,
comcs,he he will
will gllide you illto
guidc you into all truth; lor
thc truth;
all the for hehe
will speok
wilt twt rycth
not on
011 his
hisauthority,
aatlnrity, but
bllt whdctw
wluztever Iu
he hean
hears hc
he wiII
will spcah'
speak,
and
andhe he will
wiII declare
dularc to you thillgs
toyou that are
thingsthat to come.
arc to cotmeHe will glorify
He will glorify
me,/or
nn, lor he hc will
wilt take what is
talrcwhat is mine
rtne and fuclarc itlt to
and declare yo*" "
toyou.

John16:
John 5-14
16:5-14
48
By this
By this fesus
Jesus is
is informing his disciples
informing his disciples that
that he is about
he is about toto leave
leave the
the
world, that
urorl4 that he
he has
hrs not
not accomplished
accompliShed his
his mission,
mission, but
but that
that another
anothcr will
will
come after
come him to
after him to tcach
teach the
the whole
whole truth.
truth. That other one
That othcr is called
one is called by
by
various nam€$
various names according
according toto the
the vrrious
various versions
versions of the Bible.
of the Bible. The
The
Revised Standard
Revised Standard Version
Version which been u*ing
have bcen
which II hrve throughout this
using throughout this
ex$ay calls him
essay calls Counsellor. King fanrcs's
him Counsdlor.King James's Authorized Version calls
Authorized Version him
calls him
Comforter. Whatever the title, title, the 'Counsellorn described by
"Counsellor" was described by
Jesus as
Jesusas the person
person who:

after him
(a) would come aftcr
convince the world
(b) would convince world of
of sin and
and of
ofrighteousness and of
right@usnessurd of
judgment; .
guide mankind
(c) would gurde mankind into all the tnrth;
truth;
(d) would not spcak
speak on his
his own authority,
authority, but whatever he would hear
whatever he hear
he would speak;
he speak;
prophesy;
(e) would prophcsy;
(f) would
woutd glorify
glotify Jesus
JesusChrist.
Christ.

Let us us examine prophecy of

exflnine this prophecy of Jesus
lezus as8s reported
rePortedby John'slohn's Gospel
Gospel
without any preconceived notions,
anyprecorccived notions, and perfect objectivity. Many
and with perfect tvlany
Christians with minds
Christians minds fully indoctrinated
indoctrinatcd by Church Chttrch authorities
authoritics take
grEntedthat
it for granted that the
the prophecy
prophecyrefersrcfen to thethc Holy Ghost,
C{osg or the thc Holy
Spiril the
Spirit, thethird Person
Personof the "ever
ofthc "evs blessed
blcss€dincomprehensible
incomprebensiblcTrinity".
This belief is is strengthened
strenglhenedby the thc parenthetical
parenthaical insertion of the title,
inscrtion ofthe
the
theHoly Spirit,
Spiriqafter Counsellorin John
afterCounsellor John14:25.
14:25.with "the "the accumulated
accumtrlated
errors cenhries of manuscript
elrors offourteen centuries manuscriptcopying",
copying", as rs the editors of
the editors
the RevisedStandard
theRevised StandardVersion
Versionthemselves
themsclvesadmit,admig itit is.easy imagine
is.easyto imagine
the
the interpolation
interpolation of of such
such aa title
titlc asas the
thc Holy Spirit Spirit either
eithcr as ss an
an
explanation believed
erqlanationbeliwed byttrcby the original
original writer,
rrritcr, or
or by
by any
any ofthe
of thc numcrous
numerous
manuscript
manuscriptcopyist
copyrstdowndownthethc centuries
cennrriesas asthe
thc likely intention ofChrist.
likely intention of Christ.
The
TheHoly
Holy Ghost
Ghostor or Spirit
Spirit is
is the
the one
onethat
that is
is believed
belietfedto to have filled the
havefilled the
disciplesof
disciples of Jesus
Jesusandandafter
after them
them thethe Church
Churchauthorities, gme,ration
urthorities, generation
after generationuntil
aftergeneration urniltoday. Whatthe
today.What thcChurch
Cturrchdoesdocsand saysis
rnd says is thFough
through
the
ttre guidance
guidtnce and
and inspiration
inspir*ion ofthe
of the Holy
Holy Spirit
Spirit as
rs prophesied
prophesied by
by Iecnrs
Jesus
in
in the
theabove
abovequoted
quotedpassage.
psssage.

49
 since Christianity
Since Christirnity isisdivided
divided into
into countless
countlesscontradictory
contredictory Church church
or sects,
or sects,itit isisdifficult
difncuft toto see
seein in which
which one
one of of them
thcm is ir the
the Holy
Holy
Spirit working. Every
Spirit working. Everyone
oneofof these
theseChurches
Churchesclaims
claimsthat
that itit alone
aloneisis
thetrue
the inheritor of
true inheritor of the
the Church
Churchalleged
allegedtoto have
havebeenbeenestablished
established by
Christ whenhe
Christwhen hecalled
calledPeter
Peter"the
"therock
rockonon which
which he he built
built his
his Church."
Church."
EachChurch
Each church hashasfundamental
fundamentaldifferences
differcnceswith otherother churches.
churches.Even Even
within the
within the same
samechurch,
church,say
saythe
the Roman
RomanCatholic
catholic Church,
church, the the best
best
organizedand
organized andthethemost
mostmonolithic
monolithic of of them
them all,
all, we
we fmd
find different
differcnt and
and
contradictory doctrines
contradictory doctrines and
and commandments
commandmentsissuing issuing atat different
differcnt
periods.Men
periods. Men andandWomen
Womenwho who at at one
onehistoric
historic period
period have
have beenbeenex-
ex-
communicated,condemned
communicated, condemnedand andeven
evenburnt
burnt at
at the
the stake,
stake,have
have by the the
sarne infallible
same infallible Holy ChurchChruch been
bcen notnot only reinstated,
reinstated,but also also
canonized as
canonized as saints,
saints, at
at other
other historic
historic periods.
periods. The history of
The history of
Christendomis
Christendom is full
fult of such
such examples.
examples.And all this time we are are to
believe that
believe that it is is the
the Holy Spirit,
Spirit, who,
who, according
according to the the Church
Church
teaching,is
teaching, is God
God whowho never
nevererrs,
errs, is guiding all these
thesc conflicting
conflicting men men
issueconflicting doctrines
who issue doctrines and cennuies !
and rulings through the centuries

The "Co~llor",
The "Counspllor", Jesus
Jesrusaid,
said would.speak
would speakon God's
God'sauthority andand not
own. That statement
on his own. statementalone
alone is enough
enough to demolish the theory
that the
that prophecyrefers
the prophecy refersto the
the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, according
Spirit according
to Christian
to Christian teaching, God. He could not be
teaching,is God. be said be speaking
said to bc speaking on
an authority not his own. This could only bc
an be said
said of
of mortal maq~a
man inspired,
man inspired, aa prophet.
prophet. That man
man would bring clear tcachings
teachings asas to
sin, righteousness
sin, righteousnessandjudgemcnt.
and judgement. His teachings
teachings would
would be universal,
not for the "lost sheep"
sheep"ofof ury tribe, but for the world.
any particular Eibe, world. To
be universal
be universal and
and complete
complete thdse teachings must be clear and precisc,
those teachings precise,
and
and should be be on a pcrmanent
permanent record which is not subject to
interpolation
interpolation orchange,
or change, so that all differences
differences that migbt
might arisc
arise down
the
the centuries
centuries could be rcsolved
resolved by rcfcrcncc
reference to that impeccable
impeccable
record.
record.

Finally, Jesus
Jesus said, Counsellor would glorif
said, the Corurscllor Since the
glorify him. Since \he
deparhue
departure of from mortal life,
of Christ fiom life, itit is a historical fact that
that no
no one
one
has
has appeared
appeared inin any part of
of the globc
globe who closcly fits in
closely fits in with
with the
the
qualifications enumerated the above prophecy
in the
enumerated in prophecy of ofJesus except the
Jesus exccpt the
SO
50
 Muhammad. ItIt is he ufro
Prophet Muhammad. who has
has claimc4
claimed, and indccd has
indeed has
achieved, the completion ofthe
achieved, ofthe mission ofofJesus the previotts
all thc
Ja$a and all previous
prophets. The Encyclopedia Britannica calls him
prophets. him nThe
"The Most
Most
successful of
successful of all prophets."
prophets." ItIt is hc
he who bas convinced thc
has convinccd the world of
of
of righteousness
sin, of righteousness and of judgement.
and of has guided
judgement. ItIt is he who has guided us
into all the truth -- for he is thc
the Spirit of Truth. Indeed
of Truth" Indeed even asas a youth
became aware
before he becamc aware ofof his future mission hc he was known by his
fellow-citizens of
fellow-citizcns pagan Mecca as
of pagan AI-AmiD, i.e. the Truttrfirl.
as Al-Amin, Truthful. As an
elderly man of of over sixty, thr€€ months beforc
three months before his dcatb,
death, having
completed his God given task he told the assc,nbled
complercd assembled multitudc,
multitude, now
all Muslims, quoting Allah's words (for (for he spoke own
spoke not on his orrn
authority):
authority):

uToday I have
"Today petfectedfor you yolr
completed and perfectedfor
havecompleted your rcligbtt"
nligiolL"
Qur'an
Qfan 5:35:3

Having guided
guided the world into all the truth
tnrth he recited
recitcd Allah's own
words:
words:

say: "Truth
Ard say:
And "Truth has
hos arrived,
antvcd, IUId Falsch@d pc*hcd:
and Falsehood perished: lor
lor
Fslschoodis
Falsehood b bound u perish."
bund to pcrbh.n Qur'an
Qu/an 17:81
17:81

BIBLE AND THE QUR'AN

THE BmLE QTTR'AN
Jesus
Jesusconfessed
confesscdthat
thathc he had saidall that
had not said wantcd to say,
hc wanted
that he that
bttrthat
say,but
he
he that .was
was to come
come would do
do so
so and
and complete
complste the work. The
The
tcachingsofMuhammad
teachings of Muhammadon sin, srn,on righteousness
righrcousncssand and on judgement
onjudgemcnt
are embodied
are embodied in the Qrt'an, aa book that
thc Qur'an, uniqtle in the
that is unique tbc world in its
purity, lack ofof contradictions
contradictions and End in its inimicaSility.
ininica6ility. SinceSircc its itg
revelation to the
the illiterate
illitcralc Prophet
hophst 1400
14ffi years
ycan ago int one
ago not onc word bas bas
changed,
changed,andandit will
will not change,
changc,by the tbc grace
graccof tbc day
till the
of Allah, till day ofof
judgment William Muir, aa ~ll
judgncnt Sir Wtlliam urell known
knowu critic of of Islam, **ritbg in
Islam, writing
his
his book,
booh TheThc Ul<
t Vc qfMub"",.",
qIJWuhamud. says: rllan i.r
says: "1'IIue plro,lr,blyill
ls pro1HllJly ttr tile
thc
world othcr 11001
trdd no otller fu* wlliclllla
which hat NlIIIIlaed
runalncd tweh¥trxuclwCDltIll'ia wlth $0
ccrrt utrs witJI so
pure
purc aa text."
td.tt Since
Sincc Sir Sir William wrotc that
Willian wrote anothertwo
that another two centmics
cc'lrtrnics
have rolled by and
have andthe the truth hasremained.
tnrth has rcmained.
51
5l
With regard
regard to thethe Bible, however, there is
however, there is not and
and carmot
cannot be
be
consistency,
consistency,for thethe Bible is one book
is not one book but aa collection
collection of many
of many
books
books written by numerous many of
numerous writers, many of whom areare not even
even
known. There
known. Therp is even
evendisagreement amongthe
disagreementamong the Christian Churchesas
Ctuistian Churches as
the books
to the books which are are accepted
acccpted asas canonical
canonical Le. authorized by
i.e. authorized
church elders as
chnrch elders as to have been inspired.
have been not revealed
inspired- not r*ealed asas the
the Qur'an
Qudan
was. The writings even
was. may be
even in single book may be contradictory, w€
as we
contradictory, as
have notedthe
havenoted the example
exampleof the conversion
of the conversionofPaul ,recorded in IIH.
as,recordednThe
of Paul as
of the APostles.
Acts althe &tostles.

Hugh
Hugh Schonfield
Schonfieldwriting in his book, Those
his book, ThoseIncredible Christians
Chrbtians-
says:
says:

"Within the covers of

the covers thc Bible we
of the we can
can meet
meet with forgeries,
forgeries,
manipulations
manipulationsandand deliberate inventionsjust as
dcliberateinventions as much
much asas outside
outside it.
Scholarship awareofthis;
Scholanhip is well aware when aa biblical work, especially
of this; but when especially
in the
the New Testament, personclaiming to be
Testament,is evidently not by the person be
the
the author everything is done using the
done to avoid using the word forgery.
forgery. The
same
same is true
tnrc of
of sayings
sayings attributed Jesus and
attributed to Jesus and know not to be be
genuine.
genuine. We speak
speakofof such
such books as by someone
books as someoncof the Pauline
of the Pauline or
Petrine
Petrine s«hool
sqhool of
of thought,
thoughq of changed or invented
of changed invented sayings
sayings asas
"secondary".
"secondary".If we did not employ
If we employ evasions appearthat
evasionsit would appear that the
the
was an
Holy Spirit was an accessory fraud.
accessoryto fraud.

"It is on record, however,that

record,however, the fmal
that down to the final detennination
determination of of the
the
canon
canon ofof Scripture
Scripture some
some of of the
the books
books which areare in the were
the Bible were
disputed. It was
disputed. argued by quite orthodox Christi8QS
was argued Christiarp of the early
of the
centuries
centuries that certain
certain books
books werc
were not genuine
genuine productions
productions of the
of
apostolic authors
authors by whom they they purpo~
purported to have
have been
been written.
Occasionally
Occasionallythe the forger's namewas
forgedsname was suggested.
suggested.Paul mcntions that in
Paul mentions
his own lifetime
lifetimc false lctters in his name
falsc letters name were
were in circulation. What
had
had to bebe suited was what was
suircd was decmed to be
was deemed the interest
be the of the
interest of the
Church.
Church.Considerations
Considerationshaving nothing to do wittr truthfulness
do with wcFe
tnrthfulness were
at work
work in thethc slant givcn to compositions
slant given and in the
compositions and sentiments
the sentiments
contrary
conffiry to their own attitudes various persons
attitudes which various of
P€nions note
of were
note were
made
made to express.
express.All All this kind of was aa commonplace
of thing was commonplacefor the the
52
52
early Christians 1bis was the way the game
as well. This
Christians as ofpromotion and
game ofpromotion
indoctrination was
indoctrination was played.
played. For those scruples, who believe
those without scruples, believe
ends justiff
that ends justify means,
means, itit is so
so still."

The originals of of the books the Bible are

of the
books of are absent and unknown,
absent and unknown,
hence
hence the versions. Admittedly the books
numerous versions.
the numerous books asas at present
present
available
available are the works
are the of ordinary
works of human writers.
ordinary human writers. However some some
words which are of divine origin may
are of may bebe discernible.
discernible. But so so mixed
are
are these,
these, and
and so
so much interpolation has
much interpolation taken place
has taken place that itit is now
almost impossible to tell the
almost impossible divine from the
the divine human. You cannot
the human. cannot tell
with any
any degree
degree ofof probability the word of
probability which is the God, and
of God, and which
the word of
is the of aa mere man who had
mere man had aa particular
particular school
school to uphold
uphold or
a particular
a axe to gnnd.Not
particular ure so the
grind. Not so Qur'an. Every
the Qurtan. Every word is Allatr's
Allah's
own. It is in direct speech
own. as revealed,
speechas revealed not
notjust inspired, to the
just inspired, the Prophet
Prophet
Muhammad,
Muhammad, and and exactly asas the
the Prophet
Prophet recited it straightaway
recited it suaightaway and and
faithful scribesput it down
faithful scribes immediatelyand
down immediately and others
othersmemorized
memorizedit. A
Christian,
Christian,Dr. John JohnB. Taylor, Readerin Islamic
Taylor, Reader Studiesin the
Islamic Studies the Selly
Sclly
Oak
Oak Colleges,
Colleges, Binningham writes in his
Birmingham writes his book Thinkinr
Thinking About
Ahout
l.s.1Jlm;,
Islam:

"We hav~
havF established that Muslims
establishedthat Muslims do not speak
do not speakof of Muhammad's
Muhammad's
writing the
the Qur'an,
Qu'an, but
but of
of his
his receiving
receiving and
and reciting
reciting it. Just
it. Just asas
Muhammad
Muhammad himself was conscious
himself was consciousof thc very special
of the characterof
special character
the
the Quranic
Quranic text, so thoseMuslims after
so those after him took pains preserve
pqins to preserve
with
with complete
complete accuracy
accuracyall thethe fragments
fragrnentsof the the Qur'an.
Qudan. Only two
years
years after Muhammad's
Muhammad'sdeath,death,with thethe further
furttrer loss
loss in the
thc battle of
battle of
some of those
some of thosc who
who had
had already
already memorized
memorized the
the Qur'an
Qut'an the
the various
various
fragments
fragments were
were collected......"A years later,
few years
collected......"A few later, in the
the reign
reign of
Uthman
Uthmanthe thethird caliph
caliphto rule the Muslims
rule the Mulims after
after Muhammad's
Muhammad'sdeath, deatb,
aa final check was made
check was madeon the the Qur'an.
the text of the Qut'an. We We can
can tell how
careful
careful and
and scrupulous the early
scrupulousthe early Muslims werewerc by thethe fact
fact that
tbat even
cven
variationsin pronunciation
variations from one
pronrurciationfrom partof Muslim world to
onepart to another
another
were disapprovcdof in the
weredisapproved context of reciting the
the context the Qur'an;
Qut'an; andand so the
sothe
official tcxt was
ofhcial text establishcdin accordance
wasestablished accordanccwithwiththcthe dialect Mecca,
dialect of Mecca,
and
and most
most other
othcr versions were destroyed
vesions were destroycdby by command
commandof thc caliph.
of the caliph.
Thus
Thu wewe can
canfeel
feel confident thc Qur'an
that the
confidentttrat wtrich we
Qlrdanwhich we have todayis
havctoday as
is as
53
53
far as
a.sis humanly
humanly possible
possiblethe
the text which was
was established
establishedwithin aa few
yearsof
years of the
the Prophet's
Prophet'sdeath. "
death."

Those
Thoseare
are the views of
the views of aa Christian
Christiancritic of
of Islam.
Islam. The
The Qur'an
Qu/an is the
the
unsullied word of
unsullied of God.
God. That is what
what Jesus
Jesusmeant
meantwhen
when hehe said
said ofhim
of him
who was to come:
who was come:"He will
will not
not speak
speakon his
his authority,
authority,but whatever
whatever
he
he hears
hearshe
he will
will speak."
speak."

Jesus was insulted

Jesuswas insultednot only by his
his avowed
avowedenemies,
enemies,the
the Jews,
Jews,but also
also
unwittingly by those
thosewho considered
consideredthemselves
themselveshis followers.
followers. The
The
Jews
Jews accused
accusedhim of of being
being aa child born
born out of
of wedlock,
wedlock, and
and aa
charlatan. prove that
charlatan.To prove that he
he was
was accursed
accursedthey
they endeavored
endeavoredto cause
causchis
death
death by crucifixion, mode of
crucifixion, aa mode of execution
execution considered
consideredby them
them to be
be
damnatory
damnatory to the soul of
the soul of the (see Deuteronomy
the victim. (see Deuteronomy 21 :22-23).
2l:22-23).
They
They denied
deniedthat
that he
he was
was their promised
promisedMessiah.
Messiah.

The
The Christians part, in their overzeal,
Christianson their part, overzeal,andand deluded
deludedby subtle
subtle
wolves
wolves in sheep's
sheep'sclothing,
clothing, swallowed
swallowedthe teachingsof
the teachings of Mithraism,
Mithraism,
Greek
Greek mythology andand other
other contemporary
contemporaryMediterranean
Mediterraneancults, and and
placed
placed Jesus
Jesuson the
the pedestal
pedestalofa pagangod.
of a pagan god. Jesus
Jesuswho waswas the
thc son
son
ofman.
of man.Ben Adam,as
4en Adam, he was
as he wasfond
fond of
of calling
calling himself,
himself, aa Prophet
Prophetand
and
servant of
aa servant of God,
God, was
was debased pseudopolytheistic god,
debasedinto aa pseudo god, and
and
became surrounded
became surrounded with legends
legends of
of propitiation by blood, legends
legcnds
which were
were current
current at
at that time within
within the
the cults of
of Osiris, Attis,
Adonis
Adonis and
and Mithra.
Mithra

was nothing
There was nothing new
new in salvation
salvation by blood. All
hy blood. All these
these doctrines
doctrines
were prevalentin the
were prevalent pagancults
the pagan cults in the
the eastern
eastemMediterranean
Mediterraneanregion
before
beforethe
the coming
coming ofJesus
of JesusChrist and
and during
druing his lifetime. What was
lfhat was
new,
newrsfronge ond revolting
strange and r*olthgwas grafi these
was to graft thesemyths
Whs on the very
thevcry nun
1IUUI
who came abolishthem.
cameto abolish thetn

54
.54
DEATH ON
DEATH ON THE
THE CROSS
CROSS

ItIt was
was the
the Prophet Muhammad who
Prophet Muhammad who came and glorified
came and Jesus. He
glorified Jesus. He
countered
countered the
the accusations
accusations of
of thc
the Jews,
Jews, and
and tore
tore down
down the
the pagan
pagan
trappings with
Fappings with which
which Jesus was errshrouded
Jesus vras enshrouded by misguided adherents.
by misguided adherents.
Jesus was no more illegitimate than Adam. His
proved that Jesus
He proved
mother Mary whom the Jews castigated as
Jews castigated asa prostitute was given a
a prostitute
place of
place of great
great honor in the Qnr'an Christian Bible. To a
than in the Christian
Qur'an than
people who believed
people believed in the crcation with neither father nor
of Adam with
creation of
mother why should
mother should it bc
be difffrcult creation of
believe in the creation
difficult to believe of Jesus
Jesus
Without a father?
without father?

"God ablefrom these

"God is ahlelrom thescstones
stonesto raise children to Abrahamtl
raisc up childtcn Abraham. "
Matthew 3:9
3:9

To the
the hostile
hostile Jews
JewsMuhammad
Mutrammad confinned Jesuswas
confirmed that Jesus was the
thc Christ
foretold in the
the Jews
Jews own scripture. ttrat the Jews
scriptrue. He taught that werp
Jews were
speaking an
speaking an untruth when
when they claimed
claimed to have
have inflicted an
an ignoble
death on Jesus
death hanging him on the
Jesusby hanging cross.
the cross.

'r&ul they
"Bllt thqt killed
hilled him
him not,
not, nor
nor crllcifled
cruc{rcd him, wes made
so it was
but so
hin+ bllt nmde
appcarto them,
appear thcm,and those
thoscwho
who differ
diffcr therein arcfull ofdoubts,
thcreh arefull wilh
of doubh, wiUr
no (certain)
(cerUin) knowledge,
knowkdgc, bill
hU only
only conjecture
conicctarc tofollow. For IIa surety
totollow. For surety
they hillcd him
thq killed noLn
him nOL "
4:157
Qut'an4:157
Qur'an

Modem
Modern Biblical
Biblical research prcYcsthis
rescarchproves this Quranic truth. It
Quranic truth. is known
It is knoum thatthat
there
therc are
are other
other Gospels wtrich have
Gospels which have different versioru of
different versions Christ's
of Christ's
passion
passionfrom that narrated
from that narratcdinin the four canonical
the four Ctospcls.The
canonicalGospels. other
The other
Gospels were not approved officially
Gospelswe,rpnot approvedofficially by
by the
the Church
Church urten
when the
the Bible
Bible
was
wascompiled
compiledtowards
towardsthethc end
eodofof the
tbesecond Latcly new
c€ntrr'y.Lately
sccondcentury. light
ucw light
has
hasbeen caston
bccncast on the
the beliefs
bcliefs of thc early
of the Christisnsby
early Christians discovcry
thc discovery
by the
ofan
of anold lv{anuscriptin
old Manuscript in the
tbcarchives of Istanbul.Tbe
archirrcsofIstanbul. Thcdiscoverer iiDr.
dircovtcr iiDr.
Samul
SamulStem
StcrnofOxford Unincrsity .I*x
of Odord University. rrrdyCIui.rtIIuu
7'1Iese..v hoo*tt tIS
Auffians boWJI tt
NtlSoMIIIS or NtlQlnllD
Nosorxottsor Nqsxna (wAIeA
(whtch tIIIlia
talli6 wlt1I
r+,ilLtU
tht QIII'IJIIk
Qr1rstdc ,..,.
nanufotfor
Christiturs: nNzsoamn) were predominant to
urcre predominant to start with" The
start with. Tbe
Chrtstians: "NtlSaartI")
55
55
Nazareneswho
Nazarenes whoclaimed
claimeddescent
descentfrom
from Jesus's first disciples
Jesus'sfirst disciplescame
cameinto
into
conflictwith
conflict with Pauline
PaulineChristians (whofollowed
christians(who fotlowedPaul)
Paul)and
andwere
weredriven
driven
out of
out of Palestine
Palestineinto
into Syria
syria around
arowrd62 62 A.D.
A.D. The
TheNazarenes
Nazarenesregarded
regarded
Jesusas
Jesus greatprophet
asaagreat prophetand
andrighteous
righteousman.
man.They
They accused
accusedSt. paul of
st. Paul of
heretically substitutingRoman
heretically substituting Romancustoms
customsfor
for the
theauthentic
authenticteachings
teachingsofof
Jesusand
Jesus proclaiming him
and proclaiming him toto be
be God.
God. They
They refused
refirsedtoto celebrate'
celebrate
Christmaswhich
Christmas which they
they regarded
regardedas asaa pagan
paganfeast.
feast.

The versionof Christ's

The version christ's Passion
Passioncontained
containedin the the manuscript
manuscriptis is that
that
Judastricked
Judas trickedthe
theJews
Jewsbyby substituting
substinrtinganother
anothermanmanin place
placeof Jesus.
Jesus.
This other
This otherman
manvehemently
vehementlydenied
deniedbefore
beforeHerod
Herodand pilate the
andPilate thecharge
chargc
thathe
that he claimed
claimedtoto be
bethe
the Messiah (christ). According
Messiah(Christ). According to this
this version
version
it was
wasHerod
Herodand
andnot
not Pilate, who took aa basin
Pilate,who basinofwater
of wuer and
andwashed
washedhis his
handsof the
hands the accused
accusedman's
man'sblood
blood to show
show that
that he
he did not fmd
find any
any
him. Then
guilt in him. Then Herod
Herod locked
locked up
up the
the supposed
supposedJesus
Jcsusfor the
the night;
but the
but the next
next morning hehc was
was seized
seizedupon
upon by the
the Jews
Jews who tortured
tortured
and ultimately
him and ultimately crucified
crucified him.
him.

The version
The version of the story
of the story ofof crucifixion makes
makes thethe pathetic
pathetic
lamentationsattributed
lamentations attributed by the
the canonical
canonicalGospel
Gospelto Jesus
Jesuson the
the cross
cross
more sensible.
more sensible.For anan ordinary
ordinary unknown
unlnrownmanman to behave
behavein such
sucha way
excr.rsable.
is excusable. the man
But for the tnan of
of God
God to declare
declareat the
the time oftriaI,
of rial, or
even for a leader
even of a people
leader of people with guts in him, to cry out aloud in
with guts
front of
front crowd: "My
of a crowd: "My God.
God, my God hast thou
God why hast thou forsake
forsakeme ?" ?,' is
to say
say the
the least
least below the of a leader.
the dignity of leader.

If the
If the crucified man was
crucified man was Jesus,
Jesus, and
and ifif Jesus
Jesus was
was God who knew that
He had come
come down to earth in order to be crucirfredlor
crucifiedfor thc
the sins of
sins of
hunanity.
hU11Ulnity. the absudity
absurdity would
would be shattcring.
shattering.
Upton Sinclair
Sinclair writes in his bookA
book A Penonal
Personal JesHS:
fesrc:

"You perceive
"You perceive ttr,at
that those
those wtro
who tcll
tell thc cannot make
the story cannot make up their mind
whether Jesus
Jesus is God or or whcther
whether he is man. Truly Truly ifit is diffrcutt
difficult
problem, once you admit sucha thing as ths
problem. onc€ possibility that God may
the possibility
take on the form of a man and comc
ofa come down to cafih"
earth. Whcn
When he bccomes
becomes
man, is he
man, he man or is
man or is He
He still
still God? And And how
how can He He be
be betrayed,
betrayed,
s6
56
whcn He knows He is going to be
when betrayed ?? The
be betrayed legend never
The legend nevcr
answers an absurdity
aruiweniclearly, for basically it is an and there
abstudity and can be
there can be no
no
even any
answer,nor even
answer, any rational thought on such
such aa subject.
subject.

"If Jesusis God,

"If Jesus God, HeHe knows
knows everything
everything in advance.
advance.But in that case
that case
the" procedure means
the procedure means nothing to Him; He is like an an actor
actor going
through aa role,
through and it must
role, and must have
have been rather tedious
been aa rather role to
tedious role
Omniscience.Is
Omniscience. Is He
He doing
doing it for the entertainmentof
the entertainment of children? If so,
children ? If so,
encouragethe
why not encourage the children to grow up mentally and" face the
and'fac€ ttn
the other hand,
truth? On the If he is aa man
hand, Ifhe and has
man and the mind ofa
has the of a man,
mar\
then he
then he no
no longer
longer knows
knows the rutll he
the truth, no longer
he no possesses
longer possesses the comfort
the
of Omniscience.
of Omniscience.The legendrequires
The legend tlrat we shall
requiresthat strall believe both these
thesc
things at
things at the
the same time, but manifestly,
same time, manifestly, aa man
man cannot
cannot know
something and
something and atat the
the same
same time grope half-blindly as
time grope as we human
human
are doing
beingsare
beings through our lives."
doing all through lives,"

The riddle
The perplexeshonest
riddle which perplexes honest and
and intelliBent readersof
intelligent readers of the
the
Upton Sinclair
Gospelslike Upton
Gospels Sinclair isis resolved
resolvedby the the Nasorean version of
Nasoreanversion of
the story
the of crucifixion.
story of that version
crucifixion. By that Jesusis absolved
vcrsion Jesus absolvedfrom thethe
ficklcnessand
cowardice,fickleness
cowardice, shallownessof
andshallowness God so
of faith in God so shamefully
shamefully
cowardly demonstrated
and cowardly
and demonstated by the the crucified man.
man. The fickleness and
The fickleness and
defection of
defection the disciples
of the disciples as reportedin the
as reported the Gospels also fall into
Gospelsalso
if we take
position if that the
take it that the crucified
crucified man was not their Messiah.
man was Messiah.
disciplcs are
The disciples
The are therefore
thereforecleared
clearedfrom the chargesof
the charges of cowardice,
cowardice,
treachery, falsehood
treachery. falsehoodand and laek
laek of leader at
faith in their leader
of faith the most
at the most
time. The
critical time. The man they sold.
man they denied or doubled
sold, denied was truly
doubled was
them. He
ur*nown to them.
unknown was not
He was their Master.
not their Master.

Tbe "apocryphal"
The of Barnabasreports
GospelofBamabas
"apocryphal" Gospel ttrat it was
reportsthat fufus who
wasJudtu who
wascrucified
was crucifud in the plac€of
the place of Jesus,
Jesus,and the Basilidon
andthc Bssilidonrcaof thc early
sect of the carly
Christians that it was
believed that
Ctuistiansbelieved Simon the
was.firran thc Cynne
Qrenc whowho waswss c,ucif~d,
crucifud,
Jesus.According
not Jesus. According to all the
the three
ttuec synoptic
synoptic Crospcls
Gospels it was this man
was man
madc to carry
was made
who was carry the Jesus.Only John
crossfor Jesus.
the cross Johnmakes Jesus
makes.Icstts
carry his cross.
carry his This is aa significant
cross.This point.
significant point.

57
57
 Other scholars
scholars basing
basing their research
researchon the
the canonical
canonical Gospel
Gospcl have
have
different versionsofthe
differcnt versions of the crucifixion.
cnrcifixion. One
One such
such is Biblical
Biblical scholar
scholar Dr.
Hugh Schonfield,
Schonfield, who has has forwarded
forwarded his findings in his highly
highly
conboversial book The
controversial PassoverPlot. He maintain that it was
The Passover was Jesus
Jesus
,,who
who was
was nailed the
nailed on tde cross,
cross, but that he did not die there;
there; he only
appeared dead by taking a drug
appcared dead drug which is described
describcd in Matthew's
Matttreu/s
Gospel
Gospcl as
as vinegar.
vincgar.

"And
"And about.the
ahul.the ninth hour Jaus
nkth hour &ras cried
cricd with
with ao loud voice,
wice, "Eli,
"Eli, Eli,
Eli,
Ia IIUl
la ma sabach-thani?"
sabach4hani 7" that is, uMy God,
is, "My Godr my
rnl God,
God, why hast
hast thou
fonaken me
lorcalun nu ?"
?" And
And some
sorncofthe
of the bystanden
bystanderchearing
hcadng it it said,
stid, "This
"This
man
man is calling
calling Elijah".
Elijah". And
And one
one of
of them
thcm at once
oncc ran
run and took a s
sponge, filled it
spongc,Slkd tt with vinegar, pw it
vinegcr, and pili it on a reed,
rcc{ and gwe it
und gave it to
him
him to.
n drink.
drdnh ButBut the
thc othen
othen said, nVa$ let
soid, "Wait, kt us
ttssee whcthcr EUjah
sccwhether Ehjah
wUl conu to save
will COIM savchim. And Jaus
him And fcr,rc cried agaunwith a loud
crhd again wlce and
loud voice
yhlded
ylelikd up hir spirit.
r.p his sphitn"
Matthew 27:45-50
27:45-50

That
Tbat is the
tbc description
dcscription by the evangelist
evangelistMatthew, or whoever
whocver wrote
in his name.
namc. Schonfield
Schonfield claims that waswas merely a plot to save
saveJesus
Jesus
from
tom death
death by crucifixion. The drug
crucifixion. The dnrg described
describcdas as vinegar was
was given·
givcn
to induce
inducc a deathlike
dcathlike state.
statc.According to the Gospel
Gospel Jesus
Jcsusremained
remained
on the cross
crcss for three
ttuee hours
hours only,
ody, while
nfrile it was
was normal for a man to
take
take days
days of of lingering agony
sgony before dcath in that
bcfore his death tpc of
tbat type of
cxecution. Then
execution. Thcn according
according to plan,
plan, a rich disciple,
disciplc, Joseph
Joscph ofof
Arimathea,
Arinathca, appeared
apecarcd before
bcforc the Roman
Roman Governor
Crovcmor Pilate
Pilatc and
and
requested
rcquestcdfor the body,
forthe body, which was
wastwned ovcr to him.
hmed over hin" Anthropologist
Anthmpologist
Micbael J.
Michael J. Hamer
I{smcr ofCalifomia
of Califomia University corroborating
cormborating Schonfield
says
saysthat wine madernadefrom the mandrake
mandrakcplant was uscd in Palestine
was used Palestine
to induce
inducc a deathlike statein persons
dcathtikc state pcrsons who were bcing crucified.
were being crucificd.

58
58
''THEY
"THEY KILLEI}
KILLED HIM
HIM NOT''
NOT"

, It is a fact
fact that
that arry
any careful
careful impartial
impartial rcader of the
reader of the fou Gospels which
four Gospels
the Bible will
are in the
are will derive strong evidcnce
derive sfiong show that
evidence to show man who
that the man
was put on the cross did not die on the
the cross the cross, appeared to
cross, but only appeared
have died.
have .In those
died..In those same
same Gospels, there is also
Gospels, therc also overwhelming
overwhelming
evidence, in spite
evidence, spite of belief to the confrry,
the writers' own belief
of thc that it was
contrary, thst was
possible,
possible, andand indeed that the
indeed likely, that the crucified man was not Jesus
man was Jesus
Christ at all.

It
It is a Jesus was
a fact that Jesus was not a well-known pcrson
a well-known person at that time in
Jerusalem. To the
Jerusalem. the people
people who wers hunting for him he
were hunting he was
was a a stranger,
stranger,
a
a nrstic
rustic from Galilee.
Galilee. He had had been preaching his faith for only two or
been preaching
three years, wandering
three years, wandering from from place place with no fixed abode.
place to 'place abode.
(Manhew 8:20).
(Matthew During that
8:20).During thattime
time hehe could
couldnotnot have visited Jerusalem
havevisited Jenrsalem
more
more than times.The
than aa few times. earliestGospel,
The earliest Gospel,Mark says sayshehe had
had been
been
there
there only once,
once, while the latest, John,
the latest, says four times.
John, says timcs. So So little
known was was he is related
that it is
he that Judashad
relatedJudas hadto point out to his would-bewould-bc
captors pretendingto kiss
captorsby pretending Thus it would be
kiss him. Thus unusual
bc nothing unusual
if
if they
they mistook
mistook somebody
somebodyelse else for Jesus.
Jesus.TheThe Gospels
Gospelstell us us that
that
when he was arrested
he was disciples left him alone
anestedall his disciples alone and and ran auay.
ran away.
Even his closest
closest disciples,
disciples, Peter, dcnied any
Peter, denied any knowledge
knowledge of of him,
saying:
saying: "I do
do not
not know
know this
this man." (Matthew 26:74).
man." (Matthew 26:74).It It is difficult to
is difficult
believe that among
believethat amongall his disciples
disciples whom he he himselfhad espccially
himsclf had especially
selected
selectedwith due due care, there could not have
care,there beenaa single
have been single oneone who
even
even acknowledged
acknowledged that that hehe knew him. To say say thatthat this was was in
fulfillment
fulfillment of prophccy is to bow to faith,
of aa prophecy and to stretch
faittt, and rcasonto
strctch reason
breaking
breaking point.
Moreover
Moreover the the answers
answersthat thc accused
that the accuscdgavegarc in court
court during cross cross
e~on
examinationwere werc notnot such
suchas asto indicate tluthe
indicalc that was Jesus
he was JesusChrist.
Christ At nt
best
best the
the accused prevaricated. All
accgsed prevaricated. All the three synoptic
the three Gospels
synoptic Gospels
describing
describing the'court scene produce one
failed to produce
scenefailed one piece evidencc
piecc of evidence
which
wtrich would prove
prcve thethe identity of thethc accused.
rcused. Luke says rrhen
that when
saysthat
he
he was
was ordered:
ordered: "If you
"If you are are the ru,"
Christ, tell us,"
tbc Christ, his answer
answer was was
merely: "If I tell
mercly: "If I tell yot\
you, you
you will
will not
not believc;
believe; and
and if
if II ask
ask yog'
you, you
you will
will
not
not answer."
answer."
59
59
When he
When was asked
he was asked aa point
point blank question:t'Awt
blank question: "Are you
YOU the
the Son
Son of
of
God?" he
God?" he retorted; 'tYou sl{V
relorted: "You saru lhar1f am."
that am^tl

Matthewreports:
Matthew reports:''Andthe
"And thc high priest stoodup
pricst stood np andsaid,
ond said, "Haveyou
"Hm,e you
no answer
no an:iwerto to make?
mahe ? What is it
l{hat is it that
that these
thescmen
nun testify
testifyagainst
againstyou.
yonl '
But Jesus
Jesus WQS was silent
silcnt And
And the
thc high priest stood up and said, ,f
said, "1
adjure you by hy the
the living
living God, tell us
God, tell us if if you are the Christ, I1u.SJm.
Christ, the Son
o.Lfi..u.Jl..'
of God.' Jesus Jesussaid to him, hint, "You
"You have
have said
said so.
so. But
Bul I tell you
hereafteryou will
hereafter will see the Son
seethe Sonerman
of man seated
seatedat the
the right hand ofof
Power, and coming
Power, coming on on the
the clouds
cloudsofheaven.
ol heaven." "
Matthew 26:62-64
26:62-64

you, these
Mind you, thesenarrative even in their
narrativeeven their original
original form
form were
were written
written
decadesafter
decades afterthe events,and
the events, arerelated
andare relatedby men who sincerely
menwho sincerelybelieve
believe
that it was
that was Jesus
JesusChrist who was
Christ who was crucified,
crucified, and yet even
and yet evcn they
they have
have
producedthe
produced the evidence
evidenceof only one
oneman,
marLJudas,
Judas,aa shady
shadyinformer; and
and
thatevidence
that evidencewas wasinot given under
not given underoath
oath in open
opencourt, merely by
court, but merely
implication, aa kiss
implication, indicateJ~sus
purportedto indicate
kiss purported JesusChrist
Christ from among
among aa
crowd to aa frenzied
crowd frenziedmob fanatics.
mob of fanatics.

When we
When we take
take into serious considerationthis reasoning,
seriousconsideration reasoning,together
togetherwith
previously relatedversions
previously related nanatedby the
versionsnarrated the Gospels
Gospelsother
other than
than those
those
include in the
include the Bible and
and the
the ancient
ancient manuscripts
manuscripts recently
recently discovered
discovered
which tell of
which of early
early Christian
Christianbeliefs
beliefs that Jesuswas
that Jesus was not Crucified.
Crucified, the
the
of the
truth of the Qur'an
Qur'an becomes crystal clear:
becomes crystal clear:

"But thqt
"But they killed
killed him
him not,
nol, nor
nor crucifud
crucified hin4 but so itit HIllS
him, bat made 10
wosmode to
appear to ther4
appeilr them, and those
those who dilfer
differ therein arefall
arefull of
ofdoubts, with
doub&, wilh
no (certain) knowledge,
knowledge, but
but only conjeclurelofollow.
conjecture--tofollow. For For a sarcly
surety
they not"
they killed him nol"
Qur'an 4:157
Qur'an 4:157

And the Qur'an was

the Qut'an was rcvealed
revealed to an
an unlettered fourteen centurics
W1lettered man fourteen centuries
ago. Modem Western
ago. Western scholars
scholars now accept
accept thc Quranic venion
the Quranic version of
of the
story of Jesus.
story of Jesus.

60
THE LAW
mE LAW AND
ATID mE
TIIE LICENSE

When Jesus
When Jesusforetold
foretold the
thecoming
coming of of the
thc Counsellor
Corurselloror Comforter who who
convincethe
would convince the world of sin because
of sin becausc"they did not believe
believe him",
himn,
he was
he wasonly speaking
speakingthe the truth.
tnrth. For he had
For he hadcome
cometo to the
the Israelites
Israelircswho
wtro
werc strict
were strict in the
the observance
observanceof the the letter
letter of the
the law.
law. Try asas he
he would
he failed
he failed to convince
convincethem needto temper
them ofthe need tempertheir
their obsession
obsessionwith
themechanics
the mechanicsofreligion
ofreligionwith somespiritual
with some spiritualvalues.
values.He tried to
Hehied to make
make
themappreciate
them appreciatethe the difference
differencebetween
betweenman-made
man-maderestrictions
resridions and
andthe
the
eternal laws of
etemallaws of God.
God.

"You leavethe
"Yott leave the conuntlndment
comrundnunt ofGod,
of God, and holdfast
holdfost the
thc tradition
tradition
of nten "
ofmen."
Mark 7:8
7:8

Jesusdid Qot
Jesus npt bring
brine any
any new
new law.
law. His mission
mission was
was to fulfil
fulfil the law ofof
Moses.But when
Moses. wtren he he offered his interpretation
offered his inrcrpretationof the law controversy
of the controversy
arose.A party of
arose. of his disciples
disciplcs thought
thought that since he was
since he was an Israelirc
an Israelite
kept the
who kept the law andand would not alter even naniota,
evcn "an iota" not aa dot" as he
as he
himself used
himself usedto say, was absolutely
say, it was absolutely necessary
necessaryfor his.his followers to
the law, even
stick to the evenas asto circumcision,
circumcisiorUthe the forbidden
forbidden foods such as
foods such as
pork and
andblood,
blood" observance
observanceof of ritual slaughtering
slaughteringandand the
the sanctifying
sanctifring
of Saturday
of Saturday as as the
the Sabbath.
Sabbath.Another party. party, St. Paul at their head.
St. Paul hcad,
arguedthat
argued Oratsince
since Christ had had brought
brought no no law they were free
they were fr,eefrom the
the
requirementsof
requirements of the
the law,
law, for the
the blood
blood ofof Jesus
Jesuson on the
the cross
cross had
had
liberatedthem
liberated them from "that "that slavery". what was
slaveryn,what was necessary
necessarywas was merely
mercly
believe that Jesus
to believe Jcsushad had died
died for them.
them. That wasruassalvation
salvation enough.
enough.
impress the
To impress the belief
bclief in mind and and soul of the
soul of believcr a procedure
the believer procedure
wasevolved
. was evolvedcalled thc Eucharist,
called the EuctrarisLthe Communionor the
the Communion tvlsss.In this
tbc Mass.
solemn ceremony.
solemn ceremony, tenned
termed Holy Sacrament,
Sacramen! as as an
an outward sign of of
inward
inward and qpiritual grzrce,
and spiritual grace. sanctified
sanctificd (i.e. madc holy) bread
(i.e. made brcad and
and wine
are
are partaken
partaken as thc bo@
as the blood qf
hotlY and blmd Jaus:
gflausi

61l
6
The Gospel
The Gospel of
of Matthewrelates:
relates:

"Now
"Now os as they were
were ealing,
eating, fesus
Jesus look
took bread,
bread, and blessed
blessed and broke
it, and gave
gaveitit to the disciples
disciplcsand said, nTake eati
said, "Take,
it, , eat; tftir
this iris my body,
body,
'tAnd he took o
"And a cup, und
and when he had given thank thanks he gave itit lo to
them, saying,
them, nDrink of
saying, "Drink of it,
it, all
oll ofyou; for this
of you; for this is my blood 01 of the
covenant, which is poured outfor
covenant, ItUlnylor theforgiveness
oultor nunyfor theforgivenets ofsins.
of firlr^'l"
26:26-28
Matthew 26:26-28

Upton Sinclair in his bookl Personql Jesus comments

book A Pst:ronalJerrrs cornmentson the
the above
above
quoted verses
quoted verses thus:
thus:

"From this has come a procedure

has come procedure called Eucharist, the
the Eucharisf
called the
Communion,
Communion, the Mass: aa ceremony
the Mass: ceremony of of unimaginable
unimaginable solemnity.
Instead
Insteadof of sacrificing
sacrificing aa helpless
helplesslamb,
lamb, it is the
the body
body ofof Jesus
Jesuswhich
was sanctified on the
was the cross,
cross, it is his blood which washed,washed, andand by
supernatural
zupematuraltransformation
transfomrationthe the bread
breadandand wine
winc become
becomehis body and and
bloo{ and
blood, and you reverently and drink, or let
eat and
revenenflyeat lct the pricst do it for you.
the priest you.
Billions
Billioru ofof words havebave been
bcen spent argtrmengand
spent in argument, and thousands
thousandsof of
tomes
tomes have
have been
been prinrcd
printed over that question
question of
of just
just how this
metamorphosis
metamorphosistakes place. There
takes place. Therc is transubstantiation
tansubstantiation and and there
there is
consubstantiation
consubstantiationand there is aa third variety called
and there impanation. The
called impanation.
Catholics
Catholicshold for what they thcy call the Real Presence;
the Real Prescncc;that is, they say
they say
that
that the
the bread
breadand and wine become
bccomethe the actual physical body and
actual physical and blood,
bloto4
even
even though their appearance
appearanceremains
remains thethe same
sameasas bread and wine.
bread and
All
All devout
devout Catholics
Catholics have
have to gogo once
oncc aa week
week andasd witness this act
witncss'\is act
performed
performedby the priest, and
the priest, and then
then they know that their thcir souls are safe
souls are safe
ftom hell fiie.
from dont want to hurt anyone's
fire. I don't anyonc'sfeelings, and so
feslings, and so I content
content
myself with saying
saying that
thst I donlt
don't believe
believe Jesus
Jesuswould have have had any
had any
interest proccdute."
inter€st in the procedure."

62
62
Marcello Cravery
Marcello Cravery says
says on the
the same
same subject in his
subject in his boolq The ILife
book, Thc ife qf
qf
Jmu;.
Jesus.'

"No great
"No great effort is required recognize thc
required to recognizc the affrnities between the
affmities bctwccn
stages of
stages initiation (catcchiss,
of Orphic initiation fasting, ptuification)
(catechists, fhsting, purification) and those
of the Christian
of Christian novitiate: preparation for the 'mystery'
novitiate: preparation 'mystery' ofof thc
the
Eucharist,
Eucharist, fasting,
fasting, confession,
confcssion, ffid
and absolution
absolution of
of sins.
sins. But thc
the
replacement of
replacement sacred animal with
of the sacred with the vcry person of
very Pcrson of Christ
makes the
makes ceremony grotesque
the ceremony grotesque ud horrifying. If
and honiffing. If Jesus
Jesus is to be
considered ra human
considered being, the Lord's Supper
human being, Supper assumcs
assumes the
charactcristic of a cannibal
characteristic of ritual; ifif Jesus
cannibal ritul; be considercd
Jesus is to be considered the Son
Son
of God,
of the pure
God, the pure and
and exalted idea of
exalted idea God held by Jesus
of God Jesus dcgencrates
degenerates
ruthless god
into belief in a ruthless god who demands
demands the savage, perpetually
the savage, perpetually
renewed sacrifice
renewed sacrifice of chosen Son.
of his chosen Son.

"Once Paul's innovation

"Once Paul's had gained
innovation had gained acceptance, eventhe
acceptancc,even agapeof
the agape of thc
the
Apostles
Apostleslost both mcanings,the
both its meanings, the eucharistic (gratitudeto the
cucharistic(gratitude the deity)
and
and the
the commemorative
commemorative(of Jesus)
Jesrs)by becoming
becomingpartpafi of
of the
the'mystery'
'mystery'
of
of Communion.
Comrnunion.The The bread
breadand
and the
the wine werc made
wine were symbolsof
madc symbols thc
of the
personof
person of Jesus:
Jesus:more
mor€ specifically his body
specifrcallyof his and his
body and blood.
his blood.

liThe
"The text
text of the
the Gospels
Gospclswas
wasthen
then filled out the additions
out with the made
additionsmade
by Paul,
Paul, who,
who, violating
violating historical
historical truth meet aa theological
to meet
tnrth to thcological
exigency,
exigency,and
anddeclaring greatshamelessness
declaringwith great shamelcssncss that everythinghad
that everything had
been
beendirectly
directly reported
reportedto
to him by Jesus
Jesushimself, causcdJesus
himsclf, caused say,
Jcsusto say,
after
afterbreaking
breakingof bread:
bread:"Take,
"Take,eat; this is
eat;this my body,
is my body, which is broken
which is broken
for you, and
for you, andwhen
when he
he makes
makesthe libation with the
the libation wine: "lbis
the wine: "This cup is
cup is
tbe new
the new testament (covenant)in
testament(covenant) in my blood."
my blood."

The
Thc proof that
that the
the story
story of
of the
the Eucharist or the
Eucharistor thc Lord's was
Suppcrwas
Lord's Supper
added
addedto
to the
the Gospels (Matthew 26:26·29,
Gospcls(Matthew 26:26-29,Mark and Luke
14:22-25and
Mark 14:22-25 Luke
22:17-19)
22:l?-19) by
by Paul
Paul is contained in
is contained in St.Paul's own letter
St.Paul's own thc
to the
letter to
Corinthians:
Corinthians:

ttForII receive/rom
"For receivelrom the
thcLord
Lord what
whU II also
also delivered
delivercd to thc
that the
to you, that
Lord
Lord Jesus
Jesrs on
on the
thenight
night when
whcn he
he was
wosbetrayed
betraycdtook bread,and
too* bread, and
63
63
whenhe
when he had giventhanks,
hadgiven thanlcs,he broke it,
hc broke il, and
and said,
said,"This
"This is
is my
ntybody
hody
which is/or
which you Do
isfor you. tn re~mbrance
thisin
Do this renumbranceo/me."
of ma" "This
"Thir cup
cup is
is the
the
new covenant
new covenant in in my
my blood.
blood" Do this,
this, as
as often
often asos you drink it, it, in
in
renumhranceof1tU!."
remembrance of mc," For as oftenas
asoften osyou eateatthis
this bread
breadand
and drink
the cup,
the you proclaim
cup,you proclaimthethe Lord's
Lord's death
deathuntil
until he
he comes.
comcs.""
II Corinthians
CorinthiansII :23-26
I l:23-26

We have
We haveto to remember
remembertha tha St.
St,Paul
Paulwas
wasnotnot Jesus's
Jesus'sdisciples
discipleswhen
whenhehe
wasalive.
was alive.HeHe does
doesnot
not even
evenclaim
claimtoto have
haveever
evermet
methim personally.
him personally.
He bases
He baseshishis right
right to
to speak
speakonon his
his behalf
behalfon on the
the visions
visionswhich
which hehe
claimsto
claims to have
haveexperienced,
experienced,andandthat
thatexperience
experienceis is related
relatedin the Acts
the/cts
of the Apostles
ofthe Apostles three
th'reetimes,
times,and
andeach
eachtime
time it is
is differently
differently narrated.
nanated.

PROPER
PROPER PERSPECTIVE
PERSPECTIVE

the coming
With the comingof the the Prophet
ProphetMuhammad
Muhammadmattersmatterswere
wereputput in their
their
proper perspective.
proper perspective.The pure Judaism
The pure Judaismof Moses
Moseswaswas reinstated,
reinstated,andand
Christianity was
Christianity was cleansed
cleansedof Paulinism.
Paulinism. Both werewere recast
recastin their
imperishable mould
original imperishable mould of Islam.
Islam. Muhammad
Mutrammad taughttaught with
absoluteclarity
absolute clarity on
on sin,
sin, righteousness
righteousness andjudgment.
and judgment. He He removed
removedthe the
many rabbinical
many rabbinicalrestrictions
restictions under
underwhich
which the
the Jews
Jewswere groaning.He
were groaning. He
madeit clear
made that some
clearthat thesehad
someof these been imposed
had been imposedon on them because
them because
of their own
of own obstinacy
obstinacyand and transgression,
transgression,and and others
others had been the
had been the
creation of their
creation their priests
priests whowho had had invented
invented such
such lawslaws and
and
commandments
commandments for the the sake
sake of a more
more effective
effective control
control over
over their
their
lives.
lives. On
On the
the other
other hand
hand he he did not
not leave the people
leave the people to grope
grope in
darkness
darkness not knowing what what to dodo by merely
merely referring
referring them
them to some
some
ancient
ancient scriptrue
scripture whose
whose authenticity
authenticity as as open
open to doubt
doubt because
because of of
numerous
nwnerous additions,
additions, subtactions
subtractions andand changes. That would
changes. That would have
have made
made
confusion
confusion wor$e
worse confounded.
confounded. He came came with the QUR'AN whose
the QUR'All whose
other name was
other name was "FIJRQAI.I"
"FURQAN" or the "Criterion" which distinguished
the "Criteriotr" distinguished
truth from falsehood.
falsehood. He brought the True
brought a law, thc True Law ofof God, which
gave
gave man
man freedom
freedom from the Jewish restrictions but did not grant the
Jewish restictioru
license which Paul
license had unleashed;
Paul hsd unleashed;

64
"For
"For that would have
hrve been
been another
rnother type
typc of slavery,
rlrvcry, indeed
indccd ae
wone
worce type, because
bccruse that was mental
thrtwes mentrl and
rnd spiritual
rpiriturl slavery, license
rhvcry,liccnre
the body but imprisonment
to the imprisonment of the
thc intellect
intellect and
end the
thc soul"•
roul".

Allah says
seyr in the
thc Qur'an:
Qurrrn:

nWilh my punishment
"With punishnrcntI visit
visitwhom
whom I will,·
wiII; but
burmy mercy
mcrq extends
efrendsto
all
all things.
thlngt That (mercy)I shall
Thet (mercy) shcll ordainfor
ordaintor those
those who
who do tlght, and
do right,
practice
practiceregular
rcgular charity,
charity, and
andthose
thosewho
who believe
helievein our signs;
sigzs,'those
those
who follow the
who tollow lhe Apostle,
Apostle, the unlettered
unlettercd Prophet,
Prophet, whom they find
they tind
mentioned
mcntioaed in their own (scriptures),in the Torah
own (scriptures), Torah and the Gospel;
Gospel;
for he comnuznds
for commondsthem them what jnst andforbids
what is just andlorbids them
them what
what isb evU;
cvil;
he allows
allows them
lhem asas lawful what is good
lawful what goad and
and prohibits
prohihils them from
themlrom
what is bad;
had; he releases
releasesthemfrom
lhemlrom their heavyheauyburdens
burdens andfrom
andtrom
the yokes
yokesthat are upon upon them.
them So^Sait ir those
i, is those who
who believe
believe in him,
hin4
honour
honour him,
hiq help
help him,
htu+andfollow the which is
the light which h sent
sentdown with
down with
him, itil is they
they who
who will prosper.
prosper." "
Qur'an
Qu'an 7:156-157
7:156-157

The Qur'an
The Qur'an laid the greatestemphasis
the greatest emphasison faith,
faith, faith the
God, the
faith in God,
Compassionate
Compassionatethe
the Merciful,
Merciful, and
andtrust
trust in God's
God'sunbounded grace.
unboundedgrace.

?'Andwhere
"And where it not/or
notfor the
lhe grace
grace and mercy
mcrcy of
of God
God not one
one ofyou
otyou
would
would ever
everhave
havebeen pure. "
beenpure."
Qur'an 24:21
Qur'an24:21

Someone
Someoneasked
askedthe
the Prophet
Prophetwhether
whetherhehe should leave his
should leave his camel
camel to
God's
God'scare.
care.The
The Prophet
Prophetreplied:
replied;"Tether her,then
"Tetherher, thentrust him."
tnrstin him."

PAGAN SOURCES
PAGAN SOURCES
Faith
Faithand
andworks
works are
arecomplementary.
complementary. One
Onewithout the other
without the is a·lop-
otheris a'lop-
sided monstrosity. Faith, according
sided monstrosity.Faith, according to the
the teachings
teachings of the
the Prophet
Prophet
Muhanunad,
Mutrammad,does
doesnot
not consist
consistin believing
bclievingthat shallbear
anothershall
ttratanother you
bearyour
burden
burden for you.
you. No one
one can
can save
saveanother exceptas
anotherexcept guide and
as aa guide and an
an
65
65
inspiration.
inspiration. For every
every one
one holds
holds in his hands the
his own hands means of
the means of
salvation, "No bearer
salvation, bearer of
of a burden
burden shall
shall bear
bear the
the burden
burden ofof another,"
another,"
says the
says the Qur'an.
Qur'an. "Whoever does an
"Whoever does an atom's
atom's weight
weight of of good
good shall see it;
shall see
and whoever
and whoever does
does an atom's weight
an atom's of evil shall
weight of shall see
see it." That again is
That again is
Qur'an. No priest,
the Qur'an.
the priest, not
not Jesus, Muhammad can
Jesus, nor Muhammad can bear sins for us.
bear sins us.
It is
is a doctrine
doctrine of laziness
laziness and self-deception to belicve
and self-deception that someone
believe that someone
else'ssufferings
else's sufferingsand death shall
anddeath shallatone sins.Jesus
atonefor our sins. Jesus did not teach
teach
that.
that. These
These were
were the
the teachings
teachings of the pagan
of the cults prevalent
pagan cults prevalent in the the
Meditenanean
Mediterranean region
region long
long before came. Attis
Jesus came.
before Jesus Afris ofPhrygia (later
olPhrygia (later
calledGalatia
called Galatiain Asia Minor ofpresent-day Turkey), Adonis ofSyria,
ofpresentday Turkey),Idonis otSyrfu,
Dionysius or
Dionysius or Bacchus of o/Greece, MiJhra ofPersia
Greece,Mithra of Persia andand Osiris and
Horus of Egypt were
of Egtpt pa2an 20ds with legends
were paganjods about redemption.
le2ends about redemption.
atonement
atonementand resurrection very
andresunection siFilar to those
veO' similar ascribedto Jesus.
those ascribed Jesus. for
example;
example;

(a) ATTIS
(a) ATTIS ofPhrygia
of Phrygia - waswas born of a yjr2in
bom ora namedNana,
virgin named Nana, and was
and was
regarded
regardedas the Only Be20tten
as the BegottenSon Sonand Savior. He
and Savior. was bled
He was death
bled to death
on
on March
March 24th
24th at the foot of
atthe pine tree,
of aa pine hee, and votariesbelieved
and his votaries believedthat
his
his blood
bloqglhad renewedthe
had renewed the fertility of the earth,
of the and thus
earth,and hrought aa
thus brou2ht
new Hfe
new life to humanity.
humanity. He He rose from the
rose from dead, and
the dead, his death
ild his death and
and
resurrection
resunectionwere celebratedby his
were celebrated his followers.
followers.

(b) ADONIS
(b) /-DONIS ofSyria
olsyria - Believe
Believeto
to be Savior,w~
the Savior,
be the was born
born of aa virgin
mother.
mother. He
He also
also suffered
suffereddeath the redemption
deathfor the of Mankind.
redemptionof Mankind. He He
rose
rosefrom the dead
from the deadin Spring.
Spring.

(c) DIONYSIUS
(c) DIONYSIUS or BACCHUS ofGreeceotGreece -- Another
tuiother demi god ofthe
demi god of the
pagans.Was
pagans. tenned The
Was termedThe Only Be~tten
Begotten Son
Son of Jupircr.
Jupiter. He
He washQm
was bon
of .a virgin mother
a vjr2in mother named
named Demeter on ,December
Demeter 00 December 25th! his
25th! to his
followers
followers he
he was
was the Redeemerand
the Redeemer and Savior.
Savior. He
He called the
called himself the
Alpha and
and Ome2a
Omega.The
The story
story of
of his passionwas
his passion was celebrated
celebratedevery
every
year,
year, and
and it similarly consistedin death
similarly consisted dcscent into hell
death- descent and
hell and
resurrection
resurrection.

66
66
 OSIRIS -- the Egyptian
(d) OS/ffS Egptian godgod -- was 29th Decembelof
born on Zfth
was born December of a
virgin mother.
virgin He was
mother. He betrayed by
was betrayed one Typhen
by one and was
Typhen and slain. He
was slain. He was
~
remained in the
buried remained
buried. the hell
hell forlwo three davs
for two or three days and nights. He
and nights. He then
then
rose from
rose from the dead
dead.

MlTHRA the Persian

(e) MITHM sun rod
Pgltian sun god-- His birth
birth, also
also of virgin mother,
of a virgin
place pn
took place the 25th
on the 25th of December Christmas
of December. Christmas and Easter were
and Easter were the
most important
most festivals ofthe Methraists.
important festivals They had
Methraists. They had seven
seven sacraments
sacraments
most important
The most important of which were
of which confirmation and
baptism confirmation
were baptism. and
Eucharistic supper
Eucharistic communicants partook of
supper at which the communicants of the divine
divine
nature of Mithra under
nature of species of
under the species of bread and wine.
bread and wine.

these historical
With these facts in mind
historical facts mind one may well
one may wonder whether
wen wonder whether St.St.
Paul and
Parrl and other Church leaders
other Church of his
leaders of his brand derived their doctrines
brand derived doctrines of of
salvation 'by blood, atonement, death and resurrection Jesus, the
of fesus,
salvation'by blood, atonement,death and resurrection of the
Eucharist, Trinity, baptisnr,
Eucharist, baptism, Christmas
Christmasand and Easter
Easter celebrations
celebrations from
(on whom be
Jesus (on
Jesus be peace) the Holy Spirit or rather
and the
peace) and rather from the the
pagan
pagan cults of of Greece, Eglpt, Syria
Greece,Egypt, and Persia
Syna and Persia which had preccded
had preceded
Christianity. TheThe similarities remarkable to be
are too remarkable
similarities are merely
be merely
coincidental.
coincidentd. The The movement
movement of of the
the Sun
Sun starting joutney
starting its return journey
northwards
northwards about the 25th of
about the depicting birth,
December,depicting
of December, btrth and at the
and at
equinox (Easter) heralding
equinox(F:ster) heralding spring
spring and
and a
a coming
coming back
back to life of
of natrlre
nature
that had
that b€enkilled
hadbeen by the
killed by thc wintry blast. but strike awe
could not but
blast"could thc
awe in the
untutored
untutored barbarians
barbariansof of the
the northern hemisphere;and
northern hemisphere; annning
and their cunning
priest
priest knew
knew well enoughto create
well enough createmyths which in due
legendswhich
and legends
myths and due
course
coursecarne
cameto be be adopted
adoptedby the Christian
by the Church.
ChristianChurch.

Leo Tolstoi,
Tolstoi, aa true
tnre and
and honest
honestChristian 'rniting in
Christianwriting his Appeal
in his to the
Appcal to thc
Clergy
CIag says: 'If the
says:"If the Trinity,
Trinity, and an immaculate
and an and the
conception, and
immaculateconception, the
salvation of
salvation of mankind
mankind toyby the
the blood of Jesus,
blood of Jesus,are possible-- then
are possible then
anything
anythingisis possible
possibleandandthe
the demands of reasonare
demandsofreasen not obligatory."
arenot obligatory."

67
67
PROPHECYOF
PROPHECY OF JESUS
JESUSFULFILLED

If Jesus
If Jesusdiddid not
not leave
leave for usus enough guidancein
enough guidance in matters
matters of sin,
sin,
righteousnessand
righteousness judgrnentit is
andjudgment is for
for very good reasons
very good reasonswhich
which he
he
himselfstipulated.
himself stipulated.(seeJohn
(see John16:5-14 quoted.)But
l6:5-14already quoted.) But then
thenhe
he said
said
of him
himwho
who was
wastoto corne..
come,."When "lteady
hecomes
"When he hewill convince
comeshe convincethe
the world
sin,and
of sin, andof righteousness
righteousness judgment...
andjudgment.
and guideyou
he will guide
.. he you into
into all
all
thetruth."
the truth."

Jesussaid
Jesus said that
that hehe that was to come
that was comewould
would teach
teachthethe world
world about
about
judgment He
judgment. He himself
himselfcould
couldset
sgtnono example judgeshipbeing
exampleto judgeship beinghimself
himself
throughout his
throughout his life
life aa fugitive
fugitivefrom
from what
what currently passedas
currentlypassed justice.
asjustice.
History tells
History tellsof nono spiritual
spiritualleader
leaderafter
afterChrist
Christwhowho held
heldthethe reins
reinsof
judicialpower
judicial powerother
otherthan Muhammad,on
thanMuhammad, on whom
whom be peace.Shepherd,
be peace. Shepherd,
citizen, husband,father,
citizeq husband, father,warrior,
warrior, administrator,
administrator,legislator,
legislator,statesman,
statesman,
judge, saint
judge, saintand prophetthe
and prophet the last
last of them
them all,
all, with
with aa message
messagedirect
direct
from Allah,
from Allah, God Almighty, Muhammad
God Almighty, Muhammaddispensed
dispensed justice - but
justice but his
his
justice was
justice was tempered
temperedwith with mercy
mercyas asbefitted
befittedone
onewho judged on
who judged on the
the
authorityof the
authority the All-Merciful.
All-Merciful.His His chequered
chequeredlife whichwhich consisted
consistedof of as
as
varied phasesas
variedphases asisis humanly possiblein
humanlypossible in one's
one'slifetime
lifetimeis is an inspiration
an inspiration
and guidanceto
and guidance to all
dl of us, whateverour
us, whatever pursuit.He
our pursuit. He thus
thus taught
taughtbyby
preceptand
precept andexample.
example.He He was
was nono mere
mereutopian
utopiantheorizing
theorizingrecluse
recluseout
out
of touchwith realities
of touch realitiesof life, but
of life, practicalman
but aa practical manof of affairs,
affairs,andand at
at the
the
sametime
same time of
of such
suchsublime
sublimespiritual
spiritualstature
statureasas to warrant
warrant God's
God'sown
tributewhen
tribute whenHe said:said:

"And
"And thou (0,(O, Muhammad!) standest
standeston an exalted
*alted standard
standard of
of
character,"
character. "
Qur'an 68:4
Qur'an68:4

Oncehis
Once his wife,
wife, Aisha,
Aisha, was askedabout
was asked aboutthe character of
the character the Prophet;
of the Prophet;
shereplied
she replied laconically: character is
"His character
laconically: "His is the
the Qur'an"
Qur'an" what
what a
a tribute!
tributel
This
This man
man lived
lived his
his religion, the injunctions
religion, the injunctions which from his
which from his Maker.
Maker.

No wonder Christhad
wonder Christ of him that
saidoflum
had said that he
he would convi;v~e the
would convi;rre the world
of nghteousne$.
of righteousness.
68
68
 Christ foretold was to be a universal messenger;
The man that Ctuist messenger; his
mission was to convince
convince the world. not merely to save
save lost members
members
tribe, Says
of his trib€,
of Says Allah to him, and of him:
and of

"We have not sent

"We thee but
sentthee but us
as a universal messenger to nen,
wriwnalfie&r,enger men, giving
them glad
them glad things,
thkgs, and warning
warnhg them against sin, bllt most mcn
hut most men
understand noL
understond nol""
Qur'an 34:28
Qut'an 34:28
"We
"|/e sent thee
thee not
not but a mercy
rn'ercyto all
aII creatures. "
creatures.tl
Qur'an 21:
Qudan 107
2l:107

Jesus said
Jesus said that
that he had many
he had things to say,
many things that his people
say, but that people could
could
bear them
not bear them at the time. They would be guided
the time. guided into all the tnrth
truth by
him who waswas to come the Spirit of
come the of Truth, whose privilege it was
Troth, whose was to
declare,
declare,for all eternity
eternity to hear, after the
hear,after the successful
successfulcompletion of of his
mission:
mission:

"There
"There is no prophet
prophet after
after me"
me"

It was
was he, Muhammad,who was
he, Muhammad, describedby God
was described God as Sealof
as"The Seal of all
the
the Prophets
Prophetsandand Apostles.", When aa document
Apostles.",When signedand
documentis signed sealed
and sealed
morc can
nothing more can bebe added
added to it. The Qur'an
it The Q,r'an and
and the
the Life
Life of
of the
the
Prophet Muhammad
Prophet Muhamrnad are are there
there available guidance and
available for our guidance and
inspiration times. No one
inspiration for all times. one has
has claimed this finality of
claimed this
Prophethood exceptMuhammad,
Prophethoodexcept Muhammad,and his claim was
and his What
wasjustified. What
was
was his
his due
duehehe laid claim to in the
the clearest and simplest
clearestand What
terms. What
simplest tenns.
was
was not
not his
his he forbade to be
he forbade be confused Consistently did he
confirsed with. Consistently he
disclaim
disclaim any divinitlr. "Am I anything
any divinity. more than
anything more than aa mortal
mortal ?"?" was
was
often
often on
on his
his lips.
lips. The
The Qur'an
Qudaninstructs him:
instnrctshim:

Say: r'I am
Say: "[ am but aa ItUIn
man like
lihc yourselves,
yourxelves,but the r*elation has
lhe revelation hascome
come
to me
to me that your
thatyour God
God is
is on£
onc God:
God: whoever
who*er expects
expecb lo
to mtet
meet his
his Lord,
let him
him work
wark righteousness,
righteousness,and in the the worship of his Lord,
worship ofhis admil
Lor( admit
no
no one
oneas partnentl
ospartner. "
Qur'an 18:110
Q u l a n 18:110

69
69
His duty,
His duty, he declare-- and
he declare andso
sodid Jesus-- was
did Jesus wasto to dodo the will of
the will of Him
Him
who had
who senthim.
hadsent fuid that
him. And wasIslam,
thatwas Islam,submission
submissionto to the will ofGod.
thewill of God.
Muhammad did
Muhammad not claim
did not claim that
that hehe was
was the founderof
the founder of aa new
new faith,
faith,
ratherwas
rather washe hemerely
merelycontinuing
continuingto to aa completion
completionthe the task
taskthat wasof
that was of
Jesu. Moses,
Jesus. Moses,Abraham
Abrahamand andofof all
all the
theProphets
Prophetswho who had hadsubmitted
submittedto to
thewill
the will of
of Allah.
Allah. Indeed
Indeedthethe Qur'an
Qur'ansays:
says:"And
"And therethereis is not people
not aa people
but that
but that it had
hadananApostle."
Apostle." He
He however
howeverwas wffi final
final and
anduniversal,
universal,for
the time
the time had
had come
come forfor finality and
and universality,
ruriversality,and and thus
thus was
was the
the
prophecy of Jesus
prophecy Jesusat the Last
at the Last Supper
Supperfulfilled.
fulfilled. The The teachings
teachingsof
Muhammad'spredecessors
Muhammad's predecessorshad had been
been corrupted
comrpted by by time
time andand man.
man.
Their holy
Their holy books
books had had been polluted by
been polluted by numerous
numcrous additions,
additions,
substraction and
substraction and alterations.
alterations.TheThe historical
historical time arrived for,
time arrived for the
the
all tribal
abolition of all tribal and
andracial
racial faiths.
faiths. One
One faith
faith for all men, men, for all
times was
times was now calledcalled for. God in His infInite
for. God infinite wisdom
wisdom sent sent
Muhammadwith such
Muhammad suchaa faith:
faith:

"Verily those
thosewho
who believe,
believe,and the
the Jews and the
Jet+,s the Christians
Christiansand the
Sabeanswhoever
Sabeans whoever believes Allqh and the
believesin Allah the Last
Last Days
Days and acts
acts
aright their reward is with their Lord, neither shall they
they grieve. "
gricve.,,
Qur'an
Qu/an 2:62
2:62

The world at
The at the
the time
time of was not yet in a position to accept
of Christ was accsptthe
the
full implication
full implication of of the teachingsof
the teachings of aa universal
udversal faith. It It would have
havc
been
been too violent aa change change to demand
demand whatwbat later
lafer could be b€
commonplace. Jesus
commonplace. Jcsru had
had to tread
tread the narow path of
the narrow of tribalism if if he
he
were to get
were get aa hearing
hearingfrom his Israelites
Israclircslisteners.
lis eners.Consider
Considerwhat he he
told
told the Canaanite woman
the Canaanite woman (Matthew
(Matthew 15:21-28), and the
l5:21-2E),and the instructioru
instructions
he gave
he gave to his twelve disciples, (Matthew
twelve disciples, (Matthew 10:5-8)
10:5-8) asas well asas his
promise
promise to themthem (Matthew 19:28). Any other @urse
19:28). Any course would have have
likely
likely courted
courted total
total faihue.
failure. The
The circurnstances
circumstances were
were not auspicious.
auspicious.
If you read
If read the Testament you will
the Old Testament the difficulty
see the
will sce difficulty of
of
persuading such a racist
persuading such racist community
community as as the
the Israelitcs
Israelites to accept
accept God as as
the
the God of the peoples.
of all the peoples.

70
70
The Israelites
The Israelites regarded
regarded themselves
themselves as
as the chosen children
the chosen children of God, who
of God,
been granted
had been
had the privilege
granted the privilege to take other peoples
take other lands and
peoples lands and
properties,
properties, by trickery when they were
when they were weak and by force
weak and force when
when they
were strong. (Genesis
were strong. (Genesis l7:8, Exodus 3:22
17:8, Exodus 3:22 and Joshua 6:21,24).
and Joshua 6:21,24).

Legends were
I*gends were created
created under
anderthe
theguise of the
guiseof theHoly
HoIy Scripture which
Scriprurewhich
granted
granted to the
the Hebrews
Hebrews the the status of Herrenvollc"
status of most likely,
Herrenvolk, Hitler, most likely,
Reformed Church
the Dutch Reformed Church of South Africa"
of South Africa, most certainly, have
most certainly, have
their irupiration
received their
received inspiration from the Old Testament.
Testament. They believed that
They believed
God was
God was the
the Inrd of Israel
Lord of IsraeL and are they
and are they the
the beloved chosen children
beloved chosen children
of God
of destined to lord
God destined lord it over the rest
over the rest of mankind, particularly
of mankind, particularly the
the
Arabs and
Arabs and the Africans,
Africans, the
the Ismaelites and the
Ismaelites and the Hamites.
Hamites.

Okello the hireling

John OleIIo death and
hireling who brought death Zanibar in
and terror to Zanzibar
1964
1964 says
says in his
his book that
that he
he was
was inspired
inspired by the when he
the Bible when he
ordered "The
ordered "The Massacre
Massacreofeverything
of everything that breathed
breathed"'".

Zionism is thethe spiritual

spiritud ancestor
ancestorof Apartheidand
of Apartheid and all other forms of
other forms of
Fascism.
Fascism.There
There is is the legend of Noah
the legend Noah cursing
cursing his his son
son Ham, the
Ham, the
ancestorof
ancestor of the
the Africans
Africans (and (and the
the Arabs through the
Arabs through the Canaanites,
Canaanites,
the
the Philistines,
Philistines, thethe Phoenicians
Phoenicians and the Egyptians)
and the Egyptians) and and hishis
descendants,
descendants, to aa status
statusof of slavery underthe
slaveryunder the Jews
fews and Europeansfor
and Europeans
eternity. (Crenesis
eternity.(Genesis 9: 18-27). By further
9:1E-27). further scriptural manipulationthe
scripturalmanipulation the
Jewish branch of the
Jewishbranch the descendants
descendants of Shem
Shemhad its status
had its enhancedby
statusenhanced by
having
havingGod
God establish
establishhishis covenant Isaac,as
coyenantwith Isaac, asopposed Ishmael
opposedto Ishmael
who
who begot
begotthetheArabs.
fuabs. Could suchaa bigoted
Could such peopleto whom
bigoted people pride of
whom pride
race
race was
was everything,
evcrything,to whom whom the vilest of crimes
the vilest virtues
were virtues
crimes were
sanctified by God
sanctified by God so so long
long as
as they
they resulted
resulted in
in the
the perpetuation
perpetuation and
and
domination
dominationof their their own rac€ovec
own race could such
others, could
ovetothers, people-- I
suchaa people
humbly
humbly ask ask - be be the
the carriers
carriers of aa universal message?? Most
universal message
emphatically
emphaticallyno! no! That
That task
task could only be
could only tackled by
be tackled peoplewith
by aa people
international
internationalties, peoplecapable
ties, aa people capablcof intermingling
interminglingwith othersothers of
diverse
diverse racial
racial origins.
origins. Such pcople were
Such aa people were the fuabs from
the Arabs whom
from whom
sprang Muhammad, ofHamitic
sprugUutramnu4 ofllamitic / Semitic
Semiticorigin, claiming
origq traditionally claiming
descent from Ishmael,
descentfrom Istrmad,himselfborn
trimsdf born of of an
an African Egtrrpt,
from Egypt,
wornsn from
African woman
Muhammad
Muhammad as as anur Arab
Arab hadhsd inin him the strains
him the strainsof of various Hematic
various Hematic
and
and Semitic poopleswho
Semiticpeoples wtro had
had
7l
71
beeninhabiting
been inhabiting Arabia
Arabia even
evcnbefore
bcfore Abraham
Abrahan came
camefromfrom Chaldea.
Chaldea.It It
is from
is from such
such Hematic
Hematic / Semitic
Semitic ancestors
ancestorsthat
that migratory waves
migratory waves
crossedinto
crossed into Africa
Africa atat various
various historical periods and
historical periods gave birth to
and gave to
most of
most of the inhabitantsof
the inhabitants of the
the continent
continentof of Africa
Africa of of today
today andandthe
the
Black peopleof
Black people of America.
America.It It was
wasthis
this man
manMuhammad
Muhammadwho who put
put an
anend
end
to the
to the notion
notion of ties
ties of blood
blood as asbeing
beingthe
the most
most important
importantthingthing that
that
mattered and
mattered and bound
bound manman together.
together, He
He abolish
abolish tribal
tibal andand racial
racial
discrimination,and
discrimination, andinstituted
institutedaa new
new brotherhood,
brotherhood,the brotherhoodof
the brotherhood
faith, and
faith, andthe
the brotherhood
brotherhoodof man. man."The
"The aristocracy
aristocracyof old, old, I trample
tample
urder my foot,
under foot, " he
he said,
said,although
althoughhe he himself came
carnefrom
from the
the noblest
noblest
family of Arabia.
family Arabia."He who advocates
"He who advocatesracialism
racialismisis nothing
nothingamong
amongus,"us,"
heannounced.
he announced.WhenWhenhe liberatedMecca
he liberated Meccafrom pagaffihe
the pagans
fromthe hedeclared:
declared:
"All men are
"All men are equal
equal like the
the teeth
teethof aa comb.
comb. The
The Arab
Arab is is no
no better
better
than aa non-Arab.
than non-Arab. TheThe white hashasnono superiority
superiority over
over the
the blacl,c.
blac[. All
All are
are
children of Adam,
children Adam, andand Adam
Adam is fromfrom dust."
dust."

Suchare
Such aresome
someof his
his sayings
sayingson
on the
the subject
subjectof race,
race,aa subject
subjectwhich
which
until today plaquesmany
today plaques partsof the
many parts the world.
world.

Islam no
In Islam no duty
duty isis more
more estimable
estimablethan
than the
the regular
regular congregational
congregational
prayers; and
prayers; them two most
and in them most important
important functions
functions areare those
thoseof the
the
leadsthe
Imam who leads prayers, and
the prayers, and the
the muezzin
muezain who calls the the faithful
worship. It was
to worship. was thethc nonnal practice of
normal practice of the
the Prophet
Prophet to lead
lead the
the
prayers himseli while he
prayers himself, he assigned
assignedthe task of
the task of Muezzin
Muezzin to BiIal,
Bilal, an
an
Ethiopian ex-slave. The
Ethiopian ex-slave. The Prophet
Prophet found
found nothing
nothing incongruous
incongnrous in
marrying
marrying his cousin
cousin to Zaid,
Zud, his former
fonner slave.
slave. Nor did he he hesitate
hesitate in
appointing Usama a youth of
appointing Usama eighteenbom
ofeighteen born ofofaa black African mother
mother
as
as corilnander
commander of of a Muslim armyarmy to meet
meet the
the treat
treat of
of invasion
invasion from
the Romans
the Romans when
when he he was
was convinced the post.
ofhis suitability for the
convinced ofhis post. Of
Of
Salman,
Salman, the
the Persian,
Persian, thethe Prophet
Prophet said:
said: "Salman
"Salman is a member
member ofof my
family." It
It may bebe ofof inrcrest
interest to note
note that both Zaid
laid and Salman were
and Salman were
converts
converts from Christianity.
Christianity. The first two martyrs
martyrs of ofIslam chose
Islam who chose
death
death under
under torture
torture rather than give up their new faittr
rather than faith werc
were Yassir,
YasSil, a
Yamanite Arab, and and his wife, Sumayya, an African.
wife, Sumayya,

72
A ruriversal
A ~ a universal
universal Go4 universal religio4
religion, a universal
universal brotherhood
brotherhood could
only be
be taught
taught by such
such Ia man
man and
and accepted
accepted by suchsuch a people
people at such
such
time. No wonder
a time. wonder Islam
Islam spread
spread like flarc
flare fire.
fire.

Thomas Carlyle
Thomas Carlyle said
said in his
his classical
classical lecturc
lecture on Hero rs
as e
a Prophet:
Prophet;

liThe history
"The history of
of a nation
nation becomes
becomes fruitful, soul-elevating and great
soul-clevatingand great so
so
soon
soon as
as it believes.
believes. Those
Those Arabs,
fuabs, the
the man
man Muhammad,
Mutnmma4 and
and that one
one
c€ntury- is it not as
centwy as ifif one spa* had
one spark had fallen,
falleq one
one spark
sparkon wtrat
what seemed
seemed
dark unnoticeable
unnoticeable sand?
sand?But lo! the sandproves
the sand explosive powder,
proves explosive powder,
blazes heaven-high, from
blazes heaven-high, from Delhi to Granada!"
Granada!"

was not mere

It was mere belief
beliefthat
that did the
the rick; was the
trick; it was the tpe
type of belief, bclief
of belie{, belief
in works, belief in the
works, belief the brothcrhood
brotherhood of of man
man and the universality
and the universality ofof
God's
God'sreligion.
religion.From
From the
the Atlantic
Atlantic to thethe Pacific,
Pacific,from the the Caucusus
Caucustxto
the
the Comores,
Comores,from Senegal
SenegElto Sinkiang.
Sinkiang from Istanbul
Isanbul to Indonesia,
Indonesiq allatl
became
becameone onebrotherhood,
brotherhoo4 all had htd one
one all-embracing
all+mbracing ideology,
ideolory, all faced
fac€d
towards
towardsMecca.
Mecca, all mixed their thcir bloods
bloods and culturesso
and cultures so that
that differenceS
differences
in race,
race, colour and and tongue
tongue became
becamecompletely
completely meaningless.
meaningless.The The
youngest
youngestof of all the
tlre great
geat religions
religions became
becamethe ttre only truly
tuly universal
ruriversalone.
one.
The only racial
racial groups resistingthe
groupsresisting the attraction
attractionofIslam
of Islam have
havebeen
beenthose
those
which at all cost insist on
cost would insist on maintaining
maintaining their racial purity and
racial purity and
alleged
allegedsuperiority,
superiority,andurd thus
thus have
havebeen
beenthe greatestcontributors
the greatest contributorsto the the
racial animositieswhich bedevil
racial animosities bedevil the
the world of today.
today.They
They areare fighting
aa rearguard
rearguardaction.
action.

COUNSELLOR. COMFORTER . ADMIRABLE

COUNSELLOR-COMFORTER-ADMlRABLE
Let rs now examine
Lct us examin€the the word
word Counsellor
Counsclloror Comforter,
Comforter, which is is the
the
alleged givcn by Jesus
allcgedtitle given the perspn
Jesrs to the pcrsgn who was come after
was to come aftcr him
and gutdcmen
andguide mcn into all
sll the
the truth.
tn$h. As we have already seen,
havealready sc€n,this word
has
hasbeen
becnvariously
variously rendered
rerdcred in thethe different
different versions
versioruofthe The
of thc Bible. The
originals
originals of the books
of the bool6 of the
the Bible arearc non-existen1.
non-existcnt.They are also
They are also
lmown to have
known becnwritten
havcbeen rrriucn many
tnanyyears
yearsafter
aftcr the
the events
evcntsthey narrate.
they narrate.
For aramplc the
For example thc Gospel
Gospclaccording
accordingto 81.St. John
John from which
whioh we
we extract
extract
tle passage
the passrgpwhich deals
dealswith the prophecyof Christ quoted
the prophecy abovc is
quoted above
said
said to have been
to have ben written roundabout
roundabout 100 A.D. But the
100 A.D. oldest
the oldest
73
73
manuscript
manuscript available
available waswas written at least centuies after the
least two centuries
original. The ,Greek text
The.Greek text upon
upon which the the Authorized Version was
Authorized Version was
based
based has
has been
been described
describedin the preface to the
the preface the Revised
Revised Standard
Standard
version
version as having beC?n
as having b"qn "marred
"marred by mistakes,
mistakes, containing
containing thethe
accumulated errors of fourteen
accumulatederrors fourteen centuries
centuriesofof manuscript
manuscript copying."
copying."
Biblical scholars
scholarssuch
such asas Rudolf Bultman (Protestant)and
Bulftnan (Protestant) and Father
Father
John
John Lawrence
LawrenceMcKenzie (RomanCatholic)
McKenzie (Roman Catholic) agree
agreethat pans of
that parts the
of the
Gospels
Gospelsareare not historically
historically true,
true, and
and that
that certain sayingsof
certain sayings of Jesus
Jesus
were
were created
createdby the
the early
early church.
church.Hence can be
Henceit can be seen
seenhow easily
easily one
one
word could
could have
have various
various renderings.
renderings.It is believed
believed that
that St.
St. John's
John's
Gospel was written originally in Greek,
Gospelwas Greek,although
althoughthe
the spoken
spokenlanguage
language
of Jesus
Jesuswas
was Aramaic
Aramaic andand his
his scholarly
scholarlylanguage
languagewaswas Hebrew.
Hebrew.TheThe
Greek
Greek word which
which hashas been variously translated
been variously translated"Counsellor"
"Counsellor" andand
"Comforter" is
"Comforter" is PARACLETOS.
PARACLETOS. Because Becausc of the possibility of
the possibility of
confusion
confusionasasexplained
explainedabove
aboveit is is not surprising
surprisingthat
that the
the copyists
copyistsof of
the
the Greek
Greek text
text misspell
misspell the
the actual
actual word used
used in the
the original
original which
was
was PERICLYTOS.
PERICLYTOS. This This means Admirable, that
meansThe Admirable, that is to say
say in
Arabic:Muhammad
Arabic: Muhammrd or Ahmed Ahmed or Mahmoud.
Mahmoud.

"And
"And remember
remember Jesus, son 01
Jesru, the son of Mary, said: "O, children 01
said: "0, of
Israel!
IsrueMI am the aposile 01
the apostle of God sent to you confirming
God sent confirrtng the Law
which came
cetne before
belore me,
me, and giving
giving glad
glod tidings
tidings of
of an apostle
apostle to
come
comc after
afler me,
me, whose
whosename
nane shall
shall be
be Ahmed.
Ahmed""
Qur'an
Qru'an61:6
6l:6

The
The Gospel
Gospelof
of St.
St. Matthew
Matthewalso
also reports
reportsJesus prophesyingthe
Jesusprophesying the coming
coming
of
of Muhammad,
Muhammad, the the rejected
rejected Ishmaelite
Ishmaelite stone,
stone, and
and the
the rising
rising of
of
Muslim Ummali (nation) to whom
Ummah (nation) whom thethe Kingdom
Kingdom ofof God
God shall
shall be
be
granted:
granted:

Jesus
fesus said
said to them, "Havc you never
thetn "Have neverread
readink the
thc scriptllTes:
scriptures: "The
"The
very
very stone
stone which
which the
thc builders
buildersrejected
rejectedhas
haisbecome
heconu the head
hesd ofthe
olthe
corner; this was
corner; this wusthe
the Lord's
Lord's doing,
dohg, and mamelow in
and it is IIUIrvelous our eyes
h OIlT eyes?7

74
74
Therefore I tell you, the
Therefore the kingdom
kingdom of of God
God will
will be
he taken
takenaway
awoyfrom
from
you and givento
and given to aa nation
nationproducing the fruits of
thelruits of iL
it And whofalls
And who falls
on this
on thisstone will be
stonewill bebroken
hro*en to pieces;but
to pieces; but when
when itfalls
itfalls on
on anyone,
any one,
niil crush
itil will crush him."
him."
Matthew21:
Matthew 42-44
2l:42-44

Prophecyregarding
Prophecy regardingthe
the coming the Prophet
coming of the ProphetMuhammad
Muhammad is is also
also
found in the
found the Old Testament.
Testament.Moses
Moses isis reported to be
reportedto be addressed
addressedbyby
in the
God in
God following terms:
the following terms:

"1 will raise

"I will ruise up Jor them a prophet like
for them like you from
from among
amt ng their
brethren: And
brethren; put my
And I will put r4y words jnto his
words inlo mouth, and he
his mouth. he shall
shall
speahto
speak to them
them all that I command
comnand him. hittt And
And whoever
whoeverwill give
will not give
heed to my words which he shaO
ffiy words shsll speak
speak in my name,nama, I myself
tnyself will
will
require it ofhim. Bul the prophet who
othittt But prcr,umeito speak
who presumes speaka wordnord in
narne which I have
my name havenot comnumded
corrrrrrlandcd himto
him to speak,
spcah,or who speaksspcals
th. name
in the- narre ofother gods,that
of other gods, sameprophet
that same shall dk.
prophet shall And if
die And f you
siryin
say your heart,
h your hea$ "How
"How msy
mIly we
we hnow
know thc
the twrd
word which the Lord
l-ord has
has
spohen?"
not spoken Whcn a prophct
1" When speak in the name
prophet speaks norrrcofthe Lord If
otthc Lord. If
the word does
the doesnot
nol come passor come
cotne to pass comc true which
truc that is as word which
thc Lord
the Inrd has spohcn;the prophet has
hasnot spoken; hasspoken it ptesunptwnsly,
spokn itpresumptuously,
you mIly be afraid ofhim.
rrrsynot be othim" " Deuteronomy18:
Deuteronomy l8: 18-22
18-22

prophet will
A prophet will be
be raised among "the
raised from among brethren" of
"the brethren" the
of the
Israelites, and
Israelites, and not
not from
frorn the Israelites themselves.
thc Israelites themselves.The promised
The promised
prophet must
prophet thercforecome
must therefore come from
frorn among
among thethe Ishmaelites,
Ishmaclites,Le. the
i.e. the
Arabs, who werewere the
the brethren
brethrcn ofof the
the Israelites.
Israclites. Abraham
Abraharn begot
begot
Ishmaeland
Ishmael Isaacof
and Isaac of the
the Jews.
Jews.
"I will put my words
"I words into his his mouth", says God.That
sys God. That is the
the exact
exact
description of
description of the
the Holy Qur'an, the only book which claims to be
Qut'aq the the
be the
direct speech
direct speech ofof God. Muhammad was
God. Muhammad God's mouthpiece,
was only God's mouthpiece,
uttering the words
uttering the words as they were
as thcy directly, while
revealed to him directly,
were revealed
scribesput them
faithful scribes them down
down immediately
immediately as they wer€
as thcy were transmined,
transmitted,
and others
and others memorized
memorized themthem for later
later transcription. instructs him:
God instnrcts
transcription. God

75
75
Say:
,Scy; "1
"I am
sm no bringer
bringer of
of a new-fangled doctrine among the
apostles,
apostles,nor do
do I know what
what will
will be
be done
done with
with me
me or with you.
you I
follow which is
follow that which is revealed
revealedtolo me
me by
hy inspiration.
inspirotion I am
am but a
Warner
Warner open
open and clear.
clesn""
Qur'an46:9

The Qur'an
The challengesthose
Qur'anitself challenges who entertain
thosewho entertainany
Nry doubt
doubt as
as to
to its
its
divine authorship:
divine authorship:

"If
"If you are
are in doubt
douht concerning
concerning this
this which
which We
We have
have revealed
reveuledto
Our servant
servantthen
then bring torth
forth one
one chapter
chapter composed
composedby by man
man like
this, callyour gods
this,and callyour godsother
other than witnessif
than Allah to witness if you speak
speakthe
the
And if
truth. And if you do do it - and you will
do not do will never do it - then
never do fear
thenfear
the fire
fire whose fuel is men
whose tuel men and stones,
stones, kept
kept ready for the
ready for
unbelievers.
unhelievers." " Qur'an 2:23-24
Qur'an2:23-24

For 1400 yeEusthat

1400years that challenge
challengehas
has not yet been
not yet beentaken
taken upup by man
man or
spirit. The
spirit. The Qur1an
Qur'an is
is the
the standing
standing miracle
miracle of Muhammad.
Muhammad. It is
is not
not aa
miracle
miraclethat is reported
that is reportedtoto have
havetaken place,about
takenplace, aboutwhich
which menmen could
could
argue whether it really
ilgue whether really had
had happened
happenedor not. not. This
This is
is aa miracle
miracle for
etemity, aa book
eternity, inscribed,aa Guidance
book inscribed, Guidanceto to mankind.
mankind. You can read it
can read
today,tomorrow
today, tomorrow andandforever,
forever,in its pure,unspoiled,
its pure, unspoiled,inimitable
inimitable Arabic
Arabic
as spoken
as spokenby God God Himself. will be
Himself. You will be inspired
inspiredby the grandeurof
the grandeur of
its style,
its style,by the
the wisdom
wisdom andand learning which it embodies,
learningwhich embodies,andandby thethe
Ioftinessof its
loftiness its moral
moral and
andspiritual
spiritualteachings.
teachings.

My faith may be
faith may be accused
accruedofof influencing
influencingmy assessment
assessmentof of the
the Qur'an;
Qut'an;
so let
so let the
the impartial
impartial pen
pen of Edward Gibbon ~
Edward Gibbon great historian,
as aa great historian,aa
distinguished man of
distinguishedman of letters,
letters,and
and an
an English
EnglishChristian,
Christian,be thejudge.
be the judge.
He writes:
He writes:

"There no book
"There is no the world in which God
book in the God has been made
has been such aa
made such
themeof
theme discourseas
of discourse the Holy Qur'an.
as in the Qur'an.

76
76
 impossibleto conceive
It is impossible conceiveaught
aughtholier, nobler,
nobler, purer,
purer, more
more sublime,
sublime,
more perfect, more
more perfect, supreme and
more suprcm€and moremore worthy of
of the Godhead than
Godhead
the God
the God whom Muhammad worshipped. The
Muhammad worshipped. cannot be
The ideal carmot be
improved upon:one
improvedupon: oneattribute
attibute taken
takenfrom
from it would mar
mar its perfection,
perfection,
and
and not
not one could be
one could addedto it would not be
be added be superfluous.
supcrfluous.Such
Such is
the conceptionof
the lofty conception of Muhanunad's
Muhamrnad'sGod God as prcscntedin the
as presented the Qur'an.
Qu'an.
He
He hashas boldly and
and indelibly impressed
impresscdthe notion of
the notion of the
the strictest
strictest
monotheism
monotheism upon upon the pages of history
the pages history and
and towards
towards this notion
notion
rational
rational man
man cannot
cannotbut
but drift surely
surely if
if slowly."

It was
was this
this Book,
Book, then,
then, which made
made the
the Muslims through
through their
universitiesofCordova,
universities of Cordov4 Cairo,
Cairo, Damascus
Damascusand and Baghdad
Baghdadthe the founders
founders
of Algebra,
Algebr4 Chemistry,
Chemistry,Astronomy
Astronomy and and Modem
Modern medicine
medicine at aa time
whenChristian
when ChristianEurope
Euopc was
was busily engagedin the
br.rsilyengaged the futile controversies
contoversies
over Trinity, the
over the Immaculate
Immaculateconception,
conccption,salvation
salvation by blood
blood and
and aa
god incarnate.
god incarnate.To aa man
man who knew not how to read read or write, born in
community almost
aa community almostcompletely
completelyilliterate,
illiterate, the
the first verses ever to be
versesever be
revealed
revealedtoto him commanded:
commanded:

"Read in the nan 'e ofthy

lhe name of thy Lord
Lord who created - created IIUln out of
creotcd nun of
congealed blood; Readl
congealed Readt and
ond thy Lord is most
lhy Lord nllzlstbountiful,
hountiful, - He who
taught by
by the pen, taught IIUln
the pen, nan that
that which he knew
hnewnot.
noltl"
Qur'an 96:1-5
Qu/an 96:1-5

this Book the

Without this leaming of
the learning of Greece,
Greecc,ofof Persia,
Persi4 of
of India,
Indi4 ofof
and of Egypt,
China and Egypq would forever
forever have
have remained
remained in the limbo of of
insteadof being
oblivion, instead preserved,enriched
being preserved, enriched and bequeathedto the
and bequeathed
world of today. lIDs
of today. was the
This was that urged
the Book that urged individual effort, the
the
that made
Book that the seeking
made the knowledgc aa compulsory
seekingof knowledge compulsory religious
religious
duty to every male and
every male and female.
female. It is the
the Book that changed
changedthe sun,
sun,
the moon
the and the
moon and starsfrom
the stars from being
being objects of worship
objectsof worship to objects of
objects of
study, man, as
subservientto man,
study,subservient asthe
the Qur'an
Qut'an rightly terms
terms them.
them. It is the
the
that liberated
Book that liberatedthe intellect of
the intellect man, and
of man, widened his scope
and widened scopeof of
enquiry into realms
enquiry into hitherto undreamt
realmshitherto rurdreamtof.

77
77
"If
"If you can
ca'npass
passbeyond
beyond the
the zones
zonesofof the heavens
heavensand the earth,
earth,
pass!
pass!No/without authority will you be
Not without authority be able
able to pass."
pass.,l
Qur'an
Qur'an55:33
55:33

Before
Before thethe incomparable symphonyof
incomparablesymphony of its
its poetical prose and
poetical prose and the
the
profundity of its its reason
reason and
and logic
logic which gushed
gushed forth from the the
illiterate Muhammad,
Muhammad, the the haughty
haughty eloquent Arabs of
eloquent Arabs Hejaz stood
of Hejaz stood
aghast.
aghast.They
They could
could only utter
utter in amazed
amazedimpotence:
impotence:"This is nothing
nothing
but
but magic!"
magic!"Magic?
Magic?fromfrom now
now on witchcraft,jugglery,
on witchcraft, jugglery, exorcising
exorcisingof of
mentally
mentallysick personsfrom
sick persons from evil
evil spirits
spiritsand
and such peny stuff may
suchpetty may be be
alright onon an
an entertainment
entertainmentstage.stage.This
This is thethe era
era of
of science
scienceandand
knowledge,and
knowledge, andit is
is the
the uncorrupted
uncomrptedand incomrptible Word of
and incorruptible God
of God
spoken
spokenby God's
God'sholy servant
servantas prophesiedby Moses
asprophesied Mosesandand Jesus,
Jesus, that
ushersthe
ushers the new ear. This
new ear. and all nature
This and around us
naturearound us are
are the standing
the standing
miracles,the
miracles, the signs
signsfor those
thosewho ponderand
who ponder and meditate.
meditate.

"Behold!
"Behold! In the the creation
creation ofof the
the heavens
heavens and the earth; in the
alternation of of the night
night and thethe day;
day; in the sailing
sailing of
of the ships
ships
through the Ocean
Oceanfor profit 0/
for the protit of mankind;
nmnkind; in the rainrain which God
sends
sendsdown/rom
downfromthe the skies,
skics,and the givestherewith
the life which He gives lherewith to
an earth that is dead;
an earth dead; in the
the beasts
beastsofof all
all kinds
kinds that he scatters
scatters
through the chonge of
the earth; in the change of winds
winds and
ond the clouds
clouds which
they
they trail
trail like
li*e their
lheir slaves
slavesbetween
betweenthe sky sky and
ond the earth; (here)
ftere)
indeed
indeedare signs for a people
signsfor people that areare wise.
wise.""
Qur/an 2: 164
Qur'an2:164

"Wben
"When ae prophet speaks
speaksin tbe
the name
name of the Lord, ifif the word
does
docsnot come
cometo pass
passor come
cometrue, that whicb the Lord
is a word which
thet is Lord
bas
hrs not spoken;
spoken; the prophet bas
the propbet has spoken presumptuouslyryou
spoken it presumptuously,
need
need not be
be afraid him." That
rfrrid of him." That is what
what Moses was told by God
Moseswas God
the prophet
aboutthe
about was to come.
prophet who was come.

If Muhammadhad
If Muhammad had any pronouncedthan
more pronounced
any quality more another it was
than another was
the
the wonderful
wonderful fulfillment what he
of all what
fulfillment ofall he foretold, whether as
foretold, whether as rcvealed
revealed
to form of
the fonn
to him in the the Qur'an,
of the Qur'an,or in his capacity. It was
his own capacity. was aa
characteristic acknowledgedand
characteristicacknowledged and feared even
fearedeven by his enemiesat
enemies at his
78
78
times.Of
times. of all
all the
thefounders
founders religionhis
of religion his life
life is
is the
the least
leastentangled
entangledinin
the cobwebsof legend.
thecobwebs legend.His
His foretelling
foretellingof the
thevictory
victoryof the
the Romans
Romans
over the
over the Persians,
Persians,andand that
that of the
the fledgeling little community
fledgelinglittle communityof
Muslims,hounded
Muslims, houndedand andoppressed,
oppressed, overthe
over mighty super-powers
the mighty super-powers of
Rome and
Rome and Persia,
Persia,are
are but
but aa few
few examples
examplesof the the devastating
devastating
exactitudeof the
exactitude the fulfillment
fulfillment of his prophecies.All this
his prophecies. this while
while
vehementlydenying
vehemently denfingthat
thathe
he knew
knew thethefuture,
future,being
beingmerely
merelyaa Warner
Warner
and guideimparting
and aa guide impartingGod's
God'smessage
messagefor for tne goodof mankind.
the good mankind.For
For
indeedit was
indeed was not
not he who spoke,
he who spoke,but
but God the Knower-of-all-things
God the Knower-of-all-things
who spoke
who spokethrough
throughhim.
him.
l
"I raise'for
"I will raise for them prophet like you,"
them aa prophet your" Moses
Mosesis is told.
told. What
Whatwas
was
Moseslike?
Moses prophetwho
like? A prophet who was
wasalso political leader,
alsoaa political leader,an an organizer
organizer
men, aa legislator,
of men, legislator,aa fugitive,
fugitive, who yet led
who yet led his people out
his people out of
oppression.Has
oppression. Hasthere
therebeen
beenin history
historyany
any body like him,
body like him, apart
apartfrom
from
Muhammad?Moses
Muhammad? Moseshad the Torah,
had the Torah, Muhammad
Muhamrnadthe the Qur'an.
Qur'an.Moses
Moses
judged over"
judged the Israelites,
over the Israelites,Muhanunad
Muhammadjudgedjudged over
over thethe Muslim,
Muslim,
Christian, Jew
Christian, Jew and
and Pagan.
Pagan.Moses
Moses led
led his people out
his people out of Egypt,
Egypt,
Muhammadled
Muhammad his out
led his out of Mecca.
Mecca.The
The similarities striking; the
are striking;
similaritiesare ttre
differencesare
differences aremainly
mainly in degree.
degree.

"But
"But the prophet who
the prophet prcsumesto speak
who presumes speek ae word in my name
Dtme
which I have
which havenot commanded speek,or who
commandedhim to speak, who speak
speekin the
the
name
name of other gods,that
other gods, thet same prophet shall
sameprophet shall die."
die." That
That divine
divine
threatis repeated
threat the Qur'an:
repeatedin the Qur'an:

"And
"And if apostle were
if the apostle were to invent any sayings namc, We
sayings in Our name, lfe
seize him by his
should certainly seize right hand,
hb right hand, and we we should
certainly then cut olIthe artery ofhis
cut offthe lrcart; nor
of his heart; nor could any af you
any ofyou
himfrom our wrath."
withhold himfrom
Qur'an 69:4447
Qu'an 69:44-47

Death
Death isis the
the inevitable endof
inevitable end everyoneborn
of everyone of woman.
born of woman. What
What is then
then
the special
the meaning of
specialmeaning of God's statementto Moses
God'sstatement Moses that ifaa prophet
that if prophet was
was
falsehe
false he would Obviouslyit means
"die" ?? Obviously
would "die" means meeting an untimely
meeting an end
untimely end
or aa violent death.
violent death.
79
79
ItIt is
is aa historical
historical fact
fact that
that the
the Prophet
Prophet Muhammad
Muhammad in in spite
spite of
ofinhuman
inhuman
persecutions to which he
persecutionsto which he was subjected,was subjected, and
and the
the numerous
numeroui attempts
attempts
on his his life, managed
managed with with God's
God's help
help to
to escap€
escape every
every one
one ofof those
those
attempts until
attempts Wltil finally
fmally he he died
died peacefully
peacefully onon his
his bed
bed at
at the age of
ripe age
the ripe of
63. It It was after the
the completion of of his
his mission which had
mission which taken him
had taken him
twenty three three full
full years
years that he passed
that he passed away
away toto his maker. Three
his maker. Three
months before
months before his death
death he could echo God's own
echo God's own words:
words:

"Today II have
"Today have completed
completed and pertectedfor you your
perfectedfor you religion,· and
your religion; and
II have chosen
havechosenfor for you Islam - Submission
^SsDtttirsionto the will
will dGod -- to
ofGod to be
be
the religion.
religion."" Six centuries
centuries before
before this Jesus "My food is to do
said: "Mytood
Jesus said:
the will of
ofhim
him who sent
sentme and to accomplish his work"
accotttprtsttits work. "

They both met

Thcy both Islam. (submission
met in Islam. the will
(submission to the of God)
will of the religion
God) the religion
that
that has
hasno
no beginning
beginningand the religion
end, for it is the
andno end, religion of nahue.God's
ofnature. God's
own handiwork
handiwork according the pattern
according to the pattern on which he he has
has made
made
mankind.
mankind.

"So
"So set
setthyface steadily
stetdily to thefauh,
thefaith, God's handiwork according to
God's handiwork
the
thepattern
pafrern on
on which
which He hashasmade
nude mankind;
trun*ind; there change in
lhere is no change
the
the work
wor* ofol God:
God: that is is the
the standard religion.
standard religion. But most men
most men
understand
understandnOL nol""
Qurtan 30:30
Qur'an30:30

To
To do
do the will of
the will of God
God is
is the
the eternal
eternalduty man, and
duty of man, lies
this lies
and in this
righteousness
righteousnessfor
for this
this mortal
mortal life
life and for the
salvationfor
and salvation to come
the life to come
which knowsno
which knows no mortality.
mortality.

80
80
CONCLUSION
CONCLUSION

II started
startedthis
thisessay
essaywith
with aaquotation
quotationfrom
from Father
FatherJohn
JohnMackenzie.
Mackenzie.II
cando
can dononobetter
betterin
inconcluding
concludingitit than
thanto quotefrom
toquote fromanother
anotherChristian
Christian
writer, Geoffrey
writer, GeoffreyParrinder
Parrinderwho
who wrote
wrote in
in his
his book:
book: Jesus
Jesusin
in the
the
Our ta n :
OUf'an:

ItIt isis too

tooeasily
easilyassumed
assumed thatall
that all traditional
traditionaldoctrines
doctrinesarearefirmly
firmly based
based
on the
on the Bible.
Bible. The
The Semitic view of
semitic view of God
God may
may need
needto becleared
to be clearedof of
some Greek
some Greek theories
theoriesthat
that overlaid
overlaid it. it. Then
Then if
if theology
theology is is to
to make
make
contactwith
contact with the
themodem
modemworldworld itit must
mustexpress
expressitself
itself in
in aa meaningful
meaningful
way.Tenns
way. Termslike
like Son
son of
of God,
God,Trinity
Trinity and andSalvation
salvationneed
needto to be
beshaped
shaped
and given
and given new point. Concepts
new point. Concepts of prophecy, inspiration
of prophecy, inspiration and and
revelationmust
revelation mustbebe re-examined
re-examined in view
in view of the
theundoubted
undoubtedrevelation
revelation
of God God in in Muhammad
Muhammadand and inin thethe Qur'an. Then much
Qur'an. Then much more more real
real
charity and
charity generousunderstanding
and generous understanding must be
must shownto
be shown to membersof
members
otherfaiths.
other faiths.The
Theexample
exampleofIslam
of Islamtowards
towardsother peopreof the
otherpeople the Book
Book
often puts
often puts us
us to
to shame.
shame.Christians
christians always
always need
need to remember
remember the the
words of
words of Jesus,
Jesus,"Why call
call me,
me, Lord,
Lord, Lord,
Lord, and
md do do not
not dodo the
the things
things
which I say?"
which say ?"

For more
more inforuetiou
information rbout
about hhn,
Islam, vislt,
visit, write or
or celh
all: .

Irlauic
Islamic lle'wrh
Da'wah & & Guidrnce
Guidance Center
Center
Dnmmrm,
Dammam, Poctrl
Postal Codc
Code 31f 31 -• ILS.A
31131 K.S.A.
Tel.: 8163535 -- 8272772
Tel.: t263$l5 8171771

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