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Is Allah the Name of God?
Allah is the name of the only God in Islam. Allah is a pre-Islamic name coming from the compound Arabic word Al-ilah which means the God, which is derived from al (the) ilah (deity).
The Arabic name for “God” is the word “Al-ilah.” It is a generic title for whatever god was considered the highest god. Different Arab tribes used “Allah” to refer to its personal high god. “Allah” was being worshipped at the Kaa’ba in Mecca by Arabs prior to the time of Mohammed. It was formerly the name of the chief god among the numerous idols (360) in the Kaaba in Mecca before Mohammed made them into monotheists. Historians have shown that the moon god called “Hubal” was the god to whom Arabs prayed at the Kaa’ba and they used the name “Allah” when they prayed.
Today a Muslim is one who submits to the God Allah.
Islam means submission to (Allah), but originally it meant that strength which characterized a desert warrior who, even when faced with impossible odds, would fight to the death for his tribe. (Dr. M. Baravmann, The Spiritual Background of Early Islam, E. J. Brill, Leiden, 1972)
Many believe the word “Allah” was derived from the mid- eastern word “el” which in Ugaritic, Caananite and Hebrew can mean a true or false God. This is not the case, “The source of this (Allah) goes back to pre-Muslim times. Allah is not a common name meaning “God” (or a “god”), and the Muslim must use another word or form if he wishes to indicate any other than his own peculiar deity.” (Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics (ed. Hastings), I:326.)
According to the Encyclopedia of Religion, Allah corresponded to the Babylonian god Baal, and Arabs knew of him long before Mohammed worshipped him as the supreme God. Before Islam the Arabs recognized many gods and goddesses, each tribe had their own deity. There were also nature deities. Allah was the god of the local Quarish tribe, which was Mohammed's tribe before he invented Islam to lead his people out of their polytheism. Allah was then known as the Moon God, who had 3 daughters who were viewed as intercessors for the people into Allah. Their names were Al-at, Al-uzza, and Al-Manat, which were three goddesses; the first two daughters of Allah had names which were feminine forms of Allah. Hubal was the chief God of the Kaaba among the other 360 deities. Hubal was the chief God of the Kaaba among the other 360 deities. Hubal was a statue likeness of a man whose body was made of red precious stones whose arms were made of gold. (Reference Islam George Braswell Jr.)
“Historians like Vaqqidi have said Allah was actually the chief of the 360 gods being worshipped in Arabia at the time Mohammed rose to prominence. Ibn Al-Kalbi gave 27 names of pre-Islamic deities...Interestingly, not many Muslims want to accept that Allah was already being worshipped at the Ka'ba in Mecca by Arab pagans before Mohammed came. Some Muslims become angry when they are confronted with this fact. But history is not on their side. Pre-Islamic literature has proved this.” (G. J. O. Moshay, Who Is This Allah? (Dorchester House, Bucks, UK, 1994), pg. 138).
History has shown Mecca and the holy stone al-Kaaba were holy sites for pre-Islamic pagan Arabs. The Kaaba in Mecca was formerly named Beit-Allah meaning House of Allah. We are told it was first built in heaven. This is in contradistinction to what Moses was instructed to build, something overlooked by the Muslims in their reading of the Bible.
The Koran tells us that Mohammed drove the other idols away; he made one God now the only god and he was its messenger. He kept the Kaaba as a holy, sacred place and confirmed that the black stone had the power to take away man's sins. He obligated every believer to make a pilgrimage to the stone at least once in his lifetime. (Sura 22:26-37) No Old Testament saint ever had a pilgrimage to the Kaaba and kissed its black stone despite stories that Abraham and Ishmael restored it.
Mohammed used the name Allah which was formerly the name of a specific idol without ever distinguishing it from the idol the Meccan’s were already worshipping. This was a modification of their former worship but never a complete break. He never did say for the people to stop their worship of the wrong Allah, for the right one. It can still be monotheism and not be the God of the Bible
Al-Lat which is a T at the end of the name of Allah, was represented by a square stone whose major sanctuary was in the city of Taif. In the sanctuary was a black stone in the town of Qudayd between Mecca and Medina. She was the goddess of fate, a female counterpart of Allah. Al-uzza was the goddess of east Mecca. It has been said there were human sacrifices made to her and Islamic tradition tells of a story of Mohammed’s grandfather almost sacrificing his son the father of Mohammed to her. What prevented this was his seeking counsel from a fortune teller which told him to ransom his son with one hundred camels. Muslims look to this as the will of Allah to bring Mohammed into existence. (Reference Muhammad husain haykal, Hayat mohammed)
“The name Allah, as the Qur'an itself is witness, was well known in pre-Islamic Arabia. Indeed, both it and its feminine form, Allat, are found not infrequently among the theophorous names in inscriptions from North Africa.” (Arthur Jeffrey, ed., Islam: Muhammad and His Religion (1958), p. 85.)
The literal name of Mohammed's father in Arabic is Abd Allah. His uncle's name Obred Allah. These names show the devotion of Mohammed's families pagan roots, and also prove that Allah was part of a polytheistic system of worship before Allah was made the supreme and only god from the other God's. This should be proof to the pre- Islamic root of the name of Allah to the Muslim. Remember they were pagans who used this name. He kept his family name above all the other names. Mohammad had good intentions in removing the people from their polytheistic worship however he did not go far enough in his reform.
Mecca was the place where the idol Allah was located, so the people would face in that direction when they prayed. Prior to Islam the people would pray 5 times a day facing Mecca (The Encyclopedia of Islam p.303) Prior to Islam's beginning each Arab tribe used Allah to refer to its own particular high god. This is why Hubal, the Moon god, (known by other names) was the central focus of prayer at the Kaabah and people prayed to Hubal and they used the name Allah. The crescent moon was the symbol of the moon God Allah (Hubal) and is still used as a symbol of Islam today (although they have changed the meaning to be -from Mecca to the moon Islam will spread). Today there is hardly a Muslim that knows its ancient origin. History records it as an ancient pagan fertility symbol that is found throughout the Middle East. Mohammed smashed all the idols that led the people into idolatry but the black stone was kept which Muslims continue to kiss today. This was another practice that preceded Mohammad.
Mohammed made Allah into a single being who, unlike the Bible's God who is called Father, has no Son. Because of this portrayal, there is no fellowship or love among the godhead before God created man. Creation and man therefore become a necessity for God to express His attributes or characteristic's. This God has never revealed Himself to man but revealed only His will. This God is so removed from man that it is impossible to know him in a personal way, he relates to man only through his will and law. It is a religion of obedience no different than any other.
To the Muslim God is strictly singular, all seeing, all hearing, almighty, He is the first and the last. But what differs is that he has no Son and he cannot be called Father who relates to His son in a unique way (Son and Father does not mean offspring in historic Christianity).
Of the 99 names of God in Islam, not one is “Father” or has a personal connotation. The difference is not to be overlooked. The God of the Bible is personal and wants an ongoing friendship with each of us. Islam portrays God as one who expects us to do our religious duty or He angers. There are rules to be obeyed and one can only please him but not know him personally. No Muslim would ever consider being able to have a personal relationship with him, by talking to him, and loving him. Jesus instead taught Christians to pray “our Father in heaven” (Matthew 6:9). Throughout the Old Testament God was real to the prophets who had him personally speak to them and they to him. “Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously with one another by profaning the covenant of the fathers?” (Mal 2:10)
In Islam some state that if one memorizes the 99 names of Allah and repeats them he will get into paradise because they give the believer power, making them conscious of God. Neither the Koran nor the Hadith speak of these names in such a way. The Suras in the Koran begin with “In the name of Allah, most gracious, most merciful. Yet in practice Islam's god is portrayed as stern, harsh, having compassion on those who do right and deals severely with those who do not.
To a Muslim the God of the Bible who is described as triune is offensive and pagan, reminding them of what Mohammed destroyed. This is recorded in their Qu'ran. They interpret this as 3 separate Gods and not a unified one. “ They are unbelievers who say God is a third of three. No God is there but one God.” While Muslims affirm Jesus' virgin conception, they deny He had any pre-existence that would imply He is God. To call a prophet God is the ultimate in blasphemy to them. “ Verily God will not forgive the union of other gods with himself.” This is a true statement; however if Jesus is who He said He is, the true God, then it is they who are in union with another than the true God.
Muslims claim that the name Allah can be found in the Bible. This is no different than what the Jehovah's Witnesses do for the name Jehovah. Allah is not called Yahweh once in the Koran but neither is Yahweh called Allah in the Bible. So they can't be the same God. Neither is the word Elohim which is applied to Yahweh over 2,500 times in the Bible used in the Koran. Neither is he called I Am, which He said to Moses would be His name forever.
The God of the Bible identifies himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Jacobs name is later changed to the name Israel, being the father of the 12 tribes of Israel. The God of the Bible calls Jerusalem the city of David and that the Messiah would descend from his lineage. Neither does the God of the Bible does not mention Mecca or Medina but instead Jerusalem 800 times. Yet Jerusalem is not mentioned in the Koran, which the Muslim claims as there own.
The God in the Bible is called the God of the Jews, an impossibility with Allah. They are called his chosen people, but they are not Allah's chosen. Allah commands the Muslim to not take the Jews or Christians as friends, Sura.5:51 disdains the Jews. Mohammed said, “The last hour will not come before the Muslims fight the Jews, and the Muslims kill them.” (Mishkat Al Masabih Sh.M. Ashraf pp.147, 721, 810-11, 1130). So how could Israel inherit the land or any of God's promises from Allah, if he is their God. Clearly he is not the same God of the Bible.
Muslims trying to prove their position from the Bible point to the Old Testament with the word alleluyah, interpreting the first portion of the word alle as Allah. The word [H]alleluyah is not a compound Hebrew word. It is not two words but a singular word meaning praise to Yahweh. (alle- praise, lu-to, yah-Yaweh). The beginning of the word is Hallel meaning praise. This has nothing to do with an Allah, and the last syllable of the word is a reference to Yahweh the God of the Bible, this is hardly any evidence for their assertions. They are also confusing Aramaic with Arabic. This is not unusual, as Muslims will often take words and meanings set in another language and culture and adopt them for proof of their own book or religion.
This word play only gets more ludicrous as they try to have Jesus saying the name of their God. When Jesus was on the cross they claim when he cried out Eli, Eli it was really is Allah, Allah. The New Testament was written in Greek, however it points us to him speaking the Aramaic language, not Arabic. Jesus was quoting Psalm 22:1 which read in full says, Eli, Eli Sabbathani “My God, My God why have you forsaken me.” What makes even less sense for this position is the fact that they don't believe that it was Jesus on the cross in the first place, but that another took His place. Some think it was Judas; so it was Judas crying out Allah, Allah?
The first Arabic translation of the Bible was made about the 9th century. Nowhere is the name of Allah found in the Old or New Testament. When Islam became the dominant political force people were coerced to use the name Allah for God or suffer the consequences from the hands of militant Muslims. Because of Islam's dominance Allah became the common name of God. The translators of the Bible gave in to the religious pressures and substituted Allah for Yahweh in the Arabic Bibles, but this is not the name of the God of the Hebrews, nor of the creator who made heaven and earth because of its source in paganism. His nature and attributes have only a few basic similarities and many more differences. And the most important point is that all through the Qu'ran it says Allah has no son.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Answering Muslim Questions on Christianity
Answering Muslim Questions on Christianity
Q1: Why do you trust the Old Testament?
A: Both scripture and archaeology indicate there are no significant changes in our copies today for at least five reasons:
1. God promised to preserve His word in Isaiah 55:10-11; 59:21; 1 Peter 1:24-25, Matthew 24:35. Ultimately we have to believe either God is trustworthy or He is not.
2. Jesus and the New Testament confirmed the Old Testament scriptures in Matthew 19:4; 22:32,37; 39; 23:35; Mark 10:3-6; Luke 2:23-24; 4:4; 11:51; 20:37; 24:27,44
3. Archaeological evidence: In the Septuagint, the Torah was translated into Greek around 400 B.C. The Dead Sea Scrolls were from about 100 B.C. to after the time of Christ, and we can compare them with our Bibles today. Aramaic Targums are translations made around the time of Jesus. The Dead Sea Scrolls are about 95,000 fragments from 867 manuscripts of the Old Testament and other writings. About 1/3 of the Dead Sea scrolls are manuscripts of the Old Testament according to The NIV Study Bible p.1432. Archaeology shows the Bible Jesus knew was preserved. Nahal Hever is a cave near Engedi, that has a fragment written between 50 B.C. and 50 A.D. of the minor prophets in Greek. At Masada, there was a copy of Joshua dated 169-93 B.C. The Nash Papyrus, dated 150 B.C., contains the Ten Commandments. The wadi Muraba’at scroll of the Minor Prophets is from c. 132 A.D.
4. Early church writers, as early as 97 A.D., extensively referred to the Old Testament.
5. Jewish scribes, even though hostile to Christianity, preserved the same Old Testament found in every Protestant Bible today.
As a side note for Muslims, Sura 4:150-151 says, "Those who deny Allah and his messengers, and wish to separate between Allah and his messengers, Saying: ‘We believe in some but reject others’: and wish to take a course midway, (151) They are in truth unbelievers;..."
Sura 3:48 says, "And Allah will teach him [Jesus] the book and Wisdom, the Torah, and the Gospel." If Jesus were taught the Old Testament, and we have the Old Testament from the time of Jesus, then Jesus was taught what we have.
Sura 3:50 says, "I [Jesus] have come to you), to attest the Torah which was before me. ... I have come to you with a Sign from your Lord. So fear Allah, and obey me." People have a near impossible time trying to do the following.
Sura 5:47 says, "Let the People of the Gospel Judge by what Allah hath revealed Therein...." If the People of the Gospel are to judge by what God has revealed in the Gospel, then how can the Gospel they are to judge by not be the Gospel God told them to judge by?
Sura 5:48 says, "To thee (People of the Book) We sent the scripture in truth, confirming the scripture that came before it, and guarding it in safety: so judge between them by what Allah hath revealed, and follow not their vain desires, diverging from the truth that hath come to thee...."
Sura 15:9-10 says "We have, without doubt, Sent down the Message; And We will assuredly Guard it [from corruption]. We did send messengers before thee Amongst the sects of old:" Sura 15:9 does not say just the "Qur’an" was guarded, but "the message."
In summary, God is Almighty, All-knowing, and far from careless. We can trust that He has always preserved right direction for those who look to follow wherever He leads.
Q2: Can we trust the New Testament?
A: Yes, there five reasons similar to the previous, ranging from trust that God would not allow His children to be totally deceived, to extensive manuscript evidence.
1. God promised to preserve His word in Isaiah 55:10-11; 59:21; 1 Peter 1:24-25, Matthew 24:35. We can trust God.
2. Very old manuscripts preserved include:
100 A.D. p6 (fragment of Luke)
117-138 A.D. John Rylands (John 18:31-33,37-38)
100-150 A.D. Chester Beatty II (p45)
125-175 A.D. - Bodmer II (p66)
125-175 A.D. p104 (fragment of Matthew)
30 more manuscripts before 300 A.D.
These early manuscripts show three things:
1. Additional proof that the New Testament was disseminated throughout the Roman world very early.
2. There were no major changes from what we have today
3. The key doctrines, divinity of Christ, etc. in our Bible today were in the earliest Bibles too.
As a contrast with Islam, there are only a few Qur’ans preserved prior to ‘Uthman’s standardization. Even one of these had two fewer suras than modern Qur’ans.
3. A large number of manuscripts preserved include
8 more manuscripts around 300 A.D.
10,000 total Greek manuscripts
14,000 additional manuscripts in other languages
This shows us two things:
1. We precisely know every word of the original New Testament with about a 97.3% certainty.
2. Even the 2.7% variations show there were no significant changes that affected Christian doctrine.
As a contrast with Islam, Bukhari, Sahih Muslim, al-Tabari, and The Fihrist to a Suras and verses that used to be in the Qur’an but are not anymore.
4. Early church writers, extensively referred to the New Testament. For example, Clement of Rome, writing 97/98 A.D., referred to many passages in the book of Hebrews.
5. Even heretics support the reliability of the scriptures. One early Gnostic heretic named Tatian (110-170 A.D.) wrote a "harmony" of the gospels, leaving out the parts that showed Jesus was a man. An Arian heretic named Ufilas translated the Bible into Gothic around 250 A.D. He had every incentive to "tone" down the many parts of the Bible that showed a high view of Jesus, yet he did not. Ufilas’ translation is a faithful rendering.
Q3: In Gen 16:1, since Abraham and Sarai had no children, how could Abraham have more children after Isaac?
A: Genesis 16:1 shows it was Sarai, not Abraham, who was sterile. Abraham had more children, but Sarai did not. See When Critics Ask p.54 for more info. You know, Abraham was certainly an interesting man. Here was this man in a culture that worshipped false gods, called by the True God to leave and follow Him to an unknown place, and Abraham left what He knew and followed the True God. Today we should do the same.
Q4: In Gen 16:1-4, why did Abraham [allegedly] commit adultery with Hagar?
A: No, Ishmael was not the product of adultery. Four points to consider in the answer.
Concubines were legal: Polygamy was permitted in the Old Testament, and Sarah gave Hagar to Abraham as a concubine. So what Abraham did was "legal" according to both God had revealed to Him and later Mosaic Law, as well as Mesopotamian law of the time.
Similar examples: Furthermore this is not so unusual as it might seem to some modern readers. According to Hard Sayings of the Bible p.121-122, similar examples of a maidservant standing in for a barren wife are found in the laws of the Code of Hammurabi, the Nuzi Tablets, the Alalakh Tablets, and the Mari Tablets. However, if something is both commonly practiced and "legal", that does not necessarily mean it pleases God. Genesis 16:4-5 shows that Sarah soon regretted her action.
Hagar was proud of her status: Moreover, when Hagar became Abram’s wife, she did not object. In fact, Hagar was proud of her pregnancy and taunted Sarai. (Genesis 16:4,5) In the Old Testament, while marrying a captive was OK, nowhere was sex outside of marriage justified as anything but wicked immorality.
In contrast, Muslims are permitted to force their captives to have sex with them, even though they are not married to them. See the Bukhari Hadiths vol.3 book 34 ch.113 prior to no.437 p.239; vol.3 book 34 ch.111 no.432 p.237 for more info.
In conclusion, God is holy, Abraham was not an adulterer, and Christians have an even higher standard of holiness than Mohammed had for his companions in the Hadiths.
Q5: In Gen 22:1-18, could the boy who Abraham almost sacrificed be Ishmael, not Isaac, as Muslims claim? Otherwise, how could Isaac be Abram’s "only son"?
A: It was Isaac who was sacrificed and not Ishmael for at least four reasons:
Even the Qur’an does not say it was Ishmael: Genesis 22:2 says it was Isaac. For Muslims, while the Muslim Qur’an discusses this in Sura 37:99-111, no where in the entire Qur’an does it say whether it was Ishmael or Isaac.
Only boy Abram had at the time: Ishmael was 14 when Isaac was born. Hagar and Ishmael were sent way to a different place the day Isaac was weaned in Genesis 21:8-10. Abraham was tested "a long time" after this in Genesis 21:34, and a "boy" was on the altar in Genesis 22:12.
Only heir: Isaac was the only heir, and only son also means "beloved son". While the culture of the time accepted taking concubines for procreation, inheritance and the right of the firstborn would go to sons of actual wives, not the sons of concubines. See Bible Difficulties and Seeming Contradictions p.141 for more info.
Only son of promise: Genesis 21:12 says, "though Isaac your offspring shall be reckoned". Abraham had other sons too, but they were born after this.
Q6: In Gen 32:24-30, is the Allah of Christianity so weak that He takes all night to wrestle Jacob?
A: First of all it was God’s angel (whom Jacob called a man), not God Himself who wrestled. Jacob said He saw God face to face, but Jacob only encountered God through the angel. Regardless though, God sent this angel, who had the power to crush Jacob.
If a father wrestles his strong-willed two year old, and even let’s the two year old win at times, that does not make him a weak father. In like manner, God’s intention was to contend with Jacob’s stubbornness, not to destroy Jacob and his tenacity. God wanted to bring Jacob to an understanding of who he was, not kill him.
Imagine how great it would be if your body was the same except that it was 100 times stronger. You could excel at athletics, break through walls, and run very fast. However, every time you tried to pick up a flower, you crushed it, every time you held a little child’s hand you broke it, and every time you held your spouse, they went to the hospital. Maybe just having your muscles be 100 times stronger is not so good after all.
God is all-powerful, but God also has gentleness and finesse. God is infinitely times more powerful than us, but God has greater control over His own strength than we do of ours. Zephaniah 3:17 (NIV) gives an example of how the Almighty is gentle: "The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing."
In 1 Kings 19:11-13 God tells Elijah he will experience the presence of the Lord. It was not in the ensuing powerful wind, the earthquake, or the fire, but in a gentle whisper.
So to summarize, Christians worship a God who is gentle without being any less the Almighty.
Q7: In Ex 19:11, was Mt. Sinai really Mecca, since Gal 4:25 says it was in Arabia?
A: Mt. Sinai is in the Sinai Peninsula; unless Moses had trucks or trains, Mecca would be too far away. Four points to consider in the answer.
1. It does not matter: If Mt. Sinai were really Mecca, that would not make any difference to Christians, except that the stages of Israel’s journey would no longer makes sense. It is apparently important to some Muslims however, as it would give credibility to the idea that Mecca had some part in God’s work prior to Mohammed. However, other Muslims, such as the footnote 2504 in the Holy Quran : English Translation of the Meanings and Commentary equate Mt. Sinai with Jabal Musa, as do the majority of Christians.
2. Different Arabia: In Galatians 4:25 "Arabia" here is not the modern Muslim country of Saudi Arabia, but the Roman Province of Arabia. The Roman Province of Arabia was the Sinai Peninsula, and the northwestern portion of modern-day Jordan, and a small part of Syria. See either The Roman World p.107 or Encyclopedia Britannica under Roman History for a map proving this. As a side note, the Romans never conquered near Mecca.
3. Not Mecca: People with flocks and herds could only travel about 6 miles per day. An 11-day journey around 800 miles from Mecca to Kadesh Barnea, with flocks and herds, young animals, and young children, on foot, would be incredible. See either The Roman World p.107 or Encyclopedia Britannica under Roman History for a map.
4. In the Sinai Peninsula: The Sinai Peninsula is a south-pointing triangle with the mountains on the southern part, which Exodus 19:2 and Numbers 3:14; 9:1,5; 10:12 call the Wilderness ("Desert") of Sinai. The Desert of Sin separates Elim from Sinai. Numbers 33:3-50 tells each place the Israelites camped. Unfortunately, we do not know the location of many of these campsites, but by looking at them, we can see what is between what.
Within the Wilderness of Sinai, there are actually two mountains, close to each other, that fit the location of Mount Sinai.
Gebel Musa/Mousa (7,363 ft) This is the traditional view, at least since about 500 A.D. It has very steep cliffs. The Monastery of St. Catherine is at the foot of this mountain. Many but not all Muslims view this as Mt. Sinai also. The New International Dictionary of the Bible p.674 has a picture of Jebel Musa.
Ras es-safsafeh (6,540 ft 1993 meters) is two miles (3.2 km) north of Gebel Musa on the same ridge. It has a wider plain at its foot.
Gebel Serbal (unlikely): Eusebius (325 A.D.) thought this. However, The New Bible Dictionary (1978) p.1193-1194 mentions there is no wilderness near its foot.
In summary, while Christians and even many Muslims agree that Mt. Sinai is in Sinai, we can be close to God anywhere, and do not need special places, statues of metal, or even black stones to be close to Him.
Q8: In Num 36, why could women [allegedly] not inherit in the Bible? In Islam for example, daughters do have the right to inherit.
A: Four points to consider in the answer.
Zelophehad’s daughters did inherit from their father. This was right and proper as God’s will, according to Numbers 27:7-8. Furthermore, Numbers 36:8 also says speaks in the future of every daughter who inherits land, so they could inherit. Job’s daughters inherited in Job 42:15 too.
Inheritance passing from tribe to tribe in Numbers 36:9 is the issue here, not the prosperity of Zelophehad’s daughters.
The resolution was the daughters kept the land, but they had to marry within their own tribe of Manasseh. In the future, all women who inherited land had to marry within their tribe.
In the New Testament, 1 Peter 1:3-4 shows that all who believe have the most important inheritance of all, an inheritance in heaven kept for us.
As a side note, in orthodox Islam daughters only get half the inheritance of their brothers. Sura 4:11 says, "Allah (thus) directs you As regards your children’s (inheritance): to the male, A portion equal to that Of two females:…" (Yusef Ali’s translation p.209).
In summary, since Numbers 36:8 speaks of daughters inheriting land, and Numbers 27:7-8 speaks of daughters inheriting in general, it would be against the Old Testament not to allow daughters to inherit. Galatians 3:28 says that in Christ there is no male nor female, and in the rest of the Bible, old and new, there is nothing restricting a woman’s rights of inheritance, or of economic opportunities in general. In contrast to Islam, women in Christianity have just as much to look forward to in heaven than men.
Q9: In Dt 18:17-18; Dt 33:1-2, and Dt 34:10-11, was Mohammed prophesied here, as some Muslims claim?
A: Deuteronomy 18:15-18 says God will raise up a prophet, that they will hear, like Moses from their midst, among their brethren. Was Jesus a prophet? Did many Jews hear Jesus? Was Jesus among the Jews? Was Jesus a Jew? Muslims should have no problem agreeing that this verse fits Jesus more than Mohammed. Here are a few more points.
a. Deuteronomy 33:1-2 says "the Lord", and Muslims do not call Mohammed their Lord. (‘Alawite Muslims and other Ghulat groups consider Mohammed God, but they are exceptions.)
b. Deuteronomy 34:10 that "since then there has not arisen in Israel a prophet like Moses." This epitaph was written, probably by Joshua, long before Jesus came.
c. Deuteronomy 34:10 mentions "face to face", and Mohammed never said he got his words directly from Allah, but through angels (Sura 2:97). Jesus communicated directly with God the Father according to John 1:18 and other passages.
d. The next verse, 34:11, says no other prophet did those awesome miracles like Moses did. Mohammed, according to what was written in the Qur’an (Sura 17:90-93) never performed miracles like these, except for reciting the Qur’an. (The Qur’an contradicts what later Muslim traditions in the Hadiths say.)
e. In the Qur’an itself, Sura 29:27 says the prophethood came through Isaac and Jacob. In Yusuf Ali’s translation of the Qur’an, he says, "And We gave (Abraham) Isaac and Jacob, and ordained Among his progeny Prophethood and Revelation,…" While the parentheses around Abraham is in Yusuf Ali’s translation, the entire word, "Abraham" is not in the Arabic, and Yusuf Ali felt the need to add "Abraham" to what Muslims view as God’s word.
f. Finally, Jesus’ apostle Peter said this was fulfilled in Jesus in Acts 3:22-26. The apostle Peter would be in a great position to know.
1. Either, Jesus made a great mistake allowing a deceiver like Peter to mislead people for almost 2,000 years who were trying to follow God, and God did not lift a finger to tell people the truth.
2. Or, Jesus knew what He was doing when he selected Peter, and God did not correct something that needed no correction.
3. Or else, Peter did not say that, and the book of Acts was corrupted prior to the first extra-Biblical mention we have of this referring to Christ, which was about 138 A.D.
The early church fathers mentioned this verse as referring to Jesus. Some of them were
Justin Martyr 138-165 A.D.
Irenaeus 182-188 A.D.
Tertullian 200-240 A.D.
Origen 225-254 A.D.
Chrysostom 407 A.D.
Justin Martyr was born around 114 A.D., though some think 110 A.D. His first Apology was written between 138 A.D. and his death in 165 A.D. Obviously, he had to have read of this prophecy referring to Christ before he wrote it down.
A Muslim would have to say not only that Justin was wrong, but all New Testament manuscripts recorded Peter’s saying incorrectly.
In addition, translations to other languages were made very early; the dates above or not the dates of the first translations, but only the dates of the earliest manuscripts that survive today. These are valuable because they are an independent chain of transmission, that people can use as a crosscheck on the Greek manuscripts. The chain of transmission of these manuscripts, from Africa to Asia, all agree that Peter said this refers to Jesus.
See When Cultists Ask p.43-44,45-46 and When Critics Ask p.125-126, p.131-132, and p.133 for more info.
Q10: In 1 Sam 1:2; Gen 16:2; 25:1; 29:23-24;28-29, 2 Sam 20:3, etc., why did God permit polygamy (many wives) for Abraham, Jacob, and David and others?
A: Four points to consider in the answer
1. Polygamy was never God’s perfect will, as implied when He made Adam and Eve. He said the two (not many) shall become one flesh.
2. God permitted many things, such as divorce (Matthew 5:31-32; Mark 10:2-12), being that their hearts were hard. Some things, such as polygamy and rash vows, God left for people to figure out were not good.
3. Even in Old Testament times, polygamy was not necessarily the norm. There were only fifteen examples in the Old Testament until Solomon’s time, and four or five after that time.
4. Ever since the time of Paul, and today, godly elders and deacons are not to have more than one wife (1 Tim 3:2,12; Titus 1:6).
Q11: In 1 Sam 13:14, how could David be a man after God’s own heart, since David later committed some very serious sins?
A: This is a question for Muslims as well as Christians, because the Qur’an also speaks of David as a true prophet. However, while most Muslims think David was sinless, the Bible shows that David sinned greatly. David was a man after God’s own heart, not because he never sinned, but because, having sinned, he repented.
Q12: In 1 Sam 25:4-35, why was David [allegedly] running a protection racket?
A: No, but the questioner would be right in not wanting to follow a religion whose prophet and leaders profited from protection rackets. Four points to consider in the answer.
1. David did not have a protection racket, since David, the one doing protecting, was giving wealth away to those he was protecting, as David did in 1 Samuel 30:26-31.
2. David was not asking Nabal for 1) a regular payment, or 2) gold, silver, or any other valuables.
David was merely requesting whatever food Nabal could spare. Nabal never complained of any request for money of valuables. Rather, 1 Samuel 25:11 shows that Nabal understood this request as only for bread, water, and meat.
3. David later acknowledged, with regret, that he would have done evil to have killed Nabal and his men, according to 1 Samuel 25:13,33-34, 39.
4. David was not angry with Nabal because he broke any kind of agreement for protection. Rather, David was angry with Nabal’’ for his insulting answer in 1 Samuel 12:10-11.
In contrast to this, Muslims from the time of Mohammed onward have had a special tax on just Christians and Jews called the Jizya. According to the Bukhari Hadith vol.2 page 7, in the glossary Jizya is a "Head-tax imposed by Islam on the people of the Scriptures and other people who have a releaved book (Non-Muslims) when they are under Muslim rule." Muslims even say that Christians and Jews should be grateful for the Jizya, because without it, they would have no right to dwell in Muslim lands without being killed.
Q13: In 1 Ki 11:1-3, why did Solomon have 700 wives and 300 concubines, which contradicted God’s command in Dt 17:17?
A: Deuteronomy 17:17 says the king should not have many wives, and David and Solomon sinned by doing so. Marrying wives was a common way of strengthening alliances, but it was still wrong to disobey God. 1 Kings 11:1-4 says that Solomon sinned in marrying these foreign wives, and turned his heart away from God.
Hard Sayings of the Bible p.229 has an interesting application of this. While Solomon would have set a higher standard as an example, he probably began to see himself as beyond the need for this restriction from God. When a Christian leader today regards himself as beyond God’s restrictions for common Christians, that leader is in very serious spiritual trouble. In the Qur’an no Muslim man is permitted to have more than four wives, with the only exception being for Mohammed, who apparently had about 15 wives after Khadija, plus two concubines.
Q14: In 1 Ki 11:1-3, does this approve of polygamy?
A: No, because Solomon sinned in having so many wives. In general, the Old Testament permitted polygamy, but did not encourage it as Genesis 1 says, "the two", not "the many" shall become one flesh. In the New Testament, polygamy was not outlawed, but no elder or church leader (episcopos) could have more than one wife, as 1 Timothy 3:1 indicates.
Q15: In 2 Ki 2:23-25, why did Elisha, a great prophet who was taken directly to heaven, have a bear kill 40 children because he didn’t like being called ‘baldy’?
A: Three points to consider in the answer.
1. Elisha does not bear the responsibility for the bears, they were sent by God.
2. The Hebrew word for "youth" here can mean people up to around 20 years old. Joseph was a "youth" in Genesis 37:2, as were the soldiers in Abram’s army in Genesis 14:25.
3. Youth gangs could be violent back then just as today.
Q16: Does Ps 45:3-5 refer to Mohammed, as some Muslims claim?
A: No, even Muslims cannot really see this way, except for some of the Ghulat sects of Islam, which think Mohammed actually is God. Psalm 45:6 says, "Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever." (NIV) In addition to Mohammed never claiming to be God, Mohammed never had a throne or a scepter either. See When Critics Ask p.238 and When Cultists Ask p.64 for a complementary answer.
Q17: In Isa 21:7, is the rider on "donkeys" Jesus, and the rider on "camels" Mohammed?
A: No. Three points to consider in the answer.
1. These were messengers at that time coming to report that Babylon has fallen. The only special significance is that perhaps the camel riders might be scouts, donkey riders might be civilians, and charioteers might be military men.
2. The evil Midianites rode on camels too, but that is just as irrelevant as talking about Mohammed here.
3. Finally, there were camel riders (plural), so even if one was Mohammed, this would mean that another camel rider would be coming after him.
There is no point in trying to "strain a gnat and swallow a camel" by trying to use this verse to show consistency with Islam when there is so much in the Bible (Fatherhood of God, Trinity, saved by grace, Holy Spirit, etc.) that runs counter to Islam.
See When Cultists Ask p.79 and When Critics Ask p.269 for more info.
Q18: In Hab 3:3, could this be a prediction of Mohammed?
A: Only Ghulat Muslims should think so, since this verse speaks of "God", not "Mohammed". Some Ghulat Muslim sects do believe Mohammed is God, though that is heresy to Sunni Muslim ears. However, if any Sunni Muslims themselves really took this question seriously, they would have to believe Mohammed is God too, since "God came from Teman".
Other reasons this cannot refer to Mohammed, is that "His praise" does not refer to Mohammed, since the praise is for God." Mount Paran is where the Israelites camped, and far from Mecca. When Cultists Ask p.89 gives essentially the same answer. See the next question and When Critics Ask p.315 for more info.
Finally, some Muslims apparently are concerned to find more continuity between Mohammed and the Bible, just as there is continuity between Jesus and the promised Messiah of the Old Testament. However, some Muslims look for it in the unlikeliest of places, Habakkuk 3:3, in trying to find something to predict Mohammed.
Q19: In the Gospels, did Jesus really die on the cross, or did God miraculously and undetectably substitute someone else as the Muslim Qur’an claims?
A: The different views of Christians and Muslims are a fundamental difference between their two religions.
Christians say it was really Jesus because all Christian and well as non-Christian accounts say it was Jesus. The Allah of Muslims is different from the God of the Bible, and Allah has fooled and deceived all his people into thinking Allah substituted another.
Muslims say Allah is the same as the God of the Bible. Allah’s switching Jesus would not be detectable by anyone, and thus there would be no historical evidence of the switch.
Both can agree that at some point in time, Allah, the god of Islam, totally fooled and deliberately deceived all of Allah’s own people.
Q20: Since God does not have a physical body, how can Jesus be the Son of God?
A: Christians do NOT believe Jesus was the Son of God in a crude physical or sexual sense. Rather this term is an expression of deep meaning of how Jesus is different from every created being. Shi’ite Muslims have a slightly similar concept. When they say ‘Ali is the finger of God, they do not believe that God has ten fingers like people do. Rather, this is an expression with a deeper meaning for them.
Q21: If Jesus is not a created being, how can He be begotten of God?
A: Begotten means "come from" without necessarily being created, a little like Muslims believe the Qur’an was from Allah yet uncreated. Before the beginning of time, Jesus, who is also called the Word of God, came from God the Father. So, in different ways, both Muslims and Christians say the Word of God came from God but was uncreated.
Q22: In Mt 5:17 and Acts 10:10-16, since Jesus said he would not abolish anything in the law, why don’t Christians follow the Old Testament dietary laws like Muslims allegedly do?
A: While neither Christians nor Muslims follow the dietary laws, Christians do not because they listen to Jesus. Five points to consider in the answer.
At this time, Jesus’ followers obeyed the Old Testament dietary laws. Jesus actually said that not one jot or tittle would pass away until all is accomplished.
The fact of Jesus’ resurrection, fundamentally changed the way God dealt with His children. An angel informed Peter, Jesus’ apostle, that God had made all food clean in Acts 10:9-16. Note it does not say these animals were always clean, but rather that God had made them clean.
Even Muslims who bring up this objection, themselves have to agree that some of the Old Testament dietary laws are not to be followed. Muslims feel they can eat camel meat (and Mohammed did so), yet Leviticus 11:3-8; Deuteronomy 14:6-8 prohibit eating it. Mohammed also said it was lawful to eat fat. Ibn-i-Majah 4:3274 p.437, yet Ibn-i-Majah 4:3383 p.495 says that Mohammed knew the Jews were not permitted to eat fat or blood (Lev. 3:17) Even in the Qur’an, Sura 3:50 said that Jesus made lawful some things that were not lawful.
Listen to Jesus in Matthew 15:10,17-20 and Mark 7:14-15. Jesus said it is what comes out of a man that makes him unclean, not what goes in. Mark 7:19 shows that by this Jesus declared all foods clean. If we call Jesus a prophet, we should listen to His words.
A voice from heaven commanded Peter to eat in Acts 10:10-16, showing him that the dietary laws were only in effect until Jesus’ sacrifice, not after. We should obey the voice of God’s angel and Jesus’ apostle.
In conclusion, we should not ignore what God’s prophets said, but listen to them.
Q23: In Lk 3:23-33, how could Mary be descended from Judah, since Elizabeth was from the daughters of Aaron in Lk 1:5, and Mary and Elizabeth were cousins in Lk 1:36?
A: The Bible does not specify the tribe of their mothers.
Therefore, Mary and Elizabeth could be cousins based on the following possibilities:
Two mothers were sisters: If their mothers being were from an unspecified tribe.
Mary mother and Elizabeth’s father siblings: If Mary’s mother were a sister of Elizabeth’s father, thus Mary’s mother would be from Aaron and Levi.
Mary’s father and Elizabeth’s mother siblings: Mary’s father being a brother of Elizabeth’s mother, thus Elizabeth’s mother would be from Judah.
A Muslim saw this as proving Mary was descended from Aaron. This is important to Muslims, because if Mary is not from Aaron, then the Qur’an is in error. Muslims generally believe that the Qur’an on earth is a word for word copy of a tablet of the Qur’an [in Heaven] Sura 85:20-22.
See When Critics Ask p.381 for a similar answer.
Q24: In Jn 14:16-26; 15:26; 16:5-15, was Mohammed prophesied in the New Testament as the Paracletos, or Holy Spirit as some Muslims claim?
A: No. If this were true, then Muslims would believe these five things (which they generally do not)
(1) Mohammed glorified Jesus. (John 16:14)
(2) Allah sent Mohammed in Jesus’ name. (John 14:26)
(3) Mohammed was also sent by Jesus too. (John 16:7)
(4) Mohammed took Jesus’ wisdom and made it known to us. (John 16:15)
(5) Mohammed was "in" the apostles. (John 16:17)
Thus, no knowledgeable Muslim would believe these verses refer to Mohammed. These verses must refer to another, who was sent from God.
On the other hand, maybe Muslims should glorify Jesus, if they think that Mohammed did, based on these verses. One Muslim imam told me they should praise and glorify Jesus, though not worship him.
See When Cultists Ask p.182-183 and When Critics Ask p.419-420 for more info.
Q25: In Acts 4:36, why did the Christian church [allegedly] take the Gospel of Barnabas out of the Bible?
A: It was never taken out; God did not intend for books with false teaching, written over 1,000 years later, to slip in. The Gospel of Barnabas contradicts a key point of both the Bible and the Qur’an, by saying Jesus was NOT the Messiah. The Gospel of Barnabas was a 15th century forgery in Italian with historical anachronisms.
Basic facts show that is not an ancient work. The Gospel of Barnabas is known only in Italian, and no ancient writer ever referred to it. It mentions things that were not used until centuries later. Furthermore, other gospel forgeries written in Arabic were also found in Granada. They were discovered after 1588, and the forgers were Moors. Though one Muslim writer, Ata ur-Rahman, has confused this with another writing called the Letter/Epistle of Barnabas, there is no similarity except for the name.
Who wrote it? Handwriting analysis suggest the gospel of Barnabas might have been written by Fra Marino, a vengeful, disillusioned former father inquisitor of Venice from 1542 to 1550. On the other hand, a Spaniard Anselmo Turmeda (later called Abd-Allah ibn Adb Allah after he converted to Islam) said he was a former priest and studied in Bologna, Italy for ten years. His teacher at Bologna was a secret Muslim. Mention of Spanish coins in the Gospel of Barnabas supports this.
Contradicts both the Bible and Qur’an: Jesus is not the Messiah. ch.83 p.181 ch.97 p.223 ch.42 p.97
The Messiah is Mohammed. ch.97 p.225-227
God created all things for the Messiah. ch.191 p.427
God created everything for Mohammed ch.39 p.91 "[Mohammed] shall be my messenger, for whom I have created all things; who shall give light to the world when he shall come; whose soul was set in a celestial splendour sixty thousand years before I made anything."
"The messenger of God [Mohammed] shall answer: ‘O Lord, I remember that when though didst create me, thou saidst that thou hadst willed to make for love of me the world and paradise, and angels and men, that they might glorify thee by me thy servant.’"ch.55 p.131. Also ch.56. p.133
Some Other Differences with the Qur’an should make Muslims wary of wanting to appeal to this "Gospel". According to the Bukhari Hadith volume 4 no.712 Mohammed said that one of the three worst lies is "to attribute to me what I have not said."
Faithful Muslims who do not have works will be in Hell for 70,000 years. ch.137 p.319
Mohammed will go to Hell and be terrified as he beholds the punishment of others ch.135 p.315
God is a father. ch.133 p.307
God is our Father. (-no sons, though) ch.17 p.31,33
General Errors - Sailing to Inland Cities: These are not just small mistakes, but demonstrate that the author knew very little about the geography and history of Palestine.
Jesus went to the Sea of Galilee, and having embarked in a ship sailed to his city of Nazareth. ch.20 p.41 (Nazareth is inland.)
Pharisees in Jesus’ time were very strange in their ascetism. ch.145 p.337-339
God gave Jesus bad consequences because others called Jesus God. ch.112 p.257
Historical Anachronisms: The point here is not that the Gospel of Barnabas has a few historical oddities. The point is that the numerous errors prove that the book was written during the Middle Ages in Europe.
Coins in chapter 54 (golden denarius divided into sixty minuti) were Spanish.
Abraham’s father claimed there were an infinite number of gods. (The Sumerians did not have the concept of infinity) ch.26 p.57
"Whereupon, as the food was going down [Adam’s throat], he remembered the words of God; wherefore, wishing to stop the food, he put his hand into this throat, where every man has the mark." (The phrase "Adam’s apple" was first a Medieval European phrase) ch.40 p.93
Pilate was governor of Judea, when Jesus was born. ch.3 p.7
Jubilee is now every 100 years. ch.83 p.191-193
Kings’ barons. (Barons were Medieval) ch.131 p.301
You desire horses like knights. (They had no knights in Jesus’ time.) ch.69 p.159
The burden of the republic. ch.69 p.161
Pinnacle where the scribes used to preach. ch.127 p.291 & ch.129 p.297 & ch.12 p.19
Prodigal son, new [leg] hose. ch.147 p.241
Lazarus and his two sisters were proprietors in other towns of Magdala and Bethany, just like in the Middle Ages! ch.194 p.433
Jesus (really Judas) was dressed as a juggler. ch.217 p.475
Pine-cones (There were no pine cones where Jesus lived.) ch.113 p.259
Fistula. (A medical term not used until the Middle Ages for an opening in the body for the purpose of drainage.) ch.120 p.275
Jesus could not read at age 12. ch.9 p.15
Jesus made prayer in union with the messenger of God, and Jesus heard Mohammed’s voice, [Did Mohammed live before he was born?] ch.84 p.195
These "more than a few" errors prove this book was written during the Middle Ages in Europe.
Conclusion: Imagine you were a Muslim who was told that someone found a lost "book" from God. Among other things, this "Sura" mentioned that Mohammed sailed on a boat to Mecca, and this Sura contradicted the teaching of the Bible and contradicted the Qur’an on ten points. The oldest manuscript of the alleged Sura was written in Italian, which is not only not a Mideastern language, but Italian did not exist in the time of Mohammed. Finally, this supposed Sura had some historical customs, which did not occur until 1,000 years later in Europe.
Q26: Has the Bible been corrupted?
A: No. Both the Qur’an and the Bible teach that God preserves His word. According to the Qur’an, in Mohammed’s time the Christians still had the Gospel. We have many copies of the New Testament from 100 to 200 A.D., and the Old Testament Dead Sea scrolls from prior to Mohammed’s time. See the first answer for more on the Old Testament.
Q27: Why is there uncertainty in some Bible verses?
A: God promised to preserve His word, and it has been preserved such that there is no uncertainty that affects God’s teaching. God did allow insignificant transmission errors, though. Apparently God is more concerned with what we believe and do than the individual syllables. Likewise, there are changes in Qur’an due to abrogated verses and ‘Uthman’s editing.
Even today, there are differences in Arabic versions of the Qur’an. For example, Geisler and Saleeb in Answering Islam p.193 point out some Arabic discrepancies: Sura 28:48 [sahirani/sihrani], Sura 32:6 [ummahatuhum/ummahatuhum wa hyua abun lahum] Sura 34:18 [rabbana ba’id/rabuna ba’ada], Sura 38:22 [tis’un/tis’atun]. Sura 19:35 [tantaruna/yamtaruna]. See W. St. Clair-Tisdell A Manual of the Leading Muhammedan Objections to Christianity (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1904 p.60.). There are also significant differences between the ‘Uthman’s Qur’an and the Qur’an used today. Why the changes, and why do they not change it back?
Q28: Why did Christians have the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, Catholics and Protestants in Ireland, Serbs (Greek Orthodox) against Croats (Roman Catholic), and Bosnian Muslims?
Jesus was the Prince of peace, and He never said to kill someone because they had a different religion. The "Christian" Crusades were not a part of the Christianity of the Bible. The Crusades (or Christian Jihads) were an evil thing Europeans learned from Islamic Jihads.
Q29: Can I get to heaven without accepting Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior?
No, you cannot get to Heaven if you refuse to take Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Four points to consider in the answer.
Fairness: God is good, Holy, fair, and just to all (Hebrews 6:10) God’s judges people based on the knowledge they have (Romans 4:15; 5:13). Abraham did not know the name of Jesus, yet He followed God and He was still saved through Jesus. (John 8:56, Hebrews 9)
Only One Way: We cannot get to heaven on our own righteousness; we need God’s mercy and grace through Jesus. Jesus is not just a way to God, but the one and only way to God. (Jn 14:6; 15:5; Acts 4:12)
Reject Jesus as the Son of God and you reject Heaven: Even to a very religious people, the Jewish Pharisees, Jesus said that if you reject Him, you will indeed die in your sins. (John 8:24)
God seeks: God does not want anyone to perish (2 Peter 3:9), but as Jeremiah wept over his people (Jeremiah 13:17; 14:17) and as Jesus wept over Jerusalem (Luke 19:41-44) and as Peter pleaded with his listeners (Acts 2:40), God, with no less desire, seeks out His own.
Q30. How do Christians pray?
A: The Bible has many prayers we can use as examples, but Jesus specifically taught His disciples how to pray in Matt 6:9-13. Christians view prayer as talking with God; hence few Christian prayers are memorized. Christian prayers often end with phrases such as "in Jesus’ name", because it is by Jesus’ sacrifice that we have access to pray to the Father. (John 16:26)
Christians are to pray to God continuously, as commanded in 1 Thessalonians 5:17; Eph 6:18; Phil 4:4;6; Heb 13:15; and by the example in Rom 1:9-10 and Col 1:9, 1 Thessalonians 1:2-3; 3:10. This is unlike Islam, where there are specific times prayer is forbidden in Bukhari 2:283. Fiqh us-Sunnah vol.2 p.11 says "‘Umar saw him and told him: ‘Sit, the People of the Book were destroyed because they did not differentiate between their prayers.’ The Prophet said: ‘Well said, Ibn al-Khattab.’"
Q31. Christianity is not the religion of my culture or my parents.
A: If you go back far enough in time, perhaps everyone has ancestors who were an idol-worshipper, murderer, cannibal, burned widows, or did similar horrible things. Should you follow their example? No! In Luke 16:19-31 Jesus speaks of a man in Hell who wishes someone would warn his brothers not to do what he did. Perhaps some of your ancestors, in Hell right now, are hoping that you will turn and not do what they did.
Even if it was the religion of your culture, you still have to choose between following traditional culture and following God. In Jesus’ time they had so many extra traditions and legalism, that Jesus said they had no room for His word (John 8:37). That is why they wanted to crucify Jesus.
Belief in the in the true God was not the religion of Abraham’s parents either. Abraham had to make a choice: either follow God or follow tradition. Even if a tradition is not wrong, if you love and follow your tradition more than God, then your tradition is a stumbling block for you. In 2 Corinthians 11:1-4 Paul wrote of his concern about anything that would lead us away from our devotion to Christ.
Q32: Why are you so negative about Islam?
A: We love Muslim people and wish the best for them - that they would live in joy in Heaven forever. Since Islam has led people away from God, we are critical of Islam for their benefit. However, we are not nearly as negative about Islam as Muslims themselves. When worshippers at a mosque in Pakistan are gunned down, simply because they are Shi’ites, that is negative. When Tamerlane, who built a mosque, made a mound of 70,000 skulls of the Muslims people living in Isfahan, that is monstrous.
Christians should not be negative toward Muslims (or anyone else) is three ways.
1. We never curse Muslims like Mohammed cursed us. At the end of Mohammed’s life he said, "May Allah curse the Jews and Christians for they built the places of worship at the graves of their Prophets." (Bukhari 1:427 p.255). Notice that he did not differentiate between true and hypocritical Christians; he just cursed all of them.
2. We do not want to say anything that "slanderous" (= false + negative). For example, that the Jews were wicked because they called Ezra (‘Uzair) son of Allah, as the Qur’an in Sura 9:30 says. Jews worshipped Ezra according to Bukhari 6:105 p.86.
3. Mohammed said to "lampoon the pagans in verse" according to Bukhari 8:174 p.113.
So at least we can agree with modern Muslims (I hope) that being negative like this is not what a person of God should do.
As for us, Jesus spent over 1/3 of all His recorded words either rebuking, warning specific people, warning in general, or correcting false things. He was encouraging also, and we are too. Not only do we ask, "What would Jesus do?", but we also should ask, "What would Jesus want us to say?" Yes we are "warners" like Jeremiah, John the Baptist, Paul, and even Jesus, but we want you to know that we also love you. We would never want to hurt you, even though Muslims hurt Christians, and we want only the best for you.
Q33: Why do you Christians [allegedly] attack Muslims?
A: We care for Muslims people; we do not attack them. Three words answer this question: Bosnians, Jesus, and villagers.
Bosnians: When Serbs were ruthlessly slaughtering Bosnian Muslims, Americans stood against that. Serbs might have perceived America as being against them, but we were not against Serbian people. We were for protecting the oppressed, and we were against the atrocities that some (but not all) Serbs did. Likewise we have nothing against the Afghans, as our aid shipments to them show, but when our own civilians were attacked, we responded to try to protect ourselves from this happening again.
Jesus said we were to turn the other cheek, and we do that as individuals. However, on a government level Romans 13:4 says it does not bear the sword in vain. Western culture is not Christian, though Christianity has heavily influenced it. Western culture is not always right, but we have a duty to stand against what is wrong. There are things wrong besides murdering people. Treating women as second class citizens, forbidding them to work outside the home, counting their witness in court as only half that of a man, and who should rarely be outside the home, are all wrong ideas. God is mocked when it is done in His name.
Villagers in Indonesia and Sudan are being slaughtered today simply because they are not Muslims. Would you tell me why many Muslims across the world feel they should be doing this, and yet Muslims think any peaceful, rational criticism of Islamic practices is an "attack" on them?
Q1: Why do you trust the Old Testament?
A: Both scripture and archaeology indicate there are no significant changes in our copies today for at least five reasons:
1. God promised to preserve His word in Isaiah 55:10-11; 59:21; 1 Peter 1:24-25, Matthew 24:35. Ultimately we have to believe either God is trustworthy or He is not.
2. Jesus and the New Testament confirmed the Old Testament scriptures in Matthew 19:4; 22:32,37; 39; 23:35; Mark 10:3-6; Luke 2:23-24; 4:4; 11:51; 20:37; 24:27,44
3. Archaeological evidence: In the Septuagint, the Torah was translated into Greek around 400 B.C. The Dead Sea Scrolls were from about 100 B.C. to after the time of Christ, and we can compare them with our Bibles today. Aramaic Targums are translations made around the time of Jesus. The Dead Sea Scrolls are about 95,000 fragments from 867 manuscripts of the Old Testament and other writings. About 1/3 of the Dead Sea scrolls are manuscripts of the Old Testament according to The NIV Study Bible p.1432. Archaeology shows the Bible Jesus knew was preserved. Nahal Hever is a cave near Engedi, that has a fragment written between 50 B.C. and 50 A.D. of the minor prophets in Greek. At Masada, there was a copy of Joshua dated 169-93 B.C. The Nash Papyrus, dated 150 B.C., contains the Ten Commandments. The wadi Muraba’at scroll of the Minor Prophets is from c. 132 A.D.
4. Early church writers, as early as 97 A.D., extensively referred to the Old Testament.
5. Jewish scribes, even though hostile to Christianity, preserved the same Old Testament found in every Protestant Bible today.
As a side note for Muslims, Sura 4:150-151 says, "Those who deny Allah and his messengers, and wish to separate between Allah and his messengers, Saying: ‘We believe in some but reject others’: and wish to take a course midway, (151) They are in truth unbelievers;..."
Sura 3:48 says, "And Allah will teach him [Jesus] the book and Wisdom, the Torah, and the Gospel." If Jesus were taught the Old Testament, and we have the Old Testament from the time of Jesus, then Jesus was taught what we have.
Sura 3:50 says, "I [Jesus] have come to you), to attest the Torah which was before me. ... I have come to you with a Sign from your Lord. So fear Allah, and obey me." People have a near impossible time trying to do the following.
Sura 5:47 says, "Let the People of the Gospel Judge by what Allah hath revealed Therein...." If the People of the Gospel are to judge by what God has revealed in the Gospel, then how can the Gospel they are to judge by not be the Gospel God told them to judge by?
Sura 5:48 says, "To thee (People of the Book) We sent the scripture in truth, confirming the scripture that came before it, and guarding it in safety: so judge between them by what Allah hath revealed, and follow not their vain desires, diverging from the truth that hath come to thee...."
Sura 15:9-10 says "We have, without doubt, Sent down the Message; And We will assuredly Guard it [from corruption]. We did send messengers before thee Amongst the sects of old:" Sura 15:9 does not say just the "Qur’an" was guarded, but "the message."
In summary, God is Almighty, All-knowing, and far from careless. We can trust that He has always preserved right direction for those who look to follow wherever He leads.
Q2: Can we trust the New Testament?
A: Yes, there five reasons similar to the previous, ranging from trust that God would not allow His children to be totally deceived, to extensive manuscript evidence.
1. God promised to preserve His word in Isaiah 55:10-11; 59:21; 1 Peter 1:24-25, Matthew 24:35. We can trust God.
2. Very old manuscripts preserved include:
100 A.D. p6 (fragment of Luke)
117-138 A.D. John Rylands (John 18:31-33,37-38)
100-150 A.D. Chester Beatty II (p45)
125-175 A.D. - Bodmer II (p66)
125-175 A.D. p104 (fragment of Matthew)
30 more manuscripts before 300 A.D.
These early manuscripts show three things:
1. Additional proof that the New Testament was disseminated throughout the Roman world very early.
2. There were no major changes from what we have today
3. The key doctrines, divinity of Christ, etc. in our Bible today were in the earliest Bibles too.
As a contrast with Islam, there are only a few Qur’ans preserved prior to ‘Uthman’s standardization. Even one of these had two fewer suras than modern Qur’ans.
3. A large number of manuscripts preserved include
8 more manuscripts around 300 A.D.
10,000 total Greek manuscripts
14,000 additional manuscripts in other languages
This shows us two things:
1. We precisely know every word of the original New Testament with about a 97.3% certainty.
2. Even the 2.7% variations show there were no significant changes that affected Christian doctrine.
As a contrast with Islam, Bukhari, Sahih Muslim, al-Tabari, and The Fihrist to a Suras and verses that used to be in the Qur’an but are not anymore.
4. Early church writers, extensively referred to the New Testament. For example, Clement of Rome, writing 97/98 A.D., referred to many passages in the book of Hebrews.
5. Even heretics support the reliability of the scriptures. One early Gnostic heretic named Tatian (110-170 A.D.) wrote a "harmony" of the gospels, leaving out the parts that showed Jesus was a man. An Arian heretic named Ufilas translated the Bible into Gothic around 250 A.D. He had every incentive to "tone" down the many parts of the Bible that showed a high view of Jesus, yet he did not. Ufilas’ translation is a faithful rendering.
Q3: In Gen 16:1, since Abraham and Sarai had no children, how could Abraham have more children after Isaac?
A: Genesis 16:1 shows it was Sarai, not Abraham, who was sterile. Abraham had more children, but Sarai did not. See When Critics Ask p.54 for more info. You know, Abraham was certainly an interesting man. Here was this man in a culture that worshipped false gods, called by the True God to leave and follow Him to an unknown place, and Abraham left what He knew and followed the True God. Today we should do the same.
Q4: In Gen 16:1-4, why did Abraham [allegedly] commit adultery with Hagar?
A: No, Ishmael was not the product of adultery. Four points to consider in the answer.
Concubines were legal: Polygamy was permitted in the Old Testament, and Sarah gave Hagar to Abraham as a concubine. So what Abraham did was "legal" according to both God had revealed to Him and later Mosaic Law, as well as Mesopotamian law of the time.
Similar examples: Furthermore this is not so unusual as it might seem to some modern readers. According to Hard Sayings of the Bible p.121-122, similar examples of a maidservant standing in for a barren wife are found in the laws of the Code of Hammurabi, the Nuzi Tablets, the Alalakh Tablets, and the Mari Tablets. However, if something is both commonly practiced and "legal", that does not necessarily mean it pleases God. Genesis 16:4-5 shows that Sarah soon regretted her action.
Hagar was proud of her status: Moreover, when Hagar became Abram’s wife, she did not object. In fact, Hagar was proud of her pregnancy and taunted Sarai. (Genesis 16:4,5) In the Old Testament, while marrying a captive was OK, nowhere was sex outside of marriage justified as anything but wicked immorality.
In contrast, Muslims are permitted to force their captives to have sex with them, even though they are not married to them. See the Bukhari Hadiths vol.3 book 34 ch.113 prior to no.437 p.239; vol.3 book 34 ch.111 no.432 p.237 for more info.
In conclusion, God is holy, Abraham was not an adulterer, and Christians have an even higher standard of holiness than Mohammed had for his companions in the Hadiths.
Q5: In Gen 22:1-18, could the boy who Abraham almost sacrificed be Ishmael, not Isaac, as Muslims claim? Otherwise, how could Isaac be Abram’s "only son"?
A: It was Isaac who was sacrificed and not Ishmael for at least four reasons:
Even the Qur’an does not say it was Ishmael: Genesis 22:2 says it was Isaac. For Muslims, while the Muslim Qur’an discusses this in Sura 37:99-111, no where in the entire Qur’an does it say whether it was Ishmael or Isaac.
Only boy Abram had at the time: Ishmael was 14 when Isaac was born. Hagar and Ishmael were sent way to a different place the day Isaac was weaned in Genesis 21:8-10. Abraham was tested "a long time" after this in Genesis 21:34, and a "boy" was on the altar in Genesis 22:12.
Only heir: Isaac was the only heir, and only son also means "beloved son". While the culture of the time accepted taking concubines for procreation, inheritance and the right of the firstborn would go to sons of actual wives, not the sons of concubines. See Bible Difficulties and Seeming Contradictions p.141 for more info.
Only son of promise: Genesis 21:12 says, "though Isaac your offspring shall be reckoned". Abraham had other sons too, but they were born after this.
Q6: In Gen 32:24-30, is the Allah of Christianity so weak that He takes all night to wrestle Jacob?
A: First of all it was God’s angel (whom Jacob called a man), not God Himself who wrestled. Jacob said He saw God face to face, but Jacob only encountered God through the angel. Regardless though, God sent this angel, who had the power to crush Jacob.
If a father wrestles his strong-willed two year old, and even let’s the two year old win at times, that does not make him a weak father. In like manner, God’s intention was to contend with Jacob’s stubbornness, not to destroy Jacob and his tenacity. God wanted to bring Jacob to an understanding of who he was, not kill him.
Imagine how great it would be if your body was the same except that it was 100 times stronger. You could excel at athletics, break through walls, and run very fast. However, every time you tried to pick up a flower, you crushed it, every time you held a little child’s hand you broke it, and every time you held your spouse, they went to the hospital. Maybe just having your muscles be 100 times stronger is not so good after all.
God is all-powerful, but God also has gentleness and finesse. God is infinitely times more powerful than us, but God has greater control over His own strength than we do of ours. Zephaniah 3:17 (NIV) gives an example of how the Almighty is gentle: "The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing."
In 1 Kings 19:11-13 God tells Elijah he will experience the presence of the Lord. It was not in the ensuing powerful wind, the earthquake, or the fire, but in a gentle whisper.
So to summarize, Christians worship a God who is gentle without being any less the Almighty.
Q7: In Ex 19:11, was Mt. Sinai really Mecca, since Gal 4:25 says it was in Arabia?
A: Mt. Sinai is in the Sinai Peninsula; unless Moses had trucks or trains, Mecca would be too far away. Four points to consider in the answer.
1. It does not matter: If Mt. Sinai were really Mecca, that would not make any difference to Christians, except that the stages of Israel’s journey would no longer makes sense. It is apparently important to some Muslims however, as it would give credibility to the idea that Mecca had some part in God’s work prior to Mohammed. However, other Muslims, such as the footnote 2504 in the Holy Quran : English Translation of the Meanings and Commentary equate Mt. Sinai with Jabal Musa, as do the majority of Christians.
2. Different Arabia: In Galatians 4:25 "Arabia" here is not the modern Muslim country of Saudi Arabia, but the Roman Province of Arabia. The Roman Province of Arabia was the Sinai Peninsula, and the northwestern portion of modern-day Jordan, and a small part of Syria. See either The Roman World p.107 or Encyclopedia Britannica under Roman History for a map proving this. As a side note, the Romans never conquered near Mecca.
3. Not Mecca: People with flocks and herds could only travel about 6 miles per day. An 11-day journey around 800 miles from Mecca to Kadesh Barnea, with flocks and herds, young animals, and young children, on foot, would be incredible. See either The Roman World p.107 or Encyclopedia Britannica under Roman History for a map.
4. In the Sinai Peninsula: The Sinai Peninsula is a south-pointing triangle with the mountains on the southern part, which Exodus 19:2 and Numbers 3:14; 9:1,5; 10:12 call the Wilderness ("Desert") of Sinai. The Desert of Sin separates Elim from Sinai. Numbers 33:3-50 tells each place the Israelites camped. Unfortunately, we do not know the location of many of these campsites, but by looking at them, we can see what is between what.
Within the Wilderness of Sinai, there are actually two mountains, close to each other, that fit the location of Mount Sinai.
Gebel Musa/Mousa (7,363 ft) This is the traditional view, at least since about 500 A.D. It has very steep cliffs. The Monastery of St. Catherine is at the foot of this mountain. Many but not all Muslims view this as Mt. Sinai also. The New International Dictionary of the Bible p.674 has a picture of Jebel Musa.
Ras es-safsafeh (6,540 ft 1993 meters) is two miles (3.2 km) north of Gebel Musa on the same ridge. It has a wider plain at its foot.
Gebel Serbal (unlikely): Eusebius (325 A.D.) thought this. However, The New Bible Dictionary (1978) p.1193-1194 mentions there is no wilderness near its foot.
In summary, while Christians and even many Muslims agree that Mt. Sinai is in Sinai, we can be close to God anywhere, and do not need special places, statues of metal, or even black stones to be close to Him.
Q8: In Num 36, why could women [allegedly] not inherit in the Bible? In Islam for example, daughters do have the right to inherit.
A: Four points to consider in the answer.
Zelophehad’s daughters did inherit from their father. This was right and proper as God’s will, according to Numbers 27:7-8. Furthermore, Numbers 36:8 also says speaks in the future of every daughter who inherits land, so they could inherit. Job’s daughters inherited in Job 42:15 too.
Inheritance passing from tribe to tribe in Numbers 36:9 is the issue here, not the prosperity of Zelophehad’s daughters.
The resolution was the daughters kept the land, but they had to marry within their own tribe of Manasseh. In the future, all women who inherited land had to marry within their tribe.
In the New Testament, 1 Peter 1:3-4 shows that all who believe have the most important inheritance of all, an inheritance in heaven kept for us.
As a side note, in orthodox Islam daughters only get half the inheritance of their brothers. Sura 4:11 says, "Allah (thus) directs you As regards your children’s (inheritance): to the male, A portion equal to that Of two females:…" (Yusef Ali’s translation p.209).
In summary, since Numbers 36:8 speaks of daughters inheriting land, and Numbers 27:7-8 speaks of daughters inheriting in general, it would be against the Old Testament not to allow daughters to inherit. Galatians 3:28 says that in Christ there is no male nor female, and in the rest of the Bible, old and new, there is nothing restricting a woman’s rights of inheritance, or of economic opportunities in general. In contrast to Islam, women in Christianity have just as much to look forward to in heaven than men.
Q9: In Dt 18:17-18; Dt 33:1-2, and Dt 34:10-11, was Mohammed prophesied here, as some Muslims claim?
A: Deuteronomy 18:15-18 says God will raise up a prophet, that they will hear, like Moses from their midst, among their brethren. Was Jesus a prophet? Did many Jews hear Jesus? Was Jesus among the Jews? Was Jesus a Jew? Muslims should have no problem agreeing that this verse fits Jesus more than Mohammed. Here are a few more points.
a. Deuteronomy 33:1-2 says "the Lord", and Muslims do not call Mohammed their Lord. (‘Alawite Muslims and other Ghulat groups consider Mohammed God, but they are exceptions.)
b. Deuteronomy 34:10 that "since then there has not arisen in Israel a prophet like Moses." This epitaph was written, probably by Joshua, long before Jesus came.
c. Deuteronomy 34:10 mentions "face to face", and Mohammed never said he got his words directly from Allah, but through angels (Sura 2:97). Jesus communicated directly with God the Father according to John 1:18 and other passages.
d. The next verse, 34:11, says no other prophet did those awesome miracles like Moses did. Mohammed, according to what was written in the Qur’an (Sura 17:90-93) never performed miracles like these, except for reciting the Qur’an. (The Qur’an contradicts what later Muslim traditions in the Hadiths say.)
e. In the Qur’an itself, Sura 29:27 says the prophethood came through Isaac and Jacob. In Yusuf Ali’s translation of the Qur’an, he says, "And We gave (Abraham) Isaac and Jacob, and ordained Among his progeny Prophethood and Revelation,…" While the parentheses around Abraham is in Yusuf Ali’s translation, the entire word, "Abraham" is not in the Arabic, and Yusuf Ali felt the need to add "Abraham" to what Muslims view as God’s word.
f. Finally, Jesus’ apostle Peter said this was fulfilled in Jesus in Acts 3:22-26. The apostle Peter would be in a great position to know.
1. Either, Jesus made a great mistake allowing a deceiver like Peter to mislead people for almost 2,000 years who were trying to follow God, and God did not lift a finger to tell people the truth.
2. Or, Jesus knew what He was doing when he selected Peter, and God did not correct something that needed no correction.
3. Or else, Peter did not say that, and the book of Acts was corrupted prior to the first extra-Biblical mention we have of this referring to Christ, which was about 138 A.D.
The early church fathers mentioned this verse as referring to Jesus. Some of them were
Justin Martyr 138-165 A.D.
Irenaeus 182-188 A.D.
Tertullian 200-240 A.D.
Origen 225-254 A.D.
Chrysostom 407 A.D.
Justin Martyr was born around 114 A.D., though some think 110 A.D. His first Apology was written between 138 A.D. and his death in 165 A.D. Obviously, he had to have read of this prophecy referring to Christ before he wrote it down.
A Muslim would have to say not only that Justin was wrong, but all New Testament manuscripts recorded Peter’s saying incorrectly.
In addition, translations to other languages were made very early; the dates above or not the dates of the first translations, but only the dates of the earliest manuscripts that survive today. These are valuable because they are an independent chain of transmission, that people can use as a crosscheck on the Greek manuscripts. The chain of transmission of these manuscripts, from Africa to Asia, all agree that Peter said this refers to Jesus.
See When Cultists Ask p.43-44,45-46 and When Critics Ask p.125-126, p.131-132, and p.133 for more info.
Q10: In 1 Sam 1:2; Gen 16:2; 25:1; 29:23-24;28-29, 2 Sam 20:3, etc., why did God permit polygamy (many wives) for Abraham, Jacob, and David and others?
A: Four points to consider in the answer
1. Polygamy was never God’s perfect will, as implied when He made Adam and Eve. He said the two (not many) shall become one flesh.
2. God permitted many things, such as divorce (Matthew 5:31-32; Mark 10:2-12), being that their hearts were hard. Some things, such as polygamy and rash vows, God left for people to figure out were not good.
3. Even in Old Testament times, polygamy was not necessarily the norm. There were only fifteen examples in the Old Testament until Solomon’s time, and four or five after that time.
4. Ever since the time of Paul, and today, godly elders and deacons are not to have more than one wife (1 Tim 3:2,12; Titus 1:6).
Q11: In 1 Sam 13:14, how could David be a man after God’s own heart, since David later committed some very serious sins?
A: This is a question for Muslims as well as Christians, because the Qur’an also speaks of David as a true prophet. However, while most Muslims think David was sinless, the Bible shows that David sinned greatly. David was a man after God’s own heart, not because he never sinned, but because, having sinned, he repented.
Q12: In 1 Sam 25:4-35, why was David [allegedly] running a protection racket?
A: No, but the questioner would be right in not wanting to follow a religion whose prophet and leaders profited from protection rackets. Four points to consider in the answer.
1. David did not have a protection racket, since David, the one doing protecting, was giving wealth away to those he was protecting, as David did in 1 Samuel 30:26-31.
2. David was not asking Nabal for 1) a regular payment, or 2) gold, silver, or any other valuables.
David was merely requesting whatever food Nabal could spare. Nabal never complained of any request for money of valuables. Rather, 1 Samuel 25:11 shows that Nabal understood this request as only for bread, water, and meat.
3. David later acknowledged, with regret, that he would have done evil to have killed Nabal and his men, according to 1 Samuel 25:13,33-34, 39.
4. David was not angry with Nabal because he broke any kind of agreement for protection. Rather, David was angry with Nabal’’ for his insulting answer in 1 Samuel 12:10-11.
In contrast to this, Muslims from the time of Mohammed onward have had a special tax on just Christians and Jews called the Jizya. According to the Bukhari Hadith vol.2 page 7, in the glossary Jizya is a "Head-tax imposed by Islam on the people of the Scriptures and other people who have a releaved book (Non-Muslims) when they are under Muslim rule." Muslims even say that Christians and Jews should be grateful for the Jizya, because without it, they would have no right to dwell in Muslim lands without being killed.
Q13: In 1 Ki 11:1-3, why did Solomon have 700 wives and 300 concubines, which contradicted God’s command in Dt 17:17?
A: Deuteronomy 17:17 says the king should not have many wives, and David and Solomon sinned by doing so. Marrying wives was a common way of strengthening alliances, but it was still wrong to disobey God. 1 Kings 11:1-4 says that Solomon sinned in marrying these foreign wives, and turned his heart away from God.
Hard Sayings of the Bible p.229 has an interesting application of this. While Solomon would have set a higher standard as an example, he probably began to see himself as beyond the need for this restriction from God. When a Christian leader today regards himself as beyond God’s restrictions for common Christians, that leader is in very serious spiritual trouble. In the Qur’an no Muslim man is permitted to have more than four wives, with the only exception being for Mohammed, who apparently had about 15 wives after Khadija, plus two concubines.
Q14: In 1 Ki 11:1-3, does this approve of polygamy?
A: No, because Solomon sinned in having so many wives. In general, the Old Testament permitted polygamy, but did not encourage it as Genesis 1 says, "the two", not "the many" shall become one flesh. In the New Testament, polygamy was not outlawed, but no elder or church leader (episcopos) could have more than one wife, as 1 Timothy 3:1 indicates.
Q15: In 2 Ki 2:23-25, why did Elisha, a great prophet who was taken directly to heaven, have a bear kill 40 children because he didn’t like being called ‘baldy’?
A: Three points to consider in the answer.
1. Elisha does not bear the responsibility for the bears, they were sent by God.
2. The Hebrew word for "youth" here can mean people up to around 20 years old. Joseph was a "youth" in Genesis 37:2, as were the soldiers in Abram’s army in Genesis 14:25.
3. Youth gangs could be violent back then just as today.
Q16: Does Ps 45:3-5 refer to Mohammed, as some Muslims claim?
A: No, even Muslims cannot really see this way, except for some of the Ghulat sects of Islam, which think Mohammed actually is God. Psalm 45:6 says, "Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever." (NIV) In addition to Mohammed never claiming to be God, Mohammed never had a throne or a scepter either. See When Critics Ask p.238 and When Cultists Ask p.64 for a complementary answer.
Q17: In Isa 21:7, is the rider on "donkeys" Jesus, and the rider on "camels" Mohammed?
A: No. Three points to consider in the answer.
1. These were messengers at that time coming to report that Babylon has fallen. The only special significance is that perhaps the camel riders might be scouts, donkey riders might be civilians, and charioteers might be military men.
2. The evil Midianites rode on camels too, but that is just as irrelevant as talking about Mohammed here.
3. Finally, there were camel riders (plural), so even if one was Mohammed, this would mean that another camel rider would be coming after him.
There is no point in trying to "strain a gnat and swallow a camel" by trying to use this verse to show consistency with Islam when there is so much in the Bible (Fatherhood of God, Trinity, saved by grace, Holy Spirit, etc.) that runs counter to Islam.
See When Cultists Ask p.79 and When Critics Ask p.269 for more info.
Q18: In Hab 3:3, could this be a prediction of Mohammed?
A: Only Ghulat Muslims should think so, since this verse speaks of "God", not "Mohammed". Some Ghulat Muslim sects do believe Mohammed is God, though that is heresy to Sunni Muslim ears. However, if any Sunni Muslims themselves really took this question seriously, they would have to believe Mohammed is God too, since "God came from Teman".
Other reasons this cannot refer to Mohammed, is that "His praise" does not refer to Mohammed, since the praise is for God." Mount Paran is where the Israelites camped, and far from Mecca. When Cultists Ask p.89 gives essentially the same answer. See the next question and When Critics Ask p.315 for more info.
Finally, some Muslims apparently are concerned to find more continuity between Mohammed and the Bible, just as there is continuity between Jesus and the promised Messiah of the Old Testament. However, some Muslims look for it in the unlikeliest of places, Habakkuk 3:3, in trying to find something to predict Mohammed.
Q19: In the Gospels, did Jesus really die on the cross, or did God miraculously and undetectably substitute someone else as the Muslim Qur’an claims?
A: The different views of Christians and Muslims are a fundamental difference between their two religions.
Christians say it was really Jesus because all Christian and well as non-Christian accounts say it was Jesus. The Allah of Muslims is different from the God of the Bible, and Allah has fooled and deceived all his people into thinking Allah substituted another.
Muslims say Allah is the same as the God of the Bible. Allah’s switching Jesus would not be detectable by anyone, and thus there would be no historical evidence of the switch.
Both can agree that at some point in time, Allah, the god of Islam, totally fooled and deliberately deceived all of Allah’s own people.
Q20: Since God does not have a physical body, how can Jesus be the Son of God?
A: Christians do NOT believe Jesus was the Son of God in a crude physical or sexual sense. Rather this term is an expression of deep meaning of how Jesus is different from every created being. Shi’ite Muslims have a slightly similar concept. When they say ‘Ali is the finger of God, they do not believe that God has ten fingers like people do. Rather, this is an expression with a deeper meaning for them.
Q21: If Jesus is not a created being, how can He be begotten of God?
A: Begotten means "come from" without necessarily being created, a little like Muslims believe the Qur’an was from Allah yet uncreated. Before the beginning of time, Jesus, who is also called the Word of God, came from God the Father. So, in different ways, both Muslims and Christians say the Word of God came from God but was uncreated.
Q22: In Mt 5:17 and Acts 10:10-16, since Jesus said he would not abolish anything in the law, why don’t Christians follow the Old Testament dietary laws like Muslims allegedly do?
A: While neither Christians nor Muslims follow the dietary laws, Christians do not because they listen to Jesus. Five points to consider in the answer.
At this time, Jesus’ followers obeyed the Old Testament dietary laws. Jesus actually said that not one jot or tittle would pass away until all is accomplished.
The fact of Jesus’ resurrection, fundamentally changed the way God dealt with His children. An angel informed Peter, Jesus’ apostle, that God had made all food clean in Acts 10:9-16. Note it does not say these animals were always clean, but rather that God had made them clean.
Even Muslims who bring up this objection, themselves have to agree that some of the Old Testament dietary laws are not to be followed. Muslims feel they can eat camel meat (and Mohammed did so), yet Leviticus 11:3-8; Deuteronomy 14:6-8 prohibit eating it. Mohammed also said it was lawful to eat fat. Ibn-i-Majah 4:3274 p.437, yet Ibn-i-Majah 4:3383 p.495 says that Mohammed knew the Jews were not permitted to eat fat or blood (Lev. 3:17) Even in the Qur’an, Sura 3:50 said that Jesus made lawful some things that were not lawful.
Listen to Jesus in Matthew 15:10,17-20 and Mark 7:14-15. Jesus said it is what comes out of a man that makes him unclean, not what goes in. Mark 7:19 shows that by this Jesus declared all foods clean. If we call Jesus a prophet, we should listen to His words.
A voice from heaven commanded Peter to eat in Acts 10:10-16, showing him that the dietary laws were only in effect until Jesus’ sacrifice, not after. We should obey the voice of God’s angel and Jesus’ apostle.
In conclusion, we should not ignore what God’s prophets said, but listen to them.
Q23: In Lk 3:23-33, how could Mary be descended from Judah, since Elizabeth was from the daughters of Aaron in Lk 1:5, and Mary and Elizabeth were cousins in Lk 1:36?
A: The Bible does not specify the tribe of their mothers.
Therefore, Mary and Elizabeth could be cousins based on the following possibilities:
Two mothers were sisters: If their mothers being were from an unspecified tribe.
Mary mother and Elizabeth’s father siblings: If Mary’s mother were a sister of Elizabeth’s father, thus Mary’s mother would be from Aaron and Levi.
Mary’s father and Elizabeth’s mother siblings: Mary’s father being a brother of Elizabeth’s mother, thus Elizabeth’s mother would be from Judah.
A Muslim saw this as proving Mary was descended from Aaron. This is important to Muslims, because if Mary is not from Aaron, then the Qur’an is in error. Muslims generally believe that the Qur’an on earth is a word for word copy of a tablet of the Qur’an [in Heaven] Sura 85:20-22.
See When Critics Ask p.381 for a similar answer.
Q24: In Jn 14:16-26; 15:26; 16:5-15, was Mohammed prophesied in the New Testament as the Paracletos, or Holy Spirit as some Muslims claim?
A: No. If this were true, then Muslims would believe these five things (which they generally do not)
(1) Mohammed glorified Jesus. (John 16:14)
(2) Allah sent Mohammed in Jesus’ name. (John 14:26)
(3) Mohammed was also sent by Jesus too. (John 16:7)
(4) Mohammed took Jesus’ wisdom and made it known to us. (John 16:15)
(5) Mohammed was "in" the apostles. (John 16:17)
Thus, no knowledgeable Muslim would believe these verses refer to Mohammed. These verses must refer to another, who was sent from God.
On the other hand, maybe Muslims should glorify Jesus, if they think that Mohammed did, based on these verses. One Muslim imam told me they should praise and glorify Jesus, though not worship him.
See When Cultists Ask p.182-183 and When Critics Ask p.419-420 for more info.
Q25: In Acts 4:36, why did the Christian church [allegedly] take the Gospel of Barnabas out of the Bible?
A: It was never taken out; God did not intend for books with false teaching, written over 1,000 years later, to slip in. The Gospel of Barnabas contradicts a key point of both the Bible and the Qur’an, by saying Jesus was NOT the Messiah. The Gospel of Barnabas was a 15th century forgery in Italian with historical anachronisms.
Basic facts show that is not an ancient work. The Gospel of Barnabas is known only in Italian, and no ancient writer ever referred to it. It mentions things that were not used until centuries later. Furthermore, other gospel forgeries written in Arabic were also found in Granada. They were discovered after 1588, and the forgers were Moors. Though one Muslim writer, Ata ur-Rahman, has confused this with another writing called the Letter/Epistle of Barnabas, there is no similarity except for the name.
Who wrote it? Handwriting analysis suggest the gospel of Barnabas might have been written by Fra Marino, a vengeful, disillusioned former father inquisitor of Venice from 1542 to 1550. On the other hand, a Spaniard Anselmo Turmeda (later called Abd-Allah ibn Adb Allah after he converted to Islam) said he was a former priest and studied in Bologna, Italy for ten years. His teacher at Bologna was a secret Muslim. Mention of Spanish coins in the Gospel of Barnabas supports this.
Contradicts both the Bible and Qur’an: Jesus is not the Messiah. ch.83 p.181 ch.97 p.223 ch.42 p.97
The Messiah is Mohammed. ch.97 p.225-227
God created all things for the Messiah. ch.191 p.427
God created everything for Mohammed ch.39 p.91 "[Mohammed] shall be my messenger, for whom I have created all things; who shall give light to the world when he shall come; whose soul was set in a celestial splendour sixty thousand years before I made anything."
"The messenger of God [Mohammed] shall answer: ‘O Lord, I remember that when though didst create me, thou saidst that thou hadst willed to make for love of me the world and paradise, and angels and men, that they might glorify thee by me thy servant.’"ch.55 p.131. Also ch.56. p.133
Some Other Differences with the Qur’an should make Muslims wary of wanting to appeal to this "Gospel". According to the Bukhari Hadith volume 4 no.712 Mohammed said that one of the three worst lies is "to attribute to me what I have not said."
Faithful Muslims who do not have works will be in Hell for 70,000 years. ch.137 p.319
Mohammed will go to Hell and be terrified as he beholds the punishment of others ch.135 p.315
God is a father. ch.133 p.307
God is our Father. (-no sons, though) ch.17 p.31,33
General Errors - Sailing to Inland Cities: These are not just small mistakes, but demonstrate that the author knew very little about the geography and history of Palestine.
Jesus went to the Sea of Galilee, and having embarked in a ship sailed to his city of Nazareth. ch.20 p.41 (Nazareth is inland.)
Pharisees in Jesus’ time were very strange in their ascetism. ch.145 p.337-339
God gave Jesus bad consequences because others called Jesus God. ch.112 p.257
Historical Anachronisms: The point here is not that the Gospel of Barnabas has a few historical oddities. The point is that the numerous errors prove that the book was written during the Middle Ages in Europe.
Coins in chapter 54 (golden denarius divided into sixty minuti) were Spanish.
Abraham’s father claimed there were an infinite number of gods. (The Sumerians did not have the concept of infinity) ch.26 p.57
"Whereupon, as the food was going down [Adam’s throat], he remembered the words of God; wherefore, wishing to stop the food, he put his hand into this throat, where every man has the mark." (The phrase "Adam’s apple" was first a Medieval European phrase) ch.40 p.93
Pilate was governor of Judea, when Jesus was born. ch.3 p.7
Jubilee is now every 100 years. ch.83 p.191-193
Kings’ barons. (Barons were Medieval) ch.131 p.301
You desire horses like knights. (They had no knights in Jesus’ time.) ch.69 p.159
The burden of the republic. ch.69 p.161
Pinnacle where the scribes used to preach. ch.127 p.291 & ch.129 p.297 & ch.12 p.19
Prodigal son, new [leg] hose. ch.147 p.241
Lazarus and his two sisters were proprietors in other towns of Magdala and Bethany, just like in the Middle Ages! ch.194 p.433
Jesus (really Judas) was dressed as a juggler. ch.217 p.475
Pine-cones (There were no pine cones where Jesus lived.) ch.113 p.259
Fistula. (A medical term not used until the Middle Ages for an opening in the body for the purpose of drainage.) ch.120 p.275
Jesus could not read at age 12. ch.9 p.15
Jesus made prayer in union with the messenger of God, and Jesus heard Mohammed’s voice, [Did Mohammed live before he was born?] ch.84 p.195
These "more than a few" errors prove this book was written during the Middle Ages in Europe.
Conclusion: Imagine you were a Muslim who was told that someone found a lost "book" from God. Among other things, this "Sura" mentioned that Mohammed sailed on a boat to Mecca, and this Sura contradicted the teaching of the Bible and contradicted the Qur’an on ten points. The oldest manuscript of the alleged Sura was written in Italian, which is not only not a Mideastern language, but Italian did not exist in the time of Mohammed. Finally, this supposed Sura had some historical customs, which did not occur until 1,000 years later in Europe.
Q26: Has the Bible been corrupted?
A: No. Both the Qur’an and the Bible teach that God preserves His word. According to the Qur’an, in Mohammed’s time the Christians still had the Gospel. We have many copies of the New Testament from 100 to 200 A.D., and the Old Testament Dead Sea scrolls from prior to Mohammed’s time. See the first answer for more on the Old Testament.
Q27: Why is there uncertainty in some Bible verses?
A: God promised to preserve His word, and it has been preserved such that there is no uncertainty that affects God’s teaching. God did allow insignificant transmission errors, though. Apparently God is more concerned with what we believe and do than the individual syllables. Likewise, there are changes in Qur’an due to abrogated verses and ‘Uthman’s editing.
Even today, there are differences in Arabic versions of the Qur’an. For example, Geisler and Saleeb in Answering Islam p.193 point out some Arabic discrepancies: Sura 28:48 [sahirani/sihrani], Sura 32:6 [ummahatuhum/ummahatuhum wa hyua abun lahum] Sura 34:18 [rabbana ba’id/rabuna ba’ada], Sura 38:22 [tis’un/tis’atun]. Sura 19:35 [tantaruna/yamtaruna]. See W. St. Clair-Tisdell A Manual of the Leading Muhammedan Objections to Christianity (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1904 p.60.). There are also significant differences between the ‘Uthman’s Qur’an and the Qur’an used today. Why the changes, and why do they not change it back?
Q28: Why did Christians have the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, Catholics and Protestants in Ireland, Serbs (Greek Orthodox) against Croats (Roman Catholic), and Bosnian Muslims?
Jesus was the Prince of peace, and He never said to kill someone because they had a different religion. The "Christian" Crusades were not a part of the Christianity of the Bible. The Crusades (or Christian Jihads) were an evil thing Europeans learned from Islamic Jihads.
Q29: Can I get to heaven without accepting Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior?
No, you cannot get to Heaven if you refuse to take Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Four points to consider in the answer.
Fairness: God is good, Holy, fair, and just to all (Hebrews 6:10) God’s judges people based on the knowledge they have (Romans 4:15; 5:13). Abraham did not know the name of Jesus, yet He followed God and He was still saved through Jesus. (John 8:56, Hebrews 9)
Only One Way: We cannot get to heaven on our own righteousness; we need God’s mercy and grace through Jesus. Jesus is not just a way to God, but the one and only way to God. (Jn 14:6; 15:5; Acts 4:12)
Reject Jesus as the Son of God and you reject Heaven: Even to a very religious people, the Jewish Pharisees, Jesus said that if you reject Him, you will indeed die in your sins. (John 8:24)
God seeks: God does not want anyone to perish (2 Peter 3:9), but as Jeremiah wept over his people (Jeremiah 13:17; 14:17) and as Jesus wept over Jerusalem (Luke 19:41-44) and as Peter pleaded with his listeners (Acts 2:40), God, with no less desire, seeks out His own.
Q30. How do Christians pray?
A: The Bible has many prayers we can use as examples, but Jesus specifically taught His disciples how to pray in Matt 6:9-13. Christians view prayer as talking with God; hence few Christian prayers are memorized. Christian prayers often end with phrases such as "in Jesus’ name", because it is by Jesus’ sacrifice that we have access to pray to the Father. (John 16:26)
Christians are to pray to God continuously, as commanded in 1 Thessalonians 5:17; Eph 6:18; Phil 4:4;6; Heb 13:15; and by the example in Rom 1:9-10 and Col 1:9, 1 Thessalonians 1:2-3; 3:10. This is unlike Islam, where there are specific times prayer is forbidden in Bukhari 2:283. Fiqh us-Sunnah vol.2 p.11 says "‘Umar saw him and told him: ‘Sit, the People of the Book were destroyed because they did not differentiate between their prayers.’ The Prophet said: ‘Well said, Ibn al-Khattab.’"
Q31. Christianity is not the religion of my culture or my parents.
A: If you go back far enough in time, perhaps everyone has ancestors who were an idol-worshipper, murderer, cannibal, burned widows, or did similar horrible things. Should you follow their example? No! In Luke 16:19-31 Jesus speaks of a man in Hell who wishes someone would warn his brothers not to do what he did. Perhaps some of your ancestors, in Hell right now, are hoping that you will turn and not do what they did.
Even if it was the religion of your culture, you still have to choose between following traditional culture and following God. In Jesus’ time they had so many extra traditions and legalism, that Jesus said they had no room for His word (John 8:37). That is why they wanted to crucify Jesus.
Belief in the in the true God was not the religion of Abraham’s parents either. Abraham had to make a choice: either follow God or follow tradition. Even if a tradition is not wrong, if you love and follow your tradition more than God, then your tradition is a stumbling block for you. In 2 Corinthians 11:1-4 Paul wrote of his concern about anything that would lead us away from our devotion to Christ.
Q32: Why are you so negative about Islam?
A: We love Muslim people and wish the best for them - that they would live in joy in Heaven forever. Since Islam has led people away from God, we are critical of Islam for their benefit. However, we are not nearly as negative about Islam as Muslims themselves. When worshippers at a mosque in Pakistan are gunned down, simply because they are Shi’ites, that is negative. When Tamerlane, who built a mosque, made a mound of 70,000 skulls of the Muslims people living in Isfahan, that is monstrous.
Christians should not be negative toward Muslims (or anyone else) is three ways.
1. We never curse Muslims like Mohammed cursed us. At the end of Mohammed’s life he said, "May Allah curse the Jews and Christians for they built the places of worship at the graves of their Prophets." (Bukhari 1:427 p.255). Notice that he did not differentiate between true and hypocritical Christians; he just cursed all of them.
2. We do not want to say anything that "slanderous" (= false + negative). For example, that the Jews were wicked because they called Ezra (‘Uzair) son of Allah, as the Qur’an in Sura 9:30 says. Jews worshipped Ezra according to Bukhari 6:105 p.86.
3. Mohammed said to "lampoon the pagans in verse" according to Bukhari 8:174 p.113.
So at least we can agree with modern Muslims (I hope) that being negative like this is not what a person of God should do.
As for us, Jesus spent over 1/3 of all His recorded words either rebuking, warning specific people, warning in general, or correcting false things. He was encouraging also, and we are too. Not only do we ask, "What would Jesus do?", but we also should ask, "What would Jesus want us to say?" Yes we are "warners" like Jeremiah, John the Baptist, Paul, and even Jesus, but we want you to know that we also love you. We would never want to hurt you, even though Muslims hurt Christians, and we want only the best for you.
Q33: Why do you Christians [allegedly] attack Muslims?
A: We care for Muslims people; we do not attack them. Three words answer this question: Bosnians, Jesus, and villagers.
Bosnians: When Serbs were ruthlessly slaughtering Bosnian Muslims, Americans stood against that. Serbs might have perceived America as being against them, but we were not against Serbian people. We were for protecting the oppressed, and we were against the atrocities that some (but not all) Serbs did. Likewise we have nothing against the Afghans, as our aid shipments to them show, but when our own civilians were attacked, we responded to try to protect ourselves from this happening again.
Jesus said we were to turn the other cheek, and we do that as individuals. However, on a government level Romans 13:4 says it does not bear the sword in vain. Western culture is not Christian, though Christianity has heavily influenced it. Western culture is not always right, but we have a duty to stand against what is wrong. There are things wrong besides murdering people. Treating women as second class citizens, forbidding them to work outside the home, counting their witness in court as only half that of a man, and who should rarely be outside the home, are all wrong ideas. God is mocked when it is done in His name.
Villagers in Indonesia and Sudan are being slaughtered today simply because they are not Muslims. Would you tell me why many Muslims across the world feel they should be doing this, and yet Muslims think any peaceful, rational criticism of Islamic practices is an "attack" on them?
Creation and Big Bang
How was this universe created? By a big bang, evolution in millions of years or by God in six days as the Bible describes? Today, scientists and evolutionists claim that this world is millions and billions of years old and was created by a great explosion that took place millions of years ago. Many scientists believe that this solar system is formed by big bang. They say millions of years ago, a great explosion took place that produced energy and the planets, sun, moon and earth were created. At the same time, scientists have failed to produce life by exploding rocks or by generating energy or chemical reactions of amino acids.
The Quran says that the big bang resulted in the creation, as we read in Al-Anbiyâ' sura 21:30, "Do the unbelievers not realize that the heavens and the earth used to be one solid mass that we exploded into existence? And from water, we made all living things. Would they believe?"
The Quran also says, 41:11-12 that, "Moreover He comprehended in His design the sky, and it had been (as) smoke."
Osama Abdullah writes in his article, "The Big Bang Theory and the Cosmic Crunch in the Noble Quran", (Published in http://answering-christianity.com), "Anyway, as we clearly see above in the Noble Verses, Allah Almighty initially created the Universe or the "samaa" with smoke (Dukhan). Dukhan in Arabic refers to the smoke coming from fire, which is always HOT GAS. "
Today many scientists also believe that earth was like a fireball and it slowly cooled down in millions of years. And they believe that "somehow" one cell came into existence, and by dividing, it formed a small body and life began in this planet. But there is no evidence of all these things. One tiny cell cannot form different kinds of species, because every tiny cell has all the genetic information in it. If the genetic information in a cell varies a little bit, it can cause deformation. Many scientists have tried to combine chemicals and make living organisms, but no scientist has ever produced life. So, if we see a perfect creation of the universe, then there must me a creator behind it. If there is a design, then there must be a designer. I do not think that the universe came together automatically without a designer and made perfect living conditions are available for us.
Once an atheist and science student said in a internet message board, "Never have I encountered any reputable scientific fact that indicates that the earth is not more than 6000 years. I'm normally pretty accepting of people's ideas, but young-Earth theories are nothing more than deliberate ignorance."
But Vinod K. Isaac has discussed the problem of the big bang theory and the age of the earth, which is predicted as millions of years old, in his article, "Creation of Universe" (Published in "In Search of Peace" Magazine, first appeared in Vol. 5 / Issue 20 / November 29-2001)
"If you take any archeology magazine you will find that the oldest human skeleton found is only 10,000 years old; that is, by carbon dating method. Anybody said otherwise has been found to be a fraud. If Earth were billions of years old and dinosaur lived millions of years back, then today we would have seen a population explosion in such a way that there would have been millions of people in 1 square inch. Theoretically impossible!!
The only way to determine human skeleton's age is carbon dating method and carbon dating method does not work beyond 35000 years. And even where it seems to work there also it has problems because it is based upon radio active decay of C14 and C14 is formed by Sun light and absorbed by the plants. C14 is not formed in human being. Human beings get C14 by eating plants. So, originally humans do not have C14 and absence of C14 gives age in millions; do you see the contrast? What you see a skeleton 3.5 million years old and so on, it is not the age of the skeleton but the age of the rock that surrounds the skeleton. And this age is also based upon hypothesis. In other words, it is on an assumption of cooling of supernova. So, nothing are facts here, only assumptions or in other words daydreaming.
I still maintain that no human skeleton found over 10,000 years according to carbon dating system. And carbon dating is not reliable because of many reasons. I gave few reasons already. Other than that Carbon dating is reliable only if no other factor has played any role in Radioactive decay. And you know that radiation takes place in the earth every moment and anytime the radiation will cross the threshold level, it will cause decay more rapidly than we can imagine. There are many rivers already having heavy water and other radioactive elements because of nuclear power plants and so on. The bombardment of Alpha and Beta and other rays can make the decay thousands of times faster.
Secondly, every year we have an increase of surface level by about 0.5-2 inches due to dust rain. And if earth were billions of years old, then surface level would have been very high. Calculate the surface level by the rate of dust rain deposit and you will find that it is impossible to accommodate the billions of years' theory.
The population explosion is because of the fact that we have a steady percent of increase every century. If you draw a graph by the population verses years, you will see as if explosion of population happened only recently but if you draw a graph of percent growth and years you will see a steady increase. That means every century there is a certain percentage of increase. And when you make statistical calculations based on it you find that the origin of population goes only to about 4500 years back. So the evolution science talks about cannot happen. If there were 10,000 animals 3.5 million years back then, give me just 10000 animals in the whole world per generation and when I calculate how many skeletons we will have in 3.5 million years, gives me a figure that does not match with what we have in hand. Remember, just 10,000 I have said, in the whole world and 3.5 million not billions.
1. Calculate the percentage growth and find out what would have been the state.
2. If we take the accumulative total of all those animals how many skeletons we must have found? If you say that the rest is not preserved then what we have found are not in the shape to determine the age. Because we do not know through what stages the skeleton had gone before reaching to our hands.
So, it is not possible that this earth is millions of years old. "
The Bible describes how God marvelously created the universe, as we see in the first two chapters of the Bible and in many other scriptures. The Bible describes that God created heaven and earth, stars, sun, moon, trees, birds, animals etc., by His word. He spoke and it happened. The Bible tells us that His word has creative power. But God created man and woman differently. He did not create them by just speaking, but he took the dust of the earth and made them in His image and in His likeness. The Bible tells us that He breathed the breath of life in the nostril of Adam and he became a living soul.
Scientists have tried to create life in laboratory conditions, but they have failed. Even today, with all the modern equipment, life is still a mystery.
Yes, there is a designer who created whole universe, including you and me. He loves us and cares for us, and there is a purpose with which He created us. On this planet earth, He has kept us to know our creator and have fellowship with Him. We may walk with Him, and finally enter into eternity. If you have not yet known the purpose of your life, this is the day when you can discover the new world of blessings and happiness with almighty God by knowing Him personally.
Creation of Human beings
The Quran does not give a clear picture of how man was created, rather it confuses the issue. In different places, The Quran says different things; that man was created by "Water," "Blood Clot," "A drop of Thickening fluid," "Dust," etc. Let us look at a few verses from the Quran.
Created from Water:
The Criterion, The Standard Sura 25:54, "It is He Who has created man from water:"
The Prophets Sura 21:30, "We made from water every living thing. Will they not then believe?"
Created from mere Blood Clot:
The Clot, Read! Sura 96:2, "Created man, out of a (mere) clot of congealed blood."
A drop of Thickening Fluid:
The Emissaries, Winds Sent Forth Sura 77:20, "Have We not created you from a fluid (held) despicable."
The Picktall translation says, The Bee Sura 16:4, "He hath created man from a drop of fluid."
Some translations calls it a "sperm drop," but the question is: where did this sperm drop came from when there was no human being?
From Dust:
The Romans, The Byzantines Sura 30:20, "Among His Signs is this, that He created you from dust."
But contrary to the Quran, the Bible gives a very clear picture of creation of human beings (Adam and Eve) that talks about advanced modern science. The Bible talks about the creation of man and woman in Genesis 2:7 and Genesis 2:21-23, as we read in Genesis 2:7, "And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being."
Genesis 2:21-23, "And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib that the LORD God had taken from man, He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. And Adam said, 'This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.'"
These four verses of the Bible talks about advanced medical science. Moses, who wrote Genesis around 1400 B.C almost 3500 years ago, while writing these things might not have fully understood the meaning of what he was writing.
He writes in Genesis 2:7 that God made man from dust of the ground. And Job, the oldest book of the Bible, says, in chapter 10, verses 9-12, "Remember, I pray, that You have made me like clay. And will You turn me into dust again? Did you not pour me out like milk, and curdle me like cheese, clothe me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews? You have granted me life and favor, And Your care has preserved my spirit."
We read in the Bible that God took the clay, it seems God made a paste, poured it like milk and curdled like cheese. It seems God used a mold to make human beings. He allowed the clay paste to set in the mold.
Today, scientists agree that our body is made up of dust and water.
Then we read about the creation of Eve in Genesis 2:21-23, "And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept."
We can see that God put him to sleep, or in other words, God gave him anesthesia as our modern doctors do so that patients may not feel the pain.
Then further we read, "and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the LORD God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man."
We read here a description of operation done in the body of Adam by God Himself as our doctors do today. God removed the rib from Adam's body and made into a woman. Why God took the rib, why not other parts of the body?
Recently I read one article, "Regenerating ribs -Adam and that 'missing' rib" by Carl Wieland, First published in: Creation Ex Nihilo 21(4):46-47, September - November 1999. In this article author talks about his experience - after having met with an accident he had to go through series of operations to reconstruct many parts of his body, particularly facial bones.
Carl Wieland writes in his article, "These operations often required using my own bone for grafting. I noticed that the plastic surgeon would keep going back to the right side of my ribcage, through the same horizontal scar, actually, to get more bone for these procedures. One day, I asked him why he hadn't 'run out of bone'. He looked at me blankly, and then explained that he and his team took the whole rib out, each time. 'We leave the periosteum intact, so the rib usually just grows right back again'.
"Despite having trained and practiced as a family doctor, I was intrigued; I had never realized this before. The periosteum (the literal meaning of this word is 'around the bone') is a membrane that covers every bone -- it's the reason you can get things stuck between your teeth while gnawing on a leg of lamb, for instance. The periosteum contains cells that can manufacture new bone. Particularly in young people, 'rib periosteum has a remarkable ability to regenerate bone, perhaps more so than any other bone'.
"Thoracic (chest) surgeons routinely remove ribs, and these often grow back, in whole or in part. A lot depends on the care with which the rib is removed; it needs to be 'peeled' out of its periosteum to leave this membrane as intact as possible. A major reason why the rib is the ideal situation for such regeneration is that the attached intercostal muscles provide it with a good blood supply."
How marvelously God created everything. God who is omniscient, who knows everything, knew it that from where He had to take bone for making Eve and it would not harm Adam.
Today medical science has discovered new technology called cloning of plants, animals and human beings. In this technology, scientists take a cell of a living organism and create a genetically identical copy. The original cell contains DNA that contains all the genetic information of that particular species. So, scientists can use one cell and make a copy or clone of living thing.
If a limited human being can clone or make a copy of a living creature, then how much more wonderfully can God make a copy of Adam? And He did it by taking a rib of Adam and by making it a woman.
I am sure that Moses was not aware of his writings containing high medical science. The psalmist says, in Psalm 139:14, "I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well."
Yes, He made us wonderfully and marvelously. He knows that we are only dust. He loves us and cares for us. He wants to bless our lives as He blessed Adam and Eve.
How many Creators?
The Quran says, in Sura 23:14 and Sura 37:125 that Allah is "the Best of Creators," as we read in The Believers Sura 23:14, "Then fashioned We the drop a clot, then fashioned We the clot a little lump, then fashioned We the little lump bones, then clothed the bones with flesh, and then produced it as another creation. So blessed be Allah, the Best of creators!"
Those Who Set the Ranks, Drawn Up in Ranks Sura 37:125, "Will ye cry unto Baal and forsake the Best of creators?"
But the Bible very clearly says that there is only ONE Creator, i.e. God Himself. We read in Isaiah 44:24, "Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, And He who formed you from the womb: 'I am the LORD, who makes all things, Who stretches out the heavens all alone, Who spreads abroad the earth by Myself.'"
Creation and Shape of Earth
The Bible tells in three places about the shape of earth as circle, or God drew a circle on the face of the deep. Hebrew word for circle is chuwg {khoog} that means circle, circuit or compass. This Hebrew word is also used for sphere or round.
Solomon, who wrote Proverbs almost 3000 years back, writes the exact shape of the earth, as we read in Proverbs 8:27, "When He prepared the heavens, I was there, when He drew a circle on the face of the deep,"
Isaiah, who wrote the book of Isaiah more than 2600 years back, says, in Isaiah 40:22, "It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in."
Job, the oldest book of the Bible that was written about 2000-1000 B.C. (4000-3000 years back), also gives the exact shape of the earth--i.e. round. We read in Job 22:14, "Thick clouds cover Him, so that He cannot see, and He walks above the circle of heaven." Not only that but Job also gives one step further information about the earth saying, "He hangs the earth on nothing," as we read in Job 26:7, "He stretches out the north over empty space; He hangs the earth on nothing."
The three different writers wrote the same thing in different time periods and gave the most accurate shape of the earth that was discovered by modern scientists only few centuries ago.
But contrary to the Bible, the Quran never mentions the round shape of the earth, but in many places, the Quran says that the earth is like a carpet--that is, a flat thing. In many places, Allah compares the earth with carpet.
Ta-ha, Sura 20:53, "He Who has, made for you the earth like a carpet spread out; has enabled you to go about therein by roads (and channels); and has sent down water from the sky. With it have We produced diverse pairs of plants each separate from the others."
Noah, Sura 71:19, "'And Allah has made the earth for you as a carpet (spread out)."
Al-hijr, Stoneland, Rock City, Sura 15:19, "And the earth We have spread out (like a carpet); set thereon mountains firm and immovable; and produced therein all kinds of things in due balance."
So, we can see that the Quran, which was written almost 1500 years back, had no idea of the earth's shape.
Many people have claimed that according to the Bible, the shape of the earth is flat because The Bible says that earth has four ends and four corners. Osama Abdullah writes in his article, "The Bible says: The Earth is flat!" (Published in http://www.answering-christianity.com), "The Bible claims that Earth has four ends and four corners. Nobody can ever think a ball or a cycle to have corners and ends! Only flat items can have corners and ends, and this is exactly what the bible is trying to express regarding the shape of the earth. The earth is not flat, as once thought and it has no corners or ends at all. If Magnetic Poles can be taken as ends or corners of earth, then this definitely opposed to the axis of rotation."
Then he quoted few verses from the Bible to show that the Bible talks about "Four Corners."
Isaiah 11:12, "And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the FOUR CORNERS OF THE EARTH." (KJV)
But, of course, he is wrong. Even today we talk about four corners of the earth--North, South, East and West. It is speaking language. Just because speaking language is used, it does not make earth flat, as the Bible gives the exact shape of the earth.
Creation was done in Six days or in Eight days?
The Bible very clearly talks about the creation done in six normal days but the Quran confuses it by making it eight days.
We read in (signs) Spelled Out, Ha-mim Sura 41:9, "Say: Is it that ye deny Him Who created the earth in two Days? And do ye join equals with Him? He is the Lord of (all) the Worlds." Sura 41:10, "He set on the (earth), mountains standing firm, high above it, and bestowed blessings on the earth, and measure therein all things to give them nourishment in due proportion, in four Days, in accordance with (the needs of) those who seek (Sustenance)." Sura 41:11, "Moreover, He comprehended in His design the sky, and it had been (as) smoke: He said to it and to the earth: 'Come ye together, willingly or unwillingly.' They said, 'We do come (together), in willing obedience.'" Sura 41:12, "So He completed them as seven firmaments in two Days, and He assigned to each heaven its duty and command. And We adorned the lower heaven with lights, and (provided it) with guard. Such is the Decree of (Him) the Exalted in Might, Full of Knowledge."
If Allah is full of knowledge, then why so much of confusion?
Sunset or Sunrise
Where does the sun go after sunset?
The Quran answers in Sad, (the Letter) Sad ( S ) 38:32, "And he said, "Truly do I love the love of good, with a view to the glory of my Lord,"- until (the sun) was hidden in the veil (of night)."
Further, the Quran says, in The Cave 18:86, "Until, when he reached the setting of the sun, he found it set in a spring of murky water: Near it he found a People: We said: 'O Zul-qarnain! (thou hast authority,) either to punish them, or to treat them with kindness.'"
In the above verses, the Quran says that the "sun is hidden in the veil of night and sets in a spring of murky water" which clearly shows the lack of knowledge of Allah in this matter.
Further Hadith says, in Volume 4, Book 54, Number 421: - Beginning of Creation -
Narrated Abu Dhar
The Prophet asked me at sunset, "Do you know where the sun goes (at the time of sunset)?" I replied, "Allah and His Apostle know better." He said, "It goes (i.e. travels) till it prostrates Itself underneath the Throne and takes the permission to rise again, and it is permitted and then (a time will come when) it will be about to prostrate itself but its prostration will not be accepted, and it will ask permission to go on its course but it will not be permitted, but it will be ordered to return whence it has come and so it will rise in the west. And that is the interpretation of the Statement of Allah: "And the sun Runs its fixed course For a term (decreed). that is The Decree of (Allah) The Exalted in Might, The All-Knowing" (36.38).
Again, we read in Hadith Volume 6, Book 60, Number 326: - Prophetic Commentary on the Qur'an (Tafseer of the Prophet (pbuh)) -
Narrated Abu Dharr
Once I was with the Prophet in the mosque at the time of sunset. The Prophet said, "O Abu Dharr! Do you know where the sun sets?" I replied, "Allah and His Apostle know best." He said, "It goes and prostrates underneath (Allah's) Throne; and that is Allah's Statement."And the sun runs on its fixed course for a term (decreed). And that is the decree of All-Mighty, the All-Knowing."(36.38)
In an article, "The Quest for Truth," [Secular Philosophy of MohaGuru Aroj Ali Matubbar] published inhttp://humanists.net/avijit/aroj_ali/quest_for_truth_1.html says, "But we have no idea about the exact location of the throne. However, we are told that the sun spends the whole night there in prayer and rises in the east at dawn."
And Hadith says about the sunrise:
Volume 4, Book 54, Number 494:
Narrated Ibn Umar:
Allah's Apostle said, "When the (upper) edge of the sun appears (in the morning), don't perform a prayer till the sun appears in full, and when the lower edge of the sun sets, don't perform a prayer till it sets completely. And you should not seek to pray at sunrise or sunset for the sun rises between two sides of the head of the devil (or Satan)."
Does not these verses clearly say that Allah does not know where the sun goes at the time of sunset? Not only that, the above verses very clearly says that sun runs on its fixed course that is scientifically incorrect. It was written because they had no knowledge of sun going other side.
Rainbow
Muslims say that, "There was no rainbow before Noah's time" (Gen 9:11-17).
The Answer is, True. According to the Bible, there was no rain before the time of Noah. Genesis 2:5-6, "There were no plants or grain growing on the earth, for the LORD God had not sent any rain. And no one was there to cultivate the soil. But water came up out of the ground and watered all the land. And if there were no rain clouds."
It is believed that at the time of flood, rain came first time on the earth. And if there were no rain clouds then it was not possible that rainbow can be formed or seen. So, the Bible account is not wrong but gives accurate information.
How was this universe created? By a big bang, evolution in millions of years or by God in six days as the Bible describes? Today, scientists and evolutionists claim that this world is millions and billions of years old and was created by a great explosion that took place millions of years ago. Many scientists believe that this solar system is formed by big bang. They say millions of years ago, a great explosion took place that produced energy and the planets, sun, moon and earth were created. At the same time, scientists have failed to produce life by exploding rocks or by generating energy or chemical reactions of amino acids.
The Quran says that the big bang resulted in the creation, as we read in Al-Anbiyâ' sura 21:30, "Do the unbelievers not realize that the heavens and the earth used to be one solid mass that we exploded into existence? And from water, we made all living things. Would they believe?"
The Quran also says, 41:11-12 that, "Moreover He comprehended in His design the sky, and it had been (as) smoke."
Osama Abdullah writes in his article, "The Big Bang Theory and the Cosmic Crunch in the Noble Quran", (Published in http://answering-christianity.com), "Anyway, as we clearly see above in the Noble Verses, Allah Almighty initially created the Universe or the "samaa" with smoke (Dukhan). Dukhan in Arabic refers to the smoke coming from fire, which is always HOT GAS. "
Today many scientists also believe that earth was like a fireball and it slowly cooled down in millions of years. And they believe that "somehow" one cell came into existence, and by dividing, it formed a small body and life began in this planet. But there is no evidence of all these things. One tiny cell cannot form different kinds of species, because every tiny cell has all the genetic information in it. If the genetic information in a cell varies a little bit, it can cause deformation. Many scientists have tried to combine chemicals and make living organisms, but no scientist has ever produced life. So, if we see a perfect creation of the universe, then there must me a creator behind it. If there is a design, then there must be a designer. I do not think that the universe came together automatically without a designer and made perfect living conditions are available for us.
Once an atheist and science student said in a internet message board, "Never have I encountered any reputable scientific fact that indicates that the earth is not more than 6000 years. I'm normally pretty accepting of people's ideas, but young-Earth theories are nothing more than deliberate ignorance."
But Vinod K. Isaac has discussed the problem of the big bang theory and the age of the earth, which is predicted as millions of years old, in his article, "Creation of Universe" (Published in "In Search of Peace" Magazine, first appeared in Vol. 5 / Issue 20 / November 29-2001)
"If you take any archeology magazine you will find that the oldest human skeleton found is only 10,000 years old; that is, by carbon dating method. Anybody said otherwise has been found to be a fraud. If Earth were billions of years old and dinosaur lived millions of years back, then today we would have seen a population explosion in such a way that there would have been millions of people in 1 square inch. Theoretically impossible!!
The only way to determine human skeleton's age is carbon dating method and carbon dating method does not work beyond 35000 years. And even where it seems to work there also it has problems because it is based upon radio active decay of C14 and C14 is formed by Sun light and absorbed by the plants. C14 is not formed in human being. Human beings get C14 by eating plants. So, originally humans do not have C14 and absence of C14 gives age in millions; do you see the contrast? What you see a skeleton 3.5 million years old and so on, it is not the age of the skeleton but the age of the rock that surrounds the skeleton. And this age is also based upon hypothesis. In other words, it is on an assumption of cooling of supernova. So, nothing are facts here, only assumptions or in other words daydreaming.
I still maintain that no human skeleton found over 10,000 years according to carbon dating system. And carbon dating is not reliable because of many reasons. I gave few reasons already. Other than that Carbon dating is reliable only if no other factor has played any role in Radioactive decay. And you know that radiation takes place in the earth every moment and anytime the radiation will cross the threshold level, it will cause decay more rapidly than we can imagine. There are many rivers already having heavy water and other radioactive elements because of nuclear power plants and so on. The bombardment of Alpha and Beta and other rays can make the decay thousands of times faster.
Secondly, every year we have an increase of surface level by about 0.5-2 inches due to dust rain. And if earth were billions of years old, then surface level would have been very high. Calculate the surface level by the rate of dust rain deposit and you will find that it is impossible to accommodate the billions of years' theory.
The population explosion is because of the fact that we have a steady percent of increase every century. If you draw a graph by the population verses years, you will see as if explosion of population happened only recently but if you draw a graph of percent growth and years you will see a steady increase. That means every century there is a certain percentage of increase. And when you make statistical calculations based on it you find that the origin of population goes only to about 4500 years back. So the evolution science talks about cannot happen. If there were 10,000 animals 3.5 million years back then, give me just 10000 animals in the whole world per generation and when I calculate how many skeletons we will have in 3.5 million years, gives me a figure that does not match with what we have in hand. Remember, just 10,000 I have said, in the whole world and 3.5 million not billions.
1. Calculate the percentage growth and find out what would have been the state.
2. If we take the accumulative total of all those animals how many skeletons we must have found? If you say that the rest is not preserved then what we have found are not in the shape to determine the age. Because we do not know through what stages the skeleton had gone before reaching to our hands.
So, it is not possible that this earth is millions of years old. "
The Bible describes how God marvelously created the universe, as we see in the first two chapters of the Bible and in many other scriptures. The Bible describes that God created heaven and earth, stars, sun, moon, trees, birds, animals etc., by His word. He spoke and it happened. The Bible tells us that His word has creative power. But God created man and woman differently. He did not create them by just speaking, but he took the dust of the earth and made them in His image and in His likeness. The Bible tells us that He breathed the breath of life in the nostril of Adam and he became a living soul.
Scientists have tried to create life in laboratory conditions, but they have failed. Even today, with all the modern equipment, life is still a mystery.
Yes, there is a designer who created whole universe, including you and me. He loves us and cares for us, and there is a purpose with which He created us. On this planet earth, He has kept us to know our creator and have fellowship with Him. We may walk with Him, and finally enter into eternity. If you have not yet known the purpose of your life, this is the day when you can discover the new world of blessings and happiness with almighty God by knowing Him personally.
Creation of Human beings
The Quran does not give a clear picture of how man was created, rather it confuses the issue. In different places, The Quran says different things; that man was created by "Water," "Blood Clot," "A drop of Thickening fluid," "Dust," etc. Let us look at a few verses from the Quran.
Created from Water:
The Criterion, The Standard Sura 25:54, "It is He Who has created man from water:"
The Prophets Sura 21:30, "We made from water every living thing. Will they not then believe?"
Created from mere Blood Clot:
The Clot, Read! Sura 96:2, "Created man, out of a (mere) clot of congealed blood."
A drop of Thickening Fluid:
The Emissaries, Winds Sent Forth Sura 77:20, "Have We not created you from a fluid (held) despicable."
The Picktall translation says, The Bee Sura 16:4, "He hath created man from a drop of fluid."
Some translations calls it a "sperm drop," but the question is: where did this sperm drop came from when there was no human being?
From Dust:
The Romans, The Byzantines Sura 30:20, "Among His Signs is this, that He created you from dust."
But contrary to the Quran, the Bible gives a very clear picture of creation of human beings (Adam and Eve) that talks about advanced modern science. The Bible talks about the creation of man and woman in Genesis 2:7 and Genesis 2:21-23, as we read in Genesis 2:7, "And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being."
Genesis 2:21-23, "And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib that the LORD God had taken from man, He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. And Adam said, 'This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.'"
These four verses of the Bible talks about advanced medical science. Moses, who wrote Genesis around 1400 B.C almost 3500 years ago, while writing these things might not have fully understood the meaning of what he was writing.
He writes in Genesis 2:7 that God made man from dust of the ground. And Job, the oldest book of the Bible, says, in chapter 10, verses 9-12, "Remember, I pray, that You have made me like clay. And will You turn me into dust again? Did you not pour me out like milk, and curdle me like cheese, clothe me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews? You have granted me life and favor, And Your care has preserved my spirit."
We read in the Bible that God took the clay, it seems God made a paste, poured it like milk and curdled like cheese. It seems God used a mold to make human beings. He allowed the clay paste to set in the mold.
Today, scientists agree that our body is made up of dust and water.
Then we read about the creation of Eve in Genesis 2:21-23, "And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept."
We can see that God put him to sleep, or in other words, God gave him anesthesia as our modern doctors do so that patients may not feel the pain.
Then further we read, "and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the LORD God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man."
We read here a description of operation done in the body of Adam by God Himself as our doctors do today. God removed the rib from Adam's body and made into a woman. Why God took the rib, why not other parts of the body?
Recently I read one article, "Regenerating ribs -Adam and that 'missing' rib" by Carl Wieland, First published in: Creation Ex Nihilo 21(4):46-47, September - November 1999. In this article author talks about his experience - after having met with an accident he had to go through series of operations to reconstruct many parts of his body, particularly facial bones.
Carl Wieland writes in his article, "These operations often required using my own bone for grafting. I noticed that the plastic surgeon would keep going back to the right side of my ribcage, through the same horizontal scar, actually, to get more bone for these procedures. One day, I asked him why he hadn't 'run out of bone'. He looked at me blankly, and then explained that he and his team took the whole rib out, each time. 'We leave the periosteum intact, so the rib usually just grows right back again'.
"Despite having trained and practiced as a family doctor, I was intrigued; I had never realized this before. The periosteum (the literal meaning of this word is 'around the bone') is a membrane that covers every bone -- it's the reason you can get things stuck between your teeth while gnawing on a leg of lamb, for instance. The periosteum contains cells that can manufacture new bone. Particularly in young people, 'rib periosteum has a remarkable ability to regenerate bone, perhaps more so than any other bone'.
"Thoracic (chest) surgeons routinely remove ribs, and these often grow back, in whole or in part. A lot depends on the care with which the rib is removed; it needs to be 'peeled' out of its periosteum to leave this membrane as intact as possible. A major reason why the rib is the ideal situation for such regeneration is that the attached intercostal muscles provide it with a good blood supply."
How marvelously God created everything. God who is omniscient, who knows everything, knew it that from where He had to take bone for making Eve and it would not harm Adam.
Today medical science has discovered new technology called cloning of plants, animals and human beings. In this technology, scientists take a cell of a living organism and create a genetically identical copy. The original cell contains DNA that contains all the genetic information of that particular species. So, scientists can use one cell and make a copy or clone of living thing.
If a limited human being can clone or make a copy of a living creature, then how much more wonderfully can God make a copy of Adam? And He did it by taking a rib of Adam and by making it a woman.
I am sure that Moses was not aware of his writings containing high medical science. The psalmist says, in Psalm 139:14, "I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well."
Yes, He made us wonderfully and marvelously. He knows that we are only dust. He loves us and cares for us. He wants to bless our lives as He blessed Adam and Eve.
How many Creators?
The Quran says, in Sura 23:14 and Sura 37:125 that Allah is "the Best of Creators," as we read in The Believers Sura 23:14, "Then fashioned We the drop a clot, then fashioned We the clot a little lump, then fashioned We the little lump bones, then clothed the bones with flesh, and then produced it as another creation. So blessed be Allah, the Best of creators!"
Those Who Set the Ranks, Drawn Up in Ranks Sura 37:125, "Will ye cry unto Baal and forsake the Best of creators?"
But the Bible very clearly says that there is only ONE Creator, i.e. God Himself. We read in Isaiah 44:24, "Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, And He who formed you from the womb: 'I am the LORD, who makes all things, Who stretches out the heavens all alone, Who spreads abroad the earth by Myself.'"
Creation and Shape of Earth
The Bible tells in three places about the shape of earth as circle, or God drew a circle on the face of the deep. Hebrew word for circle is chuwg {khoog} that means circle, circuit or compass. This Hebrew word is also used for sphere or round.
Solomon, who wrote Proverbs almost 3000 years back, writes the exact shape of the earth, as we read in Proverbs 8:27, "When He prepared the heavens, I was there, when He drew a circle on the face of the deep,"
Isaiah, who wrote the book of Isaiah more than 2600 years back, says, in Isaiah 40:22, "It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in."
Job, the oldest book of the Bible that was written about 2000-1000 B.C. (4000-3000 years back), also gives the exact shape of the earth--i.e. round. We read in Job 22:14, "Thick clouds cover Him, so that He cannot see, and He walks above the circle of heaven." Not only that but Job also gives one step further information about the earth saying, "He hangs the earth on nothing," as we read in Job 26:7, "He stretches out the north over empty space; He hangs the earth on nothing."
The three different writers wrote the same thing in different time periods and gave the most accurate shape of the earth that was discovered by modern scientists only few centuries ago.
But contrary to the Bible, the Quran never mentions the round shape of the earth, but in many places, the Quran says that the earth is like a carpet--that is, a flat thing. In many places, Allah compares the earth with carpet.
Ta-ha, Sura 20:53, "He Who has, made for you the earth like a carpet spread out; has enabled you to go about therein by roads (and channels); and has sent down water from the sky. With it have We produced diverse pairs of plants each separate from the others."
Noah, Sura 71:19, "'And Allah has made the earth for you as a carpet (spread out)."
Al-hijr, Stoneland, Rock City, Sura 15:19, "And the earth We have spread out (like a carpet); set thereon mountains firm and immovable; and produced therein all kinds of things in due balance."
So, we can see that the Quran, which was written almost 1500 years back, had no idea of the earth's shape.
Many people have claimed that according to the Bible, the shape of the earth is flat because The Bible says that earth has four ends and four corners. Osama Abdullah writes in his article, "The Bible says: The Earth is flat!" (Published in http://www.answering-christianity.com), "The Bible claims that Earth has four ends and four corners. Nobody can ever think a ball or a cycle to have corners and ends! Only flat items can have corners and ends, and this is exactly what the bible is trying to express regarding the shape of the earth. The earth is not flat, as once thought and it has no corners or ends at all. If Magnetic Poles can be taken as ends or corners of earth, then this definitely opposed to the axis of rotation."
Then he quoted few verses from the Bible to show that the Bible talks about "Four Corners."
Isaiah 11:12, "And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the FOUR CORNERS OF THE EARTH." (KJV)
But, of course, he is wrong. Even today we talk about four corners of the earth--North, South, East and West. It is speaking language. Just because speaking language is used, it does not make earth flat, as the Bible gives the exact shape of the earth.
Creation was done in Six days or in Eight days?
The Bible very clearly talks about the creation done in six normal days but the Quran confuses it by making it eight days.
We read in (signs) Spelled Out, Ha-mim Sura 41:9, "Say: Is it that ye deny Him Who created the earth in two Days? And do ye join equals with Him? He is the Lord of (all) the Worlds." Sura 41:10, "He set on the (earth), mountains standing firm, high above it, and bestowed blessings on the earth, and measure therein all things to give them nourishment in due proportion, in four Days, in accordance with (the needs of) those who seek (Sustenance)." Sura 41:11, "Moreover, He comprehended in His design the sky, and it had been (as) smoke: He said to it and to the earth: 'Come ye together, willingly or unwillingly.' They said, 'We do come (together), in willing obedience.'" Sura 41:12, "So He completed them as seven firmaments in two Days, and He assigned to each heaven its duty and command. And We adorned the lower heaven with lights, and (provided it) with guard. Such is the Decree of (Him) the Exalted in Might, Full of Knowledge."
If Allah is full of knowledge, then why so much of confusion?
Sunset or Sunrise
Where does the sun go after sunset?
The Quran answers in Sad, (the Letter) Sad ( S ) 38:32, "And he said, "Truly do I love the love of good, with a view to the glory of my Lord,"- until (the sun) was hidden in the veil (of night)."
Further, the Quran says, in The Cave 18:86, "Until, when he reached the setting of the sun, he found it set in a spring of murky water: Near it he found a People: We said: 'O Zul-qarnain! (thou hast authority,) either to punish them, or to treat them with kindness.'"
In the above verses, the Quran says that the "sun is hidden in the veil of night and sets in a spring of murky water" which clearly shows the lack of knowledge of Allah in this matter.
Further Hadith says, in Volume 4, Book 54, Number 421: - Beginning of Creation -
Narrated Abu Dhar
The Prophet asked me at sunset, "Do you know where the sun goes (at the time of sunset)?" I replied, "Allah and His Apostle know better." He said, "It goes (i.e. travels) till it prostrates Itself underneath the Throne and takes the permission to rise again, and it is permitted and then (a time will come when) it will be about to prostrate itself but its prostration will not be accepted, and it will ask permission to go on its course but it will not be permitted, but it will be ordered to return whence it has come and so it will rise in the west. And that is the interpretation of the Statement of Allah: "And the sun Runs its fixed course For a term (decreed). that is The Decree of (Allah) The Exalted in Might, The All-Knowing" (36.38).
Again, we read in Hadith Volume 6, Book 60, Number 326: - Prophetic Commentary on the Qur'an (Tafseer of the Prophet (pbuh)) -
Narrated Abu Dharr
Once I was with the Prophet in the mosque at the time of sunset. The Prophet said, "O Abu Dharr! Do you know where the sun sets?" I replied, "Allah and His Apostle know best." He said, "It goes and prostrates underneath (Allah's) Throne; and that is Allah's Statement."And the sun runs on its fixed course for a term (decreed). And that is the decree of All-Mighty, the All-Knowing."(36.38)
In an article, "The Quest for Truth," [Secular Philosophy of MohaGuru Aroj Ali Matubbar] published inhttp://humanists.net/avijit/aroj_ali/quest_for_truth_1.html says, "But we have no idea about the exact location of the throne. However, we are told that the sun spends the whole night there in prayer and rises in the east at dawn."
And Hadith says about the sunrise:
Volume 4, Book 54, Number 494:
Narrated Ibn Umar:
Allah's Apostle said, "When the (upper) edge of the sun appears (in the morning), don't perform a prayer till the sun appears in full, and when the lower edge of the sun sets, don't perform a prayer till it sets completely. And you should not seek to pray at sunrise or sunset for the sun rises between two sides of the head of the devil (or Satan)."
Does not these verses clearly say that Allah does not know where the sun goes at the time of sunset? Not only that, the above verses very clearly says that sun runs on its fixed course that is scientifically incorrect. It was written because they had no knowledge of sun going other side.
Rainbow
Muslims say that, "There was no rainbow before Noah's time" (Gen 9:11-17).
The Answer is, True. According to the Bible, there was no rain before the time of Noah. Genesis 2:5-6, "There were no plants or grain growing on the earth, for the LORD God had not sent any rain. And no one was there to cultivate the soil. But water came up out of the ground and watered all the land. And if there were no rain clouds."
It is believed that at the time of flood, rain came first time on the earth. And if there were no rain clouds then it was not possible that rainbow can be formed or seen. So, the Bible account is not wrong but gives accurate information.
Is Mohammed the Final prophet?
Many centuries have come and gone, and of course, the world is not the same as it was in the beginning. Just after 20 or 30 years, if you visit the same place where you grew up, you will wonder whether you are in the same place. Everything is changing rapidly. Science and modern technology has transformed old-fashioned things, but there is only one thing that is not changing; i.e., the God of the Bible. It is His quality that does not change. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. What He was in the beginning, he is today also. He is the same. There is no change in Him, even a bit. If He could walk with Adam in the Garden of Eden, then He can walk with us today also. If He could walk with Moses and the Israelites, then He can walk with us today also. If He could talk to Abraham and be his friend, then He can talk with us and can be our friend today also. If He could wipe away the tears and heal the broken hearted people then, He can do the same today also. Why? It is because He does not change but remains the same forever. But when we come to the Quran and Hadith, we see that Mohammed declared himself to be the Last Prophet and the Quran as the last revelation. Both the Quran and Hadith say that Mohammed was the last and final prophet. The Quran says, in The Clans, The Coalition, The Combined Forces 33:40, "Muhammad is not the father of any of your men, but (he is) the Messenger of Allah, and the Seal of the Prophets: and Allah has full knowledge of all things."In his last sermon he said, "O People, no prophet or apostle will come after me and no new faith will be born. Reason well, therefore, O People, and understand my words that I convey to you. I leave behind me two things, the Quran and my example, the Sunnah, and if you follow these you will never go astray."
By declaring this, Mohammed declared that God is dead because God will never speak again nor send His prophets or apostles. By declaring this, Mohammed blasphemed God, and by saying this, he made the "unchanging" God as "changed." But I want to tell you that it is possible that Mohammed is correct in his prediction because Allah and the God of the Bible is not the same God. The God of the Bible is an unchanging God, and that's why the Bible says, in 1 John 4:1-2, "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God," The God of the Bible never said that He will send a Last prophet, but He said that we will come across both true and false prophets, but we have to test every spirit and know whether they are from God or not. Not only does Mohammed not show any qualities of prophet.
" If Allah is the same God of the Bible, then why he does not know about the prophet whom He sent? The most amazing part is no Muslim knows why they call Mohammed a prophet when there are no qualities of prophet in him.Is Holy Spirit "Ahmad" or "Mohammed"?The Ranks, Battle Array, Sura 61:6, "And remember, Jesus, the son of Mary, said: 'O Children of Israel! I am the apostle of Allah (sent) to you, confirming the Law (which came) before me, and giving Glad Tidings of an Messenger to come after me, whose name shall be Ahmad.' But when he came to them with Clear Signs, they said, 'this is evident sorcery!'" On the one side, Allah and Muslims claim that Allah is the same God of the Bible, and that Jesus was sent by Allah, but on the other side Allah does not know what Jesus promised to send in this world after His return to the Father.
If Allah sent Jesus to this world, then why Allah was not aware of what Jesus promised to send after His ascension to heaven? Come, let us look to the Bible for what Jesus promised for His followers. Jesus said, in John 14:16-18, "And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever; the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you." Again, Jesus said, in John 14:26-27, "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." Again, Jesus said, in John 15:26 "But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me." We can see from the above verses that Jesus promised the Holy Spirit or Spirit of Truth for those who believe on His name.
No human being can claim himself/herself as the Spirit of Truth because God is the absolute truth and His Spirit is the Spirit of Truth.The same verse further says, "The Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father...." But as we saw before, that Mohammed denied the fatherhood of God so there is no question of Mohammed' proceeding from the father.The Bible also says in John 14:16 says, "He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever;" and the eighteenth verse says, "He dwells with you and will be in you." So, we can understand that Jesus did not promise to send a messenger but the Holy Spirit who was to come and dwell in us. A man or woman cannot come and dwell in us but the Quran says that Jesus promised to send Ahmad (this is the name of Mohammed the founder of Islam).
The above verse also says, "He may abide with you forever." We all know that Mohammed died and is no more in this world, so how is it possible that he may abide with us forever? It is not possible for a human being to abide with us forever, but it is possible only with God. He can come down and live with us. He can abide with us and be in us. So, obviously, Jesus did not promise a fallible human being but infallible Spirit of God, who is everlasting to everlasting.We find in John 14:18 that Jesus said, "I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you." When the Holy Spirit comes in our lives, He gives comfort and peace in our hearts. In the time of trouble and in the time of tears, He comforts us. That is the reason why Jesus said, in John 14:27, "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." Only God can give us peace and comfort which this world cannot give, which others cannot give, so of course, we do not see as if it was spoken for any person but this was spoken for the Spirit of God.
Jesus also said, in John 14:26, "He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you." Jesus said even more about the Holy Spirit: "when He will come, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you." But we know that Mohammed or Ahmad did not say what Jesus said. Jesus proclaimed again and again that He came to give His life for His sheep, to die and to rise again, etc. But Mohammed said that Jesus did not die on the cross. He also said that it appeared as if Jesus was crucified but actually, He did not die on the cross. Also, we can see a totally contradictory message in the Quran that Jesus never proclaimed. If Ahmad or Mohammed was the messenger that Jesus promised for us, then he should have brought to our remembrance what Jesus had said. Jesus did not promise to send a messenger with a new message, did He? No!! So, of course, Ahmad is not the promised Holy Spirit. Jesus also said, in John 16:13, "However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come." This verse tells us that when Holy Spirit will come He will guide us in all truth ... and will tell us things to come. Only God is truth and only God can lead us in truth. A man or woman who never knew truth, or a person who is not absolute truth cannot lead us in truth. For example, if you know the direction to go to a certain place, then only you can show the way to others but if you do not know the direction, you cannot show the way. The same thing is with Mohammed, who was a human being and was who searching for truth and the way until his last breath. It is impossible for a man who never knew truth to show us the way of truth. But Jesus promised a helper who will guide us in all truth--none other than Holy Spirit or Spirit of Truth or Spirit of God Himself. This verse also says that, "He will tell you things to come." Yes, the Holy Spirit will not only lead you and guide you, but also He will tell you the things that are ahead of you. He will predict your future. Isn't it wonderful that Holy Spirit will come and dwell in us and with us so that we may know what is ahead of us? Yes, no man can predict your future, but God can, and when the Holy Spirit comes and abides in us, He shows us what is ahead of us. John 16:14, "He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you." Jesus said, in the above verse that the Holy Spirit would glorify Him. But Mohammed never gave glory to Jesus nor glorified Him in anyway, but he (Mohammed) discredited the work of Lord Jesus Christ that was done on the cruel cross for my, and for your, salvation. He abrogated the message of the precious blood that was shed on the cruel cross so that we may come out of our sins and live in peace with Him eternally. Oh, and Mohammed ignored this most precious and important work of Christ. How it is possible that if Jesus sent Mohammed he could forget the most important thing? Again, it proves nothing, but Mohammed is not the promised Holy Spirit, and Allah is not the God of the Bible because all these verses show lack of knowledge with Allah in this matter.
And the final thought: Jesus promised to send the "Holy Spirit." But the Quran and Hadith both tell us that Mohammed was not holy or could not live a holy life. In the Quran and Hadith many a times Mohammed asked forgiveness of his sins to Allah.God is truth and His Spirit is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God Himself and it cannot be human. Mohammed blasphemed God by declaring "Ahmad" or "Mohammed" as the Holy Spirit.
Many centuries have come and gone, and of course, the world is not the same as it was in the beginning. Just after 20 or 30 years, if you visit the same place where you grew up, you will wonder whether you are in the same place. Everything is changing rapidly. Science and modern technology has transformed old-fashioned things, but there is only one thing that is not changing; i.e., the God of the Bible. It is His quality that does not change. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. What He was in the beginning, he is today also. He is the same. There is no change in Him, even a bit. If He could walk with Adam in the Garden of Eden, then He can walk with us today also. If He could walk with Moses and the Israelites, then He can walk with us today also. If He could talk to Abraham and be his friend, then He can talk with us and can be our friend today also. If He could wipe away the tears and heal the broken hearted people then, He can do the same today also. Why? It is because He does not change but remains the same forever. But when we come to the Quran and Hadith, we see that Mohammed declared himself to be the Last Prophet and the Quran as the last revelation. Both the Quran and Hadith say that Mohammed was the last and final prophet. The Quran says, in The Clans, The Coalition, The Combined Forces 33:40, "Muhammad is not the father of any of your men, but (he is) the Messenger of Allah, and the Seal of the Prophets: and Allah has full knowledge of all things."In his last sermon he said, "O People, no prophet or apostle will come after me and no new faith will be born. Reason well, therefore, O People, and understand my words that I convey to you. I leave behind me two things, the Quran and my example, the Sunnah, and if you follow these you will never go astray."
By declaring this, Mohammed declared that God is dead because God will never speak again nor send His prophets or apostles. By declaring this, Mohammed blasphemed God, and by saying this, he made the "unchanging" God as "changed." But I want to tell you that it is possible that Mohammed is correct in his prediction because Allah and the God of the Bible is not the same God. The God of the Bible is an unchanging God, and that's why the Bible says, in 1 John 4:1-2, "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God," The God of the Bible never said that He will send a Last prophet, but He said that we will come across both true and false prophets, but we have to test every spirit and know whether they are from God or not. Not only does Mohammed not show any qualities of prophet.
" If Allah is the same God of the Bible, then why he does not know about the prophet whom He sent? The most amazing part is no Muslim knows why they call Mohammed a prophet when there are no qualities of prophet in him.Is Holy Spirit "Ahmad" or "Mohammed"?The Ranks, Battle Array, Sura 61:6, "And remember, Jesus, the son of Mary, said: 'O Children of Israel! I am the apostle of Allah (sent) to you, confirming the Law (which came) before me, and giving Glad Tidings of an Messenger to come after me, whose name shall be Ahmad.' But when he came to them with Clear Signs, they said, 'this is evident sorcery!'" On the one side, Allah and Muslims claim that Allah is the same God of the Bible, and that Jesus was sent by Allah, but on the other side Allah does not know what Jesus promised to send in this world after His return to the Father.
If Allah sent Jesus to this world, then why Allah was not aware of what Jesus promised to send after His ascension to heaven? Come, let us look to the Bible for what Jesus promised for His followers. Jesus said, in John 14:16-18, "And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever; the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you." Again, Jesus said, in John 14:26-27, "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." Again, Jesus said, in John 15:26 "But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me." We can see from the above verses that Jesus promised the Holy Spirit or Spirit of Truth for those who believe on His name.
No human being can claim himself/herself as the Spirit of Truth because God is the absolute truth and His Spirit is the Spirit of Truth.The same verse further says, "The Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father...." But as we saw before, that Mohammed denied the fatherhood of God so there is no question of Mohammed' proceeding from the father.The Bible also says in John 14:16 says, "He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever;" and the eighteenth verse says, "He dwells with you and will be in you." So, we can understand that Jesus did not promise to send a messenger but the Holy Spirit who was to come and dwell in us. A man or woman cannot come and dwell in us but the Quran says that Jesus promised to send Ahmad (this is the name of Mohammed the founder of Islam).
The above verse also says, "He may abide with you forever." We all know that Mohammed died and is no more in this world, so how is it possible that he may abide with us forever? It is not possible for a human being to abide with us forever, but it is possible only with God. He can come down and live with us. He can abide with us and be in us. So, obviously, Jesus did not promise a fallible human being but infallible Spirit of God, who is everlasting to everlasting.We find in John 14:18 that Jesus said, "I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you." When the Holy Spirit comes in our lives, He gives comfort and peace in our hearts. In the time of trouble and in the time of tears, He comforts us. That is the reason why Jesus said, in John 14:27, "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." Only God can give us peace and comfort which this world cannot give, which others cannot give, so of course, we do not see as if it was spoken for any person but this was spoken for the Spirit of God.
Jesus also said, in John 14:26, "He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you." Jesus said even more about the Holy Spirit: "when He will come, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you." But we know that Mohammed or Ahmad did not say what Jesus said. Jesus proclaimed again and again that He came to give His life for His sheep, to die and to rise again, etc. But Mohammed said that Jesus did not die on the cross. He also said that it appeared as if Jesus was crucified but actually, He did not die on the cross. Also, we can see a totally contradictory message in the Quran that Jesus never proclaimed. If Ahmad or Mohammed was the messenger that Jesus promised for us, then he should have brought to our remembrance what Jesus had said. Jesus did not promise to send a messenger with a new message, did He? No!! So, of course, Ahmad is not the promised Holy Spirit. Jesus also said, in John 16:13, "However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come." This verse tells us that when Holy Spirit will come He will guide us in all truth ... and will tell us things to come. Only God is truth and only God can lead us in truth. A man or woman who never knew truth, or a person who is not absolute truth cannot lead us in truth. For example, if you know the direction to go to a certain place, then only you can show the way to others but if you do not know the direction, you cannot show the way. The same thing is with Mohammed, who was a human being and was who searching for truth and the way until his last breath. It is impossible for a man who never knew truth to show us the way of truth. But Jesus promised a helper who will guide us in all truth--none other than Holy Spirit or Spirit of Truth or Spirit of God Himself. This verse also says that, "He will tell you things to come." Yes, the Holy Spirit will not only lead you and guide you, but also He will tell you the things that are ahead of you. He will predict your future. Isn't it wonderful that Holy Spirit will come and dwell in us and with us so that we may know what is ahead of us? Yes, no man can predict your future, but God can, and when the Holy Spirit comes and abides in us, He shows us what is ahead of us. John 16:14, "He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you." Jesus said, in the above verse that the Holy Spirit would glorify Him. But Mohammed never gave glory to Jesus nor glorified Him in anyway, but he (Mohammed) discredited the work of Lord Jesus Christ that was done on the cruel cross for my, and for your, salvation. He abrogated the message of the precious blood that was shed on the cruel cross so that we may come out of our sins and live in peace with Him eternally. Oh, and Mohammed ignored this most precious and important work of Christ. How it is possible that if Jesus sent Mohammed he could forget the most important thing? Again, it proves nothing, but Mohammed is not the promised Holy Spirit, and Allah is not the God of the Bible because all these verses show lack of knowledge with Allah in this matter.
And the final thought: Jesus promised to send the "Holy Spirit." But the Quran and Hadith both tell us that Mohammed was not holy or could not live a holy life. In the Quran and Hadith many a times Mohammed asked forgiveness of his sins to Allah.God is truth and His Spirit is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God Himself and it cannot be human. Mohammed blasphemed God by declaring "Ahmad" or "Mohammed" as the Holy Spirit.
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