On those grounds the Jews reject Christ. We need to take into account a new Covenant that could deviate from a more rigid interpretation of Mosaic law.
The reason why the Jewish leaders rejected Christ was because of their own false expectation about what the Messiah was supposed to do.....from their perspective, it obviously didn't include extreme criticism of their hypocritical application of the Law. (Matthew 23)
Jesus condemned them to the worst punishment that Jews could imagine....no wonder they swayed the people against him. (Matthew 27:25)
Your fundamental problem is being locked into a Judeo-Christian worldview mindset that is similar to the mindset the Jews have that prevents them from recognising Christ.
LOL.....the fundamental problem is that this is what we all do....the other fundamental truth is that only one view is correct, which means that there are a lot of deluded people in this situation. Why does God allow this? (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12) He simply allows people to believe whatever they want. It's an exercise of their free will. He does not leave himself without testimony or witnesses.
Another basic problem is to equate Islam with pagan worship. Muhammad moved His people away from paganism to strict monotheism. Both Moses and Muhammad emphased strongly the importance of avoiding paganism.
Since Jesus foretold that even Christianity was going to be corrupted in much the same way as Judaism, (introducing the traditions of men as a virtual substitute for the word of God) it is not surprising that the situation exists on a grand scale in Christianity, with its multitude of denominations, mirroring the situation in Judaism in Jesus' day, only worse. Sectarianism broke it up into bickering sects, all of which were rejected by Jesus. From Christ's perspective, none of them were correct until he led a righteous few out of that corrupt system. I believe he views all false worship the same way and today he has also led a righteous group out of another corrupt religious system. "Sheep and goats"....that's all there is. One is right....the rest are wrong. We choose which camp feels like home.
It is also pointless looking at numbers to bolster a religion's status, since Jesus said that "few" are on the road to life (Matthew 7:13-14) That means that the majority of mankind are travelling along a superhighway to death. The devil will laughing all the way to their demise. But then he will eventually have to face his own.
Muslims pray to Allah five times a day. I'd say its more than the average Christian prays.
Seriously? You think this is all that is required? Isaiah said of Israel...."
And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you; yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood." (Isaiah 1:15 ASV)
Any religion that promotes bloodshed does not have God's sanction. Jesus promoted peace. His disciples had to be 'merciful' "peacemakers" (Matthew 5:3-11) That hardly describes sharia law.
The voice of one crying in the wilderness: "Prepare the way of the Lord; Make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
This applied to no one but John the Baptist. Jesus made no other application. John alone prepared the way for the Messiah, whom he clearly identified as "the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world"....Jesus was to come only once in the flesh, which he sacrificed for our sins. His second appearance was not to be fleshly, but in spirit. He was granted immortality on his return to heaven and could not ever die again.
There is no foreign deity. There is One G-d who rules over the earth supreme. The Quran mentions 50 biblical characters. The story of the Quran is simply a continuation the story in the Bible with the same G-d.
I believe that there is someone who wants you to think so.....but it isn't true. If Muslims and Jews worship the same God and Christians do too....then something is horribly wrong. In each of those religious systems, people are waiting for vastly different outcomes. They cant all be right.
In the first century, the "Gentile Times" (the period of Gentile domination of God's people) were still undergoing their fulfillment. So when Christ made his first appearance, he did not even attempt to liberate the Jews from the yoke of Rome. It was not yet time to establish his kingdom on earth.
Jesus was not sent to the religious leaders, but to the ones whom they were neglecting, causing them to become spiritually "lost". Jesus often used "sheep" and "shepherds" in his illustrations so that the people understood what his role was as "the Fine Shepherd" and how he was going to release them from their restrictive spiritual pen and guide them into new and nourishing pasturage with freedom to choose Jehovah as their God....the God and Father willingly served by Jesus Christ. (Revelation 3:12)
Jesus did not do what those former negligent shepherds had done, he went especially to the "lost" ones (the tax collectors and sinners) and showed them how to become spiritually liberated from an irreformable religious system that had lost the plot....."straining at gnats, but gulping down camels". They were nit-picking the minor and inconsequential things of the Law but neglecting the weightier and more important things like faithfulness, mercy and justice. (Matthew 23:23)