We Muslims have been in many debates with Christians about 2 main cases :
- How come Islam claims that previous profits including Jesus were Muslims?
- Another group confirms without hesitation that Jesus would call Islam a serious heresy.
Let us do a simple practice to find out Jesus's answer from Gospels only.
First let me put down what Christianity (in general) believes. This is the Nicene Creed of course.
We believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven:
by the power of the Holy Spirit
he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary,
and was made man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
With the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified.
He has spoken through the Prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen.
What is his belief in Almighty , one or two or three persons ?
As seen from the Creed, Christians believe that there is only one Almighty God.
We believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen.
But the Three are connected, though only one is Almighty God
Matthew 28:-
18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
What law Jesus practiced ? how similar this law to Islamic one ?
He obeyed some, altered some and abolished some. I do not know the Islamic law, so I cannot say.
Jesus however strongly forbade divorce.
Matthew 19
3 Some Pharisees came to him, and to test him they asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause?” 4 He answered, “Have you not read that the one who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? 6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh.
Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” 7 They said to him, “Why then did Moses command us to give a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her?” 8 He said to them, “It was because you were so hard-hearted that Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.
9 And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for unchastity, and marries another commits adultery.”
Pretty sure Quran hews a different line on this one.
Yes, since when he was a man o earth, the Law still remained and had not been fulfilled. After his death and resurrection, the
Law was fulfilled and hence
all its restrictions were abrogated, including circumcision.
Matthew 5:17
17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets;
I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.
Luke 24
44 Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—
that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, 46 and he said to them, “
Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things.
The Law, fulfilled by the death and resurrection of Jesus, contains only two commandments that are required to inherit eternal life,
Luke 10
25 Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said,
“what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” 27 He answered,
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” 28 And he said to him,
“You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.”
Furthermore, no commandment was given regarding any other requirement for disciples of other nations, faith alone is sufficient for non-Jewish disciples.
Matthew 15
The Canaanite Woman’s Faith
21 Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. 22 Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.” 23 But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, “Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.” 24 He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” 25 But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” 26 He answered, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” 27 She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” 28 Then Jesus answered her,
“Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed instantly.
Conclusion:- Circumcision and other laws may stand for Jews and other descendants of Abraham but not for Gentile disciples of Jesus.
Did he put his head on ground and cry to God for Help ? Is it like Judaic, and/or Christian, and/or Islamic prayer ?
Jesus clearly forbade praying in public in view of others. He said people should not stand and pray, but said nothing about praying postures. If he wanted to, he would have.
Matthew 6
Concerning Prayer
5 “And whenever you pray,
do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 6 But
whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
7 “When you are praying,
do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
9 “Pray then in this way:
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
10 Your kingdom come.
Your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And do not bring us to the time of trial,
but rescue us from the evil one.
Christians today appear to violate this commandment for reasons that are unclear to me.
And it is completely contrary to public prayer commands of Muslims.
Did he ever say "God is Trinity with 3 persons" ?
Neither does the creed. Trinity is just the technical term for God, Jesus and Holy Spirit whose have different functions but are intimately connected. As was said by Jesus
Matthew 28:-
18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Did he ever went to a Church ?
Church is just a different term for Synagogue. He went to them, obviously, a lott
Did he believe in Crucifixion , Resurrection ?
Yep.
He predicted it:-
Mark 9
30 They went on from there and passed through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know it; 31 for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them,
“The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again.” 32 But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him.
And again
Mark 10
He took the twelve aside again and began to tell them what was to happen to him, 33 saying, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death; then they will hand him over to the Gentiles; 34
they will mock him, and spit upon him, and flog him, and kill him; and after three days he will rise again.”
Did he ever respect/kiss/hang a cross ?
He told the followers to do it
23 Then he said to them all, “If any want to become my followers,
let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. 24 For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it.
Thus a devout Christian must keep the cross so that he has Jesus's suffering on it in mind constantly and the symbol serves like rosary beads for meditation.
Continued below....
