We know that Jesus is the Son of God because that is what He said of Himself

Saturday, August 15

We know that Jesus is the Son of God because that is what He said of Himself

When Someone Who committed no sin, spoke only the truth, healed the sick, raised the dead, died for the sins of the whole world, and overcame death by His resurrection makes an objective truth claim, you ought to listen to Him.

Alen writes in defense of Muhammad:

How? Show us your proof. How cna messenger/prophet Jesus be a son of god? And how come there is a clear difference between Jesus and God in The Bible, NT?
Jesus was a human, he was put in the womb of the virgin Mary, got born, lived, delivered The Message from God and was raised to Heaven.
Jews think they crucified him.
Oops.

A few quick points

1) It is a bit ironic that someone who believes that a blaspheming, genocidal, murdering, raping, mutilating, enslaving, vandalizing, extorting, thieving, lying pedophile was a prophet of the living God is asking for "proof."

What proof do you have for believing Muhammad? Is it the gratuitous beheadings, chronic child rape, or rampant slavery?

2) It is not "a" son of god, it is the Son of God.

3) It is not a "clear difference between Jesus and God," but a clear distinction made between God the Son and God the Father.

4) YHWH created the universe. Is incarnation too difficult for Him?

5) Everyone who witnessed Christ being crucified thought Christ was crucified because . . . Christ was crucified.

6) You do know that early in Islam's history, variant readings of Qur'an were collected and destroyed? That Muhammad tried to change revelations?

Proof

We know that Jesus is the Son of God because that is what He said of Himself.

His Father, the Prophets, and the Apostles all testify to this.

Your false prophet correctly stated that what Moses, the Prophets of YHWH, and Christ preached originally was true. His error was in claiming that Jews and Christians had corrupted those revelations.

Christ referred to the Biblical texts of His day (the Old Testament) as perfect and permanent -- "Father, Your word is truth" and "the Scriptures cannot be broken."

Muhammad has a problem: We have reliable -- not "corrupted" -- copies of the original inspired and perfect Old and New Testament documents, including written records of what Christ actually said and did.

Since we know what Jesus said, you must listen to Him.

The trustworthiness of Scripture

We have copies of Old Testament texts dating to more than a century before Christ, including a complete scroll of Isaiah from around 125 B.C. These demonstrate that the Sacred Texts have been transmitted faithfully down through the centuries to us.

In fact, the body of manuscripts is so reliable that the Bible we possess today is nearly 99% pure. Remaining issues involve mainly spelling errors, word omissions (articles, conjunctions, etc.), and other copyists' mistakes. None of these copying errors affect doctrine.

What do the uncorrupted, reliable Biblical texts say about the Son of God and His crucifixion?

Contrary to your claim, there is no distinction between Christ and God in the New Testament making Jesus only human.

Since "God" in the New Testament refers usually to God the Father, the distinction being made in those cases is between persons of the Trinity, between the Son of God and His Father.

By the way, Christ refers to God as "my Father" dozens of times in the Gospels.

A true prophet, Isaiah, foresaw that the promised Messiah would be God Incarnate:

"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6).

Note that in this statement alone, the Child to be born is given the name of God the Father ("Everlasting Father"), God the Son ("Prince of Peace"), and God the Holy Spirit ("Wonderful Counselor").

And as Moses stated, "Hear O Israel . . . the LORD is one," so too the Messiah will be called "Mighty God."

Isn't that odd? The Triune God named in the Old Testament.

Both Isaiah and David foretold the Messiah's torturous scourging and crucifixion, to which there were many witnesses:

"He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.

"But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned--every one--to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all" (Isaiah 53:3-6).

"For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet-- I can count all my bones-- they stare and gloat over me; they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots" (Psalms 22:16-18).

More on the deity of Christ

The Apostles testified to Christ being God. Here is the opening of John's Gospel. Note the distinction between the Father and the Son: Two distinct persons, one nature:

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men . . . He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth . . . from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known" (John 1:1-18).

Jesus used the name by which the One, True God, YHWH (not Allah) revealed Himself to Moses:

"So the Jews said to him, 'You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?'

"Jesus said to them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.' So they picked up stones to throw at him . . . " (John 8:57-59).

The religious leaders would not have tried to stone Him for blasphemy unless He were claiming to be YHWH.

Notice in the next passage both that Christ calls God "My Father" and that the religious authorities wanted to kill Him for "making Himself equal with God.":

But Jesus answered them, "My Father is working until now, and I am working." This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God" (John 5:17-18).

The Father says directly of His Son:

"And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, 'This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him'" (Luke 9:35)!

"And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, 'This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased'" (Matthew 3:16-17).

One last proof of Christ's deity: In Revelation 22 we find GOD speaking:

"And he who was seated on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new." Also he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true." And he said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment" (Revelation 21:5-6).

And in the very next chapter, we read:

"Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay everyone for what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end" (Revelation 22:12-13).

Who is speaking in the second passage? Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

If Jesus was only a man as you claim, then how in the world would He have the same name as the omnipotent GOD?

Many other passages show Jesus Christ to be the Son of God.

Trust in Christ, Who forgives your sins freely, not Muhammad.

On the fall of Constantinople

"[...] the great church of Hagia Sophia was filled to capacity. Thousands of people were moving towards the church. Inside, Orthodox and Catholic priests were holding liturgy, the last Christian service after almost 1,000 years. People were singing hymns, others were openly crying, others were asking each other for forgiveness [...].

"Bands of Ottoman soldiers began now looting. Doors were broken, private homes were looted, their tenants were massacred. Shops in the city markets were looted. Monasteries and Convents were broken in. Their tenants were killed, nuns were raped; many, to avoid dishonor, killed themselves. Killing, raping, looting, burning, enslaving, went on and on [...].

"The great doors of Hagia Sophia were forced open, and crowds of angry soldiers came in and fell upon the unfortunate worshippers. Pillaging and killing in the holy place went on for hours. Similar was the fate of worshippers in most churches in the city [...].

"Thousands of civilians were enslaved, soldiers fought over young boys and young women [...] the invaders broke the heads of those women who resisted on the floor of the churches and they raped them dead. The famous icon of Apostole Loukas was totally destroyed.

"The sultan asked for the young sons of Duke Loukas Notaras. Their father refused and Mehmed was ready to take their heads. Notaras asked him to kill him after his sons so that he was sure that they were dead and not disgraced from the pervert sultan.

"And this is what happened."

Black Tuesday, The Last Day of the World, the twenty-ninth of May, anno Domini MCDLIII

On American Liberty

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness; that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness."

Thomas Jefferson, The Declaration of Independence, 1776

"The Christian religion, when divested of the rags in which they [the clergy] have enveloped it, and brought to the original purity and simplicity of it's benevolent institutor, is a religion of all others most friendly to liberty, science, and the freest expansion of the human mind."

Thomas Jefferson to Moses Robinson Washington, Mar. 23, 1801

"I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man."

Thomas Jefferson to Dr. Benjamin Rush, September 23, 1800

The truth about Mahomet

"How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live.

"A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property -- either as a child, a wife, or a concubine -- must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men.

"Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities. Thousands become the brave and loyal soldiers of the Queen; all know how to die; but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science -- the science against which it had vainly struggled -- the civilisation of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilisation of ancient Rome."

Winston Churchill, Churchill, Winston S. (1899), The River War, First edition, Vol. II, pp. 248-250

A war of twelve hundred years

"And he [Jesus] declared, that the enjoyment of felicity in the world hereafter, would be reward of the practice of benevolence here. His whole law was resolvable into the precept of love; peace on earth – good will toward man, was the early object of his mission; and the authoritative demonstration of the immortality of man, was that, which constituted the more than earthly tribute of glory to God in the highest [...] The first conquest of the religion of Jesus, was over the unsocial passions of his disciples. It elevated the standard of the human character in the scale of existence. [...] On the Christian system of morals, man is an immortal spirit, confined for a short space of time, in an earthly tabernacle. Kindness to his fellow mortals embraces the whole compass of his duties upon earth, and the whole promise of happiness to his spirit hereafter. THE ESSENCE OF THIS DOCTRINE IS, TO EXALT THE SPIRITUAL OVER THE BRUTAL PART OF HIS NATURE.

[...]

“In the seventh century of the Christian era, a wandering Arab of the lineage of Hagar [i.e., Muhammad], the Egyptian, combining the powers of transcendent genius, with the preternatural energy of a fanatic, and the fraudulent spirit of an impostor, proclaimed himself as a messenger from Heaven, and spread desolation and delusion over an extensive portion of the earth. Adopting from the sublime conception of the Mosaic law, the doctrine of one omnipotent God; he connected indissolubly with it, the audacious falsehood, that he was himself his prophet and apostle. Adopting from the new Revelation of Jesus, the faith and hope of immortal life, and of future retribution, he humbled it to the dust by adapting all the rewards and sanctions of his religion to the gratification of the sexual passion. He poisoned the sources of human felicity at the fountain, by degrading the condition of the female sex, and the allowance of polygamy; and he declared undistinguishing and exterminating war, as a part of his religion, against all the rest of mankind. THE ESSENCE OF HIS DOCTRINE WAS VIOLENCE AND LUST: TO EXALT THE BRUTAL OVER THE SPIRITUAL PART OF HUMAN NATURE

[...]

"Between these two religions, thus contrasted in their characters, a war of twelve hundred years has already raged. The war is yet flagrant. [...] While the merciless and dissolute dogmas of the false prophet shall furnish motives to human action, there can never be peace upon earth, and good will towards men.”

John Quincy Adams, Blunt, Joseph (1830),The American Annual Register for the Years 1827-8-9, pp. 268-269

Impossible Islamophobia

Nearly one and one-half millennia of slavery, rape, and slaughter in Allah's name ...

80% of American -- not Pakistani, not Saudi Arabian, not Iranian, but American -- mosques teach jihad/Islamic supremacism ...

Nearly twenty-seven thousand documented jihad attacks since 9/11 alone, and ...

Islam's "Ideal Man" Muhammad -- Allah's "beautiful pattern of conduct" for those who want to please it -- preached and practiced genocide, pedophilia, rape, slavery, torture, mutilation, anti-Semitism, theft, extortion, arson, wife-beating, polygyny, religious and gender apartheid, sedition, treason, deceit, and blasphemy and warned his devotees that "Allah made me do it, and you will too, or else!"

No, "Islamophobia" is impossible. Merely pointing out simple facts regarding a genocidal, malevolent, and totalitarian ideology is neither phobic nor intolerant. It is highly rational and moral.

We are in only the latest phase of an ancient and existential struggle, Allah's war against humanity.

Speaking the truth in love

Never surrender

"we shall prove ourselves once again able to defend our Island home, to ride out the storm of war, and to outlive the menace of tyranny, if necessary for years, if necessary alone [...].

"we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end [...] we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender [...]."

Winston Churchill to the House of Commons, June 4, 1940