Category Archives: Refuting Islam

THe Muslim Misuse of Hebrews 5.7

THe Muslim Misuse of Hebrews 5.7

Hebrews 5:7 says God heard Him, but you need to continue reading to Hebrews 6:6, then read Hebrews 9 & 10 which clearly shows that the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified and died.

The Apostle Paul preached that the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified, died and resurrected.

1 Corinthians 1:23
but we preach Christ crucified

Galatians 2:20
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

So Hebrews 5:7 is just saying that God heard His supplications but not to stop Him from being crucified and dying, but to make Him the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him

Jesus said he would die.

Matthew 16:21 From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.

For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Mark 10:45

for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
Matthew 26:28

After his resurrection and ascension he said he had died.

Revelation 1:18
I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.

Jesus did not only pray for the cup of suffering to pass, but also that God’s will to be done. Hebrews confirms this fact also in the following chapters;

Hebrews 7.27
Unlike those other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices every day. They did this for their own sins first and then for the sins of the people. But Jesus did this once for all when he offered himself as the sacrifice for the people’s sins.

Hebrews 9:12,14-15,26-28
[12]With his own blood—not the blood of goats and calves—he entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever.
[14]Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins.
[15]That is why he is the one who mediates a new covenant between God and people, so that all who are called can receive the eternal inheritance God has promised them. For Christ died to set them free from the penalty of the sins they had committed under that first covenant.
[26]If that had been necessary, Christ would have had to die again and again, ever since the world began. But now, once for all time, he has appeared at the end of the age to remove sin by his own death as a sacrifice.
[27]And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment,
[28]so also Christ was offered once for all time as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people. He will come again, not to deal with our sins, but to bring salvation to all who are eagerly waiting for him.

Quran Errors

Quran Errors

Quran is the principle text of Islam and one of the three sources from which the Sharia law is cast. The Quran (also spelled Koran or Qur’an) was dictated from 609 to 632 AD by Muhammad and compiled after he died.

The most sensitive issue with the Quran concerns errors. Muslims claim the Quran is infallible and error-free, while others claim the Quran has errors.

Are there errors in the Quran?

The Quran does have errors. Some of the errors in the Quran are self-contradictions that Naskh tries to bridge. But Quran also has historical and archaeological errors, as well as errors in mathematics and logic. For example, the Quran states that one night, Allah took Muhammad to “al-Aqsa” mosque in Jerusalem:

“Exalted is He who took His Servant by night from al-Masjid al-Haram to al-Masjid al-Aqsa …” – Quran 17:1

The Muslim army captured Jerusalem in 637 AD and al-Aqsa mosque was buit in the early 8th century. The problem with the above claim in the Quran is that Muhammad died before the Muslim army even reached Jerusalem and decades before al-Aqsa mosque was built (for details, see al-Aqsa Mosque).

Or consider Quran 20, which claims that Moses confronted “Aaron” and a “Samaritan” for having made the golden calf for the Israelites while he (Moses) was on Mount Sinai:

“[Moses] said, “O Aaron, what prevented you, when you saw them going astray, from following me? Then have you disobeyed my order?” [Aaron] said, “O son of my mother, do not seize [me] by my beard or by my head. Indeed, I feared that you would say, ‘You caused division among the Children of Israel, and you did not observe [or await] my word.'” [Moses] said, “And what is your case, O Samaritan?” – Quran 20:92-95

Assyria conquered the Jewish northern kingdom in 722 BC, exiled its upper class and brought in conquered people from other lands who intermarried with the lower class Jews who had been allowed to stay. Their offspring were called “Samaritans” (“Samiri” or “Samarians” in some translations of the Quran) because they occupied the region of “Samaria,” named after its original owner, “Shemer” (see 1 Kings 16:24 in the Bible). The Jews despised the Samaritans both for being a mixed race and for setting up their own temple to compete against the temple in Jerusalem.

But the golden calf incident near Mount Sinai mentioned in Quran 20:92-95 above took place in 1446 BC, which was 725 years before the first Samaritan was born in 721 BC.

It gets worse. Here is what the Quran says about Mary, the mother of Jesus:

“Then she brought [Jesus] to her people, carrying him. They said, “O Mary, you have certainly done a thing unprecedented. O sister of Aaron, your father was not a man of evil, nor was your mother unchaste.” – Quran 19:27-28

“And Mary, the daughter of Imran, who guarded her chastity, and We breathed into (her body) of our spirit; and she believed in the words of her Lord and of His revelations, and was of the devoutly obedient.” – Quran 66:12

There are a number of “Mary” – also spelled “Maria” or “Miriam” in English – in the Bible. One of them is the mother of Jesus:

“Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: after His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit.” – Matthew 1:18

But the Mary who is the “daughter of Imran” (spelled “Amram” in the Bible) and the “sister of Aaron” was the sister of Moses who lived in the 15th century BC:

“The name of Amram’s wife was Jochebed the daughter of Levi, who was born to Levi in Egypt; and to Amram she bore Aaron and Moses and their sister Miriam.” – Numbers 26:59

Therefore, unless Mary was 1,500 years old when she bore Jesus (see how old was Mary when she had Jesus?) – indeed, unless Joseph married a 1,500 year old virgin – Muhammad mistook two different women in the Bible as the same Mary.

Why does the Quran contain such glaring errors?

The proximate reason is that Muhammad was illiterate and therefore could not read the Bible for himself. He had only a vague and often incorrect knowledge of the Bible (see Bible vs. Quran) from what others read to him.

The ultimate reason, of course, is that Muhammad was a false prophet who confessed to mistaking the voice of Satan as God’s (see “Prophet” Muhammad) and who tried to cover up these and other embarrassing errors with Naskh.

Scientific inaccuracies in the Quran

Scientific inaccuracies in the Quran

Sperm:

The Qur’an states, incorrectly, that semen originates from a spot between the backbone and the ribs, Surah 86:6-7. However, science has demonstrated that sperm comes from the testicles whilst semen issues from different glands behind and below our bladder.

Flat earth:

The Quran is laden with verses which hint towards the impression of a “flat” earth. Surah 13:3, 15:19, 50:7, 51:48, 71:19, 20:53 and many more write that the earth is “spread out”, “Laid out”, or “like a carpet”. Yet due to modern scientific discovery we know that the earth is actually in the shape of a circular sphere.

Just to further elaborate on this point, ever notice how the Islamic Salat indirectly hints at the idea of a flat earth? Muslims all around the world are instructed to pray towards the Kabba 5 times a day. This would only make sense if we lived on a flat earth. If, however, Islam endorsed the belief in a spherical planet, we would get the following dilemma.

All things were made in pairs:

Within the Quran, surah 51:49, it writes that all THINGS were created in pairs. Yet, today we know of something called Asexual reproduction. Asexual reproduction is a type of reproduction by which offsprings arise from a single organism. It serves as the chief means by which single celled organisms are formed. Such examples include the Archaea, bacteria, various plants and fungi.
Shooting stars are missiles to drive out demons:

The Qur’an teaches that stars are fires set up in the sky to guard Heaven against demons. The demons want to hear what God is saying so they try to sneak up to heaven. If they are found, the guardians of heaven will hurl stars at them to chase them off: 15:16-18, 37:6-10, 67:5 and 72:8-9.

The dilemma, however, is that the Quran is confusing “stars” with “shooting stars”. Stars, as we know, are actually suns. Shooting stars on the other hand, are meteorites, or galactic debris. If we are to take the Quran seriously, then each time we see a “shooting star” we are to assume that it is actually a sun that is blasting across the sky in the pursue of a demon.
The sun settles in a muddy spring:

In surah 18:86, the Quran describes the sun as setting into a muddy spring. Yet we know due to modern scientific discovery that the setting of the sun is caused by the circular and rotational properties of our planet. There exists no place where the sun physically “sets”.

Historical inaccuracies in the Quran

Historical inaccuracies in the Quran

Samaria:

In Surah 20:85-88, 95 we read about the story of the Prophet Moses and the Israelite rebellion in their worship of the golden calf. The interesting thing within this passage, is that a SAMARITAN was accused of leading the people of Allah astray.

The story of Moses and the golden calf is dated to have occurred around 1400 BC. Yet the Samaritans did NOT exist until 530 years AFTER Moses. Samaria was founded by King Omri during the year 870 BC. The Samaritans did not exist until after the exile of the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the resettlement of the area under King Sargon II in 722 B.C.

So the question arises: How could a Samaritan lead the people of Moses astray when Samaritans did not exist during the time of Moses?

Crucifixion:

According to Surah 12:41, the Quran writes that during the time of Joseph (in the Old Testament), death by crucifixion was actually something that existed and was being performed. Not only that, but the Quran writes in Surah 7:124, 26:49 and 20:71 that Pharaoh threatened the magicians who believed in Moses with crucifixion.

The major problem with these statements from the Qur’an is that there is no archeological or historical evidence that the Egyptians used crucifixion as a form of punishment in the time of Joseph, or in the time of Moses. Crucifixion only becomes a punishment much later in history.

Alexander the great:

In surah 18:83-98 we read about a man named Dhul-Qarnayn. Now, it is VERY rare to find a scholar of the Islamic religion which will not state that this points to Alexander the great. Here are just some of those people: Baydawi, p. 399, al-Jalalan, p. 251, al-Tabari, p. 339, al-Zamakhshari, part 2 of al-Kash-shaf, p. 743.

The problem, however, is that the Quran describes Alexander as being a “righteous and God fearing man”. That Allah is the one whom guided him and that he lead people into the fold of the Islamic faith.

However, when we even do a little research on the true and historical Alexander, we see that he was an idolater, claiming to be the son of the Egyptian God Amun. Very few would even consider him to be even remotely close to a righteous human being.

Mary, the Quranic confusion:

In many places, the Qur’an mentions Mary as the sister of Moses and Aaron and the daughter of Imran. The Qur’an has confused Jesus’ mother with Aaron’s sister because both of them carry the same name, though there are several centuries between them.

The Qur’an indicates that Mary (Christ’s mother) had a brother whose name was Aaron (chapter 19:28) and a father whose name is Imran (chapter 66:12). Their mother was called “the wife of Imran” (chapter 3:35) which eliminates any doubt that it confuses Mary, mother of Jesus, with Mary, sister of Aaron.

The gospel of Jesus Christ:

In surah 4:157, the Quran unashamedly tells us that Christ was never killed nor crucified. But that it was made to appear so. Rather, Allah raised Christ unto himself. The traditional interpretation of this verse is that Allah replaced Jesus with Judas on the cross, hence ANY historical substantiation of this event would fall short on disproving the Islamic position, for they do not doubt that the crucifixion took place, but that it was Judas who took on Christ’s form.

Yet when we look to the historical record, we see that it too, also successfully dismantles this elucidation, because 10 out of the 12 apostles were martyred for believing in the MURDER and RESSURECTION of Jesus. History shows that that they firmly believed that it was Jesus himself who was murdered raised from the dead.

In The Historical Jesus: Lecture Transcript and Course Guidebook, 2000, Ehrman says:

“ONE OF THE MOST CERTAIN FACTS OF HISTORY IS THAT JESUS WAS CRUCIFIED ON ORDERS OF THE ROMAN PREFECT OF JUDEA, PONTIUS PILATE”. (P. 162)

Atheist Professor of Early Christianity and the University of Gottinggen Gerd Ludemann says:

“JESUS’ DEATH AS A CONSEQUENCE OF CRUCIFIXION IS INDISPUTABLE”. IN THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST: A HISTORICAL INQUIRY, 2004, P 50

We have at least 11 sources for the crucifixion of Jesus: Pre-Mark Passion Narrative, Q, John, Paul, Hebrews, 1 Peter 2:24, Clement of Rome, Ignatius, Martyr, Josephus Flavius, & Cornelius Tacitus. Pre-Mark and Q are very early dating to within years of the actual crucifixion.

Other less valuable sources such as Lucian, Mesa Bar Serapion (depends on dating), Thallus and the Talmud all affirm a constant tradition of Jesus’ crucifixion.

If this was really Judas on the cross, then surely they would have been aware. SURELY they would not have been willing to die for something they knew was false. So again, if we take the above mentioned interpretation into account, Islam is left with the following 2 problems:

If it was really Judas on the cross, then Islam is immediately contradicted by the historical sources that tell us Jesus was crucified and all those who knew him believed and died for the belief that he was crucified.
If Allah transformed Judas into Jesus, then the corruption of Islam, which eventually gave birth to Christianity, is Allah’s fault. For he is responsible for deceiving the masses, only to amend it hundreds of years later.

Now there does exist other interpretations such as “Christ did not die, but he merely fainted”. Yet all still manage to fail when brought under scrutiny of what history has to say concerning the crucifixion of Jesus.

How Old Was Rebecca When She Was Married To Isaac?

How Old Was Rebecca When She Was Married To Isaac?

This question is one of the Muslims’ favorites. They just love it, just like they love Luke 19:27 because they think they have found a grave defect in the
Bible, when really all they have done is to misread the text, or maybe more to the point, they haven’t read the text at all.

Muslims insist that Rebecca was three years old when she married Isaac, no doubt an attempt to deflect away from the fact that Aisha herself claimed in the hadith to be six years old when she was betrothed to Muhammad, and nine years
old when he consummated the marriage. To draw attention away from Aisha, they claim that the Bible gives Rebecca’s age as three years old, but if you read the relevant passages you will find there is no such indication of her age. Where
then do the Muslims get this, if not from the Bible? The key is that they misread the text by making the unfounded assumption that Abraham’s binding of
Isaac on the altar, Rebecca’s birth, and Sarah’s death all happened at the same time, thereby compressing time by a decade or more. In this way they are able to remove the gaps in the Bible narrative to arrive at an age of three for Rebecca
at the time of her marriage. But sometimes, it is wise to use a little common sense when trying to cut down a time line to arrive at the results you want.
What the Muslims have done makes no logical sense.

Here is a crude example of how their thinking works: “When I was five years old my parents moved to a new apartment across town to be closer to the school I would attend. Later, I got my driver’s license.” Muslims would use this story t0
prove that I got my driver’s license when I was five years old. Never mind that at five years old my little feet would not have reached the pedals. As silly as
this is, it is exactly what Muslims have done in order to claim that Rebecca was three years old when she was married to Isaac.

But there is more than misreading the Bible. They also draw on the writings of Medieval Jewish Rabbis from the 11th century to make their case. More on that later.

To develop a logical conclusion we should consider four main areas: biblical facts, Islamic traditions, age of consent, and Rabbinic traditions.

BIBLICAL FACTS: Where did the idea that Rebecca was only three years old when
she was married to Isaac come from if it is not in the Bible? Let us first review the facts that we are able to ascertain from the Bible:

(1) Sarah was 90 when Abraham was 100 [Genesis 17:17]. (2) Abraham was 100 when
Isaac was born Genesis 21:5 Sarah died at age 127 Genesis 23:1-2
Isaac was 40 when he married Rebecca [Genesis 25:20]

from these four facts we can infer the following two points:

(5) Sarah was 90 when Isaac was born. [Conclusion drawn from (1) and (2) above.
(6) Isaac was 37 when his mother, Sarah, died [127-90=37]

These six facts do not give us enough information to determine Rebecca’s age when Isaac married her.

TRADITIONS To attempt any calculation of Rebecca’s age, we must make assumptions
not substantiated by Scripture. This is to deny what the Bible says in order to uphold the sought-after results. Jesus warned about making such assumptions in Matthew 15:6, “So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of
God.” In other words, to prove that which is not contained in Scripture, you must add something that is not scriptural, such as your own conjecture. The assumptions in the traditions are conjectural and not scripture, and thus not the word of God, but the word of men.

Tradition makes certain assumptions that are not confirmed in Scripture, that the following three events happened at the same time or within a few weeks of each other:

  • The binding of Isaac on the sacrificial altar in Moriah [Genesis 22:9] –
    Abraham informed of Rebecca’s birth [Genesis 22:20-23], quite a stretch of the imagination, to say the least. – Sarah’s death at age 127 [Genesis 23:1-2]

If these three assumptions all did happen at the same time, or within a few weeks, then we can make two more necessary inferences:

(7) Since Isaac was 37 at his mother’s death, this means he was 37 when Rebecca was born. (8) Since Isaac was 40 when Rebecca was born, this means Rebecca was
3 years old when Isaac married her.

(In a similar manner, it was proved that I got my driver’s license at age 5.)

However, the assumptions made in points (7) and (8) are entirely dependent on the assumption that Rebecca was born at the same time that Sarah died. The assumptions in (7) and (8) are spurious because they are based on non-biblical
tradition and not on what the Bible says. The gaps in the narration have been stripped away. If a decade or so had passed between Rebecca’s birth and Sarah’s death, then Rebecca would have been 13. (A young woman [Genesis 24:16]) and not
a three-year old baby. One would not refer to a three-year old baby as a “young woman,” as the Bible does.

To make the case that Rebecca was only three years old at the time of her marriage to Isaac, Muslims have to accept non-biblical traditions and ignore or reject what the Bible says. You might as well forget what the Bible says and make up whatever you want.

Nowhere does the Bible tell us that Abraham’s binding of Isaac, Rebecca’s birth, and Sarah’s death all happened at the same time: – There is no indication of Isaac’s age at the time Abraham bound him on the altar, except to say that Isaac was called a “lad” or a “youth” by Abraham. Would one call a 37-year old man a
“youth”? – Abraham lived at Beersheba after the binding of Isaac. We are not told how long Abraham dwelt at Beersheba. – It was sometime “after these things”
[Genesis 22:20] that Abraham was told that Milcah had borne eight children to his brother, Nahor. We also do not know how long it took this news to reach Abraham. – Notice that when Genesis 22:23 says that “Bethuel begat Rebecca”, this was not part of the news that Abraham received. He was told that Nahor begat Bethuel. The birth of Rebecca was a generation later. We do not know how old Bethuel was when Abraham heard of his birth, nor do we know how old Bethuel
was when Rebecca was born.

The Muslims have taken all of the events above, ignored a generational gap, and compressed 25 years or so down to the same point in time.

AGE OF CONSENT That Rebecca was not a baby of three years is proven by the fact that she had reached the age of consent. This is one of the things that Muslims must ignore because it does not work with their narrative. One does not ask a
three-year old baby if it will agree to marry someone. Consider the evidence:

  • Abraham made his servant swear an oath [Genesis 24:2-9] that “if the woman” (not if the baby) “is not willing to follow you, you will be free from this oath.” [Genesis 24:8]. In other words the woman (not a baby) must be willing to
    go to Isaac and that the marriage was to be at her consent. -Rebecca’s family also asked her if she would consent to go. Her mother and her brother, Laban, asked Rebecca if she would be willing: “And they said, ‘We will call the girl and ask her to speak her wishes by her own mouth.’ Then they called the girl and said, ‘Will you go with this man?’ And she said, ‘I will go.’ ” [Genesis 24:56-59] This does not prove her age but it does prove that she had reached the age of consent.

Then Rebecca mounted a camel and followed the man, together with her “nurse” [Genesis 24:59]. Her nurse was named Deborah. [Genesis 35:8]. The word nurse means a maidservant, or handmaiden, who was also responsible for her education.
This does not imply that this person was a nurse to a baby as Muslims insist. A lady of rank is, on her marriage, always accompanied by a nurse, who, as a confidential servant, is held in great regard by the family.

It is hard to image a three-year old baby mounting a camel, as it is equally hard to imagine a baby drawing a few hundred pounds of water from a well sufficient for 10 or 20 camels.

RABBINICAL TRADITION By the 1300s, Islam had spread across North Africa and into Spain. Muslims rely on the speculation of several rabbis, writing about 2,000 years after the events in question. These rabbis used unscriptural assumption to arrive at an age for Rebecca, and it is their writings that are the basis for Muslims’ assertion that Rebecca was only three years old. Their writings, however, are not accepted as scriptural. I suspect that they arrived at their
conclusions at the behest of their Muslim overlords.

I submit these as reference for anyone who might want to check it out for themselves:

Genesis Rabba (Midrash Rabbah) Rabbi Abraham Cohen de Herrera (1570-1635 AD)
Rabbi Rashbam (1085-1158 AD) Targum Jonathan

50 Reasons Muhammed Was Not A Prophet!

50 REASONS MUHAMMED WAS NOT A PROPHET!


Why should the entire world reject Muhammad as a prophet? Here are 50 reasons, arranged by category ( Note there are more for the purposes of space let’s take this)
MUHAMMAD’S SPIRITUAL PROBLEMS
When Muhammad began receiving revelations, his first impression of these revelations was that they were demonic.
Muhammad was so traumatized by his encounter with “Gabriel” that he repeatedly tried to commit suicide by hurling himself off a cliff.
According to Muslim sources,
Muhammad once delivered a revelation from the devil (the “Satanic Verses”).
Muhammad claimed that he was a victim of a magic spell that gave him delusional thoughts and false beliefs.
MUHAMMAD’S PROBLEMS WITH PAGANISM AND IDOLATRY
Islam promotes idolatry (e.g., bowing down to the Kaaba and kissing the black stone). Islam promotes pagan rituals (e.g., the pilgrimage to Mecca).
Islam deifies Muhammad by requiring unconditional obedience to him and by requiring Muslims to talk to him during their daily prayers.
MUHAMMAD’S PROBLEMS WITH VIOLENCE
After leaving Mecca, Muhammad supported his religion by robbing people.
Muhammad ordered his followers to torture a man named Kinana to find out where some money was hidden. Muhammad then had Kinana killed, and took his wife for himself.
Muhammad commanded his followers to kill critics of Islam.
Muhammad ordered his followers to kill apostates, even if they had good reasons for leaving Islam.
The Qur’an commands Muslims to violently subjugate Jews and Christians. MUHAMMAD’S SCIENTIFIC PROBLEMS
The Qur’an claims that stars are missiles that Allah uses to shoot demons. The Qur’an claims that the sun sets in a pool of murky water.
Muhammad’s teachings about personal hygiene would lead to death if Muslims took them seriously.
Muhammad claimed that Gabriel explained to him why children look like one parent or the other. Gabriel’s answer is completely false.
MUHAMMAD’S EVIDENTIAL PROBLEMS
When Muhammad was too shy to tell his dinner guests to leave, Allah stepped in with a special revelation that should make everyone wonder whether Muhammad’s revelations really have anything to do with God.
The Qur’an declares that Christians find Muhammad mentioned in our scriptures. Yet our scriptures call Muhammad an antichrist.
In the Qur’an, Allah promises to kill Muhammad by severing his aorta if Muhammad invents a false revelation. When Muhammad died, he said he could feel his aorta being severed.
The Qur’an contains a prophecy that wasn’t fulfilled.
The Qur’an presents a test for divine inspiration, but fails the test.
The central argument for the inspiration of the Qur’an is the “Argument from Literary Excellence,” which is absurd on multiple levels.
The author of the Qur’an doesn’t know that Miriam, the sister of Aaron and Moses, is a different person from Mary, the mother of Jesus (because their names are the same in Arabic).
The Qur’an claims that Alexander the Great and Aesop were devout Muslims.
Allah promises to protect the Qur’an from corruption, but the Qur’an has been corrupted (by Muslim standards).
Muslims believe that the Qur’an is Allah’s eternal Word. Yet Allah repeatedly changes his eternal mind about his eternal Word via abrogation.
The Qur’an is missing at least two verses in which Allah commands grown women to breastfeed grown men in order to prevent sexual misconduct.
The Qur’an contains numerous false stories that were plagiarized from other sources.
MUHAMMAD’S PROBLEMS WITH WOMEN
Muhammad allowed his followers to hire prostitutes.
The Qur’an allows Muslim men to have up to four wives at a time. But Muhammad received a special revelation giving him (and him alone) the right to break the four-wife limit.
Muhammad had sex with a prepubescent nine-year-old girl named Aisha. The Qur’an allows Muslim men to beat their wives into submission.

Islam allows Muslim men to rape their female captives and slave-girls.
Muhammad married the divorced wife of his own adopted son (after Muhammad caused the divorce), and the Qur’an offers an absurd defense of Muhammad’s actions.
When Muhammad’s wife Sauda became fat and unattractive, Muhammad intended to divorce her. Sauda had to relinquish some of her marital rights to avoid being abandoned.
After Muhammad got caught having sex with his slave girl in the bed of one of his wives, he swore that he would stop having sex with his slave-girl. Allah ordered him to break that oath.
Muhammad claimed that women are less intelligent and less moral than men.
When Muhammad’s wives asked why he was giving special privileges to Aisha, he justified his actions by saying that he received revelations while wearing Aisha’s dress!
MUHAMMAD’S THEOLOGICAL PROBLEMS
According to the Qur’an, Allah has no love for unbelievers.
According to the Qur’an, Allah is the “best of deceivers.”
According to Muhammad, Allah wants people to sin, and he threatens us with annihilation if we refuse to sin.
Since Allah would destroy us for not sinning, the true savior of humanity, according to Islam, is Satan, who tempts human beings to sin and therefore protects us from being destroyed.
Muhammad didn’t know whether he would go to heaven or hell when he died.
Islam teaches that Allah will punish Jews and Christians in hell for the sins of Muslims.
Muhammad promises his followers a paradise in which Allah will bless them with eternal erections so that they can continually deflower their virgins.
MUHAMMAD’S PROBLEMS WITH CHRISTIANITY
Islam affirms the inspiration, preservation, and authority of the Jewish and Christian scriptures, yet Islam contradicts these scriptures on a fundamental level.
Islam claims to respect and honor Jesus, yet it portrays him as a complete failure.
Muslims believe that the Gospel has been corrupted. But according to Islam, part of the Gospel was corrupted by Allah himself.
Islam reverses the Gospel by having the guilty Judas die on behalf of the innocent Jesus, rather than the innocent Jesus dying on behalf of sinners.
Christianity is confirmed by Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. Since Islam contradicts

Christianity, and has no comparable confirmation from God, we must reject Islam.
IF YOU WANT TO CHALLENGE ALL THESE JUST INDICATE IN THE COMMENTS AND I WILL GIVE YOU SOURCES!

How Can We Trust The Testimony Of The New Testament

How Can We Trust The Testimony Of The New Testament?

Muslims will often allege that since much of the New Testament, in particular the gospels, were written after the fact and after Jesus had left the world, that it never had His authorisation or approval.

They will also try to undermine Scripture in allegations that the Gospels contain events where Jesus is alone, eg His temptation with Him and Satan had no recorded witnesses, the insinuation being that such episodes and the conversational exchanges are an invention of the gospel authors, where the Biblical principle of multiple attestation breaks down.

How can we counter such arguments?

■ THE WITNESS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

The principle that underlines everything written in the New Testament is that which Jesus established in His promise of the Comforter who is the Holy Spirit:

“But the counsellor, the Holy Spirit — the Father will send Him in My name — will teach you all things and REMIND YOU OF EVERYTHING I HAVE TOLD YOU.” (John 14:26 HCSB)

So the first response is if it’s in the Gospel (singular) accounts (plural) we can count on it that Jesus had told them what happened, whether or not they or others had personally witnessed it as well.

■ THE WITNESS OF THE DISCIPLES

Secondly, we find Jesus re-emphasising the principle of multiple attestation in this reference to the three persons of the Trinity, and the particular role of the Holy Spirit:

“When the counsellor comes, the One I will send to you from the Father — the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father — He will testify about Me. You also will testify, because you have been with Me from the beginning.” (John 15:26‭-‬27 HCSB)

So when we read for example in Acts Peter affirming the disciples witnessing the events of the crucifixion he describes, it can be counted upon:

Chapter 3 of Acts damns Islam and the Quran in one stroke.

Peter has just healed the man crippled from birth as if it was Jesus still with the disciples only it’s not Jesus in person it’s by the power of the Holy Spirit the promised Comforter. The people are amazed at seeing the man walk. This is how Luke records the scene:

“When Peter saw this, he addressed the people: “Men of Israel, why are you amazed at this? Or why do you stare at us, as though we had made him walk by our own power or godliness? The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His Servant Jesus, whom you handed over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release Him. But you denied the Holy and Righteous One and asked to have a murderer given to you. You killed the source of life, whom God raised from the dead; we are witnesses of this.” (Acts 3:12‭-‬15 HCSB)

Did you get those words of Peter? “YOU KILLED THE SOURCE OF LIFE, WHOM GOD RAISED FROM THE DEAD; WE ARE WITNESSES OF THIS.”

Eyewitness testimony that confirms Jesus “the source of life” was crucified and rose from the dead and the disciples were witnesses”.

And Muslims want us to believe it never happened on the say so of a pagan who was assaulted by a demon in a cave 600 years after the events and 1000 kilometres away from the scene without any witnesses or a shred of evidence?

Peter along with the other disciples only fled the initial scene of Jesus arrest. Peter at least did not go far because he was very soon back following Jesus at a distance with another disciple:

“Meanwhile, Simon Peter was following Jesus, as was another disciple. That disciple was an acquaintance of the high priest; so he went with Jesus into the high priest’s courtyard. But Peter remained standing outside by the door. So the other disciple, the one known to the high priest, went out and spoke to the girl who was the doorkeeper and brought Peter in.” (John 18.15-16)

Note the “other disciple” is not named. It might be the Gospel author John which would seem unlikely since he likewise would have feared arrest (unless he has a very close relationship with the High Priest such that he might have been able to count on immunity). It might have been Joseph of Arimathea. The fact is we don’t know and aren’t told but that in itself is significant. It shows us that not EVERY detail of the story is recorded only what we need to have for the narrative. Clearly John the writer of the Gospel knew MORE than he tells us here. That principle needs to applied and kept in mind when reading the entire sequence of events surrounding the Passion of Christ.

We do know Peter and John were the first two disciples to witness the empty tomb but they were not the first to whom the risen Lord appeared. In a way which makes the entire narrative credible is the fact that women were the first witnesses of the resurrected Lord. No one would have written that into the story if it was a fabrication. Scholars regard that fact as highly indicative of its authenticity because by the Criterion of Embarrassment anyone inventing it would NEVER have had women as the first witnesses.

Jesus was crucified in public in front of hundreds of witnesses. We know from his gospel that John was there because Jesus speaks to him and his mother while hanging on the cross. We don’t know whether others were watching at a distance. Given Peter’s behaviour at the high priest’s house it would be surprising if he was not watching the crucifixion from a distance. Likewise others of the 11.

When Peter says to the crowd in Acts 2 that “we are witnesses to the crucifixion and resurrection” he is telling the truth. He had no reason to lie. In fact it’s impossible that he could have been doing what he was doing, in continuing the miraculous healing works of Jesus based upon a lie. Its also impossible he would have been martyred for being a false witness – see final section.

■ JESUS LAID OUT THE STRUCTURE FOR THE NEW TESTAMENT

He might not have been on earth when it was written but Jesus knew how it would be written.

For the New Testament as a whole, Jesus gives us a very clear road map of how that would be written in advance. Two main passages in the Gospel of John lay the ground work for our understanding of the authority and inspiration of the New Testament: John 14:25-26 and John 16:12-15. In these passages Jesus says:

“These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. 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.” (John 14.25-26)

“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 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. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.” (John 16.12-15).

Often these words of Jesus are taken to apply to Christians in general. I suggest that what Jesus is saying here is that his apostles were going to write what we now know as the New Testament.

It is evident that Jesus knew His message to the world would depend upon the words of His apostles. He expressly prays for them in John 17:20: “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word.”

Jesus had many things to say to His apostles but they would have to wait until the coming of the Holy Spirit to receive them. Notice the three main things the Holy Spirit would do in His guiding them into all truth.

  1. First, the Holy Spirit would bring to their remembrance all things Jesus said to them. Since the apostles wrote about the words and actions of Jesus after the fact, it was vital that the Holy Spirit enable the apostles to remember the facts, the details and the verbatum conversations.
  2. Second, the Holy Spirit, also called the Spirit of Truth, would teach them all things. The apostles and the authors of the New Testament would interpret events truthfully.
  3. Third, the Holy Spirit would show them things to come. The prophetic messages in the New Testament would be authenticated and witnessed to by the power of the Holy Spirit.

It is no coincidence that these three actions by the Holy Spirit in His directing the apostles correspond to what we have discovered to be the three divisions of New Testament Scripture; historical (“bring to your remembrance”) which covers Matthew through Acts, teaching (“teach you all things”) which covers Romans through Jude, and prophecy (“show you things to come”) which covers Revelation.

Thus, in these passages of John 14:25-26; 16:12-15
we have Jesus pre-authenticating the writing of the New Testament by His apostles. The Three Divisions of the New Testament:

1). The historical survey (Matthew -Acts)

“… bring to your remembrance all things I said unto you”.

2). Teaching and interpretation of the principles laid down by Jesus (Romans – Jude)

“… teach you all things”.

3). The prophetic word (Revelation)

“… show you things to come”.

Each book of the New Testament is either written by an apostle of Jesus or by a contemporary of the events in proximity to an apostle of Jesus. The passages from the Gospel of John above directly authenticate the apostolic authority of the books of Matthew, John, 1 and 2 Peter, 1, 2, and 3 John, and Revelation since the writers of these books were a part of the original twelve to whom Jesus spoke these words.

We see from Acts 9:15; 26:17-18 and Galatians 1:11-19 that Jesus personally commissioned Paul as an apostle. Thus, the writings of Paul bear the authority of Christ. This authenticates the apostolic authority of Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, and possibly Hebrews. Crucially, Paul’s authority is also corroborated by Peter’s testimony of Paul in 2 Peter 3:15-16.

“… and consider that the long suffering of our Lord is salvation; as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.”

Notice that Peter equates the writings of Paul with Scripture. Since Peter was one of the original twelve apostles of Jesus, his endorsement of Paul further establishes Paul as an apostolic authority.

Mark’s authority stems from his proximity to Peter and Paul in Acts 12:12-19,25; 1 Peter 5:13, and 2 Timothy 4:11. Luke’s authority stems from his proximity to Paul in 1 Timothy 5:18 and 2 Timothy 4:11. James’ and Jude’s authority stems from their proximity to Peter, John, and Matthew in Acts 1:14.

The authority of James is further manifested in how James presided over the Council of Jerusalem in Acts 15 and how the apostles Paul and Peter regard him during that council. James’ authority is also corroborated by Paul where we see Paul recognising him as an apostle (Galatians 1:19) and as a pillar of the church (Galatians 2:9). In addition we can see James’ authority in that when representatives came from Jerusalem to Antioch to address a theological issue, they were said to have come from James (Galatians 2:12). It is noteworthy also to see that Peter, as an apostle, reported to James (Acts 12:16-17).

The New Testament book that poses the greatest challenge is Hebrews since its authorship is in question. Many scholars believe that Paul wrote Hebrews, in which case its authority would be established. Others suggest that Barnabas might have written Hebrews. If this is so, we can establish Bamabas’ apostolic authority by Acts 14:14 where Barnabas is referred to as an apostle in his work with Paul. With thus we have every book in the New Testament accounted for regarding its apostolic authority. Each writer can be linked directly to Jesus or to someone who is linked directly to Jesus.

■ TESTIMONY WRITTEN IN THE BLOOD OF MARTYRS

Finally, we can further seal the authenticity of their witness testimony (and incidentally that Jesus is God), by Jesus’ prophetic words in Matthew 23:

“This is why I am sending you prophets, sages, and scribes. Some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will flog in your synagogues and hound from town to town.” (Matthew 23:34)

Who alone sends prophets? God does. Persecution that would follow them to their deaths would prove they were sent and set apart by God. All bar none of the Apostles, including Paul, suffered martyrdom (John uniquely and miraculously was spared the intended martyrs death). They wrote their testimonies in their own blood. Its the ultimate seal upon their truthfulness. No one will die knowingly to defend a lie.

By the apostles’ obedience and sacrifice, Christ has allowed their deaths to become an extremely powerful witness to us of His person. They died because they loved Christ, and Christ let them die for Him because He loves us. Belief in Christ is that important, and those who died knew it. So it is not God who devalues the apostles deaths, but us whenever we ignore the truth of Christ for which they surrendered their lives.

The deaths of Jesus’ closest followers are speaking to us. Their deaths are witness to, and are hard evidence for, Christ’s deity and ministry on earth. They reprise His death and fulfil His command that anyone wishing to follow Him must also be willing to pick up their own cross and die for Him as He died for us. This is evidence of the Bible’s veracity that no atheist, Muslim, historian, scientist, or other sceptic can ignore in clear conscience.

Quran says the Bible is not corrupted

Quran says the Bible is not corrupted

Unfortunately for you the Quran says the Bible is not corrupted

Torah – “We gave Moses the Book and followed him up with a succession of messengers,” (Sura 2:87).1

Psalms – “We have sent thee inspiration, as We sent it to Noah and the Messengers after him: we sent inspiration to Abraham, Isma’il, Isaac, Jacob and the Tribes, to Jesus, Job, Jonah, Aaron, and Solomon, and to David We gave the Psalms,” (4:163).

Gospel – “It is He Who sent down to thee (step by step), in truth, the Book, confirming what went before it; and He sent down the Law (of Moses) and the Gospel (of Jesus) before this, as a guide to mankind, and He sent down the criterion (of judgment between right and wrong),” (3:3).
Also, “And in their footsteps We sent Jesus the son of Mary, confirming the Law that had come before him: We sent him the Gospel: therein was guidance and light, and confirmation of the Law that had come before him: a guidance and an admonition to those who fear Allah,” (5:46)

You claim that the Bible is corrupted and full of contradictions. If that is so, then it would seem they do not believe the Qur’an since the Qur’an says that the Word of God cannot be altered:

“Rejected were the messengers before thee: with patience and constancy they bore their rejection and their wrongs, until Our aid did reach them: there is none that can alter the words (and decrees) of Allah. Already hast thou received some account of those messengers,” (6:34).
“The word of thy Lord doth find its fulfillment in truth and in justice: None can change His words: for He is the one who heareth and knoweth all,” (6:115).
“For them are glad tidings, in the life of the present and in the Hereafter; no change can there be in the words of Allah. This is indeed the supreme felicity,” (10:64).
When Muhammad (570-632) was alive, he claimed to receive the revelation of the Qu’ran from Allah. This means that at that time the Bible, which was in existence, could not have been corrupted because the Qu’ran states that God’s word cannot be corrupted.

The question I have for the you is “When and where was the Bible corrupted since the Qu’ran says that the Torah, the Psalms, and the Gospel are from Allah and Allah’s words cannot be changed?”

Woman

Woman

The Protestant commentator William Barclay writes:

“The word Woman (gynai) is also misleading. It sounds to us very rough and abrupt. But it is the same word as Jesus used on the Cross to address Mary as he left her to the care of John (John 19:26). In Homer it is the title by which Odysseus addresses Penelope, his well-loved wife. It is the title by which Augustus, the Roman Emperor, addressed Cleopatara, the famous Egyptian queen. So far from being a rough and discourteous way of address, it was a title of respect. We have no way of speaking in English which exactly renders it; but it is better to translate it Lady which gives at least the courtesy in it”

Similarly, the Protestant Expositor’s Bible Commentary, published by Zondervan, states:

Jesus’ reply to Mary was not so abrupt as it seems. ‘Woman’ (gynai) was a polite form of address. Jesus used it when he spoke to his mother from the cross (19:26) and also when he spoke to Mary Magdalene after the Resurrection (20:15)” (vol. 9, p. 42).
Even the Fundamentalist Wycliff Bible Commentary put out by Moody Press acknowledges in its comment on this verse, “In his reply, the use of ‘Woman’ does not involve disrespect (cf. 19:26)” (p. 1076).

The fact it is not a title of disrespect should be obvious from the fact that Jesus, as an obedient Son who fulfilled the Torah perfectly, would never have spoken irreverently to his mother. His perfect fulfillment of the Torah includes a perfect fulfillment of the command, “Honor your father and mother,” which in the literal Hebrew is “Glorify your father and mother.” This is why the corban custom was so wrong — because it left one’s parents scrounging for food and money and thus publicly humiliated, violating the command to glorify your father and mother by seeing that they are not publicly shamed by being reduced to begging. To publicly speak irreverently of his mother is something that Jesus would never have been able to countenance. Actually, the way Jesus is using the term — at the two key junctures in John’s Gospel where Mary appears — is symbolic and emblematic of her role in redemptive history. Whereas Eve was the First Woman, Mary is the Second Woman, just as Adam was the First Man and Jesus was the Second Man (1 Cor. 15:47)

To modern ears Jesus’ addressing Mary as “woman” sounds a bit cold. But in Aramaic, the language in which Our Lord spoke, it was actually a term of respect — a normal, polite form of address,

Abraham and the Kaaba

Abraham and the Kaaba

The life of Abraham is mapped differently in the Old Testament.
Here is what the Old Testament says about Abraham :

  1. God told Abraham, who was living in a pagan environment near the Euphrates, to leave his home and go to a land that God would show him (See Joshua 24:2)
    2.Abraham’s family departed from “Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan,” where he lived in Shechem (modern day Nablus) around 1850 B.C.
  2. Because of the famine that came upon Canaan (See Genesis 2:1-10), Abraham departed from Canaan and went to Egypt. From Egypt, he moved to Bethel, where he built a temple for the Lord (See Genesis 13:-4)
    NOW reding about this in the Bible, we know that it mentions three regions in the narrative of Abraham’s journey.
  3. The Euphrates. 2. Canaan. 3. Egypt.
    At the same time, NO MENTION of the Arabian Peninsula (regarding Mecca) or a connection between Abrahaam and the Ka’ba is given. Do you not find this a bit odd ? I do.
    So again, If Abraham had been the builder of the Ka’ba, it would have been a holy site for the Jews, or at least the historical tales would have mentioned their regard for it.
    We also know this about the Ka’ba. According to classical Islamic sources, the name of this sacred house found found in Mecca DERIVE from its CUBICAL shape. In the Arabic, the word ka’ba means “cube”. The worship of Ka’ba is connected to Arab paganism because the Arabs of the Peninsula considered the Ka’ba holy BEFORE Islam.
    The historic sources also also inform that the pagan Arabs regarded others houses named ka’ba (ka’bas) to be sacred as well, for example:
  • Ka’ba of Yemen
  • Ka’ba of Najran
  • Ka’ba of Shadad
  • Ka’ba of Ghatafan
    Now, according to the historical sources, the number of ka’bat (ka’bas) may have been as many as 23. Regardless of the accuracy of this number, the consensus is that there are other ka’bat (ka’bas) besides the one in Mecca.
    This raises ANOTHER intriguing question!
    Since Abraham had NOT visited the southern Arabian Peninsula, and since the Ka’ba was at the heart of the Arabian Peninsula, HOW COULD ABRAHAM BE TIED TO THE Kaaba?