Scrutinizing Christianity
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DISCLAIMER: The content of this article could challenge the beliefs of the Christian reader, trigger strong emotions, irritate him or her. There is no intention to insult or disrespect anyone’s beliefs, but solely and unapologetically the quest for objective truth using the innate and universal gifts of logic (reasoning) and common sense. The Christian reader might want to avoid reading this article. In any case, he or she should proceed with caution.
Introduction
Christianity is one of the biggest religions in the world with roughly 2.4 billion followers. It apparently stems from the life, teachings, and death of Jesus of Nazareth (the Christ, or the Anointed One of God) in the 1st century CE. The adherents of Christianity (called Christians) believe that Jesus is God and Son of God, or just Son of God; that he came to die for the sins of men. According to Christians, the one who doesn’t accept and believe that Jesus was crucified on the cross, died for the sins of men, was resurrected three days later, ascended into heaven and he will return will not be saved, they will be separated from God forever. This article aims to examine the truthfulness of the Christian foundational beliefs by trying to answer the fundamental question, “do Christian beliefs come from God Almighty?”, because if they come from God Almighty, they will be true by default. This question can in turn be divided into 3 main sub questions: “do Christian beliefs make sense (are they coherent and rational)?”, “Where do those beliefs come from (what are their sources)?”, “Are those sources of Christian beliefs reliable (do they go back to God Almighty)?”.
Usually, Christians say that non-Christians don’t understand Christianity because they don’t have the holy spirit (which is seemingly the divine force, the quality and influence of God over the universe or His creature). However, it would be unfair if understanding the means of our salvation was discriminatory. If God is just, understanding His way should be equally accessible to everyone. Every human being has an intellect, can reason, and make sense of things to find the truth. Descartes said: “Common sense is the most widely shared thing in the world (…), what is called common sense or reason is naturally equal in all men (…)” You will see a Christian use logical thinking in their life, but as soon as it comes to Christianity, they might throw away their intellect out of the window. This is not a reasonable attitude. God is the One who established the laws of logic and Who gave us logical thinking, which entails that we ought to apply logical thinking even in matters related to God. Therefore, we don’t need any holy spirit to understand things about God and His way. This article will use logical thinking and common sense in order to examine Christianity. (Unless stated otherwise, the Bible verses quoted in this article are from the New King James Version).
1-What is the nature of Jesus?
Different Christians have different views on who Jesus is. For some, Jesus is part of a triune God, and therefore he is God and the Son of God. For others, Jesus is not God but literally the Son of God. Some early Christians like the Ebionites believed Jesus neither to be God nor the literal son of God. Rather, they believed he was a man, a prophet of God. In this section we will investigate those Christian claims about Jesus.
1–1 Is Jesus God?
If Jesus is God as some Christians claim, he surely would have said it explicitly to his followers and we should find evidence of that, mainly in the Bible which is according to Christians, the (inspired) Word of God and it relates the ministry of Jesus.
When looking at clear and unambiguous statements (that convey only one possible meaning), we study the teachings of Jesus and what Jesus said about himself in the Bible (while taking the Bible at face value), we see that:
Jesus is not all-powerful
He stated that he cannot do anything by himself (John 5:30) and that the Father is Greater than him (John 14:28). Yet we know God Almighty is always All-Powerful and Greater than all.
“I can of myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and my judgment is righteous, because I do not seek my own will but the will of the Father who sent me.” John 5:30
“You have heard me say to you, ‘I am going away and coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would rejoice because I said, ‘I am going to the Father,’ for my Father is greater than I.” John 14:28
Jesus is not all-knowing
When he was asked about the Hour (the Judgment Day), he stated that he doesn’t know, only the Father knows (Matthew 24:36). Also, Jesus is said to have grown in wisdom and therefore in knowledge (Luke 2:52) while we know God doesn’t grow in wisdom, He is always The All-Wise; God doesn’t gain knowledge, He is the Source of knowledge, the All-Knowing.
“But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but my Father only.” Matthew 24:36
“And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.” Luke 2:52
Jesus is not self-sufficient.
He was hungry (Matthew 21:18), he needed to eat, drink, go to the toilet… to survive. Jesus needed to be taken care of, to have his diapers changed by his mother when he was a baby… Yet we know God Almighty doesn’t need food and He doesn’t go to the toilet. God doesn’t need a mother to take care of Him, God is always Self-Sufficient.
“Now in the morning, as he [Jesus] returned to the city, he was hungry.” Matthew 21:18
Jesus clearly rejected divinity
Jesus refused to be called good saying that only God is called Good (Mark 10:17–18), he said he has a God Who is also our God and he called upon Him (John 20:17, Mark 15:34), he fell on his face to pray to that God (Luke 6:12). He said the only True God is the Father, not him [Jesus] (John 17:3).
“Now as he was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before him, and asked him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?” So, Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but One, that is, God.” Mark 10:17–18
“And this is eternal life, that they may know You [the Father], the only True God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” John 17:3
“Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father; but go to my brethren and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God.’”” John 20:17
“And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is translated, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?”’” Mark 15:34
“Now it came to pass in those days that he [Jesus] went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.” Luke 6:12
Jesus is a man
Jesus said he was a man (John 8:40) sent by God to the lost sheep of Israel only (Matthew 15:24). People in the Bible believed he was a man (Acts 2:22). That means he was a messenger of God sent to guide the Israelites and he wasn’t sent to the whole world.
“But now you seek to kill me [Jesus], a man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this.” John 8:40
“I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Matthiew 15:24
““Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves also know ” Acts 2:22
Jesus cannot be fully God and fully human at the same time
One of the laws of logic is the law of noncontradiction which states that something can’t be its opposite at the same time. God is Infinite, Self-Sufficient, Uncreated. God cannot be His creation which is finite, dependent and created. God cannot be part of creation; God cannot be a man. Jesus was an observable being in creation, he was part of creation; he was finite, dependent, created; he was a man. Jesus cannot be God. Even according to the Bible, God is not a man (Numbers 23:19) nor a son of man (Hosea 11:9) while Jesus is a man (John 8:40) and a son of man (Matthew 12:40). So, Jesus cannot be fully God and fully man at the same time. He is just fully man.
“God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?’’ Numbers 23:19
“I will not execute the fierceness of My anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim. For I am God, and not man, The Holy One in your midst; And I will not come with terror.” Hosea 11:9
“But now you seek to kill me [Jesus], a man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this.” John 8:40
“For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” Matthew 12:40
If God humbled Himself and became a man so that He understands us or becomes relatable to us as Christians say, then God contradicted Himself by becoming a man while He said He is not a man. God is All-Knowing, His knowledge encompasses everything, He doesn’t need to become a man to understand what a man is, and He already sends prophets and messengers that are humans so people can relate to them.
Also, we worship God because He has attributes that make Him worthy of worship (All-Knowing, All-Powerful, Creator of everything…) You wouldn’t worship your friend or another human being or a stick because those are deficient creatures with no attributes that would deem them worthy of your worship. If God became a man, it means he ceased to be God and worthy of worship because He doesn’t have attributes that would make Him God and worthy of worship anymore: if God became a man He would no longer be All-Powerful, Ever-Living, All-Knowing… In truth, God is always All-Powerful, Ever Living and He never ceases to exist, All-Knowing and He never ceases to know…
If God became a man, it means he changed because something (the human nature) got added to His Nature, He has not always been a man. Who is “more God”: God before incarnation or God after incarnation? And if the human nature was added to God, it means God lacked something, He was not perfect, He needed something (the imperfect human nature) to be added to Him, which is absurd. The Bible (in the words attributed to God Himself) recognizes that God doesn’t change.
“For I am the Lord, I do not change; therefore, you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob.” Malachi 3:6
If Jesus is fully God and fully man as a result of God becoming a man (despite contradicting Himself), then what differentiates God from His creation? Where do we draw the line? Why stop at a man? Maybe God can become a woman. Why stop at humanity? Maybe God can become a cow, a goat, an elephant, a rock, the wind… as Hindus believe. So why accept the Christian version of God and reject the Hindu version when both have the same foundational concept? This shows that Jesus being God and human at the same time is a polytheistic belief.
Saying that God became a man is nonsensical, as nonsensical as the concept of a squared circle (either it is a square or it is a circle, not both, at the same time). Jesus cannot be fully God and fully human. Even in the Bible, Jesus explicitly identified himself as a human being [John 8:40] and never did he identify himself as God Almighty. Jesus is only fully human.
The virgin birth doesn’t equate to having divinity
If being born with only a mother makes Jesus God, then Adam would be more God than Jesus because Adam had no father and no mother. Nobody says Adam is God. It is therefore absurd to claim that Jesus is God.
Christians quote verses either not from God and Jesus, or verses that are ambiguous (such as “I and my Father are one” [John 10:30], “He who has seen me has seen the Father” [John 14:9], “Before Abraham was, I am” [John 8:58] …) and that contradict the explicit ones (such us those we mentioned previously) to attempt to prove that Jesus is God. However, we can’t rely on those ambiguous verses because they are subject to different interpretations and meanings, anyone can use that ambiguity to come up with whatever they want to believe. What is clear and explicit is the foundation of the truth, and common-sense dictates that ambiguous verses should be interpreted through the lenses of explicit verses.
We conclude from this that Jesus (himself taught that he) is not God, he was only a human being sent as a messenger by God to the children of Israel.
1–2 Is Jesus the Son of God?
When Christians say Jesus is the “son of God”, we would like to ask what they mean by that because “son of God” has 3 possible meanings: either it means that Jesus is literally the physical son of God i.e. Jesus was procreated by God, or it means Jesus was adopted by God, or finally it means metaphorically that Jesus is a righteous person, a servant of God.
The literal meaning
Most Christians adopt the literal meaning today, and we say that it can’t be true because it would mean that God procreated another God (Jesus) with (or without) a mate (Mary) that would be another God, and this is nonsensical.
If God needed a mate (Mary) to procreate Jesus, it would be illogical and irrational because firstly it’s blasphemous to say that God would have sexual relationships as that’s what procreation entails [1], God is neither male nor female; and secondly it would mean that the mate (Mary) has similar attributes to God’s as a human being only begets with another human being, a cat only begets with another cat. Mary was a human being, not a goddess. God having a mate is absurd as God alone possesses His attributes, He doesn’t need a mate, there is nothing like God.
Even if we assume that God procreated Jesus without a mate, there would still be a problem. It would mean that Jesus who is the alleged son of God has the same attributes as God’s because a human only procreates a human being, a cat only procreates a cat, and therefore God would only procreate another god. However, Jesus doesn’t have the attributes of God: for example Jesus doesn’t know everything but God is All-Knowing, Jesus died according to Christians but God never dies, God is not a man (Numbers 23:19) nor a son of man (Hosea 11:9) while Jesus is a man (John 8:40) and a son of man (Matthew 12:40). So, Jesus cannot be the literal physical son of God, the same way a human being can’t have a cat as a biological child. It’s insulting to attribute to a man an animal as his physical child. It’s even more insulting to attribute a child to God.
God having a physical child is illogical and irrational.
The adoptionist meaning
Early Christians such as the Ebionites believed Jesus is only a human and he is the adopted son of God due to his piety [2]. However, Christians today don’t believe Jesus is adopted by God.
The metaphorical meaning
“Son of God” cannot have a literal interpretation. Sonship and divine nature are incompatible: sonship describes receiving life while divine nature describes One who has received life from no one. As professor Gary Miller said in A Concise Reply to Christianity — A Muslim View, “To be a son is to be less than divine, and to be divine is to be no one’s son”.
Many people are called “sons of God” in the Bible: some human beings are called sons of God (Genesis 6:2); Jesus is not the only “begotten son of God” as David is also called begotten son of God (Psalms 2:7); Adam is called the son of God (Luke 3:38); Ephraim is called the firstborn of God (Jeremiah 31:9), etc., yet Christians don’t consider them as God Almighty or literal physical sons of God. Even Jews were called “gods” (John 10:31), Satan is called a god (2 Corinthians 4:4), Moses is called a god to Pharaoh (Exodus 7:1–2), yet they are not considered as God Almighty. This shows that the expression “son of God” in the biblical context is metaphorical. In fact, the word “pais” translated from the Greek as “son” in “son of God” can also mean “servant” [3]. Therefore, saying that Jesus is the “son of God” means Jesus is a righteous person, a servant of God.
Jesus himself supports the metaphorical understanding. Jews accused Jesus of blasphemy because according to them he supposedly claimed he is God. They based their accusation on the fact that Jesus referred to himself as “son of God” (John 10:33). Today Christians have the same claim as the Jews who wanted to kill Jesus that Jesus is God (and/or literally the “son of God”), with the difference that Christians don’t consider it a blasphemy. In any case, Jesus refuted both the Jews who accused him of blasphemy and the Christians who endorse his alleged divinity and literal divine sonship: he told the Jews that he never claimed to be God, he only claimed to be what is translated as “son of God” (John 10:36); and to explain what he meant by “son of God”, Jesus told them that the Jews are called in their scriptures “gods” (John 10:34, which is lesser than “son of God”) and it never meant that the Jews are literally God Almighty, so by the same logic Jesus calling himself a “son of God” doesn’t mean he is literally the son of God (or God).
In John 20:17 Jesus said that God is his Father and also our Father (“I am ascending to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God.”) Here again, Jesus is showing that “son of God” is metaphorical because if it was literal, it would mean that “Father” is literal and therefore all of us and Jesus are literal sons of God. However, every Christian would reject the idea that all human beings are literal sons of God.
We logically conclude that Jesus himself says he is not literally the physical “son of God”, but he is “son of God” only as a figure of speech meaning “servant of God”.
1–3 The trinity
Christians claim that God is a trinity. The mainstream Christian trinity states that God is 1 in 3 distinct yet co-equal and co-eternal persons, which means that all 3 persons have the same attributes [4]. Let’s scrutinize it.
1)The fact that all three persons of the trinity are said to be distinct and each fully God implies that they make up 3 gods, not 1, which is polytheism, not monotheism. Rejecting this simple logical conclusion is delusional.
2)The Bible says that Jesus and the Holy Spirit don’t know the Hour, only the Father knows (Matthew 24:36). So, the persons in the trinity are not equally Omniscient.
3)The Bible says that the Father is Greater than Jesus and the Holy Spirit (John 10:29, John 14:28). Also, Christians believe the one referred to in John 16:5–14 is the Holy Spirit which according to the verses has no authority over the Father, it cannot speak on its own, it speaks only whatever it hears and is commanded to say. So, the persons in the trinity are not equally All-Powerful.
4)The Bible says that Jesus can become hungry, eat, drink, go to the toilet, die… while the Father and the Holy Spirit can’t do that (Matthew 21:18). The holy spirit depends on the command and authority of the Father to do something (John 16:5–14). So, the persons in the trinity are not equally Self-Sufficient.
This shows that the persons in the trinity are not equally God contrary to what the trinity tries to tell us. The trinity makes no sense, it contradicts itself, it’s confusing. Christians have no other card to play than to qualify the trinity as a mystery saying that we can’t understand God, and thus they maintain a blind faith in the trinity. Evangelical scholar Harold Lindsell and seminary professor Charles Woodbridge wrote in “A Handbook of Christian Truth”:
“The mind of man cannot fully understand the mystery of the Trinity. He who has tried to understand the mystery fully will lose his mind; but he who would deny the Trinity will lose his soul.” Harold Lindsell [5]
Yes, we cannot know everything or grasp the Essence of God, but God gave us our brains and the most important knowledge, which is about Who God is, must be equally and intellectually understandable by all. God created us and He knows our degree of understanding, it is illogical that He would teach us things that are not within the reach of our understanding. The purpose of revelation is to guide people, not to confuse them. God is not the author of confusion according to the Bible (1 Corinthians 14:30–33), and therefore it is absurd that God would teach us things that confuse us such as the trinity and tie our salvation to it.
For thousands of years no one on earth knew about the trinity. Abraham, Moses… never taught the concept of a triune God. The Jews never believed in the trinity. Jesus didn’t teach the trinity; on the contrary he emphasized the oneness of God.
“And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, “Which is the first commandment of all?” And Jesus answered him, “ the first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; the Lord our God is One Lord [quoting Deuteronomy 6:4]”” Mark 12:28–29
Early Christians didn’t believe in the trinity. It’s absurd that suddenly God decides to say that He is a trinity while He kept it secret for thousands of years. The trinity goes against Who God is and His perfect attributes. In fact, there is not a single authentic verse in the entire Bible that mentions the trinity or that teaches the concept of the trinity.
If God manifests as three persons, then where do we draw the line? Why stop at three? Why not 4, 5, 6… persons? If God can become a human being then logically He could also manifest as an animal as Hindus believe. So why accept the Christian trinity and reject the Hindu polytheism when both basically are the same concept? It shows that the trinity is basically a polytheistic doctrine.
We conclude that the trinity is a concept invented by men.
1–4 Origin of the Christian beliefs about Jesus and the trinity
The true early followers of Jesus didn’t believe he was God or the literal physical son of God or that God was a trinity.
The belief of Jesus being God and/or the literal son of God was a belief that the Romans and people (like Paul of Tarsus) influenced by roman culture and Greek philosophy invented and that was borrowed from pagan Greco-Roman religions and mythologies
The early Christians were persecuted. But later on, Gentiles (non-Jews) adopted it, and it even became the dominant religion in the roman Empire. Those Gentiles were pagans with a Hellenistic (Greek) and Roman culture with the Roman culture being itself influenced by Hellenistic culture. They believed in Greek gods and goddesses; they had statues for them. They believed that those gods could have human form and beget children with human women such as the god Zeus who had god-human children (such as Hercules, Perseus, Helen) with human women (such as Alcmene, Danaë, Leda). They even took their rulers as gods. In Acts 14:11–13, the Gentiles considered Paul as a god having come down in human form, they called Barnabas Zeus and Paul Hermes. Even when Paul protested that he was not a god, the Gentiles insisted on sacrificing for those they had considered as gods [Acts 14:18]. In Acts 28:1–6, people also took Paul as a god. Justin Martyr, one of the first apologetic Christians, told the pagans that the Christian belief that Jesus is the literal son of God is nothing new because the pagans themselves are familiar with such beliefs:
“When, indeed, we assert that the Word, our Teacher Jesus Christ, who is the first-begotten of God the Father, was not born as the result of sexual relations, and that He was crucified, died, arose from the dead, and ascended into Heaven, we[Christians] propose nothing new or different from that which you[pagans] say about the so-called sons of Jupiter (…) And if we declare that the Word of God was begotten of God not in the ordinary, but in an extraordinary, manner, as we stated above, this may be compared to your claim that Mercury is the announcing word of God. And should any one object that He [Christ] was crucified, this indignity may be compared to that of Jupiter’s sons, as you call them, who suffered as indicated above. (…) If we state that He was born of a Virgin, this may be comparable to what you admit of Perseus.’ When we say that He cured the lame, the paralytics, and those blind from birth, and raised the dead to life, we seem to attribute to Him actions similar to those said to have been performed by Aesculapius.”[6]
We see how easy it would have been for Greco-Roman pagan people outside of the Jewish context to still understand literally expressions like “son of God” and deify Jesus when adopting Christianity even if Jesus himself rejected being God.
In the 4th and 5th centuries after Jesus left the earth, it was voted (through the influences of Greco-Roman philosophies and pagan religions in the Roman Empire where Christianity was born) respectively at the councils of Nicaea, Constantinople, Ephesus, Chalcedon to believe that Jesus is God and the literal son of God, and to believe the newly invented ideology of the trinity, even though there is no clear-cut evidence neither from God nor from Jesus that Jesus taught such beliefs. The council of Nicaea in 325 CE discussed the nature of Jesus and his relationship with God, the council of Constantinople in 381 CE decided of the divinity of the holy spirit, the council of Ephesus in 431 CE condemned the distinction between the human and divine natures of Christ, the council of Chalcedon in 451 CE condemned the position that Jesus had only one (divine) nature [7].
Those beliefs were then imposed on people in the roman empire where Christianity was born, and whoever went against that was considered a heretic, persecuted, killed, or had to flee for their life. Later on spread through the transatlantic slave trade, colonization…
The theology built around Jesus evolved through time. Jesus himself never explicitly taught he was God or the physical son of God or part of a triune god, rather he said that he was a man, a servant and messenger of the only One God sent to the children of Israel only (Matthew 15:24). If Christians insist on believing Jesus is God and/or the physical son of God, then they are clearly going against the clear teachings of Jesus. Instead of believing in what Jesus said, they believe in false things that people taught about Jesus. They claim to follow Jesus, but they are not following him.
2-Crucifiction and resurrection of Jesus: myth or reality?
In history, some Christians have held (and continue to hold) the belief that Jesus was crucified, he died, then he was resurrected, and humanity must believe Jesus died for the sins of men to obtain salvation and Paradise. But did Jesus really die? Did Jesus or God say that to be saved we need to believe in the alleged “sacrifice” of Jesus? What was the real mission of Jesus? Let’s find out.
2–1 Did Jesus teach the atonement of sins through his alleged sacrifice?
If every time Christians sins they have to repent, then Jesus presumably dying for their sins has no point (him dying or not dying is irrelevant). If Christians don’t need to repent every time they commit a sin because Jesus died for that, then they can do whatever they want to do, they can do evil and still be forgiven and go to Paradise, there is no point in being righteous and doing good, which doesn’t make any sense. This shows that there are holes in the doctrine of the redemption through the sacrifice of Jesus.
When Christians are asked why they believe Jesus died for their sins, they mostly quote anyone but God or Jesus. Nowhere did Jesus teach that he came to die for anyone’s sins. On the contrary, Jesus taught that to have eternal life, one must believe in God and follow God’s commandments, which is what is taught in the Old Testament.
« Now behold, one came and said to Him, “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?” So he said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.” He said to Him, “Which ones?” Jesus said, “‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” » Matthew 19:16–19
“The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself. “But if a wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed, keeps all My statutes, and does what is lawful and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die. None of the transgressions which he has committed shall be remembered against him; because of the righteousness which he has done, he shall live.” Ezekiel 18:20–22
In the Bible (Luke 15:11–32), Jesus reportedly taught the parable of the prodigal son. The story is about a younger son who asked his father for his inheritance and then wasted it in another land. When a famine stroke, the son was forced to work for a citizen of the land, feeding pigs. Eventually, the son realizes his sin and returns to his father, who is filled with compassion and welcomes him with open arms. The father orders a feast in his son’s honor, and tells his servants to put on the best robe, sandals, and ring for him, and to kill the fattened calf. The father didn’t punish someone else for the sins of his son before forgiving him. The regret of the son and him coming back to his father was enough. That parable is said to represent God’s love and mercy. So, God doesn’t need to kill someone to forgive, God simply forgives.
The atonement for sins through the bloodshed of Jesus comes from the doctrine of the original sin that states that all mankind have inherited the first sin committed by the first human being, Adam. However, even according to the Bible, no one will bear the sins of others (Ezekiel 18:20). And Jesus says in the Bible that children are not born sinful, they are born pure (Matthew 18:3–4, Matthew 19:14). So, it makes no sense to believe that all men inherit the sin of our father Adam that can only be forgiven through the sacrifice of an innocent person. Not a single prophet taught that.
Punishing an innocent person (Jesus) instead of the guilty is unjust. God is the Most Just. So, it would be contradictory to say that God did such an unjust act. This also means that there is no forgiveness or mercy in Christianity, rather payment. It means that in Christianity God is not able to forgive, He is not merciful, He needs human blood sacrifice as payment which is not only absurd but pagan and satanic according to the Bible (Deuteronomy 12:31, 18:10, 2 Kings 21:6); it makes no sense that God would do something He Himself said He hates and called evil.
“You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way; for every abomination to the Lord which He hates they have done to their gods; for they burn even their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods.” Deuteronomy 12:31
“There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer” Deuteronomy 18:10
“Also he made his son pass through the fire, practiced soothsaying, used witchcraft, and consulted spiritists and mediums. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord , to provoke Him to anger.” II Kings 21:6
As a Christian, if you were a righteous person living at the time of Jesus you would try to save Jesus from the crucifixion because you know sincerely that it would be a wrong thing to kill him as he was innocent. However, if you succeed in saving Jesus you would be put into hell according to Christianity because nobody would have died for your sins. Why would God put you to hell for doing a good and right action? And if you’d rather want Jesus to be killed then you are an evil person because you want an innocent person to be killed, and you don’t love Jesus as you claim. Either you save Jesus or want him to be killed, the result would portray God as unjust and evil, which is absurd. That’s how you know the concept of atonement in Christianity doesn’t make any sense.
2–2 Was Jesus historically crucified?
First and foremost, the idea that Jesus died is problematic because since Christians believe Jesus has a divine nature and a human nature at the same time, a question needs to be asked: “which nature died”? If Jesus died as a man, then there is nothing special about that, many people died before Jesus and continued to die after Jesus, some of them even resurrected such as the Widow of Zarephath’s Son (1 King 17:17–24), the Shunammite Woman’s Son (2 Kings 4:18–37), the Widow of Nain’s Son (Luke 7:11–17), Jairus’ Daughter (Luke 8:49–56), Lazarus (John 11:1–44), Saints in Jerusalem (Matthew 27:50–54), yet their death (and resurrection) didn’t take away the sins of men. Therefore Jesus dying as a man cannot take away the sins of men. If Jesus died as God, then it is more problematic because God is Ever-Living, He never dies, He is the Creator of death and death cannot beat Him even for only 3 days. Either way, it makes no sense that Jesus would die for the sins of men. That being said, is there any evidence that Jesus died and was resurrected?
Jesus was believed to have died and resurrected only from hearsay, and people like Paul of Tarsus, who admitted being a liar and hypocrite (Romans 3:7, 1 Corinthians 9:19–20) contradicting himself (Galatians 3:13 and 1 Corinthians 12:3, Acts 26:16–18 and Acts 9:5–6), contradicting Jesus (Matthew 5:17–20 and Ephesians 2:15, Matthew 19:17 and Romans 3:20, Matthew 10:5–6 and Romans 15:15–16), contradicting and going in conflict with the true disciples of Jesus (James 2:24 and Romans 3:28, Acts 21), helped spread it with their false preachings.
Evidence that support the argument of Jesus not being crucified
● The first primary source of the life of Jesus (the Q gospel) doesn’t mention any crucifixion or resurrection of Jesus.
● There is no eyewitness account that reported Jesus was killed. The 4 gospels talking about his death are not written by his disciples (in fact according to Mark 14:50 the disciples fled and didn’t witness the alleged crucifixion), nobody knows who the authors of the gospels really are. So, how can we trust a book which we don’t even know the authors of and their credentials? Also, the 4 gospels contradict one another many times on the alleged crucifixion and other topics, which questions their credibility even more.
● The sign of Jonah (Mark 8:11–13) which is supposed to foretell the death and resurrection of Jesus is a false prophecy as Jesus was supposedly dead in the womb of earth for 1 day and 2 nights (Friday night, Saturday day, Saturday night) which is unlike Jonah who was alive for 3 days and 3 nights in the belly of the fish. Moreover, that false prophecy makes Jesus look like a false prophet according to Deuteronomy 13:1–5.
● Satan reminds Jesus (in Matthew 4:5–7) when tempting him of a prophecy (Psalms 20:6, 91:10–16) that says the Messiah (i.e. Jesus) would not be harmed, he would not be killed, God would save him and make the angels raise him up alive to heaven. Unless Christians say God lied about that prophecy, it shows that Jesus never died.
● Early Christians like the Magnesians, the Basilideans, etc., never believed Jesus was crucified. Some believed someone else was crucified in place. (P.S: that was before the revelation of the Quran.)
● According to the Bible (1 Corinthians 15:42–44, Luke 20:27–36) resurrected people have a spiritual body, not a physical body. When Jesus appeared to his disciples after the alleged event of his crucifixion (Luke 24:36–44), they were afraid as they thought he was a spirit because they heard rumors of his death. But Jesus proved to them that he had a physical body, not a spiritual body, by asking them to touch him and by eating food. Hence Jesus showed them that he didn’t die nor was he resurrected.
● According to the Bible [1 John 3:4–9], the implication of Jesus allegedly dying is that Christians (those who believe in the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus) cannot sin. If they sin, they are not real Christians (they don’t know Jesus). They are not from God, they are from the devil. Yet since the alleged death of Jesus for the sins of men, Christians who claim to believe and accept Jesus still commit sins, which means that according to the Bible all Christians are fake Christians and children of the devil as no-Christian would ever prove that they don’t commit sins.
“Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him. Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.” 1 John 3:4–9
Either they are fake Christians as the Bible says (but then they would say they really believe in Jesus and his alleged sacrifice) or what the Bible says about Christians not sinning is a lie (which would discredit the alleged crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus for the sins of men). Either way this doesn’t help Christians in their belief of the death of Jesus.
● (Non-Christians) historians who supposedly reported the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus were not eyewitnesses. They reported it relying on the evidence which had survived which they interpreted based on probability (rather than absolute certainty) to reach probable conclusions that can be doubted when new evidence (such as the previous arguments we mentioned) come out using for example the Negative Evidence Principle (i.e. a statement “P” is disproved being true if the evidence used to support that view is shown to be inadequate). So, quoting a historian that said Jesus was crucified doesn’t prove that Jesus the son of Mary was really crucified and resurrected for the sins of men. It’s not because the gospels versions’ or events are the best versions that have survived that it means they are the best version of what actually happened or that they are the only narratives to have existed.
We conclude that the belief that Jesus died crucified for the sins of men is false as there is no objective evidence to support that belief. On the contrary, there is overwhelming evidence to reject that belief.
3-Investigating the reliability of Christians sources
In the previous sections we’ve showed that the main Christian beliefs fall apart when put to the scrutiny. Christians usually say they take their beliefs from the Bible which they claim is the (inspired) Word of God with inerrancy (void of error or fault and contradiction). They also take their beliefs from the Church.
Before accepting any given information, one must be sure that the source of the information is absolutely reliable. Is the inerrancy of the Bible a myth or a reality? Is the Church reliable? We’ll shed light on this using logic and common sense.
3–1 Is the Bible reliable?
Anybody can claim any book on earth is from God. However, we cannot blindly (without any proof) base our ultimate guidance on any book (that is claimed to be from God). We must be able to objectively establish that the book from which we draw our ultimate guidance truly comes from God, the All-Wise, the All-Knowing; and for a book to be proven to come from God, it must have outstanding and unique features that make sense to everyone:
● It should first be preserved, because if it’s not preserved it means we don’t have the authentic information and it would even be worthless to go further in investigating a corrupt and altered book
● It should identify itself as coming from God (it must state its author is God). It would make no sense to follow for our ultimate guidance a book produced by another human being because that other human being has flaws; they are limited, not all-wise, not all-knowing and they themselves are trying to figure out things about life as ourselves
● It should have a concept of God that makes sense and is coherent
● It should have a timeless miraculous aspect in line with God’s Perfect Nature (it should have inerrancy _meaning internal and external consistency, free from errors and contradictions_ as it’s from The All-Knowing God that doesn’t make mistakes and it would make no sense to rely upon something that is flawed; it must provide signs, prophecies; it should be unique and inimitable, meaning that only God could have produced it, etc.)
Let’s put the Bible to the test.
Is the Bible preserved?
There is no reliable chain of transmission of the biblical text that goes back to the prophets.
We don’t have any original Old Testament manuscript dating from the time of Moses. The oldest manuscripts of the Old Testament are the dead sea scrolls dated between the 3rd century BCE and 70 CE (more than 1000 years after Moses) [8].
We don’t have any original New Testament manuscript dating from the time of Jesus. The oldest complete manuscript containing the new testament in Greek (Codex Vaticanus) is dated to the 4th century CE (400 years after Jesus) [9], the gospels in the new testament were written around 40 years after Jesus [10] (the gospel of Mark is dated to around 66–70CE, the gospel of Matthew is dated to around 85–90CE, the gospel of Luke is dated to around 85–90CE, the gospel of John is dated to between 90–110CE and the authors of those gospels are neither disciples of Jesus, nor eyewitnesses. Those manuscripts are copies, not originals.
The Bible has been changed: verses have been added, removed and modified by men [11], [12], [13]. For example, 1 John 5:7 was added in later manuscripts of the 14th century as it’s not found in earlier manuscripts and depending on which version of the bible you read you have a different meaning [14], [15]; Mark 16:9–20 are not present in Codex Vaticanus manuscripts (as mentioned in the footnote of the NIV) which means they were added later.
There are many versions of the bible. Some Bibles have 66 books, others 73 books, 83 books… The people who have the 66 books Bible will say that the other Bibles are false because they have more books that are not from God. And the people whose Bible has more than 66 books will say that those who have a Bible with a different number of books have the wrong Bible as it lacks books that are from God. So, Christians are rejecting among themselves the supposedly Word of God. If you can’t tell which version of the Bible is the correct one, how can you get the correct message of God?
This shows clearly that the Bible is not preserved, it has been altered.
Who is the author of the Bible?
Moses received the Thora from God; he didn’t receive books written by people which is what the Old Testament is. The New Testament is not the revelation given to Jesus by God. Jesus received the Injeel (Gospel) from God while the New Testament is a collection of gospels according to so and so (which Jesus never approved of or wrote while he was on earth) and other books. The Bible has more than 40 authors. Most of those authors are unknown, we don’t know if they were good persons, if they were reliable people. For the New Testament in particular there is no link between those anonymous authors and Jesus, they were not eyewitnesses of the life of Jesus, they were not his disciples, they were certainly not inspired by God as they copied from one another [16], [17], [18]. The author of the gospel according to Luke confessed in the 1st chapter that he is not an eyewitness; he wrote his gospel from hearsay. How can we blindly believe anonymous writings of people? Christian and non-Christian Bible scholars confirm that the authors of the gospels are anonymous.
“We do not know who wrote the gospels” — E.P. Sanders [19]
“I don’t know who the Gospel writers were and nor does anyone else.” — NT Wright, New Testament scholar [20]
Some authors like Paul of Tarsus were liars, hypocrite and deceivers: Paul said he uses lies to convince people, he writes lies about God to bring people to Christianity (Romans 3:7). Paul contradicted himself in his writings: Paul said for example that Jesus was cursed (Galatians 3:13) then said Jesus was not cursed (1 Corinthians 12:3). So, we are very likely to find lies, errors and contradictions in the Bible.
This shows that God is not the author or the inspirer of the Bible.
The concept of God in the Bible
Intuitively and naturally, we know that God Almighty is All-Powerful, All-Knowing, Self-Sufficient, One and Unique, unlike anything He created… But according to the Bible, God is not All-Knowing, Self-Sufficient:
● In the Bible God is described as an entity that can regret (Genesis 6:6–7). This contradicts God being All-Knowing. If God regrets something, it means that He didn’t know the outcome before creating that thing.
● In the Bible, God needs a rainbow to be reminded of a covenant He established Himself (Genesis 9:13–16). This implies God would forget and He wouldn’t know everything all the time.
● The Bible says that God can become weak and tired to the point of needing to rest (Genesis 2:2–3) which goes against God being Self-Sufficient, The Absolute, The Perfect without any deficiencies or weaknesses.
The Bible has a deficient concept of God.
Is the Bible free from errors and contradictions?
God is All-Knowing which means He knows everything and He doesn’t make mistakes or errors, He doesn’t contradict himself, He always tells the Truth, because the one who contradicts himself is the one who doesn’t know everything and who tells lies. When we examine the Bible, we notice in it many contradictions and errors [21], [22].
● Who is the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary (mother of Jesus)? Depending on whether you read Matthew 1:16 or Luke 3:23, you get contradicting answers
● What did Judas use the money for and how did he die? Depending on which one you read (Matthew or Acts) you’ll have completely different stories (Matthew 27:5–6 and Acts 1:18) that contradict one another
● The kings in Egypt at the time of Joseph were not Pharaohs, yet the Bible calls them Pharaohs (Genesis 41:25, 47:5), which is a historical error
● Is Jesus cursed or not? Depending on the audience of Paul you can have different contradictory answers (Galatians 3:13 and 1 Corinthians 12:3)
● Did Jesus give a sign to the Pharisees or not? Depending on which gospel you read, you get different contradictory answers (Mark 8:11–13 and Matthew 12:38–40)
● The Bible says that the Israelites that run away from Egypt with Moses were hundreds of thousands [Exodus 12:37], this is an error. The Bible says that from the birth of Moses to the exodus which is a timeframe of at least 80 years [Exodus 7:7], two pharaohs ruled Egypt [Exodus 2:15,23], this is a historical mistake.
Whether people claim the Bible is inspired by God or is the Word of God, the fact that we find in it many errors and contradictions shows that the Bible cannot come from God.
Are all the prophecies in the Bible true?
Prophets come with prophecies contained in the revelation God gave them to testify to their truthfulness and according to the Bible (Deuteronomy 13:1–5), a man that claims to be a prophet and prophesizes things that don’t happen (or calls to worship other gods) is a false prophet and shall be put to death. We find in the Bible false prophecies:
● Things were supposed to happen to Jesus “like” they happened to Jonah, but they didn’t. Jesus was supposed to be dead in the belly of the earth for 2 nights and 1 day while Jonah was alive in the belly of the whale for 3 days and 3 nights
● Jesus was supposed to return to Earth before the people standing there (while he was telling them about the prophecy) would die, but till today (2024) Jesus is not here yet. (Matthew 16:27–28)
According to the Bible, Jesus would be a false prophet because the prophecies he made did not come true. In addition, according to Christians Jesus supposedly claimed to be God (thus teaching people to worship other gods than God Almighty) and he was killed (which goes in line with the punishment in the Old Testament for false prophets).
A book that contains false prophecies cannot be from the All-Knowing God who knows the present, the past, the future, everything.
Is the biblical text pure for everyone?
The Bible has in it, things that would be called obscenities, pornography, that a sane Christian or Jew would never dare read publicly in a church or to his children and family (Genesis 19:30–38, Genesis 38:9, Ezekiel 23, etc.) What lessons could one take from obscenities?
“The Bible is the most dangerous book on earth, keep it under lock and key. Keep the Bible out of children’s reach.” George Bernard Shaw
“With orthodox Jews we find the old tradition that men under the age of 30 years ought not to read the Song of Songs.” Arend Remmers
This also shows that the Bible cannot be from God.
The value of the woman in the Bible
The Bible makes some problematic statements regarding the woman. The woman is blamed for the so-called “original sin” causing the fall of man (Genesis 3:12–14, 1 Timothy 2:12–14), a baby girl makes the woman impure longer than a baby boy (Leviticus 12:2–5), a woman in menses is impure and she is infectious (Leviticus 15:19–23), a wife can have her hand cut, simply because she is helping her husband (Deuteronomy 25:11–12), it is shameful for a Christian woman to speak in church, her source of education is limited to her husband (1 Corinthians 14:34–35), a wife is given no share in the inheritance of her husband’s estate (Numbers 27:8–11), the Bible only considers the extramarital affair of a married woman as adultery (Deuteronomy 22:22, Leviticus 20:10), in the Bible, a virgin woman who is raped must be married to her rapist and live with him till her death (Deuteronomy 22:28–29), a woman cannot divorce even if her husband is abusive unless there is adultery (Matthew 19:8–9). Definitely such teachings degrading the woman cannot come from God.
Conclusion
This evidence logically and clearly shows that even if it contains some part of truth left from the true previous revelations from God in the past (like the Thora, the Gospel), the Bible is not a reliable source of information to find the true message of God, and it is certainly not the (inherent inspired) Word of God Almighty to follow.
3–2 Are the Church and the Christian tradition reliable?
The church had weird behaviors like forbidding people from having a copy of the Bible, something supposed to provide them with guidance.
“Canon 14. We prohibit also that the laity should be permitted to have the books of the Old or the New Testament; unless anyone from motives of devotion should wish to have the Psalter or the Breviary for divine offices or the hours of the blessed Virgin; but we most strictly forbid their having any translation of these books”[23]
« Here are two other decrees of councils: We have decreed that no one shall possess the books of the Old and New Testaments in the Romance language, and if anyone possesses them, let him deliver them, within eight days after the promulgation of this decree to the local bishop, to be burned, failing which, whether he be cleric or layman, he shall be held under suspicion of heresy until he has cleared himself of all suspicion (Council of Tarragon, Canon 2. Year 1234). »[24]
The church is supposed to be guided by the holy spirit and therefore by God. However the Christian holy spirit is a concept invented by men, it’s not from God, the reasons being that all Christians claim to have the holy spirit supposed to guide them into all truth yet they contradict one another in their beliefs; Christians claim the gospels were written with the help of the holy spirit which is all-knowing as it is God yet those gospels contradict one another and contain errors; the holy spirit inspired multiple versions of the Bible to different Christians, versions that some reject and others accept; there is no reliable “chain of transmission” from the church back to the so-called holy spirit or Jesus or even the Apostles.
If the holy spirit didn’t guide the authors of the books of the Bible (some unknown and others known as liars, i.e. Paul of Tarsus), there cannot be any credibility that the early church fathers were rightly guided by the holy spirit. Therefore it is highly possible that the writings of the early church fathers can contain errors and teachings different from the authentic teachings of the Apostles of Jesus or Jesus himself. There is not any absolutely certainty in ascertaining what constitutes the authentic oral tradition of the Apostles in the writings of the early church fathers.
Early church fathers cannot be trusted because they were influenced by Greco-Roman pagan beliefs. In fact, some of them such as Justin Martyr have no problem admitting they derive Christian beliefs from paganism [6]. It is those early church fathers that chose what Bible books were true while those same books have errors and contradictions, they are the ones who took 400 years to debate and vote about who God is while since Adam God was always simply known as the uniquely One; those early church fathers used to lie and use falsehood against their opponents as admitted by Eusebius, a church father, who titled the 21st chapter of his “Preparation for the gospel (Book 12)”: “That it will be necessary sometimes to use falsehood as a remedy for the benefit of those who require such a mode of treatment”, following the footsteps of their teacher Paul of Tarsus who confessed to lie as well. If early church fathers can’t be trusted, it’s more unlikely that the church would be trusted in this day and age all the more so with the sexual abuse cases in the Catholic Church and even in Protestant congregations[25].
Also, there cannot be any credibility that the ecumenical councils the church had throughout history were rightly guided by the holy spirit. Despite multiple ecumenical councils addressing the trinity and christology over centuries, there continued to be widespread disagreements among Christians about major issues addressed by each council, requiring the need for another council to be called, and another and another.
Even if we assumed the writings of the early church fathers and the ecumenical councils to be free from error, the knowledge of tradition will always be incomplete because according to John 21:25, “there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.”
If the Bible considered by Christians as the inspired Word of God failed to have credibility, how could the church and the Christian tradition stand a chance!
4-The truth about Jesus and Christianity
We’ve reached the conclusion that there is no strong evidence to support Christian beliefs that are in of themselves nonsensical, and the sources for Christianity are not reliable. This means that far from being a religion sent by God almighty and preached by Jesus, Christianity is a religion made up by people. Christianity and its different denominations seem to be religions and derived ideologies people invented about Jesus Christ after he left the earth. In fact, Christianity emerged in the Roman Empire in the 4th century; Jesus never said he brought Christianity or told people to call themselves Christians. The word “Christian” was invented by gentiles in Antioch after Jesus’ departure to refer to the disciples of Jesus (Acts 11:26); it carried a dismissive or derogatory connotation in the ancient world, and it was more than likely meant as an insult in the beginning. Logically it is not people but God Himself Who has the right to ordain His religion and name those who follow that religion.
It is also important to note that Christians don’t even agree with one another on their fondamental beliefs. For example, the Jehovah’s witnesses don’t believe Jesus is God and they don’t believe in the trinity. Catholics and protestants believe Jesus is God, they believe in the trinity; they consider the Jehovah’s witnesses not to be Christians. Different Christian sects have different versions of the Bible with a different number of books, etc.
God didn’t leave humanity without guidance. In another article, we discover using logic and common sense that God Almighty exists and He sent only one single religion to humankind i.e. Islam (which means submission to, and worship of God alone), He sent thousands of prophets and messengers to their specific people, and He sent the last and final messenger who is prophet Muhammad ﷺ with the last and final revelation that is the Quran (www.quran.com) to all mankind. The Quran is the Pure and Verbatim Word of God Almighty which is preserved since it was revealed. The Quran doesn’t have any errors, any inconsistencies, any contradictions. It’s guidance for all humanity.
The final prophet and revelation restored the truth about Jesus. When God sends prophets to people, some of them end up corrupting the message, so God sends to them other prophets to correct them. For instance, God sent many prophets to the Israelites. God sent to them Moses, and some worshiped the cow instead of God. Long after Moses, God sent Jesus to the Israelites to call them back to the worship of God alone.
Contrary to some Christians who believe Jesus is God Almighty and the literal physical son of himself as God, or other Christians who believe Jesus is not God Almighty but he is the literal physical son of God, or Jews who don’t accept Jesus in anyway, not even as a prophet, with some of them calling him names, Muslims believe in Jesus Christ as a mighty prophet of God Almighty (which is in line with the reported teachings of Jesus in the Bible), the Messiah born miraculously to the virgin Mary without a father (just like Adam was created by God without a father and without a mother). Jesus did great miracles not by himself but by the permission of God to prove to his people he was sent by God not to the whole world, but only to the house of Israel as he said himself. Jesus also gave to Israelites the good news of a final prophet to come for the whole humanity, that was the real mission of Jesus. Muslims love Jesus and follow his teachings.
“And [I (Jesus) have come] confirming what was before me of the Torah and to make lawful for you some of what was forbidden to you. And I have come to you with a sign from your Lord, so fear Allah and obey me. Indeed, Allah is my Lord and your Lord, so worship Him. That is the straight path.’” Quran 3:50–51
“[Jesus] said, “Indeed, I am the servant of Allah. He has given me the Scripture and made me a prophet.” Quran 19:30
“And [mention] when Jesus, the son of Mary, said, “O Children of Israel, indeed I am the messenger of Allah to you confirming what came before me of the Torah and bringing good tidings of a messenger to come after me, whose name is Ahmad.” But when he came to them with clear evidences, they said, “This is obvious magic.” Quran 61:6
Here are some biblical verses that teach the exact same thing: Jesus is a man, a messenger of God sent only to the lost sheep of Israel, and he announced a prophet to come after him.
“But now you seek to kill me [Jesus], a man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this.” John 8:40
““Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves also know ” Acts 2:22
“Now as he was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before him, and asked him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?” So, Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but One, that is, God.”” Mark 10:17–18
“And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, “Which is the first commandment of all?” And Jesus answered him, “ the first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; the Lord our God is One Lord [quoting Deuteronomy 6:4]”” Mark 12:28–29
“And this is eternal life, that they may know You [the Father], the only True God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” John 17:3
“I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Matthiew 15:24
“These twelve Jesus sent out and commanded them, saying: “Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter a city of the Samaritans. But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Matthew 10:5–6
“But now I go away to Him who sent me, and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send him to you. And when he has come, he will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in me; of righteousness, because I go to my Father and you see me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. “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.” John 16:5–14
Christians have deified a man (Jesus) giving him qualities only belonging to God and worshipping him instead of worshipping God alone. This is clear disbelief.
“They have certainly disbelieved who say that Allah is Christ, the son of Mary. Say, “Then who could prevent Allah at all if He had intended to destroy Christ, the son of Mary, or his mother or everyone on the earth?” And to Allah belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth and whatever is between them. He creates what He wills, and Allah is over all things competent.” Quran 5:17
“Those who say, “Allah is the Messiah, son of Mary,” have certainly fallen into disbelief. The Messiah ˹himself˺ said, “O Children of Israel! Worship Allah — my Lord and your Lord.” Whoever associates others with Allah ˹in worship˺ will surely be forbidden Paradise by Allah. Their home will be the Fire. And the wrongdoers will have no helpers.” Quran 5:72
Christians have adopted the trinity ascribing God a son, going against the absolute oneness of God, the pure monotheism brought by all the prophets of God (tawheed). This is clear disbelief.
“They have certainly disbelieved who say, “Allah is the third of three.” And there is no god except one God. And if they do not desist from what they are saying, there will surely afflict the disbelievers among them a painful punishment. So will they not repent to Allah and seek His forgiveness? And Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.’” Quran 5:73–74
“O People of the Scripture [Christians], do not commit excess in your religion or say about Allah except the truth. The Messiah, Jesus the son of Mary, was but a messenger of Allah and His word which He directed to Mary and a soul [created at a command] from Him. So, believe in Allah and His messengers. And do not say, “Three”; desist — it is better for you. Indeed, Allah is but one God. Exalted is He above having a son. To Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth. And sufficient is Allah as Disposer of affairs.’’ Quran 4:171
Thus, Christians hold beliefs Jesus never taught them even in their own Bible. They went against the teachings of Jesus.
“It is not for a human [prophet] that Allah should give him the Scripture and authority and prophethood and then he would say to the people, “Be servants to me rather than Allah,” but [instead, he would say], “Be pious scholars of the Lord because of what you have taught of the Scripture and because of what you have studied.”” Quran 3:79
“And [beware the Day] when Allah will say, “O Jesus, Son of Mary, did you say to the people, ‘Take me and my mother as deities besides Allah?’” He [Jesus] will say, “Exalted are You! It was not for me to say that to which I have no right. If I had said it, You would have known it. You know what is within myself, and I do not know what is within Yourself. Indeed, it is You who is Knower of the unseen.” Quran 5:116
Christians have committed “shirk” i.e. associating partners with God, which is disbelief. Shirk or disbelief is the worst of sins that God Almighty said He will not forgive if a person dies in that state without sincere repentance.
“Indeed, Allah does not forgive association with Him, but He forgives what is less than that for whom He wills. And he who associates others with Allah has certainly gone far astray.” Quran 4:116
“The repentance accepted by Allah is only for those who do wrong in ignorance [or carelessness] and then repent soon [after]. It is those to whom Allah will turn in forgiveness, and Allah is ever Knowing and Wise. But repentance is not [accepted] of those who [continue to] do evil deeds up until, when death comes to one of them, he says, “Indeed, I have repented now,” or of those who die while they are disbelievers. For them We have prepared a painful punishment.” Quran 4:17–18
Muslims believe Jesus was not crucified nor killed as God told us Himself in the Quran, His final revelation.
“(…) I [God Almighty] restrained the Children of Israel from [killing] you [Jesus] when you came to them with clear proofs and those who disbelieved among them said, “This is not but obvious magic.”” Quran 5:110
“… and for boasting, “We killed the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, the messenger of Allah.” But they neither killed nor crucified him — it was only made to appear so. Even those who argue for this ˹crucifixion˺ are in doubt. They have no knowledge whatsoever — only making assumptions. They certainly did not kill him.” Quran 4:157
Muslims also believe in the second coming of Jesus. The Jews wanted to kill Jesus but God saved him as prophesied in Psalms 91:10–16 and confirmed by Jesus according to Matthew 4:5–7. People mistakenly thought that Jesus was crucified but the truth is Jesus was not harmed. He was saved and raised alive to heaven. Jesus will come back near the end of times and he will fight the antichrist with the believers and kill him. He will live the rest of his life following the Quran and the last prophet, Muhammad. Jesus will be the leader of the Muslims and he will later die as all human beings.
“There is not one of the People of the Scripture but will believe in him (Jesus) before his death, and on the Day of Resurrection he will be a witness against them.” Quran 4:159
Narrated Abu Hurayrah: “The Prophet ﷺ said: There is no prophet between me and him, that is, Jesus ﷺ. He will descend (to the earth). When you see him, recognize him: a man of medium height, reddish fair, wearing two light yellow garments, looking as if drops were falling down from his head though it will not be wet. He will fight the people for the cause of Islam. He will break the cross, kill swine, and abolish jizya. Allah will perish all religions except Islam. He will destroy the Antichrist and will live on the earth for forty years and then he will die. The Muslims will pray over him.” Sunan Abi Dawud 4324
Conclusion
In this article we have examined the teachings of Christianity using logic (reasoning) and common sense and we found out that Christianity has teachings that don’t make sense, with unreliable sources, and therefore Christianity is not true. The Christian is therefore invited to reconsider his or her position about Christianity and he/she is invited to look into Islam which is the religion Jesus came with as well as all the prophets and messengers of God.
If Christians use their God-given intellect properly, they will understand that it makes no sense at all that God would be a human being that dies so that He would be paid to save people from Himself for something they didn’t do. This is why God says in the Quran that those who disbelieve among the Christians, Jews and polytheists are the worst of creatures and they will be in Hellfire (Quran 98:6) because they don’t use their intellect to reach right conclusions (Quran 8:22). Animals don’t use their intellect because they don’t have any and they cannot be blamed for that. When human beings don’t use their intellect while they have one, they become worse than the animals. On the other hand, God says that those who use their intellect properly, believe in God, do good deeds are the best of creatures (Quran 98:7) and they will be in Paradise.
Christians (and Jews) should really use their intellectual faculties and think deeply and critically about their own faith to assess if it’s really true no matter how emotionally appealing it might be and investigate Islam and the prophet Muhammad ﷺ with an open mind. Christians (and Jews) should ask themselves and answer honestly why they believe what they believe, do their beliefs make sense, where do their beliefs come from, can they trust those sources… They should take seriously this warning from prophet Muhammad ﷺ:
Hadith: It is narrated on the authority of Abu Huraira that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) observed: “By Him[God Almighty] in Whose hand is the life of Muhammad, he who amongst the community of Jews or Christians hears about me, but does not affirm his belief in that with which[the Quran] I have been sent and dies in this state (of disbelief), he shall be but one of the denizens of Hell-Fire.” Sahih Muslim 153
God invites the Christians and Jews to recognize what was sent to them (the Torah, the Injeel… that we don’t have with us today and which is not the Bible) and follow the final revelation, the Quran, which is authoritative over the previous revelations.
“Say, “O People of the Scripture, you are [standing] on nothing until you uphold [the law of] the Torah, the Gospel, and what has been revealed to you from your Lord [i.e., the Qur’ān].” And that which has been revealed to you from your Lord will surely increase many of them in transgression and disbelief. So do not grieve over the disbelieving people.” Quran 5:68
“And We have revealed to you, [O Muhammad], the Book [i.e., the Qur’ān] in truth, confirming that which preceded it of the Scripture and as a criterion over it. So judge between them by what Allah has revealed and do not follow their inclinations away from what has come to you of the truth. To each of you We prescribed a law and a method. Had Allah willed, He would have made you one nation [united in religion], but [He intended] to test you in what He has given you; so race to [all that is] good. To Allah is your return all together, and He will [then] inform you concerning that over which you used to differ.” Quran 5:48
Muslims call Christians and Jews to come back to Islam (the worship of God Almighty alone without associating to Him anything or anyone), and to recognize all the prophets of God including Jesus and Muhammad ﷺ.
Say, “O People of the Scripture, come to a word that is equitable between us and you — that we will not worship except Allah and not associate anything with Him and not take one another as lords instead of Allah.” But if they turn away, then say, “Bear witness that we are Muslims [submitting to Him].” Quran 3:64
This article is derived from the book The purpose of life: Islam explained with logic and common sense.
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What is Da’wah ?
It is the collective obligation of the Muslim community to share, based upon correct knowledge and good manners, the message of Islam with Muslims and non-Muslims, and to invite them to the way of God (Islam), to know the truth, accept it and follow it for their own good. This is called Da’wah.
Da’wah involves teaching, communicating, engaging in dialogues, discussions and debates, writing books and articles, giving lectures, and more, all with wisdom, gentleness, and beautiful preaching, so that people may understand the oneness of God, the worship of God, who prophet Muhammad ﷺ is, and what Islam is, as expressed in the Quran and the Sunnah (the way of prophet Muhammad ﷺ), and that they may respond positively to the invitation to accept Islam. It is also about embodying the good conduct and practices of Islam, being a role model and a good example in the community, and being a witness of God Almighty among the people, which will inspire others to return to Islam. “When people see a Muslim, they should see a good person, a person of truth, of sincerity and of virtue. A Muslim’s life should be an open invitation through which people see the beauty of Islam and find it an interesting code of ethics and teachings to follow.”
Even if Da’wah is a collective obligation bestowed on the Muslims by God Almighty [Quran 2:143, 3:104, 3:110, 16:125, 41:33], and the prophet Muhammad ﷺ [Riyad as-Salihin 1380, Sahih Al-Bukhari 3461, Sahih Al Bukhari 3009, Sahih Muslim 2674], common sense dictates that if you care for people, no matter who they are, you would call them to what you believe is good for them, you would want for them the goodness that you want for yourself, and you would do your best to protect them from danger, whether they are aware of it or not, just as you would quickly pull a child’s hand away from a hot stove to prevent them from getting burned, whether the child likes it or not, or jump into a pool to rescue someone who is drowning, whether the person likes it or not, driven by an innate human sense of compassion and urgency. Thus, Muslims also do Da’wah because they care for others, they want goodness and Paradise for all; they don’t want Hellfire neither for themselves nor for others. Muslims do Da’wah because they believe that if everyone followed God’s teachings as detailed in Islam, it would benefit all mankind, we would have God-conscious and healthy societies.
With all the degeneracy and ills in the world today, and with the ongoing propaganda against Islam and Muslims aimed at pushing people away from the truth and the solutions to the world’s problems, it has become more important than ever for Muslims to devote their efforts to Da`wah with wisdom, mercy, compassion, patience, good preaching and sound arguments. It is not about forcing others to accept Islam, the duty is in clearly conveying the message of Islam and inviting people to accept it [Quran 2:256, 3:20, 5:92, 5:99, 16:82, 24:54, 29:18, 64:12]. No one can guide except God Almighty Who guides those who sincerely and humbly seek His guidance.
References
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[19] E.P. Sanders, The Historical Figure of Jesus.
[20] N. Wright, “Were the Gospel writers eyewitnesses?,” John Ankerberg Show.
[21] Quiz Show (Bible Contradictions). [Online Video]. Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RB3g6mXLEKk
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