My Thoughts On Islam

[Aractus]

The biggest difference is that Jesus tells Allah that he never told the people to worship him or that he was the Son of God. I forget the exact verse but it's clear that Jesus was a forerunner to Muhammad, much the same way the Christian version of John the Baptist was to Jesus. I understand that Muslims regard Jesus as a "great prophet" but not as the divine Son of God.

What you said about John the Baptist is not entirely true. John was six months older than Jesus, and accordingly began his ministry before Jesus, however he is not the "forerunner" to Jesus. His ministry was quite different, however his messianic message is what was important.

If I WERE to choose between Islam and Christianity, it comes down to who is right about Jesus. Why should I not go with the people who are part of the established church that Jesus supposedly founded? Why would I believe the man who came along six centuries later to say the only people he could have heard about Jesus from were the ones who got it all wrong? This is beyond special pleading.

Correct, and also who is right about the Old Testament. I have exactly the same contempt towards the Eastern Orthodox and Catholics who claim that the Masoretic Text is corrupt and the LXX is authentic. Since 1966 the Catholics have at least accepted the MT a bit more, however there is abundant evidence that the MT is a well preserved copy of the Hebrew scriptures. The Orthodox still claim that the MT is corrupt, and I'll explain why they're wrong.

There are six bodies of text that scholars consult for the Old Testament:
1. Masoretic Text
2. Qumran Text (Dead Sea scrolls) - discovered in 1947 contains extensive OT text from all but 1 book, however the only complete biblical book is Isaiah
3. Samaritan Pentateuch
4. LXX/Septuagint (greek)
5. The Peshitta (syriac)
6. Vulgate (latin)

If the MT is corrupt then why do the DSS that date to 1,000 years prior agree so much with it? Why does the Samaritan Pentateuch also largely agree with the MT? The SP is well known to be textually corrupt, however the structure and general content is the same, it's just some details have been intentionally modified in antiquity - since these details were changed around 200 BC the same timeframe as when the DSS were written it proves the corruption doesn't pre-date it. If the LXX is correct, as is claimed by the Eastern Orthodox church, how do they explain that the DSS agrees with the MT which they claim was corrupted after the LXX was written?

There is no evidence for intentional modification of the OT as preserved in the MT, as is claimed by Orthodox and Muslims. Ever since we discovered the DSS in 1947 that theory has been conclusively disproven.

Now on to the NT. Muslims claim that the NT has also been corrupted since it was written - well it's one thing to claim that in the 6th-7th century when we had but a few hundred greek manuscripts and probably none from the 2nd or 3rd centuries - but since that time we've accumulated 5,800 ancient Greek manuscripts including second and third century manuscripts which we call the "early manuscripts" and they prove the quality of the later manuscript - not 100% perfect, but certainly not anywhere near as corrupted as is claimed by Muslims.

As to the idea that Paul came and taught a different doctrine, this is demonstrably false since I can point to two creeds in his undisputed epistles that predate Paul.

The trinity, FYI, is monotheistic. Ever asked a JW what the "Holy Spirit" is? They will give you one of two answers: 1. "it's a force" used by Jehovah or 2. that the HS and the Father are one and the same person. The Nicene Creed is what we believe.

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So one of the things that the Quran did was to rectify everyone who Jesus really was.

Rayaan, I have proven that Islam is incorrect about the OT and the NT being significantly textually incorrect to the point that the meaning has been altered. Countless others have also proven this. Even critics like Bart Ehram admit that there are no textual corruptions to be found which would alter a Christian doctrine as it is taught today. Likewise Paul didn't invent the doctrines he taught - especially the two creeds that we know he "received" and then wrote down and passed on. Here is one of them (1 Cor 15:1-11):

Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

Paul didn't invent that creed, it was taught to him. You want to claim otherwise? Prove it.

In fact, while we're at it, here's the other one:

who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:6-11)