Response to my Muslim friend

To my Muslim friend,

I will respond to each of your questions.

Your blog very interesting.
But I have some questions for you:

First, why were you believe that Jesus is your God?

I believe Jesus is God because He said He was in the Bible:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John bore witness about him, and cried out, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.'") And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
(John 1:1-17)

The Bible also speaks of Jesus as God in Romans 9:5, Titus 2:13, Hebrews 1:1-8, 2 peter 1:1, Isaiah 9:6, Colossians 1:19 and 2:9, and Matthew 1:23.

I also know that Jesus is my God because He satisfied God’s divine justice in my place when He went to the cross. At the cross, Jesus took the full wrath of God and punishment for my sins in my place so I could be made right with God. Because I have sinned against God, I have to pay the penalty, which is death and Hell. Only when my fine has been paid and God’s justice can be satisfied can I ever be in a right standing with God and enter heaven. Jesus did this for me and all those who will repent of their sin and put their faith in Jesus Christ as the payment for them.


Second, what do you response? If you know that Jesus is created by Constantine (the Roman Emperor at 325 AC) and the leaders of Christians in Nicea Convention on 325 AC (After Christ).

You are very misinformed my friend. If you read the Bible we see in the Gospel accounts that Jesus was born around 3 BC or so. Constantine never came until 300 years later. The Torah or Old Testament predicts the birth of Christ from Genesis through the Prophets. Jesus, the Messiah, actually fulfilled hundreds of prophecies in the Old Testament about the Messiah. At the counsel of Nicea in 325 AD the New Testament Cannon was confirmed. The writings of the New Testament that we have today were confirmed to be the books used by the Church since Jesus and that they were inspired by God. They had this counsel to discount all the heretical books being wrote at the time of Constantine. The counsel never made up the books or Jesus, they just confirmed the inspired books of God that the Church has been using for the last 300 years.

Third, how about this information? (1) Deuteronomy 6:4 , “Hear O Israel Yahweh our God is the one, the only Yahweh.” (2) Paul wrote that “God is only one,” in Galatians 3:20 . (3) "I am Yahweh your God . . . You shall have no gods except me,” Exodus 20: 2,3.

I agree with these verses completely. There is only one God, the true and living God. This is what a Christian believes: Jesus is both man and God in two distinct natures and one person forever and the second person of the Godhead. Even though Christians say Jesus is God, we only believe in one God, the true and living God. There is only one God who consists of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. These are all one God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory.


Fourth, how about this information? (1) Nowhere in the Bible is the day of worship changed from Saturday to Sunday. This change was not made by the Almighty, but by the Roman Church; (2) The name “Jesus” is derived from the Greek name “Ieasus,” which actually means “son of Zeus.” Sadly, when people call upon the name of Jesus they are actually speaking of Greek mythology.

From the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ, God appointed the seventh day of the week to be the weekly Sabbath; and the first day of the week (Sunday) ever since. After Christ was resurrected, Christians began to worship on Sunday because Jesus rose from the dead on Sunday. The Roman Catholic Church never changed this day. The first Christians did this immediately after Jesus rose from the dead. It speaks of this in the book of Acts.

The name Jesus is: Ἰησοῦς
Iēsous
Of Hebrew origin; Jesus (that is, Jehoshua), the name of our Lord and two (three) other Israelites: - Jesus. It is derived from this Hebrew word: יהושׁע יהושׁוּע
yehôshûa‛ yehôshûa‛
Jehovah-saved; Jehoshua (that is, Joshua), the Jewish leader: - Jehoshua, Jehoshuah, Joshua.

It does not mean son of Zeus


Fifth, how about this information? It was Roman Emperor Constantine who mandated Christianity to be the universal religion. Before he did this though, he made huge changes in the faith. Constantine gave several edicts that would separate the church from Biblical Judaism. These decrees mandated ancient pagan practices, like Christmas, Communion, Easter, and Sun day worship, as “Christian.”

Constantine did embrace Christianity but never changed anything in it. The Church is separated from Biblical Judaism on the point of who the messiah is. We as Christians follow the Torah but understand that Jesus was the promised Messiah. The fulfillment of 100’s of prophecies from the Torah confirm this, so the Bible actually separates Christianity from Judaism, not Constantine. Constantine was a man who mad mistakes like we all do.

The decrees mandated by Constantine should not be held as equal with the Bible. The Bible explains everything and is the source we should compare everything to. If Constantine made an edict that contradicted the Bible then Constantine was wrong and the Bible is correct.

Sixth, how about this information? Christianity was corrupted by Paganism. The pure Deism of the first Christians was changed, by the Church of Rome, into the incomprehensible dogma of the trinity. Many of the pagan tenets, invented by the Egyptians and idealized by Plato, were retained as being worthy of belief.

I don’t know where you are getting your information (Probably on an Islamic apologetical web site), but you are misinformed my friend. You should never judge a system by it’s abuses and you should never judge Christianity by anything but the Bible. In the same way, I don’t judge Islam by the terrorists that strap bombs to their selves and murder innocent people. I judge Islam by the teachings of the Koran.

Seventh, how about this information? There are many similarities between the pagan god of Christ and the Christian version of Jesus. For example, Greek mythology tells of Christ bring born to the virgin Isis on December 25.
Like I said before, it doesn’t matter what Greek mythology talks about because Greek mythology is wrong and the Bible is proved correct. Jesus Christ should be judged by His teaching and the whole Scriptures of the New and Old Testaments.

Eighth, how about this information? The word “trinity” cannot be found in the Bible. It wasn’t formally a part of church doctrine until the 4th century, when the Church first began teaching god as being in three separate persons.

I think you are, understandably, misunderstanding the Trinity. Christians believe in ONE God, made up of three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. If you are interested I can send you many Biblical references explaining the Trinity but I don’t want to add 20 pages to this post.

Thanks for you answer.
I hope we can be friend, although we have different perspective.
If you willing visit my blog, and read my article at http://sosiologidakwah.blogspot.com
And... if you love books, read The Holy Qur'an please...

We can be friends but our beliefs will always divide us. We both can’t be correct. Either one of us are or both of us are. I think if you read the Bible plainly, God will reveal truth to you.

Also, I have read the Qur’an. In Surah 9 the Qur’an says:

[9.1] (This is a declaration of) immunity by Allah and His Apostle towards those of the idolaters with whom you made an agreement.
[9.2] So go about in the land for four months and know that you cannot weaken Allah and that Allah will bring disgrace to the unbelievers.
[9.3] And an announcement from Allah and His Apostle to the people on the day of the greater pilgrimage that Allah and His Apostle are free from liability to the idolaters; therefore if you repent, it will be better for you, and if you turn back, then know that you will not weaken Allah; and announce painful punishment to those who disbelieve.
[9.4] Except those of the idolaters with whom you made an agreement, then they have not failed you in anything and have not backed up any one against you, so fulfill their agreement to the end of their term; surely Allah loves those who are careful (of their duty).
[9.5] So when the sacred months have passed away, then slay the idolaters wherever you find them, and take them captives and besiege them and lie in wait for them in every ambush, then if they repent and keep up prayer and pay the poor-rate, leave their way free to them; surely Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.

The Qur’an teaches to kill enemies. Jesus taught us to love our enemies. Mat 5:44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you
I have spent some time in your area and have been in your culture. I know some Muslim’s follow this verse in the Qur’an and some don’t. I have been robbed in Malaysia by some bad Muslims and have been helped by some nice Muslims. I just wonder why every Muslim doesn’t follow the Qur’an seriously. It seems to me that if it is the word of Allah then they should follow this verse seriously and slay the idolaters where they find them. I think the reason some don’t follow this verse is because they have conscience and know that it is inherently wrong to kill innocent people.

Thank you for your response on my blog. I hope I answered all of your questions. Please look into these things because your eternal destination depends on what is True.

Scott Doherty