Posted on 12/23/2004 5:53:32 PM PST by Jane_N
For much of the world, this Saturday, December 25, is Christmas Day. For many Orthodox Christians, however, Saturday, January 7 is Christmas Day. For me, this means I get to write two articles on Christmas with one on New Years in between. This is way cool, for I love Christmas.
Frankly, it really doesn’t matter if we celebrate Christmas on December 25 or January 7 so long as we are celebrating the birth of Jesus the Christ. I mean, that’s what Christmas is about after all, isn’t it? And since we are celebrating Christmas, I think it is worthwhile to take a look at the founder of Christianity, Jesus Himself, and compare Him to Mohammed, the founder of Islam, since there is so much in the news these days about a potential clash of civilizations between Christianity and Islam.
Now, for the record and let me state upfront: I believe that most of our Muslim friends are sincere in their beliefs. But I also believe that they are sincerely wrong.
Jesus of Nazareth and Mohammed were very different. Of course for starters, Jesus claimed to be the Son of God and Mohammed claimed to be the last prophet of their god, Allah. And of course Christians believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that He lived, died and rose from the dead on the third day and that eternal salvation is attainted by believing in Him. This is the central tenant of Christianity. Islam, on the other hand, has a very different belief system.
Jesus, of course, said He was the Son of God and yet never tried to run for political office, never advocated the overthrow of the government, never wrote a book, never commanded an army and never acquired wealth of any sort. As a matter of fact, he said obey the government when he said "render to Caesar what is Caesar’s." And He died on a cross, the death of a criminal.
He chose 12 men to help Him spread his message and many of them died for their faith. It seemed that this faith He proclaimed might die with his followers and yet it didn’t. Not only did it not die, but it grew, especially under the persecution of the Roman Empire. And it grew to the point where today is 2004, because Jesus’ impact on the life of mankind was so great that our calendar is split into two, acknowledging the time before He was born and the time after He was born. The year on the cover of this paper is 2004, not 1424, the Muslim year.
Mohammed, on the other hand, was a very different character. He was born about AD 570 in Mecca, an important commercial city on the Arabian peninsula. His father, Abdullah died before Mohammed was born and he was raised by his uncle, Abu Talib.
In his middle years, it is said that he grew tired of the Arabs’ idolatry and paganism. When he was 40, he claimed to have received a revelation from the angel Gabriel, which he would have known about from reading the Scriptures of the Jews and Christians. The Koran, is, as Mohammed claimed, Allah’s revelation to mankind through him.
Now I make a distinction between the God of the Bible and the god of the Muslims, Allah, because I believe – and Muslims believe the same – that the two are completely different. For starters, Allah did not have a Son named Jesus. In fact, in Islam, to claim that Allah has any familial relations is heretical, punishable by death. Furthermore, it is important to note that al-ilah (the contraction from which we get Allah) means "the god," for Allah was the chief god among the pagan Arabs’ 360 different gods at the Kaaba, an idol temple in Mecca. Allah was simply the one god that Mohammed chose to elevate and make the only god when he started his new belief system.
And since we know how Jesus’ followers spread Christianity, let’s take a look at how Mohammed spread Islam.
If you visit the web site of the Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Washington, DC (which should be an authoritative source on Islam), click on "Country Information," then "Islam," and then "The Rise of Islam." This short history of the beginnings of Islam simply states: "Summoned by its call, the faithful spread Islam across the Arabian Peninsula. Within a century, Islam had swept across the Middle East and North Africa."
Well, not exactly.
Islam spread in its first one hundred years by war. At first, the merchants of Mecca were angry with Mohammed for his doctrine of Allah and submission to him. His ideas upset their businesses and they opposed him. But he gathered his strength and eventually overtook them by the sword. In time, he used the sword effectively in defeating his enemies – pagans, Jews and Christians – giving them the opportunity to convert to Islam. Those who refused, of course, lost their heads.
On his deathbed, Mohammed told his heirs "Let there not be two religions in Arabia." Accordingly, his followers under his successor Caliph Umar waged war against the unbelievers. Within one hundred years of his death, Islam had spread to the borders of present-day France. It is ironic how it is retaking France now without the sword.
There is so much more to this story but the important thing to point out here is this: Islam divides the world into two, Dar al Islam, or the House of Islam, and Dar al Harb, the House of War, which is everyone outside of Islam. The goal of the House of Islam is to defeat and overtake the House of War, either through conquest or conversion. This, they have been doing since Mohammed. And this will be the clash of civilizations.
Jesus of Nazareth and Mohammed of Mecca were two very different men with two very different beliefs. The question for the world today is, will you give your life to Jesus, or will you give your life to jihad?
Jason Miko is a free thinker and the views expressed herein are wholly his own. He can be reached at janos@earthlink.net.
Here in Genesis 22:1-2 is the template for what would happen with Jesus...yet Jesus was't commanded to do anything...he did it of His own free will...in that way, He was in the role of both Abraham and Isaac (He was the offerer and the sacrifice)...
"1": And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. "2": And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.
Another point that has been made by both Hebrew and Christian scholars is that Isaac bored the wood (to be used in the burnt sacrifice) on his own shoulders just as Jesus bore the wooden cross.
I wish someone would tell the President (unless he already knows and is just being clever).
As you have said, God wants our love (which can only be freely offered or it isn't love)...
...and Satan demands submission (demanded in anger, given out of fear).
Jesus is Yahweh of the Hebrew bible! He is God!
Sounds a lot like those that support Nostradamus. After the fact they see all these things that fit!
One came to serve.
The other came to be served, by as many dhimmis as could be attained.
Discussing religion with an atheist is like discussing modern art with your accountant.
Which is why I don't do it.
No, this doesn't refer just to Islam, it refers to all of us.
The cowards who want us to draw the sword against innocent and defenseless Moslems are referred to here.
No, he isn't.
Be that as it may, prophecy IS the validating characteristic of divine pronouncement.
There is an old latin proverb that says improper use does not invalidate proper use.
Of course, you are correct. While the hatred in Islam is evil, it is also contagious.
And Satan just smiles as we respond with the same kind of anger and hatred Islam pours out against us...its like starting a fire that just keeps spreading.
I spent much of last night tossing and turning over this very issue. How do we kill Islam without catching its disease ourselves? Surely, there is a way.
And he said unto them, When I sent you without purse, and scrip, and shoes, lacked ye any thing? And they said, Nothing. Then said he unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one.
Finding a way to justify killing innocent and defenseless Muslims keeps you up at night?
God works in mysterious ways.
He was definitely telling Peter to stop, as well as continuing to teach His Church, but it could be that He was also referring specifically to islam and mohammed's sword. I think it's one of those things that fits into the following scripture:
The Apostle Paul writes in 1st Corinthians 13:12 - "For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known".
Are you being hasty or just twisting another's words for pleasure.
I said nothing about killing innocents...I spoke about killing an evil religion.
What did Jesus do when one of those very two swords was used?
and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one.
You raise an interesting question...
I don't know if here (Luke 22:36) Jesus is speaking about what is going to happen later that night (when Judas brings the cops) and someone (Peter probably) whacks off an ear (i.e. is Jesus getting the details laid out for another miracle as it were)...
...or if he is saying "get a sword for later warfare..."
That wasn't the question.
From the context I assume you find in Jesus's words justification for killing innocent and defenseless people who belong to the wrong religion.
It would be good for a laugh to see how you would do that. So please go ahead.
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