A response to 1.2.9

Conclusion


Several points will be dealt with, as Al-Kadhi lists below:

1) There is no mention of a "Trinity" in the Bible by God, Jesus,
Paul, or anyone else. The Pauline (Roman Catholic) church
fabricated it around the fourth century CE and Biblical verses
were then casually "inserted" into the Bible to validate this
concept (such as 1 John 5:7 which all recent Bibles now
discard). Jesus, Matthew, John, Luke, Mark and all of the
apostles, even Paul, were completely unaware of any "Trinity."

Although the word "Trinity" is not used, many scriptures show it adequately to
be the Nature of God:

John 1:1-4- "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. 
Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been
made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men."

Romans 1:2-4- "the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the
Holy Scriptures regarding his Son, who as to his human nature was a descendant
of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be
the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord."

Revelation 1:8,17-18-"'I am the Alpha and the Omega,' says the Lord God, 'who
is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.'...When I saw him, I fell at
his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: 'Do not
be afraid. I am the First and the Last. 
I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I
hold the keys of death and Hades.'"

Revelation 17:14- "the Lamb will overcome them because he is Lord of lords and
King of kings" 

Genesis 1:26- "Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image, in our likeness,
and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the
livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the
ground.'"

Isaiah 42:1- "'Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I
delight; I will put my Spirit on him and he will bring justice to the
nations.'"

Isaiah 6:8- "Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Whom shall I send? And
who will go for us?' And I said, 'Here am I. Send me!'"

Genesis 18:1-2- "The LORD appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre
while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day.
Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he
hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the
ground." 

Luke 1:31...35- "You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to
give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the
Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David...So the
holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. "

In the above references, we see the specific addressing of Jesus as the "Son of
God".  We also see the usage of the "Us" which represents a composite unity. 
Finally, in the Genesis 18 passage, God visits Abraham, and what does Abraham
see?  Three men.  There is a Trinity.
 
2) Since there is no Trinity, therefore, if Jesus (pbuh) is a god
then this requires that he be a separate god from God. This
means that there must be at least two gods in existence, but this
contradicts verse after verse of the Bible, all of which
constantly beat us over the head with the fact that there is only
ONE god in existence (e.g. Isaiah 43:10-11, Deuteronomy
4:39, Isaiah 45:18, etc.) and which is why verses verifying a
"Trinity" needed to be inserted in the first place (Such as 1 John
5:7, which has now been discarded).

In fact, the term Trinity is used to describe this reality, that Jesus is God,
and He is a separate identity from the Father and the Holy Spirit.  As an atom
has proton, neutron, and electron elements, where neither of the individual
components is wholly an atom, and the atom has no reality apart from all three
elements interacting, so is God wholly God only with the three elements of
Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Whether 1John 5:7 is included in newer
translations of the Bible is irrelevant, the inference that it was "inserted"
into the Bible by deception is impossible to make in the face of the rest of
the evidence.

3) Since Jesus (pbuh) can not be god, and he himself never
claimed to be a god and never asked anyone to worship him
but only "the Father," therefore God Almighty is the only one
who must be worshipped (John 17:3, John 4:2, John 4:23,
Matthew 7:21, Matthew 22:37..etc.).

In fact Jesus said of His being God:

John 10:31-36- "Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus said to
them, 'I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these
do you stone me?' 'We are not stoning you for any of these,' replied the Jews,
'but for blasphemy, because
you, a mere man, claim to be God.' Jesus answered them, 'Is it not written in
your Law, `I have said you are gods` ? If he called them `gods,` to whom the
word of God came--and the Scripture cannot be
 broken-- what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent
into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, `I am
God's Son`?'" 

4) The "original sin of Adam" which mankind is supposed to
have inherited was a fabrication of Paul. It is explicitly refuted in
the Bible in many places (e.g. Ezekiel 18:19-20, Deuteronomy
24:16, Jeremiah 31:29-30, Ezekiel 18:1-9).

Al-Kadhi dismisses himself as a biblical scholar simply by the act of omitting
what he wants from the Word of God.  He quotes scripture out of context and
distorts it to lead people astray.  What of the following passages regarding
original sin?:

Genesis 3:13-19 - "Then the LORD God said to the woman, 'What is this you have
done?' The woman said,'The serpent deceived me, and I ate.' 
So the LORD God said to the serpent, 'Because you have done this, `Cursed are
you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your
belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity
between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush
your head, and you will strike his heel.`' To the woman he said, 'I will
greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to
children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.' To
Adam he said, 'Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about
which I commanded you, `You must not eat of it,` 'Cursed is the ground because
of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It
will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the
field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the
ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will
return.`'" 

Galatians 5:19-21- "The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual
immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord,
jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions,
factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did
before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God."
 
Exodus 20:5- "You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD
your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers
to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me"

Exodus 34:7- "maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness,
rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the
children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth
generation."

Leviticus 26:39- "Those of you who are left will waste away in the lands of
their enemies because of their sins; also
because of their fathers' sins they will waste away."

5) Since Jesus (pbuh) can be neither a god nor a Son of God
(in the literal orthodox sense), and since the "original sin" is a
fabrication not taught by Jesus (pbuh), therefore, the
"atonement" is also exposed as not part of the message of Jesus
but a later addition to it. In other words, if we do not bear the
"original sin of Adam" then there is no need for Jesus (pbuh) or
anyone else to atone for it. This is simple logic. You don't need
the fire department if there is no fire.

Jesus is God and the Son of God, as already shown.  Original sin is clearly
demonstrated above.  With false premises, Al-Kadhi's conclusion is also false. 
Atonement was needed, even as Jesus said:
 Matthew 20:28- "the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to
give his life as a ransom for many."

6) Jesus (pbuh) never taught any of the above concepts to his
followers. He only taught them to faithfully follow the religion of
Moses (pbuh). Once we recognize the fact that all of these
doctrines were later insertions into the religion of Jesus, then we
become ready to recognize Jesus' (pbuh) true message as a
simple continuation of the religion of Moses (pbuh)(Matthew
5:17-18, Matthew 19:16-21). He was simply sent to rectify the
Jewish religion, return it to the original message preached by
Moses (pbuh), and discard the innovations and changes which
had been introduced into it by a handful of the unscrupulous.

Truly, Jesus came to restore that which was lost.  But what was needed was a
radical transformation in the hearts of men, or things would continue as they
had ever before.  How then, could God accomplish this change?  By revealing the
fulness of His love in sending His Son to die for their sins.  The Law of Moses
was perfect, but no one could keep it completely.  Rather, through the
atonement, God had it mind to:

Jeremiah 31:33- "'This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel
after that time,' declares the LORD. 'I will put my law in their minds and
write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.'"

The changes that had been made to the pure religion of the Fathers of Israel
were the result of keeping a form of godliness, but denying its power, in order
to secure the purses of men.  Ritual became the burden of the masses, and
compassion was forgotten.  How much different is Islam from the hypocritical
religion of the Pharisees whom Jesus derided:

Matthew 6:5- "And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love
to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men.
I tell you the truth, they have received
their reward in full."

Matthew 6:16-"When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they
disfigure their faces to show
men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in
full."

Matthew 23:13- "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!
You shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor
will you let those enter who are trying to."

Matthew 23:15- "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!
You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one,
you make him twice as much a son of hell as you
are."

7) Historical facts show how Jesus' (pbuh) message was
directed at the Jews only. It was only changed from this original
form after it was taken to those it was never intended for, the
pagan gentiles.

Peter preceeded Paul even in knowing God's will for the universality of the
Gospel:

Acts 10:28- "He said to them: 'You are well aware that it is against our law
for a Jew to associate with a
Gentile or visit him. But God has shown me that I should not call any man
impure or unclean.'"

That the message is for gentiles is implicit in the following:

Romans 1:16- "I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God
for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the
Gentile."

Romans 10:12- "For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile--the same
Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him"

8) Paul is the author of the majority of the books of the New
Testament. The rest were fabricated by his followers and were
not written by the apostles of Jesus (pbuh). The teaching of Paul in the Bible
totally contradict the teachings of Jesus himself and include obvious
discrepancies even in such fundamental matters as his 
conversion to Christianity and his acceptance among the
apostles.

These accusations are very biased.  Paul's message, as Al-Kadhi purports in
this chapter and elsewhere is not contrary to Jesus' teaching, but in fact
explains it more suitably to his particular audience.  Al-Kadhi thinks Paul
wanted Law to be abandoned whereas Paul said Law was necessary, to bring men to
God's grace and also to keep society orderly.  Paul did not preach faith
without works, but faith acting by works.  Of lawlessness, Paul says,

Romans 2:21-25 -"you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You
who preach against stealing, do you steal? 
You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You
who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who brag about the law, do you
dishonor God by breaking the law? As it is written: 'God's name is blasphemed
among the Gentiles because of you.'
Circumcision has value if you observe the law, but if you break the law, you
have become as though you had not been circumcised."

Romans 3:31 -"Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather,
we uphold the law."

The allegations that non-Pauline New Testament writings are not written by
their own authors is unfounded, and is a strange one, considering that muslims
offhandedly choose to believe a false gospel (Barnabas).  The central events of
the gospels are also supported from external evidences, such as the historian
Josephus, who made mention in his histories of the Roman Empire of a Jewish
preacher named Jesus who was crucified, something muslims deny.

As to Paul's testimony, it is repeated with consistency at least three times:
in Acts 9:1-9;Acts 22:6-11;Acts 26:12-18.

9) Countless Biblical scholars themselves admit that it was a
common practice at the time to insert and remove verses of the
Bible and even to claim that they were the words of Jesus
(pbuh), God Almighty, and others without any reservation
whatsoever. They readily admit that the speeches found in the
Bible were never made by the claimed speakers. The vast
majority of these speeches were the work of the authors and
their "conception" of what these Biblical characters would most
likely have said. 

What a scholar says has little value, if it contradicts the Word itself, which
is inerrant. Of the Word, the Word says, 

Isaiah 40:6-8 -"All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers
of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, 
but the word of the Lord stands forever." 

Matthew 24:25 -"Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass
away."

10) All of this was revealed to us by God in the Noble Qur'an
over 1400 years ago. It has only been independently verified
by the West in this century.

Since the Bible preceeded the Koran, we are to test the latter against the
former, not vise-versa.  Yet even the Koran says of the Bible, that if a muslim
doen't understand something, to go to the "people of the book" to find their
answers there.  If the manuscripts we have predate the Bible Muhammad was
exhorting his followers to cherish (they do), then where is the error but with
the Koran?

11) All of this, in addition to the prophesies of Muhammad
(pbuh) in the Bible (Chapter 6) and the previous evidence of
distortion in the Bible continually verify the claim of the Qur'an
that mankind had taken great liberties with God's scriptures and
thus it was necessary for God to send down His final message,
the message of Islam, in order to restore His original teachings
sent down to His previous prophets including His elect prophet
Jesus (pbuh).

What of the variant copies of the Koran burnt by Uthman?  Don't they speak
volumes about human tampering?  And that in contrast with 24000 manuscript
copies of the New Testament, the most literary evidence of any historical
document, with over 95% degree accuracy in transmission, errors being
insignificant wrt theology. Look at the log in your own eye, Al-Kadhi, 
before you attack God's Word.


The Rebuttal to "What Did Jesus Really Say?"
Answering Islam Home Page