Christianity and Islam I

Revealed Religions

All three Abrahamic faiths have the honor of all being monotheistic. The three Abrahamic faiths are Judaism, Christianity and Islam. For the present, Judaism is not being considered, so I will confine my comments in this writing to Christianity and Islam. Both of these faiths are also what is called revealed religions. The adherents of a “revealed religion” believe that their God has directly communicated with mankind His existence and wishes, through oracles (prophets) and, or, holy inspired (God-breathed) Scripture. Revealed religion stands in opposition to “natural religion” which provides arguments for the existence of God based on reason and ordinary experience of nature. The monotheistic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) each possess scripture, which is believed to be an authentic revelation of the character and expectations of their God, with detailed instructions in worship and lifestyle: for Judaism it is the Old Testament—the Torah in particular; for Christianity it is the complete Bible consisting of both Old and New Testaments; for Islam it is the Qur’an. While the Old and New Testaments are congruent concerning the deity of Jesus the Messiah, the Qur’an is incongruent to both the Old and New Testaments in this particular: the Qur’an denies any godhood to Christ at all and seeks to supplant Him with Muhammad. The Qur’an also attempts to cast Jesus in the same role as the New Testament casts John the Baptist: an intermediate prophet that prepares the way for the Prophet like unto Moses, which the Quran claims is Muhammad.

The Holy Scripture of Both Christianity and Islam

Since the sacred scriptures of any “revealed religion” is an important, if not necessary, element of the religion’s foundation, observations must be made concerning both the Bible and the Qur’an. 

The Holy Bible is the Christian’s holy scripture. All matters of faith are drawn from its sacred pages. Christians believe that the Bible is inspired, but not in the same way as Muslims believe the Qur’an is inspired. (We will say more about inspiration later.) Christianity was founded upon the person and teachings of Jesus, both, of which, predated the Christian Scriptures. The Christian Scriptures (New Testament) were written over the lifetime of the Lord’s original apostles and their surrogates. There was a time period when the Church struggled with what writings to accept as canonical. After the canon was decided, not all Christians had it available to them in a complete corpus. These canonical writings were not complied into a single corpus for some time later. So, then, it can be stated truthfully that though different Christians, in different locations, had different portions of the New Testament, the New Testament did not exist as we have it today for almost 200 years. Yet, during that time the Church was founded and orthodoxy established without the corpus of the New Testament scriptures. In short: The Church gave the world the Christian Bible, the Christian Bible did not give us the Church. It is important to acknowledge that the Bible used by Christians today throughout the earth is virtually the very same text as at the very first, with the only differences being copyist errors, which is present in all documents copied by hand through the centuries before the printing press.

The Qur'an which is now used is a fourth edition (at least) of the Book in Heaven. Notice the four stages that the Qur’an has gone through to become what it is today:  1st. edition: the Angel to the Prophet; 2nd edition: the Prophet to the scribes; 3rd edition: scribes to the copyist and reciters; 4th edition: the copyist and reciters to Abu Bakr. Add to these four editions Uthman's destruction of all former versions of the Qur’an except the one he approved. Since the preceding information is indisputable historical facts, a question must be asked:  “How can the world be expected to accept the present Qur'an as the uncorrupted Word of Allah?”

It should be pointed out that the Scripture of Christians have never been purged as Uthman purged the Qur’an. Having said that, it would be reasonable to expect differences in phrases from version to version, language to language as the Bible spread across the world. Unlike Islam,  Christianity does not hold the belief that Hebrew, or Greek, is the language of heaven and is therefore without flaw. Whereas, Islam holds Arabic to be the language of heaven. We Christians hold that the being and workings of God are so far above the earthly that any language of this world is too frail to capture the total essence of either.

On Mohammed and Islam

What would Mohammed had been if he had not encountered the Trinity at Damascus?

Mohammed, as a young man, made many trips to Damascus with the trade caravan owned by his soon to be wife, who was a Nestorian Christian. Mohammed had learned of the ONE God of the Jews and Nestorian Christians whom he lived around. In Damascus he encountered the Trinitarian brand of Christianity. The Trinitarian God was different from One God of his Jewish and Nestorian neighbors. This sent him off on a crusade against a Christianity that had given the one true God companions, which the Roman Empire had embraced. Islam sees itself as the defender of the ONE God of Judaism and the Arian brand of early Christianity. In the process, however, a new faith developed that was something of a Frankenstein Christianity, made up of various parts of Judaism, Arian and Nestorian Christianity with a little of Arab paganism thrown in for good measure. Thereby, Islam has become the menace it is today.

So, the question: What would Mohammed had been if he had not encountered the Trinity at Damascus? is meant to spotlight the fact that Islam is a religious reaction against the Trinity which it sees as a worship of three Gods. It was this encounter that framed and molded Muhammed’s life; and, consequently Islam today.

The best that can be said for Muhammed is that he was a sincere, but delusional man who took elements from the trash heap of Judaism and Christianity and a little Arab paganism and forged a new faith. This was most likely an expected outcome, given the region of the world from which Islam sprang. Refugees from the Roman world fled to the Arabian Peninsula. This was true for the Jews that fled Roman conquest and true for heretical Christian groups fleeing from the Orthodox. Arabia was a refuge for all. Muhammed’s wife and uncle (his family) were Christians — of a sort. What Muhammed knew of Christianity he got from the Christians that were living around him — they were the outcasts of the Orthodox. They had the many apocrypha writings that surfaced during the 2nd and 3rd centuries that denied the deity of Christ and a multitude of other blasphemies. Consequently, then, the Qur'an contains many Christian apocrypha stories — which, by the way, Muhammed claims was told him by the angel. Perhaps his people knew of the Gospel of the Nazorenes (which I will comment on later) and the Gospel of Barnabas. That would be reasonable to assume. So, there it was, the off scourings of both Judaism and Christianity, the discarded heresies of both religions waiting for just the right personality to gather them together and make use of the rejected. That personality was supplied in Muhammad. In short, Islam is a Christian heresy founded on Christian heresies.

Orthodox Christianity was in the field and established 500 years before Muhammed was born. Islam, therefore, is a Johnny-Come-Lately to the field of religion. For Islam to take the ground, Christianity must be dislodged from its defenses. To my Muslim friends I say: Your faith has come into the precincts of religion too late. Your religion claims to be the correct faith, and claims all others in error. Since you are the recent arrival, the burden of proof is on you. Our theological strongholds are built with mighty walls. If you are to take the field you must breach our fortifications.

Can Islam Change?

I would like to make an observation about the hope expressed by some that Islam can change and become more amenable to civilized society. I am not optimistic on that score, not in the least. And here is why: By Muhammed's insistence that he was the last prophet, Islam has been trapped in a religion that can not grow beyond Muhammed’s world view. 

World standards have evolved since the days of the Prophet. By present day world standards, Muhammed was a rapist, war monger, adulterer, pirate, pedophile, and mass murderer. In the court of world opinion he is tried and found guilty of heinous crimes against humanity. Certainly, not a desirable figure for the founder of a world religion.

Even if Islam wanted to move past that, it cannot.

For instance, If Christianity was still caught in the throes of Old Testament “stuff” it would be equally as sad. But the Old Testament was meant to only be temporary until Messiah came and fulfilled all the law and brought salvation.

Alas, Islam can have no such Savior, no such reformation, because Muhammed's ego was so large that he insisted on being the final word.

To be continued:

Apostolically Speaking,

☩ Jerry L Hayes