Islamic Catch-22

[Faithful]

If Jesus did not die a violent and imminent death, then that makes him a false prophet. But the Qur'an says that he's a great prophet, and so the Qur'an would be wrong and thus discredited. On the other hand, if Jesus did die a violent and imminent death as he predicted, then he is indeed a great prophet-but this would contradict the Qur'an, which says he didn't die on the cross. So either way, the Qur'an is discredited.

No credible historian worth his salt would ever place the Qur'an as a more credible source on Jesus over the New Testament.

[Faithful]

Jesus was on the cross and Allah made him appear to be dead, even though he wasn't? Then Allah healed Jesus?

Since the disciples truly believed that Jesus had been killed and then his corpse had been transformed into an immortal body, this makes Allah a deceiver of his followers. Even if Jesus never clarified what Allah did, it still created a false religion. If Allah deceived his first-century followers, whom the Qur'an refers to as 'Muslims,' then how can today's Muslims be confident that he is not deceiving them now?

[Churchwork]

Re: http://www.youtube.com/user/Converted2Islam


Allah did not deceive the disciples. You see if Jesus had been killed by crucifixion this would have proved true the Jewish claim that he was a false messiah / prophet. This was the understanding of the Jews from reading the Old Testament. Allah (God) saved Jesus from death by crucifixion so nobody can say he was a false messiah / prophet.
But the Old Testament teaches Israel would reject their own Messiah. Jesus was to die both from Old Testament perspective and from the words of Jesus Christ, so Jesus being prevented from dying on the cross still violates His claim and the claim of Jews as well as Pharisees and the Romans. There were no record of individuals claiming Jesus had not died. Many centuries later such thoughts engendered are considered of no account. It's an idea that can start a cult, but is of no serious consideration given the data.

Furthermore, you have no evidence which goes contrary to the substantial evidence of His sure death on the cross. And the disciples said they saw Jesus alive from the dead which is how Jesus presented Himself to them. That would make Jesus a liar if your story was true. No credible historians would go to a document six centuries later and give it any credibility when it produced no evidence to support its claim and goes contrary to the primary sources. It takes humility not to be delusional and overassuming. Don't assume anything. Let the evidence speak for itself. Allow for the possibility the evil spirit can't produce evidence but God can.


The Islamic and Christian concept of Jesus' crucifixion can be much more common than you may think. Many Muslims interpret the Qur'an to be saying Jesus was crucified but survived the ordeal by Allah's Will. Thus it was not a resurrection but a resuscitation.
But that would make Jesus a liar, because He said He would die and so did Israel (the true Jews who wrote the 37 books of the OT). You would be accusing the disciples of being liars, but people don't go to their deaths for something they know is a lie.


Either way, the exact details of the crucifixion are not important, that's why the Qur'an does not go into it. What's really important is that the followers of Jesus believed in him before the crucifixion and after the crucifixion. Thus they were not deceived. Both Muslims and Christians agree that God took Jesus up into heaven, so at the end of the day we all agree about that. Therefore God (Allah) did not deceive anyone. Like I said before, it's only the details of the event that we disagree about.
Whereas the Bible over and over again, tells us that crucifixion is the central point of God's word, for God to enter into creation to pay for our sins as the perfect sacrifice, for which all the OT temporary sacrifices were pointing to-the-once-for-all sacrifice which could not be achieved in an Muslim half death of Jesus, but the sin of mankind requires full punishment. The Qur'an doesn't go into much because man likes salvation by works (Cain's offering) rather than the free gift of God to come into right relationship with Him (Abel's lamb). Man wants to do it his way, when it is quite arrogant to think man can save himself by works when man sins and God is infinitely greater than man. Therefore, only God can provide the means of salvation through Christ.

Are you not deceived when Jesus misrepresents Himself to the disciples not having died if that were the case? And if the disciples were not deceived then why did they go to their deaths as martyrs claiming they saw Jesus resurrected alive from the dead? Why were the disciples doubters when Jesus died, not remembering the Scriptures when Jesus said He would raise His temple on the 3rd day? Jesus said He would raise Himself.

Are you sure it is just minor details, for Jesus said He is God and died for the sins of the world? Whereas you say He is not God and you can save yourself by works.


The ones that were deceived were the Jews who claimed they had killed Jesus. You can even find proof that the disciples did not believe in Jesus' crucifixion the way modern Christian do in Acts 21 (Read about the Jerusalem believers and their sin sacrifices in the temple even after Jesus' alleged death on the cross). I have made a video about that.
Why were the Jews deceived that Jesus was dead? Nobody denied Jesus died in the first century. It's only centuries later people try to revise history. If all we have is evidence for His sure death on the cross and nothing to support otherwise, then isn't your religion a religion of hostility towards reality?

Just as many people try reject Christ and most Jews reject Christ today, why would is it required they all believe in Acts 21? Your argument seems faulty because it goes like this. It says, because many Jews still rejected Christ (and after all they killed Him) that they still did not believe. So because some people don't believe that's justification to overlook the evidence of His death on the cross through multiple early sources? That seems illogical to me.


Actually you should think twice about using the Bible as a completely credible historial source. Read the passion narratives and see the contradictions between the four gospels. I'm not saying all the Bible is inaccurate, it is accurate in many cases but in other cases it's not.
I have never been unable to resolve any alleged contradictions and this is the claim of the Christian scholarly community. Find out what they say to any issue you may have before assuming no resolution can be made. Glean from it certain facts like you can do from any historical document without assuming inerrancy or non-inerrancy. You don't need to depend on the inerrancy of the Bible to prove Jesus is God by the resurrection proof. Simply use the Minimal Facts Approach as explained by Gary R. Habermas.


If Jesus had died on the cross that would mean that God rejected the prayers of Jesus to be saved from death but the Bible says the prayers of the righteous are heard and answered. If God did not answer Jesus' prayer for salvation from death what does that say about God? It would also mean that God was unjust in sending an innocent man to die for the guilty sinners. Even a human judge would not do something like that! Either way you look at it, the Christian position has serious problems.
Jesus and the Father and the Spirit (in the council of the Triune uncreated Godhead) before the foundations of the world agreed Jesus would have to pay for the sins of the mankind, so when Jesus entered into creation, He emptied Himself of His independent attributes to be humbled in the likeness of men. Therefore, since He is fully man He takes on characteristics of man, so He acted very humanly in that situation. That God answered by allowing Him to His death showed that it was God's will to pay for the sins of mankind, and He works evil men's hostility for good. With Jesus' genuine prayer it substantiated the atonement because His death occurred even though Jesus prayed to the Father take this cup from Him. I think the mistaken assumption you are making is His prayer was a saving from martyrdom when actually it was for the purpose of atonement.

It is because Jesus was sinless and did no wrong that He could pay for the sins of mankind. Think of it. All the sins of the world came upon the murder of the most righteous man who ever lived, a completely sinless man. If you stand up against that evil and place your faith in Christ, God seals an eternal relationship with you. It was not God who sent Jesus to die but it was men. The flesh and the sinfulness of man. You can't compare this to a human judge for a human judge would never atone for sins nor could he. How can a sinner, a human judge, atone for a sinner? Only a sinless Judge can atone for sinners. God can do that whosoever believeth in His only begotten Son.

Therefore, Islam is like any new religion that pops up after the fact or old religion that tries to confuse God's words by misrepresenting reality for the sake of the flesh.


The Islamic position is more merciful and just. In the Qur'an God (Allah) is The Lord of Mercy who protects His beloved Prophet Jesus from death on the cross. Also in the Qur'an God is The Lord of Justice because Islam requires every believer to be responsible for his or her own sins by the Grace of God. Salvation is God's gift but we are still required to work for it by faith.
Therein lies the problem. Working for your salvation to obtain a gift is not a real gift, for a gift is freely given. And to prevent the atonement for the sins of all mankind for forgiveness to make one presentable to God, is to deny God's work. I think there is a lack of appreciation for who God is. God is infinitely greater than us, so only an infinite solution can satisfy God's heart for our sin problem. Therefore, only a perfect ransom or sacrifice can do the job, and only God has that perfect quality. When you try to rescue God from the cross, it's like you are saying proudly you want to do it your way, start up a religion or join one already in existence. There is no other name under heaven by which one can be saved. When the Pharisees accused Jesus of being God for forgiving sins, Jesus never denied it. Only God can forgive sins for eternal decree.


Just because the Qur'an was revealed almost 600 years after Jesus does not mean the Qur'an cannot be more historically accurate than the Bible. There are examples where the Qur'an corrects the historical mistakes of the Bible, for example the story of Joseph and Pharoah. The same God that Noah, Abraham, Moses and Jesus worshipped is the same God that revealed the Qur'an to Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon them all). So the argument about the Qur'an being 600 years after Jesus is flawed. Besides the New Testament is much later than the Old Testamant so the same argument can be used against it too.
The problem you have is you have no evidence for an alleged correction regarding Joseph and the Pharaoh, for it goes contrary to the evidence of Scripture which are the primary sources. You know the God Noah, Abraham, Moses worshiped was not the god of the Koran because they were pointing to the Christ which is Jesus and Jesus said He was God as did the disciples. So you can't say they worshiped the same God. That's illogical and just shutting your mind down to reality. So the statement the Qur'an is flawed stands because it has no evidence for its claims and can't overturn the evidence of the primary sources. The New Testament hasn't changed anything in the Old Testament as the Koran tries to do for the Old and New Testaments six centuries later. There is complete harmony in the 66 books of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation by 40 writers over 1500 years. All you have is one guy in a cave all by himself. You don't have something as powerful as the multiple attestation of seeing Jesus resurrection in various group settings. What you have at the end of the day is a hostility to the salvation in Christ. One perfect sacrifice the Jews were claiming would come to pass in their Messiah (read Is. 53).


The fact is, the cross has no importance in our salvation. In times before the crucifixion and after it, mankind did and still does need to repent and ask God for forgiveness and salvation. The cross gives us no benefit in that. Muslims don't put their faith in a human sin sacrifice, Muslims seek salvation directly from God.

The cross has all the purpose in the world for the precious blood has the power to pay for sins and the cross in co-death with Christ gives you power over sin, for if your flesh in your old man has died, Satan or Allah can't work through that dead flesh. God gives you the power to be selfless like Jesus was: Christlike. The cross is eternal so whether a looking to the cross or back at the cross, it's still the cross and the perfect sacrifice that is accomplished by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. What the cross does is reconcile you back to God. It is for God's purpose, to make you presentable to Him. On man's side it really gives you power over sin. Salvation is directly from God through Jesus Christ. When you try to go directly to God yourself it is a works and thus, a false salvation. It is ineffective and impotent.

Which is why you see such horrific things in greater Islam of suicide mass murderers, cutting off limbs in public, Friday executions, abuses towards women and no democratic states, because you don't have a conscience to realize how wrong this is. Unless your spirit quickened with God's life through regeneration you remain a son of perdition and eternally separated from God of your of your own free-will. The holy Spirit will not come into your inner man to dwell, because your spirit is still dead to God.

What God wants you to see is first and foremost that you can't save yourself, no matter what works you employ, not matter what prayers you prayer. Unless God provides the necessary means of salvation nobody can be saved, but praise God he entered into His creation to pay for the sins of the world that whosoever believeth in Him may be saved by grace through faith.


I believe that Jesus was born of the virgin Mary by the Power of God. God made Jesus a Prophet who is also the Messiah to the Jewish people. He performed miracles by God's Permission. Jesus will come again some day to rule by God's Law.

Jesus claimed to be more than a prophet. He predicted not only His death on the cross but resurrection to prove He is God. A mere prophet can't do that. This was the sign of Jonah he pointed to and that He would raise the temple on the 3rd day referring to His body. He chose disciples to convey this message. Not another gospel.

He is the Messiah for the Jews, but they rejected their own Messiah. A Messiah in the Biblical context is God, not just some man only, for only God can atone for sins. Jesus first came with authority, but when He returns He will do so with both authority and power to reign with a "rod of iron" (mentioned 3 times in Revelation). The type of miracles Jesus performed were distinct from that of a miracle worker, for His were attached to the forgiveness of sins which only God could do and why the Pharisees wanted to kill Him.

The law will be done away with after the 1000 years; not one tittle of the law shall pass till these things are accomplished. Revelation 22 says, "God and of the Lamb shall be in it.... And they shall see his face" (v.1,3,4) because God the Father and the Lamb are co-equal, co-inherent, always existing before time was created. To be equal is to be God.

That's why John, the disciple whom Jesus said He loved most, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John [John the Baptist, not John the Apostle writing these words]. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not" (John 1.1-10).

Can you see John is saying Jesus created you? So He is not just a prophet. What John the Baptist taught, John the Apostle taught which is what all the Apostles taught. And the reason you don't accept the truth is because of the darkness in your heart you comprehend it not because you engorge yourself in your sin nature and self. In simple terms, you don't come to God with an honest heart, so He doesn't provide you with the grace of repentance and belief in God's only begotten Son.

Jesus said, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him" (John 3.16-18,36).


About love. Yes Allah (God) is full of Love, one of Allah's Names is Al Wadud which means the Loving-Affectionate One. But as a Muslim I would have to ask the Christian; where is the love the Father has for Jesus? I mean you believe that God sent His innocent Messiah to be slaughtered by guilty sinners. So which sounds more loving, Allah saving Jesus from death, or the Father letting His son be killed? So when it comes to love I would have to agree with Islam here not Christianity.

If you would only stop worshipping Jesus and the Holy Ghost and start worshipping the God that Jesus and all the other prophets worshipped (Allah) you will start to see amazing miracles in your life like I have seen since becoming a Muslim.

Peace

C2I
How is it loving to call the eyewitness Apostles and Jesus a liar? That would be sinning bearing false witness. Before the foundations of the world the Father and Son agreed the Son would pay for the sins of mankind. Death has no hold on God and He proved it by His resurrection, yet you are trying to save Jesus? That seems arrogant on your part. If Jesus didn't die on the cross every last soul would go to Hell, so you can see how great God is to pay for your sins and save you if you are willing.

God of the Bible has a personal relationship with us through Jesus and by the Holy Spirit, but your god is cold and distant. There is diversity in unity of the Godhead, but in Islam there is no diversity and just cold impersonal unity. Do you see how God is relational? He actually comes down to be with men. Man is made out of His glory to have a relationship with through Jesus.

The Father you speak of is not God the Father, but you are trying to misrepresent God. Satan tries to misrepresent. The mistake you are making is in thinking the Father Son relationship of the 1st and 2nd Persons of the Trinity in humanistic terms. Rather, think of it in terms of obedience. Jesus came to show perfect obedience. All prophets sin and are selfish sometimes. Whereas Jesus was never selfish and never sinned. For example, your prophet Muhammad was a murderer and slept with young girls.

Christians worship God through Jesus. We can have a personal relationship with God through Christ and by the Holy Spirit, not of ourselves. The most amazing miracle I had as a Christian was something like a Third Heaven experience where for about a half hour I felt I was caught up into space. This occurred after reading God's word. Be careful, because the evil spirit can manifest what may be deemed miracles to you if it will convince you reject the Triune God and call Jesus as the Apostles liars.

Video of the Islamic Catch-22 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2q197rM4teo).

[Churchwork]

Why is it so important to understand that the Holy Spirit dwells in man’s innermost depth, deeper within than his organs of thought, feeling and decision? Because unless the child of God perceives this, invariably he shall seek His guidance in his soul. With understanding he shall be delivered from the deception and error of looking to what is outward. The Holy Spirit lives in the remotest recess of our being; there and only there may we expect His working and obtain His guidance. Our prayers are directed to “our Father who art in heaven,” but the heavenly Father guides from within us. If our Counsellor, our Paraclete, resides in our spirit then His guidance must come from within. How tragically deceived we will be if we seek dreams, visions, voices, and sensations in our outer man rather than seeking Him in our inner man!

Frequently many children of God turn within themselves, that is, they look into their soul to determine whether they have peace, grace or spiritual progress. This is most harmful and is not of faith. It diverts them from gazing upon Christ to a looking at themselves.

There is a peering within, however, which is completely different from the above. It is faith’s greatest act. It is a search for guidance by looking to the Holy Spirit Who indwells their spirit. Although a believer’s mind, emotion and will cannot discern the things within, yet he ought to believe, even when in darkness, that God has given him a new spirit in which His Spirit dwells. Just as God dwelling in the darkness behind the curtain of the Holy of Holies was feared though not seen by those in the Holy Place and outer court, even so is the Holy Spirit Who dwells in man’s spirit incomprehensible by the soul and the body.

Thus are we able to recognize what is authentic spiritual life. It is not to be discovered or experienced in the many thoughts and visions of the mind, nor in the many burning and exhilarating feelings of the emotion, nor in the sudden shaking, penetrating and touching of the body by outside force. It is to be found in that life which emanates from the spirit, from the innermost part of man. To walk truly after the Spirit is to understand the movement of this most hidden area and to follow it accordingly. However wonderful may be those experiences which occur through the components of the soul, they are not to be accepted as spiritually valid as long as they remain in the outward and run no deeper than sensations. Only what results from the operation of the Holy Spirit within man’s spirit can be accounted spiritual experience. Hence to live a spiritual life requires faith.

“It is the Spirit himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God” (Rom. 8.16). Man’s spirit is the place where man works together with God. How do we know we have been born anew and are therefore children of God? We know because our inner man has been quickened and the Holy Spirit dwells therein. Our spirit is a regenerated, renewed one, and He Who dwells in, yet is distinct from, this new spirit is the Holy Spirit. And the two of them bear witness together.

[Churchwork]

Re: http://www.youtube.com/user/Converted2Islam


Ok you have 66 books and the Catholics have 73 and the Eastern Othodox have even more, who is right?
I know this might be hard to understand, but for now, understand the explanation; later see if it holds to be true or not. We know for a fact that 66 books are the exact number of God's word, not more, nor less, because those other books that try to be God's word also, can be shown to not be in agreement with the 66. Logic dictates to be part of God's word it must agree with the 66 since all 66 agree with each other. Also, 6 is the number of Satan and 6 is the number of man because man loves salvation by works and Satan's ways; but God's redemptive design separates that union and shows man can't save himself by the law. God has to come down to us for us to be saved and bring us up to Him.


Also, do you have the original Bible manuscripts? If not, how can you be sure what you're reading in the Bible is actually the authentic text read by the Prophets of old? Is this a blind faith you must uphold or do you have original manscripts? In Islam was have the original Qur'an and no need for blind faith.
There are no original papyrus' preserved in antiquity so I think that is an unreasonable request to reject what is said, because you would have to throw out all history then. We do have about 15 original papyrus copies in the 2nd century and 2 from the 1st century. They could be originals, but we just don't know.

Fortunately the Bible is the most well attested and copied material from antiquity, so Textual Criticism takes us right back to the source. The same problem exists for the Qur'an as well though it has less copies to rely on, less multiple corroboration, less languages. It's just one guy in a cave all by himself, whereas the Bible has 40 authors in agreement over 1500 years. You only have a copy of a copy after Muhammad died. We can't even sure he wrote all the Qur'an. Right now all you show is blind faith, because you can't come along six centuries later and say Jesus didn't die on the cross without anything to support your claim. That's disingenuous and shutting your mind down as one who would rather go to Hell. You will go to Hell because you had nothing to support your beliefs about Jesus.

To solve your problem, Christians rely on the Minimal Facts Approach which simply states since almost all skeptical scholars, including Muslim scholars, concede Paul really wrote 1 Cor. 15, Gal. 1 & 2, we can be confident Jesus died on the cross and was resurrected. Paul said he met Peter, James and John who were original eyewitnesses of the life, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. So you can be confident they truly believed it, since people don't die for something they know to be a lie. Compare this to Islam where you have to have blind faith that Jesus didn't die on the cross, contrary to multiple supported evidence of the various NT texts. And Polycarp was a student of John and confirmed these facts. As well, Clement of Rome, knew Peter and confirmed these findings also. There is other corroboration from early church fathers and non-Christian sources. I have 17 early non-Christian sources that talk about Jesus. 12 speak of Jesus dying. 7 of them refer to His deity. And 7 talk about His resurrection.


Actually Allah (swt) did not deceive the disciples after the alleged death of Prophet Jesus (p) because they continued to believe in him as Messiah and that belief never changed. So they were not deceived in the big picture.
A mere prophet is not a Messiah, but the OT record is clear, the OT Messiah that was to come was God Himself incarnate. Only God can pay for the sins of mankind. Furthermore, the OT record admits the Messiah was to die on the cross, his hands to be pierced and hung on a tree, which you have not accounted for either. It is in the verses you will have to renounce Islam if you love the truth.


Salvation is not by works in Islam, but its a free gift from Allah. Yet that free gift does require that we accept Allah's plan and way of life which He laid down for mankind, that is Islam.
That is doubletalk.The Bible says be "not doubletongued" (1 Tim. 3.8). Don't say one thing and mean another. A free gift can't be worked for otherwise it is something earned. The Bible always contrasts faith with works.


For Muslims faith and good deeds are both components of each other. Jesus did not believe in a 'faith only" theory as Christians do today. That developed later from Paul onwards, Jesus was a Law follower just as Muslims are today.

Faith and works is still works. In Christianity, works flow from faith unto rewards, but to receive initial salvation or to remain saved, works play no part, because man is a sinner and can't save himself, nor can he lose His salvation. If salvation was dependent on works, no person could be saved. If salvation could be lost, no person could remain saved, because we would all falter at some point. This takes humility to accept when you place yourself next to a God who is eternally greater than you. Ancient Israel taught faith also, not by works. The sacrifices themselves could not save, just remove guilt as they were a temporary measure instituted by God to point to the once-for-all sacrifice. Whether looking to the cross or back at the cross, salvation is by the cross. You would have to have the faith of Abraham to be saved. Abel gave God a faith offering whereas Cain worked for his salvation. He was jealous because God rejected his offering and killed Abel as Muslims do at Chop Chop Square on Fridays, cutting peoples' heads off, and blowing people up as suicide mass murderers; and the crusades of Islam across Europe and Asia, and 911. You are a bad guys, and you are going to Hell, unless you come to the cross as helpless sinners to receive the Lord Jesus as Savior.

Jesus taught clearly in the Scriptures, justification by faith. We are saved by faith, not by works, lest anyone should boast. Do you sense the great pride in your heart that you think your works can save you? I would feel ugly inside if I had that arrogance! Your conscience hasn't been quickened to have the same sense. Islam is just all other religions, salvation by works of the flesh.

"And he [Jesus] said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace" (Luke 7.50).

"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God" (Eph. 2.8).

Jesus said He came to fill up the law; now we live by the Spirit of the law. To try to keep the law in your own strength, you will die by the law and go to Hell; but live by the Spirit of the law you will be saved in the one Who came to fulfill it.

"Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil" (Matt. 5.17). If Jesus was just a man only, He could not fulfill the law, because no man can. Only God can. Jesus must be God.

Your sin gets punished in in Hell, but God is so gracious, He takes that sin upon Himself by what Jesus did for you on the cross. To deny this is to deny the only way of salvation.

Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me" (John 14.16).

"I [Jesus] am the Lord, and there is no other Savior" (Is. 43.11).

If you try to live by the law, you will die by the law, for no man can keep it. If you don't understand this, read the Old Testament, and your heart will be touched.


Read the letter of James, there is no faith without works. Aren't you required to accept Jesus into your heart, isn't that a work? If you don't do that work Christianity says your doomed!
Read the letter of James and realize that what James is saying that works naturally flow from faith, not that you need works to be initially saved.

Are faith and works contrasted as opposites? "By grace are ye saved, through faith;...not of works" (Eph. 2.8-9); "But to him that worketh not, but believeth..." (Rom. 4.5).

Christianity teaches once-saved-always-saved. He said, "I give unto them [my sheep] eternal life; and they shall NEVER perish" (John 10.28).

Though we can lose rewards by not returning with Christ during the 1000 year reign on earth, we can't lose life. After the 1000 years all believers will be in the New City. This is after the non-overcomer believers are disciplined for the 1000 years in "outer darkness" (outside the light of rewards of reigning with Christ during the 1000 years), and the overcomer believers receive their reward of reigning for the 1000 years.


Jesus is not God, Mark 13:32 says so. So to have him pinned on a cross has no impact on our salvation. Again, Allah is Saviour!

Peace

C2I
"But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father" (Mark 13.32)

Understand why Jesus said this. Contrast what Jesus said: "I alone am the one who blots out your sins for my own sake" (Is. 43.25). When Jesus saw their faith, he said "friend, your sins are forgiven" (Luke 5.20). "They began thinking, 'Who is this man who speaks blasphemy?' Only God can forgive sins" (Luke 5.21).

Think about that for a moment. Jesus is making Himself out to be God and then the Pharisees accuse Him of the same. If Jesus is just a prophet then he is being sinful, making himself out to be God when He is not. But if He is God, then He is not what Islam says just a prophet. There is only one road to take here: repent of Islam, and come to the cross as a helpless sinner and receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior, and so shall you be saved! And I have gained a brother in Christ.

Jesus said He is the great I AM, the first and the last. Only God is first and last.

Why did Jesus say He doesn't know when He is going to return?

Jesus said, "The Christ [Jesus]...they see the Son of man [Jesus] coming in the clouds with great power and glory" (Mark 13.21,26). Only God comes with great power and glory! Jesus "shall he send his angels" (v.27). How can a mere prophet have angels? The angels were created before men. God existed before angels.

Now we can understand why Jesus said what He said in Mark 13.23. Jesus emptied Himself of His independent attributes in the Trinity to be fully man. Here is the proof as follows...

"Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, existing in the form of God, counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient [even] unto death, yea, the death of the cross. Wherefore also God highly exalted him, and gave unto him the name which is above every name; that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of [things] in heaven and [things] on earth and [things] under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Phil. 2.5-11).
“As regards to the Godhead, the Son and the Father are co-equal; but His being the Lord is rewarded Him by God. The Lord Jesus Christ was made Lord only after He emptied Himself. His deity derives from who He is, for His being God is His inherent nature. His being Lord, though, issues out of what He has done. He was exalted and rewarded by God to be the Lord only after He forsook His glory and maintained the perfect role of obedience. As regards Himself, He is God; as regards reward, He is Lord. His Lordship did not exist originally in the Godhead.

The passage in Philippians 2 is most difficult to explain, for it is most controversial besides being most holy. Let's remove our shoes and stand on holy ground as we review the Scripture. It seems as though at the beginning a council was held within the Godhead. God conceived a plan to create the universe. In that plan the Godhead agreed to have authority represented by the Father. But authority cannot exist alone. God must therefore find obedience in the universe. Two living beings were to be created: angels (spirits) and men (living souls). According to His foreknowledge God foresaw the rebellion of the angels and the fall of men; hence He was unable to establish His authority in angels or in the Adamic race. Consequently, within the Godhead perfect accord was reached that authority would be reached by the obedience of the Son. From this come the distinctive operations of God the Father and God the Son. One day God the Son emptied himself, and being born in the likeness of men. He became the symbol of obedience. Inasmuch as rebellion came from the created beings, so obedience must now be established in the created being. Man sinned and rebelled; therefore the authority of God must be erected on man’s obedience.

This explains why the Lord came to the world and was made as one of the created men”.