Salam alapiana1
Christians believe the Bible.
Now that is something I don't get. Majority of authors of the Bible are unknown, why do Christians believe in it when they don't know who wrote it. And it has so many internal contradictions, conflictions with modern science
(
http://www.answering-christianity.com/contra.htm), even passages which I cannot read in front of my mother or my sister. Why should a person believe in the Bible? Quran has none of those problems, so why should I choose the Bible instead of the Quran?
According to the Holy Bible, Jesus was without sin.
I would like to know where the Bible says that(I'm not implying that it doesn't)
He became sin for us (His death on the cross) so that we won't have to be judged for our sin. He is the only one who could do this because he had no sin. He took the punishment for us.
So all of us have the original sin because of what Adam did but Jesus sacrificed himself for Christians so now Christians are no longer sinful. Let me give you an example, if a cop comes to me, handcuffs me and then tells me that my grandfather robbed a jewelery store and I am going to jail for that, is that justified? And then after a while he says that okay, you're free to go. We caught your father, he is will go to jail for that. Now that is not justified even according to us, so how can God, the most Just, can act similar to that cop? In Islam however, there is no concept of original sin and forgiveness of sin. Instead of quoting Quran/hadith, I will quote from the book you believe to be the word of God to give the concept of forgiveness in Quran
EZEKIEL 18
20 The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.
21 But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die.
Christians believe that they cannot earn there way to salvation and righteousness with God. They don't trust in following the law or commandments. That is not to say they don't obey them. They do, but we know it cannot save us. For by faith are you saved through God's grace. It is a gift not of works otherwise we can take the credit for our own salvation. Eph 2: 8,9. We believe in praying without ceasing.
I agree that deeds alone cannot save us. We do require God's mercy according to the following hadith
Abu Huraira reported Allaah's Messenger (sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam) as saying:
None amongst you would attain salvation purely because of his deeds. A person said: Allaah's Messenger, even you also. Thereupon he said: Yes. Not even I, but that Allaah wraps me in Mercy, but you should act with moderation. This badith has been transmitted on the authority of Bukair b. al-Ashajj with a slight variation of wording
The difference is that God according to Islam does not require a sacrifice. He has the power to forgive sins without sacrifices. As for obeying commandments, that is also a mystery to me. Why shouldn't I steal when my sins have been paid for by Jesus? And ultimately, will Christian thieves be punished? Will Christian murderers be punished? Will Hitler and Stalin go to heaven? In Islam, God is very kind but He is also Just. Imagine on the day of judgement, a rapist goes to heaven just because he believed that Jesus was crucified for his sins and the woman who was raped is pleading for justice, which is not provided. Does that sound like the day of Judgement to you?
We believe that putting our faith in Jesus alone and with God's grace we are saved from spiritual death.
Let's see what Jesus said regarding being saved from spiritual death i.e getting eternal life
Mathew 19
16And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?
17And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.
He did not say that to get to heaven believe that I will be crucified for your sins. He did not say that to get to heaven you should believe that I am God. He simply said, keep the commandments. Considering that, I think Muslims have a good chance of getting into heaven according to the Bible since instead of saying deeds are meaningless, they try to keep the commandments.
We believe it was God's plan from the beginning. Jesus is the word of God who became flesh.
Jesus was the word of God in the sense that he received revelations from God. I agree with that.
Jesus is the light of the world.We believe He is comming back to judge the living and the dead,
Muslims believe that one of his reasons of coming back is to correct the Christians. The Bible also says that
Mathew 7
22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
23And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
and that there is no other way for man to have a right relationship with God.
I agree that at the time of Jesus, there was no other way for man to have a right relationship with God. Like at the time of Moses, there was no other way. You can only follow Moses and no one else. At the time of Noah, all you had to do was to get into the Ark. Prayers/fasts were meaningless unless you were obeying Noah. Similarly now is the time of Muhammad. There is no other way to have a right relationship with God other than that of prophet Muhammad.
Peace