Jesus(P.B.U.H) Son of Mary— A statement of the Truth...

The Prophets of the Old Testament such as Abraham, Noah and Jonah never preached that God is part of a Trinity, and did not believe in Jesus as their saviour. Their message was simple: there is one God and He alone deserves your worship. It doesn’t make sense that God sent Prophets for thousands of years with the same essential message, and then all of a sudden he says he is in a Trinity and that you must believe in Jesus to be saved.

The truth is that Jesus preached the same message that the Prophets in the Old Testament preached. There is a passage in the Bible which really emphasizes his core message. A man came to Jesus and asked ‘Which is the first commandment of all?’? Jesus answered;

“The first of all the commandments is Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.” [Mark 12:28-29]

So the greatest commandment, the most important belief according to Jesus is that God is one. If Jesus was God he would have said ‘I am God, worship me’, but he didn’t. He merely repeated a verse from the Old Testament confirming that God is One.

The Bible contains many verses in which Jesus speaks of God as a separate person to himself. Here are just a few of them:

·      When a man addressed Jesus as ‘Good Teacher’?, he replied ‘Why do you call me good? No one is good except the one God.” [Mark 10:18]

In another instance he says:

·      I can’t do anything by myself. Whatever I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just. I don’t seek my own will but the will of the one who sent me. [John 5:30]

Jesus speaks of God as a separate being to himself:

·      I’m going up to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God. [John 20:17]

In this verse he affirms that he was sent by God:

·      This is eternal life: to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you sent. [John 17:3]

If Jesus was God he would have told people to worship him, but he did the opposite and disapproved anyone worshipping him:

·      And in vain they worship Me [Matthew 15:9]

If Jesus claimed to be God than there should be hundreds of verses in the Bible which would have mentioned it. But there is not a single verse in the entire Bible in which Jesus says I am God, worship me.

Some people claim that Jesus came to die for the sins of the world. But consider the following statement of Jesus:

·      This is eternal life: to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you sent. I have glorified you on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. [John 17:3-4]

Jesus said this before he was caught and taken to be crucified. It is clear from this verse that Jesus did not come to die for the sins of the world, as he finished the work God gave him before he was taken to be crucified.

Also Jesus said: ‘salvation is of the Jews’? [John 4:22].

So we don’t need to believe in the Trinity or that Jesus died for our sins to attain salvation since the Jews don’t have these beliefs.

JESUS (Peace Be Upon Him) ISLAM PERSPECTIVE

Jesus (Peace Be Upon Him), Mary, and the angel Gabriel are all in the Quran (as are Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and a bunch of other Bible characters).

Muslims believe that Jesus (called "Isa" in Arabic) was a prophet of God (Allah), was born to a virgin (Mary), and will return to Earth before the Day of Judgment to restore justice and to defeat al-Masih ad-Dajjal ("the false messiah"), also known as the Antichrist. All of which may sound pretty familiar to many Christians.

Mary (called "Maryam" in Arabic) has an entire chapter in the Quran named for her — the only chapter in the Quran named for a female figure. In fact, Mary is the only woman to be mentioned by name in the entire Quran. Other female figures are identified only by their relation to others, such as the wife of Adam and the mother of Moses, or by their title, such as the Queen of Sheba. Mary is mentioned more times in the Quran than in the entire New Testament.

Muslims believe that Jesus(Peace be upon him) performed miracles: The Quran discusses several of Jesus's miracles, including giving sight to the blind, healing lepers, raising the dead, and breathing life into clay birds.

The story of Jesus's birth as told in the Quran is also the story of his first miracle, when he spoke as an infant in the cradle and declared himself to be a prophet of God. Here's the story:

And remember Mary in the Book, when she withdrew from her family to an eastern place. And she veiled herself from them. Then We [God] sent unto her Our Spirit [the angel Gabriel], and it assumed for her the likeness of a perfect man. She said, "I seek refuge from thee in the Compassionate [i.e., God], if you are reverent!" He said, "I am but a messenger of thy Lord, to bestow upon thee a pure boy."

She said, "How shall I have a boy when no man has touched me, nor have I been unchaste?" He said, "Thus shall it be. Thy Lord says, ‘It is easy for Me.’" And [it is thus] that We might make him a sign unto mankind, and a mercy from Us. And it is a matter decreed.

So she conceived him and withdrew with him to a place far off. And the pangs of childbirth drove her to the trunk of a date palm. She said, "Would that I had died before this and was a thing forgotten, utterly forgotten!" So he called out to her from below her, "Grieve not! Thy Lord has placed a rivulet beneath thee. And shake toward thyself the trunk of the date palm; fresh, ripe dates shall fall upon thee. So eat and drink and cool thine eye. And if thou seest any human being, say, ‘Verily I have vowed a fast unto the Compassionate, so I shall not speak this day to any man.’"

Then she came with him [the infant Jesus] unto her people, carrying him. They said, "O Mary! Thou hast brought an amazing thing! O sister of Aaron! Thy father was not an evil man, nor was thy mother unchaste." Then she pointed to him [Jesus]. They said, "How shall we speak to one who is yet a child in the cradle?"

He [Jesus] said, "Truly I am a servant of God. He has given me the Book and made me a prophet. He has made me blessed wheresoever I may be, and has enjoined upon me prayer and almsgiving so long as I live, and [has made me] dutiful toward my mother. And He has not made me domineering, wretched. Peace be upon me the day I was born, the day I die, and the day I am raised alive!"

That is Jesus son of Mary— a statement of the truth, which they doubt.

Becoming a Muslim is not changing or losing your Christian identity. But it’s going back to the original teachings of Jesus (Peace be Upon Him). Guidance ultimately comes from Allah (SWT). I pray Allah (SWT) guide us all. May Allah's peace and blessing be upon us all.

REFERENCES 

• Quran
• John Evans, History of All Christian Sects and Denominations.
• C.N.Kolitsas, The Life and Times of Constantine the Great.
• Excerpt from ‘?Islamic Trajectories in Early Christianity’ by Dr Jerald Dirks.