Tag Archives: sacrifice

Is Jesus the Passover Lamb? The Ultimate Sacrifice?

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Introduction: Explaining the Jewish Significance and Christian Significance (and Teaching) of Passover. 

The most significant theme of the Passover festival as celebrated by Christians is the representation of Jesus the Christ as the Passover Sacrifice (Korban Pesach). In simple terms, his sacrifice (read as: death) is seen as the sacrifice of all sacrifices through which their salvation was earned, mirroring the salvation of the Israelites from Pharaoh by YHWH (Cf. Leviticus 17:11, 1 Corinthians 5:7). Early and contemporary Christian Churches have attempted to equate the Korban Pesach with the alleged death of Jesus the Christ to establish a theological foundation for their doctrine of salvation (Cf. soteriology). Such a doctrine is best explained in the following words:

“The early Jewish believers in Jesus considered him the fulfillment of the Passover lambs that were yearly sacrificed. Thus Paul, a Jewish Christian who had studied under Rabbi Gamaliel, wrote, “Messiah, our pesach, has been sacrificed for us” (1 Corinthians 5:7). John in his gospel noted that Jesus died at the same time that the Passover lambs were being slaughtered in the Temple (see John 19:14) and that like the Passover lambs, none of his bones were broken (the others being crucified had their leg bones broken by the Romans—John 19:32, 33, 36). The idea behind all this was that just as the Israelites were redeemed from Egyptian slavery by an unblemished lamb, now men could be freed from slavery to sin by the Messiah, the Lamb of God.”[1]

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Jesus and YHWH Argue Against the Crucifixion

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بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ ,

Introduction

As is customary on this website, we do not appeal to the Qur’aan when investigating the Christian scripture. Rather, we look at the Bible and examine what it says, then we study a Christian scholarly exegesis, whereon we form our opinions and arguments. Does Jesus and YHWH argue against the crucifixion? Surprisingly to most Christians, they do! The very notion of God killing himself/ His own son because His laws which He commanded His creation follow were not able to lead man to salvation is very unmerciful, quite wrathful and vengeful. There are those amongst us who would say that such an interpretation is crude and rough around the edges, but if we are to be object, is a God who requires death for salvation more merciful than a God who does not? The answer is clear to those with understanding and sincerity.

The Old Testament

The sacrificial cultus of the Old and New Testaments, often find difficulty in harmonizing YHWH’s disdain, dislike and eventual hate for sacrifices:

“The multitude of your sacrifices— what are they to me?” says the Lord. “I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.

12 When you come to appear before me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts?

13 Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations— I cannot bear your worthless assemblies.

14 Your New Moon feasts and your appointed festivals I hate with all my being. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.

15 When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you; even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening. Your hands are full of blood! – Isaiah 1:11-15.

He continues by saying:

“Yet you have not called on me, Jacob, you have not wearied yourselves for[a] me, Israel.

23 You have not brought me sheep for burnt offerings, nor honored me with your sacrifices. I have not burdened you with grain offerings nor wearied you with demands for incense.

24 You have not bought any fragrant calamus for me, or lavished on me the fat of your sacrifices. But you have burdened me with your sins and wearied me with your offenses. – Isaiah 43:22-24.

YHWH, He’s tired of sacrifices, He sees them as are burdens, in the end its just bloodied hands. God is no longer honored with sacrifices, these offerings of sacrifice are meaningless, He has no pleasure in the blood of the sacrificial beings. A sacrifice will not benefit the followers of YHWH any longer, so why then do Christians emphasize the ‘sacrifice of Christ’, if YHWH Himself now detests such acts?

The New Testament

Jesus ratifies this message of anti-sacrifices by preaching a profound message found in the Old Testament:

For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings. – Hosea 6:6.

He says twice:

But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” – Matthew 9:13.

If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent. – Matthew 12:7.

Conclusion

From this, we understand that both Jesus the Christ and YHWH both agree with Islamic soteriology, that a specific sacrifice does not absolve the sins of all mankind, for God desires mercy (Rahma) and not sacrifice! Those who claim to love the Christ, must understand his words, in the sense that salvation is not earned by the death and unmerciful torture of one man, but by God’s mercy, not sacrifice!

On Hosea 6:6, we read from Adam Clarke’s Exegesis:

” I taught them righteousness by my prophets; for I desired mercy. I was more willing to save than to destroy; and would rather see them full of penitent and holy resolutions, than behold them offering the best and most numerous victims upon my altar.”

YHWH does not want more bloodshed and victims upon His altar, He is more willing to save than to destroy an innocent man’s life (Christ). This is the truth, as is mentioned by YHWH Himself, Christ and the Islamic faith.

wa Allaahu ‘Alam.

2013 Easter-Passover Special!

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بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ ,

Get ready for some major articles to be rolling out over the next few days as we join our Christian brothers and sisters in the season of Easter/ Passover with some hard hitting, doctrine critiquing, doubt inducing questions! Christ’s position as the Passover Sacrifice, is a fundamental belief in Christian Theology (Cf. Soteriology, Christology). His sacrifice is seen as the redeeming act for Christians and their sins. It is essential to research what this sacrifice entails in the Judaic scriptures!

Wasted Blood

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Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem
بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ ,

Question # 1:

“Jesus died for your sins, why do you still try to do works to gain heaven when he has made the ultimate sacrifice for you?”

Answer:

This is often a question that missionaries and lay Christian alike post to the Muslim population. It’s quite the offer to resist. God has made a sacrifice for your eternal forgiveness, why would someone possibly forsake eternal forgiveness for eternal perdition? The Christian narrative would usually base the fault upon either Satan or the lack of having the Holy Spirit guide us.

However, this is not the case, we Muslims reject the sacrifice, or rather alleged sacrifice based upon a number of glaring theological loopholes that essentially render this “ultimate sacrifice” to be nothing more than a figment of romanticised pre-Monotheistic passion narratives. I’ll frame the answer to this question within two primary arguments:

(1) Historical Blunders.
(2) Theological Circular Reasoning.

Historical Blunders:

Early Christianity had to deal with the problem of Jesus being the ultimate sacrifice to justify the forgiveness of all their sins. What exactly does the object of sacrifice need to be to fulfill or warrant such a price as forgiveness? The answer is perfect. Jesus has to be perfect, that is without error, without flaw, without sin. However as John 1:1 and John 1:14 would indicate to us, Jesus was of the flesh and the flesh, whenever brought into this world, was sinful, that is, all born of women folk have inherited the sin of Adam. Some cite Genesis 3:16 and Psalms 51:5 as evidence for that.

In any case, the problem supposes itself. How can Jesus be the ultimate sacrifice if he has a sin on his record? That being the original [inherited] sin. The solution was to remove that sin from upon Jesus, by placing the onus on his mother, Mary. This is where the topic of the Immaculate Conception comes up. The Immaculate Conception refers to Mary and not Jesus. Essentially, Mary was specially chosen by God to deliver God on earth, and in doing so, God made her sinless. The problem here though, is that no Biblical evidence supports or promotes this belief. There is none. The only sources for this belief comes from the writings of men, who were attributing divinity to Mary, in almost the same light the Collyridians [Mary worshippers] were doing:

The salutation of the angel Gabriel — chaire kecharitomene, Hail, full of grace (Luke 1:28) indicates a unique abundance of grace, a supernatural, godlike state of soul, which finds its explanation only in the Immaculate Conception of Mary. But the term kecharitomene (full of grace) serves only as an illustration, not as a proof of the dogma.

she was created in a condition more sublime and glorious than all other natures.

To St. Ephraem she was as innocent as Eve before her fall, a virgin most estranged from every stain of sin, more holy than the Seraphim, the sealed fountain of the Holy Ghost, the pure seed of God, ever in body and in mind intact and immaculate.[1]

These quotes speak for themselves. Really, these men were ascribing beliefs about Mary to justify their beliefs of God having to die for their errors. So, to summarize this point:

Jesus died for our sins.
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Because he was the perfect sacrifice.
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Perfect because his mother delivered him without the original sin.
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She didn’t deliver him with the original sin because God made her soul god-like in purity.
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He made her so, according to the writings not in scripture, but in those of men wondering why or how Jesus was born sinless.

Since their is no scriptural basis for the Immaculate Conception and the only source of such beliefs are from men ascribing god-like attributes to her, I am left to reject her god-like state, as she is not god-like in anyway, shape or form just as the earliest Christians condemned and rejected that same belief as held by the Collyridians.

As a side note, what makes this original sin even worse is the fact that babies get to burn in hell for simply, being born:

Babies Burn in Hell in Christianity

Theological Circular Thinking:

What is more frustrating is the apparent lack of reasoning that befalls this theological concept of someone having died, for all of my sins. To begin with, all humans are sinners and this is supported by the Biblical text Job 15:14. With that in mind, let us say I am a sinner. Jesus, according to Christian belief has suffered, been tortured, abused and died for me and my inequities. However Jesus’ death is redundant. This romanticized, sacrifice is useless in relation to my existence, to be extant, Jesus died for nothing.

Now, why would I say something so harsh? Well, I’d like you or rather, I’d like to invite you to reality. I don’t believe in the Christian concept of God, I don’t believe that God killed himself to rescue me from a punishment he created for me. So seeing as I don’t accept this sacrifice, his dying for me, is useless since I pretty much go to hell, even though he has already paid for my sins, see Mark 9:43 – 49.

One must understand, that since I am a disbeliever in his death (and as understood, the religion of Christianity) and you are sure he died for me, then quite clearly in your theological framework, he paid for sins and I am still going to be punished for them. So his death didn’t save me, his death did not benefit me in the least. So what exactly is my point?

My point is, if Jesus paid for my sins, why I am still going to be punished for them?

If the Christian concept of God, allows Jesus to be all knowing, then wouldn’t he have known I would not believe in Christianity and thus not died for me? Wasted blood, no?

wa Allaahu Alam.

[1] – https://1islam.wordpress.com/2011/03/28/the-quraans-claim-against-christianity-true/

Refutation: Pulling the cloak off the self appointed Da’ee [Part 2]

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Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem
بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ ,

Continuing from part one, which focused on his petulant tirade due to his own actions, let’s see what else Mr. Edwards has decided to throw at us:

“Here are the questions Hijaz refused to answer that I have referenced on the comments page of the last post on the site.”
Note: He’s referring to the comments on his own website, where yes, I did respond to his claims, but alas, the comments were not approved for display. Next, he questions me on this post, referring to Suratul Baqarah (2) : 2 – 5. Also note, he can’t spell my name, yet again, he’s lowered himself to childish antics by mocking my name. This is the kind of “man” we’re dealing with, when he’s challenged and he can’t meet said challenge, his mind recesses into a despotic and incoherent rage where all he can do is regurgitate childish insults from among his anti-Islamic peers.
There are 6 things in this ayah that you say assures one of salvation
Fear of Allah, Believe in the Unseen, steadfast in prayer, spend out of provisions, Believe in the revelation sent before and after, have assurance of the hereafter in the heart.
Yes, that’s what the ayats say. Then he goes on to question me on the meaning of those ayat, which were again, answered with full references here, however I did not expect him to read my initial response, which is why he needs to ask the same questions atleast a couple more times before he can actually grasp it. Remember folks, he’s slow, whether intentional or otherwise and we do intend to cater for his special needs:
Questions:
What is the definition of each one of these points, or how does one know they achieved them?
How does one achieve these things?
In what measure must these things be achieved before you know for certain you have assured salvation?
By you citing this am I to take it that you hold that salvation in Islam is based on the effort of the creature ? “
Answers:
(1) Definition is given in this post, which I will quote for our friend:
The Qur’aan does not make it difficult though, so what does a Muslim need to act upon and believe to gain heaven?

This is the Book; in it is guidance sure, without doubt, to those who fear Allah;

Believe in the Qur’aan, use it as a form of guidance, so that we develop taqwa (God consciousness).

Who believe in the Unseen, are steadfast in prayer, and spend out of what We have provided for them;

Believe in what Allaah has ordained for us and what He has told us, but which we have yet to know or experience. Perform praise and worship of God and live life within the means He has provided for us in a righteous way.

And who believe in the Revelation sent to thee, and sent before thy time, and (in their hearts) have the assurance of the Hereafter.

Belief in the Qur’aan, Injil, Tawrah Zabur, Suhuf al Ibrahim. As for assurance of the hereafter:

(And in the Hereafter they are certain) that is the resurrection, the standing (on the Day of Resurrection), Paradise, the Fire, the reckoning and the the Scale that weighs the deeds (the Mizan). The Hereafter is so named because it comes after this earthly life. – Tafsir ibn Kathir : Suratul Baqarah (2) : 4.

Lastly:

They are on (true) guidance, from their Lord, and it is these who will prosper.

Meaning:

(They are) refers to those who believe in the Unseen, establish the prayer, spend from what Allah has granted them, believe in what Allah has revealed to the Messenger and the Messengers before him, believe in the Hereafter with certainty, and prepare the necessary requirements for the Hereafter by performing good deeds and avoiding the prohibitions.(And they are the successful) meaning, in this world and the Hereafter. They shall have what they seek and be saved from the evil that they tried to avoid. Therefore, they will have rewards, eternal life in Paradise, and safety from the torment that Allah has prepared for His enemies. – Tafsir ibn Kathir : Suratul Baqarah (2) : 4.

Therefore the Qur’aan is extremely clear, it essentially spells it out for all Muslims, that sincere belief and God sanctioned actions would secure one a place in heaven.
(2) One achieves these things by sincerely believing in what those ayat say to believe in and by sincerely practising upon what those ayat say to practise. Note, he repeats question 1 in question 2. Clearly the man has literacy issues.
(4) No. That’s your assertion, Salvation on Islam is dependant upon two things:
  • Your own actions and beliefs.
  • Mercy of God.
If you don’t do as God commanded, then that’s sinning, if you don’t believe in what God has commanded you to believe, that is sinning. Likewise, the converse of this statement is also true. However although one is a sinner, God’s mercy is what is needed. If a man is a sinner and repents, then it’s God’s mercy that assures him salvation. Salvation, is to be free from sin and the punishment of sin. For Mr. Edwards to claim he has salvation is to claim he isn’t a sinner nor will God punish him, which is ironic, since all humans, by their very nature are prone to sin as the Bible says. Circular reasoning at its best.
Lastly, I’d like to point out how hilarious this guy is. I’m going to show you why I can’t take him seriously, I do believe he is a student of a clown college of some sorts, look at this guy’s poor, if not absolutely laughable authorship skills:
He spells my name wrong, twice, each right after the other. If this is any indication of his lack of consistency, integrity and literacy, I must express my condolences for his viewership, given how abysmal and dismal it may be. Before he claims I didn’t answer anymore of his questions, let’s see what else his incoherent post says:
” I would like to make clear Islamic salvation is it purely a work of the creature, is it purely a work of God or is it synergistic a combination of the two? “
Which was already answered above:
(4) No. That’s your assertion, Salvation on Islam is dependant upon two things:
  • Your own actions and beliefs.
  • Mercy of God.
If you don’t do as God commanded, then that’s sinning, if you don’t believe in what God has commanded you to believe, that is sinning. Likewise, the converse of this statement is also true. However although one is a sinner, God’s mercy is what is needed. If a man is a sinner and repents, then it’s God’s mercy that assures him salvation. Salvation, is to be free from sin and the punishment of sin. For Mr. Edwards to claim he has salvation is to claim he isn’t a sinner nor will God punish him, which is ironic, since all humans, by their very nature are prone to sin as the Bible says. Circular reasoning at its best.
He isn’t difficult to respond to. His incredulous behaviour is a sign that he’s slowly losing grip on reality:
  • Reads my name wrong.
  • Spells it wrong, one right after the other.
  • Repeats himself.
  • Can’t follow his own rules.
  • Incoherent and incosistent posts.

If someone knows what these are symptoms of, perhaps dementia or some other psychological disorder, please inform us so that we may take other methods to comforting and aiding our ailing opponent. He is in our prayers.

wa Allaahu Alam.
[and God knows best.]