Jesus in the Quran Vs. Term Paper

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" And to exercise the opposite acts and forms of behavior befitting the followers of Jesus, in whom dwells His Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23):

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Against such, there is no law."

Islam believes that Jesus was a messenger of God, but that there were other messengers and prophets before him, like Adam, Moses and Muhammad (McVey). It also agrees that Jesus and his mother Mary were wholly devoted to truthfulness and that both of them ate food as other mortals do (Ali, trans. Quran 5:75). It concedes that Mary, his mother, was a chaste woman and a virgin, who miraculously bore and gave birth to Jesus. Quran 19:6-21 gives account of Mary's seclusion and the visit of the Angel Gabriel in the form of a man, rather than as an Angel from God, to inform her that she would bear a pure son, who would be a sign unto men and a mercy from God. Islam or the Quran has no problems with the virgin birth of Jesus. Quran 3:47 says that God creates what He wills and that God created Jesus from the dust like Adam (3:59).

The Bible teaches that Jesus performed miracles by His own power as God the Son, but the Quran says that Jesus performed miracles by the will and permission of God, Who alone has power and control over all things (Ally 2002). Quaran 5:110 says:

And behold, you make out of clay, as it were, the figure of a bird, by My leave, and it becomes a bird by My leave, and you heal those born blind, and the lepers by My leave. And behold, you bring forth the death by My leave. And behold, I did restrain the children of Israel when you did show them the Clear Signs, and the unbelievers among them said, 'This is nothing but evident magic.'

The Quran or Islam rejects the doctrine of the Holy Trinity and upholds the Absolute Oneness of God, instead, as the Supreme Being, free of human limitations, needs and wants (McVey). He has no partners and is completely separate from His creation. Quran 4:171 asserts that Jesus, son of Mary, was only a messenger of God and that there is no Trinity, but only one God. He may be pleased to have a son, but everything in the heavens and on earth belongs to Him, for which He needs no guardian.

The Quran also denies that Jesus was or is the Son of God (12:1-4). It teaches that neither was God fathered nor did he father anyone. He is incomparable and the source of everything. It does not consider it befitting God's majesty to beget a human son. When He wants something to happen, He just says "Be" and "It is." The Bible, the Word of God, teaches that Jesus was and is the Son of God:

For God so loed the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him (John 3:16)."

The doctrines of the Trinity and that Jesus was or is the Son of God were established under the influence of Paul of Tarsus, previously an enemy and persecutor of the followers of Jesus, had a miraculous encounter on his way to Damascus and then became an apostle (Haugaard 2000). It is said that Paul initiated changes in early Christian writings in contradiction to those taught by disciples like Barnabas, who actually lived and met with Jesus and believed in the Oneness of God (McVey). Many Christian scholars consider Paul a co-founder or the founder of Christianity because of the additional doctrines he made, such as Jesus as the Son of God, the concept of Jesus' atonement and the renunciation of the Law of the Torah. Many believe that Paul introduced these modifications to win non-Jewish converts or Gentiles to Christianity. The original followers of Jesus for almost 200 years consistently opposed these additional doctrines, which misrepresented the original message of Jesus. These followers had no trouble or questions about the nature and origin of Jesus or about His relationship with God. They always considered Him a man miraculously endowed by God. At the time, the Gospel of Barnabas was recognized as the canonical gospel in the churches of Alexandria until 325 CE, from which Paul quoted extensively to support the new doctrines he introduced.
That year, a Council of Christian leaders met at Nicea and incorporated Paul's additional doctrines into the original Hebrew script. This Council ordered inconsistent although original gospels destroyed and warned that anyone found with these rejected gospels would be executed.

The Bible teaches that Jesus was tried and condemned to death by crucifixion in atonement for the sin of mankind. This is, however, not explicitly contained in the four gospels, which are the primary textual sources on Christianity. But Paul writes about His passion and crucifixion in his letters to the Romans 6:8-9 (McVey).But the Muslims do not believe, nor does the Quran teach, that Jesus was killed on the cross and then rose back to life on the third day (Quran 4:156-157):

They did not kill him, nor did they crucify him, but they thought they did. God lifted him up to His presence. God is Almighty, All-Wise"

But the Holy Bible, the Word of God, teaches that Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, was condemned to death by crucifixion and then resurrected on the third day and that this is the main event in Christendom (Haugaard 2000). The four gospels of the four evangelists and Paul's epistles are the main sources of this Christian doctrine. Matthew's gospel narrates how Jesus appeared to holy women after his death and burial and again on a mountain in Galilee. Evangelist Mark relates that Jesus was seen by May Magdalene, two disciples at Emmaus and his eleven apostles before his ascension into heaven. The evangelist Luke also mentions Jesus walking with these disciples in Emmaus and then appearing to Peter and the other disciples then gathered in Jerusalem. John's gospel also accounts for Jesus' appearance to Mary Magdalene, to the 10 apostles on Easter Sunday, to the 11 a week later and to seven disciples at the Sea of Tiberias. In Paul's epistle to the Corinthians, he writes (15:3-8). Christian belief under Paul holds that the Resurrection of Jesus was and is the manifestation of God's justice and the exaltation of Jesus Who humbled Himself unto death (Phil 2:8-9). It is the completion and culmination of the mystery of Christian salvation and redemption in Jesus. His death liberates Christian believers from sin and his resurrection restores them what they lost by sin (Romans 4:25). Most significantly, this doctrine is the Christian's acknowledgment of Jesus as an immortal God and the cause or basis of a believer's own resurrection (1 Cor. 4:21, Phil3:20-21) and a new life in grace (Romans 4:4-6, 9-11) (McVey)

Both the Holy Bible and the Quran pursue truth. The Bible says in John 8:32:

You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free."

Sura 2:62 (Ali 2001) declares:

Believers, Jews, Christians and Sabeans - whoever believes in Allah and the Last

Day and does what is right - shall be rewarded by their Lord, they have nothing to fear or regret."

The Bible, the Word of God, reveals and teaches that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God and God the Son, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity (Haugaard 2000). In the Quran, Jesus is not God and not divine, but only a messenger of God. The Quran also tries to point out that the Bible itself denies the divinity of Jesus (Ally 2002) and that even the God of the Bible is always someone else other than Jesus. By its own accounts, the disciples, who walked and lived with Jesus, were guided by the Holy Spirit, instead of by Jesus Himself, if He were God. Instead, these companions went on worshipping the God of Abraham. Evangelists Matthew, Mark and Luke did not believe that Jesus was the Son of God or was divine (Mark 10:18, Matt. 19:17), but that he was a son of God in the sense that he was a righteous human being, just like many others who have been called sons of God (Matt. 23?1-9). Paul, who wrote 13 to 14 epistles in the Bible, assumed that Jesus was God's first creature and that God used Jesus as the agent in forming the rest of creation (Col 1: 1-15, 1 Cor 8:6). In all cases, Jesus was still treated as a creature of God and can only be forever subject to God and less than God. John writes: "The Father is greater than I (14:28)." Paul….....

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