Keep sharing good news without ads.
No description available
Comments are turned off for this media
The following presentation is a production of Alpha and Omega Ministries, Inc. and is protected by copyright laws of the United States and its international treaties. Copying or distribution of this production without the expressed written permission of Alpha and Omega Ministries, Inc. is prohibited.
The topic for tonight is a dialogue on the Trinity and Tawheed, a Muslim and a Christian dialogue. You know, in our world today, people think that Muslims and Christians cannot dialogue and talk together, and we as South Africans had to import people, well, from America, next week we've got Dr. Shabbir Ali, to show and to prove to the world that we can.
As a rainbow nation, we've got, and I just want you to give yourself an applause, because that is a wonderful achievement. I just also want to note that the IPCI will do the recording tonight and afterwards a master copy will be handed to all the sides after debate, so if you want a copy of the dialogue that we have tonight, you're welcome to purchase it from all the IPCI or Antwoord Bedieningen, or Antwoord, if you type that in on the internet, not the band Da Antwoord, please, it's just Afrikaans for the answer, and you're welcome to get it from their website as well.
What I just quickly want to do is reflect with you on the structure of the debate for tonight, or the dialogue for tonight, due to the fact that we really need to lay down what we want to achieve. First of all, there will be four broad categories that we will look at and that we will go through.
Number one, we will have a conversation about the objective facts. What we will do is we will give a definition on our concept of God, as deduced for use of Bucks from the concept of the Quran, under Tawheed, the concept of Tawheed, and then from Dr. White's perspective, a biblical reaction or biblical definition on the Trinity.
Every speaker's got 15 minutes from the lecture and right over here, and they can speak from here. After that, we're going to have questions about the objective ideas, which simply means that Mr. Yusuf Bucks can give objections to the doctrine of the Trinity in 10 minutes, and likewise, Dr. White can give objections to the doctrine of Tawheed from a Christian perspective.
What we're going to do after that is we're going to enter into the third section of the dialogue, and we're going to have crossfire questions where each speaker is going to have approximately 15 minutes, which would equate to five questions, two minutes each with a response, a brief response from both sides to each other, which would be good.
Yusuf Bucks will go first with his five questions on the Trinity, and then Dr. White will follow with that with five questions on the concept of Tawheed and the Trinity for 15 minutes. Then after that, we will have our closing statements, and that will be the night.
I will now ask just from the Muslim side and ask everybody just to respect that we're going to have Iman Mulana Pandu and Sheikh Sultan from Egypt basically coming to do the prayer for the Muslim part of the debate, so we can invite them to come do that for us right now.
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much.
Peace be with you. Just a translation on what the esteemed brother from Egypt has recited. He has recited a passage of the Qur 'an from Surah Maryam, the meaning of which is, and mentioned in the book, the story of Mary, when she withdrew from her family to a place towards the east, and she took in seclusion from them a screen.
Then we sent to her our angel, and he represented himself to her as a well-proportioned man. She, Mary, said, Indeed, I seek refuge in the Most Merciful from you, so leave me. It should be fearing of God.
He said, I am only the messenger of your Lord to give you news of a pure boy. She said, How can I have a boy while no man has touched me, and I have not been unchaste? He said, Thus it will be. Your Lord says, It is easy for me, and we will make him, that is Jesus, a sign to the people and a mercy from us, and it is a matter decreed.
So she conceived him, and she withdrew with him to a remote place, and the pains of childbirth drove her to the trunk of a palm tree. She said, Oh, I wish I had died before this, and I was on oblivion, forgotten.
But he called her from below, Do not grieve. Your Lord has provided beneath you a stream. And shake towards you the trunk of the palm tree. It will drop upon you fresh date fruit. So eat and drink and be content.
And if you see among anybody saying, Indeed, I have vowed to the Most Merciful abstinence, so I will not speak to anybody today. Then she brought him to a people carrying him. They said, Oh, Mary, you have certainly done a thing unprecedented.
Oh, sister of Aaron, your father was not a man of evil, nor was your mother unchaste. So she, that is Mary, pointed to him, the baby, that is Jesus. They said, How can we speak to one who is in the cradle, a child?
Jesus said, This is the first words which Jesus ever spoken about in his life when he was born. The first thing he ever said, He said, Indeed, I am the servant of Allah. He has given me the scripture that is the gospel and has made me a prophet.
And he has made me blessed wherever I am. And he has enjoined upon me prayer and zakah as long as I remain alive and made me dutiful to my mother. And he has not made me a wretched tyrant and peace upon me the day out the day I was born.
The day I will die in the day I will be resurrected. That is Jesus, the son of Mary, the word of truth about which they are in dispute. It is not befitting for God to take a son. Exalted is he. When he decrees an affair, he says to it, Be, and it is.
Jesus said, And indeed, Allah is my Lord and your Lord. So worship him. That is a straight path. Another verse of the Quran, which I'd like to share with all of our friends here. Allah says in the Quran, The person who repents and has faith in one God and does good deeds, that will be the criterion for him to be successful.
I leave you with that and I welcome our guest in our country and I'd like to present him a present and hopefully it will assist him in his studies.
Understanding Islam. Thank you so much. And now for the Christian side, we've got Pastor Tim Cantrell from Antioch Bible Church for the prayer of the Christian side. Let's pray.
God and Father, we do thank you for this special occasion. We thank you for this opportunity to study your word and to understand your great salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ for a sinful lost humanity.
We who deserve nothing but your wrath are given your grace in the Lord Jesus, the one of whom the angel said, You shall call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins. We thank you, Father, that there is a savior for our sins.
We pray that you would be honored in this occasion tonight. We as Christian people thank you for the gift of your son, the Lord Jesus, the gift of your Holy Spirit. We thank you for the words of the Lord Jesus who said that we are to be baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Lord, we thank you also for the freedoms here in South Africa that we enjoy. Thank you because of the blessing of Christian principle that there is religious freedom, that we are able to have this debate openly.
Thank you for our Muslim friends who are here and willing to openly discuss and dialogue about these important truths that are of eternal significance and great consequence. And so we pray that you would be honored, that you would give wisdom, that you would be glorified through your son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and by your Holy Spirit.
We commit to you this time, we thank you for Rudolf and for his church and all those who have labored to bring this occasion about, that we could indeed know you and worship you more as the triune God, God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In his name we pray. Amen.
We're now going to have Ahmed Bax introduce his father as the first speaker, and then after that I'll just quickly make an introduction for Dr. White. Ahmed.
Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. In the name of God, the most gracious, most merciful. An introduction to my father, Yusuf Bax. Yusuf was born and raised in the United Kingdom, England. He came to South Africa at the age of 18.
Father from South Africa, a political exile to the United Kingdom, mother from England. Brought up in an irreligious political household, his late father having Marxist ideologies and mother from a Church of England background.
Yusuf started attending the Catholic Church with friends at about the age of 14. After two years he realized he could not understand the Christian faith and became an atheist. For two years he had the view that there was no God, till he met the late Ahmed Dirat on a visit to South Africa, where he accepted Islam in the hand of the late Sheikh.
Since that meeting with the giant from the Muslim world, Yusuf has had a great passion and love for comparative religion and propagating Islam. He has been involved in open days at different mosques, giving church groups tours of the mosques, interfaith dialogues with churches and debates, public speaking on Islam and Christianity and training programs on Dawa.
Yusuf is a husband and father of four, a businessman. His other hobbies.
Include racing, radio-controlled cars and cycling. Just a short introduction on Dr. James White. Dr. James White is the director of Alpha and Omega Ministries, a Christian apologetic organization that is based in Phoenix, Arizona in America.
He's the author of more than 20 books, a professor, an accomplished debater, participated in over 130 public moderated debates covering topics such as Jehovah's Witnesses and atheism. His debate opponents have been including scholars such as Barthiermin, John Dominic Crossing and Marcus Borg and others such as Dan Barker, John Selby Spong, your own Yusuf Ismail and also Dr. Shabbir Ali.
I also just want to advertise for next year, next week if you did not know about that, him and Dr. Ali will be debating in Pretoria and in Erasmia. Dr. White is an elder of Phoenix Reformed Baptist Church.
He's married to Kelly and they have two children, a son called Joshua and a daughter called Summer and he has one grandchild. Thank you very much. And with that, allow me to introduce the first stage of this debate where every speaker will have approximately 15 minutes to present the case as deduced from the Quran and the understanding of the concept of Tawheed and the Trinity as reduced and deduced from the Quran.
And the Bible. And he's quite hot here in South Africa. Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. In the name of Almighty God, most gracious, most merciful. All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds. All praise is due to the one God who reveals himself through his prophets, messengers and divine revelation.
I bear witness that there is but one God and I bear witness that Muhammad is the last and final messenger from God to man. I greet you with the greeting words of peace. As-salamu alaykum. Peace be with you.
Respected Chairman, esteemed guest Dr. James White, ladies and gentlemen of the audience, it is so nice to see you all here tonight. Friends and colleagues and some people I don't know, my wife, my children, even my small babies here too.
Christian Trinity or Islamic Tawheed. I was meant to give a definition of Tawheed from the Quran and the Bible. That's what I'm going to do. Some of the things I say might be sensitive to some of you but please listen to all of the facts without any prejudice.
The glorious Quran in chapter Nisa 4171 sends out a very clear warning and don't say three. Desist. It will be better for you for your God is one. We read in the Bible very clearly stated in Isaiah 43 10 to 11.
You may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no God was formed nor shall there be any after me. I am the Lord and besides me there is no Savior. Malachi 2 15 has not the one God made and sustained for us the spirit of life.
The Bible in Deuteronomy 6 4 says here O Israel the Lord our God the Lord is one. And Jesus repeated these very same words in the Gospel of Mark chapter 12 verse 29. Oh hear Oh Israel the Lord our God the Lord is one.
Not God is three in one. God is one. Both the glorious Quran and the Bible claim that God Almighty is one and only one. Where did any Christian get this idea of God being three in one in a trinity from as and how can any Christian believe such a thing when no prophet in the entire Bible including Jesus peace be upon him never ever told such a thing and the word Trinity is not in any version of the Bible.
The only place in the whole of the Bible which unequivocally supports this doctrine is in the first epistle of John chapter 5 verse 7. Here in this Bible it's there but it's not in my Bible. In this Bible it's not there.
The good news Bible. Now you see it now you don't as it's on the screen there. Did God Almighty come down and say listen that verse shouldn't be there. Take it out. No man took it out. Scholars of Christianity they took it out.
They said it shouldn't be in the original manuscripts. It was just a footnote of the Apostle John and it crept into the text. Nowhere is it found in the modern Bibles today that the newer versions of the Bible you don't find it.
There is no leg to stand on. This doctrine of the Trinity is just a made-up thing. It is just an idea a fallacy created by man and not God and you Trinitarian Christians are believing an irrational idea something made up something Jesus peace be upon him never taught.
Dr. Y in your 15 minutes would you be able to give me just one verse where Jesus or any prophet in the Bible clearly taught the Trinity or just one verse where Jesus peace be upon him clearly defines God as being Father Son and Holy Ghost or three in one.
As the Trinity doctrine should be well emphasized from the mouths of the prophets and from Jesus peace be upon him. Coming to Jesus now. First off I would like you to know that we Muslims believe that Jesus peace be upon him is a mighty messenger of God.
We believe he's the Messiah the Christ and he is mentioned 25 times by name in the glorious Quran. Nowhere in any three versions of my Bible does Jesus say he's God. Here's the 66 of the King James the 88 of the Good News Bible and the 73 of the Catholic Bible.
Nowhere in any of these versions of the Bible does Jesus say he is God or did he teach that he's the second person of the Godhead and he never ever taught the Trinity doctrine or that God is three in one.
In John 18 20 Jesus says he taught nothing in secret. Jesus peace be upon him refused to be called good. In Mark 10 18 we read Jesus saying why do you call me good? Jesus answered no one is good except God alone.
Jesus in this verse is clearly giving exclusivity to God Almighty when he said alone. If Jesus peace be upon him was part of God or part of the Trinity he would not have said this. We read in John 14 28 Jesus saying if you loved me you would be glad that I am going to the Father for he is greater than I.
We read in Mark 13 32 Jesus saying but of that day and that hour knoweth no man no not the angels which are in heaven neither the son but the Father. Only the knows. Jesus peace be upon him is clearly telling you that he is not God or is equal.
In Mark 12 28 we read about the teacher of the law asking Jesus peace be upon him which commandment is the most important of all. Jesus replied the most important one is this oh hear oh Israel the Lord our God is one Lord.
Mark 12 29 then in Mark 12 32 the teacher of the law said to Jesus well done teacher it is true as you say that only the Lord is God and that there is no other God but he. If there was such a thing as the Trinity this would have been the right time and place to teach it but Jesus peace be upon him never because there is no such thing in the religion of Jesus peace be upon him.
We read in Mark 4 5 to 7 then the devil took him Jesus up and showed him in a second all the kingdoms of the world. I will give you all this power and all this wealth the devil told him it has all been handed over to me and I can give it to anyone I choose.
All this will be yours then if you worship me. How can this be if Jesus peace be upon him is God or part of the Trinity. Jesus would have said if he was God that I own everything so how can you give me something I already own or that God would give up his power and give it to the devil and then tempt himself and if you were the devil would you give it back.
I certainly wouldn't right makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Jesus denies divinity. We read Jesus then saying to the devil in Mark 4 8 the scripture says worship the Lord your God and serve him only.
I think that clears it up from your Bible from the lips of Jesus peace be upon him that he is not God or equal to him as all the text I just quoted are explicit text. The glorious Quran says in 575 say he Allah is one.
The glorious Quran says sorry in 575 they do blaspheme who say God is Christ the son of Mary but said Christ worship God my Lord and your Lord. About the Holy Ghost to Matthew 12 32 Jesus says anyone who says something against the son of man can be forgiven but whoever says something against the Holy Ghost will not be forgiven now or ever.
So how can Jesus peace be upon him be equal to the Holy Ghost. So this means the Holy Ghost is more important and greater than Jesus peace be upon him. Coming to Tauheed monotheism is the belief in a single universal and all-knowing supreme being namely Allah.
This forms the first pillar of Islamic belief and is the single most important concept in Islam and is central to the Abrahamic faiths. Tauheed is the central theme of the Quran that there is only one God and he alone is to be worshipped.
The Quran brings us back to basics that God is one alone without any partners. The Quran stresses on it. The word Tauheed is not found in the Quran but is well emphasized in the Quran. The word Tauheed is a derivative from the Arabic word wahada to single out unify to make single.
The word Tauheed means to make something one so that the glorious Quran says say he Allah is one the eternal the absolute. He begets not nor was he begotten and there is nothing like him. There is no God but I so worship me.
Quran 21 25. Can there be another God besides God. Say bring forth your proof if you are telling the truth. So there is no doubt whatsoever that the concept of Tauheed and the emphasis that God is one is in the Quran.
Allah is the one true God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob. Allah simply means the God and is used mainly by Muslims and Arab Christians. Arab Christians today use the term such as Allah meaning God the father your God is surely one.
Quran 37 4. Tauheed is the realization and affirmation of oneness the unity of God the divine unity in its most profound sense. Allah is the real the absolute. Allah is one in his essence his attributes and his acts.
Before the existence of the universe there was nothing but the creator. He is the first and there is no last but his oneness. He is the first without anything before him. Allah is eternal. Quran 59 22.
God is he than whom there is no other God the sovereign the holy one the source of peace and perfection the guardian of faith the preserver of safety the exalted in might the irresistible the supreme glory to God.
High is he above the partners they attribute to him. I thank you so much for being such an attentive audience.
May God guide you to his truth. Thank you. Thanks Yusuf. And now we've got 15 minutes for Dr. White.
Well as indeed a pleasure to be with you all this evening. Thank you for coming out for this dialogue. My task in my 15 minutes is to present to you why I am a Trinitarian why I believe in the doctrine of the Trinity especially as one very familiar with all of the arguments that were just presented and then to dialogue about the difference between that and an emphasis upon Tawheed which we will get to in the second part of our debate.
First and foremost the reason that any person is a Trinitarian is because they read all of scripture and not just parts of scripture. When you read all of what the Bible says you are presented with three fundamental truths.
The first truth is found in the Shema Shema Yisrael Yahweh Eloheinu Yahweh Echad hero Israel. Yahweh is our God. Yahweh is one. The biblical testimony to monotheism is deep and broad. It is found in both the Torah and in the Injil in the old covenant and in the new covenant it is without compromise.
Isaiah 43 10 was already cited before me. There was no God formed and there shall be none after me. Could we clear the screen. Please my presentation. Now go back to something there. That's there you go.
That's a good pictures of both of us even though it's from a long time ago and I don't look like that anymore. But anyways the testimony of scripture is very clear. I have defended monotheism many times.
There is a group calls itself Christian but it's not a Christian group called the Church of Jesus Christ Latter-day Saints the Mormons. I have debated them many many many times in the United States. They deny the fact there is one true God and so I have defended the truth that there is one true and eternal God.
All things are created by him and this is taught all through the Old Testament and the New Testament not just in Isaiah. If you start Isaiah 40 go through 48 you will see it repeated over and over and over again.
There is only one true and eternal God and the prophet Jeremiah he says that any God did not create the heavens and the earth is a God that will perish from under the heavens and from under the earth.
This is the emphasis and the teaching of scripture and I believe it. And so every Christian believes there is only one true God. We do not believe in three gods. Anyone who says we believe in three gods does not understand.
We believe in any way shape or form. This is the earliest creedal statements. This is the earliest statements of the early church fathers writing after the time of the Old and New Testaments. We believe in only one God but we also believe that God has revealed himself.
In fact I would submit to the doctrine the Trinity is repeal is revealed between the Old and the New Testaments. That is the New Testament is not where the revelation takes place. The doctrine the Trinity is revealed in the incarnation of the Son and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
So the New Testament becomes the record of what God has done in history. We have to deal with the fact that when we look at the as a whole it reveals to us three divine persons. We have the Father clearly distinguished from the Son clearly distinguished from the Spirit.
We have the Son and we clearly have a differentiation made between the Son and the Father. The Son addresses the Father. The Father speaks to the Son at his baptism. The Father and the Son speak of the Spirit.
There is no confusion of them. Unfortunately there are groups again that call themselves Christian that confuse the Father Son and Spirit. They're called Jesus only or one this Pentecostals and they deny the Trinity and they confuse the Father the Son the Spirit and make them one person.
That is not what the Christian church believes. But then we have all of the evidence found both prophetically in the Old Testament and then in its fulfillment in the New Testament. That tells us about the equality and co-eternality of the Father Son and Spirit.
Now there is confusion on the part of many people because Jesus is the God man we believe that he is not a mixture of God and man. We do not believe he's 50 percent God and 50 percent man. He was a true man.
He was a prophet priest king. He is our intercessor. All these things are true. He was a true man. If he was not a true man he could not have given his life upon Calvary's cross as an atonement for our sins.
But the fact the matter is that when you allow the New Testament to speak for itself we don't cut it up into parts. When we use equal scales. That is I this evening will not cut the Quran up into parts I will allow the Quran to speak for itself.
I ask that everyone else do the same thing with the New Testament. When you do that with the New Testament you not only find Jesus speaking of the Father. Saying the Father is greater than I am in the context of saying to the disciples if you loved me you would rejoice.
I said I'm going back into the presence of the Father because just a few lines later he's going to be talking about the fact how in eternity past he shared the very glory of the Father in his presence.
His disciples should have rejoiced. He was going back into that place. Not only do we have those texts but then we have all the others that speak of Jesus Christ as Yahweh. Yes the one name of God in the Old Testament.
The God who says in Isaiah 45 23 to me every knee shall bow and to me every tongue shall confess. Those very same words replied to Jesus in Philippians chapter 2. The God who said in Isaiah chapter 48 that I will share my glory with no one.
That very God. That very text is applied to Jesus Christ in the New Testament. And in fact Jesus not only accepts the worship of his followers but after his resurrection when Thomas comes into his presence and Thomas who had been doubting the resurrection when Jesus appears and he says to Thomas look at my hands and my feet touch me and see that his eye a spirit does not have a body of flesh and bones to see that I have.
Thomas's response was to answer and say to Jesus. He answered and said to him alto in the original language can't be to somebody else. It's the singular it is addressed to Jesus. He says to Jesus my Lord and my God.
Now if Jesus was merely a prophet he should have said don't say that. That's exactly what happened the book of Revelation. When John bowed down before an angel the angel said don't do that worship God alone.
But when Thomas said these words to Jesus what was Jesus's response. Thomas because you have seen me have you believed. Blessed are those who did not see and yet they have believed. Those words of Jesus that he uttered to the Jews in John chapter 8 verse 24 must echo in our minds this evening Jesus said to people who were closer to him than you are to me he said unless you believe that ego I me I am you will die in your sins.
Well they believed he was a man. They would have accepted him as a prophet. They would have accepted him as Messiah especially after he fed 5 ,000 people with a few loaves of bread and the fishes. But that wasn't enough what they would not accept him as was ego I me the I am.
And at the end of that chapter men who up that point in time had found him to be an interesting speaker had even believed in him in a surface level way were picking up stones to stone him. He said because he said before Abraham was I am.
And they understood exactly what those words meant. The Lord Jesus said things that no mere prophet could ever say. And he did things that no mere prophet could ever do. And his followers then attributed to him the names and activities of God that again could never be attributed to a mere prophet.
And they were all monotheists. In fact it's fascinating to me that one of the earliest confessions of faith we find in the New Testament is found in first Corinthians chapter 8. And there the apostle Paul writing to church at Corinth in in the very earliest decades of the Christian experience takes the Shema Shema Israel Yahweh Eloheinu Yahweh Akkad.
He takes that statement of monotheism he takes it at his as it is found in the Greek translation of the Old Testament called the Greek Septuagint. Because of course that's the language of the people in Corinth.
And he takes the very words that were found in the Septuagint the word God the us the word Lord Kudios. And he reveals to us that already at this point in history all the followers of Jesus recognized that they continued to believe the Shema.
But the Shema had now been fulfilled in a great way. You see there have been prophecies in the Old Testament and those prophecies are one who would come. In Isaiah chapter 9 it is said the one who would come is called wonderful counselor.
And then what's he also called. He's also called El Gabor mighty God everlasting father aviat which means father of eternity the one who creates time prince of peace. And those fulfillments have been found in the person of Jesus Christ.
He fulfilled those prophecies in a way that no one else possibly could. And so the early Christians now recognize this. And what we have in first Corinthians 8 6 is Paul saying. Yet for us for us followers of Jesus there is but one God there's the us the father from whom are all things and we exist for him.
And one Kudios Kudios being the translation of the name Yahweh one Lord Jesus the Messiah by whom are all things and we exist through him. Now whatever else you do with this text you must realize that first of all Paul is purposefully utilizing the very statement of monotheism that every faithful Jew repeated every morning.
And we also must realize that he is saying that it is through Jesus that all things have come into existence and that we exist through him. That was the same confession of faith that we find in Colossians chapter 1.
For by him were all things created whether in heaven or on earth visible invisibility principalities powers to means or authorities all things are created by him and for him he is before all things and in him all things hold together.
My friends there is no question that those words are describing our Creator. And that is the testimony of the entirety of the New Testament taken as a whole allowed to speak consistently for itself. You cannot reduce the Jesus of the New Testament down to a mere prophet.
And here's the question if that was the consistent testimony 600 years before the Quran came into existence in our knowledge of it however you view its origins. If that was the consistent testimony of the Torah in the Injil which the Quran says are nuts all sent down they contain light and guidance then we cannot be neutral about this person Jesus.
Because if we are right then every person in this room every person this room is the creation of Jesus. Every breath you take every beat of your heart comes from his hand and continues to do so as Paul said in Colossians 2 9.
For in him all the fullness of deity dwells in body bodily form. They are they tossed that which makes God. God dwells in Jesus in bodily form. We cannot be neutral about him. And that is why I am so passionate about this discussion.
I understand what taheed means. I honor the proclamation of monotheism. But what we really should be discussing this evening is not the misunderstanding that many Muslims have of the Trinity and of the New Testament.
What we should be discussing is how can we as individuals all individuals room we all say God is one and you say no. You're violating that. I say no. I am NOT one being of God shared by three persons.
Why is it that all the monotheistic writers the New Testament took that one name of God the one name by which God was known Yahweh. And they apply it to three distinct persons. Clearly in the New Testament the father is Yahweh.
It's Yahweh who lays our sins upon the suffering servant Isaiah 53. And yet they then over and over again John tells us in John chapter 12 for example that the person that Isaiah saw sitting upon the throne in his temple vision on Isaiah 6 you know who John says that was that was Jesus.
And Hebrews chapter 1. The writer that Hebrews quotes from Psalm 102 25 through 27 which is about Yahweh and how Yahweh never changes and how all of creation will grow old and he will discard it but he never changes.
And the writer to the Hebrews writing before the destruction of the temple in AD 70 very clearly applies that passage to Jesus. Now in the same book he calls Jesus a man a prophet a priest but he also identifies him as Yahweh.
Tauhid the oneness wahad to make one. Is it to be applied to the being of God. We agree that is the prophetic message there is only one God over against all the false gods of the people's. No question about it.
That's the message in the beginning and end of the prophetic scriptures. But the where the problem is is when you enforce that to the point of saying that God cannot reveal anything more about himself.
So that one infinite being of God actually is shared by three divine persons the Father Son the Holy Spirit one God one name of God not three gods. Allah is not one of three. That is a misunderstanding of the doctrine of the Trinity.
And one of the questions we need to ask is if even if you don't believe in the doctrine of the Trinity even if you don't believe in it in the year 632 did Allah know what the doctrine of the Trinity was.
And here's my question for my Muslim friends why doesn't the Quran ever show any understanding of what I believe and what my people have always believed. You interact with us. You say do not say three and then immediately say there's only one God.
Well we believe that even if there's even if the Trinity's wrong didn't Allah know what it was. That's a question that we have to deal with when we dialogue with one another. And so what is my reason for believing in the doctrine of the Trinity.
I believe all the New Testament. I don't just take little bits and pieces of it. I allow all of it to speak. And when you allow all of it to speak it says to us one God Father Son and Holy Spirit revealed in the person of Jesus Christ and the.
Outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Thank you for your attention. Thank you very much dr. Watson Yusuf. The section we will enter into next will be questions about the objective ideas. This should not be a question directed to the speaker but rather questions about the problem seen in the concept of the Trinity or Tauheed mentioned in the proposed introductions.
We've just heard we.
Give Yusuf again the first word bismillah. Rahman rahim. Problems with the Trinity. The Trinity doctrine is not unique to Christianity. Neither is it original it has deep pagan roots. Trinity was one of the most common beliefs among pagan cultures.
And now Christian apologists like dr. William Lane Craig are becoming so desperate that they are using a comparison using an analogy of a pagan three-headed dog to describe God in a Trinity. As you can see on the screen here.
That's how desperate some of these apologists are becoming. The Christian Trinity doctrine was basically established in 325 AD at the Council of Nicaea and after debating men's ideas Jesus peace be upon him was declared to be co-equal co-eternal and of the same substance as God.
Not that God sent down some revelation. No. This is the idea of Trinity according to the affirmation creed. Now this is a lot to get your head around if you can understand it. Augustine said if you try to understand the Trinity you will lose your mind.
Unfortunately myself and dr. why we lost our hair that that we worship one God in Trinity and Trinity in unity. Neither confounding the persons nor dividing the essence. For there is one person of the Father another of the Son and another of the Holy Ghost.
But the Godhead of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Ghost is all one. So likewise the Father is Almighty the Son is Almighty and the Holy Ghost is Almighty. And yet they are not three Almighty's but one.
So the Father is God the Son is God and the Holy Ghost is God. Right. But they not three gods but one God. Amazing. He says person person person. But not three persons but one person. I'm asking if one of them commits murder can you hang the other one.
No. Why. As he's a different person what makes him different is his personality. And this sounds more like three gods. Polytheism. And no matter how hard you try you will always see three. You will never see one.
Ask these questions to a Trinitarian. So Jesus is God. The Father is God and the Holy Spirit is God. Trinitarian says yes. And these are three different persons. The Trinitarian says yes. So you have three persons.
Each one is God. How many is that. Trinitarian says three. Whoops. No no. I meant one. Amazing. It can't get any simpler than that. Trinitarians worship three gods and they cannot deny it. They are polytheists.
On dr. White's Alpha and Omega website under the statement of faith we read the following. We believe the Bible teaches. I don't know where it teaches this that there is but one being of God. And yet there are three persons who shared this one being of God the father the son and the spirit.
Each person is fully and completely God. Each is described in Scripture as possessing the attributes of God. The father son and spirit have eternally existed in the relationship described by the term Trinity.
This formula says one being and three persons. So now the one God of Israel has become four instead of three. Make your mind up. You are trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. Nowhere in the Bible is God referred to as a person or a substance.
We don't want lengthy opinionated speeches and hypothesis. Just give us the verse where Jesus or any prophet in the entire Bible taught that God is three in one as it should be given special importance.
And you mean it took so long before some church father came along and figured out that God is three in one. Thousands of years went by but no one knew that God is three in a Trinity. I feel those Jews very sorry.
They were just worshipping one God a Unitarian God. And now the Christians come along. The Trinitarians say you know what you Jews are wrong. You should be worshipping three in one makes no sense you know.
On the other hand the Bible clearly tells us that God is one. Here are a few more verses from the Bible stating God is one. Is sire 44 6. I am the first and I am the last. Besides me there is no God who is like me.
Matthew 4 10. Worship the Lord your God and serve him only. So you can clearly see from these verses that God is one alone and not three in one. Now let's see what some what one of the Western encyclopedias have to say about the Trinity.
The new encyclopedia Britannica says. Neither the word Trinity nor the explicit doctrine appears in the New Testament. Nor did Jesus and his followers intend to contradict the Shema in the Old Testament here O Israel the Lord our God is one Lord.
Deuteronomy 6. For the doctrine developed gradually over several centuries and through many controversies it was not until the fourth century that the distinctness of the three and their unity were brought together in a single Orthodox doctrine of one essence and three persons.
By the end of the fourth century the doctrine of the Trinity took substantially the form it has maintained ever since we read. Only by the fourth century the doctrine was complete. 400 years after Jesus's ministry it took to establish the Trinity doctrine.
Wow. Christians are always going on about how Jesus peace be upon him is the Prince of Peace not. So if he is part of the Trinity and a God as you claim then he is also responsible for the following violence and killings.
In the Old Testament the Trinity God including Jesus commands the following numbers 31 17 to 18. So now kill every boy and kill every woman who have had sexual intercourse. But keep alive for yourself all the girls and all the women who are virgins.
Deuteronomy 2013. Then when the Trinity God including Jesus lets you capture the city kill every man in it. Now how can God be a God of war and violence and a passive turn the other cheek God. This would mean that they are two different gods with different personalities.
I see you from Paul. Who is this Paul. We can dismiss Paul. He never saw Jesus. He never walked with Jesus. He never ate with Jesus. It. Paul contradicts Jesus. Who is this Paul. Dr. White quoted a lot of Paul.
Paul. Paul. You know we want to hear what Jesus said what the master said not what someone else said. Tell us what Jesus said. Dr. William Lane Craig said you don't have to believe to be a. You don't have to believe in Paul to be a Christian.
Here on a letter he wrote to someone. Dear Craig this guy's writing to dr. William Lane Craig. Dear Craig. The reason for being willing to search for truth in these places while avoiding Christianity was because I found the Christian faith in Paul unreasonable right.
I now feel called to Jesus. Yet I remain repelled by Paul. Dr. White's risk. Dr. William Lane Craig's response. At one level the answer to your question is easy. Of course it's possible to be a Christian without believing in Paul or his doctrinal contribution.
After all think of all the Christians who lived prior to Paul's letters being written to begin with. Though you certainly.
Don't have to believe in Paul in order to be a Christian. Thank you very much thank you. Now we've.
Got dr. White's and he's gonna react in 10 minutes now as I understand it. My duties now to remain within the parameters of the debate is to raise questions in regards to the presentation on how he'd the problem was there wasn't that much of a presentation on Talheed.
The primary presentation was an attack upon the doctrines of Trinity and not a positive presentation Talheed which was very disappointing to me. I'm currently co-authoring a book with dr. Shabir Ali on this subject and it is on Trinity Talheed.
And in that dialogue there is a positive presentation that I can then interact with in the absence of something more than just simply the assertion that as we all know the Quran says that there is only one God Allah.
Yeah could we have clear the screen yet. Once again please here's your remote right here in contradiction we all understand that that's what what the Quran says. The question is what does that mean and how does that impact our lives.
That needs to be the question that each one of us needs to be thinking about. And so in in responding to the concept of Talheed I simply have to recognize that the Quran attempts to present this to the other than Jill and to the other kitab the people of the book and to the people of the gospel.
But every time that it speaks to us it says things as you've already heard it quoted like say not three but every time it uses fella three right afterwards what does it say. There is only one God Allah.
Now if I if I say to you over and over again there's only one there's not three. I'm putting them in the same category. So the author the Quran seems to believe that Christians believe in three gods. Mr. books has this evening said you're a polytheist and yet I've shown you from the scriptures from Christian Confession from the entirety of the New Testament that we deny this it is.
It is a complete misunderstanding. Unfortunately my dialogue part this evening does not understand what I believe in any way shape or form and is perpetuating the same errors that have been perpetuated by those before him all the way back to the author of the Quran who did not understand what Christians believed.
If we can't get past this our two communities will never be able to speak to one another. We will never be able to have meaningful truthful dialogue you see let me let me point out something to you from the Quran itself in certain Midas or five we have these words.
And we sent following their footsteps Jesus the Son of Mary confirming that which came before him in the Torah. And we gave him the angel the gospel in which was guidance and light and confirming that which preceded of the Torah as guidance and instruction for the righteous.
So we have a chain here. If you're familiar with this section of Surat Al-Maidah Allah gives to Moses the Torah. He gives to Jesus the Angel and then he gives to Muhammad the Quran. Muhammad becomes the final link in this chain.
If the chain before it is broken so does the argument for the prophet of Muhammad. The very next ayah says. And let the people of the gospel judged by what Allah has revealed therein all of the use. You who are Arabic speakers know the word Fiji there the only antecedent to it is the angel.
It's the gospel. Let the people of the gospel judged by what Allah has revealed therein. And whoever does not judge by law has revealed then it is those who are the defiantly disobedient. Now here's my question for you this evening.
How could the people of the gospel in the days of Muhammad assuming that when these words were given to Muhammad assuming that the Torah is given on Laylatul Qadr and then Jabril gives it to Muhammad as as the need arises over that period of revelation.
Assuming that when it was given it had meaning to the people to whom it was addressed which I think we would all have to agree that it did. How could the people of the gospel fulfill this command to judge by what is found in the angel.
How could they do it if as most Muslims I talked to today they don't believe that the angel even existed in the days of Muhammad it was corrupted. Oh well maybe it was corrupted afterwards. Problem is we know exactly what the angel in the possession of the Christian people was in the days of Muhammad.
We have entire manuscripts of the New Testament that long predate the days of Muhammad. And so we knew what the gospel was. When I judge the understanding of the Trinity found in the Quran by the angel it fails.
And I'm simply following what the Quran says to do. So what am I supposed to do. If I follow the command of the Quran then the Quran is shown to have no understanding of the doctrine the Trinity at all.
Later on in this very surah. If we just stay in in surah 5 they have certainly disbelieved who say Allah is the Messiah the Son of Mary. That's not how we speak. We don't say we don't say that God is the Messiah.
We say that Christ was truly God he shared the nature of God. But we do not say he was all of God. This isn't even how we speak. And and then it goes on to say they have certainly disbelieved who say Allah is the third of three.
We don't say that. We've never say that. Show me someone who was saying that. Can you go back in history. Show me this this religion. It certainly isn't the Christians. I've actually had some Muslim saying oh this isn't about the this isn't about the Trinity.
This is about something else. It's about some other group. Okay. Fine. Except mr. mr. books has already said that's what this is about. This is about Christianity. So he asked answer. Where were the Christians ever ever saying this.
Where were they saying Allah is the third of three. We've never said it. There is only one place in the Quran where the three is defined. If you notice that I've asked many many Muslims to show me where is the Christian doctrine the Trinity actually given to us in the Quran there is only one ayah I've been able to find.
And if you all can can show me another one. I'd like to know where it is. But there is one ayah where you have three in this context. And it's surah 5 116. And beware the day when Allah will say O Jesus son of Mary.
Did you say the people take me and my mother as deities in derogation of Allah. There you have the three Allah Mary and evidently their son Jesus. Now there is a group that calls itself Christian that believes that they're called the Mormons but they also believe that there's an infinite number of gods.
They're the most polytheistic religion on the planet and they're not Christians. And so if that's the understanding of the Quran and that's something Christians never believed. What does that tell you.
What does that tell me. Is one of the all angel who is commanded by surah 547 to judge by what is found in the angel. When I look at the angel I asked myself a simple question. Did the author of the Quran have any idea what was in this book.
And the answer is no. No. The author of the Quran did not know what was in the angel. God knew. Can you show me using even scales not using wild-eyed misinterpretation of the text that shows no knowledge of the original languages.
I am NOT a perfect interpreter of the Quran but I try to read it in its context. Show me any place where the Quran gives evidence that the author had any idea what is in what the author himself said contained light and guidance.
That's Ron the angel that it was nuts all sent down by God. These are questions we must ask if our two communities are going to truly engage with one another. And my friends. What I'm saying to you is this.
I have yet to hear a consistently Islamic criticism of my faith. What do I mean by that. We're all supernatural. Listen here. We're not naturalistic materialists. Why is it that my Muslim opponents are always quoting people like Bart Ehrman.
He's in he doesn't believe in God. I'm waiting for a Muslim apologist to come along. Who a will have accurate knowledge of what I believe not misrepresent it. I haven't encountered that yet. Certainly not this evening.
And then we'll bring a criticism that's based upon a supernatural worldview. Think about my friends. How many Muslims in this room believe in the Israeli Mirage. How many of you believe that Muhammad went to heaven.
None. Please. How many of the scholars that your apologists depend upon would believe that Muhammad could have ever done that they do. They believe in the Barack. They believe in a winged animal that can fly.
They would laugh at such a thing just as they laugh at the virgin birth in the Bible. Yet you believe in the virgin birth. And so do I. So why do you depend upon these people. Why aren't you quoting the Christian scholars who have a supernatural worldview like you do.
The Quran talks about using equal scales. Does it not. That's not just in sales. We need to use the same standards in analyzing each other's arguments. And my friends that's not what's happening. That's not what's happening.
I'm looking forward to the day when it will happen. I'm calling for that to happen. Because my friends. We need to talk much more than we do. We talk past each other. And as a Christian I love you. I care for you.
And I want our conversation to be one that leads to truth not merely making debating points. So please let's apply equal standards this evening as we dialogue about.
This vitally important issue. Thank you very much. Thank you everyone. What we will be doing now. Make sense. What we're gonna do now is we're gonna have crossfire questions. How does this gonna work as his questions to the opposing side should be brief a response should be given in two minutes without interruption from the questioner and we're gonna ask use of bucks to start first.
And he's got.
15 minutes to do that. We love you. Also. You know the Quran also says in chapter 584 the nearest to the Muslim to the believer is those who say that they are Christians right. That's why question one.
When God the Son died on the cross it also all three also died with him. As you say they are one in Trinity. Then you are saying God died or one person of God died so now there is only two persons of God left.
Can you just explain that please. And I'm sorry I believe they have two.
Minutes for that. Yes. Okay let me let me just really quickly. I am very punctilious so I want to make sure I do. Okay thank you very much for the question again. If we understand the doctrine the Trinity then we understand that what we are asserting is that Jesus was the God man.
That is that he was one person with two natures. They are not intermingled with one another. This is why Jesus can give his life voluntarily on Calvary Street. If he did not have that human nature then he could not give his life.
And so it is the God man who gives his life. Now of course we as Christians and you as Muslims do not believe that death means cessation of existence. And so when Jesus dies upon Calvary Street and he voluntarily gives his life he does not cease to exist.
So an answer to the question was there only two left that would assume that Christians believe that people cease to exist and they die. And of course we don't believe that. So that's that's always been a question that shows a fundamental misunderstanding of what we're saying.
The giving of that life was voluntarily on Christ's part and it was the giving of his human life. This was not God dying in the sense that the divine being ceased to exist or the divine being in in some way shape or form was caused to undergo some kind of a change.
The whole reason for the joining of the human nature to Jesus is so that a perfect sacrifice could be given and we could be joined to him so that his death becomes our death and his resurrection becomes our resurrection.
And so in answer to your question no there's no cessation of existence. And therefore the idea of one ceasing to exist would not even be relevant to us. And it is the giving of the human life of Jesus Christ that perfect human life.
That is in view when we speak of his having given himself in that way out of love for us and to establish the.
Gospel my question to in your whole presentation you gave us you didn't give us one verse from the Bible from the lips of Jesus peace be upon him where he clearly defines God as being three in one as this should be well emphasized and given special importance.
Could you maybe show us this. Or from any profit even it's fine. Well first of all I have to point out that the demand that is.
Often made of a single verse to define the doctrine of Trinity is an irrational demand and I reject it. You do not apply that standard to the Quran. You in your interpretation of the Quran allow for the reading of numerous ayahs to be brought together.
This is found the hadith. This is found in all the interpretation the early tafsir. So you again are asking us to do something that you folks yourselves do not do. I think that's unfair. Secondly what I did point out in my presentation is the fact that Jesus said and did things that a mere prophet could not do since Jesus then also spoke of how he and the Father were going to send the Spirit.
And by the way that's cannot possibly be someone in the sixth century in Arabia but is one who proceeds from the Father and the Son. And if by the way that is someone other than the Holy Spirit of God Jesus is one who sent him given that the Father and the Son send the Spirit and that both the Son and the Spirit do things that only God can do.
This is what has caused Christians forced Christians who believe in all that God has revealed the scriptures to understand the doctrine of the Trinity. You have to reject elements of the biblical revelation both prophetic in the Old Testament as well as fulfilled in the New Testament to reject the doctrine of the Trinity.
And so looking for a single verse is inappropriate looking for Jesus accepting worship Jesus recognized being identified as Yahweh Jesus teaching with the authority of God Jesus doing things that no mere prophet could ever do.
All of those things have to be taken together. And that's why the person who honestly approaches the text of the New Testament is forced. The conclusion that those writers were telling us.
That Jesus Christ truly was Emmanuel God with us. Dr. White. Question three. According to Orthodox Christian belief Jesus was perfect man and perfect God at the same time. Please could you unpack a brief model demonstrating the two natures of Christ one being perfect man and perfect God at the same time being infinite and finite at the same time being fallible and infallible at the same time having to be free from contradiction.
And please don't use the avatar example. May ask.
My mr. moderator may ask clarification clarification questioning when you say a model. Could you explain.
What you're looking for like. Just just like a quick brief model you know like a model drive from creation like a model unpacking this quickly. Okay all right. Demonstration. All right thank you.
Thank you. First of all since you just mentioned the avatar I think you're thinking about the the exchange between William Lane Craig and Yusuf Ismail where dr. Craig used the avatar model in the same way that dr. Craig used the carabas model.
I hope that you will tell folks that I have publicly rebuked and challenged a William Lane Craig over the abuse of both of those and I think any Orthodox biblical theologian would challenge him on both of those things.
And likewise I have pointed out that I reject the grounds of the question for one simple reason if you're talking about a model in the sense of an analogy to something in creation or something else that would be like that since we believe the incarnation is absolutely unique just as God's eternity is absolutely nothing else is eternal as God is since we believe the incarnation to be absolutely unique there can be nothing to which it can be compared.
Because if you could compare something about creation with it it would no longer be unique. And so there is one time and only one time where God has entered into humanity in the way he did that now there were.
There were physical manifestations of God for various purposes in the Old Testament. Yahweh walked with Abraham by the Oaks of Mamre in Genesis 18 and 19. And ironically in Genesis 18 and 19 Yahweh on earth rains fire and brimstone from Yahweh in heaven upon Sodom and Gomorrah.
So you have two Yahweh's there yet one one God according to the Old Testament. But since it's absolutely unique that at that one time Jesus takes on a human nature and lives as a man there can be no analogy to it simply because if there was an analogy then there would be other things in the created order and the incarnation would not be unique.
And so the answer your question is no. I cannot. It is a revealed doctrine just as the eternity of a law is a revealed doctrine and has no created analogy.
That could go with it. Question for Jesus curses the fig tree. Jesus God was hungry. He saw in the distance a fig tree covered with leaves so when he went to see if he could find any figs on it. But when he came to it he found nothing but leaves.
Because it was not the right time for figs. Jesus said to the fig tree no one shall ever eat figs from you. Again I would like you to concentrate on what Mark's gospel says. Only Mark's gospel. By Mark mentioning it was not the right time or season for figs Mark has shown Jesus knowledge was limited.
Can you explain that please as I have many many.
Times with all respect to Yusuf this is one of the worst examples of Islamic misunderstanding the New Testament. And I I call upon my Muslim friends please as I have invested hours in attempting to understand the Quran in its concept in its context spent hours with an Arabic tutor to try to have the rudimentary tools.
Would you please listen to what I say here. There is a reason for the story of the cursing of the fig tree. Jesus is going to Jerusalem for the last time. He is going into the temple. He's going to give the Olivet discourse where he is going to prophesy the destruction of the temple the raising of the temple down to its very foundation stones.
He is going to speak about how the nation of Israel looks like it's godly but it is empty of godliness and that the scribes and Pharisees are hypocrites. And the fig tree represents Israel. The fig tree wasn't supposed to have leaves but it had lots of leaves.
In other words it was giving an indication of something that was not a part of its reality. It like Israel was pretending to be something. It was not. And so just as the curse of God came upon the people of Israel in the destruction of the temple in AD 70.
Jesus shows this in the cursing of the fig tree. It is a picture of the people of Israel. This is Mark's intention. This is Matthew's intention. This is simply reading the New Testament for the purpose it was given by its authors.
It was not Mark's intention to say that Jesus was ignorant of when figs came out. It was his intention to demonstrate the Jesus's actions in the Olivet discourse were mirrored in his condemnation of this fig tree which was pretending to be something.
It was not just as Israel was pretending to be something it was not. Shall we please put this away and get to.
Things that really matter. Please let's do it. Thank you all. Right. Question 5. I gave you an example of violence and killings in the Old Testament. Was Jesus as part of the Trinity God responsible for these killings and many others in the Old Testament.
And how could he be a God of war and violence. And this turn a passive turn the other cheek God. Does this mean. He's got two different personalities and they're two different gods with different person.
Can you explain that. It's very.
Sad to me that in a dialogue on Trinity and Tauheed we are discussing a standard objection that atheists raised to the God of the Bible in that in the Old Testament we have God bring his judgment upon for example the Amorites even though he had patiently born with them.
Notice that it specifically says in the Old Testament that God's judgment I come until their transgression was full. It is. It's a it's a shame to me that instead of dealing with the actual relationship of our face in regards to our view of God that I have to be responding to objections that are normally raised by people like Lawrence Krauss the atheist from the United States.
But let me just briefly do so. The God of the Old Testament is a God of justice but he is also a God of tremendous mercy and grace. Just as the God of the New Testament is a God of justice and wrath against sin as he also is a God of mercy and grace.
Those who fall under his judgment do so always only justly. God could call every single one of us out of existence right now and bring us into his presence and judge us for our sinfulness. That is the Holy God of the Bible of the New Testament and the Holy God of the Bible of the Old Testament.
But that same Holy God is the one who has provided a perfect way to stand before him in his perfect justice. But there's only one way I must be clothed in the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ. That is why Jesus had to be the God man so that I could have that righteousness and stand in his presence.
I have peace with God tonight folks not because of anything in me and not because of anything I've done but because I am clothed in the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ and see I'd like to talk more about that because it goes back to our view of Trinity and Tauheed.
That's the real issue that we need to be dealing with. That's the direction we need to be moving in our conversations with one another. You made the claim that the kama-yohaniam had been taken out of the Bible and this is the only place where the doctrine of the Trinity is actually explicitly taught.
If in point of fact this text is so vital to the doctrine of the Trinity. Could you show me any place in the first 400 years of the Christian experience. So from the time of the close of the New Testament for 400 years after that.
That's any Christian cited that text as their foundation for believing in the doctrine of the Trinity. Well this is in.
The King James Version of 1611. Right. It's it's there in the 66 books here right which many Protestants were using and swearing an oath by and all of a sudden dr. white is thrown out in this one here.
I mean that's and Christians used to. I at one stage I used to go to the Catholic Church you know. And many times Christians quote that verse John 5 verse 7 for they are free that bear record in heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost.
And these three are one. But I mean this is not really my problem or my issue. This is a Christian. Why is it in this Bible. And it's not in this Bible you know here's the Roman Catholic Bible 73 books right.
In this newer version of.
The cat excuse me I'm not hearing an answer. My question did I. Did you not understand it. I don't really understand what you. I'm sorry. Let me clarify it. If this verse is so central to defining of the Trinity can you show me anyone in the first 400 years after Jesus that cited it in defining the.
Doctrine of the Trinity but it's in your Bible. That's what I'm trying to say. Chapter 5 verse 7. It's there you many a Christian say this is God's Word. I mean come on man it's here I mean.
We'll move on. It was your assertion that the doctrine of the Trinity was established at the Council of Nicaea in ad325. Could you please respond to these statements made by Ignatius Bishop of Antioch in ad107 which is 218 years before that.
There is one physician of flesh and of spirit generate and ingenerate God in man true life and death both from Mary and from God first passable and impassable Jesus Christ our Lord by the will of the Father and of Jesus Christ our God for our God Jesus Christ.
And finally await the one who is above every season the eternal the invisible the one who for our sake became visible the untouched the impassable who for our sake suffered who endured in every way for our sake.
Could you please explain if the doctrine of Trinity didn't come about till 325. Why Ignatius could say these words in ad107. The doctrine of.
The Trinity in 325 was over time. It was a council of bishops. Ignatius of Antioch provides early support. Yes around 110. Right. Exhorting obedience to Christ and to the Father and to the Spirit. Right.
But this idea of the Trinity doctrine it came over time. Look at that 110 after Christ and nobody knew about it. It's amazing you know. And then at the Council of Nicaea the Nicaean came in. That's the Athanasian Creed.
Right. But and then still after that it still continued till the 8th century to be to become doctrine until it was basically completed in kiss Christian doctrine. So it actually took basically 800 years.
I understand what you're saying a hundred and ten years but I.
Knew about it. Amazing. Dr. wine. Okay you. I would like to get your understanding please of the words of Thomas to Jesus when he says in John chapter 20 verse 28 apocrypha tomas kai I pen alto ha courteous mu kai ha theos mu which I would translate as Thomas answered and said to him my courteous my Lord and my God.
Could you please explain these words in light of your assertion that the New Testament does not teach this doctrine especially in light of Jesus's response.
Found in verse 29. When I met you dr. why. I said dr. why. My god it is you. I kind of answered it for you you know right. The disciples were assembled. Jesus came and stood in the mist and said to them peace be with you.
Shalom aleichem. Like we say salam aleichem. When he had said this he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord seeing and believing. Now Thomas called the twin.
One of the twelve was not with them. When Jesus came the other disciples therefore said to him we have seen the Lord. So he said to them unless I see in his hands the print of the nails and put my finger into the print of the nails and put my hand into his side I will not believe.
Will not believe in the crucifixion. Not that he's God. Not believe. What. That he's God. No it's that you won't believe in the crucifixion. And eight days. And after eight days his disciples were again inside and Thomas with them.
Jesus came the doors being shut and stood in the mist and said peace be with you. Then he said to Thomas reach your finger here and look at my hands and reach your hand here and put it into my side. Do not be unbelieving but be believing.
And Thomas answered and said to him my lord and my god. I mean he's just putting out an expression. When I met you I said dr. white my god. You know I was shocked to see you. I've seen you on the internet.
You know. I mean please man. It's not even mentioned in the other three Gospels. Right. It's only mentioned in John's Gospel. John has has added his own theology and John has exaggerated this.
Gospel of his. Thank you. I believe that was my third. I would like to use my fourth to redirect on the same text if I could please. You did not answer a rather clear fact it seems that your answer would be that the phrase my god is being addressed to someone other than Jesus could you please comment sir on the dealer out toe in the original language Thomas answered and said to him it is singular it is not plural.
And if you think that there is a disjunctive use of Chi between how courteous mu and Chi and and how they asked me could you please give us scholarly substantiation.
Of the differentiation the word for Lord is courteous courteous and theos. Can you put them together. Right. That means it's two parts of the Trinity. That means it's Jesus the Lord and the theos God.
So I you know what I'm trying to tell you is dr. wine is. You know it's such a weak case you are giving us. I mean when I go to court and I call that the judge my lord my lord my worship. I'm a worshipping you know it.
Like I say show me in the other three Gospels the same story where Thomas said this to Jesus and I'll believe to it's not there. It's John's theology. John made it up. It's not in the other Gospels it's amazing.
But he wasn't referring to Jesus as being a god. He's just like shocked and saying my lord and my god that you're alive. Man. That's how I see it. You.
Know I'm saying okay. Last question. Not out of the Gospel of Mark's one of those other. Gospel of John's one of those other three. Mark chapter 14 verse 61 says. But he this is the trial of Jesus. But he kept silent and did not answer again.
The high priest was questioning him and saying to him are you the Christ the Son of the Blessed One. And Jesus said I am and you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power and coming with the clouds of heaven tearing his clothes.
The high priest said what further need we have of witnesses. You have heard the blasphemy. How does it seem to you. And they all condemned him to be deserving of death. Could you please explain how Jesus not only says he is the Son of God but then quotes from Daniel chapter 8 about the Son of Man who has followers who give him LaTruo the highest form of worship applied these things to himself and was understood by the Jewish high priest as having committed blasphemy.
Could you explain this.
Text to us please in light of your comments. Okay. Number one dr. white my position is I feel John's gospel is very exaggerated right. I would like to know from you right now. Is it in the other three Gospels before I start.
Okay no problem. It's not in the other three Gospels. The same story. So again John has exaggerated this gospel in John's gospel. Excuse me sir I'm not asking about the gospel of.
John the text did you misunderstand. It's my chapter 14 but I'm okay. Can we get to that that this is.
Exaggerated what I'm trying to say. I don't believe what's written there. I don't believe that the if that is so important. What I'm trying to say to you is you see I'm a simple man right. I tell you how it is.
What I'm trying to say is is that this is not found in the other three Gospels. Right. It's some. It's John's theology. It's like John 1 1. John 1 1 about the logos and the theos is taken from Greek. Why are we talking about John sir.
I'm in Mark. John's which which gospel you know this is.
Mark chapter 14. Let me. Could we stop the. Could we could we stop that. And let's let's let's try this one more time because we're clearly missing each other. All right. All right. Let me try this one more time.
Do you have a Bible in front of you. Yeah. All right right. Good news Bible. Oh well. Apologize for that. Um can tell where my translational prejudice is light. Right. Could you look at the gospel of mark.
Right. Mark chapter 14. Right. 14 verse 61. Okay. So this is not John. This is 14 14 61. Let me read it. Let me read it again but he kept silent and did not answer again. The high priest was questioning him and saying to him are you the Christ the son of the Blessed One.
And Jesus said I am. And you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power and coming with the clouds of heaven tearing his clothes. The high priest said what further need we have of witnesses.
You have heard the blasphemy. How does it seem to you. And they all condemned him to be deserving of death. Now the citation in verse 62 is from the book of Daniel about the Son of Man who appears before the Ancient of Days.
And the Son of Man. The book of Daniel is given worship. Jesus applied these words to himself. The Jews understood him to be claiming deity. They tear his clothes and said the why do we have further new witnesses.
He's blasphemed. This isn't John. This is Mark. So can you tell me how you understand that these words could be uttered by Jesus. All right. Number one.
Right. Son of the Blessed God. Right. He's saying that there's many sons in the Bible. Right. Jesus. In the Jewish terminology Jesus is basically saying he's the Son of God. He's a pious man. Right. And Jesus said to him you will see the Son of Man seated on the right of the Almighty.
Right. So that's two persons of the Godhead the Trinity. And what like you saying. Right. And with the clouds of heaven the high priest toys wrote and said we don't need any more witnesses. You heard this blaspheme.
What is your decision. Okay. I mean in all again in John Jesus tells these priests of that that you say they say they pick up stones. Right. He says. For what do you stone me. They say. For blasphemy he says.
But I I say that year gods I say that I'm just a son of God. Right. So there and here you know I don't really have much of an answer for you. There all. Right. Thank you. You know. Thank you.
Very much gentlemen. What we're going to do now is we can have a closing statements. What we're going to do is not interject with any new points. What we're going to do is just sum up and conclude our thoughts that was espoused first.
We're going to ask us of bucks in five minutes to conclude.
Bismillah Rahman Rahim the name of Almighty God. Most gracious most merciful. I have proved without a shadow of a doubt that the Trinity is not a biblical belief that not one prophet in the entire Bible taught it that Jesus peace be upon him never taught it.
So why believe in something. No prophet taught something Jesus peace be upon him never taught. The concept of the Trinity is fundamental to most Christian denominations. Yet it is the very same Trinity that remains the biggest single divider in the Christian world today.
The Jehovah's Witness and the seven-day eventists are coming closer to Islam in their rejection of the Trinity. Christian brothers and sisters it is my humble request that you to consider the points I have raised carefully.
I urge Christians to go back to worshipping the one true God that Abraham Isaac Jacob Moses Jesus and Muhammad peace be upon them. All worshipped Abraham peace be upon him. The father of monotheism never worshipped a triune three-in-one God.
He never worshipped Jesus peace be upon him. He never worshipped a ghost. He only worshipped God alone. The Quran had to come to take us back to worshipping the one true God. This was the mission of the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him.
To take mankind back to the worship of the one true God creator of everything. One without partners and sons come right with God. Now as according to Islam the only sin that God will not forgive is to ascribe partners sons and triune gods with him.
This is a sure guarantee to damnation. Come to the truth of the one God worship the only God that Jesus worshipped. If it was not for Islam the true message of Jesus peace be upon him would be lost forever.
Islam is the way to God. Islam brings us back to worshipping the one true God of Abraham and all of the prophets of God Allah. There is no God but he the living the self subsisting eternal. No slumber can seize him nor sleep.
His are all things in the heavens and on earth. Who is there that can intercede in his presence except as he permitteth. He knows what appeareth to his creatures as before or after behind them nor shall they compass ought of his knowledge except as he willeth his throne extends over the heavens and the earth and he feels no fatigue in guarding and preserving them.
For he is the most high the supreme in glory Al-Quran 225. It was a vote of men that established the Trinity not revelation from God. Christianity has rejected the God of Abraham and replaced him with a pagan invention la ilaha illallah there is no God but one.
Thank you dr. white Rudolph the IPCI on wood. And to such a great audience thank you.
Very much and now we've got dr. white with these five minutes. Closing statement. Thank you dr.
First of all once again let me thank everyone for being here this evening for this rather a brief dialogue on a very important subject. I would like to thank Yusuf for his participation and provide you with a book.
This is an excellent book by a friend of mine on the prophetic proofs from the Old Testament of the Messiah ship of Jesus. I dragged it all the way halfway around the world for you. I hope you enjoy it.
Well I'm not William Webster but I can fake a signature. So we have to use equal scales. And I believe I have demonstrated very very clearly this evening that when we analyze the text of Scripture in a meaningful fashion that it presents to us the fact that Jesus is identified as Yahweh.
No meaningful interaction has been provided by mr. books to my presentation on these issues. He has denied it. But in the cross-examination we saw that when you actually get into the text and look at the material he did not have any answers.
He cannot deal with the fact that the grammar of John 20 28 absolutely denies his interpretation. He can't read the language. So he can't deny that. He can't deal with it. He couldn't deal with Jesus own words.
It's interesting to me that Muslims will quote words from the Gospel of John about Muhammad. But then later on when they have words about the deity of Jesus. Well that's I just don't believe that's true.
Where's the equal scales. What if I did that to get on. What if I interpreted your book the way you interpret mine. If I'm gonna say there's something wrong with a text in your book I'm going to give you manuscript evidence that there's something wrong with it.
Muslims never do that with me. Why is there such a double standard my friends. Because folks this is a vitally important issue. Did you hear we were talking about this is not just an issue for us to go.
Well I'm just gonna repeat what I've always been told. I submit to you that this issue goes to the very heart of how it is that we have peace with God. And if you're here this evening Muslim Christian maybe not know what you are I want to have a message for you right now.
I believe I have peace with God not because of who I am or what I've done. I have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ has done for me. And the only way he could do for me what would allow me to stand in the presence of a holy God is if he was the God man no mere prophet could give his life upon Calvary's tree.
Because any prophet was himself a sinner and under the wrath of God. But Jesus was not. He was virgin born as we all believe. But why was he virgin born. He did not bear that penalty of sin. And as the perfect God man he went to the one place where all of the wrath and holiness of God could meet all of the love and compassion and mercy of God.
And that's the cross of Calvary. The cross of Calvary is a historic fact and the person who died upon it was a historic fact as well. And you see when I have repentance and faith when I repent of my sins and put my faith and trust in that God man Jesus Christ I receive his righteousness.
And that is the only way I can ever have peace with a holy God. And that's why this subject is so important this evening. And I say to every Muslim in this audience if what I have said is true and if you're honest with the arguments you know my arguments were not even addressed let alone refuted.
If my arguments are true then I ask you a question. How can you leave this room this evening thinking Jesus is merely a prophet. What if I'm right. What if God has provided for you a perfect way of salvation a perfect way of peace with him.
That is not based upon your doing of good deeds. I do good deeds out of love for God not to add something what Jesus Christ has done for me. But if Jesus Christ is your creator if the words were written 600 years before Muhammad are true by him were all things made in the heavens and the earth visible and invisible.
Principalities powers dominions and authorities. All things are created by him and for him. He is before all things and in him all things soonest they can they hold together. That means you he holds you in his hand.
Can you dismiss him as a mere prophet. That is the question of lay before you. And that is why I continue to await a consistent Islamic response to Christianity. I've never heard it. I didn't hear it this evening.
I await it. I long for it. I ask for it someday. I hope we can have that kind of dialogue together. Thank you for.
Being here this evening thank you everyone. Thank you for behaving. If you have any questions please do not flock off to the speakers afterwards. They quite tired and they've prepared and they are very tired.
But you're also welcome to get some of the literature at the book table. You also welcome to get some literature that might address some of your questions outside but it divided by the various tables.
You're welcome and thank you for attending. Thank you very much.