Who Resembles Jesus? Muslims or Christians?

I think it's worked out. Okay, so welcome. I do want to extend a warm welcome to all of you who are here this evening for this special and important debate on Brexit. I joke, I joke, I joke. We're all here to talk about something of far greater significance.

My name is Ashu Charles and I'm a member of this church, Selhurst Evangelical Church. And as a member of this church, I would first like to extend a warm welcome to everyone who has come here and extend thanks to both James and Adnan for all the effort that they've put into behind the scenes to make this happen.

This evening we've come together to do what many struggle to do in public discourse and politics in these days. We've come to debate. That is to argue one position against another, but to do so with respect for one another.

Both James and Adnan, I would consider to be the best respective representatives of both Christian and Muslim apologetics. And so it would be both a privilege and an educational opportunity to not only see these two men contend for their respective positions, but to also do so in a manner that can be modelled for all of us here this evening.

Now before we begin, I'm going to give you some venue information. So if you need to use the toilet, there's one in the welcome area and there's some further toilets back in the hall behind the welcome area.

And in the event of a fire, please go out the way you came in, but if there's a fire over there, then there's another fire cassette at the back. So with all that being said, let's get started. The subject of the debate is who resembles Jesus, Christians or Muslims?

The format of the debate is as follows. We will be having 20 minutes opening statements, 10 minute rebuttals, then five minutes of crossfire between both James and Adnan, and then five minutes apiece for conclusions.

Then after that, we're going to have a little bit of time for Q &A from the audience. Depending on how things go, we'll see how much time we've got left at the end. And so with that, I'm not sure who won the coin toss.

So I'd like to invite Adnan to the stage.

Muslims Resemble Jesus in Worship, Prayer, and the Law

Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to thank you all for attending this important discussion. This discussion is important because we will proceed in the spirit of love and compassion. There is a lot of hate and misunderstanding out there, which we both disagree with.

And the point of this discussion, this dialogue, this debate today is to show the world that Christians and Muslims can come together as brothers in humanity and discuss the differences in a perfectly civilized setting and go home in one piece.

I always like to give presence to Dr. James White. I have a special respect for him. And the gift I have for him today is a very special one indeed. Not that the others were not special. This is a coin from the first century of Islam.

It is dated. It is an Umayyad Dirham from the year 97 of Islam, 97 AH. When some of the companions of the Prophet of Islam were alive, it has an entire chapter of the Quran inscribed on the coin. And we see a lot of Christian friends out there claiming that Muslims do not have any evidence from the first century of the Quran.

Some people do, unfortunately. So I'm giving this to a Christian scholar so that he can in the future confirm that I have something from the first century of Islam with Quran on it. So a present for James with love and respect.

So we can start with my time now. In the name of God, the Merciful, the Beneficent. The topic today is who resembles Jesus? Muslims or Christians? What do we mean by resemble? One can resemble someone in physical looks or in beliefs, in behavior.

So we will be looking at all these things today. Do the Christians actually resemble Jesus? When I say Christians, I mean Christians who are alive today, who believe in the Trinity, who have certain ideas about Jesus Christ.

Likewise, we will see that Muslims who walk the planet today, who claim to believe in Jesus, is their belief actually true? Do they actually resemble and follow Jesus Christ in all the things I mentioned?

So resemblance in what? Resemblance in worship, for example. Do Muslims resemble Jesus in worship? Do Muslims resemble Jesus in beliefs? Do the Christians resemble Jesus in both these things is the discussion today.

To proceed, what did Jesus call God is a very important question. What was the word Jesus used, among other words, in the Gospels? One of the words he used, allegedly we are told that when he was on the cross, he cried or he exclaimed, Ilahi, Ilahi lama sabachthani, which is actually Aramaic.

If that is Jesus who is speaking on the cross, then he is using a word which the Muslims use for God today, which is Ilaha. Ilaha and Ilahi are exactly the same words used in two different languages. Aramaic and Arabic are sister languages.

So the word Ilaha is the same word Muslims use for God. So our proclamation to accept Islam or to proclaim Islam, for that matter, is what? La ilaha illallah. There is no God except Allah. Except God Almighty, Allah.

So Ilaha, Ilahi, Allah, all stem from the same root word, Ilaha. So Jesus used this very term according to the Gospel records. Of course, we don't agree that Jesus was put on the cross. We don't believe that.

It could be someone else and that's another discussion we can have at another point. I had a debate with Samuel Green not very long ago. If you want to see our view on the crucifixion, you must go and watch that debate, myself and Samuel Green.

Greeting. Jesus greeted his companions like the Muslims do, or vice versa. How did Jesus greet his companions? According to John 20 10, Jesus said to his companions, Peace be upon you. How do the Muslims greet each other today?

Obviously taught by Prophet Muhammad, who himself claimed to be a brother of Jesus in faith. So the greeting is Assalamu alaikum in the Arabic language. If we translated that into the Hebrew language, it would be Shalomu alaikum, which is what Jesus said to his companions or possibly some version of that in Aramaic.

So Jesus and Muslims are exactly the same in that regard. When we greet each other, we greet by saying peace be upon you. The Christians do not do that today. Christians do not necessarily specifically use this mode of greeting each other.

In that, Christians are not actually like Jesus. They do not resemble Jesus in that. Prayer. How did Jesus actually pray? Not what he said in his prayer. And even what he said in prayer doesn't actually contradict the beliefs of Muslims.

Every single thing Jesus said in prayer. Actually, most of it, what the gospel authors attribute to him is in line with Islam. So how did he actually pray? We are told in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 26, verse 39, that he actually prostrated.

He went into the garden of Gethsemane. He fell on his face and he prayed to God. This is prostration. This is exactly how Muslims pray. And was Jesus inventing this? Was he just doing things randomly?

Was this an accident? Did he just feel like falling on his face on the ground and praying like that? No. He was following prophets who came before him. As you can see the references on the screen. Joshua 5, 14, we are told that Joshua fell on his face, prayed exactly the same way.

Numbers, we are told Moses and Aaron, the book of Numbers 20, chapter 20, verse 6, we are told Moses and Aaron prayed in exactly the same way. Abraham, in the book of Genesis, chapter 17, verse 3, we are told he fell on his face and he prayed to God.

Likewise, we have other references. In fact, the book of Revelation tells us that this is how angels pray to God, bowing to God, falling on their faces. And Nehemiah and 1 Chronicles 21, 16 gives us the same idea as to how the Israelite prophets or noblemen or priests prayed to God.

They fell on their faces and they prayed to God. And this is exactly how Muslims pray today. Prophet Muhammad told the Muslims that this is how previous prophets prayed. Therefore, we pray like this. And this was based upon revelation, of course.

We believe Muhammad, peace be upon him, received a revelation from God, same God who sent revelations to Abraham, Moses and Jesus. And the Qur 'an confirms the authenticity and the authority of these previous prophets.

Yes, of course, the Qur 'an also claims that their messages were changed, they were altered. Therefore, the necessity of the Qur 'an, hence the Qur 'an. So, Muslims pray exactly like Jesus did. And most Christians, and I say most, over 90 Christians in the world, and I'm only leaving 10 to be safe, over 90 Christians in the world do not pray like Jesus in this, when we study how he actually prayed.

Jesus did not consume swine. He abhorred pig meat. He actually did not do it. Why didn't he do it? Because he was a follower of the Mosaic law. He was a strict observer of the Mosaic law. And we will see that, how that is the case.

Muslims do not, therefore, consume pork or swine. So, in that, Muslims are very similar. They resemble Jesus and other prophets of the Old Testament. Jesus was circumcised on the eighth day. We are told in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 2, verse 21, that he was circumcised on the day.

Now, the Christians believe that Jesus was God, even in the womb of Mary. Even when he was born, he was God, because he had two natures. So, when he was born of Mary, he had the divine nature and he had the human nature.

So, we are assuming now, on the part of the Christians, that Jesus is God, right, when he was born. So, if he's God, he's actually allowing himself to be circumcised. If he doesn't want his followers, the Christians, people who claim to follow him later on, by the way, when I say Christians claim to follow him, there is no insult intended there.

Rather, we have a view on Jesus, which is independent of Christianity. And likewise, Christians have a view on Jesus, which we respect and appreciate. We do not agree with it, of course, and this is why we are having this discussion today.

We do not agree with the Christian view of Jesus. We have a consistent, historically consistent view of Jesus, which is in line with Islamic theology. Therefore, we follow that particular view. So, there is no insult or there is no hurt intended here.

So, please be clear on that. So, Jesus, being God, allowed himself to be circumcised, knowing well that his alleged followers in the future will not be circumcising, they won't be following him. So, why be circumcised in the first place?

But Muslims, believing in him as a prophet, as a messenger, follow him. In that regard, Muslims circumcise. Muslims follow the same tradition. In that, Muslims are very similar or they resemble Jesus Christ.

Fasting. Jesus fasted for 40 days. Muslims also fast for 30 days and they are following a similar tradition. So, in the Gospel of Luke, in chapter 18, we are told that Jesus was telling a story of a Pharisee and a tax collector.

The tax collector was humble. Therefore, he has a higher chance to be forgiven. And Pharisee has a lesser chance to be forgiven because he is arrogant. But a point Jesus raises is that the Pharisee said to God that I fast two days a week.

Therefore, I am pious. And Jesus is using that as an example of piety. Therefore, he is endorsing it. And Muslims believe in fasting twice a week. Likewise, on Monday and on Thursday, as taught by the prophet of Islam.

So, Jesus using the example of the Pharisee is not actually rebuking the very notion of fasting for two days. He is actually rebuking the arrogance of the Pharisee. So, this distinction has to be made.

So, Muslims fast like Jesus. Or as he encouraged others to fast for two days, to be pious. Now, Muslims also resemble Jesus in beliefs. Unlike the Christians. What do I mean by that? Jesus worshipped a unipersonal God.

When he was walking the earth, he worshipped a unipersonal God. Not only that, he confirmed the Jewish conception of God which was unipersonal. Jesus was not a Trinitarian. Therefore, Muslims are not Trinitarians.

Muslims follow and worship a unipersonal God. There are clear passages in the New Testament where Jesus is confirming the Jewish conception of God. How do I know this? The Gospel of Mark chapter 12 verse 29.

When a Jewish man comes to Jesus Christ, asks him what is the first commandment or what is the most important commandment. Jesus tells him, Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. Right? That's the famous Shema.

So, Jesus actually confirms the Jewish conception. Now, if Jesus was a Trinitarian, he meant to be a Trinitarian or he was a believer in Trinitarian. This was the point where he should have taught the Jew.

Hold on a second. You have always worshipped a unipersonal God. But Jesus actually confirms in the Gospel of John chapter 8 that you worship the Father. Okay, the Father glorifies me. The Father glorifies me of whom you the Jews say that he is your God.

Not the Trinity. The Father. Unipersonal God of the Jews. So, here Jesus tells this Jewish man that Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. The Jew, the questioner can only imagine one person which is the Father.

And then he turns around and he says, Master, you have spoken the truth. There is no one else beside him. So, the Jewish man is speaking of the Father. Therefore, Jesus worshipped a unipersonal God. Not only that, he confirmed the Jewish unipersonal conception of divinity.

He was not a Trinitarian. This was his chance to tell the Jewish man, you have worshipped a unipersonal God. Now, there is a new covenant. I am the second person within the Trinity and there is another one, the third person, the Holy Spirit.

He didn't do that. He actually, if he was a Trinitarian, deceived the Jewish man which a prophet of God, let alone God, would never do. Muslims, therefore, believe in one God who is unipersonal. Not a Trinity for that matter.

So, in John 17 .3, Jesus goes further to confirm that Father is the only true God. In John 17 .3, this passage was a huge problem for church fathers writing in the 3rd and the 4th century. They could not reconcile this verse with their Binitarian or later Trinitarian view.

They could not reconcile. In fact, Jerome actually twisted the words of this particular verse to suit his Trinitarian view. And we can discuss that in Q &A if it's brought up. So, Muslims and Jesus are exactly the same in worshipping a unipersonal God.

Jesus never said, worship a Trinity. I humbly challenge my friend, my dear friend James White, Dr. James White, respectfully, to come here and tell us not believe in the Trinity. And Muslims do not believe in the Trinity.

And Muslims, in fact, the Quran actually directly tells the Christians to not believe in the Trinity because it has nothing to do with Jesus. Jesus never taught it. He never preached it. He never worshipped it.

Where did you get the Trinity from? It came up in the 4th century. It was finalized finally in the late 4th century. In the year 381 CE, to be precise, after the Council of Constantinople where three Cappadocian fathers had insisted or by their works or by their insistence, the third person in the Trinity was added later on to the Creed of Nicaea which was established in 325 CE.

So, the Creed of Nicaea is essentially Binitarian. Even as late as 325 CE. 50 years later in the year 381, the third person was added into the Trinity, into the Binity and it became a Trinity of the three persons.

Muslims, therefore, do not follow the Trinity because they do not believe it is something taught by the prophets, let alone God. So, the commandments. Jesus taught certain commandments in the book of Matthew, chapter 19, verses 18 to 19.

Jesus said, you shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, honour your father and mother. Also, you shall love your neighbour as yourself. We are told in Islamic literature, Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, taught exactly the same principles that you can see on the screen in that hadith from Bukhari where the Prophet said, swear allegiance to me for not joining anything in worship along with Allah, not to steal, not to commit illegal sexual intercourse, not to kill your children, not to accuse an innocent person, not to be disobedient, to do good deed.

Very, very similar. They resemble each other as brothers. Jesus, when you look at him and when you look at Muhammad, they are brothers in one faith. They are teaching the same thing. Now we come to the question of the law.

Jesus was a law-abiding Jew. He followed the Jewish law. In fact, in the book of Matthew, chapter 5, verse 17, we are told that he upheld the law. Think not that I have come to abolish the law, rather I have come to fulfil it.

In other words, the law made certain prophecies about him and he came to fulfil those prophecies. And anyone who teaches others to go out of the law, even on a point, will be considered least in the kingdom.

He is not from God. And Paul did exactly that, as we will see in due course later on. Muslims uphold the law. Muslims follow the law which came from God. We believe the Qur 'an was actually a confirmation of previous messages, previous laws.

Qur 'an came as a confirmation of the Torah and this message came for humanity, for the rest of the world. So in that, Muslims are exactly the same as Jesus. Jesus was following a divine law. So do the Muslims.

The Christians today do not follow the Mosaic law. They believe the law or the curse of the law was lifted by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Jesus was crucified on the cross, therefore the curse of the law was lifted.

And if that's the case, then either they are not following Jesus, or they are following someone else, which is Paul. So Paul on the law. What Christians follow today was taught by Paul. Law is a curse.

It cannot be followed. Therefore it's a curse. So Paul is the real prophet for Christians, not Jesus Christ. Because Paul went against a lot of the teachings Jesus had put forward to his followers. So it is Paul the Christians follow today.

It is Paul who came up with this conception of the abolition of the law. And he was actually accused later on for doing so. And he denied. In the book of Acts, we are told in chapter 21. How much time I have got left?

3 minutes. Thank you. I'm following your clock today. So in the book of Acts, in chapter 21, we are told that Paul was confronted by the Jerusalem council. Who heads the Jerusalem council? It is James, a direct disciple of Jesus Christ.

Not only a disciple, he was actually a brother of Jesus Christ. Now how he was a brother is another question altogether. Theologians have grappled with this question for centuries. Was he a blood brother?

Was he a cousin? But the New Testament calls James the brother or a brother of Jesus Christ. And he was the head of the Jerusalem church. He had more authority than Paul did because Paul is actually obeying the instructions of James.

In chapter 15, the book of Acts, we are told that Paul comes to James to discuss the issue of the Gentiles coming to the way of the Christ. And now the question I have is, if Jesus has died and he has lifted the curse of the law, then why are the disciples in Jerusalem, years after Jesus has died, still following the law?

Why are they still going to the temple and worshipping and following the law? And Paul was rightly accused by the Jewish followers of Jesus in Jerusalem for abolishing the law. How do we know this? This is happening in the book of Acts chapter 21.

Paul comes into the city of Jerusalem and the Jewish followers of Christ are angry with him. How dare you abolish the law? And then James tells Paul to go and practice the law in the temple so that people know that this is a lie, but it was not a lie.

Paul had indeed taught the abolition of the law as we can see in these verses on the screen there. Galatians 2 .16, Romans 3 .19 -28, Galatians 3 .10, Galatians 3 .24 -25. So Paul denied these accusations for some reason and not only denied, he followed the instructions of James, the leader of the Jerusalem church and he went to the temple and did the rituals according to the law.

Now there are two options there for us. Either Paul is a hypocrite who says one thing to the Gentiles and says another to the Jews, which is what he did. According to his own words he said, to a Jew I'll become a Jew, to a Gentile I'll become a Gentile.

So Paul, in not so many words, is telling people that he was a hypocrite. How do we know this? He even deceived James. He should have told James, hold on a second, you know Jesus has died. Jesus has lifted the curse of the law.

Why do I have to go to the temple and do all these rituals? The law has been lifted, the curse has been lifted. You know that James, you are a follower of Jesus, you believe in the same thing as I do.

But they clearly did not believe in the same thing. They clearly did not. How much time do I have? Zero. Time is up. So ladies and gentlemen, I will elaborate on this when I come back. Thank you so much for listening.

And I hope I did not hurt anyone's feelings. The point here is to share our view on Jesus Christ. And you may disagree with it, but this is why we believe in Jesus in the way we believe in Him. Thank you so much for listening.

Jesus as the Eternal Son, the Divine Name, and the Cross

Well, before I start my time, let me also thank very much Adnan Rashid for being here this evening. He stepped in. We had other plans and other arrangements that had been made for a debate this evening.

And those fell through. The gentleman I was going to be interacting with was not able to do that. And then even after Adnan stepped in, then locations were problematic. And so I want to thank the folks here at Selhurst Evangelical Church for opening their doors to us on very, very, very, very short notice.

Thank you for making the trip out here. It is sometimes difficult to put these things together while traveling. This is toward the end of a lengthy trip for me. I was in the Netherlands last weekend speaking on very different subjects than what we're speaking on now.

And so I'm thankful to everybody, especially Ashley, who has helped to make this come together, and Adnan for stepping up and doing this as well. Unfortunately, since it is toward the end of a lengthy trip, anything that I would have packed to give to someone other than Adnan to begin with would have been destroyed in my bag by now.

And so unfortunately, even though I started this tradition, do you know when I started this tradition? I started this tradition with Shabbir Ali in 2006. But sometimes when you're at the end of a very long trip, there's not much you can do about it.

But we'll make up for it next time around with something that Adnan will really love, like maybe a football jersey or something like that. I don't know. That seems to be all the rage right now. Messi, can you kick like him?

That was quite a shot. That was amazing. Anyways, so with that, let me begin my time. Thank you very much again for being here this evening. And this is an important topic, and it's not one I've ever heard debated before.

And obviously it can go a lot of different directions. Adnan just touched on at least eight different topics that could be a debate unto themselves. But I think it's important for us to consider when we ask the question, who is like Jesus, what do we mean when we say that?

Well, Adnan has given his perspective. Now I would like to give my own. If we want to simply talk about outward appearances, if we want to talk about things that would, for example, be derived from living in a Semitic culture, in antiquity, even though, you know, exactly when the Quran was written and the New Testament taking place, there's a half millennium in between.

But still, if we were simply looking at things like that, dietary laws and the things that would be associated with life in antiquity, then obviously we have to recognize that the question would be, does the New Testament teach us to be like Jesus in those things?

And one of the differences between Christianity and Islam is that the gospel message is meant to go out to every nation. It does not bring a particular cultural aspect to it, such as clothing or dietary laws or things like that.

It is meant to be a message that will go to all nations at all times. And as such, we are not called to dress like Jesus or eat like Jesus. In fact, the New Testament writers give very little evidence of having any interest in such things, even though in the Hadith you have tremendous amount of information about how many dates Muhammad would want to eat and the odd number rather than the even number and all sorts of details like that.

New Testament writers show no interest in any of that. And the reason for that is that they did not believe that Christianity is something that is to be passed on that will have some type of cultural normativity.

There are moral and ethical laws and principles, but they must be applied in whatever situation the church finds itself in. And so why are we really even debating this particular subject? Because Christianity does not make a claim that Christians are supposed to look outwardly like Jesus or behave like him in a cultural context.

If in fact, I would ask our Muslim friends, if Jesus is but a rasool of Allah and only a rasool of Allah. In other words, that section of Surah 4, 171 specifically is denying that there is anything beyond that calling that would mark Jesus.

Because that's the same section that says do not say three, so on and so forth. If he's merely a rasool of Allah, why are we even here tonight? Why are we even talking about emulating someone? I mean, from the Muslim perspective, Jesus was just the Jewish Messiah.

He was not the Messiah for all people. He was just the Jewish Messiah. So why would we even be discussing something like this? Now, it is interesting to me that Adnan had just said, well, you know, we have a different view of Christ.

We have the Quranic view of Christ. But I would like to suggest to you that you are dependent upon the New Testament for most of what you just said about Jesus. Because the Quran only mentions the name 25 times, maybe just less than 100 times total references.

You're given very, very little information about Jesus. It's plain that the author of the Quran assumes that his readers are going to be familiar with the New Testament's testimony about Jesus. And so nothing is given.

There's only one place in all the Quran where Jesus speaks from identifiable historical location, and that's his cradle. And that comes from non-canonical sources, not from the New Testament sources itself.

So the background material from the Islamic perspective is dependent on the New Testament at Adnan's presentation. Quoted from the Gospels, quoted even from the Gospel of John. Why? Because we have to.

That's the only way we can know anything about Jesus. These sources tell us many ways in which we cannot emulate Jesus. For example, Muslims cannot emulate him in raising the dead or being virgin-born, both things that are specifically affirmed of Jesus' capacities and abilities.

Christians cannot emulate him in being eternally glorious in the presence of the Father. As we read only a matter of one sentence after the text that Adnan quoted from John 17 .3, you have John 17 .5.

Where Jesus shows that he is aware of his glorious pre-existence in the presence of the Father before the world was. So here is one person speaking to another person speaking of the time in eternity when those two persons were co-glorious in eternity past.

That comes right after Jesus' words of John 17 .3. So whatever you do with 17 .3, you've got to understand what else is said in the rest of the Gospel of John. So Christians cannot emulate him in being eternally glorious with the Father.

We cannot be the Son of God. He is identified as the Son of God in each of the Gospels. And not just a son of God, as if God has sons by the tons, as someone used to like to say. But the unique Son of God, so much so that when he used that terminology himself in John 5, the Jews picked up stones to stone him.

They wanted, both John 5 and John 10 and John 8, happened a number of times, because of the uniqueness of the claim that Jesus made to be the Son of God. What is more, we cannot emulate him in bearing the very divine name Yahweh.

Yahweh. Jesus is identified as Yahweh in John chapter 12. John says that Isaiah saw Jesus in Isaiah chapter 6. You go back to Isaiah chapter 6. Who was it that Isaiah saw? He saw Yahweh. The early followers of Jesus who wrote the New Testament repeatedly identified Jesus with the one divine name, the specific divine name.

Much more specific than what you have in Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani. Yahweh is the divine covenant name of God. And it is used of Jesus. We cannot emulate him in doing that. We cannot emulate him in having a people to worship us.

But Jesus, in Mark chapter 14, verses 61 through 64, in his trial, quotes from the Old Testament. And when we look back at the text that he's quoting, it's talking about that situation in Daniel, where there is one who's brought before the ancient of days.

And he is worshipped by his people. He has a people who worship him, giving the highest form of worship. And so we cannot be worshipped. We have not been worshipped in heaven. We are not to be worshipped on earth.

Jesus accepted the worship of his disciples and others while on earth. Something that there is no way that the Islamic Jesus would ever accept. Because if you accept the thesis that Jesus actually worshipped a unipersonal or unitarian God, then Jesus would never allow himself to be worshipped.

Jesus would never allow Thomas to say to him, my Lord and my God. And then Jesus says to him, now that you've seen me, if you believe, blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. No rebuke of Thomas.

Instead, recognition of the fact that Thomas is speaking in faith. Likewise, we cannot be the object of prayer that Jesus was. In John chapter 14, he's talking about going back into the presence of the Father.

He talks about how after that having happened, we can ask him anything in his name and he will do it. Directed to him. Has to be in the form of prayer. The early Christians were identified in verse Corinthians as those who call upon the name of the Lord.

Specifically in that context, Jesus. And while Jesus said all authority in heaven and earth was given to him, we are not given that authority in any way, shape or form. And so there are many ways in which the biblical Jesus is someone that we cannot emulate because of the fact that he is more than just a man.

He is a true man. There is no question that he took on flesh. The word took on flesh. But he cannot be limited solely to those categories. But we are, in fact, to emulate him in calling upon God as Father.

Just as he did. It is a tremendous privilege to call upon God as Father. And yet, my Muslim friends do not believe that Jesus ever prayed in this way. How could he use that kind of terminology? That is inappropriate terminology for anyone to use in regards to Allah.

To refer to him as Father. But Jesus did this over and over and over again. And in and through him, not because of anything in ourselves, but because of who we are in him, we have the tremendous privilege of being able to pray to God as to our Father.

We do so trusting that Jesus has, in fact, revealed the Father to us perfectly as no one else could possibly do. He's called the exact representation of his person. That's how we can have absolute confidence of who God the Father is.

And absolute confidence of his love for us because he has revealed himself in Jesus Christ. There is no arbitrariness in regards to our understanding of whether God will fulfill his promises to us. We have the promises of Jesus Christ.

We are called to trust in God as Jesus did on the cross. When he said, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. Our Muslim friends don't believe that ever took place. They don't believe Jesus ever said those words because there was no cross.

Well, at least most Muslims. I've debated a few Muslims who have variant views on that. But the vast majority of Muslims in the world do not believe that that ever took place. And yet here we have the very central aspect of every gospel.

Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. What is the focus of every single one of them? They're all taking us to the cross, the very center point of history. And there Jesus says, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.

And that, of course, is what every believing Christian can say at their dying moment as well. Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. That is because of the finished work that he has provided there on the cross.

We are called to fulfill the greatest commandments. Love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And love your neighbors yourself because in that, Jesus taught, all the law is fulfilled. So we do have a law.

In fact, the New Testament speaks of the law of Christ. The issue is that we do not take a singular law and then attempt to apply it without any type of differentiation from culture to culture to culture.

We take overarching principles and then we have to deal with them. And I'm glad that's the case. Today we're dealing with genetic engineering and nuclear war and all sorts of things like that. And we need to have something like the law of Christ that we are able to apply beyond merely the scope of the ancient world into the modern world in which we live.

God knew the world was going to be like this. He gives us those in-depth principles within that context. Now you see, I think one of the things would be very helpful for us this evening. In Islam, Jesus is a disciple of Allah.

He's a Rasul, but he is one who follows Allah. He submits to Allah. Jesus is a disciple of Allah. In Christianity, Jesus is the very embodiment of God in human flesh, the eternal son who took on a perfect human nature.

Hence, our call is not resemblance with a fellow disciple. But our call is being disciples of Jesus himself. So the relationship is not supposed to be one merely of resemblance. It is supposed to be one of following.