A Christian Response to Kamal Saleh's Islamic Video
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In response to Kamal Saleh's video found here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNGqrzkFp_4
We have produced a musical response featuring Christian artist Ivey Conerly here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0X9c_LNwqtU
A written response to Kamal's video can be found here: http://www.aomin.org/aoblog/index.php?itemid=4948
The "Submitted Freely" t-shirt is available here:
http://www.zazzle.com/he_submitted_freely_shirt-235892124682253117
- 00:11
- It's pretty interesting how we communicate anymore. It used to be you'd write books or maybe articles and you'd print them in magazines, things like that.
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- Then we came up with blogs and the internet and now, well, we do it with music videos on YouTube.
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- Recently, of course, everybody knows about the Why I Hate Religion But Love Jesus video fest.
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- One particular video goes viral and everybody goes, hey, you know what, I think I could do something like that.
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- In response to that particular video, a fellow by the name of Kamal, Kamal Saleh, put together a really well -made video from the
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- Islamic perspective, well -made, technically speaking. Well -made as far as really understanding
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- Christianity, well, that's why I'm doing this video. I've actually cooperated with Ivy Connerly and we've put out a video and we'll put the links on this one and, of course, we'll link to this one from that one.
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- Ivy does the lyrics, man, and he's good at it. I don't do that and I will not afflict anyone with my attempt at lyrics, though some of the lines that Ivy has came straight from my pen.
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- A lot of them did, but he makes them sound right and I won't even bother to try.
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- I don't have those skills. So why in the world would you watch a video by a pasty -looking white
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- Scottish man who's bald and sort of funny -looking? Well, because what
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- Kamal says in this video is the type of thing that I've been responding to as it's pronounced by Muslims for a number of years now.
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- I've had the opportunity of doing a number of debates against some very sharp Muslims and against some not -so -sharp
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- Muslims. And I'd like to respond to the things that Kamal said point by point.
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- Now a good friend of mine, TurretinFan, has already written a response and we'll link to that as well in the comments on this
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- YouTube video. But I'd like to respond to Kamal in a loving fashion because we as Christians are commanded to even love those who, well, in this case misrepresent us.
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- And I'd like to hope that Kamal will be able to learn and that the other Muslims who believe as Kamal believes will at least be able to learn that, you know what,
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- Christians don't believe the things that have been attributed to them by many, many Muslims. And so let's listen to what
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- Kamal had to say. I'm going to respond to each of his statements. I'll try to be brief, try to keep it flowing, but at the same time
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- I want to be somewhat thorough so that Kamal, well, he can be known. See those rhymes there, but I'll stop that right now, honest,
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- I will. And faith doesn't mean
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- Jesus didn't believe in submission and conviction. Well, Kamal, one of the questions that we're going to have to come back to over and over again is how do you know what
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- Jesus believed? I mean, you only have 25 ayah in the Quran that mention him by name and you can put everything
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- Jesus says in the Quran into one place and there just ain't much to it. I mean, the
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- Jesus of the Quran is basically an argument for monotheism and the prophethood of Muhammad. That's basically all there is to it.
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- So how do you know what Jesus said? A number of times in this video, you quote Jesus or you at least assume you know what
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- Jesus said on the basis of what the Bible says, but you don't take everything Jesus said in the Bible seriously, or maybe don't seem to be aware of it, one of the two.
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- So how do we know what Jesus said? There's only really one source for the words of Jesus and that's the
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- New Testament. And when we look at what the New Testament said, the Jesus of the New Testament is not the
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- Jesus of Islam in any way, shape, or form. So that's going to be a big, big issue. Now, when you say follower of Christ, it doesn't mean
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- Christian, it depends on what you mean by following Christ. Later in the video, you're going to say, hey,
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- I love him more than you because I do what he says, but you don't do what he says, all of what he says.
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- I mean, Jesus established the Lord's Supper, you don't partake in the Lord's Supper. Jesus commanded us to go into all the world and teach all nations, baptizing in the name of the
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- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. You don't do that. So again, it comes down to picking and choosing your sources, and as Christians, we don't get to pick and choose.
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- As you as a Muslim, you don't get to pick and choose what of the Koran you believe, right? As a Christian, I don't get to pick and choose what of the Bible I believe.
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- Now, you did say that because you believe in faith, that doesn't mean Jesus didn't believe in submission and conviction.
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- He believed in both, but Jesus also taught us to have faith in him, to believe in him, and he equated that faith with faith in God.
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- And so, we believe in submission, but we believe in submission to the Lordship of Jesus Christ because that's what he proclaimed himself to be, and his followers proclaimed him to be
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- Lord, not just of the people of Israel, but of the whole world. It's the
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- Lordship of Jesus Christ that has caused Christians to go all across the world, and even to this day, to suffer persecution in his name.
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- And so, we believe in faith, and submission, and conviction to all that God has revealed.
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- We just look at the Koran and say, well, if we obey Surah 547, we test
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- Muhammad by what is contained therein. He doesn't pass the test because what he taught was not consistent with what we have in the scriptures.
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- You say Jesus was God, and that God had descended. We say Jesus was man, for Jesus was dependent.
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- Our God is all great and cannot be comprehended. You say that God was murdered, or do you believe that he pretended?
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- As a Muslim, Kamal, you believe in the 99 beautiful names. One of them is Al -Haqq, the truth.
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- And so, I don't think that I'm saying anything you'll disagree with when I suggest to you that you, as a
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- Muslim, if you're going to be consistent, must be truthful in what you say about what Christians believe.
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- Now, I don't know what Christians you've talked to. You've obviously talked to some, but you're obviously an intelligent young man, and hopefully in providing some response to what you say, you'll be able to increase your understanding of what
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- Christians actually believe. You say God descended. Yes, we believe that the second person of the
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- Trinity, the Son, who has eternally been the Son, he did not come into existence as the
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- Son in the idea of God having a wife and having kids, which many
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- Muslims mistakenly believe, and which one could make an argument, the author of the
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- Koran believed, which would say a lot about who the author of the Koran actually is. But the point is, we believe that the relationship of the
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- Father and the Son is eternal. That there is never a starting point to it. It's a relationship term.
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- And that it was the Son who freely took on a human nature, a perfect human nature.
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- And we believe God can actually create that which is perfect, not that which is divine, but that which is perfect.
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- Very, very important distinction that you and some of your friends need to understand that we make as well.
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- And so we believe that God did descend in the person of his Son, and we believe that he took on a human nature and that he lived as a human being.
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- He was the God -man, but he was a true human being. And so he made himself voluntarily dependent.
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- That's the only way that he could be the sacrifice that the
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- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit intended in the incarnation, the death, birth, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
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- Now you say that God was murdered, or do you believe that he pretended? Yes, God was murdered in the sense that the
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- Son voluntarily gave his life. Those who took his life were guilty for that.
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- They did what they wanted to do. In fact, if you read the Bible, you will know that there are many times that they tried to arrest
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- Jesus, but it says his hour had not yet come. And so there was an hour when in the providence and sovereignty of God, it was time for the cross to take place.
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- And when that hour came, then Jesus voluntarily submits himself to that. Now we see what he's submitting himself to.
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- Jesus had no fear of death. When you look at what happens in the garden, his concern is not about death.
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- His concern is about becoming the sacrifice for sins. He who is holy, he who had eternally been in communion with the
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- Father, taking on the sins of his people, that is the cup that Jesus prays about.
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- It's not a fear of death. Many men have bravely faced death. It was becoming a sacrifice that Jesus deals with there.
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- He didn't pretend. No matter what Surah 4, verse 157 says, there's no question about the cross of Calvary.
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- That is something that indeed is a historical fact. God gave us brains and God gave us logic, but I guess
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- God wanted us to use them in everything else except for this topic. It's like wearing a cross and proclaiming that you love
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- Jesus, when if God was murdered on the cross, the cross really shouldn't please us. I mean, would you be wearing an axe if it was used to chop your mother up into pieces?
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- See, this is what happens when you believe in faith, but fail to believe in reason. Well, Kamal, the problem here is that you're calling reasonable that which is not reasonable.
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- You take the Quran and you read it backwards into history, and you use that to filter out so much of the
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- Bible that to say you're actually honestly dealing with the Bible is just not possible.
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- I mean, you say God gave us logic, and we believe that he did. We don't believe that God is limited to human rationality.
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- Faith does transcend reason, but faith is not irrational. There are things that our reason cannot address that are beyond our reason.
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- There's no question about that. And just for you to say that the
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- Quran, which is so clearly connected with events in time,
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- I mean, just look at Surah 33 and Zaynab bin Jash and Muhammad, and it's connected with time.
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- To say that that is an eternal document, that it's been written for eternity in a language that didn't exist yet,
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- Arabic, is that logical? Now, you could make an argument for it, but you'd have to transcend strict rationalism to be able to do so.
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- Would you not? So, if you can do that, well, then you need to allow Christians to be consistent in their own beliefs as well.
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- You say, I guess God wanted us to use them in everything except this topic. Well, the problem is you don't accurately understand what we believe.
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- You're not accurately representing what we believe. And what you think is illogical is what you're rejecting from the
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- Christian scriptures or just don't know it's there. That's where the illogic comes from, as we'll see as we continue on.
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- For example, you talk about the cross. Galatians tells us, the book of Galatians, one of the words of scripture given to Christians tells us that, but God forbid that I should glory or boast in anything except the cross for the
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- Lord Jesus Christ, by which I am crucified to the world and the world is crucified to me.
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- Now, if you were really being serious, Kamal, wouldn't you ask the question, what does that mean? How is the world crucified to a believer and the believer crucified to the world?
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- Obviously, the cross is not just the gory instrument of torture and death that Jesus did suffer and die on.
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- We believe the cross is the very center point of history. We believe that because Jesus was the
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- God -man, that cross becomes the very center point of history where the wrath of God and the love and mercy and grace of God meet in an absolutely unique person,
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- Jesus Christ. Everything the prophets pointed toward it, and everything
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- Sen Sen points back to it and makes sense only in light of it. And so, you know,
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- I've dealt with Mormons for years and years and years, and we used to have young Mormon kids come up to us when we were passing out tracts, and they would say, you know, they don't have crosses either, and they would say, if your brother was killed in an electric chair, would you wear an electric chair around your neck?
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- And I'd just quote them that text from the Bible and say, why don't you believe that? And if my brother was the sinless
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- God -man, and it was by an electric chair he brought about the redemption of all of his people, men from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation, then yeah,
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- I would. Because you see, the cross was an absolute symbol of abhorrence, but once you understand it, as the gospel presents it, then you see that while to some, as the
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- Bible says, it's the very stench of death, it's reprehensible, it's a stumbling block to those who are being saved, the very means by which
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- I have life. And so you say, well, yeah, but logic, you know, you're not using it here.
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- How do you judge the way that God has freely chosen to glorify himself and to bring about the salvation of his people on the basis of human logic?
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- I accept, and you accept, Kamal, that God has spoken in Revelation. Why do you limit what he can say to human rationality?
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- Are you consistent there? That's a question you need to answer. See, we used to worship the creator until Satan turned us to the creation.
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- We began to worship the people and neglect the one who made them. We began to believe that God had died, but how could a
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- God even be created? Of course, we don't believe a God was created. We don't, there's, what
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- Christian has ever, ever believed that a God could be created? We believe the relationship of the
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- Father, Son, Spirit's eternal. We believe God's eternal. We believe he's uncreated. Where does any of this come from?
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- You see, when Jesus takes on that human nature, that human nature is able to die.
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- He is able, not cease to exist, he is able to voluntarily give his life as a ransom for his people.
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- And that's what he does. It has nothing to do with the creation of another God or anything even remotely like that.
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- So where do you get this concept? I mean, I know the Quran says that we make our ayahs clear, and it says that in regards to the idea that Allah could destroy
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- Jesus and Mary, and that Jesus and Mary had to eat their daily food. But all that demonstrates is that the author of those words did not understand what
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- Christians believe. And you've got to understand, Kamal, when the
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- Quran was written, in history, by that point in time, the
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- Trinity was a clearly understood thing. God, even if it was wrong, knew what it meant, didn't he?
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- So why, after all this time, are Muslims still so confused? When no
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- Christian has ever said, oh, we believe there was another God that was created. Could the reason not be what we believe?
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- Could it be because you're believing something, and its author was confused?
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- And so when you make that your ultimate authority, then, of necessity, you become confused as well. It is, just like with Adam, a concept too complex for the
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- Church to merely fathom. We have no problem with the process of the
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- Incarnation. I mean, certainly God can say B. There was no intermediation involved in the
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- Incarnation. And again, are you confused, as many Muslims have been confused, in thinking there's a
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- God, Mary, Jesus thing going on here? I mean, Ahmadinejad was certainly confused by that.
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- Many Muslims have been. Very common for that misrepresentation to exist. But what you need to understand is that the person who became incarnate as Jesus of Nazareth had eternally existed.
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- That's what the very writings that make up the
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- Christian canon, and I would argue the only way you can understand what the canon says to Christians about judging by what's in the
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- Injil is to include all of those, because that's what they had. Those very writings say that this one who became incarnate eternally existed.
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- Colossians chapter 1 describes him, says, By him were all things made, whether in heaven or in earth.
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- Visible. Invisible. Principalities, powers, dominions, or authorities. All things occurred by him and for him.
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- He is before all things. And in him, all things literally hold together. They have their substance.
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- In the one who became flesh. So, when you say, later on in your video, that we're worshiping an idol, we're worshiping the one who made you,
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- Kamal, and who made me. And every breath of my mouth and every beat of my heart comes from him.
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- It's not an idol. We believe that the one who became incarnate is truly
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- God. The word became flesh and dwelt among us. We beheld his glory, not of a mere
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- Rasul, but of the one who had eternally been glorious in the very presence of the
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- Father. That's the New Testament. Revelation. ...greater
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- of the universe, for we know even more. And so what if we can't see him? I mean, what you acting like our universe is small?
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- I mean, there's still so much we're still yet to explore. I mean, there's still so many things as human beings we still haven't seen, touched, heard, or saw.
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- I mean, our eyes can't even handle the sight of the sun. So how can we possibly handle the sight of our
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- Lord? We couldn't handle the sight of our Lord unless he extends himself in mercy and grace to reveal himself to us.
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- It's one of the major differences between Christianity and Islam is that while we believe in the transcendence of God, we also believe that God has the freedom and because of his mercy and grace, his very nature, his desire to express to all of creation the full range of the beauty of his attributes that he has amazingly not only communicated with us, not just by sending
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- Jibreel down with some messages, but he has actually chosen to reveal himself in mercy and grace to his people.
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- Starting all the way back with Adam and Moses, and then in an amazing and special way in the person of Jesus Christ a place by whom all things are created.
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- So it's not that the universe is small or anything like that. What is amazing is the one who holds it all in place gave himself in love so that anyone who bows the knee and trusts in him in repentance and faith can have eternal life.
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- That is what's truly amazing. See, Jesus used to pray. But in your opinion, who did he pray to?
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- I mean, if Jesus was God, surely praying would be of no use. Who was
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- Jesus praying to? Well, he identified him as my father. And so, think about it for just a second,
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- Kamal. Clearly, you do not understand what we believe. Maybe you believe that your leaders have taught you correctly.
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- Well, they haven't, and I'm here to tell you that. Think about it for just a moment. The Bible answers that question many, many times.
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- I mean, Jesus prays to his father over and over again, identifies him as my father even though you're going to say he never said that, but he did.
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- Many, many times. If what we believe is true, if what the
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- Bible says is true then we have an eternal relationship between the Father and the Son.
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- For all of eternity, there has been this perfect relationship perfect communion and communication and love between the
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- Father and the Son. And then the Son, to work out the redemption of God's people the will of the
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- Father, the will of the Spirit that the triune God has chosen that this is the way the salvation will take place the
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- Son enters into human flesh and what's going to happen? Is he going to stop communicating with the
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- Father with whom he's had perfect communion for all of eternity? Really? I mean, if he's the perfect man, what does a perfect man do?
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- Doesn't he pray? You and I both believe he prays, right? And so, Jesus enters into human flesh and he prays and you say, yeah, what good would that do?
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- So, perfect men wouldn't pray? What do you mean, what good would that do?
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- It would continue the perfect communion that has existed between the Father and the Son for all of eternity and as the perfect man, the perfect man communes with God.
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- Why would you even raise this objection? Unless you'd understand and you think in a modalistic way that well,
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- Jesus is the Father and so he'd just be talking to himself. Now, your objection would have weight against the modalists but modalists aren't
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- Trinitarians and modalists aren't Christians. That's an important distinction to keep in mind.
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- You know, Kamal, you've got to be very, very careful when you use sarcasm.
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- I tend to use it probably too much. But when you use it, you've got to be careful that you've got your facts straight because the particular text you make reference to which is found in more than one of the
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- Gospels of Jesus' cursing of the fig tree. I know people like Achmed D.
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- have, you know, repeatedly used that type of text, that particular text to argue that, well,
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- Jesus couldn't be God. He didn't even know what season the figs would be ripe in. Do you really think
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- Jesus didn't know that? I mean, seriously? I mean, come on. You see, you know,
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- I was listening to Sahih al -Bukhari recently. I've been listening to it while writing. And I remember a particular hadith that was repeated a couple of times.
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- And it was a story about Muhammad meeting with his companions and it was a particular day of a particular holy month.
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- It was a particular holy day in a particular holy month. As I recall, they were in Mecca at the time.
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- It might have been Medina. In any case, Muhammad asked them, what is the day today?
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- And for some reason, most people responded to Muhammad by always saying, well, Allah and his messenger know best.
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- They knew what day it was. And he knew what day it was. And he's silent for a period of time.
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- And he goes, is it not such and such a day? Yes, it is. And is this, what month is this?
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- Well, Allah and his messenger know best. And some of the versions said that they thought maybe he was going to be renaming the day and renaming the month or something like that.
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- But he didn't. And he even asked what city they were in. And they thought maybe he was going to rename the city.
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- And he always stopped and let them ponder and contemplate and think about it. Now, if I were to use the reasoning, even the sarcasm that is used against Jesus, by saying, he didn't even know when the season of figs was, as if he had never eaten a fig in his life, right?
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- But if I were to use that same kind of reasoning, I would say, look at this. Muhammad didn't know what city he was in.
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- He didn't know what day it was. He didn't know what the holy months were. No. There was a reason why
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- Muhammad asked the companions these questions. And if you read that hadith, it would never cross your mind to go, oh, the prophet didn't even know what day it was.
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- And when you read this text, don't you realize the fig tree symbolizes something?
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- That Jesus is making a particular point here that he is talking about Israel, which he likens to the fig tree and it seems that it has all its leaves and there's going to be fruit there.
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- But when you actually look, there's nothing there at all. And he's going into the temple grounds. There's going to be so much religiosity, but no real relationship to God.
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- That's what the text is about. And I know it's very common. You've seen your leaders.
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- Use that example over and over again. All it tells me is that your leaders didn't understand the
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- Bible either. Jesus knew what he was doing. We just need to learn to listen.
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- Or maybe he prayed when there was something he couldn't do. Like when he said, I of myself can do nothing.
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- But you took it as there's nothing he couldn't do. Great rhyme, lousy exegesis.
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- But you would not be the first Muslim to have not read carefully what
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- Jesus is actually saying in John chapter 5. Now, I don't have time to go through the whole thing here.
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- I've gone through it in other videos that we've done on our channel. But what you missed, it's right there on the screen in nice big letters.
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- I can of myself, af healtu in the original language, that is separate from the
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- Father, I can do nothing. And that's exactly what you would expect
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- Jesus to say. Because you see, the point in John chapter 5 is not to deny the deity of Christ.
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- It is to deny that Jesus is some renegade God off doing his own thing. There is a perfect union and relationship between the
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- Father and the Son. The Son does exactly what the Father wills for him to do because the
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- Son is the one who has been sent forth from the Father. But notice the things the Son does. They are divine activities.
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- He gives life to whom he chooses. He is to be honored just as the Father is to be honored.
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- Now, those are not things that can be said of any mere razool. And, in fact, I would suggest to you in light of what you say later in the video that you do what he says.
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- You don't believe what Jesus said in John 5. You may believe that one verse. You don't believe the rest of it. You don't believe you should honor him in the same way as you honor the
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- Father. You don't believe he's the source of life. Only God gives life, right? And so, you don't believe the rest of what it says.
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- And so, clearly, you're misinterpreting this text. The point is, af hayal tu, of myself means separate from.
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- There is always perfect unity between the Father and the Son. And that's the point of John chapter 5.
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- And to read it in any other way is to ignore its own context.
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- It's right there. Take a look at it, and you'll see that it's not supporting the point that you're trying to make.
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- We once again have to ask the question, where are you getting your information? What do you mean when you say, see, no one used to worship
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- Jesus, so ask yourself why you do. Let's see. When Jesus is first born, he's worshipped.
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- He receives worship during the course of his ministry. He receives worship after his resurrection.
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- He receives worship in the church ever since then. When was this time when
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- Jesus was not worshipped? Now, I know, maybe you're thinking of Surah 5, verse 116 or something, and you're taking that, and you're reading it backwards, but, again, that's taking something written 600 years later and reading it back into events that the author of those words that were written had no connection with, had no knowledge of.
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- I mean, I know you believe that the Quran is the very word of God, but you have to test it.
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- How do you prove that other than just assuming it? Here's a good example of where it doesn't pass the test.
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- Because if you're taking a text like that and saying, ah, see, Jesus was not worshipped by his apostles, his followers during his lifetime.
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- It's something that Paul made up. Where do you get the evidence for this? I mean, even rejecting the supernatural nature of Scripture, which you believe in for your
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- Scriptures, I believe in for my Scriptures. Even scholars, just looking at the
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- New Testament as historical documents, can discern how early it was that Jesus was worshipped from the very start.
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- So, you have no grounds for making this kind of an assertion.
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- And so, what leaves people confused is taking a later book that claims to be consistent with the message from the
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- Torah through the Injil. These contain light and guidance. They come from Allah. And now, this book at the end, you make the standard, but it contradicts what's in these.
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- That, I suggest, is where the confusion actually comes from. Preached one God, but the
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- Church has failed to practice. And I mean, you don't have to be that dumb to know that 1 plus 1 plus 1 equaling 1 isn't necessarily going to give you a pass in mathematics.
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- Not only did Jesus preach there is only one true God, as the text in Isaiah and many others say.
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- We do the same thing. All Christians do. It is a fundamental element of our belief.
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- We defend monotheism. I've defended it many times in public debate against, well, for example, those that really do believe the things that the
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- Qur 'an attacks wrongly, and that is the Mormons. A lot of things that the
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- Qur 'an says are wrong are exactly what the Mormons believe. I think, you know, if you want to make an argument that the Qur 'an was prophetically refuting the
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- Book of Mormon, well, not even the Book of Mormon doesn't believe those things, but Joseph Smith and his later teachings, then you might have a case there.
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- But that's not what Christians believe. Mormonism is as far removed from Christianity as anything could be.
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- So we believe that there is one true God. And it is a basic element of understanding our faith that when we say that there is one person, the
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- Father, and one person, the Son, and one person, the Holy Spirit, we are differentiating between the word person and the being that is
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- God. And one of the clearest illustrations of this is the fact, my friend, that if you'll look at the
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- New Testament, you'll discover that the New Testament writers identified each of those divine persons as Yahweh.
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- The one divine name of the Old Testament, the Father is Yahweh, the Son is identified as Yahweh, the
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- Spirit is the Spirit of Yahweh. So you have one being of God, three divine persons.
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- One plus one plus one equals three divine persons and one
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- God. We make the differentiation. If you're going to criticize what we believe, you have to demonstrate you at least understand what we believe before your criticism can have any weight.
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- He said, three. And Jesus said, one. Jesus said, God. And the church said,
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- Son. Jesus never said, worship me. Rather, he said, pray. Actually, Jesus said,
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- God the Father, and he referred to himself as the Son of God, the Son of Man, and accepted worship, and sent the
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- Spirit, and the church said, Father, Son, and Spirit, and one God. See, you're picking and choosing what you're going to make reference to rather than listening to everything that the text says.
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- And if someone did that with the Quran, they would come up with an imbalanced way of hearing what the
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- Quran is saying, right? So if you did that with the New Testament, why can't you see you're doing the exact same thing?
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- Jesus didn't say the words, worship me, but he accepted worship. He did say, pray.
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- And in John 14, 14, he spoke of prayer to himself. And Christians are described in 1
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- Corinthians as those who call upon the name of the Lord, epikalo, to pray to him.
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- So, actually, Jesus accepted worship. He taught about himself in such a way that he would be worshipped.
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- And when he talked about prayer, yes, prayer to the Father, but there's also prayer to the
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- Son, to Jesus himself. When he talked about going back into the presence of the Father, he talked about calling upon him at that time.
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- So, the Bible contradicts what you're saying, even though you're saying, well, Jesus never said.
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- How do you know what Jesus said? You have to go to the Bible, but you're not believing everything that the Bible said, that Jesus actually said.
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- You're picking and choosing based upon what? The lens through which you look, which is the Quran, which came 600 years after the time of Christ.
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- A number of corrections have to be made here because you're just simply not speaking the truth when you say these things.
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- For example, you said, you've chosen to worship Jesus despite everything he used to say. What? That the few ayah in the
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- Quran, coming 600 years after, that no one from a historical basis would ever think was actually what
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- Jesus himself said. Maybe speaking from the cradle, which is taken from the Arabic infancy gospel, which isn't even historical either.
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- The only way we can know what Jesus said is from the accounts that were written, well, that are in the New Testament.
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- They're the only ones that have any meaningful connection to the time of Jesus. And it's those very accounts that you reject.
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- So, when you say, everything he used to say, we've already found that many times you haven't been accurate by what he did say.
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- In fact, you, in this very section, say that, well, he doesn't say, he says our father, he never says mine.
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- Well, actually he said my father over and over and over again. In fact, in the one gospel you quote from Matthew, he says it 13 times.
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- And you put the other gospels together and it's pages of times when he said this. So, you may have been told that.
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- Someone may have told you, well, Jesus never says my father. But the Bible is full of Jesus saying my father in a specific and unique way.
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- In fact, in John chapter 5, when Jesus calls God his own father, the Jews understand that to be making himself equal with God.
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- That it was not like all other sons of God, sons by the tons as Achmed Didot likes to say.
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- So, when you talk about emotion and forgot to think with your mind, Kamal, did you forget to read the
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- New Testament? Because what you're telling us isn't what the New Testament says. Now, I know there are
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- Christians that tell you stuff that they think is in the Quran and it isn't. They shouldn't do that. But that's not an excuse for you to say, well, this stuff is not found in the
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- Bible and it's all over the place. You're not dealing with it. And you need to be able to deal with it if, again, there's going to be any meaning to the message that you're attempting to communicate.
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- Again, as I've said before, al -haq, the truth. If you want to be a person of truth, you have to speak the truth.
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- Which means you have to handle the sources, even of those that you're criticizing, with care.
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- I'm not saying you have to be an expert in everything there is to know about Christianity. What we're talking about here is something very basic.
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- I've read the Quran. You might say that I haven't, because I haven't read it all in Arabic, though I have read sections of it in Arabic.
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- But I've read the Quran in numerous English translations. Have you read the New Testament? Because if you haven't, why make this video?
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- I suppose that's one of the questions that I'd want to ask. Excuse me,
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- Kamal, while I demonstrate I'm probably old enough to be your father, but I want to read you something.
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- And I hope you'll hear it. That's Jesus, Mark chapter 7 verses 18 through 19.
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- And remember, you're the one who says, you follow Jesus. And Jesus declared all foods to be clean.
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- There you go. Let's do this
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- Bible thing one more time, shall we? 1 Corinthians chapter 11.
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- And when he was betrayed, took bread. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, this is my body which is for you.
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- Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way, he also took the cup after supper, saying, this cup is a new covenant in my blood.
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- Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the
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- Lord's death until he comes. Now, my friend, that cup had the fruit of the vine in it.
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- And I don't think it's absolutely necessary that one use an alcoholic drink in the
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- Lord's supper. I think you need to use the fruit of the vine. But the point is, we're not sitting around quote -unquote drinking alcohol.
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- The reason that the fruit of the vine is in the supper is because it was a part of Christ's command.
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- And you're the one telling me you do what Christ commands you to do, but you do not participate in the
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- Lord's supper. How could you? Because the Lord's supper commanded of his disciples by Jesus is intimately connected with his death upon the cross, which you deny because of 40
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- Arabic words that were written 600 years after the events. So, who is really believing
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- Jesus? The Christians who obey his commands or you who come 600 years later and say,
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- I don't think so. And just to clarify, I do love Jesus. Matter of fact, I love him more than you.
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- Because when Jesus said, do something, I actually do. Really, Kamal?
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- Jesus said to repent and believe in the gospel. You don't do that. Jesus said to do this in remembrance of me.
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- You do not do that. Jesus, in that text, was talking about remembrance of his sacrificial death, which you reject.
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- He talked about calling him Lord. You don't call him Lord. You don't look to him for eternal life.
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- You don't proclaim the gospel. You don't do the things that Jesus said to do. Now, you can look at the few words that Jesus says in the
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- Quran and say, oh, but I obey them. Well, A, there's no reason to believe that Jesus ever said those things. And B, all they are are statements of monotheism and follow the prophet.
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- So, don't pretend that you do the words of Jesus when you don't do the words of Jesus.
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- Imagine for just a moment, if someone were to take one one -thousandth of the words of Muhammad and do them, but reject 999 one -thousandths of everything that Muhammad said, would you say that person was following Muhammad?
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- Of course not. And yet, you take a few words of Jesus, sometimes completely out of context, ignore everything else he said, sometimes just saying, you never said my father when he did over and over and over again, and say, see,
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- I'm following Jesus. In fact, I love Jesus more than you. Come on, let's be honest with ourselves.
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- The Jesus of Islam and the Jesus of Christianity are very very different. And to say that you are following Jesus is to deceive yourself.
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- I don't follow Muhammad. You're not following Jesus. That's just the honest reality.
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- Ironically, when you say you're not connected with the church or the Bible, two things that are absolutely precious to Jesus Christ.
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- When he quotes from the Old Testament, he always identifies it as the very words of God, never gives a hint at any type of major corruption as so many
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- Muslims suggest. And the church, well, the church is the body of Christ. You have all this teaching in the
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- New Testament about what the church is, and you say, well, I'm not connected with the church, but I follow Jesus. Again, you can't love
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- Jesus without loving his church, which is his body. That's the reality of Jesus' own teaching.
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- And so, I love Jesus as my prophet, but Jesus did not allow anyone to view him as merely a prophet.
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- Every time someone would get comfortable with that, he would say something that they could not accept. There were people standing in front of Jesus in John chapter 8 who would have accepted him as a prophet.
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- But he says, unless you believe that I am, you will die in your sins. He doesn't leave you with the option to edit him,
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- Kamal. You must know who he is, and you must accept him for who he is.
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- To worship Jesus is not to worship an idol. If Jesus was anything less, if the Jesus of liberal
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- Christianity is an idol, you can't worship him because he wasn't truly God.
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- The Jesus of anything other than biblical Christianity would be an idol, but the Jesus of the
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- Bible, if he is indeed eternal, the creator of all things, Yahweh, come in human flesh, that's not an idol, my friend, and that is not idol worship in any way, shape, or form.
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- It doesn't really matter if they don't let him in because Jesus wouldn't even want to be in the presence of people worshiping an idol of him.
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- There is a lot that masquerades under the title of Christian worship that is not pleasing before God.
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- There's no question of that. And your video had pictures of big Jesuses and giant
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- Jesuses and all that kind of stuff, and the Bible never commands us to do those things. But, my friend, the worship of Jesus that is found in the
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- New Testament, you have not dealt with. In fact, I have no reason to believe that you even are familiar with it.
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- And given that this has taken so much time, I'm just going to go ahead and wrap up here and address the rest of your comments, at least the important part of the comments that you presented.
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- You said you would not believe that Jesus would want to even be in the presence of people worshiping an idol of him.
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- Well, if they're not in him, if they are not followers of his, that is, united with him by repentance and faith, then you're right, he would not want to be amongst them.
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- But the problem is you don't seem to understand what it means to be a Christian. You don't seem to understand what it means to, ironically, bow in submission to the lordship of Jesus Christ.
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- We believe that we are in him. We've been united with him through the power of the
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- Father that the Spirit of God dwelling within us is evidence of our being united with Christ.
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- So he becomes our life. He's not just something out there that we would idolize.
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- He is our all in all. That is the message of the New Testament. Whether you've read it or not or understand it or not, it doesn't matter.
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- That is the message of the New Testament. And if Jesus is who we say he was, the second person of the
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- Trinity become flesh, Yahweh in human flesh, how could he be anything else? How could he be anything less than that?
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- All you have is a mere resul for your Jesus. We have the real historical
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- Jesus. Our Jesus goes back to the Jesus of Nazareth, the
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- Jesus who walked the streets of Jerusalem, who died upon Calvary's cross and rose again the third day.
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- That's who our Jesus is. And so, when you say that and you know that just because you love
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- Jesus doesn't mean he feels the same way about your affection. Well, the only heart,
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- Kamal, that can really love Jesus in repentance and faith is a heart that has been touched by the
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- Spirit of God. A heart that knows its own sin and its need of a
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- Savior. And the great tragedy, my friend, is that your faith has denied you a
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- Savior. Your faith has denied you that mediator, that God -man, that one who can be a faithful high priest, that one who can bear the wrath of the
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- Father against sin, and yet, as the perfect human being, understand my weakness.
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- He is perfect in all ways. And your faith has denied him to you.
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- So you may say you love Jesus, but as I've said, you don't love the Jesus of the Bible. You don't love the
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- Jesus who actually existed. You love a Jesus that was created 600 years after the real
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- Jesus existed to fit into a religious system that could not allow for the fullness of the revelation of the triune
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- God in Scripture. And I don't believe that your prophet knew what was in the Bible.
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- I think he was ignorant of it. It's not that he knew it and rejected it. He just didn't know it. And so the real question is, now that you know the truth, what are you going to do with it?
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- I mean, the honest person goes, well, okay, I misrepresented the Christians in this video.
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- I really did. And so, shouldn't you take the time to maybe read the entirety of the New Testament like many of us have done in reading all of the
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- Quran? I mean, I'm reading through Sahih al -Bukhari. I'm reading through all sorts of other things, too.
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- I'm not saying you have to go read every systematic theology or anything else, though I'd be happy to provide to you, especially some of that information that might help you.
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- But at least the New Testament. Read it. Maybe get a good study edition so at least you know a little something about the background, who the writers were, who they're writing to.
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- Things like that. And when you do, obviously what my hope and prayer is, is you'll discover that it's very different than what you've been taught.
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- The Jesus in the New Testament is nothing like the Jesus of the Quran. And my prayer is that when you encounter
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- Him and you hear His words of life, His gracious words of eternal life and forgiveness, that God, by His Spirit, will reveal to you the glory of Jesus Christ.
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- That truly is my desire for you and for everyone else who's taken the time to watch this video.