story, does not tell us the reason for Jesus tempting the Devil by walking alone
in the lion’s den. For we do not expect the Jews to miss a golden opportunity to
get even with Jesus. Perhaps, he was emboldened by the manner in which he had
literally whipped the Jews single-handed in the Temple, and upset the tables of
the money changers at the beginning of his ministry (John 2:15). 24. "The
Jews gathered around him, saying, "How long will you keep us in suspense?
If you are the Christ, tell us plainly." (John 10:24). They surrounded him.
Brandishing their fingers in his face, they began accusing him and provoking
him; saying that he had not put forth his claim plainly enough, clearly enough.
That he was talking ambiguously. They were trying to work themselves into a
frenzy to assault him. In fact, their real complaint was that they did not like
his method of preaching, his invectives, the manner in which he condemned them
for their formalism, their ceremonialism, their going for the letter of the law
and forgetting the spirit. But Jesus could not afford to provoke them any
further there were too many and they were itching for a fight. Discretion is the
better part of valor. In a conciliatory spirit, befitting the occasion: 25.
"Jesus answered, I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do
in my Father’s name speak for me," 26. "but you do not believe because
you are not my sheep." (John 10:25-26). Jesus rebuts the false charge of
his enemies that he was ambiguous in his claims to being the Messiah that they
were waiting for. He says that he did tell them clearly enough, yet they would
not listen to him, but: 27. "My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and
they follow me." 28. "I give them eternal life, and they shall never
perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand." 29. "My Father, who
has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my
Father’s hand.." (John 10:29). How can anyone be so blind as not to see the
exactness of the ending of the last two verses. But spiritual blinkers are more
impervious than physical defects. He is telling the Jews and recording for
posterity, the real unity or relationship between the Father and the son. The
most crucial verse: 30. "I and the Father are one." (John 10:30). One
in what? In their Omniscience? In their Nature? In their Omnipotence? No! One in
purpose! That once a believer has accepted faith, the Messenger sees to it that
he remains in faith, and God Almighty also sees to it that he remains in faith.
This is the purpose of the "Father" and the "son" and the
"Holy Ghost" and of every man and every woman of faith. Let the same
John explain his Gnostic mystic verbiage. "That they all may be one as
thou. Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us…"
"I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in
one…"(John 17:20-22) If Jesus is "one" with God, and if that
"oneness" makes him God, then the traitor Judas, and the doubting
Thomas, and the satanic Peter, plus the other nine who deserted him when he was
most in need are God(s), because the same "oneness" which he claimed
with God in John 10:30, now he claims for all "who forsook him and
fled" (Mark 14:50). All "ye of little faith" (Matthew 8:26). All
"O faithless and perverse generation" (Luke 9:41). Where and when will
the Christian blasphemy end? The expression "I and my Father are one,"
was very innocent, meaning nothing more than a common purpose with God. But the
Jews were looking for trouble and any excuse will not do, therefore, 31.
"Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him," 32. "but Jesus
said to them, I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of
these do you stone me?" 33. "The Jews answered him, saying : ‘For a
good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a
man, makest thyself a God.’" (John 10:31-33). In verse 24 above the Jews
falsely alleged that Jesus was talking ambiguously. When that charge was ably
refuted, they then accused him of blasphemy which is like treason in the
spiritual realm. So they say that Jesus is claiming to be God "I and the
Father are one". The Christians agree with the Jews in this that Jesus did
make such a claim; but differ in that it was not blasphemy because the
Christians say that he was God and was entitled to own up to his Divinity. The
Christians and the Jews are both agreed that the utterance is serious. To one as
an excuse for good "redemption", and to the other as an excuse for
good "riddance". Between the two, let the poor Jesus die. But Jesus
refuses to co-operate in this game, so: 34. "Jesus answered them, Is it not
written in your Law, `I have said you are gods’?" 35. "If he called
them `gods,’ to whom the word of God came –and the Scripture cannot be
broken–," 36. "what about the one whom the Father set apart as his
very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because
I said, `I am God’s Son’?" (John 10:34-36). Why "Your Law"? He is
a bit sarcastic in verse 34, but in any event, why does he say: "Your
Law"? Is it not also his Law? Didn’t he say: "Think not that I am come
to destroy the Law of the prophets: I am come not to destroy, but to fulfill
(the Law). For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass away, one Jot
or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the Law, till all be fulfilled."
(Matthew 5:1718). "You are Gods" "You are gods:" He is
obviously quoting from the 82nd Psalm , verse 6, "I have said, ye are gods:
and all of you are the children of the most High." Jesus, continues:
"If he (i.e. God Almighty) called them gods, unto whom the word of God came
(meaning that the prophets of God were called ‘gods’) and the scripture cannot
be broken…" (John 10:35), in other words he is saying: "you can’t
contradict me!" Jesus knows his Scripture; he speaks with authority; and he
reasons with his enemies that: "If good men, holy men, prophets of God are
being addressed as ‘gods’ in our Books of Authority, with which you find no
fault, then why do you take exception to me? When the only claim I make for
myself is far inferior in our language, viz. ‘A son of God’ as against others
being called ‘gods’ by God Himself. Even if I (Jesus) described myself as ‘god’
in our language, according to Hebrew usage, you could find no fault with
me." This is the plain reading of Christian Scripture. I am giving no
interpretations of my own or some esoteric meaning to words! Chapter Seven :
"In The Beginning" "Where does Jesus say: ‘I am God,’ or ‘I am
equal to God,’ or ‘Worship me’?" I asked the Rev. Morris again. He took a
deep breath and took another try. He quoted the most oft-repeated verse of the
Christian Bible – John 1:1. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word
was with God, and the Word was God." Please note, these are not the words
of Jesus. They are the words of John (or whoever wrote them). Acknowledged by
every erudite Christian scholar of the Bible as being the words of another Jew,
Philo of Alexandria, who had written them even before John and Jesus were born.
And Philo claimed no divine inspiration for them. No matter what mystical
meaning that Philo had woven around these words (which our John has
plagiarized), we will accept them for what they are worth. Greek not Hebrew
Since the manuscripts of the 27 Books of the New Testament are in Greek, a
Christian sect has produced its own version and has even changed the name of
this selection of 27 Books to Christian Greek Scriptures ! I asked the Reverend
whether he knew Greek? "Yes," he said, He had studied Greek for 5
years before qualification. I asked him what was the Greek word for
"God" the first time it occurs in the quotation "and the Word was
With God"? He kept staring, but didn’t answer. So I said, the word was
Hotheos, which literally means "The God". Since the European
(including the North American) has evolved a system of using capital letters to
start a proper noun and small letters for common nouns, we would accept his
giving a capital "G" for God; in other words Hotheos is rendered
"the god" which in turn is rendered "God". "Now tell
me, what is the Greek word for "God" in the second occurrence in your
quotation – "and the Word was God"? The Reverend still kept silent.
Not that he did not know Greek, or that he had lied, but he knew more than that;
the game was up. I said : "the word was Tontheos, which means "a
god". According to your own system of translating you aught to have spelt
this word ‘God’ a second time with a small ‘g’ i.e. ‘god’, and not ‘God’ with a
capital ‘G’; in other words Tontheos is rendered "a god". Both of
these, "god" or "a god" are correct. I told the Reverend:
"But in 2 Corinthians 4:4 you have dishonestly reversed your system by
using a small ‘g’ when spelling ‘God’ "(and the devil is) the god of this
world." The Greek word for "the god" is Hotheos the same as in
John 1:1. "Why have you not been consistent in your translations ?"
"If Paul was inspired to write hotheos the God for the Devil, why don’t you
use that capital ‘G’?" And in the Old Testament, the Lord said unto Moses:
"See, I have made thee a god to Pharoah" (Exodus 7:1). "Why do
you use a small ‘g’ for ‘God’ when referring to Moses instead of a capital ‘G’
as you do for a mere word ‘Word’ – "and the Word was God."? "Why
do you do this? Why do you play fast and loose with the Word of God?" I
asked the reverend. He said, "I didn’t do it." I said, "I know,
but I am talking about the vested interests of Christianity, who are hell-bent
to deify Christ, by using capital letters here and small letters there, to
deceive the unwary masses who think that every letter, every comma and full stop
and the capital and small letters were dictated by God (Capital ‘G’
here!)." Chapter Eight : What is Left Three Topics It can hardly be
expected in a small publication of this nature that one can deal with all the
references about Jesus, peace and blessings be upon him, interspersed throughout
the fifteen different chapters of the Holy Quran. What we can do is to give a
quick glance to the index page reproduced from the Quran earlier in this letter.
Here we find three significant topics, not dealt with yet in our discussion: Not
crucified, (4:157). Message and miracles,(5:113, 19:30-33). Prophesied Ahmed,
(61:6). Regarding the first topic, "not crucified", I had written a
booklet under the heading "Was Christ Crucified?" some twenty years
ago. The book is presently out of print, and further, it needs updating, for
much water has passed under the bridge since it first saw the light of day. As
regards the third topic mentioned above, "Prophesied Ahmed", I propose
to write a booklet under the title "Muhammed, salla Allah u alihi wa sallam,
the Natural Successor to Christ" after I have completed "Was Christ
Crucified?", I hope to complete both these projects soon, Insha Allah!
(Arabic: "By the will of Allah"). The Way to Salvation We are now left
with Topic No. 2, "Message and miracles". The message of Jesus was as
simple and straight forward as that of all his predecessors as well as that of
his successor Muhammed, salla Allah u alihi wa sallam, namely "Believe in
God and keep His Commandments". For the God who inspired His Messengers, is
an unvarying God and He is consistent: He is not the "author of
confusion" (1 Corinthian14:33). A law abiding Jew comes to Jesus seeking
eternal life or salvation. In the words of Matthew: "And behold, one came
and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have
eternal life? And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good
but one, that is God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the
commandments." (Matthew 19:16-17) You will agree, that if you or I were
that Jew, we would infer from these words that, according to Jesus, peace and
blessings be upon him, salvation was guaranteed, provided we kept the
commandments without the shedding of any innocent blood. Unless, of course Jesus
was speaking with tongue in cheek; knowing full well that his own
"forthcoming redemptive sacrifice", his "vicarious
atonement" (?) for the sins of mankind, was not many days hence. Why would
Jesus give him the impossible solution of keeping the Law (as the Christian
alleges) when an easier way was in the offing? Or did he not know what was going
to happen, that he was to be crucified ? Was there not a contract between Father
and Son, before the worlds began, for his redeeming blood to be shed? Had he
lost his memory? No! There was no such fairy tale agreement as far as Jesus was
concerned. He knew that there is only one way to God, and that is, as Jesus
said, "keep the Commandments"! Miracles, What They Prove Regarding his
miracles: the Holy Quran does not go into any detail about blind Bartimus or
about Lazarus or any other miracle, except that he (Jesus) defended his mother
as an infant in his mother’s arms. The Muslim has no hesitation about accepting
the most wondrous of his miracles – even that of reviving the dead. But that
does not make Jesus a "God" or the begotten "Son of God" as
understood by the Christian. Miracles do not prove even prophethood, or whether
a man is true or false. Jesus himself said: "For there shall arise false
Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch
that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect."(Matthew
24:24) If false prophets and false Christs can perform miraculous feats, then
these wonders or miracles do not prove even the geniuses or otherwise, of a
prophet. John the Baptist, according to Jesus, was the greatest of the Israelite
prophets. Greater than Moses, David, Solomon, Isaiah and all, not excluding
himself: in his own words: "Verily I say unto you, among them that are born
of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist…" (Matthew
11:11) Not excluding Jesus: because, was he not born of a woman – Mary? The
Baptist, greater than "all", yet he performed not a single miracle!
Miracles are no standards of judging truth and falsehood. But in his
childishness, the might Christian insists that Jesus is God because he gave life
back to the dead. Will reviving the dead make others God too? This perplexes
him, because he has mentally blocked himself from the miracles of others who
outshine Jesus in his own Bible. For example, according to his false standard:
Moses is greater than Jesus because he put life back into a