Scheduled to meet over the weekend of November 13-14, 2010, were religious groups in Detroit, Atlanta, Houston, and Seattle. The goal of these meetings was to find ways to unite Christianity and Islam. The idea of this merger, called Chrislam, has been promoted by such well-known figures as Rick “The Purpose-Driven Life” Warren and Robert “The Crystal Cathedral” Schuller. Anyone who knows anything about either Christianity or Islam would know the utter futility of such a combination because the two world religions disagree with each other on the most fundamental of teachings—ones which cannot be compromised.
The End of Revelation
First of all, the Bible claims that it contains God’s final revelation to man. God had revealed His word through the centuries in a variety of ways. Jesus, how-ever, brought God’s final covenant with Him. He said that mankind would be judged by His words (John 12:48). He did not originate His own message but obtained it from the Father (John 12:49-50). On the night He was betrayed, Jesus told the eleven that He would send another Comforter, the Holy Spirit (John 14:25-26), whom He also called the Spirit of Truth (John 16:12-13). In these verses Jesus made it clear that the Holy Spirit would do three things for the apostles.
1. He would bring to remembrance all the things that Jesus had taught them.
2. He would show them things to come.
3. He would guide them into all truth (teach them all things).
Such were the promises that Jesus made to His apostles. The Word of God is always dependable. The apostle Peter later wrote that God had given them “all things that pertain to life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3). Jude exhorted brethren “to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints” (4). Thus, the apostles were taught all things and guided into all truth; furthermore, they revealed all truth to the church or Jude could not have encouraged brethren to contend for the once-for-all-delivered faith.
Now, if all truth has been revealed, then Muhammad did not have anything additional to add. Neither did Joseph Smith. Modern Pentecostals and charismatics do not have any additional Word from God either, despite their claims. Periodically, someone will insist that things that are spoken and written today are just as inspired as the Bible, but when asked for that inspired message, they become suddenly silent. Since they are so positive about these revelations, why not put them in a book and see how many people think their “Divine wisdom” is worth buying?
Both possibilities are not an option. Either the Holy Spirit taught the apostles all things, or He did not. Either all truth was revealed to them, or it was not. The Bible says it was. Muhammad, Joseph Smith, and Pentecostals say it was not. Christians are going to believe the Scriptures. Therefore, we cannot believe that Muhammad was a spokesman for God, since all truth had already been revealed 500 years earlier. If there were no other reason against merging the two religions, this one would be sufficient.
In other words, the Qur’an cannot be a “part three” of God’s revelation to man. If it were, then Jesus would have erred in what He told the apostles. Furthermore, the Holy Spirit would have erred by inspiring Peter and Jude to say that the Holy Scriptures were complete and finished. Either God was mistaken, or He changed His mind—both of which are impossible. God does not make mistakes, which would reflect on His omniscience, as would changing His mind. Did He not know that He would reverse Himself?
Jesus
Students of the Word have also long taught that the Bible does not contradict itself. One of the evidences of the Bible being Divine is its great harmony, despite being written over a 1600 year period by 40 different authors. Man could not produce, without Divine assistance, such marvelous unity. However, if the Qur’an were inspired of God, that unity would be dissolved faster than an ice cube on a triple-digit temperature day in Texas. The Qur’an contradicts crucial teachings about Jesus.
Muhammad is actually confused about the birth of Christ. Mary was held in high regard during his life-time; so he teaches the virgin birth but then also denies it. One of his Suras is titled “Mary.” In it Gabriel says that he took the form of a man and spoke with Mary.
He said: “I am only a messenger of thy Lord, that I may bestow on thee a holy son.”
She said: “How shall I have a son, when man hath never touched me? And I am not unchaste.”
He said: “So shall it be. Thy Lord hath said: ‘Easy is this with me’; and we will make him a sign to mankind, and a mercy from us. For it is a thing decreed.” And she conceived him, and retired with him to a far-off place (Sura 19:19-22).
J. M. Rodwell, one of many who have translated the Qur’an, wrote a footnote to explain this text:
It is quite clear from this passage and from verse 36, that Muhammad believed Jesus to have been conceived by an act of the divine will (119).
Although Muhammad credited God with creating Jesus by an act of Divine will, he could not bring him-self to believe that Jesus was actually God’s Son: “It beseemeth not God to beget a son” (Sura 19:36). Most will easily see that the previous statement and this one are contradictory and confusing. Jesus exists by an act of Divine will, but God did not beget Him! Does anyone even understand such a position?
For Christians, the virgin birth proves the Deity of Christ; yet Muhammad denies that God begot Him. That virgin birth was prophesied in Isaiah 7:14: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.” Matthew, in no uncertain terms, declared that Jesus was the fulfillment of this prophecy:
Now all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying:
“Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call Him Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us” (1:22-23).
Muhammad did honor and revere the Lord’s moth-er, as shown by the following sentiments: “O Mary! Verily hath God chosen thee, and purified thee, and chosen thee above the women of the worlds!” (Sura 3:37). “O Mary! Verily God announceth to thee the Word from Him: His name shall be, Messiah Jesus the son of Mary…” (Sura 3:40). Muhammad even at-tributes purity to Mary, saying that she “kept her maidenhood.” He also acknowledges that God breathed His Spirit into her (Sura 66:12). If Mary was devout and did not know man, then how did Jesus get into her womb? Even if God merely spoke Him there (Sura 19:36), He would still be begotten of God.
Yet the Qur’an emphatically denies His Deity and teaches that Jesus is only a man: “Jesus is no more than a servant whom we favoured, and proposed as an instance of divine power to the children of Israel” (Sura 43:59). This contradictory description continues with the affirmation that anyone who would consider Jesus as more than a man—in other words, that “God hath begotten a Son”—is wrong. “No knowledge of this have either they or their fathers!
A grievous saying to come out of their mouths! They speak no other than a lie” (Sura 18:3-4).
In fact, Muhammad labels anyone who believes what Christians believe about Jesus as an infidel. He adds: “Had God desired to have had a son, he had surely chosen what he pleased out of his own creation” (Sura 39:5-6). The founder of the Muslim religion evidently failed to consider that, if God had chosen either an angel or any other created being to be His Son, such an individual would be a contradiction in terms. He cannot be both already created and be Deity at the same time. Muhammad’s thinking is quite muddled on this point; nevertheless he vigorously opposes the Deity of Jesus.
…Christians say, “The Messiah is a Son of God.” Such the sayings in their mouths! They resemble the sayings of the infidels of old! God do battle with them! How are they misguided! They take their teachers, and their monks, and the Messiah, the son of Mary, for Lords beside God, though bidden to worship one God only. There is no God but He! (Sura 9:30-31).
It is not true that Christians believe Jesus is a Son of God (although Jehovah’s Witnesses believe so); He is the Son of God. We did not originate this idea. Jesus Himself first taught that fact, where He equated being able to forgive sins (something only God can do) with being able to heal (Mark 2:1-12). The Father even claimed Jesus as His Son on the Mount of Transfiguration (Matt. 17:1-5). The Deity of Christ is the foundation of the church (Matt. 16:16-18), and His confession of that fact was the very reason that the Jews put Him to death (Mark 14:61-62). They understood immediately that Jesus made Himself equal with God (John 5:18). Muhammad, however, did not comprehend what is so abundantly clear in the New Testament and so crucial to the Christian religion.
Muhammad decided that Christians are infidels, who will burn in the fires of hell—if they maintain the Deity of Christ. The problem is that no one can actual-ly become a Christian without confessing this fact (Acts 8:37; Rom. 10:9-10). All he insisted upon was that Christians renounce the most fundamental truth ever imparted to this world—that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.
The founder of Islam denied that Jesus was any-thing but a man. Muhammad consents to the idea that Jesus was a great prophet—but definitely not the only begotten Son of God. That view, however, cannot be sustained. If Jesus was a prophet (and He was), and He taught that He was the Son of God (which He did), then we have another contradiction. Jesus cannot be a true prophet if He lied about being the Son of God. Without question Jesus claimed to be Divine, even saying: “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30). Christianity can never compromise with Islam on this—the most fundamental doctrine it teaches.
The Resurrection
If Muhammad did not believe Jesus to be the Son of God, then it stands to reason that he also denied the resurrection, which is the ultimate proof for all that Jesus taught and claimed concerning Himself. This assault occurs in a passage in which “the prophet” is explaining why the Jews are condemned:
And for their unbelief,—and for their having spoken against Mary a grievous calumny,—And for their saying, “Verily we have slain the Messiah, Jesus the son of Mary, an Apostle of God.” Yet they slew him not, and they crucified him not, but they had only his likeness. …they did not really slay him, but God took him up to Himself… (Sura 4:155-56).
What??? If the Jews did not actually crucify Jesus, then why did they ask for guards to watch the tomb where His body had been placed? And why does the New Testament refer so often to the crucified Jesus? In Peter’s momentous sermon on the Day of Pentecost the apostle reminded the Jews that they had “taken by lawless hands” and “crucified” Jesus (Acts 2:23). Later he reiterated this truth when he proclaimed: “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:36). Peter, inspired of the Holy Spirit, stated twice that the Jews had crucified Christ. They could not and did not object to this charge against them; they knew it was true and never denied it.
That this truth is at the heart of the Christian message is obvious from what Paul reminded the Corinthians: “For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2). He adds that if the Jews had known what they were doing, “they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” (1 Cor. 2:8). The apostle John also made mention of the fact that Jesus was crucified (Rev. 11:8). The fact of the crucifixion is well documented throughout the New Testament. Anyone remotely familiar with it would not have made the blunder that Muhammad did when he contradicted it.
Furthermore, if God just took Jesus up to heaven, then what wounds did the Son show to Thomas (John 20:27-28)? And if they just crucified His “likeness,” then what are we to make of the promise of Revelation 1:7: “Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye shall see Him, and they also who pierced Him…”? Exactly how does one pierce a likeness? And what about David’s prophecy that Jesus’ body would not be left in the grave, where His flesh would see corruption (Acts 2:30-35)? Was a mere “likeness” buried? Jesus is the firstfruits of the dead (1 Cor. 15:20). In other words, He actually died and was resurrected from the dead. He is our living hope (1 Pet. 1:3).
God had the power to take Jesus to heaven and spare Him the crucifixion, but it would have invalidated His plan to save mankind. The contention that a likeness was on the cross is unintelligible. Who assured the thief that he would that very day be with Jesus in Paradise—a likeness of the Lord? Who thirsted—a likeness? When the spear was cast into Jesus side and blood and water came forth, was it just a likeness of blood and water (John 19:34)? To even ask these questions shows the preposterous nature of Muhammad’s theory.
Conclusion
Muhammad has greatly erred concerning the Deity of Jesus. He argued both for and against the virgin birth. He denied the death of Christ on the cross for our sins, His burial, and the resurrection of Christ, all of which form the heart of the Gospel message (1 Cor. 15:1-4; Rom. 6:3-5). Islam cannot deny these attested facts and be a true religion. Instead the Qur’an perpetuates the legends of Muhammad’s day and previous times, thus putting the word of men above the Word of God.
And upon what evidence should Christians reject the Deity of Jesus (and the New Testament, which is thoroughly saturated with this teaching)? Are we to be satisfied with the assurances of a poet born half a millennium after the New Testament was written and validated? What confirmation of his claim to be speaking for God does he provide? He gives us no miracles or evidence of any kind. Therefore, the integrity of the New Testament remains intact.
Muhammad is not a prophet sent from God, and the Qur’an is not inspired of God. This statement is not born of cultural differences or prejudice—but the facts derived from investigation. God cannot present the Deity of Jesus in the first century and then take it all back five centuries later. All must adhere to what the Holy Bible sets forth. Since the Bible and the Qur’an contradict, there can be no Chrislam. [Some material is from a manuscript written for the Power lectures in 2005 (441-45).]