Is Jesus God?

Have you ever met a man with such personal magnetism that he is always the center of attention? Possibly his personality or intelligence--but something about him is enigmatic. Well, that’s the way it was two thousand years ago with Jesus Christ. But it wasn’t merely Jesus’ personality that captivated his followers. Those who witnessed his words and life tell us that even though he was human, he was remarkably different from all other men.

Eyewitnesses tell us that Jesus was a man who grew physically, ate, slept, felt pain, and eventually died (as claimed by some people). Their written accounts also describe Jesus as walking on water, calming storms, healing the blind and lame, and even raising the dead. Furthermore, they tell us that Jesus appeared alive to them after they watched him "die" on the cross.

Jesus’ greatness was obvious to all those who saw and heard him. But, whereas most great people simply fade into history books, Jesus of Nazareth is still the focus of numerous books and media controversy.

According to Jesus, you and I are special, part of God’s great plan for us, with him as the carrier of God's message. These and other "claims" like them stunned everyone who heard them uttered; that caused him to be viewed as a threat by both the Roman authorities and the Jewish hierarchy. Although he was an "outsider" with no credentials or political power base, within three years, Jesus changed the world for the next 20 centuries.

Although some have wondered if Jesus really existed, even most non-Christian scholars acknowledge him as a real person. The great non-Christian historian, H. G. Wells, speaks ranked Jesus as the most influential person ever. Other great leaders have left an impact-but nothing like that "unknown" carpenter from Nazareth. What was it about Jesus Christ that made the difference? Was he merely a great man, or something more? Some believe he was merely a great moral teacher; others believe he was simply the leader of the world’s greatest religion. But many, including former skeptics, believe something far more. 

To come to conclusion, Scholars' research have indicated that Jesus Christ is a person. However, the research did not view Jesus as he is supposed to be viewed. I will provide the Islamic view about Jesus Christ as follows:

Jesus is human.

- Jesus is not God.

- Jesus' miracles that he raises the dead and healing the blind and lame are true and have happened, but that doesn't make him God. As a messenger of God, he was supported by God and so God has "provided" him with miracles so people can believe he was send by God himself.

- Jesus has never claimed to be God. People might have either misunderstood or falsified his sayings.

No offense intended, I am just providing you with the Islamic perspective on Jesus Christ as a prophet and a messenger of God. 

P.S. The topic is taken from a research post and edited in a way as to delete anything offensive towards Jesus.

arabhamid

Maybe the koran and the bible don't describe it in the same way, but in the bible it's said that even though the Jews disobeyed him after their liberation, he stuck to them and protected them-like a father who doesn't abandon his children, even though they sometimes behave bad. Other than that the bible-as far as I know it-doesn't say that this bond between God and the Jews was only temporary.

I thank you and  dr.mo for your information. Even though I don't agree on everything Islam teaches, I still consider it to be interesting to learn about other religions. Learning about other religious opinions makes me think about whether I'm a true Christian or just someone who thoughtlessly adopted her parents religion.

arabhamid

"Do you see they were protected by God ?" I'll answer with a counterquestion: Do you think that horrible things only happen to people God dislikes? I've heard about a woman who prayed a lot, who went to church every time she could or in fine; who always obeyed the rules of God and still she got burned as a "witch" centuries ago.

I only quoted what I know about the Bible and I know that there are different forms of bibles and that since it got translated in so many languages there may be some words that aren't the same as in the original book, but I think that all in all the message it tells us still got preserved. Other than that I agree on what you say: If I remember correctly even Jesus said that being a righteous person, living the principle of charity and love is more important than being extremely religious, always trying to obey all the rules.

dr.mo

I know that one actually can't be "blamed" for being Christian, Jew or Muslim, but by this statement I actually meant to say that in my country there are people who really don't give that much about religion and still claim to be religious-because they at least celebrate Christian festivals and pay church tax. Also I know a girl who after learning about Islam decided to convert to this religion.

arabhamid

Sorry! Actually I meant that the Jews were the first people protected by God and secondly Christianity and Islam are partly based on this religion. It's written in the bible that they are the chosen people-as I said before-and as you said before; bad things don't only happen to people God dislikes and thus you can't really say that what happened to them during history is an evidence for God disliking them or something.

"Jews during history couldn't prove anything, all what happened to them prove that God get anger from them, from what they did and keep doing."

But I think you agreed on the idea that whether or not someone gets discriminated against on earth or even mistreated doesn't say anything about whether or not God dislikes him or her. If one does think that the Jews haf such an awful history because God wanted them to suffer, doesn't that partly justify what the nazis did?

On the other hand you may be right saying that we cannot prove whether or not they are something special-just as we can't prove whether or not Jesus Christ is the incarnation of God.

arabhamid

"if Christians believe that Jews are chosen people, why did they discriminate them?" In the Middle Ages the chuch justified the murder of Jews by saying that Jesus Christ's death is to be blamed on this people. The nazis however didn't justify it by religion, but they were against pretty much every ethnic minority living in Germany and as you know they considered most foreign people to be less wort than the Germans.

I believe that maybe God just doesn't want to intervene in the things we do,-even if people commit horrible crimes like genocide-because he gave us our free will to be either in favor of him or against him. If one does something against God's will, he'll reveive his punishment in afterlife. That would explain why he even lets his chosen people suffer.

arabhamid

In the bible it's said that it was faithful Jews who back then wanted Jesus Christ to be crucified, because they didn't think of Jesus as a prophet or something, but they considered the things he said to be some kind of blasphemy. (It was about 2000 years ago!)

About your second question: Yes, it is written in the Old Testament that the Jews are something special, because God showed himself to them first, freed them from Egypt and lead them to Israel. You asked me whether the bible is correct and again I answer with some counterquestions. Would you be a Muslim if you thought that the koran was wrong? Would a Jew be a real Jew if he thought that the authors of the thora were wrong?

arabhamid

Yes, it's still possible that the authots of the bible made some mistakes and put personal experiences in it aswell. Also they may have made some little mistakes, while trying to translate this book, but I just believe that all in all the original message got preserved well enough.

About you saying "that happened 2500 or 3000 years ago": The bible says that till the end of time not one of God's words shall get forgotten and I guess that means that this promis of his still counts.

arabhamid

Well, you believe in the things the koran says, because you are Muslim!

I believe in the things the bible says because I'm Christian!

The Jews believe in the things the thora says because they are Jewish.

Atheists don't believe in either of them, because they are atheists.

Do you know the ring parable? Neither of us knows which religion is the right one. Just as you say that the authors of the bible put their own ideas in it and thus also wrote things against the will of God, I could say that perhaps Mohammed too put some of his own human thoughts in the koran. I won't, because I don't know.

dr.mo

I grew up with this religion and thus I think this was the first religion I learned about. When I later learned about other religions like Judaism or Islam I seriously started thinking if it wouldn't make more sense to believe in these religions. However I always came to the point that for me it's easier to believe in the bible. On the other hand a friend of mine grew up as a Christian aswell, but one day she decided that believing in the things the koran teaches would be easier for her. Thus she converted to Islam.

dr.mo

I already found it and I thank you for your interesting piece of information about Islam. I really enjoyed reading it, but let me be honest: I don't think that there is anything in the world that would make me change my religious opinion. I'm not stubborn, but I just can't let go of my original faith. Still I consider Islam and Judaism to be good religions. (After all I think that every religion that teaches us how to live in peace is a good religion.)