It is well-known that Christianity has more holes than Swiss cheese. This is why Christians can end up contradicting themselves and inadvertently disproving their own religion while attempting to defend it. Case in point: Ken Temple, while attempting to show that the gospels are reliable “eyewitness” accounts of Jesus’ life, ended up contradicting himself and disproving the gospels:
Notice how Temple tried to get out of the conundrum he was in by simply arguing that since the gospels DO report that the High Priest had “torn his clothes” and accused Jesus of “blasphemy”, despite the fact that he had no reason to, then the gospels MUST be right. In other words, he offers a circular argument for the gospels’ historical reliability.
Let’s use an analogy to show how absurd Temple’s argument is. Recently, the world celebrated the 75th anniversary (May 8) of “VE” day (“Victory in Europe”, marking the surrender of the Nazis to the Allies, including Communist Russia). Now, suppose we found a book purportedly written in the 1940s by an “eyewitness” which claimed that Russia rejected Communism and converted to fascism at the end of World War II. Shortly thereafter, another book written by a different individual is also found and corroborates to some extent the first book, but both are anonymous. Supporters of the books zealously defend their authenticity, despite the overwhelming evidence that Communist Russia not only hated fascism but remained a Communist nation for almost 50 years more. It is well-known that “Communism” and “fascism” were two competing ideologies which sought the destruction of the other, just as it is well-known that saying someone was the “son of God” or the “Messiah” was not regarded as “blasphemy” by 1st-century CE Jews. Yet, believers in the anonymous gospels and the anonymous post-WWII books maintain that the Jews MUST have accused Jesus of blasphemy and that Russia MUST have converted to fascism, respectively, because the books say so. But history says otherwise. Who would you believe?
Reblogged this on Blogging Theology.
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My question would be why it matters so much to prove another faith wrong? Is there not room enough for everyone to worship (or not) as they please?
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We want Christians to go the heaven, not hell. They can believe what they want but they will regret it on the day of Judgement and then they’ll probably ask why no one warned them. Then we can say that we did. You just didn’t accept the truth.
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And they’ll make the same argument in response, and it will never end.
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True, but that’s the point of argumentation. It should be based on evidence. We both believe in the day of Judgement. So it all comes down to which religion is correct, because they both cannot be, though you could argue that both could be wrong.
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Forgive me for being blunt here, but a lot of the arguments seem framed more about rubbing the other side’s nose in why they’re wrong, rather than a desire to save souls. I understand that this is a passionate topic, but pushing people, especially about deeply cherished beliefs, usually only encourages them to push back.
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You’re right, and mostly it’s the Muslims pushing back. If you see the toxic attitude, especially among Christians, towards Islam, you could understand why we like to “rub the other side’s nose”. There is a two-pronged offensive here:
1. We are making fun of the trolls like Ken Temple and don’t really care whether they believe or not, and,
2. We want other people, who are sincere, to see the facts and hopefully be saved.
My hope is sincere Christians who read these posts will eventually come around to accepting Islam. But Allah knows best and it is Allah who guides.
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It will end though, on the day of Judgement. 😉
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I’m sure Christians would argue they are the ones pushing back, on the receiving end of toxic behaviour from Muslims. There will never be much hope of converting one another when the efforts are filled with so much hate and anger, which is what I observe from both groups.
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Christians would be lying. Just look at all the evangelists making hundreds of thousands or even millions from speaking engagements and donations: the Caner brothers, Ravi Zacharias (deceased), Nabeel Qureshi (deceased), David Wood, Brigitte Gabriel, Robert Spencer etc.
How many Muslims do you know who get that amount of coverage and funding attacking Christianity?
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Clearly there are problems within the realm of Christianity, just as with Islam, Judaism, and every organised religion in some way shape or form. There are problems in the form of militant atheists too. Which is why it would be better not to poke the bear at all, wouldn’t it?
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No, I would go ahead and poke the bear and lure it into a trap, especially since the bear tried to eat me.
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And what if you get bitten because you provoked it? Who wins here? No one is. You are not going to change the minds of devout Christians, least of all by insulting their beliefs.
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But we didn’t provoke it. It attacked us. As long as I can trap it so that it doesn’t bother me again or other people, then why wouldn’t I risk getting bitten? It’s better than being eaten!
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From the bear’s point of view, you’re the aggressor. And it will fight to defend itself.
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When the bear tried to eat me, I’m the aggressor? 🙄
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To the bear, you’ve been provoking it from the start. It’s trying to eat you because it’s fed up with you prodding it. Understand? This is a circular position – to Christians, *you* are in fact the bear.
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I only insult them when they insult me. I don’t believe in turning the other cheek. And again, I don’t care if they convert or not. I hope that others, who are sincerely seeking the true religion, will come to see that the religion they are following is wrong, and in some ways, evil. Worshiping a man as “God” is definitely evil, even if the religion had nice teachings like love your neighbor.
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But what makes that belief ‘evil’? The very word implies it is dangerous, threatening and hurtful, yet how does considering Jesus to be God meet that criteria? Not that I am particularly concerned either way.
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It is dangerous because it leads to hell. How much more dangerous could it get? Even the Bible says don’t worship idols or men!
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@ darthtimon
Not really. Who is Answering Islam “responding” to? They are part of the “Islamophobia” (I hate that word) industry that purposely spreads propaganda against Islam in support of Israel. This isn’t “conspiracy” and can easily ne verified online.
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And yes, I do hate the fanatical Christians and their religion. But I hate it in the sense that I would like nothing more than for people to leave it in droves. To do that, I poke holes in it and promote others who do that so that hopefully some sincere Christians will learn the truth.
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@ darthtimon
Let me help you out and rip the bandaid off. The peace you are asking for will NEVER happen because:
1. We will not compromise and God specifically sent Islam to prevail over all other false religions.
2. It has been decreed already not everyone will believe
They are evil and what they do is evil by blocking other people from God’s path with their propaganda to make it seem twisted (as noted by QB and the massive amounts of funding they get for this aim. Even neutrally they SOUND like bad guys, they literally want to force “prophecies” in their text so they can be “taken up” while everyone else including you are destroyed).
Like Quraish, the Pharaoh, Aad, Thamud, and the rest of the disbelieving nations before them, eventually we will not exist on this planet together.
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So Stew, where do you predict such a path will end? Every religion will claim it is the one true way, and every religion will point to material that proves that. More importantly, the followers are utterly steadfast.
I am reminded of a saying – you trap more flies with honey than with vinegar.
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@ darthtimon
Indeed you are right people claim this but when getting to the nitty gritty such claims fall apart (case in point Christianity) You are failingnto realize it is NOT just religion. I wouod advise you to look up “end of history” and its sister theory the “clash of civilization”. Its basically inevitable.
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To every member of every faith, *everything* is in their favour, nitty gritty or otherwise.
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But sincere people, it is hoped, will eventually come around based on proof.
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@ darthtimon
Yeah if people are blinded and want to support a verifiable lie that’s on them, da nile isn’t only a river in Egypt.
You’re living in a pipe dream where people live holding hands singing kumbaya, its just not going to happen. Why do you think the end of history and clash of civilization theories formed in the first place?
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Believe me, I have no expectations of ‘kumbaya’. My experience of organised religion is that it doesn’t work that way. It is unfortunate that it is believed it has to come down to a violent clash.
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@ darthtimon
Worshipping a man is evil (especially one who never claimed this for himself and was sent by God) It is evil because it transgresses against the Creator’s rights.
It would have been better to go for them to go have sex with their mother in the street then believe what they believe.
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I confess to being a bit stunned here. Why is such a belief worse than the notion you mentioned? Why exactly should an omnipotent, omnipresent creator take offence? Are they that petty?
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@ darthtimon
Not “believed” it is.
1. History of revelation
2. Anyone with knowledge agrees
This is how it works. God never sends something down without people fighting against it for variety reasons. This is not anything new, just new people doing it.
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With respect, that isn’t really an answer Stu. It’s evil because it is? God takes offence because they do?
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@ darthtimon
Oh He could care less He’s worship and praised even if nobody on Earth did. However He created you and that is His right. By worshipping others you basically have no meaning as that is what you were created to do. It physically disgusts me (as in I actually become nauseous not just a saying) and any Muslim on planet Earth to watch people worship idols.
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Personally, I would ask why a deity like God would need to be worshipped? Is it ego? To what end? And if God is the creator of all things, why create multiple religions, just to confuse people?
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@ darthtimon
No its evil because you are transgresing against God which is a more serious offense then your fellow man (which is the next on the list)
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Why would God care? Why does God need to be worshipped, much less care about the specifics?
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Lol stew, I wouldn’t go that far! 😂
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@ QB
Too far in what? Being disgusted by shirk?
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@stew, I’m disgusted by shirk as well. But let’s face it, having sex with your mother in the street is pretty evil too. 🤮
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@ darthtimon
Oh to answer your question btw, how such a path will end, us on top in this life and the Next.
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@darthtimon
Outside my pay grade. Why does God need to provide you with food? Why does God allow you to breathe or your heart to function? To be frank, you are simply an ungrateful person for you to ask that question. He is the Creator hence that implies also the Legislator. He does whatever he wants and He is not questioned about what he does its you who will be.
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@darthtimon
Regarding your why multiple religions that can be answered. He has tested people’s sincerity to Him:
“…if God had desired, He could’ve made you one community, but He wanted to test you through what He’s given you… (5:48)
Everyone has already met God and said they would worship Him alone. He has sent messengers giving warning time and time again because people have forgotten their agreement or out of a need for power etc they refused to follow or changed what was sent:
42:13. He carved a path from the religion that leads to life for you. The same legacy left for Noah, I now leave revealed to you, along with the legacy that I left to Abraham, Moses and Jesus. Establish the religion and do not divide yourselves about it. What you call the people who equate others with Me, to follow is difficult for them and they hate it. But God chooses to draw towards Him whoever He wishes, and guides anyone who turns back.
42:14. They had divided, only after knowledge had come to them out of their urge to rebel or control one another. Had it not already been a verdict passed from your Lord for it to be this way until a certain deadline, their matter would’ve been judged. Those who were later made the heirs of the Scripture are in doubt about it and this doubt only spreads more doubt.
42:15. So because of these reasons call them to this, and keep standing like the way you’ve been commanded. Do not follow their vain desires and say to them:
I believe in whatever Scripture God has sent down, and I am commanded to bring justice between you. God is our Lord and your Lord- we’re responsible for what we do and you’re responsible for what you do, there’s no argument between us and you- God will gather us all together, and our Final return is to Him..’
42:16. And those who keep debating about God after the call has been responded to, as far as their Lord is concerned their case has been rendered null and void. Wrath is upon them and a severe punishment awaits.
^This is why the clash is inevitable because we believe God is the only one who has the authority to tell people how to live.
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Hmm, pre-supposing God exists, why indeed do they permit anything? Why do they permit the widespread suffering of the human race? We often hear we cannot judge God’s morality by human standards, or to put it another way, we are told God works in mysterious ways. Yet we have an all powerful being, that’s taken upon themselves to provide us with multiple creation stories *and* a scientific version that nearly all contradict each other. We have the notion that they are just and loving, yet they created a place of eternal torment if we do not worship them in precisely the right way (and yet, there is no consensus on what that is, in no small part thanks to God!). We are apparently made to jump through some arbitrary hoops and be told we should be thankful.
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Ahhh… you’re REALLY ungrateful see how easy it is to get to truth when we try? Let me knock out these out real quick:
1.They are only punished for what they did. To begin in Islam God will out of mercy let people out of Hell so the “eternal” argument doesn’t really work with us. We can also add people aren’t punished for ignorance.
However the ones who are punished eternally they were NEVER going to change and God simply cut their life as their test was over. God says even if He returned them to Earth after the punishment they would do the same thing again as they’re liars. For someone to go to Hell means they ignored EVERY possible warning and had no good in them.
2.As noted this is true you can’t judge morality by any objective standard as neither you nor I are All Knowing being (nd quite frankly the whole thing is subjective) Regarding God allowing evil a little complex to do over text but I’ll try to simplify:
God allows evil for the good it will ultimately bring whether in this life or the Next. Simple story:
Moses (as) thought most knowledgeable. God says there’s somebody more knowledgeable go learn from them. Long story short he gets there and is told by the man don’t ask about what I do until I tell you. Travel together guy does 3 things:
A.Breaks fisherman who helped them’s boat
B. Kills a kid
C. Helps repair a wall about to fall in a town of people who who were mean to them.
Moses naturally kept asking so the man told them why before parting ways:
A.King coming in a few days confiscating every serviceable boat
B. Kid was going to grow up and be a tyrant. And through his evil his parents would become disbelievers and go to Hell. Through his death he will be replaced by another child who is good and all of them will go to Heaven
C. Wall that was going to fall in town was because of two orphans. There was treasure under the wall and if it fell down the bad people would have taken it.
Point is no such thing as absolute evil.
3. For one they don’t contradict. Science is a in order of operations and tests for us to explain how things occur that we can observe. Revelation is communication from the Creator. Honestly this is a Western problem as we’ve never had this issue in Islam. God sends revelation and encourages learning and by the two merging we act as an example for mankind. Its not a “one or the other” situation for us.
4. With that being said we go back to the problem of your ingratitude. You have a loving family and live in a 1st world country making you a “billionaire” by human history standards. You have eyesight that could be taken away leaving you in darkness tommorow. Do you see the problem here?
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*Shrug* Ungrateful to whom? I don’t know if I believe in God at this point, and if there is such a being and I meet them some day, I would be asking why they do the things they do.
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@ darthtimon
Okey dokey 👍 Tell me how that works out for ya.
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Don’t worry, if such a meeting takes place, I’ll invite you to it!
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@ darthtimon
Please don’t.
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@ QB
Oh yeah but willnyou necessarily go to Hell fornitnthough like shirk? So what was better fornthe person to do of the two acts? For example the Prophet(saw) said:
“And he said: “There are seventy-two types of riba, the least of which is like a man committing incest with his mother.” Narrated by al-Tabaraani in al-Awsat; classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Jaami’, no. 3537. ”
https://islamqa.info/en/answers/39829/borrowing-from-a-riba-based-bank-in-order-to-buy-a-house
The problem is us as Muslins nowadays having our hearts hardened to this filth. For example quick story when I took my tawheed classes. Old scholar of the past teaching his students for years about Tawheed. Some students complained about why do they always got tonlearn about tawheed blah, blah, blah. He told the problem is their deficit. He then explained to them the Persian Zoroastrians during the Prophet(saw) time used to commit shirk. Everybody is naturally oh thats wrong. Then he said the Zoroastrians used to marry their mother (whuch is true btw) Everybody was appalled. And he told them: “See how you were more disgusted by that as opposed to shirk? This is why we go over tawhees as you don’t truly grasp shirks seriousness.”
Muslims will be disgusted by homosexuality, urine, dogs etc. But at the end of the day a person can still goto Heaven. Shirk? No.
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Yeah definitely, shirk is much worse.
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@ QB
Indeed…but… don’t get me wrong though, zina with your mother is still🤢🤢🤢🤮
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What happened to KKKen Temple? is he still desperate to deceive people?
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He’s probably still active on Paul Williams’ blog.
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Is KKKennywise one of those idiots who just repeat the same thing even after being refuted?
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Pretty much.
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lol I lost all respect for this dude after he tried capitalizing on the old man’s super nazi phase, he was pretty much silent when the basement british fuhrer was posting nazi propaganda and racist pseudoscience for neckbeards, when Faiz and Stew were banned he was there rejoicing…
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