Explicit vs Implicit statements: Does the church really derive its doctrine from the Bible ?

This was actually an email to a youtuber, a christian respectful guy that posted a video against burning the Noble Quran and he said in that video that although he is against the Quran yet he doesn't agree to burning it.  I sent him an email asking him about his objections to the Quran. He told me that he doesn't believe he has to work for something he got for free; jesus gave him eternal life for free, why follow a religion that tell you that you have to earn it!! So I sent him this email that discusses the sources of christian doctrine. I had to do a little research to write that email and I thought it would be useful to blog it. So here you go:

Dear David,

Peace be unto those who follow the guidance..

I am really sorry for that delay. I am having a very busy week. But I will compensate for this with a really long email (tried to cut it short but I really couldn’t).

(N.B: the software I use to quote the bible puts the number of verse and then the chapter (e.g Mrk 30-35:1) dunno how to fix it)

I must say that I didn't meet many Christians who quote from the bible while speaking about their religion although it is the most important single factor in any religious discussion. It is obvious that you are a very intelligent and logic person.

Let me clarify my point starting from a very basic perspective and I hope that u have enough patience to read what am gonna say (I remind u and I remind myself that we r talking about eternal life, it is the most critical subject humans can ever talk about).

Evidence-Based Belief:

I am a physician, a neurologist and in medicine some decades ago, the practice used to depend solely on experience. Each physician used to treat his patients according to what he views as the best treatment for their condition based on his own experience. Nowadays, this proved to be not so accurate because experiences and point of views might differ greatly from someone to another and from a cultrure to another. So now, we depend upon clear guidelines derived from accurate and specific studies done on scientific basis. So for example, I don't give the patient his dose of aspirin if he has a brain stroke according to what seems logic to me but rather according to what experiments and studies revealed to be the most effective dose. This is what is now called evidence-based medicine.

If we care so much in this mortal world to find basis for what we do, to build our actions and practices upon reliable information then I guess that u - as a believer in the hereafter - would agree with me that it is even more critical and demanding to build our faith, our belief in God and his nature on reliable information (i.e. evidence-based beliefs). Why? Because if in medicine, major mistakes will lead to death of the patient, in religion major errors will lead to eternal consequences beyond this life. Therefore, I think u will also agree that we have to strive to investigate the sources of our core beliefs.

Wiccans, Hindus, Tauists and other pagans have some beliefs and they think it is right. So as Jews, Christians and Muslims ... Each group has its own set of beliefs and each group think they have the truth. So, blind faith is not valid anymore as all groups would then be equal. Even the Abrahamic religions would then be no different than pagan religions if they don’t provide proofs... All would be baseless.

Common ground:

That intro was important to reach the point of our discussion. Now, let’s find common grounds between u and me first before we go on for Allah(God in Arabic and Aramaic) said in the Quran in Chapter 2:64:

(Say : O People of the Scripture(Jews and christians) . Come to an agreement between us and you : that we shall worship none but God , and that we shall ascribe no partners unto Him , and that none of us shall take others for lords beside God . And if they turn away, then say : Bear witness that we are they who have surrendered (unto him)).

I guess we both agree on these points:

1-We both agree that in the OT God (which I we muslins also believe in) emphasized that he is one and that there are no other gods beside him in several crystal clear EXPLICIT verses that need to effort or interpretation to understand as it carries no other meaning:

Is / 45 5

) I {am} the LORD, and {there is} none else, {there is} no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me

Is / 45 6 That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that {there is} none beside me. I {am} the LORD, and {there is} none else.. ( KJV

Is / 44 6

( Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I {am} the first, and I {am} the last; and beside me {there is} no God.): KJV

Such a verse cannot carry any other meaning. It is so explicit that it can’t be understood otherwise.

2-We both agree that God is unique. Nothing in our world is like him and nothing can be compared to him.

Is / 46 5

( To whom will ye liken me, and make {me} equal, and compare me, that we may be like?). KJV

Is / 46 9

( Remember the former things of old: for I {am} God, and {there is} none else; {I am} God, and {there is} none like me,.): KJV

2Sm / 7 22

 (Wherefore thou art great, O LORD God: for {there is} none like thee, neither {is there any} God beside thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears..) KJV

3- We both agree that God warned against ascribing partners to him to be worshipped with him whether it be statues, animals, trees or humans.

Dt / 5 9-7

 Thou shalt have none other gods before me. .

Thou shalt not make thee {any} graven image, {or} any likeness {of any thing} that {is} in heaven above, or that {is} in the earth beneath, or that {is} in the waters beneath the earth

Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God {am} a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth {generation} of them that hate me.

4-God is unseen.

Dt / 18-4 15

( Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day {that} the LORD spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire. Lest ye corrupt {yourselves}, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female,The likeness of any beast that {is} on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air, the likeness of anything that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that {is} in the waters beneath the earth.) KJV

Is / 45 15

( Verily thou {art} a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour.. )

1Tm / 6 16

( Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom {be} honour and power everlasting. Amen.. ): KJV

5-We both agree that God sent several prophets with this same message over history supported with miracles and books. We both believe that Noah, Abraham, Izac, David, Daniel, Moses etc. are prophets of God carrying essentially the same message to humanity and reminding them of God and warning them so that they don’t go astray.

Now comes the real point of difference

Christians believe that Jesus is not a prophet of God like all the previous prophets. No, instead, they say that he is God almighty himself in flesh. They say that although he was born a child, raised, lived as any human would live, ate, drank, walked in the streets, talked, cried, laughed, felt hunger and pain, went to bathroom and eventually -as u believe- died a painful death. In spite all this, he is God. These are the attributes of his human part because he is a complete human but also a complete God.

Now you agree with me I guess that if this is true, if God really for the 1^st time ever in the history of the universe became a man and lived among us, I guess u agree with me that this is the most unique and extraordinary event ever. Now consider all the warnings that I already quoted in which God warns us not to worship anyone or anything on earth or in heaven but him and not to make an image of him and to know that he is unique and nothing is like him and that he is unseen, Consider all these very clear and explicit warnings and that prophetic heritage that lasted for thousands of years since Adam till Moses. Don’t you think that one should be skeptical about a man being God or about worshiping a man as God ? (and u agree with me he is a complete man)

Don't u think that such a HUGE, tremendous claim with such a gigantic universal impact would need a really solid explicit proof like all the previous verses I quoted? I guess it needs such a proof. It is not something that happens every day. It is not something that should be left to conclusions and speculations.

So one would naturally expect that Jesus/God in his new form (although it is stated that God doesn’t change in the OT) as a man will tell us explicitly (I am your God, worship none but me) or (I am your Lord, in flesh, came to earth to die for your sins on the cross). Yet, amazingly, Jesus never claimed divinity. Never asked for worship. All what Christians provide as evidence are implicit verses (that can mean many things, like “I and the father are one” or like john’s words in john 1:1) or subjective conclusions (like “since he is born without a father then he is God”).

We Muslims believe that God as he always did was explicitly declaring his divinity over and over even when it was obvious (like when he met Moses on mount Sinai .. as it was obvious he was God) to make it very clear. So how come that when we really needed this so much now that God became a man in spite of all the previous warnings of the prophets and we became confused, yet we get no clear cut or explicit declarations from jesus about his divinity.

Instead, we find explicit verses saying the opposite. Like this one in which he was speaking to The Father (not the whole trinity, refer to Jn 1:17)

Jn / 17 3

 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent : KJV   

This is – as u see- an extremely explicit statement that can’t have ambiguous interpretitions.

Jesus also said clearly that the father is his God as well as our God:

Jn / 20 ع 17

 Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and {to} my God, and your God.. KJV

Amazingly it is recorded in the Quran that jesus said so:

(And lo! God is my Lord and your Lord . So serve Him . That is the right path) Noble Quran, Surat Maryam(Mary), verse 36.

It is so interesting to see how people ignore these extremely clear verses in the bible that need no interpretation and no difficult conclusions and they keep insisting on quoting implicit verses that can mean many things. It is very known even in literature that you follow the explicit to know the meaning of the writer of any book. You can’t just ignore the explicit and then seek the implicit and derive the meaning you want from it. The implicit can have several meanings so you choose of them the meaning that agrees with the explicit.

Interestingly, this simple, logic principle is mentioned in the Quran as a warning for Muslims that they don’t do the same in Quran:

(He (God) it is Who hath revealed unto thee ( Muhammad ) the Scripture wherein are clear revelations . They are the substance of the Book . and others ( which are ) allegorical . But those in whose hearts is doubt pursue , forsooth , that which is allegorical seeking ( to cause ) dissension by seeking to explain it . None knoweth its explanation save God . And those who are of sound instruction say : We believe therein ; the whole is from our Lord ; but only men of understanding really heed. )

Noble Quran 2:7

We notice also the same thing regarding all the core beliefs in Christianity. When I bought the bible for the first time in my life here in Egypt about 8 years ago. I kept reading and reading, expecting that I will find clear explanations of the trinity, original sin, salvation by dying on the cross .. etc. .. I didn't find Jesus mentioning any of these things although they are major events in the history of the universe and a completely new concepts that no prophet before Jesus taught clearly.  Paul is the 1^st one who spoke about such points (if you go back to your email to me, you will find that all your quotes were from the writings of Paul and not sayings of Jesus). The problem with Paul is that he never met Jesus in person and never was a disciple of Jesus (although he appointed himself as a disciple). The 2^nd problem with Paul is that he preached revolutionary concepts that Jesus himself didn't preach to the degree that some consider him the real founder of Christianity. He is the one who clearly said that the law is no longer needed although Jesus himself observed the law and clearly, explicitly said that we should follow the law.

Islam is not a new religion or a standalone religion but rather the last revelation from God in the series of revelations confirming all the prophets that came before and calling for the worship of God alone  to correct the course of humanity back in track. Prophet Muhammad is not but a human being like Moses, David, Abraham and Jesus etc. None of them is God but they were all messengers of God showing the right way to him and confirming the messengers who came before.

Conclusions:

I know that it has been a very long email or article J, may be the longest I have ever written in my life but if we summarize it, u will see that it only talks about very specific points. I sum it up in these points:

·         All the heritage of the prophets and the teachings of God stress upon the fact that God is one, with no partners, unique with nothing like him, unseen. And that God issued severe warnings against making an image or form of him by any means.

·         Suddenly at one point of history, all this changed when God became a man called Jesus who lives among us as one of us.

·         Yet, we find no explicit declarations of this divinity by jesus. And no declaration by jesus regarding the core beliefs of Christianity e.g original sin, trinity .. etc.

·         Paul is the one who preached this revolutionary concepts. But Paul didn’t meet jesus (except in a vision!) and was not a disciple.

·         Islam is nothing but a continuation of the series of messages and revalations from God to correct mankind back to its course and to confirm all the previous messages and purify monotheism again.

I leave you with these verses from the Quran:

And when God saith : O Jesus , son of Mary! Didst thou say unto mankind : Take me and my mother for two gods beside God? he saith : Be glorified It was not mine to utter that to which I had no right . If I used to say it , then Thou knewest it . Thou knowest what is in my mind , and I know not what is in Thy mind . Lo! Thou , only Thou art the Knower of Things Hidden . I spake unto them only that which Thou commandedst me , ( saying ) : Worship God , my Lord and your Lord . I was a witness of them while I dwelt among them , and when Thou tookest me Thou wast the Watcher over them . Thou art Witness over all things . If Thou punish them , lo! they are Thy slaves , and if Thou forgive them ( lo! they are Thy slaves ) . Lo! Thou , only Thou art the Mighty , the Wise .

Noble Quran, Surat AL Maeda verses 116-118

God gave us minds to think and judge. You are a logic, smart person as I have seen in ur videos. Please reflect in what I’ve said. Waiting for ur comments …

Peace be unto those who follow Guidance..