Answering Islam - A Christian-Muslim dialog

John 5:23: A Blessing for the Trinitarian

And a Nightmare for the Muhammadan Pt. 2

Sam Shamoun

We continue from where we left off by taking the very passage cited by Ibn Anwar and turning it against his prophet.

Note, once again, the words of our Lord carefully:

“The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.” John 5:22-23 Revised Standard Version (RSV)

In this very passage, which Ibn Anwar tried to butcher, Jesus identifies himself as the Son who shall judge all mankind, and refers to God as the Father. There’s more:

“For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will… Truly, truly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself, and has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of man. Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear HIS [the Son’s] VOICE and come forth, those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment.” John 5:21, 25-29 RSV

Christ boldly claims to possess the same divine ability that the Father has to give life and raise the dead. As if this weren’t amazing enough, Christ even goes as far as to say that he will be the One who shall personally resurrect all those that are in the graves at the last hour by the sovereign power of his glorious and majestic voice. 

Now this immediately places Ibn Anwar in a dilemma since the Quran emphatically denies that Jesus is the Son or that Allah is the Father:

And the Jews say: Ezra is the son of Allah, and the Christians say: The Messiah is the son of Allah. That is their saying with their mouths. They imitate the saying of those who disbelieved of old. Allah (Himself) fighteth against them. How perverse are they! S. 9:30 Pickthall

And they say, 'The All-merciful has taken unto Himself a son. You have indeed advanced something hideous! The heavens are wellnigh rent of it and the earth split asunder, and the mountains wellnigh fall down crashing for that they have attributed to the All-merciful a son; and it behoves not the All-merciful to take a son. None is there in the heavens and earth but he comes to the All-merciful as a servant; S. 19:88-93 Arberry

Moreover, the Muslim scripture teaches that it is Allah who gives life and resurrects the dead at the last hour,

This is because Allah is the Truth and because He gives life to the dead and because He has power over all things. And because the hour is coming, there is no doubt about it; and because Allah shall raise up those who are in the graves. S. 22:6-7 Shakir

And that he shall be the one to come and judge the earth at the last day:

Nay! When the earth is ground to powder, And your Lord comes with the angels in rows, And Hell will be brought near that Day. On that Day will man remember, but how will that remembrance (then) avail him? S. 89:21-23 Hilali-Khan

 The Quran also stresses the point of directing all prayers and invocations to Allah alone:

And when My servants asked thee about Me, then, truly, I am near. I answer the call of one who calls when he will call to Me. So let them respond to Me and let them believe in Me, so that perhaps they will be on the right way. S. 2:186 Aisha Bewley

And your Lord says: "Call on Me; I will answer your (Prayer): but those who are too arrogant to serve Me will surely find themselves in Hell - in humiliation!" S. 40:60 Y. Ali

And who is more astray than one who invokes besides God, such as will not answer him to the Day of Judgment, and who (in fact) are unconscious of their call (to them)? S. 46:5 Y. Ali

And yet, as we saw in the first part of our rebuttal, Jesus told his followers that they could invoke him directly once he is in heaven, and that he would personally answer all their supplications:

“Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.” John 14:13-14 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)  

All of this shows that Jesus made claims that only God could make. And since Muhammad denied that Christ is the unique, divine Son of God who is worthy of the same honor that God himself receives, he therefore stands condemned as a false prophet and an antichrist:

“Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father. He who confesses the Son has the Father also.” 1 John 2:22-23 RSV

Hopefully, this will teach Ibn Anwar to never again shamelessly twist and pervert God’s inspired Word, the Holy Bible, since we will be right here ready to expose him whenever he does so.