Greenhorn’s War on Allah and his “Messenger”

“Jesus (pbuh): Nothing Divine about Him.”

On the contrary judging under somebody does prove that (a) The (divine) attribute of judgment is not innate in the subject candidate and (b) The subject candidate works under the servitude of some higher authority. Both the arguments establish that the subject candidate is not an absolute Deity thus any service/worship rendered towards him/her would be the sin of “shirk” (1.).

Think about it, which absolute Deity and a divinely absolute Judge would judge according to the will of someone else even on the Judgment Day (?)

Not merely does, Robertson claim that Jesus (peace be upon him) judges under the subservience of somebody else but he also claims that higher authority has made Jesus (peace be upon him) a judge. Therefore,(1.) Jesus (peace be upon him) is not a judge by himself or innately but has been conferred the duty and post of judgment from some higher authority. (2.) And we saw in our premise that such an act “is not an amplification, but a diminution of office”. Therefore, it is just too stark and ironical to claim that Jesus (peace be upon him) is “amplified”, in other words deified, since he judges. On the contrary, according to Bible experts, it diminishes his status to a “mere messenger” (c.f. Qur’an 4:171, 5:75).

Till now we have seen in New Testament that there is nothing special, let alone, divine about the judgment abilities of Jesus (peace be upon him).

Therefore, again, there is nothing special, let alone, divine about Jesus (peace be upon him) being judge (and “Lord of all”) otherwise Joseph (peace be upon him) would also have to be a divine judge and embarrassingly, “Lord of all”.

(7.) Moreover, we found that even on Judgment Day, Jesus (peace be upon him) would not judge of his own authority but under the command of someone else. If we reflect, which absolute Deity and divinely absolute Judge would judge under the authority of someone else even on Judgment Day? Yet we found, Trinitarian Scholars, who do consider Christ (peace be upon him) to be God, candidly admit Jesus’ (peace be upon him) dependency even on Judgment Day (!)

And (both) the Jews and the Christians say: "We are the children of Allah and His loved ones." Say: "Why then does He punish you for your sins?" Nay, you are but human beings, of those He has created, He forgives whom He wills and He punishes whom He wills. And to Allah belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth and all that is between them, and to Him is the return (of all). S. 5:18 Hilali-Khan

And say, 'Praise belongs to God, who has not taken to Himself a son, and has not had a partner in His kingdom, nor had a patron against (such) abasement.' And magnify Him greatly! S. 17:111 Y. Ali

AND IF My servants ask thee about Me - behold, I am near; I respond to the call of him who calls, whenever he calls unto Me: let them, then, respond unto Me, and believe in Me, so that they might follow the right way. S. 2:186 Muhammad Asad

And [know] that all worship is due to God [alone]: hence, do not invoke anyone side by side with God! S. 72:18 Asad

The Arbiter, Allah judges and there is no reversing His judgement.

Al-Hakam is one of the Ninety-Nine Names.

"Jurisdiction belongs to Him alone." (6:63)

"Then you will all return to Me, and I will judge between you regarding the things about which you differed." (3:55) (Aisha Bewley, The Divine Names)

And they [who have died] are thereupon brought before God, their true Lord Supreme. Oh, verily, His ALONE is all judgment: and He is the swiftest of all reckoners! S. 6:62 Asad

And those who disbelieve will not cease to be in doubt about it (this Qur'an) until the Hour comes suddenly upon them, or there comes to them the torment of the Day after which there will be no night (i.e. the Day of Resurrection). The sovereignty on that Day will be that of Allah (the one Who has no partners). He will judge between them. So those who believed (in the Oneness of Allah Islamic Monotheism) and did righteous good deeds will be in Gardens of delight (Paradise). S. 22:55-56 Hilali-Khan

Again, what will make you know what the Day of Recompense is? (It will be) the Day when no person shall have power (to do) anything for another, and the Decision, that Day, will be (wholly) with Allah. S. 82:18-19 Hilali-Khan

Nay, but when the earth is ground to atoms, grinding, grinding, And thy Lord shall come with angels, rank on rank, And hell is brought near that day; on that day man will remember, but how will the remembrance (then avail him)? He will say: Ah, would that I had sent before me (some provision) for my life! None punisheth as He will punish on that day! None bindeth as He then will bind. But ah! thou soul at peace! Return unto thy Lord, content in His good pleasure! Enter thou among My bondmen! Enter thou My Garden! S. 89:21-30 Pickthall

That is because Allah, He is the Truth, and it is He Who gives life to the dead, and it is He Who is Able to do all things. And surely, the Hour is coming, there is no doubt about it, and certainly, Allah will resurrect those who are in the graves. S. 22:6 Hilali-Khan

The Truth, the Real, the Really-existing, He whose existence and divinity are true, the One who creates according to the requirements of wisdom, justice, right, rightness, the Necessarily-existing by His own Essence, He whose existence is undeniable. Every reality exists from His essence and nothing has any intrinsic reality except Him.

Al-Haqq is one of the Ninety-Nine Names…

The Raiser, Resurrector. To re-create, like Mu'id; revive; also to send. The One who Quickens mankind after death. To cause something to be.

Al-Ba'ith is one of the Ninety-Nine Names…

The Life-Giver or Quickener who makes something alive, to be a living thing; He quickens him or endues him with life or revives him. He revives the earth with rain and endues with intelligence. Al-Mumit is the One who causes to die.

Al-Muhyi and Al-Mumit are two of the Ninety-Nine Names… (Bewley, Divine Names)

“So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. In his defense Jesus said to them, ‘My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.’ For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God. Jesus gave them this answer: ‘Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do ONLY what he sees his Father doing, because WHATEVER the Father does the Son ALSO DOES. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed. For JUST AS the Father raises the dead and gives them life, EVEN SO the Son gives life to whom HE IS PLEASED to give it. Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son JUST AS they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him. Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. Truly, truly, I say to you, AN HOUR IS COMING, and is now here, where 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 he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear HIS [the Son’s] VOICE and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.” John 5:16-29

“All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day… Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.” John 6:37-40, 54

“Jesus said to her, ‘Your brother will rise again.’ Martha answered, ‘I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.’ Jesus said to her, ‘I am THE RESURRECTION and THE LIFE. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?’ ‘Yes, Lord,’ she told him, ‘I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.’ … So Jesus, again being deeply moved within, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, ‘Remove the stone.’ Martha, the sister of the deceased, said to Him, ‘Lord, by this time there will be a stench, for he has been dead four days.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?’ So they removed the stone. Then Jesus raised His eyes, and said, ‘Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. I knew that You ALWAYS hear Me; but because of the people standing around I said it, so that they may believe that You sent Me.’ When He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come forth.’ The man who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to them, ‘Unbind him, and let him go.’” John 11:23-27, 38-44

“‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in Me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.’ Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we don’t know where You are going, so how can we know the way?’ Jesus answered, ‘I am THE Way and THE TRUTH and THE LIFE. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’” John 14:1-6

“Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.’” John 8:12 – cf. 9:4-5; 12:35-36, 46

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father. Whatever you ask in My name, THAT WILL I DO, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask ME anything in My name, I WILL DO IT.” John 14:12-14

“According to the Gospel of John, Jesus himself encouraged his earliest followers to pray to him: ‘Whatever you ask me in my name, I will do’ (John 14:14, authors’ translation). It sounds strange to some readers to speak of praying to Jesus in his own name, but the Greek Old Testament also occasionally speaks this way (e.g., 1 Chron. 16:8, ‘call on him in his name’; Ps. 54:1, ‘save me in your name,’ translating literally). Christian readers are more familiar with the practice of addressing prayer to the Father in the name of Jesus, a practice mentioned elsewhere in the same section of the Gospel (John 15:16; 16:23-24).

“It turns out that some Greek manuscripts of the Gospel of John omit the word ‘me’ (which happens to be spelled the same way in Greek, me) in John 14:14. The best explanation for this omission is that some copyists indeed thought it odd that Jesus should speak about addressing prayer to him in his own name, so they omitted me. When modern commentators agree with the variants that omit the word, this is usually the reason given. There is not much question that the original wording of the passage included the word me, because the manuscripts supporting that wording are generally older, are from a broad range of manuscripts, and are from diverse geographical origins than those manuscripts that omit the word.

“Even if the word ‘me’ were not in the text, John 14:14 would still be speaking about praying to Jesus. Suppose Jesus said, ‘Whatever you ask in my name I will do.’ The natural inference is that the person who does what we ask is the person whom we ask. Again, the qualifying phrase ‘in my name’ has Old Testament precedent. To ask (or do anything) in someone's name means to do it on his authority, with his backing, in fidelity to that person. Thus, Jesus is saying that whatever we ask, if we ask out of faithfulness and loyalty to him, he will do it. In context, Jesus is telling his disciples that they may do this after he has gone to be with the Father in heaven (v. 12). Properly understood, then, with or without ‘me,’ Jesus in John 14:14 is inviting us to pray to him. That we may address our prayers to either the Father or the Son is quite consistent with the immediate context. After all, Jesus has just said, ‘Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. … Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me’ (John 14:9, 11).” (Robert Bowman & J. Ed Komoszewski, Putting Jesus in His Place: The Case for the Deity of Christ [Kregel Publications, Grand Rapids, MI 2007], Part 1: The Devotion Revolution: Jesus Shares the Honors Due to God, 3. What a Friend We Have in Jesus, pp. 51-52; bold emphasis ours)

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. There came a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light. There was THE TRUE LIGHT (al-Nooru al-Haqqiqiu) which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him… And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:1-10, 14

XIII. (59) But some persons indulge in such foolish notions respecting their judgments on these points, that they not only look upon the things which have been mentioned above as gods, but as each separate one of them as the greatest and first of gods, either because they are really ignorant of the true living God, from their nature being uninstructed, or else because they have no desire to learn, because they believe that there is no cause of things invisible, and appreciable only by the intellect, apart from the objects of the external senses, and this too, though the most distinct possible proof is close at hand; (60) for though, as it is owing to the soul that they live, and form designs, and do everything which is done in human life, they nevertheless have never been able to behold their soul with their eyes, nor would they be able if they were to strive with all imaginable eagerness, wishing to see it as the most beautiful possible of all images or appearances, from a sight of which they might, by a sort of comparison, derive a notion of the uncreated and everlasting God, who rules and guides the whole world in such a way as to secure its preservation, being himself invisible. (61) As, therefore, if any one were to assign the honours of the great king to his satraps and viceroys, he would appear to be not only the most ignorant and senseless of men, but also the most fool-hardy, giving to slaves what belongs to the master; in the same manner, let the man who honours the Creator, with the same honours as those with which he regards the creature, know that he is of all men the most foolish and the most unjust, in giving equal things to unequal persons, and that too not in such a way as to do honour to the inferior, but only to take it from the superior. (62) There are again some who exceed in impiety, not giving the Creator and the creature even equal honour, but assigning to the latter all honour, and respect, and reverence, and to the former nothing at all, not thinking him worthy of even the common respect of being recollected; for they forget him whom alone they should recollect, aiming, like demented and miserable men as they are, at attaining to an intentional forgetfulness. (63) Some men again are so possessed with an insolent and free-spoken madness, that they make an open display of the impiety which dwells in their hearts, and venture to blaspheme the Deity, whetting an evil-speaking tongue, and desiring, at the same time, to vex the pious, who immediately feel an indescribable and irreconcilable affliction, which enters in at their ears and pervades the whole soul; for this is the great engine of impious men, by which alone they bridle those who love God, as they think it better at the moment to preserve silence, for the sake of not provoking their wickedness further.

XIV. (64) Let us, therefore, reject all such impious dishonesty, and not worship those who are our brothers by nature, even though they may have received a purer and more immortal essence than ourselves (for all created things are brothers to one another, inasmuch as they are created; since the Father of them all is one, the Creator of the universe); but let us rather, with our mind and reason, and with all our strength, gird ourselves up vigorously and energetically to the service of that Being who is uncreated and everlasting, and the maker of the universe, never shrinking or turning aside from it, nor yielding to a desire of pleasing the multitude, by which even those who might be saved are often destroyed. (65) Let us, therefore, fix deeply in ourselves this first commandment as the most sacred of all commandments, to think that there is but one God, the most highest, and to honour him ALONE; and let not the polytheistical doctrine ever even touch the ears of any man who is accustomed to seek for the truth, with purity and sincerity of heart; (Philo, The Decalogue; bold emphasis ours)

1. Now Abram, having no son of his own, adopted Lot, his brother Haran's son, and his wife Sarai's brother; and he left the land of Chaldea when he was seventy-five years old, and at the command of God went into Canaan, and therein he dwelt himself, and left it to his posterity. He was a person of great sagacity, both for understanding all things and persuading his hearers, and not mistaken in his opinions; for which reason he began to have higher notions of virtue than others had, and he determined to renew and to change the opinion all men happened then to have concerning God; for he was the first that ventured to publish this notion, That there was but one God, the Creator of the universe; and that, as to other [gods], if they contributed any thing to the happiness of men, that each of them afforded it only according to his appointment, and not by their own power. This his opinion was derived from the irregular phenomena that were visible both at land and sea, as well as those that happen to the sun, and moon, and all the heavenly bodies, thus: - "If [said he] these bodies had power of their own, they would certainly take care of their own regular motions; but since they do not preserve such regularity, they make it plain, that in so far as they co-operate to our advantage, they do it not of their own abilities, but as they are subservient to Him that commands them, to whom ALONE we ought justly to offer our honor and thanksgiving." For which doctrines, when the Chaldeans, and other people of Mesopotamia, raised a tumult against him, he thought fit to leave that country; and at the command and by the assistance of God, he came and lived in the land of Canaan. And when he was there settled, he built an altar, and performed a sacrifice to God. (Antiquities of the Jews, Book I. Containing The Interval Of Three Thousand Eight Hundred And Thirty-three Years. From The Creation To The Death Of Isaac, Chapter 7. How Abram Our Forefather Went Out Of The Land Of The Chaldeans, And Lived In The Land Then Called Canaan But Now Judea; bold emphasis ours)

“We have already repeatedly used the word honor in reference to how the Bible teaches us to respond to Jesus Christ. Honor was an important cultural value in the ancient Mediterranean world, including the Jewish culture. To give people honor was to acknowledge their place in the scheme of things–to speak about them and to behave toward them in a manner appropriate to their status and position. In the monotheistic Jewish culture, to honor God meant to confess and live in the light of his exclusive status as the maker, sustainer, and sovereign King of all creation. To honor any creature, no matter how wonderful, as a deity was to detract from the honor due to God. As Philo of Alexandria, a first-century Jewish philosopher, put it, ‘They who deify mortal things neglect the honour due to God.’ New Testament scholar Jerome Neyrey explains, ‘When someone achieved honor, it was thought to be at the expense of others. Philo, for example, condemns polytheism, because in honoring other deities, the honor due to the true God is diminished.’

“It is in this cultural setting that Jesus asserted that it was God the Father’s purpose ‘that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father.’ By ‘the Son,’ of course, Jesus meant himself. Jesus went on to say that anyone failing to accord him such honor actually dishonors the Father: ‘Anyone who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him’ (John 5:23). Linking the honor due God with the honor due anyone else in this way was unprecedented in the Jewish Scriptures. That Jesus is here claiming divine honor is evident from the immediate context. Jesus has just claimed that he does whatever the Father does (v. 19) and that he ‘gives life to whomever he wishes’ (v. 21). The Father even has entrusted to the Son (v. 22) the responsibility of rendering eternal judgment over all people. According to Jesus, the Father did so precisely so that everyone would honor him, the Son, as they honor the Father (v. 23). In short, we are to honor Jesus as the one who holds our eternal future in his hands–as the one who has the power of life and death. We can assign no higher honor or status to someone than that of our ultimate, final Judge.

“Just how much honor should we give to Jesus? There really is no limit. The book of Hebrews asserts that Jesus ‘is worthy of more glory than Moses, just as the builder of a house itself’ (3:3). Think about what the author is saying. Moses is to Jesus as a house is to the builder of the house! In other words, Moses is part of the creation, the ‘house,’ and Jesus is being described as the ‘builder of the house,’ or the one responsible for the creation. ‘For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God’ (v. 4). Hebrews is telling us to honor Jesus as we would the ‘builder’ of creation–God.” (Bowman & Komoszewski, Putting Jesus in His Place, 1. All Glory, Laud, and Honor, pp. 31-32; bold emphasis ours)

“Jesus once said that everyone should ‘honor the Son just as they honor the Father’ (John 5:23). As we saw in chapter 1, Jesus here was making what would have to be regarded as an outrageous claim for any mere human being-or even for an angel. Jesus was claiming the honor due to the one who holds the power of life and death over all humanity.

“If Jesus was claiming the honor due God, we would expect to find the Bible explicitly according him most, if not all, of the forms of honor that it accords to God. We already have seen that the Bible teaches us to honor Jesus by glorifying him, worshiping, by praying to him, and even by singing hymns to and about him. In this concluding chapter on the honors due to Jesus, we will see that in virtually every other way that the Bible teaches is to honor God it also teaches us to honor the Lord.” (Ibid, 5. The Ultimate Reverence Package, p. 61; bold emphasis ours)

“This repeated assertion of the significance of Jesus and his name does not, however, reduce the significance of the ‘Father’ in GJohn [Gospel of John]. Instead, belief in Jesus is the will of the Father (6:40), just as it is the Father's intention ‘that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father’ (5:22-23). The close duality of Jesus and God is reflected everywhere in GJohn, as in the statement that eternal life comes through knowing ‘the only true God, and Jesus Christ’ who has been sent by God (17:3). To repeat an observation made earlier, Jesus’ significance is always expressed with reference to God ‘the Father’ in GJohn. At the same time, GJohn insists that proper obedience to, and reverence of, God now REQUIRES that Jesus be explicitly included with God as recipient of faith and devotion. This means that ‘the Father’ IS NOW DEFINED WITH REFERENCE TO JESUS, through whom in a uniquely full and authoritative measure the Father is revealed.” (Larry H. Hurtado, Lord Jesus Christ: Devotion to Jesus in Earliest Christianity [William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, MI/Cambridge, U.K .2003], 6. Crises and Christology in Johannine Christianity, p. 390; bold and capital emphasis ours)

Think about it, which divinely absolute Judge and God would allow mere mortals to sit with Him on His Throne? This begs a lot of explanation.