Saturday, 04 July 2009

• Why I am not a Muslim - v

  Muslims often tell us the Bible predicts the coming of Muhammad, therefore you Christians should believe it rather than trying to keep Muhammad out of the Bible.

   

  There are various places in the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures that are used by Muslims to show the presence of Muhammad – and ironically, the Jewish and Christian attempts to hide his name!

   

  Here’s a list of those Scriptures (not an exhaustive list, but representative):

  Deuteronomy 18:18

  Psalm 84:4-6

  Song of Solomon 5:

  Isaiah 42:1-13

  John 14-16

   

  Rather than speak to each one, let’s see how a conversation might ensure on one of the verses.

   

  Muslim: Muhammad’s coming is predicted in the Bible, but you Christians just don’t recognize it.  For instance, have you ever read Deuteronomy 18:18?

   

  Me: Sure, but Muhammad is not there.

   

  Muslim: But he is.  Look at this.  God tells Moses that He will raise up for them – for the Jews – a prophet like you (Moses) from among their brothers (the Muslims); I will put my words in his mouth (the Qur’an), and he will tell them everything that the prophet speaks in my name.”

   

  Me: Wow!  How did you get Muslims into that verse?  I don’t have that version.

   

  Muslim: Funny (sarcastically).  Who are the brothers of the Jews if not those who are descended from Ishmael?  Remember Abraham had two sons, Ishmael and Isaac – brothers – and so the Jews and Muslims are brothers.

   

  Me: Okay, I understand; I don’t agree, but I understand.  Do you know the meaning of the word ‘context.’

   

  Muslim: Sure.

   

  Me: You didn’t notice the context of the verse I guess, because ‘brothers’ does not refer to descendants of Ishmael, but to the Jews themselves.  Look at Deuteronomy 10:9.  Now 15:7; now 20:8, 25:5 and 33:9.  What do you see there?

   

  Muslim: It speaks of brothers but doesn’t tell us it refers to the Jews.

   

  Me: You forgot the context again.  If you look at all these verses in context you’ll notice that Moses is speaking to Jews.  His audience is the men and women who descended from Isaac and left Egypt.  Ishmael is not in the frame of reference at all.  If you want ‘brothers’ to refer to the Ishmaelites, you have to force it upon the text.  Moses never tells us that.

   

  Muslim: But a brother to a Jew is an Ishmaelite, right?

   

  Me: When brother is used by Moses in other places to refer to non-Jews, he tells us: Deuteronomy 2:4 mentions “your brothers, the sons of Esau.”  And sometimes, Moses even qualifies ‘brothers’ with “the sons of Israel” (Deuteronomy3:18).

   

  What do I mean by “I lost my cookies!”?

   

  Muslim: You can’t find your Oreos?

   

  Me: That’s one way to take it.  But I got off a wild rollercoaster ride, wobbly stood in front of you and said, “I lost my cookies,” would I be talking about Oreos?

   

  Muslim: No!  Of course, you meant you vomited.

   

  Me: Right.  And if I said “I lost my cookies” while cruising the internet, what would I mean?

   

  Muslim: Okay, I get it. 

   

  Me: So words have meanings that depend upon their context.  When Moses wrote ‘your brothers’ he was not making reference to the fact that all the Jews were African American!  When he wrote ‘your brothers’ he was not promoting collegiality among union members.  When he wrote ‘your brothers’ he was – according to the context – speaking to the Jews about the Jews.

   

  Muslim:  Okay, I see your point about brothers.  I don’t agree, but what about the idea that the prophet who comes will have God’s words put in his mouth?

   

  -to be continued-

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