THE DOCTRINE OF JESUS

“He is Light from Light, true God from true God, and begotten not made, of the same substance as the Father.” Jesus is literally the Son of God (as Paul said) and not allegorically the Son of God (as the Jesus Movement of Jerusalem said).

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Since I wrote the article The blasphemous Malay Bible (READ HERE), quite a number of Christians have informed me that I am wrong in my assumptions and that the doctrine of the Son of God is merely allegorical and should not be taken as literal. (Some even say that as a non-Christian I should not even be talking about Christianity in the first place).

Anyway, in light of the recent announcements by the Prime Minister, Putrajaya, the Selangor Menteri Besar, Nik Aziz Nik Mat, etc., over the last couple of days, maybe I need to revisit this issue. Before that, however, take note of some of these very pertinent historical facts.

Paul wrote his first epistle in 48 and in 58 he wrote the final epistle. In 66 (some say in 64), Nero executed both Paul and Peter in Rome, the same year of the Jewish revolt.

In 70, the Romans totally destroyed Jerusalem and burned it to the ground so that nothing remains, the same year that the Gospel of Mark was written.

It was not until 30 years later that the Gospels of Matthew and Luke were written and 50 years later into the second century that the Gospel of John was written (almost 100 years after Jesus).

In other words, what the Christians call the New Testament was written after the destruction of the Jesus Movement as well as the Jerusalem Church. Furthermore, the New Testament breaks from what Christians call the Old Testament and effectively creates a new version of Christianity that departs from the Christianity of the Jesus Movement and the Jerusalem Church.

In 313, Emperor Constantine issued the Edict of Milan followed by the Nicaea Council in 325 in Turkey and the Council of Hippo Regius in 398 in Algeria.

Okay, with those significant dates and events in mind, what does all this mean to the Muslims? And by understanding the Muslim view regarding these events maybe you can begin to understand the fierce opposition from Muslims regarding the Malay Bible saying that Jesus is the Son of Allah, as opposed to Jesus is the Son of God.

Over the 300 years since the ascension of Jesus, the Christian world was in disarray. So, in 325, Constantine brought together 2,000 bishops from all over the world with instructions that they would not be allowed to go home until they resolve the issue of the nature of Jesus and his relationship to God.

The discord of the Christian world was whether Jesus was human or divine.

After months of quarrelling and arguing, the Council handed to Constantine what is now known as the Nicene Creed, outlining for the first time the official and sanctioned orthodox beliefs of the Christian Church.

“He is Light from Light, true God from true God, and begotten not made, of the same substance as the Father.” Jesus is literally the Son of God (as Paul said) and not allegorically the Son of God (as the Jesus Movement of Jerusalem said).

Basically, this doctrine is based on the Letters of Paul.

Those who disagreed with this Creed were immediately banished from the Christian Empire and some even put to death for the crime of heresy and/or blasphemy and their teachings banned.

In 398, another group of bishops assembled in Hippo Regius to canonise what Christians today call the New Testament. More than half the 27 books of the New Testament are either by Paul or about Paul.

It must also be noted that there was serious conflict between Paul and the Jesus Movement of Jerusalem regarding other matters of doctrine. The Jesus Movement argued that Jesus came to fulfil the Laws of Moses, not to abolish them like what Paul argued. And to become a Christian you must get circumcised and you are not exempted from circumcision like Paul said, who himself was circumcised.

(In fact, there are many more differences, which I need not go into detail here).

In 57, James and the apostles demanded that Paul come to Jerusalem to face the Apostolic Council to answer to the charge of deviant teachings. In Paul’s own account of the meeting in a letter to the Galatians soon after that, Paul said that he was ‘ambushed by false believers’. Paul, who was clearly upset and at odds with the Council, left Jerusalem for Rome after that to continue with his own church that was considered a breakaway church from the Church of Jerusalem.

And this is the bone of contention for the Muslims. Jesus as the Son of God has a literal meaning and not, as some Christians say, is merely allegorical. Paul (whose version of Christianity Malaysian Christians follow) meant it literally and not allegorically, and the Church of Jerusalem disagreed with this and called it deviant teachings.

And this was why Paul was ousted from the Church of Jerusalem, after which he set up his own church in Rome, and considered a deviant church by the Church of Jerusalem. James and the Apostolic Council insisted that Jesus was human and not divine and to say otherwise is blasphemous. So can you imagine the outrage of the Muslims when you say that Jesus is the Son of Allah? Even James, the brother of Jesus, was outraged.

And read below what both Christianity and Islam have to say about the punishment for the crime of blasphemy.

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And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying … he that blasphemeth the name of the LORD, he shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall certainly stone him. Leviticus 24:13-16

Because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die … And the LORD struck the child that Uriah’s wife bare unto David, and it was very sick … And it came to pass on the seventh day, that the child died. 2 Samuel 12:14-18

All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men … whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come. Matthew 12:31-32

But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness Mark 3:29

And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but unto him that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven. Luke 12:10

Let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honour, that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed. 1 Timothy 6:1

I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.Revelation 2:9

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Muhammad Asghar, mentally ill Briton in Pakistan, sentenced to death for blasphemy

(The Huffington Post UK) – An elderly British man faces the death penalty in Pakistan after a court found him guilty of blasphemy.

Muhammad Asghar’s lawyers have argued for leniency, saying he has a history of mental illness – but this was rejected by a medical panel.

The 70-year-old was arrested in 2010 after writing letters to various people claiming to be a prophet, reports say.

Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy laws carry a potential death sentence for anyone deemed to have insulted Islam

The legal charity Reprieve has called on the Government to help the British grandfather, who is from Edinburgh, Scotland.

Maya Foa, director of Reprieve’s death penalty team, which is supporting Mr Ashgar said he is in “in dire need of medical care.”

“The evidence is clear that he is unable to defend himself in court,” she said.

“Worse still, he is currently being held in utterly unsuitable conditions in prison, and we are very concerned about his health.”

Mr Asghar is believed to have been diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic and had treatment at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Edinburgh, but the court did not accept his medical reports from the UK, reports say.

“Asghar claimed to be a prophet even inside the court. He confessed it in front of the judge,” Javed Gul, a government prosecutor, told the Agence France-Presse news agency.

But lawyers have said they were forcibly removed from the case by the judge and that proceedings were carried out behind closed doors.

The British High Commission told Al Jazeera: “We can’t give any information, other than we are aware of the case.”