Violence in the Bible and the Kuran

Answering-Islam ^ | Answering-Islam

[smith288]

Violence in the Bible and the Qur'an

A Christian Perspective

After the events of September 11^th, the issue of violence and religion has once again come into intense discussions and debate. As soon as Christians and others of good will condemn the Islamic justification and foundation for resorting to violence in the name of God—justifications found both in the Qur'an and the life of prophet Muhammad—we are quickly told that the Bible (especially the Old Testament scriptures) and Christian history are also filled with violence and that we should not single out Islam or the Qur'an in this regard.

For example, Fareed Zakaria, in his report in Newsweek, entitled "Why they hate us: The roots of Islamic rage—and what we can do about it" writes, "The historian Paul Johnson has argued that Islam is intrinsically an intolerant and violent religion. Other scholars have disagreed, pointing out that Islam condemns the slaughter of innocents and prohibits suicide. Nothing will be solved by searching for ‘true Islam’ or quoting the Qur'an. The Qur'an is a vast, vague book, filled with poetry and contradictions (much like the Bible). You can find in it condemnations of war and incitements to struggle, beautiful expressions of tolerance and stern pictures against unbelievers. Quotations from it usually tell us more about the person who selected the passages than about Islam. Every religion is compatible with the best and the worst of humankind. Through its long history, Christianity has supported inquisitions and anti-Semitism, but also human rights and social welfare."

How can Christians respond to such counter-charges? Are Christians and their scriptures no different than Muslim terrorists and others who use violence in the name of God to destroy their enemies? What can we say in light of our own dark Church history and also graphic passages found in portions of the Old Testament that do not seem to cast any better light on the roots and actions of our own faith tradition? The following are some of my reflections on these questions. Time does not allow me to develop each point fully, but I hope that they can be of some help and bring some clarification to these issues.

1. As Christians we must be very emphatic that Christians have and continue to do many shameful things in the name of Christ, BUT the issue is this: Christians who use violence in the name of God to destroy their enemies have no justification for their actions from Jesus Christ, his life and teachings as found in the New Testament. Whereas, Muslims who are engaged in violence and destruction of anyone who opposes Islam, have ample justification for their actions from the Qur'an and the life and sayings of prophet Muhammad. It is beyond the scope of this paper to quote verses and passages from the Qur'an, the Hadith and biographies of prophet Muhammad (the reader can refer to other articles on this web site, e.g. in the sections Muhammad and his enemies or Islam & Terrorism), but suffice it to say that it is beyond doubt that the prophet of Islam did encourage the killing and intimidation of his enemies, not just in self defense as it is commonly reported by Muslims, but in the promotion of the cause of God and the spread of Islam. Needless to say, the actions of the prophet were in direct contradiction to the teachings and actions of Jesus Christ and his disciples. So the point is not that Christians have never resorted to violence and other horrible atrocities. They have indeed committed many horrible acts, but when they have done this, they have betrayed the very person that they claim to follow. But when Muslims commit such acts, they can in fact claim that they are following the example of their prophet and thus fulfilling the will of God and promoting His cause. That, certainly, is a big difference!

2. When we turn our attention to the Old Testamet and look at passages that are found in the book of Joshua regarding the extermination of the Canaanites living in the land, we can still notice a dramatic difference in those passages and the events in the early history of Islam. The primary theme in those accounts is the issue of God's holiness. Even hundreds of years before the invasion of Canaan, God had told Abraham that the sins of the people living in the land had not reached its limit, but when the inhabitants had defiled the land to its limit, the land was going to "throw them up." In fact, God later warned the nation of Israel to be careful in not repeating the sins of the previous people, otherwise the land was going to throw them up too. So we see that God is using Israel as an instrument of His justice to purge the land of its sinfulness and later in history God used other nations like the Assyrians and the Babylonians as His instruments to cleanse the land by destroying the people of Israel for their sinfulness.

   However, when one reads the early accounts of prophet Muhammad's raids and wars, not only one sees no mention of the theme of divine holiness and its opposition to sin, but the primary motivations that one constantly encounters are the looting of the enemies and the obtaining of booty and the spoils of war or the relief and pleasures of Paradise or conquering the enemies and spreading the rule of the prophet. I am not just repeating an old stereotypical charge against Islam. I have just finished reading the most ancient Muslim biography of prophet Muhammad, written by Ibn Ishaq in the second century of the Islamic era (translated by A. Guillaume and published by Oxford University Press in 1955). I truly encourage all Muslims and non-Muslims to read this book to see for themselves the violence in the actions of prophet Muhammad and his early followers.

3. Another important point that we need to keep in mind is the fact that the divine command for the destruction of the few cities of Canaan, was for a specific people, a specific time and place and a specific purpose. Nowhere in the later Old Testament period do we see God commanding the nation of Israel to go and attack other pagan nations, either as self-defense or as a way to promote faith in the true God of heaven and earth. However, in the Qur'an, we encounter general commands to kill and destroy the enemies of Islam that are applicable for all times and places and people groups. It is beyond dispute that from the earliest times, right after the death of the prophet, Muslim splinter groups began fighting, killing and assassinating even each other, in the name of God. The history of Islam, down to the present day is filled with the appeals of various Muslims to ever-applicable Qur'anic passages to destroy and kill their enemies.

4. I would like to conclude this brief article by using a popular Islamic analogy. Muslims generally believe that since Islam is the final great monotheistic religion, it is superior in every respect to Judaism and Christianity. Living in the Middle East and growing up in a Muslim country, we were always told that Judaism was like elementary school, Christianity was like high school and Islam is like university. Each religion was from God, but each one became progressively higher and better. Now the question that we must ask is this, how can Islam claim to have a superior ethics to the New Testament, and yet resort back to the use and justification of violence, elements that were supposedly part of the early Jewish tradition? It seems that Islam not only has not improved on the teachings of Jesus and the New Testament in regard to the use of force, but that in fact Islam has gone back many steps in this regard.

I hope that the above comments have been helpful in clarifying some of the issues that we are facing these days regarding the use of violence in the Qur'an and the Bible. As Christians, we must not forget that the lens through which we must look at everything in life and even the Bible is the cross of Jesus Christ. Ultimately, it is the cross that defines for us who God is, what is He like and the means by which He is redeeming the world.

[smith288]

in the trenches.

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

Good point, Christ himself was something of a wuss! "Turn the other cheek" and all that.

I tend to disagree with this. Jesus was a forgiving person yes, but when it came to his beliefs nothing would change him, not even torture. I beieve this is what is meant when he says Blessed is the Meek. You stand up unswervable for what you believe no matter what that causes to happen to you, but you don't force others to believe your way. I don't think this makes anyone a "wuss", in fact just the opposite.

Becky

[Paradox]

I didnt mean to imply that Christ was a coward, but that he was a man of peace, as opposed to Muhammed or David. So much so that I would say that by todays standards, he would be considered rather wussy, but I suppose that word has too many negative connotations. Pacifist was probably a better term. Therefore, I agreed with this article.

[OPS4]

Back to the Bible Arminian Magazine | 1988 | C Marion Brown Posted on 3/23/02 9:10 PM Pacific by fortheDeclaration BACK TO THE BIBLE --C. Marion Brown I am persuaded that basic unbelief is one of our cardinal sins that lies at the door of the evangelical church in America today. We are struggling with this massive wave of unbelief and trying to cure it with swats at a variety of secondary issues. We consequently congratulate ourselves with our efforts, stands, and non-conformity, while we allow the cardinal sin of unbelief to go unchecked and unchallenged in our ministry and laity. It brings grief to true believers, dishonor to the visible Church, disgrace to ourselves, and disgust to God himself.

The problem is so serious that I believe we are in danger of being spewed out by the Lord. I literally marvel at the Lord's longsuffering with us in America.

It seems that we flaunt in God's face that we are rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing.

One of the major and basic areas of unbelief in America today is in the authority and inspiration of the holy Scriptures. We must return to the basic moral understanding that the holy Scriptures is not a book to defend our pet ideas or that it is not just a good book to gain ideas to try to better our lives by or that we are not to try to explain away its plain and simple precepts, but that it is the revelation of God to mankind and its instructions are to be heeded and its laws are to be kept even if many others do not keep them. And that we are finally to be judged by its solemn precepts.

I have observed a mentality today which makes me shudder when I attempt to analyze it, and that is just how much like this present world can I be and yet please the Lord? Some do not do this in an outward manner primarily, but you only have to listen to them a little while to discover that their conversation is not in heaven. They can speak at length on many matters that have little or not link to Christian living.

I concur with Wesley when he asked the question on August 24, 1744 before Oxford University, "Is there scriptural Christianity found here?" I ask the same to you. Just how scriptural is your Christianity? Do you remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy? Or any other of the commandments; are they like frontlets before your eyes? My brethren, can we dare to continue as we are today with so little soul respect for the holy Scriptures? And what excuse will we offer for out lack of concern and soul burden? Remember on one of the "woes" of the holy Scriptures is to them that are at ease in Zion!

Fasting seems to be a lost art for most of us today. Far more often than not we fare sumptuously every day. We are far more acquainted with McDonalds' menu than we are with the holy Scriptures. When we read "when we fast" we seem to feel that it is a mistranslation that should read "if ye fast." I fear lest our mental calisthenics will allow us to explain away the obvious interpretation of the holy Scriptures.

Until we have a return to the basic and final authority of the holy Scriptures in our life and practice we are farther from God than any of us realize. There can be no supernatural visitation of the Holy Spirit without a return to basic scriptural authority! The holy Scriptures are the final authority in every area. If science and Scripture are in conflict, Scripture is the authority! If history and Scripture conflict, some historian has not done his homework and is wrong! The infinite God inspired the holy Scriptures and his knowledge is too wonderful for us to comprehend. If geography or any other science conflicts with Scripture, rest your soul, the Almighty God, Creator of the universe knew well what the Holy Ghost inspired the sacred writers to pen was correct - absolutely correct!

That old serpent, the devil, has done a number on us. He has sown seeds of doubt concerning the holy Scriptures in the hearts of many deluded evangelicals, saying, "We are too intelligent to except the absolute and final authority of the Scriptures." I can only say if we accept this lie of the devil, we will be the sore losers.

We do not really believe the Psalmist's evaluation in Psalms 19:7 that the law of the Lord is perfect, that is, it cannot be improved upon!!! My call to you today is: let us return to the absolute authority of the holy Scriptures. They are the way to life, hope, and faith. Let us return and apply its principles to our lives even though it may be a painful process. One of the identifying marks of one who has divine love according to 1 Corinthians 13:6b is that he "rejoiceth in the truth." Rejoice although it beheads our idols, digs our creeds apart, smashes our theories, and changes our lives.

My prayer is that we will return to be men of one Book; and that it's sacred pages will so consume us that we can become channels through which the Holy Spirit can move in extraordinary measures. St. Paul's instructions to his son Timothy was, "Preach the Word." It is our duty brethren, to preach the Word in all of its boldness, narrowness, broadness, and in all of its transforming power. It is sufficient for the needs of all men whatever their stature or station. The preached word will as surely find its mark as David's smooth stone found its mark if it is preached clearly, sincerely, fearfully, and with power. Meditate upon it, my brethren, until your hearts burn within you. Read and study its precepts until the book becomes your crowning desire. It makes wise the simple (Psalm 19:7b).

We have a bounden duty to awaken out of sleep, stir our hearts, and become God's firebrands for this generation. We are on the train of life and it is thundering toward judgment. Have we cleared our souls concerning this tragic malady of our generation? Do we not owe our generation, a generation of "men of one Book"? Dare we proceed any farther without a fresh baptism of the Holy Spirit that again will draw men to keep the precepts and laws that are so graphically laid out in the holy Scriptures?