Does Islam Improve on Christianity?

The American Thinker ^ | April 2, 2005 | James Arlandson

[quidnunc]

Does Muhammad fulfill and complete the mission and ministry of Christ? Muhammad answers with an emphatic yes.

Basic Islamic theology teaches that since Allah sent Gabriel down with the Quran to Muhammad the messenger of Allah, Muhammad and the Quran fulfill and complete the mission of Christ and the New Testament. Muhammad seems to recognize the value of the Bible (Suras 4:47; 4:136; 4:163; 5:44-48; 5:82-83; 6:92, 154), but ultimately Christianity and the New Testament must yield to Islam and the Quran, the new and superior revelation.

Sura (Chapter) 5:15-16 illustrates Muhammad's viewpoint. In the context of Muhammad's distortion of the Christian doctrine of the Sonship of Christ (v. 17), and in the context of his asserting that Jews have been cursed (v. 13), this passage in the Quran (representing others) says that Christians (and Jews) have been walking in darkness until Muhammad came:

5:15 People of the Book [Jews and Christians] … a light has now come to you from God, and a Scripture [the Quran] making things clear, 16 with which God guides them who follow what pleases Him to ways of peace, bringing them from darkness out into light, by His will, and guiding them to a straight path. (Haleem) (cf. 4:157)

A Bible-educated Christian today immediately recognizes the imagery of light. Jesus says that he was sent down from heaven as the light of the world, and Christians have passed from darkness into the light (John 1:4-5, 8:12, 9:5, 12:46; 1 Peter 2:9). Now, however, Muhammad claims that Christians had been living in darkness, and he has come to clarify matters for them, as if things had been muddied. The Quran offers guidance along a "straight path," a theme often repeated in the Muslim Scriptures (e.g. Sura 1) and makes "things clear." Verse 16 is likely one of the verses a Muslim has in mind when he points out that Islam is a religion of peace. But is it?

A devout, Bible-educated Christian in no way believes that Islam is superior, so how do we break this deadlock? Ignore it? Given recent events like 9/11, this is no longer feasible. Do we pretend that all religions are the same? But this forces us to deny some basic, non-negotiable doctrines that all religions have and that cannot be reconciled. So do we argue over these abstract doctrines?

Debating abstract ideas like the Unity or the Trinity of God has a place in the Christian-Muslim dialogue, but neither claim can be proven by simple observation. The Quran everywhere affirms the strict Unity of God, whereas the New Testament everywhere affirms the divinity of Christ and the personhood of the Holy Spirit. So we have merely pitted one sacred text against another, and to break this deadlock we must go down still other paths. (For more information on the reliability of the New Testament, visit this site; for the problems inhering in the Quran, go here.)

Since Muhammad lays down a serious challenge to Christ and Christianity, we Christians must answer him. What would Christ say? As it turns out, he has given us a clear teaching on how to evaluate a prophet who comes after him in history, especially if the later prophet asserts his superiority over Christ: call it fruit inspection.

-snip-

[EdReform]

Required reading:

Prophet of Doom - Islam’s Terrorist Dogma, In Muhammad’s Own Words

Islam is a caustic blend of regurgitated paganism and twisted Bible stories.
Muhammad, its lone prophet, conceived his religion solely to satiate his lust for power, sex, and money.
He was a terrorist.

And if you think these conclusions are shocking, wait until you see the evidence at www.prophetofdoom.net.

Muhammad, Islam and Terrorism

THE LIFE OF MUHAMMAD

Radical Islam's 'plan' to take over America - Arab-American author outlines secret 20-year strategy to undermine country

The Islamic States of America?

Misunderstanding the Enemy: the Islamic Threat and the U.S. Media

Americans' Tax Dollars Fund the Wahhabi Lobby

The U.S. Government's Poor Record on Islamists

Saudi Venom in U.S. Mosques

Islamic Concept of Al-Taqiyah to infiltrate and destroy kafir countries

Taqiyya and kitman: The role of Deception in Islamic terrorism

The real CAIR

CAIR Proposes World Islamophobia Report

CAIR: 'Moderate' friends of terror

An Open Letter to Islamic Organizations in America

islam: This is a truthful hardhitting analysis that all of Freerepublic, the West and America needs to read and understand

The Islamic Vacuum

Exploiting the Koran to Terrorize

Top Ten Reasons Why Islam Is Not the Religion of Peace

Deceit, Thy Name Is Islamism

islamic infiltration of education:

The Clinton and Islam partnership: Evidence of negotiations using America's public school children

A Seat at the Table: Islam Makes Inroads in Education

American Saudi Schools: Home Grown Sleeper-Cells - (one more wake up call!)

Spreading Islam in American Public Schools

Islamist Threat to Public Schools in Columbia, South Carolina?

Respecting Ramadan, Banning "Christmas" (School District Favors Muslims Over Christians)

"Why I left Islam", by Dr. Ali Sina

"...the real Islam is not what its philosophers and mystics have inferred but what is in the Quran and that is the Islam of the fundamentalist and the terrorist. The real Islam is the Islam that abuses women, that allows men to beat their wives, that imposes penalty tax on the religious minorities, that wants to dominate the world by subduing all the non-Muslims, that calls for Jihad and killing the non-believers until Islam becomes the only dominant religion of the World^*."

"The enemy is Islam and that is the target of my attacks. I do that, despite knowing that I have become the magnet of the hatred of fanatical Muslims and my own life could be in danger.

Yet I know that by eradicating Islam we can save the world from the dangers of a catastrophe that otherwise is looming over our heads and could cause more disaster than the 1st and 2nd World Wars combined."

Islamic terror based on Qu’ran: ex-CIA official

"A former top official of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency paints a menacing picture of the relationship between Islam and terrorism.

"Islamic terrorism is based on Islam as revealed through the Qu’ran," keynote speaker Bruce Tefft claimed in a panel discussion at the University of Toronto on jihad and global terrorism.

And, he added, "There is no difference between Islam and Islamic fundamentalism, which is a totalitarian construct..."

According to Tefft, the Qu’ran enjoins Muslims to believe that the whole world should be governed by the principles of Islam^*, an expansionist religion that has historically grown through conquest..."

^*‘Islam isn't in America to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant. The Qur'an should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on earth’

-- Omar Ahmed, Chairman of the Board of CAIR (Council of American Islamic Relations), San Ramon Valley Herald, July 1998

( Should Muslim Quran be USA's top authority? - Paper stands by story citing 'mainstream' leader pushing for Islamic America )

Required reading:

Prophet of Doom - Islam’s Terrorist Dogma, In Muhammad’s Own Words

Islam is a caustic blend of regurgitated paganism and twisted Bible stories.
Muhammad, its lone prophet, conceived his religion solely to satiate his lust for power, sex, and money.
He was a terrorist.

And if you think these conclusions are shocking, wait until you see the evidence at www.prophetofdoom.net.

Muhammad, Islam and Terrorism

THE LIFE OF MUHAMMAD

Radical Islam's 'plan' to take over America - Arab-American author outlines secret 20-year strategy to undermine country

The Islamic States of America?

Misunderstanding the Enemy: the Islamic Threat and the U.S. Media

Americans' Tax Dollars Fund the Wahhabi Lobby

The U.S. Government's Poor Record on Islamists

Saudi Venom in U.S. Mosques

Islamic Concept of Al-Taqiyah to infiltrate and destroy kafir countries

Taqiyya and kitman: The role of Deception in Islamic terrorism

The real CAIR

CAIR Proposes World Islamophobia Report

CAIR: 'Moderate' friends of terror

An Open Letter to Islamic Organizations in America

islam: This is a truthful hardhitting analysis that all of Freerepublic, the West and America needs to read and understand

The Islamic Vacuum

Exploiting the Koran to Terrorize

Top Ten Reasons Why Islam Is Not the Religion of Peace

Deceit, Thy Name Is Islamism

islamic infiltration of education:

The Clinton and Islam partnership: Evidence of negotiations using America's public school children

A Seat at the Table: Islam Makes Inroads in Education

American Saudi Schools: Home Grown Sleeper-Cells - (one more wake up call!)

Spreading Islam in American Public Schools

Islamist Threat to Public Schools in Columbia, South Carolina?

Respecting Ramadan, Banning "Christmas" (School District Favors Muslims Over Christians)

"Why I left Islam", by Dr. Ali Sina

"...the real Islam is not what its philosophers and mystics have inferred but what is in the Quran and that is the Islam of the fundamentalist and the terrorist. The real Islam is the Islam that abuses women, that allows men to beat their wives, that imposes penalty tax on the religious minorities, that wants to dominate the world by subduing all the non-Muslims, that calls for Jihad and killing the non-believers until Islam becomes the only dominant religion of the World^*."

"The enemy is Islam and that is the target of my attacks. I do that, despite knowing that I have become the magnet of the hatred of fanatical Muslims and my own life could be in danger.

Yet I know that by eradicating Islam we can save the world from the dangers of a catastrophe that otherwise is looming over our heads and could cause more disaster than the 1st and 2nd World Wars combined."

Islamic terror based on Qu’ran: ex-CIA official

"A former top official of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency paints a menacing picture of the relationship between Islam and terrorism.

"Islamic terrorism is based on Islam as revealed through the Qu’ran," keynote speaker Bruce Tefft claimed in a panel discussion at the University of Toronto on jihad and global terrorism.

And, he added, "There is no difference between Islam and Islamic fundamentalism, which is a totalitarian construct..."

According to Tefft, the Qu’ran enjoins Muslims to believe that the whole world should be governed by the principles of Islam^*, an expansionist religion that has historically grown through conquest..."

^*‘Islam isn't in America to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant. The Qur'an should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on earth’

-- Omar Ahmed, Chairman of the Board of CAIR (Council of American Islamic Relations), San Ramon Valley Herald, July 1998

( Should Muslim Quran be USA's top authority? - Paper stands by story citing 'mainstream' leader pushing for Islamic America )

Required reading:

[dagnabbit]

Bookmarked and BTTT

[bahblahbah]

No, not even close. We just took the old testament. We didn't change anything in it.

[bahblahbah]

That is not what replacement theology is...

[thoughtomator]

Yeah fully aware. Three layers of inch-thick asbestos interspersed with six-inch thick reinforced concrete. Not my first time pointing out that little detail.

However, since the Pope just died, I will respectfully refrain from refuting the doctrine today.

[thoughtomator]

According to my cousin, the Catholic priest, that's what it is, unless I've misinterpreted what he told me.

[JWinNC]

Quite correct, there is no "replacement." All of the Torah and OT are still intact and unchanged. Christ even confirms this.

jw

[John Lenin]

Don't think I could be part of a religion who's leader was a warrior who preached death to his enemies. It must be the only religion in the world based on convert or die.

[bahblahbah]

Look it up. Most Christians reject replacement theology.

[thoughtomator]

The concept of the Trinity itself is a massive modification of the Old Testament. Also you'll find that if you compare a Hebrew bible to a Christian text, there are differences throughout. I'll often get into a theological discussion and find my text has different line numbers and translations than a Christian text - also I have a comparative Bible that shows even among Christian texts there can be significant differences.

[nightdriver]

Islam fits the description of "the abomination of desolations" prophesied about in the book of Daniel.

[FreedomCalls]

No, not even close. We just took the old testament. We didn't change anything in it.

Quite correct, there is no "replacement." All of the Torah and OT are still intact and unchanged. Christ even confirms this.

You're both wrong. Christianity changes a lot of the Old Testament. Large parts of God's laws as set out in Leviticus are denied by Christians entirely.

[Mogollon]

When Jesus on the Mount of Olives he predicted this:

Matthew 24:24 - For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

Mark 13:22 - For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect.

Mohammed was a false prophet/christ figure. He thinks he got his directions from the Archangel Gabriel but it was probably the archangel lucifer that gave him instructions.

[expat_panama]

Israelites say Moses fulfills Abraham's prophesies.		Some Isrealites and Hebrews fight-- most don't and become Isrealites		Remaining Hebrews cry foul.
Christians say Christ fulfills Jewish prophesies.		Some Christians and Jews fight-- most don't and become Christians		Remaining Jews cry foul.
Moslems say Islam fulfills Christian prophesies.		Some Christians and Moslems fight -- most don't and become Moslem		Remaining Christians cry foul.

Anybody else see a pattern here?

[TalBlack]

"Basic Islamic theology teaches that since Allah sent Gabriel down with the Quran to Muhammad the messenger of Allah, Muhammad and the Quran fulfill and complete the mission of Christ and the New Testament."

Funny that God Himself never mentioned that Christ need all this help.

[rdb3]

Replacement theology. Using the basis of an older religion to build a new one, saying that it is the fulfillment of prophecies of the elder, adding a new text to reinforce and extend the claim.

Not quite. "Replacement Theology" is the literal "replacing" of Israel with the Church.

The Bible teaches no such thing. Replacement Theology is gross heresy.

[A CA Guy]

Islam worships the god of the moon, no the God of the Christians and Jews.
They are a messed up religion that produced radical terrorists that want us all dead.

I no longer care what Islamists think. I just look over my shoulder if they are around.

[thoughtomator]

I guess I had the term wrong. The replacement of the new covenant for the old seemed naturally describable as "replacement theology", but I guess that term has a different meaning.

[TalBlack]

"Yeah fully aware. Three layers of inch-thick asbestos interspersed with six-inch thick reinforced concrete. Not my first time pointing out that little detail."

Just take solace that you are so much brighter, more inciscive and aware than some of the greatest minds in history as well as some of the greatest, finest, bravest people alive today.

That ain't chump-change pal.

[Pete]

Does Muhammad fulfill and complete the mission and ministry of Christ?

Jesus answers that in three words.

"It is finished."