Is it written in the Koran that unbelievers should be killed? / Nabil M. 00, 2016-10-27
The divine authenticity of the Koran.
The Arabs – a people blessed by God.
We live in an age of mass dumbing down. / Peter Scholl-Latour.
Islamic expert Laila Mirzo on the true goals of Islam.
Is Islam a peaceful religion? Discourse 36
(…) I have checked your statement to this effect (e.g. in Discourse 36: "Is Islam a peaceful religion?" / FH) in the light of
Surah 5 of the Koran. There is nothing here to say that unbelievers should be killed. This is
Surah 5, the Surah known as "The Table" (Al-Máedah), because verses 5/112-115 speak of that table which Allah sent down to earth (5/115) at the request of Jesus (5/114), because the disciples wanted this confirmation that God is capable of doing such a thing (5/112) and that Jesus had spoken the truth (5/113).
Surah 5 also refers to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and the miracles which Jesus worked with the permission of Allah.
Muslims and Christians should each respect the other’s religion. Each should focus on his own problems and not interfere with the others. In Austria we have so many people who call themselves Christians and do not behave in accordance with the commandments of God at all. They are corrupt, fraudulent, they are homosexual and now a law has even been passed which allows homosexuals to adopt children. How can this be a society that believes in God? (…)
M. Nabil / (Egypt) / Graz, Austria
Thank you for the dialog, and for your comments.
Just to get things out of the way at once, I am completely and totally in agreement with your critical remarks above about the state of our "Christian" society in Austria (fraud, corruption, homosexuality and so on), and can only point out that these people are not Christians any more than the people of IS (so-called Islamic State) can be Muslims
With reference to your discussion of what is stated in the Koran, I have again copied out for you here verse 33 of the 5th
Surah. So you can see that my judgment that this Surah, above all, is an example of the aggressive nature of some parts of the Koran was wholly justified.
Surah 5:33 5. Al-Ma’ida
|
In the debate with Muslims, people generally raise the objection at this
point that the Christian crusades were in no way better, and that it is a question of the
pot calling the kettle black. This assertion is perfectly correct, but for a single detail
– back then the people involved were not Christians, it was the Catholic church that was
responsible. And the Catholic church – at least in those days – can quite justifiably be
compared with the IS of today. These people, on both sides, are only concerned with power
and influence, and conceal it under the cloak of a religious conversion.
And now I think I also know what you will say to me in response to the above critique of the Koran, namely: "Here, surely, it is only those people who wage war against Allah and his Messenger who are threatened with death or crucifixion." That too is correct, but in view of the fact that Allah is not tangible and Mohammed, the "Messenger", is long since dead, it is his adherents, the Muslims, who represent Islam today. And so, based on this statement in Surah 5:33, anyone who wages war against these Muslims must be killed or crucified.
And it is just these passages in the Koran to which the hate preachers of IS, under their Imams, repeatedly refer. The western allies are fighting against IS, so they are fighting against the Muslims, and therefore they are fighting against Allah and his Messenger and so they must be killed or beheaded.
Now of course you are also right when you say that everyone should look after their own problems and leave others in peace. But when these others, like IS, hold people prisoner against their will, torture them, kill them, rape women and prevent children from attending school – and all this in the name of Islam and the Koran – then it is actually these IS Muslims who are interfering in the lives of others – those, that is, whom they hold prisoner – and so (quite apart from the violation of fundamental human rights) are deserving of condemnation. These are the ones who should be focusing on their own problems and leaving other people in peace.
And I have also copied out Surah 9:29 for you. Quite apart from the fact that it states that Muslims must fight against non-Muslims, for a person who believes in God this statement is quite simply impious. This is because of the sentence referring to "what Allah and his Messenger have forbidden".
Surah 9:29 9. At-Tauba |
"What Allah has forbidden" is perfectly correct, if we understand by
"Allah" the God of the Jews and the Christians. But the insertion of "and His Messenger" is simply unsupportable, if we believe in the one and only God. For Mohammed too
was only a human being, but with this statement he arrogated to himself all possible rights to
issue commandments and prohibitions from his own point of view. He puts himself on the
same footing as God, and that would be a serious sin.
But with that we are already plunged into the debate on Islam’s authenticity. The author of the Koran – Mohammed, the ‘Messenger’ of God – claims to have personally received the revelations of the Koran from the Archangel Gabriel, acting on the instructions of the one and only God, in the years 610 to 632 AD, when he was meditating in a cave.
Now we know that at this time – in 610 AD, that is – the Jewish Torah (the five Books of Moses of the Old Testament) had already existed in written form for something like 1500 years, while the scriptures of the Christian New Testament had been extant for around 500 years. And if we study the Koran closely, we will also find that many statements it contains are almost identical in meaning with the Jewish, and even with the Christian scriptures. So for example the origin of the universally known commandment in the Koran about the washing of hands and feet before entering the mosque to pray is to be found in the Old Testament, in the Second Book of Moses (Exodus), chapter 30, verses 17-21:
When they enter the tent of meeting, they shall wash their hands and their feet with water.
Ex 30,17 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 30,18 "You shall also make a laver of bronze, with its base of bronze, for washing; and you shall put it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and you shall put water in it. 30,19 "Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet from it; 30,20 when they enter the tent of meeting, they shall wash with water, so that they will not die; or when they approach the altar to minister, by offering up in smoke a fire sacrifice to the LORD. 30,21 "So they shall wash their hands and their feet, so that they will not die; and it shall be a perpetual statute for them, for Aaron and his descendants throughout their generations." Ex 30,17-21;
Of course Mohammed went on to "supplement" this biblical commandment a bit, since he declared it to be mandatory not just for priests (Aaron and his sons, among the Israelites) but for all Muslims, and said that the whole rigmarole must take place five times a day, along with the prayer facing Mecca (the Kaaba).
But Mohammed also borrowed stuff from the Catholic church. Thus the New Testament tells us that there is only an either/or. That is to say, either the person believes in Jesus Christ and his vicarious sacrifice on the cross for our sins, and then he is saved; or he doesn’t believe, and then he is lost and goes to damnation. And in both cases for eternity! (Jn 3:14-18).
(See also chapter 13: "The Resurrection of the faithful on Judgment Day / the Last Day")
But for the Catholic church this offered too little chance of profit. Such a doctrine wasn’t going to get congregations to put their hands in their pockets. And so it invented "Purgatory". Now reverend dignitaries could wallow in the sale of indulgences. "Fifty groats, and you’ll be let off two million years in Purgatory" – that was the kind of message. And they even put about an advertising slogan – "The moment the coin in the casket pings, The forgiven soul into heaven springs.".
The beginnings of this trade in indulgences go right back to late antiquity (around 300 AD). So Mohammed, in 610 AD, didn’t adopt the trade in indulgences exactly, but he did incorporate the unbiblical idea of punishment in hell for a limited period in his Koran.
And then we come to those famous 72 virgins, who supposedly wait in paradise for the Muslim martyr to come and deflower them. And in a "hadith of the prophet", Mohammed also promises that after being deflowered the virgins will recover their virginity again, and the martyr will have a constant erection (WikiIslam
/ English).
Mohammed’s ascension to heaven with his horse (woman ??) Buraq
Quite apart from the morally deplorable circumstance that this represents an attempt to seduce young men with sexual enticements, so that they will sacrifice their lives to further the power hunger of a self‒styled "prophet", and later on to extend the power of a false religion – it is these "promises" of the Koran, above all, that testify to the fact that Mohammed had absolutely no idea about life in eternity.
For as the Koran itself confirms, after the Resurrection eternity begins. The people who will live in eternity will naturally also live eternally. Now if people in eternity live eternally, no one is going to die any more and so people won’t need to go on being born either. It follows that in eternity there will not be any begetting of children, nor will there any longer be sexual intercourse. So people will not longer have sexual organs either, it will no longer be a matter of man and woman – they will all be like the angels, sexually neutral in other words.
So if Mohammed had read the New Testament more attentively, he would have found an explanation of these matters by the Son of God. The Jews of the day had asked him a trick question, telling him the famous biblical story of the seven brothers with the one wife:
In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had married her.
Mt 22,23 On that day some Sadducees (who say there is no resurrection) came to Jesus and questioned Him, 22,24 asking, "Teacher, Moses said, ‘if a man dies having no children, his brother as next of kin shall marry his wife, and raise up children for his brother.’ 22,25 "Now there were seven brothers with us; and the first married and died, and having no children left his wife to his brother; 22,26 so also the second, and the third, down to the seventh. 22,27 "Last of all, the woman died. 22,28 "In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had married her." 22,29 But Jesus answered and said to them, "You are mistaken, not understanding the Scriptures nor the power of God.
22,30 "For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. Mt 22,23-30;
As we can see, Mohammed fell into the same trap as the Jews back then. But whereas the Sadducees denied the Resurrection as such, Mohammed took over the Resurrection and eternal life from the New Testament, but overlooked the associated consequences – the fact that progeny will no longer be needed in future. And so he culpably promised "paradisal conditions" that he had invented himself, so as to persuade young people to go to their deaths for him.
The conclusion is clear: logic was not the strong point of the "prophet" back then, nor is it a conspicuous characteristic of his followers today.
Riots: Muslims demand radical Islamic laws
PS. For all those who haven’t yet got the point – anyone who tries to force democratic rights on the Moslems is always going to be shot down by them with the assertion that these are rights which have been invented by human beings, whereas the Sharia in the Koran is the law of God which was given to Mohammed by the Archangel Gabriel.
Only one who can convincingly demonstrate that the Koran is a plagiarism of the Bible, and the rest was invented by Mohammed himself, can bring forward a watertight argument to show that the Koran is very far from representing divine justice, but is merely the well thought out political program of an Islamic ruler of the seventh century. Only in this way might it be possible to get a glimmer of attention from the Islamic world – even if only hesitantly, and only from the most intelligent.
Mt 25,34 "Then the King will say to those on His right, Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.(…)
25,41 "Then He will also say to those on His left, Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels.
Surahh 90,17. And then being among those who believed and advised one another about patience and advised one another about compassion 80,18 Those are the companions of the right 90,19 But they who disbelieved in Our signs- those are the companions of the left 90,20 Over them will be fire closed in.
But of course our western politicians of today have no idea of the power of religious conviction and the loyalty to their faith of the vast majority of Moslems, and think that these people could be just as easily persuaded to abandon their religion as they themselves have fallen away from the Christian faith. Here they regrettably overlook the fact that by abolishing the Christian God from their modern and godless world, they have deprived themselves of any argument for convincing and converting people of another belief system.
Even if they may manage to integrate the Moslem refugees with society, they will never – without Christianity – be able to persuade them to adopt the west’s godless mainstream culture, and in the last resort both their politics and their own lives will come to grief between a false God and the true one.
Now there are two possible explanations for this textual reduplication.
Either God found it necessary to reveal these texts, which he had already previously
revealed to Moses and Jesus and his apostles, in conclusion to Mohammed as well. This
would be the explanation of the Muslims – but for further details, see below.
The other explanation would be that Mohammed did not receive his revelations from the
Archangel Gabriel (as the founder of the Mormon religion, Joseph Smith, likewise claimed
to have received his revelations from the angel "Moroni"), but purely and simply
copied these texts out of the Jewish Torah and the Christian New Testament, added a few
remarks of his own and then passed them on as the "Koran" to his followers. Arguments in
favor of this supposition are two circumstances in particular:
First of all we know, if we have studied the Koran, that Mohammed committed a grievous
error in his estimate of Christian teaching. He confused the unbiblical "Mary", who was
invented by the Catholic church at the Council of Ephesus (431 AD), with the Holy Spirit,
and interpreted her, along with God the Father and the Son of God, as the "Trinity" of the
Christians. This error, we presume, can hardly be attributed to the Archangel Gabriel.
And secondly, we notice when we read this book that those texts which bear no resemblance
whatever either with the Torah or with the New Testament – and so come from a third
source, presumably from Mohammed himself – have a remarkable quantity of commandments and
prohibitions which emphasize the ranking and the power of the "Messenger" among his
followers. As for example in the verse quoted above (Surah 9:29):
"Fight those who do not believe in Allah, nor in the
Last Day, nor forbid what Allah and His Messenger have forbidden, nor abide
by the religion of truth‒ from among those who received the Scripture ‒until they
pay the due tax, willingly or unwillingly."
Here Mohammed has the audacity to claim divine authority, even though
elsewhere he enjoins his adherents to preach about "submission to God" ("Islam" in
Arabic). But even the following description of the Prophet in person, by Islamic
specialists, apparently overlooks this instruction by Mohammed, addressed to his
adherents, that they should fight against those who do not believe in Allah:
"The task assigned to the Prophet Mohammed was the same in
relation to all his fellow human beings, whether they happened to be Jews,
Christians or idol worshipers – namely, to pass on the message of God. He spoke about
this commission to those with whom he came into contact in the light of their own
religious ideas, and urged them to submit to the will of God. In so doing he extended
great respect and human solidarity to his neighbor, and he also bore personal injury
and persecution with great patience."
Islamisches Zentrum München
[Munich Islamic Centre]
But it may be a matter of interest that these texts – both Surah 9:29 and
the biography of Mohammed just quoted, refer to "those who received the Scripture", that
is to say the "People of the Book", Jews and Christians. And although the biography tells
us that Mohammed extended "great respect and human solidarity" to Jews and Christians, in
Surah 9:29 we find him exhorting to fight against these "unbelievers".
Incidentally, it is incomprehensible that in this text Jews and Christians – who according to Mohammed’s own statements believe in the same one and only God as the Muslims – should be described by him as "unbelievers" and treated as such. This can only suggest the conclusion that he was not so much concerned with the question whether someone believed in this God, but more with whether they accepted him, Mohammed, as the "Messenger" of God and the Koran as Holy Scripture or not.
If in discussions on this subject we find it repeatedly asserted that the injunction to fight against unbelievers, or to kill them, only occurs in a single passage, this can be refuted just in the light of the two
Surahs we have quoted here – even though they partially were chosen in a sense for other reasons, and yet they contain both. But what about the 66 wars, involving thousands of casualties, which Mohammed waged in order to convince his neighbors of his ideas? These testify to the fact that in his eyes, killing unbelievers was nothing out of the ordinary.
If we just take a look at the titles of pictures of Mohammed and relating to Mohammed, we can recognize that, by contrast with Jesus Christ, he did not bring the Holy Spirit down to earth, but rather disseminated the all too earthly spirit of hatred, murder and war.
o Mohammed exhorting his family before the battle of Badr
o Muhammad at the battle of Badr
o Mohammed and his followers having a rendezvous with soldiers
o Imam Ali and Hamza fighting idolaters at Badr
o Ali bin Abu Taleb beheading Nasr bin al-Hareth (Nadr ibn al-Harith)
in the presence of Mohammed and his companions
o Mohammed (in green, lower left) marching to the Battle of Uhud
o The Prophet Muhammad and the Muslim army at the battle of Uhud
o Mohammed (riding the horse) receiving the submission of
the Banu Nadir, a Jewish tribe he defeated at Medina
o Mohammed enthroned in heaven
o Mohammed (on the right, astride Buraq) and the Angel
Gabriel (center) talk with Abraham (left) in Paradise
o The ascent of Muhammad to heaven
o Mohammed (upper right) visiting Paradise while riding
Buraq, accompanied by the Angel Gabriel (upper left). Below them, riding camels, are some
of the fabled houris of Paradise ‒ the "virgins" promised to heroes and martyrs. sEE
Koran, Surah 9 Vers 111
o Mohammed, along with Buraq and Gabriel, visit Hell, and
see a demon punishing "shameless women" who had exposed their hair to strangers. For this
crime of inciting lust in men, the women are strung up by their hair and burned for eternity
o Mohammed and his followers travel to Mecca, accompanied by
the archangels / angels of Islam: Gabriel (arab. Djibril), Michael (arab. Mika’il or Mikal),
Israfil and Azrael (arab. Izra’il))
o The Koran being revealed to Mohammed during a battle
(DAS ISLAM-PRINZIP [THE ISLAMIC PRINCIPLE])
But just as it is the case that many Christians have never picked up a
Bible, let along studied it from cover to cover, and so actually have no idea what it
contains, so too many Muslims have never read their Koran right through and are
imperfectly acquainted with all that it says.
And yet, in order to justify his activities Mohammed had absolutely no
need to refer to the handover of "revelations" by any kind of angel. If he had wanted to,
he would have been perfectly well able to appeal to the Bible, Genesis 17,20 – where God
promises to Abraham a future rich in blessings for his firstborn son Ishmael, the brother
of Isaac and progenitor of the Arabs.
Behold, I will bless Ismael, and will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly.
Gen 17,20 "As for Ishmael, I have heard you;
behold, I will bless him, and will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly. He
shall become the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. Gen 17,20;
These twelve princes then settled, after Ishmael’s death, to the east of
Egypt. Today we see that Mohammed and the religion he founded extended to embrace not only
the peoples of the Arabian peninsula, but also large parts of northern Africa. So Mohammed
had the same right as the Israelites had to call on Abraham as their founding father and
to avail themselves of this promise of blessing by the God of the Bible. But his problem
was that he was unable to accept that Ishmael, though he was the firstborn, only played a
secondary role. Ishmael’s mother, Hagar, was Abraham’s secondary wife and a maidservant of
Sarah, the first wife, who was barren to begin with, but then gave birth to Isaac, who had
been promised to Abraham by God. (Gen 17:1-27)
Another reason perhaps why Mohammed was reluctant to refer to these promised blessings was
the fact that he would then have had to appeal to the Torah of the Jews, the Old Testament
of today, and would thus have exposed himself to the risk that some of his followers might
hit upon the idea of reading the Bible for themselves and there finding out about God’s
authentic promises. So Mohammed preferred to write his own "Bible" in the form of the
Koran, where he could write down those commandments and prohibitions which he himself
thought to be right and proper, and which strengthened and reinforced his position in the
eyes of his adherents.
And here, incidentally, he was in good company. The Catholic church back then was equally
concerned to keep its flock in line, while constantly adding to its own power, influence
and wealth. And in the Catholic church too, "lying pens" (Jer 8:8) have written their own
"Bible", namely the Catechism. And what is more, in order to ensure that no clever person
would start to read the true Bible and unmask the Catholic church and its lies, in the
year 1229 the Vatican actually put the Bible on its catalog of forbidden books – books
that the faithful were not allowed to read.
When we come to Mohammed’s claim to be the Messenger of God (Surah 5,33), we do find an evident problem between Islam and Christianity. For Mohammed saw himself as
the savior who came to save humanity from hell by obedience to the law (observation of the
commandments = Islam). But here, in fact, he was hardly in any way different from the
Mosaic religion of the Jews, apart from those "commandments" which he himself added to the
Mosaic canon.
Now Jesus Christ, on the other hand, said about himself that he had been sent by God (Jn
5:24), to save humanity from hell through salvation by grace (faith in the vicarious
sacrifice of Jesus on the cross = Christianity). This was a clear change of paradigm in
relation to the Mosaic religion (Mk 2:21-22). And although Mohammed was evidently familiar with some of
the New Testament scriptures, the deeper meaning of the symbolism of sacrifice escaped
him.
Even if all the arguments advanced hitherto should not be sufficiently substantial to
allow us to come to a final judgment about Mohammed, this one question – who is the true
Messenger of God? – is actually a criterion that may be crucial in determining our view of
the matter. The challenge, however, is this: how we can arrive at an objective judgment of
the case, who is telling the truth and who is lying?
But perhaps this gives us the opportunity of learning something from the Old Testament –
where King Solomon, famous for his wise decisions right up to the present day, found a
completely unexpected solution in a similarly difficult situation.
This world-famous case, for which Solomon continues to be admired today, is that of the
two women who both claimed to be the mother of a newborn child, and asked the king to
judge between them in their dispute. Seeing that in those days there were no medical
options available (DNA comparison etc.), Solomon had to find a different way of
discovering which of the two women really was the mother of the child.
And the king solved this difficult problem in masterly fashion. He had a table brought in,
and placed the infant on it. Then he drew his sword and said to the two women, if it were
to prove impossible to establish the identity of the real mother, he would cut the child
exactly in two, and each of the women would receive half as a just settlement of the
matter.
And it turned out just as the king expected. One of the women screamed and yelled and
begged the king in tears on no account to kill the child, saying she would rather give up
the child than allow it to be killed. And so the king knew that this was the real mother,
and gave her the child. The other woman was thrown into prison for false testimony.
And just this same method of King Solomon’s for discovering the truth can be applied here,
in a slightly modified form, with a view to deciding our question and determining who
actually came as the Messenger of God, to bring humanity to the true faith and save them
from hell.
If we substitute the two Messengers for the two mothers in this example of King Solomon’s,
then the child about whom they were at odds would in our case be humanity. Because human
beings had fallen away from the right faith and were living in sin, God found them guilty
and condemned them to death.
So death spread to all men, because all sinned.
Rom 5,12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin,
and so death spread to all men, because all sinned‒ 5,13 for until the Law sin was in
the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 5,14 Nevertheless death reigned
from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense
of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.
5,15 But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the
one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one
Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many. 5,16 The gift is not like that which came
through the one who sinned; for on the one hand the judgment arose from one
transgression resulting in condemnation, but on the other hand the free gift arose from
many transgressions resulting in justification. 5,17 For if by the transgression of
the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace
and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.
5,18 So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even
so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men. 5,19
For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through
the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous. 5,20 The Law came in so that
the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 5,21
so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to
eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Rom 5,12-21;
In the Mosaic faith, admittedly, God gave the Israelites the possibility
in former times of having their sins forgiven by sacrificing animals on the altar of burnt
offerings in Jerusalem – and only there! (Deut 12:13-14; 2Chr 7:19-21). But since both
the temple and the altar of burnt offerings were destroyed by the Roman troops of Titus in the
year 70 AD, the Jews too have been condemned to death (the second death) because they no longer
have any possibility of obtaining forgiveness of their sins by means of animal sacrifice, and
refuse to the present day to accept faith in the vicarious sacrifice of the Son of God for
the forgiveness of their sins. And this was just what our Lord Jesus Christ said to them
before his death::
You will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He (the Messiah), you will die in your sins..
Jn 8,21 Then He said again to them, "I go away, and you will
seek Me, and will die in your sin; where I am going, you cannot come."8,22 So the
Jewswere saying, "Surely He will not kill Himself, will He, since He says, ‘Where I am
going, you cannot come’?" 8,23 And He was saying to them, "You are from below, I am from
above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. 8,24 "Therefore I said to you
that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He (the Messiah),
you will die in your sins." Jn 8,21-24;
In our comparison with the judgment of King Solomon, then, the threat to
which humanity is here exposed is not the sword of the king but rather – both in
accordance with the Bible and in accordance with the Koran – that of eternal damnation in
hell (the second death). But similarly to King Solomon, God too offered an alternative: if
someone should be found among humanity who leads a sinless life, and were then voluntarily
to offer his life, himself innocent, as a vicarious sacrifice for the sins of all
humanity, then God would forgive all human beings.
King Solomon would probably have been equally successful if he had made the condition that
one of the two women would have to sacrifice and kill herself, for the child to remain
alive. And just as we can take it as certain that the true mother would have declared
herself willing to die for the sake of her child, so we can also determine which of the
two Messengers was prepared to undergo a vicarious death for all humanity as an innocent
sacrifice. As we know, the "Messenger" Mohammed is not likely to have said, "Rather than
have all humanity go to damnation, I will die for them in their place".
Quite on the contrary, Mohammed relied on the defense of his entire army and throughout his life added to his power and influence. In order to convert his neighbors to what was then a new faith, he waged 66 wars, with thousands of casualties. – Which incidentally does enable us to see that the violence of Islam is intrinsic to the system since its foundation.
(Muhammad’s ascent to heaven with his horse Buraq) (The body of the man on the Turin Shroud)
(See also discourse 30: "Why did Jesus have to die on the cross?")
It was not Mohammed, but Jesus Christ (the anointed – Greek Christos,
Hebrew maschiach, Aramaic meschicha – the Messiah) – sent by God and
prophesied by the Old Testament (Isa 11:1; Jn 4:25), who remained without sin and was
crucified as a sacrifice pleasing to God for the sins of all humanity. In the Koran
Mohammed did not say any more about this – for understandable reasons. But God confirmed
it, when he said: "This is My Son, My Chosen One; listen to Him!" (Lk 9:35).
And just so as to clarify this question of the identity of the Son of God once and for
all, God the Father has handed over to the Son all power in heaven and on earth:
The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand. He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. (Jn 3,35-36)
So the Son of God let himself be nailed to the cross as a vicarious
sacrifice for all humanity. But even if the Son of God died for the sins of all human
beings, this does not mean that this vicarious "redeeming sacrifice" has saved all
humanity by a kind of automatic operation. De facto no single human being is saved,
unless they personally accept this offer of God’s for themselves and actually believe
that this sacrifice of the Son of God has been offered for their own sins as well. Then,
and only then, can a human being see himself or herself as having been saved.
He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already.
Jn 3,17 "For God did not send the Son into the world to judge
the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. 3,18 "He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. Jn 3,17-18;
He who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.
Jn 6,35 Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; he who
comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst. Jn 6,35;
He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From
his innermost being will flow rivers of living water
Jn 7,38 "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said,
‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of
living water.’" 7,39 But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him
were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. Jn 7,38-39;
I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies.
Jn 11,25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the
life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, 11,26 and everyone who lives
and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?" Jn 11,25-26;
He who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do;
Jn 14,12 "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. Jn 14,12;
Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life;
no one comes to the Father but through Me." (Jn 14,6)
And this shows us, now, what is at stake: a completely new, and for us
human beings somewhat unusual, mode of communication between human beings and God. When
the God of the Bible sent his Son to this world, some two thousand years ago, a change of
paradigm took place.
The Law and the Prophets (the Mosaic religion) were proclaimed until John;
Lk 16,16 "The Law and the Prophets
were proclaimed until John; since that time the gospel of the
kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it.
Lk 16,16;
Whereas up to that point contact had been effected on the physical
level, through priests and with masses, sacrifices and other ritual actions (dietary
regulations, ritual washing etc.), from this time on all religious customs of this kind –
as they have also been practiced, of course, in all the idolatrous religions of the world
– have lost their meaning and their efficacy.
The one and only God not only let his Son die for us human beings, with the Son he also
opened himself to humanity. From this time on there is no longer any need for external
actions or rites if we want to approach God. As the Son has said, God is Spirit, and if we
want to meet him we must do so in spirit and in truth (Jn 4:23-24). So we have left the
age of illusion – where hypocritical and criminal "men of God" (priests, rabbis, imams,
high priests, bishops, cardinals and popes) led people astray by claiming to represent the
faithful in the eyes of God – and have entered the time of truth and grace.
(See also table 9: "God’s plan of salvation and its effects on Creation.")
We no longer need any "representatives" or "men of God" so called, nor do
we need any special "houses of God" either. These pompous buildings (St. Peter’s in Rome,
the Al-Aqsa mosque, Hagia Sophia, the Dome of the Rock and all other churches, mosques and
temples) only serve for the self-glorification of false religions. The only place where
the human individual can now meet God and speak to him is in the human spirit. For this
you just need a quiet place without external distractions, a sincere inner need to get in
touch with God and the willingness to permit nothing but the absolute truth to find a
place in your thoughts during this encounter.
God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.
Jn 4,23 "But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true
worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks
to be His worshipers. 4,24 "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship
in spirit and truth." Jn 4,23-24;
But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret.
Mt 6,5 "When you
pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the
synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to
you, they have their reward in full. 6,6 "But you, when you pray, go into your inner
room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who
sees what is done in secret will reward you. 6,7 "And when you are praying, do not use
meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for
their many words. 6,8 "So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need
before you ask Him. Mt 6, 5- 8;
This is the biblical Christianity, this is the true Christian
faith: Anyone who believes in Jesus Christ is saved. The question what then becomes
of belief in God has been answered by our Lord himself:
He who believes in Me, does not believe in Me but in Him who sent Me.
Jn 12,44 And Jesus cried out and said, "He who believes in
Me, does not believe in Me but in Him who sent Me. 12,45 "He who sees Me sees the
One who sent Me. Jn 12,44-45;
And as we can see, there is not a single religion in this world which has
recognized this truth and teaches it. The Catholic church once had the opportunity of
becoming a true Christian church. But then they could not resist temptation, and allowed
power, wealth and influence to divert them from the right path, invented idols and lied to
their congregations. Since then Catholicism has been a false and blasphemous religion,
just as much as any of the other idolatrous religions of this world.
Human beings thus no longer have to die (the second death, the hell) for their sins, seeing that the Son of God died
for them in their place. The individual only needs to believe this. In order to meet their
God and talk to him (in prayer), people no longer need to enter "houses of God", take
instructions from "men of God" in order to rattle off mindlessly in church any old
"prayers" that they have learned by heart. God is willing to come to every human
individual in person. If this person sincerely asks for it, and is willing to allow place
in their thoughts only for the absolute truth, their God can visit them in spirit.
If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.
Jn 14,18 "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to
you. 14,19 "After a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me;
because I live, you will live also. 14,20 "In that day you will know that I am in My
Father, and you in Me, and I in you. 14,21 "He who has My commandments and keeps
them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will
love him and will disclose Myself to him." 14,22 Judas (not Iscariot) *said to Him,
"Lord, what then has happened that You are going to disclose Yourself to us and not to the
world?" 14,23 Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My
word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him. 14,24
"He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not
Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me. Jn 14,18-24;
He who does not love Me does not keep My words. |
That is what counts! Nothing more! These are the words of the true
Messenger. – The false messenger, Mohammed, who commanded "kill the
unbelievers", is the mouthpiece of the deceiver, who thus steals from God not
only people who might have come to the right faith in Jesus Christ later in
their lives, but also billions of people whom he has seduced to the wrong faith. And
this is quite plainly the language of the thief of men, of Satan and the devil. God has
given us a brain – we should use it!
Peter Scholl-Latour: We live in an age of mass
dumbing down / KOPP-exklusiv 11/14
On 9 March 2014 the journalist und Islamic expert Peter
Scholl-Latour celebrated his 90th birthday. He stated clearly on this
occasion what he thinks of our media. He thinks the media plays us for
suckers.
The journalist Peter Scholl-Latour has given a remarkable interview, in
which he stressed that "We live in an age of mass dumbing down,
particularly dumbing down by the media." If you just take a look "at the
one-sidedness with which the media in our country, from TAZ to Welt,
report about the events in the Ukraine, you can really say it is a case of
disinformation on a grand scale." The same thing is going on, in his view,
in relation to Syria and other areas of crisis.
In response to a question from the publicist Ramon Schack (Heise)
whether he thinks this development gives cause for concern, Scholl-Latour
answered: "Yes, and above all for the EU. I ask myself what the EU hopes
to gain from cozying up to the Ukraine. In Brussels they would do better to
focus on concentration and consolidation, instead of this drive for
expansion to the east. The takeover of Romania and Bulgaria has already been
a step too far by the commissars in Brussels."
He went on to say that if now the Republic of Kiev – where the Tartars
laid the foundations of today’s Russia and the first Christian conversions
took place – were to be added to the EU, "then the grossly inflated
territory of the fragile European Union would be extended by some three
hundred kilometers to that battlefield which became famous under the name of
Stalingrad. Have the Germans lost every sense of the tragedy of their own
past?"
Scholl-Latour also referred in the interview to the way in which Europe is
increasingly abdicating from the world stage. He spoke of the "retreat of
the global political influence of Europe, which of course has been
continuing to the present day," going on to say: "When I started working
as a young journalist, the French or the British flag still waved over the
greater part of the globe. That’s all over, though the retreat is still
going on, under different conditions.
Europe, he says, is now becoming steadily weaker: "Europe today stands
without any kind of religious awareness, in a world which is becoming more
religious on all sides all the time – which is a weakness, in the face of
this awakening of myth." Scholl-Latour, who was born in Bochum on 9
March 1924, lives in Berlin and Paris. The 90-year-old is currently planning
yet another professional trip to Chad in Africa. In parallel to this, he is
working on a new book. Scholl-Latour was the founder of the ARD Studio in
Paris.
KOPP-exklusiv 11/14 / www.kopp-exklusiv.de
In the course of his life Peter Scholl-Latour has been involved
as a journalist in many military conflicts of the world and has reported on
them. He sees things in a realistic light, and his words inspire confidence. As
correctly believing Christians, we are all the more inclined to feel confirmed
in our views by his last statement quoted above:
"Europe today stands without any kind of
religious awareness, in a world which is becoming more religious on all sides
all the time – which is a weakness, in the face of this awakening of myth."
To come back, finally, to the Koran, we can summarize our conclusions as
follows:
o Those texts from the Koran which are comparable with the statements of the Bible (Old and
New Testament) have most likely been adopted by Mohammed from those sources and are also
binding from a Christian point of view.
o Texts which have not stood up to this examination have in all probability been written by
Mohammed himself, and so should be seen in the context of his times. Objectively speaking,
they cannot any way be binding for Muslims either.
o Based on the analysis given in this Discourse, from a Christian point of view Islam is not
a religion itself but rather a code of behavior. This is just the reason why young people,
who often find themselves lacking guidance and security in our morally "open" society,
frequently feel attracted by it.
o Both many Muslims, and also some young people coming from families with a Christian
background, often derive their picture of Christianity from the dismal history of the
Catholic church. From the crimes of the medieval popes, including the crusades, to their
deception of congregations with falsification of the scriptures and false doctrines – not
to mention the cheating that goes on in today’s Vatican, and the tens of thousands of
cases of child abuse by Catholic "spirituals" worldwide – this church, which still
blasphemously calls itself "Christian" today, has trampled the reputation of Christianity
underfoot and over the centuries destroyed it completely.
o For this reason the Catholic church cannot be described
as a Christian church in any sense, nor can it offer any binding statements or models as
the basis for a judgment of the true Christian faith. Young people who are really looking
for spiritual guidance should first and foremost devote themselves to the study of the
Bible, and in parallel to this, make use of sound secondary Christian literature to
improve their understanding.
Is the Catholic Church a Christian church?When the unbelieving world speaks of Christianity, in nine
out of ten cases what is meant is the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church
has become practically synonymous with Christianity in the eyes of the
world. This is a massive error!
Pope Francis on gays: "Who am I to judge them?" The Bible on gays: Röm 1,26 For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, 1,27 and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error. |
Syrian born Islamic expert Laila Mirzo in an interview with the weekly journal "Wochenblick" about the real goals and actual effects of Islam in Europe.This interview has unfortunately only been recorded in
German. The translated text you can read here below. INTERVIEW OF THE MAGAZINE "WOCHENBLICK" ["WEEKLY VIEW"] WITH ISLAM EXPERT LAILA MIRZO: |