[Faith-Talk] Princeton Avenue, Jesus of the Gospel revealed

[Salah Hakeem]

Hello pastors, my name is Mustafa Mahdi. I reside in Cairo Egypt. I’m
quite intrigued to have a theological conversation with you about the
alleged claims of the divinity of Jesus. Let us get down to work then.
First,Mark 12 29, “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this:
'Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.” Here, Jesus has
plainly made a distinction between himself and God. Yes or no? Why do
you coercively attribute divinity to him? If he is genuinely divine
and coequal to the Father, why does he then incessantly demand to
unfeignedly implore onto Him in seclusion? The fact that you attempt
to palter and intently evade encountering with decisive evidence has
flawlessly leavened to your utterly theological impairment to speak of
the dogma you wholly hold up to. That’s why, as you attempted to
illustrate, you’ve inserted your own thought and guessing into the
matter. As you’ve done so, you’ve actually worsened this issue. Major
tenets of belief are not based on mere speculations. I urge you to
declare your absolute defeatism into this. Each and every wording I
quote is of  biblical explicit assertions. Nonetheless, you’re
relentlessly attempting to elude and obviate them with what might be
implicitly, uncertainly implied. Thence, you seek refuge with
unconventional rendition of what is intemperately denotative to keep
your conscience somewhat reposed. Despite the fact of being quite
unethical doing this, you have no other solution I am afraid. I
challenge you to show me one statement, just one, clearly uttered on
the lips of Jesus, demanding divinity. How could he be divine and then
pray? Now, the necessity to philosophise the matter is pestilently
desperate. And as you’re doing so, it shall be exacerbated even
farther. Sadly, this issue flows into a vicious cycle. If you ask any
Muslim individual, to prove to you from the Koran the Oneness of God,
he shall instantly quote plenty of verses which are clearly indicating
this. He wouldn’t need to either equivocate or circulate. Unlike him
though, the Christian needs to be sternly equivocal to express his
doctrinal fundamentals. That’s why, whenever a missionary activist
preaches here in Africa, for instance, he doesn’t attempt to convince
his poorly deceived victims theologically. He rather uses temporal
tactics to tempt them into material desires, as of physical provision,
food, shelter or even permanent residence in the United States. Let us
now go to John 20:17, as it reads; “Don’t cling to me,” Jesus said,
“for I haven’t yet ascended to the Father. But go find my brothers and
tell them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and
your God.” Here, pastors, Jesus clearly acknowledges his submission
and thus, absolute distinction from the divine realm. He said to
people, don’t hold onto me, don’t rely on me. He also confirmed on
other instance, I could not do something of my own. Thereafter, Jesus
proceeds, I haven’t yet uprose to my Father. He then told his
disciples to inform people, I am ascending to my Father and your
Father, to my God and your God. God is our Father in the sense of
being the primal carer, sustainer and maintainer of our common
affairs. That’s what Jesus signified, as it had been quite known as
such in ancient Jewish tradition. So, Jesus here, identified himself
and lay mortals as both, the sons of God in terms of being looked
after by him. In addition, he said, to my God and your God. It’s quite
obvious here, that Jesus equated himself and lay selves in terms of
mutually revering and obeying God. Before telling me to remove you
from this list, just tell me please, what does this mean to you? Why
couldn’t you be fair to the scripture which you allegedly adhere?
Everything is plainly visible to you. So, why are you raptly judicial
into this? What prevented Jesus to clarify his mission to everyone?
Had he came to be crucified, he would have evidently stated this
deputation at its inception. Well instead, he said, I am ascending to
my Father and your Father, to my God, and your God. The conception of
Christ’s Ascension is definitely recognised in Islamic theology. In
addition, Jesus in the previous quote of John 20:17 said, “But go find
my brothers and tell them”. If he is genuinely deified, why would he
call lay people his brothers? Isn’t that a bit strange? How is this
sentiment fathomed in the light of typical Christian discernment? Mass
Christendom essentially relies on exalting Jesus. Nonetheless, when
you attempt to find such doctrine in the Gospel, you often stumble on
what nullifies this essence. Throughout the four Gospels, Jesus never
explicitly, declared his divinity. To the contrary though, he has
constantly attributed primacy and exhibited full submission and
obedience to the Father, in other word, God in Jewish traditional
terms. Let us view John 11:41-42, “So they took away the stone. Then
Jesus looked up and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me.
I knew that you always hear me, but I said this
for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe
that you sent me.” So, had he been truly divine, he would have
straightly said, I am God incarnate, as Christians claim. So, we’re
addressing here a crucial factor. Christians allegedly assert that
Jesus claimed to be God. I say fine, where is that in the Bible? They
then either quote sayings of Jesus that are implicit, in other words,
competent of being broadly interpreted and discerned or, rely on what
has been said by  Paul or others. In the entire Bible, there isn’t one
saying of Jesus explicitly claiming divinity to himself. If I ever
caught this as described above, I shall then be christened instantly.
What does Matthew 14:23 say? “After he had dismissed them, he went up
on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there
alone.” Honestly, is that the disposal of someone with divine nature?
With this  criticising rhetoric, I address someone’s basic intellect.
Obviously, Jesus ate, slept and prayed. With this in  mind, how could
he be divine then? Well, it was in the fourth ecumenical council of
Chalcedon, when the Hypostatic union doctrine has been ultimately
professed. This is an essential factor to think of. Basically, these
philosophical discernments have appeared later in Christian
theological history. Jesus is plainly divulged in the parables.
Throughout them, he never expressed divinity of himself. Well, how is
that conveniently disposed? I honestly don’t know, how are they
capable of reposing their conscience as such? Each and every wording
spoken by Jesus confirms the fact that he is a prophet of God. He
certainly has spoken with divine inspiration rather than authority. I
thence earnestly call each and every recipient of this to redress his
position and willingly join the faith of Christ. I am ready to engage
with anyone of you in theological dialog. Be that as it may, many of
you are prejudiciously propelled. Therefore, I sternly postulate into
the divine to bear witness upon you. Do you seriously stick to what
Jesus has unambiguously taught throughout your evangelism? Some of you
may have thought wrongly or spoke rudely of Islam and its teachings. I
urge you to openly attempt to learn and discover about this
substantially major religion, worldwide. Islam is undoubtedly the
religion of Jesus rather than about him. In the segment above, I
brought you many quotes of your own book, that are plainly destined to
testify to this decisive sentiment. I urge you to think properly of
this proclamation and don’t be afraid of the consequences that lie
ahead. Jesus has humbly worshipped God like all of us. Even, if we’re
to allegedly believe the Christian account of crucifixion and
resurrection, still, that doesn’t make Jesus divine in any manner.
Allah is absolutely omnipotent, that is, quite convenient of Him to
revive anyone, at anytime. Jesus has truly made great miracles. Jesus
cleansed the leper, healed the born blind and brought dead back to
life. But, has he ever attributed any of these incredible acts to his
own adequacy? Please, you may search the Bible for this. I just hope,
not to be despised or ostracised, based on my convictions. I keenly
look forward to hearing from you. I evidently am qualified to
theologically converse. Thanks and, best wishes, Mustafa