For the Christians

Insha’Allah in this paper, we will have the opportunity to learn about each other and come to a better understanding of each other. The perfect Qur’an teaches peace and respect for the beliefs and opinions of others. It teaches me that you have a right to live your life the way you choose. In 10:99 God says that if He wished, he could have made every human being believe in him perfectly without any choice in the matter, as the angels worship Him. It asks me who I am, if I would attempt to coerce you to believe, when God Himself did not do so, nor did He will it. Therefore, without coercion of religion, let me attempt to discuss with you some points of disagreement between us and you.
First, I want to state a premise on which we stand in agreement. We agree that there is One God—although I do not believe you worship Him as One because of the doctrine of the Trinity, but that is another debate. We agree that Jesus was sent by God, that he was born of a virgin, that He taught God’s word to the people of his day, and that he was messiah—anointed by God. But we also differ on some issues. In this paper we are going to discuss insha’Allah one of the issues we disagree on.
Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:14-And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. Baptism in the name of Jesus is also in vain, according to verse 29. The atoning death and resurrection of Jesus are the most central points in the Christian faith; without them, there is no Christianity. However, Jesus himself never said that his death would be for the forgiveness of sin. In fact, according to the Gospels that we have, in his lifetime he told people that their sins were forgiven, such as in Matthew 9:2: “Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee;” also in Mark 2:5, Luke 5:20 and 7:47, In the popular prayer he taught his disciples he said, “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors” (Matthew 6:12), without mention of his death and resurrection as the basis for such forgiveness. The basis he gives for forgiveness of sins is forgiving others and repenting of your own sins.
His resurrection was also seen by Paul as an important proof that he was the son of God. Romans 1:4: “And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.” The New Testament also refers to Jesus as the “first begotten of the dead,” (Rev. 1:5), the first to be resurrected; but the Bible gives accounts of 4 others who were raised from the dead—two young men, a man thrown into the grave of a prophet, and Lazarus, who was resurrected by Jesus. The resurrection of Jesus is necessary to the Christian faith as the proof that Jesus was indeed the son of God, that his sacrifice had been accepted, and that the sins of mankind had been forgiven through him.
I have a proof I would like to bring from the Bible that Jesus did not die for our sins. In Ezekiel 46:16-18, God said:
16 Thus saith the Lord GOD: If the prince give a gift unto any of his sons, it is his inheritance, it shall belong to his sons; it is their possession by inheritance. 17 But if he give of his inheritance a gift to one of his servants, it shall be his to the year of liberty; then it shall return to the prince; but as for his inheritance, it shall be for his sons. 18 Moreover the prince shall not take of the people's inheritance, to thrust them wrongfully out of their possession; he shall give inheritance to his sons out of his own possession; that My people be not scattered every man from his possession.'
In this verse are three important people: The Prince, his sons, and his servants. What is important in understanding this verse is who the Prince is. I will demonstrate to you in three ways that it cannot be anyone other than the messiah. 1. Historically, Ezekiel came after all the kings and princes of Israel and Judah. It cannot be in reference to anyone before him because then it would not be a prophecy; besides which none of them fulfilled it. It must therefore be in reference to someone after Ezekiel, who is no one but the messiah. Also, this portion of scripture (Ezekiel ch. 38-48) is dealing with the messianic era. In it the promise is given that the tribes of Israel will be restored to their ancestral homeland, which has not occurred as yet. Chapter 48 details the position of each tribe’s borders, including the plot of land designated for the Prince and for the Temple. It is further promised that they will rebuild the temple, and the specifications of its size are given. This temple, described in great detail, was square and the temples built by Solomon and Herod were rectangular. This temple has not yet been built. However, if you believe that God gave this passage and that He does not lie, you must believe that He will fulfill His promise in the future—in the Messianic era.
Therefore, we must accept that this prince is the Messiah. We agree that the Messiah is Jesus. The verse mentions two other important groups: his sons and his servants. Who are his sons? In Christian theology Jesus had no sons. This word מִבָּנָי appears five other times in the Tanakh and refers exclusively to one’s natural-born children, so if we are to understand it in the way the Bible uses it, it refers to the Messiah’s biological sons. However, Christians do not believe Jesus had sons; nor in Christian theology can he return and have sons, because he said: “in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven.” Matthew 22:30. There are several alternatives to alleviate this problem: one can deny that one of these passages are authentic; or one can deny that God knew what he was saying to Ezekiel and did not attempt to fulfill His promise; or one can deny the Bible in its entirety; but to believe that both these prophets is true, and that these are what they both said, one must deny the death and resurrection of Jesus.
If we go up a few verses to Ezekiel 46:12-15 we find another issue. The prophet said,
12 And when the prince shall prepare a freewill-offering, a burnt-offering or peace-offerings as a freewill-offering unto the LORD, one shall open for him the gate that looketh toward the east, and he shall prepare his burnt-offering and his peace-offerings, as he doth on the sabbath day; then he shall go forth; and after his going forth one shall shut the gate. 13 And thou shalt prepare a lamb of the first year without blemish for a burnt-offering unto the LORD daily; morning by morning shalt thou prepare it. 14 And thou shalt prepare a meal-offering with it morning by morning, the sixth part of an ephah, and the third part of a hin of oil, to moisten the fine flour: a meal-offering unto the LORD continually by a perpetual ordinance. 15 Thus shall they prepare the lamb, and the meal-offering, and the oil, morning by morning, for a continual burnt-offering.
In these verses we see the prophet telling us that the Prince will offer sacrifices to God in the Temple. As we have established, the Prince is the Messiah. This cannot be during the time of the Second Temple when Jesus was on earth, because as we have established this is at a time when all of the children of Jacob have returned to Palestine, the land has been divided between them, and the third Temple (the square Temple) has been built. This verse then becomes extremely problematic in Christian theology because it according to the book of Hebrews, Jesus was the final sacrifice for the sins of mankind.
Hebrews 10:12 But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; 13 From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. 14 for by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.
Jesus cannot in offer later sacrifices in Christian theology. On the other hand, to a Muslim, this is not problematic.
I as a Muslim do not believe in the atoning death and resurrection of Jesus. I believe that my sins are forgiven when I sincerely repent and pray. This theme is also found in the Bible in passages such as 2 Chron. 6:36, where God promises the Prophet Sulieman aliehey salam that whenever people pray in the direction of the Qiblah, their prayers will be answered. At that time, Qiblah was towards Jerusalem, and the Prophet Muhammad also prayed toward Jerusalem at the beginning of his prophethood, but God changed the Qiblah and directed us instead to pray towards the Kaaba in Mecca which is mentioned in Surah al Baqara (2:142-144).
God is described in the Quran as oft-forgiving, the dispenser of grace. In the Bible He says that he does not desire that the wicked should die in his sins. Ezekiel 33: 11 “Say unto them: As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?” He desires for us to repent and be forgiven; he is Most Gracious and seeks to forgive us. Yet he says in Malachi 2, Psalm 40, and Psalm 52 that he does not require burnt offerings or sin offerings. He even says he hates and abhors them. He begs that someone close the doors of the Temple, that the children of Israel not insult Him any more with their offerings.
Malachi 1:10 Oh that there were even one among you that would shut the doors, that ye might not kindle fire on Mine altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you, saith the LORD of hosts, neither will I accept an offering at your hand. 11 For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same My name is great among the nations; and in every place offerings are presented unto My name, even pure oblations; for My name is great among the nations, saith the LORD of hosts.12 But ye profane it, in that ye say: 'The table of the LORD is polluted, and the fruit thereof, even the food thereof, is contemptible.'
In Psalm 40:6-8, He says that He has not delighted in burnt offerings. In Psalm 51 David prayed that God remove bloodguilt from him. He says that the sacrifices of God are a broken and contrite spirit, and that He will not despise a broken heart.
What does all this tell us? Sacrifices—animal or otherwise—are not the way God has chosen to forgive sins. Indeed, they were never meant to atone for sins; they were meant to be an outward sign of an inward repentance that had already occurred. But when the people of Israel started offering sacrifices without true repentance, He began to abhor them. Many Christians today make the same error—they say they believe in the sacrifice of Jesus but do not truly repent or pray more than once in their lifetimes. God knows and understands that we sin and wants us to turn to him in repentance when we do, yet many Christians say that because their sins are covered by the blood of Jesus, they do not need to seek God’s forgiveness.
In conclusion, Ezekiel chapter 46 provides a clear proof to the honest mind that God did not intend to forgive our sins through the atoning death of Jesus, and that Jesus did not die, and was not resurrected. He will return and fulfill these prophecies, insha’Allah may it be in our lifetimes.