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5.12 Eli, Eli Lama
Sabachthani
Both Muslims as well as Christians affirm that God
Almighty is a just and merciful God. Muslims believe that
the sign of God's mercy is that He multiplies the good deeds
of mankind from ten to seven hundred times, or even more. He
also counts an evil deed as a single evil deed or forgives
it. The Church, on the other hand, claims that the sign of
God's mercy is that He sacrificed His only begotten son to
save mankind. Let us study this claim:
If God Almighty decided to sacrifice His only son for the
redemption of mankind, then we have one of two cases:
1) Jesus (pbuh) did not know of this plan and the fate
God had decreed for him.
2) Jesus (pbuh) knew of this plan and the fate God had
decreed for him.
In the first case, if Jesus (pbuh) did not
know of God's plan, then this insinuates that God either
tricked Jesus (pbuh) into this fate, or God forced Jesus
(pbuh) into this fate. In other words, Jesus' mercy and
sacrifice require God Himself to be savage, blood-thirsty,
and ruthless. This, of course, is preposterous.
In the second case, if Jesus (pbuh) did
know of this plan, then we are faced with three
problems:
a) If Jesus' (pbuh) sole mission to mankind was to die on
the cross, free them from the original sin, free them from
the law of Moses (pbuh), and provide salvation for them,
then why did he never in his lifetime mention it to his
followers? Why did he not spend night and day drumming these
new concepts into their minds? Why did he himself observe
the commandments of Moses (pbuh) so completely and so
faithfully even up till his alleged death? In Matthew
19:16-21 when Jesus (pbuh) was asked for the path to heaven,
why did he emphasize the keeping of the commandments of
Moses but never mention the crucifixion nor the redemption
or having "faith" in them? Why, when he was pressed for
more, did he still not mention either a crucifixion
nor a redemption but only claim that anyone who kept the
commandments of Moses (pbuh) and sold his belongings would
be "perfect"? Why did he not say "have faith in my
crucifixion and forsake the commandments and you shall be
'perfect'"?
b) If Jesus' (pbuh) sole mission to mankind was to die on
the cross, free them from the original sin, free them from
the law of Moses (pbuh), and provide salvation for them,
then why, when he was in the garden of Gethsemane did he
plead with God Almighty and implore Him "Eli, Eli Lama
sabachthani", meaning "my God, my God, why have you
forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46)? Why are the words of Matthew
27:46 the only words of all of the New
Testament reported in their original Aramaic form? Could it
be that Jesus' alleged helpless cry left such a vivid
impression of a man seemingly bereft of hope that anyone who
heard them would remember the exact words? Why did he
allegedly beseech God to "let this cup pass" (Matthew 26:39,
Mark 14:36, Luke 22:42)? Did he get cold feet? Was he trying
to back out of a fate he had previously accepted? Was the
redemption of mankind not so important any more?
c) If Jesus' (pbuh) sole mission to mankind was to die on
the cross, free all of Mankind from the original sin, free
them from the law of Moses (pbuh), and provide salvation for
them, then why when he spoke to the Canaanite woman in
Matthew 15:22-8 did he refuse to heal her daughter on the
grounds that he was sent to the Jews alone "I am not sent
but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel,"?
According to Jesus' words in these verses, his mission was
for the Jews alone, therefore it was not fitting for him to
even heal a non-Jewess woman since in his own words
"It is not meet to take the children's bread and to cast
it to dogs." Was Jesus to die on the cross for the
Jews alone? If Jesus (pbuh) did not see fit to even
heal non-Jews then how could we claim that he knew
and accepted from the beginning of time that he was going to
endure torture, humiliation, and finally a very gruesome
death in order to provide eternal salvation for
all of mankind? Did God and Jesus (pbuh) not
know when he was first sent what his ultimate mission would
be? Did his mission change later on? Did they not decide
that it was necessary for Jesus (pbuh) to die for the
"original sin" until the end of Jesus' mission?
Once again, we find both alternatives preposterous. As
has been previously proven in chapter one from both the Old
Testament as well as the Qur'an, mankind does not inherit
sin, nor does God hold them responsible for the same. God
only judges mankind according to their own individual
actions and forgives much of their transgressions. Jesus
(pbuh) was human messenger of God sent to the Jews
alone in order to return them to the message of Moses
and discard the innovations that had crept into their book
over the ages. The "universal messenger" (Muhammad, pbuh)
would not come until six hundred years later. He would teach
mankind that God Almighty was capable of all things and that
mankind's salvation lies within their own hands if they
worship Him as He commanded and seek His boundless
mercy.
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