Do Not Be Afraid of Him - Part II

Yes, after retrieving an unfinished draft from my old broken laptop, I have finally finished the long promised article on Deuteronomy 18. Enjoy.

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Having shown in Part One that the prophecy of Deuteronomy 18 was not and could not have been speaking of Muhammad, it remains only to show who the ultimate fulfillment of the passage really is. Although the previous article was dispatched in short order, focused as it was on Muhammad, about whom the passage has nothing positive to say, the present paper will naturally be somewhat longer since the focus is now on “…the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote – Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” (John 1:45)

The rest of this article can be read on Answering Islam at the following link: see Do Not Be Afraid of Him - Part II. As always, after reading the article you may return here and leave your comments and/or ask questions in the provided combox. May the Name of the Lord be praised.

Rashad Khalifa's Killer Finally Found

The murderer of Rashad Khalifa has finally been found and apprehended. Not surprisingly Khalifah's murderer turned out to be a Muslim who didn't appreciate Khalifa claiming to be a prophet after Muhammad (not to mention a number of other things); after all, like all Muslims this murderer believes Muhammad was the greatest guy who ever lived, and since Muhammad's peerless example included killing people who didn't think as highly of him as he thought of himself, well....

Here is a link: Finding Rashad Khalifa's Killer

Oh yeah, it so happens that it has been nineteen years since the dirty deed was perpetrated; no doubt the Submitters are all abuzz over this. (For those who aren't in the know, the number "19" was a basis for much speculation on Khalifah's part.)

An Open Blog Post To Sami Zaatari: On Genesis 1:26

Sami, your most recent article on Genesis 1:26, which you wrote to attack the Trinity, is so incredibly bad I am beside myself. I would write a response, but your article doesn't come close to tackling what I have already said on the matter here.

In fact, though there is nothing in your article I haven't already responded to in the paper linked above, I have been meaning to add something else to the section of that article dealing with the Muslim objection for quite some time. Thanks for stirring the pot; I will get right on it.

The Logical Precision of the Qur'an: Not!

“And there are among them illiterates who know not the Book but only lies, and they do but conjecture.” (Shakir, S. 2:78)

This leads to problems like the following:

(1) If such people knew/know that 2+4+2=8, then according to the Qur’an it would be/is a lie, which is absurd. (This might help Muhammad and his followers out of a bind (q.v. Surah 41:9-12), but it would lead to an untold number of other problems.)

(2) If it is true that such people knew/know only lies, then they wouldn't have known/know that they existed/exist. If they did/do know that they existed/exist, then it would have been/is a “lie”, but if their existence was/is a lie, then how did/do they know it since non-existent persons can’t know anything?

(3) It is not possible to “know” only lies, for in the nature of the case a lie can be believed but it cannot be known.

These problems don’t go away even if one tries to restrict the lies “known” by Scriptural illiterates to that which regards “the book”, for once again, it is not possible to know any lies, whether they are about the book or something other than the book. Lies cannot be known. Period. The tenacity of this point also doesn’t go away if one resorts to other translations, for they all yield a similar set of problems.

****Many thanks to PM for alerting me to this****

The World is a Great Big Orphanage; At least According to the Religion of Islam

Muslims consider themselves to be part of one great big "brotherhood". All those who believe in Allah and in Muhammad as Allah's last and final messenger are regarded as brothers and sisters to one another.

However, Muslims deny the Fatherhood of their god, Allah. So the million dollar question is: "If all Muslims are brothers, then who is their father?"

In response, either Muslims must reckon themselves to be orphans in a lonely world, or own up to the fact that they are sons and daughters of someone else. As the old saying goes, this means they are stuck between the Devil and the deep (lonely) blue sea.

James White, PhD in Islamic Studies

In the following, Dr. White expresses his intention to pursue a Ph.D. in Islamic studies.

http://www.aomin.org/podcasts/20080110fta.mp3

The irony is that men like Sami, Osama, and other Muslims are the ones who need such an education; Dr. White does quite well debunking them without it. Nevertheless, it is a worthy goal, and I will certainly pray for his studies and most of all the good use he will make of them.

The True Shahada: Defended - Part I & 2

Introduction

In an article entitled “The True Shahada”, I provided a comparison and contrast between John 17:3, a verse Muslims often see as supportive of their brand of unitarianism, and Islam’s Shahada, which Christians see as a blasphemous denial of the Father and the Son. A Muslim, who prefers to remain nameless – which would otherwise be fine except that in this case it seems calculated to save him (her?) from embarrassment once his underhanded tactics and criminal mishandling of my article was exposed – has provided a “response” to it called “The True Shahada Indeed”, and the reader is encouraged to read both my original article and the purported reply before continuing.

The rest of this article can be read at Answering Islam, at the following link: See Here. For Part Two, See Here. As Always, if you have any thoughts, you may leave them here in the combox.

Craig vs. Hitchens: Debate Review Link

Douglas Geivett has provided a good review of the recent debate between Hitchens and Craig. It can be found here.

Update (4/17/09): By now there are many reviews of the debate besides that provided by Geivett. His was just one of the first since he was at the debate. No need to link to the others, they are easy to find in a search engine.

If you really want to know how it went, check out the following atheist sites.

See John Loftus' post here.

Or you might read this one. Here is a snippet for those who are lazy and just want to get to the point:

"Craig was flawless and unstoppable. Hitchens was rambling and incoherent, with the occasional rhetorical jab. Frankly, Craig spanked Hitchens like a foolish child."

Good Friday: A Reply to Zaatari

Sami Zaatari, not one to miss an opportunity, or keep his foot out of his mouth, took a pot shot the other day on what many Christians celebrate as Good Friday, the day that Christ, the Good Shepherd, is widely believed to have laid down His life for His sheep. According to Sami, there is nothing good about this scenario, and the view of many Muslims that Jesus was simply taken up to heaven, allowing one of his disciples to be crucified in his place, and leaving the rest of the disciples behind to fend for themselves, is far better. Christ's words expose Sami's reasoning for what it is:

"11I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. 13The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep." (John 10)

Sami's article teaches us an important lesson: Christianity is a religion of the Good Shepherd; Islam is a religion of the "Good" Hireling.

TurretinFan and Zawadi

Over on the Alpha and Omega blog, TurretinFan (aka Tur8infan) has provided a response to Bassam Zawadi regarding the fact that "Mohamed did not know of the currently prevalent Muslim view that the Bible is corrupt." The link is below. Enjoy.

http://www.aomin.org/aoblog/index.php?itemid=3236