Rebuttal to Sam Shamoun’s article
A Series of Answers to Common Questions
By
Question:
How can Jesus be God when he
denies being absolutely good, and says that only God is good (cf. Mark 10:18)?
http://answering-islam.org/Shamoun/q_only_god_good.htm
Once again
Shamoun writes up another article to try and answer a common Muslim question. Shamoun of
course fails to answer the question as usual, and fails to show that Jesus is God.
He wrote:
Answer:
The passage,
in context, actually says:
"As He was setting out on a
journey, a man ran up to Him and knelt before Him, and asked Him, ‘Good Teacher, what
shall I do to inherit eternal life?’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call Me
good? No one is good except God alone.’" Mark 10:17-18
By wrenching
such statements out of their immediate and overall contexts, the impression is given that
the Lord Jesus is actually denying he is God since he denies that he is good in the sense
that God is good. The questioner's logic goes something like this:
1. God alone is (absolutely) good.
2. Jesus is not (absolutely) good.
3. Therefore, Jesus is not God.
This
misleading selectivity leads the questioner to erroneously conclude that Jesus was denying
his essential goodness. He/she automatically assumes that Jesus is denying his absolute
purity without taking into consideration the overall context of Mark, as well as the
entire NT, to see if this is indeed what Christ was trying to convey.
My response:
Jesus is
denying that he is good in the sense that God is good. It is good you quote the entire
passage; it makes it even better. This is because Jesus is denying the claim of him being
God to a common person who has the mis-guided belief that he is God, the same with many
others. As for the entire NT, the NT does not claim Jesus is God, quite the opposite, it
shows that Jesus is no more than a prophet, and denies being God. For proof click here.
He wrote:
In other
words, in order to truly understand what Jesus meant we need to interpret his words in the
overall Christological picture of the Gospel writers, specifically in light of Mark's
Christology. Once this is done it will become quite apparent that the last thing Mark (as
well as the other writers) was trying to do was cast doubt on Jesus' absolute sinlessness
and Deity. Here are some citations from Mark which helps put things in proper perspective:
"In those days Jesus came from
Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. Immediately coming up out of
the water, He saw the heavens opening, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon Him; and
a voice came out of the heavens: 'You are My beloved Son, in You I AM WELL-PLEASED.'"
Mark 1:9-11
"Just then a man in their
synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit cried out, ‘What do you want with us,
Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are - the Holy One of
God!’ ‘Be quiet!’ said Jesus sternly. ‘Come out of him!’ The evil
spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek. The people were all so
amazed that they asked each other, What is this? A new teaching - and with authority! He
even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey him." Mark 1:23-27
"After six days Jesus took Peter,
James and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There
he was transfigured before them. His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in
the world could bleach them. And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were
talking with Jesus. Peter said to Jesus, ‘Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us
put up three shelters - one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.’ (He did not
know what to say, they were so frightened.) Then a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and
a voice came from the cloud: ‘This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!’"
Mark 9:2-7
"He had one more to send, a
beloved son; he sent him last of all to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.' But
those vine-growers said to one another, 'This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the
inheritance will be ours!'" Mark 12:6-7
My response:
I must ask
where in those verses does it show Jesus being God? Let us take each verse he posted point
by point.
In those
days Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.
Immediately coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens opening, and the Spirit like a
dove descending upon Him; and a voice came out of the heavens: 'You are My beloved Son, in
You I AM WELL-PLEASED.'" Mark 1:9-11
Just because
God said he was well-pleased with Jesus that makes Jesus God? Does that make Jesus good in
the sense he is God? Certainly not, this is an absurd argument. The Bible shows other
situations were God is said to be well pleased about something, or seeing something was
good, does this make those things he is pleased in God?
Gen 1:4 And
God saw the light, that [it was] good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
Gen 1:10 And
God called the dry [land] Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas:
and God saw that [it was] good.
Gen 1:18 And
to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and
God saw that [it was] good.
Gen 1:31 And
God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, [it was] very good. And the
evening and the morning were the sixth day.
Those are
the verses which deal with the creation of the heavens and the earth. We see God always
saying that he saw what he created and it was good, meaning he was pleased at it. So does
that make the light which he was pleased in and said was good God? As we also see in
Genesis 1:31 God says he saw everything he created and it was VERY good, meaning he was
VERY pleased in it, not just WELL-PLEASED. So does that make all the creation he created
Gods? Does it make them perfect in the sense of God being perfect? Certainly not! I would
now like to ask Shamoun, and every Christian, why shouldn’t God be WELL-PLEASED in
Jesus? What's wrong with Jesus that God can’t say ‘I am pleased with you’?
The fact of the matter is, is that God is pleased with Jesus his servant, with Jesus his
prophet, with Jesus his messenger, and there is nothing wrong with that.
I would like to know that God is pleased with us,
or when he says the ones who are good among us. Every Christian would say yes God is
pleased in you! So does that make you God! No! So I would like to know, what is so special
about God saying he is well-pleased in Jesus. I will answer it for everyone, there is
nothing special about it.
The next
verses he quoted:
Just then a
man in their synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit cried out, ‘What do you
want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are - the
Holy One of God!’ ‘Be quiet!’ said Jesus sternly. ‘Come out of
him!’ The evil spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek. The
people were all so amazed that they asked each other, What is this? A new teaching - and
with authority! He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey him." Mark 1:23-27
What makes
Jesus good in the sense of God being good in those verses? Let me just take care of the
ending of the verse which says : What is this? A new teaching - and with
authority! He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey him. This new teaching just happens to
belong to the Father and not Jesus, and this authority also happens to have been given to
Jesus, not owned by Jesus. Just wanted to clear that up. However Shamoun did not underline
or bold a specific point in those verses. I assume his main point in posting those verses
was because Jesus is called the holy of one of God, and for Jesus to be called holy makes
him God, or makes him good in the same sense that God is good. However so that
doesn’t work neither, Jesus is not the only one who is called holy in the Bible.
Exd 3:5 And
he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon
thou standest [is] holy ground.
Exd 19:6 And
ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These [are] the words
which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.
Exd 22:31
And ye shall be holy men unto me: neither shall ye eat [any] flesh [that is] torn
of beasts in the field; ye shall cast it to the dogs.
Exd 28:2 And
thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother for glory and for beauty.
2Ch 35:3 And
said unto the Levites that taught all Israel, which were holy unto the LORD, Put the
holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David king of Israel did build; [it
shall] not [be] a burden upon [your] shoulders: serve now the LORD your God, and his
people Israel,
Here is the ultimate proof
Daniel 4:23 "You, O king, saw a messenger, a holy one,
coming down from heaven and saying, 'Cut down the tree and destroy it, but leave the
stump, bound with iron and bronze, in the grass of the field, while its roots remain in
the ground. Let him be drenched with the dew of heaven; let him live like the wild
animals, until seven times pass by for him.'
As we can see, Holy One could mean
messenger. So when Jesus is called ‘The Holy One of God’, it simply means the
messenger of God. As a Muslim, I agree with this statement 100%.
There is
much more, but I believe that will do. So is the holy ground God? Is the holy garments
God? Are the holy men and Holy nation Gods? According to Shamoun yes they are, they are
perfect and good in the same sense that God is good and perfect because they are called
holy.
The other
verses he quoted mean nothing as well, however Shamoun has already caused enough damage
for himself already. Moving on
He wrote:
Jesus is
God's beloved Son, his Holy One and Heir, with whom God is pleased. For God to say that he
is well pleased with the Lord Jesus, and for him to be called God's Holy One, implies that
Christ is absolutely good and morally pure.
My response:
WRONG. If
that is true, then the holy ground is god, so is the holy men and holy nation, and the
holy garments! Not only that, then all of creation are god and perfect in the same sense
as God is perfect and good because he saw it as VERY good, meaning he was VERY pleased.
And once again, why shouldn’t God be pleased in Jesus? I have no idea. Secondly Jesus
did not claim to be the holy one! The devil called him the holy one! So are we supposed to
believe in what the devil said! Jesus told the devil to shut up anyway. As for Jesus being
the heir, the killers were the ones who thought he was the heir; I don’t take the
opinions of killers as solid truth about somebody. Are we to believe all those prophets
killed by pagans and Jews were fakes? Or were they liars and blasphemers, because
that’s what their killers accused them of, using Shamoun's logic, then yes those
prophets were liars, and fakes, and blasphemers!
He wrote:
... And they came, bringing to Him a
paralytic, carried by four men ... And Jesus seeing their faith said to the paralytic,
‘My son, your sins are forgiven.’ But
there were some of the scribes sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, ‘Why does
this man speak that way? He is blaspheming; who can forgive sins but God alone?’ And
immediately Jesus, aware in His spirit that they were reasoning that way within
themselves, said to them, ‘Why are you reasoning about these things in your hearts?
Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, "Your sins are forgiven"; or to say,
"Arise take up your pallet and walk"? But in order that you may know that the
Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins’ - He said to the paralytic -
‘I say to you, rise, take up your pallet and go home.’ And he rose and
immediately took up the pallet and went out in the sight of all; so that they were all
amazed and were glorifying God, saying, ‘We have never seen anything like
this.’" Mark 2:3, 5-12
"For even the Son of Man did not
come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many." Mark 10:45
"And He said to them, ‘This
is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.’" Mark 14:24
Christ can
forgive sins on the basis of his having the divine authority to do so, and as a result of
his forfeiting his own life as a ransom for others. Again, the only way Christ can forgive
sins and die as a ransom is if he were sinless. Otherwise, he would need to be forgiven of
his own sins and would be in need of a ransom.
My response:
Well I could
just stop at where I last left off. Shamoun has cause serious damage to his article and
his faith. I could just leave it and walk away, but I will stay longer to refute him even
more. So Shamoun tell us what is so special about Jesus forgiving sins? I see nothing
special about it, we all know God gave him that power and authority as I shown in previous
rebuttals [1] [2]
[3] [4] [5]
[6]. So no point there. Jesus did not come to die for our sins,
this is injustice, not justice, an innocent man to come down and die for our sins. Christ
has no divine authority! What a liar, show me the verse where Christ performed a single
miracle on his own! Bring it, and I hope you do bring it because this will show your bible
is a lie since it claims Jesus got EVERYTHING from the Father. No Christ was able to
forgive sins because God allowed him to, God is powerful enough to grant Jesus such a
right.
According to
John 20:23, the disciples were granted authority to forgive sins, does that mean that the
disciples are God as well?
However on
the point of Jesus dying, if Jesus is God he would never die, and how can part of God die
if you believe in a trinity? Click here for further information (*) (*).
He wrote:
"Consequently,
the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath." Mark 2:28
God alone is
sovereign over his own Sabbath:
"For six days work may be done,
but on the seventh day there is a sabbath of complete rest, a holy convocation. You shall
not do any work; it is a sabbath to the LORD in all your dwellings." Leviticus 23:3
The only way
that Christ could be Lord over the Sabbath is if he is God, and yet to be God is to be
absolutely good.
My response:
Well if
Jesus is the lord of the Sabbath, and so is the Father, and so is the spirit, then we have
THREE rulers of the Sabbath. Three different lords of the Sabbath, but I thought we have
one ruler? Well it seems we have three rulers of the Sabbath now, and it is obvious we are
not talking about one God, no matter how Trinitarians want to run around it. Three lords
of the Sabbath don’t leave us with one lord. However so, we do know that The Father
did give Jesus authority of the heavens and the earth, so this would make it perfectly
clear as to why the son of man would be called lord of the Sabbath, nothing special.
I find it strange to why Shamoun keeps failing to make it clear, Jesus was GIVEN the authority and power, he did not own it, and Shamoun acts like Jesus owned it. Shamoun acts like Jesus had the power on his own, but the fact is that he didn’t. For further information on this issue please visit these rebuttals to Shamoun (*)(*)(*). However the fact also remains, Jesus said why do you call me good?
He wrote:
"For whoever is ashamed of Me and
My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of
him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels." Mark 8:38
"And Jesus began to say, as He
taught in the temple, 'How is it that the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David?
David himself said in the Holy Spirit, "THE LORD SAID TO MY LORD, 'SIT AT MY RIGHT
HAND, UNTIL I PUT YOUR ENEMIES BENEATH YOUR FEET.'" David himself calls Him 'Lord';
so in what sense is He his son?' And the large crowd enjoyed listening to Him." Mark
12:35-37
"Then they will see THE SON OF
MAN COMING IN CLOUDS with great power and glory. And then He will send forth the angels,
and will gather together HIS ELECT from the four winds, from the farthest end of the earth
to the farthest end of heaven." Mark 13:26-27
"But He kept silent and did not
answer. Again the high priest was questioning Him, and saying to Him, 'Are You the Christ,
the Son of the Blessed One?' And Jesus said, 'I AM; and you shall see THE SON OF MAN
SITTING AT THE RIGHT HAND OF POWER, and COMING WITH THE CLOUDS OF HEAVEN.'" Mark
14:61-62
My response:
Not one of
those verses show that Jesus is God. Let us go with each verse point by point.
"For whoever is ashamed of Me and My
words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him
when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels." Mark 8:38
I agree with
that, no one should be ashamed of Jesus and his words. He was a prophet who came to spread
the message of God, and bring people back to the true God. Jesus' message was that there
is only one God, and to believe in the one who sent him. We Muslims are not ashamed of
Jesus, we love him and respect him, however so we don’t believe in the words of Paul,
and other people.
And Jesus
began to say, as He taught in the temple, 'How is it that the scribes say that the Christ
is the son of David? David himself said in the Holy Spirit, "THE LORD SAID TO MY
LORD, 'SIT AT MY RIGHT HAND, UNTIL I PUT YOUR ENEMIES BENEATH YOUR FEET.'" David
himself calls Him 'Lord'; so in what sense is He his son?' And the large crowd enjoyed
listening to Him." Mark 12:35-37
Where does
that show that Jesus is God? As a matter of fact, Shamoun points out a mistake in the
bible for us. Jesus here is denying being called a son by David. Yet, in Matthew 1:1,
Jesus is called the Son of David and in several other places as well. Go to this link.
Look at the
passage, “The Lord said to my Lord”, that means we have two Lords (two gods).
But it is possible to mean this
The Lord (as
in god) said to my Lord (master or teacher).
"Then
they will see THE SON OF MAN COMING IN CLOUDS with great power and glory. And then He will
send forth the angels, and will gather together HIS ELECT from the four winds, from the
farthest end of the earth to the farthest end of heaven." Mark 13:26-27
And where
does that show Jesus being God?
"But He
kept silent and did not answer. Again the high priest was questioning Him, and saying to
Him, 'Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?' And Jesus said, 'I AM; and you
shall see THE SON OF MAN SITTING AT THE RIGHT HAND OF POWER, and COMING WITH THE CLOUDS OF
HEAVEN.'" Mark 14:61-62
It is a sign
of honor to say to be sitting at the right hand of power which God. I find it funny if we
took it literally, because we would then see Jesus sitting on the right chair, and the
Father in the middle centered chair, 2 different persons, yet there is one God! Very funny
I must say, Jesus is God, the Father is God, yet there is one God. Not even trinity can
help you out, if you say Jesus is God, and then say the Father is God, you have 2 Gods.
So Shamoun
showed us he believes in 3 Gods, and also failed to show that Jesus is God, this is
getting amusing now.
He wrote:
Christ is
identifying himself as the Son of Man whom the prophet Daniel saw in a vision, the very
One who reigns forever and whom all must serve:
"I kept looking in the night
visions, And behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, And He
came up to the Ancient of Days And was presented before Him. And to Him was given
dominion, Glory and a kingdom, That all the peoples, nations and men of every language
Might serve Him His dominion is an everlasting dominion Which will not pass away; And His
kingdom is one Which will not be destroyed." Daniel 7:13-14
Thus, Jesus
is the Son of Man who sits enthroned forever at God's right hand as Lord over all the
angels and the entire creation!
My response:
No way! Very funny to see in Daniel’s vision that Jesus is once again GIVEN the power! I thought once Jesus died and came back it would be the divine and mighty Jesus, who was not bound by flesh. Well I guess even the divine Jesus is not all powerful, and needs things and help from the Father, meaning HE IS NOT GOD! Visit all these previous rebuttals [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] which prove that Jesus IS NOT GOD.
He wrote:
These are
just some of the many passages from Mark that establish the absolute purity and
sinlessness of the Lord Jesus. Here are several from John's Gospel:
"Simon Peter answered him,
‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know
that you are the Holy One of God.’" John 6:68-69
"He who speaks on his own does so
to gain honor for himself, but he who works for the honor of the one who sent him is a man
of truth; there is nothing false about him." John 7:18
"The one who sent me is with me;
he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him ... Can any of you prove me
guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don't you believe me?" John 8:29, 46
"I am the good shepherd. The good
shepherd lays down his life for the sheep ... I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and
my sheep know me." John 10:11, 14
To summarize
the preceding data, we learned that:
1. Jesus is God's Holy One.
2. Jesus is God's beloved Son.
3. Jesus is the Heir.
4. Jesus is the Forgiver of sinners.
5. Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath.
6. Jesus is David's Lord.
7. Jesus is the Lord of the angels, of
demons, and of the elect.
8. Jesus is the the divine Son of Man who
comes on the clouds to reign forever.
My response:
Very nice
summary by Shamoun. Let me make my own TRUE summary.
1- Others
claimed Jesus is God's holy one not Jesus, and others are called holy too and we also saw
from Daniel 4:23 that Holy One could mean messenger.
2- God had
many sons not just Jesus.
3- The
killers claimed he was the heir.
4- Jesus was
given that right and authority, and did not own it.
5- We have 3
lords of the Sabbath, I thought we had one. Once again Jesus was given authority, so it is
natural for him to be the lord of the Sabbath.
6- Jesus is
not David's Lord.
7- Jesus is
not the lord of the angels and demons; however the Bible says Satan would be the God of
this world.
8- The
divine Jesus had no power of his own, meaning he is not God.
He wrote:
In light of
the foregoing, we can now exegete the passage to see what the Lord Jesus actually meant to
say to the rich man. In the first place, Jesus didn't say "I am not good, only God is
good", but simply poses a question to the man to think more deeply about the
implications of his words. The implication being that if Jesus is good, and only God is
good, then Jesus is God. Again, note the logic behind this:
1. God alone is (absolutely) good.
2. Jesus is (absolutely) good.
3. Therefore, Jesus is God.
My response:
Very nice
logic, Jesus did not say I am not good. Shamoun you are very funny indeed, look at the
verse, it is obvious what Jesus meant, why do you call me good? Only God is good, meaning
he is not good in the same sense as God being good, people will laugh at you at such a
silly statement.
1- God is
good, Jesus was not
2- Jesus is
not Good, he said why do you call me good?
3- Therefore
Jesus is not God.
He wrote:
If the man
truly believed this then he must be willing to abandon everything for Christ. This is
precisely what Jesus demanded:
"And looking at him, Jesus felt
love for him, and said to him, ‘One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess, and
give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, FOLLOW ME.’"
Mark 10:21
Jesus
demands a devotion that is to be given solely to God. This is clearly seen in light of the
fact that Jesus' demand was made right after the man had indicated his observance to the
last six commands of the Ten Commandments. These commands were given to govern a person's
relationship with others. The first four commandments govern a person's devotion to God.
The man's trouble was that he loved money more than God, and hence his money became an
idol. He had to be willing to die to his idolatry by giving it up in order to devote
himself completely to the pure worship of God. Yet, amazingly, Jesus never asked the man
to follow the first four commandments, or to follow God completely, but directed the man
to follow him. The reason being is that to wholeheartedly follow the Lord Jesus is to
fulfill one's obligation to God. Thus, Jesus was implicitly claiming to be God since he
was basically saying that to follow him is to follow God, to obey him is to obey God, to
love him is to love God. Therefore Jesus is God!
My response:
Very funny,
Jesus telling him to follow him doesn’t make Jesus God! That is a joke if I ever
heard one! Jesus told the man to follow him meaning don’t love money, don’t
worship it, love God and worship God. Follow me in the path that we both worship ONE God!
That was Jesus' message, there is only ONE God, and we should believe in him, the ONE WHO
SENT JESUS. Therefore Jesus is not God!
My Rebuttals, and exposing the lies of the Answering Islam team section.
Rebuttals to Sam Shamoun's Articles section.
Sami Zaatari's Rebuttals section.