The Book of Genesis ....

[lucaspa]

I have read both and have concluded from that reading that both the Bible and the Qur'an clearly speak of the same God. The Qur'an has very much the same "feel" as the OT in its accounts of the people of ancient times (many of them the same as those named in the Bible), in its sections of law, and in its poetry. The Qur'an also speaks frequently and reverently of Jesus and his mother--although it explicitly rejects the Christian doctrine of the Trinity and with it the divine nature of Christ. But then, some Christians reject those doctrines too.

I'm going to hijack the thread here a bit. From what I've seen of the Quran and my conversations with Muslims, I agree that the major difference in Islam and Christianity is in Christology -- what and who Christ was. Islam denies that Jesus was the son of God or God Incarnate. Jesus is "just" the greatest of prophets. Jesus did not die on the Cross. Instead, God caused another person to look like Jesus, fooled everyone, and this unfortunate was executed in Jesus' place! Yeah, pretty wild and not very complimentary to God. But there it is.

Islam tends to view God more as the OT Jews did, not as NT Christians do. I think this is why Rmills doesn't think Allah = God. Islam doesn't have the changes in God (or recognized about God) introduced by Christianity and our modern culture.

 

[lucaspa]

"If you believed Moses, you would have believed Me, because it was Me about whom he wrote." John 5:46

“If ye believe not (Moses’) writing,” said He, “how shall ye believe my words?” John 5:47

Well???

Well what? Remember that Jesus was fully human! That tends to be overlooked. Therefore Jesus has the same knowledge that everyone of the time had, and this is what they believed. However, notice that these verses dispute Gander's claims. Jesus is saying Moses wrote the book, not God.

Now, Jesus' points stand even if Moses didn't write the Pentateuch. The point is that the Pentateuch is taken as Scripture, whoever wrote it. So, Jesus is saying "if you believe Scripture, you would have believed Me, because it was Me about whom Scripture is written."

 

[Bushido216]

I believe that was lucaspa's way of (female-dog) slapping Gander.

 

[lucaspa]

I believe that was lucaspa's way of (female-dog) slapping Gander.

Not intentionally. At least not the negative connotation. Just pointing out a contradiction.

 

[Bulldog]

I'm going to hijack the thread here a bit. From what I've seen of the Quran and my conversations with Muslims, I agree that the major difference in Islam and Christianity is in Christology -- what and who Christ was. Islam denies that Jesus was the son of God or God Incarnate. Jesus is "just" the greatest of prophets. Jesus did not die on the Cross. Instead, God caused another person to look like Jesus, fooled everyone, and this unfortunate was executed in Jesus' place! Yeah, pretty wild and not very complimentary to God. But there it is.

Not to go offtopic, but Islam teaches that Judas was crucified on the cross, not Jesus.

 

[gluadys]

Not to go offtopic, but Islam teaches that Judas was crucified on the cross, not Jesus.

I don't doubt that this teaching exists among many Muslims, but it is not from the Qur'an. In the Penguin translation by N.J. Dawood, the pertinent verses read:

"They declared: 'We have put to death the Messiah Jesus, the son of Mary, the apostle of Allah.' They did not kill him, nor did they crucify him, but they thought they did.*

*or "he was made to resemble another for them."

Surah 4:154

While it is pre-eminent, the Qur'an is not the only source of Islamic doctrine. There are many other teachings considered just below it in importance. Perhaps the teaching that it was Judas who took Jesus' place on the cross came from one of them, or perhaps it is just a common legend.

 

[muffler dragon]

I have actually brought this same question up in General Theology under the title Author(s) of Genesis.

I don't want to recopy everything here, but you can see it if you care to.