Just in case readers here think that this is irrelevant to the thread, I think it is relevant. For emphasis, let’s say again that the so-called original Gospel that Muslims believe was NOT the one in our New Testaments. That this imaginary Gospel did not teach nor contain these facts, at the least:
- Jesus is the Son (with the capital S) of God and so worthy to be worship.
- Jesus died on the cross and risen again.
- Love your enemy as you love yourself. Turn the other cheek when you’re slapped on one.
- Marry only one wife and do not divorce her.
The so-called original Bible must approve if not teach these:
- Jesus did not die nor rise from the dead.
- Jesus is not God and so not to be worshipped.
- Destroy your enemy even if it is at the expense of your life. You will go to heaven for it.
- Marry as many as four wives simultaneously and divorce them if you like. Do not remarry them until they sleep with another man. You can have sex with the under-aged, it is not an offence.
- Lie to your wife in order to make her happy. Lie, if you must, in order to save your life.
- Subjugate and humiliate those unbelieving kafirs.
Now with this kind of teachings to hold on to, one wonder why violent should not happen at all. The people who slammed jetliners unto our skyscrapers were sane, pious adherence of those teachings. They were not lunatics like what we want to believe. No one would give his lives away unless it is truly something he believes in.
We also know that
NOT all Muslims agree with them or interpret their religion into killing themselves in order to kill their enemy. But the teaching is there if any Muslims want to take it up. We have to argue that
rightly or wrongly, religious teachings and belief got much to do with all the violent that’s happening around us.
Peace.
I think I understand it differently than you do, but I am not an expert. Hopefuly others will correct if I misrepresent what Muslims believe.
As far as I can tell, Muslims do NOT treat some unknown Gospel document as one of their current faith documents. It does not exist. This is an argument for why they think there are problems in the Christian belief in the Bible, that is all. They are simply saying that they believe that God revealed to us through a Gospel, but the Gospel we have is incorrect so it cannot be the one God revealed. Christians of course disagree with this.
HOWEVER, the fundamental belief documents of Islam are the Quran and Sunnah, no one references some unknown verison of Gospel because, well, it doesn’t exist to the Muslims!
So the points you make that some original lost Gospel must preach, are not valid - they must be found in the Quran and/or Sunnah to be truly a part of the faith.
Which gets us back to an earlier comment, that while the teaching in the Quran can be construed to justify terrorism, from what I am learning most Muslims disagree with this interpretation. And, this is no different in principle than saying most Protestants claim that the verse in the Bible saying “Joseph had no relations with Mary until she gave birth” is clear proof she was not as virgin forever, which of course Catholics would disagree with. Many other examples exist as well.
No document - Bible, Quran, Sunnah, Torah, or other - can be so clear that all interpret it identically and correctly. At least 3000 years of mankind proves that abundantly. It is why the Catholic faith sees authority in a Magisterium and Vicar on Earth as fundamental to teaching the faith consistently to all. Context and intent of the individual can distort things significantly.
So while we are not surprised that there are 30,000 denominations of Protestants based on different interpretations of the Bible, or that there is not a single interpretation of the Jewish Torah, why do some insist that there is only one interpretation of the Torah, and that it is the extremist view?
We should not assume that just because we see extreme Muslims holding a view of the Quran, that all Muslims hold that view. It’s illogical with human nature and surely not consistent with either Christian or Jewish demoninations over the years.
