Dzheremi -
I don’t see how your post poses any real problem to my explanation. Just read the next verse of the Qur’an after the one we’re discussing:
Well then you’re not paying very close attention to what you post, because you’re the one who posted that it is God’s view on the Christians, even though it has pointed out to you several times by now that this is not something that Christians teach or believe, so the god of the Qur’an is effectively making himself look like a fool by chastising us for something that he should already know that we DON’T actually believe, if he IS the true God. Explain how this can be, please!
It’s calling on you to follow Muhammad, that’s the point the Qur’an is getting across. I didn’t say (and nor does the Qur’an say) that People of the Book believe that they are *guaranteed *Paradise, you’re now putting words in my mouth.
You’re right, that was hyperbole on my part, referring to what you wrote in post #51, which does not say “guaranteed”, but implies that we believe that we will get to paradise because we are God’s children:
Kadaveri:
Christians and Jews say we reject Muhammad but we still think we’re on our way to Paradise because we are God’s people.
The Qur’an says that the People of the Book say they are God’s children; which I don’t see how you can dispute, what with all the references of God being the ‘Father’ of Israel, the special place of the body of believers and the Church etc;
We most certainly do say that we are children of God. We are made in His image, as are you and as is everybody else.
and so they don’t need to accept Muhammad’s Prophethood.
This is not at all related to our position as God’s children, as we were that before Muhammad ever existed, before Islam ever existed, etc. As I have said before, Muhammad and Islam are really ENTIRELY UNRELATED to Christian theology or practice. You can try to connect Muhammad or Islam to Christianity all day, but in the end it just produces more irrelevancy such as what you’ve said here.
The Qur’an says, you don’t have any special position. If it helps you understand better, it’s saying Jews and Christians have no covenent with God, even if they think they do. The only legitimate covenant with God is that revealed through the Qur’an and Muhammad.
Well this is mighty strange in light of verses like 29:46, which says “And do not dispute with the followers of the Book except by what is best, except those of them who act unjustly, and say: We believe in that which has been revealed to us
and revealed to you, and our Allah and your Allah is One, and to Him do we submit.” (emphasis mine)
There is also 5:68, which says: Say: “O People of the Book! ye have no ground to stand upon unless ye stand fast by the Law, the Gospel, and all the revelation that has come to you from your Lord.” It is the revelation that cometh to thee from thy Lord, that increaseth in most of them their obstinate rebellion and blasphemy. But sorrow thou not over (these) people without Faith." (It seems rather strange to me that the Qur’an would say that we should stand by the Gospel if it is not true)
And, my personal favorite, 5:47, which says: “Let the people of the Gospel judge by what Allah hath revealed therein. If any do fail to judge by (the light of) what Allah hath revealed, they are (no better than) those who rebel.” (taken in the context of 5:46, this seems to be telling us to judge what is presented to us in light of what is in the Gospel, so…this thread was aptly named - Muhammad’s theology FAILS when we do that!)
You may not be interested in defending your own argument, but I still have not seen anything from you that explains how “god” in the Qur’an somehow got it wrong about what we teach. I’m not going to let go of this, because I think it shows the inherent weakness of your argument, and really the Qur’an itself (as this is one instance where it ISN’T open to interpretation or context; it’s just wrong on its face).
If you really don’t understand how what you’ve said up to now creates a logical problem for your position, perhaps someone else can jump in and try, because I’m out of ways to explain it. Byzantine Wolf? Staffsgt? Bueller…?