Dear Planten, the sacrifice system has existed right from the beginning. I dont know what quran says about it but muslims too believe in it hence sacrifice millions of sheep and goats every year. When asked they only say they do it because Abrahaim did. But they never question why did Abraham do it, why did God ask Abraham to sacrifice his son, …
Yes. If a
person cannot atone for another’s sins, how can an animal?
The only theological reasoning that Muslims have offered in this thread to explain the topic amounts to the effect, “The Qur’an says it, so it must be true.” And that seems to be the limit of their theological reasoning, not only for the instant question, but for almost any question.
The Bible, in contrast to the Qur’an, offers theology. Consider that God revealed Himself directly to Abraham and tests his faith by asking him to sacrifice Jacob, his only son. At the last moment, an angel stops him from killing Jacob. The sins of man are so terrible in the eyes of God that man cannot redeem himself; only a god could redeem man. God cannot expect man do something God himself is not willing to do *, so He sent his only Son [hence, the “Son of God”] in the form of a man [hence the “Son of Man”], Jesus, to be the sacrifice for man’s sins [hence the “‘Lamb’ of God”].
Now, this might be an oversimplified explanation; but, whether one believes it or not is
beside the point … being it has at least a modicum of theology to explain how Christianity got from zero to here. What is the theology that got Islam from zero to where it is? All we have is Mohammed’s word for it.
If Mohammed and Islam are so great, why do they need help from Christianity and Judaism to validate their message and Mohammed’s prophethood? If they are so great, why can’t they stand on their own? Why is it
so desperately necessary for Islam to deny the crucifixion of Jesus? Muslims are silent on this.
The fact is that Mohammed claimed to be the last in a line of Biblical prophets. Once he did that, he opened himself up to comparison/contrast with Judaism and Christianity. If Christianity is true, then Islam and Mohammed are false because the Bible contradicts Islam [e.g., Islam says, “no one can atone for someone else’s sins”]. If Islam is true, then technically, Christians [and Jews] are still waiting for the Messiah’s
first appearance “Messiah” in the Biblical sense,
not the Qur’anic sense], so Mohammed can’t be the last in the line of prophets. But what evidence does he point to for validation? His reasoning goes something like this: “The Old Testament prophets, and even Jesus, were rejected by their people, the Jews. I am being rejected by the Jews.
Voilà!!! I too am a prophet!!!" [Never mind hasty generalization.] But then he has to answer questions on how his prophethood fits in with the Bible that he points to for validation.
"Voilà!!! The Bible has been ‘corrupted’ so the world needs me instead!!!”
One can easily see the inescapable dilemma that Mohammed has placed himself in. On the one hand, he points to Old and New Testament scriptures to validate himself. Next he rejects the very scriptures he relies on for proof of his prophethood.
Islam has contradictory theology amounting to no theology; any reasonable person should reject it.*
