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Meeting Sam Shamoun's challenge to All Muslims

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Missionary Sam Shamoun has recently issued and open challenge to all Muslims, his open challenge can be found here:

http://www../Shamoun/challenge_not_god.htm

Basically his challenge is for a Muslim to produce verses from the Noble Quran where Jesus says he is not God, nor the son of God, and that he did not come to die for our sins nor rose on the third day.

His challenge seems to have resulted in my challenge to him to show me where Jesus ever said I AM GOD, I challenged him on this in our great debate, where he failed to meet my challenge in which he had 2 hours. He then tried to address in one of his articles where he completely failed again:

https://www.answering-christianity.com/counter_rebuttal_to_sam_shamoun_6.htm

With all this said, let us now proceed to Sam Shamoun's challenge.

His challenge

Muslims typically challenge Christians to produce verses from the Holy Bible where Jesus is reported to have said the words "I am God" or "Worship me." The assumption is that if Jesus didn’t say these exact words then he never claimed to be Divine. The Muslims insist that Jesus had to affirm his Deity by saying it in the manner they propose, otherwise he must have not believed or taught that he was God in essence.

My Response

The reason why Muslims bring this argument up is because it is in God's nature to reveal himself and make it known that he is God by claiming it. Shamoun himself knows this, but yet since he knows Jesus never once made this explicit statement, he must make whatever excuse he can to try and solve this problem.

Christians claim that Jesus is the same God of the OT, yet when we read the OT God time and time again claims he is God, yet Jesus never says it once, is that a coincidence? Let us post some of the verses from the OT where God said he is God:

Isa 41:10 Fear thou not; for I [am] with thee: be not dismayed; for I [am] thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

Isa 45:3 And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the LORD, which call [thee] by thy name, [am] the God of Israel.

Isa 45:5 I [am] the LORD, and [there is] none else, [there is] no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me:

Isa 46:9 Remember the former things of old: for I [am] God, and [there is] none else; [I am] God, and [there is] none like me,

Jer 32:27 Behold, I [am] the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me?

Eze 13:9 And mine hand shall be upon the prophets that see vanity, and that divine lies: they shall not be in the assembly of my people, neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of Israel; and ye shall know that I [am] the Lord GOD.

So in the OT God time and time again says he is God, yet Jesus never said it once, this itself proves that Jesus is not God.

His challenge

Moreover, when Christians cite the plain words of the inspired NT writers that do affirm the full Deity of Christ, most of whom were eyewitnesses to Jesus, the Muslims reject these claims on the ground that these are not the words of Christ himself. They are merely the personal views of the authors.

My Response

Shamoun acts like the disciples of Jesus were reliable witnesses! The very same disciples who often never understood what Jesus said! The very same disciples who abandoned him! So this is why we could care less to what these men have to say, because your very own Bible shows these same disciples as always doubting Jesus, and never understanding anything he said or taught which makes them and their interpretation unreliable.

Secondly, why cannot Shamoun show us THE FATHER claiming Jesus is God? Isn't that strange that the only person he can get to claim that Jesus is God is men who doubted and never understood Jesus!

So please Sam, do not make it seem that Muslims simply reject the statements of the disciples for our own benefit and personal agenda, it is because your Bible shows them as unreliable witnesses.

Thirdly, the words of the disciples are their own personal views, each disciple wrote the Gospel to how they saw fit, removing certain events and making certain events look better than they really were, visit these articles:

https://www.answering-christianity.com/how_reliable_is_nt.htm

https://www.answering-christianity.com/evolution_of_jesus_in_nt.htm

https://www.answering-christianity.com/bassam_zawadi/parable_of_the_wicked_tenants.htm

https://www.answering-christianity.com/bassam_zawadi/evolutionofthedeityofchrist.htm

His challenge

In order to show why these typical Muslim arguments hold no merit and do absolutely nothing to undermine the plain teaching of the New Testament that Jesus is in fact the Divine Son of God, we issue some challenges of our own.

My Response

Indeed, let us see your challenges, and we shall all see how pathetic you are by placing so many restrictions on your challenge which still do not help you.

His challenge

. Produce statements from the Quran where Jesus allegedly says the following:

1. I am not God.
2. I am not the Son of God.
3. I did not come to die for your sins.
4. I did not come to rise from the dead on the third day.

My Response

Let us meet challenge A:

005.116
YUSUFALI: And behold! Allah will say: "O Jesus the son of Mary! Didst thou say unto men, worship me and my mother as gods in derogation of Allah'?" He will say: "Glory to Thee! never could I say what I had no right (to say). Had I said such a thing, thou wouldst indeed have known it. Thou knowest what is in my heart, Thou I know not what is in Thine. For Thou knowest in full all that is hidden.

005.117
YUSUFALI: "Never said I to them aught except what Thou didst command me to say, to wit, 'worship Allah, my Lord and your Lord'; and I was a witness over them whilst I dwelt amongst them; when Thou didst take me up Thou wast the Watcher over them, and Thou art a witness to all things.

Note Jesus here denies ever telling people to worship him as a God, this means Jesus never told anyone to pray to him, nor did he preach he was God.

Lest Shamoun wants to play games, the next verse completly refutes him to, because right after Jesus denies ever telling people to pray to him as a God he says he taught people to worship Allah, his (Jesus) and their lord.

Here is another verse that meets challenge A:

005.072
YUSUFALI: They do blaspheme who say: "Allah is Christ the son of Mary." But said Christ: "O Children of Israel! worship Allah, my Lord and your Lord." Whoever joins other gods with Allah,- Allah will forbid him the garden, and the Fire will be his abode. There will for the wrong-doers be no one to help.

So note in this verse, we see that God himself says it is blasphemy to say that God is Christ son of Mary, and after God himself states this, he shows Jesus himself preaching the same thing by saying those who join other gods with Allah will go to hell.

Let us post some more verses from the Quran from God himself who denies that Jesus is God, something Shamoun cannot get from his book, he can never show us the Father calling Jesus God, here is what the true God says:

003.059
YUSUFALI: The similitude of Jesus before Allah is as that of Adam; He created him from dust, then said to him: "Be". And he was.
 

004.171
YUSUFALI: O People of the Book! Commit no excesses in your religion: Nor say of Allah aught but the truth. Christ Jesus the son of Mary was (no more than) a messenger of Allah, and His Word, which He bestowed on Mary, and a spirit proceeding from Him: so believe in Allah and His messengers. Say not "Trinity" : desist: it will be better for you: for Allah is one Allah: Glory be to Him: (far exalted is He) above having a son. To Him belong all things in the heavens and on earth. And enough is Allah as a Disposer of affairs.
 

005.017
YUSUFALI: In blasphemy indeed are those that say that Allah is Christ the son of Mary. Say: "Who then hath the least power against Allah, if His will were to destroy Christ the son of Mary, his mother, and all every - one that is on the earth? For to Allah belongeth the dominion of the heavens and the earth, and all that is between. He createth what He pleaseth. For Allah hath power over all things."
 

005.075
YUSUFALI: Christ the son of Mary was no more than a messenger; many were the messengers that passed away before him. His mother was a woman of truth. They had both to eat their (daily) food. See how Allah doth make His signs clear to them; yet see in what ways they are deluded away from the truth!
 

Let us now meet challenge B, we shall show God himself denying he has a son:

019.035
YUSUFALI: It is not befitting to (the majesty of) Allah that He should beget a son. Glory be to Him! when He determines a matter, He only says to it, "Be", and it is.
 

112.003
YUSUFALI: He begetteth not, nor is He begotten;
 

Let us now meet challenge C and D, one verse takes both these challenges down:

004.157
YUSUFALI: That they said (in boast), "We killed Christ Jesus the son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah";- but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but so it was made to appear to them, and those who differ therein are full of doubts, with no (certain) knowledge, but only conjecture to follow, for of a surety they killed him not:-
 

So we have God telling us that Jesus never got killed on the cross, so if he didn't die, then there would be no resurrection meaning he didn't rise at all, on the third day, or the seventeenth day!

As we see, Shamoun's challenge has been met, since we have God telling us these important issues.

His challenge

Quoting verses where the author of the Quran denies that Jesus is God, God’s Son etc., will not satisfy our challenge since these aren’t the words of Jesus but the personal opinion of the writer of the Quran.

My Response

Note how pathetic Shamoun looks, since he knows the author of the Quran completely refutes his challenge, Shamoun starts crying like a baby saying NO NO I WILL NOT ACCEPT IT! Shamoun has proven himself to be a completely arrogant and ignorant apologist, because as you see, even if his challenge is met he says NO I DON'T LIKE IT AND WILL NOT ACCEPT IT!

The author of the Quran is God, so the statements are even stronger than Jesus having to say it, they count as double! Whether Shamoun believes the author of the Quran is God or not is IRRELEVANT, we as Muslims believe the author is God therefore to us this is God himself denying that Jesus is God and so on.

Shamoun on the other hand cannot show us his God whom he believes inspired the NT saying Jesus is God, all Shamoun relies on is the personal interpretation of men who always doubted and never understood Jesus.

His challenge

If the Muslims fail to meet these challenges then this proves that the Quran does not deny the Deity of Christ since it never once quotes him as ever expressly saying that he is not God, the Son of God etc.

My Response

Yes, the Quran does something better, it has God himself denying that Jesus is God, and the son of God. Secondly, you are lying, I showed Jesus' very own words of him denying he was God or asked to be worshiped, I also showed Jesus saying anyone who joins gods with Allah will go to HELL.

On a side issue, Shamoun shows his ignorance of the Quran, why? Because the Quran was not revealed to talk about Jesus only and quote everything he said, nor was it revealed specifically to talk about one single prophet, the Quran was a final revelation correcting mistakes of Christians and Jews, and bringing some new teachings etc. The Quran is God directly speaking to us, so therefore he himself tells us Jesus is not God and so on. Unlike the Gospel, which revolves around Jesus which has several of his quotes, in which surprisingly non of them show him saying I AM GOD.

This is the way of the Quran, it is God speaking to us, God is telling us Jesus is not God, nor his son, nor any of the other nonsense that other people have invented, perhaps Shamoun should go learn a bit more about the Quran since it is apparent he doesn't know anything.

His challenge

2. Make sure to produce these statements in Jesus’ original Aramaic tongue, in the language that he spoke while on earth. We will not accept any statements supposedly made by Jesus in Arabic since he never spoke Arabic, especially the Quraishi dialect of Arabic which the Quran is supposed to have been written in:

My Response

I must say I had to hold myself from laughing. If you do not accept the Arabic text of the Quran simple, go translate the verses I just posted into Aramaic, not to hard?

Secondly, no one ever said Jesus spoke Arabic, the Quran was revealed in Arabic, as such when it quoted previous prophets who spoke Hebrew, Aramaic and so on it has it translated in the Quran in Arabic.

Thirdly, if Shamoun does not accept any statements of Jesus in the Quran because they are in Arabic and not Aramaic, then he should throw his Bible out, why? Because his own Bible is written in Greek! NOT ARAMAIC!!!!

Lest Shamoun says he is asking for the Aramaic words of Jesus because Muslims always ask Christians for the Aramaic words of Jesus in the Bible then my response is this.

Muslims always ask for the Aramaic words of Jesus from the Bible because as Shamoun rightly pointed, Jesus spoke Aramaic, so as such we would expect the NT to be written in Aramaic, but instead we find out its written in GREEK! It is like if the Quran was revealed to the prophet Muhammad in Chinese! Would that make sense? The prophet Muhammad was Arab, and he spoke in Arabic when talking about revelations he received, yet the revelations would eventually be written in Chinese by his companions! Now that would not make sense, exactly like Shamoun's NT. Why is it written in Greek and not Aramaic the language Jesus and his people spoke? hmmmm

The Quran was revealed to an Arab prophet, in Arabia, and as such it was revealed in Arabic, if Shamoun does not like this, then this is his problem.

His challenge

Besides exposing the inconsistency in Muslim polemics, the foregoing helps to demonstrate the following point: Just as the Quran can deny Jesus being God without needing to put words in his mouth to do so, in a similar manner the NT writers could (and actually do) affirm the Deity of Christ without having to quote Jesus as saying the words, "I am God" or "Worship me".

My Response

Shamoun compares apples and oranges, in the Quran we have GOD telling us Jesus is not God, in the NT you have men who never understood Jesus interpreting things according to how they saw things! WOW what a good source of information you have.

Secondly, there is a contradiction between Jesus' words and the disciples, if some of the disciples taught that Jesus is God and so on, how come we see no proof of this from Jesus' words or actions?

Jesus' words and actions prove the disciples were wrong if they preached he was God!

CONCLUSION

Shamoun's pathetic challenge with full of restrictions has been met. However I now once again issue my own challenge to Shamoun, and a very simple one:

SHOW ME WHERE JESUS SAID I AM GOD

In fact show me where the Father called Jesus God from the words of the Father. We shall all be waiting.

Rebuttals, and exposing the lies of the Answering Islam team section.

Islam and the Noble Quran - Questions and Answers.

Contradictions and History of Corruption in the Bible.

Muslim's Rebuttals section.

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