From the Christian Post:
Billboards have emerged across Sydney, Australia, carrying the slogan “Jesus: a prophet of Islam.” The advertising campaign is being run by Islamic group “MyPeace,” which has said that the purpose of the campaign is to encourage interfaith relations between Christians and Muslims.
However, a number of Christians in the region have condemned the controversial campaign and called for the billboards to be removed, labeling them as provocative and offensive to Christianity.
MyPeace means well, they’re just “trying to show to everyone that Islam follows the teachings of Jesus too,” and looking for “common ground to be found between the two faith groups.” But, you know …
I suppose the next thing to do is have the Hindus put up a sign reading, “Jesus: An Avatar of Vishnu,” and the Mahayana Buddhists put up a sign reading, “Jesus: A Bodhisattva,” and the agnostics put up a sign reading, “Jesus: He’s Just This Guy, You Know?”
I would like to see what would happen to a sign like that here in the USA. I doubt that the majority are really looking for interfaith relations but are trying to show the christians that they are in the wrong religion.
As if Christianity didn’t half inch the Jewish prophets….
How can the billboard be provocative and offensive when it states a simple fact of Islamic theology?
And aren’t American Christians all about religious freedom?
(No, I’m not really that naive, so before somebody takes me seriously and types a wall-o-text to ‘splain it all to me, let me clearly state that those are rhetorical questions.)
That’s what I was thinking. I mean, it’s not even like they had to reach for some kind of obscure point. Jesus is considered a prophet in Islam, and not just any old prophet like, say, Job. Jesus is a super-important, really big deal, this guy is one of the corner stones of our faith, kind of prophet. Jesus is second only to Mohammed in terms of importance and the only reason Mohammed trumps him is because he was the “final” prophet through whom the Qu’ran was finally revealed. In a sense though, Jesus is probably technically the most important and respected prophet in Islam because Muslims have a very similar end times teaching to Christians that, at the end of the world before that whole Final Judgement thing, Jesus is going to come back, beat up all of the bad guys, and do all of that fun death and destruction kind of stuff many Protestant denominations are so enthralled with these days. So, these billboards aren’t in the least bit controversial. Jesus isn’t just A prophet. He’s probably the most important prophet in Islam in the grand scheme of things. He’s going to be directly responsible for returning to Earth to kill the anti-Christ and rid the world of Satan’s influence forever. I’d say that’s a pretty big deal for those who belief it.
Q : OK, but Jesus changed water into wine and drank it. Are muslims allow to drink wine ?
A : No, but Jesus was wrong about this, see. Mohammed who came later corrected him on this small thing
Q : so prophets of Islam could make errors, except Mohammed ?
A : indeed, Jesus made an error, and Mohammed corrected him.
Q : and Mohammed didn’t make an error, like Jesus, and you know this because ….
A : because Mohammed said so. And as he makes no error, he was right about that too. When Jesus said that he was right however, he was wrong. It’s easy once you understand that Mohammed was the last of the profets. And we know that because he said so.
Come on …..
…and how is that different from Christianity and how it “corrects” Judaism?
Muslims saw the way christianity claimed to correct judaism and copied it but since they now knew that someone may copy their idea they created
section B rule 3444.A.23/I: Mohammad is the final prophet anyone who claim to be a prophet and receiving an inspired magic book that supposedly correct and add to Mohammad’s inspired magic book is to be charged with apostasy carying a minimum sentence of death by stoning.
problem solved.
Revelation 22:18-19 kinda says the same thing, but without the stoning specifically. It’s more of a general threat.
I don’t know where that Q and A comes from, but I’m pretty sure most faithful Muslims would consider it blasphemy to say Jesus was wrong or made an error. As far as devout Muslims are concerned, the previous prophets weren’t wrong. They all, starting with Adam and going through the whole slew of them up to Jesus, preached the same exact message as Mohammed which was then progressively corrupted by other people who changed it to suit their own purposes, thus requiring successive prophets to be sent by Allah to correct the things human-beings perverted over time. The official line on Jesus is that everything he taught was exactly in line with the revelations from all of the prophets and the Qu’ran, but was later altered by Christians who supposedly changed his message and wrote the books of the New Testament to suit their own desires. As far as Muslims are concerned, prophets like Adam, Job, Moses, and Jesus were devout Muslims who lived their lives exactly in line with the Qu’ran.
As a former Baptist, let me help you with that Q and A.
Q: The Bible said Jesus turned water into wine. Drinking is wrong. How do we reconcile these two things?
A: Wine must be fermented. Jesus touched the water and it was instantly changed, but clearly there was no time for it to ferment. Voila, it was really grape juice. Drinking alcohol is still a sin.
Problem solved. Neither Jesus nor Mohammed were wrong. I’ve almost gotten to the point where I don’t twitch violently when this type of reasoning is trotted out. Almost.
Even without the fermentation, turning water into wine is a dangerous trick. By my calculations, the radiation given off by the nuclear transmutations required to produce the carbon atoms to make the grape juice would have killed everyone in the vicinity.
One would think that if Jesus could solve the radiation problem, then taking the process one step further to turn the grape juice into wine would be trivial. That’s just a garden-variety chemical reaction, and an entropically favored one at that.
As a former Lutheran, I’ll argue that Jesus does have the powers of instant fermentation and the ability to absorb all radioactive particles without harm to his own person.
Hmmm. Is there scriptural support for those assertions?
…and the ability to absorb all radioactive particles without harm to his own person.
And then expel them later through his left foot. But I thought only Anglicans believed that heresy!
The old ex pedo doctrine? I thought even the Anglicans had retired that. It’s petty theological disagreements like this that keeping them from merging back into the Roman Catholic Church.
RC being current pedos as opposed to ex ones…
+10 internets to Custy, for managing a bilingual pun involving Latin, and taking a jab at child-molesting priests at the same time.
Oh, I think you should take a large share of the credit for teeing up that punchline so nicely!
OK, I’ll take +5 internets for myself, since you insist. But you still get +10 internets, because I just realized that while I may have teed up the Latin half for you, you took it and ran with it by punning against a similar word in Greek.
I love that you found cleverness in that joke that even I didn’t realise was there :-p
Ele is obviously a Who fan.
I always liked the theory that the big J just stopped time, used the water to grow grapes in a special garden, stomped them into pulp and waited for the wine to ferment, then came back and put it in the decanter and restarted time. Bingo! Water into wine.
What would have cinched it is if the article’s name, instead of ‘Who owns Jesus?’, were ‘Who pwns Jesus!’
I’m just surprised at the number of saucy Brits who didn’t catch the reference, here.
I blame the Plasmavores.
Wait..does that mean that technically, Catholics are plasmavores?
It’s intriguing how those absurd are always in advocacy of their folly.
Wait… I thought Jesus was a Jew!
:P
Yeah, but I heard he converted towards the end of his life.
It was a “deathbed” conversion…
;)
LRA, please. You know full well that Jesus was a 100% red-blooded white American male (probably from one of those NASCAR states…or Alaska).
Ah, yes.
http://www.thepaincomics.com/weekly050504.htm
:P
Ironic that Christians have more affinity with Jews, who reject Jesus, rather than Muslims who embrace him as a prophet. I guess it’s better in their eyes to reject him entirely than to accept him as a mere prophet.
Then think of all the love they have for Atheists! We’re the most rejecty people out there.
:D
Define affinity ;-)
They were expelled from some european countries (like spain) in XV century, they were scapegoats for everything bad happening in europe, for centuries; and after that they were extermined in an industrial way. With friends like those who needs enemies?
That ad lasted less than 24 hours before being partially torn down. I presume they’ve repaired it by now, though. There’s another one that says ‘Holy Quran: The Final Testament’, which I though would be more provocative but it’s so far remained unscathed.
‘Holy Quran: The Final Testament’
I suppose the Mormons would be offended by that.
‘Holy Quran: The Final Testament’
Sounds like a Hollywood sequel. [Deep-voiced narrator]:
“This time…it’s *personal*!
From the guys who brought you King Solomon and the Temple of Jeruselem, and Jesus: a New Hope…
“Jesus: An Avatar of Vishnu,”
As a former Hindu, I laughed so hard at that!
I thought Aussies could handle some provaction and offense. Starting to look a little whiny down under. Perhaps a really big sign calling out the other group’s god isn’t the best way to seek common ground. How about an invite for a barbie on the beach, or some fruit salad (I have kids, so most of what I know about Australian culture comes from the Wiggles. And Fosters ads)
Mexican Restaurant: Jesus: makes the best chimichangas this side of I-90. Tuesdays are half-off Margarita days. Take exit 53 west.
I think it depends on which bit of Australia you’re in. From what I’ve heard, most of Aus couldn’t give a rats’ ass about Jeeebus, but if you find yourself in certain parts of Queensland you’d think you were in Deliverance country.
Yeah, the further north you go, the more conservative the politics tends to get. These billboards are in Sydney, which is a very multicultural and tolerant city, so you wouldn’t really expect a strong response. It didn’t even make the news, as far as I’m aware. However, just this week in Queensland there was an organised campaign by the Australian Christian Lobby to remove an advertisement featuring two gay men hugging because it was deemed (by the Christians, of course) dangerous to the morals of children.
Well, the sign isn’t really “calling out” Jesus, per se, it’s just mentioning him in a different context than Christians like to think of him.
But to a Christian that qualifies as persecution.
I understand that was not the sign’s intent, but someone should’ve thought it out a second before planning it out and paying to post it. Most Christians don’t know anything about Islam, much less how their Jesus fits into the story. Demoting God to a mere prophet, even if he’s a really awesome prophet, may be interpreted as demeaning.
How about: We’re cool with your Jesus
That’s pretty much what a billboard that was posted in Melbourne last year did. IIRC it read something like “Muslims – we believe in Jesus too”, and did not raise any public comment at all that I am aware of.
Except it doesn’t even say that Jesus is not God or the Son of God, just that he is a prophet of Islam, which is indisputably true. The problem is that many Christians view Islam as a religion of pure evil and Satan-worship, so any insinuation of association with them whatsoever is seen as insulting and demeaning.
Agreed. We have to be carefull about what our kids hear, they are way too sensitive to aprehend reality. Let’s keep the delusion to avoid hurting their feelings! There is an old man on the sky watching your actions, kiddo.
Usually, it’s the smaller groups that squeal the loudest.
Jesus was a Jew, but only on his mother’s side!
That’s the side that counts.
Of course, Mohamed was only the last prophet until Joseph Smith, who admired and emulated many of Mohamed’s ways…plural marriage, sending a conquering army ahead spread the work and prepare for his reception, etc.
Gag Halfrunt is a Prophet of Agnosticism?
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This is slightly tangential to the point, but… way too many atheists subscribe to the “Jesus was just a really nice guy with good ideas” idea. Which is depressing IMO, because (1) there’s no evidence he existed, and (2) the Bible is such a mishmash of contradictory BS that you can find just as many horrifying ideas associated with Jesus as you can find nice things.
I’ve just figured where that bloke Moses came from. See, he’s a combination of jesus and Mo, so “Mo”(from the islamic version) je”sus” from the other lot’s version. Simplified down to “Moses”. Maybe there’s a whole new religion waiting in there. There’s already a pile of deluded twits who believe in the Moses in the Ten commandments by Cecil B DeMille, so there would be a ready market for the New Improved Moses. He could turn water into Johnny Walker blue, not just walk on water, but drive on it and a whole lot more including seafood and carpentry. Trade mark applied for.
Prophets do not make mistakes. They are sent to people for showing them the right guidance, prophets that Allah send would not make mistakes or are (Mausoom) if they make mistakes how would anyone believe in faith that he brings to them by Allah. whatever you said doesn’t have any logic that Esa bun mariyam (jesus) makes water into wine and drank it, and then later prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) came and corrected that. This doesn’t make any sense of logic.
Unless Jesus and Muhammed were both wrong.