The Lord Jesus Christ be magnified! We pray for Muslims to be saved by them confessing that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:11). Let us now have some halal fun.
Here’s our response to our Muslim friends at quranandBibleblog article titled Response to a Christian Apologist: Was Jesus “Worshiped” in the Gospels? We pray for their lost souls to come to the salvation Jesus Christ has procured for them at the cross of Calvary.
On the Title “Abdul”
Before we get into the main topic, it is quite comical that this obvious fan of “Christian Prince” refers to Muslims as “Abduls”, as if it is an insult. Though it is not my actual name, I am proud to call myself Abdullah, the slave/servant of Allah. The irony is that Jesus is also the “slave/servant of Allah”, as stated in Acts 3:13:
Response to a Christian Apologist: Was Jesus “Worshiped” in the Gospels?
Do I hear crying? I think the Abdools need tissues. The ignorance of Muslims is astounding! To be a slave and servant are not the same. Notice the deception of from quranandBibleblog, they tried to equate the two as if they are the same when they are different.
First Muhammad’s father was named Abdullāh (عبدالله) which means: Slave of Allah, but Muhammad’s father was a pagan so who was he slave of? The meaning of Abdul is slave NOT servant. We’ve just busted quranandBibleblog in their deception because they have no honour and lie just like their father the devil. Our Muslim friends mentioned Acts 3:13 claiming Jesus is a slave of God, here’s the verse:
In Acts 3:13 the word (παῖδα) has a wide range of meanings.
Definition: boy, child, youth, usually below the age of puberty and not necessarily male; a personal servant, slave, attendant, with a possible implication of kind regard or close relationship; the word used in the Greek version of Isaiah, quoted in NT, for servant of the Lord.
servant noun: ser·vant | \ ˈsər-vənt
Definition of servant: one that performs duties about the person or home of a master or personal employer (emphasis ours).[1]
slave noun: ˈslāv
Definition of slave: (1) a person held in forced servitude (2) a person who is completely subservient to a dominating influence (emphasis ours).[2]
Christians are servants because Jesus Christ is our God/Master. But Abdools are slaves of Allah because he’s forced or dominated them.
Jesus Christ said any believer who desired to be great must become a servant (διάκονος / diakonos) which means a minister (to serve). And the one who desires to be first would become a slave (δοῦλος / doulos) to all, once again we got quranandBibleblog busted.
The muta’h boys fail to understand that a slave is forced into slavery against their will a “servant is one who is hired to perform regular household or other duties and receives compensation as opposed to a slave”,[3] while a servant is someone who receives compensation for their services.
Here are points made from differencebetween.com on how slaves and servants differ from one another to prove they aren’t the same.[4]
- Many servants lived a life similar to that of slaves, but they were hopeful of freedom after the end of their contract.
- Obedience is the essence of slavery whereas service is the essence of servitude.
- Anyone offering his services is a servant whereas anyone offering obedience is a slave.
- A servant is free to work for the chosen master, whereas a slave is forced to work against his will.
As Christians, we’re not only servants as Jesus Christ Himself said He’s a servant (not slave). We read that in the following verses:
To minister (διακονῆσαι / diakoneō) means to be a servant, the Lord Jesus not only gave us the definition of what it means to be a servant He also demonstrated the role of one who’s a servant it’s a wonderful well-known passage the story of Jesus Washing the Disciples’ Feet in the book of John.
Not only did Christ say He came to serve, He told believers we are to serve one another, not that we are slaves like the Abdool. Additionally, the Lord Jesus said that Christians are children of God. We have an intimate relationship with God as He is our Father.
A slave doesn’t have an intimate relationship as they are forced by Allah to be slaves, and Christ said a slave (δοῦλος) doesn’t abide in the house forever, but a son does.[5] If they are so proud to be called Abdool then why explain “how proud they are?”
Deception by Abdools
… he tried to protect his Bible by attempting to use the Quran and Sunnah as a shield (i.e., by claiming that both “confirm” that the Bible is true scripture). Instead of wasting time with this pathetic distraction, let it suffice that this issue has already dealt with in a separate article.
Response to a Christian Apologist: Was Jesus “Worshiped” in the Gospels?
In other words, quranandBibleblog is calling their prophet a donkey because Muhammad said that he believes in the Torah and Injil. Are the Abdools ready to say that the Torah and Injil we have in our possession is not sent by Allah? Let me get this Abdool busted.
The Qur’ān says the Torah, Psalms, and the Gospel were all given by Allah. But, Muslims claim the Bible is corrupted. If that’s true, then it would seem they do not believe the Qur’ān since Allah says that the Word of Allah cannot be changed:
We Muslims believe that the Bible has been distorted and tampered with by Christian scholars, and it now contains falsehoods and myths that no one with a sound mind can believe. Reading these distorted books is not permissible, except for one who has enough Islamic knowledge to be able to distinguish between truth and falsehood in them, and who reads them with the aim of refuting their followers and convincing them that what is in these books is falsehood.[6]
Learning English by Studying the Bible
And the onus is on them to provide the original Torah and Injil if they would like to say “we don’t have it.” Bring the proof, to say something is corrupted means it would have had to be unaltered to a certain point and then changed. Thereby calling their god a liar.
What does προσκυνέω (proskyneō) Mean?
We’ve said it before countless times, context is key, the issue is that the Qur’ān is a book without context and Muslims lack the understanding of how context is used when determining how any word is to be interpreted. The muta’h boys claim I ignored the fact that “bow down” can be used interchangeably when referring to God or a human of high authority such as a king etc. And while we can agree this still doesn’t change the fact that context should always be used and not only the concordance.
To showcase what we mean by this we’ll take a look at the following verse from the Gospel of Matthew.
In Matthew 18:35 the context is on forgiveness, the Lord Jesus’ disciple Peter asked “how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?” Christ tells them to forgive “seventy times seven.” He then gives a parable to His disciples concerning the kingdom of heaven which spoke of a certain king. This king began to reckon with his servants, one of the servants owed ten thousand talents and the servant didn’t have the money to repay the king.
The Lord was going to sell him, his wife and children and all that he owned. The servant fell down worshipped him asking to be patient and promising to pay what he owed. The Lord had compassion on him and forgave him of his debt. The same servant went out and came across a fellow-servant who owed him a hundred pence. But the servant had no compassion grabbing him by the throat saying pay me what you owe. Having him thrown into prison.
The king who forgave the servant of his debt was angry saying “O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt” and had him tossed to the tormentors because the servant had no compassion for his fellow man. Verse 35 mentions the word “brother” we know through context the word brother doesn’t refer to men only but to females also.
The same is true of προσκυνέω the surrounding context (as mentioned before in my original post) determines how the word is to be interpreted. With that said let’s move on, quranandBibleblog mentioned
“So, the fact of the matter is that proskyneō is not limited to simply religious “worship” given to a deity, but rather “bowing down” to a superior being, even if it was another human being. One could compare it to the angels being commanded to bow down to Adam (peace be upon him), as mentioned in the Quran:”
Response to a Christian Apologist: Was Jesus “Worshiped” in the Gospels?
Again, the surrounding context is taken into account when the word “worshipped” is used. For example in the Bible when a person came in contact with God they realised how sinful they are compared to the holiness of God. In the Prophets (Nevi’im) we have the story of Isaiah seeing the LORD on His throne, the angels flying around the throne saying “Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.”
There’s no mistaking this is God the angels are worshipping, when Isaiah understood who he stood in front of, he stated that he (Isaiah) was unclean a sinner. Why? Because anyone standing before the Holy God (Muhammad included) realises they’re impure in comparison. Hence the reaction of Peter in the Gospel of Luke.
Peter and his brother Andrew were fishing, Jesus knowing all things gave instructions to put the net down into the water. The same way Isa (Jesus) knows everything you’ve eaten and have in your homes, Isa also created life from clay; this is found in Surah Ali ‘Imran 3:49.
The Arabic says “How do I create for you from clay the likeness of a bird, then I blow into it and it becomes a bird” (أَنِّىٓ أَخْلُقُ لَكُم مِّنَ ٱلطِّينِ كَهَيْـَٔةِ ٱلطَّيْرِ فَأَنفُخُ فِيهِ فَيَكُونُ طَيْرًۢا), it wasn’t Allah that created the bird because Isa says “I create.” Muslims will point out that Allah gave him the ability to do this, which means Allah made Jesus God, thank you very much!
Back to Luke 5:1-8, Peter mentioned they’ve been trying to catch fish all night and found none, he listened to Christ and did what He said.
It was at that time they caught so many fishes the net broke and they asked others to help them pull the fish into the boat, there were so many fish the boat began to sink. It was at this point Simon realised who was standing in front of him and said “Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord” echoing the vision Isaiah saw of God.
Another passage is when Jesus was in the temple healing and doing miracles, the people came to question Him after the Father answered Him from heaven. They asked how can Christ abide forever, and inquired as to who is the Son of Man? The Lord Jesus tells us that He is the Light, the text tells us that even though Jesus has done many miracles before their eyes they still don’t believe. And Isaiah (Ἠσαΐας) is then quoted extensively.
This is why the disciples worshipped (προσεκύνησαν (Aorist Active Indicative)) Christ as God after He Walked on the Water (Matthew 14:22-33; Mark 6:45–52; John 6:15–21 ) and controlled nature itself more specifically the sea and wind proving He’s the God who controls all creation (Matthew 8:23–27; Mark 4:35-41; Luke 8:22–25 ).[7] This is spoken in the book of Psalms about how the LORD stills the raging sea. Christ said “peace be still” to the sea and the sea obeyed Him in Mark 4:39.
While prostration can be an act of worship depending on the context and intention of the person, it is not necessarily the same thing as “worship”.
Response to a Christian Apologist: Was Jesus “Worshiped” in the Gospels?
Note what was said “While prostration can be an act of worship depending on the context and intention of the person”, now you see the hypocrisy how is it quranandBibleblog says the context dictates the intention. Yet if we say the same they will deny this. In Islam, it’s absolutely forbidden to worship anyone other than Allah, but their god commands the angels and Iblis to “prostrate” bringing confusion. And we know God is not the author of confusion (1 Corinthians 14:33), once again proving Allah is not god.
The worship of Adam in the Qur’ān was a result of Allah’s challenge to the angels, the angels asked “Will You place therein those who will make mischief therein and shed blood”, Allah then accused them of not being truthful.
Why would Allah command the angels to bow down to Adam, Allah is the first one to commit shirk. We can easily provide proof this was worship to Adam by taking (سُجود) and looking it up in the Arabic dictionary. I’ll provide 3 different Arabic dictionaries.
3 different Arabic dictionaries agree with us that (سُجود) prostration is also worship. We just busted these Abdools once again.
Our friends quoted 1 Chronicles 29:20 thinking this would be difficult to answer, king David’s lineage is the one in which the Messiah Jesus Christ would come. David is not being worshipped as God but he did receive civil reverence. When the Jews worshipped the LORD they did so with religious worship, as to the king they blessed king David in civil homage to the one who was God’s representative.
There’s also another fact we need to mention, the Torah’s text is older than the New Testament. The OT would be written in Aramaic and Hebrew, how many times have we heard Muslims say Jesus spoke Aramaic. Unfortunately for them, the same verse in the Aramaic of the ancient Peshitta text 1 Chronicles 29:20 doesn’t say “worshipped the LORD, and the king”.[8]
The following is the text from the Peshitta for 1 Chronicles 29:20 “Then David said to all the people of Israel, Now bless the Lord your God. And all the people blessed the Lord God of their fathers, and bowed down and worshipped the Lord, and they also blessed King David.”[9]
Sorry, Abdools I know you thought you had something there but you don’t. This makes my point the more clearer, the Abdools don’t understand context as the Qur’ān doesn’t have context but is a big jumbled mess of a book. I mentioned in the previous article Was Jesus “Worshiped” in the Gospels? An unbeliever falling down and worshipping in the midst of a Christian Assembly (1 Corinthians 14:25). This person is not worshipping the Christians but he is worshipping God in the midst of Christians.
I can hear my friend say “that makes my point” Jesus was not worshipped! Not so fast muta’h boy, recall when I said Jesus is the Lamb of God (John 1:29; 1:36). Jesus as the Lamb of God is worshipped along with His Father, Jesus receives universal worship from all of creation. The writer John the Apostle exhaust all of creation saying “every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea.”
This is a very troubling passage for Abdools, because Christ is receiving the worship due only to God. Muslims once again show their ignorance of how context is key in rendering Greek words and knowing how they’re interpreted. Falling into the error of taking glosses in the wrong way proves they don’t understand how Greek is used. They make the mistake of taking a Greek word and equating it to English.
[13– 14] “A cascading praise effect erupts, like dominoes falling, where the singing of one group ignites the responsive singing of another. Once the heavenly chorus finishes its choral response to the song of the cherubim and elders, the voices of every creature in creation rise up in yet another antiphonal reply. John appeals again to the three-tiered mythical construct of the cosmos (see the comment on 5:3) to make certain that his hearers and readers understand the universal range of his vision. He hears voices from every realm of the created order, and he hears them singing a song of praise both to God on the throne and to the Lamb. They are both due the blessing and honor and glory and power mentioned in 5:12. And they are due them forever. The hymn of 4:11 has explained the reason why the cherubim and elders believed God was worthy of such accolades: God is worthy because God created all things. In the hymn of 5:9– 10 the cherubim and elders explained the three reasons why the Lamb is worthy. Creation is now apparently affirming those declarations with a responsive chord of acclamation. Fittingly, the cherubim and elders finish both worship scenes by sealing those affirmations with a confirmation of their own. The cherubim cry out “Amen” (see the comment on 3:14) while the elders acknowledge the truth of the hymns by falling before the throne in worship.”[10]
The Church of Philadelphia and Hypothetical Worship
There seems to be a theme, once again quranandBibleblog gets it wrong again! The fact that they think the word proskyneō is “ambiguous” is because they take the word by itself ignoring the surrounding context (emphasis ours):
… the fact that proskyneō doesn’t have to mean “worship” in the sense of religious “worship” given to God alone! It is a much broader word. As stated in my original article, the word is ambiguous enough as to avoid assuming that it only means religious “worship”. …
Response to a Christian Apologist: Was Jesus “Worshiped” in the Gospels?
And he once again runs to 1 Chronicles 29:20 but we’ve already destroyed that argument, the text says they “worshipped the LORD” and “blessed king David” the Aramaic of the Peshitta. The Septuagint (LXX) is the Greek rendering of the Old Testament, let us not lose sight of the fact the OT was not written in Greek but in Hebrew/Aramaic. As for Revelation 5:13, the original language was written in Greek, therefore, the argument still stands.
As for Revelation 3:9 the Greek word (προσκυνήσωσιν) in the Textus Receptus against the word (προσκυνήσουσιν) in the Morphological GNT actually proves my case.
προσκυνήσωσιν vs. προσκυνήσουσιν: Both options yield the same translation, there’s no real difference between the two Greek words.
• SCR/BYZ: προσκυνήσωσιν the verb is part of the previous subjunctive purpose clause and
is translated as a future. This reading is dated around the 10th century.
• GNT: προσκυνήσουσιν is a future-tense form verb, that explains what Jesus Christ will compel them
to do. This reading is dated to the 4th century.
When Muslims perform their salah they “sujood” (prostration) in worshipping their false god, the two in Islam ALWAYS accompany each other.[11] This means when the angels prostrated to Adam they worshipped him according to Islamic prayer.
Nothing in Islam is spiritual because all Muslims have to pray at the same time, in the same way, face the same direction, speak in Arabic etc. This is NOT spiritual, Islam is ritualistic and thereby a legalistic religion as all false cults are.
In Christianity, we don’t practice legalism and can pray anytime and anywhere all that matters is that we’re praying from the heart. In the Bible people prayed in many ways face down, bowed down their heads, in bed, looking up to heaven etc.
Revelation 3:9 προσκυνήσωσιν is a subjunctive using a subordinate clause and the main verb determines the mood and expresses vividness. But notice that quranandBibleblog conveniently ignored the fact that I mentioned in the context of an unbeliever coming to an assembly of believers in 1 Corinthians and worships before the Christians.
Notice an unbeliever comes in and “he is convinced of all” and what happens next is he finally believes in God and the result is “the secrets of his heart made manifest; and so falling down on [his] face he will worship God”. This is happening in front of the Christians, this man is not worshipping the Christians, the same is true of Revelation 3:9 which the Abdools have no idea of because they lack reading the verses contextually.
Conclusion
Abdools are severely incompetent in understanding the context of verses, this is not surprising as their god Muhammad is the one who brings them confusion, they follow the “god of this world” also known as Satan [Q1:2], [2 Corinthians 4:3-4]. In love, we reach out to these people who are blinded by Satan so that they can see the glorious Light of the Lord Jesus Christ who offers all Abdools salvation. Muslims need to leave the darkness of Islam for theirs no hope in that false religion.
Christians are trapped in a false religion that teaches them to worship a human being as “God”.
Response to a Christian Apologist: Was Jesus “Worshiped” in the Gospels?
Here’s the hypocrisy, their god Allah is a man because he’s compared to a man called Dajjal. Allah and Dajjal look the same but the Muslims are told not to be confused because Allah has 2 eyes instead of just 1 like the Dajjal. You can read about it here in a previous article The Hadith says Dajjal is a man compared to Allah. All the talk about worshipping a human being is what the Muslims actually do.[12]
If Muslims don’t worship a man why according to the Hadith the Abdools could become confused between Allah and the Dajjal? It’s because the false Messiah Dajjal is being compared to Jesus the real Messiah (Isa the fake Jesus).
Christians believe God became a Man, not that man became God. Therefore, their god lacks the ability to become a man as he is powerless. How can anyone worship a god who needs a girlfriend to have a son, cannot become a man, can’t enter his creation and has to come down to the lowest heaven each night to hear the Muslim’s prayers? Allah is no more than a pagan idol that Abdools worship. We still love the Muslims and call them to the glorious Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.[13]
Futher Reading
Q24:27 scribal error: A thorough analysis
Can We Trust the Koranic View of Jesus: A Debate
Is Jesus God? Does the Bible Say Jesus Is God?
Footnotes
[1] Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Servant. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. Retrieved March 13, 2022, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/servant
[2] Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Slave. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. Retrieved March 13, 2022, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/slave
[3] Wiki Diff [Blog post] Servant vs Slaves – What’s the difference? Retrieved from https://wikidiff.com/servant/slaves
[4] Differencebetween (2013, July 5) Difference Between Slave and Servant Retrieved from https://www.differencebetween.com/difference-between-slave-and-vs-servant/
[5] “Addressing those who had begun to believe in him (v. 30), Jesus exhorts them to remain or stand fast (Greek: menein; cf. 15:10) in his word in order to be truly liberated, for their incipient faith still has a long way to go. The truth that they will then know will make them free (v. 32). This truth consists in knowing God through Jesus (1:14; 4:23-24; 14:6) and has nothing to do with human or conceptual knowledge. Taking his statement literally, they retort that they have never been enslaved, conveniently forgetting the sojourn in Egypt and their current occupation by the Romans. But sin itself is slavery (Rom 6), and in order to be truly free, they need to be liberated by a son who abides or remains in God’s household (Rom 7).” New Collegeville Bible Commentary: New Testament, edited by Daniel Durken, Liturgical Press, 2009.
[6] Islamqa.com (2009, March 10) Learning English by Studying the Bible Retrieved from https://islamqa.info/en/answers/129175/learning-english-by-studying-the-bible
[7] “Such is the scene when Jesus appears walking toward them on the sea (v. 25), sometime between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m. (Greek: the fourth watch of the night, cf. NIV). As is typical in an epiphany (cf. 17:6-7; Isaiah 6:5; Luke 24:36-37), the first reaction of the disciples is one of fear or terror (v. 26). They assume that they are seeing an apparition. With Jesus’ words of assurance, however (v. 27), and with the quieting of the sea when Jesus enters the boat (v. 32), fear gives way to worship (v. 33; cf. 8:27). Once again we have a story full of allusions to OT texts and themes. Like the psalmist and others, the author depicts the sea and its turbulent waters as a place of chaos and destruction (cf. Genesis 1:2; Psalm 69:2; 74:13-14). There is a power greater than that of the sea, however, and Jesus clearly exhibits that power. When he appears walking on the sea, the picture is reminiscent of Yahweh walking on or through the sea at creation (Job 9:8; 38:16; Psalm 77:19) and making a route through the sea for Israel (Isaiah 43:16).” Gardner, R. B. (1991). Matthew (Ser. Believers church bible commentary). Herald Press. Retrieved March 16, 2022, Retrieved from https://www-ministrymatters-com.theoref.idm.oclc.org/library/#/bcbc/b08c35e9f5f24be6443986bfeda55497/matthew-111-1620-israel-responds-to-jesus.html
[8] 1 Chronicles 29:20. “David said to all the congregation, Now bless the Lord your God — Adore his divine majesty, and give him thanks for all his benefits, hereby testifying your concurrence with me in what I have done and spoken. And all the congregation blessed the Lord, &c. — They did as David desired, bowing down their heads in a gesture of adoration. Whoever is the mouth of the congregation to God, only those have the benefit of his ministrations who join with him, not so much by bowing down the head, as by lifting up the heart. And worshipped the Lord, and the king — The Lord with religious, and the king with civil worship.” Benson Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (2017, January 16). How and when to reference. Retrieved from https://www.howandwhentoreference.com
[9] Lamsa, G. M. Old Testament Light: A Scriptural Commentary Based on the Aramaic of the Ancient Peshitta Text; Prentice-Hall: Englewood Cliffs, N.J, 1964.
[10] Blount, Brian K.. (2013, March 07) Revelation: A Commentary, Presbyterian Publishing Corporation, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central
[11] wikihow.com (2022, January 17) How to Pray in Islam Retrieved from https://www.wikihow.com/Pray-in-Islam
[12] Narrated Ubadah ibn as-Samit: The Prophet (ﷺ) said: I have told you so much about the Dajjal (Antichrist) that I am afraid you may not understand. The Antichrist is short, hen-toed, woolly-haired, one-eyed, an eye-sightless, and neither protruding nor deep-seated. If you are confused about him, know that your Lord is not one-eyed. Abu Dawud said: ‘Amr bin Al-Aswad was appointed a judge. Grade: Sahih (Al-Albani) Sunan Abi Dawud 4320 Sunnah.com Chapter: The appearance of the Dajjal Retrieved from https://sunnah.com/abudawud:4320
[13] “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles. And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.” biblegateway.com 1 Corinthians 15:1-8. Retrieved from https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+15%3A1-8&version=KJV
Whatsoever Things Are True 