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August 09, 2006
Muslims Reflect on Isa(jesus)
The muslim world gets it. What do christians lack?
Blood thirsty killers are not christians or muslims or jews.
"Suras 4.157, 3.55, 5.117 abrogated for Truth and Sakina - Christus Rex 31-7-97:
In the Qur'an, Muhammad stated that Isa did not die a death of agony on the cross but was taken straight up to heaven:
4.157 "And their saying: Surely we have killed the Messiah, Isa son of Marium, the apostle of Allah; and they did not kill him nor did they crucify him, but it appeared to them so (like Isa) and most surely those who differ therein are only in a doubt about it; they have no knowledge respecting it, but only follow a conjecture, and they killed him not for sure. Nay! Allah took him up to Himself; and Allah is Mighty, Wise."
In 3:55, the phrase "I am gathering thee", and in 5:117, the phrase "when Thou tookest me" are forms of the same Arabic word "tawaffa". Both these verses refer to the return of Jesus to God at the end of his life, and the most straightforward interpretation of them is to suppose that they refer to a natural death of Jesus at the end of his earthly life, but it can also mean that he was taken to heaven without undergoing the experience of physical death.
Said Iyad Sarraj, a Palestinian psychiatrist who has studied suicide killers "the basic drive for self-destruction is the same ... They all believe that they are not going to die, that they are moving from one phase of life to a higher one." In paradise, they are told, the bomber wilI be crowned with glory and achieve the ultimate - he will see the face of Allah.
This idea has led to a long line of Islamic 'martyrs', particularly young bachelors, who commit murder-suicide in acts of violence believing they will attain the highest sainthood in heaven. It is an idea which Muhammad has spun on top of the blood of the Redeemer, and it is an idea that must stop once Jesus comes down from the Cross. It is in this spirit only - for the mistaken journey made by such martyrs - that this shrine is erected.
It is not so much the question of whether the Arab 'docetic' perspective in which Jesus was received directly without pain to God's grace is more or less correct than the orthodox New Testament account of pain and suffering, but the devastating heritage of using the Crucifixion as a key to establish the doctrine of blessing violent martyrdom, particularly against the Jews whom Christianity has often falsely laid the blame for Jesus' death. It is clear that suicide bombers often do feel no pain yet cause untold damage and suffering.
The lie is this:
Killing and maiming does not bring one closer to the face of Allah, personal pain or no pain.
One should also ask whether martyrdom in an act of bloody revenge is in any way compatibile with any true notion of God. Christian martyrs did not die in a violent act of killing. This question runs to the core of what the 'one God' can possibly mean if such a god can approve the genocide of followers of the same 'one God' under a different cultural guise. One should consider seriously the fact that in the souk of Medina 700 Jewish men lost their lives in an act of unjustifiable genocide, because, in the end Muhammad, made his journey to Mecca peacefully without himself suffering threat of bloodshed. This is the inerasable testament of history. In this century this would be a war crime of mass-murder of international reprobation and justice.
It is our duty to bring Jesus down from the Cross and in so doing end this river of blood that has run red through history from the Crucifixion to the jihad.
One also has to acknowledge that social justice is essential to this process. As long as the Palestinian people remain a repressed people, the struggle for freedom will go on. Only through genuine reconciliation can real peace come. There are extremists on both sides. Continuing lack of justice carries opinion to the brink of extremisim and war."
martyrs
| By jjtechno | 02:33 PM
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