Christianity is more likely to be true than Islam

Con asks: "what is wrong with this phrase "Allah does not love transgressor"? " Well, it clearly means that God does not love transgressors. Which one of us has never sinned? At one time or another we have all transgressed. The Quar"an contradicts the prophets who came before Muhammad, for Jesus said: "For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? " (Matt 5:43-47) If Allah only loves those who love him, and DOES NOT LOVE sinners, he"s no better than a publican. No true prophet of God can contradict the former prophets, this makes Muhammad false. The God of the Bible loves everyone, both the good and the bad. "For God LOVED THE WORLD so much"" (John 3:16) Con says: "It does not mean that Allah does not love His creations," but it does mean Allah does not love transgressors. If it doesn"t mean that, then Allah does not mean what he says, which makes him a liar. Because Con couldn"t handle such a clear text showing that his god doesn"t love all people, he makes a vain and desperate attempt at finding a parallel statement in the Bible. He tries his hand at Matthew 13:42, 43; Psalm 59:5; Revelation 21:8; Proverbs 2:22; Malachi 4:3 and Psalm 65:1-3, and in not one of these verses does it ever say that God DOES NOT LOVE transgressors. All these verses speak of God punishing transgressors, but just because we punish our children doesn"t mean we don"t love them. It"s because we love them that we chastise them. The same is true of God. (Prov 3:12) None of these Biblical statements come even close to the Quaran"s clear statements that "Allah loveth not transgressors" [la uhibb al-mua'tadeen] (Sura 2:190) "Allah loveth [hubb] not those who do wrong. " [ad-dalemeen] (Sura 3:57) The God of the Bible loves sinners, Allah does not. Con accuses me of giving a distorted translation of Sura 28:48-49, but I never quoted those verses, so how could I give a wrong translation? Here is the verse I did quote: "Say: Have you considered if it is from Allah, and you disbelieve in it, and a witness from among the children of Israel has borne witness of ONE LIKE IT (mithlihi), so he believed, while you are big with pride; surely Allah does not guide the unjust people . .. And before it the Book of Musa was a guide and a mercy: and this is a Book VERIFYING (it) IN the Arabic language that it may warn those who are unjust and as good news for the doers of good. " (Sura 46:10, 12) Here is another book like the Quar"an (ONE LIKE IT) and it is verified by the Quar"an " challenge met. Muhammad had no miracles, proof: "The unbelievers say, 'Why has a sign (ayatun) not been sent down upon him from his Lord? ' Thou art ONLY a warner, and a guide to every people. " (Sura 13:7) Muhammad"s only function was to warn people, not to perform miracles. After all, the statement "Thou art ONLY a warner" would make no sense if a warner could in fact perform wonders. "Naught prevented Us from sending the signs (bial-ayati) but that the ancients cried lies to them; and We brought Thamood the She-camel visible, but they did her wrong. And We DO NOT SEND the signs, except to frighten. " (Sura 17:59) By the way, if Allah has no partners, who is the "We" in this verse? Regarding this verse, the late Sunni scholar Muhammad Asad candidly admitted: "This highly elliptic sentence has a fundamental bearing on the purport of the Qur'an as a whole. In many places the Qur'an stresses the fact that the Prophet Muhammad, despite his being the last and greatest of God's apostles, WAS NOT EMPOWERED TO PERFORM MIRACLES similar to those with which the earlier prophets are said to have reinforced their verbal messages. His ONLY miracle was and is the Qur'an itself - a message perfect in its lucidity and ethical comprehensiveness, destined for all times and all stages of human development, addressed not merely to the feelings but also to the minds of men, open to everyone, whatever his race or social environment, and bound to remain unchanged forever"" (Asad, Message of the Qur'an [Dar Al-Andalus Limited 3 Library Ramp, Gibraltar rpt. 1993], p. 427, fn. 71; online edition) Note it doesn"t say in this sura that miracles are sent to warn, it is Con who misquotes the verse, not me. "Not before this didst thou recite any Book, or inscribe it with thy right hand, for then those who follow falsehood would have doubted. Nay; rather it is signs, clear signs (ayatun bayyinatun) IN THE BREASTS of those who have been given knowledge; and none denies Our signs but the evildoers. They say, 'Why have signs (ayatun) not been sent down upon him from his Lord? ' Say: 'The signs (al-ayatu) are only with God, and I am only a plain warner. ' What, is it not SUFFICIENT for them that We have sent down upon thee the Book that is recited to them? Surely in that is a mercy, and a reminder to a people who believe. " (Sura 29:48-51) This last one sounds the death knell for any Muslim who claims that Muhammad performed miracles. Muhammad presents the Quran as his only miracle, the one miracle he had which was sufficient to prove his prophethood. I challenge Con to name one miracle Muhammad ever performed, and show us the evidence. "After those prophets We sent forth Jesus, the son of Mary, confirming the Torah already revealed, and gave him the Gospel, in which there is guidance and light, corroborating that which was revealed before it in the Torah, a guide and an admonition to the righteous. Therefore let the followers of the Gospel judge in accordance with what Allah has revealed therein. Evil-doers are those that do not base their judgements on Allah"s revelations. ""Sura 5, Al-Ma"ida [The Table], verses 46, 47. If, at the time these words were written, the Bible had already been corrupted, how could believers in the Gospel "judge in accordance with what Allah had revealed therein"? Thus believers in the Qur"an should accept that the Bible was uncorrupted at the time the Qur"an was written. On the other hand, there exist manuscripts of the Bible written four hundred or five hundred years before that time that are on public display in museums today. When comparing our modern Bibles with these ancient manuscripts, it is easily seen that there is no significant difference. The Bible is substantially the same. Certainly, the Bible has not changed since those words were written in the Qur"an saying that in the Gospel "there is guidance and light. " I challenge Con to tell us, if the Torah, Psalms and Gospels we have in the Bible today are not the ones the Quar"an refers to, then what books is it referring to? "He has revealed to you the Book with the truth, confirming the SCRIPTURES which preceded it; for He has already revealed the Torah and the Gospel for the guidance of men, and the distinction between right and wrong. " (Sura 3, Al-Imran [The Imrans], verses 3, 4) "What We have revealed to you in the Book is the truth confirming previous SCRIPTURES. ""Sura 35, Al-Fatir [The Creator], verse 31. The only SCRIPTURES around in Muhammad"s day called the Torah, Psalms and Gospel are those we have in the Bible; so if Con says these are corrupted, he is saying that Allah failed to preserve his word, which contradicts the Quar"an which says "6:115 (Picktall) Perfected is the Word of thy Lord in truth and justice. There is naught that can change His words. " (also Sura 10:64) So was Allah telling us to trust a corrupted book? Or was the Quar'an referring to other books that have magically disappeared without a trace? Which is it, Con? Con is yet to answer the historical fact that Jesus died by crucifixion. All the first century evidence agrees with the Bible against the Quar'an, so Christianity is more likely to be true than Islam. Note: Con didn't come back for more on the Scientific accuracy of the Quar'an after being so clearly refuted.