The Link is published monthly at 40p (Senior Citizens 35p), and we deliver free within the parish and post copies (at the reader's expense) to those who request it. Please contact us if you would like a free copy for a trial period.
January 2005, Page 8.
Index of articles:
by subject,
by date.
In this issue:
(January 2005)
A Link?
Alpha,
Talk about Jesus,
Baa Woof,
Qu'ran Christmas?
In our "Questions to the clergy" slot, John will try to answer any query you throw at him, without hesitation, deviation or repetition...
Christmas in the Qu'ran?
|
The PC creed is just nonsense The miracle of Christmas began when an angel visited Mary and ended with the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. These words from a holy book remind us of the story: "Behold," the Angel said, "God has chosen you, and purified you, and chosen you above the women of all nations. O Mary, God gives you good news of a word from Him, whose name shall be the Christ (Masih or Messiah)."Wouldn't the Politically Correct Brigade be astonished to learn that these words are not from the Bible but from the Koran, the holy book which Muslims revere? It proves beyond dispute that those who say Christmas offends non-Christians are talking complete nonsense. Muslims are NOT upset by Christmas. Islam teaches that Jesus is one of the greatest of God's prophets. The PC Brigade's big lie is that all religions are different. In fact they have much in common, not least the universal values of love, peace, forgiveness and tolerance. |
Q. I was a bit shocked when the newspaper said that Christmas was in the Qu'ran (see extract) - how did it get there, and is it right that all religions are the same?
A. It got there because Muhammad lived after Jesus (around AD 600). Arabia had some nominal Christians, and he doubtless knew of the stories of Jesus' birth from them.
You'll notice it was a fairly "Catholic" version of Christianity: the business about Mary being "purified" isn't in the bible - it's the same kind of thinking that eventually led to the Roman Catholic doctrine of the immaculate conception of the Virgin Mary - which Protestants dispute. I think myself that the great tragedy of Muhammad is that when he was searching for the truth he didn't come across Christians who could explain Jesus to him.
But it's not right to say that all religions are the same. Your newspaper correctly says Islam teaches that Jesus is one of God's prophets, but Islam thinks the Qu'ran supersedes Jesus' teaching - whereas Christians think Jesus was God himself, far more than just a prophet. We think God's final revelation was Jesus, but Muhammad's claimed the Qu'ran was God's final revelation.
Yes, the Qu'ran does teach the importance of love, peace, forgiveness and tolerance, but these all mean slightly different things in the two religions. I agree that Christmas doesn't offend Muslims, but I don't agree that we can ignore the real and big differences between us.
John Hartley