They do actually contradict each other. The idea of who Satan is in Islam and Christianity contradict each other. What Christianity says about Jesus contradicts what Islam says about Jesus. Polytheistic faiths contradict Monotheistic faiths. Big contradictions. Islam and Christianity are exclusive religions and claim a monopoly on truth.
The reason that he idea of who Satan is in Islam and Christianity contradict each other. And the reason what Christianity says about Jesus contradicts what Islam says about Jesus is because of the way their scriptures are interpreted by the followers, not necessarily because what is actually written in the scriptures is contradictory.
One possible reason why Polytheistic faiths contradict Monotheistic faiths and could be because of the way Polytheistic faiths were interpreted by the followers. For example, many aspects of one God does not necessarily mean that many gods exist. Then again, another possible reason that Polytheistic faiths were revealed as having many gods could have been because that was according to the capacity people to understand god at that time, and the people were not ready to understand the one God concept when these faiths were revealed.
Bringing something new and different according to the needs of the time and the capacity of the hearer is not a contradiction.
Yes, Jesus mission on earth was finished. AND YOU SHOULDN'T READ ONE CHAPTER OF A BOOK TO DETERMINE WHAT THE STORY IS.
In the same book John, Jesus says earlier:
18 The Jews then responded to him, “What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?”
19
Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”
20 They replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?”
21
But the temple he had spoken of was his body.
22 After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.
John 10:17,18:
7 The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again.
18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.
I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”
What he says earlier in John gives validation to his resurrection later in John. You can't take chapters and verses in isolation and make claims about them. You have to read the whole book to know what things mean.
But even if you do read the whole book, that does not mean you will; automatically know what the verses mean.
“Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” How do you know that Jesus was referring to His body?
Please note that Jesus did not say 21
But the temple he had spoken of was his body. It was assumed that was what Jesus meant.
What it all boils down to us how people choose to interpret the scriptures and thus what they understand them to mean. People hold fast to their interpretations insist they are correct yet there is no reason to think they are any more correct than some other interpretation. Mind you, nobody was given authority by Jesus to interpret the NT so it is anyone’s best guess what the verses mean.
Yes, nobody can prove them true or false. The same goes with Jesus physical resurrection, therefore you cannot know whether it is fictitious or not.
Nobody can prove a false negative but that is no reason to believe it is true. For example, nobody can prove that God does not exist but that is no reason to believe that God exists. Imo, evidence of God’s existence is the only rational reason to believe that God exists. Likewise, evidence of the bodily resurrection would be a reason to believe it happened.
I do not consider the stories that say that Jesus rose from the dead to be evidence because a story is not evidence that what is in the story ever happened. That would be circular reasoning. That would be like me saying that Baha’u’llah’s claim to be a Messenger of God is evidence that He was a Messenger of God. But a claim is not evidence of anything; the evidence is what can be investigated and verified -- what Baha’u’llah was like as a person, what He did on his mission and what He wrote. We have no such verifiable evidence for the bodily resurrection; all we have are stories men wrote long after Jesus walked the earth.
But if you want to believe it is true that is your right. I consider that a really lame argument to say that just because nobody can prove Jesus did not rise from the grave that means that Jesus rose from the grave. I cannot prove there is no such thing as a pink unicorn, but that does not mean pink unicorns exist.
The bodily resurrection is a faith-based belief, not an evidence-based belief, and to try to make it anything else only makes people look silly since there is no verifiable evidence that it ever took place. A witness that was written into a story is not a real witness.
Judaism teaches bodily resurrections, that is where Christianity gets it from. The ancient egyptians also believed in bodily resurrections as Osiris was resurrected bodily. Other Gods from other religions were also bodily resurrected. Most resurrections in other religions are spiritual though. What makes Christianity's unique is that the Messiah was bodily resurrected to free those willing from their sin and they can attain salvation through his resurrection.
Or so Christians believe. Do you believe that? You talk as if you do.
I was pointing out hypocrisy with regard to criticism of a belief.
I do not think that
disagreeing with a belief that other religions hold can be equated to criticism. Everyone who is not a Baha’i disagrees with us, but it is
the way they disagree that would make it criticism.
So that is a battle royale that all the religions can have together. [/quote]
I guess that means you are out of the game since you presently do not have a religion.
I normally steer away from these religion threads but sometimes I get sucked in for a while. However, I much prefer posting to atheists and agnostics. I have no interest in discussing the Bible; if I did I would want to be more proficient in it.
But you see, I am not undecided or sitting on the fence, I am a Baha’i and I have been one for almost 50 years. If I was still uncommitted to my beliefs after all these years, that would be a cause for concern.
In the real world, Baha’is do not debate over the Bible and what prophecies mean, they are too busy with their own religion, including their involvement in the Baha’i administration as well as their personal duties and practices.
The Bible is nothing that has to be fought over even though religious adherents fight over it, and the only reason they fight is to try to prove they are right. So as the whole world falls apart, Jews and Christians fight over ancient scriptures and what they mean, as if it matters. Sorry, I am out of the game because it does not matter to me..
Why is it fair that a Baha’i who wants to talk to a Christian has to meet them on their own ground, the Bible or Torah ground, whereas Jews and Christians are unwilling to meet Baha’is on our ground? The implication is that they are superior because their scriptures have been around longer and their religions are well established, but I do not accept that as an excuse. If they are interested in the Baha’i Faith they can meet me on Baha’i ground and if not, why would I bother trying to convince them of anything? I do not have to prove to them how that Baha’i Faith fulfills the prophecies in their scriptures as that is not the job assignment I have been given by Baha’u’llah. If they are really interested in knowing about the prophecies they can read
Thief in the Night by William Sears and if not, why debate endlessly about what the prophecies mean and who fulfilled them?