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Friday, December 23, 2005

Happy Xmas and New Year

At five minutes to Christmas Eve I think it's time to wish everyone a happy Christmas and a happy new year.

I have just left family and a friend discussing the way Muslims see Jesus as a prophet and their explanation for Christs disappearance from the cross. So just what did happen?!

Hello Clive, Here's wishing you and your family and everyone else here a peaceful holiday. Yesterday, I cooked a turkey using a great recipe by Clement Freud - it's a quick mix gunk for painting all over turkey that I tried Christmas before last (and added few cloves of garlic with butter under skin of bird) - it really is quick and easy seasoning and because of the oranges and other juices results in perfect ready made gravy, super rich colour without need to thicken or reduce:

1 dessertspoon Colemans mustard powder
1 dessertspoon Worcestor sauce
2 dessertspoon salt
1 dessertspoon olive oil
1 teaspoon crushed or ground black pepper
1 rounded tablespoon treacle.
Mix everything well together.
Paint over turkey stuffed only with fresh oranges, quartered or smaller.
Wrap well in foil (buttered where turkey sits) and cook.
Open up (and paint melted butter on top and breasts if desired) to brown during last half hour.

Muslims believe in the virgin birth of Jesus (known as Isa is Arabic) and the Qu'ran states that he was conceived in the same way as Adam - but not as the son of god, as Christians believe. For Muslims, Jesus was a miracle of god. Muslims great importance on Mary (Maryam) as a devout believer in her own right, rather than just a tool for conception, calling her a "woman of truth". There is a whole chapter in the Qu'ran dedicated to her. Jesus may have been a prophet in Islam, but Mary represents what every Muslim aspires to be: a loyal servant of god.

However, there seems to be some confusion in Islam over Jesus' death. The Qu'ran said he was not killed on the cross, although everyone thought he was, but that he was "lifted up" to god. Some scholars suggest that it could mean that he may have been taken down from the cross while he was still alive and then died of natural causes or some kind of supernatural event or simply disappeared. One hadith states that Jesus lived until he was 125 years, so perhaps he died of old age. There are legends of Christ in India, where his disciple Thomas founded a Christian church. Perhaps he went into political exile and stayed there, a forgotten man. I think this perhaps makes more sense and explains why Jesus was seen after the crucifixion. There is little doubt that he was a charismatic figure, but his public presence was brief and created turbulence within the Jewish and Roman establishments.

It seems the main difference between Islam and Christianity is that the former rejects any notion of the son of god or a trinity and is unclear about Jesus' death, but nevertheless Muslims believe Jesus was miraculous. What I don't understand is why Jews, Christians and Muslims understand their commonalities and the fact that they are essentially different brands of the same product?

Please correct me if I am wrong but my understanding is that Christians are followers of Christ the Messiah and Jews only believe in the Old Testament of the Holy Bible, not the New Testament covering the birth and death of Jesus and the Resurrection. They do not believe in the divinity of Jesus but believe the Messiah is yet to come. Most Christians believe in the Holy Trinity - God three in one, the Son, the Father and the Holy Spirit. Jehova Witnesses do not believe in the Holy Trinity and, as far as I am aware, believe that Jesus was not divine. Key to Christian faith is the Ressurection.

Ingrid: But Judaism, Christianity and Islam are all Abrahamical religions. Judaism and Islam even have the similar requirements regarding food, while Jews and Christians have festivals at similar times of the year, eg Hanukkah and Christmas, Passover and Easter. Compared with any other faith - Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, Paganism, etc - the three Abrahamical religions have more in common than they have differences. Perhaps in religion near differences are a greater source of conflict than wide differences. Abrahamical religions are a bit like the Marxist left.

Excerpt from Abraham: The root of three religions:

"Abraham is indispensable to Christianity, but for a far different reason than he is to Judaism or Islam. Christians hold to the same historical account as the Jews do; but Christians make a further-reaching conclusion. Christians view God’s interaction and covenant with Abraham as something leading up to the coming of Jesus Christ. God’s love for his creation was so infinite that he determined to somehow bridge the immeasurable gap that man had made when he sinned. To this end God made the first covenant with Abraham which included the promise of a future savior, Jesus, who would come through Abraham’s descendants."

http://www.hyperhistory.net/apwh/bios/b1abraham.htm