A Muslim from Chicago Talks to Bob Pt. 5

[Jefferson]

A Muslim from Chicago Talks to Bob Pt. 5

This is the show from Thursday May 5th, 2011.

SUMMARY:

* On the Things Christians and Muslims Should Talk About: Sidney and Bob further their discussion on the things that Christians and Muslims should talk about. Bob begins to present evidence for the truth of the Christian Gospel regarding the prophecies of Christ's birth and death, and to contrast the expectation surrounding Christ's birth resulting from hundreds of years of prophecies, as compared to Mohammed showing up on the scene and declaring himself a prophet.



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[Frayed Knot]

I think I've listened to the first four of these now. It's been mostly Pastor Bob saying to Sidney something like "so you would agree with the teachings of Jesus, that it's wrong to kill your neighbor and take his stuff?"

He kept on taking basic moral questions and framing them as if they're unique to Christianity.

And does Pastor Bob really think that the fact that the writers of the gospels were able to cherry-pick bits out of the Old Testament and incorporate those into their stories, that this is somehow evidence for the divinity of Jesus? Really?

Also, I was surprised to hear Bob quote the Septuagint translation of the Hebrew word alma, into the Greek word for "virgin." I didn't know anyone would actually claim that Isiah meant a virgin when he told that a young woman would give birth. It's also clear that this story wasn't meant to be a future prophesy, but something that was to happen during the time of King Ahaz, hundreds of years before Jesus.

I knew that the writer of Matthew was making this link based on the translation error in the Septuagint, but I wasn't aware that anyone today would try to support this link.

 

[Bob Enyart]

I wasn't aware that anyone today would try to support this link.

Frayed Knot, it is amazing the things we all learn, isn't it?

does Pastor Bob really think that the fact that the writers of the gospels were able to cherry-pick bits out of the Old Testament and incorporate those into their stories, that this is somehow evidence for the divinity of Jesus?

I don't know what you are referring to. I don't expect anyone to remember verbatim excerpts from my programs, but perhaps you can give me an example of what you claim. Here's what I remember. I quoted prophecies to show why there was an expectation of the coming of the Messiah in Christ's day, and I contrasted that with Mohammad showing up on the scene unannounced and out of the blue declaring himself a prophet. Frayed Knot, would you agree that, if that was what I said that I was doing, that I did succeed in making that distinction?

 

[Frayed Knot]

Bob, I guess I don't see the sharp distinction. The prophecies in the Old Testament are for things that should have happened hundreds of years before Jesus, at least for the most part. For example, the stuff in Isaiah 7 was supposed to have happened around 750 BC.

It seems to me that the biggest distinction is that Jesus's followers made claims that he was the fulfillment of those old prophecies, whereas Mohammad's followers didn't (I assume they didn't, I'm not that familiar with Islam). Ho-hum.

Or are you saying that the people in the area around Jerusalem had the expectation of a Messiah in the early first century? That's also pretty unremarkable - they were under the brutal thumb of the Romans at that time and would certainly welcome someone sent by God to get rid of the Romans. Of course, that didn't happen.