FINALLY YOUR SILLY NOTION OF ISRAELIS BEING GOD'S CHOSEN PEOPLE IS EASILY REFUTED: Ishmael is the true inheritor: IS THE SUBSTITUTION OF NAME “ISHMAEL” WITH “ISAAC” WITHIN THE BIBLICAL TEXT A MATTER OF GREAT CONSEQUENTIAL SIGNIFICANCE FOR THE FOLLOWERS OF JESUS? At the end of this long debate one may question; What difference does it really make whether prophet Abraham took Ishmael or Isaac with him for the sacrificial offering? Why should a Christian scholar argue tooth and nail to prove that 1 billion plus Muslims, who year after year honour Isma’il at the great annual feast of sacrifice called Eid al-Adha, are honouring the wrong person? Please read below the texts from the Bible and you will surprised. Chapter 22 from the Book of Genesis begins with God's Command for Abraham to take his ONLY SON and offer him as an offering. After Abraham had gone through the ritual and passed the Test (wherein a ram was provided in place of his son), God made the following PROMISE which was to consequence ALL THE NATIONS OF THE EARTH, in the future. (KJV) Gen. 22 : 15-18 And the angel of the Lord called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only {son}: That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which {is} upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice. Please read carefully what Paul writes in his Epistle to the Galatians: (KJV) Gal. 3 : 15-22 Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; Though {it be} but a man’s covenant, yet {if it be} confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto. Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. And this I say, {that} the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect. For if the inheritance {be} of the law, {it is} no more of promise: but God gave {it} to Abraham by promise. Wherefore then {serveth} the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; {and it was} ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. Now a mediator is not {a mediator} of one, but God is one. {Is} the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. This conclusion drawn by Paul is only applied to Jesus if Isaac was the who had accompanied Abraham. As seen earlier, it was the eldest son Ishmael (the ONLY SON), that had accompanied Abraham and hence the God’s Promise rightfully applies to prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Here is the revealed verse from the Glorious Quran that CONFIRMS this: “We have sent thee (Muhammad) not, but as a mercy for all creatures.” 21 : 107 Translation by Abdullah Yusuf Ali. Al-Hamdulillah (Praise Be To Allah), who has REVEALED THE TRUTH.

God's covenant with Abraham and his seed: God said to Abraham: Genesis 17:7 And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy see after thee. Genesis 17:19 And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shall call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him. Genesis 21:12 And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad,(Ismael) and because of thy bondwoman; (Hagar) in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called. God said to Isaac: Genesis 26:3 Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father. God said to Jacob: Genesis 28:14 And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all families of the earth be blessed. Isaac blessed Jacob(God changed his name to Israel): Genesis 27:29 Let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee: be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother's sons bow down to thee: cursed be every one that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee. Holy Bible KJV

Or what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath he that beleiveth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? It is a waste of my time to even speak with you on this because you think that the Lord God Allmighty is Satan. Remember about the Pharisees who accused Jesus of casting out devils through the power of Beelzebub and they came very close to blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. How can Satan cast out Satan? Your god Allah is not Jehovah God and there is no negotiation on that matter. If you reject the record that Allmighty God gave of his Son, then you are calling God Allmighty a liar. You can be mad at me or you can open your heart to the truth that God has revealed in the Bible. My Bible tells me to not accept any other gospel even if it has been proclaimed by an angel. A true prophet of Allmighty God will always have prophecies fullfilled and won't speak in the name of other gods. You can't try and destroy true history by another gospel and another angel. I've said my peace. Shalom(Peace be unto you).

The Old Testament says: "Take your son, your only son, the one you love." That is what you have to prove, that Abraham loved Ishmael. And even if you do, does it mean that Islam should wipe out all other religions and people from the face of the Earth? We were all created in God's image. We come into this world and depart it in much the same way. Religion is just something we use to kill one another, which is forbidden: "thou shalt not kill". Choose life!

hmm. I seem to read verses in Genesis that say differently they what you say. Genesis 17:19-21 (NKJV) 19 Then God said: “No, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him. 20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall beget twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. 21 But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this set time next year.” and Genesis 21:10-12 (NKJV) 10 Therefore she said to Abraham, “Cast out this bondwoman and her son; for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, namely with Isaac.” 11 And the matter was very displeasing in Abraham’s sight because of his son. 12 But God said to Abraham, “Do not let it be displeasing in your sight because of the lad or because of your bondwoman. Whatever Sarah has said to you, listen to her voice; for in Isaac your seed shall be called" These verses seem pretty clear to me. Note that Abraham disinherits and casts out Ishmael before the sacrifice takes place.

The citation was in the footnotes of the MEMRI translation: Alhesbah.org, June 15, 2006.

Could you enlighten us to what these verses mean? 1 Corinthians 1:18-21 (NKJV) 18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written: “ I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.”[a] 20 Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. And 1 Corinthians 1:27-29 (NKJV) 27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; 28 and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, 29 that no flesh should glory in His presence. And 1 Corinthians 2:14 (NKJV), 14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. I think these verses are pretty clear.

Hi #26, It is not about Islam, its about a bunch of Fruitcakes who are using the religion to wage a world war. I think its time for the muslim communityy and everyone else to face the fact that a small minority of YOUR community, and theres no doubt that these nutjobs are muslim, are committing atrocities. Its not a slam at Islam man its just the ....TRUTH.

Yes, Sampson was justified in his self-sacrifice, & the story is written to show God's allowance & enabling of the destruction of God's enemy. Nearly all cultures acknowledge and honor great acts of courage and self-sacrificing, even giving up one's life for the sake of others, of God or of another great cause. How this is done, when, and why, makes such an extreme act less or more good, or evil, or both. Centuries ago, life & attitudes were more simple, less developed & less thought out, few were educated and even less had detailed, well-thought out, developed-over-centuries, logical moral guidelines. Punishments were overly strict and good courts & judges few and far between. TODAY IS DIFFERENT - we have many, many resources, and much of civilization has learned from the past the shortcomings of previous actions. Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat history...what a shame! Both Palestinians and Jews, and everyone else, if they be of good will, deserve to live in peace. However, many terrorists do not have clear guidance from God about who or what is evil. They do not follow the "minimum damage to non-combatants" ethics, and are unwilling to let others live in peace with equal rights. Many Muslims do not speak out against their inappropriately violent members, whereas Christians, and Jews, for example, frequently speak out against all inappropriate violence. And Palestinian grievances, and there are valid grievances, must be looked at, and acknowledged, and, seen in the bigger picture of what has Palestine (and others, including Westerners) done to the Jews (or whoever). Palestinians, Muslims, everyone should have an attitude, and display it, and say it, that they LOVE the Jews, they LOVE the Christians, and wish them happiness and freedom. Many, many Westerners believe in that love for Muslims, Jews, Palestinians, etc. See how their countries allow so much freedom for all who come into their countries? It is not just talk. Yes some do not, and their actions are not always good. But, living among human beings, we find an ample supply of those who are selfish - to the harm of others. Everywhere there are greedy people, some powerful, rich - some poor. Palestinians do not fight in such a circumstance that clearly calls for go-for-broke and kill all tactics. It may feel like it from the inside, but sometimes a person (or group) cannot see the forest because they are among so many trees. They have been invited so many times to discuss & solve peacefully, and still have attitudes of violence to all Jews, Westerners, etc. This ATTITUDE of hate, and non-love, and non-tolerance is what MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE between Sampson and most current terrorists. And the METHODS are not the result of minimum damage, rather maximum damage, including women and children. NO RESPECT FOR OTHERS. Where are their Ethics and Morality? Especially, with all the lessons we have in this 21st century to develop & refine our sense of appropriateness. God/Allah wants that - I am certain of that. Think about it...the violent religious philosophy of "kill the infidel" CAN'T work. Think what would happen if all religions believed this. We'd all be dead, with no tolerance of the other. And the theory of the strongest wins would prevail. Which means that Western civlization, with all its weapons, could have eliminated all others many times over if it desired to do so. But it doesn't, thanks be to God/Allah. Full out violence is not justified by wanting 'my' religion to rule the world, or me demanding that I have this particular amount of land unless my life is in immediate danger, I am boxed in a corner with NO other avenue to live, after trying all other means, escalating as necessary.

www.unitedamericancommittee.org ISLAMICALLY INTOLERANT!

Hi Jeremy, I am a born again Christian and have to be honest. I don't have all the answers! Really! Hope that you can see for what I can do to help you! The things that seem confusing about Christianity can be simplified in this: Jesus Christ is God. He died for you. In particular. And loves you.