A new film on Jesus, told from an Islamic perspective, has drawn mixed reactions from the Christian community over its claim that Jesus did not die on the cross but was replaced by Judas Iscariot.
“The Messiah” – written, produced and directed by Iranian filmmaker Nader Talebzadeh - was filmed in the Islamic Republic of Iran with Iranian actors to portray how Muslims understand the life of Jesus based on the teachings of the Qur’an and the Gospel of Barnabas – a book not included in the Christian Bible and in which the Prophet Mohammed appears.
The movie features two endings – the Muslim and Christian version of Jesus and the cross – and has won an award at Rome’s Religion Today Film Festival for generating interfaith dialogue.
Dr. Emir Caner, dean of the College at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and a former devout Muslim, recommends Christians to view both versions of the crucifixion account and ask themselves several questions:
• When was Jesus replaced, according to the Qur’an?
• Why did the disciples not recognize that the man they were following was replaced before the cross
• Why did the mother of Christ not recognize that her son was not present on the Cross
• What was the alleged purpose of Allah in deceiving the crowd, including the disciples and Mary, into thinking Christ was being crucified
Caner, who is also a professor of history, said he believes that in the end the film should be welcomed.
“Perhaps Muslims and Christians will recognize that the Qur’an only offers sparse speculation into one of the most noted events in history while the Bible gives meticulous detail into the historic events of the day,” Caner wrote to The Christian Post in an email Thursday. “It is a new day when the public is once again willing to discuss religious issues with eternal significance.”
For most of “The Messiah,” Jesus is depicted similarly to versions made in the West – light complexion, brown hair and performing miracles, according to Variety magazine. But where the Muslim version diverges is at the end where the disciple Judas Iscariot miraculously transforms into the likeness of Jesus and is crucified in his place.
“He (Jesus) is not the son of God and was never the son of God. He is a prophet and he was not crucified, that somebody was crucified in his stead,” Talebzadeh claimed, according to CNN.
The director said his goal in making the film was to show both Muslims and Christians their common and different beliefs in Jesus and to generate conversation between the two groups who in recent years have been pitted against each other.
“When you show this information (Christian view of Jesus) to the common people, they don't know. Ninety percent of the Muslims in Iran don’t know about this,” Talebzadeh said.
Dr. Gary R. Habermas, distinguished research professor and chair of the department of Philosophy and Theology at Liberty University, said he has not seen the film but commented that Islam is “very respectful” of Jesus. He noted that the Qur'an has almost 100 verses on Jesus.
“The bad news is he is not the son of God, he didn’t die on the cross and because he didn’t die, he didn’t rise from the dead,” Habermas said to The Christian Post. “The good news is he is a great prophet, he is sinless, he is virgin born and he did miracles.”
Habermas, who recently returned from a debate with a Muslim in England, said the idea that Jesus did not die on the cross for the salvation of mankind is based on surah 4:157-158 that says Jesus was not crucified.
He emphasized that the Qur’an does not say that Judas took Jesus’ place but only that he was not crucified. The interpretation of Judas dying in place of Jesus is only one of several popular Muslim explanations for why Jesus did not die on the cross.
But not all Christians are happy with the film. One blogger, who goes by the pen name “Dan Goldfinch” in his web log at WordPress.com, argues that not only the Bible but history also declares that Jesus was crucified.
“Jesus didn’t come to earth for mere respect,” wrote the Ohio-based preacher. “If Jesus has not been crucified then he has not been resurrected. If Jesus has not been resurrected from the dead, then Christians are without hope. We may as well party it up if Christ has not been Resurrected from the dead.”
Goldfinch further said that what the Qur’an does not understand and explain is that man’s sin must be dealt with and if it is “not dealt with in the death of Christ then we, and all of humanity from the beginning until the end, are simply obligated to be 100 percent obedient to the law.”
“So if there is no death of Christ as this man is purporting in his film, then exactly how will we be saved from our sins?” the Christian blogger asked.
Director Talebzadeh meanwhile sees the film as an Islamic response to “The Passion of the Christ,” the 2004 blockbuster of self-professed Catholic Mel Gibson. Although the Iranian filmmaker praised Gibson’s movie, he said it was “wrong.”
“The Messiah,” with over 1,000 actors and extras, was one of the largest film productions in Iran, according to Variety magazine. It is the first movie to portray Jesus both from the Muslim and Christian perspective.
The film has already been released in Iran and will soon be available on the Internet, according to CNN.
Comments
Surat. 1:7
“The Way of those on whom You have bestowed Your Grace , not (the way) of those who earned Your Anger (such as the Jews), nor of those who went astray (such as the Christians)”
Ummmmm…. Let’s break it down.
Yes, the Lords anger will be kindled when any follower (Jew or Christian) goes after other gods or goes astray. But the Holy bible also states that if they will call out His name in the day of their distress that He will forgive and deliver them. The Lord will not break his promise that he has chosen Israel as his chosen people.
With that said this next statement has logic to it.
Now if you think about it (follow me here) the devil would make the statement “…those who earned Your Anger (such as the Jews), nor of those who went astray (such as the Christians)” because in Revelation 12:1-6 the beast is warring against the Jews and her offspring (gentiles turned Christen) because they follow the true Living God Almighty.
I do have a question for any Muslim. Please answer this question.
Muslims hates the Jews because of what the Quran says, correct?
Jesus is a Jews. He was born to a Jewish mother who was married to a Jewish man and grew up reading the Jewish Torah. (Remember, Muslim came about 800 years after the death of Jesus) .
So how can Muslim respect any Jew when you hate them all?
Michael_ca,
Sadly, If the Islamists truly respected Jesus they would not have replaced him with a murderer thief,rapist paedophile...and what not.
Those who do not respect Jesus ultimately replace Jesus. They move Him aside from the center of their faith and replace Him and His Word with their own religion and dogma.
When the Pharisees cried for Jesus to be crucified, they chose instead another to be freed in the place of Jesus. That was Barabbas. It is noted that Barabbas was a murderer.
How can one reconcile Jesus with mohammed? and call themselves honest?
What can the muslims possibly say against Jesus? or for that matter, anyone else who would care to criticize Jesus? Their mouths are shut by the very holy life that Jesus lived, not because of the inherent kindness of muslims, but because they have absolutely nothing to indict Jesus with...(Jesus, the Prince of Peace)
Yet, they have rebelled against Jesus, believed mohammed...and go round the world subverting and lying that mohammed was a man of peace...and that islam is a religion of peace, when they both clearly are not.
Muslims cannot defend mohammeds actions of thievery, rape, murder, and paedophilia...so they sanctify what mohammed did and threaten those who will call mohammed what he was: a sinner in need of repentance. They protest that they are not criticizing Jesus, so no one should criticise mohammed...but why should we not criticise a religion founded on murder and thievery, slavery and rape...
only a coldblooded person would call for others to respect this heinous injustice...
We criticise the popes, stalin, ghenghis khan, Mao, Hitler...Pol Pot...Jesus (the movie noted here)why should we leave mohammed out? because ? because ?
here is another question x86,
during tawaf (circling the black stone seven times) if you feel like it, can you take a piss on the black stone? or do you piss on the kaaba afterwards?
how do you take a piss? sideways with one feet held high?
steiner,
Who you are kidding man? Now you are even attacking me! (Proving my point, thank you).
I find following post from x86 to be kind and thoughtful. Really, just think about it.
You would not find even a single Muslim who would disrespect Jesus (peach be upon him) or Mary (peach be upon her). Not a single one. Don’t you find it rather odd, from a religion that (in your opinion) founded by a bad person? Just think about it.
Michael_ca
You read my posts...and they did not please you...you felt offended? but that is not enough, is it?
That you are without ideas of your own...without a shred of explanation for your accusations...that does not bother you?
Matthew 15:12...
Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this statement?
But Jesus answered and said, -Every plant which My heavenly Father did not plant shall be rooted up. Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit.-
You sir, are free to keep your eyes closed, and free, as Jesus points out, to be led by blind guides of your choosing.
Hey steiner,
It seems like to me, you are full hate. I just read your posts and others, you are pathetic man! If Jesus came for peace, you definetely have missed it!
Sura 9:111] gOD has bought from the believers their lives and their money in exchange for Paradise. Thus, they fight in the cause of gOD, willing to kill and get killed. Such is his truthful pledge in the Torah, the Gospel, and the Quran - and who fulfills His pledge better than GOD? You shall rejoice in making such an exchange. This is the greatest triumph. (NO! THIS IS SATANS GREAT LIE!)
x86?
Is this what Jesus commanded his desciples to do? Perhaps you should begin to read what Jesus actually said...get a new testament and read up on the real Jesus, and stop trying to obfuscate by telling people to respect this homicidal call to peace....this is not peace...this is a call to kill and be killed...a call for the suicide of mankind...
Jesus said: I have come to save that which was lost...not to kill...
and in the name of Jesus I pray that He will open your eyes to the meaning of peace...convincing you that calls for the destruction of what God has come to save... is not peace...and is not of Jesus...but of satan, who from the beginning has meant to destroy mankind...through mass homicide and suicide...
_____________________________________________________________________
1086
All muslims say that they love and respect Jesus, but Jesus says " If you love me, you will obey my commandments." (John 14:15, 21, 23, 24)
Which of Jesus' comandaments/teachings do Muslims obey ? about anger, adultery, divorce, revenge, enemies, prayer, fasting... etc ? (matthew 5 and 6)
And yet with all the so called peace and respect that you claim that muslims give Jesus...Christians are persecuted in every muslim country...Those that convert to Christianity are threatened with death, and their churches and towns forced to close and suffer abuse.
When the Apostle Paul came to know Jesus...he stopped killing, he stopped persecuting...
It is a blatant and evil lie to claim that islam respects Jesus...please stop lying, and begin to speak the truth regarding Islams continued systematic violence and persecution against Christians.
Islam is a revealed religion and the way it was revealed provides the key to understanding wether or not true Muslims can coexist peacefully with others. The following information can be easily accessed in the West with little effort and research:
When Mohammed was contacted by the spirit (Jibrail) in the cave he was convinced he had been contacted by a harmful (evil) spirit and returned very distressed to his wife Khadijah, who thought otherwise, and to reassure Mohammed, she took him to her cousin Waraqa ibn Naufal, who, allegedly, was "a very old man who knew the Scriptures of the Jews and Christians" and on this old man's OPINION , the spirit who had contacted Mohammed was declared as coming from God and that Mohammed was to become the Prophet of his people! (pages 10 and 11 of the introduction to the English translation of the Holy Quran by Mohammed Marmaduke Pickthall).
If this old man really knew the Christian Scriptures he would have told Mohammed that he had been contacted by an evil spirit (as Mohammed had correctly thought when the spirit had first appeared to him) on the basis of the biblical teaching found in the New Testament in the letter to the Galatians 1:8 where it is stated ..."if an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached (Jesus' gospel) let him be eternally condemned"...
To be brief... the Koran was revealed by a false spirit (a demon) as the translator Marmaduke Pickthall so unwittingly gives testimony to in his introduction of the Holy Quran page 11, 3rd paragraph: "the words which came to him (Mohammed) when in a state of trance are held sacred by the Muslims and are never confounded with those which he uttered when no physical change was apparent in him. The former are the Sacred Book (the Koran); the latter the Hadith or Sunnah...”
with that statement Pickthall is confirming that the Koran was recited by Mohammed while in a state of trance or in other words under demonic possession.
In the New Testament in the letter to the Ephesians 4:30 ..." God's Holy Spirit... gets rid of all bitterness, passion, anger... hateful feelings of any sort... instead makes you kind and tender hearted... forgiving one another... as God has forgiven you through Christ." This Spirit is not the same spirit that leads practicing Muslims to kill in the name of Allah. Any Christian who kills in the name of God betrays Jesus and His teachings (read Matthew 26:51-53) and is no longer a Christian. Any Muslim who refuses to kill in defense of Allah and his prophet is not a Muslim (sura 9:29 etc).
See here: http://www.islam.us/quran_arben.php
Steiner, where did you find anything that says Mohammed is better the “Jesus”? I didn’t see anything in Quran.
Instead of reading articles/books about Quran, why don’t you read the Quran (well, its interpretation in English) itself? I assume that you don’t believe it to be divine; you think it is written by Mohammed. Let it be so. You have read many books written by human before. Didn’t you? Give it a try. Then you can disbelieve it, but at least knowingly disbelieve it. You won’t be fooled by other.
Muslim respect Jesus (peach be upon him) just as much they would respect any other messengers of God (including Mohammed puh).
If I can respect to the key religious figure of your religion, why can’t you show the same to the key religious figure of my religion? Why it would be so hard? You don’t have to agree on anything from that religion. If for nothing else, you can show respect because he is the founder of one of the significant religion of today’s world.
You would not find even a single Muslim who would disrespect Jesus (peach be upon him) or Mary (peach be upon her). Not a single one. Don’t you find it rather odd, from a religion that (in your opinion) founded by a bad person? Just think about it.
Genesis satan is referred to as a serpent. In the New Testament, Jesus uses the appelation of snakes and vipers. when referring to some..
In the temptation of Adam and Eve, satan uses scripture with his own twist to bring about the fall of Adam and Eve. In the New Testament, the same approach is used with Jesus, but it fails as Jesus points to the whole of Scripture...It is also written...
Serpents have unusual tongues...forked tongues...The implications is that a forked tongue speaks a bit from both sides of the spectrum...it uses the truth and adds or subtracts to it in order to obfuscate...
Consider now that Christ is our Rock. HE is the living Rock upon whom we can build our lives and remain free from the onslaught of sin and temptation....
In Islam the Kaaba is the Rock...it is the temple of allah...here many surround it and worship what essentially is an idol.
Yet, the Gospel notes that Christ is the living Rock upon whom we must build our lives and cast our hope....
Muslims note that the Koran is living and eternal , it was not created by allah...yet it is a god just as is allah... and yet it is a book...a living book that is in heaven...
In Christianity the Word of God is Christ.The Word (Christ)came among us and became incarnate...The Word lived among us and established a clear and examplary way for us to follow...Christ the Living Word...eternal, uncreated and in triunity.
In the Koran, sharia is the path, or river that must be taken to receive eternal life...
In Christianity, Jesus is the Way, He is the living water from which those who drink have eternal life...(John 4)
Islam, in the end, tries to offer a sprinkling of Christ, in order to attract Christians to its god, and yet takes away the only means to salvation...the cross of Christ...
Beware of the serpent, Christian...For without the Cross of Christ, there is no Gospel...There is no salvation..
P 2 of 2
When the apostle Paul accepted Jesus, the apostle Paul stopped killing.
Why did Mohammed kill, steal, rape and pillage? and how is mohammed(for muslims) in the light of Jesus, serve a better religious example than Jesus who lived a truly examplary life?
Jesus says: For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgement to the Son, that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him (John5:22)….
How can mohammed claim to know God, when mohammed obviously did not know or for that matter did not honor Jesus (if muslims claim that he knew Him).
John 8 :39-47 - They answered and said to Him, Abraham is our father.- Jesus said to them, - if you were Abrahams children, you would do the works of Abraham…because you are not able to listen to My word. You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him…
And what were the works of Abraham? and the works of Jesus?
Did not Abraham intercede for the lives of the people in Gomorrah and Sodom? And in the case of Jesus, is he not our Intercessor?
Did Jesus kill, or steal or rape, or command that sinners ought to be killed? In fact, to the Pharisees, Jesus made obviously clear that they were religious hypocrites for believing themselves to be without or with less sin than the more honest populace.
So, why choose mohammed? who killed and raped in the name of religion and stood and stands against everything, and I mean everything ...everything Jesus preached....why ?
Why not love Ghenghis Khan, or Hitler,Stalin, Pol Pot(and many others)for that matter…why not?
One reason comes to mind: pride in being able to dominate others…that is sharia, and that was mohammeds way of peace and respect (domination and elimination of your enemies)….
P1 of 2 The New York Times has an article on Wilders.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/22/world/europe/22wilders.html
Wilders is quoted as saying that mohammed should not be respected as a religious figure but branded a war criminal like Hitler….
In the article a fellow by the name of Mohamed Rabbae, (chairman of the Dutch Moroccan Council) is apparently exasperated by Wilders’s stance on mohammed. In short Rabbae points out that mohammed lived in the 6th century…
This statement seems to imply that the murders committed by mohammed. in the 6th century should not be a reflection on mohammed but on the prevalent culture of the time that mohammed lived in.
The New York Times apparently does not feel obliged to question this statement; nevertheless it casts Wilders as the antagonist and the opportunistic politician who is simply exploiting an issue for his political ends.
Yet, the questions remain. Why is mohammed considered a hero today by many of the islamic persuasion?
Let us deepen our perspective regarding mohammed and the relativism that he is allowed to benefit from. Is he really innocent because he did not know better? Is that the reasoning?
Yet, mohammed is paraded around today as knowing Jesus, and many muslims today claim that they respect Jesus better than Christians.
Well then, what makes muslims devote themselves to mohammeds teaching rather than those of Jesus, who by the way lived before mohammed?
In fact, why did mohammed not follow anything that Jesus commanded his disciples to do?
We all must respect each others religion either Christian or Muslim..but i would say that Jesus will come back on the Last day is it right???where in the Sorah it is written??