Muslim polemicist Paul Bilal Williams is at it once again,
twisting the God-breathed Scriptures in order to force them to fit in with his
Islamic beliefs and presuppositions. In one
of his blog articles, he asks Christians a series of questions
concerning the Gospel which the Lord preached throughout the canonical Gospels.
He then proceeds to answer his own questions by perverting specific texts out
of their immediate and over all contexts so as to give the misleading
impression that Jesus did not proclaim the same message which Christians
preach, but actually taught something similar to Islam.
We have already dealt with the biblical citations which
Williams’ quotes, having provided a thorough refutation to his distortion of
all of these passages, which can be found in
our rebuttal section devoted to him.
In this response we want to address an answer he gave to a specific
question in order to show how this will end up backfiring against him by
proving that Jesus is in fact God Incarnate.
Williams asks:
iv) do we need a mediator between us and
God?
And then answers:
According to Jesus in Luke, No.
Williams goes on to cite Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son
found in Luke 15:11-32 to prove his case:
“There was a man who had two sons. The younger one
said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his
property between them.
“Not long after that, the younger son got together all he
had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild
living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole
country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to
a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He
longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one
gave him anything.
“When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my
father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I
will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned
against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son;
make me like one of your hired servants.’ So he got up and went to his
father.
“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him
and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms
around him and kissed him.
“The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven
and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
“But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the
best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.
Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this
son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they
began to celebrate.
“Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came
near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the
servants and asked him what was going on. ‘Your brother has come,’ he
replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back
safe and sound.’
“The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So
his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, ‘Look!
All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet
you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my
friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with
prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’
“‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and
everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this
brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”
RESPONSE:
It is rather unfortunate that Williams doesn’t see how his
argument ends up proving that Jesus is God. After all, the father in the
parable doesn’t represent God the Father, but Jesus Christ the Son!
This becomes evident when we examine the immediate context:
“Now all the tax collectors and the sinners were coming
near Him to listen to Him. Both the Pharisees and the
scribes began to grumble, saying, ‘This man
receives sinners and eats with them.’ So
He told them this parable, saying, ‘What man among you, if he has a hundred
sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open
pasture and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? When
he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes
home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, “Rejoice
with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!” I tell you that in the same
way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who
repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. ‘Or
what woman, if she has ten silver coins and loses one coin, does not light a
lamp and sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? When
she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying,
“Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin which I had lost!” In
the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God
over one sinner who repents.’” Luke 15:1-10
As the context shows, the purpose of the parables is to
explain the reason why Jesus chooses to fellowship and dine with the outcast
and the marginalized, those whom the religious elite deemed unfit and unworthy
to associate with.
As such, the shepherd who found his lost sheep, the woman
who found her lost coin, and the father who ran to embrace his lost son, are
all supposed to be Christ since he is the One who has come to seek and save
those who are lost, just as the following passages illustrate:
“But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold,
I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for
today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”
Luke 2:10-11
“He entered Jericho and was passing through. And
there was a man called by the name of Zaccheus; he was a chief tax collector
and he was rich. Zaccheus was trying to see who Jesus was, and
was unable because of the crowd, for he was small in stature. So
he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree in order to see Him, for He
was about to pass through that way. When Jesus came to the
place, He looked up and said
to him,‘Zaccheus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house.’
And he hurried and came down and received Him gladly. When they
saw it, they all began to grumble, saying, ‘He has gone to be
the guest of a man who is a sinner.’ Zaccheus stopped and said to the Lord,
“Behold, Lord, half of my possessions I will give to the poor, and if I have
defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much.’ And
Jesus said to him, ‘Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too,
is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to
seek and to save that which was lost.’” Luke 19:1-10
In this passage Jesus claims to do what the OT says Yahweh
does, namely, seek after the lost sheep in order to bring them back to his
fold:
“For thus says the Lord God, ‘Behold, I Myself will
search for My sheep and seek
them out. As a shepherd cares for his herd in the day
when he is among his scattered sheep, so I will care for My sheep and will
deliver them from all the places to which they were scattered on a cloudy and
gloomy day. I will bring them out from the peoples and gather
them from the countries and bring them to their own land; and I will feed them
on the mountains of Israel, by the streams, and in all the inhabited places of
the land. I will feed them in a good pasture, and their grazing
ground will be on the mountain heights of Israel. There they will lie down on
good grazing ground and feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I
will feed My flock and I will lead them to rest,’ declares the Lord God. ‘I
will seek the lost, bring back the scattered, bind up the broken and
strengthen the sick; but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed
them with judgment.’” Ezekiel 34:11-16
This brings me to my second point. Luke identifies John the
Baptist as the herald whom the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 40:3-5 said would be
sent to prepare the people for the coming of Yahweh God:
“Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar,
when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee,
and his brother Philip was tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis,
and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene, in the high priesthood of
Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John, the son of Zacharias, in the
wilderness. And he came into all the district around the
Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins; as it is written in the book of the
words of Isaiah the prophet, ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness, “Make
ready the way of the Lord, Make His paths straight. Every ravine will
be filled, And every mountain and hill will be brought low; The crooked will
become straight, And the rough roads smooth;And all flesh will see the salvation of God.”’
So he began saying to the crowds who were going
out to be baptized by him, ‘You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from
the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits in keeping with
repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our
father,’ for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up
children to Abraham. Indeed the axe is already laid at the root of the trees;
so every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the
fire.’” Luke 3:1-9
John’s father made the same proclamation upon the Baptist’s
birth:
“And his father Zacharias was
filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying… ‘And you, child, will
be called the prophet of the Most High; For
you will go on before the Lord to prepare His ways; To
give to His people the knowledge of salvation By the
forgiveness of their sins, Because of the tender mercy of our God, With which
the Sunrise from on high will visit us, To shine upon those who sit in darkness
and the shadow of death, To guide our feet into the way of peace.” Luke 1:67,
76-79
Jesus himself claimed that the Baptist was the messenger
that the prophet Malachi announced would go before the Lord who would then
appear in his very own temple:
“When the messengers of John had left, He began to speak to
the crowds about John, ‘What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed
shaken by the wind? But what did you go out to see? A man
dressed in soft clothing? Those who are splendidly clothed and live in luxury
are found in royal palaces! But
what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I say to you, and one who is more
than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written,
“Behold, I send My messenger ahead of You, Who will prepare Your way before You.”
I say to you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John; yet
he who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.’” Luke 7:24-28
Here is that particular prophecy in question:
“‘Behold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will
clear the way before Me. And
the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple; and the
messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming,’ says the
Lord of hosts.” Malachi 3:1
To say that this is rather significant would be a wild
understatement since Luke clearly affirms that John was sent ahead of Christ in
order to prepare for his coming!
“Paul said, ‘John baptized with the baptism of repentance,
telling the people to believe
in Him who was coming after him, that
is, in Jesus.’” Acts 19:4
John’s Gospel concurs:
“The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, ‘Behold,
the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This
is He on behalf of whom I said, “After me comes a Man who has a higher rank
than I, for He existed before
me.” I did not recognize Him, but so that He might be
manifested to Israel, I came baptizing in water.’ John
testified saying, ‘I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven,
and He remained upon Him. I did not recognize Him, but He who
sent me to baptize in water said to me, “He upon whom you see the Spirit
descending and remaining upon Him, this
is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.” I myself
have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God.’ Again the next
day John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as He
walked, and said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God!’” John 1:29-36 – cf. 1:6-10, 14-15,
19-28; Mark 1:1-8; Matthew 3:1-15
Thus, since Jesus is the One whom the Baptist came to pave
the way for, this means he is the Yahweh God whose glory all flesh would see
according to Isaiah 40:3-5, and the very Lord whom the prophet Malachi said is
coming to his temple.
There’s more to the story. Jesus, according to Luke,
possesses the power to forgive sins, heal all diseases, and know what people
are thinking within themselves,
“One day He was teaching; and there were some Pharisees and teachers of the law
sittingthere, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem; and the power of the Lord
was present for Him to perform healing. And some men were carrying on a bed a man who was
paralyzed; and they were trying to bring him in and to set him down in front of
Him. But not finding any way to bring him in because of the crowd,
they went up on the roof and let him down through the tiles with his stretcher,
into the middle of the crowd,
in front of Jesus. Seeing their faith, He said, ‘Friend, your sins are forgiven you.’ The
scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, ‘Who is this man who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God
alone?’ But Jesus, aware
of their reasonings, answered and said to them, ‘Why are you reasoning
in your hearts? Which is easier, to say, “Your sins have
been forgiven you,” or to say, ‘Get up and walk”? But, so
that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,’—He
said to the paralytic—‘I say to you, get up, and pick up your stretcher and go
home.’ Immediately he got up before them, and picked up what he
had been lying on, and went home glorifying God. They were all
struck with astonishment andbegan glorifying
God; and they were filled with fear, saying, ‘We have seen remarkable things
today.’” Luke 5:17-26
And:
“And there was a woman in the city who was a sinner; and
when she learned that He was reclining at
the table in the Pharisee’s
house, she brought an alabaster vial of perfume, and
standing behind Him at His feet, weeping, she began to wet
His feet with her tears, and kept wiping them with the hair of her head, and
kissing His feet and anointing them with the perfume… Turning toward the
woman, He said to Simon, ‘Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave
Me no water for My feet, but
she has wet My feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You
gave Me no kiss; but she, since
the time I came in, has not ceased to kiss My feet. You did
not anoint My head with oil, but
she anointed My feet with perfume. For this reason I say to
you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but
he who is forgiven little, loves little.’ Then He said to her,
‘Your sins have been forgiven.’ Those who were reclining at the table with Him began to say to themselves, ‘Who
is this man who even forgives sins?’ And
He said to the woman, ‘Your faith has saved you; go in peace.’” Luke
7:37-38, 44-50
Notice how in this particular text Jesus forgives a woman
who wouldn’t stop kissing his feet, an act which would surely be idolatrous if
Christ wasn’t God Incarnate. At the very least if Jesus wasn’t God then we
would have expected him to censure her for showing him such adoration, telling
her instead to render all such acts of love and devotion to God alone.
Christ further instructed his disciples to go throughout
the world proclaiming to all the nations that salvation and forgiveness of sins
comes through his name:
“Now He said to them, ‘These are My words which I spoke to
you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in
the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then
He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and He said
to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from
the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness
of sins would be proclaimed in
His name to all the nations,
beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And
behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to
stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.’ And He led
them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. While
He was blessing them, He parted from them and was carried up into heaven. And
they, after worshiping Him,
returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in
the temple praising God.” Luke 24:44-53
According to Luke’s second inspired writing, this is
precisely what the disciples did after Christ’s ascension, namely, went around
proclaiming that Jesus is the risen Lord and Savior who grants forgiveness and
salvation to all who would turn to him in faith:
“Now when they heard this,
they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles,
‘Brethren, what shall we do?’ Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and each of you
be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins;
and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the
promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as
the Lord our God will call to Himself.” Acts 2:37-39
“But Peter and the apostles replied, ‘We must obey God
rather than men. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you had murdered
by hanging Him on a tree. God exalted this man to His right hand as ruler and Savior, to grant
repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. We are witnesses of these
things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him.’”
Acts 5:29-32 Holman Christian Standard Version (HCSB)
“The word which He sent to the sons of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus
Christ (He is Lord of all)—you yourselves know the thing which took
place throughout all Judea, starting from Galilee, after the baptism which John
proclaimed. You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed
Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing
all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. We
are witnesses of all the things He did both in the land of the Jews and in
Jerusalem. They also put Him to death by hanging Him on a cross. God
raised Him up on the third day and granted that He become visible, not
to all the people, but to
witnesses who were chosen beforehand by God, that
is, to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead. And
He ordered us to preach to the people, and solemnly to testify that this is the One who has been
appointed by God as Judge of the
living and the dead. Of Him all the prophets bear witness that through His name everyone who
believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins.” Acts 10:36-43
“After He had removed him, He raised up David to be their
king, concerning whom He also testified and said, ‘I have found David the son
of Jesse, a man after My heart, who will do all My will.’ From
the descendants of this man, according to promise, God has brought to Israel a Savior,
Jesus, after John had proclaimed before His coming a
baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. And while
John was completing his course, he kept saying, ‘What do you suppose that I am?
I am not He. But behold,
one is coming after me the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.’…
And we preach to you the good news of the promise made to the fathers, that God
has fulfilled this promiseto
our children in that He raised up Jesus, as it is also written in the second
Psalm, ‘You are My Son; today i have begotten You.’ As for
the fact that He raised Him
up from the dead, no longer to return to decay, He has spoken in this way: ‘I
will give you the holyand sure blessings of David.’ Therefore
He also says in another Psalm,
‘You will not allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.’ For David, after he had
served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep, and was laid
among his fathers and underwent decay; but He whom God
raised did not undergo decay. Therefore let it be known to
you, brethren, that through
Him forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and through Him
everyone who believes is freed from all things, from which you could not be
freed through the Law of Moses.” Acts 13:22-25, 32-39
“And he called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with
fear he fell down before Paul and Silas, and after he brought them
out, he said, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ They said, ‘Believe in the
Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.’” Acts 16:29-31
In light of this, does Williams really expect us to believe
that all of this is somehow compatible with the teachings of his false prophet
Muhammad?
Conclusion
With the foregoing in perspective it should be clear to the
readers that the parable of the prodigal son does absolutely nothing to support
Williams’ assertion. Rather this story actually backfires against him since if
Williams were to employ his interpretation consistently he would then have no
other choice but to accept the fact that Jesus is God (which he is, even though
he is not the Father or the Holy Spirit). The following syllogism helps explain
why:
A) Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son shows that a person
doesn’t need a mediator between him and God, since one can approach God
directly.
B) In the parable, the father who ran to embrace his lost
son is supposed to represent Jesus. This is further confirmed by the fact that
according to this same Gospel Jesus is the Savior who came for the express
purpose of seeking and saving the lost.
C) Therefore, Jesus is the God that a person can run to and
approach directly, requiring no mediator to stand between them.
We want to therefore personally thank Williams for helping
us to once again prove that Jesus Christ is indeed God in the flesh, being the
every eternal Son of God who became man in order to seek and save lost sinners.
Lord Jesus willing, we will be publishing more rebuttals to
Williams’ blatant distortions of the inspired Word of God, the Holy Bible, in
the not so distant future.
Unless stated otherwise, all biblical quotations taken from
the New American Standard Bible (NASB).
IHS
