A question about forgiveness in Christianity and Islam....?

Question

I have always wondered about why do Christians think that Jesus had to die to "enable" God to forgive their sins. Now I read this Bible verse about this issue:

"In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness." (Hebrews 9:22)

In contrast the Quran says: "Those who spend (freely), whether in prosperity, or in adversity; who restrain anger, and pardon (all) men;- for Allah loves those who do good;- And those who, having done something to be ashamed of, or wronged their own souls, earnestly bring Allah to mind, and ask for forgiveness for their sins,- and who can forgive sins except Allah.- and are never obstinate in persisting knowingly in (the wrong) they have done. For such the reward is forgiveness from their Lord, and Gardens with rivers flowing underneath,- an eternal dwelling: How excellent a recompense for those who work (and strive)!"(3:134-136)

Which of the concepts is better?

I ask this question because of the arrogance of Christians who always present Christianity as a religion of love, peace and forgiveness and Islam as a religion of violence.

@ Vicky G: I don't think I misquoted it, this is from the New International Version from www.biblegateway.com and before the chapter is all about the sacrifice of animals in the ancient Jewish cult (which were replaced by prayers in Judaism). And Muslims don't believe that the babies are born with original sin. And I am religionless, but if I compare them I just see the Islamic concept of this matter is more humane than that of Christianity. But I would not have asked this question if I had not read so many times that Christians say how forgiving and good is "their" God and how cruel is Islam.

@ Suzanne: Muslims believe that the Bible was altered by humans and reject many teachings of Bible. They say that what is written in the Bible is not actually the gospel that was "bestowed on Jesus". They believe that Jesus never claimed to be God's son and also that he was never crucified at all.

Answer 1

That is an interesting question. The concept of the Atonement is often difficult for non-Christians to understand. Let us consider how there is a wide physical and spiritual difference between the level God is living on, and the level we are living on where we spend our mortal lives on the earth. When Adam and Eve partook of the forbidden fruit, there was a change in the way the physical composition of the earth and all living things existed. The principles of physical entropy and spiritual death - or separation from the presence of God - were consequences of partaking of something that was made of a physically corrupt (that is, subject to decay) food. By ourselves, we are not able to reverse the effects of physical death and spiritual death. God as the ultimate standard of righteousness and order is not allowed to break universal laws to allow corrupted matter to return into the level on which He lives. Some people do not understand that concept. They think it is putting a limitation on God's power. It is like small children insisting, "But my dad can do everything." Yes, our Heavenly Father can do everything, or anything, but He is not going to turn the order of the universe upside down, or else chaos and destruction would result. The universe and the worlds that God has created all depend on Him to uphold the laws of the universe, so it is actually proof that He is indeed all-powerful - because obedience to the laws of creation and righteousness is how His majesty and power are maintained. He is perfect in His standards of righteousness and order. There is an opposition to all things, however, like the difference between matter and anti-matter, if you want it in more scientific terms. The oppositional forces in the world have been intent on leading our earth toward absolute corruption - and everywhere around us we see examples of that - for example, no matter how advanced doctors become, they have not been able to reverse the process of death - they cannot resurrect anyone - by combining the spirits with the bodies of those who have died. However, Jesus Christ counseled with the Father in the beginning of time, before this earth was even finished being created, and He volunteered to be the first person to go through the process of resurrection, so that the principles of entropy and decay could be reversed when the time was right. Because He was the Son of God, He could satisfy the demands of justice by paying the price for all of the sins and errors committed not only by Adam and Eve, but by all the generations of humans ever since their time, and all of the universe would acknowledge His sacrifice by virtue of the position He held in the realm of God. If you were to add up all the sins and mistakes committed by men and women since time began, you see there is a great spiritual inequality, a negative force, so to speak. As humans we are subject to those negative forces because of our weakness and corruptible natures - but because Jesus Christ offered up His own life as a sacrifice, He created a bridge - an intermediary spiritual force - whereby all of the creation in the universe recognized the balance in that spiritual inequity was balanced out. Thus Jesus Christ becomes our Advocate with God the Father. It is not a question of whether or not God can or cannot forgive us. He loves all His children equally, but the laws of justice demand that those who break laws must not only repent but pay restitution. It is the same today. Spiritual restitution is again not something we as humans fully understand. However, we are also subject to the spiritual and physical laws of the universe, and we are subject to the laws of our Father in Heaven. If we break those laws, we become subject to the oppositional forces - the laws associated with Satan leading to despair, darkness, and destruction - as the antithesis of happiness, light, and creation which God embodies. It is truly an example of mature and all-encompassing love that Jesus Christ, as our Elder Brother, offered to give up His status in the glorious universal realm as Creator and Master Teacher and His rights and privileges as a member of the Godhead, or Trinity as other Christians call it, to sacrifice His life at the relatively young age of 33, and to pass through the mocking and ridicule and all of the shame and infamy associated with a crucifixion, in order to effect the Infinite Atonement. If you ever watch "The Chronicles of Narnia" you start to get - on a simpler level - more of an idea of what was involved. In addition, in the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus Christ took upon Himself the spiritual inequity - that which was comprised of all of the past and future sins and weaknesses and infirmities of all mankind - upon Himself before passing through the Crucifixion and on through the portals of the Resurrection process. On a simpler level, think of how a coat or shirt which was been turned inside out has to be turned right-side out again before it can function the way it was supposed to. It is the same with the physical earth and the principles of entropy and decay. Someone had to be the first to pass through the process of taking physical, corruptible flesh (a mortal body, but in Jesus case the body was half-mortal) and passing through the spiritual and physical reconstruction involved in resurrection, which process we as humans do not fully understand. Please feel free to continue to study the Atonement on your own. I have been studying the Bible, Book of Mormon, W. Cleon Skousen's "A Personal Search for the Meaning of the Atonement" and James E. Talmage's "Jesus the Christ" and other writers for a while, but I have only begun to scratch the surface of how that Atonement works. Someday it would be nice to know - but I suspect it will not occur until after the Second Coming of Jesus Christ when the Resurrection will start.

Answer 2

Well firstly, you misquoted the verse. It states, "in almost all things are purified with blood", meaning Jesus' blood cleansed ALL who sin and fall short of the glory of God. The verses before and after speak of Jesus having to be the last to have spilled blood to wash away sin from Gods eyes. The Quran suggests that God only loves the unsinned, and in fact we are all born in sin. My belief is the bible is the word of God, and only Gods word is what I need to hear. The whole comparison is a little childish don't you think? It's almost as if you are saying, my God is better then your God maybe?

Answer 3

The Judeo-Christian Bible is acknowledged by "Allah" regarding these types of issues.

Sura 5:50:
"And let the People of the Gospel judge by what God has revealed in it. If any fail to judge by what God has revealed, they are licentious."

Sura 5:71:
"Say, O People of the Book! You are not (founded) on anything UNTIL you PERFORM the TORAH and the GOSPEL, and what was revealed to you from your Lord."

Sura 32:23:
"We did indeed aforetime give the Book to Moses: Be not then in doubt of its REACHING (THEE): And we made it a guide to the Children of Israel."

According to the Quran, then, you must accept this concept without question; since the Quran acknowledges this came from "Allah," it should be correct and just in your eyes. Or do you doubt "Allah"?

EDIT: In answer to your comment, Eilika, Muslims may believe whatever they want. However, it is ALWAYS incumbent upon the accuser to prove his or her accusation. Neither Muhammad nor any other Muslim has EVER proven the Jews and Christians have changed scripture. I suggest you do a bit of research into this area. It may save your soul.

Peace.

Answer 4

Because of sin, we are witnesses of the reality of sin and what it does. That is why God had

to die to redeem us and he will come again and save us and rid the universe of sin, sinners

and the devil Satan forever.

Before there was sin, no one knew really what it was it was just a bad thing. But sooner or

later it would arise and Lucifer initiated it and therefore in God's infinite wisdom sin is

allowed to be played out so that the character of God will be seen and that all the warning

before was warranted.

Sin will never again rare its ugly head because God will not allow it again and we wont

either because we see what it causes.

Even God had to pay for sin by the death of His only son, which was no ordinary death - no

man or woman on earth every had that death - he died for the world everybody who died

already died for themself.

Answer 5

Jesus died so that we do not have to kill each other because we think they might have sinned.

Muslims still hold that people are to judge each other and pass along God's punishment like in the Old Testament.

One is Peace on Earth, One is violence on earth.

Google Shara law, or Islam in Iran, or Islam in Sudan.

You will see the difference as well.

Radical Catholics pray all the time.

Peace!

Answer 6

I´m a Christian and of course I think my religion is "the one", but to answer your question about why we think our religion is of love and islam is of violence it´s because muslims are "usually" the ones who go around with bombs strapped to themselves killing themselves and hundreds of other people that they hate in the name of "allah".

Actually, all you have to do to have forgivness is to believe in Jesus Christ and ask Him with a very sencire heart to forgive you and then your forgiven.

God sent his Son to wash the sin of ALL sinners, giving opportunity to the bad, but the quram suggests the allah loves only the unsinned but we all were born with sin.

Answer 7

I'm Muslim and its Cristal clear that i accept the concept from the Koran, i hope someday people would think like you and don't blame Islam for the human mistakes and irrational actions.