Aidyl Nurhadi said:
Assalamu'alaikum,
The Qur'an's stand is quite clear in this matter. The Prophet Jesus a.s. was never killed nor crucified. Allah s.a.w. saved him from such an ordeal and took him up to Himself(the heavens) where he remains alive and awaits for the time appointed when he will descend unto earth to rid it of the pestilence of the Dajjal and his followers. Another reason for his return will be to rectify those who has deified him and attributed false attributes to him. The Bible says,"On that day many shall call me Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy IN THY NAME, cast out devils IN THY NAME and in THY NAME did many mighty miracles?. Then shall I(Jesus) profess unto them,'depart from me ye who work iniquity!'."
I did a Google search to determine that verse's location in the Bible.
If you're refering to Matthew 7:22, I think you'd be taking that verse out of context. Matthew 7:21, the verse before that, says, "Not everyone who calls me 'Lord, Lord' will enter the Kingdom of heaven . . . " The previous verse actually implies that those who
do call him Lord will enter God's Kingdom as Jesus is recorded as saying "not all who call me Lord . . ." However, not everyone who
proclaims him Lord will enter God's Kingdom. That verse does not carry any criticism against those who
deify Jesus. Criticism against those "deifying" Jesus doesn't exist in the context of Matthew 7:22, and nor does it
fit in that context.
I think it says pretty much what you'd expect from us Christians -- that Jesus is our Lord.
Some Muslims dismiss the Bible altogether. Some Muslims actually quote verses from the Bible itself to suggest that Christians are wrong about their Bible. Their intention, usually, is to say that the Bible predicts the coming of Mohammed, that it doesn't support the deification of Christ, the concept of the Trinity or even the notion of Christ's crucifixion, etc.
I don't think the Christian faith is wrong about the Bible. My view is that the Bible has a simple purpose. The Bible tells a story. It exists for the sole purpose of reminding us of this story. The crucial point is whether or not we believe in this story. Christianity, therefore, is something abstract that's independent of the Bible itself. The story and this abstract concept of Christianity is what's meant to lead us to God (from our point of view).
The Bible is the Text for Christianity and probably wouldn't fit Islam. Whether the Bible has errors, in my view, is less important than whether Christianity is wrong. The issue of whether Christianity is wrong is what I think people should focus on, not whether the Bible contains contradictions. The Bible is the Text, Christianity is the religion it explains and represents. The Bible is not the religion itself.
This is perhaps a mistake many of us make and keep making. We want to believe in something perfect because it gives us a sense of certainty. The notion of a need for a perfect Text is an idea that is almost never challenged because people rarely think of the possibility of a religion that is independent of the Text.
Sure, a sense of certainty is important. The certainty comes from
knowing the Way. However, the place where my view would probably differ from most of those here is that I don't think we need a perfect Text to know the Way. I think knowing the Way to God's Kingdom comes from discovering what's important and what we need to have a connection with God.
This is where
we discover God. The Creation discovers the Creator. That's a miracle in itself. In other words,
we are the miracle. We all have the
potential to discover and connect with God. When we connect with God, that's when our potential is realised. We are miracles waiting to happen. The miracle is perhaps that some have already discovered and connected with God without the need for a perfect, error-free Text. In that sense, it doesn't matter whether the Bible or Quran have errors, but whether they tell us what's important to connect with God.