CONTENTS

PREFACE

ISLAM IS THE ONLY ONE

CHAPTER 1

THE EARLY FOLLOWERS OF JESUS CHRIST AND
THE FORMATION OF CHRISTIANITY

1.1    The Word “Christians” Were Unknown To Jesus

1.2     Diversity In the Early Followers of Jesus   

1.3     The Nazarenes Versus the Pauline Christianity

1.4     St. James, the Head of the Nazarenes

1.5     The Early Church

1.6     The Origin of the Word Nazarene

1.7     Keepers of “The Torah”

1.8     The Early Church, The Church of the Circumcision

1.9     Salvation Is Through Faith & By Obeying God’s Law

1.10   Obey the Scribes or Teachers of the Law  

1.11   Jesus Instruct His Followers to Offer “the Gift that Moses Commanded”

1.12       The Ritual of Exorcism

1.13       Jesus: Those Who Do Not Follow The Law Are Hypocrites

1.14   St. James: Faith Without Good Works Is Useless And Cannot Save Anyone

1.15   Paul And Christianity

1.16   Paul, The Real Founder of Christianity

1.17   Paul Cursed Christ!

1.18   Paul and His Pauline Churches Changed Jesus Into God

1.19   Paul’s Life: Examining His Contradictory Testimonies

CHAPTER 2 

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 6

EPILOGUE

BIBLIOGRAPHY

 

 

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THE EARLY FOLLOWERS OF JESUS CHRIST AND THE FORMATION OF CHRISTIANITY

1.1    The Word “Christians” Were Unknown To Jesus

 

At the outset, we have to find out how Christianity is named, and who gave its name. Unlike Islam which was named by God Himself as stated in the “Last Testament”[1] The Holy Quran:

 “This day I have perfected your Din[2] for you, completed my favour upon you, and have chosen for you Islam as your Din” (Surah al-Maidah: 3),

 the word Christians has been mentioned, according to the Bible, only several years after the ascension of Jesus Christ.[3]  Although Paul of Tarsus, who is considered by Karen Armstrong, one of Britain’s foremost commentators on religious affairs and a former Roman Catholic nun: “The first Christian writer who created the religion that we know now as Christianity[4] had mentioned the name Christians and used it to refer to the followers of Jesus Christ, Jesus himself did not give the title. Jesus never calls his disciples  “Christians” nor did he ever call his preaching “Christianity”. All this labels were invented later after his ascension.[5]

We find the following statements in Acts of the Apostles:

“It was there at Antioch that the believers were first called Christians…” (Acts 11:26, NLT)

  According to Luke[6], the author of Acts of the Apostles, one of the New Testament books, it was in Antioch, the Syrian capital far to the north of Damascus that the term ‘Christians’ was applied to the followers of Jesus for the first time. Biblical scholars state that, before Antioch, they had simply been called “Nazarenes- which is “a group of Jews who genuinely observed the Law of Moses and at the same time recognized Jesus as the Messiah Of Allah, God Almighty”.[7] And they continued to be called Nazarenes elsewhere especially in Jerusalem for many years.[8] Thus, In his book “The Jews”, Howard Fast wrote:

 “These followers of Jesus were not Christians, because they were Jews. It is as simple as that.”[9]

  What makes it interesting to note is that Acts of the Apostles also testifies that a pagan king by the name of Agrippa was among the one who first called the followers of Jesus ‘Christians’. King Agrippa was so moved by Paul’s eloquence in trying to turn him to the new faith that he declared:

 “Do you think you can make me a Christian so quickly?”(Acts 26:28, NLT)

 Thus, why the word “Christian” did not appear in Church testimony until well into the second Century (100 or so years after Jesus ascension), has been explained in the very OrthodoxOxford Dictionary of the Christian Church”. With over 480 contributors consisting of leading Anglican, Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Methodist, Jewish Orthodox and other clerical experts, they claimed on the cover that they were “the acclaimed authority on the Church”. They made this frank statement:

 “Owing to its Pagan origin, the word [Christian] was long avoided by Christian writers”[10]


 

[1]           “The Last Testament” was a bombshell for the Christian priests and preachers. They had never heard the expression “The Last Testament” in their lives. Quoting Old and New, New and Old will not help because the answer is in the “Last Testament” of God to mankind – “The Holy Quran” (Ahmeed Deedat, The Choice: Islam And Christianity, Volume One, 224)

[2]           Islam is not a mere religion but a Din which encompasses all aspects of life -- politics, socio-economic and religion.

[3]           Abu Huraira Abdurrahman, The Bible or The Qur’an (Islamic Counselor Office, Jalan U-Than, Kuala Lumpur, 1998, 36)

[4]           Armstrong, Karen, A History Of God (Alfred A. Knopf, Inc, USA), 1993, 86

[5]           Muhammad Ali AlKhuli, The Truth About Jesus Christ (International Islamic Publishing House), 1990, 88

[6]           A Gentile (non-Jews) physician and associate of Paul of Tarsus. Luke was not among the Disciples of Jesus Christ.

[7]           Muhammad Azman Hamzah, Secrets of the Dead Sea Scrolls (Ze Majeed’s Publishing, Singapore), 1993, 20

[8]           W. Mond, Robert, The New Testament in Question  (WAMY Studies On Islam, SABA Islamic Media), 30 (adapted in part)

[9]           Fast, Howard, The Jews (New York), 1968, 139

[10]          (Oxford University Press, Third Edition), 1997, 333, in Bushby, Tony, The Bible Fraud: An Untold Story of Jesus Christ (The Pacific Blue Group Inc, Hong Kong), 2001, 93