So now Muslims can pray at the Vatican Library, the very center of Catholicism in the world. If you think that something similar can be expected to take place in Saudi Arabia, for the sake of ecumenical dialogue, please pull up a chair and sit down. It might take some time. . . .
Nowadays, a misguided sense of ecumenism tends to equate the main monotheistic religions (Christianity, Judaism, and Islam) as different ways to worship the same God. It is like saying that all Protestant denominations are okay as long as you mention the name of Jesus, regardless of the visceral doctrinal contradictions that afflict them. But the difference between Islam and Christianity is immensely more visceral and complete than those among the various Protestant denominations.
In Islam, there is one God, called Allah, who is “Lord” but is not called Father by his followers, and whose will determines all events, that is, Maktub: it is written! Whatever happens, Allah is the direct and sole author. There is no free will.
A camel driver from Arabia was Allah’s prophet. But in Christianity, or Catholicism, to be precise, God created men in His image and likeness, and, after men’s original sin, sent His Son — as divine as Himself — to redeem mankind, and adopted us as His children in His Church — hence we call Him our Father.
So, Jesus is not a mere prophet of God, He is God Incarnate. Therefore, there is nothing in common between Islam’s concept of God and the Christian understanding of God.
We Catholics must have this concept very clear in our minds, to avoid confusion and false ecumenism with blatant errors. This is most important, especially in our days, when fellow Christians are being murdered by Islamists for their faith in the “Nazarene.” Let us strengthen our faith in the divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ!
The first and easiest way to prove Jesus’ divinity is the fact that He performed miracles in His own name. He modified natural elements, like changing water into wine and multiplying bread and fish; He gave health to the sick, hearing to the deaf, sight to the blind, peace to those who suffered, even cleansed the lepers and brought the dead back to life; not to mention exorcising demons, proving His absolute power over nature! And He did all this in the full view of the people, especially of His sworn enemies, who tried everything to deter Him from the ministry He had started.
He challenged them to disprove His miracles: if they could prove that they had been fake, His mission would fall apart in the eyes of all. But they could not! He said to them that the very works they saw Him doing bore witness to His mission that God the Father had sent Him (Matt. 11:45; John 5:36; 10:37).
But the more miracles He performed, the more His enemies hated Him. Their blind hatred led to their undoing, culminating in AD 70, when the Romans destroyed the Temple and the priestly records.
Jesus’ miracles proved His claim to divinity, for God does not grant divine power to impostors, despite the rage of the rationalists.
But rationalists, usually irrational in this regard, do their utmost to disprove Jesus’ divinity. Several theories have been presented to explain away His miracles: they suggest delusion, hypnotism, and even diabolical power! Let us take these things, one by one.
To say that the people believed in Jesus’ miracles because they deluded themselves into believing them, or because they wanted to believe, is utterly nonsensical; even His enemies acknowledged that He performed miracles, but they still remained violently opposed to Him. They wanted to prove Him wrong, not right! As they could not prove that His miracles were untrue, they decided to get rid of Him.
Hypnotism might help cure some nervous diseases after a certain time of treatment, but it will never instantly cleanse a leper from his leprosy or give sight to a man born blind, let alone bring a dead man back to life! Besides, Jesus sometimes cured people from a distance, sometimes they did not even know that He was curing them. So, to mention hypnotism is just mere make-believe.
Diabolical power is the last — and most ridiculous — accusation I have ever heard. First of all, the Holiness of Jesus’ life was undisputed — even the Koran calls Him righteous, sent by God, and holds that He is now in heaven. Second, Jesus expelled demons from possessed people, showing that He was Satan’s enemy, not his friend.
The impressive record of Old Testament prophecies fulfilled in the life of Jesus Christ is astounding and excludes any suggestion of falsification. Just a few examples will suffice to prove our point: the prophet Micah (5:2) prophesied that the anointed one (Messiah) would be born in Bethlehem (I never heard of anyone picking his own place of birth); Zechariah (11:12–13) wrote He would be sold for 30 pieces of silver, and the money would be used to buy the potter’s field; Isaiah (53) described His Passion in incredible detail; David prophesied 1,000 years before Christ that He would be crucified (“hands and feet would be pierced”) and that His garments would be divided and lots would be cast upon His vesture (Ps. 21 [22]). The list goes on and on.
Those prophecies were made before His birth. But He Himself prophesied the end of Judaism as God’s religion, the destruction of the Temple and the cessation of the Mosaic sacrifices with no priesthood remaining, the dispersion of the Jews around the world, etc. He even foresaw the war strategy the Romans used to take over Jerusalem (Luke 19)!
He foresaw Judas’ betrayal, Peter’s three denials, the persecution of the early Christians, the growth of His Church, etc. One can read all about the destruction of Jerusalem precisely as Christ foresaw it in the History of the Jewish Wars by Flavius Josephus, a Jewish historian contemporary with the destruction of Jerusalem.
Anyone with an unbiased mind would recognize that all of those prophecies, from both before His birth and those He Himself made, could not be the result of delusion or human contrivance. The man whose life fulfilled all the old prophecies, whose own prophecies came true, who performed miracles acknowledged by His mortal enemies, and, above all, who rose from the dead, proved beyond doubt His claim to divinity!
For this reason, the early Christians gave their lives in testimony of Jesus’ divinity and redemption, His Church, and the salvation promised to those who are faithful to Him. It is for this same reason, today, our fellow Christians in Iraq, especially those of the Chaldean Rite, and those in Nigeria are being murdered, crucified, raped, decapitated, and abused by the followers of a false religion, a false prophet, and a false god!
Today, it is imperative for us Catholics to learn as much as we can about the divinity of Christ and the truth of His one Church so that we might remain firm in the true faith if what is now happening to many of our brethren in Islamic countries ever happens to us as well.
So, Pope Leo, Your Holiness, please expel the pagan Muslims from the Vatican Library and burn incense in the room to cast out the demons brought in by their paganism. Make an Act of Contrition for bringing paganism into the Vatican, just as your predecessor brought the pagan idol Pachamama into the Vatican.
www.RaymonddeSouza.com
