<\/p>\n
Long accustomed to making sacrifices to their gods, the pagans easily grasped Paul\u2019s notion that Jesus was the \u201cultimate sacrifice\u201d whose blood washed away sin.\u00a0 A common ceremony during this time in various Middle Eastern cults, such as those of Attis and Mithras, was that of the \u201ctaurobolium\u201d: a person descended into a pit covered over with grillwork upon which a bull (or ram), said to represent the pagan deity himself, was then ceremoniously slain.\u00a0 By covering himself with the blood, the person in the pit below was said to have been \u201cborn again\u201d with his sins washed away.<\/p>\n
It is worth noting that the Jews had given up sacrifice back in 590 BCE following the destruction of their Temple.\u00a0 Paul\u2019s notions, therefore, were in direct contradiction to both Old Testament teaching (Hosea 6:6) and even to the teaching of Jesus himself (Mat. 9:13) which stressed how God desired good virtues, not sacrifice.<\/p>\n
While Paul stressed that God\u2019s \u201clove\u201d was behind the sacrifice of Jesus (Rom. 5:8), the Doctrine of Atonement instead shows a harsh Deity satisfied only by the murder of his own innocent son.\u00a0 Paul was way off base here, for the Old Testament is full of references to the love and mercy of God to man (Ps. 36:5-10; Ps. 103:8-17) revealed through His forgiveness (Ex. 34:6,7; Ps. 86:5-7), of which even Jesus spoke (Mat. 6:12).<\/p>\n
Pagan influence in Christianity even extends to its sacred symbol.\u00a0 Although Paul calls the cross of Jesus \u201cthe power of God\u201d (1 Cor. 1:18), reference works, such as the Encyclopedia Britannica, Dictionary of Symbols, The Cross in Ritual, Architecture and Art point out that the cross was used as a religious symbol centuries before the birth of Jesus.\u00a0 Bacchus of Greece, Tammuz of Tyre, Bel of Chaldea, and Odin of Norway are just a few examples of ancient pagan gods whose sacred symbol was that of a cross.<\/p>\n
Central to the Doctrine of Atonement is Paul\u2019s notion that mankind is a race of wrong-doers, having inherited from Adam his sin in eating of the forbidden fruit.\u00a0 As a result of this Original Sin, man cannot serve as his own redeemer; good works are to no avail, says Paul, for even these cannot satisfy the justice of God (Gal. 2:16).<\/p>\n
As a result of Adam\u2019s sin, man is doomed to die.\u00a0 By his death, however, Jesus took on the punishment due man; through his resurrection, Jesus conquered death, and righteousness was restored.\u00a0 To earn salvation, a Christian need only have faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus (Rom. 6:23).<\/p>\n
Despite its prominent place in Christianity, the notion of an \u201coriginal sin\u201d is not found among the teachings of any prophet, Jesus included.\u00a0 In the Old Testament, God says: \u201c… the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son\u201d (Ez.18:20-22)<\/b>.\u00a0 Personal responsibility is also stressed in the Quran where God says: \u201c… no bearer of burdens can bear the burden of another… man can have nothing but what he strives for\u201d (Quran 53:38,39)<\/b>.<\/p>\n
The doctrine of original sin gave Paul the means to justify pagan influence in his scheme of salvation.\u00a0 Irresponsibility became the hallmark of Christianity through this doctrine, however, for by \u201ctransferring\u201d sins onto Jesus, followers assume no responsibility for their actions.<\/p>\n
By the seventh century, the doctrines conceived by Paul had been embellished to the point where Christianity was not almost entirely a man-made religion.\u00a0 At this time, God chose to send Muhammad as His Final Messenger in order to set things straight once and for all for mankind.<\/p>\n
Since God is Almighty, He doesn\u2019t need the charade concocted by Christians in order to forgive man.\u00a0 In the Quran, God says we are all created in a state of goodness (30:30); He has not burdened man with any \u201coriginal sin\u201d, having forgiven Adam and Eve (2:36-38; 7:23,24) as He forgives us (11:90; 39:53-56).<\/p>\n
As we are all personally responsible for our actions (2:286; 6:164) there is no need for a humanly concocted savior in Islam; salvation comes from God alone (28:67).<\/p>\n
Thus did Islam seek to restore the true meaning to monotheism, for in the Quran God asks:<\/p>\n
\u201cWho can be better in religion than one who submits his whole self to God, does good, and follows the way of Abraham the true in faith?\u201d (Quran 4:125; 41:33)<\/p>\n
The evidence is overwhelming that the concept of salvation in Christianity \u2013 its Doctrine of Vicarious Atonement \u2013 came not from God but from man via pagan rituals and beliefs.<\/p>\n
Paul effectively shifted the center of worship away from God by saying that Jesus was the divine agent of their salvation (Gal. 2:20).\u00a0 In so doing, however, Paul set aside all teachings of God\u2019s prophets, and even the concept of monotheism itself, since God in Christianity needs Jesus for His divine \u201chelper\u201d.<\/p>\n
With one\u2019s very salvation at stake here, Christians should take a closer look at what they believe in and why.\u00a0 God says in the Quran:<\/p>\n
\u201cO People of the Book!\u00a0 Commit no excesses in your religion, nor say of God aught but the truth.\u00a0 Christ Jesus, the son of Mary, was no more than a Messenger of God… for God is One God; glory be to Him: far exalted is He above having a son.\u00a0 To him belong all things in the heavens and on earth.\u00a0 And enough is God as a Disposer of Affairs.\u201d (Quran 4:171)<\/p>\n
<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Ultimate Sacrifice Long accustomed to making sacrifices to their gods, the pagans easily grasped Paul\u2019s notion that Jesus was the \u201cultimate sacrifice\u201d whose blood washed away sin.\u00a0 A common ceremony during this time in various Middle Eastern cults, such as those of Attis and Mithras, was that of the \u201ctaurobolium\u201d: a person descended into […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-3897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whyislam.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whyislam.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whyislam.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whyislam.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whyislam.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3897"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/whyislam.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3897\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whyislam.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whyislam.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whyislam.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3897"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whyislam.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=3897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}