posted on May, 12 2006 @ 11:48 AM
Bookling:
In order to understand the Muslim position w/r/t Christianity, you need to set aside your Christian beliefs and try to put yourself in the Muslim's
position. If you begin with the idea that Jesus was/is God incarnate, and see any questioning of that idea as an insult, then you are never going to
be able to understand.
From outside Christianity, the claim that Jesus was God incarnate (except in the sense Hindus and Buddhists believe we are all God incarnate --
something that Muslims don't believe anyway, so it's not pertinent here) is an extraordinary claim, not a stipulation. As such, to reject the claim
is not to insult Jesus. It's simply to doubt something that, on the face of it, is pretty over-the-top.
The core Muslim belief is that God has, over time, given mankind a series of prophets, each of whom brought a new dispensation. Each time a new
prophet appears, the ones before, while still honored, are no longer regarded as current. Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed are all regarded as prophets.
Jesus' message supplanted that of Moses, and Mohammed's supplanted that of Jesus.
As for the kinship among Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, Muslims do recognize that. All three faiths are considered "People of the Book," and
inheritors of the message of God. Muslims simply consider themselves more up-to-date than Jews or Christians, whom they regarded as following a
prophet from the past.
You may of course not agree with this idea (I don't myself), but it isn't that hard to understand if you just step outside your own box and look at
it objectively.