Jesus or Muhammad?

Muhammad was born around 570 A.D. and died in 632 A.D.  In between, he started the religion known as Islam.  His credentials for starting the new faith is the belief that he is God’s last prophet who “completed the sacred teachings of such earlier prophets as Abraham, Moses, and Jesus” (World Book Encyclopedia, Volume 13 article on Muhammad).  His teaching opposed the idolatry present in the Middle East in his lifetime.  He also stopped the killing of unwanted baby girls. He placed regulations on slavery and restricted divorce.  “He also banned war and violence except for self-defense and for the cause of Islam” (ibid.)  Note the exception for the cause of Islam.  This exception is the Jihad, or holy war, which the followers used to spread the faith after the prophet’s death.  After his death, Muhammad was buried in the city of Medina in the Prophet’s Mosque.

Jesus was born in the city of Bethlehem of Judah and grew up in the Galilean City of Nazareth. Jesus also taught many moral precepts, among them that God intends for marriage to be a lifetime commitment broken only by death or sexual infidelity.  The disciples of Jesus set out to conquer the world, but did so through teaching and preaching the message of Jesus.  The warfare of the Christian life is a spiritual, not a physical one.  (See 2 Cor. 10:3-5; Eph. 6:10-17).  He died and was buried in the garden tomb of a follower.  Three days later He resurrected from the tomb, was seen by several women disciples (Matt. 28:1 ff, Mark 16:1 ff); the apostles (Mark 16:14, Luke 24:36-40); an enemy, Saul of Tarsus (Acts 9:1 ff); and lastly over 500 men at one time (I Cor. 15:6).

The contrasts are these:  One is a religion of physical conquest, Jihad, to spread its teachings with its founder dead with his grave still visible for all in the shrine of Medina. The other is a religion spread by teaching and preaching as a means of waging war in the spiritual realm, with its founder dead, then raised to life never to die again, seated at God’s right hand.

What about the Crusades, wasn’t that physical warfare fought under the banner of Christ?  That was the claim of those sponsoring the action but physical warfare was not and is not a part of the teaching of Jesus. Look at the armor listed in Eph. 6.  The waist is girded with truth, the breastplate is righteousness (verse 14); for the feet, the preparation of the gospel of peace (verse 15); the shield used is faith (verse 16); the helmet is salvation and the sword is the Word of God (verse 17).

So the choice is this:  One has as its founder a man who was not able to overcome man’s great enemy, death.  The other has a founder who conquered death and offers the promise of the resurrection of life eternal to all those who faithfully follow Him.  Which is the more appealing?

—From  Warners Chapel “Outreach” Paper - Fall 2002