Saturday, June 13, 2020

LEARNING SOMETHING FROM CHRISTIAN PRINCE

By: Fransiskus Borgias. 

Last night I watched the video of Christian Prince (afterwards will only be written as CP). It is a video on the so-called new inspired answer to the everlasting question of the Muslims who always asking the textual proof of the deity or divine status of Jesus Christ. In that video CP said that he has gotten a new answer to the old question of the Muslim. Usually they will ask the Christians in this way: Please show us the biblical proof in which Jesus said about himself as God? `

And now via this video CP said that he wanted to use al Quran and also the Bible to prove the divinity of Jesus the Christs. First CP quotes the verses of the Quran, especially the texts that mention the ninety-ninth divine names (the names of God). In Islamic theological tradition there are ninety nine Names of God. And usually Muslim people will recite those names in their prayer. 

CP, in his video for the time being only mention six names of God. These names are al Haq, Al Nur, al Baeth, al Awal and al Akher, al Malek, and finally al Hadi. Names are not merely function nominally, but it also denote the existence and the essence of God. God is in his Names. The Names of God is also God. There is a very close relationship between God and his Names. The Names of God is identical with God. The Names points exactly to God who bear the name. So in the expressio of CP, God is al Haq, God is al Nur, God is al Baeth, God is al Awal and al Akher, God is al Malek, and God is Hadi. 

The CP move forward by taking the brave conclusion and even theological and Christological consequences of such doctrine and religious belief. CP said, that if God is al Haq then Muslims should accept Jesus Christ, because Jesus Christ said in the Gospel of John that He is the al Haq. Even CP said that Jesus said this truth using the first person: I am the truth (the way and the life; John 14:6), because al Haq in Arabic language means the Truth in English, or Veritas in Latin and Kebenaran in Indonesian language. 

This same way of taking conclusion is also apply to the other five names mentioned explicitly by CP. For example: God's name is al Nur, meaning the Light. Jesus Christ also revealed Himself as the light of the world. In John 8:12 we find the self revelation of Jesus Christ as the Light of the World by saying, "I am the light of the world." If Muslims believe that God is the al Nur, then CP said that they must accept and believe in Jesus Christ, because Jesus Christ is the Light Himself. 

The next name or attributes of God in Islamic theological tradition is al Baeth, meaning, the resurrection. God is resurrection. Resurrection is in God. In and together with God there is no dead, there is only life, there is resurrection. And again CP said that if Muslim people believe in God as the al Baeth, then they must come to accept Jesus Christ, because Jesus also said of Himself as the al Baeth. In John 11:25, Jesus said very clearly that "I am the resurrection and the Life." So Jesus is the Resurrection and also the life. 

The next name or attributes mentioned by CP is al Malek, which means, the King. God is the King. In Nathanael's leap of faith there is also a very clear confession of Jesus Christ as the King (see John 1:49). Not only Nathanael (one of the Disciples of Jesus), the croud in Jerusalem also exclaim Jesus as the King of Israel (see John 12:13). In a rethorical style of question Pilate ask Jesus: "Are you a King of the Jewish people?" (cfr.John 13:33). Upon the cross of Jesus there is also a proclamation of the kingly status of Jesus: Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaerom. Even in the Book of Revelation of John there is also a statement of the name of the figure appeared in the vision of John: King of kings, Master of masters (cfr.Rev 19:16). So it is very clear that there are a lot of Christological confession in the New Testament on the Kingly status and dignity of Jesus Christ. 




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