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Response to Misha'al Al-Kadhi: But people 'worshiped' Jesus and he did not object
A response to 1.2.4.3
But people 'worshiped' Jesus and he did not object
Worship of the Lord Jesus
Introduction
Before we continue in this section, let us first denote "worship1" to be
the worship of God or idols, devils, etc,
and "worship2" to mean respect, reverence, etc.
This is necessary in view of Mr. Al-Kadhi making two objections, which he
sometimes didn't quite clearly differentiate.
If worship1 is directed towards God, then this is true worship, but if
worship1 is directed towards Satan, idols, etc, then this is plain
idolatry or shirk.
Objection and non-objection
The author made two objections, which he didn't very explicitly
state, and sometimes he didn't quite differentiate them properly :
Objection 1:
But people "worshipped" Jesus and he did not object:
With regard to John 9:38 "Lord. I believe, and he worshipped him."
and Matthew 28:17 "they saw him, they worshipped him." Please note
that the word translated as "worshipped" in both verses is the
GREEK word "prosekunesan" which is derived from the root word
proskuneo {pros-ku-neh'-o}. The literal meaning of this word is
(and I quote): "to kiss, like a dog licking his masters hand."
This word also has the general meaning of "bow, crouch, crawl,
kneel or prostrate." Please check the Strong's concordance for
the true meaning of this word. Is the act of kissing someone's
hand the same as worshipping him? Once again, selective
translation.
Objection 2:
Worship is one of those English words which carry a double
meaning. The one most popular among most people is to pray to.
This is the meaning that immediately springs into everyone's mind
when they read this word. However, worship has another meaning.
It also means to respect, to reverence, or to adore (see for
example Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, tenth edition)
....
What the translators have done when translating these verse is
that they have technically translated the word correctly,
however, the true meaning of this word is now completely lost.
In the first objection, the author was saying that when the
word "worship" was used of the Lord Jesus,
it was a mistranslation. It should be
"kissing his hand," "bowing," "respect", etc, instead.
In the second objection, he was saying that the word "worship" was
translated correctly, but that it had a double meaning, and it was not
worship1 that was meant. In both cases, he was saying that the word
should be translated into worship2 in our modern day English.
He made this charge against the translators :
However, the above two verses of John and Matthew are not the
only two verses of the Bible were such selective translation
techniques are employed in order to impress upon the reader
a chosen doctrine.
But since he made the second objection, it is also clear that it is
not the fault of the King James translators (which he seemed to use
most often) to have translated "worship"
in all the occasions when proskuneo was used in the Bible.
The consistency of the KJ translators certainly cannot be faulted with
"selective translation techniques ... to
impress upon the reader a chosen doctrine," and he
just vindicated the KJV translators!
The author's quotations from the Old Testament to prove that falling to
the ground does not mean worship is correct. The only problem is that none
of those quotations from the Old Testament can be interpreted as worship
based on the word alone. They are different from the word worship :
- "And when Abigail saw David, she hasted, and lighted off the ass, and
fell [naphal] before David on her face, and bowed herself to
the ground, And fell [naphal] at his feet [regel],
and said, Upon me, my lord, [upon] me [let this] iniquity [be]:
and let thine handmaid, I pray thee, speak in thine
audience, and hear the words of thine handmaid.”" 1 Samuel 25:23-24
- "Then she went in, and fell [naphal] at his (Elisha's)
feet [regel], and bowed herself to the ground, and
took up her son, and went out." 2 Kings 4:37
- "And his (Joseph's) brethren also went and fell [naphal]
down before his face [paniym]; and they said,
Behold, we [be] thy servants." Genesis 50:18
- "And there went over a ferry boat to carry over the king'shousehold,
and to do what he thought good. And Shimei the son of Gera fell
[naphal] down before the king, as he was come over Jordan;"
2 Samuel 19:18
The Hebrew word simply means fall (literally), and none of
which was a meaning of kissing, "like a dog licking his masters hand."
The KJV translated it
as "fall" 318 times, "fall down" 25 times,
"cast" 18 times, "cast down" 9 times,
"fall away" 5 times,
"divide" 5 times, "overthrow" 5 times, "present" 5 times,
"lay" and "rot" thrice each, "accepted",
"lie down", "inferior", "lighted" and "lost" twice each,
other words 22 times --- not once as "worship"!
(see the Blue Letter Bible)
So, to impute
"worship" onto them is simply incorrect. The word for worship in
"For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous,
is a jealous God" (Exodus 34:14) is the Hebrew word shachah,
which is translated as paying homage, etc., when used
of man. But this word is not used in the New Testament
which was written in Greek.
The author hurts himself by making this sort of
misleading generalization.
The Usage of proskuneo in the New Testament
On the other hand, if the literal meaning of proskuneo is
"kissing his master's hand like a dog," why is it possible to impute the
meaning of worship1? In order to understand this, it is necessary and
important to look at all the cases in the Greek New Testament to see
how it was used.
Already, the literal meaning is quite illustrative.
It is a dog licking its master's hand.
Indeed, proskuneo already includes a very very reverential
meaning and a lordship of the object to the subject of that very act.
Of course, this is not conclusive, but clearly, a very reverential act
is already involved. It is not just respect;
it is at least deep respect.
The author's quotation of the literal meaning of the Greek word
proskuneo is also misleading.
Strong's concordance has the word
"probable derivative of" before the derivative word.
The author also did not give
us all the meanings given in Strong's concordance (see
Blue Letter Bible):
4352 proskuneo {pros-koo-neh'-o}
from 4314 [pros] and a probable derivative of
2965 (meaning to kiss, like a dog licking his master's hand);
TDNT - 6:758,948; v
1) to kiss the hand to (towards) one, in token of reverence
2) among the Orientals, esp. the Persians, to fall upon the knees and
touch the ground with the forehead as an expression of profound
reverence
3) in the NT by kneeling or prostration to do homage (to one) or make
obeisance, whether in order to express respect or to make supplication
3a) used of homage shown to men and beings of superior rank
3a1) to the Jewish high priests
3a2) to God
3a3) to Christ
3a4) to heavenly beings
3a5) to demons
and saying "Is the act of kissing someone's hand the same as worshipping
him? Once again, selective translation,"
he thus seemed to imply and created an illusion that the meaning of
proskuneo does not include worship (worship1, that is)
in his first objection
(he, however, turned around in the second objection).
But surely, item 3a2 denote worship1, rightful worship of God.
Items 3a4 and 3a5 also denote worship1,
but these are sacrilegous acts, i.e., shirk.
Indeed, in the following passage,
the correct translation has to be "worship" :
Jesus declared,
"Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship
the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans
worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know,
for salvation is
from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true
worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the
kind of worshippers the Father seeks.
God is spirit, and his worshipers
must worship in spirit and in truth. (John 4:21-24)
where each of the word translated "worship" and "worshiper"
is the very same Greek word proskuneo and its derivative,
proskunetes respectively!
Is it selective translation that it was translated "worship"?
The author's real objection, therefore, is not that because the word
literally means "to kiss, like a dog
licking his masters hand," and
so it does not qualify to be translated worship1.
Otherwise, if it is used in that sense of worship1 for the Lord Jesus,
this whole section of his is meaningless
(the theological ramifications is something else).
The reason he wrote this section is that he believed
that when proskuneo was used of the Lord Jesus,
it is not worship1, but worship2,
which he then tried to justify in the rest of the section.
What remains, therefore,
is to determine that when it was used of
Christ in the many situations (i.e., item 3a3),
which of the two meanings it should be.
Were these exclusively worship2,
or could these be both worship1 and worship2?
The author will probably opt for the first alternative,
while Christians will argue for the second.
The exhaustive list of verses
with the occurrence of proskuneo is given
in this section's appendix.
A quick statistical analysis reveals many interesting facts.
These passages fall into the following categories :
- passages that talked about worshipping God
(28 instances altogether) plus another instance
of worshippers (proskunete).
- passages that talked about worshipping Satan or idols
(17 instances).
- passsages talked about worshipping angels (tentatively 2 instances).
- passages that talked about worshipping humans other than the Lord Jesus
(tentatively 2 instances).
- passages that talked about worshipping the Lord Jesus (or the Son) (16
instances)
As a first cut-off,
categories 1 and 2 can be excluded from consideration since these are
correctly and must in fact be translated as worship1 (whether rightful
or idolatrous worship).
In other words, 45 instances of proskuneo
(46 if including proskunete) means worship1
(rightly or wrongly), i.e., 69%.
In other words, for at least 2 out of 3 occurrences,
the corrrect translation of proskuneo is worship1.
Passages in category 4 have to be translated worship2,
so modern translations like "fell at his feet," etc are correct.
The rest of the passages are in category 3 or 5.
Passsages in category 5 (those used for the Lord Jesus)
accounts for 25% of the occurrences.
That must surely caution the student a bit when trying to determine the
meaning.
If the Lord Jesus is not God, then surely these 25% of occurrences can easily
be translated as worship2. But since we are trying to determine if
the Lord Jesus is/is not God, it is not proper to use this to determine the
meaning, otherwise, we end up with a circular argument.
In the Gospel of John, all instances of proskuneo except one
must refer to worship1 (i.e., 11 out of 12).
The remaining instance dealt with the Lord Jesus.
The same is true for the Gospel of Luke (which has 2 refering to
worship1, and one dealing with the Lord Jesus).
Thus, the probability that it means worship1 is already very high in
these two books.
Although this does not imply that every instance that is used of the Lord Jesus
imply worship1, the probability that some of the
instances imply worship1 is not zero, but indeed very probable.
Let us now take a closer look at the 4
passages in categories 3 and 4 (worship of angels and men) first :
- The Parable of the servant and King :
[the Lord Jesus said:]
Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king,
which would take account of his servants ....
The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped (proskuneo)
him, saying, Lord,
have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.
(Matthew 18:23,26, KJV)
As a story, the correct translation is most likely worship2.
However, worship1 is also not wrong, because the king in this
parable refers to God Himself, who will take account of
all his servants. But here, clearly, the meaning is one of
supplication, asking God for mercy. The next 3 examples are very
illuminating.
- Cornelius and Peter :
And as Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him, and fell down at
his feet, and worshipped (proskuneo) [him].
But Peter took him up, saying, Stand up; I myself also am a man.
(Acts 10:25-26, KJV)
This word is probably to be translated as worship2.
However, noticed Peter's reaction.
Even though this is worship2,
Peter clearly associated proskuneo with worship1,
for he said "I myself also am a man".
In other words, the outward form of worship1 and worship2 are the
same, proskuneo, and whether Cornelius was actuallying
worshipping1 or not does not matter to Peter.
Peter knew it was not appropriate for a mere man as him to be the
object of proskuneo.
However, we note that in all
the gospel accounts,
the Lord Jesus never did once say words close to
Peter's when others worshipped (whether worship1 or worship2) him.
Neither did Peter protest when the people on the boat worshipped
the Lord Jesus and called the Lord Jesus "Son of God" (Matthew 4:33) (Peter was
probably also one of those who worshipped the Lord Jesus in that incident).
- The Apostle John and an Angel of God:
And I fell at his feet to worship (proskuneo) him.
And he said unto me, See
[thou do it] not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren
that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony
of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
(Revelation 19:10, KJV)
And I John saw these things, and heard [them]. And when I had
heard and seen, I fell down to worship (proskuneo)
before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things.
Then saith he unto me, See [thou do it] not: for I am thy
fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets,
and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God.
(Revelation 22:8-9, KJV)
What was John doing? An angel of God had been showing
the Apostle John visions of the future, including fearful
tribulations and apostasy to come and great judgment.
In the first passage, after the judgment,
John saw the vision of the inhabitants of heaven worshipping
God and he was overcome with fear and adoration that
he fell at the angel's feet, all of a sudden overwhelmed with
worshipping. He wanted to worship the angel, forgetting that
the angel was not God.
The angel rebuked him and directed him to worship
God instead.
In the second passage, John was clearly overcome with adoration
for God after being shown further visions of heaven.
This time, he fell to worship God, which was before the feet of
the angel (note: he only fell at the angel's feet to worship, not
worship the angel). The angel told John that it was not proper
to worship at his (its) feet,
even though the angel was not the object of John's worship.
He again directed John to worship God.
In other words, like the apostle Peter,
the angel clearly regarded
the very act of proskuneo to be worship1.
The angel dared not even allow John to worship God before him
which involved the act of proskuneo,
even though the angel was not the object of John's worship.
These 4 passages are particularly illuminating.
They tell us that
the apostle Peter and the angel of God saw it inappropriate even
for a creature of God to be the object of proskuneo.
They clearly associated the very act of proskuneo with
worship1.
Seen in this light, categories 3 and 4 do not necessarily exist.
We therefore have this situation : in all (except perhaps one)
instance of proskuneo used other than on the Lord Jesus, the proper
context teaches us that it is to be translated to or taken to mean
worship1.
Whether or not these actions were intended to be worship1 was not important.
The important thing was that they knew they do not deserved to be
objects of proskuneo.
This still does not mean that when used of the Lord Jesus,
all instances indicate worship1. That is correct, and reasonable to
expect, especially when one who was not familiar with the Lord Jesus
should "worship" him, i.e., we are operating with a benefit of doubt
here (benefit given to the doubt, that is).
Thus, when the Canaanite women (Matthew 15:24) or the Zebedee mother
(Matthew 20:20) "worshipped" the Lord Jesus,
"fall at his feet" is possibly an accurate translation (assuming that
these people do not really know the Lord Jesus that well). Of course,
they may indeed worship1 the Lord Jesus, but this we don't really know, when
we are looking in from the 20th century.
The author gave the following example:
However, the above two verses of John and Matthew are not the only two
verses of the Bible were such selective translation techniques are employed in
order to impress upon the reader a chosen doctrine. For example, in the
"Gospel of Matthew" the English "translation" records that Jesus was
"worshipped" by Magi that came from the East (2:11); by a ruler (9:18) , by
boat people (14:33), by a Canaanite woman (15:24), by the mother of the
Zebedees (20:20); and by Mary Magdalene and the other Mary (28:9) to name
but a very few.
What is more important, however, is to consider
those passages involving the disciples
and/or those who had seen or were expecting
the Lord's working in a mighty way.
We might discount cursory acquintance, but not close fellowship or
understanding.
Into this category,
we have to include the Magi's worship (Matthew 2:2,11),
the disciples'
worship after the Lord Jesus calmed the storm (Matthew 14:33),
the disciples' worship after the resurrection (Matthew 28:9),
the disciples' worship in Galilee at a mountain (Matthew
28:17), at the mount of Olives (Luke 24:52),
the worship of the blind man who was healed
(John 9:38). If ever there is worship, some of these will be
the cases. Let us consider some of them :
- On resurrection Sunday:
And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I
know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified.
He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place
where the Lord lay.
And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the
dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee;
there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you.
And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great
joy; and did run to bring his disciples word.
And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them,
saying, All hail. And they came and held (krateo) him by
the feet (pous), and worshipped (proskuneo) him.
(Matthew 28:6-9, KJV)
In this instance, the woman found the grave empty and an angel
appeared in the tomb to tell them that the Lord Jesus
(who is also the angel's Lord, v. 6) had risen. They told them to go
and tell the disciples, and to tell them to meet the Lord Jesus in Galilee.
They were understandably fearful and joyful.
While telling the disciples, the Lord Jesus appeared to them.
Notice that the act involved holding (krateo)
the Lord Jesus's feet and proskeuneo him.
I have personally seen Muslims bowing low and holding the hands of
their elders and kissing them. But I don't think I have seen Muslim
doing an act like those of the disciples.
The disciples had never seen anyone rising from the dead himself
(they saw the Lord Jesus raised Lazarus).
Half fearful, half joyful, when they saw the Lord Jesus,
I believed (some of) the disciples were worshipping the risen Lord Jesus
and knew that He had conquered death.
I couldn't imagine anything else.
- On a mountain in Galilee :
Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into
a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And when they
saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted.
(Matthew 28:16-17, KJV)
When the author quotes this passage in his book,
he omitted the important phrase "but some doubted,"
which is the key to the meaning
of worship in that verse. Doubt what?
There were two possible things to doubt. The first is the Lord Jesus'
resurrection from the dead. The second was the act of proskuneo
accorded to the Lord Jesus.
In the former interpretation, some of the disciples were unsure that
the Lord Jesus had risen from the dead. But for those who believed
in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, their natural reaction when
the Lord Jesus appeared to them was proskuneo. Truly, one who
conquered death deserves worship.
In the second possibility, some were doubting if worship1 was to be
accorded to the Lord Jesus.
If this was just a normal respectful act, what was there to doubt?
They themselves had done that before. There were numerous occasions
where their Lord Jesus had been the object of proskuneo by
many others.
What was the problem?
Very clearly, this act was not the every day respectful act
they knew. The doubters saw worship1 before their eyes. Some of
them still have doubts, while others have already accepted
it and were worshipping1 the Lord Jesus!
- On the Mount of Olives :
And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted
from them, and carried up into heaven. And they worshipped
him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy:
(Luke 24:51-52, KJV)
Interestingly, the author didn't even mention this verse.
In this instance, there is no way for the disciples to be holding
on to the Lord Jesus, nor for them to be "kissing" the Lord's
hand. While the Lord Jesus was going up to heaven, they were performing
prostration, i.e. proskuneo.
They were not rebuked by the Lord Jesus nor by angels that appeared (see
Acts 1) for making the Lord Jesus the object of proskuneo,
unlike the case of Peter and the angel with John.
Putting it all together
In the minds of Christians and the disciples of the Lord, there can
be no doubt that worship was rendered unto the Lord Jesus. The various
occasions indicate that worship1 was rendered unto Him. Peter's and
the angel's insistence not to be the object of proskuneo
indicate that they viewed this matter very seriously, and
that these acts were no less than worship1.
The Qur'an describes the disciples (all of them, not one exception) as :
And when I inspired the disciples, (saying): Believe in Me and in My
messenger, they said: We believe. Bear witness that we have
surrendered (unto Thee) "we are muslims". (Surah 5:111,
Pickthall's translation, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran,
also 3:52, 61:14)
The author says :
Since worshipping any one other than God is a fundamental sin,
therefore, the reader understands that Jesus was God since he
condoned them
"worshipping" him. Since Jesus (pbuh) never once in the whole
Bible ever told
anyone "worship me!" (as God Himself does in many places),
therefore, once again, we are told that Jesus was "hinting"
that he wants us to worship him. However, as we can plainly
see, what the author was in fact saying in these
verses is that these people "fell at Jesus' feet,"
or that these people "knelt before Jesus."
It is intersting that suddenly the literal "kissing" is no more.
But more importantly, it is that either the disciples of the Lord Jesus were
correct in worshipping the Lord Jesus, or that they were committing a
grave sin.
Jesus said to his disciples: "Things that cause people to sin are
bound to come, but woe to that person through whom they come.
It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a
millstone tied around his neck than for him to cause one of
these little ones to sin.
(Luke 17:1-2)
The words of the Qur'an
The author accused the Christians :
Once again, we remember that such sublime manipulation of the translation
in order to establish with the reader a chosen doctrine was exposed by God in
the noble Qur'an. The Qur'an says:
"There is among them a party who distort the Scripture with
their tongues that you might think that it is from the Scripture,
when it is not from the Scripture; and they say, 'It is from God,'
but it is not from God; and they speak a lie against God, and
[well] they know it!"
The Qur'an, al-Umran(3):78
Almost immediately, I am reminded of Yusuf Ali who did exactly just that
when he translated the Qur'an :
O People of the Book! Commit no excesses in your
religion: Nor say of God aught but the truth. Christ Jesus the
son of Mary was (no more than) an apostle of God, and His Word,
which He bestowed on Mary, and a spirit proceeding from Him: so
believe in God and His apostles. Say not "Trinity" : desist: it
will be better for you: for God is one God: Glory be to Him: (fawill be
better for you: for God is one God: Glory be to Him: (far
exalted is He) above having a son. To Him belong all things in
the heavens and on earth. And enough is God as a Disposer of
affairs.
(Surah 4:171. see also Surah 5:73)
The word translated
"Trinity" in these two passages
certainly does not appear in the Qur'an. Other
translators have faithfully and literally translated it as "Three"
(see, for example, Pickthall and Shakir).
Muslims have snatched up this translation to
refute the Christian doctrine of Trinity,
but the Qur'an certainly does not say that.
If Muslims condoned Yusuf Ali (and many Muslims believed that his
translations are good) for making this sort of interpretation,
how can Muslims charged Christians with distortion?
But what was more misleading was that under what circumstances was
Surah 3:78 supposed to be revealed. Who were the people addressed to in
Surah 3:78? Syed Maududi's commentary tells us about this surah :
This Surah consists of four discourses :-
The first discourse (vv. 1-32)
was probably revealed soon after the Battle of Badr.
The second
discourse (vv. 33-63) was revealed in 9 A. H. on the occasion of the
visit of the deputation from the Christians of Najran.
The third
discourse (vv. 64-120) appears to have been revealed immediately after
the first one.
The fourth discourse (vv. 121-200) was revealed after
the Battle of Uhd.
So, Surah 3:78 is among the 3rd discourse. Regarding this discourse,
Maududi tells us :
In these verses the people of the Book, the Jews,
have been invited to give up their sinister ways
and accept the divine Guidance.
At the same time the Muslims have been warned to
be on their guard against their malicious intentions,
erroneous ways and absurd objections.
(Syed Maududi, in the section Topics and their Interconnection)
Iman Fakhar al-Din Razi in his commentary on Surah 3:78 speaks of
Jews indulging in "Tahrif-I-Manwai" only and goes on to maintain
that it does not mean that they altered the text.
(Hughes, Dictionary of Islam, p. 62).
In other words,
these verses were not addressed to the Christians, but the Jews!
The Christians were not under this charge, but the author
simply stereotyped it on the Christians.
Who was the one distorting?
The Demands of the Lord Jesus
Then answered Jesus and said unto them,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do
nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do:
for what things soever he doeth,
these also doeth the Son likewise.
For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself
doeth: and he will
shew him greater works than these, that ye may marvel.
For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth [them]; even so the
Son quickeneth
whom he will.
For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the
Son:
That all [men] should honour the Son, even as (kathos)
they honour the Father. He
that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on
him that sent me,
hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed
from death unto life.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the
dead shall hear the
voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.
For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have
life in himself;
And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the
Son of man.
(John 5:19-27)
Here, we see the Lord Jesus claiming that anyone honoring the Father
should honor Him. And not just honoring Him, but honoring Him
in the same manner as one honors the Father.
Which Biblical prophet dare claim such a privilege?
Did Muhammad dare claim such an honor?
No, not one, except the Lord Jesus Himself.
The author claims in the Preface that Muslims honors the Lord Jesus.
Indeed, the honor given to the Lord Jesus was that of a prophet.
The author does not even accord to the Lord Jesus the status of
"the supreme agent" (like the Jehovah Witnesses),
much less the honor equal to that of God.
I am reminded of a recent incident when President Clinton was
addressed as Governor Clinton, and that caused quite a furore in
the press. Why wouldn't the Christians be distressed when the
Lord Jesus was stripped of all His honor, which is equal to God
and sitting at the right hand of God, in the lips and hearts of
Muslims? One often finds in the newsgroups an angry response from
Muslims when some people regarded Muhammad not as the best of all
prophets.
Does the author himself understands the anguish Christians feel when
Muslims make Jesus only a prophet?
Appendix
Exhaustive list of instances of "worship" (proskuneo) in the
New Testament. The numbers in parenthesis indicates the number of
times the word appears in the verse.
Matt 2:2 Magi wants to worship Jesus,
Matt 2:11 Herod wants to worship Jesus,
Matt 4:9 Satan says worship me,
Matt 4:10 Jesus says worship God,
Matt 8:2 leper worshipped Jesus,
Matt 9:18 ruler worshipped Jesus,
Matt 14:33 worshipped Jesus,
Matt 15:25 women worshipped Jesus,
Matt 18:25 servant worship king,
Matt 20:20 Mother of sons of Zebedee worshipped Jesus,
Matt 28:9 disciples worshipped Jesus,
Mark 5:6 worshipped Jesus,
Mark 15:19 soldiers worshipped him,
Luke 4:7 Satan says: worship me,
Luke 4:8 Jesus says: worship God,
Luke 24:52 disciples worship Jesus,
John 4:20 worship on mountain (2),
John 4:21 worship on mountain (1), worship the Father (1),
John 4:22 worship what you do not know (1), worship what we know (1),
John 4:23 worship the Father (2),
John 4:24 worship God (2),
John 9:38 worship Jesus,
John 12:20 Greeks came up to worship at the feast,
Acts 7:43 worship false gods,
Acts 8:27 eunuch came to Jerusalem to worship,
Acts 10:25 Cornelius came to worship him,
Acts 24:11 went up to Jersulem to worship,
1 Corinthians 14:25, worship God,
Hebrews 1:6 angels worship Jesus,
Hebrews 11:21 Jacob worshipped while dying,
Rev 3:9 worship at thy feet,
Rev 4:10 24 elders worship,
Rev 5:14 beasts worshipped him that lives forever,
Rev 7:11 worshipped God,
Rev 9:20 should not worshipped devil (2),
Rev 11:1 worship in the temple,
Rev 11:6 worship God,
Rev 13:4 worship dragon(1), worship the beast(1),
Rev 13:8 worship dragaon,
Rev 13:12 worship the first beast,
Rev 13:15 worship the image of the beast (2),
Rev 14:7 worship him that made heaven,
Rev 14:9 worship beast,
Rev 14:11 worship beast,
Rev 15:4 worship before thee(God),
Rev 16:2 worship image,
Rev 19:4 worship God,
Rev 19:10 worship angel,
Rev 19:10 worship God,
Rev 19:20 worship image,
Rev 20:4 worship beast (2),
Rev 22:8 worship at angel's feet,
Rev 22:9 worship God.
The Rebuttal to "What Did Jesus Really Say?"
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