(THE BIBLE AND CHRIST/JESUS [continued(3)])[29th March 1987]

[Redbook3:69-70][19870329:1210s](THE BIBLE AND CHRIST/JESUS [continued(3)])[29^th March 1987]

19870329.1210(BST)

[continued]

Claims of this sort* upset other religions, such as Buddhism, Judaism and Islam, which do not claim divine status for their earthly leaders. I have some sympathy with Islam's view that Jesus, or Issa, was one of the greatest of the prophets, not (a) God – but not with Islam's** view that Mahommed [sic] is the greatest and the last prophet. Mahommed, where he is original, speaks to a primitive desert society and is too specific to be applied generally: like Moses he was a lawgiver for his time and place***; but great attention should be paid to his writings.

Jesus speaks almost always to Men in their innermost hearts, in matters which do not change with time, place and society: even his parables use situations which are common today all over the World, and they are only examples, not the teachings themselves.

Mahommed (in the Koran) speaks to the minds of early Arabs, and often perceptively; Jesus speaks to the Spirits within Men of all times and places.

In terms of claimed status, the differences between the two are a matter of degree. Mahommed is claimed to be a Man who merely recorded accurately the voice of the Archangel Gabriel speaking the words of God. Jesus is claimed (in my view misleadingly) to be God the Son who spoke his own words in his own way.

*[See last previous entry]

**{(apparent)}

***This, of course, roughly mirrors what many Muslims say about Jesus. <930122>

[cf. [Redbook3:171-172][19870411:2200d]{Archetypes and Qualities(1) [continued(4)]}[11th April 1987].<20160214>]

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