The  true Way of forgiveness of sins:

Some points need to be noted before we start:

•In islam,its clear that the way for the forgiveness of  SINS  is simple and logical  – just repent from your sins and it will be forgiven and wiped out – there is no price for the forgiveness of God just out his grace he forgive us if we have faith in him and turn to him in repentance .

•The Islamic idea for forgiveness of sins is even proven in the bible while the Paulanistic Christian idea is baseless and contradicting their own bible.
 
•There is no verse what so ever in bible in which God him self say ( YOU HAVE TO DO BLOOD SACRIFICE TO BE FORGIVEN )  this concept of blood offerings was done in the past by people just to come closer to  GOD and not necessary means it’s the only way for forgiveness.. More over poor people used give even flour and wheat just to come closer to GOD. This is also recorded in bible. so the sacrifice is not what God wanted but he want the sincere heart that turns to God even if you did no sacrifice .

•There is no verse what so ever in bible in which Jesus says (I came to die for sins of people or unless you accept my blood you wont be saved) . But to the contrary we find so many clear verses on the tongue of Jesus him self and GOD and the old test prophets saying that the way for forgiveness is repentance. lets examine them and see for your self if the Islamic way for forgiveness is consistence with the teachings of GOD  or the Christian way.

•Note : Quoting bible verses in this article don’t mean Muslims believe in it, but we just quote to those non Muslim visitors from their books because they don’t have faith in our book. And we can see Allah in Quran telling us how to argue with non Muslims and one of the ways is by asking them ( bring your proof if you are truthful ) Quran 27-64: but unfortunately  many  have no proofs nor even worried to look for it , so we had to find them proofs in their books .

Now lets have a look at  the Islamic way for forgiveness, its is  simple and clear in the below verses :

Quran 20:82 am surely Forgiving for those who repent, believe, lead a righteous life, and steadfastly remain guided.

39:53 O My servants who have transgressed against themselves [by sinning], do not despair of the mercy of Allah. Indeed, Allah forgives all sins. Indeed, it is He who is the Forgiving, the Merciful."

7:153 those who commit sin but then repent afterwards and believe; your Lord after that is Forgiving, Merciful.

42:25 it is He who accepts repentance from his servants and pardons misdeeds, and He knows what you do.

2:160 hose who repent and correct themselves and make evident [what they concealed]. Those I will accept their repentance, and I am the Accepting of repentance, the Merciful.
 
There are so many verses about this subject in Quran to the extend that there is one whole chapter in Quran called Altauba (repentance ) but now let’s go to the bible and compare and see if this Islamic idea is also taught in bible but sad to say the people who believe in bible don’t accept this idea .

Bible Verses with comment :

But go ye and learn what [that] meanest, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. (Matthew 9:13)

Here Jesus tell us exactly what is the way for forgiveness – its so clear he said it ( I came to call sinners to repentance ) why did not he say I came to call sinners to have faith in my blood – because he never came for this and no need for this God is always merciful to those who repent  .

“I desired not sacrifices; I commanded not your fathers, when I stretched forth my hand to bring them out of Egypt, to offer burnt — offerings to me, but only to obey my voice.”   Jeremiah 7:21-22

"For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgement of God rather than burnt offerings" (Hosea 6:6);

Here God tell us that these sacrifices of people its not a command from him – its they who did it just to get closer to God – while he really want them to return to him and repent.

To what purpose [is] the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats. (Isaiah 1:11)

GOD want our hearts to turn to him – God is merciful — just ask ur self this question – CANT GOD FORGIVE STRAIGHT WITHOUT BLOOD? Can he or cant he? he can of course God is able to forgive – and this is the truth if humans are able to fogive one another without any price for their mercy cant god do this ? even bible confirm this clearly

Matthew 6-12 and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who have sinned against us.

Simple – the bible put the example and show us how God forgive – its same as you forgive the one who sinned against you – if you slapped me then you felt sorry and said please forgive me – then I said ok you  are forgiven – I cant say but come here pay the price I have to slap you back !! this is not called forgivness—there is no price for forgiveness – its out of the grace of the person who forgive … God forgive by his grace —you just need to repent to him and be a good person that’s it  .  

To do justice and judgment [is] more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice. (Proverbs 21:3)

And to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices." (Mark 12:30-33)

Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams" (I Samuel 15:22)

in the above passages from old test and new test – it show us that sacrifices is not important – repentance and returning to God and obeying him is more important – if some one repent to God from his sin and did no sacrifice God will surely forgive him

Isaiah 55:6-7 (NIV) Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

Here God tell us the way for salvation and forgiveness clearly by repenting and turning to God and no mentioning of blood offerings – at the end the verse say God freely pardon –if you repent no price for forgiveness – its free out of the grace of God

Jeremiah 18:8 and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned.

Here God tell us he will forgive if they repent – not once in old test or new test did he say I ll forgive if you make a sacrifice or have faith in the blood of Jesus.

Jeremiah 36:3  Perhaps the people of Judah will repent when they hear again all the terrible things I have planned for them. Then I will be able to forgive their sins and wrongdoings."

Here God did not say perhaps they will make a burnt offering!

Jonah 3:10 When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened.

in the books of Jonah and Esther, both Jews and gentiles repented, prayed to God and were forgiven for their sins, without having offered any sacrifices

Matthew 4:17 (NIV) from that time on Jesus began to preach, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near."

Here if you are fair to your self – ask why did not jesus say ( have faith in my blood and be forgiven ) ? not once in the whole bible he said this – such an important princable in Christianity not mentioned by jesus its baseless but we find jesus in the above verse say repent .. this is the way in islam and the way taught By god and jesus .

Luke wrote it down in Chapter 13, verse 3 of his account of the gospel of Christ, "I tell you nay, unless you repent, you shall all likewise perish". It is bad to sin, but it is worse to sin and not repent.
Here Luke did not say unless you repent and have faith in blood of Christ!!! but he said only repentance

(Master, it is said by the priests that without shedding of blood there is no remission. Can then the blood offering of the law take away sin? And Jesus answered: No blood offering, of beast or bird, or man, can take away sin. (Gospel of the Nazorenes)

In the above verse Jesus was teaching his disciples in the outer court of the Temple and one of them said unto him , we can find more confirmation in the life of jesus that salvation is by repenting and it happened only by repenting without any blood sacrifice – see below :

Luke 19:9 But the people were displeased. "He has gone to be the guest of a notorious sinner," they grumbled. Meanwhile, Zacchaeus stood before the Lord and said, "I will give half my wealth to the poor, Lord, and if I have cheated people on their taxes, I will give them back four times as much! And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham.

I think the verse need no comment! Salvation came to the house on the tongue of jesus without blood sacrifice and without jesus saying you must have faith in my blood!

Even the Jews of today and in past they know that repentance alone can bring forgiveness- Based on the views of Rabbeinu Tam in the Babylonian Talmud (tractate Rosh HaShanah 17b), God is said to have thirteen attributes of mercy:
8-God is the God of truth, thus we can count on God's promises to forgive repentant sinners.
10-God forgives intentional sins if the sinner repents
13-God wipes away the sins from those who repent.

The doctrine of blood offering is baseless and opposes the clear texts in bible which shows that God is merciful always and don’t change his mind from time to time and he forgives directly when you repent without any price just out of his grace. So re consider.
The concept of some one die for sins of another is contradicting to the justice of God — One person cannot die for the sins of another. This means that the guilt from the sins committed by one person cannot be wiped out by the punishment given to another person.

 in Exodus 32:30-35, Moses asks God to punish him for the sin of the Golden Calf, committed by the people. God tells Moses that the person who committed the sin is the person who must receive the punishment. Then, in Deuteronomy 24:16, God simply states this as a basic principle, "Every man shall be put to death for his own sins." This concept is repeated in the Prophets, in Ezekiel 18 "The soul that sinneth, it shall die… the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him."

“The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son; the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him. “But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statuses and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die. All his transgressions that he hath committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him; in his righteousness that he hath done, he shall live.”   Ezekiel 18:20-22

God is just and he declared no one carry the sin of another – so common sense says God wont make some man ( jesus ) die for sins of another!!  other wise it will be contradicting !

But he answered and said, ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.’ But she (the Canaanite woman) came and began to bow down before him, saying, ‘Lord, help me!’ And he(Jesus) answered and said, ‘It is not meet to take children’s bread and cast it to the dogs (non-Israelites).’”    Matthew 15:24-26 (see also Mark 7:26-27)

Here in this verse another issue proves that Jesus did not die for sins! Now if Jesus (as) was meant to save all humanity, why then would he orders his Apostles to limit their ministry to the Children of Israel only? This is further proven by this event in the Gospel; Jesus (as) by his own words made it clear that he was only sent for the Israelites and none else.

Luke 19:27}  But  those  mine  enemies,  which would  not  that  I  should  reign  over  them,  bring  hither,  and slay [them] before me.
In the above verse another question come to mind – If he was crucified for sins of people will he command killing his enemies! And where is turn your cheek!

For those who really seeking truth with an open mind – read history and you will find that Early Christians, especially during the 2nd, 3d, 4th  century, had major disagreements and problems with each others about the trinity , the identity of Jesus and whether or not he got crucified:
•The doctrine of the Trinity is not taught in the Old Testament" (New Catholic Encyclopedia, 1967, Vol. XIV, p. 306).
•The Trinity "is not directly and immediately the Word of God" (New Catholic Encyclopedia, 1967, Vol. XIV, p. 304).
•The formulation ‘One God in three Persons’ was not solidly established, certainly not fully assimilated into Christian life and its profession of faith, prior to the end of the 4th century…. Among the Apostolic Fathers, there had been nothing even remotely approaching such a mentality or perspective" (New Catholic Encyclopedia, 1967, Vol. 14, p. 299).

Now with respect to these Biblical passages, it is very clear indeed that the Paulanistic teachings of the Christian Church are in no way harmonious with the teachings of Prophet Jesus (as) and The Bible itself

This verse alone say many things:

Hebrews 5 -7 During the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.

Here in this verse we find so many proofs that crucifixion of jesus never take place and jesus was saved:

1-the verse clearly tell that Jesus did not want to be crucified and prayed to god to save him from death, how can a Christian claim Jesus came willingly to die for sins when he prayed to God to save him from death?

2- the verse says he was heard – meaning God answered his prayer! Now, what does “God heard his prayer” mean? that God heard it loud and clear and ignored it?  No, it means God answered his prayer.  It certainly can’t mean that God heard and refused the prayer, for then the phrase “because of his reverent submission” would be nonsensical, along the lines of, “God heard his prayer and refused it because he was a righteous man.”so the verse clearly tell us that jesus did not want to die and he prayed to God to save him from death and he was heard because of his submission To God  – By the way submission to  God means islam in Arabic .

3- the verse is fulfilling an old test prophecy about Jesus that he will call to God and he will be saved from death – lets reflect carefully and try to understand this verse  in the light of  other bible verses  .   

Now let’s see what the prophecy which the Jews knew in old test about the true Christ –note that the jews awaited for a messiah who wont die and in the old test any one who is hanged on a cross is cursed that’s why they tried to kill jesus to prove that he is not the true messiah because the true messiah will be saved and wont be killed even Satan knew this and reminded Jesus of the prophecy which talks about the true messiah in old test :

Matthew 4:5-10  and said, “If you are the Son of God, jump off! For the Scriptures say, ‘He will order his angels to protect you. And they will hold you up with their hands so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.

Here we can see that satan remind Jesus while he is on the mountain of the prophecy in old test which says God will protect the true messiah and he wont get hurt at all . now lets get this verse from old test which Satan and Jews knew and may be most of Christians will agree its talking about Jesus.

Psalm 91 (1-15
2 I will say [b] of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust."
3 Surely he will save you from the fowler's snare and from the deadly pestilence
4-He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart (compare this to matthew 4:5.10)
5 You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day
8 You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked
10 then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent( note Satan was reminding Jesus of this verse in Matthew 4:5-10)
11-For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways  (Also identical to Matthew 4:5-10)
12 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone( This is typical mentioned in Matthew 4:5-10)

Now the most important verses of the prophecy
14 "Because he loves me," says the LORD, "I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
15 He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him.

Quickly let’s compare these two verses to the new test verse we mentioned earlier:

Hebrews 5-7  During the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission

We will find in psalms 91:14.15) its says he will call upon God and God will answer  protect him and rescue him because he love him – and identical we find Hebrew 5-7 says he Jesus called upon God and was heard because of his reverent submission – I think its clear now that jesus was saved by GOD And not killed like how the jews wanted and how the Christians promoting without treflecting that by this they confirming the Jewish idea that he is a false messiah .

the Christians are  contradicting the bible verses which says God protected him – how can he be protected if you claim he was killed , spat on , mocked and stoned and died on the cross and got buried.!!!

And if we go back to the early verses in the prophecy( psalms 91-8) we will find it saying that he ( jesus ) will be carried by the angles and he will observe with his eyes the punishment of the wicked ( the one who betrayed Jesus ) lets compare this to peter Apocalypse , Which say the same thing – that some one else was on the cross who looked like Jesus while the real Jesus was on top of a tree watching the fake Jesus (the wicked being killed)>

I saw him seemingly being seized by them. And I said "What do I see, O lord? That it is you yourself whom they take, and that you are grasping me? Or who is this one, glad and laughing on the tree? And is it another one whose feet and hands they are striking? The Savior said to me, "He whom you saw on the tree, glad and laughing, this is the living Jesus. But this one into whose hands and feet they drive the nails is his fleshly part, which is the substitute being put to shame, the one who came into being in his likeness. But look at him and me. But I, when I had looked, said "Lord, no one is looking at you. Let us flee this place.

The same story of the substitute and the saving of Jesus is also mentioned in another non canonical Gospel (Barnabas Gospel chapter 215-216 )

When the soldiers with Judas drew near to the place where Jesus was, Jesus heard the approach of many people, wherefore in fear he withdrew into the house. And the eleven were sleeping. Then God, seeing the danger of his servant, commanded Gabriel;, Michael;, Rafael;, and Uriel, his angles to take Jesus out of the world. The holy angels came and took Jesus out by the window that looks toward the South; Judas entered impetuously before all into the chamber whence Jesus had been taken up. And the disciples were sleeping. Whereupon the wonderful God acted wonderfully, insomuch that Judas was so changed in speech and in face to be like Jesus that we believed him to be Jesus. And he, having awakened us, was seeking where the Master was. Whereupon we marveled, and answered: 'You, Lord, are our master; have you now forgotten us? And he, smiling, said: 'Now are you foolish that know not me to be Judas Iscariot!' And as he was saying this the soldiery entered, and laid their hands upon Judas, because he was in every way like to Jesus. We having heard Judas' saying, and seeing the multitude of soldiers, fled as beside ourselves. And John, who was wrapped in a linen cloth, awoke and fled, and when a soldier seized him by the linen cloth he left the linen cloth and fled naked. For God heard the prayer of Jesus, and saved the eleven from evil.

http://barnabas.net/chapters/263-215-divine-rescue-of-jesus.html
link to the whole Gospel above .

Note for muslim readers that we dont suggest that this story mentioned in Baranabs is accurate – only Allah knows the real story but for sure we know that jesus wasnot killed on the cross and was raised alive and will come back again as the quran tells .

For the non muslim readers reflect and dont close your mind before you get all the facts , A judge in court of justice cant issue his judgment before listening to all sides so listen and read the quranic idea of jesus and pray to the creator for guidance – he is the only one who can guide you .. for more info and questions EMAIL the wirter jaad@radioislam.co.za