God

The Pedagogical Role of God in Revelation

Every theology must answer a fundamental question: when Scripture says, "God said," whose voice are we actually hearing? Is it the Father speaking directly? Is it the Son? Or does revelation itself employ a literary form through which divine truth is communicated?

The Doctrine of Worship

One of the most misunderstood questions in religion concerns the purpose of worshipping God. Many people assume that worship is something God requires from human beings, as if the Creator had fashioned humanity in order to receive praise. This idea leads critics to ask a familiar question: why would a perfect and self-sufficient God need validation from His own creatures?

The question arises from a mistaken assumption about the nature of worship.

The Qur’an states:

“I did not create jinn and mankind except that they worship Me.” (51:56)
— Qur'an

Shirk Explanation

Shirk explanation. What is shirk? Associating God with partners. Where is the problem? Is it a problem for God or a man? For a man. Man made idol does not have any effect for anything. Idol worshipper is actually the one who wants to make himself a partner to God. When God is so angry about it, it is not because He is hurt but because it is a downfall for a man to put himself in his own care. As idol does not have legs and arms to help even itself, this is an allegory of the idol’s worshiper inability to help himself in any way without God.

Created Means and Rival Spiritual Means

There is an important distinction which must be kept clear whenever we speak about trust in God, prayer, human action, and protection from harm. A person may pray to God for food, for safety, for healing, and for deliverance from danger; yet this prayer does not require him to sit idle as though God’s providence excluded the use of the body, the mind, and the created world. On the contrary, the ordinary means by which a person receives food, safety, and health are themselves part of the order through which God works.

In the Mosque and Beyond: A Narrative of Conscience

I confess Jesus Christ as the Son of God and Lord.

I do not hide this. I do not soften it. I do not reinterpret it to make it socially acceptable. It is the center of my faith, and I proclaim it openly.

At the same time, I do not experience contradiction when standing in a Muslim house of prayer where strict monotheism is affirmed and where it is said that “God has no son.”

To many, this sounds impossible. It sounds like compromise, duplicity, or confusion. It is none of these.

The Rich Fool, the Accuser, and the Demand for the Soul

In the previous two essays, I argued that the Parable of the Rich Fool is often misunderstood.

First, the story is not merely about wealth. It begins with an inheritance dispute and exposes the folly of accumulating possessions without properly considering mortality and succession. The rich man solves the problem of storage while ignoring the problem of inheritance.

Second, the famous words:

“You fool!”

Objections to the Educational Interpretation of Jesus' End-Time Warnings — and My Replies

Objection 1: "You are turning prophecy into mere rhetoric."

If Jesus was not primarily predicting future events, then his warnings about the nearness of the end become little more than persuasive rhetoric. This strips prophecy of its supernatural character and reduces it to a teaching technique.

My Reply

Not at all.

The objection assumes that prophecy has value only when it provides information unavailable through ordinary means.

But the greatest prophets were not merely transmitters of hidden information. They were reformers of hearts.

Was Jesus really providing a calendar of future events?

PART I.

What I am proposing is that the value of the prophecy lies primarily in its transformative function, not in its role as a chronological forecast.

In my framework, the question is not:

"Was Jesus providing a calendar of future events?"

but rather:

"What was Jesus trying to produce in the hearts and minds of his listeners?"

From that perspective, warnings about an imminent end become understandable as educational tools.

Why Jesus Spoke as Though the End Were Near

One of the most persistent difficulties in Christian theology concerns Jesus' statements about the nearness of the end. Reading the Gospels plainly, one cannot escape the impression that Jesus spoke with tremendous urgency. The Kingdom was at hand. Judgment was approaching. The Son of Man was coming. The time to repent was now.

Many readers therefore arrive at an uncomfortable conclusion: if the end did not arrive when people expected it, then perhaps Jesus was mistaken.

God