Was Christ crucified?

THE DEBATE
took place in August, 1981,
in Durban, South Africa.


THE PARTICIPANTS
were Josh McDowell and
Ahmed Deedat, the
president of the Islamic
Propagation Centre in
Durban, South Africa.


The debate, a transcript of which
appears on the following pages,
was divided into three parts:

Opening arguments, 50 minutes.

Rebuttals by each, 10 minutes.

Closing statements, 3 minutes.


TRANSCRIPT OF THE DEBATE

* OPENING ARGUMENTS

# Ahmed Deedat

Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen. On the subject of crucifixion,
the Muslim is told in no uncertain terms, in the Holy Qur'an, the
last and final revelation of God, that they didn't kill Him, nor did
they crucify Him. But it was made to appear to them so. And those who
dispute therein, are full of doubts. They have no certain knowledge;
they only follow conjecture, guesswork. For of a surety, they killed
Him not.

Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen. Could anyone have been more
explicit, more dogmatic, more uncompromising, in stating a belief
than this? The only one who was entitled to say such words is the
all-knowing, omniscient Lord of the universe.

The Muslim believes this authoritative statement as the veritable
Word of God. And as such, he asks no questions, and he demands no
proof. He says, "There are the words of my Lord; I believe, and I
affirm." But the Christian responds in the words of our honorable
guest. In his book, Josh McDowell with Don Stewart in "Answers to
tough Questions" on pages 116 and 117, states the Christian's atti-
tude toward this uncompromising statement of the Muslim. He says,
"A major problem with accepting Mohammed's account is that his testi-
mony is 600 years after the event occurred, while the New Testament
contains eyewitness, or first hand, testimony of the life and mini-
stry of Jesus Christ."

In a nutshell, the Christian asks how can a man a thousand miles
away from the scene of the happening of the crucifixion and 600 years
in time away from the happening know what happened in Jerusalem? The
Muslim responds that these are the words of God Almighty. And there-
fore, as such, God knew what had happened. The Christian naturally
reasons that, had he accepted this book, the Qur'an, as the Word of
God, there would have been no dispute between us. We would all have
been Muslims!

We have eyewitness and earwitness accounts of these happenings
which are stated for us in the Holy Bible, more especially in the
gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Now, the implication of this
crucifixion is this: it is alleged that Jesus Christ was murdered by
the Jews by means of crucifixion 2,000 years ago, And as such, the
Jews are guilty of the murder of Jesus Christ. We Muslims are told
that they are innocent because Christ was not killed, nor was He
crucified, And as such, I am given the [mandate] by the Holy Qur'an
to defend the Jews against the Christian charge. I'm going to defend
the Jews this afternoon, not because they are my cousins, but simply
because justice must he done.
We have our points of difference with the Jews - that is a different
question altogether. This afternoon, I will try my very best to do
justice to my cousins, the Jews.

Now, in this argument, this debate, this dialogue, I am actually
the defense counsel for the Jews, and Josh McDowell is the prosecu-
ting counsel. And you, ladies and gentlemen, are the ladies and gent-
lemen of the jury. I want you to sit back, relax and at the end of
this, give judgment to yourself, to your own conscience whether the
Jews are guilty or not of the charge as alleged by the Christians.

Now, to get to the point, as the defense counsel for the Jews,
I could have had this case against the Jews dismissed in just two
minutes - in any court of law, in any civilized country in the world,
simply by demanding from the prosecuting counsel the testimonies of
these witnesses, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, And when they are pre-
sented, in the form of sworn affidavits, as we have them in the
gospels, I could say that, in their original, they are not attested.
And the proof - you get any authorized King James Version of the
Bible, and you'll find each and every affidavit begins: "The Gospel
according to St. Matthew, the Gospel according to St. Mark, the Gospel
according to St. Luke, the Gospel according to St. John." I'm asking,
ladies and gentlemen of the jury, what is this "according ... accor-
ding ... according"? Do you know what it means? It means Matthew,
Mark, Luke and John didn't sign their names. It is only assumed that
these are their work. And as such, in any court of law, in any civi-
lized country, they would be thrown out of court in just two minutes.

Not only that, I can have this case dismissed TWICE in two minutes
in any court of law in any civilized country. I said twice because
one of the testators in the Gospel of St. Mark, chapter 14, verse 50,
tells us that at the most critical juncture in the life of Jesus, all
His disciples forsook Him, and fled. ALL. If they were not there, the
testimony of those who were not there to witness what happened will
be thrown out of court. I said, twice in two minutes, in just 120
seconds flat, the case would be over. In any court of law. in any
civilized country in the world.

But where is the fun of it? You have come a long way from far and
wide, after all the threatening rains. And now, if we say the case is
closed and go home, where is the fun of it? To entertain you, I will
accept those documents as valid, for the sake of this dialogue, and
we are now going to put these witnesses into the box for cross-
examination. And I want you to see where the truth lies.

The first witness that I'm going to call, happens to be St. Luke.
And St. Luke has been described by Christian authorities as one of
the greatest historians. As a historical book, the Gospel of St. Luke
is unique. Now, we get St. Luke. chapter 24. verse 36. I'm going to
tell you what he has said - what he has written in black and white.
He tells us that it was Sunday evening, the first day of the week,
when Jesus Christ walked into that upper room, the one in which He
had the Last Supper with His disciples. This is three days after His
alleged crucifixion. He goes in, and He wishes His disciples, "Peace
be unto you." And when He said, "Peace be unto you," His disciples
were terrified. Is that true? We're asking you. I would like to ask
Him, why were the disciples terrified? Because when one meets his
long-lost master, his grandfather, his guru, his Rabbi - we Eastern
people embrace one another; we kiss one another. Why should His
disciples be terrified? So Luke tells us they were frightened, be-
cause they thought He was a spirit.

I'm only quoting what he said. And you can verify in your own
Bible at home. They were frightened, they were terrified because they
thought He was a spirit. I'm asking Luke, did He look like a spirit?
And he says no. I'm asking all the Christians of the world again and
again, of every church and denomination, this master of yours, did He
look like a spirit? And they all say no. Then I say, why should they
think that man is a spirit when He didn't look like one?

And everyone is puzzled - unless Josh can explain. Every Christian
is puzzled. Why should they think the man is a spirit when He didn't
look like one? I will tell you. The reason is because the disciples
of Jesus had heard from hearsay that the Master was hanged on the
cross. They had heard, from hearsay, that He had given up the ghost.
In other words. His spirit had come out: He had died. They had heard
from hearsay that He was dead and buried for three days. All their
knowledge was from hearsay, because as I said at the beginning (Mark,
chapter 14, verse 50), your other witness says that at the most criti-
cal juncture in the life of Jesus all His disciples forsook Him and
fled. All! They were not there.

So, all the knowledge being from hearsay, you come across a per-
son who you heard was dead for three days. You assume that He's
stinking in His grave. When you see such a person. naturally, you're
terrified. So Jesus wants to assure them that He's not what they're
thinking. They are thinking that He has come back from the dead. A
resurrected, spiritualized body, so He says - I am only quoting what
Luke says - He says, "Behold My hands and My feet." Have a look at
My hands and My feet, that it is I, Myself. I am the same fellow,
man, what's wrong with you? Why are you afraid? He says, "Handle Me
and see. Handle Me and see. For a spirit has no flesh and bones, as
you see me have."

A spirit: indefinite article "a." A spirit, any spirit, has no
flesh and bones, as you see me have. So, if I have flesh and bones,
I'm not a spirit: I'm not a ghost: I'm not a spook. I am asking the
English man - the one who speaks English as his mother tongue - since
I have flesh and bones. I'm not a spirit: I'm not a ghost: I'm not a
spook. I say. is that what it means in your language?

I say, you Afrikaner, when a man tells you that, does it mean that
he's not what you are thinking? That is, he is not a spirit, he is
not a ghost, he is not a spook. And everybody responds "yes." If a
man tells you a spirit has no flesh and bones, it means it has no
flesh and bones. As you see, I have these things, so I'm not what
you're thinking. You are thinking that I was dead, and I have come
back from the dead and am resurrected. If a spirit has no flesh and
bones, in other words, he's telling you that the body you are seeing
is not a metamorphosed body. It is not a translated body; it is not
a resurrected body. Because a resurrected body gets spiritualized.

Who says so? My authority is Jesus. You say, "Where?" I say Luke,
you look again - chapter 20 in verse 36. What does he say? You see,
the Jews were always coming to Him with riddles; they were always
asking Him, "Master, shall we pay tribute to Caesar or not? Master,
this woman, we found her in the act. What shall we do to her? Master
..." Again and again. Now, they come to Him and they ask Him, it
says. "Master," Rabbi in the Hebrew language, "Master, we had a woman
among us, and this woman according to a Jewish custom, had seven hus-
bands." You see, according to a Jewish custom, if a brother of a man
dies and leaves no offspring. then the man takes his brother's wife
to be his own wife. And when he fails the third brother does likewise,
and the fourth and the fifth and the sixth, and the seventh.

Seven brothers had this woman as a wife. but there was no problem
while on this earth because it was all one by one. Now, they want to
know from Him that at the resurrection, in the hereafter, which one
is going to have her, because they all had her here. In other words,
there will be a war in heaven, because we believe that we will all be
resurrected simultaneously. All together. at one time. And these
seven brothers wake up at the same time. and they see this woman and
every one would say, "My wife! My wife!" and there would be a war in
heaven between the brothers for this one woman.

So they want to know from Him which one is going to have her on the
other side. Luke. chapter 20, verse 36. Check it out. In answer to
that. Jesus said about these resurrected men and women, "Neither
shall they die anymore." In other words, "Once they are resurrected,
they will be immortalized." This is a mortal body. It needs food,
shelter, clothing, sex, rest. Without these things mankind perishes.
That body will be an immortalized body. An immortal body, no food,
no shelter, no clothing, no sex, no rest. He says neither shall they
die anymore. For they are equal unto the angels.

In other words, they will be angel-ized. They will be spiritualized;
they will be spiritual creatures; they will be spirits! For they are
equal unto angels and the children of God. Such are the children of
the resurrection - spirit! He said "A spirit has no flesh and bones,
as you see Me have." In other words, "I'm not resurrected." And they
believed not for joy and wonders - Luke 24 again. What happened then?

We thought the man was already dead, perhaps stinking in His grave.
And they believed not for joy - overjoy - and they wonder what hap-
pened? So He says, "Have you any broiled fish and a honeycomb here,
meat - something to eat?" And they gave Him a piece of bread and He
took it and ate it in their very sight. To prove what? I'm asking
ladies and gentlemen of the jury, what was He trying to demonstrate?
What? "I am the same fellow, man; I am not what you are thinking, I
have not come back from the dead."

This was Sunday evening after the alleged crucifixion.

Let's go back. What happened in the morning? Your other witness,
John, chapter 20, verse 1, tells us that it was Sunday morning, the
first day of the week, when Mary Magdalene went to the tomb of Jesus.
I'm asking John, why did she go there? Or, let's put another of your
witnesses on the stand, Mark, chapter 16, verse 1. Mark, tell us -
why did Mary go there? And Mark tells us, "She went to anoint Him."
Now, the Hebrew word for anoint is 'massahah' from which we get the
word messiah in Hebrew and masih in Arabic. The root word for both
Arabic and Hebrew is the same. Massahah means to rub, to massage, to
anoint.

I'm asking, do Jews massage dead bodies after three days? And the
answer is no. I say to you Christians, do you massage dead bodies af-
ter three days? Do you? The answer is no. We Muslims are the closest
to the Jew in our ceremony of law. Do Muslims massage dead bodies af-
ter three days? The answer is no. Then why would they want to go and
massage a dead, rotten body after three days? Within three hours,
you know that rigor mortis sets in, the hardening of the cells, the
rotting of the body, fermentation from within. In three days' time
the body is rotten from inside. Such a rotting body when you massage
it falls to pieces.

Why would she want to go and massage a dead, rotten body unless
she was looking for a live person? You see, according to your
witnesses, from only reading, she must have seen signs of life in the
limp body as it was being taken down from the cross. She was about
the only woman who, with Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, had given
the final rites to the body of Jesus. All his other disciples had
forsaken Him and fled. They were not there. So if this woman had seen
signs of life, she was not going to shout, "There, He's alive! He's
alive!" - to invite a sure death.

Three days later, she goes in, and she wants to anoint Him. And
when she reaches the sepulchre, she finds that the stone is removed.
The winding sheets are inside. So, she starts to cry. I'm asking, why
was the stone removed and why were the winding sheets unwound? Be-
cause for a resurrected body you won't have to remove the stone to
come out. For the resurrected body, you don't have to unwind the win-
ding sheets to move, This is the need of this physical body. This
mortal body. Because a poet tells us, "The stone walls do not a pri-
son make nor iron bars a cage," For the soul, for the spirit, these
things do not matter. Iron bars or walls. It's the need of His phy-
sical body. Jesus Christ, according to the Scriptures, was watching
her from wherever He was, not from heaven, but from this earth.

Because this tomb, if you remember, was privately owned property
belonging to Joseph of Arimathea. This very rich, influential dis-
ciple had carved out of a rock a big, roomy chamber. Around that
chamber was his vegetable garden. Now, don't tell me that this Jew
was so generous that he was planting vegetables five miles out of
town for other people's sheep and goats to graze upon.

Surely he must have bought his laborers quarters. Or for people who
looked after his garden, or perhaps his country home where he went
with his family for holidays, on the weekends.

Jesus is there and He watches this woman. He knows who she is and He
knows why she's there. And He goes up to her. He finds her crying. So
He says, "Woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou?" I'm asking,
doesn't He know? Doesn't He know? Why does He ask such a silly
question? I'm telling you, this is not a silly question. He's actu-
ally pulling her leg, metaphorically. She, supposing Him to be the
gardener - I'm only reading you evidence as it is given. She supposed
Him to be the gardener - I am asking, why does she suppose He's a gar-
dener? Do resurrected bodies look like gardeners? Do they? I say, why
does she suppose He's a gardener? I'm telling you, because He's dis-
guised as a gardener. Why is He disguised as a gardener? I say, be-
cause He's afraid of the Jews. Why is He afraid of the Jews? I say,
because He didn't die. And He didn't conquer death. If He had died,
and if He had conquered death, there's no need to be afraid anymore.
Why not? Because the resurrected body can't die twice. Who says so? I
say the Bible. What does it say? It says it is ordained unto all men,
once to die, and after that, the judgment. You can't die twice.

So, if He had conquered death, there would be no need to be afraid.
He's afraid, because He didn't die, So she, supposing Him to be the
gardener, says, "Sir, if you have taken Him hence, tell me where have
you laid Him to rest?" To relax, to recuperate, not where have you
buried Him. "So that I might take him away." I alone .- one woman a
frail Jewess. Imagine her carrying away a corpse of 160 pounds, at
least, not 200 like me. A muscular carpenter supposed to be a young
man in the prime of His life, at least 160 pounds. And another 100
pounds' worth of medicines around Him, John, chapter 19, verse 9.
That makes Him 260.

Can you imagine this frail Jewess carrying this bundle of a corpse
over 260 pounds, like a bundle of straw, like a super-woman in the
American comics? And take Him where? Take Him home? Put Him under a
bed - what does she want to do with Him? Does she want to pickle
Him? What does she want to do with a rotting body. I ask you?

So Jesus - the joke has gone too far - says, "Mary..." The way He
said "Mary," she recognized that this was Jesus. So, she wants to
grab Him. I'm asking why. To bite Him? No! To pay respect. We Eastern
people do that. She wants to grab Him. So Jesus says, "Touch Me not,"
I say, why not? Is He a bundle of electricity, a dynamo, that if she
touches Him she will get electrocuted? Tell me, why not? I say be-
cause it hurts, You give me another reason why not, "Touch Me not for
I am not yet ascended unto My Father." Is she blind? Can't she see
the man is standing there beside her? What does He mean by "I'm not
gone up" when He is here? He said, "I am not yet ascended unto My
Father." In the language of the Jew, in the idiom of the Jew. He's
saying, "I am not dead yet."

The problem arises: who moved the stone? How could she get to Him;
who moved the stone? And the Christians are writing books upon books.
One is Frank Morrison, a rationalist lawyer, He writes a book of 192
pages and he gives six hypotheses, At the end of the 192 pages, when
you are finished, you still haven't got the answer. Who moved the
stone? And they're writing books upon books: who moved the stone? I
can't understand why you can't see the very obvious. Why don't you
read your books: These gospels, you have it in black and white in
your own mother tongue. This is an anomaly that you read this book
in your own mother tongue.

The Englishman in English, the Afrikaner in Afrikaans the Zulu in
Zulu. Every language group has got the book in their own language.
And each and every one is made to understand the exact opposite of
what he is reading. Exact opposite. Not just merely misunderstanding.

I want you to prove me wrong. I'm telling you ... I'm only quoting
word for word exactly as your witnesses have said it. Preserved it
for us in black and white. I'm not attributing motives to them. I'm
not saying that they are dishonest witnesses. I'm telling you. Please
read this book of yours once more. Remove the blinders, and read it
again. And tell me where I'm not understanding your language. You
Englishmen, or you Afrikaners, you Zulu. You come back to me and if
you feel that at the end of the talk. our honored visitor has not
done justice to the subject, you call me - to your Kingdom Halls or
to your school hall or anywhere you want to discuss it further with
me. I am prepared to come.

Who moved the stone? I'm asking. It's very simple - they're talking
about 20 men required. It is so huge, it needed a superman from Ame-
rica to move it. One and a half to two tons. I'm telling you, please
read Mark and Matthew and he tells you that Joseph of Arimathea alone,
put the stone into place. One man - alone. One man! If one man can put
it into place, why can't two persons remove it, I ask you?

Now, all those happenings - you know that this was prophesied. It
was ordained. And all the stories about what happened afterward -
I'm telling you that Jesus Christ had given you a clear cut indication
of what was going to happen. And that's also preserved in black and
white in your testimony in the Gospel of St. Matthew, another of your
witnesses, chapter 12. verses 38. 39 and 40. The Jews come again to
Jesus. with a new request.

Now they say. "Master, we would have a sign of Thee." We want You
to show a miracle to convince us that You are the Messiah we are
waiting for. You know, something supernatural like walking on the
water, or flying in the air like a bird. Do something, man, then we
will be convinced that You are a man of God, the Messiah we are wait-
ing for.

So Jesus answers them. He says, "An evil and adulterous generation
seeketh after a sign. But there shall be no sign given unto it, except
the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three
nights in the belly of the whale, so shall the Son of Man be three
days and three nights in the belly of the earth." The only sign He
was prepared to give them was the sign of Jonah. He has put all his
eggs in one basket. He didn't say, "You know blind Bartimaeus, I
healed him. You know that woman with issues who had been bleeding for
years. She touched Me and she was healed. You know, I fed five thou-
sand people with a few pieces of fish and a few pieces of bread. You
see that fig tree. I dried it up from its very roots." Nothing of the
kind. "This is the only sign I will give you, the sign of Jonah." I'm
asking, what was that sign?

Well, go to the book of Jonah. I brought the book of Jonah for you -
one page by God - it is only one page in the whole Bible. This is the
book of Jonah. Four short chapters. It won't take you two minutes to
read it. It's hard to find the book because, in a thousand pages, to
find one page is difficult. But, you don't have to go there. If you
went to Sunday school. you will remember what I'm telling you. I'm
telling you that Jonah was sent to the Ninevites. You know, God
Almighty told him, "Go to Nineveh," a city of 100,000 people. He was
to warn them that they must repent in sack-cloth and ashes; they must
humble themselves before the Lord. Jonah was despondent because these
materialistic people -worldly people - "They will not listen to me.
They will make a mockery of what I have to tell them." So instead of
going to Nineveh, he goes to Joppa. That's what this one-page book
tells you. He went to Joppa and was taken aboard a ship - he was going
to Tarshish. You don't have to remember the names.

On the way, there's a storm. And according to the superstitions of
these people, anyone who runs away from his master's command, who
fails to do his duty, creates a turmoil at sea. So, they begin to
question in the boat, who could be responsible for this storm. Jonah
realizes that as a prophet of God, he is a soldier of God. And as a
soldier of God, he has no right to do things presumptuously on his
own. So he says, "Look, I am the guilty party. God Almighty is after
my blood. He wants to kill me, so in the process He's sinking the
boat, and you innocent people will die. It will be better for you if
you take me and you throw me overboard. Because God is really after
my blood."

They say, "No, man, you know, you are such a good man. Perhaps you
want to commit suicide. We won't help you to do that. We have a sys-
tem of our own of discovering right from wrong," and that is what
they call casting lots. Like heads or tails. So, according to the sys-
tem of casting lots, Jonah was found to be the guilty man. And so they
took him, and they threw him overboard.

Now I'm going to ask you a question. When they threw him overboard.
was he dead or was he alive? Now, before you answer. I want you to
bear in mind that Jonah had volunteered. He said, "Throw me." And
when a man volunteers, you don't have to strangle him before throwing,
you don't have to spear him before throwing, you don't have to break
his arm or limb before throwing. You agree with me?

The man had volunteered. So when they threw him overboard, what
does your common sense say? Was he dead or was he alive? Please, I
want your help. Was he dead or was he alive? Alive. You get no prize
for that - it was too simple a question. And - astonishingly the Jews
say that he was alive, the Christians say he was alive and the Mus-
lims say he was alive. How much nicer it would be if we would agree
on every other thing.

We all agree that he was alive when he was thrown into that raging
sea. And the storm subsided. Perhaps it was a coincidence. A fish
comes and gobbles him. Dead or alive? Was he dead or was he alive?
Alive? Thank you very much.

From the fish's belly, according to the book of Jonah, he cries to
God for help. Do dead men pray? Do they pray? Dead people, do they
pray? No! So he was alive. Three days and three nights the fish takes
him around the ocean. Dead or alive? Alive. On the third day, walking
on the seashore, I'm asking - dead or alive? Alive. What does Jesus
say? He said, "For as Jonah was." Just like Jonah. "For as Jonah was,
so shall the Son of Man be," referring to Himself. How was Jonah -
dead or alive? Alive. How was Jesus for three days and three nights
in the tomb according to the Christian belief? How was He? Dead or
alive? Dead.

He was dead according to our belief. In other words, He's unlike
Jonah. Can't you see? He says, I shall be like Jonah and you are tell-
ing me - there's one thousand two hundred million Christians of the
world - that He was unlike Jonah. He said, I will be like Jonah, you
say He was unlike Jonah. If I was a Jew, I would not accept Him as my
Messiah. I am told in the Qur'an that Jesus was the Messiah. I accept.
He was one of the mightiest messengers of God - I accept. I believe
in His miraculous birth. I believe that He gave life to the dead by
God's permission. And He healed those born blind and the leper by
God's permission. But if I was a Jew, according to the sign that He
has given, He failed. Jonah is alive - Jesus is dead. They are not
alike. I don't know in what language you can make them alike - that
they are like one another. So the clever man. you know, the doctor of
theology, the professor of religion, he tells me that I don't under-
stand the Bible.

Your Bible, I don't understand. Why don't I understand the Bible? He
says, "You see Mr. Deedat, Jesus Christ is emphasizing the time fac-
tor." Note, He uses the word "three" four times. For Jonah was three
days and three nights. so shall the Son of Man be three days and three
nights. He uses the word "three" four times.

In other words, He's emphasizing the time factor - not whether He
was dead or alive. I'm tellinq you that there is nothing miraculous
in a time factor, Whether the man was dead for three minutes or three
hours or three weeks, that's not a miracle.

The miracle, if there is one at all, is that you expect a man to be
dead and he's not dead. When Jonah was thrown into the sea, we expect
him to die. He didn't die, so it's a miracle. A fish comes and gobbles
him - he ought to die. He didn't die, so it's a miracle. Three days
and three nights of suffocation and heat in the whale's belly, He
ought to die: he didn't die. It's a miracle, it's a miracle because
you expect a man to die and he didn't die.

When you expect a man to die, and if he dies, what's so miraculous
about that? I ask you, what's miraculous about that? If a gunman took
a gun and fired six shots into the heart of a man and he dies, is that
a miracle? No. But if he laughs it off. if he is still alive and walk-
ing with us and if, after the six shots tear his heart to pieces, he
laughs: ha ha ha ha --- he's alive. So we say it's a miracle. Can't
you see? The miracle is when we expect a man to die and he doesn't
die. When the man who is expected to die, dies, it's no miracle.

We expect Jesus also to die. For what He had been through, if He
died, there is no miracle. There's no sign. If He didn't die, it's a
miracle - can't you see? So He says, "No, no. It is the time factor."
Drowning men clutch at straws - drowning women do the same. He says,
"No. it's the time factor." I say, did He fulfill that? He says, "Of
course, He fulfilled that." I say, how did He fulfill it? Look, it's
very easy to make statements. HOW did He fulfill it? I say, watch.
When was He crucified, I ask you? The whole Christian world says on
Good Friday. Britain, France, Germany. America,
Lesotho. Zambia - in South Africa we have a public holiday - every
Christian nation commemorates Good Friday. I am asking, what makes
Good Friday good?

So the Christian says, "Christ died for our sins, That makes it
good." So He was crucified on the Good Friday. He says, yes. Yes. I
say, when was He crucified - morning or afternoon? So the Christian
says in the afternoon. How long was He on the cross? Some say three
hours, some say six hours. I say, I am not going to argue with you.
Whatever you say, I accept. You know, when we read the Scriptures,
they tell us that when they wanted to crucify Jesus, they were in a
hurry. And they were in such a hurry that Josh tells us in his book,
The Resurrection Factor, that within some 12 hours, there were six
separate trials. Six trials He went through.

These things only happen in films. These sort of things - six trials
in 12 hours from midnight to the next morning and on, only take place
on films. But I believe whatever you tell me. Whatever you tell me, I
accept. So the Jews were in a hurry to put Him up on the cross. Do you
know why? Because of the general public. Jesus was a Jew. The general
public loved Him. The man had healed the blind and the lepers and the
sick and had raised the dead. He had fed so many thousands of people
with bread and fish. He was a hero, and if they discovered - the ge-
neral public - that their hero's life was in danger, there would have
been a riot.

So, they had a midnight trial. Early in the morning they took Him to
Pilate. Pilate says, "He is not my kettle of fish - take Him to Herod."
Herod says, "I'm not interested - take Him back to Pilate. And hurry,
hurry, hurry." And they held six trials within 12 hours. Six. As if
they had nothing else to do, but I believe what you tell me.

They succeeded in putting Him up on the cross, according to your
witnesses. According to your witnesses. But as much as they were in a
hurry to put Him up, they were in a hurry to bring Him down. You know
why? Because at sunset on Friday, at six o'clock, the Sabbath starts.
You see, the Jews count the days, night and day, night and day. We
Muslims count our days, night and day, night and day. Not day and night.
We count night and day. Six o'clock, our day begins in the evening.

So, before sunset, the body must come down because they were told in
the book of Deuteronomy that they must see to it that nobody is hanging
on the tree on the Sabbath day. "That thy land be not defiled which the
Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance." So quickly, quickly, they
brought the body down and they gave Him a burial bath, and they put a
hundred pounds of medicine around Him. And they put Him into the
sepulchre. Not a grave - a sepulchre. A big, roomy chamber above ground.
So it's already evening. From three o'clock in the afternoon, for
whatever you do, the details are given in Josh's book. Burial baths
normally take more than an hour. You read the details about how the Jew
give a burial bath to the dead. That takes more than an hour itself. But
let's say they succeeded in doing all these things in a hurry, hurry. You
know they were in a hurry. Six trials in 12 hours. Now they put Him into
the sepulchre.

By the time they put Him in, it's already evening. So watch - watch
my fingers. Friday night He's supposed to be in the grave. Watch my
finger. Saturday day, He still is supposed to be in the grave. Am I
right? Saturday night, He still is supposed to be in the grave. But
Sunday morning, the first day of the week, when Mary Magdalene goes to
the tomb, the tomb was empty.

That's what your witnesses say. I am asking - how many days and how
many nights? You remember, I said, supposed, supposed, supposed...
You know why? Because the Bible doesn't say actually when He came out.
He could have come out Friday night. The Bible doesn't say how He came.
So, Friday night, Saturday day, Saturday night. I'm asking, how many
days and how many nights? Please, if you can see, if your eyes are not
defective, tell me how many? How many do you see? Right! Two nights and
a day. Look at this. Is it the same as He said, for as Jonah was three
days and three nights, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three
nights? Three and three. Look at this: two and one. Please tell me now
it means the same thing.

I want to know what you are reading. I want to know what you are
reading in your own book! The man is telling you that what is going to
happen will be like Jonah. And the sign of Jonah is a miracle. And the
only miracle you can attribute to this man, Jonah, is that we expected
him to die and he didn't die. Jesus - we expect Him also to die. If He
died, it is not a sign. If He didn't die, it is a sign.

Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen of the jury. Can you see, the
people have been programmed. We all get programmed from childhood. When
I went to America, and spoke at the University in San Francisco, I
said you people are brainwashed. I told them, "You are brainwashed." Of
course, I could afford to talk to them - the American will take it. He
is the almighty. You know, great guy. He can take it. So I said, "You
people are brainwashed." So one American, a professor, interjected,
"No, not brainwashed - programmed." I said, "I beg your pardon - pro-
grammed." So, Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, I hope, by the time
this meeting is over, you will be re-programmed into reading the book
as it is, and not as you are made to understand.

Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen.



# Josh McDowell

Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. Mr. Deedat, and the wonderful
people of this city, and this country of South Africa, I am thankful
for the opportunity to be a part of this symposium on Islam and Christi-
anity's view of the crucifixion and the resurrection.

In preparation for this, I didn't realize that I would be dealing
with so many different theories on the crucifixion from the Islamic
viewpoint. I found out, first of all, that the majority of the Muslims
throughout the world hold to the substitutionary theory. That in Surah
number 4, in the Qur'an, a substitute, another person, was placed in
Christ's position on the cross that Jesus was removed and taken to
heaven.

In other words, it was someone else. But then, I found such a diverse
opinion among Muslims. Some Muslim writers say that it was a disciple
of Jesus who was placed on the cross in His stead. Another Muslim wri-
ter, Tabari, quoting Ibn Ishaq, said it was a man by the name of Sargus,
or Sergius, who was placed on the cross. Another Muslim writer by the
name of Baidawi, said it was a Jew named Titanus who was placed on the
cross. Another, Ath-Tha-'labi, says it was a Jew named Fal Tayanus, who
was placed on the cross. And still another Muslim writer. Wahb ibn
Munabbah, said it was a Rabbi of the Jews, Ashyu, who was placed on the
cross.

Then, others feeling that it might be a little unfair to put an inno-
cent man there, say, well, it must be Judas Iscariot who was placed on
the cross. Now, Mr. Deedat might be able to correct me, but I do not
believe there is any evidence whatsoever in the Qur'an for that. There
are in some of the sects. earlier than Islam, references to that. But I
always wondered, why did God have to have a substitute? Why couldn't He
have simply taken Jesus then?

Others will say - and this is not what the majority of Muslims believe
- that Jesus died a natural death some years after the crucifixion and
the alleged resurrection. In other words, "Hazrat Isa," Jesus is dead!
This is a more recent development in Islam. And I'm always wary of
recent developments.

It was started mainly by a man by the name of Venturini, who said
Jesus really didn't die on the cross - He just swooned or passed out,
then was put into a tomb and resuscitated. This is also the theme of
the Ahmadiyas, a radical sect of Islam. One of their main doctrines,
established by their founder and allegedly their prophet, Mirza Ghulam
Ahmad, it is a part of the doctrine of Qadianism.

Some will say to be crucified means to die. Therefore, Jesus wasn't
crucified because He did not die on the cross. I'm not quite sure how
they got that definition. What I need to do is this: present the facts
to you, as I have been able to document them in my books, and then let
you, as fair minded, intelligent people, make up your minds. The back-
ground for the points I'm going to make is that when I was in the Uni-
versity, I wanted to write a book against Christianity. I wanted to
refute it intellectually. The last thing I wanted to do was become a
Christian. But after two years of research and spending a lot of money
and time, I discovered facts - not only facts that God has stated in
His Holy Word, the Bible, but facts that are documented in sources in
history. Men and women, these are some of the facts that I found as I
tried to refute Christianity and I couldn't.

The first fact I found is that Jesus was not afraid to die. In fact,
He predicted His own death and resurrection. He said, "Behold, we are
going up to Jerusalem." He said to His disciples, "The Son of Man is
going to be delivered up to the death. And they will deliver Him to the
Gentiles to mock and to whip and to crucify Him. And on the third day He
will be raised up" (paraphrased from Matthew 17:22-23).

In another place He began to teach them that He had discovered many
things. And then He said He'd be rejected by the elders and the chief
priests and the scribes, He would be killed, and He added that after
three days, He was to rise again (Matthew 20:18, 19).

In Matthew 17, Jesus said to them, "The Son of Man is going to be
delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill Him, and He will be
raised again on the third day."

The second thing I learned as I studied the life of Jesus Christ is
that Jesus was willing to die. In Matthew 26, He said, "My Father, if it
is possible, let this Cup pass from Me." But what a lot of people leave
out is the context of what Jesus said. He said, "Yet not as I will, but
as Thou wilt, Father" (Matthew 26:39).

Now Jesus did not hide Himself. He is very clear about where He is. It
says in John 18 that He went to the place where they usually found Him.
He didn't want to hide from the authorities. He knew what was going to
happen. In John 18, verse 4, it says, "Jesus therefore. knowing all the
things that were going to come upon Him." He knew it! And He was ready
for it. In Matthew Jesus says, "Don't you understand, I could call on twelve
legions of angels to protect Me?" But He said, "I want Your will. Father."
and God answered His prayer and let Him fulfill "the will of the Father."
Jesus said in John 10: "The Father loves Me because I lay down My life
that I may take it up again. No one has taken it away from Me, but I
lay it down on My own initiative." You have to remember - Jesus being
the God-Man, came as God the Son, the eternal Word, to take the sins
of the world upon Himself. The Holy Bible (I Corinthians 5:21) says that
He, God, made Jesus sin for us, and, if you can, imagine the agony that
the eternal Word, the Son, was going through at that time.

The third fact that I learned is that the Jews were not guilty of the
crucifixion of Jesus Christ. I was very surprised. Mr. Deedat, that you
needed to be the defender of the Jews. There are Muslims and Christians
that have gotten that distorted all through history. Jesus said in Matthew
20. verses 18 and 19, "We are going up to Jerusalem, and they will
condemn Me to death. and will deliver Me over to the Gentiles, to mock
and whip and crucify Me." Jesus said, "I lay down My life." If anyone
was guilty, Jesus was. He said, "I have the power to lay it down, I
have the power to take it up."

Also, Mr. Deedat, I feel that both you and I are responsible, because
the Bible says,"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God"
(Romans 3:23). It was our sins that drove Jesus Christ to the cross.

The fourth fact that I learned is that the Christians are called to
an intelligent. intellectual faith - not a blind faith. I was quite
surprised when I read in the little booklet, What Was the Sign of
Jonah? by Mr. Ahmed Deedat, that over one thousand million Christians
today blindly accept that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ. I'm a little
confused, because really, Mr. Deedat, you read from the Qur'an and you
said you accept it, you don't need facts, you don't need any evidence.
You simply accept it and then you're saying that Christians, because
they accept what God, Yahweh, has revealed through the Holy Bible, that
Jesus is the Christ, that because we accept that, we do it blindly. I'm
amazed, because in the Muslim book, the Qur'an, it states that one of
the titles given to Jesus is "al-Masih." I believe it is referred to 11
times that way. The Muslim translator of the Qur'an into English, Yusuf
Ali, translates the Arabic here as "Christ" in the English translation.
So, why are we accused of being blind in accepting Jesus as the Christ?

In my country, one of the greatest legal minds that ever lived - the
man who made the university of Harvard famous - was Dr. Simon
Greenleaf. He became a Christian through trying to refute Jesus Christ
as the Eternal Word and the resurrection. Finally, after trying to do
it, he came to the conclusion that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is
one of the best established events of history, according to the laws of
legal evidence administered in the courts of justice.

C.S. Lewis, the literary genius of our age, was the professor of
medieval and renaissance literature at Oxford. He was a giant in his
field. No one could question his intellectual capabilities. He became
a believer in Jesus Christ as his Savior and Lord when he tried to
refute the reliability of the New Testament and he couldn't. And he
said, "I was one of the most reluctant converts, but I was brought to
Jesus Christ because of my mind."

Lord Caldecote, the Lord Chief Justice of England, a man that held
the highest offices that anyone could hold in the legal systems of
England, said, " ... as often as I have tried to examine the evidence
for Christianity, I have come to believe it as a fact beyond dispute."

Thomas Arnold was the headmaster of a major varsity and university
for 14 years. He is an historian and the author of the famous three-
volume series, the History of Rome. He said, "I know of no one fact in
the history of mankind which is proved by better and fuller evidence
than the resurrection of Jesus Christ."

Dr. Werner von Braun, the German scientist - the man who immigrated
to my country - was one of the creators of the American Space Program.
He said he never really became a scientist until he came to know Jesus
Christ personally as Savior and God.

The fifth fact that I discovered was the historical accuracy of the
Christian Bible. The Christian New Testament is exceptional in its
reliability and trustworthiness and survival down through history. It
is unrivaled in manuscript authority. A manuscript is a hand-written
copy over against a printed copy. Men and women, of the Christian New
Testament alone, there are more than 24,000 manuscripts. Not versions
of the Bible, Mr. Deedat, manuscript copies. Men and women, the number
two book in all of history in manuscript authority and literature, is
Homer's Iliad, with 643. The number two book in the whole of history
in manuscript authority.

Then, Sir Frederick Kenyon was a man who was second to no one in the
ability and the training to make authoritative statements about manu-
scripts of literature in history. The former curator and director of
the British Museum, he said, "The last foundation for any doubt that
the Scriptures have come down to us as they were written now has been
removed. Both the authenticity and the general integrity of the books
of the New Testament may now be regarded as finally established."

The point: there are some people who do not have an historical per-
spective of literature, who try to make an issue out of the fact that
the writers of the four accounts of the gospel, Matthew, Mark, Luke and
John, never signed their names. Please, men and women, we need to go
back through history and see how they did it then.

First of all, the manuscripts were so well-accepted as being authori-
tative, with everyone knowing who wrote them, they did not need names
placed on them. You might say it was the writers' way of not distrac-
ting from the purpose of making Jesus Christ the central issue. Also,
the work of these authors, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, went through
the apostolic age. They went through the test of the apostolic period
of the first century to confirm their accuracy, authenticity and reli-
ability. Other people, through limited reading and absence of any type
of research, say that the documents of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John
are hearsay because the writers were not eyewitnesses of the events
surrounding the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The people who say that will often appeal to Mark 14:50. They say
that within two minutes they could dismiss the argument because Jesus'
followers all left Him and fled. So therefore, everything was hearsay.
Men and women. this line of reasoning ignores common sense in the
facts of the case. For example, read just the next four verses. It
says this: "And Peter followed Him." You see, they left Him in a group,
but they came back individually - immediately, Mr. Deedat.

Verse 4 says: "And Peter followed Him at a distance." He went right
into the courtyard of the high priest. And he was sitting there with
the officer. Can you imagine? With the officers, and warming himself.
In Mark 14, it says, "And Peter was below, in the courtyard." Men and
women, if you have studied the Scriptures, you'll realize that Mark,
in his gospel, was writing down all the eyewitness accounts of Peter.
Peter was right there. Then we go to John 18, verse 15: "And Simon
Peter was following Jesus, and so was another disciple. Now that
disciple was known to the high priest and entered with Jesus into the
court of the high priest." John 19:26, "When Jesus therefore saw His
mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His
mother, 'Woman, behold your son.' " They were eyewitnesses. They were
there.

About being permissible in a court of law. In most legal situations,
you have what can be referred to as an ancient document rule. Now, you
have to go to law to substantiate these things. Dr. John Warwick
Montgomery is a lawyer and dean of the Simon Greenleaf School of Law,
and a lecturer at the International School of Theology and Law in
Strasbourg, France.

He said that the application of the ancient document rule to the
documents of the New Testament (especially the four gospels) - this is
a head of a law school speaking - "Applied to the gospel records, and
reinforced by responsible lower (textual) criticism, this rule would
establish competency in any court of law."

The greatest eyewitness testimony is not found in the gospels. It is
found in I Corinthians, the epistle by the apostle Paul, chapter 15,
and was written in A.D. 55 to 56. I have yet to find a reputable scho-
lar who would deny that. Paul says (now it's 20 years earlier, right
after his conversion - he had met with the leaders. He had met with
James, the brother of Jesus in Jerusalem), that the tradition was
passed on to him that there were over 500 eyewitnesses of the resur-
rection. If you take that into a court of law, give each eyewitness
just six minutes, that would make 3,000 minutes of eyewitness testi-
mony, or 50 hours of eyewitness testimony.

However, that's not the key point here. That was the tradition handed
down to him, what he had examined personally. But Paul says then, the
majority of them are still alive right now. Not when the tradition was
passed down, but right now. Men and women, Paul was saying, "If you
don't believe me, ask them."

Also, many people overlook the fact that when the message of Jesus
Christ was presented by the apostles and disciples, and the New
Testament was shared, present in the audience were hostile and antago-
nistic witnesses. If they would have dared to depart from the truth of
what was said, there were hostile witnesses to correct them immediate-
ly. In a court of law that is referred to as the principle of cross-
examination. They did not dare to depart from the truth. Also, apart
from the Bible, you have several extra biblical secular sources.

One, a man by the name of Polycarp, was a disciple of the apostle
John. He writes in his works. going back almost 2.000 years ago, "So
firm is the ground upon which these gospels rest, that even the here-
tics themselves would not undermine it." They had to start from what
was presented and then develop their own heresy. Because even then,
they could not say, Jesus didn't say that. Jesus didn't do that then...
they couldn't do that. So, they had to start with what He said, and
develop their own heresy.

The conclusion of many scholars is a tremendous confidence in the
Christian Bible. Mr. Millar Burrows was on the staff of Yale Univer-
sity. one of the most prestigious universities in my country. He said.
"There is an increase of confidence in the accurate transmission of
the text of the New Testament itself." Dr. Howard Vox, a researcher
and archaeologist, said, "From the standpoint of literary evidence,
the only logical conclusion is in the case where the reliability of
the New Testament is infinitely stronger than any other record of
antiquity."

The sixth fact that I discovered was that Christ was crucified. What
does the historical, reliable record show? It is clear, not only from
the Christian's biblical historical record, but also from secular sour-
ces, which are documented in the back of my book, Evidence That Demands
a Verdict, that He not only predicted His death by crucifixion, but
that He was actually crucified. Jesus said that He would be whipped
and delivered over to be crucified. And then. in John 19:17. 18, "They
took Jesus therefore, and He went out, bearing His own cross, to the
place called the Place of a Skull.... There they crucified Him, and
with Him two other men, one on either side, and Jesus in between."

Let's follow through what actually happened. First of all, it points
out that Jesus was whipped by the Romans. What did that mean? The Ro-
mans would strip a person down to the waist and would tie him in the
courtyard. Then they would take a whip that had a handle about a foot
and a half long. At the end of the handle, it had four leather thongs
with heavy, jagged bones or balls of lead with jagged edges, wound
into the end of the straps. A minimum of five. They would be different
lengths. The Romans would bring the whip down over the back of the
individual and all the balls of lead or bone would hit the body at the
same time. and they they would yank the whip down. The Jews would only
permit 40 lashes. So they never did more than 39 so they wouldn't
break the law if they miscounted. The Romans could do as many as they
wanted. So, when the Romans whipped a Jew, they did 41 or more out of
spite to the Jews. And so he had probably at least 41, if not more,
lashes.

There are several medical authorities that have done research on
crucifixion. One is a Dr. Barbet, in France, and another is Dr. C.
Truman Davis, in the state of Arizona in my country. He is a medical
doctor who has done meticulous study of the crucifixion from a medical
perspective. Here he gives the effect of the Roman flogging:

"The heavy whip is brought down with full force again and again
across (a person's) shoulders, back and legs. At first, the heavy
thongs cut through the skin only. Then, as the blows continue, they
cut deeper into the subcutalleous tissues, producing first an oozing
of blood from the capillaries and veins of the skin, and finally spur-
ting arterial bleeding from vessels in the underlying muscles. The
small balls of lead first produce large, deep bruises, which the
others cut wide open. Finally, the skin of the back is hanging in long
ribbons, and the entire area is an unrecognizable mass of torn, bleed-
ing tissue."

Other sources I have documented said that sometimes the back is
literally opened up to the bowels within. Many people would die just
from the whipping.

After the whipping they took Jesus out to the execution area and
drove spikes into His wrists and His feet. It says that late that
Friday afternoon they broke the legs of the two thieves hanging with
Jesus, but they did not break His legs. Now, why did they break some-
one's legs? When you are prostrate on the cross, or hanging there,
they bent the legs up underneath and drove the spike through here.
When you died by crucifixion, often what would happen is you would die
from your own air. The pectoral muscles would be affected and you could
not let your air out. You could take it in, but could not let it out.

And so, you'd hang there and suffocate, you would push up on your
legs to let the air out, and then come down to take it in. When they
wanted to bring about the death immediately, they broke their legs and
they couldn't push up, and they would die. Jesus' legs were not broken.
As the Holy God, revealing His Holy Word in the Bible, points out,
Jesus had died. Men and women, if they had broken His legs, He would
not have been our Messiah. He would not have been the Eternal Word,
because God, Yahweh in the Old Testament, prophesies in Psalms that
His legs would not be broken. His bones would not be broken. Men and
women, He was fulfilling what God, Yahweh, had already revealed would
take place.

The next fact that I discovered was that Christ was dead. That's the
seventh fact that I discovered, Men and women, in John 19:30, Jesus
willed Himself to die, That's why He didn't take so long, He came to
die. He said, "I lay My life down." And in John 19, He said, "It is
finished," and He bowed His head and He gave up the Spirit, He willed
Himself to die, Now, in John 19, verse 34 (Mr. Deedat, in his booklet,
has referred to it as 'Evidence That Jesus Was Not Dead') you have
reference to the blood and water.

He was on the cross and they'd already acknowledged Him being dead,
but they thought they'd give a parting shot, as you would say, They
took a spear, and thrust it into His side. Eyewitness accounts said
blood and water came out separated, Mr. Deedat, in his book, appealed
to this phenomenon as evidence that Christ was still alive, He supports
this in his writing, by an appeal to an article in the Thinkers Digest
1949, by an anesthesiologist. I was able to acquire medical research
by various people in this area.

I have time to share just two of the findings. First, from a scho-
lastic viewpoint: many medical and university or varsity libraries
that once carried this journal, no longer do so. It is considered by
many in the medical field to be not only out of date, but behind the
medical times.

Second, from a medical viewpoint: A wound of the type inflicted on
Jesus, if the person were still alive, would not bleed out the wound
opening, but bleed into the chest cavity, causing an internal hemorrh-
age. At the aperture of the wound, the blood would be barely oozing
from the opening, For a spear to form a perfect channel that would
allow the blood and serum to flow out the spear wound is next to im-
possible. The massive internal damage done to a person under cruci-
fixion, and then being speared in the heart area, would cause death
almost immediately, not even including what happens with the details
of a Jew's burial.

At the State of Massachusetts General Hospital, over a period of
years, they did research on people who died of a ruptured heart.
Normally, the heart had 20 cc's of pericardial fluid. When a person
dies of a ruptured heart, there is more than 500 cc's of pericardial
fluid, And it would come out in the form of a fluid and clotted blood.
Perhaps this is what was viewed at that time.

The Jewish burial would have been a final death blow. Mr. Deedat says
in his book, page 9, in "What Was the Sign of Jonah"? that they gave
the Jewish burial bath, plastered him with 100 pounds of aloe and
myrrh. Now, going through whipping, where the back is almost laid open,
having your arms and feet pierced, being put on a cross, having a spear
thrust in your side, being taken down and then plastered with 100-some
pounds of spices of cement consistency - it would call for a greater
miracle than the resurrection to live through that,

Then, the severe discipline of the Romans. Pilate was a little
amazed, and I would have been too, that Christ had already been dead,
or that they had come and asked for the body, So, he called a centurion
in. And he said, "I want you to go and confirm to me that Jesus is
dead." Now men and women, this centurion was not a fool. He was not
about ready to leave his wife a widow.

The centurion would always check with four different executioners.
That was Roman law. There had to be four executioners. They did that
so in case one man was a little lax, the other one would catch him in
it, And you would never have all four lax in signing the death warrant.
Discipline was severe with the Romans.

For example, when the angel let Peter out of jail in Acts 12 in the
New Testament, Herod called in the guard and executed them all - just
for letting one man out of jail. In Acts 16 in the Christian New Testa-
ment, the doors had been opened up in the jail for Paul and Silas,
their chains had been loosened, and the moment the guard saw they were
freed, he pulled out his own sword to execute himself. And Paul said,
"Wait a minute!" You see, that guard knew what would happen, He would
rather die by his own sword, than be executed by the Romans.

Then Christ was dead. Flavius Josephus, the Jewish historian, records
that when he went into Jerusalem in A.D. 70 when Titus was destroying
it, he saw three of his friends being crucified. They had just been put
up there. They had been whipped and everything. He went to the com-
mander of the guard and he said, "Please release them." Now, you have
to understand, Flavius was the name given to Josephus by the Roman
Emperor who had brought him into his own family. That's why he had
influence as a Jew. And you know, immediately, the Roman guard captain
took the three men down from the cross and still, men and women, two
of the three died. They'd just been put up there and they were removed
quickly. Crucifixion was that cruel.

The Jews knew that Jesus was dead. In Matthew 27 they went to the
Roman leader and said, "Sir, we remember that when He was still alive.
..." In other words, what is He now? Dead! "When He was still alive
He said, 'After three days I am to rise again.' "I believe Mr. Deedat
has his books saying that the Jews realized they'd made a mistake. He
really wasn't dead, so they thought they wouldn't make a second mis-
take, so they go and get a guard unit put there. Well, the Jews them-
selves said He was already dead. "We just want to make sure no one
takes His body so there won't be any deception." The Jews have been
accused of a lot of things, but very seldom have they ever been accused
of stupidity. They knew He was dead.

The next fact I discovered was the burial procedure of the Jews. Some
people say they were hurrying because of the Sabbath coming, and they
had to carry Him back. Men and women, I checked this out in detail. And
I documented in my Resurrection Factor book that the burial procedure
was so important they could even do it on the Sabbath. They didn't have
to worry about the Sabbath coming up. They didn't want the body to hang
on the cross once the Sabbath began, but they could take their time
burying Him. They would put spices around the body - in this case, 100
pounds of aromatic spices - along with a gummy, cement substance.

They would stretch the body out or straighten it out. They'd take a
piece of linen cloth 30 centimeters wide. They would start to wrap the
body from the feet. In between the folds, they put the cement consist-
ency and the spices. They wrapped the body to the armpits, put the arms
down, started below the fingers again, wrapped to the neck, and put a
separate piece around the head. In this situation, I would estimate an
encasement of 117 to 120 pounds.

The next fact that I discovered is that they took extreme security
precautions at the tomb of Jesus Christ. One, it says that they rolled
large stone against the tomb. Mark says the stone was extremely large.
One historical reference going back to the first century says that 20
men could not move the stone. Now. I think it was exaggerated a little
bit there. But he was making a point about the size of the stone. Two
engineering professors. after they heard me speak on the stone, went
to Israel. As non-Christian engineering professors, they calculated
the size stone needed to roll against a four-and-a-half to five-foot
doorway of the Jewish tombs. They wrote me a well-documented letter,
and said it would have to have a minimum weight of one and a half to
two tons.

Mr. Deedat, in his books, makes an issue that one man, or two at the
most, rolled the stone against the entrance. Therefore, one or two men
could roll it back. It says Joseph of Arimathea rolled the stone
against the entrance. Don't force on the Bible or the Qur'an anything
you would not force in conversation today. For example: when I came to
the stadium the other day to look it over. I said to one of the people
that brought me here, "How did all these chairs get here?" He said, "Mr.
Deedat brought them." Mr. Deedat, did you bring all 700 of these
chairs personally, yourself? No! They were brought by many people. I
could go away from here saying Mr. Deedat put on this symposium. But I
think there were some others that helped make all the arrangements.

History says Hitler invaded France. Now, maybe he would have tried
it in France alone, but I don't think he would try it in South Africa alone.

There could have been a number of people that helped Joseph of Arima-
thea. Plus, you find when you go back and research it out that the
tombs had a trough going up the side. They placed the stone there. They
had a block. Then, men and women, my seven-year-old daughter could roll
it, because you simply pull up the block, letting the stone roll down
the front and lodge itself against the entrance of the tomb.

Then, a security guard was put there. The Jews wanted one. They went
to the Romans and said, give us a guard unit. The Greek word was
kustodia. Men and women, a kustodia was a 16-man security unit. Each
man was trained to protect six square feet of ground. The 16 men,
according to Roman history, were supposed to be able to protect 6
square yards against an entire battalion and hold it. Each guard had
four weapons on his body. He was a fighting machine, almost the same
as was true of the Temple Police.

Next, a Roman seal was placed on the tomb with a Roman insignia.
That seal stood for the power and the authority of the Roman Empire.
The body of Christ was encased with 100 and some pounds of cement and
aromatic spices. A one-and-a-half to two-ton stone was rolled against
the entrance: a 16-man security unit was placed there, and a Roman
seal. But something happened. It's a matter of historical record:
after three days, the tomb was empty.

I don't have to debate that. Mr. Deedat agrees the tomb was empty.
So, I won't waste any time here.

The sign of Jonah - I'm so glad you brought that up. The sign of
Jonah - won't take too much time there because I don't think it's
necessary in this sense. Whenever you study something, you study it
in the language and the culture of that day. Now, you go back to the
Jewish language, and the Jewish culture of that day. Not today - not
South African, not Indian, not American. The Jewish-Israelite culture
of that day.

Let's see what three days and three nights mean. In Esther, chapter
4, in the Old Testament of the Christian Jewish Bible, it says there
was a fast for three days and three nights. But then. it went on, and
it says they completed the fast on the third day. You see. in Jewish
language, "after three days and three nights," meant "to the third day"
or "on the third day." Jesus said in Matthew 12:40 He would be buried
for three days and three nights.

In Matthew 20, Jesus said He would be raised up on the third day -
not after the third day. The Jews came to Jesus, and they said in
Matthew 27, verse 63, "Sir...that deceiver said 'After three days I am
to rise again.'" So, they asked for a Roman guard. Now watch the langu-
age here. "Therefore, give orders for the grave to be made secure until
the third day," not after the third day. They knew what Jesus said,
three days and three nights, meant until the third day, "lest His
disciples come and steal Him away."

Friday before six o'clock they had three hours to bury Him. It took
less than an hour. The Jewish reckoning of time in the Jewish Talmud
and the Babylonian Jerusalem Talmud (the commentaries of the Jews),
said any part, an "onan" - any part of the day is considered a full
day. On Friday before six o'clock by Jewish reckoning, any minute was
one day and one night. From Friday night at six o'clock to Saturday at
six o'clock, was another day and another night.


Men and women, from Jewish reckoning - not ours - any moment after
six o'clock Saturday night is another day, another night. We do the
same thing in my country. If my son was born one minute before midnight
on December the 31st, on my income taxes to my government, I could
treat my son with the same time principle as having been born at any
time during that one full year - 365 days and 365 nights.

When the Roman guards failed in their duty, they were automatically
executed. One way they were executed was they were stripped of their
clothes and burned alive in a fire started with their own clothes. The
seal was broken. Men and women, when that seal was broken, the security
forces were thrown into finding that man or men, and when they were
found, anyone breaking that seal was condemned to crucifixion upside
down.

The stone was removed, men and women, and I'll ask Mr. Deedat to
check it out carefully. The revealed Word of God in the Christian New
Testament, in the original Greek (as the Qur'an is in Arabic, the New
Testament is in Greek), points out that a one-and-a-half- to two-ton
stone was rolled up a slope, away from not just the entrance, but away
from the entire tomb, looking like it had been picked up and carried
away. Now, if they wanted to tip-toe in, move the stone over, and help
Jesus out, why all the efforts to move a one-and a-half to two-ton
stone up away from the entire sepulchre? That guard unit would have
had to have been sleeping with cotton in their ears and with earmuffs
on not to have heard that one.


Then, Mary went to the tomb in John 20. Mr. Deedat says that she went
there to anoint the body and that the word "anoint" means "to massage."
Well, let me tell you, if that's true - it's not - but if it were true,
and that's the way the Muslims do it, it would have killed Jesus. If I
went through crucifixion, had my hands and feet pierced, my back laid
open to the bowels, 100 and some pounds put around me, I wouldn't want
anyone to massage me. The word "anoint" means "consecrated." As Mr.
Deedat brought out in his book, the priests and kings were anointed
when being consecrated to their office. When He said, "Touch Me not,"
Mr. Deedat says it means, "I am hurting - don't touch Me." Well, read
the next phrase, Mr. Deedat. It says, "Do not touch Me, because I
haven't yet ascended to the Father."


That's why they're not to touch Him because "I haven't ascended to
the Father." And then He says, "Now, go tell My disciples I am ascen-
ding to the Father." A little bit later, He says, "You can touch Me.
Grab My feet." Why did He do that? Oh, men and women, this is one of
the most beautiful things. In the Old Testament, at the tabernacle,
the Jewish high priest would take the sacrifice into the Holy of
Holies. And the people would wait outside, because they knew if God
did not accept their sacrifice, the priest would be struck dead.

They would wait for the high priest to come back. And when the high
priest walked back out, everybody shouted with joy! Because they said,
"God has accepted our sacrifice" Jesus said, "Don't touch Me ... I've
not ascended to the Father." Jesus, between that time and when the
others grabbed hold of Him and touched Him, ascended to God the Father,
presented Himself as a sacrifice, and, ladies and gentlemen, if Jesus
had not come back, if He had not permitted the others to touch Him, it
would have meant His sacrifice had not been accepted. But I thank God
He came back and said, "Touch Me". It's been accepted.

As for the spiritual physical body of Jesus Christ, I think, Mr.
Deedat, you need to first study our Scriptures. I think you need to
read just as I did to study your scriptures. You need to read I Corin-
thians 15:44, 51. The explanation of the glorified, imperishable body.
It was a spiritual body, and yet, it had substance. He could walk
through a door; He could appear in their presence. He didn't need food,
but He took food. Otherwise, they would have said, "You're merely a
spirit." No, He had what the Bible called the resurrected, glorified,
incorruptible body. And if I were in that room and I knew I'd seen Him
crucified, buried and everything else, and all of a sudden, with the
doors locked, He appeared in the midst of the group, I think I'd be a
little frightened, too. Men and women, Jesus Christ is raised from the
dead! Thank you.



* REBUTTALS


# Ahmed Deedat

Mr. Chairman, and ladies and gentlemen of the jury. The crux of the
problem - the clear-cut statement by Jesus Christ, is the mistake that
the disciples were making in thinking that He had come back from the
dead. By assuring them that "a spirit has no flesh and bones, as you
see Me have." This is King's English, basic English. And one does not
need a dictionary or a lawyer to explain to you what it implies.

Throughout the length and breadth of the 27 books of the New
Testament, there is not a single statement made by Jesus Christ that
"I was dead, and I have come back from the dead." The Christian has
been belaboring the word resurrection. Again and again, by repetition,
it is conveyed that it is proving a fact. You keep on seeing the man,
the man's eating food, as though He was resurrected. He appears in the
upper room - He was resurrected. Jesus Christ never uttered that word
that "I have come back from the dead," in the 27 books of the New
Testament, not once.

He was there with them for 40 days. And He never uttered that
statement. He is proving again and again that He was that same Jesus,
the one who had escaped death, so to say, by the skin of His teeth.
Because He was ever in disguise. He never showed Himself openly to the
Jews. He had given them a sign. "No sign shall be given unto it except
the sign of Jonah." No sign, but this. And He never went back to them
to the temple of Jerusalem, to tell them, "Here I am." Not once. He was
ever in hiding. Now, we will not belabor the things that have passed.

The points were, that Jesus was not reluctant to die. He had actually
come for this purpose. Now, my reading of the Scriptures tells me that
not only was He reluctant, but He was preparing for a show-down with
the Jews. You see, at the last Supper, He raises the problem of de-
fense, telling His disciples, "As you remember, when I sent you out on
your mission of preaching and healing, I told you that you were not to
carry anything with you. No purse, no sticks. No staff. Did you lack
anything?"

And they said "No, we lacked nothing." But now, I tell you, He tells
them, "Those of you who have no swords must sell their garments and
buy them." You must sell your garments and buy swords. I'm asking you,
what do you do with swords? You peel apples? Or you cut people's
throats? What do you do with swords? So one of them said, "Master, we
have two already." And He said, "That is enough."

And He takes His disciples - 11 of them. Judas had already gone to
betray Him. Eleven disciples and Himself, and they walk to Gethsemane.
And at Gethsemane - read the book, read your gospels - and it'll tell
you that Jesus put eight men at the gate. I'm asking you, why should
He go to Gethsemane in the first place? And why put eight at the gate,
telling them, "Tarry ye here, and watch with Me."

He means, stop here, and keep guard. Guarding what? What was there
to guard in Gethsemane? A courtyard, olive press, empty place. What
were they, the disciples, to guard five miles out of town at Gethse-
mane? Then He takes with Him, Peter, and the two sons of Zebedee. At
least two of them had swords. And He makes an inner line of defense
and He tells them, "Tarry ye here, sit ye here, and watch with Me.
While I go and pray yonder... I alone go and pray beyond." I'm asking
you, why did He go to Gethsemane? Why did He go there - to pray?
Couldn't He have prayed in that upper room, while there at the Last
Supper? Couldn't He have gone to the temple of Jerusalem, a stone's
throw from where they were? Why go five miles out of town? And why put
eight at the gate? And why make an inner line of defense?

And He goes a little farther, and falls on His face, and He prays to
God. "Oh, my Father ... if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me."
Meaning, remove the difficulty from Me, but not as I will, but as Thou
wilt. In the end, I leave it to You. But I want You to save Me. And,
being in agony, He prayed more earnestly, and His sweat was as if it
were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. Is this how one
man, a person goes to commit suicide? Is this how the person who is
ordained from the foundation of the earth, for the sacrifice, is this
how He behaves, I ask you?

That He is sweating, it says, being in an agony, He prays more
earnestly, and His sweat was as if it were great drops of blood falling
down to the ground. And the Lord of Mercy sends His angel, says the
Bible. An angel came to strengthen Him. I say, in what? In the belief
that God was going to save Him. What does the angel come to strengthen
Him in? To save Him. And in everything that happened from there onward,
you can see God planning His rescue. Look. The fact was that the pro-
phecy He had made was that He would be like Jonah - and we are told
that He was unlike Jonah. He didn't fulfill. Jonah is alive, Jesus is dead.

Then, Pontius Pilate - he marveled when he was told that Jesus was
dead because in his knowledge, he knew no man can die within three
hours on the cross. Because this crucifixion was to be a slow, linger-
ing death. This was the real purpose of crucifixion. It was not getting
rid of an anti-social character, like a firing squad, or hanging, or
impaling a person. It was a slow, lingering death.

And the bones were not broken - says the Bible. It was a fulfillment
of prophecy. Now, the bones of an individual - of a dead person -
whether you break them or not, is of the least consequence. If the
bones were not broken, the only time it can help anybody, is if the
person was alive. So you see, for 2,000 years now, it's a programming,
a continuous programming. And Paul has put the whole gamut of religion
on one point: on this death and resurrection, because he tells us,
I Corinthians, chapter 15, verse 14, that "if Christ is not risen from
the dead, our preaching is in vain: our faith is in vain." Useless!
You haven't got a thing!

So now, like drowning men clutching at straws, the Christian must,
by hook or by crook, prove that somehow crucifixion killed the man, so
we can earn salvation. Now, we would like you, Mr. Chairman, ladies and
gentlemen of the jury, to read this book once more, and the testimony,
word for word. If you examine the prophecies - what Jesus says. and the
way He behaves - they are conclusive proof that Christ had not been
crucified .



# Josh McDowell

I'm not sure that I heard, but did you say, "Nowhere in the 27 books
of the New Testament did Jesus ever say He was 'dead and now alive'"?
May I read to you from the book of Revelation, chapter 1, verse 18? He
said, "I am the living one. I was dead, and behold, I am alive forever-
more." Also, Mr. Deedat, He appeared to the Jews. The whole New Testa-
ment Church was started with Jews. He appeared to the Jewish anta-
gonist, the apostle Paul, when he was Saul of Tarsus.

But men and women, the greatest thrill to me, when it comes to the
resurrection and Christ as my Life and Savior, is that God Yahweh has
promised, when a man enters into that relationship through asking
Christ to forgive him, who died for our sins, was buried and raised
again on the third day, that God, the Holy Spirit, enters that person
and changes them. And one of the greatest evidences is my own life.
After I came to the point where I acknowledged Jesus Christ as my
Savior and Lord, surrendered my will up to Him, and trusted Him, men
and women, in about six months to a year, or a year and a half, the
major areas of my life were changed.

First, I developed a desire to live a holy and godly life. Second, I
started to experience a peace and genuine joy - it wasn't because I
don't have conflict - it's in spite of conflict, the peace that God
gives through Jesus Christ. Third, I gained control over my temper. I
almost killed a young man my first year in a university. I was con-
stantly losing my temper. After I trusted Jesus as Savior and Lord, I
would catch myself arising to the crisis of losing my temper, and it
was gone!

Not only my friends noticed it, but my enemies did a lot sooner. And
only once now, in 22 years that I have had a personal relationship with
God Yahweh, the Father, through His Eternal Word, the Son, only once
have I lost my temper. He has given me a supernatural strength over it.

The greatest area, men and women, that I'm thankful I can share here,
is the very love of God. In this sense: My father was the town alco-
holic. I hardly ever knew my father when he was not drunk. My friends
in school would make jokes about my father making a fool of himself.
I lived on a farm and I'd go out to the barn and see my mother lying
in the gutter in the manure - the bathroom of the cows - beaten so
badly by my father, my mother couldn't get up and walk.

We would have friends over. I'd take my father, tie him up in the
bam, and park the car up around the side, and tell my friends he had
to go on an important business trip, so I wouldn't be embarrassed. I'd
take him into the bam where the cows would have their little calves.
I'd put his arms through the boards, and tie them. I'd put a rope
around his neck and pull his head all the way over the backboard, and
tie it around the feet, so if he shuffled his feet, he would kill himself.

One evening, two months before I graduated from high school, I came
home from a date. When I went into the house, I heard my mother crying
profusely. And I said, "What's wrong?" She said, "Your father has
broken my heart. And all I want to do is live until you graduate, then
I just want to die."

Do you know, two months later, I graduated. And the next Friday, the
13th, my mother died. Don't tell me that you can't die of a broken
heart. My mother did, and my father broke it. There was no one I could
have hated more. But men and women, when I came into this relationship
with God Yahweh, through His Eternal Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, after
a short period of time, the love of God took control of my life, and
He took that hatred and turned it upside down.

So much so, I was able to look my father square in the eyes and say:
"Dad, I love you." And the neatest thing is, I really meant it! I
transferred to another varsity or university. I was in a serious car
accident with my legs, arm and neck in traction. I was taken home. My
father came into my room. He was very sober because he thought I was
almost dead. He asked me this question: "How can you love a father
such as I?" I said, "Dad, six months ago, I despised you. I hated you."
Then I shared with him how I'd come to the conclusion seen so clearly,
that God Yahweh, the Father, had manifested Himself to us, humanity
through the Eternal Word, His Son. And then He had died for our sins,
that's the anguish He went through, Mr. Deedat.

If you could imagine all the sins in the world - just your sins and
my sins would be enough. But all the sins in the world are upon the
Son. The anguish that was involved. And I said, "Dad, I asked Christ
to forgive me. I asked Him to come into my life as Savior and Lord."
I said, "Dad, as the result of that, I have found the capacity to love
and accept not only you, but other people just the way they are."

I can look at you, Mr. Deedat, and say, "I honestly love you ... God
has given me a love for you ... I love you so much, I would love to
have you come to know Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord." And my father
finally just said, "Son, if your God can do in my life what I have seen
Him do in your life, then I want to know Him personally."

Right there, my father just prayed something like this: "God, if
You're God, and Christ is the Eternal Word, Your Son, if You can for-
give me and come into my life and change me, then I want to know You
personally."

Men and women, my life was basically changed in six months to a year,
to a year and a half. And there are still many areas for God to change.
But then, take my father. His life was changed right before my eyes.
Mr. Deedat, it was like somebody reached out and turned on a light
bulb. Do you know, he only touched whiskey once after that. He got it
to his lips, and that was it. He didn't need it anymore. Fourteen
months later, he died. Because three-fourths of his stomach had to be
removed, as a result of 40-some years of drinking. But do you know,
ladies and gentlemen, in that 14-month period, scores of businessmen
in my home town and the surrounding area committed their lives to the
living God, through the Eternal Word, Jesus Christ, because of the
changed life of one of the town's drunks.

My wife, Dottie, puts it this way. She says, "Honey, because Christ
was raised from the dead, He lives. And because He lives, He has the
infinite capacity through the Holy Spirit to enter a man or woman's
life, and change them from the inside out." That is why the resur-
rected, living Christ said in one of the 27 books of the New Testament,
"I was dead, now I am alive." He can say, "I stand at the door of your
life and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will
come in."


* CLOSING STATEMENTS


# Ahmed Deedat

Mr. Chairman and ladies and gentlemen of the jury. Man is coward by
nature. From the beginning of Adam, you remember, passing the buck.
It's not me, it's the woman; and the woman, it's not me, it's the ser-
pent. Man is coward by nature. And we want somebody else to carry the
burden for us. We want somebody else to take the medicine when we are
sick. We want somebody else's appendix to be removed, when ours is
rotten. This is man in general.

But this is not what Jesus Christ said. He wanted you to take up your
own cross - get yourself crucified. Listen! He says, "He is not of Me
who does not take his cross and follow Me." Take up your cross and
follow Me. In other words. Get yourself crucified. No, no, no. No, He
didn't mean that. What He meant was, that as I carry My responsibility,
you carry yours. As I pray, you pray. As I fast. you fast: as I'm
circumcised, you be circumcised, what I do, you do. You carry your own
responsibility.

This is what He meant. Now, that is the Islamic system! This is what
Islam teaches. You see, the system that saves you after years of al-
coholism, after years of pinching 10 cents from the collection plate,
you read it here, in Josh's book, He says every Sunday, the only thing
he got out of church was he was putting in 25 cents and taking out 35
for milk-shakes. And then, later on in life, if you study, we find the
same thing is being done on a very high level of intellectualism, But
we haven't got the time to go into that.

Let me end with the message of Jesus: He says, "Verily, verily, I say
unto you, except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the
scribes and the pharisees, you shall by no means enter the kingdom of
heaven." There's no heaven for you. This is what He says; these are His
words. And what is happening is, you are not contradicting His words.
This is Islam! Unless you are better than the Jews, there is no heaven
for you.

He didn't say it's the blood, but your righteousness, You must be
better than the Jews, You must fast, as the Jews fasted, but on a
higher level: you must pray, as the Jews prayed, but on a higher level,
you must give charity, as the Jews gave charity, but on a higher level.
And that is Islam.

So, Mr, Chairman, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I say that this
resurrection, as has been addressed by Josh in America, under the
heading, "Hoax or History," I will conclude that here are one thousand
million people being taken for a ride on a cross. In Durban, every
week, we have horses taking thousands of people for a ride - every
horse. But here, you are being taken for a ride on the cross.

Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen.


# Josh McDowell

Mr, Deedat, nowhere in the Christian Bible revealed by God is a
Christian ever commanded to be crucified. We are told to acknowledge
that we are already crucified in Jesus Christ.

In Romans 8:32, God, speaking from eternity into time, says, "He who
did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up ... up for us all." In
my country, a young lady, who was picked up for speeding, was brought
before the judge, The judge said, "Guilty or not guilty?" and she said,
"Guilty." He brought down the gavel, and the judge fined her $100 or 10
days. Then, an amazing thing took place. The judge stood up, took off
his robe, placed it over the back of the chair, went down in front, and
paid the fine. He was a just judge. His daughter had broken the law.

No matter how much he loved his daughter, he had to say $100 or 10
days. But he loved her enough, he was willing to go down, and take the
penalty upon himself, and pay it. This is a clear illustration of what
God Yahweh has revealed through His Holy Word. God loves us. Christ
died for us. The Bible very clearly points out the wages of sin is
death. So, God had to bring down the gavel.

But, men and women, He loved us so much, He was able to set aside
His judicial robe, and come down in the form of the man Jesus Christ.
And go to the cross and pay the price for us. And now, He can say, "I
stand at the door of your life and knock. And if anyone hears My voice,
and opens the door, I will come in."

Yes, Mr. Deedat, one billion Christians are riding on the cross. We
are being taken for a ride. I believe God has provided the cross as
the chariot to heaven, through the shed blood of His divine Son.

Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen, for giving me the
privilege, as a person from another country, to come here, and Mr.
Deedat, I am greatly indebted to you for this opportunity. And if you
come to my country, we'll have dinner together. Thank you.
THE END.

*This text was copied from a Christian Web Site called "Christian Answers to Islam".