Coming from a background where my grandma passed away as a Christian, all six of my uncles died as Christians, my mom converted to Islam before her passing, I have a deeply personal connection to these issues. I remember asking my grandma once, “Why do you worship Jesus?” She told me that she once had the same question growing up and the priest told her “Jesus is God”. That’s all there is to it. You cannot ask questions like that again” and she never did.
However, throughout my life, I never saw her praying once or attend church, but if you asked her what religion she followed, she would have said Catholic. The internet did not exist at the time, books on Islam were very limited especially in small towns in France, so they never had the means to explore how or why Jesus was worshipped, and is it true that Jesus is God? And I didn’t have the knowledge then to explain it either.
This page is written with pure love and good intentions, aimed at educating those seeking the truth about Jesus (peace be upon him) and the concept of pure monotheism (one God). It is not meant to convey any sense of superiority. In Islam, every person is born pure, free from sin (there is no original sin in Islam) . If a child passes away before reaching the age of 12-15, they are considered innocent and will be rewarded with Paradise as Prophet Muhammad (peace upon him) said, regardless of their actions, their beliefs, or faith, because they are not held accountable for their deeds until they reach maturity. Once they come of age, they have the ability to make their own choices.
Claiming that Jesus is God Himself is considered shirk (associating partners to God) as explained in more details at the bottom of page 04 -“Jesus”. But when did exactly Jesus become regarded as God? How did this belief come about? Was this always the view, or did the early Christian Church understand it differently?
Jesus himself seemed troubled when someone called him “good” (let alone “God”), as described in Luke 18:18-20: “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.” Moreover, we know that Jesus worshipped God, as seen in Luke 22:41: “He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down, and prayed.” Given this, one might ask: who made the decision to elevate Jesus to divine status, and why was it falsely asserted that people should worship him? After all, Jesus himself (peace be upon him) never instructed anyone to worship him. He consistently emphasized humility, love, and devotion to God, not to himself.
In verses like Matthew 4:10, Jesus points clearly to God as the sole object of worship: “Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.” He did not say, “and serve me only!” So, the question remains: where did it all go wrong?
It started with the growing instability in the Roman Empire (Circa 33 to 325 AD):
After the departure of Jesus (pbuh), the early Christian church saw rapid growth but also faced significant internal divisions over theological matters. By the 3rd century AD, debates became more intense, particularly regarding the nature of Jesus, the doctrine of the Trinity as we know it today “The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit” and the role each person had was not clearly defined, leading to theological disputes, particularly regarding the nature of the Son, which caused divisions and began to seriously threaten the stability of the Roman Empire.
The two main theological theories that persisted during this troubled time were Arianism and the position of Athanasius:
- Arius Theory:
Arius was a priest who developed the Arianism doctrine stated that there was a time when Jesus did not exist, and only God the Father existed, therefore Jesus the Son was not co-eternal with the Father because he was a created being, distinct from God the Father. And he believed that if Jesus was raised to be divine in the same way God is, that it would undermine the absolute monotheism at the core of the Christian faith, (which is close to the Islamic view that God is one, he has no equals, the absolute monotheism).
His theory was supported by prominent figures of the church who agreed with him that Jesus was not God, figures such as Bishop Eusebius of Nicomedia, Bishop Eusebius of Caesarea, Bishop Theognis, Bishop Ursacius of Singidunum, Bishop Valens of Mursa, Bishop Macedonius of Constantinople and that just to name a few, they all believed that Jesus could not be divine the same way God is, as he was a created being. (Once again, their view closely resembled the teachings of Islam, which emphasizes that no man, nor a prophet can be divine as they are all created beings).
- Athanasius theory:
Athanasius’ theory although very confusing to understand to this day, insisted that Jesus had always existed with God from the beginning of time, that Jesus was not “born” in the way humans are born, as He is eternal and uncreated, being of the same essence as the Father. In his work On the Incarnation, Athanasius argues that Jesus, the Son of God, existed before time and was the eternal Word. While Jesus’ human birth in Bethlehem was a real event, it was the moment the eternal Word assumed a human body, not a beginning of His existence. Thus, Jesus’ divinity is eternal, and His incarnation was a unique act of God entering into a human body to be sacrificed later on the cross in order to allow the forgiveness of our sins.
At the council of Nicaea 325AD: Jesus became God
By the order of Constantine, Emperor of Rome, the Council of Nicaea took place in 325 AD in the city of Nicaea (modern-day İznik, Turkey). The Council of Nicaea would have been very similar to what a modern papal conclave is today, while both involve decision-making within the church, the Council of Nicaea was more about voting on a doctrine, while a modern conclave is focused on electing a new Pope.
It’s important to mention that Constantine himself was not particularly religious, having been baptized only shortly before his death in 337 AD, twelve years after the Council of Nicaea.
Although Rome is far from Turkey, it should be noted that Constantine made sure to be present at the Council of Nicaea to influence the outcome.
Constantine the Great, who reigned from 306 to 337 AD, was widely regarded as a great strategist, both in terms of his military expertise and his political manoeuvring. He recognized that the growing divisions among Christian factions were beginning to threaten the stability of the Roman Empire. It is written that he invited all of the 1,800 bishops from across the Christian world (roughly 1,000 from the East and 800 from the West) to join him at the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD. The purpose was to take a vote to resolve the theological dispute between the two main theories: Arius and Athanasius.
Knowing that Constantine was openly in favor of the Athanasian theory, it is recorded that only a small number of bishops attended. Bishop and Roman historian Eusebius of Caesarea counted 220, Athanasius of Alexandria counted 318, and Eustathius of Antioch counted 270 bishops present at the council of Nicaea.