The Honour of Prophets — Page 50
Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad 50 tain, they cannot even do so much as flip an overturned shoe without using their hands. Moreover, snakes and other such poisonous creatures kill them all the time. It may be argued in response that these verses should not be taken literally, but metaphorically. For instance, drinking poison implies that they swallow their anger and serpents signify the wicked who can do them no harm. However, before we delve into these interpreta tions, we would be justified in posing a question. All these claims were to serve as signs and the Messiah repeatedly declared that the signs which he showed would also be displayed by his followers. Now if all this was figurative and metaphorical in nature and no real sign was implied, then why should this not categorically prove that all the miracles attributed to the Messiah are also to be taken as metaphors? For he has frequently said in the Gospels that whatever miracles he manifests, his true followers would also show the same. Now when we demand such miracles to be shown, the answer we receive is that these statements do not refer to miracles, but merely to the moral state of the Christian people. Why then should it not be said that the miracles of the Messiah too are of the same nature and not actual miracles? In short, this question is one of insurmountable difficulty for the Christians to which