The Holy War — Page 135
Proceedings—Debate 29 May 1893 135 really ignorant? Were they all indeed stupid? Were all of them preju- diced, and if they were prejudiced, then what was it that made them so before the advent of the Messiah? It is clear that prejudices arise when there is something competing going on. Who could they hold prejudice against when no one had claimed to be God? Therefore, this consensus of the Jews beforehand that the Messiah to come would be human and not God is sufficient proof for a seeker after the truth. If they had desired to hide the truth needlessly, why would they admit to the coming of a Prophet? Apart from this, other parts of the Torah also support and testify to the truth of this. Thus, it is clearly written in the Torah not to make a God of anything that you see in the heaven or the earth. As it is written in the Old Testament that, ‘Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth’ (Exodus 20:3)1. It is also written that if a Prophet or a seer of dreams appears among you and shows you signs or some miracle, and the same should come about as mentioned in the sign or the miracle, and he asks you to wor- ship and obey some other deity whom you do not know, then do not pay any attention to that prophet or seer of dreams. There are many such references in the Torah, and it is not necessary to write them all here, but above all is this declaration of Jesus himself that is worthy of attention. He says: ‘The first of all the commandments is, Hear O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord. ’2 Then he says, ‘And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent,’ John 17:3. And the word ا ج ی ج � [ bheij a —sent] has been used in the Torah on many occasions and always with these same meanings, that when God Almighty, by appointing some servant of His and making him a Prophet sends him into the world, then at that time it is said that this 1. In the King James Version this verse is Exodus 20:4. [Publisher] 2. Mark 12:29 [Publisher]