Did Jesus Redeem Mankind? — Page 187
? 180 end to Christianity by showing up that the Messiah was alive after he came off the Cross and, on the other hand, he saved Islam from erroneous belief, by pointing out, that in the light of the Quranic verses, the Messiah died a natural death. How much poetic beauty underlies this dissertation? He quickened the Messiah and made short work of Christianity, and he put an end to the Messiah's life and quickened Islam. Since the Church is founded on the basis that the Messiah died on the Cross, if it is proved that the Messiah did not die on the Cross, but came off it alive, the redemption theory is demolished at once. WAS THE SACRIFICE ADEQUATE? In short, the question that confronts us is whether the Messiah died on the Cross and whether he offered the sacrifice which could be adequate atonement. A study of the Bible gives the answer in the negative. Neither the Messiah died on the Cross, nor did he offer the sacrifice which could be termed as adequate atonement. If we carefully study the New Testament, it becomes evident that the real miracle of the Messiah on which Christianity prides itself and which finds so much prominence in the early stages of Christianity, was the miracle of the Prophet Jonas. Christians were a negligible quantity for a long time after the incident