He actually postulates this as a difficult question:
I’ve always been curious about how a person can believe that God spoke to Moses and not become a Muslim. Allow me to explain my confusion.
For those who are not up to speed on your comparative religion, let me oversimplify it for you. Jews believe Moses communicated with God and that Jesus was a prophet. Christians believe that Moses communicated with God, plus Jesus is the son of God (or God himself). Muslims believe in Moses and Jesus (as human prophets) plus Mohammed.
Mohammed is known as the “seal of the prophets,” i.e. the last one, according to Mohammed, according to God.
Here’s where I get confused. I certainly understand anyone who believes that all prophets are phony. And I understand how someone could think they’re all real. But what’s the reasoning behind picking one or two prophets and assuming the more recent ones are phony?
I can understand why you might subscribe to the “big” prophets and poo-poo the fringe cult wannabe prophets. But Mohammed has exceptional credentials as far as prophets go. A billion people think so.
So for you Christians and Jews, especially Mormons, how do you go about deciding which prophets are the real ones? This is not a rhetorical question. I actually want to know.
That’s simply incredible. Even more amazing is this reaction from one of his readers, presumably an atheist: “It looks like you stumped the believers. I wish I could try to answer, but I’m a non-believer.”
Hold on there, Sherlock. The question strikes me as bordering on the bizarre, as one doesn’t even have to believe in any of the three religions concerned to provide the obvious answer, at least for the Christians. Moses did not deny the deity of Jesus Christ. Mohammed did. Jesus Christ personally affirmed the Mosaic Law, he did not and could not have affirmed any of Mohammed’s teachings. However, he did warn about false prophets and false teachers who would deny him and deceive many.
No doubt Jews will be also surprised to learn that they regard Jesus Christ as a prophet, especially considering how their past leaders demanded his execution for blasphemy.
I salute Mr. Adams newfound interest in matters spiritual, but this question reveals a poverty of thought that should be downright embarrassing.