Rebuttal to Akbarally Meherally : WHY THERE ARE TWO SEPARATE SEATS IN THE HEAVEN, IF THERE IS ONLY ONE GOD?

Jesus Christ, who was in the form (image) of God, acted as a bond Servant of God,

while upon this Earth... happens to be the prevalent principle Christian Belief,

based upon the dubious teachings of Paul. In his Letter to the Philippian believers,

who enjoyed a very special relationship with him, Paul wrote thus:

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in

the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited,

but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness.

And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the

point of death -- even death on a cross. Philippians 2: 5 to 8

In other words, being born in human form, Lord (God) Jesus Christ emptied himself

and acted as a bond servant of God, upon this Earth.

Meherally:

Today, Jesus Christ is no more upon this Earth in his human form. The purpose,

as well as the period of his acting in the human form was accomplished,

finished and over the DAY when he left this Earth.

Let us examine the Bible and see what happened in Heaven, when Jesus was

no more in human form and was not acting as a Slave...

"While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them

and said to them, 'Peace be with you.' They were startled and frightened,

thinking they saw a ghost. He said to them, 'Why are you troubled, and why

do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself!

Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see

I have.' When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet.

And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he

asked them, 'Do you have anything here to eat?' They gave him a piece of

broiled fish, and he took it and ate it in their presence."

Luke 24:36-43

"Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples

when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, 'We have seen the Lord!'

But he said to them, 'Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put

my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not

believe it.' A week later his disciples were in the house again, and

Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood

among them and said, 'Peace be with you!' Then he said to Thomas, 'Put

your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side.

Stop doubting and believe.' Thomas said to him, 'My Lord and my God!'

Then Jesus told him, 'Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed

are those who have not seen and yet have believed.'"

John 20:24-29

"Brethren, I may say to you confidently of the patriarch David that he both

died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Being therefore

a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would

set one of his descendants upon his throne, he foresaw and spoke of the

resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did

HIS FLESH see corruption. This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all

are witnesses."

Acts 2:29-32 RSV

"'In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people

everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with

justice by THE MAN he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all

men by raising him from the dead.' When they heard about the resurrection

of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, 'We want to hear you

again on this subject."

Acts 17:30-32

"But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there,

the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything

under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be

like HIS GLORIOUS BODY."

Philippians 3:20-21

"For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity dwells (Greek-

katoikei) in bodily form..."

Colossians 2:9

"... The verb katoikei 'dwells' is in the present tense and indicates

that Christ was, is, and always shall be the embodiment of Deity... It is, thus,

a mistake to restrict this verse to the incarnation. If Paul had the incarnation

in mind, he would have written the verb in the aorist tense. But the present

tense clearly indicates that absolute deity resides bodily in Christ

permanently... The embodiment may have begun at the incarnation, but

it is an ongoing reality in heaven where the glorified body of Jesus resides

until His return to judge the living and the dead." (Dr. Robert Morey,

Trinity - Evidence and Issues [Grand Rapids, MI; World Publishing Inc., 1996],

pp. 359-360; bold emphasis ours)

"to settle down, to be at home (Col. 1:19). The pres. act. ind. tense indicates

the continually state and points to the pres. reality." (Rienecker & Rogers,

Linguistic Key to the Greek New Testament [Grand Rapids, MI; Zondervan, 1980], p. 573)

"Paul uses the present tense. He does not say that the Word became flesh

but that the fullness of the Godhead dwells or is dwelling in Christ. And surely

that indwelling did not just begin with the incarnation. It is an eternal

indwelling." (Morey, Trinity, p. 360; bold emphasis ours)

"Because in Him there is continuously and permanently at home all the

fullness of absolute deity in bodily fashion." (Morey, p. 358)

"For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, THE MAN Christ

Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men - the testimony given in

its proper time." 1 Timothy 2:5-6

Meherally:

God said to Jesus "Sit at my right hand" (Hebrew 1: 13).

And, Jesus obediently sat down on a SEAT that was on God's Right Hand. Since

that day he has been obediently sitting on that SEAT...

Ask any knowledgeable Christian; Where is Jesus Christ today? The answer

that you will likely get is; He is sitting on the right hand of God.

"I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that

you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious

inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.

That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in

Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand

in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion,

and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in

the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed

him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness

of him who fills everything in every way."

Ephesians 1:18-23

"And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the

firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the

supremacy."

Colossians 1:18

"Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name

that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should

bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess

that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

Philippians 2:9-11

"... and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also - not the

removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God.

It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven

and is at God's right hand - with angels, authorities and powers in submission

to him. 1 Peter 3:21-22

"Jesus declared, 'Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship

the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship

what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the

Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will

worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of

worshipers the Father seeks. GOD IS SPIRIT, and his worshipers must

worship in spirit and in truth.'"

John 4:21-24

"He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation."

Colossians 1:15

"Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor

and glory forever and ever. Amen."

1 Timothy 1:17

"... which He will bring about at the proper time - He who is the blessed

and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone possesses

immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen

or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen."

1 Timothy 6:15-16

"Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?

If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold,

You are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the

remotest part of the sea, Even there Your hand will lead me, And Your right

hand will lay hold of me. If I say, Surely the darkness will overwhelm me,

And the light around me will be night, Even the darkness is not dark to You,

And the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to You."

Psalm 139:7-12

"'Am I a God who is near, declares the LORD, 'And not a God far off? Can a man

hide himself in hiding places so I do not see him? declares the LORD. Do I not

fill the heavens and the earth?' declares the LORD."

Jeremiah 23:23-24

"Every one upon it will disappear while your Lord's face will remain

full of majesty and splendor." S. 55:26-27 (T. B. Irving - The First American

Version of the Quran).

"The ones who swear allegiance to you merely swear allegiance to God.

God's hand rests above their hands..." S. 48:10

Allah said: "Granted is thy prayer, O Moses! And indeed We conferred

a favour on thee another time [before]. Behold! We sent to thy mother,

by inspiration, the message: 'Throw [the child] into the chest, and

throw [the chest] into the river: The river will cast him up on the

bank, and he will be taken up by one who is an enemy to Me and an

enemy to him: But I endued thee with love from Me: And [this] in order

that thou mayest be reared under Mine eye.'" S. 20:36-39 -

King Fahd Holy Quran

"He it is who created the heavens and the earth in six days; then

He mounted the throne." S. 57:4 - M. M. Pickthall English Translation

Meherally:

I have FIVE QUESTIONS for a believing Christian:

Why "GOD THE FATHER" and "GOD THE SON" are NOT sitting on "ONE SEAT",

since the play acting is redundant in the Heaven?

If in reality THEY BOTH are "ONE" ("I and my Father are One"

John 10: 30), Why Only ONE GOD and TWO SEPARATE SEATS ??

"To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne,

just as I overcame and sat down with my Father ON HIS THRONE."

Revelation 3:21

"Therefore, 'they are before THE THRONE OF GOD and serve him day

and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will spread his

tent over them. Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst.

The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb

AT THE CENTER OF THE THRONE will be their shepherd; he will lead them

to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their

eyes.'"

Revelation 7:15-17

"Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal,

flowing from THE THRONE OF GOD AND OF THE LAMB down the middle of the

great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of

life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And

the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will

there be any curse. THE THRONE OF GOD AND OF THE LAMB will be in the

city, and his servants will serve him."

Revelation 22:1-3

"For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person -

such a man is an idolater - has any inheritance IN THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST

AND OF GOD."

Ephesians 5:5

Meherally:

Why did ONE Command the OTHER, to "Sit" on His right hand???

Are they not BOTH "CO-EQUAL" in GLORY and MAJESTY????

"Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, BEING

IN VERY NATURE GOD, did not consider equality with God something to be

grasped, BUT MADE HIMSELF NOTHING, taking the very nature of

a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance

as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death - even death on

a cross! THEREFORE God exalted him to the highest place and gave

him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every

knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every

tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

Philippians 2:5-11

"The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life - only to

take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my

own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up

again. This command I received from my Father."

John 10:17-18

"When he was gone, Jesus said, 'Now is the Son of Man glorified and

God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will

glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once.'"

John 13:31-32

"And now, Father, GLORIFY ME (Greek- doxason Me) in your

presence with the glory I had with you before the world began."

John 17:5

"The imperative is most commonly used for commands, outnumbering

prohibitive imperatives about five to one. As a command, the imperative

is usually from a superior to an inferior in rank. It occurs

frequently with the aorist and present (only rarely with the perfect tense).

The basic force of the imperative of command involves somewhat different

nuances with each tense

. With the aorist, the force generally

is to command the action as a whole, without focusing on duration,

repetition, etc. In keeping with its aspectual force, the aorist puts

forth a summary command..." (Wallace, Greek Grammar Beyond

the Basics [Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids MI, 1996], p. 485;

bold emphasis)

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word

was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were

made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life,

and that life was the light of men... He was in the world, and though

the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him...

No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the

Father's side, has made him known."

John 1:1-4, 10, 18

"So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews persecuted

him. Jesus said to them, 'My Father is always at his work to this very day,

and I, too, am working.' For this reason the Jews tried all the harder

to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling

God his own Father, MAKING HIMSELF EQUAL WITH GOD."

John 5:16-18

Meherally:

IS IT NOT THE FACT THAT THE SO CALLED "ACTING" WAS NOT A "PLAY-ACTING"

BUT A TRUTHFUL REALITY ?????

Meherally:

The Glorious Qur'an teaches;

Messiah Jesus was a Righteous Messenger of God... (3:46; 6:85)

Meherally:

And, Christ Jesus spoke the Truth:

And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and

Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth by finishing the

work that you gave me to do. Gospel of John 17: 3 - 4

The Lord is not denying His deity, but actually goes on to assert it in verse 5:

"And now Father, glorify Me with You in Your presence with the glory I had

with you before the world was."

Here we see Jesus co-existing with the Father in heavenly glory from eternity.

Far from suggesting that the Father alone is the true God, for Jesus to exist

alongside the Father in eternal glory makes him truly God as well:

"I am the LORD, that is My name; and My glory I will not give to

another." Isaiah 42:8 NKJV

"For My own sake, for My own sake, I will do it; for how should

My name be profaned? And I will not give My glory to another."

Isaiah 48:11 NKJV

Secondly, we must bear in mind that the three Persons of the Godhead glorify

The other as the following verses demonstrate:

"... Father, the hour is come; glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify

Thee." John 17:1

"He (the Spirit of Truth) shall glorify Me; for he shall receive of mine,

and shall shew it unto you." John 16:14

"Therefore, God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which

is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things

in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every

tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the

Father." Philippians 2:9-11

It is in this fashion we see that not only does Jesus acknowledge the Father's

deity, but that the Father Himself exalts Christ as God:

"But unto the Son He (God) saith, Thy throne O God, is forever and ever:

a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Thy kingdom. Thou hast loved

righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even Thy God, hath

anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows." Hebrews 1:8-9

The author affirms here that God, speaking through the psalmist in Psalm 45:6-7

addresses the Son as the true God. To reiterate, the Father is indeed the only

true God without excluding the Son and the Holy Spirit from being God, since

Scripture testifies to the deity of all three.

In fact, the Apostle John himself, the very one who records Jesus' words to

the Father in John 17:3, addresses Christ as the true God:

"And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding,

that we may know Him that is true, and we are in Him that is true, even in His

Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life." 1 John 5:20

The term for "this is", autos, is a Greek pronoun which must refer

to the nearest or last person just mentioned - in this case, Jesus.

(C.f. John 1:29-30, 1:40-41; 6:46,71; 2 John 9)

That Jesus is the one spoken of here is made even clearer by the fact that

earlier in his epistle, John specifically addresses Jesus as the eternal life:

"That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen

with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of

the Word of Life; (for the Life was manifested, and we have seen

it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life which was with

the Father, and was manifested unto us;)" 1 John 1:1-2

Finally, if the statement that the Father is the only true God means that

Jesus cannot be the true God as well, this logic would also prove that the

Father is not sovereign since the Bible says that only Jesus is sovereign:

"They are godless men who change the grace of our God into a license for

immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord (monon

despoten)." Jude 4

(Quoted from this article)

Meherally:

May Allah Guide all to HIS PATH based upon HIS REVEALED WORDS. Ameen

Meherally:

A CHRISTIAN CRITIC WRITES:

Hello Mr.Meherally, I recently read your article on the "two seats in

heaven". The term "sitting at a seat next to God" is not to be taken

literally. It only meant that Jesus is very close to God not that he is

sitting in a recliner next to the almighty. The Qur'an also acknowledges

that Jesus is most close to God- Why do you continue to deny the obvious?

MY RESPONSE:

I do not deny that Jesus is closer to God. He is closer to God alike other

Messengers of God and those chosen by Him. You write in your letter that

"Jesus is very close to God" and that by itself is an admission of the fact

that Jesus and God are NOT ONE. You have but to admit that the majority of

the Christians, continue to deny the obvious, viz. Jesus was a Messenger of

God, sent to Glorify the Sender.

Your mail should be addressed to those who are denying the obvious...