New Church Life May/June 2016 | Page 19

    But the Quran also says: “ . . . they slew him not for certain. But Allah took him up to Himself.” But not “bodily” as Mr. Pendleton states, nor does the Quran refer to Jesus’ “return to the Day of Judgment.” He says “(A Quranic verse) appears to say that Jesus excelled Mohammed.” It doesn’t appear that way to me. The Quran also says: “He (Jesus) was not more than a slave.” (43:59) He adds: “What the Quran is saying is that, unlike Judaism and Christianity, Islam presents the unified, undivided message of all of God’s prophets.” (Including Mohammed) Doesn’t Christianity make such a claim? The quote just says, “We follow the religion of Abraham.” Oh well, the Quran is ambiguous, obscure and inconsistent. O U R N E W C H U RC H V O C A B U L A R Y Part of a continuing series developed by the Rev. W. Cairns Henderson, 1961-1966. FINITE This term is applied without exception to created things. It should be noted, therefore, that the spiritual, though non-material, is finite. The characteristics of the finite are that there is nothing of the Divine in its esse, that is limited by space and time or their spiritual analogues, that quality and quantity can be predicated of it, and that it is bounded both within and without. Also, the finite has a beginning and an end. Man indeed lives to eternity, but he does so by constant renewal from the Lord. (See Divine Love and Wisdom 44; Divine Providence 52; True Christian Religion 27, 29, 33; Apocalypse Explained 629) 221