8 Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us."

9 Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, `Show us the Father'?

10 Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.

11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.

12 I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.

Mr. Al-Kadhi cites only verses 8 and 9, probably because the rest of the chapter provides him with more information than he is able to dismiss or attempt to explain, and then proceeds to create his thesis : "But they were listening to Jesus' voice and looking at him standing before them! Jesus was simply telling us that his own actions and miracles should be a sufficient proof of the existence of God without God having to physically come down and let himself be seen every time someone is doubtful." Unfortunately for Mr. Al-Kadhi, this interpretation cannot be made when the verses are read in context.

Mr. Al-Kadhi then builds the following argument: "If we want to insist that when Philip saw Jesus (pbuh), he had actually physically seen God "the Father" because Jesus "is" the father and both are one "Trinity," and Jesus is the "incarnation" of God, then this will force us to conclude that John 1:18, 1 John 4:12, John 5:37... etc. are all lies." In other words, either John 14: 8-9 is wrong or the other passages are lies. Let's look at the verses cited by Mr. Al-Kadhi in which he claims that no one can ever see God, and therefore allegedly proves that John 14: 8-9 is false:

1. John 1:18

Mr. Al-Kadhi, as usual, does not quote the entire verse in context. He quotes: "No man hath seen God at any time," John 1:18. The full context is:

18 No man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

2. 1 John 4:12

Once again, Al-Kadhi selects an excerpt from a verse and attempts to make his point: "No man hath seen God at any time," 1 John 4:12 Reading this verse in context provides Mr. Al-Kadhi with more problems that he believes he solved when he cited it:

12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

13 We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.

14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.

15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God.

3. John 5:37

Mr. Al-Kadhi (once again) quotes one verse out of the context of the chapter.

37 And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form,

38 nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent.

39 You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me,

40 yet you refuse to come to me to have life.

In this passage, Jesus is telling the people that they have never heard nor seen the father, Jesus is is speaking about the father and not about the Son. Obviously, Jesus does not deny that they have seen the Son - he was standing in front of them, he also does not deny that they have seen God in the form of his Son. Why does Jesus say that they have never heard nor seen God the father? Because (verse 38) "you do not believe the one he sent".

4. John 8:19

John 8:19 is self explanatory : "Then said they unto him, Where is thy Father? Jesus answered, Ye neither know me, nor my Father: if ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also."

5. John 12:44

Mr. Al-Kadhi, once again, cites an excerpt from John 12 to attempt to make his point: John 12:44 "Jesus cried and said, He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me." When we read the verse in context, a very different meaning emerges - one that I am sure Mr. Al-Kadhi would reject.

44 Then Jesus cried out, "When a man believes in me, he does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me.

45 When he looks at me, he sees the one who sent me.

46 I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.

6. John 15:23

Al-Kadhi sites John 15:23 "He that hateth me hateth my Father also", which simply implies that Christ and God are one - something Jesus said all along!

7. Matthew 10:40-41

Mr. Al-Kadhi cites Matthew 10:40-41 "He that receiveth you receiveth me (Jesus), and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me. He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward." This does not make Al-Kadhi's case since it was God who sent Jesus and the person who receives Jesus also receives his father - God.

8. Judges 13:20-22

Mr. Al-Kadhi concludes this portion of his argument by quoting from Judges 13:20-22: "For it came to pass, when the flame went up toward heaven from off the altar, that the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar. And Manoah and his wife looked on [it], and fell on their faces to the ground. But the angel of the LORD did no more appear to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he [was] an angel of the LORD. And Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God."

He, as usual, does not complete the story through the omission of a key verse:

23 But his wife answered, "If the LORD had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and grain offering from our hands, nor shown us all these things or now told us this." Incidentally, Manoah and his wife saw the Angel of the Lord, not God.

Mr. Al-Kadhi moves on with his argument by asking: "Well, is Philip the only one who ever "saw the father"?" and he cites several passages to build a case. Al-Kadhi begins with John 6:46 :"Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen the Father."

Mr. Al-Kadhi continues by saying "Who is this who "is of God" and had seen the Father you ask? Let us once again ask the Bible:" and cites John 8:47: "He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God."

Al-Kadhi then quotes 3 John 1:11: "Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God" and then concludes by asking the rhetorical question: "Have all people who have done good also physically seen God?" The flaw in Mr. Al-Kadhi's reasoning is that God can also be seen in the flesh in the form of Jesus Christ.

The Rebuttal to "What Did Jesus Really Say?"
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