Hello Robert, thanks for writing.
You said:
"You've given an interesting explanation for the ancestry of Jesus, but I don't understand how you conclude that "David’s heir had returned to claim his throne" based on this quote: "So Pilate asked Jesus, 'Are you the king of the Jews?' 'You have said so,' Jesus replied. (Luke 23:3, NIV)." I wonder, is that Jesus claiming His throne, or is it Pilate asking a question, and Jesus simply handing the claim back to him.? I think you will find many different thoughts on this among Christians, be they laypeople, clergy, or theologians."
Great question!
In Jewish manners of speaking, there was no powerful way to affirm a statement than to say "You have said so."
Jesus is affirming as strong as possible that yes, He is indeed the King of the Jews.
There are many other passages affirming that Jesus claimed the Kingship over Israel. In John 1,:49, Nathanael calls Jesus "the King of Israel!" and Jesus receives the title without blinking. Jesus affirms him for believing it.
Further, the claim to be the "Son of Man" and the Messiah is to be the Prince of Israel, the One coming to rule Israel forever, as the book of Daniel lays out.
You said:
"This takes us back to the main point of your article. I would respond that there is what the Bible or the Qur’án say, and then there is human interpretation. The words of scripture may be eternal, yet can anyone among us honestly claim to have a perfect understanding of them? The proofs are not as irrefutable as we might hope."
Certainly, no one should say we understand all the Scriptures perfectly. We will always be learning them better and better every day we're alive, as long as we keep studying them.
But that does not mean we have to hold back from saying anything definitive.
God gave us the Scriptures to tell us about Himself, to make clear how we can be saved, to make clear how we are to live. He didn't give the Scriptures to cloud these matters, but to make them plain.
You said:
"For example, there are interpretations of the statements you have offered, "On the other hand, the Quran claims that Jesus is not God and did not die on the Cross," that shows how they do not contradict the truth of the Bible. They do, however, require a person to look at the words of that holy book in a deeper way."
That's not an interpretation, on my part.
The Quran directly claims that Jesus did not die on the Cross. The vast majority of Muslim scholars will affirm that's what the Quran teaches (I'm not aware of any who doubt it!).
This isn't a fuzzy matter where interpretations differ. It's a remarkably clear statement in the Quran that clashes with remarkably clear statements in the Bible.
