Short answer
On seven points, the Bible says one thing and many churches do another. The Ten Commandments forbid bowing down to images, yet many churches kneel before statues and icons. God (﷾) called the Sabbath a perpetual covenant and Jesus kept it, yet most churches rest on Sunday. Leviticus forbids pork, yet most Christians eat it. Jesus fell on his face to pray, yet few Christians do. Peter was married, yet most Catholic priests must stay unmarried. Paul condemns same-sex acts, yet some churches now bless them. The Law forbids charging interest to a poor fellow Israelite, yet the churches that once punished the defence of usury now allow it. Islam keeps God's (﷾) commands as the Qur'an gives them. Islam holds that only God (﷾) changes His law, through His prophets, and that it does not bend to the fashions of each age.
Full explanation
Images
The second commandment forbids making images to bow down to. Catholic and Orthodox churches hold statues and icons (holy pictures) of Christ, Mary and the saints, and worshippers kneel before them. The Catholic Church defends this as veneration (deep respect), not worship. A mosque has no statues or pictures to bow to, and Muslims prostrate to Allah (﷾) alone. They face the Kaaba only as the direction Allah (﷾) set for prayer. It is no image of anyone.
“Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;”
Teaches that the seventh ecumenical council, Nicaea II in 787, upheld the veneration of icons of Christ, Mary, the angels and the saints against the iconoclasts. It holds that this veneration does not break the commandment against idols, because the honour given to an image passes to the person it portrays, and it is a respectful veneration, not the adoration due to God alone.
“Among His Signs are the Night and the Day, and the Sun and the Moon. Do not prostrate to the sun and the moon, but prostrate to Allah, Who created them, if it is Him ye wish to serve.”
“We see the turning of thy face (for guidance to the heavens: now Shall We turn thee to a Qibla that shall please thee. Turn then Thy face in the direction of the sacred Mosque: Wherever ye are, turn your faces in that direction. The people of the Book know well that that is the truth from their Lord. Nor is Allah unmindful of what they do.”
The Sabbath
The Law calls the seventh-day Sabbath a perpetual covenant. Luke says Jesus went to the synagogue on the Sabbath as his custom was. No word of Jesus moves the day. Yet most churches keep Sunday instead, and the Catholic Catechism (the Church's official book of teaching) says Sunday replaces the Sabbath. The churches teach the Ten Commandments as God's (﷾) law, yet moved this one by their own authority. The Qur'an says the Sabbath was laid only on those who differed over it. So Muslims have set aside no day that God (﷾) gave them.
“Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant.”
“And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.”
Teaches that Sunday is expressly distinguished from the Sabbath, which it follows each week, and that for Christians Sunday's ceremonial observance replaces that of the Sabbath.
“The Sabbath was only made (strict) for those who disagreed (as to its observance); But Allah will judge between them on the Day of Judgment, as to their differences.”
Pork
Leviticus forbids eating pork, and Isaiah warns of judgement on those who eat it. No New Testament Gospel records Jesus eating it. Years after Jesus had gone, Peter could still say he had never eaten anything unclean. Most Christians eat pork. Muslims do not, because the Qur'an forbids it.
“And the swine, though he divide the hoof, and be clovenfooted, yet he cheweth not the cud; he is unclean to you. Of their flesh shall ye not eat, and their carcase shall ye not touch; they are unclean to you.”
“For, behold, the Lord will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire and by his sword will the Lord plead with all flesh: and the slain of the Lord shall be many. They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine’s flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the Lord.”
“But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean.”
“Say: "I find not in the message received by me by inspiration any (meat) forbidden to be eaten by one who wishes to eat it, unless it be dead meat, or blood poured forth, or the flesh of swine,- for it is an abomination - or, what is impious, (meat) on which a name has been invoked, other than Allah's". But (even so), if a person is forced by necessity, without wilful disobedience, nor transgressing due limits,- thy Lord is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful.”
Prostration
In Gethsemane Jesus fell on his face and prayed. The Psalms call worshippers to bow down and kneel before the Lord. Few Christians pray with their face to the ground. Muslims prostrate in every prayer, as the Qur'an commands.
“And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.”
“O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our maker.”
“O ye who believe! bow down, prostrate yourselves, and adore your Lord; and do good; that ye may prosper.”
Celibacy
Jesus healed Peter's mother-in-law, so Peter had a wife. Paul says that he, like Peter and others, had the right to take a believing wife with him on his travels. Yet Latin-rite Catholic priests, the priests of the Western Catholic Church, are bound to celibacy, which means staying unmarried. Islam has no monks, and the Prophet (ﷺ) said that marriage is part of his way.
“And when Jesus was come into Peter’s house, he saw his wife’s mother laid, and sick of a fever.”
“Have we not power to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as other apostles, and as the brethren of the Lord, and Cephas?”
The Catholic Church's law for the Latin Church binds its clergy, as a rule, to perfect and perpetual continence for the sake of the kingdom of heaven, and so to celibacy.
Anas ibn Malik reports that three men asked about the Prophet's (ﷺ) worship and thought their own too little. One vowed to pray all night for ever, one to fast every day without a break, and one to keep away from women and never marry. The Prophet told them that he feared Allah more than they did, yet he fasted and broke his fast, prayed and slept, and married. Whoever turns away from his way, he said, is not of him.
Same-sex acts
Paul condemns same-sex acts in Romans and 1 Corinthians. Some churches now bless same-sex marriages, among them the Episcopal Church in the United States since 2015. The Qur'an forbids these acts, and Islam has not changed that.
“For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.”
“Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,”
“Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.”
The Episcopal Church's General Convention of 2015 authorised marriage services for use with same-sex couples, from the first Sunday of Advent 2015.
“We also (sent) Lut: He said to his people: "Do ye commit lewdness such as no people in creation (ever) committed before you?”
“"For ye practise your lusts on men in preference to women: ye are indeed a people transgressing beyond bounds."”
Interest
The Law forbids lending to the poor at interest. The prophet Ezekiel says the man who lends at interest shall surely die. In 1312 a church council ordered that anyone who stubbornly denied usury was a sin be punished as a heretic. A heretic is someone who stubbornly denies a teaching of the Church's faith. By 1917 Catholic law allowed lending at the legal rate. Islam still forbids interest, as the Qur'an commands.
“If thou lend money to any of my people that is poor by thee, thou shalt not be to him as an usurer, neither shalt thou lay upon him usury.”
“Hath given forth upon usury, and hath taken increase: shall he then live? he shall not live: he hath done all these abominations; he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon him.”
The council decrees that anyone who obstinately maintains that practising usury is not a sin is to be punished as a heretic.
Rules that in a loan of money or other goods it is not in itself unlawful to agree on the rate of profit allowed by civil law, unless it is plainly excessive.
“Those who devour usury will not stand except as stand one whom the Evil one by his touch Hath driven to madness. That is because they say: "Trade is like usury," but Allah hath permitted trade and forbidden usury. Those who after receiving direction from their Lord, desist, shall be pardoned for the past; their case is for Allah (to judge); but those who repeat (The offence) are companions of the Fire: They will abide therein (for ever).”
“O ye who believe! Fear Allah, and give up what remains of your demand for usury, if ye are indeed believers.”
| Topic | What the Bible says | What many churches do | What Muslims do |
|---|---|---|---|
| Images | The commandment forbids bowing down to images, not only worshipping them (Exodus 20:4-5). | Catholic and Orthodox worshippers kneel before statues and icons. | A mosque has no images. Muslims prostrate to Allah (﷾) alone. |
| Sabbath | The Law calls the seventh day a perpetual covenant (Exodus 31:16), and Jesus kept it (Luke 4:16). | Most rest on Sunday instead, though no word of Jesus moves the day. | The Qur'an says the Sabbath was laid only on those who differed over it (Qur'an 16:124). So Muslims have set aside no day that God (﷾) gave them. |
| Pork | Leviticus forbids eating it (Leviticus 11:7-8). | Most Christians eat it. | Muslims do not eat it, because the Qur'an forbids it (Qur'an 6:145). |
| Prayer | Jesus fell on his face and prayed (Matthew 26:39). | Few Christians pray with their face to the ground. | Muslims prostrate in every prayer (Qur'an 22:77). |
| Interest | The Law forbids lending to the poor at interest (Exodus 22:25). | In 1312 a church council treated defending usury as heresy. By 1917 Catholic law allowed interest at the legal rate. | Interest is still forbidden, as the Qur'an commands (Qur'an 2:275). |
Christians answer that they are free from the old Law. But the churches still teach the Ten Commandments as God's (﷾) law, and the ban on bowing to images and the Sabbath both stand in them. Only God (﷾), through a prophet, changes His law.
The Christian answer, and the reply
Colossians 2:16 — Epistle to the Colossians, chapter 2, verse 16
“Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:”
Cited for
Christians are free from the old covenant's rules on food and holy days, so eating pork and keeping Sunday are not departures from the Bible.
The response
The Sabbath is not a passing festival rule. It is one of the Ten Commandments, beside the ban on bowing to images, and the churches still teach those as God's (﷾) law. Jesus kept the Sabbath and gave no word moving it. Peter explains his vision as being about people, not food: "God hath shewed me that I should not call any man common or unclean". Until that day he had never eaten anything unclean. Paul himself taught the ban on same-sex acts, so freedom from the old rules cannot explain setting it aside.
Where it lands — Jesus gave no word moving the Sabbath or lifting the food laws, and Peter read his vision as being about people. The churches changed them on their own authority, and only God (﷾), through a prophet, changes His law.
Mark 7:19 — Gospel of Mark, chapter 7, verse 19
“because it doesn’t go into his heart, but into his stomach, then into the latrine, making all foods clean?””
Cited for
In Mark 7:19 Jesus declares all foods clean, so the food laws are over.
The response
Whatever the translation, the dispute in the chapter is about eating with unwashed hands. Matthew's telling of the same scene closes on exactly that point. And Peter, who heard this saying, still said years later that he had never eaten anything unclean.
Where it lands — The saying answered the washing question. Peter heard it and still kept the food laws.
Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 2131-2132
Teaches that the seventh ecumenical council, Nicaea II in 787, upheld the veneration of icons of Christ, Mary, the angels and the saints against the iconoclasts. It holds that this veneration does not break the commandment against idols, because the honour given to an image passes to the person it portrays, and it is a respectful veneration, not the adoration due to God alone.
Cited for
Kneeling before an icon is veneration that passes to the saint, not worship of the image.
The response
The commandment does not only forbid worshipping an image. It says "Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them". Kneeling before a statue is the act the commandment names.
Where it lands — The commandment forbids bowing to an image, whatever name is given to the honour.
Perspectives
Mainstream Christian
Christians live under the new covenant. The food laws and the Sabbath belonged to the old covenant, and the church has authority to order its worship and discipline.
Paul tells Christians not to let anyone judge them over food, drink, holy days or the Sabbath.
Rebuttal
Grant that Paul says this. The Sabbath is one of the Ten Commandments, which the churches still teach as God's (﷾) law. Jesus kept it and gave no word moving it, yet the churches moved the day: the Catechism says Sunday now replaces the Sabbath. On food, Peter said, years after Jesus had gone, that he had never eaten anything unclean. Only God (﷾), through a prophet, changes His law.
In Peter's vision a voice says that what God has cleansed must not be called common.
Rebuttal
Peter himself says what the vision means: he should not call any man common or unclean. Until that day he had never eaten anything unclean. Later the Jerusalem council asked non-Jewish believers to "abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication". So even then, not every food had been made clean.
The Catholic Church holds that honouring images is veneration passed on to the person portrayed, not worship of the image.
Rebuttal
The commandment does not only forbid worshipping an image. It says "Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them". Kneeling before a statue is the act it names.
The Islamic perspective
On each of these points, Islam keeps God's (﷾) commands as the Qur'an gives them. Islam holds that only God (﷾) changes His law, through His prophets, and that it does not bend to the fashions of each age.
The second commandment forbids bowing down to images, not only worshipping them.
The Law calls the Sabbath a perpetual covenant, and Jesus kept it.
Peter, one of Jesus' closest disciples, was married.
In 1312 the Catholic Church punished the defence of usury as heresy. By 1917 it permitted interest at the legal rate.
Islam keeps prostration, the ban on pork and the ban on interest as fixed commands of God (﷾).