Muslim Inquiry: if Jesus is God or good, why does he question it in Mark 19:18?

Peace be upon you all. Alhamdulillah, praise be to God. The question above was a respond of a Christian brother on my other article. The verse in question is as follows:

الكتاب المقدس Mark 10:18

“Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone.”

I agree that in John 10:11, Jesus said “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” Therefore, if we say that by saying “good” in “good shepherd”, Jesus is proclaiming God. Then why did he complain in Mark 10:18? What Jesus should have said in Mark 10:18 is “Yes, I am good, because I am God.” instead of complaining “Why do you call me good?” and then further explaining that “No one is good but God alone”, well I thought he was God, would that mean he is referring to his God? So, maybe let’s look at other verses in the Bible’s Gospels regarding Jesus’ view of God. We find the following:

1. Jesus is a prophet (Matthew 13:57, Mark 6:5, Luke 4:24, Luke 7:16, Luke 8:8, Luke 14:33, John 4:19, John 4:44, John 6:14, John 7:40)
2. Jesus prayed to God the Father (Mark 2:35, Mark 6:46, Mark 14:32, Luke 3:21, Luke 5:16, Luke 6:12, Luke 9:18, Luke 11:1, John 17:1)
3. Jesus not knowing the hour (Mark 13:32)
4. Jesus has God (Matthew 27:46, Mark 15:34, John 20:17), how can he have a God in the first place if he is God?
5. Jesus saying the Father is the ONLY TRUE God, making Jesus not true God, but rather only servant whom the Father sent (John 17:3)
6. People like Martha does not believe Jesus as God, because he expects Jesus to be given anything by God (John 11:21)
7. People believed Jesus as a prophet and not God when Jesus brought dead to life (Luke 7:14), yet Jesus never corrected their understanding.

Jesus is both Man and God

Some Christians say, he is man when he did all of the things above, because Jesus is both man and god. My response to this, please present a supporting data, a verse Jesus is saying he is both man and god? Also, two possible cases if Jesus is both man and god:

1. Jesus is required to make an explicit explanation if he switched to man mode (since he is man/god) by saying at the start: “Look, I am going to do this, because this is how a believer should be, but don’t think of it that I am doing this (prayer, saying I have a God, not knowing the hour) as a God, but as a Man, because no God will do such thing.”

2. Jesus is not required to make any explanation if he is not a God and is a prophet, because a prophet and a man only is expected to do all of those without explanation, which he did.

Which verse then did he switched to God? Did he proclaimed to be God then? Before Abraham was I am (John 8:58), I and the Father are One (John 10:3)? I am happy to entertain that, but please research on those verses before bringing up.

Jesus talks in parable

I agree in many places in the Bible’s Gospels, but he never talks in parable when it comes to who is the one and only true God, he is very direct as in the items listed above. Those are not parables, rather direct statements.

Bring More Data

There are 3,779 verses in the Bible’s Gospels according to Wikipedia. We expect these verses to respectfully contain a significant percentage of Jesus EXPLICITLY claiming to be God. Not the other way around. The data, however, as shown above are explicitly showing Jesus is not God, but only a prophet and a Messiah, but never God.

Jesus not sinned? Jesus has God.

I believe Jesus did not make an intentional sin, all prophets by definition are chosen servant of God, and they cannot by definition make an intentional sin. If any, it will likely be unintentional, because a servant cannot by definition make an intentional sin.

The Bible, however, are respectfully works of men, though claimed by Paul to be inspired by god. This can be another write up to discuss to check if the Bible is the word of god. But for now, let’s assume the Bible is the word of God. What counts as a sin? If I call you a ‘dog’ or your sister as a ‘dog’ or your wife as a ‘dog’, would you not consider me sinning for saying that? Jesus said the following:

الكتاب المقدس Mark 7:24

“It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.””

Jesus referred to the Canaanite woman as a dog, the Gentiles. He could have said ‘unbelievers’. Why dogs? Respectfully, try calling someone dog. They will find that offensive and will look at you as someone lacking basic moral.

Dog is a pet dog in Mark 7:24

In my research, Christian explains that Mark 7:24 is a pet loved dog as seen here. Even if we call someone a pet dog, it is still a degrading term. Imagine someone calling your sister, ‘your sister is a pet dog’. I find that degrading/insulting.

However, to be fair, I also looked at what the Jews perspective on this, since Jesus and disciples are Jews. The following are the examples:

1. 1 Samuel 17:43: Goliath to David: “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” He’s offended at being treated like a stray to be chased off.
2. 2 Samuel 3:8: Abner, angry at Ish-bosheth: “Am I a dog’s head?”
3. 2 Samuel 16:9: Abishai on Shimei, who is cursing David: “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king?”
4. Exodus 22:31: Meat torn by beasts is unfit for Israel; “throw it to the dogs.”
5. Deuteronomy 23:18: “The wages of a dog” may not be brought into the temple. Many scholars think “dog” here refers to a male cult prostitute, a derogatory label.

There are also verses where dog seen as self-humility:

1. 2 Samuel 9:8: Mephibosheth to David: “What is your servant, that you should notice a dead dog such as I?”
2. 2 Kings 8:13: Hazael: “What is your servant, who is but a dog, that he should do this great thing?”

It seems like the term ‘dog’ are sometimes used by the Jews when referring to themselves and when talking to their peers as indicating humility as in 2 Samuel 9:8 and in 2 Kings 8:13. However, when they talk to the other group or their opponents, it is used as a degrading insulting term as seen in 1 Samuel 17:43, 2 Samuel 3:8, 2 Samuel 16:9, etc above.

We can therefore say that, the way Jesus used it to refer to the woman (who is a different group, not a Jew) was understood as a insulting/degrading term. In fact, the woman understood and accepted that the term dog is used by Jesus as a degrading term since Jesus sees them as lower than the Children of Israel as seen below:

الكتاب المقدس Mark 7:28

“Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs”

The woman finally made Jesus heal her daughter. Bottomline, to call someone a dog is insulting even if we say it is pet dog.

Mark 10:18 is an implied and direct claim that Jesus is God

Respectfully, I am not sure how can an explicit and direct complain be an explicit and direct claim? I’m not sure what logic this is? If that is the logic, then this example is true:

I am a Lawyer, because someone called me an Attorney, and I complained by saying “why do you call me an Attoryney? No one is an Attorney except a Lawyer.” So by that logic, I am a Lawyer.

I don’t mean to disrespect the brother, but the example I gave is meant to help understand the consequence of the logic.

God gifted us with reasoning

I know the brother who raised this wanted to defend his belief, and I understand that. As I say, I don’t mean to disrespect, but we sometimes sacrifice what God gifted us, to think and reason. The claim that Mark 10:18 is an implied and direct claim that Jesus is God is unfortunately illogical, because everyone can also be anything by simply complaining and that complain will be interpreted as a direct claim.