"If Jesus was God, why didn't He just say it?"
I used to ask that as a Muslim.
I thought I had Christians cornered. Then I actually read the Bible I was criticizing.
And I realized I wasn't looking for evidence. I was looking for a specific sentence.
But does God need your preferred wording to still be God?
Because God said: "Before Abraham was, I AM."
The Jews immediately picked up stones to kill Him. Why?
Because they knew exactly what He was claiming.
He wasn't just saying He existed before Abraham.
He was identifying Himself with the "I AM" of Exodus 3:14.
The divine name of Yahweh.
And here's what wrecked me:
The Quran calls Jesus the Messiah: The Word of God. A Spirit from God. Born of a virgin. Sinless and alive today. Returning to judge the world.
Yet I'm supposed to believe He's just another basic prophet?
No other prophet gets that description. Not Moses, David, Abraham or Muhammad.
Then you open the Bible and Jesus forgives sins, accepts worship, claims authority over heaven and earth, and rises from the dead. So no, Jesus never walked around saying, "I'm God, worship Me" in the exact sentence structure I demanded.
He did something far more powerful: He lived it, He proved it.
And honestly, after reading the Scriptures for myself, the problem wasn't that Jesus wasn't clear.
The problem was that I didn't want to hear Him.