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http://www.themodernreligion.com ... crolls_dead_sea.htm
The Dead Sea Scrolls
By Misheal Al-Kadhi, from the Arabic Paper
The scrolls and scroll fragments recovered in the Qumran environs represent a voluminous body of Jewish documents, a veritable "library", dating from the third century B.C.E. to 68 C.E. Unquestionably, the "library," which is the greatest manuscript find of the twentieth century, demonstrates the rich literary activity of Second Temple Period Jewry and sheds insight into centuries pivotal to both Judaism and Christianity. The library contains some books or works in a large number of copies, yet others are represented only fragmentarily by mere scraps of parchment. There are tens of thousands of scroll fragments. The number of different compositions represented is almost one thousand, and they are written in three different languages: Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek.
The main categories represented among the Dead Sea Scrolls:
Biblical Those works contained in the Hebrew Bible. All of the books of the Bible are represented in the Dead Sea Scroll collection except Esther.
Apocryphal or pseudepigraphical Those works which are omitted from various canons of the Bible and included in others.
Sectarian Those scrolls related to a pietistic commune and include ordinances, biblical commentaries, apocalyptic visions, and liturgical works.
The Discovery
In 1947, young Bedouin shepherds, searching for a stray goat in the Judean Desert, entered a long-untouched cave, on the shores of the dead sea, and found jars filled with ancient scrolls. That initial discovery by the Bedouins yielded seven scrolls and began a search that lasted nearly a decade and eventually produced thousands of scroll fragments from eleven caves. These scrolls were immediately identified as the work of a very devout sect of the Jewish community that lived centuries before the birth of Jesus (pbuh).
Hershel Shanks says in his book Understanding the Dead Sea Scrolls: "Such was the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, manuscripts a thousand years older than the oldest known Hebrew texts of the Bible, manuscripts many of which were written a hundred years before the birth of Jesus and at least one of which may have been written almost three hundred years before the journey of Mary and Joseph to Bethleham" (Understanding the Dead Sea Scrolls, Hershel Shanks, pp. 7-8).
An immediate frantic search ensued through the remaining caves in the region in order to find what other ancient scrolls could be discovered therein. A small group of "international" scholars in Israel were given exclusive access to them and the rest of the world was all but totally barred from gaining even the slightest glimpse of the texts.
Prof. Eisenman observes that one of the major stumbling blocks for the publication of the scrolls was that "in the first place, the team was hardly "international". Prof. Robert Eisenman was one of the key players in the drama that finally lead to the release of the scrolls.
In his book The Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered we read: "In the spring of 1986, at the end of his stay in Jerusalem, Professor Eisenman went with the British scholar, Philip Davies of the University of Sheffield, to see one of the Israeli officials responsible for this - an intermediary on behalf of the Antiquities Department (now 'Authority') and the International Team and the Scrolls Curator at Israel Museum. They were told in no uncertain terms 'You will not see the Scrolls in your lifetimes'". This stung them into action, and as a result of this statement, a massive effort was launched and five years later, through a whirlwind of media publicity, absolute access to the scrolls was attained.
Prof. Eisenman eventually received 1800 pictures of the previously unpublished scrolls. The book goes on to describe how "Eisenman was preparing the Facsimile Edition of all unpublished plates. This was scheduled to appear the following spring through E. J. Brill in Leiden, Holland. Ten days, however, before it's scheduled publication in April 1991, after pressure was applied by the International Team, the publisher inexplicably withdrew and Hershel Shanks (author of Biblical Archiology Review) and the Biblical Archeology Society to their credit stepped in to fill the breach". However, finally in September 1991, the archives were officially opened and two months later the 2-volume Facsimile Edition was published.
We have already read the words of Mr. Tom Harpur in the preface to his book: "The most significant development since 1986 in this regard has been the discovery of the title "Son of God" in one of the Qumran papyri (Dead Sea Scrolls) used in relation to a person other than Jesus.....this simply reinforces the argument made there that to be called the Son of God in a Jewish setting in the first century is not by any means the same as being identical with God Himself." For Christ's Sake, pp. xii.
So why don't we study these scrolls in a little more detail and see what else we can learn?
The Dead Sea Scrolls consist of fragments from many manuscripts. However, some of the most interesting among them are the Pesher texts. The Pesher texts are strings of interpretations of Biblical verses compiled by the most knowledgeable among the Jews. The word itself is derived from the Hebrew root word p-sh-r, which means, "to explain". The texts consist of Biblical passages followed by the words pesher ha-davar "the interpretation of the matter is", and then the interpretation itself.
The basis of all of these texts is the notion that all of history is preordained by God. In other words, God is not restricted to looking at matters as "past", "present", or "future", rather, all of time is an open book to God. Indeed, this is the essence of how prophets receive "prophesies", because God "sees" the future. So, remembering that we are henceforth quoting from texts that have been carbon dated at about 100 years or more before the coming of Jesus (pbuh), and that this dating is confirmed by literary analysis, and that the authors were a sect of very religious and devout Jews, considering all of this let us see what they have to say:
Those who have studied the scrolls have noticed a common theme prevalent throughout these manuscripts, that is, most of the pesher texts prophesies the coming of a "Teacher of Righteousness" who will be sent by God to the Jews. This "Teacher of Righteousness" will be opposed by the "Teacher of Lies" and the "Wicked Priest". |
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These scrolls also predict the coming of two messiahs. These two messiahs are referred to as a
1) priestly and a
2) temporal messiah
What we had here was a society of very devout Jews who were convinced that the time of the coming of the two messiahs was at hand, therefore, they set about preparing for their advent by detaching themselves from the mainstream society, and dedicating their lives to their worship and the preparation for their imminent arrival.
In The Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered, by Robert Eisenman and Michael Wise, we read that the early scrolls spoke of two messiahs, but that later on, the communities of the Jews began to combine them into one messiah: "As we have suggested, contrary to the well-known 'two-Messiah' theory of early Qumran scholarship, these references to the 'Messiah of Aaron and Israel' in the Damascus Document are singular not plural... and one possible explanation for it is that it is evoking a Messiah with both priestly and kingly implications, like the somewhat similar recitations of Hebrews" (The Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered, Robert Eisenman and Michael Wise, p. 162).
"According to the dominant view in the sectarian texts from Qumran, two messiahs were to lead the congregation in the End of Days, one priestly, and the other lay" (Reclaiming the Dead Sea Scrolls, Lawrence H. Schiffman, pp. 321-322).
The Jews had prophesies of two messiahs. The first was best known to them for his "religious" or "priestly" works which he would perform. The second was best known to them for his "kingly" works; his bringing of an epoch of peace.
These two prophesies refer to Jesus (pbuh) and Muhammad (pbuh).
Jesus (pbuh) was best know for his "priestly" works. However, he never lead an army, and he never established a kingdom or a government. Quite the opposite, he called to peace and submissiveness and to leave the rule of the land to others (Matthew 22:21). He told his followers that he yet had many things to teach them but they could not bear them yet and that another would be coming after him who would teach them the complete truth (John 16:7-14).
Muhammad (pbuh) too began his ministry preaching submissivness and passiveness. However, his ministry was nurtured by God almighty to a point where it was able to defend itself and establish justice in the earth and abolish evil. His followers fought several wars in self defense and against injustice. The Islamic empire finally stretched from China to Spain and even those who did not follow Muhammad (pbuh) knew him well. However, what did they know him for? They knew him for his "kingly" actions and not for the "priestly" side of him that his followers knew.
"And fight against them until persecution is no more and religion is for God alone. But if they desist then let there be no hostility except against wrongdoers" --The Qur'an, al-Baqarah(2):193
"Those unto whom We gave the Scripture recognize him Muhammad as they recognize their sons. But verilly, a party of them conceal the truth while they know it" --The Qur'an, al-Baqarah(2):146
Over time, the prophesies of the Jews began to become a little blurred, and this in addition to the continuous persecution of many nations towards the Jews eventually lead to their blending of these prophesies into one single prophesy and their aggrandizing of this one all- conquering wondrous event that would finally relieve them of their persecution and pave the way for them to march forth conquering all nations, and establishing themselves as the protectors of the kingdom of God.
For this reason, when we read the Gospel of Barnabas, we find that when the Jews ask Jesus (pbuh) whether he is "the messiah" he replies that he is not "the messiah" that they are expecting.
"Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law." --Matthew 10:34-35
This is because he understood their question. They were not asking him for his title, rather, they wanted to know whether he was the one who would finally fulfill all of their prophesies of leadership, power, and grandeur that they had been waiting for so many centuries. For this reason, he told them that he was not "the messiah", but that "the Messiah" they were waiting for would not come until later. He was referring to the SECOND messiah in their prophesies. (the Jews had expectations of three prophecies to be fulfilled)
Lawrence Schiffman says regarding Pesher Habakkuk: "It (Pesher Habakkuk) describes the struggle between the Teacher of Righteousness and his opponents - the Man of Lies (also termed the Spouter or Preacher of Lies) and the Wicked Priest. The Spouter is pictured as heading a community. The dispute between the Teacher and the Spouter is seems to have been based on matters of religious interpretation and law. The Wicked Priest is said to have begun his rule in truth but then to have abandoned the way of truth. He then persecutes the Teacher, confronting him on the holiest day of the year, the Day of Atonement". (Reclaiming the Dead Sea Scrolls, Lawrence H. Schiffman, p. 228).
This prophesy also continues in Pesher Psalms: "This text also mentions the familiar dramatis personae: the Teacher of Righteousness, termed 'the priest'; the wicked priest; and the Man of Lies. The Wicked Priest persecuted the Teacher and sought to kill him. The man of lies lead people astray". (Reclaiming the Dead Sea Scrolls, Lawrence H. Schiffman, p. 229).
What we begin to see in all of this is the story of the coming of Jesus (pbuh), his selection of Judas as one of the apostles, the deviance of Judas from the truth, how a sect of the Jews persecuted Jesus (pbuh), how this sect tried to deceive the masses and differed with Jesus (pbuh) regarding the truth of God's message, and finally, how they schemed with Judas to kill Jesus (pbuh). The Teacher of Righteousness is thus a reference to Jesus (pbuh); the "priestly" Messiah. The Wicked Priest is a reference to Judas, and the Spouter of Lies is most likely the leader of the "chief priests and Pharisees" who persecuted Jesus (pbuh) and are mentioned so often in the Bible. |
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Many Christian scholars have snatched up these prophesies in order to prove the validity of their claim that Jesus (pbuh) was indeed sent by God and that the Jews are required to follow him. However, they have been thwarted in their attempts by one other quite amazing piece of evidence that the Jews continually manage to refute their claims with, specifically, that the Dead Sea Scrolls claim that the coming messiah will be persecuted and that the Wicked Priest will try to kill him, but that the Wicked Priest will not be successful and that it is he who will receive the fate he wished for the messiah.
In interpreting Psalms 37:32, "The Wicked watches for the righteous, seeking to put him to death," the text states: 'Its interpretation concerns the Wicked Priest who watched out for the Teacher of Righteousness and sought to put him to death'" (Reclaiming the Dead Sea Scrolls, Lawrence H. Schiffman, p. 233).
So Judas will try to kill Jesus (pbuh).
"The Wicked Priest began his career with the support of the sectarians, but he quickly lost his way and began to transgress in order to increase his wealth". (Reclaiming the Dead Sea Scrolls, Lawrence H. Schiffman, p. 233).
"And said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver". --Matthew 26:15
"Various theories have sought to identify the Teacher with Jesus, claiming that he was executed by the Wicked Priest. However, had that been the case, the text would not have gone on to explain how God took vengeance against the priest by turning him over to the 'ruthless ones of the nations'. And according to this text, the teacher certainly survived the ambush. Indeed the entire passage is an interpretation of Psalms (37:33) where the text continues, "The Lord will not abandon him (the Righteous), into his hand (the Wicked); He (The Lord) will not let him (the Righteous) be condemned in judgment (by the wicked)." (Reclaiming the Dead Sea Scrolls, Lawrence H. Schiffman, pp. 233-234).
The author goes on to quote Pesher Habakkuk with regard to the Wicked Priest's intentions and his punishment. He says: "Ultimately, however, the Wicked Priest was punished: '.. because of his transgression against the Teacher of Righteousness and the men of his council, God gave him over to the hands of his enemies to afflict him with disease so as to destroy him with mortal suffering because he had acted wickedly against His chosen one'.
The Wicked Priest's enemies tortured him which represents divine punishment for his attacks on the Teacher of Righteousness. The sufferings of the Wicked Priest are even more graphically described in another passage: 'and all his enemies arose and abused him in order for his suffering to be fit punishment for his evil. And they inflicted upon him horrible diseases, and acts of vengeance in the flesh of his body'. But the one who suffered was the Wicked Priest, not the Teacher of Righteousness.
"The enemies of the Wicked Priest, the nation against whom he had made war, are said to have tortured him, so that his life ended in mortal disease and affliction." (Reclaiming the Dead Sea Scrolls, Lawrence H. Schiffman, p. 234).
If we read the Gospel of Barnabas, we will find that when Judas came with the Roman troops in order to betray Jesus (pbuh), God raised Jesus (pbuh) unto Him and saved him. He then made Judas look and even speak like Jesus (pbuh) so that the Romans dragged him (Judas) away with them kicking and screaming that he was not Jesus (pbuh) but Judas. Even the Apostles were totally bewildered.
After the Romans had their fill afflicting Judas with all manner of abuse and torture, he was finally taken to trial. By now he had totally given up hope of ever being believed. So now when he was asked, "art thou Jesus?" He replied "Thou sayest". In other words, "you will not believe me if I say otherwise, so why fight it any more". His enemies (the Romans) then took him, mocked him, kicked him, cut him, spat on him, humiliated him, and tortured him. Finally, they put him up on the cross. It appears, however, that shortly after they took him down, he disappeared from his tomb (maybe to live in disease and torment and die later on if he was not already dead).
The Gospel of Baranabas then goes on to describe how Jesus (pbuh) returned to the apostles to tell them of how God had saved him from the hands of the Jews and the Romans and how the traitor (Judas) was taken instead.
This (above) is exactly what the Qur'an has been saying for 1400 years now; that Jesus (pbuh) was not forsaken by God to be killed by the conspiracy of the Jews and Judas, but that "it was made to appear so to them": "But when Jesus became conscious of their disbelief, he cried: Who will be my helpers in the cause of Allah? The disciples said: We will be Allah's helpers. We believe in Allah, and bear you witness that we have surrendered (unto Him). Our Lord! We believe in that which You have revealed and we follow him whom You have sent. Enroll us among those who witness (to the truth). And they (the disbelievers) schemed, and Allah schemed (against them): and Allah is the best of schemers" --The Qur'an, A'l-Umran(3):52-54.
"And because of their saying: We slew the Messiah Jesus son of Mary, Allah's messenger, and they slew him not nor crucified, but it appeared so unto them; and lo! those who disagree concerning it are in doubt thereof; they have no knowledge thereof save pursuit of a conjecture; for of a surety they slew him not" --The Qur'an, Al-Nissa(4):157
The scrolls then go on to describe how "Kittim" (the Roman empire) and the kings of Greece would both try to take Jerusalem (the symbol of the faithful), but that it would be Kittim (the Romans) who would finally be successful.
"Some texts also speak about an eschatological prophet who will announce the coming of the Messiah, a figure similar to Elijah in the rabinnic tradition" (Reclaiming the Dead Sea Scrolls, Lawrence H. Schiffman, p. 323).
Referring to the manuscript titled The Rule of the Community, verse 9:11-12, Mr. Schiffman says: "this text unquestionably refers to two messiahs who will be announced by an eschatological prophet and based on a the cave 4 manuscripts of Rule of the Community, the original publication team argued that this passage was added to the text later in the history of the sect. However, the evidence in these manuscripts does not sufficiently support such an assertion. As far as we can tell, the two-messiah concept was part of Rule of the Community from the time it was composed". (Reclaiming the Dead Sea Scrolls, Lawrence H. Schiffman, p. 324).
"And when there came unto them (the Jews) a Scripture from Allah, confirming that in their possession though before that they were invoking Allah (for the coming of Muhammad ) in order to gain victory over those who disbelieved, then when there came unto them that which they had recognized, they disbelieved in it. So let the curse of Allah be on disbelievers" --The Qur'an, Al-Baqarah(2):89
The Dead Sea Scrolls make mention of many more quite amazing and illuminating prophesies and parallels with the teachings of the Qur'an and Islam. There is so much more that could be said about the Dead Sea Scrolls and their confirmation of the Qur'an and the mission of Muhammad , however, that will have to be left to a future article where, God willing, many more detailed examples of this sort shall be analyzed in detail.
Final Note
The Dead Sea Scrolls have been the subject of avid interest and curiosity for nearly fifty years. Today, scholars agree on their significance but disagree on who produced them. They debate specific passages of individual scrolls and are still assessing their impact on the foundations of Judaism and Christianity. For the public in this country and throughout the world, the scrolls have an aura of reverence and intrigue which is reinvigorated periodically by the media--journalists who report serious disagreements among well-known scholars, as well as tabloids which claim that the scrolls can predict the future or answer life's mysteries.
Allah Knows Best....
Peace Yall.... |
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Why did the GOD of Islam allow for the "original" Bible to get corrupted or lost?
Introduction:
We must first of all know that the entire Bible is corrupted and unreliable and is mostly filled with man-made laws and corruption! GOD Almighty Said: "`How can you say, "We [the Jews] are wise, for we have the law of the LORD," when actually the lying pen of the scribes has handled it falsely?' (From the NIV Bible, Jeremiah 8:8)"
The Revised Standard Version makes even clearer: "How can you say, 'We are wise, and the law of the LORD is with us'? But, behold, the false pen of the scribes has made it into a lie. (From the RSV Bible, Jeremiah 8:8)"
In either translation, we clearly see that the Jews had so much corrupted the Bible with their man-made cultural laws, that they had turned the Bible into a lie!
See Also Deuteronomy 31:25-29 where Moses peace be upon him predicted the corruption/tampering of the Law (Bible) after his death.
The Book of Moses predicted that the Law (Bible) will get corrupted. The Book of Jeremiah which came approximately 826 years after did indeed confirm this corruption.
Why did the GOD of Islam allow for the "original" Bible to get corrupted or lost?
Answer: Before I answer this question from the Islamic perspective, we must first know that the Bible itself admits that it is a corrupted Book from the introduction above. Please visit Just who were the real authors of the Bible? and History of man's tampering with the Old Testament.
Let us see what Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him said regarding the validity and the reliability of the Bible:
Narrated AbuNamlah al-Ansari: "When he was sitting with the Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) and a Jew was also with him, a funeral passed by him. He (the Jew) asked (Him): Muhammad, does this funeral speak? The Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) said: Allah has more knowledge. The Jew said: It speaks.
The Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) said: Whatever the people of the Book [Jews and Christians] tell you, do not verify them, nor falsify them, but say: We believe in Allah and His Apostle. If it is false, do not confirm it, and if it is right, do not falsify it. (Translation of Sunan Abu-Dawud, Knowledge (Kitab Al-Ilm), Book 25, Number 3637)"
The following two Sayings of our beloved Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him were sent to me by Yusif 65; may Allah Almighty always be pleased with him:
Narrated Ubaidullah: "Ibn 'Abbas said, 'Why do you ask the people of the scripture about anything while your Book (Quran) which has been revealed to Allah's Apostle is newer and the latest? You read it pure, undistorted and unchanged, and Allah has told you that the people of the scripture (Jews and Christians) changed their scripture and distorted it, and wrote the scripture with their own hands and said, 'It is from Allah,' to sell it for a little gain. Does not the knowledge which has come to you prevent you from asking them about anything? No, by Allah, we have never seen any man from them asking you regarding what has been revealed to you!' (Translation of Sahih Bukhari, Holding Fast to the Qur'an and Sunnah, Volume 9, Book 92, Number 461)"
Narrated Abu Huraira: "The people of the Book used to read the Torah in Hebrew and then explain it in Arabic to the Muslims. Allah's Apostle said (to the Muslims). 'Do not believe the people of the Book, nor disbelieve them, but say, 'We believe in Allah and whatever is revealed to us, and whatever is revealed to you.' ' (Translation of Sahih Bukhari, Holding Fast to the Qur'an and Sunnah, Volume 9, Book 92, Number 460)"
As we clearly see in the above Sayings of our beloved Prophet peace be upon him, the source that the Jews and Christians use (i.e. the Bible or any other religious source such as their Popes', Rabbis or other religious people's verdicts) must be ignored because it is not reliable. As we've seen in the above introduction, the man-made scribes (laws) had corrupted the Bible and turned it "into a lie" (Jeremiah 8:8).
According to Islam, Allah Almighty (GOD Almighty) in the Bible promised those who try to tamper His Words in the Bible to face hell fire, because He knew that it was going to happen. He gave the people of the book (Jews and Christians) a chance/test and they simply blew it!. Today, there is no one Bible!. The number of Books/Gospels in the Roman Catholics Bible for instance is different from the King James Version Bible, which is different in the number of Books/Gospels from the Jehovah's Witnesses Bible, which is different in the number of Books/Gospels from the Mormon's Bible, etc... Look at Noble Verse 5:13 from the Noble Quran: "But on account of their breaking their covenant We cursed them (Jews and Christians) and made their hearts hard; they altered the words from their places and they neglected a portion of what they were reminded of; and you shall always discover treachery in them excepting a few of them; so pardon them and turn away; surely Allah loves those who do good (to others)." Israel, when it lost Allah Almighty's grace, began to sin against truth and religion in three ways: (1) they began to misuse Scripture itself, by either taking words out of their right meaning, or applying them to things for which they were never meant; (2) in doing so, they conveniently forgot a part of the Message and purpose of Allah; and (3) they invented new deceits to support the old ones. |
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Let us look at Noble Verse 5:41 "O Apostle! let not those grieve thee, who race each other into unbelief: (whether it be) among those who say "We believe" with their lips but whose hearts have no faith; or it be among the Jews,- men who will listen to any lie,- will listen even to others who have never so much as come to thee. They change the words from their (right) times and places: they say, 'If ye are given this, take it, but if not, beware!' If any one's trial is intended by God, thou hast no authority in the least for him against God. For such - it is not God's will to purify their hearts. For them there is disgrace in this world, and in the Hereafter a heavy punishment."
Please visit History of man's corruption in the Bible for more details. Allah Almighty in the Noble Quran on the other hand, did promise that He will personally guard the Noble Quran from corruption. He never promised hell fire to anyone who tries to tamper His words in the Noble Quran. He will guard it Himself; "We (Allah) have, without a doubt, sent down the Message (The Quran); and We (Allah) will assuredly Guard it [from corruption]. (The Noble Quran, 15:9)." Today we have only one Arabic Noble Quran.
Visit: The lie of 1 John 5:7, where it was later discovered to be a man made corruption inserted into the Bible.
"Son of GOD" conflict between the Bible and the Noble Quran.
How is Allah Almighty telling the Jews and Christians to follow their Books when these Books had been corrupted?
Do the errors in the Bible prove that the Noble Quran is not from GOD?
A continuation to my answer from sister Jacqueline S. Waheed; may Allah Almighty always be pleased with her:
The above question has [THREE] parts, so let us see the answers accordingly. To answer the part ["Muslims believe that the current Bible is not all the true word of GOD, and only the Quran is"] Yes, Muslims believes that current bible [OT &NT] is not the one[s], which God [Allaah] almighty gave to Moses and Jesus [peace be upon them]. But it is also verified and confirmed by Noble Qur'aan, which is the main source of Muslims' belief. If you read OT, NT, and Noble Qur'aan, it will become obvious that all missing links in the bible are found in Noble Qur'aan and it makes undeniable sense. That is why
once one explore the Noble Qur'aan with its entirety in almost all cases it is inevitable for him/her to not say the Shahada.
To respond to the second part of question ["If so, then why did the GOD of Islam allow for His Words to get corrupted in the Bible?"] "If so" is hardly the case here, beside that one cannot blame the God [Allaah] The Creator, all Knower, and all Seer of all heavens and earth for allowing His words to be corrupted. Such blame ONLY represents a typical frivolous product liability lawsuit mentality. That will not work in this UNIQUE case, because the God [Allaah], has already replaced the abused and
tempered [by human] product with far SUPERIOR [product] the Final Revelation *****THE NOBLE QUR'AAN***** Which by the way is another testament of God's existence that He not only can save His word, but again He can give mankind a chance to correct himself and follow his true word [The Noble Qur'aan] to be saved. Because God [Allah] is the Most Beneficent and Most Merciful.
To answer the last part of question ["or why did He allow for the original copy of the Bible to be lost?"]. Again in this part we see the frivolous product liability lawsuit mentality. Having said that God [Allaah] did not allow [original] copy to be lost. It was the keepers of bible[OT & NT] who tempered it and hide many facts that resulted in current bible not making any sense. Which by the way is also confirmed by God [Allaah] in Noble Qur'aan and I quote:
005.015 YUSUFALI: O people of the Book! There hath come to you our Messenger, revealing to you much that ye used to hide in the Book, and passing over much (that is now unnecessary): There hath come to you from Allah a (new) light and a perspicuous Book,
PICKTHAL: O People of the Scripture! Now hath Our messenger come unto you, expounding unto you much of that which ye used to hide in the Scripture,and forgiving much. now hath come unto you light from Allah and plain Scripture,
SHAKIR: O followers of the Book! indeed Our Messenger has come to you making clear to you much of what you concealed of the Book and passing over much; indeed, there has come to you light and a clear Book from Allah;
Followed by God [Allaah] emphasizing in Noble Qur'aan [next verse]:005.016
YUSUFALI: Wherewith Allah guideth all who seek His good pleasure to ways of peace and safety, and leadeth them out of darkness, by His will, unto the light,- guideth them to a path that is straight.
PICKTHAL: Whereby Allah guideth him who seeketh His good pleasure unto paths of peace. He bringeth them out of darkness unto light by His decree, and guideth them unto a straight path.
SHAKIR: With it Allah guides him who will follow His pleasure into the ways of safety and brings them out of utter darkness into light by His will and guides them to the right path.
Bottom line is that as question itself indicates by use of [words]
"original copy" which is highly inappropriate in this case. However, implication by virtue of question is absurd. Because FORENSIC AND EMPIRICAL RESULTS proves that MASTER COPY [or SOURCE CODE] was never lost nor tempered. It was and it has always been in possession of God [Allaah] the Creator of all heaven and earth. It further proves the existence of ONE and
ONLY God [Allaah] the all Knower and all Seer who way ahead foretold to Jews and Christians in OT and NT about the arrival of Prophet Muhammed [saw] and commanded Jews and Christians to follow Prophet Muhammed [saw].
Noble Qur'aan 3:64! Say (O Muhammad SAW): "O people of the Scripture (Jews and Christians): Come to a word that is just between us and you, that we worship none but All鈎, and that we associate no partners with Him, and that none of us shall take others as lords besides All鈎[]. Then, if they turn away, say: "Bear witness that we are Muslims."
Noble Qur'aan 3:85! And whoever seeks a religion other than Isl鈓, it will never be accepted of him, and in the Hereafter he will be one of the losers[].
Example: If Johnny writes a letter to Marry Joe and saves it. That Marry Joe later edits and/or modify claiming to be original letter by Johnny. That can be proven wrong by Johnny because he got the master copy. So to make Marry Joe looks like a fool and a liar all Johnny has to do is to give another copy of Jean Doe to show the people that she [Marry Joe] is lying. It pretty bad, for Marry Joe, isn't it?
Peace Yall.... |
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http://www.allaahuakbar.net/us/authors_gospels.htm
GOSPEL AUTHORS
Introduction: We must first of all know that the entire Bible is corrupted and unreliable and is mostly filled with man-made laws and corruption! GOD Almighty Said: "`How can you say, "We [the Jews] are wise, for we have the law of the LORD," when actually the lying pen of the scribes has handled it falsely?' (From the NIV Bible, Jeremiah 8:8)"
The Revised Standard Version makes it even clearer: "How can you say, 'We are wise, and the law of the LORD is with us'? But, behold, the false pen of the scribes has made it into a lie. (From the RSV Bible, Jeremiah 8:8)"
In either translation, we clearly see that the Jews had so much corrupted the Bible with their man-made cultural laws, that they had turned the Bible into a lie!
See Also Deuteronomy 31:25-29 where Moses peace be upon him predicted the corruption/tampering of the Law (Bible) after his death.
The Book of Moses predicted that the Law (Bible) will get corrupted. The Book of Jeremiah which came approximately 826 years after did indeed confirm this corruption.
Just who were the real authors of the Bible?
The quotes in green below are from the NIV Bible's commentary. Before each Book/Gospel, there are few pages explaining the history of it. I was shocked to see that most of today's Bible's Books and Gospels are doubtful and unreliable. I will start with the New Testament first, and then the Old Testament second. The bibliography of the NIV Bible that I used is listed at the end of this article.
After thoroughly reading this article, I would like you to answer the following questions:
1- Is all of the Bible GOD's Divine Revelations?
2- Did the Prophets of GOD really write the Bible of today?
3- Is the Bible perfect?
4- Did man indeed corrupt the Bible?
5- Is the Bible of today reliable?
If your answer is no to most of or all of the above questions except for #4, then allow me to say that your faith has serious problems!
You be the Judge: After all of the evidence provided in the article, should I as a non-Christian take the Bible as the word of GOD Almighty?
Exposing the New Testament's historical corruptions
The Gospel of Mark:
"Although there is no direct internal evidence of authorship, it was the unanimous testimony of the early church that this Gospel was written by John Mark. (From the NIV Bible Commentary, page 1488)"
So, in reality, we don't really know whether Mark was the sole author of this Gospel or not. And since The New Testament wasn't even documented on paper until 150-300 years (depending on what Christian you talk to) after Jesus, then how are we to know for sure that the current "Gospel of Mark" wasn't written by some pro of Mark?
I hope you see the real danger in making these assumptions when you are willing to DIE for the fact that such Gospel is the actual True Word of GOD Almighty!
Further regarding this Gospel, we read the following commentary about Mark 16:9-20:
"Serious doubts exists as to whether these verses belong to the Gospel of Mark. They are absent from important early manuscripts and display certain peculiarities of vocabulary, style and theological content that are unlike the rest of Mark. His Gospel probably ended at 16:8, or its original ending has been lost. (From the NIV Bible Foot Notes, page 1528)"
This quote raises a very serious issue here. First of all, as we've seen above in the first quote, we have no evidence that proves that John Mark was the sole author of this so called "Gospel". Second of all, we see that this Gospel has some serious problems/suspicions in it. The issue of Mark 16:9-20 is a scary one, because many Christian cults today use poisonous snakes in their worship and end up dying.
Removing Mark 16:9-20 is quite appreciated by me personally (to be quite honest with you), because it prevents people from dying from snake bites. But however, the serious issue of man's corruption of the Bible remains.
We can be absolutely certain now that the above quotes prove without a doubt that the Bible is doubtful. The quote "or its original ending has been lost" proves that what we call today "Gospels" were not written by their original authors such as Mark, John, Matthew, etc... It proves that the Gospel had been tampered with by man. Let alone considering it as the True Living Words of GOD Almighty.
If John Mark wasn't the one who wrote Mark 16:9-20, then who did? And how can you prove the ownership of the other person? Let alone proving that it was GOD Almighty's Revelation. And as we saw in the first quote above, we don't even know that John Mark was indeed the one who wrote the so called "Gospel of Mark".
To say the least in our case here, we now have enough evidence to discard the entire Gospel of Mark from the Bible, because you can't take bits and pieces of it and say some of it belongs to him and some of it doesn't! Let alone considering the entire corrupted Gospel as the True Living Word of GOD Almighty, which is a complete blasphemy.
Here is an email that I received from a Christian regarding Mark 16:17-18:
From: R. Mercer
To: truthspeaks@answering-christianity.com
Subject: I Totally Agree
Date: Sun, 1 Apr 2001 13:41:57 -0700
"What credibility does Christianity have when it scriptures are littered with such dangerous and obvious forgeries?"
You summed it up very well on your web page. That is my question entirely. Just what are we to believe? If forgeries have been proven to exist in the Bible, then how many more must there be? What about the chapters and verses we all guide our whole life/styles by? Are they forgeries, too?
This verse in Mark 16:17-18, has always bothered me. I have, and still do believe the rest of that passage (laying on of hands, healing the sick,...), so how can that part of the passage be true when the serpent part is forged?
I know the part on drinking any poison says "IF", but the part on taking up serpents says "SHALL", which has always been a problem for me to believe. Imagine us all being forced to take up serpents in order to serve God.
On the other hand, if this was forged, then that creates an even bigger concern for me. Not knowing what text in our Bible is authentic and what is not.
Thanks for letting me take up so much of your time. Like I said
before, this passage always bothered me, probably more so than any other.
Thanks, once again. Good Day.
The Book of Acts:
"Although the author does not name himself, evidence outside the Scriptures and inferences from the book itself lead to the conclusion that the author was Luke. (From the NIV Bible Commentary, page 1643)"
So based on some conclusion, you're willing to die for defending the idea that the Book of Acts was the True Word of GOD Almighty? If the book was inspired by GOD Almighty, then how come it wasn't mentioned in the book itself to help us filter it out from the many other "Satanic false books"? Are we sure that this book too is not a man-made Satanic book?
After all, its just a conclusion, isn't it?
Beside, what evidence are they talking about?! The New Testament wasn't even documented on paper until 150-300 years (depending on what Christian you talk to) after Jesus. So unless the Book/Gospel was signed by its author, there is no way we would know for sure that it was indeed his book from the first place, let alone considering it as the True Living Word of GOD.
The Gospel of Luke:
"The author's name does not appear in the book, but much unmistakable evidence points to Luke. (From the NIV Bible Commentary, page 1529)"
Again, we don't know for sure whether it was Luke or not who wrote the "Gospel of Luke" since his name doesn't appear in the Book. The Gospel itself seems to be a compromising one to the Word of GOD. Let us look at the following:
"Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, (Luke 1:3)"
Few problems with this Gospel from the quote above:
1- The author was not inspired, and knew for sure that he was not inspired by GOD Almighty to write the Book since he didn't mention about any divine inspiration, and he said "...since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning..." Where do we see GOD's inspiration in this?
2- The author wrote it for the purpose of "his most excellent Theophilus." Since when we compromise GOD Almighty and document His Holy Words for the purpose of other higher (in rank) human beings?
I say it again, I hope you see the real danger in making these assumptions when you are willing to DIE for the fact that such Gospel is the actual True Word of GOD Almighty!
Also, beside, what evidence are they talking about?! The New Testament wasn't even documented on paper until 150-300 years (depending on what Christian you talk to) after Jesus. So unless the Book/Gospel was signed by its author, there is no way we would know for sure that it was indeed his book from the first place, let alone considering as the True Living Word of GOD. |
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Further from brother Vipor Poison; may Allah Almighty always be pleased with him:
Luke 1:3
Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus,
The following is from the Catholic Encyclopedia:
http://newadvent.org/cathen/14625b.htm
http://newadvent.org/cathen/14625a.htm
If Theophilus existed in either the 2nd or the 4th centuries then how could the writer of this gospel be the same Luke who is supposed to be with Jesus in the 1st century. Maybe he lived to about 200 years.. 
The Book of Hebrews:
"The writer of this letter does not identify himself, but he was obviously well known to the original recipients. (From the NIV Bible Commentary, page 1856)"
So because the guy was supposedly "well known (which we don't really know that for sure anyway)", then would that give us the right to consider his words as the Words of GOD Almighty?! I am sorry, but I don't really see the logic behind this! The Book of Hebrews is one of the highly used Books among Christians. I hear references from it a lot when listening to Christians preaching. Yet, no one really knows who wrote it!. This is quite ironic, because Christians use such highly doubtful books in their teachings as if they were the True Living Words of GOD Almighty. I don't care what you call this, but I call it blasphemy, because it is the most ridiculous insult to GOD Almighty and His Holy Words that I have ever seen.
I just hope you see the real cheap quality in the religion of Christianity, with all my respect due to every Christian reader.
The Gospel of John:
"The author is the apostle John, 'the disciple whom Jesus loved' (13:23; 19:26; 20:2; 21:7, 20,24). He was prominent in the early church but is not mentioned by name in this Gospel-- which would be natural if he wrote it, but hard to explain otherwise. (From the NIV Bible Commentary, page 1588)"
They claimed that it was John who wrote the Gospel, but yet, his name was not signed on his Gospel! How is it possible for us to be absolutely sure that it was indeed John who wrote the so called "Gospel of John" when "his name is not mentioned in this Gospel" so we can then take it as a 100% True Error-free Word of GOD Almighty?
The Gospel of 1 John:
"....Unlike most NT letters, 1 John does not tell us who its author is. The earliest identification of him comes from the church fathers...(From the NIV Bible Commentary, page 1904)"
"The letter is difficult to date with precision....(From the NIV Bible Commentary, page 1905)"
This is really ironic! with all respect due to Christians. If the Book's author is not for sure known, then why assume that it was Saint John who wrote it?
Please visit The lie of 1 John 5:7. This verse was later discovered to be a Satanic lie. The Roman Catholic Theologians don't believe in it, and it doesn't exist in their Bibles.
The same case where no author is really known exists in the Gospels of 2 and 3 John.
The Book of Revelation:
"Four times the author identifies himself as John (1:1,4,9; 22:8).....In the third century, however, an African bishop named Dionysius compared the language, style and thought of the Apocalypse (Revelation) with that of the other writings of John and decided that the book could not been written by the apostle of John. (From the NIV Bible Commentary, page 1922)"
Again, we don't know who wrote the Book of Revelation. It is certainly highly doubtful that it was written by Apostle John. The Theologians and Historians of the NIV Bible seem to agree with the invalidity of this book from the above quote. So are you now going to consider the other John's words as the Words and Inspirations of GOD Almighty?
Notice that in the sections of "Gospel of John" and "Gospels of 1, 2 & 3 John" above, the author did not identify himself and it was ASSUMED without actual proofs that it was Saint John who wrote them. Notice how they said that if he were to identify himself, then it would be hard for them to explain it.
Now, notice the author in the Book of Revelation does identify himself as John, but he has a complete different language and style of writing from the other books, which created much uncertainty about its validity in the Church.
My questions here are: Who wrote the Books? And is or is not Saint John supposed to identify himself in his books? And where are his books that have his name on them?
Again, keep in mind that the NT was not even documented on paper until 150 to 300 years after Jesus (depending on what Christian you talk to). So the dating is way too long for us to be assuming books to belong to certain people. Let alone considering their nonsense (contents) as the True Living Words of GOD Almighty.
The Book of Revelation is a very important, probably the most important Book in the Bible today, because it has prophecies in it of what Christians believe is for our future today, even though it has nothing to do with our current world. It talks about Jesus soon (1800 to 2000 years ago) will return (Revelation 22:7). I don't know how soon is 2000 years to the Bible. All the people that this book was told to had died.
It also talks about the great battle of Gog and Magog fighting the righteous; "and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth [The earth DOES NOT have four corners and no the earth is not a square or rectangle. It is round almost like an egg!!]--Gog and Magog--to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. (From the NIV Bible, Revelation 20:8)"
The thing that we need to notice here beside the grave error about the shape of the earth in this false book (sorry to say that), is that the Gog and Magog existed before. Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal (Ezekiel 39:1), is the name of the leader and Magog is the name of his nation (Ezekiel 38 and 39). The Gog and Magog army had already been defeated and the Noble Qur'鈔 confirms their story. There had been historical discoveries that perfectly match the Noble Qur'鈔's claims regarding the Gog and Magog, such as the discovery of the "Iron Gates", and other literature that mentions the Gog and Magog army and location. There is even historical documentation about them which matches the Noble Qur'鈔 in London, England.
Please visit The story of Gog and Magog and the Iron Gates in the Noble Quran and the Bible to see the references and proofs of these historical discoveries and several more.
The Bible says: The earth is flat! See all the verses in the Bible that claim the earth is flat.
It is a common Christian answer to say "We support Israel because it is God's promised land to the Jews, and He will prevail them against the army of Gog and Magog who seems to be mainly an Islamic army today." They mostly rely on the Book of Revelation from the Bible to support this claim.
The story of the Gog and Magog army attacking the Jews exists in both the Book of Ezekiel and the Book of Revelation in the Bible. The Book of Ezekiel which came literally thousands of years before the Book of Revelation predicted the attack and defeat of the army of Gog and Magog.
The Noble Qur'鈔 (The Muslims' Holy Scripture) talks about the army of Gog and Magog in details and explains the events that ALREADY took place. As I mentioned above, there had been historical discoveries that perfectly match the Noble Qur'鈔's claims regarding the Gog and Magog, such as the discovery of the "Iron Gates", and other literature that mentions the Gog and Magog army and location.
Please visit The army of Gog and Magog and the Iron Gates in the Noble Quran and the Bible.
The lie (sorry to say that) of the Book of Revelation, however, also predicts the coming of the army of Gog and Magog. But as I said, the army of Gog and Magog were ALREADY predicted in the Bible thousands of years before the Book of Revelation.
So, the prediction in the Book of Revelation proves that the writer of the book, lacked a great deal of knowledge about history, because as I said, the event of the Gog and Magog battle (i.e., the battle of Armageddon) already happened!
The point is that the Book of Revelation, however, like most of the Bible today seems to be nothing but a big hoax (sorry to say that). It is very doubtful, but yet ironically, very important to the Christians of today.
Would you honestly deep inside yourself call nonsense of this kind the True Living Words of GOD Almighty, especially after knowing that very important early Christian resources thought "the book could not been written by the apostle of John"?
Please visit What parts of the Bible do Muslims believe in?
The Books of Paul:
Before we start on the analysis of Paul's Books, we must first know that Paul who's Books are believed to be inspired by GOD Almighty Himself and who is a disciple of Jesus peace be upon him never actually met Jesus in person. Jesus had 12 disciples when he was on earth. Paul was not one of them!. Paul much later after the disappearance of Jesus came and claimed that Jesus came to him and ordered him to be his disciple. Paul is really taken on faith only and not on proofs. He could be well be another smart deceiver who made his way into the world of the current corrupted Bible (sorry if I offended you).
Please visit: Famous Theologians and Historians believe that Paul was not truthful.
Christian Scholars refuting the status of the NT as an inspired scripture. |
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The Book of Romans:
"The writer of this letter was the apostle Paul (see 1:1). No voice from the early church was ever raised against his authorship. (From the NIV Bible Commentary, page 1705)"
Ok, but notice how in this Book, we see the actual author himself, and in the ones above, we see nothing but conclusions. If GOD was the actual inspirer of all of these Books, then He wouldn't put us in the agony of making some conclusions to figure out His Words. Is GOD the author of confusion? Paul is also clear about his ownership of the Books of 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians.
But why must we take every single word that Paul spoke especially during his conversations with others as Words of GOD Almighty?!
Is Paul GOD Himself? No Christian believes in that. Paul fought with Saint Peter and accused him of being "clearly in the wrong" (Galatians: 2:11-12), and had a huge argument with Saint Barnabas (Acts 15:36-39).
Did GOD favor Paul over Barnabas and Peter and inspired him the words while he was fighting with them? I don't think so!.
Paul himself admitted before that he wasn't always inspired by GOD Almighty himself (1 Corinthians 7:25-30).
And since Paul never met Jesus in person, and only claimed that Jesus came to him in person then there is always the possibility of him being untruthful. Since Paul never performed any miracles to help us believe his claim of Prophet hood, then his claim about him being GOD's apostle is just as good as me for instance claiming to be GOD's apostle.
Benny Hyne, one of today's famous Christian missionaries who have millions of fans world wide, claims and shows on TV how he could cure the paralyzed and makes him walk again. He claims that Jesus is inside him when he performs his so-called miracles. Why can't it be a bunch of liars that he paid and brought on TV, pretend to act paralyzed and pretend to act healed?
Paul could just as well be another Benny Hyne, except that Benny Hyne performed miracles (that are fake of course), but Paul never performed anything.
I hope you see how confusing the Bible really is. Its books are believed today from conclusions only as you've seen above, and it is only to be believed by blind faith. Blind faith is not the way to believe in GOD Almighty's Words, because GOD is not the author of confusion.
Please visit: Famous Theologians and Historians believe that Paul was not truthful.
Christian Scholars refuting the status of the NT as an inspired scripture.
What parts of the Bible do Muslims believe in?
The Book of Philippians:
"The early church was unanimous in its testimony that Philippians was written by the apostle Paul (see 1:1). Internally the letter reveals the stamp of genuineness. The many personal references of the author fit what we know of Paul from other NT books. (From the NIV Bible Commentary, page 1803)"
Again, it was assumed that this book was written by Paul himself. No one knows for sure whether it was Paul or somebody else. The New Testament wasn't even documented until 150-300 years after the disappearance of Jesus peace be upon him. If we're going to assume that Books that look appealing to us as the True Word of GOD Almighty, then we are committing a great crime against GOD Almighty and His Holy Words. No where in this Book we see a statement saying that it was inspired by GOD Almighty Himself.
The Book of Colossians:
"That Colossians is a genuine letter Paul is not usually disputed. In the early church, all who speak on the subject of authorship ascribe it to Paul. In the 19th century, however, some thought that the heresy refuted in ch. 2 was second-century Gnosticism. (From the NIV Bible Commentary, page 1813)"
Again, it was assumed that Paul was the one who wrote the Book. But again, who's to say that it was inspired by GOD Almighty Himself?
The Books of 1 and 2 Thessalonians:
"Paul's authorship of 2 Thessalonians has been questioned more often than that of 1 Thessalonians, in spite of the fact that it has more support from early Christian writers. (From the NIV Bible Commentary, page 1829)"
So basically we're not certain whether or not Paul wrote the Book. And even if Paul was the one who wrote it, we still don't know whether it was the True Words of GOD Almighty or not, because no where in the Book we see any indication that it was inspired by the Almighty GOD.
Exposing the Old Testament's historical corruptions
As we see in the introduction above in Jeremiah 8:8, the entire Bible is doubtful and full of man-made lies that were inserted into it through the scribes and other means of alterations. The Bible is obviously a corrupted book!
The Book of Genesis:
"Historically, Jews and Christians alike have held that Moses was the author/compiler of the first five books of the OT. These books, known also as the Pentateuch (meaning "five-volumed book"), were referred to in Jewish tradition as the five fifths of the law (of Moses). The Bible itself suggests Mosaic authorship of Genesis, since Ac 15:1 refers to circumcision as "the custom taught by Moses," an allusion of Ge 17. However, a certain amount of later editorial updating does appear to be indicated (see, e.g., notes on 14:14; 36:31; 47:11). (From the NIV Bible Commentary, page 2)"
So in reality, the book of Genesis had been tampered with by man. It had been corrupted. It is dangerous to consider all of it as the True Living Words of GOD Almighty, because by doing so, we are running into the risk of committing a crime against Him since we are claiming that He spoke words that He never spoke.
The Book of Numbers:
"It is not necessary, however, to claim that Numbers came from Moses' hand complete and in final form. Portions of the book were probably added by scribes or editors from later periods of Israel's history. For example, the protestation of the humility of Moses (12:3) would hardly be convincing if it came from his own mouth. (From the NIV Bible Commentary, page 183)"
So in reality, we don't know who were all the authors who wrote the book of Numbers. How is it possible then to call the book of Numbers the True Living Revelations of GOD Almighty if the book had been tampered with by the man-made laws of the scribes?
As you clearly saw in Jeremiah 8:8 in the introduction above, GOD Almighty condemned the laws of the scribes and accused them for turning the Bible into a lie. |
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The book of Deuteronomy:
"The book itself testifies that, for the most part, Moses wrote it (1:5; 31:9,22,24), and other OT books agree (1Ki 2:3, 8:53; 2ki 14:6; 18:12)--though the preamble (1:1-5) may have been written by someone else, and the report of Moses' death (ch.34) was almost certainly written by someone else. (From the NIV Bible Commentary, page 240)"
As we clearly see, there is ample evidence that proves beyond the shadow of the doubt that Moses was not the sole author of the book. He couldn't have possibly have written about his own death. Again, another corrupted book by man in the Bible. How can you claim that the book of Deuteronomy was indeed all revealed by GOD Almighty? If you're not sure, and you still insist on your claim, then you are committing a crime against GOD Almighty's Revelations.
The book of Joshua:
"It seems safe to conclude that the book, at least in its early form, dates from the beginning of the monarchy. Some think that Samuel may have had a hand in shaping or compiling the materials of the book, but in fact we are unsure who the final author or editor was. (From the NIV Bible Commentary, page 286)"
Again, another book whom we don't know who in the world wrote it. Yet, Jews and Christians consider this nonsense as a Revelation from GOD Almighty.
The book of Judges:
"Although, according to tradition, Samuel wrote the book, authorship is actually uncertain."
"The date of the composition is also unknown, but it was undoubtedly during the monarchy." (From the NIV Bible Commentary, page 322).
Another book with many doubts had been inserted into the Bible. How much more evidence do you need to be convinced that the Bible is corrupted, or to say the least, not a perfect book?
The book of Ruth:
"The author is unknown. Jewish tradition points to Samuel, but it is unlikely that he is the author because the mention of David (4:17,22) implies a later date. (From the NIV Bible Commentary, page 360)"
Same as above.
The books of 1 and 2 Samuel:
"Many questions have arisen pertaining to the literary character, authorship and date of 1,2 Samuel."
"Who the author was cannot be known with certainty since the book itself gives no indication of his identity." (From the NIV Bible Commentary, page 368).
Again, unknown books with unknown authors had been inserted into the Bible and are now considered GOD's Revelations. What a joke! Since when do we consider man-made stories and narrations as GOD's Revelations?
The books of 1 and 2 Kings:
"There is little conclusive evidence as to the identity of the author of 1,2 Kings."
"Whoever the author was, it is clear that he was familiar with the book of Deuteronomy." (From the NIV Bible Commentary, page 459).
Again, another unknown books with unknown authors had corrupted the Bible.
The books of 1 and 2 Chronicles:
"According to ancient Jewish tradition, Ezra wrote Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah (see Introduction to Ezra: Literary Form and Authorship), but this cannot be established with certainty. (From the NIV Bible Commentary, page 569)"
Again, another doubtful nonsense had been considered to be GOD's Revelations.
The book of Esther:
"Although we do not know who wrote the book of Esther, from internal evidence it is possible to make some inferences about the author and the date of composition. (From the NIV Bible Commentary, page 707)"
Same as above.
The book of Job:
"Although most of the book consists of the words of Job and his counselors, Job himself was not the author."
"The unknown author probably had access to oral and/or written sources...." (From the NIV Bible commentary, page 722).
Ironically, the book is named as "The book of Job", but yet, Job was not the author, and no one in this world knows who wrote the book. Today, it is considered GOD's Revelations.
It's quite pathetic to consider unknown people as GOD's Messengers and attribute their work to GOD's real Messengers.
It's obvious that like most of the Bible's book and gospels, the Book of Job had been lost.
The book of Proverbs:
"Although the book begins with a title ascribing the proverbs to Solomon, it is clear from later chapters that he was not the only author of the book. (From the NIV Bible Commentary, page 935)"
Can anyone please tell me who that other author was? And did GOD Almighty spoke those words through his tongue?
These are fair questions, aren't they? |
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The book of Ecclesiastes:
"No time period or writer's name is mentioned in the book, but several passages strongly suggest that King Solomon is the authors. On the other hand, the writer's title, his unique style of Hebrew and his attitude toward rulers may point to another person and a later period. (From the NIV Bible Commentary, page 988)"
Was it or was it not Solomon who wrote this book? If you say it was Solomon, then how can you prove it?
And by the way, was this book a revelation to Solomon, or just Solomon's own personal writings, if it were Solomon's book from the first place?
Did you know that the number of chapters in this book are more in the Roman Catholic Bibles? Please compare the number of chapters of the book of Ecclesiastes in the NIV Bible to the number of chapters in the Roman Catholic New Jerusalem Bible.
Let us look at this verse from this book: "....and the birth of ANY daughter is a loss. (From the New Jerusalem Bible, Ecclesiasticus 22:3)" Since when does GOD give stupid generalizing statements for ALL the members of a certain group of His creation?
Obviously, one of those bibles has to be wrong. Or should I say both?!
The book of Song of Songs:
"Verse 1 appears to ascribe authorship to Solomon. Solomon is referred to seven times, and several verses speak of the 'king', but whether he was the author remains an open question. (From the NIV Bible Commentary, page 997)"
Again, we don't know who wrote the book. Please visit X-Rated Pornography in the Bible regarding this pornful and sick book.
The book of Lamentations:
"Although Lamentations is anonymous and we cannot be certain who wrote it, ancient Jewish and Christian tradition ascribes it to Jeremiah. (From the NIV Bible Commentary, page 1207)"
What a joke! Christians and Jews point the book to Jeremiah without any certainty to who wrote the book. How is it possible for us to consider this book as the True Living Words of GOD Almighty?
Christians and Jews have yet to find and prove the original author of the book and all of the books mentioned above, and then prove that they were indeed Revelations from GOD Almighty.
Failure to accomplish the two tasks and inserting this type of nonsense into the Bible and claiming that it was the Words of GOD Almighty is A CRIME AGAINST GOD!
Embrace Islam, the religion of The One True Living Undivided GOD Almighty, and you will be saved! Please visit What is the Wisdom of Islam?
So who wrote the Bible then? Were they really the original Prophets and Disciples?
This section is an article and a small chapter of a book that was forwarded to me. I thought it would be very good to add it to this article.
So, who then are the authors of the books of the Bible? Obviously the Church must know them very well since they are popularly believed to have received divine inspiration from God Himself. Right? Actually, they don't. For example, we will note that every Gospel begins with the introduction "According to....." such as "The Gospel according to Saint Matthew," "The Gospel according to Saint Luke," "The Gospel according to Saint Mark," "The Gospel according to Saint John." The obvious conclusion for the average man on the street is that these people are known to be the authors of the books attributed to them. This, however is not the case. Why? Because not one of the vaunted four thousand copies existent carries its author's signature. It has just been assumed that certain people were the authors. Recent discoveries, however, refute this belief. Even the internal evidence suggests that, for instance, Matthew did not write the Gospel attributed to him:
"...And as Jesus passed forth thence, HE (Jesus) saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and HE (Jesus) saith unto HIM (Matthew), follow ME (Jesus) and HE (Matthew) arose, and followed HIM (Jesus). (Matthew 9:9)"
Did "Matthew" write this about himself? Why then didn't Matthew write for example: "he (Jesus) saw ME, and my name is Matthew. I was sitting at the receipt of custom…" etc.
Such evidence can be found in many places throughout the New Testament. Granted, it may be possible that an author sometimes may write in the third person, still, in light of the rest of the evidence that we shall see throughout this book, there is simply too much evidence against this hypothesis.
This observation is by no means limited to the New Testament. There is even similar evidence that at least parts of Deuteronomy were not written by their claimed author, prophet Moses . This can be seen in Deuteronomy 34:5-10 where we read
"So Moses....DIED... and he (God Almighty) BURIED HIM (Moses)... He was 120 years old WHEN HE DIED... and there arose not a prophet SINCE in Israel like unto Moses.... (Deuteronomy 34:5-10)"
Did Moses write his own obituary? Similarly, Joshua too speaks in detail about his own death in Joshua 24:29-33.
"And it came to pass after these things, that Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, DIED, … And they BURIED HIM … And Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that over lived Joshua, and which had known all the works of the Lord, that he had done for Israel ….(Joshua 24:29-33)" |
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Such evidence is part of the large cache which has driven the Biblical scholars to come to the current recognition that most of the books of the Bible were not written by their supposed authors. For example, the authors of the Revised Standard Version of the Bible by Collins honestly say that the author of "Kings" is "Unknown." But if the author is unknown then why attribute it to God? How can it then be claimed to have been "inspired"? Continuing, we read that the book of Isaiah is "Mainly credited to Isaiah. Parts may have been written by others." Ecclesiastics: "Author. Doubtful, but commonly assigned to Solomon." Ruth: "Author. Not definitely known, perhaps Samuel." and on and on.
Let us have a slightly more detailed look at only one book of the New Testament, that of 'Hebrews':
"The author of the Book of Hebrews is unknown. Martin Luther suggested that Apollos was the author...Tertullian said that Hebrews was a letter of Barnabas...Adolf Harnack and J. Rendel Harris speculated that it was written by Priscilla (or Prisca). William Ramsey suggested that it was done by Philip. However, the traditional position is that the Apostle Paul wrote Hebrews...Eusebius believed that Paul wrote it, but Origen was not positive of Pauline authorship."
From the introduction to the King James Bible, New revised and updated sixth edition, the Hebrew/Greek Key Study, Red Letter Edition
and one book of the Old Testament:
"In tradition, [David] is credited with writing 73 of the Psalms; most scholars, however, consider this claim questionable."
Encarta Encyclopedia, under "David"
Is this how we define "inspired by God"?
I asked a reverend of the local church in my neighborhood, on what gospel most often quoted and used, he quickly answered, the Gospel of St. John!
Let us examine the Contextual Problems of the Gospel of John - Highly Recommended! Even though this is a Darwinist site, but it has some very good and important historical facts about the Bible's corruption. What makes it interesting is that many of their articles were written by former Christian missionaries.
Conclusion:
The current Bible is not all the True Word of GOD Almighty. It is full of doubts and man made corruption as was proven above. How can we believe in a doubtful book as the Perfect Book of GOD Almighty? Allaah Almighty said in the Noble Qur'鈔 regarding those who try to corrupt His Holy Words: "Know they not Allaah Knoweth what they conceal and what they reveal? And there are among them illiterates, who know not the Book [the Bible], but (see therein their own) desires, and they do nothing but conjecture. Then woe to those who write the Book [the Bible] with their own hands, and then say: 'This is from Allaah,' To traffic with it for a miserable price! Woe to them for what their hands do write, and for the gain they make thereby. (The Noble Qur'鈔, 2:77-79)"
I really don't see any point in even trying to argue with anybody about any verse from the Bible at this point after reading this article, because most of the books of the bible are not valid enough to be even worth looking at. So to try to prove Trinity from a book that is for the most part a big hoax would indeed be a blasphemy.
To say the least in our case here: The Bible without a doubt is NOT a perfect book! In fact, it's even far beyond from being anywhere close to perfect! Therefore, it can't be the perfect book of the Perfect GOD Almighty.
So did you answer the questions that I asked in the beginning of this article?
1- Is all of the Bible GOD's Divine Revelations?
2- Did the Prophets of GOD really write the Bible of today?
3- Is the Bible perfect?
4- Did man indeed corrupt the Bible?
5- Is the Bible of today reliable?
As I said above, if your answer is no to most of or all of the above questions except for #4, then allow me to say that your faith has serious problems!
Again, you be the Judge: After all of the evidence provided in the article, should I as a non-Christian take the Bible as the word of GOD Almighty?
See also: "Son of GOD" conflict between the Bible and the Noble Qur'鈔.
Further Topics to search:
Answering Trinity. This section is a library that has many articles that refute Trinity, and shows in much great details the history of man's corruption in the Bible.
Famous Theologians and Historians believe that Paul was not truthful.
Contradictions in 2 Timothy 3:16.
Christian Scholars refuting the status of the NT as an inspired scripture.
Why do Muslims believe in Jesus' personal quotes only as closest to the Truth in the Bible.
"Son of GOD" conflict between the Bible and the Noble Quran.
How is Allah Almighty telling the Jews and Christians to follow their Books when these Books had been corrupted?
Books mentioned in the Bible that are not part of the "Today's Bible"
More on "Who were the real authors of the Bible?" This is a great article that exposes the man made narration/corruption in the Bible. We read in the Books of Moses about Moses' own burial. Did Moses himself write it when he was already dead? If not then who did? And how can we prove that the person was appointed by GOD Almighty to write it as a Divine Revelation (since it now exists in the Bible)? And what makes us be so sure that it is indeed a Divine Revelation?
Allah Knows Best...
Peace Yall.... |
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THE BIBLE THROUGH TIME
TEXTS AND VERSIONS
by J. Sullivan
Courtesy: Al-Ittihad, Copyright |
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http://www.isprin.com/c03.htm
THE TRUE MISSION OF JESUS (peace be upon him)
AND THE DISTORTED CHRISTIAN TEACHINGS:Qur’aan defines the mission of Jesus (pbuh), as under:
To confirm (the laws) that already existed even before his arrival, from the Torah (in the Old Testament) ; (61:6)
To give the good news (the gospel) of the arrival of a messenger who comes after him, whose name will be ‘Ahmad’ (another name of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) ). (61:6)
To teach the Children of Israel, unto whom he was sent, matters of wisdom ; (43:63)
To clarify on certain matters in which they differed ; (43:63) and
To legitimize certain things that were earlier banned for them. (3:50)
Jesus (pbuh) upheld the laws that existed in those days in the Torah, the book of laws given to Prophet Moses (pbuh), except for:
clarifying certain matters in which the Children of Israel differed, which Jesus necessarily had to; and
legitimizing certain things, by the command of Allaah, that were earlier banned for them by Allaah as a punishment for their misdeeds.
Jesus (pbuh) says in the Bible: (Matthew 5:17) “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy , but to fulfil.” Therefore, Jesus (pbuh) brought no new religion.
Jesus believed in One God and preached God’s unity. Jesus was a messenger of God and he did not claim to be anything else. Jesus has said, addressing The Lord: (John 17:3)
“........ that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent.”
In other words, Jesus says to the Lord: You are the only true God and You have sent me, i.e. I am Your messenger.
Since all the people did not believe in him, those who did not believe in him as another prophet and messenger of God were “disbelievers in Jesus Christ” and those who believed in him were later on called as "Christians".
Therefore, true “ Christians “ would be those, who:
Believe in One God.
Believe in Jesus Christ as a messenger of God.
Accept and implement the laws that already existed in the Torah.
Follow the matters of wisdom taught by Jesus.
Look to The Prophet, (Prophet Muhammad), who was foretold by Jesus, to guide them on all matters, as per the gospel - the good news - brought by him.
THE MAJOR DISTORTIONS:
Many distortions were made about Jesus and his sayings and the events that occurred during Jesus’ stay on the earth. The major distortions are:
Calling Jesus (pbuh) god.
Calling Jesus (pbuh) the son of God.
The theory of trinity.
Doubting the chastity of Mary (pbuh).
The alleged crucifixion of Jesus (pbuh), his perceived death at the cross and the so-called ‘resurrection’.
Atonement theory: the redeeming of mankind, brought about by Jesus' sufferings and ‘death’.
The concept that having faith in Jesus is sufficient for a man’s salvation and that conforming to the laws is not important.
While Allaah protected Qur’aan from any change and thus ensured that the Muslims knew and kept the pristine truths forever, Allaah has, by His wisdom, also ensured that certain key truths are uttered by Jesus (pbuh) in an indirect and allegorical (hidden) manner, so that, when the time comes, Christians too would come to know of the truth through the very same Bible, in spite of the distortions made by its custodians.
The real and deeper meaning of such utterances were beyond the comprehension of the people who distorted the teachings. Otherwise, they would not have let these verses remain in the Bible. But Allaah does what He wills, even though detractors of the religion strive to suppress His guidance.
“ And Allaah has full power and control over His affairs; but most among mankind know it not. ” (Qur’aan 12:21)
Now, let us study the distortions one by one and see how the Bible carries the truths enshrined in Qur’aan.
(One of the major distortions, the alleged crucifixion of Jesus, is dealt in detail in a separate article.)
JESUS WAS A MAN, A MESSENGER OF ALLAAH.
Qur’aan teaches us that all the prophets and messengers sent by Allaah were mortal men and His slaves, like all people. Muslims have not deviated from the Islaamic teaching that Muhammad (pbuh) too is a slave of Allaah and His messenger.
Likewise, Qur’aan teaches us that Jesus (pbuh) too was a slave of Allaah and His messenger. Allaah says in the Qur’aan: 43:59 about Jesus (pbuh): “ He is nothing but a slave on whom We bestowed favour, and We made him a pattern for the Children of Israel.”
Jesus (pbuh) indeed is a slave of Allaah. His various utterances and actions manifest the truth. Jesus (pbuh) confirms in John 5:30: “ I can of mine own self do nothing.”
Someone who can of his own self do nothing, is a slave. But his special position among slaves like us is that he was a messenger of Allaah.
I Timothy 2:5 calls Jesus “.... the man Christ Jesus.”
It is said in Bible, Luke 24:19 : “ Jesus of Nazareth ...... was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people.”
In spite of these clear teachings of Bible that he was a man and a prophet, Jesus is often sought to be projected as god.
Jesus says is Matthew 15:7 & 15:9 :
7. [Ye] hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying,
9. But in vain they do worship me, teaching [for] doctrines the commandments of men.
Jesus is quoted in Qur’aan : 61:6 “ And when Jesus said: O children of Israel! Indeed I am messenger of Allaah unto you......”
Jesus was a messenger of Allaah unto the children of Israel.
Let us see how Bible quotes the same words of Jesus (pbuh):
" I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. ” (Matthew 15:24). In simpler words: Jesus says that he was sent (he is a messenger) only unto the house of Israel.
And who sent him ? In not less than 15 verses of the Bible, Jesus says: “ the Father which hath sent me.....” He was sent by the 'Father', (the authors of The Bible allude to The God, as 'Father'), or in other words, he is a messenger of The God. (Ref. John 5:30, 5:36, 5:37, 6:39, 6:44, 6:57, 8:16, 8:18, 8:29, 8:42, 12:49, 14:24, 17:21, 17:25, 20:21)
Jesus (pbuh) has clearly said that he was not sent but unto the house of Israel. On the contrary, Muhammad (pbuh) is meant for the whole of mankind. Allaah tells Muhammad (pbuh) in Qur’aan: (34:28)
“ And We have not sent you (O Muhammad) but as a bringer of good tidings and a warner unto all mankind; but most of mankind know not.”
THE GOD HAS NO SON.
Jesus (pbuh) is projected as son of God, by the Christians:
Allaah says in Qur'aan, Sura Maryam, verses 88 to 93:
“ And they say: The Beneficent has taken unto Himself a son;
Assuredly you utter a disastrous thing,
whereby almost the heavens are torn,
and the earth is split asunder and the mountains fall in ruins,
that you ascribe unto The Beneficent a son,
when it is not suitable for (The Majesty of) The Beneficent
that He should choose a son.
There is none in the heavens and the earth but comes
unto The Beneficent as a slave.”
The above verses signify the enormity of falsehood the lie invented by them carries.
Allaah also says in another verse of Qur’aan: (2:116)
“ And they say: Allaah has taken unto Himself a son. Be He glorified ! Nay, but whatsoever is in the heavens and the earth is His. All are subservient unto Him. ”
From the above verse, we can deduce that the most desirable thing one would like to see in a son is obedience. Everybody would dislike his son who is not obedient. Since everything in the heavens and the earth belongs to Allaah and everything is obedient unto Him, what does having a son adds to His pleasure. |
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In the New Testament, the words “My Father” is widely used (while quoting Jesus (pbuh)) to denote God. This gives an impression that The God is Jesus’ father, which, in turn, projects Jesus as God’s son. All this misquoting comes to a naught, when in John 20:17 Jesus is quoted as having said: “I ascend unto my Father, and YOUR Father, and to MY GOD, and your God.”
In at least five verses of Qur’aan (3:51, 5:72, 5:117, 19:36, 43:64) Jesus is quoted as having referred to Allaah as MY LORD and YOUR LORD. The translation of verse No. 43:64 :
“Indeed Allaah, He is my Lord and your Lord, therefore, worship Him. This is right path.”
The verse of John 10:30, quoting Jesus: “I and [ my ] Father are one ” is often misused to reinforce the concept that Jesus is equal with The Lord. That is not the meaning of the verse.
A believer cannot say that I believe in The Lord (and what He says), but I do not believe in His messenger/s (and what they say) or vice versa. The messengers propagate what The Lord bids them to. Therefore, they cannot be differentiated for the purpose of belief. This is explained in verse 4:150 and 151 of Qur’aan:
“ Indeed those who disbelieve in Allaah and His messengers and seek to make distinction between Allaah and His messengers, and say: We believe in some and disbelieve in others, and seek to choose a way in between; Such are disbelievers in truth; and for disbelievers We prepare a shameful doom. ”
THE TRINITY AND ITS BASIS :
We shall now look at another wrong belief taught to the Christians: The theory of God’s TRINITY.
So far, no one has been able to satisfactorily explain what this theory is. But we can be sure that Jesus (pbuh) NEVER spoke of trinity. Nor the verses of the Bible on which this theory is presumably based, 1John 5:7 & 1 John 5:8 , are attributable to Jesus.
Moreover, we shall also see how the different versions of the Bible variedly quote these verses:
1. King James Version: (KJV) 1 John:
5:7 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. 5:8 And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.
2. Young’s Literal Translation: (YLT) 1John :
5:7 because three are who are testifying [in the heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and these—the three—are one; 5:8 and three are who are testifying in the earth], the Spirit, and the water, and the blood, and the three are into the one.
3. American Standard Version: (ASV) 1 John :
5:7 And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is the truth. 5:8 For there are three who bear witness, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and the three agree in one.
4. New International Version: (NIV) 1 John : 5:6 (part) And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. 5:7 For there are three that testify: 5:8 the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement.
While the first two versions referred above, KJV and YLT, speak of “the Father, the Word and the Holy Ghost” , the last two, ASV and NIV do not recognize these words. These three: “the father, the word and the holy ghost” are supposed to constitute the trinity. They are also referred as “ the father, the son, and the holy ghost ”(Matthew 28:19), representing The God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
We will take a close look at what these verses are talking about. The verses above give information about who bears witness in the heaven and the earth. Regarding the witnesses in the heaven, the first two versions (KJV and YLT) say that it is the father, the word and the holy ghost (holy spirit). Regarding the witnesses on the earth, the verses say that it is the spirit, the water and the blood. The other two versions (ASV & NIV) disagree with the above and say that the spirit is true, therefore it bears witness. Then in the later verse/s they proceed to confuse that there are three “the spirit, the water and the blood” and they are in agreement.
In any case, the verses are telling us nothing more than about the witnesses and variously conclude that:
these three are one;
these three agree in one;
these—the three—are one;
the three are into the one;
the three agree in one;
the three are in agreement.
Therefore, we can conclude that whatever be the number of witnesses, finally there is no conflict or fault in their witnessing and that they are all in agreement. Nowhere do these verses say that the witnesses means gods or components of Godhead.
On the same matter of witnesses, Allaah tells us about them in Qur’aan, clearly and without a conflict, as you will come to know from the following study.
1. Allaah is a witness over all things and He is sufficient as a witness.
“ And in whatever way you may be occupied; and whatever portion you may be reciting from the Qur’aan; and whatever deed you may be doing -We are witness thereof - when you are deeply engrossed therein. Nor is hidden from your Lord (so much as) the weight of an atom on the earth or in the heavens, nor what is less than that or greater than that, but it is (written) in a clear book. ” ( Qur'aan 10:61)
" Him unto Whom belongs the sovereignty of the heavens and the earth; And Allaah is witness to all things. " (Qur'aan 85:9)
2. Besides, angels are witnesses. " But Allaah (Himself) bears witness concerning that which He has revealed unto you; with His knowledge has He revealed it; and the angels bear witness: And Allaah is sufficient witness. " (Qur'aan 4:166)
3. Man himself is a witness of what he does and his tongue and limbs will speak out on the judgement day, as to what they used to do. " On that (judgment) day when their tongues, their hands, and their feet will bear witness against them, as to what they used to do." ( Qur'aan 24:24)
4. The book of records, prepared by the angels, will be a material witness on the judgement day.
Qur'aan 23:62 : " On no soul do We place a burden greater than it can bear; and with Us is a record which clearly speaks the truth; and they will not be wronged."
Qur'aan 43:80 : " Or deem they that We hear not their secrets and private counsels ? Nay, but Our messengers (angels sent by Us), present with them, do record."
Qur'aan 50:18 : "he (man) utters no word but there is with him an observer ready (to record)."
5. The messengers would be witnesses against the people unto whom they were sent.
Qur'aan 73:15 : " Indeed We have sent unto you a messenger as witness against you, even as We sent unto Pharaoh a messenger. "
THE OTHER BASIS FOR TRINITY |
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Apart from the verses of 1-John (5:7 & 5:8), which talk about three witnesses in heaven and which form a basis for the trinity theory for its propagators, the other verse where the words the father, the son and the holy spirit appear, is Matthew 28:19. The Young’s Literal Translation, however, puts part of verse No.19 and a part of verse No. 20, which contains the words: father, son, holy spirit, etc. within parenthesis, as you may see below:
Matthew 28: 18 And having come near, Jesus spake to them, saying, ‘Given to me was all authority in heaven and on earth; 19 having gone, then, disciple all the nations, (baptizing them—to the name of the Father , and of the Son , and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all, whatever I did command you,) and lo, I am with you all the days—till the full end of the age.’
The group of four verses beginning from No. 18, form a quotation of Jesus’ words (pbuh). What does the insertion of a group of words within parenthesis signify ?
1. First of all, it means that the words within parenthesis are not the words of Jesus. Otherwise, where is the need to put them within parenthesis.
2. At best, these words are the translator’s interpretation of Jesus’ words, if not an outright interpolation of words that are not in the source document, which the Young’s Literal Translation has honestly emphasized with the parenthesis.
The words “disciple all the nations” can be allowed to be interpreted as Jesus’ direction to “baptize to the name of father, son and holy spirit ” only if this meaning is commonly found elsewhere in the Bible. But in the only other place where this is found, (in 1-John 5:7), again we find them placed within brackets.
Analysis of the components of the trinity:
Now, we shall study the three words that denote the ‘trinity’ :
the father
the word and
the holy spirit.
You, I and any layman, or even a child knows what this word ‘father’ means and how one becomes a father. Yet, Christians are taught to use unhesitatingly, the word ‘father’ to denote The Almighty.
Prudence, propriety and common sense demands that words are not used inappropriately and that they are used strictly in the sense they are commonly understood and known to be used. In matters relating to God, it is even more necessary that we use words with utmost caution, so that we do not utter anything that is at variance with the truth or does not befit His Majesty.
But we can see in the Bible that words were put to use in whatever way it pleased and suited its custodians. They are not only used inappropriately and irresponsibly, but also contradictorily and confusingly, as we observe in the course of this study. I must add that the contradictions in the Christian belief is not just due to an innocent misuse of words, but because the salient features of the Christian theology itself, as professed now and during the larger period of its existence, is not God-made but is man-made.
The seemingly unnecessary differences and contradictions were not introduced into an otherwise sound original theology without a purpose: The enemies of the religion and, therefore, also the enemies of God, who are averse to obeying the edicts of the holy books, operate in devious ways to destroy or dilute the laws, so that they can freely follow their own lusts, while at the same time pretending to follow the religion. As a result of this satanic scheme, the followers of a God-given, sound religion are divided with the tool of differences and controversies and made to fight and waste their energies and time, not only on trivial issues, but also on essential fundamental beliefs.
Allaah says in the Qur’aan, pointing to the absence of any contradiction in the Qur’aan: “ Why do they not then ponder over the Qur’aan ? And had it been from (a source) other than Allaah, they would have surely found in it contradictions in abundance.” (4:82).
The very first verse of the Bible, Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created.......... ” introduces us to the God as the creator. Anyone who has read just the first verse of the Bible knows God as The Creator. So, there is no need to call Him as Father, even to explain Him metaphorically, and try in vain to compare the One Who is Incomparable.
Allaah condemns man for such behaviour, in Qur’aan (36:78):
“ And he makes comparisons for Us, and forgets his own creation....” .
(The Bible): Malachi 2:10 " Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? " The above verse of the Bible is possibly the explanation for the unwarranted use of the word ‘father’ in the Bible to denote The Almighty’s function, attribute or power as The Sole Creator.
In the whole universe, He is the only Creator and everything else is His creature. In the book of Genesis, the Bible gives details of how the heavens, the earth, the light, the animals, the man, etc. were made by Allaah. Everything came into being by His command.
“ For he spake, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast.” (Pslams 33:9)
In Qur’aan, similar details of His creative powers are given, where it is mentioned that whenever He decrees a work (to be done) or wills a thing (to be created), He says to it, " Be ! ", and it becomes. (2:117, 3:47, 3:59, 16:40, 19:35, 36:82, 40:68). In this manner, Allaah has chosen to create everything. In the very same manner, Allaah created Jesus (pbuh) too.
Qur’aan recounts the astonishment of Mary (pbuh), when she was informed that she is about to be blessed with a son, Jesus.
3:45 : When the angels said: “O Mary ! Allaah gives you glad tidings of a word from Him: his name will be The Messiah Jesus, son of Mary, held in honour in this world and the hereafter and of those nearest (to Allaah).
3:46 : He shall speak unto the people in his cradle and in his maturity and he shall be of the righteous.”
3:47 She said: " My Lord ! How can I have a child when no man has touched me." He said: “ Even so: Allaah creates what He wills: When He has decreed a plan, He says to it, ' Be ! 'and it is ! ”
In verse 3:45 above, Allaah gives Mary the glad tidings of a word from Him, a child whose name shall be Christ Jesus and He accomplished His will by commanding “ Be ! ”.
Thus created Allaah the heavens and the earth and everything that He created:
(Qur'aan 2:117) : “The Originator of the heavens and the earth ! When He decrees a thing, He says unto it : Be ! and it is. ”
(Qur'aan 16:40) : “And Our word unto a thing, when We intend it, is only that We say unto it : Be ! and it is. ”
The Bible says: “ By the word of Jehovah were the heavens made.” (Psalms 33:6)
Touching the subject of Jesus’ creation, the Bible says: “And the Word became flesh ” (John 1:14) |
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The ‘word’, referred in the above verses, therefore, is the word of Allaah, which is His speech or command. It is neither an independent thing or being nor ‘god’ as the Christians are being indoctrinated. The word is subordinate to the will or intention of Allaah, as can be seen from the following verses:
Bible: Reve 4:11 (ASV) “ Worthy art Thou, our Lord and our God, to receive the glory and the honor and the power: for Thou didst create all things, and because of Thy will they were, and were created.”
Qur’aan: 36:82 “But His command, when He intends a thing, is only that he says to it, Be ! and it is.”
Bible: John 1:13 “ which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. 1:14 And the word was made flesh,”
The word becoming flesh, by Allaah’s will, as told in the above verse of Bible, is only half the story. For Jesus, or any other soul, to become a living being and not to remain just flesh, it needs to be infused with spirit.
Qur’aan: 15:29 “And when I have made him (Adam, the first man) and have breathed into him of My spirit.....”
Qur’aan: 32:9 “ Then He fashioned him and breathed into him of His spirit; ”
Bible: Genesis 2:7 “And the LORD God formed man [of] the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”
Bible: Job 32:8 “But [there is] a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.”
So, Jesus (pbuh) after being conceived in Mary’s womb (pbuh), i.e., after he became flesh, is also infused with spirit, for him to become a living being. Qur’aan: 21:91 “And her (Mary) who guarded her chastity: We breathed into her of Our spirit, and We made her and her son a sign for all peoples.”
As distinct from the spirit that dwells within all people, the holy spirit, (or the holy ghost, as the Christians call it), is archangel Gabriel, about whom the Qur’aan gives, inter alia, the following information:
1. Allaah strengthened Jesus (pbuh) with holy spirit (2:87, 2:253), which helped him speak from the cradle and in maturity. (5:110)
2. Allaah revealed the Qur’aan to Muhammad (pbuh) through holy spirit. (16:102) The three verses quoted above (2:87, 2:253, 5:110) mention holy spirit in relation to matters connected with Jesus. Some other verses carry reference to “the spirit” or “our spirit” or “spirit from Us” that relate to matters other than Jesus.
But what is a spirit ? Allaah says in the Qur’aan: 17:85:
“ They ask you (O Muhammad) concerning the spirit; Say: The spirit is by command of my Lord, and of knowledge you have been given but little.”
Excepting the information that the spirit is by the command of Allaah, little else has been conveyed to us about it. The way the above verse is constructed, it also means that man has been given very little of the knowledge, in general.
From the above detailed study, we have come to know that the word is the speech and command of Allaah and that the spirit is by the command of Allaah.
From the following verse of Qur’aan, 4:171, we can observe that Jesus is a word of Allaah, (by which he is first conceived in Mary’s womb as flesh - an embryo - ), and a spirit from Allaah, breathed into her, (which makes him a live foetus).
“ O people of the Scripture!
Do not exaggerate in your religion nor utter anything concerning Allaah
except the truth.
The Messiah Jesus, son of Mary, was only a messenger of Allaah ,
and His word which He conveyed unto Mary, and a spirit from Him.
So believe in Allaah and His messengers,
and say not “three” - cease ! - it is better for you.
Allaah is only One God.
Far is it removed from His transcendent majesty that He should have a son.
His is all that is in the heavens and the earth.
And Allaah is sufficient as Defender. ”
Thus, in the above verse, Allaah explains and nullifies the aberration called trinity and asks the People of Scripture not to make god out of His messenger and His words or creations; There is only One God who owns the heavens and the earth and it does not befit His majesty to have a son.
Let us hear the word, Jesus, speak to his Creator:
“ And this is life eternal, that they should know Thee, the only true God, and him whom Thou didst send, [even] Jesus Christ. ” (John 17:3)
The above verse of the Bible demolishes the trinity theory with Jesus’ own words and conclusively proves that there is no god except The One God and that Jesus is His messenger.
The verses that want to prove Jesus as son of God are themselves based on heresy: a belief opposed to what other verses of the Bible say. 16 verses, from Luke 3:23 to 3:38 give the genealogy of 76 persons from Adam to Jesus. The first verse 3:23 states Jesus as the son of Joseph (the carpenter) adding the words “as was supposed” and the last verse calls Adam the son of God. Thus the first parentage is based on a supposition, (from where, naturally, it cannot proceed further) and the last link in the chain is Adam, whom we all know as created from dust and breathed with spirit from the Lord (Genesis 2:7).
Joseph the carpenter himself is told by an angel in his dream about Mary that “that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.” (Matthew 1:20). Thus, they have built a long bridge of 76 spans to prove Jesus’ lineage from God, but the first and the last spans of the bridge are made up of spiders’ web.
In another case of classic deception, Matthew 1:16 states “and Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.” The above verse makes you hazard a guess whether Jesus was the son of Joseph. If that was not the intention, to call Jesus as son of Joseph, then what is the purpose of stating the genealogy of Joseph through 15 long verses on the very first page of the gospel. Why not call Jesus as son of Mary, as the Qur’aan invariably calls him, a total number of 12 times.
Dear Reader,
If you are a Christian or about to become one, isn’t it time that you reconsider your links with an establishment that puts your salvation in danger with its contrived teachings. Should you not prepare yourself to embrace the unaltered religion of God, Islaam, which would not let you play with the words ‘father’ and ‘son’ or even let you call an adopted son as son.
Read Qur’aan:
33:4 “........nor has He made your adopted sons, your sons. Such is (only) your speech by your mouths. But Allaah tells (you) the truth, and He shows you the right way.
33:5 Call them by (the names of) their fathers. That will be more equitable in the sight of Allaah. ......”
Or, read this verse: (24:23)
“Indeed as for those who slander virtuous, unaware, believing women; cursed are they in the world and the hereafter. Theirs will be awful doom.”
Islaam will not let you slander any virtuous woman, not to mention Mary (pbuh), the mother of an honoured messenger of Allaah; Mary, who is chosen above the women of all nations and who is protected from the schemes of satan. Only a woman who has been unjustly slandered would know the mental agony she has to undergo. Untruths such as the one implied towards Mary are aplenty in the Bible, in respect of certain other messengers of God. You would have certainly come across such insinuations while reading the Bible previously. But you may not have given serious thought to it or would not have known what to do about it. But now that you have been informed of the seriousness of the matter and also shown the only clean alternative, it is high time you look for more information on Islaam, the religion brought by Muhammad (pbuh), who has been foretold both in the Old Testament and the New Testament, as the prophet who is to be expected to bring the full and final guidance from the Lord.
Allah Knows Best...
Peace Yall... |
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http://www.renaissance.com.pk/jagrefl98.html
Corruption in the Bible: The Muslim Stance
Moiz Amjad
To fully understand what a Muslim means when he says that the Bible is corrupted, we must first understand what in his mind is the concept of uncorrupted revealed literature. Briefly stated, Muslims have basically two criteria for this.
Firstly, the Muslim mind contrary to (a majority of) the early Christians, at least such Christians as played a major role in the canonization1 of the books of the New Testament, does not believe that God's revelation is accessible to all men without distinction2. On the contrary, it believes that God reveals His words to hose whom He selects from amongst men. Such men are of impeccable character and repute. They bring with them clear evidence of their divine authority. These men are called Prophets, or Messengers of God, by the Muslims. Whatever they say and whatever they do with reference to religious beliefs or actions gets the status of True Religious Teachings. No one other than the Prophets or Messengers of God holds this position. The apostles of any Prophet, are by their very name, subordinate to these Prophets or Messengers of God. They only deliver the message of a Prophet and do not speak or write with divine inspiration. Consequently, Muslims believe that the origin of any divine literature must lie with some Prophet (and thus God) and not with a Prophet's disciples or apostles.
Secondly, such writings, actions or sayings of the Prophets must come down to their followers through unbroken and absolutely dependable chains of transmission. For instance, it should not be so that a compilation of the sayings of a Prophet is suddenly made available to the world, while in the past it is not known to exist. If such be the case, the Muslim mind would not base its religious beliefs3 on such a narrative. This also means that such a transmission must be free of any kind of alteration, and must be delivered to the later people in exactly the same words as it was delivered to the companions of a Prophet.
Thus, when a Muslim says that the text of the Bible is corrupted, all that he means is that:
1. The books that comprise the Bible are not the ones given by the respective prophets to whom they are ascribed.
2. These books do not meet the criteria of unbroken and dependable chains of transmission, and
3. A number of intentional and unintentional changes have occurred in the text of these books.
It should be borne in mind that Muslims do believe that the Torah was revealed to Moses, and the Gospel was revealed to Jesus. But it is pretty obvious from these books as they appear in the Bible today that neither of the two books are the same ones which were revealed to these Prophets of Allah or even dictated by them. They are more of a historian's account of the lives and teachings of Moses and Jesus respectively than books revealed to them.
The Bible that is normally read around the world today is basically a translation of the (narration of the) original text. The various books that constitute the Bible today were first written in languages other than English or German or Urdu or Arabic. For example, the Genesis is thought to be originally written in Hebrew. So is Exodus and the other books of the Pentateuch.
Let us first consider the Torah (or the Pentateuch). The Torah is believed to be revealed by God to Moses (sws). Thus it is believed to be revealed somewhere around the 13th century BC. But the books that we have with us today that constitute the Torah do not date as farther back. Furthermore, experts on the text of the Bible also believe that the Torah, as we have it now, was not written or even dictated by Moses (sws) himself. Geddes MacGregor, in his book, "The Bible in the Making" writes:
All you have to do to see that the Old Testament as we know it did not come straight from the pen of its several authors, is to look at the first three chapters of Genesis. There you will find two quite distinct accounts of the creation of man. The account in the first chapter is startling different from the account in the second and third.
There is no doubt that these two stories of the creation of man which have been set down together in the opening chapters of Genesis belong to very different periods. The second is by far the more primitive one, and between the writings of the two narratives about as much time elapsed, as has elapsed between the day of Christopher Columbus and our own. The disparity is obvious from the character of the stories themselves: you can detect it in reading them alongside each other in an English Bible. If you were reading them in Hebrew you would be struck by the fact that throughout the first account, the word used for "God" is from "Elohim", while in the second the name assigned is that of "Yahweh".
The use of the term "Elohim" goes further back, however, than the date of the passages in Genesis in which it is used. A study of various passages in the Hebrew Bible shows that there must have been originally two documents, of which the author of the more primitive one used the name Yahweh in referring to God, while the author of the other used the name Elohim. Scholars call the first document J, from "Jahveh" ("Yahweh"), and the second document E, from "Elohim". (London: William Clowes and Sons Ltd, 1961, pp. 23-24,)
The author has then described briefly how the first six books of the Hebrew Bible have come down to us. A summary of the writer's description follows4:
J was the product of the southern kingdom, while E of the northern kingdom. Some time after 721 BC, a writer in the southern kingdom put these two documents together with additions of his own. The work of this scholar is called JE by the modern scholars. In the following century, JE was enlarged by the addition of the discourses of Deuteronomy (these are apparently, addresses delivered by Moses, shortly before his death)5. Around 500 BC, a school of priests undertook further editorial revision. Finally, in the fifth century BC, this codification was incorporated with JE as revised and expanded by the Deuteronomic editor.
In other words, J and E are the two most primitive narrations of the life and teachings of Moses (though not written or dictated by him). Both these narratives are not similar, and differ with each other in many respects. J (written somewhere around 850 BC)6 and E (around 750 BC) were combined and added upon in (around) 650 BC and the resulting document was called JE. In (around) 550 BC, further additions were made from a document called D (dated around 621 BC) and thus, the document now became JED. In (around) 400 BC, priestly ritual laws, (written around 500 - 450 BC) were added to JED - now growing to JEDP. JEDP, as it became in 400 BC, is the Pentateuch (The Torah) as we now know it. Thus, a book considered and believed to be written by and revealed to Moses (around the 13th century) is actually written in the fourth or the fifth century7.
This then is the reality about the Torah. No doubt, the text of these books do contain parts of revelations to Moses, but, the situation as it actually stands does not endorse that all the material contained therein is revelation -- all revelation. Consequently, Geddes MacGregor writes:
There are, indeed, probably echoes in the Old Testament itself of dissatisfaction with the revisions. Jeremiah, for instance, having questioned whether his compatriots are justified in their confidence in possessing the Law of God revealed to Moses, warns them: Behold, the false pen of the scribes hath wrought falsely (Jeremiah viii.).
The position of most of the other books of the Old Testament is not much different.
Now, let us turn towards the New Testament.
The New Testament does not consist of any book that even claims to be written or dictated or even proposed to be written by Jesus (sws) -- the prophet of God (as Muslims believe him to be), to whom, as the Muslims believe, the real Injil was revealed. All the New Testament consists of, besides the book called "Revelation", are four biographies of Jesus (sws) claimed to be written by his disciples, and some letters (claimed to be) of his disciples. The case of "Revelation" is just a little bit different, as it is presented completely as a narrative of a dialogue of Jesus with one of his disciples. Recognizing this fact, C. F. Evans writes:
The only New Testament book, which appears to have been written self-consciously as if for canonical status (but only until the imminent end) is Revelation, with its solemn blessing on those who read and hear it and its threat of damnation on anyone who adds to or subtracts from it, but this is because writing had become a solemn and mysterious act in the apocalyptic tradition, and it is significant that Revelation, though a mosaic of Old Testament phrases and allusions, nowhere makes any explicit citation from it. (The Cambridge History of the Bible, Vol 1, Cambridge: University Printing House, 1970, p. 234) |
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It seems that in the beginning all the writings now included in the New Testament with many others that were in circulation among Christians were written only to preserve the life and teachings of Jesus (sws), as was understood or interpreted by their respective writers. Most of these writings it seems were never meant, initially, to become the basis or canons of a new religion. So whoever had anything related to the life and teachings of Jesus (sws), he wrote it down. This is quite understandable. Disciples of all great people tend to do this and, no doubt, such writings are of great importance for a student of history. But placing them at the exalted status of canons or basis of a new religious belief does not seem to be quite justified. Thus, it seems that initially no one even thought about collecting and publishing all the writings that were in circulation8 and at that time they were probably not even as much revered as they later became. C. F. Evans writes:
So long as Christianity stood close to Judaism, or was predominantly Jewish, scripture remained the Old Testament, and this situation can be seen persisting in such a document as I Clement, with its frequent and almost exclusive appeal to the Old Testament text. The elevation of Christian writings to the position of a new canon, like those writings themselves, was primarily the work of Gentile Christianity, whose literature also betrays a feeling that the very existence of the Old Testament was now a problem to be solved and that there was need of some new and specifically Christian authority. ... what eventually took place was precisely what in the earliest days of the Church could hardly have been conceived, namely, the creation of a further Bible along with that already in existence, which was to turn it into the first of two, and in the end to relegate it to the position of 'old' in a Bible now made up of two testaments. The history of the development of the New Testament Canon is the history of the process by which books written for the most part for other purposes and from other motives came to be given this unique status; and the study of the New Testament is in part an investigation of why there were any such writings to canonize, and of how, and in what circumstances, they came to possess such qualities as fitted them for their new role, and made it impossible for them to continue simply as an expansion of, or supplement to, something else. (The Cambridge History of the Bible, Vol 1, Cambridge: University Printing House, 1970, pp. 234-235)
He further writes:
During the apostolic age the Christian Bible consisted of the Old Testament alone. (The Cambridge History of the Bible, Vol 1, Cambridge: University Printing House, 1970, p. 286)
Consequently, it seems quite obvious that this status was given to these books only at a later stage. Initially, they were neither considered as divine nor as canons of a new religion. They were simply regarded but a narration of the teachings of a Prophet by such people as were his companions or by those who had been companions of his companions. Nothing more than that. Furthermore, to improve the attitude towards them, it was claimed that they were divinely inspired. Geddes MacGregor writes:
Prominent in the measures taken to safeguard the Church against the dangers that beset it was the attempt to provide a body of Scripture that could be set side by side with the Old Testament and have, for Christians, a comparable status. But this movement to limit the Christians Scriptures to a fixed number of books was much stronger among some Christian communities than among others. (The Bible in the Making, Cambridge: William Clowes and Sons Ltd, 1961, pp. 39-40)
This process of selecting some of the books that were in circulation at that time as more authoritative and making a New Testament on their basis began in the second century. By the end of the second century churches in the West, especially Rome, accepted some books to be more authoritative and started calling them the New Testament. In this categorization of the books in circulation, Revelation, the Epistle to the Hebrews, II Peter, II and III John, and Jude were considered to be less authoritative.9 While among the Eastern or Greek Fathers, there was considerable disagreement even in the fourth century10.
Now, let us take a look at the “corruption” alleged.
A few methods have been devised by textual scholars of the Bible to infer which of the text given in the old manuscripts is most likely that of the originally written document. A number of books have been written on the explanation of these methods. One such book is Bruce M. Metzger's "The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption and Restoration". The author, in the preface of the book has briefly mentioned why it is important to apply textual criticism on the Bible. He states:
The necessity of applying textual criticism to the books of the New Testament arises from two circumstances: (a) none of the original documents is extant, and (b) the existing copies differ from one another. The textual critic seeks to ascertain from the divergent copies which form of the text should be regarded as most nearly conforming to the original. (Oxford: The University Press, 1964, Preface)
This statement, in other words simply means that the oldest of the manuscripts of the New Testament that we have, do not comply with each other. In such a state, a simple mind, is obviously prone to believing that the text of the New Testament from its oldest of days was not safe from corruption.
C. F. Evans after a detailed analysis of the various reasons that can be ascribed to the variant readings of the New Testament presents his conclusion in the following words:
Thus a study of the history of the text of the New Testament in the earliest and formative period shows a number of different factors at work. In the first place, the New Testament documents have been open to the normal hazards of manuscript transmission. This is evident in some lines of descent.... It is still a matter of debate whether any places have been so affected in all lines of transmission: a plausible case for corruption might be made in John 3: 25, I Cor. 6: 5, Col. 2: 18, and Jas. 1: 17, to mention only some striking instances... Another debated factor is the influence of doctrine upon the text. It is understandable that many scholars, conscious |
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of the sensibilities of fellow-churchmen, and often sharing those sensibilities themselves (whether from a consciously conservative standpoint or not), should have denied that any variant had arisen from alteration in the interest of some doctrinal issue. However, we have seen that there are instances where we run in the face of the evidence if we deny the presence of this factor in the development of the text. Many variants which can be traced to the second century bear the mark of the development of doctrine... Many variants of a different kind have sprung from the closely related factor of interpretation... Lastly, we perceive that change has come about as a result of the history of the Greek language, both conscious changes from locutions deemed barbaric to others considered cultured, and unconscious changes such as arose through the disappearance of the dative case or the attenuation of the perfect. (The Cambridge History of the Bible, Vol 1, Cambridge: University Printing House, 1970, pp. 375-376)
Bruce M. Metzger has outlined the causes of error in the transmission of the text of the New Testament, in a separate chapter of his book, "The Text of The New Testament". He has broadly divided such errors into two categories: (a) Unintentional Changes, and (b) Intentional Changes. A summary of the unintentional changes, he mentions, follows:
Errors Arising from Faulty Eyesight: This maybe of any one of different natures. For example, a scribe with such a problem, found it difficult to distinguish between Greek letters that resemble one another; this was especially the case where the previous copyist had not written with care. Then, there can be a problem of jumping from one line to other and thereby omitting a line or a few lines, if both the lines ended or began with similar words. Errors Arising from Faulty Hearing: Such problem can especially arise when the scribe is making a copy from dictation. A scribe is more prone to this problem in the case of two or more words with the same pronunciation. Errors of the Mind: This category of errors seem to have arisen during the particular instance when the copyist was holding a sentence or a phrase in his mind, whether after looking at the previous copy, if the copy was made by looking at a previous copy, or after hearing the sentence, if the copy was made from dictation. This error can result in a number of variations in the text. For example, the copyist may unintentionally substitute a word with a synonymous word. The sequence of words may be unintentionally altered. The letters of a word may be so transported that causes a different word to be written in the copy being so made. The passage being so written may be replaced in the mind of the scribe with a similar passage that is better known to the scribe. Errors of Judgement: Such errors may arise when a scribe mistakes some words written on the margin of a previously written manuscript to be part of the text being written. (Oxford: The University Press, 1964, pp.186-195)
A summary of the unintentional changes, the author mentions, is give below:
Changes Involving Spelling and Grammar: The scribe may, with a motive of correction, change or alter the spelling of a word or the sequence of words in a sentence. Harmonistic Corruptions: Since the monks normally knew portions of the Scriptures by heart, they tended to make changes in the text to harmonize discordant parallels or quotations. Addition of Natural Complements and Similar Adjuncts: Where the scribe thought a phrase to be missing a few words that, in his opinion, should have been there, he added such words as he thought were obviously missing and were meant to be there. Clearing up Historical and Geographical Difficulties: The scribes who were aware of a particular historical or geographical reference being made in the text and found that reference to be incorrect in some way, tended to correct such reference. Conflation of Readings: When the same passage was given differently in different manuscripts most scribes incorporated both readings in the new copy which they were writing. Alterations made because of Doctrinal Considerations: When the words of the manuscript which was used as a source differed from or negated the doctrine to which the scribe ascribed himself, he was tempted to alter the words in a way that prevented the particular doctrine from losing its ground. Addition of Miscellaneous Details: Some scribes had the tendency of adding details to some event that was referred to in the text. (Oxford: The University Press, 1964, pp.195-206)
The author has given a number of examples under each sub-category of these changes.
This, then, is what confuses the Muslim. Muslims do not believe that the books that now constitute the New Testament were written by Jesus (sws), whereas, the basis of Christianity is ascribed to him. Even if these books were ascribed to Jesus (sws), the Muslims have never been provided with unbroken and dependable chains of transmission of these books from one generation to the next. The case of the Torah is no different. Lastly, even experts on the text of the Bible believe that it has not remained safe from intentional and/or unintentional changes in the text. Consequently, in the situation, as it stands, Muslims have no option but to believe that the books of the Bible as we have them today do not truly reflect the true teachings of the Prophets to whom they are ascribed.
Allah Knows Best,Peace Yall... |
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Post time 11-12-2004 03:17 AM
