Saturday, June 17, 2017

A Summarized Proof for Islam

Introduction

All praise is due to Allah Lord of the worlds, and peace be upon our noble messenger Muhammed ﷺ. What follows is a summarized proof for Islam, simplified for average readers.

The key to Islam is the testimony of faith, which is to bear witness that there is only One God and that Muhammed ﷺ is His messenger. Accordingly, the foundational claims of Islam are three: that God exists, that God is One, that Muhammed ﷺ is a prophet of God.


Section 1 - The World is Emergent

The existence of God is established by realizing that the bodies that make up the observable world around us, are all emergent. This necessitates the existence of a being that brought them into existence.

“Emergent” meaning: their existence is preceded by their non-existence. In other words, they began to exist. That which is emergent will be called an “event”.

“Body” meaning: that with dimensions (a height, width or depth) stretched out in space. Like stars, planets, mountains, oceans, plants, animals, humans...etc.

All bodies are emergent because the alternative is absurd. The alternative being the existence of a body that is beginningless.

It is impossible for a beginningless body to exist, because a body is inseparable from either the state of motion, or the state of rest. Meaning: it is impossible for a body to be neither at rest nor moving. So if a beginningless body existed, it would either have been:
  1. moving for eternity past
  2. at rest for eternity past
  3. alternating between motion and rest for eternity past

All three of the above is impossible, and that which entails impossibility is impossible. So it is impossible for a beginningless body to exist. Proof for the impossibility of each category follows below.

(1) a body that was moving for eternity past

This is impossible because the state of motion exists contingently for a body. Meaning: a body that is moving, could have been not-moving. Since the state of motion exists contingently, this means it was brought into existence by some specifier that selected motion over the possible alternative. And since the state of motion was brought into existence, it could not have been beginningless. Therefore a body moving for eternity past is impossible.

It is also impossible for a body to have been moving for eternity past, because motion is the body changing its location over time. Every transition from one location to another is an event in time, and it is impossible for an infinite number of events to have been completed in the past. And since the number of events in the past is finite, it is the case that the state of motion is emergent.



The statement: “it is impossible for an infinite number of events to have been completed in the past” is true because “infinite” is equivalent to endlessness, while “completed” is equivalent to coming to an end. Therefore, an infinite sequence of events cannot be completed, since that is contradictory. It is like saying an endlessness came to an end. For this same reason, it is impossible for someone to finish counting all the negative numbers and finally reach zero. There’s an infinite number of negative numbers, you cannot “finish” counting them all.

(2) a body that was at rest for eternity past

This is impossible for the same two reasons the first category was impossible.

The state of rest exists contingently. A body that is at rest, could have been not-resting. Accordingly, the state of rest could not have been beginningless.

It is also impossible for a body to be at rest for eternity past, because rest is the body maintaining its same location over time. Every moment the body remains at rest in, is an event in time. And it is impossible for an infinite number of events to have been completed in the past.

(3) a body that was alternating between motion and rest for eternity past

This is impossible because each alternation from one state to another is an event in time, and it is impossible for an infinite number of events to have been completed in the past.

Therefore, All Bodies are Emergent

Given the impossibility of the three categories, it is the case that all bodies are emergent. This means all those bodies that make up the world around us - the sun, the moon, the trees..etc. - began to exist. From there, we can deduce the existence of God.


Section 2 - The Existence of God

“God” meaning: the beginningless creator.

The emergence of all bodies necessitates the existence of a being that brought those bodies into existence. Let’s call this being “the creator”, since this being brings things into existence (and this is what “create” means).

The creator that brought those bodies into existence is either without beginning, or is emergent.

If the creator is without beginning, then the existence of God is established. Since a beginningless creator is what we intend when we say “God”.

If the creator is emergent, then this creator would itself be contingent upon a second creator to have brought it into existence. This could not have regressed to the past infinitely, as that necessitates the completion of an infinite number of past events (which is impossible, as detailed above). It is therefore the case that a beginningless creator necessarily exist.

Therefore, God necessarily exists.

It is also necessary that the Creator of the emergent world be attributed with the ability to bring the emergent world into existence. Otherwise, there would be no sense in Him being the “Creator”. This ability to bring things into existence is what we call “Power”.

God also, cannot be a mechanical cause for the existence of the world (such that the effect only exists because the cause exists), since God is beginningless while the world is emergent (a beginningless mechanical cause, would instead yield a beginningless effect). It is therefore necessary that the Creator of the emergent world be attributed with a quality that allows Him to select existence for this specific world (with all its specific properties) over the possible alternatives. This attribute is what is called “Will”.

God is also necessarily attributed with Knowledge. In order for a being to volitionally select one choice over others, this being must possess knowledge of those choices. As such, it is impossible for a being attributed with Will to not also be attributed with Knowledge. And since the Creator is necessarily attributed with Will, He is therefore necessarily attributed with Knowledge.


Section 3 - God is One

God is necessarily One because the alternative is absurd. The alternative being a multiplicity of creators.

If there was a second creator, then this second creator would either:
  1. be able to disagree with the first creator.
  2. be unable to disagree with the first creator.

Both of the categories listed above are impossible. And that which entails impossibility is impossible. So if we can demonstrate the impossibility of the two categories, we can demonstrate the impossibility of partnership to the Creator.

(1) The second creator is able to disagree with the first creator

This is impossible because possibilities are mutually exclusive with their negations. So if the two creators could disagree with one another, this would lead to contradiction.

For example: suppose there were two creators, and suppose the existence of some body. If we believe that those creators could disagree: this means one creator can move the body, while the other creator can keep the body at rest. Obviously however, this body cannot be both at rest and in motion (since rest and motion are mutually exclusive).

(2) the second creator is unable to disagree with the first creator

This is impossible because it means this second creator is forced to agree with the other. This entails contingency, which is impossible for a beginningless Creator who is necessarily non-contingent.

For example: suppose there were two creators, and suppose the existence of some body. If we believe that those creators could not disagree: this means that if the first creator moved the body, the second creator cannot keep the body at rest. This second creator is helpless, weaker than the first, and forced to comply with what the first creator decides. It means this second creator’s will and power have been specified by the will and power of the first creator, and this is impossible.

Therefore, God is One

The impossibility of both categories was demonstrated above. Therefore, it is impossible for there to exist a partner to the One Creator. All events that emerge into existence, emerge by this One Creator’s Will and Power, and no one else’s.


Section 4 - Prophethood

God can choose to reveal certain commandments to a single man so that this man can then deliver those commandments to the rest of mankind. This is possible for God to do (not necessary nor impossible). This man would be called a prophet.

To convince mankind that a claimant to prophethood is truthful, God can aid this prophet with miracles. A miracle is an extraordinary event that God aids His prophet with in order to prove this prophet’s truthfulness to doubters. It is equivalent to God saying: “this man has told the truth about Me.” As such, if we know a miracle occurred for some claimant to prophethood, then we can know that this claimant to prophethood is truthful. A useful analogy to help conceptualize this:

Imagine you were attending an important gathering at the Royal Palace. In the throne-room, you see the King sitting atop his throne. Surrounding the King are his guards, his viziers, as well as the noblemen of the kingdom.

Suddenly a Stranger enters the throne-room, and begins offering a declaration to the crowd in a loud and clear voice. Everyone else falls silent and listens to this Stranger’s speech. The Stranger begins: “O people, I am a messenger from your King to you.” The Stranger points to the King, who is sitting on the throne in front of him. The Stranger continues: “The words which I will speak to you are not my own, but are the words of your King who sent me. Whatever I command, I command in your King’s name. And whatever I forbid, I forbid in your King’s name.”

You notice that the King is silently sitting on his throne. The King is looking directly at this Stranger. He can clearly hear this Stranger make those claims. With a gesture of his hand, the King could order the guards to seize this Stranger and behead him where he stands to prove that he is a liar. But the King does not do that. The King continues to silently listen to the Stranger’s declaration.

The Stranger continues: “Whoever obeys those commandments which I will deliver to you from your King, the King has promised to reward graciously tomorrow morning. And whoever disobeys those commandments, the King has threatened to behead tomorrow morning…”

The King is still silently listening to the Stranger make his claims.

The Stranger finishes his declaration by saying: “…And to prove that I really am a messenger from the King, the King has told me that he would stand up and then sit down three times consecutively after I complete this sentence.”

Once the Stranger completes this sentence, all eyes turn to the King. Suddenly the King - and without uttering a word to the crowd - stands up then sits down, then stands up then sits down, then stands up then sits down.

Now we ask: at this moment, and after witnessing what transpired in this gathering, can there be any doubt that this Stranger is a true messenger from the King? No. The sincere truth-seeker would hold no doubt. Even if the King verbally declared “He is my messenger” then this would not have been any more convincing. Rather, an observer to this scene would attain certainty that the Stranger was a messenger from the King.

The King standing up and sitting down three times consecutively, was an extraordinary event that occurred upon the request of the Stranger who claimed to have been a messenger from the King. By knowing that this extraordinary event occurred, one attains certainty that this Stranger was indeed telling the truth. Similarly, we can be certain that a claimant to prophethood is truthful if this claimant is aided by an extraordinary event (i.e. a miracle).


Section 5 - The Prophethood of Muhammed

We can know with certainty that Muhammed ﷺ is a Prophet of God. This knowledge is established by Mass Transmitted proofs.

Information relayed to us by Mass Transmission provides certainty because it is inconceivable for those relaying this information to all get together and conspire to tell the same lie. For example: a man today might not have personally visited Japan. However, this man can be certain that a country called Japan actually exists. This is because the information relayed to this man about Japan reached him from so many different sources, that it becomes inconceivable for all those people to have gotten together in a grand conspiracy to lie about the existence of Japan.

We know Muhammed ﷺ claimed prophethood by Mass Transmission.

We know Muhammed ﷺ is a true Prophet for several reasons, all supported by Mass Transmission. Three of which include:

5.1 The Quran

Muhammed ﷺ was aided with the Quran, which is a miracle in its own right. And a claimant to prophethood, who is aided by a miracle, is certainly a prophet.

The Quran is a literary miracle. The language of the Quran is unlike any other Arabic text. Linguistically, it is vastly superior to anything that came before it, and vastly superior to everything that came after.

The non-Arabic speaker might not be able to directly appreciate why the Quran is linguistically miraculous, but they can indirectly deduce this by considering the following facts:

First: the Quran challenges the reader to produce a Chapter like it . This is a challenge that the Quran lays out for anyone who doubts its miraculousness. We know for certain that the Quran actually made this challenge, because we know the Quran has been preserved throughout history. We know it has been preserved, because it reached us by way of Mass Transmission.

Second: the Arabs of Muhammed’s ﷺ time were expert poets. Likely, the best in the Arabic language in all of history. The Arabic language became diluted over time as Islam spread around the world. Non-Arabs learning Arabic were often not as proficient as native speakers, and quirky dialects for the language emerged all over the Muslim world. It is unlikely that Arabic - as a commonly spoken language - will ever return to the pristine condition it once enjoyed during the years of pre-Islamic and early Islamic Arabia. All of the above is known by Mass Transmission. To this day, Arabic linguists use pre-Islamic and early Islamic poetry as a template for grammatical and linguistic rules.

Third: the pagan Arabs of Muhammed’s ﷺ time were heavily invested in destroying Islam, and disproving the prophethood of Muhammed ﷺ. This is also known by Mass transmission. It is common knowledge that Muhammed ﷺ fought many wars against the Pagans.

From the above, one can deduce the following: if the pagan Arabs were truly capable of fulfilling the Quranic challenge, and given their extreme desire to destroy Islam, they would have saved themselves the time, money, and manpower, and they would have simply cooperated with each other in order to produce a text which rivaled the Quran linguistically. But they did not, and Islam ultimately prevailed (this is also known by Mass Transmission). And this is despite the poetic proficiency of the pagan Arabs.

With the above, the miraculousness of the Quran’s language can be appreciated, even by the non-Arabic speaker.

5.2 Physical Miracles

Muhammed ﷺ was aided by many physical miracles. Miracles including accurately prophesying future events, multiplication of food and water, and instantaneously healing wounds. In totality, there are hundreds upon hundreds of different narrations reporting the miracles Muhammed ﷺ was aided with.

All those miracles, when taken collectively, provide Mass Transmitted proof that Muhammed ﷺ was aided by some miracle. And a claimant to prophethood, who is aided by a miracle, is certainly a prophet.

5.3 His Life

The Prophethood of Muhammed ﷺ can also be established by considering his life.

Either Muhammed ﷺ was sincere, or he was a liar. “Sincere” meaning: he truly believed that he was recieving revelation from God. “Liar” meaning: he knew that he was not receiving revelation from God, and deliberately lied by claiming that he was.

The second option (that he was a deliberate liar) is certainly false, so the first (that he was sincere) is certainly true. We know the second option is false, because we know (by Mass Transmission) that Muhammed ﷺ refused bribery and suffered through hardship in order to deliver the message of Islam. Muhammed ﷺ suffered persecution in Mecca. He risked his life fighting many wars to defend the cause of Islam. He also lived humbly, spending all his wealth to serve the religion. Those are not the qualities of a liar.

We can only conclude that Muhammed ﷺ was - at the very least - personally convinced that he was a Prophet.

Given Muhammed’s ﷺ sincerity: either he was a true Prophet, or he was madman. “True Prophet” meaning: He truly believed to have been communicating with God, and he actually was communicating with God. “Madman” meaning: He truly believed to have been communicating with God, but he actually was not communicating with God (i.e. he was a madman who was just hearing voices in his head, a man who thought himself a prophet when he actually wasn’t).

The second option (that he was a madman) is certainly false, so the first (that he was a true Prophet) is certainly true. We know the second option is false, because we know (by Mass Transmission) that Muhammed ﷺ was an exceedingly successful man. To assume he was successful because of his madness (i.e. because of the voices in his head) is especially ludicrous. Muhammed ﷺ started out his life as an orphan without anything, and ended his life as ruler over all of Arabia. He was a military genius, diplomat and the leader of a successful nation. His Companions were able to - thanks to his leadership and example - conquer the two super powers of the world in their time (the Sassanids, and the Byzantines).

It is inconceivable that someone as successful as Muhammed ﷺ was a madman. It is especially inconceivable that such a man was successful because of his madness. Therefore, we can only conclude that he truly was a Prophet of God.


Section 6 - The Rest of Revelation

Now that the existence and Oneness of God was established, and the Prophethood of Muhammed ﷺ was established, it becomes incumbent upon the sane and mature person to affirm everything that can be reliably traced back to Prophet Muhammed ﷺ.

The sane and mature person must believe in: the finality of prophethood with Prophet Muhammed ﷺ, the day of resurrection, in the eternal reward for the believers, in the eternal punishment of the disbelievers, as well as belief in anything else that can be reliably traced back to the Prophet ﷺ.

The sane and mature thinker must also submit to the Law that the Prophet ﷺ delivered from Allah سبحانه و تعالى (the name of God according to revelation), and instructed mankind to abide by.


Conclusion

The three core claims that the Islamic faith is founded upon have been proven above. The three claims being: the existence of God, the Oneness of God, and the prophethood of Muhammed ﷺ. Examining the arguments offered above in more depth, can also provide proof against many of the false religions in the world today.

And Allah سبحانه و تعالى is the one who guides and leads astray. With His mercy, He guides whomsoever He wills from the darkness of disbelief and ignorance, to the light of faith and knowledge.

Is this the word of God ?

In the bible, a book that supposed to be inspired by God, we read:

2 Maccabees 1

From the Jews of Jerusalem and Judea to those in Egypt, warm greetings.
May God be good to you and keep the covenant he made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, his faithful servants.

2 Maccabees 15

38 And if I have done well, and as is fitting the story, it is that which I desired: but if slenderly and meanly, it is that which I could attain unto.
39 For as it is hurtful to drink wine or water alone; and as wine mingled with water is pleasant, and delighteth the taste: even so speech finely framed delighteth the ears of them that read the story. And here shall be an end.

2 Maccabees2

The topic was 5 books, however the person has "summarized" it:
23 All these things (I say) being declared by Iason of Cyrene in five books, we will assay to abridge in one volume.
24 For considering the infinite number, and the difficulty, which they find that desire to look into the narrations of the story, for the variety of the matter,
25 we have aimed to please those who wish to read, to make it easy for those who are inclined to memorize, and to profit all readers.
26 Therefore to us that have taken upon us this painful labour of abridging, it was not easy, but a matter of sweat, and watching.
27 Even as it is no ease unto him, that prepareth a banquet, and seeketh the benefit of others: yet for the pleasuring of many we will undertake gladly this great paines:
28 Leaving the responsibility for exact details to the historian, and confining our efforts to presenting only a summary outline.
29 For as the master builder of a new house, must care for the whole building: but hee that undertaketh to set it out, and paint it, must seek out fit things for the adorning thereof: even so I think it is with us.
30 It is the duty of the original historian to occupy the ground and to discuss matters from every side and to take trouble with details,
31 but the one who recasts the narrative should be allowed to strive for brevity of expression and to forego exhaustive treatment.
32 At this point therefore let us begin our narrative, adding only so much to what has already been said; for it is foolish to lengthen the preface while cutting short the history itself.

Quran 2:97:
فَوَيْلٌ لِّلَّذِينَ يَكْتُبُونَ الْكِتَابَ بِأَيْدِيهِمْ ثُمَّ يَقُولُونَ هَٰذَا مِنْ عِندِ اللَّهِ لِيَشْتَرُوا بِهِ ثَمَنًا قَلِيلًا ۖ فَوَيْلٌ لَّهُم مِّمَّا كَتَبَتْ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَوَيْلٌ لَّهُم مِّمَّا يَكْسِبُونَ
So woe to those who write the "scripture" with their own hands, then say, "This is from Allah ," in order to exchange it for a small price. Woe to them for what their hands have written and woe to them for what they earn.

Friday, June 9, 2017

E-Book: Why am I a Muslim, not a Nazarene/Christian? (Akram Hassan)

Forward
Wadie Ahmed Fathy
Former Egyptian deacon

In the name of God, all praise is due to Him, peace and blessing be upon His Messenger Muhammad son of Abdullah the messenger of God, I bare witness that there is no God but God the one and only and that Muhammad is the messenger of God, I belief that the Messiah son of Mary who called Jesus Christ is a servant of God and his messenger and Mary mother of Messiah was a supporter of truth and they both used to eat food in order not to pass away, they didn't ate more or less, I belief in heaven and hell, I belief in fate all of it good and bad.

Praise be to God for his blessing of Islam and its enough blessing; I will give thanks to Him for it for the rest of my life.
Since I converted to Islam about 19 years ago, and Nazarenes are still trying with all their best and all temptations to get me back to Nazarene.

Although, I'm living a very modest living, I don't have a car or a big apartment nor a reasonable balance in the bank, I didn't went to hajj until now and I have approached 59 years old, but all their temptations didn't work with me.
For one reason: that I can't leave Islam and go back to Nazarene.

Because, Nazarene is based on doctrines which have no source in their book, fabricated by the patriarchs as they called the ecumenical councils and if it were in their religion, they weren't hold councils, disagreed, forbade and expelled each other ….
While Islam is stable since the days of the messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) and his companions to this day.

Also, their book wasn't exist in the days of Christ ( peace be upon him ) but it was assembled in Council of Nicene three centuries after Christ, while the Qur'an is from the prophet Muhammad to his companions until Osman write it and distribute copies of it in the Muslim countries and they are the same to this day.

Also, in Nazarene the religion depends on the priesthood since the birth of the child to make (a baptism) for him to be a Nazarene, confession of his sins to be forgiven by the priest, marriage by the priest, dying in front of the priest to cover him with oil to forgive him and after death the priest make for him a mass to forgive him. As well as, (Indulgence and Purgatory)
While in Islam the religion is between the servant and his Lord, no mediator, no authority for anyone on anything, the whole authority is for God only the one and only.

And in the Nazarene the patriarch still is the source of legislation and still legislating, because the religion hasn't completed yet and still lacks a lot, unlike Islam, which was completed in the life of the prophet Muhammad in his goodbye hajj.
Before days of his death, Islam was completed with all human needs and the writing of the Qur'an which contains a religion, provisions, legislations to the Day of Resurrection, this is the complete religion and the complete book, the book of God, the only right divine book on the earth.

Also, the Nazarene sects are different in their doctrines in Christ, The Holy Spirit, Mary, arranging trinity, the infallibility of the pope and patriarchal, secrets of the church, on the basis of these differences they don't marry each other, they get divorced from other sects and they re-evangelize the person again because, the sects don't recognize the priesthood of other sects and the non recognizing of the priesthood is an infidel for each sect.

And, I did not find all this in Islam, no matter how different ideas between groups and sects, because the sources is one and there is not a priesthood, for this reason and the other reasons I choose Islam in a fully convinced…
Read my book ''Secrets of the Church'' to know more about these points.
I intended to write a book about this experiments but I was busy by writing other book.

And my dear brother Akram Hassan gave me this honor to review this valuable book and to forward it.

In fact I found it a valuable book reflects what I think and much more, included many valuable points deserves to think about from every Muslim and Nazarene, because it's not only an invitation for the Nazarenes but also it's for each weak faith of Muslims, to make sure that he's right, and to say with me: praise be to God for his blessing of Islam and it's enough blessing. 

I ask God to benefit by the author, Mr. Akram Hassan and make it in his balance of good deeds, and everyone who works to share it to the day that we will meet Him in, Almighty.
And we ask you to ask God to forgive us and all the Muslims, to make hajj, and to bring us together with our Prophet in paradise.
May the blessings and peace of God be upon him; all praise is due to God, Lord of the worlds.

Download: (doc. version)
https://www.4shared.com/office/jFCqf..._I_AM_NO.html?

Feedback is appreciated. 

Friday, April 21, 2017

Fake story: John 8:7 "Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone " forgery; Woman caught in adultery in earliest manuscripts !

There is general agreement that the verses from John 7:53 to John 8:11 were not written by the author or authors who wrote the rest of the gospel. There is little consensus as to exactly when the forgery was inserted.

Chris Keith is professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at St Mary's University where he also serves as Director of the Centre for the Social-Scientific Study of the Bible.

The story of the woman caught in adultery, typically located at John 8:1-8:11, is one of the most popular stories in the entire Bible. Jesus’ lack of condemnation of a known sinner captivates some readers, as does his statement “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her” (John 8:7) and the manner in which he outwits the scribes and the Pharisees with that statement. Since, as his opponents note (John 8:5), the law of Moses demanded that an adulteress be killed, Jesus’ opponents have thrust him upon the horns of a dilemma. He has to choose either to allow the woman to go free and publicly disobey the law of Moses or to approve of her killing and forfeit his reputation as a friend to sinners (and possibly risk trouble with Rome for contributing to a capital punishment that they had not sanctioned). The cleverness of Jesus’ response in John 8:7 is that it renders the enactment of the legal punishment impossible without requiring his public disavowal of the law.

Interestingly enough, the earliest manuscripts of the Gospel of John do not contain this beloved passage. Indeed, the first manuscript to contain the story is from around 400 C.E. Around 4% of Greek manuscripts that include the passage place it in locations other than John 8:1-8:11; the earliest of these is from around the ninth and tenth centuries C.E. This perplexing manuscript history fuels debates about whether the story was originally in John’s Gospel and, if so, where. The majority of scholars believe a later Christian scribe inserted the passage into John’s Gospel at John 8:1-8:11 and that the alternate locations are due to the effects of later liturgical reading in what is known as the lectionary system. [ Chris Keith, "Manuscript History and John 8:1-8:11", n.p. [cited 21 Apr 2017]. Online: http://www.bibleodyssey.org/en/passages/related-articles/Manuscript History and John].



The text of the New Testament : It’s Transmission Corruption and RestorationSecond Edition By Bruce M. Metzger Page 223
 

Manuscripts that doesn’t conain the story:
( p66 , p75 , א , B , L , N , T , W , X , Δ , Θ , Ψ , 33 , 157 , 565 , 892 , 1241 )

.

Daniel B. Wallace* on the fake story:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cobVbGs5yXM
(*= Senior Research Professor of New Testament Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary)

Bart Ehrman** on the fake story:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhIUkF_FT2I
(**= James A. Gray Distinguished Professor, Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)

Below is an image of page NB (52) of Papyrus 66, a codex of John's Gospel from about AD 200. The begins in the middle of the word εραυνησον ("search") in John 7:52. On the second line the sentence ends with a punctuation mark and is immediately followed by Παλιν ουν αυτοις ελαλησεν ο Ις ("again Jesus spoke to them") in 8:12, omitting the Story of the Adulteress
 The manuscript has been annotated by a scribe who used diagonal strokes to indicate a word-order variant in the first and second lines, but the Story of the Adulteress is omitted without any notation.


The New Commentary on the Whole Bible
"This story is not included in the best and earliest manuscripts [of John]. In fact, it is absent from all witnesses earlier than the 9th century, with the exception of a fifth century Greek-Latin manuscript. No Greek church father comments on the passage prior to the 12th century.Jamieson et al, "The New Commentary on the Whole Bible", Tyndale, Wheaton IL (1990), P. 247-248





The "Interpreter's One Volume Commentary on the Bible"



"7:53-8:11: This passage is omitted or set off in modern editions of the gospel since it does not appear in the oldest and best manuscripts and is apparently a later interpolation. In some manuscripts it occurs after Luke 21:38

The Five Gospels
"The story of the woman caught in the act of adultery...was a 'floating' or 'orphan' story. It is almost certainly not a part of the original text of John, but is a noteworthy tradition nonetheless...While the Fellows [of the Jesus Seminar] agreed that the words did not originate in their present form with Jesus, they nevertheless assigned the words and story to a special category of things they wish Jesus had said and done."

Sunday, January 8, 2017

Did Jesus want to kill Balaam, the prophet ?

In the bible, we read in Numbers 22:
22. But God was very angry when he went, and the angel of the LORD stood in the road to oppose him. Balaam was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him.

23 When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD standing in the way with his drawn sword in his hand, the donkey turned off from the way and went into the field; but Balaam struck the donkey to turn her back into the way.…
Many Christ-worshippers believe that the angel is actually Jesus 'preincarnate'. This is a grave accusation against Jesus.  For example, here, we read:
 The angel of the Lord stood in the path.  The angel of the Lord was a preincarnate appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ, who appeared in the form of an angel in front of Balaam's donkey.

Wednesday, January 4, 2017