Realities of Jesus as found in the Quran and Bible(whole book posted)

[arnoldyasin]

11

WHO WROTE THE STORY OF ?PHYSICAL ASCENSION??

Here are some noteworthy facts concerning the story of the ?Physical Ascension? of Jesus

1. Jesus foretold about his forthcoming ordeal and his meeting with the disciples in Galilee. Nowhere did he foretell about God sending His angels to earth to lift him with his physical body to the heaven after the ordeal.

2. Dr. Constantine von Tischendorf (1815 ? 1874), who had found the fifth century handwritten copy of the Bible Codex Sinaiticus, safeguarded by the monks of the St. Catherine?s Monastery on Mount Sinai, did not find the ending of Mark 1/1 and also verses 16/9 to 16/20 in that ancient copy. The reports of these findings were printed and published in 1985. Within these missing twelve verses of Mark appears the story of the physical Ascension of Jesus to heaven. This absence from the fifth century manuscript proves that these twelve verses, 16 9 to 16 20 were inserted into Mark?s Gospel, some time after the fifth century.

3. The Codex Syriacus, another ancient manuscript of the Bible, does not have the verses 16/9 to 16/20 in Mark?s Gospel.

4. The apostle Matthew, who had copied all but 31 verses of Mark, does not have this story of the physical ascension of Jesus. This gives rise to the notion that these twelve verses were not there when Matthew copied the text from Mark?s gospel.

5. In the gospel of Luke verse 24 51 reads ?While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven.? However in N.R.S.V. of the Bible the footnote to this verse reads ?Other ancient authorities lack ?and was carried up into heaven.?? This indicates that the story of being carried into heaven is an addition.

6. The story of the physical ascension of Jesus does not appear in the Fourth Gospel.

7. The renowned early theologian and scholar of Christianity, Clement of Alexandria (died 215 C. E.), never quoted from Mark verses 16/9 to 16/20.

8. The head of the Catechetical school of Alexandria and a well known biblical critic and exegete, Origen (died 254 C. E.); also did not quote from Mark verse 16/9 to 16/20.

9. In chapter 17, there are translations of the verses of the Qur?an, their commentaries and a detailed study of the revealed texts. They too indicate that after the ordeal Jesus the son of Mary, was greatly ?exalted in status? by Allah but was not physically ?raised to heaven? with his body.

Today, the bible scholars and the bible editors are of the opinion that the Gospel of Mark has TWO SETS OF ENDINGS. Most editors of modern versions of the Bible place verses 16 9 to 16 20 within parentheses and mention within the marginal notes that these verses do not appear in the older manuscripts. The Catholic Study Bible goes a step further and has published both endings for the Gospel of Mark THE LONGER ENDING as well as THE SHORTER ENDING.

THE LONGER ENDING OF MARK?
The text of chapter 16, verses 9 to 20 read

A portion from the footnote reads; ??the vocabulary and style indicate that it was written by someone other than Mark.?

THE SHORTER ENDING OF MARK?
The text reads

Since the evidence for the ?Physical Ascension? to heaven is found only within the modified (inserted) texts and not within the original texts of the gospels written by the apostles themselves, any expectation of the return of Jesus from heaven can only be wishful thinking.

There are several stories for the ?Second coming of Jesus? within the Secondary Document of Islam called Hadith (the re-narrated sayings and deeds of the prophet Muhammad). These orally re-transmitted sayings were compiled more than two centuries after the death of the prophet. Earlier generations had not compiled the prophetic sayings due to the strict ban on their writing imposed by the prophet. Dr. Akbar S. Ahmed and other scholars have noted that a prominent compiler of Hadith ? Bukhari, had rejected nearly ninety-nine percent of the narrations in circulation. He found these Hadiths to be weak, spurious or fabricated. Most of those falsely attributed to the prophet were to establish the personal, sectarian or politically motivated beliefs. Scholars are of the opinion that many of them have been the bases of schisms within Islam. The returns of Messiah and Mahdi (the hidden Shiah leader), from the heaven are strongly advocated by the minority sects. Probably, that was one of the reasons; the prophet had banned the writing of his sayings except what was revealed to him. The prophet had even commanded to efface whatever was already written. It is often discovered that a person who claims to LOVE the prophet the most, is the one who strongly propagates the compiled texts that the prophet had personally BANNED. The revealed verses of the Qur?an that were dictated by the prophet and recorded by the companions in his presence do not have accounts of the second coming of Jesus from heaven. That probably should convey the Message. The Prophet had no knowledge of the future, unless revealed to him.

?In what statement (Ar. Hadiithim), after this, will they believe?? -- Say ?Allah's guidance is the (only) guidance, and we have been directed to submit ourselves to the Lord of the worlds.? -- ?Nor be of those who reject the Signs of Allah, or thou shalt be of those who perish.? Qur?an 7750; 671; 1095

12

JESUS MET THE DISCIPLES
?510 DAYS? AFTER ASCENDING TO HEAVEN

The term ?The Ascension? refers to the bodily ascending or rising of Jesus Christ into heaven forty days after his Resurrection ? a fundamental belief of Christianity. This belief by itself supports the earlier discussed claim that Jesus was resurrected in a physical, not spiritualized, body. The Christian community celebrates the fortieth day after Easter, the Day of Ascension, as a major feast day. This annual celebration reminds believers that since the Day of Ascension, Jesus has returned to heaven and is seated at the right hand of God. Christ will return to this earth sometime in the future, and believers should look forward to that day of his ?Second Coming?. However, the conclusion drawn in the earlier chapters has shown that evidence to substantiate the physical ascension of Jesus to heaven is lacking within the recently discovered unedited texts of the Four Gospels.

Surprisingly, a hidden Gnostic document recovered from Nag Hammadi which has now been identified as The Apocryphon of James, (I, 1) records that ?the Saviour? (Jesus Christ), was on this earth ?five hundred and fifty days? after his supposed Resurrection to heaven and had a meeting with his disciples. This important document that questions the popular belief of Christianity is attributed to James ? the brother of Jesus. (Mk. 6 3). James was well acquainted with the ministry of his own brother. The Bible also records that during the early days of Christianity, James was a leader and an overseer of the Christian congregation at Jerusalem. In the canonized Bible there appears a ?Letter of James? that has been canonized in the Vatican Manuscript No. 1209. In the opening verse of his letter, James confirms that he was ?a servant of God? and of ?Jesus Christ?. The famous lines from his canonized letter read; ?You see that a man is justified by works, and not by faith alone.? (James 2 24). ?Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow? You ought to say; if the Lord Wills, we shall live and also do this or that.? (James 4 14-15). There is no reason to suspect the veracity of the rest of the writings of a person who was and is also recognized as ?James the Just?.

Dr. Robert H. Eisenman suggests that the ?Teacher of the Righteousness? of the Dead Sea Scrolls and particularly the ?Habakkuk Commentary? could be James, the acknowledged leader of a sectarian religious community whose members were ?Zealous for the Law?. Jesus, the half brother of James, was also ?Zealous for the Law?. As to the authorship and the time in which the canonized ?Letter of James? was written, today most scholars suggest that this book was written by James shortly before his martyrdom in A.D. 62, acknowledges the K.J.V. The other James, the brother of apostle John, died in 44 A.D., when he was executed by Herod Agrippa I, by the sword.
The ?secret writings? were detested by Irenaeus, bishop of Lyons (c. 180). He denounced them but did not ban them. Nearly two centuries later in 367 C.E., Athanasius, the zealous bishop of Alexandria and an admirer of Irenaeus, issued an Easter letter ordering the Egyptian monks to destroy such documents that he had listed. Someone disobeyed and what was not burnt was discovered and became the Nag Hammadi Library, sixteen hundred years later. Author Elaine Pagels writes ?But the Secret Book says that Jesus astonished his disciples by suddenly coming back?a year and a half after he had departed ? and explained that he had not actually removed himself from his disciples?. After this remark Pagels quotes the following passage.
Lo, the Saviour appeared?. And five hundred and fifty days since he had risen from the dead, we said to him, ?Have you departed and removed yourselves from us?? But Jesus said, ?No; but I go to the place whence I came. If you wish to come with me, come!
The fact that Jesus had not removed himself from his disciples means that Jesus was living on earth during the period he was supposed to be in heaven. This is a powerful statement coming from ?James the Just?, a leader of the early Christian congregation at Jerusalem and the brother of Jesus. It supports the claim that the belief in Jesus? physical ascension may be a later date innovation.
What James had written was known as the ?Secret Book? (Apocryphon). It was meant for ?only a few selected disciples?, records the Nag Hammadi Library. The reason is obvious; the threat to the life of Jesus (who was neither killed on the cross nor had ascended to heaven) from his religious and secular enemies had neither subsided nor vanished. In other words the knowledge that Jesus was alive after the ?Day of his Ascension? remained a well guarded secret and was not publicized as long as Jesus was alive. Thereafter, the early theologians drew an eternal curtain on the ?Historical Jesus? and his family members by inserting the story of his ?physical ascension? within the gospels and giving the ?Jesus of the Gospel? a heavenly seat, on the right hand of God.

13

TWO IMAGES OF CHRISTIANITY

The inevitable difference in Christianity, in the New Testament documents prior and subsequent to the inserted texts about the physical Ascension of Jesus, gives rise to TWO IMAGES OF CHRISTIANITY. We have no historical accounts to describe the earlier form of Christianity but it is obvious that if there were no documented records for the Ascension, there cannot be celebrations such as the ones that we see today. Many have watched scenes of peace-time Palestine on television, of tourists crowding the streets to glimpse the Easter celebrations. A lone bearded Greek patriarch emerges from the Church of the Holy Sepulcher just outside the old city wall of Jerusalem, with two huge lighted torches, one in each of his raised hands. A huge crowd of faithful believers who have been waiting impatiently outside, surges forward with their small candles to light them from the Holy Fire. All the candles inside the Holy Sepulcher and in other churches are put out to symbolize the darkness of the tomb or the death of Jesus. Devout followers of Jesus believe that the Holy Fire brought out of this Holy Sepulcher, built on the supposed location of the Crucifixion of Jesus and his tomb, is ignited every year on Easter Sunday by the miracle of his Resurrection. Jesus, who is the Light of the world, has been raised. The Light from the Holy Torches must be carried to the altars of churches at the utmost speed and hence there is a struggle to light hundreds of individual candles at the same time. The joyful news of the Resurrection of Christ Jesus is thus carried from the place of his suffering and his Resurrection to all the churches. Jesus himself never said after the Resurrection, that he was the New Light and the Old Light had been extinguished.

Those who desire to practice Christianity according to the modified New Testament documents and those who wish to practice according to the re-surfaced Gnostic Gospels give rise to TWO IMAGES OF CHRISTIANITY. The terms ?New Testament Christianity? and ?Gnostic Christianity? may not yet be familiar but the concepts are not foreign to the millions who have read the recent publications. The texts from some of them are quoted in this work. And they are also becoming familiar to millions all over the world who have watched in their homes the documentaries produced and projected by leading television broadcasting stations within the last few years that are based upon the Hidden Documents unearthed within the last fifty years. New images of Historical Christ and Historical Christianity are slowly emerging. In the words of Marcus Borg ?Many people who have left the Church ? and some who are still in it ? are looking for another way of being Christian?; which may well be based upon the Gnostic - Hidden Gospels.

14

THE REALITIES OF JESUS
FROM THE QUR?AN (KORAN)

After the event of September Eleven 2001, a kind of curious awareness has grown among non-Muslims, to learn first hand about Islam as a faith and more about their Holy Book ? the Qur?an (Koran). They are curious to learn what is said in the Qur?an about the earlier scriptures and the earlier prophets, in particular about Jesus. The Qur?an commands the Believers to believe in the earlier messengers of Allah (lit., ?The God?) and make no distinctions between them.

?Say (O Muslims) We believe in Allah and that which is revealed unto us and that which was revealed unto Abraham, and Ishmael, and Isaac, and Jacob, and the tribes, and that which Moses and Jesus received, and that which the Prophets received from their Lord. We make no distinction between any of them, and unto Him we have surrendered.? Qur?an 2 136

Dr. Hamid Algar?s comments below give a better understanding of the above text. He writes
It would be entirely mistaken to regard the appearance of these prophets in the Qur?an as the result of some attempt to retrospectively incorporate them into Islamic tradition, or some type of ecumenical and tolerant gesture towards the followers of Judaism and Christianity. In a very clear and obvious sense all of the preceding prophets are prophets of Islam, Islam in the sense of submission to the will of Allah, this being the core of each scripture or message from the beginning of history, from the descent of Adam (as) to earth down to the time of the Seal of the Prophets, Muhammad (saws).

To the ?People of the Gospels? (Ar. Ahlul Injeeli), the Qur?an says

?We sent him (Jesus) the Gospel; therein was guidance and light and confirmation of the Torah that had come before him A guidance and an admonition to those who fear Allah.
Let the People of the Gospel Judge by what Allah hath revealed therein. If any do fail to judge by what Allah hath revealed, they are those who rebel. Qur?an 5 46-47

The Hidden Gospels of the first and second century (that had been safe-guarded in the earth of Nag Hammadi and had escaped from being revised or edited), record that Jesus was alive and had lived on this earth beyond the ?Day of Ascension?. It is no surprise that the Qur?an, a scripture of the seventh century, also reveals in explicit terms that Jesus spoke to people (around him) in his old age and had a wife and offspring like all other earlier prophets that were sent by Allah.(Qur?an 13 3. The prophet Jesus was no exception. If that was the case, Allah would have so revealed. Instead, at the end of that verse Allah has clearly recorded ?For everything there is a time prescribed.? This could be the right era in the history of mankind for the unveiling of the ?Gospel Truth? safeguarded within ?Gnostic Hidden Gospels?.

[arnoldyasin]

It is essential that we examine the TWO IMAGES of Jesus (?Isa a.s.) within Islam, when there should be a unified single image of Jesus. The image that is found within the verses of ?The Qur?an? is the PRIMARY IMAGE. The roots of it go into the Primary Document. The SECOND IMAGE emerges from the Secondary Documents. In Dr. Hamid Algar?s opinion ?The supreme source of the truth in the matter (of Jesus) is the Qur?an itself.? Surprisingly, the two images are so intermingled that some Muslim authors do not know which stories of Jesus have their roots in the Qur?an and which have in the Traditional Legends.

Below is a typical example. The intention is not to criticize the author or author?s work but to demonstrate that the prevalent Legendary Image of Jesus has been so firmly well grounded that it is being portrayed as the image revealed by Allah Himself, when it is not.

A Muslim from United States has recently and incorrectly written what has been reproduced below within the indented paragraphs

?The Qur?an describes the beginning of the end of the world famine, storms, floods, vandalism, and rampant immorality prompting the arrival of Dajjal, the name of the anti-Christ in the Qur?an. Dajjal is described as a monster of God?s creation, brought into existence by, and as an expression of, man?s increasing savagery.?

The language of the text is of a scholar, but unfortunately the name ?Dajjal?, repeated so often, does not appear once in the Qur?an. The story continues?
?Dajjal?s reign of terror lasts only forty days, however because God sends Jesus down from Heaven on a white horse with a lance in his hand to save the world for the righteous people- those who have lived their lives in service of God and with kindness to others. Jesus? throne will also be lowered to Earth from Heaven, and the faithful will rejoice seeing it.?

Again, there is not a single verse in the Qur?an that reveals the coming of Jesus or his throne or his horse or his lance to Earth, from Heaven. The author adds

?Jesus finds Dajjal and kills with God?s lance. Jesus will bring the reign of righteousness over the Earth for roughly eighty years. The Apocalypse and Judgment Day are still to come, though, with the death of Jesus.?

This sounds like a borrowed tale from another faith.

?Jesus will return to Jerusalem, at the end of the period of his reign, and pray at the Dome of the Rock, dying and returning to God.?

The author concludes with

?However, most agree that Jesus, or at least a person who is a composite of Jesus and another holy figure, will return to the Earth as a messiah, as described above, and a saviour of mankind. As a result, Jesus is one of Islam?s most special prophets.?

Just as the author has depicted the image of Jesus, borrowed by many Muslims from another faith, here the author has also incorrectly borrowed the belief in Jesus as the Saviour of mankind from another faith. In Islam, Allah is ?The Only Saviour? and to believe in anyone besides Him is an unpardonable sin of Shirk. In verse 2 136 of the Qur?an quoted earlier, Muslims are commanded by Allah to make ?no distinction between any of the Prophets?. To say Muslims do regard ?Jesus is one of Islam?s most special prophets? is hard to believe.
There is a chapter in the Qur?an entitled ?Maryam? (Mary ? the mother of Jesus). The Qur?an is not a book of history but an exposition and confirmation of the earlier books as well as the brief records of the earlier Messengers. The story of Jesus begins with a prelude about the birth of his mother Mary. It is narrated in chapter three which is aptly entitled ?The Family of Imran?. The verse reads; ?Behold! A woman of Imran said ?O my Lord! I do dedicate unto Thee what is in my womb for Thy special service So accept this of me For Thou hearest and knowest all things.??. (Q. 3 35). When she delivered a female child, the astonished mother dedicated the child to God as pledged and named her Mary. God graciously accepted Mary and ?He made her grow in purity and beauty To the care of Zakariya (Zachariah) was she assigned.? (3 37). The angels told Mary that she was purified by God and chosen above the women of all nations. (3 42). Jesus acknowledged that he was ?sanctified? by God and then sent into the world. (Jn. 10 36).
Concisely, the lineage of Jesus from the House of Levi and the purity of his mother the Virgin Mary are established by the Qur?an.
Then will Allah say ?O Jesus the son of Mary! Recount My Favor to thee and to thy mother. Behold! I strengthened thee with the Holy Spirit so that thou didst speak to the people in childhood and in old age. Behold! I taught thee The Book and Wisdom, The Torah and the Gospel. And behold! Thou makest out of clay, as it were, the figure of a bird by My leave. And thou breathest into it and it becometh a bird by My leave. And thou healest those born blind and the lepers by My leave. And behold! thou bringest forth the dead by My leave. And behold! I did restrain the Children of Israel from (violence to) thee. When thou didst show them the Clear Signs and the unbelievers among them said ?This is nothing but evident magic??. Qur?an 5 110.

The above translation is by Abdullah Yusuf Ali and it is printed in the revised edition. The phrase ?old age? is the translation of the Arabic word Kahl?lan. The same phrase ?old age? is also used by M. H. Shakir in his translation published from New York and by F. Malik whose translation is on the well known computer CD Alim. However, several translators have preferred to use the phrase ?maturity? instead of ?old age?. In verse 46 15, the Qur?an specifies that men attain physical strength (maturity) at the age of forty. Spiritual maturity comes later. Jesus was not even thirty-five years old when he was tried by the Roman Governor and was nailed to the cross.

Some Muslims do profess that since Jesus is ALIVE with his physical body in heaven and is not yet dead, the Words of Allah will come true after the ?second coming? of Jesus. However, this hypothetical theory has a fundamental flaw. Please read the text of the Qur?an quoted below

?Behold! I strengthened thee with the Holy Spirit so that thou didst speak to the people in childhood and in old age.?

The text of the above verse is in the past tense. The acts of talking in ?childhood? and in ?old age? both have a common verb which is in the past tense. It would be grammatically incorrect to split these two acts of Jesus into two separate tenses.

15

RESULTS OF SCIENTIFIC EXPERIMENTS FOR NAILING TO T-SHAPED CROSSES

Jesus was nailed to a cross that had one horizontal wooden bar. With the exception of a few, there are no painted or carved images to show that Jesus was suspended on an upright single bar and his hands were nailed above his head. The angle of the victim?s arms plays a critical role. The conclusion drawn after the scientific experiments which are recorded in Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls proves that Jesus had no breathing difficulties while being suspended on his cross.

Recent research by an American physician, F. Zugibe, challenged the earlier studies of Le Bec and Barbet. Dr. Zugibe agreed that while death by asphyxiation is the probable cause of death when the victim is suspended by his hands, it is no longer tenable when the arms are positioned perpendicular to the torso. To test this hypothesis, Dr. Zugibe suspended student volunteers with special foot and hand supports from a conventional T-shaped cross and monitored their physiological response. According to Dr. Zugibe, the critical issue involved here is the angle of the victim?s arms to the upright. If the arms were out stretched, there was no evidence whatsoever of breathing difficulty despite their suspension, which ranged from five to forty-five minutes. On the basis of these experiments Dr. Zugibe concluded that hypovolemic shock, which is brought on by the traumatic shock of crucifixion, is the cause of death.

Jesus did suffer punishments and pains at the hands of the Roman soldiers on his way to the place of his crucifixion called Calvary. However, Luke records that on his ?Way to the Cross? Jesus was seen talking and preaching to the company of people, and to women, who also bewailed and lamented him. We also know from the gospel accounts that Jesus did not die immediately after the act of his nailing to the cross. This proves that Jesus had survived the events of the road as well as the trauma and the pains of his nailing to the cross.

Jesus was heard praying in a loud voice from his cross. Those who heard him thought he was calling for Elijah. Jesus had a conversation with the two malefactors who were nailed to their crosses on either side. Jesus even pleaded with his God to forgive those who knew not what they were doing. These acts of Jesus show that he was very much alive, after he was nailed to his cross. The scientific study confirmed that the suspension on a T-Shaped cross could not be the cause of his death. We also know from the gospel records that the legs of Jesus were not broken by the Roman soldiers. Breaking of the legs and thereby placing the entire weight of the victim?s body on the upper part of the torso of the victim was one of the common practices employed by the Romans to speed up the death of those nailed to the crosses.
However, Jesus was made to walk a considerable distance, carrying his own wooden cross until he was exhausted. He even stumbled on his way. The Soldiers asked a passerby to carry the cross for the rest of the way. A man gave Jesus the drink of ?wine mingled with myrrh? to drink. The totally exhausted Jesus who had a drink of wine was more likely to ?fall asleep? or ?faint? on the cross like the prophet Jonah did in the belly of a fish. Jesus and Jonah both regained their senses.

[arnoldyasin]

16

JESUS WAS NAILED TO THE CROSS BUT WAS NOT CRUCIFIED

Apostle Matthew records ?at about the ninth hour? (i. e. 3 p.m.), Jesus was seen praying to his God from the Cross. Some of the people, who heard him, began saying ?This man is calling for Elijah?. A man from the crowd ran and brought back a sponge full of sour wine, which Jesus drank. (Mt. 27 46-4. This act of drinking demonstrates that Jesus was alive even after 3 p.m.

Matthew records, little later ?And when it was evening? a rich man named Joseph took the body of Jesus and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth and laid it in a new rock tomb. The important factor to note is that Jesus was on a T-shaped cross for a very brief period of time. It was a normal practice to leave the crucified person on the cross overnight. That was the reason why Pontius Pilate, one who had issued the judgment, ?wondered if he was dead by this time, and summoning the Centurion, he questioned him as to whether he was already dead.? (Mark 15 44). Matthew records that the next day was the one ?which is the day after preparation?. In other words the Sabbath was to begin after sunset and hence the body was lowered from the cross before sunset. During that very brief span of time, the exhausted Jesus who had walked a fair amount of distance carrying the wooden cross probably fainted. After a day of rest, lying on a stone slab in a spacious rock tomb, Jesus regained his consciousness. With the help of the two secret disciples - Joseph and Nicodemus, he got out of the wrappings that were later found by Mary Magdalene on ground inside the tomb. Jesus stood up again in his old body.

The Greek word ana stasis (Strong?s # 386) translated as ?resurrection? in the New Testament means ?standing up again?. The word is derived from a Greek verb that translates ?to stand up? (see Strong?s # 450). Did Jesus ?stand up? (resurrected) from death, or from his sleep? One resurrected from death has a spiritualized body. But Jesus had the same body before his ordeal. Thomas refused to believe the story of unless he saw Jesus with his own eyes and personally felt the nail marks on the hands of Jesus. (Jn. 20 24?25). Jesus went an extra length to prove to Thomas and also to those who were to follow him in the future, that he was the same Historical Jesus of Nazareth who was born to Mary and was nailed to the wooden cross by his enemies. Luke goes even further and records that Jesus said to his ?frightened? disciples ?Why are you troubled? And why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself; Touch me and see; for a spirit has no flesh and bones, as you see that I have.? (Lk. 24 38-39).

In the fourth gospel the above incident is narrated as follows

Then he (Jesus) said to Thomas, ?Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.? Thomas exclaimed ?My Lord and my God!? (Jn. 20 27-2.

Some versions instead read; ?Thomas answered? instead of exclaimed, and have also removed the mark of exclamation (!) after the word God. And that gives the evangelical missionaries a reason to promote that Thomas had called Jesus Christ ?his Lord and his God? but Jesus did not rebuke Thomas for saying that. And it proves that Jesus was indeed ?Lord, God?. But we see no question asked by Jesus. Upon reading the text further, in verse 20 31 the author writes that his purpose in writing his book was to make the readers believe ?Jesus is the Messiah?, meaning; Jesus was one whom God had anointed.

Luke records that the disciples were not yet convinced (even after having seen the nail marks) and were wondering, and then Jesus said to his disciples ?Have you here any meat?? and ?They gave him a piece of broiled fish and a honeycomb.? Jesus who was hungry ate in their presence. (Lk. 24 41-42). It is evident from the above that Jesus himself confirmed by his spoken words as well as by his deeds that the ?historical Jesus? who was born to mother Mary and was recently nailed to cross was the same one that was standing before them with those spear and nail marks which can be physically verified.

Furthermore, though safeguarded by God like the prophet Jonah, Jesus not only needed food and water to continue living but he must also live the rest of his life or as long as he lived in the land ruled by the Romans, as ?one who had escaped the punishment of death by nailing to the cross? -- a judgment issued against him by the Roman Governor Pontius Pilate. These are the realities of the ?Historical Jesus? whose life was to be prolonged by God after the grief, as He had prophesied through His prophet Isaiah. (Is. 53 10). This is one of the reasons that some of the writings of the apostles that had the records of the prolonged life of Jesus were never made public by the authors or the disciples who had read the texts.

Jesus never claimed he had died on the cross and was now a ?born again? as a Second Jesus or told his disciples that he had ?conquered death?.

17

IT WAS MADE TO APPEAR, JESUS WAS CRUCIFIED

Since Jesus had ?fainted? or fallen into a deep sleep like Jonah and regained his senses it is incorrect to say Jesus was ?crucified? or ?killed? on or by the cross. In the Oxford dictionary the verb ?crucify? means; ?Put to death by fastening to a cross.? The following verse of the Qur?an enlightens and justifies the facts of ?non-crucifixion? of Jesus in its own sublime style

That they said (in boast), ?We killed Christ Jesus the son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah?; But they killed him not, nor crucified him, but so it was made to appear to them. And those who differ therein are full of doubts, with no (certain) knowledge but only conjecture to follow. For of a surety They killed him not. Qur?an 4 157

Jesus did not at any time claim that he had returned from death. All the subsequent acts and deeds of Jesus were rather to dispel such notions and to firmly establish and promote the true fact that he was the same ?historical Jesus? whom they had known intimately before ordeal. None of his disciples who had met Jesus, after the act of his nailing to the cross, wrote that the angel of death was defeated at the hand of Jesus or that he was given the new soul. In the Gospel of Mary discovered from Nag Hammadi Jesus taught Mary the following truth concerning the death of a human

The Savior teaches that at death, the human body dissolves into the elements out of which it came; only the spiritual soul is immortal and lives forever. This knowledge leads people to discover the truth about themselves ? that they are spiritual beings made in the Image of God -- and it allows them to overcome the worldly attachments and bodily passions that lead to suffering and death. Therefore the final goal of salvation is not the resurrection of the body at the end of the age, but the ascent of the soul to God?

The Qur?an also reveals that death is the separation of the body and soul. It is Allah who recalls the souls of men upon their death. (39 42). At the Resurrection, the souls will be given a New Body. The Qur?an questions in chapter 75 Al-Qiyamat (The Resurrection), verses 3 and 4 ?Does man think that We cannot assemble his bones? Nay, We are able to put together in perfect order the very tips of his fingers.? One thousand four hundred years ago people did not know the secret of this statement. Today, we learn from the science of dermatology that the most difficult part of a human anatomy to recreate is the ?finger tips?.

There is another context to the issue of ?crucifixion? and ?killing?. Dr. H. Algar writes

??the alleged crucifixion or killing of Jesus (as) by the Jews comes within a context of general reproach against them. They claim not only to have killed preceding prophets, which indeed they did; they also claim to have killed Jesus, which they did not.? After quoting the text of the above verse, Dr. Algar writes ?Here a question arises; since the Jews clearly did not believe in Jesus, why should they be referring to him as the messenger of Allah? Clearly by way of mockery; they were saying in effect, ?here is this man who proclaims himself the messenger of Allah and yet we were able to kill him.? And then the response comes from Allah, ?They did not kill him and they did not crucify him.?

Since the issue of the Crucifixion of Christ is critical for Christians as well as for Muslims it needs to be considered further. Ruqaiyyah Waris Maqsood writes in The Mysteries of Jesus

There is considerable dispute about the meaning of these verses (Qur?an 4 157-159). Some commentators insist that the passage simply means that God did not allow his enemies to kill Jesus, who was instead saved by being raised to Heaven; in other words, they accept the Ascension, but not the crucifixion. Others hold that he did die (see Sura 5 20), but not at the crucifixion. Still others believe that he is still living in the body and will appear just before the Final Day, when the world will be purified of sin and unbelief.

One could argue, alternatively, that what is meant is that even though Jesus did die in the earthly sense, he was not overcome by death, and through the action of God he became the sign pointing the way to the everlasting life for all believers. For example, Ahmadiyya sectarians ? usually not regarded as Muslim at all - took the view that Jesus was crucified, but that he did not die as a result. They suggested that he survived the ordeal and was resuscitated in the coolness of the tomb. He then recovered, and lived on long enough to travel as far afield as Kashmir, where he married and had children, and in due course died. The tomb of this person can be seen to this day at a shrine called the Rozabel in Srinagar. Certainly the shrine, grave and legend exist, but the documentary evidence for the ?Jesus? who came there in tenuous in the extreme.

Here a problem arises. No orthodox Christian can accept that Jesus was not crucified; and no Muslim can accept that even a single word of the Qur?an might be incorrect, since it is the pure and unadulterated revelation of God. However.. .there is one way in which both faiths could concur, namely, if we consider the possibility that Jesus was indeed crucified, but instead of dying, was miraculously saved.

The interpretation and understanding of the revealed text of the Qur?an by any Muslim, on this particular issue of the Crucifixion of ?Isa (Jesus), if they do happen to concur with that of the followers of the Ahmadiyya sect, does not in any way or form deduce or infer that that person has left the mainstream of Islam and accepted the teachings or beliefs of the Ahmadiyya Sect and or has joined that community. To join the community of Ahmadiyya Sect one has to accept Mirza Gulam Ahmed as the prophet of Allah, which one has not.
Contrary to that, any Muslim who believes that the life of Jesus was prolonged and so propagates has in fact acknowledged the revealed verse number 5 110 of the Qur?an. This verse clearly indicates that the prophet Jesus didst speak to the people in old age. (See chapter 14 for details). Similarly, one who believes Jesus was married and had an offspring and so propagates has in reality upheld the verse number 13 38 of the Qur?an. It reveals that Allah had appointed wives and children for the Messengers of Allah that had come before the prophet Muhammad. (See chapter 20 for details). Today, the needed support from the Christian documents to UPHOLD these Revealed Truths concerning Jesus are available.

But they who disbelieve, and deny our revelations, {after knowing the Truth} such are rightful owners of the Fire. They will abide therein. Qur?an 2 39.

The legends recently published by authors like Dan Brown, Margaret Starbird and in the past by Michael Baigent and Laurence Gardner have indicated France - and not Kashmir, to be the final abode of Jesus and Mary Magdalene.

[arnoldyasin]

18

THE BODY OF JESUS THAT WAS
PIERCED BY A SOLDIER?S SPEAR

?But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water.? (Fourth Gospel 19 34, K.J.V.).

In the Strong?s Concordance, the primary word used within the Greek text for the verb ?pierced? - translated above, is classified as # 3572. The appropriate translation for it would be ?pricked? under that classification. The impression one gets from the above translation is that the Roman soldier had made a deeper cut through the flesh and hence out came blood and water.

Author of The Mysteries of Jesus writes

The term used for the stabbing was nyssein, which in fact signifies a light scratch or puncture, rather than a forceful thrust or deep penetration. ?It was not a death thrust an experienced soldier would hardly make a fatal thrust through the side, but into the heart. ?Corpses do not bleed, apart from the slight natural flow downwards due to the law of gravity. They cannot pump blood upwards and out, the blood serum is not seen on the wounds of a body which has just died. ?The point was rather that the stab of the lance produced a copious flow and that is what surprised the eye-witness, for Jesus was supposed to be dead.

The Encyclopedia Biblica records ?Jesus was alive when the spear was thrust.? The above quoted verse does not record that the blood and water gushed out or they continued to be emitted for a long period of time. This shows that not a single major blood circulating artery or vein of Jesus was cut by the spear. Similarly, not a single major lymph circulating vessel or lymph gland of Jesus had been cut.

Disagreeing members of Sanhedrin save Jesus?

The following passage from Luke gives us interesting details. Luke records
?Now there was a good man and righteous man named Joseph, who, though a member of the council, had not agreed to their plan and action. He can from the Jewish town of Arimathea, and he was waiting expectantly for the kingdom of God. This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then he took it down, wrapped it in a linen cloth, and laid it in a rock-hewn tomb where no one had ever been laid.? (23 50-53).

Was there a conspiracy from within the Council, to save Jesus? Joseph and his friend Nicodemus were both reputable members of the Jewish Judicial High Court (Council) in Jerusalem called the Great Sanhedrin comprising of seventy-one members. Joseph ?though a member of the council, had not agreed to their plan and action? gives a clear indication that he knew the Sanhedrin?s plan to do away with Jesus. Since he and Nicodemus ? a Pharisee (Jn. 3-1), having disagreed with Joseph Caiaphas ? a jealous Sadducee (Acts 517), most probably made their own plans to save the life of Jesus. Nicodemus was greatly impressed with the signs that Jesus had performed at Passover, records the fourth gospel. Joseph came from Arimathea. The word ?Arimathea? comes from Hebrew meaning ?Heights?. Scholars are of the opinion that this unknown disciple was probably an Essene, living on the heights of Judean wilderness. The Essenes used to wear white garments and were well known for their art of body healing. A person from the crowd poured a sponge full of vinegar into the mouth of Jesus with a reed, while on the cross, could be a strong drink of vinegar ? a sedative, to make him ?fall into a deep sleep?. The Centurion who looked at the sedated Jesus, declared him being dead. Joseph being a member of the Jewish Judicial Council, Pontius Pilate ? though not sure of Jesus having died so soon, had no hesitation in giving the body of Jesus to him. In the darkness of night Nicodemus brought at night one hundred pound weight of medicinal herbs and spices. Matthew records that Joseph had placed the body ?in his own new tomb, which he had hewn in the rock.? This tomb was in the ?Garden of Joseph?.

The body of Jesus was not buried in the ground and covered with the earth. In the K.J.V version appear the misleading subtitles to Matthew 27 57-61; Luke 23 50-56 and John 19 38-42. These erroneous titles read ?The Burial of Jesus?. The body of Jesus was not placed underground or below the earth but was laid on a rock slab high above the ground that permitted an easy and normal breathing while he was unconscious.
The next day being the Sabbath, no one visited the tomb. Early on the Sunday morning when Mary Magdalene entered the tomb, she found it empty and ?saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying?, records the last gospel. (Jn. 20 12). These two could be Joseph and Nicodemus. Jesus having been awakened, they probably un-wrapped Jesus, rolled away the stone guarding the tomb entrance and then waited for the expected arrival of the family members of Jesus to tend the body. When Mary arrived, Jesus who had regained his faculties and strength was standing outside of the tomb. The weeping Mary Magdalene was astonished when Jesus called her by her first name. The ?awakened? Jesus remembered the meeting he had planned before his trial and told Mary to inform the disciples of that pre-planned meeting at a particular spot on a mountain in Galilee. This demonstrates that the mind, memory and the brain faculties of the nailed Jesus remained unaffected.

[arnoldyasin]

19

ISAIAH FORETOLD; THE DAYS OF JESUS WILL BE PROLONGED AND WILL HAVE OFFSPRING

Earlier we saw the historical facts concerning Jesus, who too had a wife and offspring like the other messengers, from a document written nearly six centuries after the birth of Jesus ? the Qur?an. Now a document written nearly seven centuries before the birth of Jesus, the one that is included in the Holy Bible, has a prophecy that acknowledges what the Qur?an has revealed. It declares that Jesus? life will be prolonged by God after he has been bruised and put to grief by God, not just for a brief period but long enough for Jesus to have offspring. To have an offspring, Jesus must have been married.

Just as the majority of commentators of the Qur?an have maintained their silence on the issue, although the text is explicit, the editors and commentators of the Bible have never ventured to endorse what the prophet Isaiah had prophesized for Jesus. The prophet Isaiah is called one of the major prophets of the Old Testaments. Both Jews and Christians read The Book of Isaiah with great reverence. The prophethood of Isaiah lasted for over forty years from between 740 and 697 B.C. During this long period Isaiah wrote more prophecies about the ?anointed suffering servant? than are contained in any other book of the Old Testament. Augustine called this book the fifth gospel. Even before he started his ministry, Jesus went into a synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read the scriptures, as it was the Jewish custom, records Luke. He was given a scroll of the prophet Isaiah to read. Jesus, a youth from Nazareth, unrolled the scroll of Isaiah and read the opening of chapter 61. Translated text of the passage reads

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me.
Because the Lord has anointed me ?
To bring good news to the afflicted.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to captives,
And freedom to prisoners;
To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.
Jesus rolled up the scroll, sat down and said to those whose eyes were fixed on him; ?Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing?, indicating he was the one who was mentioned in the scroll he had read. (Lk. 4 16 to 21). It has been long upheld by Christian scholars and theologians that some of the famous ?Servant of God? songs written by Isaiah are divinations and prophecies of Jesus Christ. Jews may not uphold that. Before his prayer on the Mount of Olives and after the famous Passover meal, Jesus spoke of things concerning him that must be accomplished

For I say unto you, that this that is written must yet be accomplished in me, ?and he was reckoned among the transgressors?; for the things concerning me have an end. Lk. 22 37.

Here Jesus quoted directly from Isaiah 53 12 that reads ?and he was numbered with the transgressors?. In this same chapter there are several other verses that scholars say relate to Jesus. For example he was the one to be despised and rejected rather than being esteemed (533), and he was the one, though oppressed and afflicted, who would not open his mouth as a lamb brought to slaughter and a sheep before the shearers. The prophecy by the prophet Isaiah continues and the text reads

But the Lord was pleased to bruise him, putting him to grief; if he would render himself as a guilt offering, he will see his offspring. He will prolong his days, and the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in his hand. (5310)

This prophecy clearly proves that the life of the ?suffering servant? on this earth was to be extended not for just forty days but for a much longer period. To say otherwise would be to discard the entire prophecy. Chapter 53 contains twelve verses. Denying the veracity of verse number ten and authorizing the verses before and after it would amount to hypocrisy. To rediscover the realities, one has to accept all the verses of the prophecy and not pick and choose what one likes. This logical conclusion is endorsed by Jesus himself. He said

Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! Was it not necessary that the Messiah (Christ) should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?? (Lk. 24 25-26).

There is no record in the canonized Four Gospels that says Jesus lived a life of celibacy. To say that he was married does not reject the gospel records. Also, there is nothing unholy in sexual relationships between husband and wife and in begetting children. In fact God had commanded Adam to multiply. The prophet Moses who received ?The Law? from the Lord God on the Mount Sinai and spread it far and wide was married to more than one wife and had offspring. All the major Prophets that came before and after Moses also obeyed the first command of God to Adam and were married and had offspring.

[arnoldyasin]

20

GOD HAD APPOINTED WIVES AND OFFSPRING FOR EARLIER MESSENGERS?

Since these are significant and vital issues in rediscovering the realities of the historical Jesus; reproduced below are two translations of the verse number 13 38 of the Qur?an for comparison

And verily, We sent messengers (to mankind) before thee, and We appointed for them wives and offspring, and it was not (given) to any messenger that he should bring a portent save by Allah's leave. For everything there is a time prescribed. Qur?an 13 38
Translation by M. M. Pickthall

We did send apostles before thee, and appointed for them wives and children And it was never the part of an apostle to bring a Sign except as Allah permitted (or commanded). For each period is a Book (revealed). Qur?an 13 38
Translation by Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The revelation is explicit and begins with the phrase ?And verily? that emphasizes the gravity of this revealed text. There is no mention of any earlier Messenger or Apostle of God (not an apostle of a messenger), being exempted from the above appointments. Hence Jesus, a messenger of Allah who came before Muhammad, - whose name is so often mentioned within the Qur?an - should also be included in this revelation. The majority of the commentators of the Qur?an have chosen to avoid commenting on this issue. However, the renowned translator Abdullah Yusuf Ali, who has often quoted texts from the Bible and historical records of the biblical prophets and their communities, opted to go along with the prevalent Christians beliefs and wrote the following commentary to the verse

All the apostles (messengers) of whom we have any detailed knowledge, except one, had wives and children. The exception is Jesus the son of Mary. But his life was incomplete; his ministry barely lasted three years; his mission was limited; and he was not called upon to deal with the many-sided problems that arise in a highly organized society or State. We pay equal respect to him, because he was God?s Messenger but that is not to say that his Message covers the same universal ground as that of Mustafa.

While paying ?equal respect to Jesus? and yet excluding him from the verse regarding wives and offspring, the commentator was not firm in his stand. We have detailed knowledge of Jesus in the Qur?an; hence he cannot be excused from being included. There are a few messengers whose history is not revealed but Jesus is not one of them. Every believing Muslim (unless due to an oversight) ends the recitation of the verse(s) of the Qur?an in Arabic, with the phrase that translates ?Allah the Most High has spoken the Truth?. Allah who knows the past, present and the future added at the end of this crucial verse ?for everything there is a time prescribed?. The prescribed time had not come when the above commentary was written by Yusuf Ali.

Today, many scholars have made in-depth studies and translated hundreds of handwritten parchment sheets rolled into scrolls that have been discovered since from 1945. These documents as well as the rediscovered ancient manuscripts of the New Testament have collectively exposed the Truth about the Historical Jesus and the community of early Christians and Jews that lived in vicinity of the discoveries. After a brief period of time, when the rediscovered realities of Jesus are sufficiently publicized and promoted, the new generation of the Muslim Brotherhood would boldly declare that the prophet Jesus was no exception to the above quoted verse 13 38 of the Qur?an. Allah commands the prophet of Islam to declare
?Say The Holy Spirit has revealed it from your Lord with Truth, in order to strengthen those who believe, and as guidance and good tidings for those who have surrendered.?

However, the impact and aftermath of the above commentary by Abdullah Yusuf Ali have been far-reaching. Since the day it was first published in 1977, millions of copies of this translation with the commentaries have been published and sold all around the world. Hundreds of millions of Muslims have read it and believed it to be true. This is indeed sad. The time alone will expose the Truth.

21

ABC TV?S SPECIAL PRESENTATION
JESUS, MARY AND DA VINCI

In November 2003, a leading US television news network, ABC, presented an hour of documentary to its millions of viewers, the majority of whom were the followers of Jesus. This presentation asked some serious questions. Did Jesus have a wife? Was there a woman sitting at the right hand of Jesus at ?The Last Supper? on the eve of his trial? Why is the Cup, the Holy Grail, missing from the famous painting by Da Vinci in a church in Italy? Did Pope Gregory the Great, depict Mary Magdalene as a ?fallen woman? in the sixth century? This controversial program was entitled Jesus, Mary and Da Vinci. Elizabeth Vargas of ABC admitted ?You can?t talk about this subject without intriguing people or offending people.? These questions were directed at author Dan Brown for his recent best selling publication, The Da Vinci Code. Theologians and authors invited to express their opinions on the subjects included Father Richard McBrien, MD of the University of Norte Dame; Joseph Feo of the Catholic League; Karen King; Margaret Starbird; Elaine Pagels and Jeffery Bingham.
Two days prior to this controversial presentation, the BBC released a news report on it with the heading US TV Set for ?Jesus Wife? Storm. The Bible does not say Jesus was married but it does not say Jesus was single either. Vargas said that ABC had not found any proof as to whether Jesus had a wife, but could not completely discount the theory either. If Jesus was married who could have been his wife? The last gospel records ?Now there was leaning on Jesus? bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved? (Jn. 13 23). Only the person sitting next to Jesus could lean on the bosom of Jesus! Was that person he or she? The Gnostic Gospels record; Jesus loved Mary more than all the other disciples.

The next passage from the Church authorized Gospel of John is important hence the text of it has been reproduced from a K.J.V., CD. Please read the quoted text carefully. The narration is about three women who were standing by the cross of Jesus. There is no mention of any male disciple standing with the women (except for the pronoun used by the editor). Most of the male disciples had fled when they learnt of the arrest.

Jn. 19 25 Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother?s sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. (Italics are by the editors).
Jn. 19 26 When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son!
Jn. 19 27 Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.

Is it possible that the original pronoun been replaced? If not, one has to admit that the name of that disciple has been inadvertently omitted. On the early Sunday morning at the rising of the sun when the Sabbath was over, Mary the mother of James, and Salome came to the sepulcher with Mary Magdalene. These women brought with them sweet spices to anoint Jesus. Mark records that they were saying to one another ?Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?? (16 1-3). This dialogue indicates that the women had come by themselves and no male disciple had accompanied them.

[arnoldyasin]

22

MARY MAGDALENE
SAINT OR SINNER?

The above heading was printed in extra bold face over a two-page spread in the Canadian Edition of TIME magazine. The sub-title read A new wave of literature is cleaning up her reputation. How a woman of substance was ?harlotized?. Under the heading ?MARY MAGDALENE? were two pictures. One was of a young woman, absolutely nude, sleeping on the ground with leaves scattered around, her hands raised towards her raised head to show her bare breasts, her right leg raised higher than her body to hide her lower body. That was the image of ?The Adulteress? or ?The Sinful Woman? of the Gospel. In other words, Mary Magdalene was either of the two. There was also a chalk drawn sketch. The portrait of an innocent looking face of a young woman, with her long hair neatly tied and her eyes gazing downwards to the earth. That image was of ?Saint Mary Magdalene?. Here are some interesting excerpts from that TIME magazine

Mary Magdalene?s image became distorted when early church leaders bundled into her story those of several less distinguished women whom the Bible did not name or referred to without the last name.
The mix-up was made official by Pope Gregory the Great in 591 ?She whom Luke calls the sinful woman, whom John calls Mary , we believe to be the Mary from whom seven devils were ejected according to Mark.? Gregory declared in a sermon. That position became church teaching. Although it was not adopted by Orthodoxy or Protestantism when each later split from Catholicism.
Magdalene?s witness to the Resurrection, rather than being acclaimed as an act of discipleship in some ways greater than the men?s, was reduced to the final stage in a moving but far less central tale about the redemption of a repentant sinner.

Jane Schaberg writes in The Resurrection of Mary Magdalene ?The pattern is a common one, the powerful woman disempowered, remembered as a whore or whorish.? She added ?I think it was a power struggle, and the canonical texts that we have come from the winners.? David Van Biema, author of the four page article in TIME, writes ?any retrieval of Magdalene as a ?winner? inevitably shakes up current assumptions about male church leadership. After Pope John Pope II prohibited even the discussion of female priests in 1995, he cited ?the example recorded in the Sacred Scriptures of Christ choosing his apostles only from among men??? Van Biema has also given details of an active group in San Jose, California called ?Neo-Magdalenes?.

Thirteen centuries later and more than two decades after the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Nag Hammadi Library in 1945, ?In 1969, in the liturgical equivalent of fine print, the Catholic Church officially separated Luke?s sinful woman, Mary of Bethany and Mary Magdalene as part of a general revision of its missal?, records the author David Van Biema. I, for one, do not see any apology or sincere attempt on the part of the Church to reinstate Mary Magdalene to her rightful status.
The stigma of ?the sinful woman? attached to Mary Magdalene - a dedicated disciple and apostle of Jesus, may be erased gradually by the waves of new literature that are crusading for the truth and justice for this woman. On the other hand, a passionate movement appealing to the Christian Church to admit the past error of the ?mix-up? and recognize Mary as the first woman apostle could remove the shame instantly. The true story of Mary could inspire other women to participate actively in the Church.

If the ?Good News? of Jesus was for equal consumption by men and women, then the ?Gospel of Jesus according to Apostle Mary? could be the Fifth Gospel of the New Testament. No one can deny, not even the Pope or the Archbishop of Canterbury that God had sent the ?historical Jesus? upon this earth through the womb of a woman who carried the weight of Baby Jesus for months. All the Messengers of God (with the exception of Adam), and all the Popes and the Archbishops came on this earth only after their mothers carried them in the womb.

23

JESUS EXALTED IN STATUS -- NOT PHYSICALLY RAISED
TO HEAVEN

Below are two translations and two commentaries

1. Translation by Dr. Mohammad Asad

?For, of a certainty, they did not slay him nay, God exalted unto Himself ? and God is indeed almighty, wise.?
Qur?an 4 157/158

Commentary # 172 by Dr. Asad

Cf. 355, where God says to Jesus, "Verily, I shall cause thee to die, and shall exalt thee unto Me." The verb rafa'ahu (lit., "he raised him" or "elevated him&quot has always, whenever the act of raf' ("elevating&quot of human being is attributed to God, the meaning of "honouring" or "exalting". Nowhere in the Qur?an is there any warrant for the popular belief that God has "taken up" Jesus bodily, in his lifetime, into heaven. The expression "God exalted him unto Himself" in the above verse denotes the elevation of Jesus to the realm of God's special grace - a blessing in which all prophets partake, as it is evident from 1957, where the verb rafa'nahu ("We exalted him&quot is used with regard to the Prophet Idris. (See also Muhammad Abduh in Manar III, 316 f., and VI, 20f.) The "nay" (bal) at the beginning of the sentence is meant to stress the contrast between belief of the Jew that they had put Jesus to a shameful death on the cross and the fact of God's having "exalted him unto Himself."

2. Translation by Abdullah Yusuf Ali

?For of a surety they killed him not - Nay, Allah raised him up unto Himself; and Allah is Exalted in Power, Wise? Qur?an 4 157/158.

Commentary # 664 by Yusuf Ali (The first edition)
There is a difference of opinion as to the exact interpretation of this verse. The words are ?The Jews did not kill Jesus, but God raised him up (rafa?a) to Himself.? One school holds that Jesus did not die the usual human death, but still lives in the body in heaven; another holds that he did die but not when he was supposed to be crucified, and that his being ?raised up? unto God means that instead of being disgraced as a malefactor, as the Jews intended, he was on the contrary honoured by God as His Apostle see also next verse. The same word rafa?a is used in association with honour in connection with Mustafa in 94. 4. (End of commentary).

Another verse in connection with the exaltation
Lo! God said ?O Jesus! Verily, I shall cause thee to die, and shall exalt thee (mutawaffe-ka wa-raafi?u-ka), unto Me and cleanse thee of those who are bent on denying the truth?? Q. 3 55

The sequence of the above Message is crucial. The first action is; ?cause thee to die? and thereafter comes the action of ?shall exalt thee?. To say; Jesus has been Raised up with his physical body to Heaven and is yet ?alive? and will die after his ?Second Coming? to earth at the ?End Time? is to reverse the sequence of that revealed Message. The dictionary meaning of ascension reads; ?the action of ascending in status? and God did raise the status of Jesus, after the event of his nailing.

[arnoldyasin]

24

THE LESSON FOR MEN ENDOWED WITH DEEPER KNOWLEDGE ? THE GNOSIS

?We appointed immortality for no mortal before thee. What! if thou diest, can they be immortal?? Qur?an 21 34.

?Muhammad is but a messenger, messengers (the like of whom) have passed away before him?? Qur?an 3 144.

?And before thy time, We never sent any but men, whom We inspired, from among the people of the community ?? Qur?an 12 109

The last revelation is in its negative form and empathetically tells us that all the messengers of God were mortal men and as such they have died. There is no mention that Jesus was an exception. Two verses later, the Qur?an reveals in verse 12 111

Indeed, in the stories of these men there is a lesson for those who are endowed with insight. It is not a discourse invented, nay indeed, it is confirming the truth of whatever there still remains , clearly spelling out everything and guidance and grace unto people who will believe.

The Arabic phrase Uulil?albab translated above as ?those who are endowed with insight? is a reference to men who have insight into Gnosticism. The enigmatic term ?Gnostic? is derived from the Greek word gnosis meaning ?knowledge? and is also understood to be ?a divinely endowed insight?. The stories of the earlier messengers (including Jesus) have lessons in the documents that remain for us to read and discover. They offer ?guidance and grace? to people who have deeper knowledge and insight than normal. Some of the passages from the church canonized fourth Gospel and the letters of Paul are also Gnostic philosophies. Biblical editors have described these canonized passages as the ?combating forms of Gnosticism?. Thus there are ?Gnostic texts? inside and outside of the canonized Gospels. Those endowed with gnosis should not be unwilling to rediscover realities within the documents created by the apostles of Jesus whom he himself chose during his ministry. The Greek

[arnoldyasin]

The Saviour?s teaching makes up the substantial core of the Gospel of Mary, and Jesus is the central figure in salvation. He is called the Lord and Savior, and his teaching holds the key to eternal life with God. But the interpretation of that teaching in the Gospel of Mary differs radically from other common understandings.
The Gospel of Mary focuses instead on Jesus as a teacher and mediator of divine revelation. The Savior teaches that at death, the human body dissolves into the elements out of which it came; only the spiritual soul is immortal and lives forever. This knowledge leads people to discover the truth about themselves ? that they are spiritual beings made in the Image of God -- and it allows them to overcome the worldly attachments and bodily passions that lead to suffering and death. Therefore the final goal of salvation is not the resurrection of the body at the end of the age, but the ascent of the soul to God -- both in this life by following the Savior?s teaching, and at death when the bonds between the body and the soul are loosened beyond time and eternity.

28

MARY WAS ?AN APOSTLE OF THE APOSTLES?

Below are some more excerpts from THE GOSPEL OF MARY (BG 8502, I), A Coptic manuscript of this Gospel of Mary has been dated to the early fifth century, and a Greek fragment has been dated to the early third century.

After greeting his disciples with the usual greeting of ?Peace be with you? Jesus instructs them to go and preach the gospel of the kingdom to others?

When he had said this, he departed. But they were grieved. They wept greatly, saying ?How shall we go to the Gentiles and preach the gospel of the kingdom of the Son of Man? If they did not spare him, how will they spare us?? Then Mary stood up, greeted them all, and said to her brethren, ?Do not weep and do not grieve nor be irresolute, for his grace will be entirely with you and will protect you. But rather let us praise his greatness, for he has prepared us (and) made us into men.? When Mary said this, she turned their hearts to the Good, and they began to discuss the words of the .

Peter said to Mary, ?Sister, We know that the Saviour loved you more than the rest of women. Tell us the words of The Saviour which you remember- which you know (but) we do not nor have we heard them.? Mary answered and said, ?What is hidden from you I will proclaim to you.?

Then Mary wept and said to Peter, ?My brother Peter, what do you think? Do you think that I thought this up myself in my heart, or that I am lying about the Saviour?? Levi answered and said to Peter, ?Peter, you have always been hot tempered. Now I see you contending against the woman like the adversaries. But if the Saviour made her worthy, who are you indeed to reject her? Surely, the Saviour knows her very well. That is why he loved her more than us. Rather let us be ashamed??

29

MARY SAT NEXT TO JESUS
AT THE LAST SUPPER

One of the world?s widely acclaimed and admired masterpiece of the divine painting, ?The Last Supper? painted by Leonardo Da Vinci, has started a significant controversy.

This masterpiece of art was commissioned by the Duke of Milan, Ludovico Sfroza in 1495 and was completed by Leonardo in 1498. It is painted on the northern wall of a Church named Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, Italy. This painting measures fifteen by twenty-nine feet. The technique employed by Leonardo was unprecedented. It is not a fresco but a sort of tempera on stone. Many other painters of the Last Supper have shown six apostles facing the viewer and the other six with their backs to the onlooker. Leonardo has arranged all the thirteen (Jesus included) facing the viewer so they can be easily identified. To appreciate this masterpiece of art which billions have admired and to understand the nature of this controversy, one should visit the under mentioned Internet Website (see the footnote), or obtain a full colored reproduction.

Upon having a closer look at the apostle number six from left to right one immediately notices that this disciple has no beard or mustache and has long reddish brown hair flowing down the neck. The face and the upper body look like that of a young woman. Moreover this person is sitting at a prestigious position, on the right hand of Jesus. Is this disciple apostle John or Mary Magdalene? The appearance of the painting alone may not be conclusive. The ?Fourth Gospel? has recorded text concerning the individual sitting next to Jesus, who was in a position to lean on the bosom of Jesus.

[arnoldyasin]

'THE LAST SUPPER'
A Masterpiece Divine Painting
by Leonardo Da Vinci

Please read the following verses carefully. For the time being, please read the verses ignoring the gender of the pronoun used by the editor

When Jesus had thus said, he was troubled in spirit, and testified, ?Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me.?
Then the disciples looked one on another, doubting of whom he spake.
Now there was leaning on Jesus? bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved.
Simon Peter therefore beckoned to him, that he should ask who it should be of whom he spake.
He then lying on Jesus? breast saith unto him, Lord, who is it? (Fourth Gospel 13 21 to 25).

The bible scholars and editors have suggested that this disciple whom Jesus loved and was found lying on Jesus? breast was the author of the ?Fourth Gospel? and his name was John. The important question is how do they know that for a fact? In the above verses no name of that disciple is given nor any indication that that disciple had written the gospel. Nowhere in the New Testament is it recorded that the name of the person sitting on the right hand of Jesus at the Last Supper was John.

The following introduction to the fourth gospel by editors of the New Revised and Updated 6th edition of K.J.V., reads ?John?s name is never mentioned in the book, but it is assumed that he is referring to himself when he speaks of the disciple ?whom Jesus loved? and who leaned against the bosom of Jesus.? The above introduction is in reality an admission by the editor of KJV that this is an ?assumption? and not a fact.
As for the apostle John having written the fourth gospel we know that he was a fisherman before he joined the ministry of Jesus. The Book of Acts records that when Peter and John were brought before the Jewish rulers, the rulers ?perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men,? (Acts 4 13, K.J.V.).

In chapter nineteen of the fourth gospel there are detailed accounts of what transpired on the cross and the giving of Jesus? body by Pilate to Joseph of Arimathea. Matthew records that when Jesus was arrested ?all the disciples forsake him, and fled.? (Mt. 26 56). However, Mary Magdalene and other women who were standing in front of the cross had observed first hand the details of what had transpired. Mary being an eyewitness was in a better position than John to write the accounts that have been recorded in the fourth gospel.
The Gospel of Mary has been recently discovered from Nag Hammadi and that supports the likelihood of her having written this gospel. The Bible does not record; ?Jesus loved John more than the other disciples?. On the other hand the Nag Hammadi documents clearly record; Jesus loved Mary more than other disciples.
Under the circumstances the leaning of Mary on the bosom of Jesus among disciples is very likely and understandable. Even in this era of a ?permissible society? a Jewish male of marriageable age with a beard would not encourage or permit a younger Jewish male without a beard to ?lean on his bosom?, especially before the other members of his own community to whom he is preaching the Jewish Laws. Whereas, it would not be abnormal for a married Jewish woman, to lean on the bosom of her husband, before the close knit members of her own community. It is likely that Mary Magdalene, whom the Gnostic Gospels call a ?companion of the Saviour?, had a marital relationship. Was ?companion? a Gnostic terminology, for ?spouse?? Leonardo had collected old biblical manuscripts. One such was recently purchased by Bill Gates. Did he know from these original documents that the one sitting next to Jesus was his life long companion? If Leonardo knew that person was Apostle John, it is unlikely he could have painted John without beard or moustache on a temple wall.

30

JESUS HAD A SON?

The apostle Philip was probably the third disciple to join Jesus and probably accompanied Jesus during most of his ministry. He was an eyewitness to several historical events that took place in the life of Jesus, before and after the event of the Cross. The Gospel of Phillip includes crucial texts concerning Jesus having offspring. Wesley W. Isenberg, the translator of the text, observes that the gospel has made an important contribution to our knowledge of early Christian beliefs and that the author Philip was not a radical person.

The Gospel of Philip makes an important contribution to our rather limited knowledge of Gnostic sacramental theology and practice. The sacraments exhibited in the Gospel of Philip are similar to those used by Christians in the Great Church for the initiation of candidates. Thus the Gnostics who wrote and used the present text had not departed radically from the orthodox sacramental practice; yet the interpretation provided for the sacraments clearly remain Gnostic.?
It is no surprise that the following text from The Gospel of Philip upholds the prophecy made by Isaiah and recorded in (53 10). One can now say that the rediscovered portion of the New Testament supports the text of the Old Testament.

?There is the Son of man and there is the son of the Son of man. The Lord is the Son of man, and the son of the Son of man is he who is created through the Son of man. ?He also has the ability to beget.?

Jesus often called himself ?Son of man?. If Jesus ? the Son of man, had a son then the mother of that child could be Mary Magdalene the one who was sitting on the right hand of Jesus and was leaning on his bosom at the Last Supper.

May the Gospel Truth that remained ?Hidden? for the last 1600 years in the belly of Nag Hammadi, prevail upon the hearts, the minds and the souls of the People of the Gospel. May the Qur?anic Truth that was ?uncomprehending? for the last 1400 years, prevail upon the hearts, the minds and the souls of the People of the Qur?an.

[arnoldyasin]

31

THE ?RETURN OF JESUS?
AT THE ?END TIME?!

For those who are anxiously waiting for the imminent ?Return of Jesus? from heaven and have their beliefs based upon the Church advocated Gospels, here is the Rediscovered Truth

Bible scholars like Dr. Constantine von Tischendorf, who after having personally examined the original hand written copies of the oldest available Four Gospels have noted that the texts for the physical ascension of Jesus to heaven or Jesus being carried by the angels to heaven, are lacking in these ancient documents. The texts that are found within the published copies of the circulating gospels on the subject of the physical ascension of Jesus have been added centuries later.

Since the True (unedited) Gospels do not record the physical ascension of Jesus to heaven, to wait for his return can be regarded as building a house upon soft ground.
For the vast majority of those who are eagerly waiting for the ?Return of Jesus? from the heaven and have their beliefs based upon the verses of the Qur?an, here is the Revealed Truth

The verses of the Qur?an were revealed to the prophet in Arabic. Within Arabic Text of the Qur?an, the evidence for the coming of Jesus at the End Time or at any time in the future is lacking. The name of Jesus does not appear in the Arabic Text of the verse 43 61, the only verse put forward by some scholars as an evidence for his second coming. The translators who have already accepted the concept for the ?Second Coming of Jesus? from the traditional beliefs have inserted the name ?Jesus? within brackets in their translations. One such example from Abdullah Yusuf Ali?s English translation is given below. Besides, inserting the name of Jesus with the brackets, Yusuf Ali has mistranslated the Arabic word I?lm. Literally, this Arabic word translates ?knowledge? but instead we find the word ?Sign? in its place. The verse number 60, which immediately precedes the verse 43 61, deals with the ?angels? and not with Jesus. Hence, the insertion of name ?Jesus? in the ensuing verse number 61 is a pure conjecture and lacks the needed support from the Qur?an.
Please compare the following two translations as well as their related commentaries. The first translator has taken the liberty of inserting ?within the brackets? the name of Jesus. The second has not taken such a liberty with the revealed text. Please also notice how the concepts have changed drastically by such an insertion

1. Translation by Abdullah Yusuf Ali

And (Jesus) shall be a Sign (for the coming of) the Hour (of Judgment) therefore have no doubt about the (Hour) but follow ye Me this is a Straight Way. Qur?an 43 61.

Commentary Number 4662 by A. Yusuf Ali

This is understood to refer to the second coming of Jesus in the Last Days before the Resurrection, when he will destroy the false doctrines that pass under his name, and prepare the way for the universal acceptance of Islam, the Gospel of Unity and Peace, the Straight Way of the Qur'an.

2. Translation by Dr. Muhammad Asad

AND, BEHOLD, this is indeed a means to know the Last Hour ; hence, have no doubt whatever about it, but follow Me this is a straight way.

Commentary Number 41 by Dr. Muhammad Asad

Whereas most of the commentators regard the pronoun hu in innahu as relating to Jesus and, consequently, interpret the above phrase as "he is indeed a means to know the Last Hour", some authorities - e.g., Qatadah, Al-Hasan Al-Basri and Said ibn Jubayr (all of them quoted by Tabari, Badhawi and Ibn Kathir) - relate the pronoun to the Quran, and understand the phrase in the sense adopted in my rendering. The specific mention of the Last Hour in the above context is meant to stress man's ultimate responsibility before the Creator and, therefore, the fact that worship is due to Him alone and so this parenthetic passage follows logically upon the mention of the false deification of Jesus.

The translation Number One contradicts the following revealed verses of the Qur?an. To believe that Jesus will come first and will rule the earth for such and such period and will wipe out all the evils from the earth and thereafter will come the End Time is to negate the following two verses of the Qur?an, which declares that the End Time will come suddenly. Jesus also spoke of the agreed time to come suddenly and none knows of its day or hour except the God.

And they say When will this promise be fulfilled, if ye are truthful? They await but one Shout, which will surprise them while they are disputing. Then they cannot make bequest, nor can they return to their own folk. Qur?an 36 48 ? 50

There are sects within Islam that have sprung up based upon the concept of ?some one? physically coming down from the heaven and playing a major role for their own community. Again the question is why would not Allah mention within the revealed Arabic text the name of the entity that is to come and spare the Muslim Brotherhood from schism? The Qur?an declares that Muhammad is the seal of the Prophets meaning no Prophet of God will come after him. Are the anxiously awaiting followers of Islam also going to follow the Christ along with the awaiting Christians, or they will have a contest for Christ?

[arnoldyasin]

CONCLUSION

THE TRUTH SHALL MAKE YOU FREE?

THE HISTORICAL JESUS was a Jew who lived in Palestine in the days of the Roman Governor Pontius Pilate, records the historian Flavius Josephus, a Pharisee who was working for the Romans. Josephus records that many Jews and Greeks were attracted by the words and deeds of this wise man. The gospels record that the ministry of Jesus was short-lived. During that brief period, he preached the ?Good News of God?s Kingdom?. To those who believed in him, Jesus told these essential things (1) ?If you abide in my word, then you are truly disciples of mine; and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.? (2) ?I do nothing on my own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught me.? The fourth gospel also records that Jesus amazed his disciples with the performances of great miracles and informed his listeners that he always did the things that were pleasing to his Father. Jesus was a ?Righteous Prophet? acknowledges the Qur?an. Many Jews rejected him and some used to confront him to his face. Jesus simply told them to discover his realities in their own books. If they had believed in their own prophet Moses, they would have found Jesus in the writings of Moses. Jesus acknowledged, according to the prophecy of Moses, that he was similar to Moses.

The Qur?an reveals

And in their footsteps We sent Jesus the son of Mary, confirming The Torah that had come before him We sent him The Gospel therein was guidance and
light and confirmation of The Torah that had come before him. A guidance and an admonition to those who fear Allah.

The Qur?an also reveals that all the earlier prophets were married and had offspring. That Jesus was no exception to this rule is supported by the text of the Gnostic Gospels discovered in 1945. The history of the earlier prophets recorded in the Qur?an tells us that the One who had sent His Prophets upon this earth had caused them to undergo a trial but in most cases when the prophets have called upon Allah, He had safe-guarded their lives. And thereafter, in the majority of the cases, the prophets? prestige had been restored and status elevated. 1) When the prophet Noah prayed to his God, he and his believers were saved from the great deluge and his disbelievers were drowned. 2) The prophet Abraham also prayed to his God when he was being cast into the burning fire. God saved Abraham. 3) The prophet Moses and his followers also prayed when they were being pursued by the mighty army of the Pharaoh and came to the Red Sea. Pharaoh and his army perished in that sea but Moses and his followers safely crossed. 4) The prophet Jonah also prayed from the belly of a great fish while he was ?fainting? and God saved him. 5) The prophet Jesus also cried to his God from the cross, while he was in great pain. Jesus had also ?fainted like Jonah? but to his enemies it was made to appear that he had died, when he had not. 6) The prophet Muhammad was also saved during his flight from Mecca to Medina when his enemies were on his trail. The prophet and his companion hid in a cave and also prayed like the earlier prophets. A freshly built spider?s web on the mouth of that cave misled the enemies into believing that no one had entered that cave. We also know that all these prophets obtained their due respect and honour only after their ordeals. Jesus was no exception. Today we know from the Nag Hammadi documents that God had fulfilled the prophecy made by Isaiah, and that supports the claim that this special prophecy was for Jesus. The Scrolls of Isaiah were written before the birth of Jesus Christ is well established from the fact that one such scroll was read by Jesus in a synagogue when he was known as a young son of Joseph the carpenter.

Just as Protestantism separated from Roman Catholicism, Jesus at the most may perhaps have thought of a schism in Judaism and liberating his fellow Jews from the dictates of the High Priests of the Temple in Jerusalem. Neither the prophet Abraham started a new religion bearing his own name, nor did the prophet Moses or prophet Jesus. History records that it was in Antioch, long after the ministry of Jesus had been concluded, that a ruler of northern and eastern Palestine named Herod Agrippa II asked a blunt question of Paul ?Are you so quickly persuading me to become a Christian?? With that perplexing counter question of Agrippa came into being the terms Christian and Christianity, unknown before that date. These two terms are not found in the Four Gospels, the Dead Sea Scrolls or in the Gnostic Gospels.

?THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST?

Mel Gibson, a born Catholic, invested over $ 25 million and co-scripted a ?mega movie? with the above title. This film projects the graphic and at times violent accounts of the repeated beatings and unending brutal scourging of Jesus by the Jewish Temple Guards and the Roman soldiers. These are far beyond what the gospel accounts have recorded. This highly publicized film was projected simultaneously all over the world on February 28, 2004 - a day of repentance for the Christians -- Ash Wednesday. The film will continue to rouse the feelings of millions of viewers, Christians and non-Christians around the world. The historical Jesus, who had no army, was no threat to Rome. Jesus - the one who was preaching the Law of Moses, was tried on several concocted charges by the Jewish Council. The High Priest found him guilty. The Chief Prosecutor of the Council handed Jesus to Pontius Pilate for a trial before the Roman Court. The Roman Governor refused to sentence Jesus. The Council members and the crowd finally got what they wanted. A verdict for the death of Jesus on the cross as a malefactor and a false Messiah. These scenes of the movie became a major issue of religious controversy. Did Mel Gibson make an anti-Semitic Movie? The world media unreservedly exploited that controversy by publishing its reviews on the front pages of newspapers and on television screens during prime times. The Church that had failed to sustain the attendance of church-goers during the last century found that kind of media publicity as the God given opportunity of its lifetime to glorify Jesus.

The acts of the ?historical Jesus? leading to the event of his trial, as recorded in the gospels, suggest that Jesus of Nazareth wanted to liberate his fellow Jews from the dictates of the Temple High Priests in Jerusalem. A noteworthy question from a historical perspective is Did that community and its progeny, for whom Jesus under went what this film depicts, remain liberated or did they simply move from the Temple Hierarchy in Jerusalem to the Church Hierarchy in Rome? Under the latter, the early Christian community lost its freedom to read freely the historical records and preaching of their Liberator (Saviour). If the laity had had that freedom, it is unlikely that the texts of the four gospels could have been re-written or the texts of Gnostic Gospels written by the apostles would have gone underground.
The scholars, who have scrutinized the texts of the Gnostic Gospels in their original language, are of the opinion that Jesus did meet his disciples, when he was supposed to be in heaven sitting on the right hand of God. The non-appearance of Jesus in public after the supposed Day of Ascension is quite understandable because the Roman Governor?s Judgment for the death of Jesus by crucifixion had not been fulfilled. Likewise, the Gospel records and other written documents within which the account of his life after the ?supposed? Day of his Ascension appeared, were regarded as classified documents for circulation in private. Thus the Church circulated stories of Jesus Christ sitting in the heaven got the needed credence. Dr. James H. Charlesworth writes

?The Jesus traditions were edited by the Jesus followers. They composed their accounts and gospels in light of their fervent belief that God had raised Jesus from the dead and that soon he would return gloriously and triumphantly to earth. They did not intend to publish an objective biography of Jesus that could withstand the acids of modern criticism.?

Elaine Pagels, author of The Gnostic Gospels questions at the beginning; ?Christ?s resurrection, was it a historical event or a symbolic??

[arnoldyasin]

THE BLOOD OF JESUS?

When the Roman Governor Pilate washed his hands before the crowd, and said ?I am innocent of this man?s (Jesus?) blood?? The crowd answered ?His blood be on us and on our children.? With that Jesus was handed over to the soldiers to be crucified. Dr. Raymond Brown, the scholar of Anchor Bible fame, claims; the responsibility of the voiced line ?blood on our children? was for a particular group that took that oath rather than an assumed eternal guilt for the entire race.

Truly, the blood and water from the body of Jesus was spilled while on the cross, but his soul did not leave his body. Jesus foretold his own fate and compared it with the fate of the prophet Jonah, who simply fainted in the belly of the fish and did not die. If Jesus had met his death on the cross this would not be a true prophecy. The apostle Matthew records At 3 p.m. in the evening, when the sky was getting dark, Jesus cried out calling upon his God with the famous opening verse from Psalm 22. Before sunset, when the Sabbath was to begin, Jesus was lowered from the cross. Thus, Jesus stayed on the cross for only a brief period. This was probably God?s Master Plan to defeat his enemies! The experiments conducted by the American physician, F. Zugibe, demonstrate that death by asphyxiation was not possible within that short period of time, since the arms of Jesus were positioned on the cross, horizontal to the torso. The blood letting of Jesus was upon the crowd but not the physical killing. If the historical Jesus was killed on the cross, as the crowd had intended, then the prophecy from the Book of Isaiah that Jesus will see his offspring would be a false prophecy and Isaiah would be a false prophet according to the teachings of Jesus with regards to the signs of the false prophets.

Tom Harpur writes in his book

Perhaps I am lacking in piety or some basic instinct, but I know I am not alone in finding the idea of Jesus? death as atonement for the sins of all humanity on one level bewildering and on the other morally repugnant. Jesus never to my knowledge said anything to indicate that forgiveness from God could only be granted after or because of the cross.

Ehrman, another Christian author, notes that some of the early Christians believed in one God. Some believed in two and others in thirty. ?There were some who believed Jesus? death brought about the world?s salvation, and others who thought it had nothing to do with it. Others said Jesus never died.?

The fourth gospel records that the living Messiah ? the historical Jesus, had claimed that he was ?the way? to approach the God who was in heaven. Some three centuries after his departure, ?the way? became or was made ?the destination?.

THE RESURRECTION OF A ?FALLEN WOMEN??
In the 6th century, Pope Gregory confused names and Mary Magdalene became a fallen woman. But more interestingly, the entire story of an adulterous woman in the last gospel is found only within the re-written texts. The story does not appear in the older manuscripts of the bible. Professor Jane Schaberg of the University of Detroit has coined the term ?harlotized? for what was done to the image of Mary. Was this an attempt by the Church to uphold the theory that Jesus was celibate because he could not have possibly married an adulterous woman? On the other hand, even the canonical gospels record that Mary Magdalene never left the place of Crucifixion while all the disciples fled from the scene leaving Jesus alone. Mary was the first one to see, hear and respond, the ?awakened? Jesus.

THE ASCENSION OF JESUS TO HEAVEN!

After comparing the ancient fourth century handwritten texts of the Four Gospels, discovered in the middle of the nineteenth century at Mount Sinai with the present day gospel texts that are in circulation, one can easily conclude that the recent texts have been re-written. Most importantly, the stories of the physical ascension of Jesus from earth to heaven were inserted sometime after the fourth century. This was a period in Church history when access to the Bible was forbidden to the laity and only the clergy had that exclusive privilege. In these circumstances, fingers would most probably point to the Church in Rome as being responsible for the modifications of the gospel texts. A quick question one may ask Were the original texts modified to raise the status of Jesus and thereby elevate the authority of the Popes in the Vatican, who ultimately became Vicars of the elevated Jesus? Christian theologians of the third century such as Clement of Alexandria and Origen did not quote texts on the Ascension of Jesus, a fact that causes many scholars to believe that the theology of the Ascension was a concept developed later. The apostle Matthew, one of the few eyewitness authors, ended his gospel with the dialogue between Jesus and his disciples. If Matthew had seen or heard of the physical Ascension of Jesus he would not have left out such an important event from his ?Good News? of Jesus.

Author Marcus Borg writes in his book The Heart of Christianity ?Many people who have left the Church ? and some who are still in it ? are looking for another way of being Christian.? I would rather say ?another way of being the disciples of the historical Jesus who said ?If you abide in my word, then you are truly disciples of mine; and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.?

AN ATTEMPT IS MADE IN THIS BOOK TO REDISCOVER THE REALITIES OF HISTORICAL JESUS
IN THE WAY WHICH HE HAD HIMSELF FORETOLD AND RECOMMENDED?

Knowing the Historical Jesus is to know the Christ?

Abiding by the words spoken by that Historical Jesus is
the Reliable Way to know The Historical Truth?

[arnoldyasin]

I hope it is a bit readable for people......

[arnoldyasin]

Let's comment any things here, where it is more suitable...

[adley]

Salaam ArnoldYasin,

I've read Meherally's book from www.mostmerciful.com too. I emailed him a few times when I was still studying the case of Jesus and Hadiths. As far as I can tell, this book covers everything a person needs to understand how dead Jesus really is. I didn't like this book one bit at that time, but hey... I had to concede defeat no matter what. This book, finally, I consider as a great read. ;D

=adley=

[arnoldyasin]

Same here....No one can refute the arguments used in his book....

[adley]

Salaam ArnoldYasin,

Same here....

Glad to know I wasn't the only stubborn one. ;D

No one can refute the arguments used in his book....

That, I have to agree, with God as the exception of course. ;D

=adley=

[unknownuser]

very intersting, i didn't read it all as my eyes started to hurt after reading a lot, i think i have to print it and read it hard copy better, but thanks for sharing it

salam

[arnoldyasin]

God gives the info, we have only have to share it..............so no props...