Realities of Jesus as found in the Quran and Bible(whole book posted)
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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 TruthThe 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- 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.
- 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?
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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??
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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? -
I hope it is a bit readable for people......
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Let's comment any things here, where it is more suitable...
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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=
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Same here....No one can refute the arguments used in his book....
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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
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God gives the info, we have only have to share it..............so no props...