Yesterday, I was with Ustaadh Kabir Al-asfar, Sirnucy Lafiagi and Ibn Abdillah As-sudaissy. We discussed problems facing the Muslim world. This is a world where we say more and do less. Given that there are many Muslims out there who...

Misgoded reading continued

Click here for previous session       The New Testament Both read the Bible day and night, But thou read’st black where I read white. —William Blake, The Everlasting Gospel Of course, Blake’s sentiment in the quote above is nothing new. The New Testament contains enough inconsistencies to have spawned a dizzying variety of interpretations, beliefs and religions, all allegedly Bible­based. And so, we find one author offering the amusing observation: You can and you can’t, You shall and you shan’t, You will and you won’t, And you will be damned if you do, And you will be damned if you don’t. Why such variance...
what were you doing in an empty room, the first question to ask a rape victim? how true is it that it takes a considerable ton of knowledge for one to know just how ignorant he is. A vast majority of...

Misgoded reading continued

Click here for previous session     Incidentally, once this contradiction became known, Bible translators tried to make it disappear. For example, the New Revised Standard Version translates the Hebrew yisre’eliy in 2 Samuel 17:25 to “Ishmaelite,” and then acknowledges in a discrete footnote that the correct translation is “Israelite.” Yishma’e’li is “Ishmaelite.” The evidence against the translators’ integrity is strengthened by the fact that practically any Bible published prior to the mid­twentieth century (including the American Standard Version of 1901, upon which the RSV and NRSV are based) translate yisre’eliy to “Israelite.” Only after the scriptural inconsistency was identified was the translation corrupted to “Ishmaelite.” By this modern deception, the New Revised Standard Version avoids conflict in their translation, but not in the source documents. And we would do well to note this deceit, for will we truly be surprised if future Bible translations attempt to gloss over the other errors exposed in...

Misgoded reading continued

Click here for previous session     Isaiah 40:8 claims that “the word of our God stands forever.” This assertion doesn’t excuse copying errors, or any other error, regardless how slight. In fact, according to Isaiah 40:8, any “word” which has not “stood forever” is disqualified as having been from God.  Which should make us question the authorship. If “the word of our God stands forever,” and the “word” of Ahaziah’s age doesn’t stand the test of time, whose word is it? God’s or Satan’s? Don’t look now, but even the Old Testament seems uncertain on this point. 2 Samuel 24:1 reads, “Again the anger of the LORD was aroused against Israel, and He moved David...

Misgoded reading continued

Click here for previous session     The Old Testament has noble poetry in it; and some clever fables; and some blood­ drenched history; and a wealth of obscenity; and upwards of a thousand lies. —Mark Twain, Letters from the Earth, Vol. II Let’s begin by putting “two of every sort (of animal) into the ark,” and then … Oh, wait. Was that “two of every sort,” as per Genesis 6:19, or seven of clean and two of unclean animals, as per Genesis 7:2­3? Hmm. Well, we’ve got up to 120 years to think about it, because that’s the limit of the human lifespan, as...

Misgoded reading continued

Click here for previous session     BOOKS OF SCRIPTURE   There is only one religion, though there are a hundred versions of it. —George Bernard Shaw, Plays Pleasant and Unpleasant, Vol. 2, Preface The common theme that runs through all religions is that if we believe in God and submit to His decree—obeying the commanded and avoiding the forbidden, and repenting our transgressions to Him—we will achieve salvation. The difference is in defining God’s decree. Jews consider the Old Testament the endpoint of revelation at present, whereas Christians and Muslims alike contend that if the Jews followed their scripture, they would accept Jesus as a prophet and embrace his teachings.  Muslims carry the thought a step further by asserting that anybody (Jewish, Christian, or otherwise) who does embrace Jesus’ teachings...

Misgoded reading continued

Click here for previous session       Return of Jesus   If Jesus Christ were to come today, people would not even crucify him. They would ask him to dinner, and hear what he had to say, and make fun of it. —D.A. Wilson, Carlyle at his Zenith There is one thing upon which Christians and Muslims agree, and that is the return of Jesus Christ. Interestingly enough, both religions expect Jesus to return in a victory of faith to defeat the Antichrist, correct the deviancies in religion, and establish the truth of God throughout the world. Christians expect this truth to echo their evolved doctrines, whereas Muslims expect Jesus to remain consistent with his...

Misgoded reading continued

Click here for previous session       Paul’s amendment to the teaching of Moses and Jesus reads, “And by him  everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses” (Acts 13:39). A more permissive blanket statement would be hard to conceive. We can easily imagine the voice of the collective public screaming, “Please, let’s have more of that!” And here it is: “But now we have been delivered from the law, having died  to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and...

At-Tauhid reading continued

Click here for previous session     ("They made not a just estimate of Allah...") Allah the Almighty said:"They made not a just estimate of Allah such as is due to Him. And on the Day of Resurrection, the whole of the earth...

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