Misgoded reading continued

Click here for previous session       Atonement   Must then a Christ perish in torment in every age to save those that have no imagination? —George Bernard Shaw, Saint Joan, Epilogue The atonement—what a concept. Who wouldn’t like someone else to pick up the tab for their every indulgence and transgression? However, no matter how good the atonement sounds, no matter how much people want it to be true, the critical question is whether it has a basis in revealed truth. Will the atonement be there on the Day of Judgment for those who rely upon it for their salvation? Or will the untold billions of anxious human souls be struck with downcast faces when God announces He...

At-Tauhid reading continued

Click here for previous session       The Prophet's safeguarding of Tauhid and his closing of the paths to Shirk   Narrated from Abdullah bin Ash-Shikhkhir (May Allah be pleased with him) who said: I went with a delegation of Banu 'Aamir to Allah's Messenger...

Misgoded reading continued

Click here for previous session       Original Sin   He that falls into sin is a man; that grieves at it, is a saint; that boasteth of it, is a devil. —Thomas Fuller, The Holy State and the Profane State The concept of original sin is completely foreign to Judaism and Eastern Christianity, having achieved acceptance in only the Western Church. Furthermore, Christian and Islamic concepts of sin are virtual opposites with respect to certain nuances. For example, there is no concept of “sinning in the mind” in Islam; to a Muslim, an evil thought becomes a good deed when a person refuses to act upon it. Overcoming and dismissing the evil thoughts which forever assail our minds is considered deserving of reward rather than punishment. Islamically speaking, an evil thought only becomes...

At-Tauhid reading continued

Click here for previous session       None asks Intercession of Allah before His creation It is narrated from Jubair bin Mut'im (May Allah be pleased with him) that He said: An A'rabi (a nomadic Arab) came to the (May the peace...

Misgoded reading continued

Click here for previous session     Reviewing unprejudiced historical accounts, a large population of the religious throughout the known world voiced their opposition to Trinitarian Christianity, and those who denied Jesus Christ’s crucifixion and death were not necessarily a minority. Many would argue that from a gut level it makes more sense for God to have punished Judas for his treachery than to have tortured Jesus for his innocence. The argument would be more convincing if the doctrines of atonement and original sin could be shown to be invalid, for these two doctrines hinge off the doorframe of the alleged death of Jesus. The first hurdle...

At-Tauhid reading continued

Click here for previous session       To swear and to take Oath (binding) upon Allah It is narrated from Jundub bin Abdullah (May Allah be pleased with him) that Allah's Messenger (May the peace and blessing of Allah be upon him) said:...

Misgoded reading continued

Click here for previous session       It was no empty vow of their elect ones, “to be baptized with the baptism of Christ, to take on themselves scourgings, imprisonments, tortures, reproaches, crosses, blows, tribulation, and all temptations of the world.” Theirs the tears, theirs the blood shed during more than ten centuries of fierce persecution in the East; and if we reckon of their number, as well we may, the early puritans of Europe, then the tale of wicked deeds wrought by the persecuting churches reaches dimensions which appall the mind. And as it was all done, nominally out of reverence for, but really in mockery of, the Prince of Peace, it is hard...

At-Tauhid reading continued

Click here for previous session     The Protection of Allah's Covenant and the Protection of His Prophet's Covenant   Allah Almighty said: "And fulfill the Covenant of Allah (Bai'a : pledge for Islam) when you have covenanted, and break not the oaths after you...
It is sad and pathetic when a promising child goes to the university only to come back with with a rationalized, modernized, and liberal version of Islam. My experience today made me conclude that except a child has proper...

Misgoded reading continued

Click here for previous session       To be fair, Gnostic ideology did have a place in many, if not most, or even all groups regarded as dissenters from orthodoxy. But then again, Gnosticism has a place in orthodoxy as well, for what is gnosis if not the belief that its initiates possess some esoteric but essential knowledge necessary for salvation, which can neither be explained nor justified? And what has this discussion thus far exposed, if not the lack of scriptural foundation for the canon of Trinitarian orthodoxy? Of the above groups, the Paulicians (whose name possibly derived from their devotion to Paul of Samosata) hold special interest. Paul of Samosata reportedly took his teaching from Diodorus, head of the Nazarene Church in Antioch. His teachings in turn branched off the trunk of apostolic ideology through individuals such as Lucian (who in turn taught Arius), Eusebius...

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