If religion means anything more than just parroting or spewing a bunch of sayings or beliefs, then it must be based on a ‘firm foundation’ that is non-racial, non-prejudicial, non- detrimental and non-self-serving. In other words, it must be balanced and fair. A lot of people attack religion based on fraudulent thinking processes and prejudicial stances based on immature thinking and twisted logic.
However, any discussion on religion, in order for it to be fruitful and mature, should follow a form of uniform Guidance as given by our LORD as a reminder of what we are, who we are and what we must do.
Instead of starting chronologically with the Monotheistic religion that came first, I want to go immediately to the Quran because it is a Book that talks directly about the other two Monotheistic Religions that came before it. Here, Muslims are asked to believe in Judaism and Christianity as it was propagated directly from their own rightly guided prophets. We know this due to the fact that Quranic verses (2:62), (2:121), (2:136), (2:285), (4:136), (7:157) and (42:13) give us the understanding that the Bible is a very good, quality Book.
Not that it is perfect but that the Bible contains a wealth of highly dependable and truthful scripture BUT WITH ONE STIPULATION. That stipulation is that ‘it depends on how one is interpreting the words’ contained therein.
That is important because if one takes the wrong interpretation, while ignoring the context as well as other supporting verses, then one will go off the proverbial rails when trying to interpret exactly what is being said and how it is being said and how it is to be used.
That must be so due to the fact that the Quran is claimed by Muslims to be the quintessential Holy Book and the Final Testament and therefore the Book least likely to be affected by time. It is also a Book which is praised in the Old Testament as to being 100% Accurate and so following this reasoning, one can be secure in starting with the proving or disproving of the Quran as the quality Holy Book.
It is not all that bad for the incredulous people to attack, for example Islam, but when the truth is unveiled about the misdirection of their attacks, have they the moral courage and decent honesty to acknowledge that they have been living under a faulty conclusion? After all humans are human and that means they have the quality of being wrong. And this works both ways in dealing with the other Abrahamic religions such that both East and West have to ‘grow up and mature’ in their ideals, logic and belief systems.
So, it is a fair question to ask those who choose to remain ignorant; “What are they afraid of?” Certainly if Paradise is a goal and we as humans are imperfect creatures, then is not truth a Glorious Standard through which to approach life? Or do lies, deceit, abuse from self-delusional pride give us comfort for a life that supposedly will be lived in eternity?
That concept requires that the individual work for it or towards that goal or fool oneself that one will be given it because of one’s proclaiming tongue, false, glittering personality and benevolent and blissful ignorance. Just because you have visited Harvard University Campus doesn’t mean you will be granted a free PhD Degree!
In other words, the proclamation of being a ‘Believer’ from Jew, Christian or Muslim is actually something meaningless (the tongue of man does lie consistently) unless one can get beyond oneself and open the mind to others in a fair and balanced way.
This Earth is truly a wondrous maze that pulls and tugs at the heartstrings of the ‘would be believer’. A maze filled with hazards just waiting for the unwary to fall into it. Fortunately, a simple notion of being gifted with simple progression by the GOD of the ‘inch by inch or step by step’ philosophy found in Isaiah of the Old Testament just to mention one place, allows us to move forward in the goal of being more than just two-legged animals but real, thoughtful and caring human beings.
Moses (pbh), Jesus (pbh) and Muhammad (pbh) were really thoughtful and caring human beings that spoke to their nations or tribes of people urging them to follow certain blessed ideals. If these ideals are truly blessed, then they should be practiced or resurrected by those seeking the blessings of GOD.
To actually cut down on confusion and go to the heart of the matter, one can present the 3 Monotheistic Religions as the seed (Judaism), the sapling as (Christianity) and the harvested crop or mature tree as (Islam). This is akin to looking at the human as the toddler, the teenager and the adult in terms of growth.
I’m not talking about the people in these religions (for good and scum pervade the historical crime sheets of these divergent peoples) rather the notion of religious evolution is looked at as an important concept. For on this planet evolution, as in change of conditions, does readily occur for whatever reason.
And people who are not standing on a box of willful ignorance would be able to tell an apple seed, an apple seedling and a full grown apple tree without too much difficulty. That requires honesty, integrity and the pursuit of truth wherever it may lead.
That thought goes forward to standup for what is right and proper rather than buckling down into a swamp of swill filled with archaic nonsense and off-the-wall thinking. The presenter, any person leading the discussion as in making points to settle an affair (religious-wise or on any other topic), will be automatically ‘put under the gun’ due to his ‘leading the charge’ for an understanding or a directional change.
Therefore, one has to be real careful to use clarity and truthfulness based on logic, history and the belief in unity (a reason why we were actually created in the first place) in order to hope to arrive at a successful conclusion. Why? Because what we do and how we do it is prescribed in a Clear Record and it will be there for all to see! No faking it or trying to weasel out of our responsibilities will be allowed and that equates to a system of Perfect Justice.
Verily WE shall give life to the dead, and WE record that which they send before{hand} and that which they leave behind, and of all things have WE taken account in a Clear Book (of evidence). Quran (36:12)
Those were the (prophets) who received ALLAH’s GUIDANCE. Follow the guidance they received; Say: “No reward for this do I ask of you: This is but a reminder to the {all of the} nations. Q (6:90)
To begin with, I accept that there is a great deal of truth in the Old Testament and what Christians call the New Testament. The basics are there if one is able to put it into the proper perspective. Are these Testaments totally without error? The answer for anyone who has a modicum of reasoning ability and worldly knowledge is a resounding NO!
Where to start this discussion is not a problem. The only religion that speaks of its previous counterparts CLEARLY and SPECIFICALLY is Islam as it mentions Judaism and Christianity as ‘sister cousins’ of the Monotheistic way that came before. Therefore, we will start with Islam as it speaks about the other Abrahamic Religions.
The practioners of the other two religious groups tend to ignore Islam and that is understandable due to having one eye on the future of trying to hold their congregations in place without admitting the obvious.
After all, it takes a brave man or woman to admit to reality. How so? As an example of this one can ask: “How many Jews will admit to the reality that Jesus the son of Mary (pbh) is the real Messiah?” Yes, he existed; yes he was a good man; yes blah, blah but crossing the threshold of truth is in reality not an easy task and it is a hard test for those who are intransigent and rejoice in closemindedness!
However, if one is bright enough, one can see that there are ‘transitions given’ that will lead to an altered awareness of a change or evolution coming on the wind. In other words, the religion of Moses will not stay static but will morph due to a Promise that must be given in the form of a Messiah-type entity that will refine, clarify and improve the means and methods of transferring the truth. In other words, old Judaism will morph into a new form of Judaism which will take on a new life all of its own.
Now we have entered into the era of spiritual growth of New Judaism or that which was brought by the Last of the Jewish prophets – Jesus the son of Mary. But Islam cannot conveniently be ignored unless one wants to hide in a cardboard box and call it a castle.
So, we need a key to open the door and look briefly at the evidence being laid down BUT NOT BY ISLAM because some may claim that would be self-serving and therefore critically flawed. NO! The evidence must come from the two previous religious works which are held in exaltedly, high esteem by the people of their faiths: Judaism and Christianity!
Both Jews and Christians claim their BOOKS to be HOLY and GOD-given as in REVELATION sent down by the CREATOR LORD. Let’s go with that idea as it fits fairly well with what is in the Quran!
Only one stipulation needs to be made and that is that there are ONLY two kinds of people in the world: JEWS and NON-JEWS. It doesn’t matter if one is a Semite or not. If one is not a Jew then he/she must be something else and that something else is a GENTILE. One should not be thinking superior or non-superior as to quality of belief but if one is not a Jew, then he/she must be a GENTILE.
We have evidence from the Old Testament and the Quran that GOD HIMSELF chose this pathway of ISRAEL over all nations. That PATHWAY, HOWEVER IS NOT OF PEOPLES BUT OF CREED WHICH IS MONOTHEISM. AND MONOTHEISM as a Creed DOES NOT REFER TO ANY RACE OF PEOPLE!!! GOD is not a racist!!!
The Quran does not translate the beginnings of belief to Judaism but to the concept of THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL FOLLOWING ON THE PATHWAY OF TRUE MONOTHEISM BASED ON THE FOUNDATION LAID DOWN BY FATHER ABRAHAM (pbh).
Abraham was not a Jew nor yet a Christian; but he was true in Faith, and bowed his will to ALLAH’s WILL (which is the semantic meaning of Islam), and he joined not gods with ALLAH. Quran (3:67).
And like in the Old Testament, the stipulation of ISRAEL’S excellence is based on their commitment to following the ONE GOD above and beyond just a verbal, wink of the eye commitment. In other words, following in the footsteps of Father Abraham (pbh). Whatever happened afterwards, happened but now it is time to move along the historical timelines of actuality as presented in the Jewish writings – old and reformed Jewish written material.
Here we include the Gospels due to the clarity that neither Jesus (pbh), nor his immediate followers or Paul ever declare themselves Christians. If they weren’t Christians, they must have been BELIEVERS. If they weren’t BELIEVERS, then they must have been UNBELIEVERS which is nonsense. No matter how one slices the bread, none of the above could be even remotely considered a Christian. And these people including Jesus and his followers were not stupid people without foresight.
What I’m doing is going by what is in the BOOKS, not by what does not appear in them. In that way, the topic becomes more direct, less tied down by semantics and more truthful if we use those BOOKS as a reference guide.
In honor of our first religious experience which is the first of the credited Monotheistic Beliefs surviving today (Judaism): The voice of GOD was given countless times through the prophets to help the people to keep straight on the pathway of truth and rectitude. However, these constant reminders came with a caveat that there were many failings amongst the people and therefore other prophets had to be sent to ‘refresh’ the commitment to act in accordance with GOD’s COMMAND. Otherwise, one prophet fits all!
The key in understanding Judaism is that there are only two kinds of people in the world: Jews or non-Jews. If one is not a Jew, he belongs to the non-Jewish category which is classified as GENTILE.
The evidence for ‘passing the baton to another peoples’ will be found in the Jewish Book called the Old Testament if, in fact, it exists. Some of this is slightly clear and other stuff requires some deep thinking!
The Jewish Book, commonly called the Old Testament, does mention a kind of ‘transfer of power’ to others and, believe it or not, it does qualify those people as being of the Semitic Race – not Jewish but still Semitic as a race. That would be the cousins of the Jews (another Semitic Tribe called Arabs which is the only other Semitic Tribe we know that are not Jewish).
In Genesis we find that THE STANDARD OF THE LAW will remain in Jewish hands until the time it is transferred out of their hands by turning over the NEW WAY to the Jewish cousins (and the Jews only have one cousin) who are the Arabs. This is directly stated in Genesis (49:10) such that the Jews will be the ones, the only ones to carry on the Monotheistic Way until a ‘new wave’ comes that will not be from the Jews.
Moses (pbh) declared that Pathway will come from the Semitic cousins of the Jews which by the way they have only one cousin and that will be the Arabs. This is the Isaac/Ishmael line coming from ‘Father Abraham’ – a direct line to Abraham (pbh).
The scepter {the staff of the LAW} shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes; and to him shall be the obedience of the people. Genesis (49:10)
In Isaiah Chapter 42 we find a New Song to be played out and that this New Song (which is in fact symbolic for another Testament to be given by GOD) is directly associated with the Arab peoples. We know this by the name of Kedar being used. Not only this but there is a mention of a Mountain called Sela which is in Medina which is part of an Arab country and is considered an Islamic Heritage Site for many reasons. Once again, this is prophesied to be for the Gentiles who are not Jews.
Next, in Zephaniah, Chapter 3 verses 9 and 10 we have a description of the Holy Book that will be used by this Semitic non-Jewish tribe as to its complete purity, the geographical area for this ‘New Religion’ to start, a showing a way to keep the prayers valid since prayer is a keystone for any religion (that is how to stand in a straight line and the fact that this all will come through the Gentile Line (meaning non-Jews). A breakdown of these two verses has been done in my other writing called Zephaniah (3:9-10).
Now we come to the so-called New Testament which is a compilation of short works originally done by Jews and Jewish supporters who never claimed otherwise but who supported the last of the Jewish prophets (as can be deduced from their works).
Mentioning the name of Prophet Muhammad (pbh) in these varied works has been done elsewhere and though similar to the content of this paper, is actually another topic altogether. Here we are dealing with the Quran and the Quranic statement of (26:196):
Without a doubt it (the Quran) is (announced) in the (Divinely) Revealed Books of former peoples. Quran (26:196).
Taking the fact that the basis for this ‘new religion’ will be a Book instead of just an oral history, gives the topic a solid direction.
So, the Book that the Christians call their New Testament contains, in the work of Barnabas (the Book of Hebrews), a declaration about what a Testament really is. Not any kind of literature is considered a Religious Testament. Two things readily become apparent with the proper thinking from Hebrews (9:16-17). That is that before we consider a ‘book’ as a Testament by itself, it must come on the heels of the physical death of the testator or the one whom Revelation revolves around and to whom it comes to for the purpose of the general transmission.
Also, as the religion of the day is unfolding, one can see that there will be some type of abrogation that needs to be applied. This is related to the evolution of the religion and Islam had these moments of abrogation. One can think of it as food. We give baby food to the newborns but not to the teenagers or adults. So abrogation is another part of the religion that is applied only temporarily and will not be included in the Final Design of that religion when that Final Design is put together as a completed form!
Now, if the Quran is PURE and WITHOUT CONTRADICTION (according to the Quran and Zephaniah chapter 3 verses 9 and 10), Jesus (pbh) has not died yet but lives in heaven and like in the Book called Acts (Chapter 3 towards the end) is in the heavens waiting to be sent down to establish his GOD given kingdom and, through an Islamic interpretation, to kill the Anti-christ.
Furthermore, any Testament does not gain full authority until it is collated and certified for general use amongst the peoples such that it becomes a guaranteed thing in the eyes of those who would follow this religious pathway as it spreads out from the source. This means that it is finalized as to the order and the scrutiny of the followers of that religion even though they may be thousands of miles from the central hub. This we can get from Hebrews (9:16-17):
For where there is a testament, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.
For a testament is in force {only} after men are dead, since it has no power at all while the testator lives. Hebrews (9:16-17)
Only after the men responsible for bringing their Testament to light are dead can there be the certainty of the qualified, crystallization of that LAW. In the case of the Quran it took about a year, year and a half of strict, rigorous testing to formally set forth a guaranteed, stamped in stone original copy of the Quran that would act as the STANDARD OF ALL QURANS. In simplified words, that Quran became the mold from whence all other Quran’s were to be recorded.
The same happened with Moses (pbh). Like the Quran, the material was already present but it had to be categorized, organized and checked by the ones responsible for ‘keeping the faith’. In other words, a certain order and a type of ‘fact checking’ needed to be done.
Therefore, by definition given by the Holy Records and true history, we find that there are only two Testaments coming from Semitic origins: the Old Testament INCLUDING ITS REFORMED JEWISH ADDITION (formerly called the New Testament) and the Quran being the real and rightfully proclaimed ‘NEW TESTAMENT’.
What people have learned but sometimes forgotten is that ‘if the shoe fits; wear it’!
Hence, only the Old Testament and the Quran qualify under these conditions. That is important to note so as to follow the actual rules set down by these books. Why preach a religion that goes against the written format unless one wants to cover the truth for an undisclosed reason?
Violation of GOD’s LAW has no excuses unless of course the perpetrators of such nonsense are willing to admit to the fallibility of their GOD’s Reasoning.
The minute they do that; they fail the sobriety test and have gone off the rails in creating their own personal version of events. This is exactly like the version of the ‘Emperor’s New Clothes’. Of what real benefit does corruption give, except to form a delusion for delusional people?
The Christian Testament never went through this vigorous though short testing period. Instead, historically one finds that the Christian Testament, while still a beautiful testament, has undergone certain irregular rewrites before being claimed as a standard work which can only go back to the 4th Century WITH ANY LEVEL OF CERTAINTY. And so it is fair to assume from their book that it does include a truism which is: ‘By their fruits you will know them’! Matthew (7:16) and Luke (6:44)
Therefore, the quality and correctness of any testament does not rest on the tongues of its followers but on the empirical evidence that these testaments proclaim within side their pages. Failure to do this is plain outright hypocrisy and infantilism which leads to creating so-called religious truths from fictional desires and pure self-deluded fantasies.
