People in general tend to trust their religious leaders as guides to the truth. This is one reason why so many blunder-headed sects appear, outside of the original version, in every religion. There is virtually no fact checking by the worshipers! And this was stated clearly in the Quran as follows:
They {the general run-of-the-mill worshipers} take their priests and their anchorites to be their lords in derogation of ALLAH, and (they take as their Lord) Christ the son of Mary; yet they were commanded to worship but One {GOD} ALLAH: there is no god but HE. Praise and glory to HIM: (Far is HE) from having the partners they associate (with HIM). Quran (9:31)
Religion like any other topic has been twisted at times like a pretzel. In order to piece together avenues of truth, one must look at the historical evidence which must be combined with the psychological bed that this evidence lays on. Why?
People of any race, religion, geographical area or ideology tend to do things in a pattern and for a reason based on the goal of achieving their aims. Peoples’ aims may be different but their varied approaches tend to remain the same.
This concern is regrettably only for people engaged in fact finding. Why? Probably because when we form cherished notions, they become assimilated into our belief system without much question and they eventually become a part of us and our mind-set identity!
Why challenge yourself and leave one’s comfort zone especially if that propels one to the high ground of gifting one with self-eternal salvation and hence, victory over the world and others who are not like you!
When we get facts and guidance from the Quran concerning a historical event, we are actually seeing a miracle take place! That miracle is the WORD of GOD capturing the truth that man has, for his own purposes and advantages, distorted religious truth into a queer sense of reality.
Such is the position of ‘power’ that certain groups possess and why desperate people find satisfaction in ‘preening’ themselves by listening to the corrupt religious-type mush, for example, pushed forward by fast talking, entertaining but oily TV preachers.
Much of the Evangelical philosophy, for example, hinges on the Crucifixion of Jesus (pbh) and what they say that that entails. That being the case, when true history is revealed, they have no alternative but to plug their ears and return to the false concepts that sustain their egos.
A close look at the Quran has revealed avenues of inquiry that directly challenges the motives, operation and design of those who insist that Jesus (pbh) was actually crucified on a wooden cross for our sins. Senseless people behave in senseless ways and smart people behave in smart ways and so it has always been since the beginning of time!
As Jesus has declared: “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore, be wise as serpents and harmless as doves”. Matthew (10:16)
My extensive writings have shown the many complexities of Biblical verses defending the notion that Jesus (pbh) was not put on a wooden cross nor was he killed. Although the New Testament correctly does say that ‘he (Jesus) was indeed delivered up to be crucified’!!!
After all they were not inviting him to a Sunday picnic! But their evil plots, according to the correct reading of the Bible, were foiled! These Biblical verses need not be gone over again but can be revisited in my other pertinent writings.
What can be done, however, is to pinpoint the critical decade or so that will go on to eventually, after a few centuries, determine the philosophy of modern day Christianity by those groups who can be labeled as ‘extreme’. Every religion has them including Al-Islam and only an ignorant person would deny this reality.
The critical decade concerning the so-called factual beliefs that Jesus (pbh) was put to death on the cross and he arose 3 days later from this ‘physical’ death can be attributed, historical-wise, to the decade covering 140 to 150 CE (Christian era).
If everything is running so smoothly and there are no challenges to this notion from the beginning by the faithful, meanwhile knowing that their produced policies will be the mainspring for the faithful, then why did it take over 100 years to figure it out? Were those people naturally stupid or was there some intervening currents preventing a clear picture from forming?
Why also did it take nearly a century and a quarter to produce a Canon from whence to build a platform of ‘true belief’? Factually, we know that they tried to do this but ‘something’ must have gotten in the way and it must be a BIG something for the many decades of delay to accrue.
Otherwise, we must conclude that an accurate belief in a Jesus and what he stood for and his relevance and importance for us was thought to be of no great significance!!!!! Therefore, why the rush!
The Quran guides us to the TRUTH as it gives us a notion of ‘competing factions’ tugging in opposite directions, especially concerning the supposed crucifixion! This tugging action would seem to evenly split the ‘decision makers’ into a form of paralysis in forming crucial opinions as to true and explicit doctrine and hence, a reproducible and reliable Canon!
Behold! ALLAH said: “O Jesus! I will take you and raise you to MYSELF and clear you (of the falsehoods) of those who blaspheme; I will make those who follow you superior to those who reject faith, to the Day of Resurrection: Then shall all of you return unto ME, and I will judge between you of the matters wherein you dispute.” Quran (3:55)
O you who believe! Be you helpers of ALLAH: As said Jesus the son of Mary to the Disciples, “Who will be my helpers to (the work of) ALLAH?” Said the disciples, “We are ALLAH’s helpers!” then a portion of the Children of Israel believed, and a portiondisbelieved: But WE gave power to those who believed, against their enemies, and it is those who became the ones that prevailed {became successful}. Quran (61:14)
So, we have a frozen moment in time whereby no doctrine can be decided without some winning side conquering its competitors. Hence, no real Canon can be written down. So Christianity remained an amorphous-type faith without sustainable and concrete boarders for quite some time.
However, we have the beginnings of a date for the creation of a faith that will usher in the Christian era which will still need a few centuries to become something that we can recognize as a type of modern Christianity today. That date is 146/148 CE.
We historically know NOW the two groups who were almost evenly balanced around this time and we have some idea of what they were believing in. The importance of Jesus’ actual and physical crucifixion begins with this date!
If the belief in the crucifixion of Christ is central to Christian belief today, why did it take so long after ‘the resurrection of the Christ’ to confirm and implement it? If a doctor sees a patient going into cardiac arrest, will he take a 30 minute coffee break before he springs into life-saving action?
You will know them by their fruits. Do {wise} men {do stupid things like} gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? Matthew (7:16)
Such a question is ridiculous just like such an idea that Jesus (pbh) was positively crucified on the cross!!! Ask any 12 year old child if 2+2=4 in New York. Will it still equal 4 in all the other states? How about the rest of the world?
Logic dictates a logical answer!!! Who cares what a person’s faith is as to what he was born into! If a person is deprived of any food and water source for a month, he will die! So let not the wise depend on a type of philosophy to mark off one as being falsely superior.
Therefore, if a belief system takes over a century to be somewhat organized, it must nothave been very overtly obvious or accepted from ‘clear and opinionated’ records left as ‘originals’ for future generations.
The belief that Jesus (pbh) and his Disciples existed and that they were a part of the Jewish Religion is not up for debate. What is up for debate is the critical era that will end up framing this religion into a reality based system.
What a person, basically the clergy, does with it later on will be the key point in determining what kind of belief system emerges from the true records! The clergy of any religion sets the tone for the faith!
The Quran tells us about the ‘war between Christendom’s factions’ and that the better side won out – Quran (61:14)! Now it is up to us to do the detective work and apply with all honesty the wisdom that GOD gave us to find out the answers without a hint of being biased.
The historical records show us a tumultuous time during this critical phase lasting several decades. In a virtual sea of paganism we have great challenges from within and without, all coming together, that will be rocking the foundations of what will eventually become the Christian bedrock concerning Jesus (pbh).
These things are:
- 1. Marcion and his alleged beliefs
- 2. Montanus and his dangerous Anti-christ grip on the ‘believers’.
- 3. The two-god system fostered by most of the corrupt Gnostics.
- 4. The foregoing of the idea that the real Messiah will be protected by GOD (Psalm 91:10+) nor will he be killed by anyone (Gospel of John – 10:18) to enlisting, by Justin Martyr, what the Jews who disliked Jesus thought and what pagan Roman officials recorded concerning his so-called demise.
- 5. The concept of Syncretism whereby the dominate culture (in this case paganism) shares and blends ideas with other cultures. Most notably we find our honest but backward Christian fighter (Justin Martyr) making an embarrassing case for this very same thing (Syncretism).
- 6. Nero and his murderous campaign against those who refused to bow down to his supposed god-ship.
- 7. The battle royal for the hearts and minds of the pagans steeped in their twisted ignorance.
In Justin Martyr’s First Apology chapter 21 he states: “When we say that the Word, Jesus Christ the first born of GOD were produced without sexual union, and that he was crucified and died and rose again, and ascended into heaven, we propound NOTHING NEW OR DIFFERENT FROM WHAT YOU {pagans} BELIEVE REGARDING THOSE WHOM YOU CONSIDER SONS OF JUPITER”.
That should be a caution sending off alarm bells all over the place!!!
#4 is interesting in that we forego Scriptural prophecy and start to depend on the peoples who have a vested interest in proclaiming their own policies. If a hundred people under hallucinogenic drugs proclaim that tomato plants stalked the streets looking for human victims to eat, then, of course, it must be true!
It must be true especially if it lines the pockets with gold!!! And we learned from history that in the Dark Ages it wasn’t the general population whose pockets were being lined with gold!
So, our research should concentrate on these areas because they will be the most influential on what will drive the doctrine makers and hence, the stamp of what the religion will reflect in the future. The world will indeed take its toll on all things (see the written topic on Entropy).
Once the door of stability or originality is broken, for example the assassination of the second Caliph of Islam (‘Umar bin al-Khattab), then comes the surge of competing ideas and philosophies guaranteeing the fracturing of a once beautiful and honest concept into several diluted philosophies of truth.
However, we still must remember that we are all human. That entails that there is a COMPASIONATE GOD, a LOVING GOD and an ALL-KNOWING and MERCIFUL GOD WHO senses that spiritual growth takes time and endurance. Therefore, we humans need to let temperance be a controlling influence in our search for the truth.
For ALL have sinned and fall {en} short of the glory of GOD. Romans (3:23)
Abu Huraira reported: The Messenger of ALLAH (pbh) said, “By the ONE in whose hand is my soul, if you did not sin, ALLAH would replace you with people who would sin, {so that} (and) they would {actively and meaningfully} seek forgiveness from ALLAH and {then} HE would forgive them.” Muslim
This appeal to the ‘PRAISEWORTHY ONE’ is an open acknowledgement of HIS POSITION and DOMINANCE by which the characteristics of Forgiveness, Pardon, Clemency and Mercy, to name a few things, reside.
So our job is quite simple. Open the heart and open the mind and trust that the ONE GOD will guide us to the best pathway of truth acceptable to HIM! Other than that, all else, when everything is said and done on the face of this Earth, is just meaningless window dressing!
