www.Allah.com
www.Muhammad.com
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Ahmed Deedat own Revealing the Truth
The Ultimatum manual
|
Ahmed Deedat, Kairanvi, Zakir Naik, Yusuf Estes (though Zakir and Estes are wrong to market Ibn Abdel Wahab innovated creed of the upper 6th direction for the Creator instead the pure Koran and Hadith creed by the Prophet from the 9 books of Hadith which negates their false assumption, also we just released it in 2777 hadith in Arabic and draft in 79 languages – I ask Allah forgiveness) are leading the Great Debate
or
Revealing the Truth of Islam to Christians
Izhar al Haq
|
Sheikh Ahmed Deedat decided to study English Bibles all various editions even Arabic versions,
he made a comparative study charts of the Gospels, he found in himself the full ability to work
for Islamic Call and to respond to missionaries, so Sheikh decided to leave all other business.
In Pakistan he found the book (Izhar Al Haq; revealing the truth) by Rahmatullah M.R. Kairanvi
of Agra, India (1854), so Sheikh practised what he learned from this book in responding to missionaries,
visiting them in their homes every Sunday. He then moved to the city of Durban, south Africa and
faced many missionaries and established
|
Islamic Propagation Centre International
|
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Islamic+Propagation+Centre+International
|
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=ahmed+deedat+%2B+indonesia
|
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=ahmed+deedat
|
http://www.ahmed-deedat.net/wps/modules.php?name=myBooks2
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http://www.iipctube.com/categories/66/Ahmad-Deedat
|
Revealing the Truth debate
on 345 Proofs (196 ARGUMENTS plus 149 Additions to the Bible)
Covering 38 Bibles and books each is believed to be genuine and
authentic by almost all the Christians
|
Between
Rev. C.C.P. Fonder, Head of Global Christian Mission
|
And the Winner
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M.R. Kairanvi, The Scholar of Agra, India 1854
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The first English translation from Urdu by anonymous Blessed Mujawir in Medina
|
The second and last English revision by Anne Khadiejah & Ahmad Darwish
while living in Muhammad Ali Clay house, Chicago, IL, USA
|
Written originally in Persian and translated into Arabic by Prof. Abdusabour Shaheen,
Dar al Uloom, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt.
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See also
The Articles of the Bishop of Uramiah
"Muhammad in the Old & New Testaments"
Prof. Rev. David Benjamin Keldani, B.D. 1904
Published by the Court of Doha, Qatar
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Referenced in this Dialogue the Old and New Testaments verses
are quoted from King James by American Bible Society.
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The Koran (Quran) verses are quoted from the contemporary Koran
by the Darwish of Allah.com
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The Arabic word "Allah" is a proper noun of the Creator
The Arabic word "Islam" means in English own ubmission" to Allah
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1 Bible outlines:
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THE BOOKS OF THE BIBLE
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"They are but names given by you and your fathers.
Allah has not sent down an authority for them.
They follow conjectures and their soul own Desire, although
the guidance of their Lord has come to them." [Koran 53:23]
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The books of the Bible are divided by the Christians
and the Jews into two main parts: The Old Testament and
the New Testament.
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The books of the Old Testament are claimed to have been
received through the Prophets who were prior to the Prophet
Jesus, the Messiah.
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The books of the New Testament are believed to have been written
through inspiration after Jesus.
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All the books of the Old and the New Testaments together are
called the Bible. Bible is a Greek word which means "book".
Both the Testaments are further subdivided into two parts. The
first part of the Old Testament is believed to be authentic by
almost all the ancient Christians, while the authenticity of the
other part is held to be doubtful and controversial.
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2 THE FIRST DIVISION OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
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This collection comprises of 38 books:
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1 GENESIS
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The Book of Genesis describes the creation of the earth and
the skies and gives an historical account of the Prophets Adam,
Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Joseph. The book ends with the death
of the Prophet Joseph. This is also called the book of Creation.
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2 EXODUS
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Exodus is mainly a description of the life of the Prophet
Moses. It includes the teachings of Moses, his altercations with
Pharaoh, Pharaoh own drowning in the sea and the oral
communication of God with Moses. It ends with the Israelites"
camping in the desert of Sinai. It is called Exodus because it
describes the event of the Israelites" exodus from Egypt.
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3 Leviticus
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Is a collection of the injunctions and laws given to the Israelites
during their wanderings in the desert of Sinai. It has 27 chapters.
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4 NUMBERS
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5 The Book of Numbers includes events of the census of the
Israelites, their history before their departure to Canaan and the
injunctions of the Prophet Moses revealed to him by the bank of
the river Jordan. It contains 36 chapters.
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6 DEUTERONOMY
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The Book of Deuteronomy is a collection of those events and
injunctions which took place from after the period of the Book of
Numbers to the death of Moses. It contains 34 chapters.
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The collection of these five books together is called the
Pentateuch or Torah. This is a Hebrew word meaning "the law
The word is also occasionally used to mean the Old Testament m
general.
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7 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA
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The Book of Joshua is ascribed to the Prophet Joshua son of
Nun who was the reliable servant and minister of Moses. He was
made the Prophet of Israelites after the death of Moses. He made
war on the Amalekites and was victorious over them. This book
describes his life up to the time of his death. It contains 24
chapters.
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8 THE BOOK OF JUDGES
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The Book of Judges covers the period after the death of
Joshua. This period is called the period of the Judges, because,
due to their transgression and wickedness God set cruel, foreign
kings over them to punish them until they returned to God and
repented their sins. Then some leaders were raised up among
them and came to their rescue. These Israelite leaders were
known as the Judges. It has 21 chapters.
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9 THE BOOK OF RUTH
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The Book of Ruth describes events in the life of a woman of
Moab called Ruth. She was the mother of Obed the grandfather
of the Prophet David. She migrated to Bethlehem and married
Boaz. They bore a child Obed. His son was Jesse who was the
father of the Prophet David. It has only 4 chapters.
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10 THE FIRST BOOK OF SAMUEL
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The First Book of Samuel concerns the Prophet Samuel who
was the last of the Judges of Israelites. Samuel was made king of
the Israelites in his period. It also includes the killing of
Goliath
by David and other incidents up until the death of Samuel. It has
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11 THE SECOND BOOK OF SAMUEL
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The Second Book of Samuel describes the events after the
death of Saul. It includes the kingship of David and his war
against the sons of Saul. It has 24 chapters.
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12 THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS
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The First Book of Kings begins with the old age of David
an includes the event of his death, the reign of the Prophet
Solomon, his death and the lives of his sons up until the death of
Ahab. The Prophet Elijah own description is also included. It has 22
chapters.
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13 THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS
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The Second Book of Kings includes the events from the
death of Ahab to the reign of Zedikiah. The Prophets Elijah and
Josiah are also mentioned. It has 25 chapters.
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14 CHRONICLES I
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Chronicles I comprises genealogies from Adam to Solomon.
It also includes short historical accounts leading up until the
time of David and gives details of David own reign over the
Israelites. It contains 36 chapters.
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15 CHRONICLES II
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Chronicles II describes Solomon own rule in detail and also
gives a short account of various Kings after Solomon up until the
reign of Zedikiah. The invasion of Nebuchadnezzar is also
covered at the end.
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16 THE FIRST BOOK OF EZRA
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Ezra I describes the reconstruction of Jerusalem by Cyrus the
King of Persia after the invasion of Nebuchadnezzar. It also
mentions the exile of Ezra and the return of the Israelites from
Babylon to their homeland. It contains 10 chapters.
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17 THE SECOND BOOK OF EZRA
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Ezra II is also called the Book of Nehemiah. Nehemiah was a
cupbearer of Artaxerxes the King of Persia. When he learnt about
the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, he sought the
king own permission and came to Jerusalem. He reconstructed it
with the help of Ezra. This book describes all these events and
the names of those who helped in rebuilding Jerusalem. These
events took place in 445 BC. It contains 13 chapters.
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18 THE BOOK OF JOB
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The Book of Job is said to be by the Prophet Job whose
patience and forbearance are also acknowledged and praised by
the Holy Koran. He was born in Uz, a city to the east of the
Dead Sea. The book mainly consists of conversations between
Job and his three friends Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the
Shubite, Zopher the Na"amathite who insist that the calamities of
Job are the result of his sins while Job refutes this. This book is
held to be of great literary merit. It contains 42 chapters.
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19 THE BOOK OF PSALMS
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The Book of Psalms is the corrupt form of the book of which
the Holy Koran says, "We have given the Zaboor to Dawood."
The book is a collection of 150 Psalms, or songs of praise, to
God.
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20 THE BOOK OF PROVERBS
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The Book of Proverbs is a collection of the exhortations and
proverbs of the Prophet Solomon. The Christians claim that this
book was compiled by Solomon himself. Kings I says: "And he
spoke three thousand proverbs." (4: 32). It contains 31 chapters.
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21 THE BOOK OF ECCLESIASTES
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The Book of Ecclesiastes is also called the "Book of the
Preacher". It is said that the name of one of the sons of David
was "the Preacher". It begins with these words: "The words of
the Preacher, the son of David." (1: 1). The book is a collection
of exhortations and advises.
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22 THE BOOK OF THE SONG OF SOLOMON
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The Book of the Song of Solomon is said to be a collection of
songs which were composed by Solomon of which the Book of
Kings says: "He spoke three thousand Proverbs and his songs
were a thousand and five." It has eight chapters.
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23 THE BOOK OF ISAIAH
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The Book of Isaiah is ascribed to the Prophet Isaiah, son of
Amoz, who was adviser to Hezekiah, the king of Judah, in the
8th century BC. When Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, invaded
Jerusalem, Isaiah was of great help to Hezekiah, the king of
Judah. This book is a collection of his visions and predictions of
future events. These predictions according to the Christians were
made by Isaiah in the reigns of the kings Azariah, Jotham and
Hezekiah. It has 66 chapters. This book contains many passages
of great literary merit.
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24 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH
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Jeremiah was an apostle and pupil of the Prophet Isaiah. God
made him a prophet in the days of Joshua or Zedikiah. He was
sent to the Israelites to prevent them from their perversion. He
preached to the Israelites but they did not listen to him. God
revealed to him that the Israelites would soon be subjected to a
punishment from God in the form of an invasion by
Nebuchadnezzar. Jeremiah warned them of this and advised them
to surrender but they mocked him. In the end Jerusalem was
totally destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar. The Prophet Jeremiah
migrated to Egypt. According to some scholars the Holy Koran
refers to this incident in Surah 2: 259. It has 56 chapters.
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25 THE BOOK OF LAMENTATIONS
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The Book of Lamentations is a collection of songs of
mourning which are said to have been compiled by the Prophet
Jeremiah after the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar.
It has only 5 chapters.
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26 THE BOOK OF EZEKIEL
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The Book of Ezekiel is claimed to be by the Prophet Ezekiel,
the son of Buzi. He was a descendant of Levi, the son of Jacob.
He fought bravely against Nebuchadnezzar. This book is said to
be a collection of his revelations which consists of predictions,
exhortations and warnings to the people about God own Judgement
on them and about the coming fall and destruction of Jerusalem.
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27 THE BOOK OF DANIEL
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The Prophet Daniel was among the wise people who were
exiled from Judah and were taken into captivity by
Nebuchadnezzar. The interpretation of some dreams of the king
were made clear by him through revelations, and the king made
him the governor of Babylon. It also includes the dreams of the
Prophet Daniel regarding the future of the Israelites. These
dreams also contain a prophecy about the advent of Jesus, the
Messiah. It has twelve chapters.
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28 THE BOOK OF HOSEA
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Hosea was one of the prophets of the Israelites. He is said to
have lived in the period of Jotham, Azariah and Hezekiah, the
kings of Judah. This book is said to have been revealed to him
during the period of their reigns. The book mostly consists of his
admonitions to the Israelites against their perversion. His
revelations are mostly in the form of proverbs or in symbolic
language. It consists of 14 chapters.
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29 THE BOOK OF JOEL
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The Torah (Pentateuch) claims that Joel was a prophet of
God. This book which has only three chapters consists of his
revelations and includes injunctions about fasting and warnings
against the evil deeds of the Israelites.
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30 THE BOOK OF AMOS
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Amos is also said to be a prophet. In the beginning he was a
shepherd in the city of Tekoa. He was made prophet by God in c.
783 BC. The nine chapters of this book are said to have been
revealed to him in the reign of King Azariah. This book
comprises his admonitions to the Israelites on account of their
evil deeds. The book also predicts the invasion of Jerusalem by
the king of Assyria as a punishment from God, which is
mentioned in Genesis (29: 15)
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31 THE BOOK OF OBADIAH
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This small scripture consists of only 21 verses and includes a
dream of Obadiah the Prophet. There are some predictions
regarding the defeat of Adom, the enemy of Judah.
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32 THE BOOK OF JONAH
|
This book is said to have been revealed to the Prophet Jonah.
He was sent to the people of Nineveh. The story given by Torah
is a little different from the one known by the Muslims.
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33 THE BOOK OF MICAH
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This book is said to be from the Prophet Micah, the
Morashite, who was a prophet in the period of the king Hezekiah
c. 900 BC. He warned the Israelites of God own wrath on account
of their perversion. The king, Hezekiah, acknowledged his
prophethood and abstained from evil deeds. (Kgs. 32: 26)
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34 THE BOOK OF NAHUM
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Nahum is also regarded as a Prophet by the Torah. Very little
is known about his life. This book of 3 chapters describes a
dream of Nahum which includes predictions of the downfall of
the City of Nineveh.
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35 THE BOOK OF HABAKKUK
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Habakkuk is also claimed to be a Prophet by the Torah. We
are not definite about his period. The Torah seems to put him in
the period before Nebuchadnezzar own invasion of Jerusalem. This
book mentions one of his dreams which admonishes the Israelites
on their evil deeds and predicts the destruction of Jerusalem by
Nebuchadnezzar. It has 3 chapters.
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36 THE BOOK OF ZEPHANIAH
|
Zephaniah is also supposed to be a Prophet who was
ordained by God to prophet-hood in the period of Josiah, the son
of Amon, king of Judah. This script of 3 chapters warns the
people of Israel against the invasion of Jerusalem by
Nebuchadnezzar.
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37 THE BOOK OF HAGGAI
|
This script of 2 chapters is attributed to the Prophet Haggai
who lived in the time of Darius, the king of Persia, in 500 BC
after the invasion of Nebuchadnezzar. He urged the Israelites to
rebuild Jerusalem and warned those who obstructed them.
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38 THE BOOK OF ZECHARIAH
|
Zechariah was also a Prophet. It should be noted here that
this Zechariah is not the one who has been mentioned in the Holy
Quran. He is said to be a companion of the Prophet Haggai at
the time of the rebuilding of Jerusalem. This book consists
mostly of dreams which include prophecies regarding the future
of the Israelites and the coming of the Prophet Jesus It has
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39 THE BOOK OF MALACHI
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The Book of Malachi is ascribed to the Prophet Malachi. He
is the last Prophet of the Old Testament. The book has 4 chapters
and describes the thanklessness of the Israelites. The Prophet
Malachi lived about 420 years before the Prophet Jesus, the
Messiah
|
These thirty eight books are believed to be genuine and
authentic by almost all the Christians. The Samaritans, however,
a sect of the Jews, believed in only seven of them, i.e. the five
books of Moses and the book of Joshua son of Nun and the
Book of Judges. Their name refers to the city of Samaria in
Palestine. They differ from the Jews in two points, the
acknowledged number of the Books and what constitutes a place
of worship.
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3 THE SECOND DIVISION OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
|
There are nine books in this part. The authenticity of these
books has been a point of great controversy among Christians.
The Protestant faith, for instance, does not acknowledge the
divine origin of these books, and they have discarded them from
their Bible. They do not form part of the King James version of
the Bible. The collection of these nine books and five other books
together are called the Apocrypha.
|
1 THE BOOK OF ESTHER
|
Esther was a Jewish woman who was among the captives
from Jerusalem in Babylon. Ahasuerus, the king of Persia, was
unhappy with his first wife and he married Esther. Aman, a
minister of the king, had some differences with Mardochaeus, the
father of Queen Esther. He plotted to destroy the Jews. Esther
convinced the king to combat this plot and saved the Jews. This
book describes this event in 10 chapters.
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2 THE BOOK OF BARUCH
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Baruch was a disciple and scribe of the prophet Jeremiah
(Jer. 32: 13 - 36, 36: 4 - 32, 43: 3 - 16, 45: 1 - 3) The
Protestant Bible does not include this book.
|
3 PART OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL
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4 THE BOOK OF TOBIAS
|
Tobias was a Jew who had been taken to Assyria in the
period of exile. The book describes a dangerous journey made by
him and his son. It also includes the event of his marriage with a
strange woman Sarah. This book is has great literary merit.
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5 THE BOOK OF JUDITH
|
This book is ascribed to a very brave Jewish woman named
Judith. She saved and delivered her people from the oppression
of the king of Assyria. It also includes the story of her love.
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6 WISDOM OF SOLOMON
|
This book is ascribed to the Prophet Solomon. It contains
wise sayings of the Prophet and is similar in many ways to the
Book of Proverbs.
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7 ECCLESIASTICUS
|
This is a collection of preachings and exhortations. It is
attributed to Masiah, a preacher in c. 200 BC. This book is also
of great literary merit.
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8 THE FIRST BOOK OF MACCABEES
|
This book describes the rebellion of the tribe of the
Maccabees.
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9 THE SECOND BOOK OF MACCABEES
|
This book describes the history of a short period of time and
contains some unbelievable or corrupt reports.
|
4 THE BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
|
THE FIRST DIVISION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
|
There are twenty books in the first part of the New
Testament. These twenty books are believed to be genuine and
authentic by the Christians.
|
1 THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW
|
This is not the Matthew who was one of the Twelve Disciples of
the Prophet Jesus. This book is considered to be the oldest of
the Gospels. The book begins with the genealogy of the Prophet
Jesus and describes his life and teachings up until his ascension
to the heavens.
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2 THE GOSPEL OF MARK
|
Mark was a pupil of Peter, the Disciple of the Prophet Jesus.
This gospel begins with the prophecies made by previous
Prophets regarding the coming of the Prophet Jesus. It describes
the life of Jesus up until his ascension to heaven. It consists of
16 chapters.
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3 THE GOSPEL OF LUKE
|
Luke was a physician and was a companion of Paul and
travelled with him on his journeys (Col. 4: 14 Acts 16) He died
in 70 AD. His gospel begins with the birth of the Prophet John
"the Baptist" (whose name in Koran is Yahya) and covers the life
of Jesus up until his ascension to heaven. It has 24 chapters.
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4 THE GOSPEL OF JOHN
|
This book also begins with the birth of John the Baptist and
describes the events from the birth of the Prophet John to the
ascension of the Prophet Jesus. It consists of 21 chapters.
It should be noted here that John the son of Zebedee, the
disciple of Jesus is certainly not the author of this book. Some of
the Christians claim that the author of this book may be John the
Elder but this claim too is not supported by any historical
evidence.
|
These four books are also called the four Evangels.
Sometimes the word Evangel is also used for all the books of the
new Testament. The word is of Greek origin and means good
tidings and teaching.
|
5 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES
|
It is said that this script was written by Luke to Theopheus. It
includes the acts and achievements of the disciples of the Prophet
|
Jesus after his ascension. It particularly describes the journeys
of Paul until his arrival in Rome in 22 AD. It has 28 chapters.
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6 EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS
|
This is a letter written by Paul to some of his Roman
followers. Paul was a Jew and an enemy of the followers of
Jesus in the beginning. Some time after the ascension of Jesus to
heaven he suddenly appeared and claimed to have received
instructions from Jesus.
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7 FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS
|
This is Paul own first letter to the Corinthians and it consists
mostly of teachings and injunctions regarding unity among the
Christians. At that time they were involved in various disputes.
Chapter 7 includes some injunctions concerning matrimonial
relations. In chapter 8 the evils of paganism and the Christians"
attitude towards a pagan society are discussed. The last few
chapters include a discussion on atonement and the Hereafter
Chapter 16 describes the blessings of alms-giving and donations
for Christianity.
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8 SECOND EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS
|
This letter was also written to the Corinthians by Paul and
contains 16 chapters. These chapters include religious
instructions, guidance, and suggestions regarding the discipline
of the Church. From chapter 10 to the end Paul speaks of his
ministerial ourneys.
|
9 EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE GALATIANS
|
Galatia was a province of Rome in the north of Asia Minor.
This letter was written to the churches of Galatia in early 57 AD.
Paul had heard that the people of Galatia were being influenced
by another religion. In this letter he tries to prevent them from
conversion.
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10 EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE EPHESIANS
|
Ephesus was an important trading city of Asia Minor. There
was a great house of worship there to the goddess Diana. Paul
turned it into a great centre of Christianity in three years of
great effort. (Acts 1(): 19) In this letter he gives some moral
instructions to the people.
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11 EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE PHILIPPIANS
|
This letter of Paul is addressed to the people of Philippi, a
city of Macedonia. This is the first city in Europe where Paul
preached Christianity. He was arrested there. This letter includes
his moral teachings and exhortations for unity among the
Christians.
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12 EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE COLOSSIANS
|
This letter of Paul is addressed to the People of Colossae, a
city of Asia Minor. Paul is encouraging them to remain Christians
and calls upon them to abstain from evil deeds.
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13 FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS
|
This letter of Paul was written to the people of Thessalonica,
a city of the province of Macedonia which is a part of Greece
today. He discusses, in this letter, the principles which bring
about God own pleasure. It also speaks of other subjects. It has 5
chapters.
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14 SECOND EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS
|
This letter, containing only 3 chapters, offers Paul own
encouragement to the Thessalonians on their good deeds and
some instructions regarding their general behaviour.
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15 FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL TO TIMOTHY
|
Timothy was a pupil and disciple of Paul. (Acts 14: 17, 16:
1-3) Paul had great trust and admiration for him (Cor. 16: 10 and
Phil. 2: 19). The letter contains descriptions regarding rituals
and ethics.
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16 SECOND EPISTLE OF PAUL TO TIMOTHY
|
This second letter to Timothy speaks of certain people who
had converted to other religions and also includes instructions to
Timothy about preaching and also some predictions for the last
ages. It has 4 chapters.
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17 EPISTLE OF PAUL TO TITUS
|
Titus was also a companion of Paul on some of his journeys
(Cal. 2 : 1). Paul had great love for him (Cor. 2 : 13). Paul left
him in Crete so that he could preach there. This letter has 3
chapters and gives preaching instructions and details of the
prerequisites of bishops.
|
18 EPISTLE OF PAUL TO PHILEMON
|
Philemon was also a companion of Paul and had travelled
with him. The letter was written by Paul when he sent Onesimus
to Philemon (Phil. 1: 10)
|
19 FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER
|
Peter was one of the closest apostles of Jesus. The study of
the New Testament shows that Paul had some differences with
him in later years. The letter was addressed to the Christians who
were scattered throughout the northern part of Asia Minor i.e. the
people of Poutus, Galatia, Cappadocia and Bithynia. The main
purpose of the letter was to encourage the readers who were
facing persecution and suffering for their faith.
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20 FIRST LETTER OF JOHN
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SECOND DIVISION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
|
In this division of the new Testament there are seven books.
The genuineness and divinity of these books is doubted and
debated by the Christians. Some lines from the first letter of John
are also not believed to be authentic.
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21 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE HEBREWS
|
The Jews are also called the Hebrews. The word has an
association with "Aber" a title given to the Prophet Jacob
Hebrews is also used for Christians. The letter was addressed to
a group of Christians who were on the way to abandoning the
Christian faith. The writer encourages them in their faith.
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22 THE SECOND EPISTLE OF PETER
|
This letter from Peter is addressed to the early Christians. Its
main concern is to combat the work of false teachers and false
prophets. It also speaks of the final return of the Messiah.
|
23 THE SECOND EPISTLE OF JOHN
|
The second letter of John was written by John to the "dear
Lady and her children". According to the Christians the "Lady"
probably stands for the local church.
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24 THE THIRD EPISTLE OF JOHN
|
This letter was addressed to Gaius, one of the pupils of John
and a church leader. The writer praises the reader for his help to
other Christians, and warns against a man called Diotrephes.
|
25 THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES
|
This James is not the apostle James, the son of Zebedee and
brother of John. The writer is James, the son of Joseph the
carpenter. He is frequently mentioned in the Book of Acts. The
letter is a collection of practical instructions and emphasizes the
importance of actions guided by faith.
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26 THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JUDE
|
Jude is a brother of the James who was one of the 12
apostles. He is mentioned in John 14: 22. The letter was written
to warn against false teachers who claimed to be believers. Jude
is not the Judas who is said to have betrayed Jesus.
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27 THE REVELATION
|
The Revelation of John is a collection of visions and
revelations written in symbolic language. Its main concern is to
give its readers hope and encouragement in their suffering for
their faith.
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5 REVIEW OF THE BOOKS BY THE COUNCILS
|
1 It is important to note that in 325 a great conference of
Christian theologians and religious scholars was convened in the
city of Nicaea under the order of the Emperor Constantine to
examine and define the status of these books. After thorough
investigation it was decided that the Epistle of Jude was genuine
and believable. The rest of these books were declared doubtful.
This was explicitly mentioned by Jerome in his introduction to
his book.
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2 [St. Jerome was a Christian scholar who translated the Bible
into Latin, he was born in 340 A.C.]
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3 Another council was held in 364 in Liodicia for the same
purpose. This conference of Christian scholars and theologians
not only confirmed the decision of the council of Nicaea
regarding the authenticity of the Epistle of Jude but also declared
that the following six books must also be added to the list of
genuine and believable books: The Book of Esther, The Epistle
of James, The Second Epistle of Peter, The Second and Third
Epistles of John, The Epistle of Paul to the Hebrews. This
conference pronounced their decision to the public. The book of
Revelations, however, remained out of the list of the
acknowledged books in both the councils.
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4 In 397 another great conference was held called the Council
of Carthage. Augustine, the great Christian scholar, W;tS among
the one hundred and twenty six learned participants. The
members of this council confirmed the decisions of the two
prevlous Councils and also added the following books to the list
of the divine books: The Book of the Songs of Solomon, The
Book of Tobit, The Book of Baruch, Ecclesiasticus, The First
and Second Books of Maccabees.
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5 At the same time the members of this council decided that the
book of Baruch was a part of the book of Jeremiah because
Baruch was the deputy of Jeremiah. Therefore they did not
include the name of this book separately in the list.
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6 Three more conferences were held after this in Trullo,
Florence and Trent. The members of these meetings confirmed
the decision of the Council of Carthage. The last two councils,
however, wrote the name of the book of Baruch separately.
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7 After these councils nearly all the books which had been
doubtful among Christians were included in the list of
acknowledged books.
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6 THE BOOKS REJECTED BY THE PROTESTANTS
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The status of these books remained unchanged until the
Protestant Refom1ation. The Protestants repudiated the decisions
of the councils and declared that the following books were
essentially to be rejected: The Book of Baruch, The Book of
Tobit, The Letter of Jude, The Song of Solomon, Ecclesiasticus,
The First and Second Books of Maccabees. They excluded these
books from the list of acknowledged books.
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Moreover, the Protestants also rejected the decision of their
forbears regarding some chapters of the book of Esther. This
book consists of 16 chapters. They decided that the first nine
chapters and three verses from chapter 10 were essentially to be
rejected They based their decision on the following six reasons:
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1 These works were considered to be false even in the
original Hebrew and Chaldaean languages which were no longer
available.
2 The Jews did not acknowledge them as revealed books.
3 All the Christians have not acknowledged them as
believable.
4 Jerome said that these books were not reliable and were
insufficient to prove and support the doctrines of the faith.
5 Klaus has openly said that these books were recited but not
in every place.
6 Eusebius specifically said in chapter 22 of his fourth book
that these books have been tampered with, and changed. In
particular the Second Book of Maccabees.
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Reasons: Numbers 1, 2, and 6 are particularly to be noted by the
readers as self-sufficient evidence of the dishonesty and perjury
of the earlier Christians. Books which had been lost in the
original and which only existed in translation were erroneously
acknowledged by thousands of theologians as divine revelation
This state of affairs leads a non-Christian reader to distrust the
unanimous decisions of Christian scholars of both the Catholic
and the Protestant persuasions. The followers of Catholic faith
still believe in these books in blind pursuance of their forebears.
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7 THE ABSENCE OF CERTAINTY IN THE BIBLE
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1 It is a prerequisite of believing in a certain book as divinely
revealed that it is proved through infallible arguments that the
book in question was revealed through a prophet and that it has
been conveyed to us precisely in the same order without any
change through an uninterrupted chain of narrators. It is not at
all sufficient to attribute a book to a certain prophet on the
basis of suppositions and conjectures. Unsupported assertions made
by one or a few sects of people should not be, and cannot be,
accepted in this connection.
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2 We have already seen how Catholic and Protestant scholars
differ on the question of the authenticity of certain of these
books. There are yet more books of the Bible which have been
rejected by Christians.
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3 They include the Book of Revelation, the Book of Genesis, the
Book of Ascension, the Book of Mysteries, the Book of Testament
and the Book of Confession which are all ascribed to the Prophet
Moses.
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Similarly a fourth Book of Ezra is claimed to be from the Prophet
Ezra and a book concerning Isaiah own ascension and revelation are
ascribed to him.
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4 In addition to the known book of Jeremiah, there is another
book attributed to him. There are numerous sayings which are
claimed to be from the Prophet Habakkuk. There are many songs which
are said to be from the Prophet Solomon. There are more than 70
books, other than the present ones, of the new Testament, which
are ascribed to Jesus, Mary, the apostles and their disciples.
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5 The Christians of this age have claimed that these books are
false and are forgeries. The Greek Church, Catholic church and
the Protestant Church are unanimous on this point. Similarly the
Greek Church claims that the third book of Ezra is a part of the
Old Testament and believes it to have been written by the Prophet
Ezra, while the Protestant and Catholic Churches have declared it
false and fabricated. We have already seen the controversy of the
Catholics and Protestants regarding the books of Baruch, Tobit,
Jude, the Song of Solomon, Ecclesiasticus and both the books of
Maccabees. A part of the book of Esther is believable to the
Catholics but essentially rejected by the Protestants.
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6 In this kind of situation it seems absurd and beyond the
bounds of reason to accept and acknowledge a book simply for
the reason that it has been ascribed to a prophet by a group of
scholars without concrete support. Many times we have
demanded renowned Christian scholars to produce the names of
the whole chain of narrators right from the author of the book to
prove their claim but they were unable to do so. At a public
debate held in India, one of the famous missionaries confessed to
the truth that the absence of authoritative support for those books
was due to the distress and calamities of the Christians in the
first three hundred and thirteen years of their history. We
ourselves examined and probed into their books and took great pains
to find any such authorities but our findings did not lead beyond
conjecture and presumption. Our impartial search in the sources
of their books showed that most of their assertions are based on
nothing but presumptions.
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7 It has already been said that presumption and conjecture are
of no avail in this matter. It would be quite justified on our part
if we refused to believe in these books until we had been given
some arguments and authorities to prove their genuineness and
authenticity. However, for the sake of truth, we still go forward
to discuss and examine the authority of these books in this
chapter. It is quite unnecessary to discuss the authority of each
and every book of the Bible and we intend to examine only some
of them.
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8 THE PRESENT PENTATEUCH IS NOT THE BOOK OF MOSES.
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The Pentateuch (Torah) included in the Old Testament is
claimed to be the collection of the revelations to the Prophet
Moses. We firmly claim that the books of Pentateuch do not
possess any authority or support to prove that they were in fact
evesled to Mose and that they were wrltten by him or through
him. We possess sound arguments to support our claim.
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9 THE FIRST ARGUMENT:
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1 The existence of the Torah, Pentateuch, is not historically
known before King Josiah [of Judah], the son of Amon. The script of
the Pentateuch which was found by a priest called Hilkiah 18 years
after Josiah own ascension to throne is not believable solely on the
grounds that it was found by a priest. Apart from this obvious
fact, this book had again disappeared before the invasion of
Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar [king of Babylon].
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2 Not only the Pentateuch, but also all the books of the Old
Testament were destroyed in this historical calamity. History
does not evince any evidence of the existence of these books after
this invasion.
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3 According to the Christians the Pentateuch was rewritten by
the Prophet Ezra.
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4 This book along with all its copies were again destroyed and
burnt by Antiochus [I Maccabees 1:59] at the time of his invasion
of Jerusalem.
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10 THE SECOND ARGUMENT:
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1 It is an accepted notion of all Jewish and Christian scholars
that the First and Second books of Chronicles were written by
Ezra with the help of the Prophets Haggai and Zechariah, but we
note that the seventh and eighth chapters of this book consist of
descriptions of the descendants of Benjamin which are mutually
contradictory. These descriptions also contradict statements in the
Pentateuch, firstly in the names, and secondly in counting the
number of the descendants. In chapter 7:6 we read that Benjamin
had three sons and in chapter 8:1-3 we find that he had five
sons while the Pentateuch claims that he had ten sons [Genesis
46:21].
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2 Both the Christian and the Jewish scholars are unanimous on
the point that the statement made by the First Book of Chronicles
is erroneous, and they have justified this error by saying that the
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3 Prophet Ezra could not distinguish and separate the sons from
the grandsons, because the genealogical 1ables from which he had
quoted were defective and incomplete
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4 It is true that the three prophets who wrote the Pentateuch)
were necessarily sincere followers of the Pentateuch. Now if we
assume that the Pentateuch of Moses was the same one written by
these Prophets, it seems quite illogical that they should deviate
and or make mistakes in the divine book, neither was it possible
that Ezra would have wrongly trusted an incomplete and defective
table of genealogy in a matter of such importance.
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5 Had the Pentateuch written by Ezra been the same famous
Pentateuch, they would have not deviated from it. These
evidences lead us to believe that the present Pentateuch was
neither the one revealed to Moses and written down by him nor
the one written by Ezra by inspiration. In fact, it is a collection
of stories and traditions which were current among the Jews, and
written down by their scholars without a critical view to their
authorities.
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6 Their claim that three prophets committed mistakes in copying
the names and number of the sons of Benjamin leads us to
another obvious conclusion that, according to the Christians, the
prophets are not protected from wrong action and can be involved
in committing major sins, similarly they can make mistakes in
writing or preaching the holy books.
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11 THE THIRD ARGUMENT:
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1 Any reader of the Bible making a comparison between
chapters 45 and 46 of the book of Ezekiel, and chapters 28 and
29 of the Book of Numbers, will find that they contradict each
other in religious doctrine. It is obvious that the Prophet Ezekiel
was the follower of the doctrines of the Pentateuch. If we
presume that Ezekiel had the present Pentateuch how could he
have acted upon those doctrines without deviating from it.
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2 Similarly we find in various books of the Pentateuch the
statement that the sons will be accountable for the sins committed
by their fathers up until three generations. Contrary to this, the
Book of Ezekiel (18: 20) says, "Son shall not bear the iniquity of
the father, neither shall father bear the iniquity of the son: the
righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the
wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him."
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3 This verse implies that no-one will be punished for the sin of
others. And this is the Truth. The Holy Koran has confirmed it.
It says:
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"No bearer of burdens can bear the burden of another."
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12 THE FOURTH ARGUMENT:
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1 The study of the books of Psalms, Nehemiah, Jeremiah and
Ezekiel testifies to the fact that the style of writing in that age
was similar to the present style of Muslim authors; that is to say,
readers can easily distinguish between the personal observations
of the author and his quotations from other writers.
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2 The Pentateuch in particular, is very different in style, and
we do not find even a single place to indicate that the author of
this book was Moses. On the contrary it leads us to believe that
the author of the books of the Pentateuch is someone else who was
making a collection of current stories and customs of the Jews.
However, in order to separate the statements which he thought
were the statements of God and Moses, he prefixed them with the
phrases, "God says" or " Moses said". The third person has been
used for Moses in every place. Had it been the book of Moses,
he would have used the first person for himself. At least there
would have been one place where we could find Moses speaking
in the first person. It would certainly have made the book more
respectable and trustworthy to its followers. It must be agreed
that a statement made in the first person by the author carries
more weight and value than his statement made by someone else
in the third person. Statements in the first person cannot be
refuted without powerful arguments, while statements in the third
person require to be proved true by the one who wishes to
attribute those statements to the author.
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13 THE FIFTH ARGUMENT:
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1 The present Pentateuch includes within its chapters some
statements which are historically impossible to attribute to Moses.
Some verses explicitly denote that the author of this book cannot
have existed prior to the Prophet David but must either be a
contemporary of David or later than him.
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2 The Christian scholars have tried to justify the opinion that
these sentences were added later on by certain prophets. But this
is merely a false assumption which is not supported by any
argument. Moreover, no prophet of the Bible has ever mentioned
that he has added a sentence to a certain chapter of a certain bok
Now unless these chapters and sentences are not proved through
infallible arguments to have been added by a prophet they remain
the writings of someone other than the Prophet Moses.
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14 THE SIXTH ARGUMENT:
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The author of Khulasa Saiful-Muslimeen has quoted from
volume 10 of Penny Encyclopaedia (which we reproduce here
from Urdu) that Dr Alexander Gides, an acknowledged Christi;m
writer, has said in his introduction to the New Bible:
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"I have come to know three things beyond doubt through
some convincing arguments:
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1 The present Pentateuch is not the book of Moses.
2 This book was written either in Cana"an or Jerusalem. That is
to say, it was not written during the period when the Israelites
were living in the wilderness of the desert.
3 Most probably this book was written in the period of the
Prophet Solomon, that is, around one thousand years before
Christ, the period of the poet Homer. In short, its composition
can be proved to be about five hundred years after the death of
Moses.
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15 THE SEVENTH ARGUMENT:
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1 "There appears no appreciable difference between the mode
of expression of the Pentateuch and the idiom of the other books
of the Old Testament which were written after the release of the
IsraeliteS from the captivity of Babylon, while they are separated
by not less than nine hundred years from each other. Human
experience testifies to the fact that languages are influenced and
change rapidly with the passing of time.
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2 For example, if we compare current English language with the
language of four hundred years ago we notice a considerable
difference in style, expression and idiom between the two
languages. By the absence of this difference in the language of
these books Luselen, a learned scholar, who had great command over
Hebrew language assumed that all these books were written in one
and the same period.
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16 THE EIGHTH ARGUMENT:
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1 We read in the book of Deuteronomy (27: 5) " And there
shalt thou build an altar unto the Lord, thy God, an altar of
stones. Thou shalt not lift up any iron tool upon them. And thou
shall write upon the stones all the work of this law very plainly,
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2 This verse appears in Persian translation published in 1835 ln
these words:
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3 "And write all the words of the Pentateuch (Torah) on the
stones very clearly."
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4 In the Persian translation of 1845, it appears like this:
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5 "Write the words of this Torah (Pentateuch) on the stones in
bright letters."
And the Book of Joshua says:
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6 "Then Joshua built an altar unto the Lord God of Israel in
Mount Ebal, as Moses, the servant of the Lord commanded the
children of Israel." (8: 30,31)
And verse 32 of the same chapter contains:
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7 "And he wrote there upon the stones a copy of the law of
Moses which he wrote in the presence of the children of Israel."
(Josh. 8: 32).
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8 All these extracts sufficiently show that the laws of Moses or
the Pentateuch was just as much as could be written on the stones
of an altar.
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9 Now if we presume that it is the present Pentateuch that is
referred to in the above verses this would be impossible.
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17 THE NINTH ARGUMENT:
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1 Norton, a missionary, said, "Writing was not in vogue in the
time of Moses," indicating that if writing was not in use in the
period of Moses, he could not be the author of the Pentateuch. If
the authentic books of history confirrn his statement this can be
a powerful ARGUMENT in this connection. This statement is also
supported by the book "English History" printed by Charles
Dallin Press, London in 1850. It says:
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2 "The people of the past ages used to scribble on plates of
copper, wood and wax, with needles of iron and brass or pointed
bones. After this the Egyptians made use of the leaves of the
papyrus reed. It was not until the 8th century that paper was
made from cloth. The pen was invented in the seventh century
AD."
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3 If this historian is acceptable to Christians, the claim made
by Norton is sufficiently confirmed.
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18 THE TENTH ARGUMENT:
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1 The present Pentateuch contains a large number of errors
while the words of the Prophet Moses must have been free of this
defect. Genesis 46: 15 says:
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2 "These be the sons of Leah which she bore unto Jacob in
Padanaram with his daughter Dinah: all the souls of his sons and
daughters were thirty and three."
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3 The figure 33 is wrong. The correct number is 34. The
famous commentator Horsely, also admitted this mistake. He
said:
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4 "If you count the names, including Dinah, the total comes to
34 and Dinah must be included as is evident from the number of
the sons of Zilpha, because Sarah was one of the sixteen.
Similarly the Book of Deuteronomy 23: 2 contains this
statement:
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5 "A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord;
even to his tenth generation shall not enter into the congregation
of the Lord."
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6 This statement is also not correct. On the basis of this
statement the Prophet David and all his ancestors up to Perez
would be excluded from the congregation of the Lord because
Perez was an illegitimate son of Judah. This is quite evident from
the description in chapter 38 of the Book of Genesis. And the
Prophet David happens to be in his tenth generation according
to the genealogical descriptions of Jesus in the Gospels of
Matthew and Luke. Needless to say that the Prophet David was
the leader of the congregation of the Lord; and according to the
Psalms of David he was the first born of God.
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19 ERRORS IN THE CACULATION OF THE ISRAELITES" NUMBER.
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1 We read in the book of Numbers ( 1: 45 - 47 ) this statement:
"So were all those that were numbered of the Children of Israel
by the house of their fathers, from twenty years old and upward,
all that were able to go forth to war in Israel; even all they that
were numbered were six hundred thousand and three thousand and five
hundred and fifty. But the Levites after the tribe of their fathers
were not numbered among them."
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2 These verses imply that the number of fighting people of the
Israelites was more than six hundred thousand. This number
excludes the men, women and children of the Levi Tribe and all
the women of the other tribes of the Israelites and all those men
who were under twenty years of age. If we include the number of
all the people of Israelites excluded from this enumeration, their
total should not be less than twenty-five hundred thousand. This
statement is wrong for five reasons.
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20 THE FIRST REASON.
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1 The total number of men and women of the Israelites was
seventy a. he time of their arrival in Egypt. This is evident from
Genesis 46: 27, Exodus 1: 5 and Deuteronomy 10: 22. The
greatest possible period of their stay in Egypt is 215 years. It
cannot be more.
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2 It has been mentioned in the first chapter of the Book of
Exodus that the sons of the people of Israel were killed and their
daughters left to live, 80 years before their liberation from
Egypt.
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3 Now keeping in mind their total number at their arrival in
Egypt, the duration of their stay in Egypt, and the killing of
their sons by the King, if we assume that after every twenty five
years they doubled in number and their sons were not killed at all,
even then their number would not reach twenty-five thousand in the
period of their stay in Egypt let alone twenty-five hundred
thousand! If we keep in view the killing of their sons, this number
becomes a physical impossibility.
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21 THE SECOND REASON:
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1 It must be far from the truth that their number increased from
seventy to twenty-five hundred thousand in such a short period,
while they were subjected to the worst kind of persecution and
hardships by the king of Egypt. In comparison, the Egyptians
who enjoyed all the comforts of life did not increase at that rate.
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2 The Israelites lived a collective life in Egypt. If they are
believed to have been more than twenty-five hundred thousand it
would be a unique example in human history that a population of
this size is oppressed and persecuted and their sons killed before
their eyes without a sign of resistance and rebellion from them.
Even animals fight and resist to save their offspring.
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22 THE THIRD REASON:
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1 The Book of Exodus chapter 12:39 describes how the
Israelites had taken with them the cattle herds and flocks, and the
same book 5:19, also informs us that they crossed the river in a
single night; and that they used to travel every day 13:21, and
that Moses used to give them verbal orders to march 14:1.
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23 THE FOURTH REASON:
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1 If the number were correct it would necessitate that they had
a place for their camp large enough to accommodate twenty-five
hundred thousand of people along with their herds or cattle. The
fact is that the area surrounding Mount Sinai, and the area of the
twelve springs in Elim are not sufficiently large to have
accommodated the Israelites and their cattle.
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24 THE FIFTH REASON:
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1 We find the following statement in Deuteronomy 7:22.
"And the Lord, thy God will put out those nations before thee by
little and little: thou mayest not consume them at once, lest the
beasts of the field increase upon thee."
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2 It is geographically true that Palestine extended nearly 200
miles in length and ninety miles in breadth. Now, if the number of
the Israelites was really twenty-five hundred thousand, and they
had captured Palestine after killing all its residents all at once,
how was it possible for the beasts to have overcome the number of
the Israelites, because had they been much less in number than
stated, even then, they would have been enough to populate such
a small area.
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3 Ibn Khaldun, also refuted this number in his
"Introduction; Muqaddimma" saying that, according to the researches
made by the scholars, the gap between Israel and Moses is only
three generations. It is unbelievable that in a period of only
three generations they could increase to that number.
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4 In view of the above ARGUMENTs, it is obvious tht "the People
of the Book" (The Christians and the Jews) do not possess any
ARGUMENTs to prove their claim that the books of the Pentateuch
were written or conveyed by the Prophet Moses.
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5 It is, therefore, not binding upon us to believe in these books
until and unless they produce irrefutable ARGUMENTs to support
thetr clalm.
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25 THE STATUS oF THE BOOK OF JOSHUA
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1 We have already seen that the Pentateuch, which enjoys the
status of being a fundanlent;ll book of the Christian faith,
callnot
be proved to be authentic and believable. Let us now proceed to
find out the truth about the Book of Joshua, the next book in
importance.
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2 First of all, the nallle of the author of this book is not
known with certainty, and the period of its composition is also
unknown.
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3 The Christian scholars profess five different opinions:
|
1 Gerrard, Diodat Huet, Albert Patrick, Tomlin and Dr Gray
believe that it was written by the Prophet Joshua himself.
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2 Dr Lightfoot claims that Phineas [grandson of Prophet Aaron]
is the author of this book.
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3 Calvin says that it was written by Eleazer.
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4 Moldehaur and Van Til believe it to have been written by
Samuel.
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5 Henry claimed that it was written by the Prophet Jeremiah.
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4 Readers should note the contradictory opinions of these
Christian scholars, especially keeping in mind the fact that Joshua
and Jeremiah are separated by a period of 850 years. The presence
of this great difference in opinion is, in itself, a strong
evidence that the book is not believed to be authentic by them.
Their opinions are generally based on their calculations supported
by some vague notions indicatingthat a certain person might be the
author of a certain book. If we make a comparison between
Joshua 15: 63 and Samuel 5: 6-8, it is quite clear that this book
was written before the seventh year of the ascension of the
Prophet David to the throne. Joshua 15: 63 says, "As for the
Jebusites the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the children of Israel
could not drive them out; but the Jebusites dwell with the children
of Judah at Jerusalem unto this day." The above statement may be
compared with the statement made by the Second Book of Samuel
which confirms that the Jebusites were living in Jerusalem up until
the seventh year of the ascension of David to throne (5:6-8), the
author of Joshua own statement said that the Jebusites dwelt in
Jerusalem "unto this day" meaning the seventh year of David own
ascension to throne. This clearly implies that the author belonged
to that period.
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5 Similarly the same book includes this statement, "And they
drove not out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer, but the
Canaanites dwell among the Ephraimites unto this day."" We find
another statement in I Kings 9:16 that the Pharaoh had driven out
the Canaanites from Gezer in the time of Solomon. This leads to
the conclusion that the book was written before the time of
Solomon. G.T. Menley has therefore admitted that a comparison
of Josh. 15: 63 with 2 Samuel 5:7-9 and of Josh. 16:10, with I
Kings 9: 16 leads to the conclusion that this book was written
before Rehobo"aam. See 2-Samuel 1:18
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6 In view of this evidence, it is logical to conclude that the
author of the book of Joshua must have lived after the Prophet
David.
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26 THE STATUS OF THE BOOK OF JUDGES
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1 The book of Judges is the third most respected book of the Old
Testament. Again we are faced by a great difference of opinion
regarding the author of the book and the possible period of its
compilation.
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2 Some Christian writers claim it to be the book of Phineas,
while some other believe it to have been written by Hezekiah. In
neither of these cases can it be said to be a revealed book because
neither Phineas nor Hezekiah are Prophets. Hezekiah was the
King of Judah. (2 Kings 18 and Chr. 32)
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3 Some other writers have asserted that this book was written by
Ezra. It may be noted that difference of time between Ezra and
Phineas is not less than nine hundred years.
|
4 This difference of opinion could not arise if the Christians
possessed any real evidence concerning it. According to the Jews
all these claims and assertions are wrong. They, on the basis of
conjecture, attribute it to Samuel. So there are six different
opinions about it.
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27 THE BOOK OF RUTH
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1 This book, too, is the subject of great differences of opinion.
Some Christians think that it was written by Hezekiah, in which
case it is not a revealed book. Some others hold the opinion that
the author of this book is Ezra. All other Christians and the Jews
attribute it to Samuel.
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2 It is stated in the introduction to the Bible printed in
Strasbourg in 1819 that the book of Ruth is a collection of family
stories and the Book of Job is only a tale.
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28 THE BOOK OF NEHEMIAH
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1 The same kind of difference is present regarding the author
and the period of this book. The most popular opinion is that it
was written by Nehemiah. Athanasius, Epiphanius and
Chrysostome believe it to have been written by Ezra. Aecording
to popular opinion it cannot be accepted as a revealed book.
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2 The first 26 verses of chapter 12 are different from the rest
of the book of Nehemiah since in the first eleven chapters Nehemiah
is referred to in the first person, while in this chapter the third
person is used for no apparent reason. Furthermore, we find
Drius, the King of Persia being mentioned in verse 22 of the
same chpter, when in fact he lived one hundred years after the
death of Nehemiah. The Christian commeIltators have to declare
this anomaly as a later addition. The Arabic translator of the
Bible has omitted it altogetl1er.
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29 THE BOOK OF JOB
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1 The history of the book of Job is even more obscure and
uncertain than the other books. There are about twenty-four
contradictory opinions regarding its name and period.
Maimonides, a celebrated scholar and Rabbi of the Jews, Michael
Leclerc, Semler, Hock, Isnak alld other Christians insist that Job
is a fictitious name and the book of Job is no more than a fiction.
Theodore has also condemned it. Luther, the leader of the
Protestant faith, holds it as purely a fictitious story.
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2 The book has been attributed to various names on the basis of
conjecture. However if we assume that the book was written by
Elihu [son of Bar"achel the Buzite] or by a certain unknown person
who was a contemporary of Manasse, it is not acceptable as a
prophetic and revealed text.
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30 THE PSALMS oF DAVID
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1 The history of this book, too, is similar to the history of the
book of Job. We do not find any documentary evidence to show a
particular man to be its writer. The period of collection of all
the Psalms is also not known. Whether the names of the Psalms are
Prophetic or not is also unknown. The ancient Christians have
different opinions about it. The writers, Origen, Chrysostome and
Augustine believe it to have been written by the Prophet David
himself. On the other hand, writers like Hilary, Athanasius,
Jerome and Eusebius have strictly refuted this. Horne says:
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2 "Undoubtedly the fomler statement is altogether wrong".
According to the opinion of the latter group, more than thirty
psalms are from unknown authors. Ten psalms from 9() to 99 are
supposed to be from Moses and seventy-one psalms are claimed to
be from David. Psalm 88 is attributed to Heman and to Ethan [both
were physicians], while Psalms 72 and 177 are said to be from
Solomon.
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3 And three psalms are believed to be from Jeduthun and one
hundred and twenty psalms from Asaph, but some Christians
refute that Psalms 74 and 79 are written by him. Eleven psalms
[42 to 49 and 84,85 and 87] are supposed to have been written
by three sons of Kore.
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4 Some writers even think that the author of these psalms was a
totally different person who attributed these psalms to the various
writers concerned, while yet others of the psalms were written by
another unknown person. Calmat says that only forty-five psalms
were written by David, while the rest are by other people.
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5 The ancient Jewish scholars enumerate the following names as
the writers of the Psalms: the Prophets Adam, Abraham, Moses;
and Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun and the three sons of Kore.
David only having collected them together. According to them
David, himself, is not the author of any of the Psalms; he is just
the receiver of them:
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6 Horne said that the judgement of modern Christian and Jewish
scholars is that this book was written by the following authors:
the Prophets Moses, David and Solomon; and Asaph, Heman,
Ethan, Jeduthun and the three sons of Kore.
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7 The same contradiction and confusion is found regarding the
period of its compilation. Some scholars hold them to have been
written and compiled in the time of David; some believe that they
were collected by some friends of Hezekiah in his period; while
some others think that they were compiled in different periods.
Similar differences are also expressed about the names of the
Psalms. Some claim that they are revealed, while others think that
someone who was not a prophet had called them with these
names.
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8 Psalm 72, verse 20 says, "The Prayers of David, the son of
Jesse are ended." This verse has been omitted in the Arabic
translations apparently with the purpose of supporting the opinion
of the first group that the whole Book of Psalms was written by
the Prophet David. On the other hand it is also possible that this
verse might have been added later to support the second group own
opinion that the Prophet David was not the author of this book. In
both cases the distortion of the text is proved either by omission
of this verse or by addition of it.
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31 THE BOOK OF PROVERBS
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1 The condition of this book, too, is not much different from the
books we have discussed so far. A few writers have claimed that
the author of this whole book is the Prophet Solomon himself.
This claim is false because of variations in linguistic idioms and
style, and repetition of several verses found in this book
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2 Apart from this the first verses of chapters 30 and 31 also
refute this assumption.
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3 Even if we accept that some part of this book could have been
written by Solomon which is possibly true for 29 chapters, these
were not collected or compiled in his period because there is no
doubt that several of them were collected by Hezekiah as is evident
from 25:1:
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4 "These are also proverbs of Solomon, which the men of
Hezekiah, King of Judah, copied out. "
This was done 270 years after the death of Solomon.
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5 Some writers are of the opinion that the first nine chapters of
the book were not written by Solomon. Chapters 30 and 31 are
attributed to Agur and Lemuel, as cited, but strangely the
commentators could neither find out who these two authors were
nor are they sure of their being prophets.
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6 On the basis of their usual presumptions they hold that they
were prophets. However, this kind of conjecture is not acceptable
to an impartial reader.
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7 Some of them think that Lemuel is the second name of Solomon,
but Henry and Scott state:
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8 "Holden has rejected the assumption that Lemuel was another
name of Solomon, and he has proved that Lemuel was a separate
person. Perhaps he has got sufficient proof that the book of
Lemuel and the book of Agur are revealed books. Otherwise they
could have not been included in the canonical books."
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9 Adam Clarke says in his commentary:
"This claim is not supported by any evidence that Lemuel was
Solomon. This chapter was written a long period after his death.
The idioms of the Chaldean language that are found in the
beginning of this book also refute this claim.
And he comments on chapter 31:
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10 "Certainly this chapter could not have been written by
Solomon."
Verse 25 of this chapter says:
"there are also proverbs of Solomon which the men of
Hezekiah copied out."
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11 Verse 30 in the Persian version of the Bible printed 1838
says: "The words Aglr, the son of Jakeh, even the Prophecy: the
man spoken unto Ithiel and Ucal."
And the Bible printed in the Persian language in 1845 contains
this: "The words of Acur, son of Jafa, were such that the man
spoke unto Ithiel, evn Ithiel and Ucal."
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12 The majority of writers have admitted that the book was
compiled by many people including Hezekiah, Isaiah and perhaps
Ezra.
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32 THE BOOK oF ECCLESIASTES
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1 This book, too, has a history of serious differences. Some
writers have claimed that its author was Solomon. Rabbi Kammchi, a
famous Jewish scholar, said that it was written by Isaiah. The
scholars of the Talmud attribute it to Hezekiah while Grotius says
that this book was written by Zorobabel for his son, Ebihud. John,
a Christian scholar, and some Gerrnan scholars calculate it to have
been written after the release of the Israelites from Babylon.
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33 THE BOOK OF THE SONG OF SOLOMON
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1 The history of this book is even more obscure and uncertain.
Some of the writers attribute it to the Prophet Solomon or some
person belonging to his time. Dr Kennicot and some writers
coming after him had the opinion that the claim of its being
written by Solomon was historically wrong and that it was written
a long time after his death. Theodore, a missionary who lived in
the fifth century AD, strictly condemned this book and the Book of
Job, while Simon and Leclerc did not acknowledge it as a genuine
book. Whiston said that it was a foul song and should be
excluded from the holy books of the Old Testament. Some others
have made the same judgement about it. Semler holds it as a
forged and fabricated book. The Catholic, Ward, has pointed out
that Castilio declared it to be a vile song and decided that it
should be excluded from the books of the Old Testament.
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34 THE BOOK OF DANIEL
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1 The Greek Translation of Theodotion, the Latin translation and
all the translations of the Roman Catholics include the Song of
Three Children and chapters 13 and 14 of this book. The Roman
Catholic faith acknowledges this song and the two chapters, but
the Protestants disapprove of it and do not consider it genuine.
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2 THE BOOK OF ESTHER
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3 The name of the writer of this book as well as the time of its
compilation is unknown. Some Christian scholars believe that it
was written by scholars living in the period between Ezra and
Simon. A Jewish Scholar Philon [a contemporary of Paul] aims that
it was written by Jehoiachin, the son of Joshua [was the son of
Jehoakin] , who had come to Jerusalem after the release from
Babylon. St Augustine believed it to be a book of Ezra.
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4 Some other writers attribute it to Murdoch and Esther. Other
details of this book will later be discussed in chapter 2 of
this book.
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35 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH
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1 We are certain that chapter 52 of this book cannot be claimed
to have been written by Jeremiah. Similarly the eleventh verse of
chapter 1() cannot be attributed to Jeremiah. In the former case,
because verse 64 of chapter 51 of the Persian Version 1838
contains: "Thus far are the words of Jeremiah". While the Persian
Translation of 1839 AD says: "The words of Jeremiah ended
here."
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2 In the latter case the reason is that verse 11 of chapter 10 is
in the Chaldean language, while the rest of the book is in Hebrew.
It is impossible to trace who inserted them in the text. The
commentators have made several conjectures regarding the
persons making this insertion. The compilers of Henry and Scott
remarked about this chapter:
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3 "It appears that Ezra or some other person inserted it to
elucidate the predictions occurring in the previous chapter."
Horne says on page 194 of Vol. 4:
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4 "This chapter was added after the death of Jeremiah and the
release from the captivity of Babylon, some of which we find
mentioned in this chapter too."
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5 Further in this volume he says:
"Certainly the words of this Prophet are in the Hebrew
language but chapter 10:11 is in the Chaldean language." I
The Reverend Venema said:
"This verse is a later addition."
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36 THE BOOK OF ISAIAH
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1 A public debate was held between Karkaran, a religious leader
of the Roman Catholics, and Warren about this book. This
discussion was published in 1852 in Agra (India). Karkaran
writes in his third letter that Stapelin, a learned Gerrnan writer,
had said that chapter 40 and all the chapters up to chapter 66 of
the book of Isaiah were not written by Isaiah. This implies that
twenty-seven chapters of this book are not the writings of
Isaiah.
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37 THE NEW TESTAMENT AND THE STATUS OF THE FOUR GOSPELS
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THE GOSPELS OF MATTHEW, LUKE AND MARK.
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1 All the ancient Christian writers and a great number of modern
writers are unanimous on the point that the Gospel of Matthew
was originally in the Hebrew language and has been completely
obscured due to distortions and alterations made by the Christians.
The present Gospel is merely a translation and is not supported by
any ARGUMENT or authority. Even the name of its translator is not
definitely known. There are only conjectures that possibly this or
that person might have translated it. This kind of ARGUMENT cannot
be acceptable to a non-Christian reader. The book cannot be
attributed to its author only on the basis of uncertain
calculations.
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2 The Christian author of Meezan-ul-Haq could not produce any
authority regarding the author of this book. He only conjectured
and said that Matthew might possibly have written it in the Greek
language. In view of this fact this translation is not acceptable
and is liable to be rejected.
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3 The Penny Encyclopedia says regarding the Gospel of
Matthew:
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4 "This Gospel was written in the Hebrew language and in the
language which was in vogue between Syria and Chaldea in 41
AD Only the Greek translation is available. And the present
Hebrew version is only a translation of the same Greek version."
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5 Thomas Ward, a Catholic writer, says in his book:
"Jerome explicitly stated in his letter that some ancient
scholars were suspicious about the last chapter of the Gospel of
Mark; and some of them had doubt about some verses of chapter
23 of the Gospel of Luke; and some other scholars were doubtful
about the first two chapters of this Gospel. These two chapters
have not been included by the Marchionites [who do not acknowledge
th old testament and believe in two gods, one of good and one of
evil] in their book."
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6 Norton writes in his book printed in 1837 in Boston:
" This Gospel contains a passage running from verse nine to
the end of the last chapter which calls for research. It is
surprising that Griesbach has not put any sign of doubt about its
text, since he has presented numerous ARGUMENTs to prove that this
part was an addition by some later people."
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7 Later in his book, giving some more ARGUMENTs, he said:
"This proves that the passage in question is doubtful,
especially if we keep in mind the habit of writers in that they
usually prefer to add to the text rather than to omit from it."
Griesbach is one of the most reliable scholars of the Protestant
faith.
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38 THE INAUTHENTICITY OF THE GOSPEL OF JOHN
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1 There is no authority for the claim that the Gospel of John is
the book of the Apostle John to whom it has been attributed. On
the contrary, there are several ARGUMENTs that strongly refute this
claim.
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39 THE FIRST ARGUMENT:
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1 Before and after the period of the Prophet Jesus, the style of
writing and the method of compiling books was similar to the style
of the present writers. Although this Gospel is John own it appears
that the writer of it is not John himself.
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2 It is not possible to refute the obvious evidence which the
text itself offers unless strong ARGUMENTs are presented to negate
it.
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40 THE SECOND ARGUMENT:
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1 This Gospel contains this statement in 21:24:
"This is the disciple which testifieth of these things: and we
know that his testimony is true," describing the Apostle John.
This denotes that the writer of this text is not John himself. It
leads us to guess that the writer has found some script written by
John and has described the contents in his own language making some
omissions and additions to the contents.
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41 THE THIRD ARGUMENT:
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1 In the second century AD when the authorities refused to
accept this Gospel as the book of John [the disciple],
Irenaeus - a disciple of Polycarp, the disciple of John - was
living.
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2 He did not make any statement to negate those who refused to
accept the book and did not testify that he had heard Polycarp
saying that this Gospel was the book of John, the Apostle. Had it
been the book of John, Polycarp must have known it. It cannot be
the truth that he heard Polycarp saying many secret and profound
things which he related but did not hear a single word about a
matter of such importance.
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3 And it is even more unbelievble that he had heard it and
forgot, since we know about him that he had great trust in verbal
statements and used to memorize them. This is evident from the
following statement of Eusebius regarding the opinion of Irenaeus
about verbal statements:
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4 I listened to these words with great care by the grace of God,
and wrote them not only on paper, but also on my heart. For a
long time, I have made it my habit to keep reading them."
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5 It is also unimaginable that he remembered it and did not
state
it for the fear of his enemies. This ARGUMENT also rescues us from
the blame of refusing the genuineness of this Gospel from
religious prejudice. We have seen that it was refused in the second
century AD and could not be defended by the ancient Christians.
Celsus, who was a pagan scholar of the second century AD,
fearlessly declared that the Christians had distorted their Gospels
three or four times or more. This change or distortion changed the
contents of the text.
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6 Festus, the chief of the Manichaeans and a scholar publicly
announced in 4th century AD:
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7 "It has been established that the books of the New Testament
are neither the books of the Christ, nor are they the books of his
apostles but unknown people have written them and attributed
them to the apostles and their friends."
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42 THE FOURTH ARGUMENT:
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1 The Catholic Herald, printed in 1844, includes the statement in
vol. 3 on page 205 that Stapelin said in his book that the Gospel
of John was undoubtedly written by a student of a school in
Alexandria. See how blatantly he claims it to be a book of a
student.
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43 THE FIFTH ARGUMENT:
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1 Bertshiender, a great scholar, said:
"The whole of this Gospel and all the Epistles of John
were definitely not written by him but by some other person in
the second century A.D."
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44 THE SIXTH ARGUMENT:
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1 Grotius, a famous scholar, admitted:
"There used to be twenty chapters in this Gospel. The
twenty-first chapter was added after the death of John, by the
church of Ephesus."
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45 THE SEVENTH ARGUMENT:
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1 The Allogin, a sect of the Christians in the second century AD,
disowned this Gospel and all the writings of John.
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46 THE EIGHT ARGUMENT:
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1 The first eleven verses of chapter 8 are not accepted by any of
the Christian writers and it will soon be shown that these verses
do not exist in the Syriac version.
If there were any authentic proof to support it most of the
Christian writers would have not made such statements. Therefore
the opinion of Bertshiender and Stapelin is undoubtedly true.
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47 THE NINTH ARGUMENT:
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1 Horne, in chapter two of vol. 4 of his commentary says:
"The information that has been conveyed to us by the
historians of the church regarding the period of the four Gospels
is defective and indefinite. It does not help us reach any
meaningful conclusion. The ancient theologians have confirmed
absurd statements and written them down. Subsequent people accepted
them just out of respect to them. These false statements thus were
communicated from one writer to another. A long period of time
has passed, and it has become very difficult to find out the
truth."
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2 Further in the same volume he says:
"The first Gospel was written either in 37 A.D. or 38 A.D. or
in 43 A.D. or in 48 A.D. or in 61,62,63 and 64 A.D. The second
Gospel was written in 56 A.D. or at any time after it up until 65
A.D. and most possibly in 60 or 63 A.D. The third Gospel was
written in 53 or 63 or 64 A.D. The fourth Gospel was written in
68,69,70 or in 89 or 98 A.D."
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3 following statement of Eusebius regarding the opinion of
Irenaeus about verbal statements:
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4 I listened to these words with great care by the grace of God,
and wrote them not only on paper, but also on my heart. For a
long time, I have made it my habit to keep reading them."
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5 It is also unimaginable that he remembered it and did not state
it for the fear of his enemies. This ARGUMENT also rescues us from
the blame of refusing the genuineness of this Gospel from
religious prejudice. We have seen that it was refused in the second
century AD and could not be defended by the ancient Christians.
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6 Celsus, who was a pagan scholar of the second century AD,
fearlessly declared that the Christians had distorted their Gospels
three or four times or more. This change or distortion changed the
contents of the text.
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7 Festus, the chief of the Manichaeans44 and a scholar publicly
announced in 4th century AD:
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8 "It has been established that the books of the New Testament
are neither the books of the Christ, nor are they the books of his
apostles but unknown people have written them and attributed
them to the apostles and their friends."
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48 THE FOURTH ARGUMENT:
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1 The Catholic Herald, printed in 1844, includes the statement in
vol. 3 on page 205 that Stapelin said in his book that the Gospel
ofJohn was undoubtedly written by a student of a school in
Alexandria. See how blatantly he claims it to be a book of a
student.
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49 THE FIFTH ARGUMENT:
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1 Bertshiender, a great scholar, said:
"The whole of this Gospel and all the Epistles of John
were definitely not written by him but by some other person in
the second century A.D."
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50 THE SIXTH ARGUMENT:
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1 Grotius, a famous scholar, admitted:
"There used to be twenty chapters in this Gospel. The
twenty-first chapter was added after the death of John, by the
church of Ephesus."
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51 THE SEVENTH ARGUMENT:
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1 The Allogin, a sect of the Christians in the second century AD,
disowned this Gospel and all the writings of John.
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52 THE EIGHT ARGUMENT:
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1 The first eleven verses of chapter 8 are not accepted by any of
the Christian writers and it will soon be shown that these verses
do not exist in the Syriac version.
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2 If there were any authentic proof to support it most of the
Christian writers would have not made such statements. Therefore
the opinion of Bertshiender and Stapelin is undoubtedly true.
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53 THE NINTH ARGUMENT:
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1 Horne, in chapter two of vol. 4 of his commentary says:
"The information that has been conveyed to us by the
historians of the church regarding the period of the four Gospels
is defective and indefinite. It does not help us reach any
meaningful conclusion. The ancient theologians have confirmed
absurd statements and written them down. Subsequent people accepted
them just out of respect to them. These false statements thus were
communicated from one writer to another. A long period of time
has passed, and it has become very difficult to find out the
truth."
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2 Further in the same volume he says:
"The first Gospel was written either in 37 A.D. or 38 A.D. or
in 43 A.D. or in 48 A.D. or in 61,62,63 and 64 A.D. The second
Gospel was written in 56 A.D. or at any time after it up until 65
A.D. and most possibly in 60 or 63 A.D. The third Gospel was
written in 53 or 63 or 64 A.D. The fourth Gospel was written in
68,69,70 or in 89 or 98 A.D."
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54 THE EPISTLES AND THE REVELATION
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1 The Epistle to the Hebrews, the Second Epistle of Peter, the
Second and the Third Epistles of John, the Epistle of Jacob, the
Epistle of Jude and several verses of the First Epistle of John are
wrongly attributed to the apostles. These books were generally
supposed to be doubtful up until 363 AD and continue to be
considered false and unacceptable to the majority of Christian
writers up until this day. The verses of the first Epistle of John
have been omitted in Syrian versions.
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2 The Arabian churches have rejected the second Epistle of
Peter, both the Epistles of John, the Epistle of Jude, and the
Revelation. Similarly the churches of Syria have rejected them
from the beginning of their history.
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3 Horne says in the second volume of his commentary (1822)
on pages 206 and 207:)
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4 "The following Epistles and verses have not been included in
the Syrian version and the same was the case with Arabian
churches: the second Epistle of Peter, the Epistle of Jude, both
the epistles of John, the Revelation, the verses from 2-11 of
chapter 8 in the gospel of John, and chapter 5 verse 7 of the first
Epistle of John. The translator of the Syrian version omitted these
verses because he did not believe them to be genuine. Ward confirms
this in his book (1841) on page 37: " Rogers, a great scholar of
the Protestant faith has mentioned the name of a number of
Protestant scholars who declared the following books as false and
excluded them from the holy scriptures: the Epistle to the Hebrews,
the Epistle of Jacob, the second and the third Epistles of John,
and the Revelation."
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5 Dr Bliss, a learned scholar of the Protestant faith stated:
"All the books up until the period of Eusebius are found
acceptable," and he insists on the point that:
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6 "The Epistle of Jacob, the second Epistle of Peter and the
second and third Epistles of John are not the writings of the
Apostles. The Epistle to the Hebrews remained rejected for a long
period, similarly the Syrian church did not acknowledge the
second Epistle of Peter, the second and third Epistles of John, thc
Epistle to Jude and the Revelation."
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7 Lardner said in vol. 4 of his commentary on page 175:
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"Cyrillus and the Church of Jerusalem did not acknowledge
the book of Revelation in their period. Apart from this, the name
of this book does not even occur in the list of Canonical books
which he wrote."
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8 On page 323 of the same volume he further said:
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"Revelation was not the part of the Syrian version.
Barhebroeus and Jacob did not include this book for comments in
their commentary. Abedjessu omitted the second Epistle of Peter,
the second and third Epistles of John, the Epistle of Jude and the
Revelation from his list. All other Syrians have the same opinion
about these books."
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9 The Catholic Herald (1844) contains the following statement
on page 206 of vol. 7: "Rose has written on page 161 of his book
that many Protestant scholars consider the book of Revelation non-
believable. Professor Ewald has produced powerful ARGUMENTs to
prove that the Gospel of John and the Epistles of John and the
Revelations of John cannot be the writings of the same person.
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10 Eusebius makes the following statement in chapter 25 of vol.
7 of his history:
"Dionysius says that some ancient writers excluded the book
of Revelation from the Holy Scriptures and have completelv
refuted it. He said that this book is meaningless and a great
example of ignorance. Any association of this book with John or
with a righteous man or with any Christian is wrong. In fact, this
book was attributed to John by a heretic Cerinthus. I wish I had
the powers of excluding it from the Holy Scriptures. As far as my
own opinion is concerned, I believe it to be from someone who
was inspired. But what I cannot easily believe is that the writer
was any of the apostles, or that he was the son of Zebedee or
brother of Jacob."
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11 On the contrary the idiom of the text and its style strongly
indicate that the writer cannot have been the Apostle John who is
mentioned in the Book of Acts because his presence in Asia Minor
is not known. This John is totally a different man who is an
Asian. There are two graves in the city of Ephesus, both bearing
the inscription of John. The contents and the style of this book
indicate that John, the Evangelist, is not the writer of this book.
Since the text of the Gospel and the Epistles is as refined as the
style of the Greeks. Contrary to this the book of Revelation
contains a text very different in style from the Greeks, full of
uncommon expressions.
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12 Besides this the Evangelists have a common practice in that
they do not disclose their names in the Gospels nor in the
Epistles, but describe themselves in the first person or in the
third person, while the writer of this book has mentioned his own
name. In the revelation of Jesus in chapter I he says: "The
revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave unto him to show unto his
servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and
signified it by his Angel unto his servant John."
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13 He also writes in chapter 4:
"John to the seven churches which are in Asia." In chapter 9 he
says: "1, John, who am your brother, and companion in tribulation
and in this kingdom, and patience of Jesus Christ." Again in 22:8
he says: " I John saw these things and heard them."
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14 He mentions his name in all the above verses contrary to the
general practice of the Evangelists. The explanation that the
writer has disclosed his name against his normal practice in order
to introduce himself cannot be acceptable because if this had been
his object he would have used specific words together with his name
defining his intention. For example, he could have written John,
the son of Zebedee or brother of James. He only uses some
general words like " your brother ", companion in patience etc.
which do not serve the purpose of his introduction
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15 Eusebius also says in chapter 3 of vol. 3 of his book:
"The first Epistle of Peter is genuine, but his second Epistle
should never be included in the Holy Scripture. Fourteen Epistles
of Paul are, however, read. The Epistle to the Hebrews has been
excluded by some people."
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16 He further elaborates in chapter 25 of the same book:
"It has been a point of debate whether the Epistles to James,
and Jude, the second Epistle of Peter, and the Epistles of John I
and 11 were written by the Evangelists or some other writers of the
same names. It should be understood that the Acts of Paul, the
Revelation of Peter, the Epistle of Barnabas and the book entitled,
"The Institution of the Disciples" are rejected books and this can
be proved. The Revelation should also be included in this list."
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17 Eusebius also quotes a statement of Origen concerning the
Epistle to the Hebrews in chapter 25 of vol. 6 of his book:
"It is a popular notion among the people that this Epistle
(Hebrews) was written by Clement of Rome (150-22()) and some
people think that it was written by Luke."
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18 The Irish missionary Lyon (178) and Hippolitus (220) and
Nouclus, the missionary of Rome (251), refused to accept the
genuineness of the Epistle to the Hebrews. Turtullien, the bishop
of Carthage (d. 200) says that this Epistle belongs to Barnabas.
Caius, the Presbyter of Rome (d. 251) counted thirteen Epistles of
Paul and did not count this Epistle. Cyprien, the bishop of
Carthage (248), does not make any mention of this Epistle. The
Monophysite churches still refuse to acknowledge the second
Epistle of Peter and the second and third Epistles of John.
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19 Scaliger disowns the Epistle to the Hebrews by saying that
whoever was the author of this Epistle had wasted his time.
Eusebius, in chapter 23 of vol. 2 of his book says:
"Generally this Epistle is supposed to be false and several
ancient writers have mentioned this. Our opinion about the Epistle
of Jude is not different but many churches still act according to
it."
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20 The History of the Bible (1850) contains this statement:
"Grotius says that this Epistle, that is, the Epistle of Jude was
written by Jude Oskolf (Archbishop) the 15th Oskolf of Jerusalem
living in the period of the Emperor Hadrian."
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21 Eusebius has stated in his history vol. 6, chapter 25:
" Origen said in vol. 5 of his commentary on the Gospel of
John that Paul did not write anything to the churches, and if he
wrote to any church it was not more than a few lines."
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22 According to Origen, all the Epistles which are attributed to
Paul, were not written by him. They are hypothetically attributed
to him. Perhaps a few lines of Paul might also be present in these
Epistles.
|
23 Keeping all these statements in mind, we are led to believe
the truth of the following statement made by Festus:
"The author of the New Testament is neither Jesus Christ nor
his apostles, but a certain man of unknown identity has written
them and attributed them to the Evangelists."
|
24 The truth of this statement has been proved beyond doubt. We
have already shown earlier in this book that these six Epistles and
the Book of Revelation were not believed in and remained rejected
up until 363; and they were not acknowledged even by the council
of Nicaea in 325. Then in 364 the members of the council of
Liodesia acknowledged the six Epistles. The Book of Revelation
remained excluded even in this meeting but later on in 397 was
acknowledged by the Council of Carthage.
|
25 The decision of the two councils about these books cannot be
considered as an ARGUMENT for obvious reasons. Firstly all the
councils had acknowledged the Book of Jude. The Council of
Liodesia then accepted the ten verses of chapter 10 from the Book
of Esther, and the six chapters subsequent to chapter 10. The
Song of Solomon, Tobit, Baruch, Ecclesiastes and Maccabees
were acknowledged by the council of Carthage, while all the
subsequent councils confirmed the decision of the above three
councils.
|
26 Now, if the decisions of these councils were founded on
authenticated ARGUMENTs, which they most certainly were not, then
the Protestants would have accepted them, but on the other hand,
if their decisions were arbitrary, as was in fact the case, it was
necessary for the Protestants to reject all of these books. We are
very much surprised to note that they accepted the Councils"
decision regarding the six Epistles as well as the Book of
Revelation but rejected it concerning the other books, especially
the book of Judith which had been unanimously acknowledged by
all the councils. This decision is again arbitrary and without
justification.
|
27 Their only proffered reason, that the original versions of
these books had been lost, cannot be accepted because Jerome
confirmed the fact that he found the original versions of Jude and
Tobit in the Chaldean language and the original book of
Ecclesiasticus in Hebrew, and these books have been translated
from the original versions. On this basis, the Protestants should
at least accept these books and they should in fact reject the
Gospel of Matthew since the original of that book was lost.
|
28 The statement of Horne, already quoted previously, proves the
fact that the ancient Christians were not very particular about
looking into the authenticity of their traditions. They used to
accept and write all kinds of mythical and fabulous stories and
traditions which were followed and acted upon by the people of
subsequent times. In view of this, the most acceptable conclusion
is that the scholars of these councils must have heard some of
these traditions, which, after having been rejected for centuries,
were acknowledged by them without any authentication)
|
29 Because the holy scriptures are treated by the Christians in
the same way as ordinary books of law and civil administration,
they continually changed and altered the texts to suit their needs.
A few examples of this will be sufficient to establish our claim.
|
30 The Greek translation was consistently acknowledged as the
authoritative text from the time of the Apostles to the 1 5th
century. The Hebrew versions were believed to have been distorted
and the Greek translation was considered the accurate version.
Subsequently the position of these books was altogether changed.
The distorted version was acknowledged as accurate and the
accurate one as distorted.
|
31 The Book of Daniel in the Greek version was genuine in the
eyes of the early scholars, but after Origen declared that it was
incorrect, they rejected it and replaced it with the version of
Theodotion.
|
32 The Epistle of Aristias remained on the list of the Holy
Scriptures but in the seventeenth century some objections were
raised against it and suddenly it turned into a false document in
the eyes of a]l the Protestant scholars.
|
33 The Latin version is believed genuine by all the Catholics
while it is considered distorted and unbelievable by the
Protestants.
|
34 The small book of Genesis remained genuine and believable
up until the 15th century while the same book was declared false
and rejected in thel6th century.
|
35 The third Book of Ezra is still acknowledged by the Greek
church but has been rejected by both the Catholics and the
Protestants. Similarly the Song of Solomon was considered
genuine and a part of the Holy Scriptures and can still be found in
the Codex Elexandrine, yet it is now rejected.
|
36 The gradual realization of the distortions present in a number
of their holy books is bound to lead the Christians, sooner or
later, to admit to the truth of the fact that the great part of the
Judeo-Christian scriptures have undergone great changes and
distortions.
|
37 We have shown that the Christians do not possess any
authentic records or acceptable ARGUMENTs for the authenticity of
the books of either the Old Testament or the New T estament.
|
55 CONTRADICTIONS AND ERRORS IN THE BIBLICAL TEXT
|
"Had it the Holy Koran) been from other than God,
they would surely have found therein
much discrepancy." (Koran 4:82)
|
The texts of all the Judaeo-Christian scriptures contain sur-
prisingly numerous contradictions and errors that are easily
spotted by a serious reader of the Bible. This section is devoted
to pointing out some of these contradictionsl in numerical order.
The errors found in these texts will be discussed separately in
the following section.
|
1 Contradiction No. 1
|
Any serious reader making a comparison between chapters
45 and 46 of the book of Ezekiel, and chapters 28 and 29 of the
book of Numbers will notice great contradiction in the
doctrines2 mentioned therein.
|
2 Contradiction No. 2
|
A comparison between chapter 13 of the Book of Joshua and
chapter 2 of Deuteronomy concerning the inheritance of the
children of Gad discloses a plain contradiction. One of the two
statements has to be wrong.
|
3 Contradiction No. 3
|
I Chronicles chapters 7 and 8 concerning the descendants of
Benjamin makes a statement which contradicts chapter 46 of
Genesis. The Judaeo-Christian scholars have had to admit that
the statement made by Chronicles is erroneous. This will be dis-
cussed later.
|
4 Contradiction No. 4
|
There is great discrepancy in the description of genealogical
names in I Chronicles 8:29-35 and 9:35-44. This contradiction
was noticed by Adam Clarke who says in volume 2 of his com-
mentary:
|
The Jewish scholars claim that Ezra had found two
books which contained these sentences with the
contradicting names and since he could not prefer one to
the other, he included both of them.
|
5 Contradiction No. 5
|
In 2 Samuel 24:9, it says:
|
And Joab gave up the number of the people unto the
king: and there were in Israel eight hundred thousand
valiant men that drew the sword and the men of Judah
were five hundred thousand men.
|
On the other hand, we find in I Chronicles 21:5:
|
And Joab gave the sum of the number of the people
unto David. And all they of Israel were a thousand thou-
sand and an hundred thousand men that drew sword: and
Judah was four hundred and threescore and ten thousand
men that drew sword.
|
The discrepancy in these statements amounts to a great con-
tradiction in the number of people. There is a difference of three
hundred thousand in the number of the Israelites while the dif-
ferenCe in the number of the People of Judah is thirty thousand.
|
6 Contradiction No. 6
|
We read in 2 Samuel 24:13:
|
So Gadl came to David, and told him, and said unto
him Shall seven years of famine come unto thee in thy
land?
|
However we read in 1 Chr. 21:12:
|
Either three years famine or....
The contradiction is quite obvious, since the former state-
ment speaks of seven years of famine while the latter statement
mentions only three years of famine referring to the same occa-
sion. The commentators of the Bible have admitted that the for-
mer statement is erroneous.
|
7 Contradiction No. 7
|
In 2 Kings 8:26 we find this statement:
|
Two and twenty years old was Ahaziah when he
began to reign; and he reigned one year in Jerusalem.
|
In contrast with the above statement we read in 2 Chr. 22:2:
|
Forty and two years old was Ahaziah when he
began to reign...
|
This contradiction speaks for itself. The latter statement is
obviously wrong and the commentators on the Bible have
admitted this to be the case. It has to be wrong because the age
of Ahaziah own father, Jehoram, at the time of his death was 40
years and Ahaziah began reigning just after the death of his
father as is known from the previous chapter. In this case if we
did not negate the latter statement it would mean that the son
was two years older than his father.
|
8 Contradiction No. 8
|
In 2 Kings 24:8 it is stated that:
Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to
reign...
|
This statement is contradicted by 2 Chr. 36:9 which says:
|
Jehoiachin was eight years old when he began to
reign...
|
The contradiction is more than obvious. The second state-
ment is erroneous as will be shown later in this book. This has
been admitted by Bible commentators.
|
9 Contradiction No. 9
|
There is an obvious contradiction between the statements of
2 Samuel 23:8l
|
["These be the names of the mighty men whom David had: The
Tachomonite that
sat in the seat, chief among the captains; the same was Adino the
Eznite: he lift up
his spear against eight hundred, whom he slew at one time."]
|
and 1 Chronicle 11:112
|
["And this is the number of the mighty men whom David had,
Jashobeam, an
Hachmonite, the chief of the captains: he lifted up his spear
against three hundred
slam by him at one time."]
|
Both are talking of the mighty men of David. Adam Clarke,
making comments on the former statements of 2 Samuel, has
quoted Dr Kennicot as saying that the verse in question contains
three great distortions. This requires no further comment.
|
10 Contradiction No. 10
|
It is stated in 2 Samuel 5 and 6 that David brought the Ark to
Jerusalem after defeating the Philistines, while chapters 13 and
14 of 1 Chronicles, describing the same event, make David
bring the Ark before the defeat of Philistines.
One of the two statements must be wrong.
|
11 Contradiction No. 11
|
In Genesis 6:19,20 and 7:8,9 we read:
|
And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every
sort shalt thou bring into the Ark, to keep them alive
with thee; they shall be male and female.
Of fowls after their kind and of cattle after their
kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after its kind,
two of every sort shall come unto thee.
|
But as we proceed a little further to the next chapter of this book
we suddenly come to this statement.
|
Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by
sevens, the male and his female, and of beasts that are
not clean by two, the male and the female.
|
When we proceed to the next verse it says: "Of fowls also of the
air by sevens..."
|
The contradiction speaks for itself.
|
12 Contradiction No. 12
|
It is understood from the Book of Numbers 31:7
|
["And they warred against the Midianites, as the Lord cornmanded
Moses- and
they slew all the males." 31:7]
|
that the Israelites killed all the men of Midian during the
lifetime of Moses,l and only their young girls were allowed to live
in se tude. This statement contradicts the description given in
Judges 6
|
["And the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel." Judges 6: 2
"And Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites."
Judges 6:6]
|
from which it is understood that in the time of Judges the
Midianites were so strong and powerful that they dominated the
Israelites while historically the time difference between the two
periods is not more than one hundred years.
|
Having been totally wiped out, how could the Midianites
have been sufficiently strong and powerful to keep the Israelites
under their domination for seven years within the short period
of only one hundred years?2
|
13 Contradiction No. 13
|
Exodus 9:6 states:
|
And the Lord did that thing on the morrow, and all
the cattle of Egypt died: but of the cattle of the children
of Israel died not one.
|
This implies that all the cattle of Egypt had died but it is con-
tradicted by another statement of the same chapter of the same
book which says:
|
He that feared the word of the Lord among the ser-
vants of Pharaoh made his servants and his cattle flee
into the houses:
And he that regarded not the word of the Lord left
|
his serants and his cattle in the field.[Exodus 9:20,21]
|
The discrepancy in the above statements needs no comment.
|
14 Contradiction No. 14
|
Genesis 8:4,5 contains this statement:
|
And the Ark rested in the seventh month, on the sev-
enteenth day of the month, upon the mountains of
Ararat.
|
And the waters decreased continually until the tenth
month: in the tenth month, on the first day of the month,
were the tops of the mountains seen.
|
This statement contains a serious contradiction of facts, since
the Ark could have not rested on the mountain in the seventh
month as described in the first verse if the tops of the mountains
could not be seen until the first day of the tenth month as
described by the next verse.
|
15 Contradictions No. 15 - 26
|
A comparison between 2 Samuel 8 and l Chronicles 18, dis-
closes a great number of discrepancies and contradictions in the
original version in the Hebrew language, although the transla-
tors have tried to rectify some of them.
|
You can reproduce some of them in parallel columns
using the commentary of Adam Clarke on Samuel.
|
As can be seen there are numerous contradictions in these
two chapters.
|
16 2 Samuel vs. Chronicles
17 2 Samuel vs. Chronicles
18 2 Samuel vs. Chronicles
19 2 Samuel vs. Chronicles
20 2 Samuel vs. Chronicles
21 2 Samuel vs. Chronicles
22 2 Samuel vs. Chronicles
23 2 Samuel vs. Chronicles
24 2 Samuel vs. Chronicles
25 2 Samuel vs. Chronicles
|
26 2 Samuel vs. Chronicles
27 2 Samuel vs. Chronicles
28 2 Samuel vs. Chronicles
29 2 Samuel vs. Chronicles
30 2 Samuel vs. Chronicles
31 2 Samuel vs. Chronicles
32 2 Samuel vs. Chronicles
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33 Contradiction NO. 33
|
1 Kings 4:26 contains this statement:
|
And Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for
his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen.
|
This statement is clearly contradicted by 2 Chronicles 9:25,
which says:
|
And Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and
chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen;
|
Urdu and Persian translations have the same number but the
Arabic translator has changed four thousand to forty thousand.
Adam Clarke, the commentator, having pointed out the contro-
versies of various translations and commentaries, has said, that
in view of the various discrepancies, it would be better to admit
that the numbers (in the Book of Kings) have been changed and
distorted.
|
34 Contradiction No. 34
|
Comparison of 1 Kings 7:24 and 2 Chronicles 4:2-3 also dis-
closes a contradiction in the statement of facts.
In both texts a natatorium (molten sea) made by Solomon is
mentioned. The text of the Book of Kings is this:
|
And under the brim of it round about there were
knops compassing it, ten in a cubit, compassing the sea
round about: the knops were cast in two rows, when it
was cast.
|
The text of Chronicles contains this description:
|
Also he made a molten sea of ten cubits from brim to
brim, round in compass...
And under it was the similitude of oxen, which did
compass it round about: ten in a cubit, compassing the
sea round about. Two rows of oxen were cast, when it
was cast.
|
This is what it says in the Urdu and English versions while
the Arabic translation of 1865 describes neither knops nor oxen
but totally different things, a kind of cucumber. Knop! Ox! or
Cucumber! Can you find any relation between these totally dif-
ferent things?
|
Adam Clarke, making comments on the text of Chronicles,
points out that the opinion of great scholars was to accept the
text of the Book of Kings, and it was possible that the word
"bakrem" might have been used in place of "bakem". "Bakrem"
signifies a knop and "bakem" an ox. To be short, the commenta-
tor has admitted the presence of human manipulation in the text
of Chronicles. The compilers of Henry and Scott are forced to
say that this difference in the text was due to a change in the
alphabets.
|
35 Contradiction No. 35
|
2 Kings 16:2 says:
|
Twenty years old was Ahaz when he began to reign,
and reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem...
|
We find another statement in the same book in 18:2 regarding
his son Hezekiah:
|
Twenty and five years old was he when he began to
reign; and he reigned twenty and nine years in
Jerusalem.
|
This later statement means that Hezekiah must have been
born when his father Ahaz was only eleven years old which is
physically impossible.l Obviously one of the two texts is wrong.
The commentators have admitted that the former statement is
wrong. Commenting on chapter 16 the compilers of Henry and
Scott say that apparently thirty has been written instead of
twenty and have advised people to refer to 18:2 of the same
book.
|
36 Contradiction No. 36
|
2 Chronicles 28:1 says:
|
Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign,
and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem:
|
Chapter 29 of the same book starts with these words:
|
Hezekiah (the son of Ahaz) began to reign when he
was five and twenty years old...
|
Here too (as in No. 35) one of the two texts has to be wrong
and apparently it is the first text that is erroneous.
|
37 Contradiction No. 37
|
A comparison between 2 Samuel 12:31 and 1 Chronicles
20:3, presents another obvious contradiction between the two
texts. Horne has also noted this difference and has suggested
that the text of the 1 Chronicles should be changed to accord
with the text of the Book of Samuel. He says, "The text of
Samuel is correct, therefore the text of Chronicles may accord-
ingly be altered."
|
What is to be noted from this example is the despotic and
arbitrary attitude of the Christian theologians towards their holy
scriptures. The more surprising fact in this regard is that this
suggestion was followed by the Arabic translator in 1844 in the
opposite direction to this suggestion. That is to say, he altered
the text of the Samuel to accord with the text of Chronicles and
not the other way round as was suggested by Horne.
|
The readers of this book should not be shocked by this. They
will soon be coming to frequent distortions of this nature - a
usual practice of the Christians.
|
38 Contradiction No. 38
|
We read in 1 Kings 15:33:
|
In the third year of Asa king of Judah began Baasha
the son of Abijah to reign all over Israel in Tirzah,
twenty and four years.
|
Contrary to this 2 Chronicles 16:1 says:
|
In the sixth and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa
Baasha, King of Israel came up against Judah...
|
The contradiction between the texts is more than clear. One
of the two texts must be wrong because according to the first
text Baasha died" in the twenty-sixth year of Asa own reign so that
in the thirty-sixth year of Asa own reign he has been dead for ten
years. Obviously Baasha cannot invade Judah ten years after
his death.
|
The compilers of Henry and Scott, commenting on the text
of Chronicles have said, "Asher, a great Christian scholar, has
said, "This twenty-sixth year is not the year of Asa own reign, but
this is the year of the division of the kingdom which was in the
period of Jeroboam."
|
The Christian scholars, however, have admitted that the text
of Chronicles is erroneous - either the number thirty-six has
been replaced by twenty-six or the phrase "the division of the
kingdom" is to be put in place of Asa.
|
39 Contradiction No. 39
|
The text of 2 Chronicles 15:19 is this:
|
And there was no war unto the five and thirtieth year
of Asa.
|
This text is again contradicting the text of 1 Kings 15:33 as
has been shown in the previous ARGUMENT under Contradiction
No. 38.
|
40 Contradiction No. 40
|
The number of Solomon own officers looking after the work is
described as three thousand and three hundred in 1 Kings 5:16
whereas in 2 Chronicles 2:2 this number is mentioned as three
thousand and six hundred The Greek translators have altered
this number making it six hundred.
|
41 Contradiction NO. 41
|
The text of 1 Kings 7:26 giving the description of the
"molten sea" made by Solomon says, "It contained two thou-
sand baths", while the text of 2 Chronicles 4:5 claims, "It
received and held three thousand baths".
|
The Persian translation, 1838, speaks of the capacity of two
thousand "idols". The Persian translation, 1845, contains, "Two
thousand vessels," And the Persian translation, 1838, contains,
"three thousand idols". The inconsistencies and discrepancies
of these various texts speak for themselves.
|
42 Contradiction NO. 42
|
When chapter 2 of the Book of Ezra is compared with chap-
ter 7 of Nehemiah, several discrepancies and contradictions in
the texts can be seen. Apart from textual differences, there are
errors in number of the Israelites.
|
In the two chapters there are twenty numerical contradictions
and many others where names are concerned. You can notice
the errors concerning the numbers of the liberated
Israelites.
|
The following is the contradictory wording from both:
|
6 The children Pahath- 11 The children of Pahath
Moab... two thousand eight Moab...two thousand eight
hundred and twelve. hundred and eighteen.
8 The children of Zattu, nine 13 The chilren of Zattu,
hundred forty and five. eight hundred forty and five.
12 The children of Azgad, a 17 The children of Azad
thousand two hundred twenty two thousand three hundred
and two. twenty and two.
15 The children of Adin, four 20 The children of Adin, six
hundred fifty and four. hundred fifty and five.
19 The chlldren of Hashum, 22 The children of Hashum
two hundred twenty and three. three hundred twenty and
28 The children of Beth-el eight.
and Ai, two hundred twenty 32 The men of Beth-el and Ai,
and three. an hundred twenty and three.
|
Both texts agree on the total number of the Israelites who
came to Jerusalem after the release from captivity in Babylon.
These chapters claim that they were forty-two thousand three
hundred and sixty. But if we add them ourselves, we do not
obtain this number neither from Ezra or from Nehemiah. The
total according to Ezra comes to twenty nine thousand eight
hundred and eighteen, while in Nehemiah it adds up to thirty-
one thousand and eighty-nine.
|
Nor is this total number correct according to the historians.
Joseph (Eusephius) says in the first chapter of vol. 2 of his his-
tory:
|
The Israelites that came from Babylon count to
forty-two thousand, four hundred and sixty-two.
|
The compiler of Henry and Scott own commentary have said under
the comments on the text of Ezra:
|
A great difference has been caused between this
chapter and chapter 7 of Nehemiah by the copyists. At
the time of their rendering into English, the corrections
were made through the available copies. Wherever the
copies could not be found, the Greek translation was
preferred over the Hebrew.
|
It may be noted how the texts of the Holy Scripture are so
easily distorted in the name of correction, and how texts that
remained acknowledged for centuries vanish altogether from the
books. Meanwhile the books still remain full of errors and con-
tradictions.
|
In fact, participation of human element in these books has
been present from their very origin. The copyists are unjustifi-
ably blamed for making errors. Even today a comparative read-
ing of these two chapters will reveal more than twenty errors
and contradictions.
|
43 Contradiction No. 43
|
We find this statement in 2 Chronicles concerning the name
of the mother of King Abijah:
|
His mother own name also was Michaiah, the daughter
of Uriel of Gibeah. (13:2)
|
Contrary to this we find another statement in the same book to
the effect that:
|
He took Maachah the daughter of Absalom; which
bare him Abijah... (11:20)
|
Again this latter statement is contradicted by the book of 2
Samuel 14:27 which says that Absalom had only one daughter
named Tamar.
|
44 Contradiction No. 44
|
It is understood from the Book of Joshua chapter 10 that the
Israelites took over Jerusalem after killing the king, while 15:63
of the same book denies the capture of Jerusalem by the
Israelites.2
|
45 Contradiction No. 45
|
2 Samuel 24:1 says:
|
And again the anger of the LORD was kindled
against Israel, and he moved David against them to say,
Go, number Israel and Judah.
|
This statement is plainly contradicted by I Chronicles 21:1
where it says that this thought was provoked by Satan. Since,
according to the Christians, God is not the Creator of evil, this
turns into a very serious contradiction.
|
CONTRADICTIONS IN THE GENEALOGY
OF JESUS NO. 46-51
|
A comparative reading of the genealogy of Jesus according
to the Gospel of Matthew and the genealogy according to Luke
reveals a number of contradictions:
|
46 Contradiction No. 46
|
Matthew describes Joseph as son of Jacob 1:16, while Luke says
Joseph son of Heli 3:23
|
47 Contradiction No. 47
|
According to Matthew 1:6, Jesus was a descendant of Solomon,
the son of David, while Luke 3:31 puts him into the line of Nathan,
the son of David.
|
48 Contradiction No. 48
|
Matthew claims that the ancestors of Jesus right from David
to the exile of the Israelites were all kings of great repute,
while Luke says that except David and Nathan none of them was king.
They were not even known as prominent personalities of their
time.
|
49 Contradiction No. 49
|
From Matthew 1:12 we learn that Salathiel was the son of
Jeconias while Luke 3:27 informs us that he was the son of Neri.
|
50 Contradiction No. 50
|
We read in Matthew 1:13 that "Zorobabel begat Abiud," while
Luke 3:27 says, "which was the son of Rhesa which was the son of
Zorobabel." It will be more surprising or rather very interesting
for the reader to know that I Chronicles mentions all the names
of the sons of Zorobabel, and neither Rhesa nor Abiud appear.
It appears that both names are false.
|
51 Contradiction No. 51
|
According to Matthew there are twenty-six generations from
David to Jesus, while according to Luke there are forty. As the
period of time between David and Jesus is one thousand years,
the gap from one generation to another according to Matthew is
forty years and according to Luke twenty-five years. This con-
tradiction is so clear that it requires no comment. It has been a
cause of great embarrassment to the Christian theologians and
scholars from the very inception of these two Gospels.
|
A group of great scholars like Eichhorn, Kaiser, Heins, De
Wett, Winner Fritsche and others have plainly admitted that
these two Gospels do really contain contradictions of an unjusti-
fiable nature. Just as the two Gospels contain discrepancies in
other places, so here too they are different from each other. Had
they been free from discrepancies throughout, some justification
for the difference in genealogical description might have been
found.
|
Adam Clarke, however, making comments on chapter 3 of
Luke, has reluctantly quoted some justifications together with
his remarks of astonishment about them. He has, for instance,
quoted Harmer on page 408 of vol. 5 making this unpalatable
excuse:
|
The genealogical tables were well kept by the Jews.
It is known to everyone that Matthew and Luke have
erred in such a way as to embarrass all the ancient and
modern scholars. But as several objections were raised
in the past against the author, for several doubtful points
of the books, and, these objections, later on, turned out
to be in his favour, similarly this objection too, will
come to his aid. And time will certainly do it.
|
However, this contradiction is so serious that it has caused
great embarrassment to both ancient and modern scholars. Their
claim that the genealogical tables were kept safe by the Jews is
false as it has been historically proved that they were destroyed
in the course of the calamities and unfortunate accidents that
have dogged the history of the Jews. For this obvious reason
errors are found in the text of Ezra as well as these Gospels.
Now if this was the condition of the scriptures in Ezra own time,
one can imagine the condition of these texts in the time of the
disciples. If the genealogies of the notable personalities and the
priests could not be preserved, how much reliance can be put on
the genealogy of poor Joseph who was only a carpenter. It is a
possible assumption that the evangelists might have adopted
two different genealogical tables concerning Joseph, the car-
penter, without proper regard to their accuracy. Harmer own hope
that time would change this objection in favour of the authors
seems very far from being realized since nineteen centuries
have passed without the Evangelists being exonerated in this
matter.
|
Had it been possible to do so, it would have been done a long
time ago, seeing that in the last three centuries Europe has made
such extraordinary advances in all branches of science and tech-
nology and has accumulated a treasure-house of resources to
help in the search for the truth. As a result of scientific
research
in the field of religion, they first made some reforms in their
faith and then rejected outright many of the established tenets
and creeds of their religion.
|
Similarly the Pope, who was considered infallible and the
highest authority of the Christians all over the world, was
declared an impostor and unworthy of trust. Further, in the
name of reforms, the Christians became subdivided into several
sects and continued to make so-called reforms until they finally
had to declare that Christianity as a whole was not more than a
|
collection of whimsical ideas and fabulous stories. Given this
situation the future does not allow us to hope for any positive
results
|
The only explanation for this contradiction presented by
some scholars is to say that perhaps Matthew has described the
genealogy of Joseph whereas Luke might have written the
genealogy of Mary. In this case Joseph would become the son-
in-law of Heli who was himself without a son. Joseph, there-
fore, might have been described as the son of Heli. This expla-
nation is unacceptable and is rejected for several reasons.
Firstly because in this case Jesus would not be a descendant of
Solomon but a descendant of Nathan, as he would be included
in the genealogy on his mother own side, not that of Joseph, the
carpenter. If this were so, Jesus could not possibly have been the
Messiah, since the Messiah who had been predicted by the
prophets had to be a descendant of Solomon. This is why a great
leader of the Protestant faith rejected this explanation saying to
the effect that, "Whoever excludes the Christ from the
genealogical line of Solomon, precludes the Christ from being
the Christ."
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Secondly this explanation is not acceptable until it is proved
through authentic historical reports that Mary was indeed the
daughter of Heli and Nathan own line was through her. Mere
assumptions are of no avail in this regard especially in the pres-
ence of the adversary remarks of Calvin and Adam Clarke. On
the contrary, it is expressly mentioned in the Gospel of John that
the parents of Mary were Jehoachim and Joanna. And though
this Gospel is not recognised by the modern Christians as a
revealed book written by John, the disciple of Jesus, it is,
undoubtedly a document of great historical value. Its author cer-
tainly belongs to the early times of Christianity. The book cer-
tainly has more historical value than the most reliable books of
history. It cannot, therefore, be denied by unauthenticated
reports.
|
St. Augustine said that he found a statement in a certain book
that Mary was a Levite. This goes against her being a descen-
dant of Nathan. Besides, we find the following statement in the
Book of Numbers:
|
And every daughter, that possesseth an inheritance in
any tribe of the children of Israel, shall be wife unto one
of the family of the tribe of her father, that the children
of Israel may enjoy every man the inheritance of his
fathers.
|
Neither shall the inheritance remove from one tribe
to another tribe; but every one of the tribes of the chil-
dren of Israel shall keep himself to his own inheritance.
(Numbers 36:8,9)
|
And in the Gospel of Luke we read:
|
There was a certain priest named Zacharias, of the
course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters of
Aaron.
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It is known from the Gospels that Mary was closely related
to the wife of Zacharias (Elisabeth) which implies that Mary
was also a descendant of Aaron. We have just read the com-
mandment of Torah (Pentateuch) that any daughter of the chil-
dren of Israel should be married to her own tribe, therefore
Joseph also should be a descendant of Aaron. Jesus, in this case,
would be a descendant of David.
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To avoid this confusion two different genealogies were writ-
ten. Since these Gospels were not known until the end of the
second century, the writer of one genealogy remained unknown
to the other genealogist. This is the apparent reason for the pre-
sent contradiction in the two Gospels.
|
Thirdly, had Mary been the daughter of Heli, it must have
been in the knowledge of ancient writers, who would not know-
ingly have presented such unbelievable explanations which,
later on, were rejected and laughed at by modern writers
|
Fourthly, the Gospel of Matthew says:
Jacob begat Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom
was born Jesus, who is called the Christ.
|
While Luke says:
|
The son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli.
|
Both the statements clearly show that the authors are writing
the genealogy of Joseph.
|
Fifthly, if we presume that Mary was the daughter of Heli,
Luke own statement will not be true unless it is proved that it was
customary among the Jews that they, in the absence of a real
son, used to include the name of their son-in-law in their
genealogy. This has not so far been proved by any authentic
ARGUMENT. As far as the unauthentic claims of the scholars of the
protestant faith are concerned, they remain unacceptable to us
on account of their lack of proof and valid ARGUMENTs.
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We do not deny the possibility of a certain person being
associated with another person who is related to him through his
father or wife or even being his teacher or his priest and he may
be associated with the name of another person. That is to say we
may, for example, refer to him as the king own nephew or the
king own son-in-law in order to recognise him through a known
personality. This kind of association is a totally different thing
from someone being included in the genealogical line of another
person. It is possible that it might have been a custom among
the Jews to say that someone was the son of his father-in-law,
but it remains to be historically proved that such a custom
existed.
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Another point to be noted here is that the Gospel of Matthew
cannot have been known or acknowledged in the time of Luke.
Otherwise it would have not been possible for Luke to contra-
dict Matthew so blatantly that it has resulted in a serious embar-
rassment to the ancient and modem advocates of Christianity.
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52 Contradictions No. 52 - 53
53
A comparative reading of Matthew 2 and Luke presents a
great contradiction to the reader and tends to indicate that nei-
ther of the two Gospels are divinely inspired.
|
It is understood from the description in Matthew that the par-
ents of the Messiah lived in Bethlehem even after his birth. It is
also made clear by another description in Matthew that the peri-
od of their stay in Bethlehem was two years. Due to the domina-
tion of the Magians they afterwards migrated to Egypt and lived
there during the lifetime of Herod,l and after his death, they
retumed to live in Nazareth. Luke, on the other hand, gives us a
different description. He says that Jesus" parents went to
Jerusalem after Mary own confinement,2 and that after offering the
sacrifice they went to Nazareth and lived there. However they
used to go to Jerusalem every year at the feast of Passover.
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According to him there is no question of the Magians" com-
ing to Bethlehem. Similarly, the parents of Jesus could have not
gone to Egypt and stayed there as it is clear from what is said
that Joseph never left Judah in his life neither for Egypt nor for
any other place.
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We learn from the Gospel of Matthew that Herod and the
people of Judah were not aware of the birth of Jesus4 until the
Magians reported it to him.
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On the other hand Luke says that after Mary own confinement
when Jesus" parents had gone to Jerusalem to offer the sacrifice
they met Simeon, who was a righteous man and to whom it had
been revealed by the Holy Ghost that he would not die until he
had seen the Messiah. He lifted Jesus high in his arms and told
the people of his great qualities. Similarly Anna, a prophetess,
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also told the people about the coming of the Messiah and
thanked God. Now if we accept that Herod and his people were
enemies of Jesus, Simeon would have not informed the people
about Jesus in the temple where his enemies were all around,
nor would the prophetess, Anna, have disclosed the identity of
the Christ to the people of Jerusalem.
The scholar Norton, who is a great advocate of the Gospels,
has admitted the presence of real contradiction in the two texts,
and decided that the text of Matthew was erroneous and that of
Luke was correct.
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54 Contradiction No. 54
|
It is learnt from the Gospel of Mark that Christ asked the
congregation to go away after his sermon of parables,l and the
sea at that time was stormy. But from the Gospel of Matthew we
learn that these events took place after the Sermon on the
Mount.2 This is why Matthew described the parables in chapter
13 of his Gospel. This sermon, therefore, is proved to have been
a long time after these events, as the two sermons are separated
by a long period. One of the two statements, therefore, has to be
essentially wrong. The two authors, who claim to be men of
inspiration or are considered by the people to be so, should not
make erroneous statements.
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55 Contradiction No. 55
|
The Gospel of Mark describes the debate of Jesus with the
Jews as taking place three days after his arrival in Jerusalem.
Matthew writes that it took place on the second day.
One of the two statement obviously has to be wrong. Horne
says in his commentary (vol. 4 p. 275 1822 edition) regarding
this contradiction and the one discussed before it that: "There is
no way of explaining these discrepancies."
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56 Contradiction No. 56
|
The sequence of events after the Sermon on the Mount as
given by Matthew 8:3,13,16 is different from the one given by
Luke 4:38 5:13, 7:10
For instance, the events according to Matthew happened in this
order; curing a leper, Jesus" arrival at Capernaum, healing the
servant of a Roman officer, and healing of Peter own mother-in-
law. The Gospel of Luke first describes the event of Peter own
mother-in-law, then in chapter describes the healing of the
leper and in chapter the healing of the servant of a Roman
officer. One of the two statements certainly has to be erro-
neous.
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57 Contradiction No. 57
|
According to the Gospel of John 1:19-21 some of the priests and
Levites were sent by the Jews to John to inquire if he was Elias.
He replied, "I am not Elias." This statement is expressly contra-
dicted by Jesus according to Matthew 11:14 where Jesus is
quoted as saying "And if ye will receive it, this is Elias which
was for to come." And also we find this statement in Matthew
17:10-13:
|
And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say
the scribes that Elias must first come?
And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly
shall first come, and restore all things.
But I say unto you, That Elias is come already, and
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they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever
they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of
them.
Then the disciples understood that he spake unto
them of John, the Baptist.
|
Both these texts denote that John the Baptist is the promised
Elias, with the result that the statements of John and Jesus con-
tradict each other.
|
A careful reading of the books of Christianity makes it
almost impossible to believe that Jesus was the promised
Messiah. To premise our ARGUMENT, the following four points
should first be noted:
|
Firstly, according to the book of Jeremiah when Jehoiakim,
son of Josiah, burnt the scripture which was written by Baruch
from Jeremiah own recitation, Jeremiah received the following rev-
elation from God:
|
Thus saith the Lord of Jehoiakim King of Judah; He
shall have none to sit upon the throne of David [Jeremiah 36:30]
|
According to the word of Gabriel as quoted by Luke it is neces-
sary for the Messiah to sit on the throne of David:
|
And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of
his father, David [Luke 1:32]
|
Secondly, the coming of the Christ was conditional on the
coming of Elias prior to him. One of the major ARGUMENTs of the
Jews to support their disbelief in Christ was that Elias had not
come, whereas his coming prior to the Messiah was positively
necessary according to their books. Jesus himself confirmed that
Elias must come first, but at the same time he said that Elias had
already come but the people did not recognize him. On the other
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Unable to recognize this page.
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except that the earlier versions have been changed.
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64 Contradictions No. 64-67
65
66
67
|
The following texts contradict each other:
|
(1) Matthew 2:6 and Micah 5:2.
The Matthew text says:
|
And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, art not the
least among the Princes of Judah: for out of thee shall
come a governor, that shall rule my people Israel.
|
In the text of Micah, Bethlehem is mentioned as little.
|
(2) Acts 2:25-28 and four verses of Psalm 15, according to
the Arabic version and Psalm 16:8-11 according to other trans-
lations.
|
(3) The Epistle to the Hebrews 10:5-7 contradicts Psalm No.
39 (Arabic) and Psalm No. 40:6-8 according to other transla-
tions. The text of Hebrews has:
|
Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith,
Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast
thou prepared me: In burnt offerings and sacrifices for
sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo: I come to
do thy will, O God!
|
Whereas in the Psalms it says:
|
Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine
ears thou has opened: burnt offering and sin offering
hast thou not required.
Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it
is written of me,
I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is
within my heart.
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(4) Acts 15:16,17 are inconsistent with Amos 9:11,12.
In Acts 15 it says:
|
After this I will return, and will build again the
tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will
build again the ruins thereof; and I will set it up, that the
residue of men might seek after the Lord.
|
Amos has:
|
In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David
that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I
will raise up his ruins and I will build it as in the days of
old. That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of
all the heathen, which are called by my name.
|
The Christian commentators have admitted the presence of
contradictions in these texts and have acknowledged that the
Hebrew version has been manipulated.
|
68 Contradiction No. 68
|
Paul own first letter to Corinthians 2:9 says:
|
But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard,
neither have entered into the heart of man, the things
which God hath prepared for them that love him.
|
The researches of the Christian theologians have concluded that
this statement derives from Isaiah 64:4 which is this:
|
For, since of the beginning of the world, men have
not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither has the eye
seen, O God, besides thee, what he hath prepared for
him that waiteth for him.
|
The difference between the two texts is quite obvious. The
commentators of the Bible admit the presence of incompatibili-
ty in the above texts and say that the text of Isaiah has been dis-
torted.
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69 Contradiction No. 69
|
The Gospel of Matthew 9:27-31 describes in chapter 9 that Jesus
after departing from Jericho, saw two blind men on the way and
healed them of their blindness. Contradicting this, Mark writes
in chapter 10 of his gospel:
|
..blind Bartimaus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the
highway side begging.
|
So in Mark the healing of only one man by Jesus is mentioned.
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70 Contradiction No. 70
|
Matthew describes this event in chapter 8:28:
|
...into the country of Gergesenes, there met him two
possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs.
|
Then Jesus is described as healing them. This statement is
inconsistent with the texts of Mark chapter S and Luke chapter
8, which is this:
|
There met him out of the city a certain man which
had devils ...[Luke 8:27]
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Then he was healed by Jesus. Two men in the first quotation
become one in the second.
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71 Contradiction No. 71
|
It appears from chapter 21:7 of Matthew that Jesus sent two of
his disciples to bring an ass and a colt from a village and the
disciples:
|
...brought the ass and the colt, and put on them their
clothes, and they set him thereon.
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While the rest of the Evangelists said that Jesus asked his
disciples to bring only the colt or an ass and that when it came
he rode on it.
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72 Contradiction No. 72
|
Mark 1:6 says in his first chapter "And John ...did eat locusts
and wild honey.
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While Matthew 11:18,19 states that: "John came neither eating nor
drinking."
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73 Contradiction Nos. 73-75
74
75
|
A comparison between the texts of Mark chapter one,
Matthew chapter four and John chapter one, reveals inconsisten-
cies regarding the circumstances-in which the disciples
embraced the new faith. The Gospels of Matthew and Mark
write:
|
And Jesus walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two
brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew, his brother,
casting a net into the sea... and he saith unto them
Follow me ... And they followed him ... He saw other
two brethren James, the son of Zebedee and John his
Brother, mending their nets ... he called them . and they
followed him [Matthew 4:18-22]
|
But the text of John is different from the above text in three
ways. Firstly John does not mention the name of James
Secondly it describes that Jesus saw them with the exception of
John on the banks of the Jordan (not Galilee). Thirdly John does
not speak of their nets. The contents of John own text inform us
that Jesus met John and Andrew on the banks of the Jordan then
Peter was sent by Andrew. And on the next day came Philip and
Nathanael. James is not mentioned [John 5:22,23]
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76 Contradiction No. 76
|
A comparison of chapter 9 of Matthew with chapter 5 of
Mark reveals contradictions in the reports of the two evangelists
concerning the ruler own daughter. Matthew reports:
|
There came a certain ruler .... saying my daughter is
even now dead.
|
While Mark 5:22,23 says:
|
He fell at his feet... saying, my little daughter lieth at
the point of death.
|
Further he says that Jesus went with the ruler, but on the way
people came from the synagogue and said, "Thy daughter is
|
Some early scholars have admitted that incompatibility exist-
ed between the two texts. Some of them favoured the text of
atthew while some others preferred the text of Mark. Luke own
text is similar to the text of Mark except that he writes that the
report of the daughter own death was given only by one man [8:49]
|
The death of the ruler own daughter has consistently been a
point of confusion among scholars of the Bible. There is dis-
agreement on the question of whether the daughter had died or
was just looking as if she was dead. The learned scholar Nander
is not convinced that she was dead. He said that, in fact, she was
not dead but only looked as if she was. The scholars Balish,
Sliemasher and Sassoon are also of the opinion that she was not
dead but only unconscious. This is also supported by the state-
ment of Jesus [Like 8:52]
|
Weep not, she is not dead, but sleepeth.
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According to these opinions this event does not serve the
purpose of proving the miracle of the resurrection of the dead.
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77 Contradiction No. 77
|
It is understood from Matthew 10:10 and Luke that when Christ
sent his disciples to preach, he forbade them to keep staves with
them, while on the contrary the text of Mark 6:8 says that Jesus
allowed them to keep their staves.
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78 Contradiction No. 78
|
**
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It is said in chapter 3:13 of Matthew that:
|
Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John,
to be baptized of him. But John forbad him, saying, I
have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to
me?
|
Further in the chapter it says:
|
And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straight-
way out of the water ... and he saw the Spirit of God,
descending like a dove...
|
And the Gospel of John 1:32,23 describes this event in these
words:
|
And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit
descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon
him. And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize
with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou
shall see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him,
the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.
|
The Gospel of Matthew 11:2 contains this statement in chapter
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Now when John had heard in the prison the works of
Christ, he sent two of his disciples and said unto him.
Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another.
|
The first statement gives us to understand that John knew
Jesus before the descending of the Spirit on him. Contrary to
this the second statement quotes the words of John, "I knew him
not", implying that John did not know Jesus before the descent
of the Spirit on him. While the third takes a middle position.
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Contradiction No. 79
|
The Gospel of John has reported Christ as saying:
|
If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true.
(5:31)
|
And the same Gospel has reported Christ as contradict-
ing this:
|
Though I bear record of myself, yet my record is true.
(8:14)
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Contradiction No. 80
|
It appears from Matthew chapter 15:22 that the woman who
came to Jesus crying for her daughterl was from Canaan. This
information is contradicted by the Gospel of Mark chapter 7:26
where he reports that she was a Greek and a Syrophoenician by
tribe.
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Contradiction No. 81
|
We read in the Gospel of Mark 7:32 :
|
And they bring unto him one that was deaf, and had
an impediment in his speech.
|
It is clearly understood from this that the man who was deaf
and dumb, was a single person, but the description in the Gospel
of Matthew 15:30 plainly contradicts this, saying:
|
And great multitudes came unto him, having with
them those that were lame, blind, dumb, maimed and
many others, and cast them down at Jesus" feet, and he
healed them.
|
This exaggeration is similar to the one made by John 21:25, the
author of the fourth Gospel who says at the end of the book:
|
And there are also many other things which Jesus
did, the which, if they should be written every one, I
suppose that even the world itself could not contain the
books that should be written.
|
What one should think of such statements? They are sup-
posed to be men of inspiration beyond any criticism.
|
Contradiction No. 82
|
We read in the Gospel of Matthew 26:21-25 that Jesus, addressing
his
disciples, said:
|
...I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me.
And they were exceeding sorrowful, and began every
one of them to say unto him, Lord, is it I? And he
answered and said, He that dippeth his hand with me in
the dish, the same shall betray me, ... then Judas
answered and said, Master, is it I? He said unto him,
Thou hast said.
|
The same event is described by John 13:21-26 in a way that is
greatly
different from the above:
|
Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall
betray me, Then the disciples looked one on another,
doubting of whom he spake. Now there was leaning on
Jesus" bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved.
|
Simon Peter, therefore beckoned to him, that he should
ask who it should be of whom he spake. He then Iying 13
on Jesus own breast saith unto him, Lord, who is it? Jesus
answered, He it is to whom I shall give a sop, when I
have dipped it. And when he had dipped the sop, he
gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon.
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Contradiction No. 83
|
The Gospel of Matthew, describing the event of the arrest of
Jesus says in chapter 26:48-50:
|
Now he that betrayed him gave them a sign, saying,
Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he: hold him fast.
And forthwith he came to Jesus and said, Hail, Master;
and kissed him... Then came they, and laid hands on
Jesus, and took him.
|
The Gospel of John gives the same story with great differ-
ences in chapter 18:3-12
|
Judas then, having received a band of men and offi-
cers from the chief priests and Pharisees, cometh thither
with lanterns and torches and weapons. Jesus therefore,
knowing all things that should come upon him, went
forth, and said unto them, Whom seek ye? They
answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them,
I am he. And Judas also, which betrayed him, stood with
them. As soon then as he had said unto them, I am He,
they went backward and fell to the ground. Then asked
he them again, Whom seek ye? And they said, Jesus of
Nazareth. Jesus answered, I have told you that I am he:
if therefore ye seek me, let these go heir way.... Then
the band and the captain and officers of the Jews took
Jesus, and bound him.
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Contradiction No. 84
|
All the four Gospels give a description of Peter denying
Jesusl after his arrest. But each description is different from the
other in eight respects.
|
1. According to the reports of Matthew 26:6-75 and Mark 14:66-72
there
were two maids who claimed that Peter was one of the dis-
ciples of Jesus, and some other men who "stood by". While
Luke own description claims that there was one maid and two
other men.
|
2. According to Matthew, when the first maid spoke to
Peter he was sitting on the outside of the palace, while
according to Luke 22:55, he was "in the midst of the hall," and
according to Mark, he was "beneath in the palace", and
according to John he denied him when he was inside the
palace.
|
3. The wording of the maid own question to Peter is different
in all the four Gospels.
|
4. According to the reports of Matthew, Luke and John, the
cock crew only once after Peter had denied Jesus three
times, while according to Luke, the cock crew three times;
once just after the first denial of Peter, and twice, after the
second denial.
|
5. According to Matthew and Luke, Jesus had foretold
Peter that he would deny Jesus thrice before the cock crew
that night, while Mark has reported it differently, saying
that Jesus said to Peter that he would deny him three times
before the cock crew twice that night.
|
6. Peter own answer to the maid who first challenged Peter is
reported by Matthew 26:70 as: "I know not what thou sayest."
While according to John 18:25 he only said, "I am not." Mark 15:68
on the other hand, has reported it in these words: "I know
not, neither understand I what thou sayest." And Luke 22:57 has
put it this way: "Woman, I know him not."
|
7. Peter own second answer is also reported differently by all
the Evangelists. According to Matthew 26:72 ..Peter denied
him with an oath and said, "I do not know the man," and
according to John 18:25 his answer was, "I am not,"6 while Mark
14:70
has just said, "And he denied it again," and according to
Luke 22:58 his answer was, "Man, I am not."
|
8. The people who "stood by " at the time of Peter own denial
were, according to Mark, outside the palace, while Luke
reports them as being, "in the midst of the hall".
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Contradiction No. 85
|
Describing the event of crucifixion of Jesus Luke 23:26 says:
|
And as they led him away, they laid hold upon one
Simon, a Cyrenian, coming out of the country, and on
him they laid the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus.
|
This statement is contradicted by the Gospel of John 19:17, where
it says that Jesus, bearing his cross himself, went forth to the
place of crucifixion.
|
Contradiction No. 86
|
The first three [Matthew 27:45, Mark 15:23, Luke 23:44] Gospels
agree
that Christ was on the cross at the sixth hour on the day of
crucifixion,
but contrary to this the Gospel of John 19:14 reports him to be in
the court
of Pilate exactly at the sixth hour on the same day.
|
Contradiction No. 87
|
The Gospel of Mark 15:32 says regarding the thieves who were
crucified with Jesus:
|
And they that were crucified with him reviled him,
|
while Luke 23:43 reports that one of them reproached Jesus and the
other said,
|
Lord remember me when thou comest into thy king-
dom. Then Jesus replied to him, Today shalt thou be
with me in Paradise.
|
The Urdu translators of the editions 1839, 1840, 1844 and
1846 changed the texts of Matthew and Mark to avoid this
difference to the effect that there was only one person who was
crucified with Jesus.6 It is a common practice of Christian schol-
ars to change the texts of their Holy scriptures whenever they
think they should.
|
Contradiction No. 88
|
It is understood from chapters 20:29 and 21:1 of Matthew that
Jesus arrived in Jerusalem after departing from Jericho, while
from John 11:54; 12:1 we learn that Jesus, departing from Ephraim,
arrived
in Bethany, where he stayed for the night.
|
Contradiction No. 89
The Resurrection of Jesus:
|
We learn from Matthew 27:56; 28:5,6 that when Mary Magdalene and
Mary, the mother of James, arrived near the grave, an angel of
God descended from the heaven, and the stone rolled back from
the grave and he sat upon it, and said to the women not to fear
and go home quickly.
|
The Gospel of Mark 16:1-6 describes this incident as follows:
|
Mary Magdalene, and Mary, the mother of James
and Salome.... Came unto the sepulchre,.... and when
they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away....
And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man
sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white
garment.
|
Luke own description of this is 24:2-4 :
|
And they found the stone rolled away from the
sepulchre, and they entered in and found not the body of
the Lord Jesus......behold, two men stood by them in
shining garments.
|
Contradiction No. 90
|
It is expressly mentioned in Matthew 28:8-10 that after the angels
informed the women of Jesus" resurrection, they returned from
there, and on the way they met Jesus. Jesus hailed them and
asked them to tell the people to go to Galilee where they would
see him.
|
But Luke 24:9-11 differs from this statement when he says:
|
And returned from the sepulchre, and told all these
things unto the eleven, and to all the rest. It was Mary
Magdalene and Joanna, and Mary, the mother of James
and other women that were with them which told these
things unto the apostles. And their word seemed to them
as idle tales, and they believed them not.
|
On the other hand we learn from the Gospel of John 20:13-15 that
Jesus met Mary Magdalene near the grave.
|
Contradiction No. 91
|
The Gospel of Luke says in chapter 11:51 :
|
From the blood of Abel, unto the blood of Zacharias
which perished between the altar and the temple: Verily
I say unto you, it shall be required of this generation.S
|
But we read this in the Book of Ezekiel 18:20 :
|
The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not
bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father
bear the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the
righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the
wicked shall be upon him.
|
However in other places in the Old Testament there are sev-
eral passages which imply that the children of a man will be
accountable for the sins of their father up to three or four gener-
ations.
|
Contradiction No. 92
|
Paul own first letter to Timothy 2:3,4 contains this statement:
|
For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God,
our Saviour, who will have all the men to be saved, and
to come unto the knowledge of the Truth.
|
This statement is incompatible with, and contradicts, Paul own
statement in his second letter to Thessalonians 2:11,12 :
|
And for this cause, God shall send them strong delu-
sion, that should believe a lie, that they all might be
damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in
unrighteousness.
|
It may be noted how Paul own two statements contradict each
other. The first text gives us to understand that God own aim is to
redeem all the men and take them to knowledge of the truth,
while the latter statement would have us believe that God sends
strong delusions to them so that they believe in falsehood like a
truth; and God will punish them for that. The Protestants raise
the same objection against other religions. According to them
God first deludes them to make them stray from the right path,
and then punishes them for unrighteousness.
|
Contradictions No. 93-6
|
Acts 9:1-5,22 and 26 give a description of Paul own conversion to
Christianity. The texts of all three chapters are different in
many respects. We intend to give only three discrepancies in
this book.
|
1. We read in Acts 9:7 this statement:
|
And the men which journeyed with him stood
speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man.
|
This statement is contradicted by the following Acts 22:9
statement:
|
And they that were with me saw indeed the light
and were afraid; but they heard not the voice of him that
spoke to me.
|
The contradiction between "hearing a voice" and "heard not the
voice of him" speaks for itself.
|
2. Again in Chapter 9:7 we find Paul quoting these words of
Jesus:
|
..and the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the
city; and it shall be told thee, what thou must do.t
|
Chapter 22 also contains this:
|
Arise, and go into Damascus; and there it shall be
told thee of all things which are appointed for thee to
do.
|
But in Chapter 26 we are told a different story:
|
But rise, and stand upon thy feet; for I have appeared
unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a
witness both of these things which thou has seen, and of
those things in the which I will appear unto thee.
Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles,
unto whom now I send thee to open their eyes and to
turn them from darkness to light, and from the Power of
Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of
sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified
by faith that is in me.
|
It may be noted that according to the first two texts, Jesus
did not assign any duty to Paul at this occasion, but he was
promised that he would be told after he arrived in Damascus,
while the later statement shows that Jesus explained his duties
at the time of his appearance.
|
3. It is understood from the first text that the people who
were with Paul stood there silently, while the third text shows
them as having fallen onto the ground, and the second text does
not mention it at all.
|
Contradiction No. 97
|
We find in Paul own first letter to Corinthians 10:8 :
|
Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them
committed,l and fell in one day three and twenty thou-
sand.
|
This statement is contradicted by the book of Numbers 25:1,9 :
|
And those that died in the plague were twenty and
four thousand.
|
One of these two texts must be wrong.
|
Contradiction No. 98
|
We read this statement in the book of Acts 7:14 :
|
Then sent Joseph, and called his father Jacob to him,
and all his kindred, threescore and fifteen souls.
|
The above text expressly denotes that Joseph and his chil-
dren who were with Joseph in Egypt are naturally excluded
from this number. In fact, it refers to Jacob and his family, but
in
Genesis 46:27 we read:
|
And the sons of Joseph which were born of him in
Egypt were two souls. All the souls of the house of
Jacob which came into Egypt were threescore and ten.
|
and according to the commentaries of D"Oyly and Richardment
the number of the house of Jacob comes to seventy only when
Joseph and his two sons are included in it. They enumerate as
folloWS: the children of Leah thirty two souls, of Zilpah sixteen,
of Rachel eleven, and of Bilhah seven. They were in all sixty-
six souls. They become seventy when Jacob, Joseph and his two
sons are included. This means that the above text of the book of
Acts is certainly erroneous.
|
Contradiction No. 99
|
The death of Judas Iscariot is described both by Matthew and
Acts. The two texts disclose serious contradictions in two
respects. Firstly according to Matthew 27:4,5,6,7 Judas "departed,
and
went and hanged himself."
While Acts 1:18 says:
|
Now this man (Judas) purchased a field with the
reward of iniquity; and falling headlong; he burst asun-
der in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out.
|
Secondly, we know from the first text, that chief priests of
the temple bought a field with the money left by Judas3 while
the second text clearly says that Judas himself bought a field
with that money. Peter in the latter text also adds:
|
And it was known unto all the dwellers at Jerusalem.
|
There are several reasons to believe that the statement made
by Matthew is erroneous as compared to Luke, which may be
true. We discuss five of these reasons here:
|
1. It is clear from the text of Matthewl that Judas was
remorseful about his sin of betrayal, before hanging
himself, but this cannot be true as Jesus, at that hour,
was in the court of Pilate and not yet sentenced to
death.
|
2. The text shows that Judas had returned the money to
the high priests and elders of the Temple. This is also
wrong on the same ground that the high priests and
elders were all with Pilate at that time and were not pre-
sent at the temple.
|
3. The context of Matthew own text clearly indicates that
the passage referred to, which lies between the second
and ninth verses, does not correspond to the rest of the
text.
|
4. Judas died on the morning of the night in which Jesus
was arrested. It seems unlikely that, in such a short
time, he should repent and kill himself because he
knew, even before the arrest of Jesus, that Jesus would
be killed by the Jews.
|
5. The ninth verse of this text contains a serious error
which will be discussed in the section discussing the
errors of the Bible.
|
Contradiction No. 100
|
The First Letter to John 2:1,2 says:
|
Jesus Christ, the righteous: and he is the propitiation
for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of
the whole world.
|
Contrary to this we read in the book of Proverbs 21:18 :
|
The wicked shall be ransom for the righteous, and
the transgressor for the upright.
|
The contradiction here needs no comment.
|
Contradiction No. 101
|
It is understood from the text of Paul own letter to the Hebrews
7:18
that one of the commandments of Moses is weak and unprof-
itable and therefore defective, while Psalm No. 18 says in verse
7, "The law of the Lord is perfect."
|
Contradiction No. 102
|
The Gospel of Mark describes the women coming to the
grave of Jesus "very early in the morning", while the Gospel of
John tells us that only Mary Magdalene came to the grave
"when it was yet dark."
|
Contradiction No. 103
|
The inscription superscribed on the cross by the Pilate is
given differently in all four Gospels. In Matthew 27:37 it is,
"This is
Jesus, the king of the Jews."
|
In the Gospel of Mark 15:26 it appears as only, "The king of the
Jews."
|
Luke 23:38 says that written in letters of Greek, Latin and Hebrew
was, "This is the king of the Jews.""
And the Gospel of John 19:19 puts it in these words, "Jesus of
Nazareth, the king of the Jews."
It is strange that the evangelists could not record such a short
sentence consistently. How then can their records be trusted for
detailed and long reports.
|
Contradiction No. 104
|
We learn from the Gospel of Mark 6:20 that Herod believed in the
righteousness of John the Baptist, and was pleased with him.
He arrested and killed him only for the sake of Herodias (his
brother own wife).
Luke 3:19, on the other hand, reports that Herod did not persecute
John only for the sake of Herodias but also for the reproaches of
John regarding his own perversion.
|
Contradiction No. 105
|
The three evangelists, Matthew, Mark and Luke are unanimous
about the description of the names of eleven of the disciples of
Jesus, but all the three disagree regarding the name of the
twelfth disciple. The names of eleven disciples unanimously
mentioned are: Peter, Andrew, James son of Zebedee, John,
Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew, James son of Alpheus,
Simon the Canaanite and Judas Iscariot. According to Matthew,
|
the name of the twelfth disciple was Lebbeus whose surname
was Thaddeus. Mark says it was Thaddaeus. Luke claims it was
Judas, the brother of James.
|
Contradiction No. 106
|
The first three Evangelists make mention of the man who
was sitting at the receipt of custom, and who followed Jesus
when he called him. There is, however, considerable disagree-
ment among them regarding his name. According to Matthew
his name is Matthew, l while Mark says he was Levi, the son of
Alpheus, 2 and Luke writes Levi without his father own name.3
|
Contradiction No. 107
|
We read in Matthew that Jesus considered Peter as the best
of his disciples, as Jesus said to him.
|
Blessed art thou Simon: .... and I say also unto thee,
That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my
church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of
heaven: and whatsoever shalt bind on earth shall be
bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on
earth shall be loosed in heaven.4
|
Further in the same chapter, Jesus is reported to have said, to
Peter:
|
Get thee behind me Satan: thou art an offense unto me:
for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but
those that be of men.5
|
Protestant scholars have reproduced many statements of the
ancient scholars about Peter own accusation. John, in his commen-
tary on Matthew, said that Peter was arrogant and a man of
"feeble intellect". St Augustine said that he was not steadfast
and sure, at one time he would believe and at another he would
doubt.
Is it not strange and ridiculous that a man of such qualities is
promised "the keys of the kingdom of heaven"?
|
Contradiction No. 108
|
The Gospel of Luke describes two disciples of Jesus asking
him, "Wilt thou that we command fire to come down from
heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did?" Jesus rebuked
the two disciples saying, "Ye know not what manner of spirit ye
are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men own lives,
but to save them.""l Further on in the same Gospel we find
another statement of Jesus, which absolutely contradicts this. It
says, "I am come to send fire on earth; and what will I, if it be
already kindled?2
|
Contradiction No. 109
|
Matthew has reported that the mother of Zebedee own sons had
requested Jesus to:
|
Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy
right hand, and the other on the left in thy kingdom.3
|
Mark on the other hand reports that the request was made by
Zebedee own sons themselves.4
|
Contradiction No. 110
|
The Gospel of Matthew includes a parable of a man who
planted a vineyard. At the end of the parable we find:
|
" When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh,
what will he do unto those husbandmen? They say unto
him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and
will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen which
shall render him the fruits in their seasons.""
|
Luke, however, has at the end of the parable:
|
What therefore shall the lord of the vineyard do unto
them? He shall come and destroy these husbandmen,
and shall give the vineyard to others. And when they
heard it, they said, God forbid.2
|
The texts are obviously contradictory. The second text con-
tradicts the first, by adding, "When they heard it, they said, God
forbid!"
|
Contradiction No. 111
|
The event of a woman of Bethany, who poured perfumed
ointment on the head of Jesus, is described in three gospels.3
There are several contradictions between the different
accounts.
|
1. Mark4 reports that this event took place two days before
|
the feast of Passover,l while John reports it to have hap_
pened SlX days prior to the festival.2 Matthew is silent
regarding the time of this incident.
|
2 Mark and Matthew agree that Jesus was in the house of
Slmon the leper when the woman came, while John reports
him to be in the house of Lazarus, the brother of Mary.
|
3. Matthew and Mark agree that the ointment was poured
on the head of Jesus,3 while John contradicts this and says
that she anointed the feet of Jesus.4
|
4. Mark says that the people who rebuked the woman were
from among the people who were present there at that time,
while Matthew has said that they were the disciples of
Jesus, and John own version is that the objection was raised
by Judas.
|
5 The three Gospels have quoted Jesus" speech to his dis-
clples on this occasion differently.
|
The serious contradictions presented by these texts cannot be
eliminated by claiming that this event of Jesus" anointment
might have taken place a number of times, and each gospel
might have reported a different story. The event is clearly the
same in each case and the contradictions in the different
accounts is clear indication of the usual manipulation in the
text.
|
Contradiction No. 112
|
A comparison of the texts of Matthew 22, Luke 26 and Mark
14 regarding the description of The Last Supper,l reveals two
serious contradictions
|
1. There are two cups mentioned in Luke own description, one
before the meal and the other after it, while Matthew and Mark
speak of only one cup. Apparently Luke own description is erro-
neous, because this description involves serious objection
against the faith of the Catholics who believe that the wine and
the bread actually turn into the flesh and the body of Christ.
|
2 According to Luke, the body of Christ was sacrificed only
for the disciples,2 while Mark reports it to have been sacrificed
is given for many,3 and from Matthew we understand that nei-
ther the body, nor the blood of Jesus is shed, but the blood of
the New Testament is the thing which is shed for others. How
the blood of the New Testament is shed is a riddle.
|
We are greatly surprised to note that the Gospel of John
describes ordinary events like Jesus riding on an ass or applying
perfume to his clothes, but does not make any mention of as
important an event as the Last Supper which holds such a vital
place in Christian ritual.
|
1. The Last Supper or Eucharist is a sacramental rite of the
Christians. According to
e Gospels, the origin of this sacrament was an event which took
place on the night
preceding Jesus" arrest when he was eating a meal with his
disciples. He took bread
and recited blessings and thanks over it and gave it to the
disciples to share among
themselves. Then he said, ""rhis is my body which is given for you,
this do in remem-
brance of me." Afler the supper he took a cup with wine in it and
said, ""rhis cup is
new testament in my blood, which is shed for you." The Christians
have made it a rite
that they take a cup of wine and offer their thanks, and break the
bread and offer their
thanks on it. The Catholics believe that the bread and wine
actually tum into the body
and flesh of Jesus. The ceremony was named Eucharist, which
signifies "thankful-
ness", by Paul.
2. "This is my body which is given for you." 22:19
3. "This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many."
14:24
|
Contradiction No. 113
|
We read this verse in Matthew:
|
Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way,
which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
|
But further in the same Gospel we read of Jesus" saying:
|
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, ... for my
yoke is easy and my burden is light.2
|
Contradiction No. 114
|
We read in chapter 4 of Matthew that the Devil first took
Jesus to the Holy City, and set him on the pinnacle of the tem-
ple, then took him up to the peak of a mountain. Jesus then
went to Galilee. Then leaving Nazareth came to Capernaum and
dwelt there.
Luke says in chapter 4 of his Gospel that the Devil first took
Jesus onto the mountain then to Jerusalem and then he was
stood on the Pinnacle of the Temple, then Jesus returned to
Galilee and started teaching there, then he went to Nazareth,
where he had been brought up.
|
Contradiction No. 115
|
Matthew reports that a Roman officer himself came to Jesus
and requested him to heal his servant and said:
|
Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come
under my roof, but speak the word only, and my servant
shall be healed.3
|
Jesus, commending the faith of the officer, said:
|
As thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And
his servant was healed in the selfsame hour.l
|
Luke reports this event differently. According to him the
centurion himself did not come to Jesus, but sent some elders of
the Jews. Then Jesus went with them. When he came near the
house:
|
...the centurion sent friends to him saying unto him,
Lord, trouble not thyself: for I am not worthy that you
shouldest enter under my roof. Wherefore neither
thought I myself worthy to come unto thee: but say in a
word, and my servant shall be healed.2
|
Then Jesus praised the officer, and the people who were sent
by the officer returned to his house, the servant had been healed.
|
Contradiction No. 116
|
Matthew reports in chapter 8 that a scribe came to Jesus and
asked his permission to follow him wherever he went. Then a
disciple said to him that first he should go and bury his father
and then follow Jesus. Matthew describes many events after
this, and in chapter 17 reports the event of the Transfiguration3
of Jesus. Luke, on the other hand, reports the request of the
scribe in chapter 9 after the Transfiguration. One of the two
texts must be wrong.
|
Contradiction No. 117
|
Matthew talks in chapter 9 of a dumb man possessed by
devil who is healed by Jesus. Then in chapter 10 he describes
the mission of the disciples and Jesus commanding to them to
heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead and cast out dev-
ils. Then in other chapters he describes many other events and
then in chapter 17 the event of the Transfiguration. Luke, on
the other hand, first describes the mission of the disciples, then
the Transfiguration of Jesus in the same chapter and then after
the description of many other events in chapters 9, 10 and 11 he
has the report of the dumb man healed by Jesus.
|
Contradiction No. 118
|
Mark states that the Jews crucified Christ at the third hour of
the day.l This statement is contradicted by the Gospel of John
which reports that Jesus was in the court of Pilate until sixth
hour of the day.2
|
Contradiction No. 119
|
It is understood from the descriptions of Matthew and Mark
that the soldiers who mocked Jesus and put the scarlet rope on
him were Pilate own soldiers not Herod own , while Luke own statement
is just the opposite.
|
HE ERRORS
|
This section contains the errors mistakes and contradictions
of the Biblical Text that are in addition to the ones discussed
previously.
|
Error No. 1
|
It is stated in the Book of Exodus that the period that the
Israelites stayed in Egypt was 430 years, which is wrong. The
period was 215 years.l This error is admitted by the historians
and the biblical commentators.
|
Error No. 2
|
It appears in the Book of Numbers that the total number of
the Israelites, who were 20 years of age or over, was six hun-
dred thousand, while all the males and females of the Levites
and the women and children of all the other tribes are not
included in this number. This statement is highly exaggerated
and erroneous.
|
Error No. 3
|
The statement of Deuteronomy 23:2, "A bastard shall not
enter into the congregation of the Lord..." is wrong, as has
already been discussed in Part One.
|
Error No. 4.
|
In Genesis 46:15 the phrase "thirty and three" is certainly
wrong, thirty-four is the correct number. The details of this error
|
have been given in part one under the tenth ARGUMENT on page
twenty-seven.
|
Error No. 5
|
I Samuel contains this statement "...fifty thousand, three
score and ten men." " The number fifty thousand in this verse is
wrong as will be discussed later.
|
Errors No. 6 and 7
|
2 Samuel 15:7 contains the words "forty years" and in the
next verse of the same chapter the name "Geshur" is mentioned
Both are wrong. The correct words are "four years" and
"Adom" respectively.
|
Error No. 8
|
It is stated in 2 Chronicles:
|
And the porch that was on the front of the house, the
length of it was according to the breadth of the house,
twenty cubits, and height was a hundred and twenty.2
|
This is an exaggerated and erroneous account of the height.
According to 1 Kings the height of the porch was thirty cubits 3
Adam Clarke in volume 2 of his commentary expressly admit-
ted the error in this statement and said that the height was
twenty cubits.
|
Error No. 9
|
The Book of Joshua, describing the borders of the land given I "
to the children of Benjamin, states:
|
And the border was drawn thence and compassed the
corner of the sea southward.l
|
The word "sea" in this statement is wrong as there was no sea
near their land. The commentators D"Oyby and Richardment
acknowledged this fact and said, that the Hebrew word which
was translated as "sea" actually signified "west".
|
Error No. 10
|
In Chapter 19 of the Book of Joshua, under the description
of the borders of Naphtali, we read:
|
And reacheth to Asher on the west side and to Judah
upon Jordan toward the sun rising.2
|
This statement is also wrong as the land of Judah extended
towards the South. Adam Clarke also pointed out this error in
his commentary.
|
Errors No. 11-13
|
The commentator Horseley remarked that verses 7 and 8 of
Chapter 3 of the Book of Joshua are wrong.
|
Error No. 12
|
The Book of Judges contains this statement:
|
And there was a young man out of Bethlehem-Judah,
of the family of Judah, who was a Levite.
|
In this statement the phrase, "who was a Levite", cannot be true
because anyone belonging to the family of Judah cannot be
Levite. The commentator Horseley also acknowledged this
error, and Houbigant even excluded this passage from his text.
|
Error No. 13
|
We read this statement in 2 Chronicles:
|
And Abijah set the battle in array with an army of
valiant men of war even four hundred thousand chosen
men: Jeroboam also set the battle in array against him,
with eight hundred thousand chosen men, being mighty
men of valour. 1
|
Further in the same chapter it gives this description:
|
And Abijah and his people slew them with a great
slaughter: and so there fell down slain of Israel five hun-
dred thousand chosen men.2
|
The numbers mentioned in the two texts are wrong. The com-
mentators of the Bible have admitted the error. The Latin trans-
lators changed four hundred thousand to forty thousand, and
eight hundred thousand to eighty thousand, and five hundred
thousand to fifty thousand men.
|
Error No. 14
|
It is stated in 2 Chronicles:
|
For the Lord brought Judah low because of Ahaz,
King of Israel. l
|
The word Israel in this statement is certainly wrong, because
haz was the King of Judah and not the the King of Israel. The
Greek and the Latin translations, therefore, have replaced Israel
with Judah which is an open distortion of the text of their Holy
Scriptures
|
Error No. 15
|
We find this statement in 2 Chronicles:
|
...and made Zedekiah, his brother, king over Judah
and Jerusalem.
|
The words "his brother" are incorrect in this statement. It
should say his uncle or his father own brother.2 The Arabic and the
Greek translators have replaced "his brother" with "his father own
brother", another example of blatant manipulation of the text of
the Holy scriptures. Ward says in his book words to this effect,
"Since it was not correct, it has been changed to uncle in the
Greek and other translations."
|
Error No. 16
|
The name "Hadarezer" is wrongly spelled in 2 Samuel
1o:l6-l9 in three places and in 1 Chronicles 18:3-10 in seven
places, whereas the correct spelling is Hadadezer (as given in
all other references in the Old Testament).
|
1.2Chr.28:19.
|
2. We do find the words, "his father own brother" in 2 Kings 24:17,
and this is correct
|
because Jehoiachin was the son of Jehoiakim. He would have been
known as
Zedekiah, the son of Jehoiakim, while in fact he is called
Zedekiah, the son of Josiah.
See Jen 26 1 and 27:1.
|
Errors No. 17-19
|
Another name "Achan" is given wrongly in the Book of
Joshua." The correct name is Achar, with an "r" at the end.2
|
Error No. 18
|
We find in 1 Chronicles 3:5 under the description of the sons
of David, "Bath-shua, the daughter of Ammiel". The correct
name is, "Bath-sheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of
Uriah".3
|
Error No. 19
|
The Second Book of Kings4 gives the name "Azariah" which
is certainly wrong. It should be "Uzziah", as can be ascertained
from several other sources.5
|
Error No. 20
|
The name "Jehoahaz", which appears in 2 Chronicles,6 is not
correct. It should be "Ahaziah". Horne admits that the names
we have pointed out in errors No 16 20
- are all wrong and then
adds that there are some other places in the scriptures where
names have been written erroneously.
|
Error No. 21
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2 Chroniclesl gives an account of how Nebuchadnezzar, the
king of Babylon, bound Jehoiakim in chains and deported him
to Babylon. This statement is certainly not true. The fact is that
he killed him in Jerusalem and ordered his body to be thrown
outside the city wall and left unburied.
The historian Josephus says in Volume 10 of his book:
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The King of Babylon came with a great army and
captured the city without resistance. He killed all the
young men of the city. Jehoiakim was one of them. He
threw his body outside the city wall. His son Jehoiachin
was made the king. He imprisoned three thousand men.
The Prophet Ezekiel was among the captives.
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Error No. 22
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According to the Arabic versions of 1671 and 1831, the
Book of Isaiah (7:8) contains this statement:
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...and within three score and five years shall Aram
be broken.
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While the Persian translation and English version says:
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...and within three score and five years shall Ephraim
be broken.
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Historically this prophecy was proved false, as in the sixth
year of Hezekiah own reign,2 the King of Assyria invaded Ephraim,
as is recorded in 2 Kings in Chapters 17 and 18. Thus Aram was
destroyed in twenty-one years. l
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Vitringa, a celebrated Christian scholar, said:
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There has been a mistake in copying the text here. In
fact, it was sixteen and five years, and the period
referred to was sixteen years after the reign of Ahaz and
five after that of Hezekiah.
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There is no justification for the opinion of this writer, but at
least, he has admitted the error in this text.
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Error No. 23
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The Book of Genesis says:
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But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,
thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest
thereof, thou shalt surely die.2
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This statement is clearly wrong since Adam, after eating from
that tree, did not die that very day but lived for more than nine
hundred years after it.
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Error No. 24
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We find in the book of Genesis:3
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My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that
he also is flesh: his days shall be an hundred and twenty
years.
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To say that the age of man is a hundred and twenty years is
erroneous as we know that the men of earlier ages lived far
longer - Noah own age, for instance, was nine hundred and fifty,
Shem, his son, lived for six hundred years and Arphaxad for
three hundred and thirty-eight years; while the life-span of pre-
sent-day man is usually seventy or eighty years.
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Error No. 25
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Genesis reports this address of God to Abraham:
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And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee,
the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of
Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their
God.
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This statement is again historically wrong, since all the land
of Canaan was never possessed by Abraham nor has it been
under the everlasting rule of his descendants. On the contrary
this land has seen innumerable political and geographical revo-
lutions.
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Errors No. 26, 27, 28
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The Book of Jeremiah says:
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The word that came to Jeremiah, concerning all the
people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, the son
of Josiah, king of Judah, that was the first year of
Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon.
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urther in the same chapter it says:
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And this whole land shall be desolation, and an
astonishment: and these nations shall serve the king of
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Babylon seventy years. And it shall come to pass, when
seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the
king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the Lord, for their
iniquity, and the land of Chaldeans, and will make it per-
petual desolations.l
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And further in Chapter 29 of the same book, it states:
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Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah
the Prophet sent from Jerusalem unto the residue of the
elders which were carried away captives, and to the
priests, and to the prophets, and to all the people whom
Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captives from
Jerusalem to Babylon; (After that Jeconiah, the king and
the queen, and the eunuchs, the princes of Judah and
Jerusalem, and the carpenters, and the smiths were
deported from Jerusalem;)2
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And further in the same chapter we read:
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For thus saith the Lord, that after seventy years be
accomplished at Babylon I will visit you and perform
my good word to you in causing you to return to this
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In the Persian translation of 1848 we find these words:
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After seventy years be accomplished in Babylon, I
Wlll turn towards you.
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Further in chapter 52 of the same book we find the following
statement:
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This is the people whom Nebuchadrezzar carried
away captive in the seventh year, three thousand Jews
and three and twenty: In the eighteenth year of
Nebuchadrezzar, he carried away captive from
Jerusalem eight hundred and thirty and two persons: in
the three and twentieth year of Nebuchadrezzar
Nebuzar-adan the captain of the guard carried away cap-
tive of the Jews seven hundred forty and five persons: all
the persons were four thousand and six hundred.l
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After a careful reading of the several passages quoted above
the following three points are established:
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1. Nebuchadnezzar ascended the throne in the fourth year of
the reign of Jehoiakim. That is historically correct. The Jewish
historian Josephus said in Vol. 10 and Chapter 5 of his history
that Nebuchadnezzar ascended the throne of Babylon in the
fourth year of Jehoiakim. It is, therefore, necessary that the
first
year of Nebuchadnezzar must coincide with the fourth year of
Jehoiakim.
2. Jeremiah sent his words (the book) to the Jews after the
deportation of Jeconiah, the king, the elders of Judah and other
artisans to Babylon.
3. The cumulative number of the captives in the three exiles
was four thousand and six hundred, and that the third exile by
Nebuchadnezzar took place in the twenty-third year of his reign.
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This reveals three obvious errors. Firstly, according to the
historians, Jeconiah, the elder of Judah, and other artisans were
exiled to Babylon in 599 B.C. The author of Meezan-ul-Haq
printed in 1849 says on page 60, that this exile took place in 600
B.C. and Jeremiah sent the letter after their departure to
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Babylon. According to the Biblical text quoted above their stay
in Babylon should be seventy years, which is certainly not true,
because the Jews were released by the order of the king of
Persia in 536 B.C. This means that their sojourn in Babylon was
only sixty-three years and not seventy years. We have quoted
these figures from the book Murshid-ut-Talibeen printed in
Beirut in 1852 which is different s from the edition printed in
1840 in several places. We find the following table in the 1852
edltlon.
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THE YEAR THE VENT THE YEAR
OF THE BEFORE
CREATION CHRIST BC
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3405 Jeremiah own writing to the 599
captives of Babylon
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3468 The death of Darius, the uncle of h
Koreish, the ascension of CYrus tc
the throne of Babylon, Madi and
Pharus. His orders to release the
Jews and send them back to
Jerusalem
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Secondly, the cumulative number of those exiled during the
three exiles is mentioned as four thousand and six hundred peo-
ple, while according to 2 Kings the number of captives, includ-
ing the princes and the brave men of Jerusalem, at the time of
the first exile, was three thousand, the craftsmen and the smiths
not being included in this number. I
Thirdly, from the text quoted above, we understand that the
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1. "And he carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all
the mighty men of
valour, even three thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and
smiths." 2 Kings
24: 14
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r
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, third captivity took place in the twenty-third year of
Nebuchadnezzars reign whereas this is contradicted in 2 Kings
which says that Nebuzar-adan took them captive in the nine-
- teenth year of Nebuchadnezzar.
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Error No. 29
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The Book of Ezekiel contains the following words:
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And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the first
day of the month, that the word of the Lord came unto
me.2
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And later in the same chapter we find:
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For thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will bring
upon Tyrus Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, a king of
kings, from the north, with horses, and with chariots,
and with horsemen and companies, and much people.
He shall slay with the sword thy daughters in the
f1eld, and he shall make a fort against thee, and cast a
mount against thee, and lift up the buckler against thee;
And he shall set the engines of war against thy walls,
and with his axes he shall break down thy towers.
By reason of the abundance of his horses their dust
shall cover thee, thy walls shall shake at the noise of the
horsemen, and of the wheels, and of the chariots, when
he shall enter into thy gates, as men enter into a city
wherein is made a breach.
With the hoofs of his horses shall he tread down all
thy streets; he shall slay thy people by the sword, and
thy strong garrisons shall go down to the ground.
And they shall make a spoil of thy riches, and make
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a prey of thy merchandise, and they shall break down
thy walls, and destroy thy pleasant houses, and they
shall lay thy stones and thy timber and thy dust in the
midst of thy water."
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History proved this prediction false because Nebuchad-
nezzar tried his best to capture the city of Tyrus, and kept the
city in a state of siege for thirteen years, but had to go back
without success. Since it is inconceivable that God own promise
would not be fulfilled, it must be that the prediction itself is
misreported.
In Chapter 29, we find the following words attributed to
Ezekiel:
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And it came to pass in the seven and twentieth year, in
the first month, in the first day of the month, the word of the
Lord came unto me saying,
Son of man, Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon caused
his army to serve a great service against Tyrus; every head
was made bald, and every shoulder was peeled: yet he had
no wages, nor his army, for Tyrus...
...thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I will give the land of
Egypt unto Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon; and he shall
take her multitude, and take her spoil, and take her prey; and
it shall be the wages for his army.
I have given him the land of Egypt for his labour where-
with he served against it...2
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The above text expressly states that since Nebuchadnezzar
could not get the reward of his siege of Tyrus, God promises to
give him the land of Egypt.
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Error No. 30
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The Book of Daniel contains this statement:
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Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint
said unto that certain saint which spake, how long shall
be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the
transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary
and the host to be trodden underfoot?
And he said unto me, unto two thousand and three
hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.l
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The Judaeo-Christian scholars, from the very beginning,
have wondered about the significance of this prediction. Almost
all the Judaeo-Christian commentators of the Bible are of the
opinion that it is Antiochus, the consul of Rome who invaded
Jerusalem in 161 BC, who is referred to in this vision,2 and the
days mean the usual days of our calendar. Josephus, the famous
commentator, also agreed with this opinion.
Historically, however, this opinion does not hold water,
because the occupation of the sanctuary and host, lasted for
three and a half years, whereas the period of two thousand and
three hundred days referred to comes to six years, three months
and nineteen days. For the same reason Issac Newton rejected
the assumption that Antiochus had to do anything with this
vlsion.
Thomas Newton who wrote a commentary on the predic-
tions and prophesies of the Bible first quoted several other com-
mentators on this point, and then, like Isaac Newton, completely
rejected the possibility of it being Antiochus who is referred to
in this vision of Hezekiah. He asserted that the Roman emperors
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and the Popes are the import of the vision.
Snell Chauncy also wrote a commentary on the predictions
of the Bible which was published in 1838. He claimed that in
his commentary he incorporated the essence of eighty five other
commentaries. Commenting on this vision he said that from the
earliest times it has been very difficult for the scholars to
ascer-
tain and define the time of the commencement of the event to
which this vision refers.l
The majority of the scholars have concluded that the time of
its commencement is certainly one of four periods in which four
royal commands were issued by the Kings of Persia:
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1. Cyrus, who issued his ordinance in 636 B.C.
2. The king Darius, who issued his orders in 815 B.C.
3. Ardashir, who gave his commands about Ezra in 458 B.C.
4. The king Ardashir, who issued his ordinance to Nehemiah
in the twentieth year of his reign in 444 B.C.
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He also added that the days mentioned in this vision are not
days as usually understood, but days signifying years. Keeping
this in mind Snell Chauncy said, the ending of the period of this
vision would be as follows:
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1. According to the first command of Cyrus it would end in
1764 A.D.
2. According to the second of Darius it would end in 1782
A.D.
3 .According to the third command of Ardashir it would be
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1. As far as we understand Snell Chauncy interpreting the days of
this vision as years
has presumed that the vision foretold the realpearance of the
Christ Jesus. The two
thousand three hundred days are assumed to be years. This number
of years should be
counted from any of the occasions when Jerusalem has been taken
out of the posses-
sion of Judaeo-Christian followers.
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4. According to the fourth ordinance it would end in 1856.
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All these dates passed without the prophecy being fulfilled
and, in any case, this illogically metaphorical interpretation is
not acceptable.
Firstly it is a mis-statement to say that it would be difficult
for scholars to ascertain the period of its commencement. The
difficulty lies only in the fact that the period should start
right
from the time when this vision was shown to Daniel not from
any period after it.
Next an arbitrary change in meaning of days into years is
not acceptable, because the word, "day" continues to mean the
usual period of 24 hours unless otherwise indicated by the writ-
er himself. The word is used in both the Old and the New
Testaments in its usual meaning and never means "year". Even
if we accept that the word might have been used to mean "year"
it would have been in a figurative sense; but a figurative use of
a word requires some strong indication of it. In the account of
this vision the word "day" has been used for the purpose of
defining a period of time and we do not find any indication that
it should be taken in a figurative sense. Most scholars have,
therefore, accepted it in its usual meaning otherwise scholars
like Isaac Newton, Thomas Newton and Snell Chauncy would
not have tried to put forward such confusing explanations.
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Error No. 31
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The Book of Daniell states:
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And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be
taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate
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set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety
days.
Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thou-
sand three hundred and five and thirty days.
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This prophecy is similar to the one previously discussed
which never came true. Neither Christ nor the Messiah of the
Jews appeared within this period.
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Error No. 32
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The Book of Daniel contains this statement:
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Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and
upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to
make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniq-
uity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to
seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most
Holy.l
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This prophecy is also wrong as the Messiah did not appear in
this period. None of the explanations forwarded by the Christian
scholars in this regard deserve any serious consideration, partly
for the reasons we have already discussed and partly on account
of a number of facts we discuss below:-
Firstly the period between the first year of the reign of Cyrus,
the year of the release of the Jews as confirmed by Ezra2 and the
birth of the Prophet Jesus is nearly six hundred years according
to Josephus and five hundred and thirty-six years in Snell
Chauncy own estimation.
Secondly, if we accept this as a correct explanation, it would
mean that all true dreams have come to an end for ever, which is
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obviously untrue. Watson, in the third part of his book, has
reproduced Dr. Grib own letter who said, "The Jews have so much
distorted the text of this prophecy that it has been rendered inap-
plicable to Jesus." This confession by Watson is enough to con-
firm our contention that this prediction, according to the origi-
nal copy of the Book of Daniel, still preserved with the Jews,
which is free from the objection of any kind of manipulation,
that this prophecy is inapplicable to Jesus.
Thirdly, the word "Christ", meaning anointed, has been used
for all the kings of the Jews irrespective of their character or
deeds. It appears in Psalm 18 verse 50. Similarly, David is men-
tioned as the anointed in Psalm 131. And also 1 Samuel con-
tains this statement of David regarding King Saul, who is said
to have been one of the worst kings of the Jews:
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Behold this day thine eyes have seen how that the
Lord hath delivered thee into mine hand in the cave: and
some bade me to kill thee: but mine eye spared thee; and
I said, I will not put forth mine hand against my lord, for
he is the Lord own anointed.l
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The same application of this word is also found in 1 Samuel
24 and 2 Samuel 1. Besides, this word is not only limited to the
kings of the Jews. We find it being used for other kings too. It is
stated in Isaiah:
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Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose
right hand I have holden.2
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Cyrus, the king of Persia, is mentioned as God own anointed or
the Christ in this text. Cyrus is the one who liberated the Jews
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from their captivity and allowed the Temple to be rebuilt.
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Error No. 33
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The following statement is given through the Prophet David
in 2 Samuel:
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Moreover I will appoint a place for my people Israel,
and will plant them, that may dwell in a place of their
own, and move no more; neither shall the children of
wickedness afflict them any more, as beforetime.
And as since the time that I commanded judges to be
over my people Israel.l
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The same prediction appeared in slightly different words in
the Persian translation of 1835. According to this text God had
promised them that they would live in peace there, without any
affliction to them at the hands of wicked people. This promised
place was Jerusalem, where they made their habitations and
lived. History has proved that this promise was not fulfilled.
They were severely afflicted at the hands of several rulers.
Nebuchadnezzar invaded them three times and slaughtered
them, captured them and deported them to Babylon. Titus,2 the
Emperor of Rome, persecuted them so barbarously that one mil-
lion of the Jews were killed, a hundred thousand people were
hanged and ninety-nine thousand were imprisoned. Up to this
day their descendants are living in degradation around the
world.
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.l Error No. 34
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In 2 Samuel we read the following promise of God to David:
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And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep
with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which
shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will stablish his
kingdom.
He shall build an house for my name, and I will stab-
lish the throne of his kingdom for ever.
I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he
commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men,
and with stripes of the children of men;
But my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I
took it from Saul whom I put away before thee.
And thine house and thy kingdom shall be estab-
lished for ever before thee; thy throne shall be estab-
lished for ever.l
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,1 Another statement of similar nature is given in I Chronicles:
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Behold, a son shall be born to thee, who shall be a
man of rest: and I will give him rest from all his enemies
round about: for his name shall be Solomon, and I will
give peace and quietness unto Israel in his days.
He shall build a house for my name: and he shall be
my son,... and I will establish the throne of his kingdom
over Israel for ever.2
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Although, God had promised everlasting kingdom in the
family of David, this promise was not fulfilled, as the family of
David was deprived of the kingdom, a long time ago.
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Error No. 35
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Paul reported God own word regarding the prominence of Jesus
over the angels in his letter to the Hebrews: I
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I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son.2
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Christian scholars have claimed that this is a reference to the
verses in 2 Samuel and 1 Chronicles discussed in the previous
paragraph. This claim is not acceptable for several reasons.
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1. The text of Chronicles is unambiguous saying that the
son own name will be Solomon.
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2. Both the texts say that he would build a house in the name
of God. This can only be applied to Solomon who built the
house of God, as promised. Jesus, on the other hand was born
one thousand and three years after the construction of this house
and used to talk of its destruction. This will be discussed under
Error No.79.
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3. Both predictions foretold that he would be a king, where-
as Jesus was not a king, on the contrary he was a poor man as
he himself said:
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And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and
the birds of the air have nests; but the son of man hath
not where to lay his head.3
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1. Heb. 1:5.
2. To prove the greatness of ùesus over the angels, Paul argued
that God never said to
any of the angels that any of them was His Son. He only said it to
Jesus that, "I will
be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son."
3. Mat:8:20.
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4. It is clearly stated in the first prediction that:
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If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod
of men, and with the stripes of the children of men.
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This implies that he will be a man of iniquitous nature.
ccording to the Christians - and they are far from the truth -
Solomon was a man of that nature and gave up the prophethood
and became an apostate in his last days, indulging in idol wor-
ship. building temples for the idols, and committing himself to
heathenism.l Whereas Jesus was absolutely innocent, and could
not commit a sin of any kind.
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5. In the text of Chronicles it says clearly:
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Who shall be a man of rest, and I will give him rest
from all his enemies round about.
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However, Jesus, according to the Christians, was never in
peace right from his early days up to the time of the crucifixion.
He lived in constant fear of the Jews and left one place for
another until he was arrested by them and, they say, killed.
Solomon, on the other hand, fulfilled the condition of living in
rest from his enemies.
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6. In the prediction of Chronicles the Israelites are promised:
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I will give peace and quieteness unto Israel in his
days.
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Whereas it is historically known to everyone that the Jews were
servile to and dominated by the Romans in the time of Jesus.
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7. The Prophet Solomon, himself has claimed that the predic_
tion was made about him. This is clear from 2 Chronicles.l
Although the Christians agree that these tidings were for
Solomon. they say that it was in fact for Jesus too, as he was a
descendant of Solomon. We contend that this is a false claim
because the attributes of the predicted son must coincide with
the description of the prophecy. We have already shown that
Jesus does not fulfill the requirements of the prediction.
Apart from this, Jesus cannot be the subject of this predic-
tion, even according to the Christian scholars. In order to
remove the contradiction between the genealogical descriptions
of Jesus in Mathew and Luke, they have said that Matthew
described the genealogy of Joseph of Nazareth, while Luke
described the genealogy of Mary. However, Jesus was not the
son of Joseph, but rather the son of Mary, and according to her
genealogy Jesus is the descendant of Nathan, son of David, and
not the son of Solomon.
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Error No. 36
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It is said regarding the Prophet Elijah in I Kings:
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And the word of Lord came unto him, saying,
Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thy-
self by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan.
And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook;
and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there.
So he went and did according unto the word of the
Lord: for he went and dwelt by the brook Cherith, that is
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1. "But the Lord said to David my father, Forasmuch as it was un
thine heart to build a
house for my name, thou didst well in that it was in thine heart:
Not withstanding
thou shalt not build the house; but thy son which shall come forth
out of thy loins. he
shall build the house for my name. The Lord therefore hath
performed his word that
he hath spoken: for I am risen up in the room of David my father."
2 Chr. 6:8-10.
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before Jordan,
And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the
morning, and bread and flesh in the evening, and he
drank of the brook.l
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In the above text the word "raven" is a translation of the orig-
inal word "arem". All the translators except Jerome have trans-
lated it as "raven", only Jerome has translated it differently as
"Arab". Since his opinion did not gain popularity, his followers
distorted the texts in Latin translations and changed the word
"Arab" to raven. This has been much laughed at by non-
Christian scholars. Horne, a famous scholar, was much sur-
prised at it and was, in fact, inclined to agree with Jerome in
that the word "arem" most likely signifies "Arab" and not raven.
He greatly criticised the other translators and gave three argu-
ments to prove the absurdity of their opinion. He said on page
639 of the first volume of his commentary:2
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Some critics have censured the translators saying that it is
far from being true that crows should provide sustenance to a
Prophet. If they had seen the original word, they would not have
reproached them, because the original word is "Orim" which has
the meaning of "Arab". This word is used for the same purpose
in 2 Kings 21 and in Nehemiah 4.
Besides, it is understood from "Perechat Riba", an exegesis
of the Book of Genesis, that this prophet was commanded to
live and hide himself in a place in the vicinity of "Butshan".
Jerome said that the "Orim" were the residents of that town
which was within the limits of Arabia. They provided food for
this prophet.
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This is a valuable finding and evidence for Jerome. Although
the Latin translations contain the word "raven", the Book of
Chronicles, the Book of Nehemiah and Jerome have translated
it as "Arab". Similarly it is indicated by the Arabic translation
that this word signified men, and not crows. The famous Jewish
commentator Jarchi also translated this word as "Arab". It is cer-
tainly not likely that God would have provided bread and flesh
to his prophet through such impure birds. A prophet like Elijah,
who was so strict a follower of the commandments of God
would not be satisfied with flesh provided by crows unless he
knew beforehand that the crows were not bringing carrion.
Elijah was provided with such flesh and bread for a whole year.
How could this kind of service be attributed to crows? It is
much more likely the inhabitants of "Orbo" or "Arabs" rendered
this service to him."
It is up to the Protestants now to decide which of the two
opinions is correct.
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Error No. 37
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We find the following statement in I Kings:
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...in the four hundred and eightieth year after the
children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in
the fourth year of Solomon own reign over Israel, in the
month Zif, which is the second month, that he began to
build the house of Lord.l
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According to the historians, this statement is incorrect. Adam
Clarke, for example, said, when commenting on this verse in
Vol. 2 of his commentary:
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The historians have differred from this text in the
following details: The Hebrew text gives 480, Latin 440,
Glycas 330, Melchior Canus 590; Josephus 592,
Slipicius Severus 585, Clement Alexander 570,
Cedrenus 672 Codomanus 598, Vosius Capellus 580,
Seranius 680, Nicholas Abraham 527, Mastlinus 592,
Petavius and Watherus 520.
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Had the year, described by the Hebrew text been correct and
revealed by God, the Latin translator and so many of the
Judeao-Christian historians would have not contradicted it.
Josephus and Clement Alexandrianus also differed from the
Hebrew text, even though both of them are known as staunch
believers in their religion. This, naturally, leads us to believe
that the biblical text was to them no more worthy of respect
than any other book of history. Otherwise they would have not
even thought of disagreeing with it.
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Error No. 38
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It is stated in Matthew:
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So all the generations from Abraham to David are
fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying
away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from
the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen
generations.l
|
According to this statement the genealogy of Jesus from
Abraham is subdivided into three groups, each consisting of
fourteen generations. It is obviously not correct, because since
the first group from Abraham to David, includes David in it, he
must be excluded from the second group as he cannot be
|
counted twice. The second group should start with Solomon and
end with Jeconias, thus excluding him from the third group. The
third group should start from Salathiel, which leaves only 13
generations in the last group. All of the ancient as well as mod-
ern scholars have criticized this error, but the Christian scholars
are unable to produce any convincing explanation for it.
|
Errors No. 39-42:
|
According to the Arabic translation printed in 1849, describ-
ing the genealogy of the Christ, the Gospel of Matthew states:
|
Josias begat Jeconias and his brethren, in the
captivity of Babylon.l
|
It can be understood from this text that Jeconias and his
brothers were born in the period of exile in Babylon, which
obviously implies that Josias was alive during that period.
However this cannot be the case for the following four reasons:
|
1. Josias had died twelve years before the exile, because after
his death his son Jehoahaz became king and ruled for three
months. Then Jehoiachin, another son of Josias reigned for
eleven years. And it was only when Jeconias, the son of
Jehoiakim. had been ruling for three months in Jerusalem, that
Nebuchadnezzar invaded Jerusalem and imprisoned him along
with all other Israelites and deported them to Babylon.2
2. Jeconias is the grandson of Josias, and not his son, as is
clear from the above statement.
3. At the time of exile, Jeconias was 18 years old,3 therefore
his birth in this period is out of the question.
4. Jeconias had no brothers but his father had three brothers.
|
In view of the above textual difficulties, the commentator
Adarn Clarke reported in his commentaries that:
|
Calmet suggested that this verse should be read as
follows: "Josiah begat Jehoiakin, and his brethren,
Jehoiakin begat Jeconiah about the time of carrying
away to Babylon."
|
This suggestionl of manipulating the text of the holy scrip-
tures is something to be noted by the reader. Even after this
change, our objection discussed in no. 3 above remains unaf-
fected.
In our opinion, some ingenious priests have deliberately
deleted the word Jehoiakin from the text to avoid the objection
that Jesus, being a descendant of Jehoiakin, would not be able to
sit on the throne of David,2 and that in this case it would no
longer be possible for him to be the Messiah.
They did not appreciate the implications that were to occur
as a result of this tiny change in the text. Perhaps they thought
it
|
1. This suggestion has been partially carried out. The suggestion
said that Jehoiachin
should be inserted within the text and that instead of the phrase
" in the captivity" it
should be, "about the time of..." So the translators have
manipulated the text, and in
almost all the translations the text now reads: " Josias begat
Jeconias and his brethren,
about the time they were carried away to Babylon."
By adding the phrase "about the time" they have tried to avoid the
objection that
the author raised in no.3 above.
In the English translation published by the Anglican Church in
1961, this difficul-
ly has been solved a bit differently. In this translation the
verse reads:
"And Josias was the father of Jecohias and his brethren at the
time of the deportation
to Babylon.
2. "Therefore, thus saith the lord of Jehoiakin king of Judah, he
shall have none to sit
upon the throne of David." Jer. 36:30
3. According to Bible it is necessary for the Messiah to be a
descendant of David.
|
was easier to lay blame on Matthew than to preclude Jesus fron
being the descendant of David and from his being the Messiah.
|
Error No. 43
|
The genealogical description in Matthew records seven gen-
erations between Judah and Salmon,l and five generations from
Salmon to David. The period from Judah to Salmon is about
three hundred years, and from Salmon to David four hundred
years. Even bearing in mind the long lives of those people, this
statement cannot be true, as the age of the first group of genera-
tions was longer than the second group. Matthew own description
puts seven generations in three hundred years, and five genera-
tions in four hundred years.
|
Error No. 44
|
The second of the three groups of fourteen generations
described by Matthew in the genealogy of Jesus, has in fact
eighteen generations and not the fourteen mentioned in the third
chapter of I Chronicles. Newman expressed great concern about
this and mocked it saying that so far it had only been necessary
to believe in the parity of one and three, now it was necessary to
believe in the parity of eighteen and fourteen, because the holy
scriptures cannot be thought of as being incorrect.
|
Errors No. 45 & 46
|
In the same passage of Matthew we read:
|
1. According to this the generations from David to Jeconias are as
follows: David.
Solomon, Roboam, Abia, Asa, Josaphat, Joram, Ozias, Joatham,
Achaz, Ezekias.
Manasses, Amon, Josias, Jehoiachin, and Jeconias, whereas Matthew
records thirteen
generations which is wrong. Matt. 1:6-11
|
Jehoram begat Uzziah.
|
This statement is incorrect for two reasons:
|
1. It claims that Uzziah was the son of Jehoram which is not
true, because Uzziah was the son of Ahaziah, son of Joash who
was the son of Amaziah, son of Joram. These are the three gen-
erations which have been left out by Matthew perhaps to make
them fourteen. These three were kings of repute. They are men-
tioned in Chapters 8, 12 and 14 of the Second Book of Kings,
and in Chapters 22-25 of 2 Chronicles. There is no way of
knowing why these generations have been left out by Matthew
from the geneology. It seems simply to be one of his great mis-
takes.
2. Is the correct name Uzziah or Ozias, as he is named by 2
Kings and I Chronicles?
|
Error No. 47
|
Again in the same passage we find this statement:
|
And Salathiel begat Zorobabel.l
|
This is also incorrect because Zorobabel was the son of
Pedaiah2 and the nephew of Salathiel as is expressly mentioned
in I Chronicles 3.
|
Error No. 48
|
The same passage of genealogy in Matthew states:
|
2 I Chr. 3:19 says: "And Ihe sons of Pedaiah were Zerubbabel arld
Shimei."
|
Zorobabel begat Abiud.l
|
This, too, is wrong since Zerubbabel had only five sons, as is
confirmed by I Chronicles. None of the five sons is of this
name.2
There are in all eleven errors in the genealogy recorded by
Matthew. If the differences of Luke and Matthew, discussed ear-
lier are also included they total seventeen mistakes. This short
passage of Matthew is, therefore, erroneous in no less than sev-
enteen places.
|
Error No. 49
|
Matthew describes the event of some wise men from the east
who had seen the star which was the sign of the birth of Christ.
They came to Jerusalem, and, guided by the star, they reached
Bethlehem where the star halted above the head of the infant.
Astronomically this statement is ridiculous and unacceptable.
The movement of stars and some comets as seen from the earth
is from the East to the West, and some of the comets move con-
trarily from the West to the East. Bethlehem is situated to the
south of Jerusalem. Besides the men coming from the east could
not possibly see the movement of a star which is too slow to be
seen by the naked eye. And in any case how could a moving
star, if it did ever come to a stop in the sky, be said to have
stopped at the head of a new born child.3
|
Error No. 50
|
In Chapter One of Matthew we read this statement:
|
Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled
which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,
Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring
forth a son, and they shall call his name ""Emmanuel"".l
|
According to the Christian writers the Prophet referred to in
this verse is the Prophet Isaiah, because in his book he had said:
|
Therefore, the Lord himself shall give you a sign:
Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall
call his name "Emmanuel.2
|
This is again incorrect for the following reasons:
|
1. The original word that has been translated as "virgin" by
Matthew and the translator of the book of Isaiah is "alamah"
which is the feminine form of "alam" which according to the
Jewish scholars, signifies a "young girl" married or unmarried.
This word is also used, as they say, in the Book of Proverbs,
Chapter 30, where it is used for a young married woman. The
three famous Latin translations say "young woman". These
translations are the earliest known translations and are said to
have been made in 129,175, and 200. In view of these ancient
translations and the opinion of the Jewish scholars, Matthew own
statement is shown to be erroneous.
Frier, in his book on the etymology of Hebrew words, a book
|
cometS and stars as explained by the author was accepted up to the
18th century A.D.
Modern scientific data, however, has produced more convincing
explanations of the
directions and paths of the stars.
|
that is considered the most authentic work on the subject, said
that the word "alamah, had a dual meaning: "virgin" and "young
woman". His opinion, as compared to the commentaries of the
Jews, is not acceptable, and even if we accept this opinion, the
word cannot be taken to mean a virgin with any ARGUMENT
against the established meaning adopted by the commentators
and the ancient translators. The above facts are certainly enough
to prove falsity of the statement of the author of Meezan-ul-
Haq, who claimed that the word had no other meaning than
"virgin".
|
2. Jesus was never called by the name Emmanuel, nor did his
adopted fatherl give this name to him:
|
The angel told his father to call him with the name of
Jesus.2
|
It is also a fact that Gabriel came to his mother and said:
|
Thou shall conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a
son and shalt call his name Jesus.3
|
Apart from this Jesus himself never claimed that his name was
Emmanuel.
|
3. The passage where this word occurs, precludes its applica-
tion to Jesus. It states that Rezin, the king of Syria, and Pekah,
the king of Israel, went together to war against Ahaz, the king
of Judah. He was very frightened and God sent a revelation to
Isaiah as a consolation for Ahaz, saying that he should not be
|
,F frightened as his enemies would not be able to prevail against
him. and that their kingdoms would be destroyed, and that the
sign of their destruction was that a young woman would bring
forth a son and before the child grew up their kingdoms would
be destroyed.l
In fact Jesus was born after 721 years of the destruction of
the kingdoms which were destroyed only 21 years after the
above Prophecy. Judaeo-Christian scholars disagree on this
1 point. Some of them have claimed that Isaiah used the word
young woman" for his own wife who would conceive and give
birth to a child. And the two kings, of whom the people were
frightened, would be destroyed along with their kingdom before
the child grew up. This was said by Dr. Benson and seems to
have logic and bear truth.
|
Error No. 51
|
There is another statement in Matthew regarding Joseph, the
carpenter
|
And was there until the death of Herod, that it might
be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the
Prophet, saying out of Egypt have I called my son.2
|
The Prophet referred to in this text is Hosea and Matthew
makes reference to the first verse of Chapter 11 of his book,
which is absolutely incorrect as that verse has nothing to do
with Jesus. The verse, according to the Arabic translation, print-
ed in 1811, reads like this:
|
When Israel was a child, then I loved him and called
|
his sons out of Egypt.
|
This verse, is in fact, an expression of God own benevolence to
the Israelites conferred upon them in the time of Moses.
Matthew made two changes in the text. He changed the plural,
own ons", into the singular, own on", and turned the third person "his"
into the first person making it "my son".
Following the example of Matthew, the Arabic translator of
1844 changed the text to incorporate this alteration.
Besides, this change cannot be overlooked because further in
this chapter the people who were called from Egypt are men-
tioned in these words:
|
As they called them, so they went from them, they
sacrificed unto Baalim.l
|
This statement cannot be applied to Jesus.
|
Error No. 52
|
It is also stated in Matthew:
|
Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the
wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew
all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the
coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according
to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise
men.2
|
This statement is wrong both logically and historically.
Historically because none of the non-Christian historians men-
tioned this event of the slaying of the infants by Herod.
|
For example Josephus did not said anything regarding this
. event Similarly the Jewish scholars, who are very hostile and
antagonistic towards Herod, and have been very particular in
describing any weak points of Herod which they could dig out
from history, have not said anything in this regard. Had this
incident been true they would have jumped at it and described it
as negatively as possible. If any Christian historian were to
describe it, he would certainly base his description on the state-
ment in the Gospel of Matthew.
And logically it is not acceptable because Bethlehem, at that
time, was a small village situated near Jerusalem. Herod, being
the governor could easily have found out the house where the
wise men had stayed. It was absolutely unnecessary for him to
commit such a heinous act as killing innocent children.
|
Error No. 53
|
The Gospel of Matthew also contains this statement:
|
Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by
Jeremiah the Prophet, saying,
In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and
weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her
children, and would not be comforted because they are
not.2
|
This is again a clearly distorted rendering of the text of
Jeremiah. Any reader can himself look up the passage in
|
Jeremiah," and see for himself that the above verse has nothing
to do with Herod. It is clearly related to the famous historical
calamity of Nebuchadnezzar own invasion of Jerusalem. The peo-
ple of Rachel own tribe were among the Israelites who were exiled
to Babylon. Her soul lamented over the misery of her people.
God, therefore, promised that her children would be released to
go back to their own land.
|
Error No. 54
|
We find this statement in Matthew:
|
And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth:
that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the
prophets. He shall be called a Nazarene.2
|
This is also certainly incorrect, as this statement is not found
in any of the books of the Prophets. The Jews deny the validity
of this kind of prediction. According to them it is simply a false
claim. On the contrary they had a firm belief that no prophet
would ever come from Galilee, not to speak of Nazareth, as is
expressly stated in the Gospel of John:
|
They answered and said unto him, Art thou also of
Galilee? Search, and look: For out of Galilee ariseth no
Prophet.3
|
The Christian scholars have put forward4 weak explanations
|
Oregarding this, which do not deserve any serious consideration.
f Readers will have noted that there are seventeen errors in
the first two chapters of Matthew.
|
Error No. 55
|
According to the Arabic translations printed in 1671, 1821,
1826, 1854 and 1880, there is a statement in Matthew which
reads as follows:
|
In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the
wildemess of Judaea.l
|
And in the Persian translations printed in 1671, 1821, 1826,
1854 and 1880, we find the same statement:
|
In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the
wilderness of Judaea.
|
In this passage the phrase, "in those days" refers to the days
when Archelaus did reign in Judaea, because just before the
verse in question, Matthew has described that after the death of
Herod, Archelaus became the king of Judaea and Joseph, the
carpenter, took the child (Jesus) and his wife to Galilee and set-
tled in the city of Nazareth, and that at this time came John, the
Baptist.
This statement is certainly wrong because John, the Baptist
delivered his sermon preaching the baptism of repentance for
the remission of sins eighteen years after the events discussed
above, since it is clear from Luke that John, the Baptist deliv-
ered this sermon when Pontius Pilate was the governor of
Judaea, and that it was the fifteenth year of Tiberius" reign. The
|
Emperor Tiberius began his reign fourteen years after the birth
of Jesus. (Britannica page 246 Vol. 2 under Tiberius) This
implies that John, the Baptist came twenty-nine years after the
birth of Jesus. In the seventh year after the birth of Jesus,
Archelaus had left his throne of Judaea. (Britannica 246 vol. 2
under Archelaus) If we assume that the beginning of Archelaus
reign and the arrival of Joseph in Nazareth were before the birth
of Jesus, the coming of John the Baptist will be proved to have
been twenty-eight years after the birth of Jesus.
|
Error No. 56: The Name of Herodias" Husband
|
We find in Matthew:
|
For Herod had laid hold on John and bound him, and
put him in prison for Herodias" sake, his brother Philip own
wife.l
|
This statement is also historically wrong, because the name
of Herodias" husband was Herodius, as is stated by Josephus in
Chapter 12 of Vol. 8 of his history.
|
Error No. 57
|
It is stated in Matthew:
|
But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David
did, when he was an hungred, and they that were with
him;
How he entered into the house of God and did eat
the shewbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, nei-
ther for them which were with him.2
|
The phrase "neither for them which were with him" is clear-
Iy wrong as will be discussed under Error No. 92.
|
Error No. 58
|
Matthew contains this statement:
|
Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy
the prophet, saying, And they took the thirty pieces of
silver, the price of him that was valued, whom they of
the children of Israel did value.l
|
This statement is also wrong as will be shown later in the
book.
|
Error No. 59: The Earthquake on Jesus" Crucifixion
|
Once more we find in Matthew:
|
And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain
from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and
the rocks rent;
And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the
saints which slept arose.
And came out of the graves after his resurrection,
and went into the holy city and appeared unto many.2
|
This is a concocted story. Norton, the famous scholar,
though he favoured the gospels, said, proving the falsity of this
story with several ARGUMENTs, "This is a totally false story. It
seems that such stories were prevalent among the Jews at the
time of destruction of Jerusalem. Possibly someone might have
written this story as a marginal note in the Gospel of Matthew,
|
and later on it might have been included in the text, the transla-
tor might have translated it from that text.l
The falsehood of this story is evident for several reasons:
|
1. The Jews went to Pilate, the day after the Crucifixion of
Christ, and said to Pilate:
|
Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he
was yet alive. After three days I will rise again.
Command therefore, that the sepulchre be made sure
until the third day.2
|
Moreover, Matthew, in the same chapter expressly states that
Pilate and his wife were not pleased at the crucifixion of Christ.
The Jews would not dare go to Pilate in these circumstances,
especially when there was an earthquake and the graves opened
and the rocks rent. The fact that Pilate was not pleased at the
crucifixion of Christ, would have put him into a rage against the
Jews. They could have not gone to Pilate to say that Christ was
a "deceiver", God forbid.
|
2. In the presence of such miraculous signs a great number of
people of that time would have embraced the new faith without
hesitation, whereas, according to the Bible, three thousand peo-
ple did accept the new faith, but only when the Holy Spirit
descended on the disciples and they spoke several languages
before the people. This event is explicitly mentioned in Acts.3
The events described by Matthew were obviously of a much
more compelling nature than the disciples speaking in several
|
languages.
|
3. Is it not surprising that none of the historians of that time
and of the time succeeding it, and none of the evangelists except
atthew, has written a single word about these events of so
great an historical importance?
It is of no avail to say that opponents have deliberately avoid-
ed any reference to these events. But what do they have to say
of the absence of any account of these events in the books of
those Christian historians who are considered to be advocates of
Christianity. In particular the absence of any description of
these events in the Gospel of Luke is very surprising, as he is
generally known for reporting the rarities of the life of Jesus, as
is clear from the first chapters of his gospel and of the Book of
A ts
c .
We cannot understand why all the evangelists, or at least
most of them, have not referred to these events when they have
given full account of events of no or lesser, significance. Mark
and Luke, too, only speak of the splitting of the veil and not of
anything else.
|
4. Since the veil in question was made of silk, we cannot
understand how a soft curtain of silk could be torn like this, and
if it was true, how the building of the temple could remain unaf-
fected. This objection is forwarded equally to all evangelists.
|
5. The bodies of the saints coming out of the graves happens
to be in clear contradiction to the statement of Paul, in which he
said that Christ was the first to rise from the dead.
The learned scholar Norton truthfully said that this evange-
list seems to be in the habit of making his own guesses, and is
not always able to sort out the truth from the available stock of
|
events. Can such a man be trusted with the word of God?
|
Errors No. 60,61,62: The Resurrection of Jesus
|
The Gospel of Matthew reports Jesus" answering to some
scribes:
|
But he answered and said unto them, An evil and
adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there
shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the Prophet
Jonas:
For Jonas was three days and three nights in the
whale own belly; so shall the son of man be three days and
three nights in the heart of the earth.2
|
We find a similar statement in the same gospel:
|
A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a
sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the
sign of the Prophet Jonas.3
|
The same is understood from the statement of the Jews
reported by Matthew:
|
Sir, we remember that, that deceiver said while he was
yet alive, After three days I will rise again.4
|
f All these statements are incorrect for the fact is that accord-
ing to the gospels Jesus was crucified on Friday in the afternoon
and died at about nine in the evening. Joseph asked Pilate for
his body in the evening and arranged his funeral, as is clear
from the Gospel of Mark. He was therefore buried in the night
of Friday, and his body is said to have disappeared on the morn-
ing of Sunday, as described by John. According to this detail,
his body did not remain in the earth for more than one day and
two nights. Therefore his statement of staying in the earth for
three days and three nights is proved incorrect.
Seeing the error in these statements, Paley and Channer
admitted that the statement in question was not of Jesus but was
the result of Matthew own own imagination. Both of them said
words to the effect that Jesus would have meant to convince
them only through his preachings without their asking a sign
from him, like the people of Nineveh, who embraced the new
faith without a sign from Jonah.
According to these two scholars this statement was proof of a
lack of understanding on the part of Matthew. It also proves that
Matthew did not write his gospel by inspiration. His not under-
standing the intention of Jesus in this case, shows that he could
well have written similarly erroneous accounts in other places.
It is, therefore, a natural conclusion that the gospel of
Matthew cannot, in any way be called revelation but is rather a
collection of accounts influenced by the local environment and
the result of human imagination.
|
Error No. 63: The Second Coming of Jesus
|
It is stated in Matthew:
|
For the son of man shall come in the glory of his
Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every
|
man according to his works.
Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here,
which shall not taste of death, till they see the son of
man coming in his kingdom.l
|
This statement has definitely been wrongly attributed to
Jesus, because all those own tanding here", died nearly two thou-
sand years ago, and none of them saw the Son of Man coming
into his kingdom.
|
Error No. 64: Another Prediction of Jesus
|
Matthew reports Jesus saying to his disciples:
|
But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into
another, for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone
over the cities of Israel, till the son of man be come.2
|
Again this is obviously wrong as the disciples have, long,
long ago, done their duty of going over the cities of Israel, but
the Son of Man never came with his kingdom.
|
Errors No. 65 - 68
|
The book of Revelations contains this statement:
|
Behold, I come quickly:3
|
The same words are found in chapter 22 verse 7 of the same
book. And verse 10 of the same chapter contains this statement:
|
Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for
the time lS at hand."
|
Further in verse 20 it says again:
|
Surely, I come quickly.
|
On the basis of these statements of Christ, the earlier follow-
ers of Christianity held the firm belief that the second coming of
Christ would be in their own time. They believed that they were
living in the last age and that the day of Judgement was very
near at hand. The Christian scholars have confirmed that they
held this belief.
|
Errors No. 69 - 75
|
The Epistle of James contains this statement:
|
Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the com-
ing of the Lord draweth near.
|
It also appears in I Peter:
|
But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore
sober and watch unto prayer.2
|
And the First Epistle of Peter contains these words:
|
Little children, it is the last time.3
|
And the First Epistle of Paul to the Thessalonians states:
|
For this we say unto you, by the word of the Lord,
that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of
|
the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with
a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the
trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first
Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught
up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in
the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
|
And Paul said in his letter to Philippians:
|
The Lord is at hand.2
|
And in his First Epistle to the Corinthians, Paul said:
|
And they are written for our admonition, upon whom
the ends of the worlds are come.3
|
Paul also said later in the same letter:
|
Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep,
but we shall all be changed,
In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last
trump: for the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be
raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.4
|
The above seven statements are the ARGUMENTs for our claim
that the early Christians held a firm belief in the second coming
of Christ during their own lifetime, with the result that all the
seven statements are proved false.
|
Errors No. 76 - 78: The Signs of the End of the World
|
Matthew describes in Chapter 24 that the disciples of Jesus
|
asked the Messiah, when they were on the Mount of Olives,
about the signs of the destruction of the Temple and the second
coming of Jesus and about the end of the world. Jesus told them
all the signs, first of the destruction of the House of the Lord,
of
his own coming to the earth again and of the day of Judgement.
The description up to verse 28 talks of the destruction of the
Temple; and verse 29 to the end of the chapter consists of the
events related to the second coming of Christ and the Day of
Judgement. Some verses of this chapter according to the Arabic
translation" printed in 1820, read thus:
|
Immediately after the tribulation of those days, shall
the sun be darkened, and the moon will not give her
light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the pow-
ers of the heavens shall be shaken.
And then shall appear the sign of the son of man in
heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn,
and they shall see the son of man coming in the clouds
of heaven with power and great glory.
And he shall send his angels with a great sound of
trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the
four winds, from one end of the heaven to the other.2
|
And in verses 34 and 35 it says:
|
Verily I say unto you. This generation shall not pass,
till all these things be fulfilled.
Heaven and earth shall pass away but my words
shall not pass away.
|
The text of the Arabic translation printed in 1844 is exactly
the same. However, the Persian translations of 1816, 1828, 1842
|
Immediately after the trouble of those days, the sun
shall be darkened.
|
Verse 34 of these translations is identical to the one quoted
above. It is, therefore necessary that the day of Judgement
should come at the time when the House of God has been
destroyed and Jesus has reappeared on the earth, "...immediate-
ly after the trouble of those days," according to the statement of
Jesus. Similarly it is also necessary that the generation contem-
porary with Christ should not have died until they saw these
event with their eyes, as was the belief of the early Christians.
However they did die centuries ago and heaven and earth still
continue to exist.
The evangelists, Mark and Luke also included similar
descriptions in Chapters 13 and 21 respectively of their gospels.
The three evangelists are equally responsible for this historical-
ly proved-false statement.
|
Errors No. 79 - 80: The Reconstruction of the Temple
|
The Gospel of Matthew reports this statement of Christ:
|
Verily I say unto you. There shall not be left here
one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.l
|
The Protestant scholars have therefore said that any con-
struction to be built on the foundations of the temple would be
razed to the ground as had been foretold by Jesus. The Author
of Tehqeeq-e-Deen-ul-Haq, (Inquisition into the True Faith)
printed in 1846, said on page 394:
|
King Julian, who lived three hundred years after
Christ and had become an apostate, intended to rebuild
the temple of Jerusalem, so that he could thus refute the
prediction of Jesus. When he started the construction
suddenly a fire jumped out from its foundations. All the
workers were frightened and fled away from there. No-
one after him ever dared to refute the saying of the
truthful, who had said, "The heaven and the earth shall
pass away but my words shall not pass away."
|
The priest Dr. Keith wrote a book in renunciation of the dis-
believers in Christ which was translated into Persian by Rev.
Mirak entitled "Kashf-ul-Asar-Fi-Qisas-e-Bani Israel" (An
exposition of the Israelite Prophets) and printed in Edinburgh in
1846. We produce the translation of a passage from page 70:
|
King Julian allowed the Jews to rebuild Jerusalem
and the temple. He also promised that they would be
allowed to live in the city of their ancestors, the Jews
were no less grieved than the king was pleased. They
started the work of the Temple. Since it was against the
prophecy of Christ, the Jews, in spite of their best efforts
and all the possible help from the king could not succeed
in their mission. Some pagan historians have reported
that the huge flames of fire burst out of this place and
burnt the workers stopping the work altogether.
|
Thomas Newton, in vol 3 (pages 63 and 64) of his commen-
tary on the prophecies of the Holy Scripture printed in London
in 1803 said, which we translate here from Urdu:
|
Omar, the second great Caliph of Islam, spread cor-
ruption all over the world. He reigned for ten and a half
years. In this short period he made great conquests and
conquered all the countries of Arabia, Syria, Iran and
Egypt. The Caliph personally besieged Jerusalem and in
637 A.D. signed the treaty of peace with the Christians
|
who were tired of the prolonged siege. The Christians
surrendered and handed over the city to Omar.
Omar offered generous terms to the Christians. He
did not take any church into his possession, but he
requested the high priest for a piece of land to build a
mosque. The priest showed him the room of Jacob and
Solomon own temple. The Christians had covered this place
with dirt and filth out of their hatred for the Jews. Omar,
himself, cleansed the place with his own hands.
Following the example of Omar, the great officers of his
army thought it their religious duty and cleansed the
place with religious zeal and built a mosque there. This
was the first mosque ever built in Jerusalem. Some his-
torians have also added that in the same mosque Omar
was murdered by a slave. Abdul Malik, son of Marvan,
who was the twelfth Caliph extended this mosque in his
reign.
|
Though, the above description of this commentator is not
true in several places, he has admitted that the first mosque built
at the place of Solomon own Temple was that built by the Caliph
Omar, and that it was extended by Abdul Malik and still exists
in Jerusalem after over 1200 years.l How would it have been
possible for Omar to succeed in building a mosque there if it
had really been against the prophecy of Christ?
Since this statement of Jesus is also reported by Mark and
Luke, they are equally responsible for this false description.
|
Error No. 82: A False Prediction
|
Matthew reports this statement as having been said by Jesus
to his disciples:
|
And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you,
|
. More than 1400 years have now passed since this event.
|
That ye which have followed me, in regeneration when
the son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye
shall also sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve
tribes of Israel.l
|
It is quite apparent from this that Jesus assured his twelve
disciples, of eternal success and redemption promising them to
sit upon twelve thrones on the Day of Judgement. This prophet-
ic witness of eternal success has been proved wrong by the
gospels themselves. We have already seen2 that one of the disci-
ples of Jesus, namely Judas Iscariot, betrayed Jesus and became
an apostate, how, then is it possible for him to sit on the twelfth
throne on the Day of Judgement?
|
Error No. 83
|
We find in the Gospel of John:
|
And he (Jesus) saith unto him, Verily, verily I say
unto you. Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the
angels of God ascending and descending upon the son of
man.3
|
This is also historically false and incorrect, for, this was said
by Jesus after his baptism and after the descent of the Holy
Spirit upon him,4 while we know that nothing like this ever hap-
pened in history after this. These prophetic words have never
come true.
|
who were tired of the prolonged siege. The Christians
surrendered and handed over the city to Omar.
Omar offered generous terms to the Christians. He
did not take any church into his possession, but he
requested the high priest for a piece of land to build a
mosque. The priest showed him the room of Jacob and
Solomon own temple. The Christians had covered this place
with dirt and filth out of their hatred for the Jews. Omar,
himself, cleansed the place with his own hands.
Following the example of Omar, the great officers of his
army thought it their religious duty and cleansed the
place with religious zeal and built a mosque there. This
was the first mosque ever built in Jerusalem. Some his-
torians have also added that in the same mosque Omar
was murdered by a slave. Abdul Malik, son of MaNan,
who was the twelfth Caliph extended this mosque in his
reign.
|
Though, the above description of this commentator is not
true in several places, he has admitted that the first mosque built
at the place of Solomon own Temple was that built by the Caliph
Omar, and that it was extended by Abdul Malik and still exists
in Jerusalem after over 1200 years.l How would it have been
possible for Omar to succeed in building a mosque there if it
had really been against the prophecy of Christ?
Since this statement of Jesus is also reported by Mark and
Luke, they are equally responsible for this false description.
|
Error No. 82: A False Prediction
|
Matthew reports this statement as having been said by Jesus
to his disciples:
|
And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you,
|
That ye which have followed me, in regeneration when
the son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye
shall also sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve
tribes of Israel.l
|
It is quite apparent from this that Jesus assured his twelve
disciples, of eternal success and redemption promising them to
sit upon twelve thrones on the Day of Judgement. This prophet-
ic witness of eternal success has been proved wrong by the
gospels themselves. We have akeady seen2 that one of the disci-
ples of Jesus, namely Judas Iscariot, betrayed Jesus and became
an apostate, how, then is it possible for him to sit on the twelfth
throne on the Day of Judgement?
|
Error No. 83
|
We find in the Gospel of John:
|
And he (Jesus) saith unto him, Verily, verily I say
unto you. Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the
angels of God ascending and descending upon the son of
man.3
|
This is also historically false and incorrect, for, this was said
by Jesus after his baptism and after the descent of the Holy
Spirit upon him,4 while we know that nothing like this ever hap-
pened in history after this. These prophetic words have never
come true.
|
Error No. 84: The Ascension of Christ
|
It is said in John:
|
And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that
came down from heaven, even the son of man which is
in heaven.l
|
This is also incorrect, as is evident from the fifth chapter of
|
Genesis2 and 2 Kings Chapter 2.3
|
Error No. 85
|
We find this statement in the gospel of Mark:
|
For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say
unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast
into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall
believe that those things which he saith shall come to
pass; he shall have whatsoever saith.4
|
We find another similar statement in the same book:
|
And these signs shall follow them that believe; In
my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with
new tongues;
They shall take up serpents, and if they drink any
deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands
on the sick, and they shall recover.5
|
And in the gospel of John we read the following statement:
|
Verily, verily I say unto you, He that believeth on
me, the works that I do, shall he do also, and greater
works than these shall he do; because I go unto my
Father.l
|
The prophetic promise made in the above texts is a general
statement that does not particularise any man or people, particu-
larly the phrase, "Whosoever shall say unto this mountain"
which is totally unconditional and can be applied to any people
of any time. Similarly the statement, "He that believeth on me,"
can include any believer in Christ of any time. There is no argu-
ment to support the claim that the above predictions were par-
ticularly made in respect of the early Christians. It is therefore,
necessary for a mountain to move and be cast into the sea, if a
believer says so to it, of course, with firm belief in Christ.
Everyone knows that nothing like this has even happened in his-
tory. We would like very much to know if any Christian, in or
after the time of Jesus, did perform "works greater than Christ"
as the evangelist has made Jesus say this in the above predic-
tion.
The Protestants have more than admitted that after the time
of Jesus the occurrence of miracles and marvels has never been
proved in history. We have seen many priests in India, who, in
spite of making strenuous efforts for many years are not able to
speak correctly in Urdu, let alone take up serpents, drink poison
and heal the sick.
|
THE FALLIBITY OF LUTHER AND CALVIN
|
Perhaps we might be allowed at this juncture, for the interest
of the readers, to reproduce two incidents directly related to
Luther and Calvin, the founders of the Protestant faith. We
quote this from the book entitled Mira"atus Sidq that was trans-
lated into Urdu by a Catholic scholar and priest Thomas Inglus
and printed in 1857. He relates the following incidents on pages
105-107:
|
In 1543 Luther tried to cast out the devil from the
son of Messina with a result similar to the Jews who
once tried to cast out devil as is described by the Book
of Acts in Chapter 19. Satan, in the same way attacked
Luther and wounded him and his companions. Stiffels
seeing that his spiritual leader, Luther was being choked
and strangled by Satan, tried to run away but being in
great terror was not able to open the latch of the door
and had to break down the door with a hammer which
was thrown to him from the outside by his servant
through a ventilator.
Another incident is related of Calvin, the great leader
of the Protestants, by another historian. Calvin once
hired a man called Bromius and told him to lie down in
front of the people and pretend to be dead. He arranged
with him that when he heard Calvin say the words,
"Bromius, rise from the dead and be alive," he should
rise from the bed as though he had been dead and had
just risen, having been miraculously brought to life. The
wife of Bromius was also told to cry and lament over the
body of her husband.
Bromius and his wife acted accordingly and people,
hearing her cries and lamentation, gathered there for her
consolation. Calvin came and said to the weeping
woman, "Do not cry. I will raise him from the dead."
He began to recite some prayers and then holding the
hand of Bromius, said, "Rise in the name of God." but
|
his design of deceiving people in the name of God was
not a success as Bromius really had died. God had
avenged Calvin for his deception and iniquity. Bromius"
wife, seeing that her husband had died in reality started
crying and blaming Calvin.
|
Both these leaders were considered to be the greatest spiritu-
al leaders of their time. If they can be blamed for such acts what
remains to be said of the generality of the people.
Pope Alexander VI, the head of the Roman church and the
representative of the Lord on the earth, according to the
Catholic faith, had prepared some poison for some other per-
sons, but drinking it himself by mistake he died. One cannot
avoid coming to the conclusion that the leaders of both the rival
sects do not possess any of the qualities mentioned in the pre-
diction under discussion.
|
Error No. 86
|
The gospel of Luke states:
|
Which was the son of Joanna, which was the son of
Rhesa, which was the son of Zorobabel, which was the
son of Salathiel, which was the son of Neri.l
|
This genealogical description of the Christ contains three
errors:
|
1. The sons of Zorobabel or Zerubbabel are described very
clearly in 1 Chronicles Chapter 3 and none of them has this
name. We have already discussed this earlier and besides this, it
is against the description of Matthew.
2. Zerubbabel is the son of Pedaiah, not Salathiel. He is,
however, his nephew.
3. Salathiel is the son of Jeconias, not of Neri. Matthew has
also agrees with this.
|
Error No. 87
|
In his account of the genealogy of Jesus, Luke states:
|
...which was the son of Sala,
Which was the son Cainan which was the son of
Arphaxad...l
|
This statement is also not correct as Sala was the son of
Arphaxad, and not his grandson, which is clear from the book of
Genesis2 and from I Chronicles.3
The Hebrew version has always preference over any transla-
tion according to the Protestants.4 No translation can be pre-
ferred to the original Hebrew version simply because it corre-
sponds with the description of Luke. On the contrary, such a
translation would be considered unacceptable on the grounds
that it has been modified.
|
Error No. 88
|
We read the following statement in Luke:
|
And it came to pass in those days, that there went
out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world
|
should be taxed,
(And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was
governor of Syria).l
|
This, too, is incorrect because the phrase "all the world"
includes the total population of the Roman empire. No historian
prior to, or contemporary with Luke ever mentioned this tax
before the birth of Jesus in his history.
Later historians, when describing it, only do so using Luke as
their source which is unacceptable. Apart from this, it seems
impossible that Cyrenius, who was governor of Syria fifteen
years after the birth of Jesus, could have done the taxing which
was accomplished fifteen years prior to the birth of Jesus.
Equally unbelievable is the notion that Jesus was born during
the time of his governorship, because in this case we are
required to believe that Mary remained in the state of pregnancy
for as long as fifteen years. It is so because Luke has admitted
in the second chapter that the wife of Zacharias conceived in the
reign of Herod2 and that Mary conceived Jesus six month later.
Realizing this "difficulty" some Christian scholars have
declared that verse 2 is a later addition and not written by Luke.
|
Error No. 89
|
Luke t t -
|
s a es.
|
Now in the fifteenth year of the Tiberius Caesar,
Pontius Pilate being governor of Judaea, and Herod
being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip, tetrarch
of Ituraea and of the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias
the tetrarch of Abilene.3
|
This is incorrect as the historians have denied of there being
any ruler of Abilene named Lysaneas in the time of Herod and
Pontius Pilate.
|
Error No. 90
|
In the same chapter of Luke we find this statement:
|
But Herod the tetrarch, being reproved by him for
Herodias, his brother Philip own wife, and for all the evils
which Herod had done.l
|
This is absolutely wrong, as we have shown under Error No.
56 and as will be discussed later in the book. The mistake was
made by Luke and not by the copier, as has been said by some
exegetes admitting the presence of the mistake in the text.
|
Error No. 91
|
We find in Mark:
|
For Herod himself had sent forth and laid hold upon
John, and bound him in prison for Herodias" sake, his
brother Philip own wife...2
|
This statement too, is erroneous, as we have already dis-
cussed. All the three evangelists are equally responsible for this
error. The translator of the Arabic versions printed 1821 and
1844 has manipulated the texts of Matthew and Luke and delet-
ed the word Philip, while other translators have not followed his
example.
|
Errors No. 92-94: Did David Eat Shewbread?
|
It appears in Mark:
|
Have ye never read what David did, when he had
need, and was an hungred, he, and they that were with
him?
How he went into the house of God, in the days of
Abiathar, the high priest, and did eat the shewbread,
which is not lawful to eat but for the priests, and gave
also to them which were with him?l
|
Earlier in the book we showed that this statement is also
incorrect, since David at that time was alone,2 therefore the
phrase "they that were with him" is a mis-statement. Besides, it
is incorrect to say the high priest at that time was Abiathar,
whereas, in fact, Ahimelech was the high priest. The falsity of
this statement can also be understood from the beginning of 1
Samuel 21 and 22.
There are three errors in two verses of Mark. The third error
will also be discussed later. The Christian scholars have plainly
admitted that Mark has made a mistake in this text.
|
Errors No. 95 - 96
|
The Gospel of Luke also describes the same event with
words signifying that David was accompanied at that time,
when, as we have just shown, he was alone.
|
Error No. 97
|
The First Epistle to Corinthians contains the following sen-
|
tence:
|
And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve.l
|
This statement is quite obviously wrong, since one of the
twelve, Judas Iscariot had died prior to this event, reducing the
number of the disciples to eleven. Mark, therefore, says in
Chapter 16:
|
He appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat.2
|
Errors No. 98-100
|
Matthew says:
|
But when they deliver you up, take no thought how
or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that
same hour what ye shall speak.
For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your
Father which speaketh in you.3
|
Luke also reports this in the following words:
|
And when they bring you unto the synagogues, and
unto magistrates, and powers, take ye no thought, how
or what thing shall ye answer, or what ye shall say:
For the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour
what ye ought to say.4
|
A similar statement is also given in Mark in chapter 13. The
implication of the texts contained in the three gospels is that
Jesus promised his disciples that whatever they said to the offi-
|
cers would be inspired to them by the Holy Ghost, which in turn
signified that their words would not be their own words but the
word of the Holy Ghost.
This statement is shown to be incorrect in the light of the fol-
lowing passage of the Book of Acts:
|
And Paul, earnestly beholding the council, said, Men
and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before
God until this day.
And the high priest Ananias commanded them that
stood by him to smite him on the mouth.
Then said Paul unto him, God shall smite thee, thou
whited wall: For sittest thou to judge me after the law
and commandest me to be smitten contrary to the law?
And they that stood by said, Revilest thou God own
high priest?
Then said Paul, I wist not, brethern, that he was the
high priest: for it is written, Thou shall not speak evil of
the ruler of thy people."
|
Had the statement of Matthew and Luke been true, their spir-
itual leader Paul, who is considered equal in status with the dis-
ciples and who himself claims to be equal to Peter, the greatest
of all disciples,2 could have not said anything erroneous before
the council.l Paul own admission to his fault is enough to prove the
text incorrect. We shall later on show that the Christian scholars
have admitted the presence of error in this text. Since this text
has appeared in the three gospels, this makes three errors in the
text.
|
Errors No. 101& 102
|
In Luke we find:
|
...in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up
three years and six months...
|
and in the Epistle of James:
|
...and it rained not on earth by the space of three
years and six months.2
|
This also seems incorrect as it is understood from I Kings
that there was rain in the third year.3
Since this statement has appears in Luke as being said by
Jesus, while in the Epistle of James, as the statement of James
himself, this, in fact, makes it two mistakes.
|
Error No. 103: Jesus and the Throne of David
|
The Gospel of Luke says in chapter 1:
|
And Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his
father David:
And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever,
and of his Kingdom there shall be no end.4
|
This is incorrect for the following two reasons:
|
1. Because Jesus, according to the genealogy given by
MaKhew, is a descendant of Jehoiakim, and none of his descen-
|
dants can sit on the throne of David according to the statement
of the Prophet Jeremiah.l
2. Secondly because historically we know that Jesus never
sat on the throne of David even for a single minute; nor did he
ever rule over the house of Jacob. On the contrary, the Jews
became hostile to him to the extent that they arrested him and
took him to Pilate, who reviled him and then handed him over
to the Jews to crucify.
Besides, it is clear from the Gospel of John that Jesus hated
the idea of being a king,2 and, moreover, it is unbelievable that
Jesus would hate something for which he was sent by God.
|
Error No. 104
|
We find the following passage in Mark:
|
Jesus answered, and said, Verily I say unto you,
There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or
sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands
for my sake, and the gospel own ,
But he shall receive hundred-fold now in this time,
houses, and brethren, and sisters and mothers, and chil-
dren, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to
come eternal life.3
|
And Luke reports these words in the same context:
|
...who shall not receive manifold more in this pre-
sent time, and in the world to come, life everlasting.
|
This cannot be true because, according to their law the
Christians are not allowed to marry more than one woman. It
would therefore, not be possible for a man leaving his wife for
the sake of Jesus, to receive "hundred-fold or at least manifold
wives in this present life."
Besides the phrase, "lands with persecutions", is out of place
here as Jesus is speaking of the reward that would be given to
them by God, hence the phrase "with persecutions" is not rele-
vant, and does not fit the context.
|
Error No. 105: Jesus Healing the One Possessed by Devils
|
The Gospel of Mark describes the event of a man possessed
by evil spirits and being healed by Jesus, saying:
|
And all the devils besought him saying, Send us into
the swine that we may enter into them.
And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the
unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine; and
the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea.l
|
This is incorrect, for the reason that the Jews were not
allowed to keep swine, being inadmissible for them under the
law.
|
Error No. 106
|
Matthew reports Jesus saying to the Jews:
|
I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the son of man
sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the
clouds of heaven.2
|
It is wrong because the Jews have never seen Christ coming
in the clouds of heaven before or after his death.
|
Error No. 107
|
Luke has reported in chapter 6:
|
The disciple is not above his master, but every man
that is perfect shall be as his master.l
|
This appears to be wrong as there are many personalities
who have had greater perfection than their teacher.
|
Error No. 108: Parents: Honour or Hate Them?
|
The following statement of Jesus has been reported by Luke:
|
If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and
mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters
yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.2
|
It is, all the more, incredible to think that such a remark
could have been made by Jesus, when he had said, reproaching
the Jews:
|
For God commanded, saying, Honour "y father and
mother, and, He that curseth father or mother, let him
die the death.3
|
We cannot see how Jesus could have said this.
|
Error No.109
|
The Gospel of John says:
|
And one of them, named Caiaphas, being the high
priest that same year said unto them, Ye know nothing at
all.
Nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man
should die for the people, and that the whole nation per-
ish not.
And this spake he not of himself, but being high
priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for
that nation;
And not for that nation only, but that also he should
gather together in one the children of God that were
scattered abroad.l
|
This statement cannot be accepted as true for the following
inconsistencies in the text.
Firstly, because this statement implies that the high priest
should necessarily be a prophet which is certainly not correct.
Secondly, if the statement of the high priest is accepted as
prophetic, it necessitates that the death of Jesus should be an
atonement only for the Jews2 and not for the whole world,
which is obviously against the established beliefs and claims of
the Christians. And the phrase, "not only for this nation"
becomes an absurd statement and against the prophethood of
Jesus.
Thirdly, according to the evangelist, this high priest who
enjoys the status of a prophet happens to be the same man who
was the high priest at the time of the "crucifixion" of Jesus and
the one who passed the religious decree against Jesus accusing
|
him of being a liar, a disbeliever and being liable to be killed.
And he was the one who was pleased at the smiting and insult-
ing of Jesus. This is witnessed to by Matthew who says:
|
And they that had laid hold on Jesus led him away to
Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the
elders were assembled.l
|
And further in the same chapter we find the following details:
|
But Jesus held his peace. And the high priest
answered and said unto him, I adjure thee by the living
God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the son
of God.
Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless I
say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the son of man sit-
ting on the right hand of power, and coming in the
clouds of heaven.
Then the high priest rent his clothes saying, He has
spoken blasphemy; what further need have we of wit-
nesses? Behold, now ye have heard his blasphemy.
What think ye? They answered and said, He is guilty
of death.
Then did they spit in his face, and buffeted him; and
others smote him with the palms of their hands,
Saying, Prophesy unto us, thou Christ, Who is he
that smote thee?
|
The fourth gospel, John, is even more explicit, saying:
|
And led him away to Annas first: for he was father
in law of Caiaphas, which was the high priest that same
year.
Now Caiaphas was he, which gave counsel to the
|
Jews, that it was expedient that one should die for the
people.l
|
We may now be allowed to say that if this statement of the
high priest was made by him as a prophet why did he gave his
judgement to kill Jesus? He declared him blasphemous and was
happy at the humiliation of Jesus in his court. Is it in any way
credible that a prophet should command people to kill his God?
We declare our utter disbelief in such prophet who remains a
prophet even after committing such profane and sacrilegious
acts. From this situation it logically deduced that Jesus was a
prophet of God but having gone astray (may God forbid) he
claimed of being God incarnate and put a false blame on God.
In short, the innocence of Christ, in this case, becomes doubtful.
In fact, the evangelist John is also innocent, as is Jesus Christ,
of making such incredible statements. The responsibility for all
such statements lies totally on the shoulders of the Trinitarians.
If, for a moment, we suppose that Caiaphas own statement is
true, even then the significance of his statement would be that
when the disciples and the followers of Jesus confirmed that
Jesus was, in fact, the Promised Messiah or Christ, since it was
generally believed by the people that it was necessary for the
Messiah to be a great king of the Jews, Caiaphas and his elders,
were afraid that having come to know this fact, the Caesar of
Rome would be angry and might make trouble for them, he pro-
posed, "one should die for the people"
This was the real and natural significance of that statement
and not that the people of the world would be redeemed and
saved from their "original sin", as they call it, which was com-
mitted by Adam thousands of years prior to the birth of the
Christ, which is a whimsical and, of course, illogical interpreta-
|
tion of the statement. The Jews also do not believe in this
whimsical conception of the Trinitarians.
Perhaps this evangelist, later on, realised the mistake and he
replaced the phrase "he prophesied" with the words "he gave
counsel", in Chapter 18, because to give counsel is very differ-
ent from making a prophesy as a prophet. Though by making
this change he has opened himself to the charge of contradicting
his own statement.
|
Error No. 110
|
Paul own letter to Hebrews contains this statement:
|
For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the
people according to the law, he took the blood of calves
and of goats, with water and scarlet wool, and hyssop,
and sprinkled both the book and all the people,
Saying, This is the blood of the testament which God
hath enjoined unto you.
Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the taberna-
cle and all the vessels of the ministry.l
|
The above statement is incorrect for the following three rea-
sons:
Firstly because the blood was not of calves and goats, but
was only of oxen, at that occasion.
Secondly because, the water, the scarlet wool and hyssop
were not present; at that moment only the blood was sprinkled.
Thirdly, because Moses himself did not sprinkle on the book
and on the vessels as described by Paul, rather half the blood
was sprinkled on the altar and half of it on the people.
These three mistakes are clear from the following description
|
given by the book of Exodus. It reads:
|
And Moses came and told the people all the words
of the Lord, and all the judgements: and all the people
answered with one voice, and said, All the words which
the Lord hath said will we do.
And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord, and rose
up early in the morning, and builded an altar under the
hill, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of
the Israel...
...which offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace
offerings of oxen unto the Lord.
And Moses took half of the blood and put it in
basons; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar.
And he took the book of the covenant, and read in
the audience of the people: and they said, All that the
Lord hath said will we do, and be obedient.
And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the
people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant,
which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these
words.l
|
In view of the textual defects and inconsistencies present in
the Bible, pointed out to the readers so far, the Roman Catholic
Church prohibited the study and reading of these books for
common people. They rightly said that the damage caused by
the reading of them would be greater than the benefit to be
expected from them. They were certainly right in having this
opinion. In fact, the contradictions, errors and inconsistencies
of
the biblical texts were not known to the people until the appear-
ance of the Protestant movement. They discovered and dug into
these books and the secrets were disclosed, causing the strong
reaction which is well known to the world today.
The book entitled, Kitabu"th-Thalathu-Ashrah (The Thirteen
|
Books) printed in Beirut in 1849, contains the following on
pages 417, 418 of the Thirteenth Book. We give its faithful
translation from Urdu:
|
Let us now look at the law passed by the Council of
Trent and duly stamped by the Pope. It said that the
experience of the past showed that such words when
read by common people would produce greater evil than
good. It was therefore the responsibility of the priest or
of the judge that, according to his description, or in con-
sultation with the teacher of confession, he should allow
the reading of the words in these books only to those
who, in their opinion, might be benefited by them, and it
was of great importance that the book must have been
previously checked by a Catholic teacher, and it had to
bear the signature of the teacher who allowed it to be
read. Anyone who dared read it without permission, was
not to be excused unless he was sent to the proper
authorities.
|
THE BIBLICAL TEXTS
ARE THEY REVEALED?
|
THE ARGUMENTS
|
We intend to show in this chapter that the Judaeo-Christian claim
that the Bible, - both Old and New Testaments, was revealed to and
written down by men inspired by God, is false and ungrounded. There
are numerous ARGUMENTs to prove this, but we will confine ourselves
in the following pages to seventeen of them which, in our opinion,
are
more than sufficient to prove our claim.
r
|
DISTORTIONS
|
A large number of clear contradictions are to be found in the books
of the Bible. The Christian scholars and commentators have always
been at a loss to find any way of explaining them. For some of the
textual differences they have had to admit that one of the texts is
cor-
rect and the other false, due either to delibeMte distortion on the
part
of later theologians or to mistakes of the copiers. For some
contMdic-
tory texts they have put forward absurd explanations that would
never
be accepted by a sensible reader. These have already been
discussed.
|
The Biblical books are full of errors and we have pointed out more
than one hundred of them already. It is self-evident that a
revealed
text must be free from errors and contMdictions.
|
There are also many cases of distortion and human manipulation
in the texts of these books. The alteMtions and changes which have
been delibeMtely or unknowingly made have even been admitted by
Christian theologians. Texts which have been definitely changed or
distorted cannot be accepted as revealed or inspired even by the
Christians. We intend to present a hundred examples of such distor-
tions in the Bible later in this book.
|
As we mentioned previously, certain books or part of books are
accepted by the Catholics as being the revelations of their
Prophets
while the Protestants have proved that these books were not
divinely
inspired. These books are: the Book of Baruch, the Book of Tobit,
the
Book of Judith, the Wisdom of Solomon, Ecclesiastes, Maccabees I
and II, chapters eleven to sixteen of the Book of Esther, and ten
verses
from chapter ten of the same book, and the song of the three
children
from chapter three of the Book of Daniel.
|
These books are considered by the Catholics to be an integMl part
of the Old Testament, whereas the Protestants have rejected them
and
do not include them in the Old Testament. We, therefore, leave them
out of our discussion. Any readers particularly curious about these
books should refer to the books of the Protestant scholars. The
Jews
do not accept these books as genuine either.
|
Similarly, the third Book of Ezra is considered part of the Old
Testament according to the Greek church, while both the Catholics
and the Protestants have proved conclusively that this book is not
genuine. The revealed status of the Book of Judges is also in
question
for those who claim it to be written by Phineas or Hezekiah, and
the
same applies to the Book of Ruth, according to those who perceive
it
as being written by Hezekiah. Nor, according to the majority of
writ-
ers, is the Book of Nehemiah divinely inspired, especially the
first
twenty-six verses of chapter twelve.
|
The Book of Job was also not considered revelation by
Maimomides, Michel, Semler, Stock, Theodore and Luther, the
founder of the Protestant faith. The same opinion is held by those
who
attribute this book to Elihu or to someone unknown. Chapters thirty
and thirty-one of the Book of Proverbs are not divinely inspired.
According to the Talmud, Ecclesiastes is not an inspired book.
|
The same applies to the Song of Solomon according to Theodore,
Simon, Leclerc, Whiston, Sewler, and Castellio. Twenty-seven chap-
ters of the Book of Isaiah are also not revelation according to the
learned scholar Lefevre d"Etapes of Germany. The Gospel of
Matthew, according to the majority of ancient scholars and almost
all
later scholars who consider it to have been originally written in
the
Hebrew language and that the present Gospel is merely a translation
of the original which has been lost, is not, and cannot be,
divinely
inspired.
|
As for the Gospel of John, the scholars, Bretschneider and
Lefevre d"Etapes have refused to accept it as genuine. The last
chapter
was certainly rejected by the scholar Grotius as being neither
genuine
or inspired.
|
Similarly all the Epistles of John are not accepted as prophetic by
Bretschneider and the Alogi school. The Second Epistle of Peter,
the
Epistle of Jude, the Epistle of James, the First and Second
Epistles of
John and the Book of Revelations are not considered as genuine by
most of the scholars.
:
|
THE ADMISSIONS OF CHRISTIAN SCHOLARS
|
Horne says on page 131 of Vol. I of his commentaries printed in
1 822:
|
If we accept that some books of the Prophets have been
lost and have disappeared, we shall have to believe that those
books were never written with the help of inspiration. St.
Augustine proved this fact with very strong ARGUMENTs saying
that he had found many things mentioned in the books of the
kings of Judea and Israel, but could not find any description
of the things in these books. For their explanations, they have
referred to the books of other Prophets, and in some instances
they have also mentioned the names of the Prophets. These
books have not been included in the canon acknowledged by
the church, which has not assigned any reason for their exclu-
sion, except to say that the Prophets, to whom significant reli-
gious instructions are revealed, have two kinds of writings.
Writings without inspiration, which are similar to the writings
of honest historians, and writings guided by inspiration. The
first kind of writings are attributed to the Prophets them-
selves, while the others are ascribed directly to God. The first
kind of writings are meant to add to our knowledge while the
others are the source of the law and religious instructions.
|
Further on page 133 of Vol. I, discussing the cause of the disap-
pearance of the Book of Wars of the Lord, mentioned in the Book of
Numbersl (21:14), he said:
|
The book which has disappeared was, according to the
great scholar Dr. Lightfoot own findings, the one that was writ-
ten for the guidance of Joshua, under the command of the
Lord aRer the defeat of the Amalekites. It seems that the book
in question contained some accounts of the victory of this war
|
l.There is a description given in the Book of Numbers with
reference to the Book
of Wars of the Lords. Only some sentences from that book have been
given, the rest
of the book has been lost.
|
as well as strategic instructions for the future wars. This was
not an inspired book nor was it a part of the Canonical books.
|
Then in the supplement of his first volume he said:
|
When it is said that the Holy books were revealed by
God, it does not necessarily signify that every word and the
whole text was revealed. The difference of idiom and expres-
sion of the authors show that they were allowed to write
according to their own temperament and understanding. The
knowledge of inspiration was used by them similar to the use
of the current sciences. It cannot be imagined that every word
they said or every doctrine they passed was revealed to them
by God.
|
Further he said that it was confirmed that the writers of the books
of the Old Testament were "sometimes inspired".
The compilers of Henry and Scott own Commentary, in the last vol-
ume of their book, quote from the Alexander Canon, that is, from
the
principles of faith laid down by Alexander:
|
It is not necessary that everything said by a Prophet
should be an inspiration or a part of the Canon. Because
Solomon wrote some books through inspiration it does not
mean that everything he wrote was inspired by God. It should
be known that the Prophets and the disciples of Jesus were
sometimes inspired for important instructions.
|
Alexander own Canon is held as a book worthy of great respect and
trust in the eyes of the Protestants. Warn, a great scholar of the
Protestants, has used ARGUMENTs from this book in his discursive
examination of the authenticity of the Bible.
THE OPINION OF ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA
|
The author own entry ""Inspiration""l in the Encyclopaedia
Britannica2
has this statement on page 274 vol. 11
|
It has always been a matter of controversy whether every-
thing which is written in the sacred books is inspired or not.
Similarly all accounts of the events described in them are not
inspired by God according to Jerome, Grotius, Papias and
many other scholars.
|
Furlher in vol. 19 on page 20 it says:
|
Those who claim that everything of the Gospels is
inspired by God cannot prove their claim easily.
|
It also says:
|
If ever we are asked which part of the Old Testament is
held by us as inspiration of God, we would answer that the
doctrines and the predictions for future events which are the
foundation of Christian faith cannot be other than inspiration.
As for other descriptions, the memory of the apostles is
enough for them.
|
THE REES ENCYCLOPEDIA
|
In volume nineteen of the Rees Encyclopedia, the author says that
|
l.We did not find this sentence in the present edition of
Britannica, however, we
have found the admission that every word of these books is not
inspired, on page 23
vol. 12 under the entry "Inspiration"
|
2. All the references in the Ercyclopaedia Britannica have been
taken from the
old 18th century edition. The present edition does not have been
them at the places
referred to. We have therefore translated them from Urdu in our own
words. This
however, does not make difference as this admission can be found in
many place in
the Britannica. (Raazi)
|
the authenticity and divinity of the Holy books has been debated
because there are many contradictions and inconsistencies found in
the statements of the authors of these books. For example, when the
texts of Matthew 10:19,20 and Mark, 11:13 are compared with Acts
23:1-6,1 the contradictory nature of these books becomes all the
more
serious.
|
It is also said that the disciples of Jesus themselves did not know
one another to be receiving inspiration from God, as is evident
from
their debates in the council of Jerusalem and from Paul own blaming
of
Peter. Moreover it is clear that the ancient Christians did not
consider
them innocent and free from faults, since they sometimes made them
subject to their criticism. This is obvious from Acts 11:2,32 and
also
Acts 21:20-24.
|
It has also been mentioned that Paul, who considered himself not
less than the disciples of Jesus (see 2 Corinthians 11:5 and
12:11),
nevertheless mentioned himself in such a manner as to show that he
did not feel himself constantly to be a man of inspiration.3 The
author
also said:
|
We are not given a feeling by the disciples of Jesus as
speaking on behalf of God every time they spoke.
|
He has said that:
|
Michaelis thoroughly examined the ARGUMENTs of both the
groups, which was necessary for a matter of such importance,
and decided that the presence of inspiration in the Holy Book
is certainly of great use, but even if we dispense with the
presence of inspiration in the Gospels and the Acts, which are
books of an historical nature, we lose nothing and they still
remain as useful to us as before. It does not damage anything
|
l.This difference of the texts has been discussed by us, under the
errors Nos: 98-
100.
|
2. And when Peter was come up to Jerusalem, they that were of the
circumcision
contended with him, Saying, Thou wentest in to men uncircumcised,
and didst eat
with them. (Acts 11:2,3)
|
3. I Corinthians 7:10,12,15,40. And also 2 Cor. 11:17.
if we accept that the historical descriptions of the evangelists
in the gospels, are similar to the descriptions of the historians,
since, as was observed by Christ, "And ye also shall bear wit-
ness, because ye have been with me from the beginning."
John 15:27.
|
It is therefore unnecessary to prove the truth of these
books to a non-Christian, on the basis of his acceptance of the
truth of some of the evangelic descriptions. On the contrary
you should put forward auments in favour of such miracles
as the death and resurrection of Christ as related in the writ-
ings of the evangelists, always bearing in mind that they are
historians. For anyone who wishes to examine the foundation
and origin of his faith, it is necessary to consider the state-
ments of the evangelist about those particular matters as simi-
lar to the statements of other historians. Because it would be
physically impossible to prove the truth of the events
described by them, it is necessary that we accept their
descriptions in the manner we accept the descriptions of other
historians. This line of approach would save Christianity from
all dangers. We do not find it mentioned anywhere that the
general events experienced by the apostles, and perceived by
Luke through his investigations, were inspired.
|
If however we are allowed to admit that some evangelists
made mistakes and that they were later corrected by John, this
would be greatly advantageous and facilitate conformity in
the Bible. Mr. Cuddle also favored the opinion of Michaelis
in section 2 of his book. As far as the books written by the
pupils of the apostles are concerned, like the Gospels of Mark
and Luke and the Book of Acts, Michaelis has not given his
decision as to whether they were inspired or not.
|
WATSON own ADMISSION
|
Watson, in volume four of his book on Revelations, which was
based on the commentary of Dr. Benson, remarks that the fact that
Luke own writing is not inspired is evident from the dedication of
his
Gospel to Theophilus:
|
Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in
order a declaration of those things which are most surely
believed among us, even as they delivered them unto us,
which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers
of the word; it seemed good to me also, having had perfect
understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto
thee in order, most excellent Theophilus, that thou mightest
know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been
instructed.l
|
Watson says about this:
|
The ancient writers of Christian theology have also given
a similar opinion. Irenaeus said that Luke conveyed to us the
things which he learnt from the apostles. Jerome said that
Luke does not depend only on Paul, who was never in the
physical company of Christ. Luke also acquired the knowl-
edge of the Evangel from other apostles as well.
|
He further elucidates:
|
The apostles, when they used to speak or write anything
concerning the faith, were protected with the treasure of
inspiration that they had. Being, however, human beings, and
men of reason and inspiration, they were just like other peo-
ple when describing common events.
|
This made it possible for Paul to write in his first epistle to
Timothy, without inspiration:
|
Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stom-
ach own sake and thine often infirmities.2
|
and furLher:
|
The cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou
comest, bring with thee, and the books, but especially the
parchments. "
|
And that he could write to Philemon, "But withal prepare me also a
lodging." (v.22) And as he wrote to Timothy, "Erastus abode at
Corinth; but Trophimus have I left at Miletum sick."
However there are other occasions when it is clear that Paul speaks
by inspiration, as in his first letter to the Corinthians:
|
And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord,
Let not the wife depart from her husband.3
|
But in verse twelve of the same epistle he says:
|
But to the rest speak I, not the Lord.
|
Then in verse twenty-five he says:
|
Now conceming virgins I have no commandment of the
Lord: yet I give my judgment, as one that hath obtained
mercy of the Lord to be faithful.
|
The book of Acts contains this statement:
|
Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the
region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to
preach the word in Asia. After they were come to Mysia, they
assayed to go into Bithynia: but the Spirit suffered them not.
|
From the above we are given to understand that the apostles" work
|
was based on two things: reason and inspiration. They used the
first to
speak of general events, while through the other they gave
religious
instructions related to the Christian faith. This is why the
apostles,
like other human beings, committed mistakes in their domestic
affairs
and in their intentions. This is quite evident from Acts 23:3; Rom.
15:24,28; I Cor. 16:5,6,8 and 2-Cor. 11:15-18.
|
The nineteenth volume of the Rees Encyclopedia contains this
description under the entry "Dr. Benson":
|
Whatever he has written in connection with inspiMtion
seems to be clear and logical and, indeed, unique in its appli-
cation.
|
BEAUSOBRE AND LENFANT own OPINION
|
Beausobre and Lenfant said the following about this matter:
|
The Holy Ghost, with whose help and teaching the evan-
gelists and the apostles wrote, did not prescribe any particular
language for them, but conveyed the meanings to their hearts
through intuition and protected them from being involved in
errors. They were allowed to preach or write the word of
inspiration in their own language using their own expressions.
As we find differences of expression and idiom in the writ-
ings of the ancient writers, which are mainly dependent on
the temperaments and capabilities of the writers concerned,
so an expert of the original language will easily recognise the
differences of idiom and expression in the gospels of
Matthew, Luke, and John and the epistles of Paul.
|
If, however, the Holy Ghost had truly inspired the words to them,
this would have not happened. The style and expression of all the
gospels would have been identical. Besides, there have been many
events the description of which does not require inspiration. For
example, they write of many events which they saw with their own
eyes or heard from reliable observers. Luke says that when he
intend-
ed to write his gospel he wrote the descriptions according to eye
wit-
nesses of the events described. Having this knowledge in his mind,
he
thought that it was a treasure which should be conveyed to future
gen-
erations.
|
An author who received his account through the inspiration of the
Holy Ghost usually expressed this fact by saying something to the
effect that everything he had written was according to inspiration
he
had received from the Holy Ghost. Though the faith of Paul is of an
unusual kind, it is still strange that Luke does not seem to have
any
witnesses except Paul and his companions.
|
We have produced above the testimony of two of the great schol-
ars of Christianity, who are very much esteemed and celebrated in
the
Christian world. Horne and Watson have also the same opinion of
them.
|
THE VIEWS OF CHRISTIAN SCHOLARS ON THE
PENTATEUCH
|
Horne said on page seven hundred and ninety-eight of volume two
of his great work:
|
Eichhom, one of the German scholars, denied that Moses
received inspiration.
|
And on page eight hundred and eighteen:
|
Scholz, Noth, Rosenmuller and Dr. Geddes are of the
opinion that Moses did not receive inspiration, and that al the
five books of the Pentateuch were simply a collection of ver-
bal traditions current in that period. This concept is making
its way rapidly among the German scholars.
|
He also said:
|
Eusebius and several latter theologians have pronounced
|
that the book of Genesis was written by Moses, in Midian,
when he was pasturing the goats of his father in law.
|
We may be allowed to remark that, in this case, this book cannot
be an inspiration because, according to Eusebius, this was before
Moses was entrusted with prophethood. Therefore the book of
Genesis also must be a collection of current local verbal
traditions. If
the writings of the Prophets, written by them as Prophets, were not
books of inspiration, a fact admitted by Home and other scholars,
how then could a book written by Moses long before his prophethood
be a revealed book?
The Catholic, Ward, has on page thirty-eight of the 1841 edition:
|
Luther said in vol. 3 of his book on pages 40 and 41 that:
"Neither do we hear Moses, nor do we tum to him, for he was
only for the Jews; we have nothing to do with him."
|
In another book he said: "We believe neither in Moses nor
in the Torah, because he was an enemy of Jesus, and said that
he was the master of executioners, and said that the Christians
have nothing to do with the ten commandments."
|
Again he said that he would discard the Ten
Commandments from the books so that heresy was abolished
forever, because these are the root of all heretical ideas.
|
One of his pupils, Aslibius, has said that no one knew the
ten commandments in the churches. The Christian sect called
the Antinomians was initiated by a person who believed that
the Pentateuch did not have any such qualities as to be con-
sidered the word of God. It was their belief that any one com-
mitting sins like adultery and other evil deeds deserved salva-
tion and would be in etemal happiness if only he had faith in
Christianity. Those who tumed to the ten commandments
were influenced by Satan, and they were the ones who cruci-
fied Jesus.
|
These remarks of the founder of the Protestant faith and his pupil
are certainly of great importance. They mean that all Protestants
must
be disbelievers in Moses and the Pentateuch, since, according to
them, Moses was the enemy of Jesus, the master of the executioners,
and the Pentateuch was not the word of God. Having nothing to do
with the ten commandments, they must turn to paganism and multi-
theism. They should also disregard their parents, trouble their
neigh-
bours, commit theft, murder and perjury because, otherwise, they
would be acting according to the ten commandments which "are the
root of all heretical ideas".
|
Some Christians belonging to this sect have said to us that they
did
not believe in Moses as a Prophet but only as a man of wisdom and
a
great legislator, while some others said to us that Moses, God
forbid,
was a thief and a robber. We asked them to fear God, they answered
that they were right in saying this as it had been said by Jesus
himself:
|
All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but
the sheep did not hear them.l
|
Now we can see why the founder of the Protestant faith, Luther,
and his pupil reproached Moses; they must have been guided by the
above statement.
|
THE EPISTLE OF JAMES AND THE BOOK OF
REVELATION
|
Luther said regarding the epistle of James:
|
This is the word not suitable to be included in the books,
as the disciple James said in chapter five of his epistle, "Is
any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church-
and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the
name of the Lord.2
|
Luther, raising objection on the above statement, said in volume
|
two of his book:
|
If this is what James has said, I answer him that no disci-
ple has the right to define and issue religious injunctions on
his own account, because it was only Jesus who possessed
that status.
|
It is clear from the above that the epistle of James is not,
according
to Luther, inspired, and that injunctions given by the disciples
are not
supported by inspiration, otherwise the above statement would be
absurd and meaningless.
Ward stated in his book printed in 1841:
|
Pomran, an eminent scholar of the Protestants and a pupil
of Luther, says that James has written false and absurd events
at the end of his letter. He has copied from other books events
which cannot be associated with the Holy Ghost. Such a book
therefore must not be considered as inspired.
|
Vitus Theodore, a Protestant preacher in Nuremburg, said that they
had intentionally given up the Book of Revelation and the Epistle
of
James. He said that the Epistle of James is not to be censured
where
he has stressed the necessity of good deeds along with faith, but
that
this letter contains contradictions. The Magdeburg Centuries said
that
the Epistle of James, at one place, is unique among all the
accounts of
the disciples because he says that salvation does not depend on
faith
alone but that it also requires good deeds. He also says that the
Torah
was the Law of Freedom.
|
It is clear from the above that these elders, like Luther, do not
believe in the Epistle of James being inspired by the Holy Ghost.
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THE ADMISSION OF CLEMENT
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Clement said:
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Matthew and Mark are different from each other in their
writings, but when they agree on a certain point they are pre-
ferred to Luke own account.
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We may be allowed to say that the above statement allows us to
deduce two important points. Firstly that Matthew and Mark them-
selves differ in many places in their accounts of the same event
and
whenever they agree in their statement their accounts are
preferable to
Luke. None of them ever agree word for word about any event.
Secondly that all three gospels are proved to have been written
with-
out inspiration because the preference of the first two gospels
over the
third would be out of the question had they been inspired.
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Paley, an eminent Protestant scholar, wrote a book conceming the
truth of the four gospels. It was printed in 1850. He writes on
page
323 of his book to this effect:
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The second thing that has been falsely attributed to the
ancient Christians is that they firmly believed in the coming
of the Day of Judgment in their own time. I will present an
example before any objection to this is raised. Jesus said to
Peter, "If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?"
This statement has been taken to mean that John would not
die until the Day of Judgment, and this false concept spread
among the common people. Now if this report was conveyed
to us after it had become a public opinion and the cause
which initiated the mistake is not known, and someone comes
forward to present it as an ARGUMENT against the Christian
faith this would be absolutely unfair, in view of the facts that
we posses.
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Those who say that the gospels lead us to believe that the
early Christians truly expected that the Last Day would come
about in their own time should keep this explanation in mind,
and it will save them from the blame of deceiving people.
Now there comes another question that if, for a moment, we
accept the possibility of errors and omissions on the part of
the disciples, how then can they be trusted about anything
they say? As a reply to this question it would be enough for
the supporters of Christianity to say to the disbelievers that
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what we seek from the disciples is their witness not their per-
sonal opinion. The object, in fact, is to achieve the result
which, as a consequence of this, is safe.
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But in answering this, we must keep two points in mind;
to eliminate all the dangers. First, the object intended by the
mission of all the disciples should be defined. They helped
prove the point which was either strange or mixed with truth.
They are not required to say anything about what is obviously
not related to the faith, but they would be required to say
something to remove ambiguity about something in the text
of the divine books which has accidentally got mixed up with
the truth. Another example of this is the belief in the posses-
sion by devils. In the case of those who hold that this false
opinion had become common in their time and also influ-
enced the evangelists and the early Christians, it must be
accepted that this opinion does not in anyway damage the
truth of the Christian faith, because this is not the matter Jesus
was sent for. But something which, having become a public
opinion in that country, somehow got mixed with the state-
ment of Jesus.
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It is certainly not a part of their message to rectify their
false belief in the spirits, nor has it anything to do with their
witness. Secondly their message should be separated and dis-
tinguished from what they present to support and elucidate
that which is inspired. For instance, something in what they
say might be inspired, but in addition to that they present per-
sonal explanations to strengthen their message. For example,
the principle that anyone other than a Jew accepting the
Christian faith would not be bound to follow the law of
Moses, in spite of its truth having been proved through mira-
cles.
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Paul, for example, when speaking of this principle, has
mentioned many things in support of it. Therefore the princi-
ple in itself is acknowledged by us, but it is not necessary for
us to support all their explanatory remarks in order to prove
the truth of the Christian faith. This method may be applied to
other principles of a similar nature. I am absolutely sure of
the truth that any instruction agreed upon by the pious men of
God will always be followed as a religious obligation. It is,
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however, not necessary for us to explain or to accept all those
details, unless they have, of course, specified those premises.
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The above passage allows us to advance the following four points:
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1. We have already proved through sufficient ARGUMENTs and sup-
ports, under the heading of Errors no. 64-78, that all the
disciples of
Jesus and other Christians of that time had firm belief in the
coming
of the Day of Judgment in their own time and that John would not
die
until the Day of Judgment.
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We have reproduced their unambiguous and definite statements to
this effect. Barnes, making his comments on chapter twenty-one of
the Gospel of John, said the words which we reproduce below from
the Urdu translation:
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The misconception that John would not die was created
by the words of Jesus which can be easily misunderstood.
The idea became even stronger with the fact that John sur-
vived until after the death of the other disciples.
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The compilers of Henry and Scott remark:
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Most probably the purpose of Jesus by this statement was
to annoy the Jews, but the disciples misunderstood it to signi-
fy that John would live up to the Last Day or that he would be
raised to heaven alive.
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Further they say:
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Here we must keep in mind that a report of a certain man
may come without proper confirmation. It would, therefore be
a folly to base our faith on such reports. This statement, in
spite of being a report of the disciples and having become
common and established among people, turned out to be
untrue. How then could reports which were not even written
down and recorded demand our belief. These are our own
comments and not a statement made by Jesus.
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urther they say in their marginal notes:
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The disciples misunderstood the words of Jesus, as the
evangelist" has elucidated, because they had firm belief that
the coming of the Lord would be for establishing Justice.
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In view of the above statements, there remains no doubt that the
disciples misunderstood it. Now, when they had such beliefs regard-
ing the Day of Judgment and John not dying until the day of
Judgment. their statement with regard to the occurrence would natu-
rally be taken literally which proves them to have been wrong and
to
find new explanations for them is of no avail. That would involve
an
effort to give the words a meaning which was not intended by their
speakers. Having been proved to have been other than the truth they
obviously cannot be taken as inspirations.
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2. It is clear from the above description of Paley that the
scholars
have admitted the fact that the matters which are not directly
related
to the faith, or have been somehow mixed with the principles of
faith,
do not damage the Christian faith in any way if they are proved
erro-
neous.
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3. They have also admitted that the presence of errors and mis-
takes in the ARGUMENTs of the disciples is not damaging to the
Christian faith.
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4. They have accepted that the existence of evil spirits and their
influence on human beings is not a reality and that belief in them
was
a product of human imagination and superstition; and that they had
found their way in through the statements of the evangelists, and
even
through Jesus, because they had become a part of common tradition
of that period.
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1. This refers to John, 21:23. "hen went this saying abroad among
the brethren
that that disciple should not die: yel Jesus said not unto him, He
shall not die."
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Keeping these four conclusions in mind, we must be allowed to
claim that more than fifty perent of the gospels are thus precluded
from having been the result of inspiration. According to this
opinion,
only the descriptions directly related to faith or those defining
the rit-
uals can be considered as inspired.
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However this opinion does not carry any weight because it hap-
pens to be against the opinion of Luther, the founder of the
Protestant
church, who explicitly declared that none of the apostles had any
right
to issue or define any religious principle on his own account,
because
only Jesus had the right to issue religious doctrines. The
unavoidable
conclusion is that the remaining part of the gospels, consisting of
the
descriptions from the disciples directly related to faith, is
likewise
deprived of its Divine character.
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ADMISSIONS OF PROTESTANT SCHOLARS
|
Ward reproduced a number of statements from the great scholars
of the Protestant faith. We reproduce below nine of them from his
book printed in 1841.
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(1) Zwingli, a Protestant bibliographer, said that all the events
described in Paul own letters cannot be considered sacred, as some
events described in these epistles are incorrect.
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(2) Mr. Fulk accused Peter of making false statements and declared
him to be ignorant of the Evangel.
|
(3) Dr. Goad, during a polemic with Father Campion, said that
Peter was wrong in his belief about the descent of the Holy
Spirit on Jesus.
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(4) Brentius, called a learned leader and master by Jewel, said
that
Peter the chief disciple and Barnabas made erroneous state-
ments after the descent of the Holy Spirit.
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(5) John Calvin remarked that Peter spread heresy in the church
and put the independence of Christianity in danger and the
Christian grace was led astray by him.
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(6) The Magdeburg Centuries accuses the disciples, and especially
Paul, of making false statements.
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(7) Whittaker said that the people and dignitaries of the church,
and
even the disciples of Jesus, made great mistakes in preaching
the Christian faith to the gentiles, and that Peter made mistakes
in rituals, and that these mistakes were committed by them after
the descent of the Holy Spirit.
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(8) Zanchius gave an account of some followers of Calvin in his
book. He reported that some of them said that if Paul ever came
to Geneva to preach against Calvin, they would listen to Calvin
and leave Paul alone.
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(9) Lewathrus, a staunch follower of Luther, giving a description
of
some great scholars has quoted their statements to the effect
that it was possible for them to doubt a statement of Paul, but
there was no room for any doubt about the statements made by
Luther. Similarly it was not possible for them to allow of any
doubt in the book of the church of Augsburg conceming the
principles of faith.
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The above statements are from the great scholars of the Protestant
faith. They have declared that none of the books of the New
Testament were inspired and genuine. They have also admitted that
the disciples were erratic in what they wrote.
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ADMISSIONS OF GERMAN SCHOLARS
|
The learned scholar Norton wrote a book on the truth of the Bible
which was printed in Boston in 1837. He said in his preface to the
book:
|
Eichhom observed in his book that, in the first days of the
Christianity, there was a short book consisting of various
accounts of Jesus" life. It is quite possible to say that this was
the original Evangel. Most probably this was written for those
followers who could not listen to the sayings of Jesus and
could not see him with their own eyes. This Evangel was a
model. The accounts of Jesus written there were not in
chronological order.
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It must be noted that this script was different from the present
gospels in many respects. The present gospels are by no means the
model represented by the one discussed above. The present gospels
were written under very difficult circumstances and contain some
accounts of Jesus which were not present in the original script.
There
is evidence to suggest that this original script was the main
source of
all the gospels which appeared in the first two centuries after the
death of Jesus. It also served as the basis for the gospels of
Matthew,
Mark and Luke which later on became more popular than the others.
Though these three gospels also contained additions and omissions,
they were later on supplemented with the missing events by other
people to make them complete. The other gospels, which contained
various accounts of Jesus occurring after his prophethood, such as
the
Gospel of Marcion and the Gospel of Tatian were abandoned. They
also added many other accounts, accounts of Jesus" birth and also
accounts of his youth and reaching maturity and other things. This
fact is evident from the gospel called the Memoirs from which
Justin
quoted in his book. The same is understood from the gospel of
Corinth.
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The portions of these gospels which are still available, if
compared
with each other, clearly show that the addition of these accounts
has
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been quite gradual, for example, the heavenly voice which was heard
originally spoke in these words:
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Thou art my son, I have begotten thee this day.
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As has been quoted by Justinian in two places. Clement also repro-
duced this sentence from a Gospel of unknown identity in these
words:
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Thou art my beloved son, I have begotten thee this day.
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The present gospels, however, have this sentence in these words:
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Thou art my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.l
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The Ebionite Gospel combined the two statements together thus:
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Thou art my beloved son, I am pleased unto thee, thou art
begotten this day.
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This was stated by Epiphanius.
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Christian history, through gradual additions and innumerable
manipulations, has totally lost its original form and is now a
mixture
of unidentifiable ingredients. Any one curious enough can easily
sat-
isfy his curiosity by reading an account of Jesus" baptism that has
been collected together from several gospels.
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This gradual mixture of contra-factual events with original scrip-
ture has so terribly deformed the authenticity of the gospels that
they
no longer retain their original divine character. The more they
were
translated from one language to another, the more they lost their
origi-
nal shape and form.
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Realising this situation, the Church came to their aid towards the
end of the second century or at the beginning of the third century
AD
|
and tried to save the true and the original Evangel and to convey,
as
far as possible, the truth to the future generations. They,
therefore,
selected the four present gospels out of many gospels that were
cur-
rent in that period, because these four scripts seemed more compre-
hensible than any of the others.
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There is no sign of the existence of the gospels of Matthew, Mark
and Luke before the end of the second century or the beginning of
the
third century AD. The first man to speak of these gospels in
history
was Irenaeus in 200 AD who also advanced some ARGUMENTs concern-
ing the nu nber of the gospels.
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Then in 216 AD Clement of Alexandria made a painstaking effort
to prove that these four gospels were inspired and, therefore,
should
be acknowledged as the source of Christian faith. The result of
this is
that, towards the end of the second century and the beginni