format_quote Originally Posted by
Woodrow
We do not know what words in the Bible are true. We do not know what I'sa(a.s.) ever said. We only have the words written by others alledging what he said.
The actual Bible no longer exists. What we see in todays Bible are translations and interpretations of the original. We can assume that some truth still exists in the ?Bible, but we have no verification as to what words are true.
Is that the official position (if there is one) of Islam---that we do not know what words in the Bible are true? I've heard something like that stated before, and I've often thought that it is so stated in order to avoid anything that Islam disagrees with. Very convenient, it would seem, for a later religion to teach anything contrary to an earlier one by just saying whatever they want to change was not really taught by the earlier one.
Sounds like what the serpent said to Eve, "Has God really said...." to get her to ignore or disobey what God HAD said.
But perhaps that belongs in another thread. Suffice it to say, the Bible, and specifically the New Testament portion, regardless of version or translation, has many, many references to God as Father and Jesus as Son. In the case of Jesus, God in human flesh, that entailed of necessity one gender, namely, male. In the case of God "the Father," who is a Spirit, it is a figurative expression only. Consider this O.T. passage from Psalms 91:
Psalms 91
1. He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
2. I will say of the Lord, "He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.''
3. Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler And from the perilous pestilence.
4.
He shall cover you with His feathers, And under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler.
Verse 4 obviously expresses figurative language to describe God's care as the care of a mother hen for her chicks. After all, God is not some cosmic chicken with feathers and wings, literally. So, likewise, when Jesus taught His disciples to pray to God saying, "Our Father in heaven..." (Matt. 6:9) He was likening God to a caring, loving Father with Whom we may have a relationship as a child of God. Only extreme feminists (who probably don't have such a relationship) would object and seek to "desex" the Bible.
Peace