The truth about Isa(AS)---jesus

It is interesting to note that DAWUD_adnan has ommited the preface to this article. In particular:

"The Gospel is considered by the majority of academics (including Christians and some Muslims) to be late, pseudepigraphical and a pious fraud; however, some academics suggest that it may contain some remnants of an earlier apocryphal work edited to conform to Islam, perhaps Gnostic (Cirillo, Ragg) or Ebionite (Pines) or Diatessaronic (Joosten); and some Muslim scholars consider the surviving versions as transmitting a suppressed apostolic original. Some Islamic organizations cite it in support of the Islamic view of Jesus; Islamic views are treated below."

Also ommitted "Some readers have noted that the Gospel of Barnabas contains a number of apparent anachronisms and historical incongruities:

* It has Jesus sailing across the Sea of Galilee to Nazareth - which is actually inland; and from thence going "up" to Capernaum - which is actually on the lakeside (chapters 20-21); though this is contested by Blackhirst, who says that the traditional location of Nazareth is itself questionable).

* Jesus is said to have been born during the rule of Pontius Pilate, which began after the year 26.

* Barnabas appears not to realize that 'Christ' and 'Messiah' are translations of the same word (christos), describing Jesus as "Jesus Christ" yet claiming that 'Jesus confessed and said the truth, "I am not the Messiah"' (ch. 42).

* There is reference to a jubilee which is to be held every hundred years (Chapter 82), rather than every fifty years as described in Leviticus: 25. This anachronism appears to link the Gospel of Barnabas to the declaration of a Holy Year in 1300 by Pope Boniface VIII; a Jubilee which he then decreed should be repeated every hundred years. In 1343 the interval between Holy Years was reduced by Pope Clement VI to fifty years.

* Adam and Eve eat an apple (ch. 40); whereas the traditional association of the Fruit of the Tree of Good and Evil (Genesis: 2) with the apple, rests on the translation of the Hebrew Bible into Latin, where both 'apple' and 'evil' are rendered as 'malum'.

* The Gospel talks of wine being stored in wooden casks - as characteristic of Gaul and Northern Italy (chapter 152); whereas wine in 1st century Palestine was stored in wineskins and jars (Amphorae). The Pedunculate or English Oak (quercus robur) does not grow in Palestine; and the wood of other species is not sufficiently airtight to be used in wine casks,

* In Chapter 91, the "Forty Days" is referred to as an annual fast. This corresponds to the Christian tradition of fasting for forty days in Lent; a practice that is not witnessed earlier than the Council of Nicaea (325). Nor is there a forty days fast in Judaism of the period (see Mishnah, Tractate: Taanith "Days of Fasting")

* Where the Gospel of Barnabas includes quotations from the Old Testament, these correspond to readings as found in the Latin Vulgate; rather than as found in either the Greek Septuagint, or the Hebrew Masoretic Text.

* Ch. 91 records three contending Jewish armies 200,000 strong at Mizpeh, totalling 600,000 men, at a time when the Roman army across the entire Empire had a total strength estimated as 300,000."

In defense of my faith (and by no means offense to yours) there is no shortage of people willing to corrupt the true meaning of our scriptures (The Bible and The Quran) to suit a particular agenda. Many believe in the west that the Quran teaches that the Islamic faith is to be spread at the point of the sword, although they cannot quote a single verse.

As long as there are believers who are willing to look past obvious discrepancies to support what they want to believe, the Truth will be attacked regardless of any merit or lack thereof in the argument.

Yahushua (or Jesus as transliterated) was crucified because he made the claim (which I believe) that he was the Son of God. Likewise, the twelve disciples suffered great persecution for their testimony of the same.

It is not credible to believe that they would have done so to perpetuate a lie.

A-Witness, I would guess that there were many books written about Jesus besides the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. In addition to this supposed Gospel of Barnabbas, which I must say sounds like it must have been written much later based just on the things you pointed out that are within the text itself, I have heard of the Gospel of Thomas and the Gospel of Peter. And from everything I have read it seems that these too were written much later after the apostles in whose names they were claimed to be written would have been dead.

I suppose it is just speculation, but why would so many of these "pious frauds", as you put it, appear in the 2nd and 3rd centuries?

format_quote Originally Posted by IsaAbdullah

Hi,


Much later being, what times?

In the 2nd and 3rd centuries, after the death of the Apostles and rest of the first generation of Christians.

For the record, I simply posted portions of the wikipedia article which the original poster omitted. The comment about "pious frauds" was in the body of that article. I did embolden it however.

I have discovered that Islam is not without those who have attempted to subvert that faith by "apocryphal” writings. It's nice to know that there are similarities of all sorts between our faiths, even though some are related to attacks upon the purity of the teachings.

I have great respect for their prophet (which would no doubt be considered tantamount to heresy by my brethren), although I cannot yet come to terms with the idea that what he wrote in the Quran was inspired by God (perhaps because of a "faith related bias"), I cannot reject that notion out of hand either as what I have read of the teachings of Islam (mostly on this forum) is in line with what I have been taught in my Bible. I am yet afraid to say "peace be upon him" out of fear of going counter to my faith, although I may yet reconcile this.

I cannot but recognize that he was a wise man and humble before his God in a way which my Christian brethren (in my opinion) would do well to emulate. May my practice move closer in that direction, even though my belief varies slightly.

Truth is truth, regardless of the vessel through whom it comes.

A-Witness, I appreciate your response. I was thinking in terms of those writings that appear in the 2nd and 3rd centuries the were labelled "gospels", but obviously could not have been written by any of the original apostles that perhaps it was the work of well-meaning Christians who were trying to articulate some of their own personal beliefs. Some being congruent and some being divergent from that which was present in the church before it. Also, I understand that even as late as the 16th and 17th centuries people still would attribute the work of their writing to other famous people rather than sign their own name to it in order to give it a greater likelihood of acceptance. Whereas today our view on this is very much opposed to the practice, at that time it was not seen as wrong in anyway, and was in fact not only common, but even expected. Thus, it is not surprising that writers in the 2nd and 3rd centuries of the church might write documents that they would label as the Gospel of Barnabas or Gospel of Thomas, and yet they would not truly be authoritative. I believe I read somewhere that the early church wanted to have an apostolic connection for each of the books that they included in the Bible. Thus Mark was included because of the writer's connection with Peter and Luke was connected with Paul. And Paul, although he did not know Jesus personally during Jesus' earthly ministry, is reported to have had an encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus. But the standard for acceptance was such that not all Christians writings, even if found to be of benefit to the church, would have been incorporated into the body of the Bible. These practices were established by the common practice of the churches across the board and the later councils (such as Nicea) met not to decide on which books to accept and which to reject, but to confirm that everyone was already basically in agreement.