format_quote Originally Posted by
YusufNoor
why become agnostic? that doesn't seem logical. you, as a Christian, see the problems with all of the "churches" but you still believe in Jesus, pbuh. well...SO DO WE! we believe Jesus, pbuh , is IN FACT the Jewish Messiah! we also believe he will return, that's what you believe as well. so how do you determine what to believe about Jesus, pbuh?
you look for authentic sources! there are no contemporaneous eyewitness accounts. here's the lowdown on the Gospels:
Mark: written sometime between 65 and 75AD. no one knows who authored it. but even still at this late date, there is no eyewitness, or written, account of a resurrected Jesus, pbuh. you see, Mark ends at:
16:6 “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. 7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’”
8 Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.
reading further in the NIV, you see:
[The earliest manuscripts and some other ancient witnesses do not have verses 9–20.]
9 When Jesus rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demons. 10 She went and told those who had been with him and who were mourning and weeping. 11 When they heard that Jesus was alive and that she had seen him, they did not believe it.
12 Afterward Jesus appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking in the country. 13 These returned and reported it to the rest; but they did not believe them either.
14 Later Jesus appeared to the Eleven as they were eating; he rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had risen.
15 He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”
19 After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God. 20 Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it.
the ending of Mark is an addition as testified BY CHRISTIAN SCHOLARS!
Matthew and Luke [both anonymous] are believed to have been written around 85AD. but think of the year. remember, most of the Apostles are always shown as being OLDER than Jesus, pbuh, who had to have been born around 6-4BC. any living apostles would have been 90 plus! a wee bit fishy...
now take a look at John [again, anonymous]. this is pretty much the definitive Jesus IS God Gospel, but it was written until around 95AD! we can safely assume all of the Apostles are dead and so without any eyewitnesses remaining, Jesus BECOMES God!
you can call it the "evolution of Christology" if you please.
so, if we have no authentic eyewitness sources, we must find some kind of revelatory accounts; we need someone sent by God, thru the "Holy Spirit" you would say. well, that's what we are telling you! God sent Gabriel [Holy Spirit] to Muhammad, pbuh! we believe most of what you believe about Jesus, pbuh. he performed many miracles, even raising the dead. he is the Messiah, and he will return!
now where we differ, is the LAW. Jesus, pbuh, "said" not one jot or tittle would pass away, Paul says NO LAW. if there were to be no law, wouldn't Jesus, especially if you think he is God, wouldn't he have mentioned that? why did Jesus, pbuh, make Peter the head of the Church if Paul was just going to destriy his work? did Jesus, pbuh, say, "here are the keys to the kingdom, give them to Saul when you see him? did he?
we HAVE the LAW! even the 10 commandments; it looks like 9, but it's 10! i'll explain in a later post, in sha'a Allah.
ponder that for now...
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