Revealed religion
Both Christian and Islamic religion claim to be the revealed religions. Jesus said the message he taught was not his own but from God:
Because I have not spoken on my own but the Father who sent me, gave me a commandment, what I say and what I should speak “(John 12:49)
… Man who has spoken the truth, which has heard of God “(John 8:40)
Similarly, the Qur’an says that the revelations of Muhammad were messages received from God:
¨ “This book is a revelation of the Sovereign of the Worlds. The faithful Spirit has brought from heaven and has placed in your heart so that thou messenger “(Qur’an 26:192-194)
From this point of view, the truth of both religions depends, first of the precision with which they have registered the inspired words of His prophets and second, the textual purity of his writings. If the message was revealed to them by God we were not broadcast as it was originally, but was embezzled and altered, then one can consider that religion as far from the truth. In these lines we will see if the words revealed to Jesus and Muhammad (peace be upon them) have been faithfully recorded in the Gospel and the Koran and whether they suffered any alteration.
Composition of the Gospels
We found four Gospels in the Bible, stand out because they are all in this book that seems to come, somehow, a Messenger of God
¨ The Gospel According to St. Matthew
¨ The Gospel of Mark
¨ Luke
¨ The Gospel of John
In these gospels we find that many stories and sayings of Jesus, which occurred between 40 and 80 years after its ascent, were based on some documents that later were lost.
Bible scholars have identified these documents as:
¨ “Q” (The power Quelle Germain), a document written in Aramaic, which came into the hands of the pious who translated the Gospels into Greek.
¨ Uramrcus (Mark primitive), a draft that Mark had written based on the speeches of Peter about Jesus.
¨ “L” a collection of reports about Jesus that had Lucas alone.
If we compare the four gospels we see that their authors interpreted and transcribed these documents in a liberal and inclusive, not even hesitate to change some of its contents to accommodate them at your convenience.
The first Gospel that came to light was that of Marcos. It was written in Rome about 40 years after the much talked about Jesus’ crucifixion. We know that this gospel as we know it today, is an expanded version of “Urmarcus”, about which Papias, an early Christian scribes, said:
“The old John used to say that Marcos, who had become the interpreter of Peter – he wrote exactly what I remembered. However, it was not in the same order in which the Gospel tells the profound story of Christ, because Mark did not hear or accompanied Jesus. But as I said before Marcos was not limited simply to transcribe the teachings of Peter, but rather used to adjust to converge with the needs of his listeners, nor did his best to narrate chronologically the speeches of the Lord. “
Can not tell if Urmarcus edited by Mark or anyone else to write it in the way that today we read in the Gospel of Mark.
Dr. C.J. Cadoux, who was a professor of “History of the Church” at Oxford University, reviewed the conclusions of eminent humanist scholars of the Bible with regard to the nature and composition of this Gospel:
“It was written after the martyrdom of Peter (65 AD) and at a time when Mark, who had been a disciple of Jesus, apparently did not find any of them to verify their stories. Then, in the circumstances in which this composition was written, explaining that it exists both as evidence of accuracy and inaccuracy of ignorance. “
The Gospel of Matthew was written in Greek in the city of Antioch, around 90 of the Christian era. The author used to do at least two of the missing documents: The “Q” and “Urmarcus.” Secular humanists refer to this Gospel as the work of Matthew the Apostle of Jesus.
If Matthew wrote something, it must have been only the “Q” document.
With regard to the freedoms that the unknown author of this gospel was taken to treat the original material, Dr. CJCadoux said:
“But a careful consideration to the approach that he gave the testimony taken from Mark, Matthew shows that he took the liberty to edit and decorate the material in the interest of what he considered the legitimate honors of the Grand Master. Often the same trends are visible elsewhere, whether in the moment that is causing the “Q” document or material supplied their own. therefore, any writing of Matthew, may be accepted as historical fact with great reserve. “
The third Gospel is San Lucas. It was written somewhere in Greece around the year 80 AD, to benefit “the most excellent Theophilus, probably a high official of the Roman Empire. [1]
In the Gospels of Mark, Matthew and Luke are called the “Synoptic Gospels” because they are based on the same documents and have lost much in common.
The Gospel of John is very different from the previous. It is the only Gospel which states the divinity and preexistence of Jesus, but does not dare to put this claim in Jesus’ mouth. At the beginning of the Gospel, the author claims that eldivino “Logos” (verb), “The Word of Righteousness of God” the Creator of the world, became incarnate in Jesus. The Gospel of John was written at or near the city of Ephesus, between 110 and 115 of the Christian era. [2]
Its unknown author, who was anti-Semitic tendencies, presented the Jews as enemies of Jesus, secular humanists refer to this Gospel as the work of John son of Zebedee, who, according to RH Charles, Alfred Loisy, Robert Eisler and other humanists, was beheaded by Agrippa I in 44 of the Christian era, that is, long before the writing of the fourth Gospel.
The imprecision of the Gospels
The Gospels were written after the Christians were divided into factions. In fact, were published to spread the social teachings of the various trends and their authors do not hesitate to tamper with the traditional material related to the teachings of Jesus, to compare it to the discretion of the factions.
The four gospels found in the Bible, were not the only ones that were written in the first century of the Christian era. There were many others, including one called “The Gospel of the Hebrews, written in Aramaic and used by the Nazarenes (as they were called the first disciples of Jesus, who denied the divinity of Jesus and referred to him as a great prophet.
A late second century, the fledgling church began to include in the canon of the Gospels: Mark, Matthew, Luke and John, they were officially accepted in 325 of the Christian era, pleading at that time to others in existence as heretical or apocryphal.
Authenticity of the Qur’an
Moreover, these doubts did not exist about the Koran. it contains only the revelations that the Prophet Muhammad received from God, these revelations came in parts at intervals of time. As soon as they received a report back to his disciples and asked them not only to write it but it’s memorized. On each occasion, it stated in precisely the place to which he belonged that revelation. Thus, the entire Quran was kept in written form and stored during the life of the Prophet.
After the death of the prophet, the first Caliph, Abu Bakr, gave to Zaid bin Thabit, the task of preparing an authentic copy in book form, the entire text.
The companions of the Prophet had written the revelations he received in pieces of wood, skin, bones, etc. Zaid bin Thabit brought together all the pieces and then compare them to what the disciples had saved thousands dae, compiled a copy called “Mus h af” (leaves bound), the authenticity and accuracy of it can not be challenged.
Later on the orders of the third Caliph Othman (15 years after the death of Muhammad), prepared seven copies of the Mus h f, which were sent to the various capitals of the vast Islamic world, confirming its authenticity with the hundreds of people I had memorized. Still remains one of the seven copies in Tashkent and can confirm the similarity with the current copies.
The Russian tsarist government published a facsimile of it and here too, the similarity with the copies and texts circulating in the world today. The same is true of the Koran exist, complete or fragmentary, dating from the first century of the Muslim era.
Memorizing the Qur’an
The practice of memorizing the entire Quran has been kept alive since the time of the Prophet until today and now you can count the number of Hafiz (title who memorizes the entire Quran) in hundreds of thousands across the world. The result is that no Eastern or Western humanist, Muslim or not, can doubt the purity and veracity of the text of the Quran.
Even an extremely hostile critic like Sir William Muir wrote about the Quran:
“Probably no other book in the world that has preserved the purity of the text for twelve centuries.”
[1] At the end of this Gospel we see that the author says, “It’s the same disciple who gave testimony and wrote all this, and we know that telling the truth” Who do you mean by “we”?
[2] The Bible shows us that this “Lucas” was not the apostles of Jesus but a “Syrian doctor … when he wrote his Gospel, he had written it several” He himself says he wrote “from the data we gave those who saw and witnessed “which obviously does not include him. (Luke 1:1-4)
