The Self-Incriminating Contents of the Apocryphal Books part three

Some events mentioned in the forged books did not actually occur until after the days of their alleged authors; thus, the men to whom they are attributed could not have written them. In the Gospel of Nicodemus, the Jew greet Pilate with the expression, "your excellency," even though they were were not familiar with form of address, for it was not vogue at the time. We also read about Christ making the sign of the cross on Adam and all the saints before He rescued them from hell, despite the fact that the sign of the cross was not widespread until the fourth century.

The style of the forged writings is the strongest proof of their unreliability. For instance, names cited in the Gospel of Nicodemus, purporting to be Jewish, are in fact Greek or Roman; and the overall language is Latin, not Greek which is the language of inspiration. Also, the letters attributed to Paul lack the anointing of divine apostolic, words. At the beginning of The Letter to Seneca, for instance, we read: "I commit you to God's keeping, O splendid master."  Such phraseology is foreign to the style of the apostles and was not even used until long after their time.

There are certain matters attributed to the apostles and disciples that conflict with history. In the alleged correspondence between the Apostle Paul and Seneca, it is mentioned that Paul was in Rome. Then it goes on to say he was at a place he never visited, and then there is a complaint of his absence. In the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth letters, the names of the Roman consuls are misquoted. In one incident, Paul warns Seneca not to mention the Christian religion in front of Nero, and this of course contradicts his religious zeal. In the Gospel of Nicodemus, we read that Pilate mentioned the history of the children of Israel; yet in another he is said to have been ignorant of it.

The accuracy of the names of people and places in the New Testament is confirmed by contemporary historians, be they Christian or pagan. This makes the soundness of the Gospel record evident. The contents of the spurious gospels, on the contrary, are at variance with the writing of contemporary authors and these errors prove the falsity of their claims.

The Christian religion exhorts its adherents to cling to sound doctrine. As was quoted earlier, the Apostle Paul and John said: "But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed....For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book" (Galatians 1:8, Revelation 22:18-19). Indeed, the presence of such strict commands in the Bible makes it unthinkable that anyone would dare to add or subtract anything from its pages. Christians were even forbidden to accept oral teachings unless these were documented in writing and substantiated by remarkable signs.

https://www.answering-islam.org/

         

My Muslim friend, the person of Jesus

If you read some of my blogs in the past, you have read about the distinctives of the Lord Jesus in the Qur'an.

The Lord Jesus Christ, is an inherent attribute that is exclusively distinctive of God, and that God did not share any of those distinctives with any human, at all, not even with His preferred prophets, simply because God does not give His glory to others nor share it with them.

In the meantime, you find that the Lord Jesus did not only enjoy one of those attributes, but the Qur'an itself has testified and pointed out that Christ had in Himself at least fifteen of the attributes that are exclusively God's. All those Qur'anic testimonials were just to confirm the Bible accounts that tell us that the Almighty God Himself became incarnate in the form of a man, which is something that is easy for an Omni-potent God.

The Bible says: "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God....and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory, the glory as the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."
"And without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness; God was manifest in the flesh..." (1 Timothy 3:16).

Thus, the truth was clear in the following verse of the incarnation: "Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made Himself of no reputation and took upon Him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore, God also hath exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
(Philippians 2:6-11).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nB4JYaCnXws

The Self-Incriminating Contents of the Apocryphal Books part two

In the Gospel of James the Less, a futile argument between Mary's mother and her maid is described. We are also told that angels used to serve Mary and that an argument ensued among the priests regarding the craftsmanship of the temple veil.

In the Gospel of Thomas, we can read some vain accounts about Jesus' childhood  and upbringing. Some miracles of vengeance are attributed to Him while He is learning the alphabet.

In the Gospel of Mary and of Thomas, and in the Childhood of Christ, silly "miracles" are attributed to Mary and Jesus. For instance, Mary is presented rectifying mistakes that Joseph made in his carpentry work, as well as other trivialities.

Whoever carefully studies the accounts of the Gospel according to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John will be impressed at the way each event is mentioned-no hypocrisy, affectation or decoration; events are related simply, as they happened. The apostles did not refrain from mentioning events that events showed them to be human men with fears, unbelief, anger or pride; for these are feelings or attitudes they really had experienced and their aim was always to present the truth. Nothing frivolous, false, sensational or comic was ever included to make the characters appear superhuman. And when miracles are documented, their aim is always to support a message or teaching; they were never performed for selfish, destructive or sensational purposes. This is in contrast to forged gospels and letters of the apostles which are full of melodramatic, trivial and sensational incidents.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGbITk2TrtQ

The distinctives of the Lord Jesus Christ in the Qu'ran, part Thirteen and fifteenth

13) Christ, alone, was described as a sign and mercy from God, unto the world. (Mary 20). The world was condemned to hell, under the heavy burden of sin and needed a Savior. For this reason, the only Savior, came to die for our sins, that God's mercy could become available to everyone that believes on Him. 

14) For this reason, Christ was the only one that could guarantee His followers high honors and assurances in heaven. The Qur'an "And I will set thy followers above those who disbelieved till the Day of Resurrection." (House of Imran 55).

15) The Lord Jesus Christ will exclusively be the righteous Judge of the living and the dead. The Arabian Messenger, Mohammed, confirmed that fact when he was quoted by El-Bukhary, saying: "The Last Hour will not come until the Son of Mary come down as the righteous Judge.) Notice, Muslims say that God the Judge of the world at the Judgement day. However, their prophet confesses that the Lord Jesus Christ will be Judge.

https://www.answering-islam.org/

The Self-Incriminating Contents of the Apocryphal Books part one

The Apocryphal books support practices contrary to truth, such as the veneration of relics. In the Gospel of the Childhood of Christ, we read that when the magi came to Jerusalem and presented their gifts, according to Zoroaster's prophecy, "St. Mary" gave them some wrappings from the child as a blessed and highly desirable gift.

The "Birth of Mary" was composed by some who wanted to elevate the Virgin Mary above her rank, for there is nothing in the inspired Bible to support their personal views. In it, we read of angels foretelling her birth and serving her as a child and of her performing miracles herself or with the help of the child Jesus. We also read that Christ miraculously climbed the steps of the temple unassisted when he was three years of age, despite the facts that each step was half a yard high. This work was written sometime during the fourth or fifth century.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0L4nc7K-FQ&index=5&list=PLuXxHEHGRVu-vjEheufbmFS8-vEkIOh06 

The distinctives of the Lord Jesus Christ in the Qu'ran, part Twelve

Among all those who have walked on the face of this earth, the Lord Jesus Christ could solely exchanged responsibilities of authority with God. The Qur'an says: "And I was a witness over them, while I remained among them; but when thou didst take me to thyself, Thou was Thyself the watcher over them." (The Table 117).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGcucVyX45Q&index=1&list=PLuXxHEHGRVu-vjEheufbmFS8-vEkIOh06

The Apocryphal New Testament writings, Part Three

Objection: The Christians have lost 11 parts of the Gospel which were attributed to Christ. They have also lost nine letters from John, two from Andrew, Mathew, Philip and one from James; accounts of the Gospel by Bartolomew, Thomas, James and Matthews and some acts of Christ's apostles-four of Thomas and two of Matthew. There is another collection of books which the Christians also lost; there are attributed to authors whose names we cannot find anywhere.

Answer: 

All of the Church authorities living in Asia Minor, Africa, and Europe used quotations from the Bible in their writings. They relied on the Bible when debating or arguing with their adversaries.

All Christians recited the inspired Holy Scriptures for their worship in churches, just as the Jews relied on the Torah in their synagogues. Consider the following words of the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Colossians: "Now when this epistle is read among you, see that it is read also in the church of the Laodiceans and that you likewise read the epistle from Laodicea" (Colossians 4:16). Moreover, at the beginning of the second century Justin Martyr that Christians from the towns and villages were in the habit of meeting on Sunday for worship and that during their meetings they recited the letters of the apostles and the words of the prophets. Tertullian mentioned that the Christians met to read their scared writings and sing songs on Sunday.

The inspired letters of the apostles and disciples of Christ were translated into many languages. Doctrinal expositions and interpretations were based on them; this is the distinguishing mark of the inspired Scriptures-a quality that does not characterize the spurious Apocryphal books mentioned by the objector.

Interestingly, the enemies of the Christian Church have always quoted from the inspired Bible in their attacks against Believers. They never quoted from the Apocryphal books, for it was known that the Christians did not include them in the Bible. Some of these fabrications had begun to circulate toward the end of the second century and most of them during the third. But these were promptly rejected and disowned. Let us examine some of the Apocryphal books:

A) The Epistle of Abhar Emir al-Raha or the Epistle of Jesus Christ. No one had heard of either of these until the fourth century when Eusebius exposed them.

B) The Epistle of Paul to Laodicea. The scholar Jones said that it was contrived by a monk prior to the Reformation and that it was based on some verses from Paul's genuine epistles; thus, it is of modern origin and was not written in Greek, as were Paul's manuscripts.

C) The Six Letters to Seneca and his replies. These were not heard of until the fourth century. Both Jerome and Augustine mentioned them, warning that they were forged.

D) The Gospel of the Birth of Mary, from the third century. It was upheld by heretics, is full of contradictory statements and resembles the Gospel of James whose author was a Greek Jew.

E) The Two Gospels of "The Childhood of Christ." attributed to Thomas. These were believed in by the Marcionites in the second century. The Koran has taken some of the stories of Christ's childhood from them.

F) The Gospel of Nicodemus, also called the "The Acts of Pilate," which was forged by Lucius Charinus at the beginning of the fourth century. This man achieved fame as the forger of the "Acts of Peter, Paul, Andrew" as well as of other disciples of Christ.

G) The Doctrines of the Apostles. This work was named as such not because the disciples wrote it, but because it was made up their beliefs and the saying of Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem, in the fourth century.

H) The Acts of Paul and Tekla. This was written by a Christian priest, in admiration of the Apostle Paul, around the beginning of the second century.

The majority of the titles which the objector mentioned are nonexistent. They appeared after true Christianity was established and had spread throughout the world. However, some ancient Christian authorities referred to these books when they debated with antagonists. They wanted to show them that they were well-informed and familiar with all that pertained to religion. Origen said: "The Christian churches uphold four gospels only. As for the heretics, they have many gospels, such as the Gospel of the Egyptians and of Thomas. We read them so that we will not be accused of ignorance and because those who uphold them imagine that they possess great knowledge." Ambrose said, "We read them not out of a desire to accept them but to know their contents, for we categorically reject them."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxfFrAUBV-U