[Faith-talk] The_Deity_and_the_Mortality_ofJesus Christ, Theological Controversies.

[Mostafa]

Peace be with you.

Each Sunday, I tend to reflect on the Christian contention of attempting to explain the philosophical concept of Jesus being unified in both mortal and divine beings.

It really intrigueds me to hear what average and elite Christians have to say about that.

Each group approaches the subject from within its own angle, which is a good sign of theological diversity.

For some of you, I am known for my regularly conducted theological discussions with Christian rectors and ministers.

Well, here is another one of my weekly discussions.

At its inception, let us ask the question;

What is the true Gospel of Jesus Christ?

the True Gospel is the Gospel that Jesus Christ Preached.

     Churches claim to preach the true gospel. But, most of them do not even know what the true gospel is.

Christians think that the true gospel is that they shall go to heaven because of the redemption of Christ on the cross.

The true gospel is considered the good news.

Most Trinitarians nowadays think that Jesus Christ died on their behalf so that they do not have to be subjected to eternal retribution.

So it is good news, which is the gospel of Christ.

But, the Bible says that Jesus Christ has preached the gospel.

Then, the true gospel must come from the plain messages he has preached.

Jesus Christ never preached his death on the cross as the current gospel proclaims.

It is our task today to search the Bible for the direct articulations of Jesus Christ.

We should have a plain distinction between two different type of biblical assertions;

1; The statements which Jesus spoke.

These are the statements which were  explicitly uttered by Jesus Christ.

2; The statements which were narrated about Jesus by others.

These by definition  what was said about Jesus by others, such as Simon Peter, Apostle Paul, and so on.

I will try to be quite impartial, accurate and straightforward with my Christian friends today.

Well, here what Jesus initially preached to Israelites.

In Mark 12 29, What did Jesus say?

I listed multiple English translations of this particular biblical passage, Mark 12 29.

These multiple translations were meant to show Christian laymen and elites the possibly noticed textual variants within these various translations.

New International Version.
"The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.

New Living Translation.
Jesus replied, "The most important commandment is this: Listen, O Israel! The LORD our God is the one and only LORD.

English Standard Version.
Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.

New American Standard Bible. 
Jesus answered, "The foremost is, 'HEAR, O ISRAEL! THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD;

King James Bible.
And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:

Holman Christian Standard Bible.
"This is the most important," Jesus answered: Listen, Israel! The Lord our God, the Lord is One.

International Standard Version.
Jesus answered, "The most important is, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord,

NET Bible.
Jesus answered, "The most important is: Listen, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 

Aramaic Bible in Plain English.
Yeshua said to him, “The first of all the commandments is", Hear Israel, THE Lord Jehovah your God, THE Lord Jehovah is One”.

Yeshua is the transliterated term for the proper given name of  Jesus in ancient Hebrew.

Jehovah is the translated term for the proper given name of God in ancient Hebrew, Yahweh.
 
It is originally used in the Torah, which Christians now classify as the Old testament.


I chose Mark in specific because it has been historically recognized as the earliest Gospel in time.

I quoted various English translations to thoroughly include all the possible interpretations of this passage in particular.

Of course, these English translations were not directly taken from the Greek Manuscripts.

They were probably translated from either Latin manuscripts or even from earliest English translations.

as this is the case for most English bibles contemporarily, they primarily trace their literal lineage back to King James version of the Bible, which stands as the textual parent of all recent English bibles.

Now, let us reflect together on this statement of Jesus.

As you just observed, in most English versions of this particular passage, it approximately means the same thing.

The Lord our God, the Lord is one.

What does the pronoun our mean in English?

It is a possessive pronoun, and it means of or belonging to.

The ones who translated that passage from Latin into English have incisively used the possessive pronoun our, to precisely convey what Jesus has emphasized with his own words, well um, that how it suppose to be.    

   It is really interesting that in the version of the Aramaic Bible in Plain English, it uses another form of possessive pronoun.

It says the Lord Jehovah your  God.

It says your instead of our.

Well what is the difference?

For laymen Bible believeing Christians, it does not really matter, it is insignificant.

But, for majored theologians and competent syntacticians, the difference is vast and plain.

The possessive pronoun our means of or belonging to, including the speaker.

“The day is our day”.

Your is another case of the possessive pronoun, it signifys the usage of attributive adjectives, excluding the speaker.

“The day is your day”.

I hope I am not confusing my readers with this brief piece of grammatical note.

Well I suppose that the ones who translated the Bible were not bibulous, they knew what they do.

The two possessive pronouns are distinctly different from one another in their meanings.

The first one, which seems to be the dominant narrative of this verse in most English Bibles, it unequivocally proposes that Jesus affirmitively included himself with the ones who submit to the one lord, referring to himself with them using the possessive pronoun our.

It predominantly encompasses all the translations above except the one of the  Aramaic Bible in plain English.

In this particular version, Jesus apparently excluded himself from the ones who are expected to submit to the Lord in worship.

Well, but it does not mean that he attributed divinity to himself by this exclusion.  

It implicitly means that if this verse was interpreted by an Evangelist though.

He will definitely attempt to forcefully impose that inadequate interpretation because  of his predetermined notion which is radically influenced by his doctrine.

The controversy of this doctrinal tennet is essentially based on the intended or the unintended mistranslations by these anonymous and unverified scriptural translators.

What was their motivating factor to deliberately alter the text? 

Can anybody confidently ensure what was the exact wording  in the Greek manuscripts?

Noone knows, noone can confidently determine.

Christians preach that Jesus Christ induces two natures;

One is human, and another that is gloriously divine.

And my questions to them would probably be rendered as follows;
1; Was Jesus divine when he was conceived in the womb?

2; When he had initially been divine?

3; Was that when he was administered to baptism?
4; What does it say about Christenings of Christian children at Baptizing ceremonies?    

We all know for sure when he was human, and that  when he was born.

That gives a specific incident to recognize him as human.

5;; Can we have, or does the bible record a specific incident which marks the initiation of Jesus as a divine being?

      Trust me friends, and I truly tell you the truth to its farther outmost, I never comprehended the concept of Jesus inducing two natures.

  What does that mean?

Why the divine being demands to incarnate into the mortal world  to atone?

Why God demanded to deign?

What does that say about God being Transcendent and Omnipotent?

  I am personally convinced that the concept of two natures was theologically developed by later monks in their innocent attempts to clarify the massive absurdity of that doctrine.

  In order to explain the human characteristics of Jesus whilst being heavenly divine from merely the Christian perspective, they had to formulate that kind of undecipherable concept, and Allah knows better.

I would like to show you another saying of Jesus Christ, a saying that was uttered by his lips very clearly.

Jesus said and I quote; John 17 3.

I will also include many different translations of English Bibles to decisively reflect the meaning.

New International Version.
"Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent."

New Living Translation.
"And this is the way to have eternal life--to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth."

English Standard Version.
"And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent."

New American Standard Bible. 
"This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent."

King James Bible.
"And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent."

Holman Christian Standard Bible.
"This is eternal life: that they may know You, the only true God, and the One You have sent--Jesus Christ." 

International Standard Version.
"And this is eternal life: to know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent."

NET Bible.
"Now this is eternal life--that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you sent."

Aramaic Bible in Plain English.
“But these things are eternal life: They shall know you, for you alone are The God of Truth, and Yeshua The Messiah whom you have sent."

The WORD OF GOD® Translation.
"This is eternal life: to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you sent".

Jubilee Bible 2000.
"And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent".

King James 2000 Bible.
"And this is life eternal, that they might know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent".

American King James Version.
"And this is life eternal, that they might know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent".

American Standard Version.
"And this is life eternal, that they should know thee the only true God, and him whom thou didst send, even Jesus Christ".

Douay-Rheims Bible.
"Now this is eternal life: That they may know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent". 

Darby Bible Translation.
"And this is the eternal life, that they should know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent".

English Revised Version.
"And this is life eternal, that they should know thee the only true God, and him whom thou didst send, even Jesus Christ".

Websters Bible Translation.
"And this is life eternal, that they may know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent".

Weymouth New Testament.
"And in this consists the Life of the Ages--in knowing Thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent".

World English Bible.
"This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and him whom you sent, Jesus Christ."

Young's Literal Translation.
"and this is the life age-during, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and him whom Thou didst send -- Jesus Christ."

I do not think we can find anything clearer than that.

I know for certain, that Christian apologists will probably attempt to twist the meaning to befit what they believe in.

But, if we really want to deduce a logical conclusion, it is quite clear here, it is totally unambiguous for those of intellect.

It now becomes more percipient of what we want to attain.

   Jesus Christ has profoundly identified himself in a messengership.

All the translations above have mutually used the same wording, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

You can check these versions out, to just verify that I am telling the truth.

I do not want you to rely on what I quoted in the section above.

You still have the right to verify its validity.

I suppose that all of you are English speaking Christians.

I cited my references, and I quoted all the English Bibles that I know.

I am sorry if I inaccurately missed something.

But these so far are all the English Bibles that I have at hand.

Ultimately, what is the purpose of my message today?

My message today aims to establish the substantiation of Jesus Christ and his true Gospel.

I knew how Christians exult Jesus.

But in order for them to exult him, they made him crucified.

Whilst for us as Muslims, we graciously ascended him, and we never mortified him.  

I am not here to proselytize, and I am not interested in sparking heated debates.

I am just inviting my friends to consider accepting the catholicity of Islam.

This is not Catholic by the way, haha.

Catholicity means universality.

I invite them to spend some of their time reflecting on the Bible as a totality, not as a partiality, which all Christians are victims of nowadays.

Christians have to reflect on the Bible as a mainstream textualism   rather than segmented portions.  

Please do not misunderstand my message.

It is an implementation of my favorit motto which says:

Seeking knowledge is compulsory from cratle to grave because it is a shoreless ocean.

I am not here to challenge Christians.

I just reported my experience in dealing with the Bible.

My sentiment is enormously pondering, and it seeks for the truth in spite of what it is or to whom it belongs.

I think that is quite enough for today.

I apologize for any unintended inconvenience, and I apologize for the extended length of this message.

I highly encourage the recipients of this post to instantaneously forward these propositions to their pastors and their fellow congregants in their respected houses of worship.


Peace be with you.

_________