I want to propose an interesting theory on the origins of Islam.

Waraka ibn Nawfal was a sort of mentor to Muhammad, but he died before the taking of Medina.  Everyone agrees he was a Christian monk of some sort, but what sect is not agreed on.  A certain Jesuit Conspiracy theory says he was a Roman Catholic but that is the most obviously wrong, Catholicism as we know it kinda still didn't exist yet, and the Bishop of Rome wasn't really trying to assert any influence over the East.  Wikipedia used to say he was an Ebonite, but then changed it to Nestorian last I checked.  Ebonite makes far more sense to explain the nature of Islam, as shall be made clear.

He was also said to have made Arabic translations of The Torah, the Psalms and a Gospel.  Because technically the references to this say "The Gospel" everyone assumes this and the Koranic references to "The Gospel" mean the entire New Testament.  However the potential Ebonite context causes me to doubt that.

The Ebonites were one of a few, often confused with each other, sects of early Jewish Christians who believed Jesus was The Messiah but not God, (the Nazarenes, however were proper New Testament Christians).  That makes them very similar to the Islamic view of Jesus.  Mostly these kinds of sects also rejected the Virgin Birth making them quite unlike the Koran.  But I recall reading at least one reference to a Heretic being condemned by one of the Early Church Fathers for teaching the Virgin Birth and yet denying the Deity of Christ.  But I can't remember who now.  [Update: Origen (Contra Celsum v.61) and Eusebius (HE iii.27) both indicate that some Ebionites did accept the virgin birth.^[41] also  Theodotus of Byzantium, Artemon, and Paul of Samosata all accepted the virgin birth.^[42]  while teaching Proto Socinian-Unitarian ideas.]

I also agree with those who say it's a misreading of the Koran that makes people think it says Jesus didn't die on The Cross, the intent of the Sura cited is to say he died by Allah's will not the Jews.  Wikipedia also discuses this controversy.

Sects like the Ebonites often only used one Gospel, a Hebrew translation of the Gospel of Matthew that removed any direct references to Jesus Divinity or the Virgin Birth, which would likely include the entire Nativity narrative.  But it may be possible a similar sect that decided later to accept the Virgin Birth may have restored the Nativity Narrative, but perhaps not in a complete form.  

Also since Jews calling Rome Edom can be traced as far back as the DSS, maybe it’s possible one of these edited Hebrew Gospels replaced all references to Rome with Edom.  And maybe the name of Caesar could have been replaced with Seir, since both mean Hairy and have a phonetic similarity.  And perhaps rendered the name Herod as Arad, a Canaanite King mentioned in Numbers.

Everyone knows that Mariam the mother of Jesus is the only woman mentioned by name in the Koran.  But it is also the most notorious historical anachronism of the Koran that Mariam is referred to as the daughter of Amram (Imram) and sister of Aaron (Haroon), and is thus made the same person as Mariam the sister of Moses.  Muslim apologists try to explain this away, but it’s obvious what the Koran says, a Sura about her is titled the Family of Imram.  Well based on the above observation I have a theory on why this mistake was more plausible to make than it at first seems.

So imagine if Muhammad’s (and perhaps many other Arabs of the period) only knowledge of The Bible was via flawed Arabic translations of The Torah, some or all of the Psalms, and an Ebonite version of Matthew.  (Being illiterate Muhammad couldn't even have read that directly) And generally lacked direct knowledge of their grander historical context.  

The Torah ends with a Yehoshua or Yeshua being set up to succeed Moses.  And then the next historical book they have revolves around a person named Yehoshua or Yeshua. It would be easy to imagine that those were the same person and the Gospel narrative directly followed The Torah’s narrative.

A Hebrew version of Matthew would probably use Almah in its quotation of Isaiah 7:14.  In my post on the word Almah I paid great attention to how The Torah also called the sister of Moses an Almah, and even tie a Psalm into that.  

If it was an altered version of Matthew with the nativity only partly restored, it could easily have lacked Jesus genealogy.  But also perhaps him being called a son of Joseph would be taken to verify him being of the Tribe of Joseph like Joshua was.  Some Muslims have misused Matthew 22:42-45 to argue Jesus was saying he was not a Son of David.

Maybe this can even explain the name Isa, which is not how Arabic Christians pronounced or spelled the name of Yeshua/Jesus before or after the time of Muhammad.   Numbers 13 tells us Joshua was first called Oshea, which sometimes in Greek/Latin becomes Osea.  Perhaps it is that name that Isa came from?

Most Old Testament figures not in The Torah who the Koran alludes to are mentioned somewhere in Matthew.  David, Elijah, Jonah, and Matthew’s reference to Solomon includes the Queen of Sheba who has Islamic legends about her.

The Koran sometimes refers to those who followed Allah in some sense already before Muhammad as three groups rather than two.  In one it’s Christians, Jews and Sabeans.  There I think the Sabeans are probably Yemanite Jews (and maybe also Christians) while the Jews are primarily the Jews of Medina/Yathrib.  

Other references though divide the People of The Book into three Books. The Torah, The Psalms, and The Gospel, and it associates the Psalms with David.  The Jews of Himyar in Yemen are speculated to have actually been a revival of the Sadducees, while the Jews in Medina would have been Rabbinic Pharisees, it’s via them that the Koran seems to once quote the Mishna in Sura 5:32.

What’s interesting is that Matthew 22 has Jesus deal with the Sadducees by quoting The Torah, because as Josephus tells us they considered only The Torah canon.  But He deals with The Pharisees by quoting a Psalm of David, Psalm 110.  Is it possible that influenced by this the Koran meant Sadducees by people of the Torah and Pharisees by people of the Psalms?

The Eschatology of The Koran shows no clear evidence of being influenced by Revelation.  The Mahdi might have been partly based on the White Horseman of Revelation 6 and/or 19, but that tradition came later heavily influenced by 7th and 8th century Eastern Christian traditions about the Last Roman Emperor.  In fact the most compelling evidence that the Koran's eschatology has no knowledge of Revelation is choosing a Spear rather than a Sword to be the weapon Isa/Jesus will wield when he returns.

Where would this Spear idea have come from?  The Spear of Longinus tradition comes from a reference in John, and that’s not a weapon Jesus himself wields anyway.  Joshua has a spear in Joshua 8, but my theory is Muhammad probably wouldn’t have had access to that book.

Well Psalm 35, a Davidic Psalm, in verse 2 uses a word for Spear, and also uses the word Yeshuah, translated Salvation, the noun that the names of Joshua and Jesus both come from.  So perhaps that Psalm influenced the Islamic idea of Jesus having a Spear?

So, that is my interesting theory on why the Koran makes its most notorious anachronism.  

What’s interesting is that Ahmed Osman is a modern Muslim fringe historian who tries to argue that the Gospels were just a corrupt allegorical retelling of the story of Joshua.  So others before me have sorta noticed this connection.

Trump signed an executive order sinking the TPP

Given the post I made after Trump was elected it would be remiss of me not to mention this.  Especially since I criticized TYT for acting like they never predicted Trump would pass it.

Still, as long as NAFTA and CAFTA still stand I'm not truly impressed yet.  And there is always the risk he may try to re-brand the TPP under a different name.

But of course none of that would take away everything Trump is doing that is horrible.  Continuing Drone Strikes that kill civilians in Syria and Yemen.  The Ban on letting people come to America from Muslim countries his company hasn't done business with.  And he seems to be going through with building the Wall.

So in-spite of doing one thing I like Trump is still getting a big fat F- from me.

Complex history of the Word Sodomite

This is my third post specifically on the Sin of Sodom being Inhospitality (Or Trumpism as I now like to call it).

What prompted this post was an interaction I had on IMDB.  So this is mainly my archiving those sources here.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodomy

Many cognates in other languages, such as French sodomie (verb sodomiser), Spanish sodomía (verb sodomizar), and Portuguese sodomia (verb sodomizar), are used exclusively for penetrative anal sex, at least since the early nineteenth century. In those languages, the term is also often current vernacular (not just legal, unlike in other cultures) and a formal way of referring to any practice of anal penetration; the word sex is commonly associated with consent and pleasure with regard to all involved parties and often avoids directly mentioning two common aspects of social taboo—human sexuality and the anus—without a shunning or archaic connotation to its use.

In modern German, the word Sodomie has no connotation of anal or oral sex and specifically refers to bestiality.[11] The same goes for the Polish sodomia. The Norwegian word sodomi carries both senses. In Danish, sodomi is rendered as "unnatural carnal knowledge with someone of the same sex or (now) with animals".[12]

https://nwanglicanblog.wordpress.com/2011/02/14/sodomy-a-biblical-word-study-that-might-surprise-you/

Roman Catholic scholar, Mark Jordan in his book The Invention of Sodomy in Christian Theology (1997) shows that the term “sodomy” originated in the eleventh century as a new classification of certain ‘clerical sins’. While early church fathers such as St. Ambrose and Origen clearly associate sodomy with inhospitality, by the time of St. Augustine, cultural associations around the word, communicated through secular poetry and legend shifted both its denotative and connotative meanings.

http://www.banap.net/spip.php?article122

 “ ‘Sodomy’ as defined by religion and law included a range of condemned practices, ‘a way to encompass a multiple of sins with a minimum of signs’ as one critic has cleverly expressed it.” (Phillips and Reay. Sex Before Sexuality A Premodern History, p. 61)


Despite the term’s enduring flexibility, from the twelfth century sodomy was increasingly associated with sex acts between men. (Phillips and Reay. Sex Before Sexuality A Premodern History, p. 62)

...

In the older sense, sodomy surpassed all other crimes; in its sinfulness it also included all of them: from blasphemy, sedition, and witchcraft, to the demonic. It was, as many extracts declare, the crime without a name; language was incapable of sufficiently expressing the horror of it. The category was a repository for many items, yet in the eighteenth century a highly specific portrait of an individual, and of a group, was increasingly displacing an undiscriminating, demonic generalization.(McCormick editor, Secret Sexualities A Sourcebook of 17th and 18th Century Writing, p. 118)

...

Sodomy surpassed all other crimes. In its sinfulness it also included all of them, blasphemy, sedition, witchcraft, the demonic: it is yet without a Name: What shall it then be called? There are not Words in our Language to expressive enough of the Horror of it. The foregoing suggests, however, a degree of insecurity about the range of the activity, and what it ought to be called. It was terrible in its sublimity, but unnamed in its sublimation. What was changing was that a specific kind of portrait of an individual was taking over from a theological category of generalized evil. (McCormick, editor Sexual Outcasts 1750-1850 Volume II Sodomy, p. 5)

...

“Clearly when we come across a writer using the words ‘sodomy’ or ‘buggery’ in relation to homosexuality we do the words less than justice if we simply disregard their other meanings. The one word was used because the one concept was intended, and this was a broader concept than simply homosexuality. The notion underlying these passages was not homosexuality but a more general notion: debauchery; and debauchery was a temptation to which all, in principle at least were subject.” (Bray, Homosexuality in Renaissance England, p. 16

...

“On the one hand, historians confirmed sodomy’s capaciousness: it means masturbation, several of forms of same-sex sexual behavior, bestiality, non-procreative sex (oral or anal most commonly) between a and a woman, or any form of sex in which conception was impossible.” (Crawford, The Sexual Culture of the French Renaissance, p. 4)

...

“Initially, sodomy was a theological construct, serving only intermittently to refer to a clear variety of sexual activity or to bring into focus the behaviour of a particular kind of person.” (Mills, “Male-Male Love and Sex in the Middle Ages, 1000-1500”, p. 14 in A Gay History of Britain Love and Sex Between Men Since the Middle Ages editor Matt Cook)

...

“In the early modern phase (here roughly before 1688), the term sodomy covered any activity that challenged the ‘Nature’ of the church-state authority. The logic of sodomy’s deviation from the feudal order was precise but the category covered a wide range of transgressive acts: witchcraft, usury, political dissent, nonconformity, any kind of nonreproductive, non-matrimonial sexuality, and exogamous social relations, for example with Jews or Muslims (Bredbeck, pp. 2-23). By the late eighteen –century, ‘sodomy’, more or less, narrowed to mean a male-male erotics typified by anal penetration (buggery).” (Shapiro, “Of Mollies: Class and same-Sex Sexualities in the Eighteen Century”, p. 159 in In a Queer Place Sexuality and Belonging in British and European Contexts, editors Kate Chedgzoy, Emma Francis, and Murray Pratt.)

So I hope this information is helpful to many.

The Flood in the Days of Moses

Today, I want to talk about a common criticism of The Koran I consider unfair.  I'm not an Islamic Apologist, I'm working on a study where I will address an anachronism in The Koran that is best explained by Muhammad having very limited knowledge of The Bible and this showing it did not have a supernatural origin.

But I find it very unfair to suggest it's an anachronism when The Koran refers to a Flood in the time of Moses.  Every Islamic Apologist agrees those references are to the drowning of Pharaoh's Army in The Red Sea.  Yet I keep seeing Christians act like that's a stupid excuse and clearly the mere presence of the word Flood proves Muhammad thought the Global Flood happened in the days of Moses, or that there was more then one Global Flood.

Obviously, an army being drowned on land that was just previously dry can qualify as a flood.  It's not a normal flood, but neither was the Flood of Noah, since they usually aren't Global and don't normally involve Gates in Heaven or Fountains of the Great Deep being opened.

The KJV of Exodus 15:8 uses the word Flood (though it's Plural) in describing the Red Sea incident.  In The Hebrew this isn't the word for Flood used most of the time, so I am overall making little note of this verse.  But I mention it for the KJV onliers, if your insist that the KJV is a perfect translation, then you've already lost all right to say it's wrong to call this incident a Flood.

Amos 9:5 also uses Flood in the KJV in reference to Egypt, though in The Hebrew that word is the usual word used to refer to The Nile.

Joshua 24 as well uses Flood in the KJV in a way that is confusing.  In the Hebrew it's actually the word for River and probably refers to the Euphrates.  But a KJV only Absolutist has no choice but to argue that Flood refers to the Red Sea incident.

The Hebrew word for Flood (Yabul) used in Genesis 6-10 is used pretty rarely, outside those Chapters only in Psalm 29:10.  So yeah if you want to limit the idea of flooding to only that Hebrew word there is no Biblical basis for applying it to the Red Sea incident.  But other Hebrew words become Flood in English, and so if Arabic likewise used words for Flood to translate those words, then there is plenty of basis for applying it to the drowning of Pharaoh's army.

Revelation 12:15-16 uses the word Flood in a context commonly seen as being an Echo of when Israel was lead by God to the Wilderness.  This Flood is often interpreted as representing an Army.  One basis for that is Daniel's usage of the Hebrew word Sheteph in 9:26 and 11:22.

I'm a Continuationist, but most Pentacostals and Charismatics are wrong on what the Gift of Tongues is

Acts 2 clearly spells out for us what it is.  It involves people in the crowd hearing The Gospel preached in their native Tongue, even though that Tongue was not known to the ones preaching it.

Tongue is being used here as a synonym for language, the same word is used in contexts that are not supernatural at all.

Almost everyone has it in their heads now that somehow Paul in 1 Corinthians was talking about something completely different, some cryptic mystery language.  He was not.

The problem with them seeming incompatible is that what happened in Acts 2 may not be how we usually picture it.  I don't think each person listening was hearing everything in their own language regardless, like a Star Trek universal translator.  But rather different Disciples were given different specific Tongues to supernaturally speak with.  And that fits the imagery better, of each being given a single flaming Tongue.

And so I think the controversy at Corinth came from some believers showing off their Tongue in church, even though no one listening there could understand it.  And so Paul says if someone is going to speak in Tongues in church there should be an interpreter to translate it.  An unknown Tongue simply means no one there knows it, not that no Human anywhere knows it.

And that would be simply rude behavior even in a non supernatural context.  Like an American Otaku who's actually learned Japanese speaking it constantly at a small Anime convention where no one else there can understand it without subtitles.  It just makes him look like a pretentious show off.

1 Corinthians 13:1 however is what people cling to for their "Angelic Language" doctrine.  Paul is saying in this verse he has spoken in Tongues, plural, of both Men and Angels.  That verse does not at all prove the Supernatural Tongues are only the Angels.

I'm actually starting to wonder if Paul didn't actually know Greek, but he spoke in the Greek Tongue to stenographers who could write in it.  But perhaps this is even more true of Peter and John, and the brothers James and Jude, who's background doesn't make sense for them to know Greek at all, and that is constantly used against The Bible by skeptics.

I personally feel it's pretty obvious that the Angels speak Hebrew as their native Tongue.  The only two who are named have Hebrew names.  There is no mystery Angelic Language, that idea is where Occult concepts like John Dee's Enochian Language comes from, but even he knew he should logically start with Hebrew in constructing his made up Angelic language.  The Angels may very well speak a more pure and uncorrupted dialect, but it's most certainly Hebrew.

The many people out there thinking they're speaking an Angelic Language may just be misinformed.  They don't know what they're speaking.

Also the word "angel" is used of human messengers sometimes.

But do not forget that I am a Continuationist, this Supernatural ability is one I believe Christians can still use.  It may be less common now since in the modern world more people are naturally multilingual, and The Bible is available in every major language.  But in a situation where a Christian may need it, I believe The Holy Spirit can still provide it.

The Gospel According to JaredMithrandir Olorin

Words translated Eternal

Aionion, Aionios, Aioniou, are different forms of Strong Number 166.  It is often translated in Latin, English and other translations as Eternal or Everlasting in many key verses.  And ultimately the enemies of Universalism are entirely dependent on that translation being accurate.

I don't want to get too deep into the linguistic arguments others have made, starting with how they come from Aion which means Age (Eon comes from Aion), which makes the use of it's Hebrew equivalent Olam in Daniel 12 the same issue.

That same Hebrew word for Eternal/Everlasting/Perpetual is used to describe how long the Aaronic Priesthood will last (Exodus 29:9, 40:13-15, Numbers 25:10-13).  But we know from the book of Hebrews that the Aaronic Priesthood has now been done away with and replaced with Jesus, Priest-King after the order of Melchizedek.

A better Hebrew word for Eternal would be Qedem (Strong number 6924) used of God in Deuteronomy 33:27. and Habakkuk 1:12.

The point today is to use Scripture to interpret Scripture, to show two places, two confirming witnesses, where Scripture uses this word in a way that in context totally contradicts it meaning eternal.  Naturally these verses aren't the occurrences of the word used to build the doctrine of Eternal punishment.

Romans 16:25 in the KJV.

Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began,

In the Greek the last two words are Aionion and a word that means "kept secret".  Aionion is translated "since the world began".   The very next verse says "but now is made manifest".  Proving that it can refer to a time period that will expire.  There are other places where Aion is translated world rather then Age, like Paul calling Satan the "God of this World", it should be Age not World there as we know in the future Jesus will take ruler-ship of the Kosmos from Satan.

The other key verse is Jude verse 7.

Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

"Eternal fire" there is Aioniou fire.  There it is used in the exact same form it is in Mark 3:29, John 6:68, Hebrews 6:2.

Obviously the fire that destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah isn't still raging by the Dead Sea.

But also important is that Ezekiel 16:53 says that Sodom will be restored just as Samaria and Jerusalem are promised to be restored.  Sodom had no survivors, they considered Lot a foreigner living among them even on their last day, and Lot's descendants became their own nations, Moab and Amon.  And no one was a believer who perished in Sodom's destruction.  Sodom can only be restored if eventually Jesus shed Blood redeems even the Sodomites.

In Revelation 22, those who were cast into the Lake of Fire are now just outside New Jerusalem.

And in in the Sheep and Goats Judgment of Matthew 25, people overlook that neither the Sheep or Goats were those who believed in Jesus in this life.  We are the brethren.  Chuck Missler likes to say they are the Jews here (and argue this isn't the same judgment as the White Throne judgment).  But earlier in Matthew Jesus had effectively disowned His mother, brothers and sisters and said His real Brethren are those who believe in Him not biological relations.

Luke 3:6 says that all mankind will see God's Salvation.  Romans 5:18-19 says that as by one Man's Sin all are condemned, so by one Man's righteousness all men are Justified.   Romans 11:32 says all Men are bound to Disobedience so that he might have Mercy on ALL men.  1 Corinthians 15:22 says as in Adam all die so in Christ ALL shall be made alive.  And Peter tells us it is God's preference that none shall perish.