Given I’m a trained Classicist who can read both Hebrew and Greek, I have read the entire Bible cover to cover in the original languages and in translation. The more I read, the more it seems to confirm my rejection of it.
Wait, what? You’re 23, young master. Unless you were brought up Jewish and truly studied, there’s no way you understand both Hebrew and Greek to the necessary levels to make such a scholarly conclusion above the scholarship of the very men who wrote it, or knew the men who wrote it. Even if that aforementioned scenario were the case, I have a hard time believing such a scholar would, through knowledge and critique of the text as historically understood and rejecting it, so openly embrace a competing system such as Islam without being fluent in Arabic at the same level for true scholarly comparison all around.
In mulling through past posts, I did not find such a claim in Arabic proficiency- did I miss it?
Very clear doctrinal writings go back to the 1st century A.D. that expound and explain the text of the just completed Christian Bible in terms of the New Testament. Men who were the very students of St. John the Apostle, a critical figure in the entire process of the development of Christendom, have written extensively, and have bore witness to its power and truth through their willing deaths, successor and student, catechumen, and those merely expressing the desire to claim Jesus as their Lord and King, one with God the Father, as He is God the Son. St. John, the most beloved disciple, witness to the Calvary, witness to the resurrected Christ. A man who coined some of the most beautiful opening verses in the entire Bible, and so philosophically profound, it’s the entire Gospel stage set for the divine angle of Jesus’ nature in the first 14 verses. Its use of Greek philosophy, which was pertinent to the culture, still resonates today. Those words flow like honey, and it is all one can do not to melt in their uttered presence. If one just savors that understanding throughout the New Testament, and then re-reads the Old Testament, you see Jesus Christ EVERYWHERE. The continuity of concept is insanely complex and spans millennia. Archaeological findings constantly vindicate the Bible in any lies or fibs, and increasingly so. The Quran, at alarming rates, is practically a joke in the Islamic Scholar world. Not the self-styled imams, but truly dedicated students of applying sound Western methods to Eastern texts, as well as study of actual history. The actual history of the Quran’s compiling was so haphazard and riddled with no defined oral tradition amongst the breadth of its spread, that the compiling of the Quran reveals much less care and critique than the Bible. Even collecting Hadith was a process of converging all found witnesses, and then trying to make sense of it all, and scholars and schools STILL don’t agree on that. There is no central authority in Islam. It’s chaos from the start.
There is very apparent order and reason in the history of Israel, and the establishment of Christianity. The abstract mystical and mysterious elements do require faith, and through faith comes wisdom on matters- pursuant to the central authority, the Pope. The tightness of theological and philosophical development is never compromised in the Catholic Church. Through thick and thin, there are no actual variances in the core concept of everything. Groups of dissenters split off, yes, but it’s absolutely asinine to ascribe dissenting nobodies any authority in interpreting a set of writings they did not compile. Like you I suspect, they only knew enough of the language and/or rudimentary basics of the faith, without a true grasp of the weight of other ancillary concepts and truths, and thus ran afoul of the authority and understanding of that which already expresses bequeathed knowledge, understanding, and aid from the Holy Spirit; not at the whim of what is popular or what is culturally accepted, but what is true, moral, and just.
Where men may fail, the Church stands tall and stays true to Her way. She always has, and always will. The same cannot be said for most, and for who else it can be said, no sane person would want any part.
The truth hurts. I choose to praise God for the pain of it, than the false bliss of its absence. It is a constant fight to maintain in oneself, and to express to society in the same. Why delve into something to distance oneself from the militant, when one can find such peace, love, joy, and contentment in the Church Militant? For only those who endure the spiritual battle we all wage, as is waged, shall find entrance into the Church Triumphant. And, as soldiers are wont to do as they are human, this can lead to a stint in the Church Suffering. A suffering which is made pleasing through the recognition of entering the full glory of God without stain of sin, or blemish. Pure. Perfect. In communion with God as God intended. Intended so much He, in His Word, became flesh, and walked amongst us.
This flesh was Jesus of Nazareth, and He is God the Son.
I chain, nail, bury, boil, light on fire, and exile myself to this belief.
It does not require me to make senseless and unscholarly defense of it, using stunted and circular philosophy. I don’t even have to be an eloquent type, or even educated. I do not need a fearful “angel” to tell me this, nor do I need to be persuaded by the sting of a blade.
I merely must open my ears and eyes, listen, grasp, and weigh myself against it to know it is true. And lucky me, secular history agrees more and more about the particular details. And even period sources of Pagan Rome fit like puzzle pieces.
It’s… almost… like… it’s, true!?
So, the movement of logos via gnosis, resulting in understanding, leaves a man with but 2 options: accept and live it, or reject it and tilt at windmills in the ignorance of the chasm disguised in the path.
