Corpus of Church Traditions

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SalamKhan

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Does there exist a Christian equivalence to either the Talmud in Judaism, or Hadith collections in Islam? Any at all? Whether it’s a collection of deeds and sayings attributed to the disciples of Isa ibn Maryam, or Isa ibn Maryam (I’ve heard of Agrapha) himself.
 
Does there exist a Christian equivalence to either the Talmud in Judaism, or Hadith collections in Islam? Any at all? Whether it’s a collection of deeds and sayings attributed to the disciples of Isa ibn Maryam, or Isa ibn Maryam (I’ve heard of Agrapha) himself.
I’d venture a no, because both are incompatible with Christianity.
 
Does there exist a Christian equivalence to either the Talmud in Judaism, or Hadith collections in Islam? Any at all? Whether it’s a collection of deeds and sayings attributed to the disciples of Isa ibn Maryam, or Isa ibn Maryam (I’ve heard of Agrapha) himself.
There are certainly many commentaries on Scripture. There is also the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which is a systematic explanation of the dogmas, doctrines, and moral teachings of the faith with citation to source material that includes the Scriptures as well as historical teaching and Church documents. There are also the many writings of the Popes and the Church Councils that define and expound upon points of the faith and reveal the development of doctrine consistent with the entire deposit of faith from the beginning of the Church. There are also the writings of the various “Doctors” of the Church e.g. Thomas Aquinas, that offer explanations and arguments for the faith But aside from the Catechism, I’m not aware of a single volume or set of books that is the Catholic equivalent of the Talmud or Hadith.

It’s an interesting question you ask. Would you see the lack of a Catholic “Talmud” or “Hadith” as a problem for the Church? If so, why?

Peace,
Robert
 
Does there exist a Christian equivalence to either the Talmud in Judaism, or Hadith collections in Islam? Any at all? Whether it’s a collection of deeds and sayings attributed to the disciples of Isa ibn Maryam, or Isa ibn Maryam (I’ve heard of Agrapha) himself.
We have sayings and teachings of Jesus and the apostles recorded in Holy Scripture, the New Testament. Outside of that, no.

There are the writings of the Church Fathers, which were written by early Christians. They have had important theological influence. We also have many lesser known commentaries on the Bible by Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant Christians. However, Christianity really doesn’t have anything comparable to the Talmud or the Hadith.
 
Also, we have Ecumenical Creeds and Confessions of Faith… Some of these are shared by all Christian churches and others are specific to churches. Common creeds would be the Apostles Creed and Nicene Creeds.

There are also books that cover doctrinal, liturgical, and canonical law that vary by church. Catholics have their Catechism and their Code of Canon Law. Anglicans have the Book of Common Prayer. Lutherans have the Book of Concord. Presbyterians have the Book of Confessions. Methodists have the Book of Discipline.
 
There are certainly many commentaries on Scripture. There is also the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which is a systematic explanation of the dogmas, doctrines, and moral teachings of the faith with citation to source material that includes the Scriptures as well as historical teaching and Church documents. There are also the many writings of the Popes and the Church Councils that define and expound upon points of the faith and reveal the development of doctrine consistent with the entire deposit of faith from the beginning of the Church. There are also the writings of the various “Doctors” of the Church e.g. Thomas Aquinas, that offer explanations and arguments for the faith But aside from the Catechism, I’m not aware of a single volume or set of books that is the Catholic equivalent of the Talmud or Hadith.

It’s an interesting question you ask. Would you see the lack of a Catholic “Talmud” or “Hadith” as a problem for the Church? If so, why?

Peace,
Robert
It’s about verifying the traditions that are claimed to be traced back to Isa ibn Maryam (AS) and his disciples. Of course, I don’t believe the Talmud authentically verifies the oral Torah, but at least the Jews made an effort to provide a source for their traditions, even if they did it more than a millennium after the writing of the Torah, without being able to provide a chain of transmission all the way back to Musa (AS) and the elders of Israel; this is the obvious flaw of the Talmud.

Even the authorship of the most of the New Testament books are based on assumptions and/or secondary sources at best. Church Traditions are also attested to by secondary sources at best. Here’s a quote from Papias:

“If, then, anyone who had attended on the elders came, I asked minutely after their sayings. I asked what Andrew or Peter said, or what was said by Philip, Thomas, James, John, Matthew, or any other of the Lord’s disciples–things which Aristion and presbyter John, the disciples of the Lord, say. I concluded that what was to be got from books was not so profitable to me as what came from the living and abiding voice.” (Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 3.39.4)

Let’s assume that the quote is genuine, it is still a secondary source because:
  1. Papias does not name who he asked, what he asked, and what answer he received; making it far too ambiguous and unverifiable.
  2. If the reason for no. 1 is that Papias’ intention was for his contemporaries only, then that makes Papias a secondary source by default, since a primary source is for all times.
 
I know about Councils, Creeds and Church Fathers; so please don’t mention them, because that is not what I’m asking about.
 
It’s about verifying the traditions that are claimed to be traced back to Isa ibn Maryam (AS) and his disciples. Of course, I don’t believe the Talmud authentically verifies the oral Torah, but at least the Jews made an effort to provide a source for their traditions, even if they did it more than a millennium after the writing of the Torah, without being able to provide a chain of transmission all the way back to Musa (AS) and the elders of Israel; this is the obvious flaw of the Talmud.
There is a history of records and documents showing the beliefs and doctrines as they were passed on through Christ to Peter and on to his successors. The Catholic Church is a living Church that has maintained Sacred Tradition from the time of Christ’s resurrection to the present day. The continuity and existence of the Church and its teaching magisterium is much stronger evidence of the validity of Tradition than a set of writings.
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SalamKhan:
Even the authorship of the most of the New Testament books are based on assumptions and/or secondary sources at best.
I’m not sure which books of the New Testament you are referring to. Which books are based on assumption and which are not? Which are based on “secondary sources at best” and which are not? Plus, I’m not sure what you mean by the term “secondary source.” Do you mean the writer was not Christ? Was not an Apostle? Was not a Presbyter or Bishop of the Church? Maybe you could pick one example of a book from the New Testament, explain why it is not trustworthy to you, and explain what evidence would prove to you that it was a credible source of divine revelation?
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SalamKhan:
Church Traditions are also attested to by secondary sources at best. Here’s a quote from Papias:

“If, then, anyone who had attended on the elders came, I asked minutely after their sayings. I asked what Andrew or Peter said, or what was said by Philip, Thomas, James, John, Matthew, or any other of the Lord’s disciples–things which Aristion and presbyter John, the disciples of the Lord, say. I concluded that what was to be got from books was not so profitable to me as what came from the living and abiding voice.” (Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 3.39.4)

Let’s assume that the quote is genuine, it is still a secondary source because:
  1. Papias does not name who he asked, what he asked, and what answer he received; making it far too ambiguous and unverifiable.
  2. If the reason for no. 1 is that Papias’ intention was for his contemporaries only, then that makes Papias a secondary source by default, since a primary source is for all times.
Again, I don’t think you are being very clear here. (No disrespect intended. :)) Is it the text you are trying to verify or the author’s comment that oral Tradition was worthy of his detailed study. And what do you mean when you say “a primary source is for all times.” Please give me an example of what you would accept as a “primary source” for a matter of Sacred Tradition? I’m not sure I understand what you’re looking for, but if you can explain it a bit, I may be able to help.

Another thought about your comment, perhaps a better way to verify what is a Sacred Tradition as opposed to something else, is to see how widespread it is, and how accepted it was from the beginning of the Church, and whether it has remained a part of the Church’s practice to the present, like Baptism, or Eucharist, or anointing of the sick. If the particular Tradition being examined was accepted by the Bishops of the Church in union with Peter, that would seem to me to be pretty strong evidence that it was a genuine part of Tradition, since authority to bind and loose was given by Christ to Peter and his successors.

Peace,
Robert
 
I know about Councils, Creeds and Church Fathers; so please don’t mention them, because that is not what I’m asking about.
You were asking if the Church had anything like the Talmud or the Hadiths. In a general sense, the Talmud and the Hadiths are commentaries upon their respective religions, as are council documents, creeds, and the writings of the fathers. If that’s not what you were asking about, please tell me what exactly you were looking for, and I’ll see if I can be more precise in my response. 🙂

Peace,
Robert
 
I’m not sure which books of the New Testament you are referring to. Which books are based on assumption and which are not? Which are based on “secondary sources at best” and which are not? Plus, I’m not sure what you mean by the term “secondary source.” Do you mean the writer was not Christ? Was not an Apostle? Was not a Presbyter or Bishop of the Church? Maybe you could pick one example of a book from the New Testament, explain why it is not trustworthy to you, and explain what evidence would prove to you that it was a credible source of divine revelation?

Again, I don’t think you are being very clear here. (No disrespect intended. :)) Is it the text you are trying to verify or the author’s comment that oral Tradition was worthy of his detailed study. And what do you mean when you say “a primary source is for all times.” Please give me an example of what you would accept as a “primary source” for a matter of Sacred Tradition? I’m not sure I understand what you’re looking for, but if you can explain it a bit, I may be able to help.

Another thought about your comment, perhaps a better way to verify what is a Sacred Tradition as opposed to something else, is to see how widespread it is, and how accepted it was from the beginning of the Church, and whether it has remained a part of the Church’s practice to the present, like Baptism, or Eucharist, or anointing of the sick. If the particular Tradition being examined was accepted by the Bishops of the Church in union with Peter, that would seem to me to be pretty strong evidence that it was a genuine part of Tradition, since authority to bind and loose was given by Christ to Peter and his successors.

Peace,
Robert
You should look into the science of Hadith to get an idea of what I’m talking about. People may or may not accuse me of looking at things from an Islamic lense, rather than objectively, but one would realise how objective the scholars of Hadith truly were should they study them.
 
You were asking if the Church had anything like the Talmud or the Hadiths. In a general sense, the Talmud and the Hadiths are commentaries upon their respective religions, as are council documents, creeds, and the writings of the fathers. If that’s not what you were asking about, please tell me what exactly you were looking for, and I’ll see if I can be more precise in my response. 🙂

Peace,
Robert
Hadiths are not commentaries, but they are literally traditions. They are narrations, each of which record a certain statement or act of Prophet Muhammad (S). Since traditions can be fabricated, or lost in meaning over time, the scholars applied objective methods to verify whether each narration they collected were (i) Sahih- Authentic, (ii) Hasan- Sound, (iii) Daif- Weak, (iv) Mawdu- Fabricated. Even the writing and recitation of the Mushaf (Qur’an), is considered Mutawatir (mass transmitted). Any Mutwatir report, means that the chain of transmission is too numerous leading back to the original witnesses who were too numerous to have agreed on mishearing what Prophet Muhammad (S) stated. In other words, the writing and recitation of the Mushaf (Qur’an) is the exact same Qira’at (recitation) Muhammad (S) conveyed to a large number of his companions, and we Muslims of course believe that Allah revealed the Qur’an to Muhammad (S). Any Hadith that is Mutawatir is Sahih (authentic) by default, whereas Ahad (linguistically meaning single transmitted, but can mean multiple narrators) can be Sahih, Hasan, Daif, or Mawdu.

I hope that helped.
 
Hadiths are not commentaries, but they are literally traditions. They are narrations, each of which record a certain statement or act of Prophet Muhammad (S). Since traditions can be fabricated, or lost in meaning over time, the scholars applied objective methods to verify whether each narration they collected were (i) Sahih- Authentic, (ii) Hasan- Sound, (iii) Daif- Weak, (iv) Mawdu- Fabricated. Even the writing and recitation of the Mushaf (Qur’an), is considered Mutawatir (mass transmitted). Any Mutwatir report, means that the chain of transmission is too numerous leading back to the original witnesses who were too numerous to have agreed on mishearing what Prophet Muhammad (S) stated. In other words, the writing and recitation of the Mushaf (Qur’an) is the exact same Qira’at (recitation) Muhammad (S) conveyed to a large number of his companions, and we Muslims of course believe that Allah revealed the Qur’an to Muhammad (S). Any Hadith that is Mutawatir is Sahih (authentic) by default, whereas Ahad (linguistically meaning single transmitted, but can mean multiple narrators) can be Sahih, Hasan, Daif, or Mawdu.

I hope that helped.
I have no idea who Isa or Ibn Maryann are. I am a Scientist. So tell me in valid scientific terms
What objective methods are or were used to objectively verify your Islamic writings.

Do this in ordinary layman terms a Catholic who has no knowledge of your books traditions can follow please.

Here are the only things I know of your religion. You believe x number o f virgins wait all men and women in your heaven that physically enact the kill infidels as per your laws.
How is that scientifically and objectively verified.
 
You should look into the science of Hadith to get an idea of what I’m talking about. People may or may not accuse me of looking at things from an Islamic lense, rather than objectively, but one would realise how objective the scholars of Hadith truly were should they study them.
OK. So, I looked up “Hadith” and “Science of Hadith” on Wikipedia to gain a bit more knowledge about Hadiths and the Science of Hadith. It’s interesting, but ultimately Hadith’s differ so greatly from Sacred Tradition, that I think you’re comparing apples to oranges here.

So, my understanding is that Hadiths are the collections of reports of verbatim sayings of Muhammad, that list the original reporter as well as the saying. The “science of Hadith” is the set of rules by which Muslim scholars try to separate the pure saying from any influence of the reporter. So, in that sense the primary source would be the saying of Muhammad and the secondary source would be the original reporter of the saying.

While this is an interesting and very exacting way to try to maintain the original meaning of the saying, it runs into the same problem you seem to be raising with the Scriptures. You have only a secondary report (the reporter) of what Muslims believe to be prophetic utterances by Muhammad. Who is to say that the reporter of the saying was remembering accurately and completely, and was recording without passion or bias (even implicit bias) of any kind. At best, the science of Hadith is an educated guess that the reporter accurately reported what Muhammad might have said.

Christianity does not have a list of sayings by Jesus that were reported by others. Instead we have the New Testament, which is made of different kinds of writings: Gospels, Acts, letters, apocalyptic writings, made by different people, to different people, for different reasons. We believe they are accurate because they were accepted by all of the different Christian communities, and we believe they were authored by trusted and credible sources who were known by their contemporaries. We believe the original writings to be inspired by the Holy Spirit and inerrant, but we acknowledge that no translation is going to be 100% perfect. Further, the writings of the New Testament are those that persisted and were used in liturgies by the different Christian communities over time, and they remain remarkably consistent over nearly 2,000 years, even where translated into Greek, Latin, and other languages. So, I don’t think the science of the Hadiths is going to be the right tool to examine the validity of New Testament scripture the cannon with which is a matter of Sacred Tradition.

Similarly, there is no written down list of sayings about Sacred Tradition. Rather, there is a continuity of praxis in Catholic Christian liturgy that is compelling to those who study Church history. For example, there was never a time when the Catholic Church did not teach the doctrine of the Eucharist, or Baptism. And the underlying form of these practices has not changed. Baptism is always with water, and always in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Eucharist celebrations always involve wine, bread, calling on the Holy Spirit, and the acknowledgement of a change from bread and wine to Christ’s body and blood. There is no one reporter for these traditions. They are evidenced in every Church that has maintained an apostolic succession.

Hope this helps.

Peace,
Robert
 
I have no idea who Isa or Ibn Maryann are. I am a Scientist. So tell me in valid scientific terms
What objective methods are or were used to objectively verify your Islamic writings.

Do this in ordinary layman terms a Catholic who has no knowledge of your books traditions can follow please.

Here are the only things I know of your religion. You believe x number o f virgins wait all men and women in your heaven that physically enact the kill infidels as per your laws.
How is that scientifically and objectively verified.
Objectively, meaning without any doctrinal bias. The early Muslim scholars classified oral/written reports after examining chain of transmission, biographical evaluation, etc. and placed reports under two classes:

Mutawatir- This means mass transmitted. Meaning that the chain of narrators is so numerous that it leads back to a large number of the companions of Muhammad (S). An example, 62 witnesses heard one man saying “my favourite colour is black” and everyone without exception heard him make this statement, it is absurd to assert that not only did all of them mishear what the man actually said, but even more absurd, perhaps empirically impossible, to assert that they heard the exact same thing from the moment they misheard the statement. This is why a Mutawatir report is Sahih (meaning authentic) by default.

Ahad- Linguistically this means a single chain of transmission, but could mean multiple chains of narrators, just not a large amount of chains. Ahad reports are further examined and placed under four categories. Sahih (meaning authentic), Hasan (meaning reliable), Daif (meaning weak), and Mawdu (meaning fabricated).

The early scholars did not simply accept or reject reports based on doctrinal bias, like the Shias did/do.
 
Hadiths are not commentaries, but they are literally traditions. They are narrations, each of which record a certain statement or act of Prophet Muhammad (S). Since traditions can be fabricated, or lost in meaning over time, the scholars applied objective methods to verify whether each narration they collected were (i) Sahih- Authentic, (ii) Hasan- Sound, (iii) Daif- Weak, (iv) Mawdu- Fabricated. Even the writing and recitation of the Mushaf (Qur’an), is considered Mutawatir (mass transmitted). Any Mutwatir report, means that the chain of transmission is too numerous leading back to the original witnesses who were too numerous to have agreed on mishearing what Prophet Muhammad (S) stated. In other words, the writing and recitation of the Mushaf (Qur’an) is the exact same Qira’at (recitation) Muhammad (S) conveyed to a large number of his companions, and we Muslims of course believe that Allah revealed the Qur’an to Muhammad (S). Any Hadith that is Mutawatir is Sahih (authentic) by default, whereas Ahad (linguistically meaning single transmitted, but can mean multiple narrators) can be Sahih, Hasan, Daif, or Mawdu.

I hope that helped.
Thanks. It does help. But see my comment above. I don’t think this is comparable to the way in which Sacred Tradition was passed on in the Church. Sacred Tradition is not static like a saying or a past act. It’s a living set of practices that has developed over time as the Church has grown, like an acorn grows into an Oak tree. The continuity and authority of the Church is why we would not need something like a list of sayings.

Peace,
Robert
 
OK. So, I looked up “Hadith” and “Science of Hadith” on Wikipedia to gain a bit more knowledge about Hadiths and the Science of Hadith. It’s interesting, but ultimately Hadith’s differ so greatly from Sacred Tradition, that I think you’re comparing apples to oranges here.

So, my understanding is that Hadiths are the collections of reports of verbatim sayings of Muhammad, that list the original reporter as well as the saying. The “science of Hadith” is the set of rules by which Muslim scholars try to separate the pure saying from any influence of the reporter. So, in that sense the primary source would be the saying of Muhammad and the secondary source would be the original reporter of the saying.

While this is an interesting and very exacting way to try to maintain the original meaning of the saying, it runs into the same problem you seem to be raising with the Scriptures. You have only a secondary report (the reporter) of what Muslims believe to be prophetic utterances by Muhammad. Who is to say that the reporter of the saying was remembering accurately and completely, and was recording without passion or bias (even implicit bias) of any kind. At best, the science of Hadith is an educated guess that the reporter accurately reported what Muhammad might have said.

Christianity does not have a list of sayings by Jesus that were reported by others. Instead we have the New Testament, which is made of different kinds of writings: Gospels, Acts, letters, apocalyptic writings, made by different people, to different people, for different reasons. We believe they are accurate because they were accepted by all of the different Christian communities, and we believe they were authored by trusted and credible sources who were known by their contemporaries. We believe the original writings to be inspired by the Holy Spirit and inerrant, but we acknowledge that no translation is going to be 100% perfect. Further, the writings of the New Testament are those that persisted and were used in liturgies by the different Christian communities over time, and they remain remarkably consistent over nearly 2,000 years, even where translated into Greek, Latin, and other languages. So, I don’t think the science of the Hadiths is going to be the right tool to examine the validity of New Testament scripture the cannon with which is a matter of Sacred Tradition.

Similarly, there is no written down list of sayings about Sacred Tradition. Rather, there is a continuity of praxis in Catholic Christian liturgy that is compelling to those who study Church history. For example, there was never a time when the Catholic Church did not teach the doctrine of the Eucharist, or Baptism. And the underlying form of these practices has not changed. Baptism is always with water, and always in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Eucharist celebrations always involve wine, bread, calling on the Holy Spirit, and the acknowledgement of a change from bread and wine to Christ’s body and blood. There is no one reporter for these traditions. They are evidenced in every Church that has maintained an apostolic succession.

Hope this helps.

Peace,
Robert
The original narrator is also considered a primary source, since he is a companion of the Prophet Muhammad (S). Not only that, but anyone who provides verifiable sources can be considered a primary source. The scholars had various ways of knowing whether someone was reliable or not. One example, was testing the memory of the living narrators, by asking them to repeat the narration and its chain multiple times on different occasions to see whether there was any slight contradition.
 
Thanks. It does help. But see my comment above. I don’t think this is comparable to the way in which Sacred Tradition was passed on in the Church. Sacred Tradition is not static like a saying or a past act. It’s a living set of practices that has developed over time as the Church has grown, like an acorn grows into an Oak tree. The continuity and authority of the Church is why we would not need something like a list of sayings.

Peace,
Robert
But again, you cannot verify that this authority was actually instituted by Isa ibn Maryam (A) or his disciples.
 
But again, you cannot verify that this authority was actually instituted by Isa ibn Maryam (A) or his disciples.
The Isa ibn Maryam you keep referring to can you name one follower?

But…

The Qur’anic account of the disciples (Arabic: الحواريون‎‎ al-ḥawāriyyūn) of Jesus does not include their names, numbers, or any detailed accounts of their lives. Muslim exegesis, however, more-or-less agrees with the New Testament list and says that the disciples included Peter, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, Andrew, James, Jude, John and Simon the Zealot.[1] Scholars generally draw a parallel with the disciples of Jesus and the disciples of Muhammad, who followed Muhammad during his lifetime.[2]

From : en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disciples_of_Jesus_in_Islam

MJ
 
Objectively, meaning without any doctrinal bias. The early Muslim scholars classified oral/written reports after examining chain of transmission, biographical evaluation, etc. and placed reports under two classes:

Mutawatir- This means mass transmitted. Meaning that the chain of narrators is so numerous that it leads back to a large number of the companions of Muhammad (S). An example, 62 witnesses heard one man saying “my favourite colour is black” and everyone without exception heard him make this statement, it is absurd to assert that not only did all of them mishear what the man actually said, but even more absurd, perhaps empirically impossible, to assert that they heard the exact same thing from the moment they misheard the statement. This is why a Mutawatir report is Sahih (meaning authentic) by default.

Ahad- Linguistically this means a single chain of transmission, but could mean multiple chains of narrators, just not a large amount of chains. Ahad reports are further examined and placed under four categories. Sahih (meaning authentic), Hasan (meaning reliable), Daif (meaning weak), and Mawdu (meaning fabricated).

The early scholars did not simply accept or reject reports based on doctrinal bias, like the Shias did/do.
Thats not objectively verifying anything scientifically.

You are misusing the term ‘empiric’. It doesnt belong with hearsay from 600AD.
AD meaning after the birth of Jesus Christ.

However, oral tradition and eye witness is very much how we Catholics got the Bible and our Church Teachings. And, of course The Holy Spirit.

You know of course that Jesus Christ is the First Priest of the One, Holy and Apostolic Church.

For the New Testament:
Jesus Christ taught,

Early scholars who were there , or had witness information,
wrote the teachings and Miracles of Jesus Christ down.

You guys had only 62 witnesses?

For the Loaves and Fishes Miracle, over 5000 men alone!
For the Passion of Our Lord JESUS CHRIST, many thousands, and the Historical records of the Roman Empire, and the Jews. And of course , the Christians.
For the birth of Our Lord JESUS CHRIST, three wise men, shepherds, the Jewish historical records , Herod knew and killed off all children under 2 to try to kill Our Lord, Jesus Christ,
FOR running demons into 2000 pigs, then over cliffs, an entire town as witness.

But you havent answered the question. How on earth can you scientifically and objectively verify there are virgins, waiting, in your heaven for those who kill non muslims?

Our Lord, Jesus Christ God. said ‘thou shalt not kill’
And sins of the flesh will get you a one way trip to hell.

Do you think what Boko Haram did, and Daesh are doing in kidnapping and raping, or killing women who refuse is ok with God? Or do you believe Daesh and Boko Haram are Demonic?
 
Thats not objectively verifying anything scientifically.

It sounds very much how we Catholics got the Bible and our Church.

For the New Testament:
Jesus Christ taught,

Early scholars who were there , or had witness information,
wrote it down.

You guys had only 62 witnesses?

For the Loaves and Fishes Miracle, over 5000 men alone!
For the Passion of Our Lord JESUS CHRIST, many, and the Historical recordsvof the Roman Empire, and the Jews. And of course , the Christians.
For the birth of Our Lord JESUS CHRIST, three wise men, shepherds, the Jewish historical records , Herod knew and killed off children to try to kill Our Lord, Jesus Christ,
FOR running demons into 2000 pigs, then over cliffs, an entire town.

But you havent answered the question. How on earth can you scientifically and objectively verify the virgins, in your heaven for tjose who kill.

Our Lord, Jesus Christ God. said ‘thou shalt not kill’
And sins of the flesh get you hell.

Do you think what Boko Haram did, and Daesh are doing in kidnapping and raping, or killing women who refuse is ok with God? Or do you believe Daesh and Boko Haram are Demonic?
It’s clear you have no idea what I’m even talking about when I mention objective verification. I’m referring to whether teachings of Prophet Muhammad (S) can really be traced back to him, and whether the writing and recitation of the Mushaf (Qur’an) can be really be traced back to him and his Sahaba (companions). How on earth does your question of “how do you objectively verify virgins in paradise?” have anything to do with what I’m talking about? It’s like me asking you “how do you objectively verify limbo of the infants?” which I’m not asking, because the question makes no sense; what, you’re asking me to visit paradise so I can see whether terrorists are really being rewarded with virgins? No can do.

The methods of the Muhaddith (Hadith scholars) and the methods of the Church were not the same. I don’t know why you’re even asserting such a thing. Once again, the authorship of the four Gospels are based on assumptions and/or secondary sources at best. There were hundreds of other books floating around attributed to the disciples of Isa ibn Maryam; how do you know they weren’t really written by the disciples but your canonical ones were? And please don’t bring up manuscript evidence because I’m not asking for dating evidence. It seems more like the Church chose books based on doctrinal bias, which even Eastern Orthodox Biblical scholars like Jeanie Constantinau more or less admit.

62 witnesses is just a random example, in case you couldn’t tell from the “my favourite colour is black”.

Enough with your red herring about terrorist groups.
 
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