On 10/10/05, Firouz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Gilberto: > >>Yeah, I see what you are saying. But personally I wouldn't be as > generous. I would say mainstream Christianity represents a significant > departure from Jesus' original teaching. And I think Paul was largely > responsible for the shift.<<
> At the same time, don't you think the mainstream Muslims represent a > significant departure from Prophet Muhammad Teachings? Not in the way I am talking about. In the case of Christianity, the New Testament actually contains only a very small set of words attributed to Jesus. Jesus only taught for about 3 years, partially in secret, and even towards the end of his ministry his closest disciples still didn't totally understand everything he was talking about. Paul's words make up more of the Bible than any other person's, including Jesus. Paul never met Jesus in the flesh. And actually persecuted the early Christians until he had his experience on the road to Damascus. He didn't even spend much time with the disciples who knew Jesus (out of 13 or so years, he might have spent 2 weeks with a small group of them in Jerusalem). James had a different interpretation from Paul's and he was Jesus' own brother and the head of the church in Jerusalem. And we know that there were many other non-Pauline groups in existence which could also claim to be authentic. In the case of Islam, the Quran consists of words which were spoken by Muhammad (saaws) . And you might not like them, but our knowledge of the prophet is also supplemented by hadith. Muhammad (Saaws)taught among the people for about 23 years. In the beginning he taught in secret, but by the end Islam was a very public open religion practiced by a community. The people had 23 years to ask questions, to understand the details of doctrine and practice. The people who taught and explained the religion after him (the sahabas) were all people who knew the prophet rather well, his wives, his in-laws, his blood relatives, his close friends. And there were many such people, making sure that the teachings of the prophet were transmitted accurately to the next generation. I think it is easier to make a case that Islam accurately represents the teachings of Muhammad (saaws) than one can argue that modern-day Christianity represents the teachings of Jesus. In the latter case, there is alot more distance, and seperation and gaps. Peace Gilberto The information contained in this e-mail and any attachments thereto ("e-mail") is sent by the Johnson County Community College ("JCCC") and is intended to be confidential and for the use of only the individual or entity named above. The information may be protected by federal and state privacy and disclosures acts or other legal rules. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are notified that retention, dissemination, distribution or copying of this e-mail is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error please immediately notify JCCC by email reply and immediately and permanently delete this e-mail message and any attachments thereto. Thank you. __________________________________________________ You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:archive@mail-archive.com Unsubscribe: send a blank email to mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe: send subscribe bahai-st in the message body to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe: http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/all_forums/subscribe?name=bahai-st Baha'i Studies is available through the following: Mail - mailto:bahai-st@list.jccc.edu Web - http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/?forum=bahai-st News - news://list.jccc.edu/bahai-st Public - http://www.escribe.com/religion/bahaist Old Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai-st@list.jccc.net New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai-st@list.jccc.edu