HzAbbas

For me it's figurative speech. I'm not interested in other women, i just want to be reunited with my wife.

I've lost count how many articles, books and lecturers I've gone through trying to make sense of early Christian history, and it's tough. ...and discoveries like those of Qumran and the Nag Hammadi have only raised more questions. So just know these theories I'm putting forth are merely mine trying to make sense of a (a very clearly) chaotic time.

Maybe,but as I have pointed: - it is 100% certain it didn't start as a written message, which confirmed by the New Testament itself.. and even today, the largest two oldest Christian denominations REJECT the idea of ONLY BIBLE (sola scriptura). Now consider: - When the Prophet ((عليه السلام).) was around, early 7th century, he was speaking to Christians who were functioned outside the reaches of the Roman Empire. (And this might come as a surprise to you, but the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox all have different numbers of books in their Bibles). - The authorship of all four the Gospels we have today is doubtful, and let's not even get into the letters of Paul, or the rest of the epistles & Revelation. - As New Testament scholarship of the last 100 years have confirmed, there there MANY gospels in circulation. Some, like that of the Gospel of Thomas is thought to potentially even predate the Gospel of John.. but are not in the canon today. - Modern Textual Criticism of the New Testament actually shows tens of thousands or differences between the various NT manuscripts; most notably which are the longer ending of Mark & Women caught in Adultry which are completely missing in the oldest manuscripts. Not to hundreds of partially or completely missing verses, or verses with different words. - There is even one manuscript called the Codex Babiensus (the oldest Latin manuscript) dated to the 300s or 400s where Jesus ((عليه السلام).) during his crucifixion not to God, but to the god Helios (not even joking). This is how diverse things were in belief. So i know Im not giving you definitive answers here, I'm trying to make you see that the Gospels today were the products of millennia of revision, that Christianity clearly was not uniform in what it believed (especially outside the Roman sphere of influence where they could force "orthodoxy" on believers), given this the immediate audience of Christians our beloved Prophet were speaking to had enough of the original Gospel to feel his message would be confirmed - which i think is likely given that Unitarianism (rejecting the trinity) has never disappeared.

The word 'Gospel' just means good news, and the phrase itself initially applied to Jesus' ((عليه السلام).) oral teaching, not the written Gospels. In fact, in the first chapter of the Gospel or Mark (which Christian scholars believe was written first) Jesus ((عليه السلام).) proclaims: 14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:14-15) Clearly, Jesus ((عليه السلام).) was not talking about the written Gospels as he spoke here because they had not been written yetm. In fact it is clear reading the documents of Early Christianity (like the Didache or Ireneus, Justin Martyr, etc) that early Christians didn't have (most if not all) of the Gospels (let alone NT) we have today. My theory is that the Gospel is referring to the oral teaching that continued to be taught, particularly outside the area Rome dominated. I suspect this is also why even the institutional Church (Catholics and Orthodox) never believed in Sola Scriptura (scripture alone) but believed in Sacred Tradition as well.. because that's how things always were. But i am guessing now.

How? We know where and when Imam Mahdi (may Allah hasten his return) was born & his family lineage, as he is our final infallible Imam. The Prophet Elijah ((عليه السلام).) lived at least a 1000 before this, if not more.

Compare the Apostle's Creed now with the Nicene Creed. This is the abridged version they use and say in Churches today, the original actual lays curses on those who reject the doctrines. Notice how they emphasize that Jesus ((عليه السلام).) was not a created being (but begotten) & that he is the same essence as the Father:

You are confusing the sonship of Christ with the Trinity. Even Mormons, who are polytheists (as Tritheists as they say) believe Jesus ((عليه السلام).) was the son of "god".. but they believe he and the holy spirit are literally separate gods altogether. The Trinity involved the father, son and holy spirit being of the same essence - in other words they are one being in essence... but separate persons. (as illustrated in the graphic I attached).

I think you mean the Nicene Creed (& the later Athanasius Creed). The Apostle Creed does not explictly profess belief in the Trinity, which is why Arius (who the Council of Nicaea was called to address) was able to profess it too. I think the concept definitely existed before the Council because only 2 of the 250+ Bishops at the Council rejected it. The Council itself was over 300 years after the time of Christ, so the real question it can it be traced back to Jesus ((عليه السلام).)? I read a number of their early church fathers and don't really see it.. so I'm guessing it washed over from gnosticism or neo-platonism.

Ah yes.. one those those guys who watched a few YouTube videos, and suddenly became an instant expert. I'm sorry anout your experience, I've had similar things happen to me. If he just stopped believing one could still be someone's friend, but not if they are going try and belittle your beliefs.

I'm aware it is. It doesn't mean it isn't a driving force (or means of exporting) western cultural hegenomy. Heck just look during "Pride" Month. If you want to include economic & political structures then every country in the world is westernized, without exception. So the question then is: which is the least? I'd argue to its isolation, culturally likely the north koreans. I can't think of a country so isolated globally. The internet and proliferation of smart phones and made geographic distance or isolation in itself meaningless. Who would you say? Going on cultural terms? And then maybe on all the criteria you mentioned?

If that's your criteria for defining westernization then practically every country on earth is westernized as both the political structures and economic structures are more-or-less from the West. I'm speaking culturally. The country is cut off from the world, isn't influenced to western trends and brainrot the extent the rest of the world is. I doubt TikTok is a thing there. That's if any of the testimonies of defectors are reliable at all - which is at least partially doubtful.

You mean like he promised Hyperloop? ...or the Tesla semi & cybertruck? ...or self-driving cars by 2020? ... or how he promised ventilators during the covid crisis? This reminds me of the time Thai children were trapped in a cave and he tried to hijack the crisis by trying to get them to use a minisub he was told repeatedly wouldn't work. Shameless self-promotion.

I don't know if I believe that. You don't double your troop numbers if you are inflicting 10 to 1 losses on your enemy. I think the Russians are probably not including their private Wagner Group Mercs and Donesk/Lugansk militia losses. The truth is they should have escalated this war months ago, and not allowed the West to pump a $100bil worth of weapons into the country. New Ukrainian troops are now trained in perfect safety right across the border in bordering NATO countries, and are delivered fresh into the battle with new weapons, NATO standard training with NATO weapons.

Well, an Iranian surgeon got hold of her CT scan & basically laid it out: there is no proof she was beaten.

North Korea probably.

Felt like I was reading a proposal for a Phd dissertation lol. Yeah, I guess most of the themes transcend the Christian intention into Islam .. never actually looked at the books like this.

That's an awesome achievement, will definitely do so.

I'm sure the labor they extract from their massive prison population (+2mil) & private prison industry has nothing to do with any of this.

If they mean American Christians are becoming increasingly churchless &/or joining mega churches, then yes. The term evangelical is one of those words that means different things depending on who you talk to. What I mean with the term is the peculiar brand of Protestantism that's popular in the US in which pastors wear jeans and the churches look like concert halls, and the messages are feelgood motivational speeches (think Joel Osteen & Joyce Meyer). But Christians themselves add in the Southern Baptists and other mainline denominations in there too, particularly the ones that adhere to dispensationalism.

Not too terribly sad about this. It is the Evangelical Christian bloc in the US that unequivocally supports Israel and its ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. American style christianity of mega churches and millionaire pastors (& even billionaires like Kenneth Copeland) is vile.

Of course the Yazids of today would speak well of their historical counterpart!

Unfortunately this kind of mentality exists in Shiism too, particularly coming from certain clerics in the West. It's little different to how they use to use ethnic and racial divides to govern their colonies.

It is closer to Eastern Orthodoxy than Roman Catholicism - if one wants to make a comparison in regards to polity.

Still keeping you in prayers. Don't give up. One step a time.

It is a sad topic, and likely complex. Now, disclaimer.. obviously rising social problems like abuse, addiction and infidelity are a big reasons, but I feel they are a topic in themselves. So in general, I think we live in an increasingly consumerist society that no longer repairs things, but replaces them. This mentality tends to wash over into other areas of our lives where we find it easier to walk away from difficult relationships rather than to repair them. The rise of individualism has also exasperated this because we see life as chiefly being about our happiness, rather than service or sacrifice.