“Most of the apostles were illiterate and could not in fact write.
They could not have left an authoritative writing if their souls depended on it.
— Bart D. Ehrman, “Forged”
Many, if not most, of the Scriptures were written by people falsely claiming to be the apostles or other leaders of the early Christian church, says biblical scholar Bart D. Ehrman. That means a lot of books of the Bible are actually forgeries.
The book of Mark, like the rest of the Gospels, was written anonymously. Why, then, do we believe they were products of the men that bear their names?
If your answer to any conundrum is, “It’s one of God’s miracles,” then this article is not for you. I seek the truth in facts — fully admitting that as we gain more and more knowledge, our previous beliefs can shift.
I don’t subscribe to the school of thought that blind faith can solve any mystery. I think about what is scientifically feasible, what archaeology and history research reveals, and base my judgments from there. Virgins do not give birth; men are not raised from the dead; and illiterate peasants do not write well-argued religious tracts.
All that being said, this post is not about my beliefs. These are the findings of Bart D. Ehrman in his 2011 work, Forged: Writing in the Name of God — Why the Bible’s Authors Are Not Who We Think They Are.
“Most of the apostles were illiterate and could not in fact write,” Ehrman declares. “They could not have left an authoritative writing if their souls depended on it.”
Bart D. Ehrman was once an evangelical Christian who took everything in the Bible literally. Now he’s a biblical scholar whose works, like Forged, offer shocking truths about the supposed word of God.
So who wrote the New Testament, then? Most of the texts were composed by people with extensive schooling — that is, undoubtedly, members of the upper class elite.
Why would someone lie about writing these works? “Quite simply, it was to get a hearing for their views,” Ehrman explains. “If you were an unknown person, but had something really important to say and wanted people to hear you — not so they could praise you, but so they could learn the truth — one way to make that happen was to pretend you were someone else, a well-known author, a famous figure, an authority.”
Here are four shocking revelations about who actually wrote the New Testament (or, perhaps I should say who didn’t write it):
1. The New Testament writers included embarrassing details about themselves.
One of the ways historians can tell whether an author is telling the truth is to test what he says by “the principle of embarrassment.” This principle assumes that any details embarrassing to the author are probably true. Why? Because the tendency of most authors is to leave out anything that makes them look bad. How does the New Testament measure up to the principle of embarrassment? Let’s put it this way: If you and your friends were concocting a story that you wanted to pass off as the truth, would you make yourselves look like dim-witted, uncaring, rebuked, doubting cowards? Of course not. But that’s exactly what we find in the New Testament.
If you were a New Testament writer, would you include these embarrassing details if you were making up a story? Would you write that one of your primary leaders was called “Satan” by Jesus, denied the Lord three times, hid during the crucifixion, and was later corrected on a theological issue? Would you depict yourselves as uncaring, bumbling cowards, and the women—whose testimony was not even admissible in court—as the brave ones who stood by Jesus and later discovered the empty tomb? Would you admit that some of you (the eleven remaining disciples) doubted the very Son of God after he had proven himself risen to all of you? Of course not.
In short, we don’t have enough faith to believe that the New Testament writers included all of those embarrassing details in a made-up story. The best explanation is that they were really telling the truth—warts and all.
2. The New Testament writers included embarrassing details and difficult sayings of Jesus.
The New Testament writers are also honest about Jesus. Not only do they record self-incriminating details about themselves, they also record embarrassing details about their leader, Jesus, that seem to place him in a bad light. Jesus is not believed by his own brothers (John 7:5), is thought to be a deceiver (John 7:12), is deserted by many of his followers (John 6:66), turns off “Jews who had believed in him” (John 8:30-31) to the point that they want to stone him (v. 59), and is called a “drunkard” (Matt. 11:19), a “madman” (John 10:20), and “demon-possessed” (Mark 3:22; John 7:20, 8:48).
Islam is the fastest-growing religion in the world.[3] In 1990, 1.1 billion people were Muslims, while in 2010, 1.6 billion people were Muslims.[297][298] According to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, as of 2007 estimated that the fastest-growing religion of the world to be Islam (1.84%), high birth rates in as the reason for the growths.[299] According to the BBC, a comprehensive American study concluded in 2009 that the number of Muslims worldwide stood at about 23% of the world’s population with 60% of the world’s Muslims living in Asia.[300] According to the same study “globally, Muslims have the highest fertility rate, an average of 3.1 children per woman – well above replacement level (2.1)”, and “in all major regions where there is a sizable Muslim population, Muslim fertility exceeds non-Muslim fertility”.[301] From 1990 to 2010, the global Muslim population increased at an average annual rate of 2.2%. By 2030 Muslims are projected to represent about 26.4% of the global population (out of a total of 7.9 billion people).[3] Islam is expected to be the world’s largest religion by the year 2075.[302] According to a 2019 study by the Pew Research Center; “around the globe, Muslims have higher fertility rates than Christians on average. Muslim women’s low educational attainment is a likely factor; demographers find that higher educational attainment among women is tied to lower fertility rates”.[303]
The arrangement of the Qur’an is one of many reasons why Muslims believe that it could only have come from God. In fact, modern research has discovered a remarkable structure in the Qur’an known as ring composition. To learn more about the miracles of the Qur’an, you can download a free copy of the book “The Eternal Challenge: A Journey Through The Miraculous Qur’an” from the One Reason website: http://tinyurl.com/ncbxckb Simply scroll to the bottom of the above page and click on the DOWNLOAD button to get your free PDF copy of the book.
The Qur’an is a literary masterpiece that has fascinated mankind since its initial revelation over 1,400 years ago. A unique quality of the Qur’an is the linguistic gems that are hidden within the surface-level meaning of the text, giving it an unparalleled depth. While ordinary books grow stale over time, when it comes to the Qur’an, the more one studies it, the more of these linguistic gems one discovers, which serves to increase its literary merit. In this video we will look at examples of linguistic gems which will help non-Arabic speakers to appreciate the Quran’s literary magnificence. To learn more about the linguistic miracle of the Qur’an please check out the book “Divine Speech: Exploring the Qur’an as Literature” published by Bayyinah Institute.
Non-Muslims (Christians included of course) claim Muslims worship the Black Box (Ka’bah) just because they bow and prostrate toward it.
But if you dig up their own Bible, you can see how Israelites prayed, worshiping toward their temple. Have a look at these verses.
Psalm 5:7 (KJV) But as for me, I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy: and in thy fear will I worshiptoward thy holy temple.
Psalm 138:2 (KJV) I will worshiptoward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.
1 Kings 8:29 (CEV) This is the temple where you have chosen to be worshiped. Please watch over it day and night and listen when I turn toward it and pray.
2 Chronicles 6:20 (CEV) May your eyes be open toward this temple day and night, this place of which you said you would put your Name there. May you hear the prayer your servant prays toward this place.
Psalm 5:8 (CJV) But I can enter your house because of your great grace and love; I will bowdowntoward your holy temple in reverence for you.
Muslims too commanded to pray or worship Allah FACING TOWARD Masjidil Haram or Ka’bah. Is it means they worship it?
WE DEFEND ISLAM 
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