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CONGRUITIES AND INCONGRUITIES BETWEEN THE BIBLE AND THE QUR'AN |
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This subject is taken up under three headings in the New Testament: namely, the Second Coming according to Paul, Jesus will come down while before the annihilation of the world and the Expectation of the Second Coming.
SECOND COMING ACCORDING TO ST PAUL
According to St.Paul, Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came to the world to cleanse mankind from his sins and provide them with eternal life. The blood he shed was the expiation of the original sin. However, he would come back to save humanity. « So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. »(Hebrews 9/28)
God's design to redeem mankind through his Son, Jesus Christ will be accomplished by the advent of Messiah. All Christians expect Him. However, this coming has two stages:
The First Stage:
« Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. »(1 Corinthians 15/50-52)
« But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. »(Galatians 1/11-12)
Although raising Him to heaven was a secret, Lord Jesus had confided it only to Paul. The first stgage would be invisible to men and will occur at the most unexpected moment. This connotes the sudden resurrection of the believers in Christ and their meeting with Lord Messiah in the garb of the living. Shall be raised to heaven those who have devoted their lives to Lord Christ and faithfully served him.
The Second Stage
« For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: »(1 Thessalonians /16)
« In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not Go and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;» (2 Thessalonians 1/8-9)
The Second Stage will witness a flash that would light up the entire world and Jesus in the company of the saints and angels will come down in his entire splendor and sit upon his sumptuous throne. The entire humanity will stand trial before him; the evil ones will go to hell and the good ones to the paradise.
MESSIAH WILL COME WHEN WE ARE STILL ALIVE
« For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.» (1 Thessalonians 4/16,17)
« Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. »(1 Corinthians 15/50-52)
In 1 Thessalonians that Paul wrote in 51 A.D. he had said that he would come back 'When we are still alive'. In another letter he wrote to the Romans in 57 A.D. he had said that the second coming would be 'very soon': And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. (Romans 15/50-52) Long centuries have gone by since that date and there has been no second coming.
Paul died circa 62-64 A.D. The Israelites that had revolted against the dominion of the Romans had to wage a war and in 70 A.D. they suffered defeat and their Temple had been razed to the ground. In the Roman Empire, along with the Jews, the Jewish Nazarenes also had been reviled. Although, at the time, the Pauline Christians and the Jewish Christians, formed two communities in conflict, the Nazarenes had the upper hand. However, following the fall of Jerusalem, the situation underwent a reverse of fortune and the superiority passed to the hands of the Pauline Greek Christianity. This was a victory that Paul gained posthumously.
The penning of the gospels began at a time when the Nazarene Christians, the real representative of Jesus Christ, had lost their prestige, after 70 A.D. , and the Pauline Christians had gained supremacy. The Gospel of St Mark, the first to be committed to paper in chronological terms, who was deeply influenced, just like the others authors of gospels, from Paul's letters, announced the second shortcoming to take place while some of the addressees are still alive. And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power. (Mark 9/1)
The concept of kingdom of God means that God will have dominion over the entire world. This sovereignty had begun as from the time of advent of Jesus Christ.
In the Gospel of St. Mark we observe the address that the persons to whom the speech is made will see his second coming before they pass away. This reflected the opinion of Paul. Yet, after a lapse of about two thousand years, Jesus Christ failed to appear. God or Jesus could not possibly have declared an untruth! It is obvious that this account was a concoction by humans.
EXPECTATION OF MESSIAH
« Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. »(Matthew 24/29-31)
The delay of the expected Second Coming caused hesitations among the public. Bearing this in mind the Second Coming of Christ had to be put off till the Day of Judgement in the Gospel of St Matthew written 15 years after Paul, and in the gospel of St Luke written after it.
« “But the delay in the parousia prompted embarrassing questions. Essentially the answers given may be classified in three categories: (1) the imminence of the parousia is reaffirmed even more strongly (e.g. in the Second Epistle of Peter); (2) the parfousia is deferred to a more distant future, and a theological justification is offered for this long interval: it is the period set aside for the missionary activity of the Church (see. E.g., the Gospels of Matthew and Luke); (3) the parousia has already taken place, for the Crucifiction ajnd the Resurrection are in fact the true 'final event' (eschaton), and the 'new life' is already accessible to Christiands (see, e.g., the Gospel of John). »
« It was this third explanation that ended by being accepted. In pont of fact, it continued gthe parafdoxes faced by the earliest believers: for Jesus the Messiah was not different from other human beings; though the Son of God, he was humiliated and died on the Cross. But the Resurrection confirmed his divinity. Yet this irrefragable poof was not generally accepted.» (Eliade, Ibid. p. 360).
SECOND COMING IN THE QUR'AN