On 12/9/2015 11:37 AM, David Amicus wrote:

That is the title of a short video I just saw on YouTube. It's in a foreig= n language but with English subtitles. A fellow on the street is reading p= assages from the Bible to people to get their responses. However people ar= e led to think it is from the Qu'ran. Quotes from both Testaments. One fr= om the New is about how women are to be in submission. And from the Jewish=
some of the Mosaic Laws.=20

Interesting to see people's responses once they find out it is from the Bib= le and not the Qu'ran.

I recommend viewing it.

Most of Europe and much of America are post-Christian societies these
days. I'm frequently shocked at how little people around me are
familiar with the Bible. One of the British newspapers posed the test
that these people were handing around. I took it and got 7 out if 7
right, but I doubt most Americans under 40 would have. Didn't even need
to recognize the Quranic passages, because I knew they weren't in the
Bible.

One of those passages is one of my favorites in the Qur'an: 5:32.
Here's Yusuf Ali's translation of it:

On that account: We ordained for the Children of Israel that if
any one slew a person - unless it be for murder or for spreading
mischief in the land - it would be as if he slew the whole people:
and if any one saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life
of the whole people. Then although there came to them Our
messengers with clear signs, yet, even after that, many of
them continued to commit excesses in the land.

It's a principle of good exegesis (in Islam and everywhere else I know
of) that to get an accurate view of a religion's teachings about a
subject, you have to look at the whole body of authoritative teaching on
that subject, not one passage in one book. (Even the Qur'an or the
Bible.) Otherwise, this passage would seem to indicate that Islam
forbids the death penalty except for murder or a crime that is
translated "spreading mischief" and "corruption" depending on which
translation you look at. It certainly forbids murder.

I can think of a number of Qur'anic verses that would equally shock a
lot of Donald Trump's supporters. They might even need to change their
views about Muslims. <wry grin>


--
Catherine Jefferson <tw86034@ergosphere.net>
Blog/Personal: http://www.ergosphere.net

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