Purpose And Intent of This Paper
My name is Yusuf Estes, I am a former Christian and chaplain, having served for the Federal Bureau Prisons, as a delegate to the World Peace Summit for Religious Leaders, at the United Nations and as a volunteer for religious services to the various men and women of the United States Military. I am constantly working with other various faith groups and their leaders and as such it is my duty to show respect with regard to the way other faiths handle their own investigation and research into their various sources for establishing their systems of belief. The purpose of this work is to offer to the Muslim scholars and students of knowledge in Islam the opportunity to see the actual workings going on within the scholarly world of Biblical criticism.
Attention Muslims - Please Read Carefully Before Continuing:
Muslims are not often privileged to have the opportunity to "go inside" to see what goes on behind the scenes of scholarly debate and discussion with regard to findings of materials held to be associated with the collection of the Bible. It is with this aim in mind that we have offered the following research work, just as it came from the sources of the scholars themselves, in copies of letters, emails and websites regarding an issue they had been debating over for more than 40 years.
Not for Debate Purposes:
This is not placed here to be used for criticism of Bible scholars, the Bible or to initiate any types of debates or harsh treatment towards Christians or Jews. It is only a reference for comparison to observe the differences and/or similarities in presenting evidences and dealing with scholars of the Book. Please respect others and pray for all of us to be rightly guided to all truth. Thank you and peace be with all who seek truth, ameen. - Yusuf Estes, National Chaplian (ret.)
The Secret Gospel of Mark
Bible Scholars Discuss a Secret Gospel Allegedly Belonging to Mark
[In 4 Parts]
Read for yourself how the Discovery of a Lost Letter by Clement of Alexandria (Egypt) Scandalized Biblical Scholarship in the past century - a secret Gospel? - Read on, if you dare.
Morton Smith may not be a familiar name to the Christian lay person, but perhaps he is a better known amongst the scholars and researchers of ancient texts, particularly the manuscripts pertaining to the Bible.
In 1958 Smith made a discovery while working in a library in Jerusalem. He found a document that appeared, at least to him, to be a gospel of Mark, older than the one now occupying the third position in the Christian New Testament.
A reference to Secret Mark is made in Elizabeth Clare Prophet's book on the supposed "lost years" of Jesus. She writes about Secret Mark saying, she suggests early Christians possessed a larger, more diverse body of writings and traditions of Jesus than what has been handed down to us in the New Testament of today.
OK - now get ready to read for yourself about - the Secret Gospel of Mark
These articles were originally published in Alexandria, Egypt: The Journal for the Western Cosmological Traditions, volume 3 (1995), pp. 103-129. Alexandria is edited by David Fideler and is published by Phanes Press. The whole of this article is copyright � 1995 by Phanes Press. All rights reserved, including international rights.
NOTICE: TO MUSLIMS REGARDING ALL SCRIPTURE
Respect For Holy Books
Muslims are told by Allah in the Holy Quran that He is the One who sent down the "Furqan" (Quran) and He sent down the scriptures before it. Muslims have no option but they must respect the Bible because some of it does still contain some of the original teachings of Allah. But there is no need to go to Bible classes or purchase one to read to try to learn about what our purpose is here in this life. The Quran makes it clear that Allah has indeed, perfected our "way of life" for us and has conferred on us His favor and has chosen for us to submit to Him in Islam.
We would like to suggest to the non-Muslims to consider obtaining a Quran (order one free through our site if you like) and then investigate for themselves what the Quran is really all about and what it might mean to them in their lives.
[Free Quran available at: http://islamtomorrow.com/free]
Final comment from Yusuf Estes:
I would like to state that after years of studying the Bible and then learning the Arabic language to read the Quran as it was originally recited to Muhammad, peace be upon him, by the angel Gabriel, I have come to an amazing conclusion. It seems to me that the Bible and the Quran are most definitely from the exact same source and they compliment each other very nicely. In fact, it appears that the Bible does not contradict the Quran, except in the very same places where the Bible contradicts itself.
[Please continue to part 1 - "The Strange Case of the Secret Gospel according to Mark"]
