subject: God's Contradictions in Dealing with His Apostles [print this page] God's Contradictions in Dealing with His Apostles
Hasan A. Yahya, a writer from Palestine
I am a good believer, no matter what would be your expression or judgment after reading this article. Lot, is a name in Strong's Hebrew Bible Dictionary means "veil"; "hidden, or covered". It is a character from the Hebrew Bible and Islamic Qur'an as well as the New Testament, where he figures as the nephew of the patriarch Abraham, or Abram. He was the son of Abraham's brother Haran (Gen. 11:27). And Abraham's brother Nahor became Lot's brother- in-law by marrying Milcah, Lot's sister. So he is from the family of Abraham. The father of Ishmael and Isaac.
In popular Culture, science fiction stories were made about lot, for example "Lot" (1953) and "Lot's Daughter" (1954) by Ward Moore, the Bibilical story of Lot and his daughters' survival from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah is reinterpreted as the story of the survival of a modern American family in the aftermath of nuclear war.
The seduction of Lot by his daughters, and his adultery with both daughters, became a popular topic in Baroque painting Movement, frequently represented in Renaissance Art . Which is the painting associated with the Baroque cultural movement. The movement is often identified with Absolutism, the Counter Reformation and Catholic Revival according to Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
In the New Testament, in Luke (17:32 ) Jesus simply says "Remember Lot's Wife" using her as a warning to professing Christians to not turn back to their sin after leaving it. J.C. Ryle devotes a chapter in his work, Holiness, to remembering Lot's wife. In Peter (2:7-8) Lot is described as a righteous man surrounded by wickedness. "... [God] rescued Lot, a righteous man in anguish over the debauched lifestyle of lawless men, (for while he lived among them day after day, that righteous man was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard ".
While God was straight forward to map out Lot's people from earth, except his two daughters, God abandoned him when his two (righteous) daughters seduced him and slept with the (righteous) old man according to Peter.
In some interpretations, in almost all supposedly truthful religions, we are told, unlike God's action toward Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Jonah, Solomon and David, God defends these people in spite of their sins, lies, and racist acts (in the case of Moses). To explain this statement, In the case of Noah, God, I think, miscalculating his creation of Adam and Eve, and their sons and daughters who missed the point of righteousness of creation, so they sinned all the time, God became angry or found out that creation of Adam and Eve was a mistake, so in order to correct such mistake as a great manager of all, He destroyed every living thing he created before, except what Noah ordered to collect and lodged in his wooden Arc. This is understandable, But in the case of Abraham, God saved him from blazing fire and gave him the pardon to discriminate between his two wives, Sarah and Hajar, and did not even clear the story of Ishmael and Isaac, which one was given sacrificed. In the case of Joseph, God prevent sexual intercourse between Joseph and the wife of Pharaoh and saved him from the cunning of his ten brothers and made him a Prophet. In the case of Moses, even though he killed an Egyptian and escaped, God nominated him and supported him to have victory over the majicians of Egypt, by his cane-snake, and later to lead the Israelites through the miracle of crossing the Red Sea and blessed him with Prophet-hood. In the case of Jonah, God interfered to save Jonah from the whale stomach and sent him as an Apostle. In the case of Solomon, in spite of his one thousand wives and concubines, he gave him the power of controlling the Jins, Satans and the winds and made him a Prophet. Finally in the case of David, after killing his army leader Uriah the Hittite, to marry his wife Bathsheba, God gave him victory over Palestinians leader Goliath. And the incident of incest-Rape of David's Daughter by her Brother, David "the Musician began to fall before he stayed home from battle, and looked upon a woman with sexual desire for her". This is an interesting story, by the way told by Jewish resources. The woman called Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite. Here the story in more details in both Islamic and Jewish sources.
In the Qur'an and in the Islamic tradition, David is known as Dwd in Arabic, and is one of the prophets of Islam, to whom the Zabur (Psalms) were revealed by God. The Islamic tradition includes many elements from the Jewish history of David, such as his battle with the giant Goliath, but rejects the Biblical portrayal of him as an adulterer and murderer - the rejection is based on the goodness of the Prophets of God in Islam (fallible, but to an extent of minor and basic human error) and on the concept of Esmah, or the infallibility of the prophets. According to some Islamic traditions he was not from Judah but from Levi and Aron. (1)
He also appears in various Hadith (oral traditions derived from those who knew the Prophet Muhammad). In Sahih al-Bukhari and in Abd-Allah ibn Amr he is named as the person whose way of fasting and praying is the most perfect: "God's Apostle (Muhammad) said to me, "The most beloved fasting to God was the fasting of (the Prophet) David who used to fast on alternate days. And the most beloved prayer to God was the prayer of David who used to sleep for (the first) half of the night and pray for 1/3 of it and (again) sleep for a sixth of it." He was also given the most beautiful voice of all mankind, just as Joseph was given the most beautiful appearance. In one hadith, Abu Hurairah narrates that Muhammad said, "The reciting of the Zabur (i.e. Psalms) was made easy for David (Dawood). He used to order that his riding animals be saddled, and would finish reciting the Zabur before they were saddled." Other hadith relate that David's reading of psalms was so entrancing that fish would leave the sea to listen when he recited, and that it was he who began the building of the Holy Temple, completed by his son Solomon (Sulayman), and which later became the site of Al-Aqsa Mosque.
While in Qur'an, the story tells us about David having 99 wives, (Qur'an: Sad: 23 ) other sources, say, he was fond of a woman he saw on one of the roofs of the building, when he asked about her, they told him. So he sent her husband to be killed in battle, in order to marry her. He did. By God's Blessings and made him Khalifa in the land to make justice prevails, among people.
In Jewish authentic sources the story says: "David in fact, commits adultery with Bathsheba, the story tells us, Bathsheba becomes pregnant and David sends for Uriah, who is with the Israelite army at the siege of Rabbah, so that he may lie with his wife and conceal the identity of the child's father. Uriah refuses to do so while his companions are in the field of battle and David sends him back to Joab, the commander, with a message instructing him to abandon Uriah on the battlefield, "that he may be struck down, and die." David marries Bathsheba and she bears his child, "but the thing that David had done displeased the Lord." The prophet Nathan confronts David, saying: "Why have you despised the word of God, to do what is evil in his sight? You have smitten Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife." David repents, yet God "struck the [David's] child ... and it became sick ... [And] on the seventh day the child died." David leaves his lamentations, dresses himself, and eats. His servants ask why he wept when the baby was alive, but ends his mourning when the child dies. David replies: "While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, who knows whether Yahweh will be gracious to me, that the child may live? But now he is dead, why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me." (2 Samuel 11 and2 Samuel 12)
Unfortunately, God's action, we are told, by almost all supposedly truthful religions, was never understood or explained to convince such actions toward His Prophets, Jesus and Lot. We lerned fro Holy scriptures, that God has made no action to prevent adultery and seduction of the two daughters with their father Lot. In the case of Jesus Christ, God did not interfere in Crucifying his own son ( at least spiritually not physically speaking) Jesus Christ, and left Jewish politicians go through their plot to ridicule Jesus Christ and crucify him. God might do good, if Jesus Christ will come again, but this is only speculation from followers of various faiths, to prove that God did not abandon Jesus Christ.
In conclusion, we have to come to the question, why contradictions were made by God in his actions toward His apostles and Prophets? Why He encourage those who sinned in previous life and honor them to be Prophets, while other prophets are not helped by the same action from God like Jesus and Lot? These contradictions may be impossible to comprehend among human beings.
While each story of the Prophets and Apostles was justified, as the will of God. Then we might say that God Has contradictions (and may be called racism or discrimination) in His action and support to His Prophets and Apostles, and that may prove injustice and faulty qualities of God Himself.
If these speculations are true, then God may send me or you as a Prophet today or tomorrow, and He will take care of our sins, and promote us to be the Jesus Christ, or somebody else with a Holy message. In fact any one may become a Prophet if God wills. Right! Or, Isn't it right. So, I think the statement to complete this article would be: Every person may become an Apostle or Prophet, if God wills. I think this statement satisfies almost all faiths who believe in God. If this article blasphemous, and sinful, then, thank God, (His Son) Jesus Christ already paid off for our sins according to the general understanding of Jesus Christ sacrifice among most branches of Christianity. G..d Bless us all. (1835 words) www.askdryahya.com
Notes:
Behar al Anvar V:13 P:440, Tafseer Al-Qomi V:1 P:82, The story of Prophets of Jazayeri Page 331
