Quote:This book tells the secret story of the conflict between Greeks and Christians in late antiquity, especially from the fourth to the sixth centuries. It reveals how Christianity, assisted and funded by the Roman Empire, conspired to kill the Greeks whom it had dehumanized, branding them idolaters and pagans. Christianity s genocidal policies against the Greeks and their civilization almost succeeded; the "converted" Greeks were forced to abandon even their name and call themselves Romans from the fifth to the nineteenth centuries. Moreover, the Christianization of Greece was a catastrophe that precipitated the fall of Rome and engendered the dark ages of Western civilization. The Christians made Greece a cemetery, which quite unintentionally preserved the aftermath of their murder and genocide. At a time of religious conflict between Christianity and Islam, this book highlights the intolerant nature of monotheism. It tells a story never told before, opening the possibility we may get closer to the Greeks, understanding their passion and their achievements. The Greeks resisted Christianity for centuries. Like god Prometheus who gave them fire and the arts, so did the Greeks create our world through the Renaissance, which brought to light the remnants of Greek culture long ago buried by Christianity. Illustrated with two maps of Ancient Greece in color. Designed, printed, and bound in the USA.

Quote:Faking the evidence

[color="#0000FF"]Ultraviolet light reveals that a manuscript of Tacitus has been overwritten, an original "e" of chrestianos (the good) replaced by an "i" to read christianos (the Christians),[/color]

Quote:Update: The probing eye of science



[color="#0000FF"]11th century monk[/color] corrects Tacitus: "Goodies" to read "Christians"!



Ultraviolet photo of a critical word from the earliest known extant manuscript of Tacitus (second Medicean, Laurentian library, Italy).



The photograph reveals that the word purportedly used by Tacitus in Annals 15.44, [color="#0000FF"]chrestianos ("the good"), has been overwritten as christianos ("the Christians") by a later hand[/color], a deceit which explains the excessive space between the letters and the exaggerated "dot" (dash) above the new "i". [color="#0000FF"]The entire "torched Christians" passage of Tacitus is not only fake, it has been repeatedly "worked over" by fraudsters to improve its value as evidence for the Jesus myth.[/color]



[...]

Quote:"For the weapons of our warfare are casting down imaginations ... and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ."

– St Paul, 2 Corinthians 10.4,5.

Quote:Loving enemies?



"If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed!"

– 1 Corinthians 16.22.

Quote:[color="#0000FF"]"Jesus still alive in the reign of Trajan" – said 2nd century bishop Irenaeus. [Trajan[/color] [color="#800080"]reigned[/color] [color="#0000FF"]98-117 AD]



"Jesus born before Herod the Great" – said 4th century bishop Epiphanius. [Herod 73-4 BC][/color]

Quote:The names Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were not added to the Gospels

until late in the second century.

+ Thus, although Papias ca. 140 CE knows all the gospels but has only heard of Matthew and Mark, Justin Martyr (ca. 150 CE) knows of none of the four supposed authors.

+ It is only in 180 CE, with Irenæus of Lyons, that we learn who wrote the four "canonical" gospels, and why:

"There are four principle winds, four pillars that hold up the sky, and four corners of the universe; therefore, it is only right that there be four gospels."

-- Church father Irenaeus

[Link] http://atheists.org/Did_Jesus_Exist%3F [color="#800080"](Did Jesus Even Exist? - by Frank Zindler of American Atheists and of babble scholarship)[/color]

Quote:Writing towards the end of the second century of our era, Irenaeus says that there existed then only four genuine graves of the Apostles, namely, those of Peter and Paul at Rome, that of John at Ephesus, and that of [color="#FF0000"]Thomas at Edessa in Mesopotamia[/color].

-- The Twelve Apostles, published by Thomas Scott

Quote:The Missing Witnesses



[color="#0000FF"]+ No disciples - No Jesus! Read more

+ No one noticed - No Jesus! Read more

+ No Mary – No Jesus! Read more

+ No John- No Jesus! Read more

+ No Paul – No Jesus! Read more

+ No King David – No Jesus! Read more

+ Liars for Jesus – No Jesus! Read more

+ No James – No Jesus! Read more

+ No teachings- No Jesus! Read more[/color]

Quote:One of their legends presents their leader St. Thomas the Apostle as the evangelist of China: after allegedly preaching to the Indians, he supposedly came to China and preached to the Chinese as well. It is claimed he then returned to India where he died. Nevertheless, he's given a tomb in China. He's also given a tomb in many other places: Brazil, Germany, Japan, Tibet, Malacca, and no less than 6 tombs in India.

Quote:Duplicated relics of St Peter at the Vatican: two skulls of St Peter, bones belonging to more than 2 legs and bones of domestic animals including goats, sheep, cows, swine, and a chicken. [Link]

Quote:Duplicated relics within the Vatican:

Quote:Down in the basement of the Vatican... beneath the high altar of St. Peter’s Basilica ... boxes filled with old bones, some of which are claimed to be the mortal remains of St. Peter himself.

Ten of the bones thus carefully preserved at this most holy focal point in all of Christendom, however, are the remains of domestic animals — goats, sheep, cows, swine, and a chicken. ...The bones have been certified to be the veritable remains of the Prince of Apostles himself, St. Peter. ...Most precious among the relics remaining of Peter’s skeleton in the Vatican are 29 fragments of one of his skulls. (St. Peter’s other skull is preserved in a reliquary at the Cathedral of St. John Lateran.)

The skeleton and skulls now venerated as the remains of St. Peter are not the only relics of the Prince of Apostles to have been discovered by the Roman Church, however. [More] bones were kept for fourteen years by Pope Pius XII himself, in his private apartment... the ones found in what Pius had certified to be the genuine tomb of St. Peter.

Venerando Correnti, an anthropologist hired by the Vatican in 1956 to study the pope’s prized bones ... discovered five tibias to supplement the three fibulas. This meant that he was dealing with five to eight legs!

In addition to the human remains, Correnti’s collaborator Luigi Cardini identified bones that once galumphed around as hogs, sheep, and goats — and some that scratched around as chickens. Unlike the bones said to have been found inside the graffiti-covered wall, the bones actually taken from the "true tomb of the Prince of Apostles" are not venerated. Quietly, they have been stored away in some secret location."

Quote:Formerly a professor of biology and geology, Frank R. Zindler is now a science writer. He is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the New York Academy of Science, the Society of Biblical Literature, and the American Schools of Oriental Research. he is the Editor of American Atheist.

Quote:The plaster idol of St. Thomas lies over the second tomb the Portuguese opened in 1523. Popular belief today is that the archbishop uses the empty tomb as a vault to store the vast wealth of the archdiocese which the Portuguese appropriated from Hindu temples in Mylapore.

Quote:San Thome Bishop's Museum: Human bones kept on display in the museum. Whose bones are they? The Portuguese opened the tomb of a Chola prince when they were digging in the old Kapali Temple compound. Are the bones his? - TOI Photo

Quote:San Thome Bishop's Museum: Carved temple columns and other Hindu artefacts are kept in the museum. What are they doing there? And what do they represent except material evidence for a Hindu temple on the site before the building of the church. - TOI Photo

Quote:(354-430)

Superstar of the Latin Fathers, Augustine of Hippo wrote the "CIty of God" to absolve Christians from any blame for the fall of Rome.

Quote:Although a stake called a stauros (the Greek term used in the earliest Bible writings but where English versions incorrectly translate it to "cross") got used to execute criminals, there exists not a shred of evidence that a Biblical stauros describes a cross or even a T-shape.



There occurs no cross in early Christian art before the middle of the 5th century, where it (probably) appears on a coin in a painting. The first clear crucifix appears in the late 7th century. Early Christians usually depicted their religion with a fish symbol (ichthus), dove, or bread of the Eucharist, but never Christ on a cross (or on a stick).

Quote:"The Cross. About the tenth century the fish was superseded by the cross, which became the universal symbol of the Christian faith." [69].

Quote:from: Sex Symbolism in Religion, J.B. Hannay [1855 - 1931], With an Appreciation by Sir George Birdwood, Privately printed for The Religious Evolution Research Society, 2 volumes, Oakeshott, 1922.

Volume II

[...]

'Paul is, of course, only known to us from the "Acts" and the Epistles attributed to him; and in a very learned analysis of the researches on this subject the Encyclopaedia Biblica says:—

Column 3627—"The principal Epistles cannot be the work of Paul," and A.D. Loman, of Amsterdam, "upholds the entirely symbolical character of the whole Gospel history." Column 3624—"We cannot regard the 'Acts' as a true and credible first-hand narrative of what had actually occurred. The Book bears in part a legendary historical and, in part, an edifying and apologetic character." Column 3625—With respect to the Pauline Epistles in the New Testament, "there are none of them by Paul." "Neither fourteen, nor thirteen, nor nine or ten, nor seven or eight, nor yet even the four so long universally regarded as unassailable. They are all, without distinction, pseudepigrapha." [van Manen] So PAUL, AS A WRITER, DISAPPEARS. Column 3630—"THE CONCLUSIONS OF CRITICISM ON OUR KNOWLEDGE OF THE LIFE AND ACTIVITY OF PAUL ARE OF A PURELY NEGATIVE CHARACTER." [NOT ONE POINT OF HIS HISTORY OR ACTIONS HAS BEEN PROVED, OR EVEN SHOWN TO BE PROBABLE; EVERYTHING STATED HAS BEEN SHOWN TO BE FALSE.] [these brackets, by J.B. Hannay] Column 3630—"Thus all the representations formerly current regarding the life and work of Paul must be set aside. These representations are very many and various and discrepant in character; far from showing any resemblance to one another, they exhibit the most inconsistent proportions and features. But, however different they were, they all of them have disappeared; they rested upon a foundation, not of solid rock, but of shifting sand. So, too, . . . the 'ideas,' the 'theology,' the 'system' of Paul" have "irrevocably passed away, the right foundation being wanting." ["]We possess no Epistle of Paul." Column 4145 says that the "Roman Church was not founded by Peter or Paul."' [260-262].



[See: #4, 105-151, passim ("Paul")].

Volume II

"I INCLINE TO THE OPINION THAT JESUS WAS ENTIRELY A PEN CREATION." [351]. [See: #25, 560]. [See: #3, 41-104, passim ("Jesus")].

Quote:There is a well planned Christian agenda in Wendy Doniger’s Hindu bashing. Chicago is the largest and wealthiest Catholic diocese in the world and it has a large Indian Christian population including Syrian Christians. The University of Chicago is for all intents and purposes a Catholic university. Its Divinity School is world famous. It produces all the religious and cultural references for the Encyclopedia Britannica which has its headquarters in the city too.



The pro-Catholic EB is known for its offensive articles on Hindu society and deities. It also publishes incorrect historical references such as its entry for Thomas the Apostle, which it refuses to change, and for many years was banned in India because of its willfully wrongly drawn India-Kashmir maps.



Wendy Doniger is a contributor to the EB and many other “authoritative” references on Hindu religion and society.

Quote:Note: numerous references are made to the 9th, 11th, and 14th editions of the Encyclopaedia Britannica:

9th edition: 1875—1889 ("scholar's edition")

11th edition: 1911 ("famous eleventh edition")

14th edition: 1929—(with revisions, etc.)1973

from: The Lies and Fallacies of the Encyclopedia Britannica, How Powerful and Shameless Clerical Forces Castrated a Famous Work of Reference, Joseph McCabe, Edited by E. Haldeman-Julius, Haldeman-Julius publications ("Big Blue Book", B—608, 46 pages, 21 cm [U.C.S.D. (Private collections) has "5,000" "Blue Books" (not catalogued)]), c1947. [received (reprint), and first seen, 3/18/97].



The Encyclopedia is, as its name implies, an ancient British institution inspired by the great French Encyclopedia of the 18th century [see Addendum A]. As the American reading public increased it served both countries, and by 1920 the special needs of American readers and the great development of science and technics made it necessary to prepare an entirely recast edition. It now had an American as well as a British staff and publishing house, and it was dedicated to King George and President Hoover. The last trace of the idealism of its earlier publishers disappeared. What bargains were secretly made to secure a large circulation we do not know but when the work was completed in 1928 [published 1929 (14th edition)] the Westminster Catholic Federation, which corresponds to the Catholic Welfare organization in America, made this boast in its annual report:

The revision to the Encyclopedia Britannica was undertaken with a view to eliminate matter which was objectionable from a Catholic point of view and to insert what was accurate [sic!] and unbiased [sic!]. The whole of the 28 volumes were examined, objectionable parts noted, and the reasons for their deletion or amendment given. There is every reason to hope that the new edition of the Britannica will be found very much more accurate [sic!] and impartial [sic!] than its predecessors."' [4].





"Castrating the Encyclopedia



It will be useful to give first the outcome of a somewhat cursory survey, page by page, of the first few volumes of the Encyclopedia. More important—in their bearing on the Church—articles in later volumes commonly have the initial X at the close, which seems to be the cloak of the CATHOLIC ADULTERATOR. This will enable any reader to compare for himself passages in the 11TH [1911] AND THE 14TH EDITIONS [1929— (with revisions, etc.)1973], but the conspirator shows his hand even in large numbers of short unsigned, especially biographical, notices. It is, of course, understood that the work had to be considerably abbreviated to accommodate new developments of science and life, in the 14th edition, but when you find that the curtailing consists in suppressing an unpleasant judgment or a fact about a Pope while unimportant statements of fact are untouched, and when you find the life of a saintly man or the flattering appreciation of his work little affected while the life or work of a heretic is sacrificed, you have a just suspicion." [5-6].



[...]



'The fine eight-page article on Gibbon [Edward Gibbon 1737 - 1794] by the learned Professor Bury [John Bagnell Bury 1861 - 1927] in the earlier edition could not expect to escape. Space must be saved; though one would hardly realize this when one finds 60 pages devoted to Geometry, which no one ever learns from an encyclopedia. The reviser condenses the six and a half pages of Gibbon's life and character to one page and then sublimely adds his X to Bury's initials as the joint authors of the article. You can guess how much of Gibbon's greatness is left.

On the other hand the notice of Pope "St." Gregory I [c. 540 - 604], the Pope who forbade the opening of schools and made the Papacy the richest landowner and slave-owner in Europe by persuading the rich that the end of the world was at hand and they had better pass on their property to the church, remains as fragrant as ever in the new edition [14th].' [15].



[...]



"I cannot go phrase by phrase through this Catholic rubbish. In spite of all its sophistry and suppressions it leaves the Inquisition the most scandalous quasi-judicial procedure that ever disgraced civilization, yet it is not the full truth. It is true that it does not tell the lie that American apologists now do—that the Roman Inquisition never executed men—and it does not even mention, much less challenge, the definite figure of 341,042 victims of the Spanish Inquisition which Llorente, secretary of the Inquisition, canon of the church, and Knight of the Caroline Order, compiled from its archives...." [19-20].



'The article "Libraries" is the next on which X employs his subtle art. I have explained, I think, that X is not one encyclopedic Catholic writer who does all this marvellous work. The explanation given of the X in the first volume of the 14th edition is that it is "the initial used for anonymous writers"; just as the lady whose sins are not to be disclosed in the court is called by the police Mlle X. In all earlier encyclopedias anonymous writers, who do the great body of the hackwork of the encyclopedia, did not need any monogram. But, of course, this was a special arrangement with the Catholic body. It assumes that Committees of Catholics on both sides of the Atlantic were appointed to scrutinize all articles bearing upon Catholic myths and to cut out and modify, no matter on what authority it rested, any statement that the Catholic clergy do not like. Whether any other sort of anonymous critics were allowed to do similar work and wear the mask I do not know. I have not noticed an X anywhere except where truth has been slain or mutilated by a Catholic sword.' [23].

[...]



Father Taunton [11th edition)] ["Jesuit Father Taunton...more liberal than a good Jesuit ought to be" (36)]—once more in agreement with our historians—says that Torquemada [1420 - 1498 (Dominican ("The Hounds of Hell"!))] burned 10,000 victims of the Inquisition in 18 years ["while"] the reviser inserts "but modern research reduces the list of those burned to 2,000." As no signature is subjoined while Taunton's initials are suppressed, the reader is given to understand that this correction of Llorente's [(see 378) Juan Antonio Llorente 1756 - 1823, Spanish priest and historian (see: Cambridge Bio. Dict., 1990, 905)] figures is given on the authority of the Britannica. As a matter of fact, what the writer means is that one or two Catholic priests like Father Gams have been juggling with the figures so as to bring down enormously Llorente's figure of the total victims of the Spanish Inquisition. Their work is ridiculous. Llorente was not only for years in high clerical dignity and esteem in Spain, but, as its secretary, he had the archives of the Inquisition and copied from them. But this is one of the new tricks of Catholic writers. Saying that "recent research" or "recent authorities" have corrected some statement about their church they give a few names of priests, knowing that the reader never heard of them and suppressing the "Rev." or "Father." A priest can become an expert on a section of history as well as any man but he will never tell the whole truth about it and he will strain or twist the facts at any time in the interest of his church.' [36].



(Note in the above the typical christian tactic of minisation of even early genocides: they can't deny it so they resort to the next best thing, minimising it, of which minimising the number of casualties is the first step. The catholic church tried the same for the catholic genocide of orthodox Serbs in WWII.)



[...]



"Keeton [("Professor G.W. Keeton") author of the article "Torture"] is a pious member of the Church of England, and he is no more willing than X to admit that Christianity kept the world at a low level of civilization. He makes the general remark that the nations of Europe borrowed the practice from ancient Rome—as if a man could excuse his crimes by pleading that he simply copied them from a civilization which he professed to regard as pagan and vicious—and he darkens the case against the Romans." [37].



[...]



'Give a priest an inch and he will take an ell [sic] of a lot. He does not learn casuistry for nothing. Under cover of the need of abbreviation he has deleted whole paragraphs, even columns of facts which were offensive to him because they flatly contradicted what he said or wrote, and then, possibly fearing that he had cut out too much, he inserted sentences or paragraphs which "put the Catholic point of view." He has taken phrases or paragraphs of the original writers of the articles and, while r[e]taining their initials, he has repeatedly turned them inside out or has said that "recent research" (the gymnastic of some other Catholic apologist) has corrected his statements.



And I say that for an encyclopedia to allow this and not candidly explain it to the public but even try to prevent the Catholics disclosing it is a piece of deception. The writers who did the work had not the decency—or were they forbidden?—to give their names, as other contributors do. It is therefore possible that the plea may be urged that various groups of folk were engaged in the work of correcting errors in the 11th edition and it was thought best to lump all these little men together as Mlle. X. We are, however, intrigued by the fact that all these alterations, suppressions, and additions that I have examined uniformly SERVE THE INTERESTS OF CATHOLIC PROPAGANDA AND ARE GENERALLY CHARACTERIZED BY THE FAMILIAR CHIEF FEATURE OF THAT PROPAGANDA—UNTRUTHFULNESS.' [44].



'When the Catholic objects that "historians" dispute a point he generally means that it is disputed by historians of his own church: the men who say that Peter was buried at Rome and Torquemada burned only 2,000 heretics, that the Dark Age was bright with culture and virtue and the Age of Chivalry and the Crusaders irradiated the entire world, that the church was just tainted a little by a wicked world at one time but it soon purified itself by a Counter-Reformation, that there was horrible butchery at the French, Russian and Spanish Revolutions, that the Christian church abolished slavery and gave the world schools, hospitals, democracy, art, and science, and a thousand other fantastic things. [color="#0000FF"]If encyclopedias propose to embody these SELF-INTERESTED ANTICS OF CATHOLIC PROPAGANDISTS the public ought to know it.' [45].



'In short, THE 14TH EDITION OF THE BRITANNICA HAS BEEN USED FOR THE PURPOSE OF CATHOLIC PROPAGANDA.



I do not in the least say that it is the only work of public reference that has been so used. The new Encyclopedia Americana betrays a lamentable degree of Catholic influence, and even the more scholarly Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics has curried favor with Catholics by entrusting a number of important articles ("Inquisition," etc.) to Catholic writers, with the usual disastrous results; while manuals of European, especially medieval, history by some American professors strain or suppress evidence scandalously to suit Catholic authorities. I HAVE HERE MERELY GIVEN THE DEFINITE EVIDENCE IN ONE FIELD THAT THE CATHOLIC CHURCH USES ITS ENORMOUS WEALTH AND VOTING POWER TO POISON THE WELLS OF TRUTH AND TO CONCEAL FROM THE PUBLIC THE FACTS OF HISTORY WHICH MAKE A MOCKERY OF THE FANTASTIC CLAIMS IT ADVANCES TODAY.' [45].[/color]



"Who wants in a modern encyclopedia the mass of stuff about saints and martyrs, which are to a great extent pure FICTION". [45].



"I have a small Rationalist Encyclopedia [see #8, 215] presently appearing in London which I wrote six or seven years ago. It will show how different the truth, gathered from the works of experts, is from the stuff one reads in encyclopedia-articles on matters affecting one's philosophy of life; though I fear it will be issued in two expensive volumes, instead of the cheap fortnightly parts (as originally intended) of my larger American publications, and my labor will be virtually wasted; for [color="#0000FF"]THE CLERGY WILL SEE THAT PUBLIC LIBRARIES DO NOT GET IT. It is a lamentable situation, for FROM THE RELIGIOUS FIELD THIS MODERN MANIPULATION OF TRUTH EXTENDS TO MANY OTHERS.[/color] I hope this short investigation will help to open the eyes of the American public to its new mental slavery."

[End of text] [46].



[...]

Quote:The following are the beginning verses of Surah Room:



“The Romans have been defeated in the near land (to al-Hijaz) and after their defeat they will soon be victorious in a few years time.”



To understand the prophecy, it is preferable to refer to the commentary made by Allamah Ahmad Uthmani. This is as follows:



“It means within nine years, the Greeks shall overcome the Persians, because in the Arabic lexion and in Hadith the word mentioned in the afore-mentioned aayah, implies a period ranging from three to nine years. In this verse the Holy Quran has made a wonderous prophecy, which is the proof of its truthfulness. The fact is that the two great empires of the time – the Persian and Roman Empires – were in conflict for a long period of time. They remained fighting from 602 CE to 614 CE and onwards.” Our Prophet Muhammad Peace and Blessings be upon him was born in 517 CE and was bestowed with prophethood at the age of forty, as given in the Encyclopedia Britannica.

News of the battle between both sides reached the Makkans now and then.



Meanwhile, the claim to prophethood by the Holy Prophet Peace and Blessings be upon him and the establishment of the Islamic movement created a special interest for the Makkans in the news coming from the war-zone.

The Persian fire worshippers had a special relation with the Makkan idolaters, whereas the Muslims were related (due do their belief in a single Supreme Being) to the Romans, who were followers of the Christian religion. Whenever the news of the victory of the Persians came, the idolaters became glad and thereby took the prophecy of their own victory over the Muslims, leading them to cherish good hopes for the future. Muslims were naturally shocked that the Christians who were known as the people of the book should be over-powered by the fire worshippers.



After the year 614 CE when 45 Lunar years had passed by since the birth of the Prophet Peace and Blessings be upon him of which the last five years consisted of his prophethood, Kosros II (the Persian Emperor) gave a crushing and decisive defeat to the Romans. The Middle East, Asia Minor etc. were by now in the hands of the Persians. Heraclitus (the roman leader) was forced to take refuge in Constantinople and the Roman capital was also in danger. Priests were either slain or made prisoners. Caesars sovereignty no longer existed. Now it seemed that the Romans had no longer the power to free these lands from the Persian occupation. By acknowledging these conditions, the Makkan idolaters were overjoyed and they teased the Muslims. They were ambitious and hopeful to such an extent that they remarked to Hadhrat Abu Bakr May Allah be pleased with him, “Today our Persian brothers have blotted out your Roman friends, tomorrow we shall exterminate you like them.”



This is when the Quraan made a general proclamation against the external factors that, no doubt the Persians vanquished the Romans for a while, but within nine years they would again become triumphant.



On the basis of this prediction, Hadhrat Abu Bakr May Allah be pleased with him made a bet with some of the idolaters (betting was not prohibited at that time) that if the Romans did not get victory within nine years, he would give them a hundred camels, otherwise they would give him a certain number of camels. In the beginning Hadhrat Abu Bakr May Allah be pleased with him appointed ‘bidh’a sineen’ (a few more years) as three years from his own opinion. Bur afterwards, at the bidding of the Prophet Peace and Blessings be upon him, the covenant was made on the term of nine years, which is the real application of the word ‘bidha’. On the other side, the Caesar of the Roman Empire was determined to regain the lost power and vowed that if he defeated the Persians, he would go to ‘Baitul Maqdis’ by foot. Behold the power of Allah! According to the Quranic prediction, right within nine years, after the passing of one year of Hijrah, on the day of Badr, when the Muslims were rejoicing in the clear victory over the idolaters, by the grace of Allah, became happier with the news that Allah had made the Romans (the people of the book) to prevail over the Persians fire-worshippers. In this way the idolaters got a double blow of disgrace.



Observing this Divine revelation issued by the Holy Quran, many people embraced Islam and Hadhrat Abu Bakr May Allah be pleased with him won a hundred camels from the idolaters, about which the Prophet Peace and Blessings be upon him ordered that they should be given in alms. Praise be to Allah for his external bounties and manifest signs.

Quote:In this significant and innovative contribution, Warren Carter explores John's Gospel as a work of imperial negotiation in the context of Ephesus, capital of the Roman province of Asia. Carter employs multiple methods, rejects sectarian scenarios, and builds on other Christian writings and recent studies of diaspora synagogues that combined participationist lifestyles with observance of distinctive practices to argue that imperial negotiation was a contested issue for late first-century Jesus-believers. While a number of Jesus-believers probably lived societally-accommodated lives, John's Gospel employs a "rhetoric of distance" to urge much less accommodation and to create an alternative "anti-society" for followers of Jesus crucified by the empire but vindicated by God.In addition to establishing this tense historical setting, chapters identify various arenas and strategies of imperial negotiation in wide-ranging discussions of the gospel's genre, plot, Christological titles, developing traditions, eternal life, the image of God as father, ecclesiology, Jesus' conflict with Pilate, and resurrection and ascension.Carter has explored interactions between the emerging Christian movement and the Roman Empire in various articles and book-length studies such as Matthew and the Margins (Orbis), Matthew and Empire (Trinity Press International/Continuum), Pontius Pilate: Portraits of a Roman Governor (Liturgical), and The Roman Empire and the New Testament (Abingdon).

Quote:450 BCE

Greek historians note prevalence of circumcision and other penile mutilations among the Arabs and other Middle Eastern tribes. Herodotus (485-420 BCE) observes and deplores circumcision among the Colchians, Ethiopians, Phoenicians, Syrians, and Macrones, as well as the Egyptian priestly caste. He criticizes the fanatical ritual cleanliness of the Egyptian priests: "They [even] practice circumcision for the sake of cleanliness, considering it better to be clean than handsome" - a perverse sacrifice in Greek eyes. (The context is things Egyptians do that are the reverse of what other, more sensible, people do.) He reports that the salutary influence of Greek culture led the Phoenicians to abandon circumcision. (See Frederick Hodges, "The ideal prepuce", including excellent illustrations from Greek art and sculpture).

Quote:First five books of Hebrew Bible (Torah) compiled, including Genesis with its reference to Yaweh’s command to Abraham to circumcise himself, his sons and his slaves and servants. Circumcision enforced by priests among Jewish people as sign of the Covenant.