Sodom and Gommorah

A while ago I went to the mall with my Aunt as we were hoping to get her a facial. However, we got there when every store was closing. As we were heading back to our car we walked by a stand that was selling Dead Sea products. The man selling it put his hands on me and he was Middle Eastern looking so I was a little surprised since it's considered disrespectful for a man to touch a woman (or vise versa) that he isn't related to. He said to me "don't worry I'm gay". I asked him where he was from and he said Israel. I simply told him that the same as I wouldn't want any girl touching my husband, I don't want any other man to touch me besides the men in my family.(It makes for greater purity). However what did interest me, is how the story of Sodom and Gommorah for Jews, Christians, and Muslims alike, is a place destroyed for illegal sexuality. The story for Christians and Jews is found in Genesis chapter 20. It starts with saying that angels came to Lot and that Lot prostrated himself (head to the ground the way the original Christans and Jews prayed and Muslims and Jews still pray). It talks about how some men came to the house of prophet Lot and asked for his male guests to fornicate with. Then Lot offers his daughters to "do what they please" with. (Which is also illegal sexual acts because you must be married and a woman can't have a bunch of men sleeping with her and verse 14 implies that his daughters were married.) It says the men refused this offer and still took to homosexuality. Then it goes on to say that Lot gathered the good people of the town and left because God was going to destroy the town with fire and brimstone. It talks about how Lot's wife looked back and was turned into a pillar of salt for deliberately disobeying. In Islam it's essentially the same except Lot pleaded with the men saying "O my people, here are my daughters(women of the town). They are purer for you if you marry. Now fear God, and cover me not with shame about my guests! Is there not a single right-minded man among you?" Islam also says that after the good people of the town left the town was scooped up by the Angel Gabriel (the angel who takes our soul when we die) then flipped over and slammed down and then showered with rock(brimstone). This could possibly explain why it's the lowest point on earth? The Quranic story also denies the incest between Lot and his daughters. Anyway, I thought it ironic that Sodom and Gamorrah was destroyed for it's homosexual acts, while here a gay man from that area was selling the salt and sulphate (which came from brimstone scientifically) as beauty products. I woudln't even put any on my skin because I would never dream to saturate my skin with a product that I truly believe was a sign to people. Of course non-monotheists think that this is not of a just God but the people were given much heed and God gave so many chances and yet they not only defied but also mocked yet another Prophet like they did with Moses, Noah, Jesus, Muhommed, etc. They even went so far as to try and break into Lot's home to take his guests to rape. Islamically, no "wrath" was ever put on a people with out warning and with out those people oppressing the rights of others or the logical laws decreed by God. Take the story of Noah. Noah warned the people who had killed prophets and turned away from the sanctity and peace that God's law provided, yet they mocked him and denied him and called him foolish and crazy. After much warning did God send the flood. Even Noah's own son denied it. If you think about it, that can be viewed as merciful, because at that time and still for Muslims, a person believed that after their death and resurrection from their grave on the day of judgment (which Jesus even warned about in John 5 28-29)they would be judged according to their deeds. So if this is true then the people at the time of Noah had no faith or fear of their actions except those who got onto the Arc, they would have procreated and we would have been from that generation we would have been taught such things. However since we all came from those who believed (on the Arc) we were taught by the people who listened to and feared their creator and enjoyed only what is noble and permissible for them and turned from that which is not permissible. Because of this flood (which has been proven scientifically and I hope to post a note on that subject soon) we have an easier way to find that which is correct for us. And Islamically, every law written for us (which was also given to all of the Ibrahimic prophets originally) has logic and can be easily defined as logical. There is a hadith that says that on the day of Judgement, God will ask each of us "did I not give you signs and prophets and a creed for the straight way to live your life?" Nobody on earth is born with out the natural instinct of what is good and bad, and nobody on earth has not heard of these prophets of old. Of course each of us will be judged according to our ability to find the truth. The ones who didn't have the resources necessary to find the truth will be judged according to the way they treated others on earth and the way they lived their life because it is instilled naturally in people. We aren't born sinners because then children and babies who die are responsible for what wrongs? I once heard that babies cry as soon as they are born and therefore they are selfish. Hence the ideology of original sin. Well if a person cries because they need something that they can't get for them self, is that a sin? The other ideology of original sin is that of Adam, Eve, and the forbidden fruit. Basically claiming that because they sinned all humans are of sinful nature. Well Eve never asked me if she should eat the fruit and my God is a just God. (as the Bible says, the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father nor the father the iniquities of the son) The Quran says every woman and every man will stand before God on the Day of Judgement and will stand to be judged according to their deeds and faith. God alone is enough of a saviour. He knows my intentions when I do anything and that's why we'll be judged according to our actions and intentions. (Behold to obey is better than sacrifice.) Also think of the verse where it says that God will not give a person more than they can handle. If we are ALL pre-destined to sin than isn't that giving us more than we can handle? Islam is simple in that is says to follow these basic permissible actions and deny these basic forbidden actions. Then it says if you break the law that forgiveness can be found in God the most merciful and the most just so long as we are willing to turn to righteousness(AKA right actions). It's as simple as that. Since God gave us free will and has promised in the Bible and Quran that he will not give us more than we can handle than it's up to us to live our lives within the perfect law given by God and if we do or don't we are judged according to our righteous deeds and our sinful choices. I am not forced to lie because God gave me the ability to choose. Therefore I don't need a mediator between myself and God. However, even if I was not given the ability to refrain from sin then I still wouldn't need a mediator because how can I be sinning if God mad me that way with no free will? As is found in Ezekial 18, we all sin but if we do RIGHTEOUS ACTIONS and turn from the sin than we can be forgiven. " The son will not bear the iniquity of the father, nor will the father share the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous man will be credited to him, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against him." and verily not a word of the Law will be erased according to Jesus in
Matthew 5 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
18For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
19Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
20For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
21Ye have heard that it was said of them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment:
22But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. " It goes on to say the right things to do in order to please God and to enter Heaven's gates and ends with a verse that says to be perfect as God is perfect. Well of course none of us are perfect because we CHOOSE to follow vain and selfish desires, however this verse would imply that we are given the ability to act right in a way that is under God's constitution.

If the law is "abolished" through Jesus blood as Paul later says than this contradicts what Jesus himself said in that he hasn't (and never will) abolish a single law of God's. Are you following Christ or Paul?

May God lead us all to the straight path. Ameen.

Jehovah?

The name Jehovah is said by Jehovah's witnesses to be the real name of God. They say that Jehovah is in the Hebrew texts 6,823 times. If you ask whether the Bible spells out the name Jehovah you will be informed that it is a tetragrammaton. A word that few people know of but even the most average of Jehovah's witnesses know by heart. What is a tetragrammaton you ask? Two words "tetra" "grammaton". In Greek Tetra means "four" and grammaton means "letters". So basically a tetragrammaton is the meaning for "four letters." I thought it amusing that a 14 letter word means "four letters". The four letters that this is referring to are YHWH. This is where a Jehovah's Witness derives the name of Jehovah. I've been learning Hebrew and the letter V is not existant in Classical Hebrew. (Yiddish yes, Hebrew no) The letter that common yiddish uses for the w sound is v. So take YHWH and "yiddishize" it and it becomes YHVH. Also in English we are infamous for obsessing over the letter J. Take the real names of Joshua, Judah, Joseph, Jonah, Jesus. Real names= Yeshua, Yehuda, Yusuf, Yunus, Yesa. (When can language translate a name? Even in English that's a no no. I'm "Ashley" here, I'm "Ashley" there, I'm "Ashley" everywhere) So let's assume that this infatuation with the letter J happened to those four letters making JHVH. So this is my guess as to how YHWH became Jehovah. I think it is also important to explain that in ancient Hebrew they didn't use vowels when writing so YHWH made more sense to them than it does to us because instead of writing the vowels they would just pronounce them while speaking. Now let's look at how the name of God was treated by the Israelites back then. It was regarded as unspeakable by humans, therefore they used words of prestige to describe God. Even to this day, my Jewish friends will not type God, and will instead type G-D out of fear of having to "erase" God. In Ancient Israel it was, in fact, punishable by death to even speak God's name unless you added a respectful term ahead of God's name. So let's look at the examples substituted for God's name. Let's start with Yehuwa (Jehovah or YHWH) Yehuwa when found in the Bible is always followed with the word "Adonai" or "Elohim". So what do these words mean when together? Yehuwa Adonai. This is where my Arabic comes in handy since Hebrew and Arabic are sister languages and I can catch onto words that are similar. The word Yehuwa actually comes from two words. Ye meaning Oh, and Huwa meaning he. So Yehuwa means Oh He. Now what does Adonai mean? Adonai is not and never was considered the straight up name of God. Adonai means Lord. The word Lord is an exclamation when exalting somebody, not only God. So as I said, in the Bible Yehuwa was often followed with the word Adonai meaning "Oh he is lord." Now take a look at the word Elohim. "im" is in Arabic a plural of respect. When you read the Quran and even the Bible translated into English you'll find where it says such things as "we" when referring to a single person because in those languages (Arabic, Aramaic, Hebrew) when a person refers to themself it is disrespectful to say "I" and instead they add "im" or "in" to the end of a name to make the meaning "we" or "they". So on the word Elohim, the "im" at the end is a plural of respect. so that leaves us with "Eloh" This was supposed to represent God's name. You must also remember that there were no written vowels in ancient Hebrew so it would have been LHM. Which could easily have been (assuming what the vowels may have been) "Alahim". And if you consider that even today's Jews and Christians in the Holy lands (as well as several other parts of the world) call God "Allah" it would make sense that LHM could easily have been "Alahim". (To somebody like me, this is seen as a miracle because it proves that God's name would never be completely washed out.) So Yehuwa Elohim means "OH He is Eloh". Since you aren't supposed to translate a name in any language, Eloh would not be translated to God since it was used as a name and not an exaltation. So it would mean "Oh he is Eloh."
I also wanted to add the word Alleluiah. (Alleluya). Again Ya means "Oh" and in Hebrew, like Arabic, "ya" is ALWAYS at the beginning of a word. So that would make it YaAllelu. Sometimes you hear "Halleluiah". The H comes from the word, but it's not in front of Alle, it's in front of the u. So instead of YaAllelu the real word in Hebrew is YaAllehu. A person has to understand that the Semetic languages are written from right to left so sometimes when these words are translated into English they end up a little mixed. When you break down the word YaAllehu as we said, "Ya" means "Oh". Allehu means "Alle is". Making "Oh Alle is!" Lastly, when a person writes a word and puts it together like with YaAllehu. If the words were Alleh and Hu, one of the "H's" would be removed when combining the words, Oh Alleh is!

Single Creed

I chose the site name "SingleCreed" as a sort of description of the Islamic faith. Sadly, few people even know that Muslims believe in the same prophets and the same laws of the Bible. We believe that Adam was the first created man, we believe that Abraham was the father of many nations. We believe that, by God's will, Moses led the Israelites across the split sea, we believe Jonah was in the belly of the whale, we believe in Noah and the flood. We even believe in Jesus. With so many discussions about Islam circulating, the fact that so few American's know even the basics of this religion boggles my mind. I must admit that I was one of those people up until my final year of high school when I was informed that Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are all Abrahamic religions. I was then informed that Islam was predicted to be the leading religion by 2010. At this I rolled my eyes and preceded to post flyers around my high school in support of George Bush's second office term. Young and naive or young and stubborn-minded? Regardless of my annoyance and disbelief upon hearing such news, I have to say that the topic sparked my interest in learning about Islam. All though I never imagined I would become a true faith follower of the religion, I assumed I could learn a thing or two in order to better equip myself in understanding the world. Within time I realized that politics and religion are two very separate things. What a journey it has become. So what does all of this have to do with "SingleCreed"? Muslims believe that the original message given to Adam and then passed on to later generations changed at the hands of man. Hence the reason why so many prophets were sent in order to reiterate the original message. We believe this was continuously reiterated through Jesus up until Muhommed. (No, we don't worship Muhommed.) We believe Muhommed's message was the same one that all of the prophets, including Jesus, had held to. We believe that Muhommed was the final prophet and that God promised that the religion itself would not be contaminated again. Not a single word or creed has been removed from Islam since the Quran was revealed. We believe the creed found in the Quran is the same creed given since the beginning of Adam's existence, therefore we believe in a single creed. This is what my blogs are based on. My blogs emphasize my belief that even through the Bible, this creed can be found and proven beyond a shadow of a doubt. May we all find the straight path. Ameen! Matthew 7: 13 "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." If Jesus is what I say he is (and what he says he is throughout the 4 gospels) this verse makes perfect sense.