Introduction: The Religion of Abraham

The Heart of Religion

Judaism, Christianity and Islam trace their roots from Abraham and apparently revere the same Godhead. Around 1,800 BC, the Jewish faith began with the covenant of God with Abraham. The covenant was passed on to Isaac (Abraham’s son from Sarah), then to Isaac’s son Jacob (renamed Israel) and the “twelve tribes.” After some 400 years, Moses received the Ten Commandments from God as the Jews settled in Canaan, the “Promised Land.” Judaism was anchored on the belief that the Jews were the “chosen people;” “Hear Oh Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One” (Deuteronomy 6: 4).

In c. 5 BC, Jesus was born, purported as the Christ foretold by Old Testament prophets (John 6:32-33), but whom the Jews rejected. In Mark 12: 28-30, Jesus declared the law: “the first is… The Lord our God, the Lord is one; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind….The second is…you shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than this.” Nearly 300 years after Jesus died, in 312 AD, Emperor Constantine I of the East Roman Empire (i.e., the Byzantium Empire) issued the Edict of Milan, making Christianity the state religion. In 325 AD, he convened the first Council of Nicaea, with the Nicene Creed affirming Jesus as the “Son of God.” In the 381 Council of Constantinople, the “Holy Spirit” was declared as the third person of the Holy Trinity (co-substantial and co-equal with the Father and Son). In 1054, the “Filioque” was added to the Creed, “In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

In 570 AD, Mohammad was born purportedly from the lineage of Ishmael, the first born son of Abraham (from his Egyptian maid, Hagar). He received dictations from Archangel Gabriel; written down as the surahs (chapters) of the Koran. Islam affirmed that Moses (Musah) is a messenger and Jesus is the messiah Isa of Al-Illah (One God); “In the name of the merciful and compassionate God.” In Surah 4: 153-176, the deviation of Judaism and Christianity was stated: “the people of the Book went wrong. The Jews in breaking their covenant and slandering Mary and Jesus…and the Christians in raising Jesus the Apostle to equality with God by means of the trinity doctrine.”

The adherents of the three faiths claimed that theirs was the true one. They also fought for supremacy in the world; with Christianity and Islam particularly fighting for converts. The histories of the religions showed that their leaders used religion as tool for or shield from conquest, with spiritual salvation as the reward. Why do they fight and kill each other in the name of the same God? Why had such powers been wielded, not to unify, but to create chaos in the world? A classic answer: it is the battle between God and Satan, the evil principle (Iblis in Islam). But whose side is God? Whose side is Satan?

Decoding the Scriptures

“To decode” means to unravel a message based on a key or code. How does one decode the apparent contradictory verses of and among the Torah, the New Testament and the Koran? I suppose, the “code” was built-in the scriptures and that the soul of humanity held the key to its decipherment. Through the collective efforts of the sages and seers of various faiths as well as the great men and women of science, humanity had already sufficiently evolved, for the code to be deciphered in the manner it was intended. The Grolier Encyclopedia of Knowledge (2002, Vol. 3, “Bible,” p. 103) provided that insight. It was a “hard copy” of the collective knowledge of mankind. Definitely, so much more was stored in the Internet. I suppose, there is also an “invisible internet” that held the collective memory of mankind. The human being held the unifying element all along, with his/her growing capacity for reflection and transcendence.

Through the Jewish interpretative method called Midrash, rabbis sought the deeper meaning of a biblical passage and made the message relevant to current needs and times. The early Christians, influenced by both Jews and Greek philosophers (who explained myths as allegories), also used the allegorical and literal interpretations of the passages. During the 18th century, techniques of classical studies were employed. Through textual criticism, biblical manuscripts in the original language and versions were compared, alongside quotations of the ancient authors, to determine the original wording. Through literary criticism, the manuscripts were compared with other books (biblical and non-biblical) to surface the identity, style and purpose of the author, the setting and time of the writing, and the oral and written sources used. Form criticism studied the oral tradition of a document to determine the stages of changes within the document, as modified by the setting in which it (or its various parts) was transmitted. Redaction criticism, the study of editing, determined the traits of the writer or a source as distinguished from the styles and editorial method employed in the materials.

Historical criticism employed all the methods and took account of historical evidences and archeological discoveries. It considered that most historical accounts, like myths and religions, started as oral tradition and were eventually written down with possible distortions based on the limitations of the scribes. The appreciation of the written documents may also be colored by the perception of the reader or translator. Thus, the already distorted perceptions may be again reinterpreted for the next generation readers.

This book applied the eclectic approach. It had one assumption: if the message came from one God, they are universal and applicable for all. Thus, interpretations that promote a “chosen few” while the rest are damned are most probably based on false premises; their bases (scriptural passages) should be analyzed for the deeper meaning. Perhaps what had happened in the world is only an outer expression of a deeper humanity in the process of becoming; that is, as it evolved as a species. “Love does no wrong to a neighbor…love is the fulfillment of the law” (Romans 13: 10-12).

Guide to this First Episode

Part I: The Jews and the Old Testament
Part II: Jesus and the New Testament
Part III: Islam and the Koran