Pardon me, I meant contradiction, I have nothing against Thomas 7 because it's similar to the paradoxes Jesus taught in the gospels.
This may be an exaggeration on your part.
No, I included all generations of the first century, which would get us several million, and I take Josephus's number of a million dead in the war along with another million or two for rabbinical Jews (not just the Alexandrians), and messianic Jews peaked at a million late in the century (I'll need to dig up that cite) so they can be attributed another million over time too. But I'll grant sometimes I frame my narrative numbers a little fast for those who wish to check the math skeptically.
Abraham was neither a Jew nor a Christian. But he was a monotheist, a Muslim.
Oh, that's a rich apologetic you've been listening to. I'll try not to be too sarcastic here, but your speed in tacking from gnostics to Muslims is not something I've witnessed before. Anyway, if Abraham was a Muslim because he was a man of "peace", he was certainly a Jew as a man of "praise" and certainly a Christian as a man of "anointing". If he wasn't one of the above, he wasn't any. They're all monotheists. Also, Abraham preserved Hebrew Scriptures (Gen. 1-11) and added to them.
If you want me to be a Muslim now because I believe "in God as the only true God", I won't argue about belief. I will, however, point out that I know what other Muslims would likely say about my profession and I'm not confident they will happily take yours either. They'll be happy to take your jizya but they won't be happy if you raise a question of conscience about it nor if you ask too many questions about the differing schools about the nature of tawhid. So I don't think "Muslim" means what you think it means.
Anyway, if Abraham was a Muslim because he was a man of "peace", he was certainly a Jew as a man of "praise" and certainly a Christian as a man of "anointing".
Are you familiar with The Apocalypse of Abraham? it's a manuscript dated after 70 AD (text must post-date 70 due to its knowledge of the destruction of the temple) and before 150 AD. The Apocalypse of Abraham belongs to a body of Abraham literature flourishing about the time of Christ. "The Book is essentially Jewish," wrote George H. Box, with "features... which suggest Essene origin." From the Essenes it passed, he suggested, to Ebionite circles ... and thence, in some form, found its way into Gnostic circles," though "Gnostic elements in our Book are not very pronounced." -- Dr. Hugh Nibley (Abraham in Egypt)
That in fact a book known as The Apocalypse of Abraham existed in his time is explicitly stated by Epiphanius where, in speaking of the Gnostic sect called “the Sethians,” he says they possessed a number of books “written in the name of great men,” seven in the name of Seth, and among others one “in the name of Abraham which they also declare to be an apocalypse,” and which is “full of all wickedness”.
So I don't think "Muslim" means what you think it means
Nothing wrong with a bit research into the subject. I enjoy studying and learning new things.
Pardon me, I meant contradiction, I have nothing against Thomas 7 because it's similar to the paradoxes Jesus taught in the gospels.
No, I included all generations of the first century, which would get us several million, and I take Josephus's number of a million dead in the war along with another million or two for rabbinical Jews (not just the Alexandrians), and messianic Jews peaked at a million late in the century (I'll need to dig up that cite) so they can be attributed another million over time too. But I'll grant sometimes I frame my narrative numbers a little fast for those who wish to check the math skeptically.
Oh, that's a rich apologetic you've been listening to. I'll try not to be too sarcastic here, but your speed in tacking from gnostics to Muslims is not something I've witnessed before. Anyway, if Abraham was a Muslim because he was a man of "peace", he was certainly a Jew as a man of "praise" and certainly a Christian as a man of "anointing". If he wasn't one of the above, he wasn't any. They're all monotheists. Also, Abraham preserved Hebrew Scriptures (Gen. 1-11) and added to them.
If you want me to be a Muslim now because I believe "in God as the only true God", I won't argue about belief. I will, however, point out that I know what other Muslims would likely say about my profession and I'm not confident they will happily take yours either. They'll be happy to take your jizya but they won't be happy if you raise a question of conscience about it nor if you ask too many questions about the differing schools about the nature of tawhid. So I don't think "Muslim" means what you think it means.
Are you familiar with The Apocalypse of Abraham? it's a manuscript dated after 70 AD (text must post-date 70 due to its knowledge of the destruction of the temple) and before 150 AD. The Apocalypse of Abraham belongs to a body of Abraham literature flourishing about the time of Christ. "The Book is essentially Jewish," wrote George H. Box, with "features... which suggest Essene origin." From the Essenes it passed, he suggested, to Ebionite circles ... and thence, in some form, found its way into Gnostic circles," though "Gnostic elements in our Book are not very pronounced." -- Dr. Hugh Nibley (Abraham in Egypt)
That in fact a book known as The Apocalypse of Abraham existed in his time is explicitly stated by Epiphanius where, in speaking of the Gnostic sect called “the Sethians,” he says they possessed a number of books “written in the name of great men,” seven in the name of Seth, and among others one “in the name of Abraham which they also declare to be an apocalypse,” and which is “full of all wickedness”.
Nothing wrong with a bit research into the subject. I enjoy studying and learning new things.