On The Nature of Scripture « Interspiritualchristian’s Weblog

On The Nature of Scripture « Interspiritualchristian’s Weblog

Commentary on Saint John the Apostle ... - Google Books

Commentary on Saint John the Apostle ... - Google Books

THE VOICE NEW TESTAMENT

There is a "new" book called The Voice which is a revision of the New Testament produced with the help of Emergent church guru Brian McLaren. This is what he has to say about this revision:

Works like J.B. Phillips’ translation and more recently Eugene Peterson’s The Message have done us a great service. They have given us Bibles with literary style. But unfortunately, they have rendered the whole Bible into one literary style. That is an improvement over tofu-vanilla scholarly translations in many ways, but one of the fascinating things about the Bible is that it is the work of forty-some writers, each with their own unique style. SoThe Voice would do something unique: it would pair writers who write with a distinctive literary style together with scholars who would pay close attention to accuracy in light of our best scholarship.

The project would also keep in mind rediscovering the Bible as an oral text, something to be heard aloud as well as read silently. It would be a storytellers’ Bible, drawing structural elements from drama and screenplays along with poetry and prose.

The project had a profound spiritual impact on my life. As a preacher, I’ve always dealt with Luke and Acts one passage at a time, but working on the books as a whole, I noticed their larger structure—themes that play out across many passages but which wouldn’t be noticed in one taken separately. As well, I was forced to ask some pretty basic questions that too few of us ask. For example …

• What would a term like “Son of God” have meant to the original hearers in the first century?


• What about “Son of Man”?


• What about “Christ,” or “salvation,” or “baptism,” or “born again”?

In each case, these words tend to have for today’s readers either a vaguely religious meaning, or a meaning that took shape in the 4th or 17th or 20th centuries. But what if the words would have had a very different meaning for their original hearers? How could that meaning be understood and communicated today?

We did a lot of vigorous and good-natured arguing about many of these terms. Sometimes my opinions were accepted (as in translating “Christ” as “Liberating King” or baptism as “ceremonial cleansing”) and some weren’t (as in translating “Son of Man” as “New Generation of Humanity”). But the process showed me more than ever that translation can’t be separated from interpretation, and the theological biases of the interpreters are a bigger factor than I had realized. This was another strength of the project—to have a team with differing theological perspectives hammering out how passages should be rendered.

I just got my first copy of the completed New Testament a few weeks ago. It turned out even better than I had hoped. I was just reading this morning, and it was hard to put down because it felt like I was reading an integrated story, not a choppy collection of verses.  more

Gmail - The Chronological Study Bible - jacobthanni@gmail.com

Gmail - The Chronological Study Bible - jacobthanni@gmail.com

mages from thenazareneway@yahoo.com

The Chronological Study Bible
By Tim Murphy
Religion News Service

Bob Sanford wanted to create a Bible that would bring order and clarity to the text. Instead, he's waded right into one of the great debates of biblical scholarship.

"The Chronological Study Bible" will be released this fall in the midst of a Bible-publishing boom in the United States. In an industry that now has as much to do with profits as with prophets, Sanford expects his new edition to have wide appeal.

"(Our challenge) is to take the scholarship and make it enjoyable to a readership that enjoys history," said Sanford, who oversees the Bible division for the giant Christian publisher, Thomas Nelson.

The company has carved out its share of the industry's estimated $500 million annual haul by cornering the market on niche markets, such as families and teenagers.

The latest edition rejiggers the order of books, psalms, and Gospels in an effort to provide a historical framework for a text most scholars consider chronologically challenged.

So, for example, whole sections of Isaiah and Nehemiah are reordered to better reflect an accurate historical timeline; the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are merged into one based on Mark's chronology; and some of St. Paul's letters (which traditionally appear later in the New Testament) are woven into the Book of Acts.

Some biblical scholars, however, aren't buying the idea.

"I would say, generally speaking, that scholars would have no interest at all," said Pat Graham, a professor at Emory University in Atlanta. "What it ends up being is something that laypersons find helpful -- or would think it would be helpful. Any biblical studies expert worth their salt would not have much interest in this at all, except as kind of a curiosity."

At issue for scholars is a question they have grappled with for generations: When -- and by whom -- was the Bible written? For readers, the larger question is this: Does it really matter if Ezekiel, say, appears before or after Nehemiah, and does it make a difference if a biblical timeline looks more like a zigzag?

The most recognizable changes in the Chronological Study Bible come in the placement of nonnarrative sections -- the books that aren't necessarily anchored by specific people, places and events. The Book of Psalms, which appears in the middle of the Old Testament in most editions, is split up in the new edition by time period. All Psalms relating to David, for example, will instead appear as supplements to the relevant books of the Old Testament such as 1 Chronicles.

Sanford says unlocking and reordering the Bible's chronology can help readers understand the context in which portions of the book were written. But in practice, scholars say, this can prove challenging.

For some biblical accounts, such as the Israelites' exile to Babylon, there are historical accounts to support the narrative. Other stories require a leap of faith, however. Scholars say trying to rearrange individual books requires getting to the bottom of some of the world's oldest known cases of identity theft: Many biblical works were the handiwork of multiple authors, all writing under a single name.

"It was very common in antiquity to attribute one's own writings to the most important historians in the past," said professor Michael D. Coogan, a professor at Stonehill College in Easton, Mass., and editor of the "New Oxford Annotated Bible." "It happens not just in the Bible -- Socrates certainly didn't say everything Plato quotes him as saying."

Take, for example, the Book of Jeremiah, which was written by an undetermined number of authors over an unknown period of time. Some narratives are repeated and any semblance of chronology devolves into a jumble of dates and places.

The Bible's order is significant for other reasons as well. Some scholars worry that changing the order would impact the Bible's meaning and diminish the value of nonnarrative elements, such as the Book of Psalms.

"Part of the problem, and to me one of the flaws, is the assumption that this Bible is working with -- that (narrative) -- is the primary genre of literature in the Bible. That just isn't true," said the Rev. Bruce Birch, who teaches at the Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C.

Graham, who called the idea of a chronological Bible "radical," offered a helpful suggestion for potential buyers.

"It's like you would attach a pack of cigarettes with a warning label from the surgeon general," Graham said. "Well, this Bible should have a warning from the theologian general or something: 'This bible may be harmful to your spiritual health."'

All is not lost for the book's publishers, however. While the Ivory Tower cries heresy, the book's target demographic seems more receptive to the idea. The Rev. Brad Riley, a pastor at the First Church of the Nazarene in Wichita, Kan., said a chronological Bible would likely be most useful for newcomers to the faith.

"The Bible can be intimidating for people ... and the chronology can help people put the timeline together in their minds," Riley said.

The Rev. Tommy Bratton Jr., who leads group Bible study at First Baptist Church in Asheville, N.C., agreed.

"We try to put our Bible studies now in context of when things occur," Bratton said. "It would give people, I think, a greater sense of how things were laid out in that way."

Inscribing the Text: Sermons and Prayers of Walter Brueggemann

Inscribing the Text: Sermons and Prayers of Walter Brueggemann.

Edited by Anna Carter Florence. Fortress, 222 pp., $22.00.

A GOOD PREACHER should be able to teach in a right and orderly way ... be able to speak well ... have a good memory ... be sure of the material and be diligent ... stake body and life, goods and honor on it ... [and] know when to stop," said Martin Luther. Walter Brueggemann meets 'all these criteria and more. His energy and creativity, "make us wonder if he is climbing Sinai every morning for dictation," Anna Carter Florence writes in the foreword to this collection of his sermons and prayers. Brueggemann's capacity for work, his enthusiasm for God's word, his novel reading of scripture and his pastoral concern mark the wealth of books, articles and reviews that he has authored.

These various writings were delivered in a variety of churches, seminaries and pastors' gatherings during the past three years. As with his earlier Awed to Heaven, Rooted in Earth: Prayers of Walter Brueggemann (Fortress), the prayers alone make the book valuable. They express a deep commitment, a life penetrated by the Word and a compassion born from an openness to God's leading.

Brueggemann wrote most of these prayers after reading the psalms, and they give us new understandings both of biblica poetry and of how the psalms can enrich our prayer lives. Heed, for example, these words from a prayer on the theme of generosity: "Sink your generosity deep into our lives / that your muchness may expose our false lack / that endlessly receiving, we may endlessly give, / so that the world may be made Easter new, without greedy lack, but only wonder / without coercive need, but only love / without destructive greed, but only praise ... all things Easter new.... Finish your creation in wonder, love and praise."

The sermons--preached in Presbyterian churches across the U.S.--deal creatively with all three of the appointed lectionary texts. I was especially moved by "Saints Remembered and Saints to Come," preached at Peace United Church of Christ in Tilden, Nebraska. Brueggemann and his wife, Mary, had been invited to the 100th anniversary celebration of the church his father, August, served from 1931 to 1935. Brueggemann begins the sermon by recalling childhood memories, then affirms the historic creeds of the church and explores what it means to celebrate the saints. His exposition of Hebrews 11 is excursive and brilliant. He concludes by calling upon the Holy Spirit's inspiration and guidance for the congregation as it faces an uncertain future in a tiny town.

The first piece in the book may well be the most important. In a paper presented at the Festival of Homiletics in Chicago in 2002, Brueggemann introduces a whole new understanding of the preaching task. Speaking of the preacher as scribe, he moves from four scriptural confrontations in which truth speaks to power (Moses addressing Pharoah, Nathan addressing David, Elijah addressing Ahab and Daniel addressing Nebuchadnezzar) to an analysis of the "deeply problematic things" inherent in this model. Pastors presiding over institutions with programs, budgets and anxiety-filled members are not likely to speak truth to power. Not if they want to keep their jobs.

Brueggemann describes "scribal refraction" as an approach vastly different from historical criticism. The preacher as scribe does what "school-men, bookmen, and the scroll-makers who gathered old traditions and memories and preserved them in some form" did after the Babylonian exile. The postmodern preacher, like Ezra and his cohorts, must retext the community, turn it back to the imagination and practices which lead it to God's most elemental assurances and claims. "Preaching in postmodern North America addresses folks of Christian descent who have been tossed about by the vagaries of historical circumstances and who have largely forgotten our rootage in Moses and in Jesus," Brueggemann asserts. The preacher's job is "to keep that confrontation between truth and power alive and available to the community through acts of textual interpretation and imagination."

The preacher must not only study and trust the text but 'also attend to the listening congregation. Some in the congregation are textless, believing that they can live out of their autonomous experience alone, while others bring with them a weak, thin text of technological, therapeutic and military consumerism, "an odd mix of moralism, market ideology, self-congratulation and anxiety." The great 19th-century theologians were almost always pastors. In the 20th century the theological task was turned over to the academics, and pastors were relegated to administrative and therapeutic functions. Brueggemann, a preacher who is also an academic, reunites the two parts of ministry.

Reviewed by Eugene Winkler, former pastor of the First United Methodist Church, the Chicago Temple.

COPYRIGHT 2004 The Christian Century Foundation
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning

Bible for the Middle Class

Announcing a New Version of the Bible for the Middle Class
August 1, 2008

Read it all from From Brown Blog

There are literally hundreds of versions and styles of the Bible with new ones coming out every month, so it was only a matter of time before a Bible came out just for the middle class. Called The Middle Class Message: Guilt Free Version it is a fresh and contemporary translation that removes those parts of the Bible which make middle class people feel uncomfortable.

This is as a result of research that shows most middle class folks stay away from the Bible as it expects them to change, with the MCM Bible they can own and read a Bible that suits their lifestyle choices.

An example of this stunning contemporary translation:

Matthew 19:3-9:

Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?” “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate unless things are getting a bit hard and they really have no idea how to communicate with each other and he finds her parents unbearable, and she is tired of his excessive snoring”"Why then,” they asked, “did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?” Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives. But it was not this way from the beginning. I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, different life goals, constant arguing over which new BMW to buy, or a clash over the colour scheme in the kitchen and marries another woman isn’t very sensible.”

'Indian' Bible making waves in Kerala

'Indian' Bible making waves in Kerala-Thiru'puram-Cities-The Times of India

'Indian' Bible making waves in Kerala
5 Aug 2008, 1241 hrs IST,PTI

KOCHI- An 'Indianised' Bible with references to the Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, Manusmriti and drawings of a turbaned Joseph and sari clad Mother Mary with baby Jesus in her arms, is making waves in Kerala.

This is an unprecedented venture as Indian scriptures Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita and Mausmriti have been used in a Bible by way of interpretations to biblical passages for the first time, says Catholic church spokesperson Father Paul Thelekat. This is an attempt to make contextual reading and understanding.

There are 24 line drawings, including those of mosque, temple and church with slippers outside, by the late Christopher Coelho.

The Mumbai-based publishing house, St Pauls, which brings out religious books, has come out with the new Indian Bible, which also has references to Meerabai, Mahatma Gandhi, and Rabindranath Tagore in the interpretations of biblical passages, Father Thelekat said.

As far as Catholics are concerned, they have to live and interpret their Christian faith and scriptures within the given culture. So they have to understand and interpret the culture, he said.

The New Community Bible is a revised edition of the popular Christian Bible translated by Late Bernardo Hurault, published from the Philippines. About 30 scholars have worked on it from 1980 and made the interpretations which are published at the bottom part of the Bible, Fr Thekekat said.

The text of the Bible is the accepted Catholic version, whose interpretations are made with an Indian cultural perspective.

Thiruvananthpuam Archbishop Sosa Pakiam, in his preface to the Bible, says a unique feature of the new Bible is that it has many references to the spiritual message and biblical references to that of spiritual message and biblical values found in the scriptures of other great Indian religions.

The article, quoting Fr Augustine Kanachikuzhy, General Editor of the new Bible, says the references and quotations used in the Bible from non Christian scriptures "does not imply in any way, the Indian Scriptural terms are parallel to Biblical terms or that the parallel references are saying the same thing as the Biblical text".

Thelekat said while interpreting Treasure in Heaven of Mt 6:19.21, ...'this concept is found a classical expression in the Bhagavad Gita's call to disinterested action: 'Work alone is your proper business never the fruits it may produce" (2:47), or while commenting on the third appearance of Jesus to disciples (John 21:1.14)... ‘The Lord ever stands on the shores of our life every moment and every age, every day and every night he comes, comes, ever comes' (Gitanjali XLV).

Indian texts are used to interpret not only the New Testament, but also the Old Testament. The deluge story of the Book of Genesis is interpreted with reference of such stories in Mesopotamia and Satapath Brahmana (1.8.1-10) and Mahabharata. In passages where the Biblical interpretation differs from the Indian scriptures, that fact is also made clear, Thelekat said.

Over such 70 references to non Christian texts have been made in the Bible and 30 scholars participated in making the commentary, Fr Thelekat said.

"An attempt has been made to give a Bible which is more relevant for India. There is nothing added or subtracted from the text of the Bible, which has been reproduced as such".

Bishop Thomas Dabre, Chairman of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI) gave the official no objection certificate for publication of the Bible.

A Bible can be printed only after a non-objection certificate and express permission to print is given by the Mumbai Archbishop. (Non-text portions removed)

Gmail - [textualcriticism] The M.Smith-G.Scholem letters and the "Clement" letter - jacobthanni@gmail.com

Gmail - [textualcriticism] The M.Smith-G.Scholem letters and the "Clement" letter - jacobthanni@gmail.com

[textualcriticism] The M.Smith-G.Scholem letters and the "Clement" letter
goranson@duke.edu

Just published: Morton Smith and Gershom Scholem, Correspondence 1945-1982. ed.
and introduction by G. Stroumsa (Brill 2008)--interesting exchanges between two
influential scholars. (Especially Scholem, whose From Berlin to Jerusalem I
also can commend.) This volume raises again the issue of the Mar Saba ms 65,
that Smith claimed was an 18th-century copy of a letter of Clement of
Alexandria quoting secret verses of Mark. Others, myself included, think Smith
composed and penned the letter. This volume won't create consensus; Stroumsa
proposes the "trustworthiness of Smith's account" and avers that "accusations
of forgery...have always seemed to me to stem from quite unscholarly grounds,
usually implicit rather than explicitly stated." (p.xxi)

I disagree. Consider Adela Yarbro Collin's 2007 Mark commentary which presents
evidence especially from the excellent scholarly observations of Charles Murgia
that the ms was an autograph and not from Clement. Of course Carlson, Jeffery,
Ehrman and others give addition reasons. AYC gives the new (to me) information
that Q. Quesnell managed to see the ms in the early 1980s (p. 491).

Among the facts from the Smith-Scholem letters: Smith wrote in 1948 that he was
working on the early Fathers, "especially Clement of Alexandria" (p.28). In
1955 Smith wrote that he was at work on a chapter "for a book on Mark" (p.81).
Later in 1955 Smith writes of "my book on Mark." (p.85). Scholem: "I am very
curious to see your book on Mark" (p.87). This book was "never published"
(note on p.81). Or, possibly, Smith switched from writing about Mark to writing
some "Mark." (After 1958 Smith again speaks of his Mark book, now meaning the
Clement one.) Absent from the letters is any sign that Smith followed up on
research into the scribe's possible other extant mss in Mar Saba or in
Jerusalem, despire opportunities and contacts and even his visit to Jerusalem,
Smith demonstrated no further curiosity about this scribe and his output,
possibly because Smith was already acquainted with the scribe, himself. (Even a
closer examination of the 1646 Voss book might reveal provenance marks--was it
at Mar Saba c. 1750?--unless the removal of the cover and title page--of a book
otherwise in seeming good condition--removed all such traces.)

In Secret Gospel (p. 14) Scholem is the first person Smith mentions as being
told about the ms (no Greek Orthodox hosts mentioned).
Scholem accepted that the ms was a copy of a Clement letter, which pleased
Smith (p. 160), but Scholem rejected Smith's mixing up of Jesus and Shabbatai
Sevi. Smith wrote (1976) "...I think I've learned more about Jesus from you and
Shabbatai Zvi (I'm sometimes not sure which is which) than I have from any other
source except the gospels and the magical papyri." (p. 170) Smith mixed up the
two. Scholem did not.

Stephen Goranson
http://www.duke.edu/~goranson

_

Gmail - *Ar_Ruuh* Fw: To Proclaim "Ya Rasool ALLAH" - jacobthanni@gmail.com

Gmail - *Ar_Ruuh* Fw: To Proclaim "Ya Rasool ALLAH" - jacobthanni@gmail.com
To Proclaim "Ya Rasool ALLAH"


send to Inter Textual

1. The Ahle Sunnah Wal Jamaat believes that to recite after every Salaah and at other times, the following verses: "As Salaatu Was Salaamu Alaika Ya Rasoolullah" (Peace and Blessings upon you, O Messenger of Allah), or to recite "As Alukash Shafaa'atu Ya Rasoolullah" (I seek from you Shafaa'at 'Intercession', O Messenger of Allah) is totally permissible.

2. The following Hadith proves that it is permissible to utter the above-mentioned words. Ten great Scholars of Islam have certified this Hadith Shareef. A Sahabi, who was blind by birth, was taught a special Du'a by the Holy Prophet (sallal laahu alaihi wasallam), which he was to recite after every Salaah. The Du'a is as follows: "Allahumma Inni As Aluka Wa Ata Wajjahu Ilaika Binabiyika Muhammadin Nabiyyir rahmati Ya Muhammadu Inni Ata Wajjahu Bika ila Rabbi Fi Haajati haazihi lituqda li. Allahumma Fashaf'fi'u Fiya". (O Allah, I ask from you, and turn towards you through the Wasila (Medium) of Your Nabi Muhammad sallal laahu alaihi wasallam, who is indeed a Prophet of Mercy. O Muhammad, with your Wasila (Medium) I turn towards Allah for my need so that it may be bestowed. O Allah, accept the Prophet's intercession for me).

3. Hazrat Abdullah Ibn Omar (radi Allahu anhu) once suffered from a cramp. Someone advised him to remember the person whom he loved the most. The great companion then proclaimed loudly, "Ya Muhammadah." It is recorded that he was immediately relieved. (Kitaabul Adaabul Mufrad)

4. It is an established practice of the people of Medina Shareef to proclaim "Ya Muhammadah" in times of difficulty and anxiety. (Naseem-ur Riyaaz)

5. A drought, which was known as "Aamur Ramadah" once, occurred during the Caliphate of Hazrat Umar Farouk (radi Allahu anhu). His tribe, the Bani Muzaina, approached him and complained that they were dying of hunger, and thus requested the Caliph to sacrifice a few sheep. When he told them that there was nothing left of the sheep, they still insisted. After the sheep were cut and cleaned they noticed that only red bones were to be seen. Hazrat Bilal (radi Allahu anhu), seeing this state of affairs, proclaimed loudly, "Ya Muhammadah", in grief and concern. He was then blessed with seeing the Holy Prophet (sallal laahu alaihi wasallam) in his dream, who informed him of future glad tidings which did occur later on.

6. Imaam-e-Mujtahid Sayyidi Abdur Rahman Huzaili Kufi Masoodi (radi Allahu anhu) was the grandson of Hazrat Abdullah ibn Masood (radi Allahu anhu). He was also a very great Jurist and a Taabi'in of high rank. It is stated that he used to wear a long hat with the inscribed words, "Muhammad, Ya Mansoor."

7. Imaan ibn Jouzi (radi Allahu anhu), in his book, "Oyunil Hikaayat", narrates a strange and amazing incident of three brothers who were constantly engaged in Jihad (Holy Islamic War). He narrates: Once, while engaged in Jihad with the Christians of Rome, they were captured and tortured. The King informed them that if they adopted the religion of Christianity he would set them free. The brothers refused to do so. Instead they all proclaimed aloud, "Ya Muhammadah." The King became furious and ordered two of the brothers to be thrown into boiling oil. After a while, the youngest escaped from the clutches of his capturers accompanied by the daughter of the King, who was amazed at the piety of the young Muslim. Six months later when they were about to be married, the two martyred brothers amazingly appeared accompanied by a group of Angels. When it was inquired as to how they had survived they replied: "When you saw us being thrown into the boiling oil, you indeed saw the truth, yet as we entered the pot, we entered into the high stages of Jannah." Imam ibn Jouzi (radi Allahu anhu) states that the brothers lived in Syria and were extremely famous. Many couplets have been written in their praise. This incident has been shortened.

8. Our object here is to highlight how beneficial it is to call out to the Holy Prophet (sallal laahu alaihi wasallam). We have seen that the brothers at a time of extreme perils and danger did not hesitate in calling to the Prophet (sallal laahu alaihi wasallam). How were they rewarded? They were rewarded with such blessing that the two Shuhada immediately entered Jannah, while the youngest brother was saved and married the King's daughter, and the two Shuhada were actually given permission to attend the marriage of their younger brother accompanied by a group of Angels.

9. Hazrat Shah Wali'ullah Dehlwi (radi Allahu anhu) states: "I cannot perceive anyone besides the Holy Prophet (sallal laahu alaihi wasallam) who, for the depressed person at times of calamities, will forward a helping hand." (Ateebul Ghanum fi Madh-e-Sayyadal Arabi Wal Ajam)

10. Hazrat Shah Wali'ullah Dehlwi (radi Allahu anhu) explains: In the august court of the Holy Prophet (sallal laahu alaihi wasallam) one should consider oneself insignificant and inferior. With a broken heart and with total sincerity, one should call to the Prophet (sallal laahu alaihi wasallam) in Du'a. The person will indeed attain salvation if he states: "O Rasool of Allah! O Unique among the Creation! I seek your favour on the Day of Justice. On that Day when there will be a great test, only you, O Prophet of Allah, would give security from all calamities! I have turned to you for salvation and have my trust in you." (Madhiyaa Hamziya)

11. More than 40 great Scholars and Saints also believed that it is permissible to call out to great Saints and Prophets for assistance. Among them being Hazrat Uthman bin Haneef (radi Allahu anhu), Hazrat Abdullah ibn Abbas (radi Allahu anhu), Imaam Bukhari (radi Allahu anhu), Imaam Muslim (radi Allahu anhu), Imaam Tabraani (radi Allahu anhu), Imaam ibn Jouzi (radi Allahu anhu), Ghousal A'zam, Syed Abdul Qaadir Jilaani (radi Allahu anhu), Imaam Jalalludeen Suyutwi (radi Allahu anhu), Imaam Abdul Wahab Sha'raani (radi Allahu anhu), Sayyedi Ahmed Kabeer-e-Awliya Badawi (radi Allahu anhu), Shah Wali'ullah Dehlwi (radi Allahu anhu), etc.

12. The most beautiful proof of calling to the Prophet (sallal laahu alaihi wasallam) is in the Attahiyaat, wherein every worshipper salutes and calls unto the Prophet (sallal laahu alaihi wasallam). If by using the Nida, causes one to be guilty of Shirk, then how is it that it is found in the Salaah?

13. Some individuals state that, one does not have the intention of calling to the Prophet (sallal laahu alaihi wasallam) in the Attahiyaat, rather one is merely conveying a message. This opinion is without basis. Therefore, when we are reciting the Attahiyaat, we should not possess this belief, rather we should believe that we are directly addressing the Holy Prophet (sallal laahu alaihi wasallam) and sending Salaams to him, upon oneself and upon all the pious of the Ummah.

14. It is recorded in the books, "Tanweerul Absaar" and "Sharah Durre Mukhtaar" that: "The intention which one must possess at the time of reciting the Tashahud is the concentration on the meaning of this, that is, in other words, one must remember that one is sending Salaams upon the Holy Prophet (sallal laahu alaihi wasallam) and that one is praising Allah Almighty. One must be assured of the fact that one is sending Salaams and not merely relaying a message."

15. Allama Hasan Sharanbulaani (radi Allahu anhu), in his book, "Maraqi-ul-Falah", states: "Numerous Ulema have in fact clarified this belief. There are some misled individuals who profess that because Angels are deputized to convey the Salaams to the Holy Prophet (sallal laahu alaihi wasallam), one should not use the Harf-e-Nidaa. What these enlightened individuals have forgotten is that twice daily the deeds of the Ummati are placed in front of the Holy Prophet (sallal laahu alaihi wasallam). In many authentic Ahadith, it is quite clearly stated that all deeds of the individual are placed in front of the Holy Prophet (sallal laahu alaihi wasallam), the deceased family and the deceased parents."

16. Hazrat Imaam Abdullah ibn Mubarruk (radi Allahu anhu), narrated by Hazrat Sa'eed ibn Musayyib (radi Allahu anhu), who states: "Not a day or night passes by, without the deeds of the Ummati are being placed in front of the Holy Prophet (sallal laahu alaihi wasallam). Therefore the Holy Prophet (sallal laahu alaihi wasallam) recognizes his followers in two ways, firstly by their Alamat (signs) and secondly by their Amaal (deeds)."

Is Obama 'distorting' Bible or Dobson?

Dobson accuses Obama of 'distorting' Bible

By ERIC GORSKI, AP Religion Writer 28 minutes ago

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - As Barack Obama broadens his outreach to evangelical voters, one of the movement's biggest names, James Dobson, accuses the likely Democratic presidential nominee of distorting the Bible and pushing a "fruitcake interpretation" of the Constitution.
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The criticism, to be aired Tuesday on Dobson's Focus on the Family radio program, comes shortly after an Obama aide suggested a meeting at the organization's headquarters here, said Tom Minnery, senior vice president for government and public policy at Focus on the Family.

The conservative Christian group provided The Associated Press with an advance copy of the pre-taped radio segment, which runs 18 minutes and highlights excerpts of a speech Obama gave in June 2006 to the liberal Christian group Call to Renewal. Obama mentions Dobson in the speech.

"Even if we did have only Christians in our midst, if we expelled every non-Christian from the United States of America, whose Christianity would we teach in the schools?" Obama said. "Would we go with James Dobson's or Al Sharpton's?" referring to the civil rights leader.

Dobson took aim at examples Obama cited in asking which Biblical passages should guide public policy — chapters like Leviticus, which Obama said suggests slavery is OK and eating shellfish is an abomination, or Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, "a passage that is so radical that it's doubtful that our own Defense Department would survive its application."

"Folks haven't been reading their Bibles," Obama said.

Dobson and Minnery accused Obama of wrongly equating Old Testament texts and dietary codes that no longer apply to Jesus' teachings in the New Testament.

"I think he's deliberately distorting the traditional understanding of the Bible to fit his own worldview, his own confused theology," Dobson said.

"... He is dragging biblical understanding through the gutter."

Joshua DuBois, director of religious affairs for Obama's campaign, said in a statement that a full reading of Obama's speech shows he is committed to reaching out to people of faith and standing up for families. "Obama is proud to have the support of millions of Americans of faith and looks forward to working across religious lines to bring our country together," DuBois said.

Dobson reserved some of his harshest criticism for Obama's argument that the religiously motivated must frame debates over issues like abortion not just in their own religion's terms but in arguments accessible to all people.

He said Obama, who supports abortion rights, is trying to govern by the "lowest common denominator of morality," labeling it "a fruitcake interpretation of the Constitution."

"Am I required in a democracy to conform my efforts in the political arena to his bloody notion of what is right with regard to the lives of tiny babies?" Dobson said. "What he's trying to say here is unless everybody agrees, we have no right to fight for what we believe."

The program was paid for by a Focus on the Family affiliate whose donations are taxed, Dobson said, so it's legal for that group to get more involved in politics.

Last week, DuBois, a former Assemblies of God associate minister, called Minnery for what Minnery described as a cordial discussion. He would not go into detail, but said Dubois offered to visit the ministry in August when the Democratic National Convention is in Denver.

A possible Obama visit was not discussed, but Focus is open to one, Minnery said.

McCain also has not met with Dobson. A McCain campaign staffer offered Dobson a meeting with McCain recently in Denver, Minnery said. Dobson declined because he prefers that candidates visit the Focus on the Family campus to learn more about the organization, Minnery said.

Dobson has not backed off his statement that he could not in good conscience vote for McCain because of concerns over the Arizona senator's conservative credentials. Dobson has said he will vote in November but has suggested he might not vote for president.

Obama recently met in Chicago with religious leaders, including conservative evangelicals. His campaign also plans thousands of "American Values House Parties," where participants discuss Obama and religion, as well as a presence on Christian radio and blogs.