Expert: Marilyn - 12/17/2007

Question
QUESTION: Hello Marilyn and Happy Holidays to you and yours,
My question is, did Moses write the first five books in the Bible? If so is there any proof that he did and could you show me, and vice versa if he didnt.

Also who is this Parakletos that Muslims say is actually a person?  

         Thankyou and God Bless

         Jr.

ANSWER: Howdy Junior;

Moses is said to be the author of the first five books.  Debunkers point out that he couldn't have written the part about his death.  Well, no, he couldn't have written it unless it was prophetic.  There are other debunking efforts, pointing out historical contradictions and arguments about the different Names given to God in the course of the story.  The idea that simply because God receives various Names in the course of the story is to miss the point that these books are an ongoing revelation about God's nature.

It was not uncommon for persons of such rank as Moses to have secretaries who took dictation.  The Apostle Paul had such a secretary.  I assert Moses had a secretary who took dictation and added the part about his death to finish the book.  

There will be ongoing arguments about historical events.  Those have to be dealt with one at a time with much research.  Sometimes there is simply no way to explain everything.  God leaves points for faith.  Sometimes debunkers are given to interpreting texts according to what will advance their objectives and their interpretations may leave much to be desired.  One popular method is to take Scripture out of context and rant about an isolated verse.

My Scofield attributes the first five books to Moses listing the Lord Jesus as the One who says the books were written by Moses, Mark 12:26 & Luke 24:44.  Yep, once again it all comes to Jesus.  

Parakeltos is Greek for "called along side to help and counsel," translated as "Helper" in the NKJV and New American Standard, translated as "Comforter" in the KJV; it can also be translated as "legal advisor," "advocate," "mediator," "intercessor," "defender."  It was often used to describe what we'd call the functions of a lawyer.

Like all Names of God which generally simply describe Him, Parakeltos can refer either the Lord Jesus or to the Holy Spirit, see I John 2:1; Hebrews 7:25 & 28.  

Jesus manifests Himself to us by and through the Holy Spirit, yet the Holy Spirit is a separate Person all His own.  His function is to woo human beings, to give revelation in the heart or the mind's eye, to be the interface between the Father, the Lord Jesus and human beings.  He is the Parakletos, but so is the Lord Jesus.  The triune God is rather mind boggling--the Lord Our God Is One.  Islam has a lot of trouble with that concept.  Allah has no sons.  And they believe Allah created the Holy Spirit.

Islam says that the Parakletos is Muhammed.  

This whole scene where they get the idea Jesus speaks of Muhammed occurs during Jesus' final Passover meal with His disciples, John 13-17.  Jesus knows He's about to give His life and He's trying to give last minute instruction and comfort.

John 14:16 & 17, "And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counselor (Parakletos) to be with you forever--the Spirit of Truth.  The world cannot accept Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him.  But you know Him, for He lives with you and will be in you..."

John 14:25 & 26, "All this I have spoken while still with you.  But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My Name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you."

So, can Muhammed fit the bill?  Whether they change the spelling of Parakletos or not, Muhammed doesn't fit the bill, though Islam says He can and does.  Islam takes a few verses out of their greater context--the Passover Meal and the place the Holy Spirit occupies in the entire Bible--and applies it to their "prophet."

http://www.islamreligion.com/articles/198/

http://www.tribulation.com/paraklet.htm

http://www.911gonewrong.com/holy_spirit.htm

Merry Christmas!  

Marilyn

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks Marilyn, I do have one more question, and it is about this Hypothetical Document or (JPED) Used to prove that Moses did not write the first five books in the Bible and that it proves other so calld myths of the Bible, noted one book called 101 myths of the Bible by Gary Greenberg.

Just thought you might be able to give me some insight on this, thankyou

Answer
Hello again;

Here you have a western thinking guy who supposes he's in the same room with the text he's attempting to debunk.  Actually he's not in the same room.  He's looking at it at a distance of thousands of years, through 21st century lenses.  His 21st century lenses are dense with layers.  The oldest layer consists of long meanderings in Greek and Roman philosophy which was then Christianized, first by Catholics and then by Protestants, Rationalized, Humanized, Darwinized and scientific-ized and finally secularized with a pinch of post-modern atheism thrown in.  Through this multi-layer lens he thinks he's actually capable of seeing the ancient text and therefor qualified to debunk it.

Here's an example.  Quote:  "The Hebrew or Greek word translated as “commandment” actually means “word.” So, despite the rather verbose content of the Ten Commandments, originally, there should have been just “Ten Words” on the stone tablets."

In Hebrew, the Ten Words, Ten Commandments or Ten Utterances are each represented by single symbols.  See:  http://hebrew4christians.com/Scripture/Torah/Ten_Cmds/ten_cmds.html
But the commandments have never been defined as consisting of one literal, single word each (except by Greenberg) not in the Bible nor in Jewish thought.  

Greenberg has no concept of any culture or way of thought except his own.  I wouldn't waste a lot of time worrying about his ideas.  

Sincerely,

Marilyn