seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Quran 18: 32. And cite for them the parable of two men. To one of them We gave two gardens of vine, and We surrounded them with palm-trees, and We placed between them crops.
33. Both gardens produced their harvest in full, and suffered no loss. And We made a river flow through them.
34. And thus he had abundant fruits. He said to his friend, as he conversed with him, “I am wealthier than you, and greater in manpower.”
35. And he entered his garden, wronging himself. He said, “I do not think this will ever perish.”
36. “And I do not think the Hour is coming. And even if I am returned to my Lord, I will find something better than this in return.”
37. His friend said to him, as he conversed with him, “Are you being ungrateful to Him who created you from dust, then from a sperm-drop, then evolved you into a man?
38. But as for me, He is God, my Lord, and I never associate with my Lord anyone.
39. When you entered your garden, why did you not say, “As God wills; there is no power except through God”? Although you see me inferior to you in wealth and children.
40. Perhaps my Lord will give me something better than your garden, and release upon it thunderbolts from the sky, so it becomes barren waste.
41. Or its water will sink into the ground, and you will be unable to draw it.”
42. And ruin closed in on his crops, and so he began wringing his hands over what he had invested in it, as it lays fallen upon its trellises. And he was saying, “I wish I never associated anyone with my Lord.”
43. He had no faction to help him besides God, and he was helpless.
44. That is because authority belongs to God, the True. He is Best in rewarding, and Best in requiting.
Fun little story... right? Here's the commentary.The parable — it is clearly called a parable and is not at all a story — set forth here is undoubtedly a parable to illustrate the condition of the Christian and the Muslim nations. The former received an abundance of the wealth of this life, as is indicated by the gardens of the parable, while the latter, though poorer in worldly possessions, were richer in the heavenly blessings of Allåh. The former reject the message of Truth, of which the latter are the bearers, and their vaunt is the same as that of the wealthy man in the parable: I have greater wealth than thou, and am mightier in followers (v. 34).
By the “Hour” is meant the hour of doom which must overtake every people who reject the Truth.
Here we have an exact description of the havoc that is being wrought in the world before our eyes.
Oh my... what a cool story. Sorry about the moral of the story... but the parable is cool.Yesterday we read how the people in the cave were just ignorant.... but they believed and they were saved..... albeit 300 years later... they were still saved.
Yesterday I wrote about how Jesus being left in a cave for three days was a lot like what they went through.... oh wait... Jesus was beaten and then hung on a Cross, naked, humiliated, and pronounced dead, before He was sealed in a cave. He walked out after three days.
The Nicene Council met in the year 325. "It was convened by the emperor Constantine to resolve the controversy of Arianism, a doctrine that held that Christ was not divine but was a created being."
This is from "Got Questions".
The Council of Nicea took place in AD 325 by order of the Roman Emperor Caesar Flavius Constantine. Nicea was located in Asia Minor, east of Constantinople. At the Council of Nicea, Emperor Constantine presided over a group of church bishops and other leaders with the purpose of defining the nature of God for all of Christianity and eliminating confusion, controversy, and contention within the church. The Council of Nicea overwhelmingly affirmed the deity and eternality of Jesus Christ and defined the relationship between the Father and the Son as “of one substance.” It also affirmed the Trinity—the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were listed as three co-equal and co-eternal Persons.
A priest named Arius presented his argument that Jesus Christ was not an eternal being, that He was created at a certain point in time by the Father. Bishops such as Alexander and the deacon Athanasius argued the opposite position: that Jesus Christ is eternal, just like the Father is. It was an argument pitting trinitarianism against monarchianism.
Constantine prodded the 300 bishops in the council to make a decision by majority vote defining who Jesus Christ is. The statement of doctrine they produced was one that all of Christianity would follow and obey, called the “Nicene Creed.” This creed was upheld by the church and enforced by the Emperor. The bishops at Nicea voted to make the full deity of Christ the accepted position of the church. The Council of Nicea upheld the doctrine of Christ’s true divinity, rejecting Arius’s heresy. The council did not invent this doctrine. Rather, it only recognized what the Bible already taught.
The Council of Nicea did not invent the doctrine of the deity of Christ. Rather, the Council of Nicea affirmed the apostles’ teaching of who Christ is—the one true God and the Second Person of the Trinity, with the Father and the Holy Spirit.
To an outsider.... say one of Ishmael's descendants... it sure seems like the vote was political. Church politics is not a pretty sight. Now if you want more information on the origin of the Quran.... here's a link to Got Questions on that topic.
There is a lot to learn.... this is just a cool parable....
