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Part I
( 51 Beiträge )
My religious zeal was aroused, on finding that the name of the
Supreme Being was dishonored, and our Holy Law
profaned, by the very people who had been appointed to be the guardians
of faith and the witnesses of those grand truths which make the simple
man wise, the
sorrowing heart glad; and the dim eyes bright. To my grief, I found
that the inquisitive and indefatigable
study of religion, which yields due reward to its zealous followers,
was not cultivated among us as in former days, and am persuaded that
ignorance and
growing misapprehensions have added mental to physical burdens.
Persecutions arising from religious hatred were heaped upon the
children
of my faith in all quarters of the globe, and were ever increasing in
acrimony,
not less in consequence of the low state of knowledge possessed by the
Jews in
matters of theological controversy than by the confused and mistaken
notions
which Christians had formed of Judaism. But it is absolutely
imperative on man to be at all times prepared to repel any
attack made on his belief. In
conformity with this observation, our sages have recorded their opinion
in the
following axiom: -- "Man ought assiduously to study his own faith, and
be
competent to give a proper reply to his antagonists," more particularly
when we consider that, in the majority of cases, the opposition to our
doctrines
rests on the misinterpretation of those Scriptures of which we alone
are the
legitimate heirs and expounders. (...)
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Part II
( 101 Beiträge )
BEING A REFUTATION OF STATEMENTS CONTAINED IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. THE VERSION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT USED BY THE AUTHOR WAS THAT MADE BY SIMON BUDNI, PUBLISHED IN 1572, WHOSE VERSION IS CONSIDERED THE MOST AUTHENTIC.
It is notorious that, in no part of the New Testament do we find that Jesus intended to pass as the author of a New Law, but, on the contrary, that he admitted the perpetual duration of the Mosaic Law, as we have shown in the 19th, 20th, 24th, 29th, and 30th chapters of the FIRST PART of this work. Besides, it is ascertained that the New Testament was composed many years after Jesus. It has been averred even by Jerome, in his Latin version of the New Testament, that Mark and Luke wrote merely from hearsay. Jerome seems to have thereby indirectly acknowledged the Apocryphal character of those compositions, and admitted the true origin of the incongruities and contradictions which occur in various parts of those books. We must also direct the attention of the reader to the incorrect manner in which portions of our prophets are quoted and explained therein. Very frequently the words of our Scripture are there actually changed and perverted from their true signification. In fact, after a careful perusal of the Christian Canon of faith, we have been impressed with the conviction that the authors of the New Testament have overlooked, either intentionally or unintentionally, the real meaning and bearing of our original Sacred writings.
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