Responses to Akbarally Meherally's site

Judgment on Paul?


Meherally tries once again to discredit the beloved apostle of our risen Lord and immortal Savior, Jesus Christ. Yet, this particular attempt is perhaps one of his worst efforts ever and only reinforces our assessment regarding the unscholarly nature of his writings. In typical fashion, Meherally tries to impress his readers with his big, bold lettering as if screaming at the top of his lungs will convince his readers that he said something profound and true:

PAUL, AUTHOR OF EPISTLES,
HOW WILL HE BE JUDGED?
 
WHAT COULD BE HIS FATE
ACCORDING TO THE BIBLE?

If you do believe, the Holy Bible that you are reading and following to be the Inspired Divine Book, then you have but to admit the following text to be the Divine TRUTH, spoken by Jesus himself and was duly recorded by his Apostle Matthew.
 
MATTHEW 5: 21 - 22
"You have heard that it was said to them of ancient times. 'You shall not murder; and whosoever murders shall be liable to judgment'. But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, 'You fool,' you will be liable to the hell of fire.
 
Here is what you will discover in the Epistles of Paul.
Not once but twice he said, that he should not have...
 
1 Corinthians 15: 35 - 36
But someone will ask, "How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?" "You Fool, What you sow does not come to life unless it dies."
 
Galatians 3: 1
"You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly exhibited as crucified."

RESPONSE:

Had Meherally carefully examined the original languages of the Holy Scriptures, as opposed to basing his ENTIRE argument on a translation, he would have realized that the words which the translators have rendered as foolish or fool ARE NOT THE SAME IN GREEK! The three passages use THREE DIFFERENT GREEK WORDS.

"You have heard that it was said to them of ancient times. ‘You shall not murder; and whosoever murders shall be liable to judgment’. But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, ‘You fool (more),’ you will be liable to the hell of fire." Matthew 5:21-22

The Blue Letter Bible's online Lexicon defines more as:

Strong’s # 3474

    moros {mo-ros'}

1) foolish
2) impious, godless
(Source: Blueletter Bible)

Throughout Matthew moros refers to both unbelievers and false Christians. Cf. Mat 7:26; 23:17,19; 25:2-3,8

This suggests that Jesus’ statements may have been intended to warn his followers from hastily and falsely accusing a fellow Christian of being an unbeliever or ungodly. The Apostle Paul states something similar in his epistle to the Romans:

"Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. One man's faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him. Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand." Romans 14:1-4

We now turn to the passages Meherally cites from Paul:

"But someone will ask, ‘How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?’ You fool (aphron), What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.’" 1 Corinthians 15:35-36

Again, note the definitions listed by the Blue Letter Bible's online Lexicon:

Strong’s # 878

    aphron {af'-rone}

1) without reason
2) senseless, foolish, stupid
3) without reflection or intelligence, acting rashly
(Source: Blueletter Bible)

As Thayer’s Lexicon indicates, the context implies that aphron is best rendered "without reflection or intelligence." Paul is speaking to individuals who have failed to properly reflect on the nature of the resurrection, especially as it relates to Christ’s resurrection and to the truth claims of Christianity (cf. 1 Cor 15:12-23, 30-34, 37-56).

Here is the final passage:

"You foolish (anoetoi) Galatians, who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly exhibited as crucified." Galatians 3:1

Blue Letter Bible's online Lexicon states:

Strong’s #453

    anoetos {an-o'-ay-tos}

1) not understood, unintelligible
2) not understanding, unwise, foolish
(Source: Blueletter Bible)

Again, a careful reading of the context shows that Paul was accusing the Galatians of failing to understand the severe error they were making in abandoning the true Gospel for a false one.

Whatever the meaning may be, one thing is for certain. Paul cannot be accused of breaking a command of the Lord Jesus Christ since Paul never called a fellow believing Christian a moros (fool). If anything, this provides additional evidence for the inspiration of the Scriptures as well as for Paul’s apostleship. That Paul never used the word moros to degrade a believing brother shows that Paul was aware of the teachings of Christ and tried to personally live up to those teachings. This also shows the Holy Spirit’s providence in preventing the inspired NT authors from contradicting one another! In the words of the Apostle Paul himself:

"This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness (moria) to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned." 1 Corinthians 2:13-14

"Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ." 1 Corinthians 11:1

Meherally concludes with these words:

Having read the above texts, it is time to reflect...
 
Do ALL the 66 Books of the Holy Bible that the Protestants read or the 73 Books of the Holy Bible that the Catholics read have the Divinely Inspired Texts from the Almighty God?
 
If your honest answer is "YES", how do you reconcile the above quoted three texts, from the three different Books of the Bible?
 
If your honest answer is "NO", then reflect which are NOT the Divinely Inspired Books that have been included in the Holy Bible? How will the author of these Books be judged by God??

RESPONSE:

We have shown that Meherally’s examples have failed to demonstrate any contradiction between Paul’s writings and the commands of the Lord Jesus. Meherally has only been able to expose his inability to understand and/or accurately exegete the Holy Bible. Since there are no real errors in God’s pure word, we see no reason to reject any of the 66 inspired books of God.

In answer to Meherally’s last question, we conclude with the beloved Apostle’s own words regarding the judgment which awaited him:

"I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far;" Philippians 1:20-23

"For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day - and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing." 2 Timothy 4:6-8

In the service of our immortal Lord and risen Savior, Paul’s eternal God as well as ours, Jesus Christ. Amen. Come Lord Jesus, come. We love you immortal King of everything.

Note: For a response to Meherally’s red herring regarding the Protestant and Catholic canon, we recommend this response to Meherally which briefly addresses this issue, and also our detailed response to Johnny Bravo on the Old Testament Canon (Part I, Part II).

Interestingly, despite being aware of our response (see, for instance, this article), Meherally has thus far been unable to offer a MEANINGFUL rebuttal. Meherally simply repeats the same worn out arguments as if this by itself proves his point. Meherally operates under the false assumption that if he repeats something ad infinitum he will somehow convince his readers of the soundness and truthfulness of the argument. All this shows is that Meherally simply has no responses to the facts presented against his position.

Sam Shamoun


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