Author Archives

    Allan Ruhl

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    Mary: Theotokos or Mother of a Prophet

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    The Holy Theotokos

    After contrasting the views of Zechariah in Surah 19 and the Gospel of Luke, we will now discuss the Blessed Virgin Mary.  In the Christian tradition, the Virgin Mary is given the title Theotokos which literally translates as God bearer.  In Greece to this day the Virgin Mary is referred to as the Theotokos.  Members of the Eastern Orthodox Church who speak English as a first language refer to the Virgin Mary as Theotokos.  An Arab friend of mine who was raised in the Antiochian Orthodox Church told me that in the Arabic liturgy they transliterate the Greek word into the prayers.  The Russian Church refers to her as Bogoroditsa and I assume the other slavic churches use that or something similar.  I’m not sure if the Georgians have their own word or use Theotokos.  Greek Catholics use the word, and I would imagine that at least some Oriental Orthodox do as well.

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    Zechariah: Luke 1 vs. Surah 19

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    Zechariah and John The Baptist

    In the Bible and the Quran, Zechariah is the father of John the Baptist.  In Surah 19 we have the story of Luke 1 and it’s been radically changed.  I don’t know the exact reason why the author of the Quran decided to make these changes but here are a few things that I noticed.

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    The Great Good Thing: A Secular Jew Comes to Faith in Christ by Andrew Klavan

    Book Review

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    I listen to Andrew Klavan occasionally on his podcast.  He’s part of Ben Shapiro’s Daily Wire crew.  He’s written many books but this book is about his faith journey from being a secular Jew who came to believe in Jesus Christ and is now an Evangelical.

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    St. Anne, Nicaea II and the Immaculate Conception

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    Icon of St. Anne and the Blessed Virgin Mary

    I had some dialogue with two people after my recent post on the second Council of Nicaea in 787 AD and the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception.  They both pointed out to me that this doesn’t refute the Eastern Orthodox position because they believe that the Virgin Mary was made spotless and Immaculate at the annunciation.

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    The Second Council of Nicaea and the Immaculate Conception

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    The Hagia Sophia in Iznik

    There is a church in Turkey that I want to visit and that’s the Hagia Sophia.  I’m not referring to the grand former Church in Istanbul(which I also want to visit) but one in the little town of Iznik.  Iznik is the municipality once called Nicaea.  The famous city where two Ecumenical councils were held; the first in 325 AD and the second in 787 AD.  Like the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, this one is also now a Mosque/Museum.

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    How the Left Views Non-Christian Religion

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    Jagmeet Singh

    We all know that the left hates all religion.  We know that they hate Christianity more than any other religion but they hate other religions as well.  However, they do have a use for them.  They don’t want them gone; at least not yet.  They have a role to play in the leftist war on our Lord Jesus Christ.

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    Is Muhammad in Haggai 2?

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    An Eastern Orthodox reader of this blog recently posted the following in the comments section on one of my previous posts:

    I was recently discussing with a muslim gentleman on twitter, and he constantly stated that Mohammed was mentioned in the Book of the Prophet Haggai, specifically Chapter 2 verse 7. Have you come across this further example of rather peculiar Islamic exegesis?