1. One day the trees went out to anoint a king for themselves. They said to the olive tree, “Be our king.” But the olive tree answered, “Should I give up my oil, by which both gods and men are honored, to hold sway over the trees?” (Judges 9:8-9, NIV)
2. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. (1 Corinthians 2:15, KJV)
3. He said, “There was a good man who owned a vineyard. He leased it to tenant farmers so that they might work it and he might collect the produce from them. He sent his servant so that the tenants might give him the produce of the vineyard. They seized his servant and beat him, all but killing him. The servant went back and told his master. The master said, `Perhaps they did not recognize him.' He sent another servant. The tenants beat this one as well. Then the owner sent his son and said, `Perhaps they will show respect to my son.' Because the tenants knew that it was he who was the heir to the vineyard, they seized him and killed him. Let him who has ears hear.” (Gospel of Thomas, 65—compare Matt. 21:33-46, Mark 12:1-12, Luke 20:9-19)
4. O repent ye, repent ye! Why will ye die? Turn ye, turn ye unto the Lord your God. Why has he forsaken you? It is because you have hardened your hearts; yea, ye will not hearken unto the voice of the good shepherd; yea, ye have provoked him to anger against you. And behold, instead of gathering you, except ye will repent, behold, he shall scatter you forth that ye shall become meat for dogs and wild beasts. O, how could you have forgotten your God in the very day that he has delivered you? (Book of Mormon, Helaman 7:17-20)
5. For what happens to the children of man and what happens to the beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts. (Ecclesiastes 3:19, ESV)
6. When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he saith, I will return unto my house whence I came out. And when he cometh, he findeth it swept and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in, and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. (Luke 11:24-26 KJV)
7. It is He that cleaves the day-break from the dark. He makes the night for rest and tranquility, and the sun and moon for the reckoning of time. Such is the judgement and ordering of Him, the exalted in power, the all knowing. It is He who makes the stars as beacons for you, that you may guide yourselves, with their help, through the dark spaces of land and sea. (Qur'an, Surah 6:96-97)
8. I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh, for His body's sake, which is the church, of which I am made a minister according to the dispensation of God, which is given to me for you, to fulfill the Word of God--even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to His saints. (Colossians 1:24-26 21st Century KJV)
9. Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men: “See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones to judge everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of all the ungodly acts they have done in the ungodly way, and of all the harsh words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” (Jude 14-15, NIV)
10. It is not for kings to drink wine, or for rulers to desire beer. Otherwise, they will drink, forget what is decreed, and pervert justice for all the oppressed. Give beer to one who is dying, and wine to one whose life is bitter. Let him drink so that he can forget his poverty and remember his trouble no more. (Proverbs 31:4-7 Holman)
11. Jesus said, “The Kingdom is like a shepherd who had a hundred sheep. One of them, the largest, went astray. He left the ninety-nine sheep and looked for that one until he found it. When he had gone to such trouble, he said to the sheep, `I care for you more than the ninety-nine.' ” (Gospel of Thomas, 107—note the elitism, compare to Matt. 18:12-14, Luke 15:3-7)
12. When the Blessed One had said this, He greeted them all, saying, “Peace be with you. Receive my peace unto yourselves. Beware that no one lead you astray saying `Lo here' or `Lo there!' For the Son of Man is within you.” (Gospel of Mary, 4:33-34—Compare Luke 24:36, Mark 13:21, Luke 17:20:21)
The Gospel of Mary is later Gnostic work claiming to provide secret teachings Christ gave to Mary Magdalene but not to the twelve apostles. Readers should not expect much orthodox Christian teaching. The passage I selected, however, is similar to some canonical passages.
The Qur'an (7th century) is the supposed revelation of God to Mohammed, who claimed to be a Prophet giving a new and final religion superceding Judaism and Christianity. Mohammed claimed that all earlier religions had the exact same doctrines as Islam until their sacred texts were corrupted by their religion's followers. Muslims generally consider only the Arabic original language version to be authoratative, considering translations as markedly inferior. They consider the book to have existed eternally with God and revere it as Christians revere only Christ, whom we consider the true Word of God.
The Book of Mormon (1830) was written by Jospeh Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saints (“Mormonism”), and was supposedly translated from “Reformed Egyptian” texts written on invisible golden plates given to him by the angel Moroni. In reality it is based partly on a plagiarism of a work of fiction by a man named Solomon Spalding, and partly on Jospeh Smith's peculiar imagination. The book, written in an overwrought imitation of the King James Version's language, says that the lost tribes of Israel sailed to America and started a civilization, and that Christ appeared to them after his resurrection. Notably, the publisher “lost” one piece of the manuscript in order to test to see if Joseph Smith could reproduce it. Smith said that God told him not to re-translate that section.
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