Gospel of Barnabas: Medieval Muslim Forgery

Here are some exerpts from a booklet examining the question of
the authenticity of the so-called Gospel of Barnabas.

It exists in Italian and Spanish, and has been translated into English, and Arabic.

It has been circulated widely in the Muslim world, particularly in places
like Pakistan and India, where copies are printed.

It is claimed to be "the original gospel", but like so many others,
is a lame forgery, by a Medieval muslim, probably a Spanish Moor.

What Muslims don't know, but should be aware of, is that it not only
contradicts the New Testament and Old Testament, but also the Quran!


... Barnabas Preaches against Paul:
The author of this book uses strong language to denounce the teaching of Paul in particular, especially regarding circumcision; the crucifixion, death and resurrection of Jesus; and the Christian belief that Jesus is the Son of God. The whole book abounds in discourses levelled against those things which the author particularly takes Paul to task for, and there can be no doubt that the author of this book is poles apart from Paul and his doctrine and is diametrically opposed to his preaching and teaching.
...
There is such a contrast between the real Barnabas who through all these events chooses Paul as his companion, and the pseudo-author of the Gospel of Barnabas, who has a positive antagonism to Paul and his teaching, that we cannot help but conclude that the Gospel of Barnabas is a forgery. It was not written by Barnabas but by someone else who made a major tactical blunder in choosing a close companion of Paul as the author of this book.
...


Barnabas is made into an Apostle:
Here the author of the Gospel of Barnabas makes his first serious blunder for he suggests throughout his book, not only that Barnabas was actually one of the twelve disciples of Jesus during his ministry on earth, but also that he was known by this name “Barnabas” throughout that period of ministry. On more than one occasion in the book we find that Jesus allegedly addressed him by name and the first occasion, which comes particularly early in the book, is this one:
Jesus answered: ‘Be not sore grieved, Barnabas; for those whom God hath chosen before the creation of the world shall not perish’ (The Gospel of Barnabas, p.21).
Now we have here a patent anachronism which destroys the possibility that this book was really written by the Apostle Barnabas. The apostles only gave him the name “Barnabas” (Son of encouragement) after the ascension of Jesus because of the generous act he had done which had heartened the spirits of the early Christians. But the Gospel of Barnabas makes Jesus call him by this name some three years before he ascended to heaven.
...
Barnabas makes Circumcision Necessary for Salvation:
in the Gospel of Barnabas, we read that one of the “impious doctrines” that Paul was holding to was repudiation of circumcision. That he repudiated it as an essential element of salvation we will readily concede (Galatians 5. 2-6) – but his chief partner in this repudiation is none other than Barnabas! Once again the author has blundered in making Barnabas the author of his deplorable forgery. Indeed, according to the Gospel of Barnabas, Jesus is alleged to have said to his disciples:

‘Leave fear to him that hath not circumcised his foreskin, for he is deprived of paradise’ (The Gospel of Barnabas, p.26).

Thus circumcision is an essential element and a prerequisite of salvation in the Gospel of Barnabas and the author obviously assents to this doctrine. But of the real Barnabas we read that he joined with Paul in furiously debating against the doctrine of the Judaisers that circumcision was necessary for salvation.
...

Barnabas doesn't know what "Christ" means:
Two points from within the Gospel of Barnabas also show that the author could not be the real Apostle Barnabas.
Firstly, this book makes Jesus constantly deny that he is the Messiah ...and yet the same book calls Jesus himself the “Christ” (p.2). Now any man with a basic knowledge of Greek knows that “Christos” is the Greek translation of Messiah (a Hebrew word) and that “Jesus Christ” is an anglicised form of the Greek “Iesous Christos”, meaning “Jesus the Messiah”. The very real contradiction that exists here in the Gospel of Barnabas is further evidence that the author was not Barnabas himself. He came from Cyprus, an island where Greek was the common tongue, and Greek would have been his home language. The real Barnabas would never have made such a mistake as to call Jesus the Christ and deny that he was the Messiah!
..
Barnabas doesn't know the Quran endorses John the Baptist:
Secondly, the author ...has deviously taken the testimony of John to Jesus in the Bible and changed it into a supposed testimony of Jesus to Muhammad. Whether Jesus ever predicted the coming of Muhammad or not is not at issue here. What is obvious, however, to anyone who has read the life of Jesus in the Bible, is that the author of the Gospel of Barnabas has tried to make Jesus a herald of the coming of Muhammad in the very mould of John the Baptist who was a herald of the coming of Jesus, and to achieve this he has put Jesus in the shoes of John and has made him say of Muhammad what John really said of him!
Accordingly the author has had to omit the person and ministry of John from his book altogether. But there is clear and plain endorsement in the Qur’an of the ministry of John the Baptist as a herald of Jesus (Surah 3.39)
...
Medieval Origin of Gospel of Barnabas:

(a) Barnabas mistakes Jubilee of Pope Boniface (c. 1300 AD) for Jewish Jubilee:

A jubilee shall that fiftieth year be to you. Lev. 25.11

About 1300 AD Pope Boniface the Eighth gave a decree that the jubilee should be observed once every hundred years. This is the only occasion in all history that the jubilee year was made to be only once every hundred years. After the death of Boniface, however, Pope Clemens the Sixth decreed in 1343 AD that the jubilee year should revert to once every fifty years as it was observed by the Jews after the time of Moses. Now we find in the Gospel of Barnabas that Jesus is alleged to have said:

‘And then through all the world will God be worshipped, and mercy received, insomuch that the year of jubilee, which now cometh every hundred years, shall by the Messiah be reduced to every year in every place.’ (The Gospel of Barnabas, p.104).

The author of the Gospel of Barnabas could only have quoted Jesus as speaking of the year of jubilee as coming “every hundred years” if he knew of the decree of Pope Boniface. This is a clear anachronism.


(b) Quotations from Dante.

Dante was an Italian who, significantly, also lived about the time of Pope Boniface and wrote his famous “Divina Comedia” in the fourteenth century. This was basically a fantasy about hell, purgatory and paradise according to the Roman Catholic beliefs of his times.
Now in the Gospel of Barnabas we read that Jesus allegedly said of the prophets of old:

‘Readily and with gladness they went to their death, so as not to offend against the law of God given by Moses his servant, and go and serve false and lying gods’. (Gospel of Barnabas, p.27).

The expression “false and lying gods” (dei falsi e lugiardi) is found elsewhere in the Gospel of Barnabas as well. On one occasion it is Jesus again who supposedly uses these words (p.99) and on another it is the author himself who describes Herod as serving “false and lying gods” (p.267). Nevertheless this expression is found in neither the Bible nor the Qur’an.What is interesting, however, is that it is a direct quote from Dante! (Inferno 1.72).

Likewise the expression “raging hunger” (rabbiosa fame) is also reminiscent of the first canto of Dante’s Inferno. Both speak of the “circles of hell” and the author of the Gospel of Barnabas also makes Jesus say to Peter:

‘Know ye therefore that hell is one, yet hath seven centres one below another. Hence, even as sin is of seven kinds, for as seven gates of hell hath Satan generated it: so there are seven punishments therein’. (The Gospel of Barnabas, p.171).

This is precisely Dante’s description found in the fifth and sixth cantos of his Inferno. We could go on and quote many more examples

One striking quote must be mentioned, however, because in this case the Gospel of Barnabas agrees with Dante while contradicting the Qur’an. We read in the Qur’an that there are seven heavens:

He it is who created for you all that is in the earth. Then turned He to the heaven, and fashioned it as seven heavens. (Surah 2.29)

On the contrary we read in the Gospel of Barnabas that there are nine heavens and that Paradise like Dante’s Empyrean – is the tenth heaven above all the other nine. The author of the Gospel of Barnabas makes Jesus say:

‘Paradise is so great that no man can measure it. Verily I say unto thee that the heavens are nine … I say to thee that paradise is greater than all the earth and all the heavens together’. (The Gospel of Barnabas, p.223).

 ...

(c) The Mediaeval Environment of the Barnabas Gospel:

Again we read in the Gospel of Barnabas that Martha, her sister Mary, and her brother Lazarus were the overlords of two towns, Magdala and Bethany (GB, p.242). This proprietorship of villages and towns belongs to the Middle Ages when the system of feudalism was rooted in European society. Certainly no such practice was known at the time of Jesus when the occupying Roman forces controlled most of the land of Palestine.
...
A similar example of the mediaeval environment of this Gospel is the reference in it to wine casks (p.196), for wine was stored in skins in Palestine (Matthew 9.17) while wooden casks were used in Europe in the Middle Ages.

It does well appear to be a forgery of the Middle Ages written by a Muslim who, probably frustrated at being unable to prove that the true Gospels in the Bible are corrupted, wrote a false Gospel.
...


Ignorance of Palestinian Geography:

Having arrived at the city of Nazareth the sea-men spread through the city all that Jesus had wrought. (The Gospel of Barnabas, p.23).

In this passage Nazareth is represented as a coastal city, a harbour on the lake of Galilee. After this we read that Jesus “went up to Capernaum” (p.23) from Nazareth, as though Capernaum was in the hillside near the sea of Galilee. But ... Capernaum was the coastal city and Nazareth is believed to be up in the hills, if it indeed existed in the time of Jesus.


Barnabas contradicts Quran about the Jesus as Messiah:

Jesus confessed and said the truth: ‘I am not the Messiah … I am indeed sent to the house of Israel as a prophet of salvation; but after me shall come the Messiah’. (The Gospel of Barnabas, pp.54, 104).

Other passages in the Gospel of Barnabas contain similar denials by Jesus that he was the Messiah. It is clearly one of the express purposes of this book to establish Muhammad as the Messiah and to subject Jesus to him in dignity and authority. Here, however, the author of this book has overreached himself in his zeal for the cause of Islam.



For the Qur’an plainly admits that Jesus is the Messiah on numerous occasions and in doing so it confirms the teaching of Jesus himself that he was indeed the Messiah (John 4.26, Matthew 16.20). One quote from the Qur’an will suffice to prove this:

‘O Mary! Lo! Allah giveth thee glad tidings of a word from Him, whose name is the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, illustrious in the world and the Hereafter’. - (Surah 3.45)

...

Barnabas Contradicts the Quran on the Virgin Birth:

The virgin was surrounded by a light exceeding bright and brought forth her son without pain. (The Gospel of Barnabas, p.5).

This is a clear repetition of Roman Catholic beliefs of the Middle Ages. The bright light and the painless birth find parallels in the beliefs about the Virgin Mary in the churches of Europe in Mediaeval times. No such details are found in the Biblical account of the birth of Jesus but the Qur’an directly contradicts the Gospel of Barnabas when it says:

And the pangs of childbirth drove her unto the trunk of the palm tree. - (Surah 19.23)

The Gospel of Barnabas was obviously written as an ideal “Islamic” Gospel, setting forth a life of Christ in which he is made to be the Isa of the Qur’an rather than the Lord Jesus Christ of the Christian Gospels. But since it so hopelessly contradicts both the Qur’an and the Bible on the fact that Jesus was the Messiah and does this so often and so consistently, it must be rejected as a forgery by Christian and Muslim alike. There is no room here for apologetics or efforts to reconcile this book with the Qur’an or the Bible.

It is a (Medieval) counterfeit.
...


What Should Muslims Do?

...this book is truly a “bare-faced forgery” as George Sale so succinctly put it but the evidence given [here] should be sufficient to convince any reasonable Muslim that, while he might feel it would be very useful for a Gospel to be discovered wherein Jesus foretells the coming of Muhammad, the Gospel of Barnabas just does not provide him with the honest evidence he needs.

Muslim interest in this book is understandable but, in the name of truth and honesty, the Muslims of the world should admit that it is not a book contemporary with the life of Jesus, which proves that he really was the Isa of the Qur’an, but rather a lamentable forgery which, far from promoting the cause of Islam, must ultimately damage it if foolish men continue to propagate it as a true account of the life and teachings of Jesus Christ.

Fun Facts: Moses vs. Mohammed

TWO BEASTS in Revelation 13 - A Solution to Controversy

Protestants in the West have historically been Eurocentric in interpreting the Book of Revelation.

The Roman Catholics have favored a 'preterist interpretation' which is essentially either historic (fulfilled in the past) or allegorical (spiritual meanings).

The Protestants have tended to stick to literal interpretations, but have focussed on the Vatican or Roman Catholicism as the Anti-Christ.   For the last hundred years or so, the Middle East itself was either forgotten, downplayed or separated out as historical prophecy for the pre-Christian era.

Relatively recently however, Western Protestant Christians have had to recognize the literal fulfillment of some astounding prophecies, such as the re-establishment of a modern State of Israel, and the revival of radical Islam.

The solution to the new dilemma may be found in the previously unnoticed mention of TWO beasts in Revelation chapter 13.

Here we can present two recent but complimentary attempts at interpretation of the Revelation, one which focusses on the Vatican System, and the other which focusses on Islam and the Middle East:

First the Protestant take on the Vatican:

Now a Middle-Eastern view of the End Times:

ISIS is now "The Islamic State"

In the past we had a leisurely attitude toward Islam in the West,
due to our concern with more localized and European wars,
and the relatively peaceful experience we had in our our countries,
even when engaging in war overseas.

At the same time, in the interests of maintaining a peaceful coexistance
as far as was possible with Islamic countries, the West has
largely turned a blind eye toward barbarism and dictatorship,
and even encouraged an illusion of Islam as a peaceful religion,
rather than a paramilitary cult intent on taking over the world.

Just the expression "taking over the world" evokes a cartoon-like
image of a mad-scientist or moronic dictator, unlikely to succeed
because of inherently fatal flaws in his plan and himself.

Its an image the media and liberal ideology has encouraged,
or rather brainwashed us with, constantly seeking "explanations"
for criminal, murderous and genocidal behaviours,
in the form of our misunderstanding, or provocation foreigner Muslim peoples,
as if they would naturally be peace-loving citizens if right-wing
warmongers and Colonial Empire builders would just leave them alone.

The sad truth is that violence and horror, slavery and tribal genocides
have been around long before modern Western democracies and
industrial empires and commonwealths ever existed.

"Religions" and cults have risen and fallen alongside empires and city-states,
in a competative environment of utility and illusion, deception and ignorance,
greed and power-lust. 

Many religions are in fact little more than manufactured lies and rationalizations
for the purpose of securing resources and maintaining control and power.

If it is true that 'legitimate' religions such as Christianity and Buddhism
can be exploited by warlords and dictators, bankers and military-industrial complexes, and vested interests, how much more is it true of "religions" and cults that are actually based on paramilitary ideas of conquest?

It is in this light that the objection by liberals that "Islam is as peaceful and harmless a religion as Christianity" must be critically evaluated.

In fact, "Islam" was never a peaceful and harmless 'religion' but was always
an artificially manufactured paramilitary cult, designed to create and sustain
a dictatorial power-base.   It is incompatible with democracy and every other religion and philosophy that exists today.

We can look at maps of historical expansion of Islam, and current political trends in Islamic states, to get a better idea of what this cult really is:

If Westerners have any familiarity with Islam at all, its usually in the historical context of the ancient Caliphates and early spread of Islamic power, from around 630 to 750 A.D.:

We tend to dismiss the potential territorial expansion of Islam
with the idea that these were the 'early years' of empires,
and all political-religious groups engaged in similar proselytizing.

Nowadays, most 'Islamic' nations are considered peaceful states
cooperating in a global economy, and not interested in expansion per se.
The violent nature of dictatorships operating using repression,
or the global expansionist interests of religious authorities is either
ignored or largely hidden from the Western public. 

So much so that Westerners naively cheered for an "Arabic Spring"
while dozens of regimes in the Middle East underwent violent coups
and internal rebellions, and were shocked that democracies didn't
spontaneously pop up in their place.

In fact Westerners are surprised to hear that Muslims even exist,
in such faraway exotic places as Indonesia and Asia.
How did they even get there?

If instead of being satisfied with trite summaries of Islamic wars
from a thousand years ago, and instead focus on the Expansion of Islam
AFTER 750 A.D., we have a chance of understanding the current crisis.

The following map shows the continued steady expansion of Islam, both
as an imposed religion and an economic paramilitary confederacy of regimes:

 We can see that between 750 A.D. and 1500 A.D.,
there has been no essential change in either the political attitudes,
or the expansionist program within Islam.

 The map below shows even further expansion extending all the way into
the East Indies and Java, where Westerners were less concerned with
spreading democracy and modern education, and more concerned with
simply exploiting resources.

From this next map we can see that Islam continues to exploit weak and
vulnerable areas of the 3rd world for religious and military purposes,
just as the West has done for economic and business purposes.
Its now apparent how Islam managed to reach all the way to the Pacific:

 

It is now left for us to consider the Global Spread of Islam,
through even more subtle techniques, such as mass emmigration
into unsuspecting Western countries, with a conscious eye to
eventual appropriation and dominance, and the elimination of
Western religions and culture and laws, to be replaced with
Islamic Sharia Law and Islamic Rule:

 

In case you think that this is just mere coincidence
simply 'fortunate' but unintentional and friendly 'invasion' of the West,
we can consult the latest manifestation of Islam, known as ISIS or ISIL.

This new evolution of the Islamic State is not a small faction or
mere band of religious extremists unlikely to expand.
Rather, its a growth that is destined to succeed in taking over and galvanizing 
the entire region, because the whole area is already 90% proselytized by
previous Islamic invasions, and the promulgation of a war-lord like,
crusader-mindset energized by religious fanaticism.

Let us have a look at what the very leaders of ISIS are openly planning:

We quote this recent piece of research (with link provided):

Islamic State releases map of 5-year plan to spread from Spain to China

"The Islamic State will not succeed in advancing this far, of course. But they will murder many people as they try.

“The Structure of the Islamic State (ISIS),” by Col. (ret.) Dr. Jacques Neriah, Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, September 8, 2014 (thanks to Victor):

Much has been written and said about the Islamic State in Iraq and Sham (the Levant) — ISIS. Most of the commentators have looked at ISIS as another terrorist organization, an al-Qaeda off-shoot, waging a guerrilla war with cohorts of unorganized thugs. The Afghani-style gear, the pickup trucks, the all black or army fatigue uniforms which most ISIS fighters wear, the unshaven beards, the turbans, hoods and head “bandanas” with Arabic inscriptions have added to the confusion.
In fact, ISIS is much more than a terrorist organization; it is a terrorist state with almost all governing elements. Over the last three years, since the beginning of the civil war in Syria, the Islamic State developed from an extremist fringe and marginal faction participating in the civil war to become the strongest, most ferocious, best funded and best armed militia in the religious and ethnic war that is waged today in Syria and Iraq.
But first, what is the name of this entity and what are the borders of the Islamic State? From the first days of its appearance in Syria in 2011, the organization was known as ISIS. However, since the declaration in Summer 2014 of the establishment of an Islamic Caliphate headed by Ibrahim ‘Awad Ibrahim Al Badri al Samarra’i, alias Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi — now the self-declared “Caliph Ibrahim” — ISIS has been transformed into the “Islamic State” (Al Dawla Al Islamiya ) in order to stress the fact that the Caliphate is not to be limited to Iraq, Syria, Israel (Palestine), Jordan and the Levant, but its ambitions lie well beyond those limited borders.

According to the maps published by the Islamic State, the Islamic State will include Andalus in the West (Spain) and stretch from North Africa — the Maghreb — (and the whole of West Africa including Nigeria) through Libya and Egypt (considered one geographical unit – Ard Al-Kinana), include what is called in Islamic state terminology, Ard el Habasha (from Cameroon in the west, Central Africa, the Victoria lake states, Ethiopia and Somalia), the Hijaz (Saudi Arabia, the Gulf States), Yemen until Khurasan in the east – defined as the Central Asian Muslim Republics beginning with Azerbaijan and including Pakistan and the South west part of China, land of the Muslims of Turkish origin, the Uyghurs. The Islamic State includes also Iran and Turkey (named Anadol) in their entirety and parts of Europe (mainly the Balkans, more or less conforming to the borders of the defunct Ottoman Empire with the Austro-Hungarian territories)…."

 The author doesn't believe ISIS can achieve their 'five year plan',
but at least admits they can achieve quite a lot of warfare and bloodshed trying.

We are not so confident that they will remain a small radical group,
when it is obvious that they are already actually a LARGE economic and
military powerhouse, largely because of Western apathy, incompetance,
and betrayal.

Christmas Presents - Dem.Posters (cont.)

Nice Atheists? - Dem.Posters (cont.)