Was Muhammad From Petra?

Daniel Gibson makes a compelling case based on the Qibla directions and Islamic descriptions of Muhammad's home city that it was in fact Petra and not today's Mecca. And that the black stone was moved from Petra to Mecca during a respite in the war between the Umayyad rulers and the Abbasid rebels. Mecca was far removed from Damascus and safe from the Umayyads, but Petra was not and easily besieged. The Masjid al-Haram originally was in Petra and all the early mosques built before 740 AD pointed to Petra.

This goes against modern Islamic tradition that states the change in worship direction was from Jerusalem to Mecca. Gibson goes through the evidence and comes to a very different conclusion. I found this fascinating and a good watch. I hope you enjoy it as well.

The Battle of the Little John Letters (2 John vs 3 John)

Tomb of John the Apostle in Ephesus (Selçuk, Turkey)

One cannot examine the relationship between 2 John and 3 John without looking at the wider picture of the Apostle whose name was ascribed as author of these two works. And especially the role his legend played in the struggle of the structure of the emerging Church from a rag tag collection of house churches founded by itinerant preachers, which after some significant time grew into more formal organizations with dedicated houses of worship ("synagogues" is the word used in the New Testament).

And no place was this legend more at the fore than Ephesus, where for all the world it appears that John replaced Paul as the patron saint, but only after great factional struggle. The replacement seems to have been not just limited to Ephesus, but probably all of Asia Minor and Anatolia. It is a struggle that left it's mark in several books of the New Testament. [1]

Against All Assumptions

Three Pillars of Radical Criticism (source unknown)

Today I feel like venting. So I am going to lay out what I see as the six primary assumptions made in New Testament scholarship, none of which should be assumed. Assuming even one of these to be true will lead bad results.

I mean this post to be something of a conversation starter, and I am open to refinement of what I see as being the root of the problem with New Testament studies today.

Simon Peter and the Cheshire Cat: Was Peter in the "Original" Gospel of John?

Cheshire Cat fading to smile

... All right,' said the Cat; and this time it vanished quite slowly, beginning with the end of the tail, and ending with the grin, which remained some time after the rest of it had gone.

`Well! I've often seen a cat without a grin,' thought Alice; `but a grin without a cat! It's the most curious thing I ever saw in my life!'

The Cheshire Cat in Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland has the remarkable ability to appear and disappear at will. At one moment he is conversing pleasantly, imparting information Alice already knows, and the next vanishing from sight. Simon Peter performs this very trick before our eyes in the Gospel of John.