(Note : This essay is written mainly for those who wish to be servants of LORD to serve their fellow people. A lot of preliminary knowledge is assumed. I also write it so that ordinary Moslems may also benefit from the material here.)
How LORD created the Universe and what ancient people (Adam, Eve, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Issac, ...) did are recorded in the "Five Books of Moses" (also called Torah, and which is the first 5 books of Old Testament of the Bible).
The first book is Genesis. Enoch was born before Noah, i.e. before the flood, and he witnessed the situation at that time, and has written many books. I have links to two of his books, but I do not know if his other books have survived. [[Link to Book of Enoch (1)] [Link to Book of Enoch (2)]]
What Moses did to Pharaoh was recorded in detail in the second book, Exodus, and how Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt may be found in the rest of his books, viz. Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy.
LORD taught us many things in the Old Testament, and I have put the main teachings of LORD in Law of GOD and His Commandments, which may be read through in a couple of hours.
Many many years later Jesus was born, and his mother was Mary. Jesus' teachings may be found in the New Testament of the Bible, and his main teachings may be found in Sermon on the Mount.
Ancient Israel was invaded by the Babylonians,( [1 Kings] [2 Kings] [1 Chronicles] [2 Chronicles] ), but just a few years before Nebuchadnezzar invaded Jerusalem, LORD led away some descendants of Joseph (who was sold to Egypt by his brothers, see Genesis), and led them to America.) They were Lehi, and his sons, .. etc. Lehi brought with him the Genealogy of Joseph, the Old Testament (including many prophet books not found in the Bible, e.g. Book of Jacob, Book of Joseph, Book of Zenos, Book of Zenock, .... ) to America. Lehi's sons Nephi, Jacob, ... recorded down their dealings in America. But unfortunately, the sons of Lehi warred amongst themselves, and all the Nephites were killed in around 420 A.D. But the last Nephite, Moroni, buried the records under the ground.
Part of the records was found by Joseph Smith. (Joseph Smith found a very small portion of the records left behind by the Nephites, and for the rest, no one knows where they are buried.) Joseph Smith translated the records, and called it "The Book of Mormon" (in fact, there are 15 small books inside The Book of Mormon, written by many people, mostly descendants of Lehi), and that book may be downloaded from Project Gutenberg.
Joseph Smith have rare gift of being able to translate heiroglyphs (he has written a book, called "Egyptian Alphabet and Grammar", available from Lighthouse Ministry of Utah, at less than $10, and may be ordered online), and at that time, someone found 2 rolls of papyrus buried in Egyptian tombs but was not able to translate them, and he brought them to Joseph Smith.
Joseph Smith translated them into two books (1)Book of Moses (2) Book of Abraham.
My personal opinion is that (1) "Book of Moses" is true, i.e. the author really was Moses, but (2) "Book of Abraham" is false, i.e. the author was NOT Abraham.
But Joseph Smith believed that both were true. Because of this, coupled with his own sins, he fell. He has written a book, called "Doctrine and Covenants", claiming to be a revelation from LORD. My personal opinion is that the real author of "Doctrine and Covenant" was not LORD. For the reasons, please see my webpage, "The reasons why I think 'Doctrine and Covenants' of LDS is false".
Quran may be downloaded from http://www.jannah.com/download/articles/quran.html
Before you download this book, you should,
- have already read the Bible many times, and are thoroughly familiar with the teachings of LORD and of Jesus,
- have read the two books of Enoch, [Enoch 1] [Enoch 2]
- have read The Book of Mormon, and agree that it is a true history of Maya people for the period 600 B.C. to 420 A.D.
- have read Book of Moses,
- have read Book of Abraham., and have formed the conclusion that it is false, in the sense that the author was NOT Abraham,
- have a rapid look at "Doctrine and Covenants", and have formed the conclusion that it is false, in the sense that the author was not LORD.
If you have not read the above, I would not suggest that you read the Quran.
If you have read the above, then you may download and read the Quran.
YOU SHOULD READ THE QURAN FROM THE FIRST PAGE TO THE LAST PAGE. I must admit that it is not a pleasant thing to do. When one reads the teachings of LORD (e.g. in the Bible, those begin with "Thus says the LORD"), or that of Jesus (Gospel according to Matthew, Luke, John), or Book of Enoch, or Book of Moses, .... one has a very pleasant feeling. It is not so when reading the Quran. So, be on the alert when you read it, and be patient with it.
After reading the WHOLE Quran, then form your own judgement. The reason why I suggest you read the WHOLE Quran is that it is very difficult to form correct judgement when we read only a part, not even 25%, or 50%. Correct judgement may only be made only when we have read more than 95%. Hence read 100%, the whole Quran. (However, you should have the feeling that the author of Quran is not LORD, after reading 25% of it. But to fully understand why someone pretended to be LORD and dictated that Quran, you must read 100% of it.)
My personal opinion is that,
- The disciples of Jesus (Matthew, Peter, John, James, .... ) really did a very good job among the Arabic people. In around 600 A.D., many knew the teachings of Jesus, and that our life here is a "probation/temporal" - to see if we are good for the world after, and one should live a godly life and fear GOD.
- Unfortunately, the old habits inherited from the Pharisees still remained among many people, hence paving the way for the coming of Quran.
- The stumbling blocks (i.e. "Book of Abraham", "Doctrines and Covenants") to the Mormons may be compared to the stumbling block (i.e. "Quran" ) to the converts of the 12 disciples of Jesus.
Therefore, have mercy on them. If only the Mormons would realize that "Book of Abraham" and "Doctrines and Covenants" are false, and hold fast only the Bible, Book of Mormon, and Book of Moses, they would have joy. Similarly, if only the Moslems would realize that "Quran" is false, and hold fast the teachings of LORD, of Jesus, .... they would have joy.
Wu Siu Yan
5th October, 2001
(P.S.