“Woe! Unto those who write the Book with their hands then say, This is from Allah; so that they may take for it a small price. So woe! to them for what their hands write and woe! to them for what they earn.” (Qur’an 2:79)
Question: What does unadulterated mean?
Answer: unadulterated -complete or pure:
Source:(Longman Active Study Dictionary by Addison Wesley Longman pg. 723)
The reason the word ‘unadulterated’ is used is due to possible misunderstanding among both Christians and Muslims.
What is this possible misunderstanding among Muslims and Christians?
For Muslims, the misunderstanding comes from believing that the Bible as a whole should either be accepted or rejected.
For Christians the confusion comes from believing that the Injil is equivalent to the ‘New Testament’ and the ‘first five books of Moses‘ are equivalent to the Torah
According to the Qur’an is the ‘Bible’ as a whole completely untrustworthy?
Answer: No!
To say that ‘the Bible as a whole‘ is not the word of God is not true.
Question: How do we know?
“And indeed we have written in the Zabur after the reminder that My righteous servants shall inherit the land.”(Qur’an21:105)
This is found here:
“The righteous shall inherit the land and dwell therein forever” (Psalms 37:29)
“Those who follow the Messenger, the Prophet who can neither read nor write whom they find mentioned with them in the Torah and the Injeel.” (Qur’an 7:157)
Comment: It doesn’t say they used to find it. It says whom they find mentioned with them.
This very well could be a reference to:
“If you love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray to the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever” (John 14:15-16)
“Say, He is Allah the absolute One.” (Qur’an 112:1)
This is mirrored in the following: confirmed in
“Hear O Israel the Lord your God the Lord is One” (Deuteronomy 6:4)
Conclusion: The above passages are enough evidence to show the Qur’an does confirm some of the ‘what is in the ‘Bible’ that came before it. Thus Muslims should not say we completely reject all contents of the ‘Bible’.
Does the Qur’an say that the ‘Bible’ as ‘a whole‘ is the word of God?
Answer: No!
How do we know?
“He begets not nor was he begotten” (Qur’an 112:3)
This conflicts with:
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have life everlasting.” (John 3:16)
“Allah there is no God but He. The Ever-Living, the One Who sustains and protects all that exists. Neither slumber nor sleep overtake him.” (Qur’an 2:255)
This conflicts with:
“And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.” (Genesis 2:2)
“Say not Three (Trinity) desist for it is better for you Allah is one.” (Qur’an 4:171)
This conflicts with:
“For there are three that bear record in heaven: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit and these three are one.” (1 John 5:7)
Note: In Latin the word three is Trinitas
Conclusion: From the above passages it can clearly be seen that the Qur’an does not accept the ‘Bible’ as ‘a whole‘.
The Qur’an: quality control over the previous revelation
Allah says, in the (Qur’an 5:48)
“And we have sent down to you The Book in truth, confirming the scripture that came before it and MOHAYMINAN over it. So judge by what Allah has revealed, and follow not their vain desires, diverging away from the truth that has come to you. To each among you, We have prescribed a law and a clear way. If Allah willed, He would have made YOU ONE NATION, but that may test you in what He has given you; so strive as in a race in good deeds. The return of you is to Allah; then He will inform you about that in which you used to differ.“
Two major points should be highlighted.
1) Mohayminan what does it mean? It means to be a quality control over that which went before it. If the previous scriptures were intact in Toto Allah would not need to be a Mohayminan over it.
- If Allah willed He would have made us ONE NATION, with one set of scripture, one tongue, one color, etc., but Allah says he did not and states clearly it is to test us.
“Whatever sign do We abrogate or cause to be forgotten, We bring a better one or similar to it. Know you not that Allah is Able to do all things?” (Qur’an 2:107)
What scripture is discussed in the Qur’an?
Answer: The Qur’an discusses the scripture (revelation) of Abraham, Moses, David, and Jesus.
The Scripture of Abraham.
” Verily! This is in the former scriptures, The SCRIPTURES of ABRAHAM and Moses.” (Qur’an 87:18-19)
Comment: Do we know where that scripture of Abraham is?
Answer: No.
Question: Do we believe in the principle that he did contain such a scripture?
Answer: Yes! because Allah said so.
Question: Is there evidence of other lost scripture or books within the Bible itself?
Answer: Yes!
Examples of Lost Scripture and Lost Books in the Bible.
“And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed until the nation took vengeance upon their enemies. Is this not written in the book of Jashar?” (Joshua 10:13)
Another example:
“Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, and all that he did, and his wisdom, are they not written in the book of the acts of Solomon?”(1 Kings 11:41)
And yet another example:
“Now the acts of King David, from the first to last, are written in the Chronicles of Samuel The Seer, and In The Chronicles Of Nathan The Prophet, and in the Chronicles Of Gad The Seer.” (1 Chronicles 29:29)
Question: Does anyone know where these books are?
Answer: No!
Conclusion:
No one knows where these books are. No one knows where the “Writings of the prophet Nathan” are. However, Allah says in the Qur’an there existed the scripture of Abraham so we believe in it. So to the Christians and Jews believe in lost books. I am sure they believe that Allah has some divine wisdom why they cannot go and check the above-mentioned quotes for themselves. Likewise, we do not know where the scrolls of Abraham are.
The Scripture of Moses
“Therefore remind in case the reminder profits. The reminder will be received by him who fears. But it will be avoided by the wretched, Who will enter the Great Fire and make to taste its burning. Wherein he will neither die nor live. Indeed whosoever purifies himself shall achieve success, And remembers the Name of his Lord, and prays. Nay, you prefer the life of this world; Although the Hereafter is better and more lasting. Verily! This is in the former scriptures, The Scriptures of Abraham and Moses.” (Qur’an 87:9-19)
However, a grave misconception exists between Muslims and Non-Muslims over what the scripture of Moses is according to Islam.
It Is not the first five books of the Christian ‘Bible‘. Also, it is not the first five books of the Jewish ‘Tanach‘. Moses was given the Torah.
It was not something revealed after Him. Traditionally both Christians and Jews regarded Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy as the words of Moses or author Moses.
This has to be rejected in light of the following evidence.
1) (Deuteronomy 34:7)
“Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died.”
2) As already mentioned above in (Genesis 2:2)
God rest and needs to be refreshed.
3) A careful reading of the Qur’an quotation above coupled with a careful reading of the first five books of the ‘Bible‘ fails to show that such things are written in there. There is no mention of eternal hellfire, nor mention of the life to come.
4) Internal evidence showing the Torah was lost and has been tampered with.
point A)
“And Hiil-Kiah, the high priest, said unto Shaphan, the Scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord. And Hil-kiah gave the book to sha phan, and he read it.” (2 Kings 22:8)
“The accession of Josiah and his eagerness to restore the worship of Jehovah led to the renovation of the Temple, and in the course of this, B.C 621, the book of Deuteronomy was discovered. The priest took it to the king, who joyfully welcomed it and set about putting its program of religious reformation into effect. The dramatic story is told in 2 Kings 22 and 23. Josiah put a stop to the idolatrous practice of the people.”
Source: ( Edgar J. Godspeed ‘How came the Bible?’ pgs 22-23)
point B)
“How can you say we are wise and we have the law of the lord with us when behold the lying pen of the scribes have made it into a lie” (Jeremiah 8:8)
CONCLUSION: The Torah was given to Moses. Not an autobiography of the life of Moses. Moses did not write, “I was 120 years old when I died”.Moses also did not write things that are blasphemous in nature as to the divine might and power of God. The writings of Moses if it were intact in ‘Toto’ would have had mention of hellfire and a life to come as the Qur’an says it did. Source: (Qur’an 87:9-19)
Lastly, the eternal evidence is that the Torah was lost and that it was also made into a lie by the lying pen of scribes.
The Scripture of David.
As already given above in ( Qur’an 21:105), Allah gave David the Zabur…
Zabur is usually thought of as the Psalms of David. The Psalms are those writings contained in the Tanach of the Jews and the Bible of the Christians. There is not much in this collection of writings entitled Psalms that can be understood to be blasphemous or offensive to Islam.
However, we take issue with statements such as…
“I say, “You are gods, Sons of the Most High (GOD), all of you.” (Psalms 82:6)
Also
¨I will tell the decree of the Lord: He said to me,” You are my son, today I have begotten you.” (Psalms 2:7)
As already mentioned above…
“He begets not nor was he begotten” (Qur’an 112:3)
Conclusion:
In conclusion, Prophet David never made such statements about Allah The Psalms in ‘Toto’ is not the Zabur. Allah has no sons. To ascribe to him sons is a monstrous assault on the absolute oneness of God. To call people even figuratively ‘gods‘ has evolved into a lot of problematic theology within Christianity.
The Scripture of Jesus.
“And in their footsteps, We sent Jesus son of Mary confirming the Torah that had come before him, and We gave him The Gospel.” (Qur’an 5:46)
There is also quite a lot of misunderstanding among Muslims and Christians as to what the Injeel (Gospel) is in Islam.
Question: What does the word Gospel mean?
Answer: The Gospel means- the good news.
The Christian missionaries (some honest some not so) try to equate the Injeel (Gospel) with 22 or 27 books known as the ‘New Testament‘. Some Muslims may even believe that the Injeel is the Gospel according to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. However, there is good reason to show this again not to be the case.
1) For example:
“And he went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom.” (Matthew 4:23)
Comment: Jesus obviously was not walking around with the ‘New Testament’ in his hands.
2) The following as well:
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son...” (John 3:16)
Comment: The Qur’an clearly states that Allah does not beget a son in (Qur’an 112:3) So we know that is not the Gospel Allah gave Jesus.
3) Accounts of Jesus in the Qur’an not found in the Christian ‘New Testament’.
“At length she brought the baby to her people, carrying him in her arms. They said: “Oh Mary! Truly an amazing thing have you brought!” “O sister of Aaron! your father was not a man of evil, nor was your mother an unchaste woman!” But she pointed to the baby. They said: “How can we talk to one who is a child in the cradle?”
He said: “ I am indeed a servant of Allah: He has given me revelation and made me a prophet; “And He has made me blessed wherever I be, and has enjoined don me Prayer and Charity as long as I live; “He has made me kind to my mother, and not overbearing or miserable; “ So Peace is on me the day I was born, the day that I die, and the day that I shall be raised up to life again”! (Qur’an 19:27-33)
“” And to appoint him an apostle to the Children of Israel, with this message: “ I have come to you, with a Sign from your Lord, in that I make for you out of clay, as it were, the figure of a bird, and breath into it, and it becomes a bird by Allah’s leave: and I heal those born blind, and the lepers, and I quicken the dead, by Allah’s leave; and I declare to you what you eat, and what you store in your houses. Surely therein is a Sign for you if you did believe;” (Qur’an 3:49)
Comment: The above-mentioned statements of Jesus are not to be found in any quote “canonical New Testament writings”.
These narratives of Jesus have close proximity to ‘The Gospel of Thomas’ and “The Gospel of the Infancy of Jesus Christ” both of which are 2nd-century apocryphal books. One of these is actually a part of the ‘P52‘ fragment. One of the earliest pieces of evidence that Christians like to boast about. Why apocryphal? Because the ‘Catholic‘ church does not accept them as cannon. However, let’s look at some interesting statements in the ‘New Testament’.
Apocryphal literature quoted in the New Testament itself.
Jannes and Jambres for example:
“Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith.” (2 Timothy 3:8)
“There are also many other things that Jesus did, but if these were to be described individually, I do not think the whole world would contain the books that would be written.” (John 21:25)
“Jesus began to preach being about 30 years of age.” (Luke 3:23)
Comment: It is obvious from these texts that the ‘New Testament’ the Christians have today does not contain everything done or said by Jesus.
For 30 Jesus did not say or do anything? The Qur’an refutes this by saying that Jesus indeed spoke as an infant in defense of his mother’s chastity, long before the age of 30. I personally would want all the evidence possible of his sayings and deeds so I could come to a conclusion about what his Gospel truly was.
4) The Christians for a very long time never contained what is now known to be the entire ‘New Testament‘. Many churches only contained some documents. As there was no printing press at the time. The masses of Christianity did not have access to their scriptures for some time.
There were Christians in the time of Muhammad (saw) for example who did not believe that the books of James, Jude, Revelation, 1st, and 2nd Peter were to be included as Canon. These include the Syriac Christians among others.
5) Which Gospel: The Gospel of the Circumcision or the Gospel of the Uncircumcision?
Christians also tell us there is but one gospel. Unfortunately, that is not the case as internal evidence within the text of the Bible itself indicates otherwise.
“But Contra wise, When they saw that the Gospel of the Uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the Gospel of the Circumcision was unto Peter.” (Galatians 2:7-9)
“For if someone comes to you and preaches a different Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.” (2 Corinthians 11:14)
“But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a different gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse!” (Galatians 1:8)
These texts all show there was deeply early division among Christians. It is also proof to support the Muslim claim that there were indeed various gospels in circulation. Can you imagine if the Blessed Prophet Muhammed (saw) started to talk about a ‘different Qur’ an‘? Christians would have a field day. Also, note the haughty tone of Paul. Can you imagine if God wanted to send an angel from heaven to preach a gospel different than the one Paul is preaching?
CONCLUSION: Within the text that Christians call the ‘Gospel‘ or ‘New Testament‘ is self-evident information about Jesus “preaching the gospel (Injeel)“. Jesus obviously did not preach from a book or a gospel that came after him, or from an autobiography about him.
That the message of Jesus, when committed to writing, was not preserved in ‘Toto’ can be seen from references stating that Jesus is the ‘son of God‘ or the ‘begotten son of God‘. However the Qur’an is emphatic in that Allah does not have a son, rather it is through adoption, ‘monogenes‘ or of any kind.
Another further proof is that the Christians themselves are confused as to what really comprises their ‘New Testament‘ Canon. Insha’Allah this will be discussed shortly. Lastly, what Muslims dispute is not that Jesus was given the gospel but what were the contents of that gospel. As can be seen from Biblical internal evidence there were at least two gospels. Muslims believe the Gospel of Jesus was the one of Circumcision.
WHAT ACTUALLY IS THE BIBLE?
Before we delve into the topic of ‘what actually is the Bible‘ let us quote some interesting passages from the Qur’an.
“Say If mankind and jinns were together to produce the like of this Qur’an, they could not produce the like thereof, even if they helped one another.” (Qur’an 17:88)
“And if you are in doubt concerning that which We have sent down to Our slave, then produce a Surah (Chapter) of the like thereof and call your witnesses besides Allah, if you are truthful. But if you cannot do it, and you can never do it, then fear the Fire whose fuel is men and stones prepared for the ungrateful.” (Qur’an 2:23-24)
Now, what actually Is the Bible…
Question: What does the word Bible mean?
Answer: The word Bible itself comes from a Greek word Biblious meaning – A library of books.
Just exactly what is to be constituted in this library is a matter of debate among sincere Christians themselves.
The Bible of the Catholic Church
For example, the Catholic church which has 1.1 billion followers worldwide have 73 books in their Bible that their ‘non-traditionalist’ rivals do not have. Among them are Tobias, Judith, Ecclesiastes, Baruch, Wisdom, 1 Machabees, and 2nd Machabees.
In fact in direct refutation of Martin Luther (a father of Protestant Christianity) and Protestant affirmations about what is and is not to be in the Bible the Catholic church had this to say:
“If any man does not accept sacred and canonical these books entire, with all their parts, as have customarily been read in the Catholic Church and are contained in the ancient common Latin edition… LET HIM BE ANATHEMA!“
Source: (Forth session of the council of Trent, April 8, 1546)
The Bible of the Syrian Church.
You also have the ‘Eastern Christians’ (Nestorian, Syrian) church who believes that there should only be 22 books in the New Testament. Excluded books where Revelation, Jude, 2 Peter, 2 and 3 John, and at times James.
Comments by Martin Luther a father of Protestant Christianity.
Then you have a father of the Protestant Christians – Martin Luther.
Luther believed that the book of James should not have been included in the New Testament. He concluded it to be ‘an epistle of straw‘. The full quote is here:
Martin Luther writes: “In a word, St. John’s Gospel and his First Epistle, St. Paul’s Epistles, especially Romans, Galatians, and Ephesians, and St. Peter’s First Epistle are the books that show you Christ and teach you all that is necessary and good for you to know, even though you were never to see or hear any other book or doctrine. Therefore St. James’ Epistle is really an epistle of straw, compared to them; for it has nothing of the nature of the Gospel about it.”
Source: (In “Luther’s Preface to the New Testament,” published in 1522, revised in 1545, in the Works of Martin Luther, Philadelphia: Muhlenberg Press, 1932, copyrighted by the United Lutheran Church in America, vol. 6. pp. 443-444., translated by C.M. Jacobs)
The Letter of James is probably the oldest book in the New Testament, but it has a very poor reputation. Eusebius writes, around 325, that the authenticity of this letter is…
“doubted, since few early writers refer to it, any more than to Jude’s…but the fact remains that these two [James and Jude]…have been regularly used in very many churches.”
Source: (The History of the Church, Book 2.23.17)
Martin Luther writes in the sixteenth century of the letter that “I, therefore, refuse him a place among the writers of the TRUE CANON OF MY BIBLE…
Source: (Preface to the Epistles of St. James and St. Jude).
Why was Luther so adamant? Why shouldn’t this oldest of the Christian books be venerated?
Luther’s first reason is that the message of the letter is “in direct opposition to St. Paul and all the rest of the Bible” in ascribing Abraham’s salvation to his work of offering up Isaac.
The second reason is that “In the whole length of its teaching, not once does it give Christians any instruction or reminder of the passion, resurrection, or spirit of Christ. It mentions Christ once and again, but teaches nothing about Him; it speaks only of a commonplace faith in God.”
This is very interesting seeing that Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, and Lithuania along with 35 million Americans belong to the ‘Lutheran denomination‘ of Christianity.
The Bibles of Evangelical Christianity.
Surprisingly the greatest critique of the Bible comes from Evangelical Protestant Christianity!
Baptist, Church of Christ, Pentecostals, Jehovah’s Witness, Methodist, and Lutherans: -you name them. In fact, the following passages and versions are very popular among the mentioned Christian sects. Not to mention the new versions of the Bible cast serious doubt on passages accepted canonical by all the aforementioned groups.
Examples from Evangelical Christian Bibles.
Mark (16:9-20) is contained in the {King James Bible} as well as many older Bibles.
However, since the discovery of manuscripts more ancient upon which the King James Bible has been based serious doubt has been cast upon such passages as being spurious or at least very doubtful. John (8:1-11) is yet another example of such a passage.
The above-mentioned passages are contained in the {King James Bible}
Yet in the {Revised Version of the Bible 1952} The preface states,
“Yet the {King James Version} has GRAVE DEFECTS. Pg v(5) of the preface states, “The {King James Version} of the New Testament was based upon a Greek text that was marred by mistakes, containing the accumulated errors of fourteen centuries of manuscript copying.” Pg vi(6) of the preface states, “We now possess many more ancient manuscripts of the New Testament, and are far better equipped to seek to recover the original wording of the Greek text.“
Question: What are some of these GRAVE DEFECTS?
Answer:
Example 1
In the {King James Version} You have (1 John 5:7)
“For there are three that bare record in heaven, The Father, The Son, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one“
This was a big-time ‘proof-text‘ for the Trinity. However, the following Bibles have it removed forever!
{New American Bible}
{Revised Standard Bible 1952}
{Revised Standard Bible 1971}
{New International Version}
Comment: They have footnotes that say, “There is no manuscript before the 16th Century that contains such a passage.”
One wonders how many other times commentary ‘slipped’’ into the text during copying.
Example 2
The {King James Version} has Mark (16:9-20) as part of its word of God.
However, about Mark (16:9-20) Edgar J Goodspeed Bible translator noted:
“The short conclusion connects much better with Mark (16:8) than does the long, but neither can be considered as the ORIGINAL part of the GOSPEL of Mark.” Source:-The Goodspeed Parallel New Testament, 1944, p 127.
The following Bible Versions have them removed. If they are not removed there is usually a (footnote) or a line before and after Mark (16:9-20) showing why it is doubted as the word of God.
{New American Bible}
{Revised Standard Bible 1952}
{Revised Standard Bible 1971}
{New International Version}
Comment: The text of Mark 16:9-20 has words attributed to Jesus which Christians for over 1600 years believed to be the words of Jesus. One wonders how many other words attributed to Jesus may be taken out next!
Example 3
The {King James Version} has John (8:1-11) as part of its word of God.
However Christian scholars have this to say, “The spurious passage at John (7:53-8:11) have obviously been ADDED TO THE ORIGINAL TEXT of John’s Gospel, They are not found in the Sinaitic Manuscript or, the Vatican Manuscript No. 1209, though they do appear in the sixth-century Codex Bezae and later Greek manuscripts, They are omitted, however, by most of the early versions. It is evident that they are not part of John’s Gospel. One group of Greek manuscripts places this passage AT THE END OF JOHN”S GOSPEL; another group PUTS IT AFTER LUKE (21:38), supporting the conclusion that IT IS A SPURIOUS AND UNINSPIRED TEXT.”
Source: Revised Standard Bible 1971
The following Bible Versions have them removed. If they are not removed there is usually a (footnote) or a line before and after John (8:1-11) showing why it is doubted as the word of God.
{New American Bible}
{Revised Standard Bible 1952}
{Revised Standard Bible 1971} This version even has the material about where various manuscripts have placed it.
{New International Version}
CONCLUSION: We can see that there is no such thing as ‘The Bible‘ among Christians. There are Bible(s) according to whose camp you belong to; or what church tradition one follows. We can all see that the Bible does not meet the standards of the Qur’an in the passages given at the beginning of this discussion.
The Christians themselves have been led into believing that certain books or passages are the words of God or inspired of him when they are not. Thus people have made something like the Bible.
I will leave you with this following quotation from the book of Revelation for Christians to think about…
Revelation (22:18-19)
“I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book; if anyone adds to them, God will add to him plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of this Book of Prophecy God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.”
THE AUTHENTICITY OF THE BIBLE
One of the reasons we didn’t name this topic “The Authenticity of the Bible” is because To be Authentic you have to have a genuine original.
Christians never call their documents ORIGINAL. They call them ANCIENT AND MOST ANCIENT. The reason they do this is that they are simply being transparent. However, some of them make the masses feel that the Bible they have is an exact replica of the original manuscripts. However, when they are confronted with point-blank contradictions in the text they usually resort to saying, “well I believe those are not in the original autographs.”
“This is necessary to do with the books of the Bible as with all literary documents of the ancient world because the originals are no longer extant. Not only this but of the more than five thousands manuscript copies of the Greek New Testament no two of them agree completely. It is essential, therefore, that anyone who expounds the Word of God be acquainted to some degree with the science of textual criticism if he or she is to expound that Word faithfully.”- Daniel B Wallace.
Source: https://bible.org/article/inspiration-preservation-and-new-testament-textual-criticism
Question: What does the word Authentic mean?
Answer:
If you look up the word Authentic in any dictionary it has the following meanings, original, real, true, genuine, pure, accurate, reliable, legitimate, factual, actual, concrete, verifiable, authoritative, trustworthy. So if by their own admission they don’t have an authentic original indeed what are they telling us?
This is unlike the Qur’an in which states that it will be preserved.
“Verily, It is We Who have sent down the Dhikr (the Qur’an) and surely, We will guard it (from corruption) .” (Qur’an 15:9)
Note: Allah tells us that he will guard the Qur’an. This is unlike the previous scriptures. It was up to human beings to guard them.
“...and the rabbis and the priest (judged according to their Scriptures), FOR TO THEM WAS ENTRUSTED THE PROTECTION OF THE BOOK OF ALLAH, and they were witnesses to it.” (Qur’an 5:44)
So it can be seen that from the viewpoint of the Qur’an two things.
1) The protection of the Qur’an is under Allah
2) The protection of the previous scriptures is under the religious establishment.
Does the Bible even claim to be from God?
The Qur’an claims to come from God.
“The Most Beneficent. Has taught the Qur’an. He created man. He taught him speech.” (Qur’an 55:1-4)
Again we have…
“Ha Mim. The revelation of the Book is from Allah, the All-Mighty, the All-Wise.” (Qur’an 46:1-2)
Examining the Doctrine of Inspiration: The claim that it comes from God.
The reason for this investigation is simple. Why should a person consider scripture to have come from Allah if it doesn’t claim to come from him? When we ask the Christians point blank: Does your book (scriptures) even claim to come from Allah, they say yes.
The two texts cited by them to prove that the Bible claims to come from Allah are
“All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction into righteousness” {King James Version} (2 Timothy 3:16)
“For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” (2 Peter 1:21)
If we look at the first text given of 2 Timothy (3:16) in context he will see that it only certifies the Hebrew Scriptures.
2 Timothy (3:15), ” And from a child thou has known the holy scriptures which are able to make the wise unto salvation which is in Jesus Christ.”
We can see clearly that in the context that IF this text is making a claim for anything it’s the ‘Old Testament scriptures‘. Why? Because when Timothy was a child there were no ‘New Testament’ writings at that time.
We also know that this scripture DOES NOT verify everything in the Bible as being from Allah! How do we know? When we get a correct translation. As already mentioned the Christians have Bible Versions that are more accurate than those they previously possessed.
In the first {Revision Standard Version} of the Bible, the translation of (2 Timothy 3:16) is very revealing.
2 Timothy (3:16) (Revised Standard Version 1881, 1952)
“Every scripture inspired of God is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training into righteousness.”
Also, the {Douay Rheims Version} and the {Revised Standard Version 1971} have an alternative reading of this passage.
I hope that it is understood the difference above between ‘all scripture IS-inspired‘ and ‘all scripture inspired’.
For example, if I say ALL the apples are good it means ALL the apples are good. However, if I say all the apples that are good it means some of them are not good.
Read the above passage once again…
“Every scripture inspired by God (not that all scripture IS inspired by God) is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training into righteousness.”
The Internal Evidence that not “all scripture is inspired”.
We have internal evidence within the Biblical text that shows the above reading ‘All scripture inspired by God’ is correct.
“And unto the married, I command Yet not I, But the Lord Let not the wife depart from her husband: But and if she departs, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband: and let not the husband put away his wife. But to the rest speak I, not the Lord: If any brother has a wife that believes not, and she is pleased to dwell with him, let him or put her away.” (1 Corinthians 7:10-12)
“Now concerning virgins, I have no commandment from the Lord: yet I give my judgment as one that obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful. I suppose therefore that this is good for the present distress, I say that it is good for a man so to be.” (1 Corinthians 7:25-26)
“But she is happier if she so abides, After my judgment; and I THINK (I’m not sure) also I have the Spirit of God.” (1 Corinthians7:40)
In the first text, it can be seen that in the first text Paul was going to say something and then caught himself. The second text is crystal clear in that Paul says that he doesn’t feel the Holy Spirit inspiring him to say anything. However since he does keep in contact with Paul, Paul feels he can give his own judgment. In the third text, Paul is not even sure if the Spirit of God is with him.
More examples of Uninspired scripture.
“One of themselves, even a prophet of their own said, The Cretians are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies.” (Titus 1:12)
This is not inspired scripture. Paul is quoting Epimenides who was a 6th Century soothsayer. He was no prophet of God.
“For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.” (Acts 17:28)
This is not inspired scripture. Paul is quoting the poet Aratus from Cilicia Lycia and this guy is talking about the pagan deity ZEUS! He is then making a poem about a pagan deity that applies to God!
“Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13)
We know this is uninspired scripture because the teachings of prophets are perfect. Jesus would have never uttered this statement.
Greater teaching is that ‘a man lay down his life for his enemies’
A very candid presentation by the ‘author’ Luke.
“Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things which have been accomplished among us. just as they were delivered to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word, it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you most excellent Theophilus, that you may know the truth concerning the things of which you have been instructed.” (Luke 1:1-4)
There are a lot of things to be said about this.
1) Where are the many accounts Luke is talking about?
2) Note: Luke said he is getting second information from ‘those who were eyewitnesses’ who ‘delivered them to us‘ He isn’t getting his information from God but from oral tradition.
3) Luke says ‘it seemed good to me also‘ to write ‘an orderly account’ If Luke thought the accounts already given were sufficient he would not have felt the need to write his own account
4) Finally If Luke writes an ‘orderly account’’ are the other accounts disorderly? Would the Holy Spirit inspire disorder?
This is clearly different from the apostles of Jesus who said:
“For it seemed good to us AND the Holy Spirit to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things:” (Acts 15:28)
The Apostles said it seemed good to ‘us and the holy spirit‘. However Luke said it seemed good to him (only)
Comments: Because of these and other problems the Evangelical Christians have adopted their position on inspiration.
We will now examine the four points Evangelicals have now adopted.
1) Everything inspired is not scripture.
2) Everything that is scripture is not inspired.
3) Everything that is scripturally inspired is not preserved.
4) Everything that is preserved is not scripturally inspired.
An example of point number 1
“I have much to write to you, but I do not wish to write with pen and ink. Instead, I hope to see you soon, when we can talk face to face.” (3 John 1:13)
Comment: This writer is clearly stating that everything inspired need not be written. He feels what he needs to say can be said in person “face to face”.
At the least, it shows that everything that is inspired is not necessarily scripture.
An example of point number 2
“Now concerning virgins, I have no commandment from the Lord: yet I give my judgment as one that obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful. I suppose therefore that this is good for the present distress, I say that it is good for a man so to be.” (1 Corinthians 7:25-26)
Two examples of point 3
“I wrote to unto you in an EPISTLE not to company with fornicators:” (1 Corinthians 5:9)
Comment: Well if everything Paul wrote was inspired by God then where is this epistle at? This is 1st Corinthians, not 2nd Corinthians.
“Or do you suppose it is in vain that the SCRIPTURE says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit which he has made to dwell in us“? (James 4:5)
Comment: Where is this Scripture at? So does the Bible contain all of God’s scripture or not?
Examples of point 4
The ‘Catholics‘ would say that the book of Tobit has been preserved but the Protestants would not agree to it being inspired. Many books of antiquity have come down to us today and Christians would readily agree that this is not necessarily a case for inspiration.
Further thoughts on inspiration. The following is taken from Daniel B Wallace. He is a very conservative Christian and has written an excellent essay on various viewpoints among Evangelicals. It is quite an eye-opening essay.
“Sturz gives some further helpful analogies (Byzantine Text-Type, 38): Preservation of the Word of God is promised in Scripture, and inspiration and preservation are related doctrines, but they are distinct from each other, and there is a danger in making one the necessary corollary of the other. The Scriptures do not do this. God has given the perfect revelation by verbal inspiration, was under no special or logical obligation to see that man did not corrupt it.”
“W.N Pickering “Identity of the New Testament Text,” 150. In Pickering’s theological construct, then, the doctrine of inspiration has no significance, for elsewhere he argued If we do not have the inspired Words or do not know precisely which they be, then the doctrine of Inspiration is inapplicable ( Burgeon, 88)”
“Matthew 24:35 “ Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away” is used in support of preservation. But once again, even though this text has the advantage of referring to Jesus words ( as opposed to the OT), the context is clearly eschatological; thus the words of Jesus have certainty of fulfillment That the text does not here mean that his words will all be preserved in written form is absolutely certain because (1) this is not only foreign to the context but implies that the written gospels were conceived at this stage in Heilsgeschichte decades before a need for them was apparently felt; (2) we certainly do not have all of Jesus words recorded either in scripture or elsewhere (cf John 20:30 and 21:25)”
“Wilbur Pickering, former president of the Majority Text Society, has continued this type of argument into the present debate. In his 1968 master’s thesis done at Dallas Seminary ( An Evaluation of the Contribution of John William Burgon to the New Testament Textual Criticism )” Source: https://bible.org/article/inspiration-preservation-and-new-testament-textual-criticism
CONCLUSION:
We have seen that Christians are claiming for the Bible what it does not even claim for itself, namely that it is the inspired word of God. We have given clear proof text that shows many passages in the Bible are not inspired by God. Above all Luke himself, a major Gospel writer does not claim inspiration from God.
The Claims of Allah in the Qur’an about the previous scripture.
“Then woe to those who write the Book with their own hands and then say, This is from Allah,” to purchase with it a little price! Woe to them for what their hands have written and woe to them for what they earn thereby.” (Qur’an 2:79)
In the sublime oral tradition we have:
Narrated Ubaidullah: Ibn ‘Abbas said, “Why do you ask the people of the scripture about anything while your Book (Quran) which has been revealed to Allah’s Apostle is newer and the latest? You read it pure, undistorted and unchanged, and Allah has told you that the people of the Scripture (Jews and Christians) changed their scripture and distorted it, and wrote the scripture with their own hands and said, ‘It is from Allah,’ to sell it for a little gain. Does not the knowledge which has come to you prevent you from asking them about anything? No, by Allah, we have never seen any man from them asking you regarding what has been revealed to you!” Source: [Bukhari Volume 9, Book 92, Number 460]
“And verily, among them is a party who distort the Book with their tongues (as they read), so that you may think it is from the Book, but it is not from the Book, and they say: “This is from Allah,” but it is not from Allah; and they speak a lie against Allah while they know it.” (Qur’an 3:78)
Narrated Abu Huraira: The people of the Book used to read the Torah in Hebrew and then explain it in Arabic to the Muslims. Allah’s Apostle said (to the Muslims). “Do not believe the people of the Book, nor disbelieve them, but say, ‘We believe in Allah and whatever is revealed to us, and whatever is revealed to you.’ Source: [Bukhari Volume 9, Book 92, Number 461]
Two points are being addressed by Allah here.
1) Alteration of the words of the text.
2) Different schools of thought reporting in another language and twisting the meanings of the original wordings.
Internal evidence that shows the Bible agrees with Allah on this.
“How can you say we are wise, and the ‘law of the lord'(Torah) is with us’? But BEHOLD, THE FALSE PEN OF THE SCRIBES HAS MADE IT (The Torah) INTO A LIE.” (Jeremiah 8:8)
“And about the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eli Eli lama sabach-thani?” which is being interpreted, “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?“(Matthew 27:46)
Comments:
1) In the first point, the Bible itself claims the Torah was corrupted by the pen of the scribes. Every time you see ‘law of the lord’ that word there is TORAH!
2) In the second point, this has puzzled scholars of the ‘New Testament‘. Why would someone leave the Aramaic statement of Jesus and then put the translation in Greek?
Why not just translate it. Also, this proves Jesus spoke Aramaic, not evidence Jesus spoke Greek. So the ‘New Testament‘ documents are not in the language of revelation that Jesus spoke.
DOES THE BIBLE CONTAIN CONTRADICTIONS?
“Do they not consider the Qur’an carefully? Had it been from any other Allah, they would have surely found therein many contradictions.” (Qur’an 4:82)
Now when talking with Christians you may see the following positions taken.
1) The Bible is inerrant (error-free), this means free from contradiction or problems of any kind. This position is usually taken among the Evangelical Christians.
2) When you show them a contradiction (or error) they might say, “Well it has nothing to do with my doctrine.”
They may say, “Well it’s ONLY ONE!” This position is usually taken by many mainstream churches such as the Catholic Church.
3) They might even say well I BELIEVE in the ORIGINAL AUTOGRAPHS it was error-free. This position is taken by Evangelical Christians when finally confronted with the daunting reality of a flat contradiction or error.
Let’s respond to the above going from 3 to 1.
3) It should be noted that there are NO ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS. They have ‘ancient‘ and ‘most ancient‘ as already discussed. They are just relying on BLIND FAITH. The Christians do not have a dual preservation method in which people were committing the revelation to memory as well as text.
2) If they say, “It’s only one,” it should be pointed out that their doctrine is that the BIBLE IS INNERANT. Therefore it’s a MAJOR PROBLEM. Also how many holes does it take to pop a balloon? What if you were on an airplane and a window was smashed out. Well, it’s only one!
One hole pops the balloon.
1) The fact is that there are flat contradictions and errors in the Bible. The following will give more than enough proof on that.
Question: Should a contradiction from a translation be sufficient to show the Bible has an error?
Answer: No!
When giving contradictions in the Bible it should be noted that we should show such contradictions from the Greek and Hebrew Text.
Why? Because we as Muslims would not accept any ‘contradictions‘ from a translation. The Qur’an is in the Arabic text. So we should not set about a double standard.
So surface (seemingly) contradictions will not do.
Question: What is surface contradiction?
Answer:
Example of a Surface contradiction in the Bible.
“And Michael the daughter of Saul had no child to the day of her death.” (2 Samuel 6:23)
“The king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul, Armoi and Mephiboseth; and the FIVE SONS OF MICHAL.” (2 Samuel 21:8)
Comment:
This would be a contradiction except that there is an alternative reading of MICHAL with the Hebrew word MERAB. Thus since the Hebrew text can read ‘ FIVE SONS OF MERAB‘ we don’t have a contradiction. Thus the importance of establishing the evidence from the text in the original language is seen.
EXAMPLES OF CLEAR CONTRADICTIONS IN THE TEXT
“When the evening came, they brought unto him MANY that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed ALL that were sick.” (Matthew 8:16)
“And at evening, when the sun did set, they brought unto him ALL that were diseased and them that were possessed with devils. And ALL the city was gathered together at the door. And he healed MANY that were sick of diverse diseases, and cast out MANY devils; and suffered not the devils to speak, because they knew him.” (Mark 1:32-34)
Comment: The Greek word for many is (pantas)and the Greek word for all is (pollous). Matthew saw some deficiency in a Jesus that only healed many so he switched the Greek words around.
Another example:
“And there came a voice from heaven, saying YOU ARE my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Mark 1:11)
“And lo a voice from heaven, saying, THIS IS my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17)
Comment: The Greek word for you is su and the Greek word for this is would be (outos). Mark held that Jesus was the adopted son of God called adoptionist theology. Matthew felt Jesus already knew who he was because he was the son of God based on the Virgin birth and therefore did not need to be told who he was. He changes the wording of the voice so the people are addressed.
Another example:
“And when he knew it of the Centurion, he gave the body to JOSEPH. And HE brought fine linen, and took him down, and wrapped him in the linen, and laid him in a sepulcher which was hewn out of a rock, and rolled a stone unto the door of the sepulcher.” (Mark 15:45-46)
“And though THEY found no cause of death in him, yet desired THEY Pilate that he should be slain. And when THEY had fulfilled all that was written of him, THEY took him down from the tree, and laid him in a sepulcher.” (Acts 13:28-29)
Comment: This goes back to the conflict on whether Jesus died on a Tree or a Cross. Here it says the same Jews who desired his death put him in the tomb and not Joseph.
Another example:
“Saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightaway you shall find an ASS tied, AND A COLT with her: lose THEM, and bring THEM unto me. And if any man says ought unto you, you shall say, The Lord hath need of THEM and straightway he will send THEM. All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, Tell the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy King comes to you, meek, and sitting upon an ASS, AND A colt the foal of an ass. And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them, And brought the ASS, AND the COLT, and put on THEM their clothes, and they set him thereon.” (Matthew 21:2-7)
“And said unto them, Go your way into the village over against you: and as soon as you be entered into it, you shall find a colt tied, whereon never sat; lose HIM, and bring him. And if any man says unto you, Why do you do this? Say you that the Lord has need of HIM, and straightaway he will send HIM hither. And they went their way and found the colt tied by the door without It a place where two ways met, and they lose HIM. And certain of them stood there and said, What are you doing losing the COLT? And they said unto them even as Jesus had commanded: and they let them go. And they brought the COLT to Jesus, and cast their garments on HIM, and he sat upon HIM.” (Mark 11:2-7)
“Rejoice greatly, O’ daughter of Zion; shout, O’ daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, even upon a colt the foal of an ass,” (Zechariah 9:9)
Comment: The Greek word for a colt (singular) is polos and for it (ayton). The Greek word for them is (vavtos). This contradiction is not really on Mark’s part as it is Matthew’s lack of understanding Hebrew or else using the Greek Septuagint. In Zechariah 9:9 the original Hebrew shows only one ass, the term even stressing that. However, Matthew didn’t look into the Hebrew text of the matter.
The New American Bible has the following commentary,
“ The ass and the colt are the same animal in the prophecy, mentioned twice in different ways, the common Hebrew literary device of poetic parallelism. Matthew takes them as two is one of the reasons why some scholars think that he was a Gentile rather than Jewish Christian who would presumably not make the mistake. Upon them: upon the two animals; a peculiar picture resulting in Matthew’s misunderstanding of Zechariah 9:9”
Source: (New American Bible pg 1043 commentary on Matthew 21)
Another example:
“And they arrived at the country of GERGESENES, which is over against Galilee. Then the whole multitude of the country of the GERGESENES round about sought him to depart from them; for they were taken with great fear: and he went up into the ship, and returned back again.” (Luke 8:26,37)
“And when he came to the other side into the country of the GADARENES, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way.” (Matthew 8:28)
Comment: This error in the Greek text is more a scribal gloss in the Greek text.
Another example:
“And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him A CENTURION, beseeching him,” (Matthew 8:5)
“And a certain centurion’s servant, who was dear unto him, was sick, and ready to die. And when he heard of Jesus, HE SENT UNTO THEM ELDERS OF THE JEWS, beseeching him that he would come and heal his servant.” (Luke 7:2-3)
Comment:
The Greek phrase for older men is (presbuteros). The Greek word for centurion is (hekatontarchos) The reason this exists has more to do with oral tradition than ideas either of the writers had.
Another example:
“While he spoke these things unto them, behold, there came a certain ruler, and worshipped him, saying, My daughter is EVEN NOW DEAD: but come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live.” (Matthew 9:18)
“And sought him greatly, saying, My little daughter LIES AT THE POINT OF DEATH: I pray thee, come and lay hands on her, that she may be healed; and she shall live.” (Mark 5:23)
Comment:
The Greek term for the deceased is (teleute). Again Matthew thought that a Jesus who could save a dead person was going to sell more than a Jesus who merely saved a dying person. So This contradiction is the result of the developing theology surrounding the person of Jesus.
Another example:
“The first day of the week comes Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulcher, and see THE STONE TAKEN AWAY from the sepulcher. Then she ran, and came to Simon Peter, and to the other disciples, whom Jesus loved, and said unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulcher, and we know not where they have laid him.” (John 20:1-2)
“And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the Angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and ROLLED BACK THE STONE from the door, and sat upon it.” (Matthew 28:2)
Comment: The reason such an anomaly exists is that the writer John believed in a spiritual resurrection of Jesus in which stone would be no barrier. However, Matthew believed in a physical resurrection and a stone would be a barrier to that.
“The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin.” (Deuteronomy 24:16)
“Samuel said to Saul: “It was I the Lord sent to anoint you king over his people Israel. Now, therefore, listen to the message of the Lord.
This is what the Lord of hosts has to say: “ I will punish the Amelek tribe did to Israel when he barred his way as he was coming up from Egypt. Go, now, attack Amalek, and deal with him and all that he has under the ban Do not spare him, but kill men and women, children and infants, oxen and sheep, camels and asses.” (1 Samuel 15:1-3)
Comment: One can make all the excuses they want about how infants took part in harming Israel on the way to Egypt, but it would be a real stretch. God did not command the killing of babies. This text here is a forgery. Blood lust in the name of God is not scripture and it contradicts God’s clear command in Deuteronomy that children will not be put to death for their father’s misdeeds.
CONCLUSION: It should be seen that the Bible has contradictions within the text. These contradictions also show that the Bible is not the word of God according to the criteria the Qur’an gave above.
THOSE AMAZING BIBLE ‘PROPHECIES’
If I had to pick THE reason why I think most Christians believe that the Bible is THE word of God I would say because of this. Most Christians think the Bible is filled with amazing Bible prophecies about the future. ‘
However, what does the Bible say about such ‘prophecies’?
“If a prophet arises among you, or a dreamer of dreams, and gives you a sign or wonder, and the sign or wonder which he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, ‘Let us go after other gods ‘which you have not known,’ and let us serve them,’ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or to that dreamer of dreams; for the Lord, your God is TESTING YOU, TO KNOW WHETHER YOU LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART and all your soul.” (Deuteronomy 13:1-3),
So the Bible admits even FALSE PROPHETS can make accurate prophecy fulfillment. However, I think there are better reasons than that to question the ‘amazing prophecies‘ belief held by Christians. Many Christians are not even aware of the following.
1) In the original CONTEXT, they were not even ‘prophecies‘ awaiting fulfillment!
2) Text quoted as ‘prophecy‘ is not even taken as a HOMOGENEOUS UNIT and the context is ignored.
3) Sometimes even the text supposedly quoted IS NOT EVEN TO BE FOUND.
4) Sometimes text from TWO DIFFERENT PROPHETS is attributed to ONE PROPHET.
5) Most important these ‘proof-text’ where only ‘prophecies‘ in the WILD IMAGINATIONS of those that said so.
AN EXAMPLE OF NUMBER 1
An interpolated statement put in the mouth of Jesus
“He who believes in me, as SCRIPTURE SAID,” out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.” (John 7:38)
Comment:
However, there is NO SUCH SCRIPTURE anywhere in the Tanach (Old Testament)! Yet {foot notes} will have the following passages.
“For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground I will pour my spirit upon your descendants.” (Isaiah 44:3)
“Lo, everyone one who thirsts come to the waters; and he who has no money come and buy wine and milk without money and without price.” (Isaiah 55:1)
” And the Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your desire with good things (Hebrew meaning uncertain) and make your bones strong and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.” (Isaiah 58:11)
All of the above passages are not the STATEMENT OF Jesus in (John 7:38). They are no ‘prophecies‘ awaiting fulfillment.
AN EXAMPLE OF NUMBER 2
Another interpolated statement put in the mouth of Jesus.
“The son of man does go as it is WRITTEN OF HIM: but one unto that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! it had been good for that man if he had not been born.” (Mark 14:21)
Comment:
Again there is NO SUCH STATEMENT in the Tanach (Old Testament)
However {foot notes} will have the following passage.
“Even my bosom friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.” (Psalms 41:9)
There are two major points I would like to reflect on regarding this.
1) In CONTEXT this passage CANNOT refer to the life of Jesus. Why? Because of the following text.
“As for me, I said, “O Lord, be gracious to me, heal me, FOR I HAVE SINNED AGAINST THEE!” (Psalms 41:4)
So was Jesus sinless or not?
2) If there was a ‘prophecy‘ about a man betraying Jesus this would mean Judas’ destiny was marked before the poor fellow was even born! So much for salvation!
“He stayed there until the death of Herod, that what the Lord had said through the prophet might be fulfilled, “ Out of Egypt I called my son.” (Matthew2:15)
This is taken from:
“When Israel was a child I loved him, out of Egypt I called my son. The more I called them, the farther they went from me, Sacrificing to the Baals and burning incense to idols.” (Hosea 11:1-2)
Comment: This is only a prophecy fulfillment in the wild imagination of Matthew. Anyone can clearly see that Hosea 11:1-2 is no amazing prophecy awaiting fulfillment. Not only that but the context refers to Israel and not Jesus.
Only if you ignore the context could it refer to Jesus. Why?
Because a Muslim would never ever accept that Jesus “sacrificed to the Baals and burned incense to idols” that’s why!
AN EXAMPLE OF NUMBER 3
“And he went and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, “HE SHALL BE CALLED A NAZARENE.” (Matthew 2:23)
Comment:
There is no such ‘prophecy‘ anywhere in the Tanach (Old Testament). The scholars of Christianity respond with the following two arguments. |
1) Matthew said SPOKEN not WRITTEN.
Response: Well how can there be proof of divine inspiration in a ‘prophecy statement’ that may never have been made?
2) Those scholars that know better than to use the above ‘reasoning’
say it is fulfilled in (Isaiah 11:1).
Note: your {foot note} will also have you look at (Isaiah 11:1) which says,
“There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.”
Response: It does not say, “He shall be called a Nazarene.”
Anyhow in a last-ditch effort they will say the word BRANCH (NESTER) is derived from the same Hebrew root as Nazareth the town.
Wrong!
Branch (NSTR) and Nazareth (NZRTH) and worse yet Nazarene (NZRN) are not the same root words.
Strong’s Concordance says the name Nazareth is of “uncertain derivation.” Source: https://biblehub.com/greek/3478.htm
AN EXAMPLE OF NUMBER 4
“Saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightaway you shall find an ASS tied, AND A COLT with her: lose THEM, and bring THEM unto me. And if any man says ought unto you, you shall say, The Lord hath need of THEM and straightway he will send THEM. All this was done, that it might be FULFILLED WHICH WAS SPOKEN BY THE PROPHET, saying, Tell the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy King comes to you, meek, and sitting upon an ASS, AND A colt the foal of an ass. And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them, And brought the ASS, AND the COLT, and put on THEM their clothes, and they set him thereon.” (Matthew 21:2-7)
“And said unto them, Go your way into the village over against you: and as soon as you be entered into it, you shall find a COLT tied, whereon never sat; lose HIM, and bring him. And if any man says unto you, Why do you do this? Say you that the Lord has need of HIM, and straightaway he will send HIM hither. And they went their way and found the colt tied by the door without It a place where two ways met, and they lose HIM. And certain of them stood there and said, What are you doing losing the COLT? And they said unto them even as Jesus had commanded: and they let them go. And they brought the COLT to Jesus and cast their garments on HIM, and he sat upon HIM.” (Mark 11:2-7)
In light of:
“Rejoice greatly, O’ daughter of Zion; shout, O’ daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, even upon a colt the foal of an ass,” (Zechariah 9:9)
Comment:
This was only a ‘prophecy‘ in Matthew’s wild imagination. Here “Matthew” or whoever wrote it did not understand the use of Hebrew poetic parallelism and thus misunderstood the text. Or he was using the Septuagint translation of the Hebrew. In any case, it’s no amazing prophecy awaiting fulfillment.
Matthew’s mistake is unique in that it shows many things.
a) It contradicts Mark who says Jesus rode only one colt.
b) Shows Matthew even in the most ancient manuscripts they have put words in Jesus’ mouth such as “untie THEM”, and “bring THEM.” Jesus had to ride two ass because Matthew thought this is what ‘prophecy’ fulfillment required from him.
“Then was fulfilled what had been said through Jeremiah the prophet, “ And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the value of a man with a price on his head, a price set by some of the Israelites, and they paid it out for the potter’s field just as the Lord had commanded me.” (Matthew 27:9-10)
Comment: This another example of those prophecies the Christians keep telling us about. Try as one might this statement is nowhere in Jeremiah.
The New American Bible had the following comment to say,
“Matthew’s attributing this text to Jeremiah is puzzling, for there is no such text in that book, and the thirty pieces of silver thrown by Judas ‘into the temple” recall rather Zechariah 11:12-13”
Source: (New American Bible pg 1058 commentary on Matthew 27)
AN EXAMPLE OF NUMBER 5
In the (King James Version) of the Bible we have.
“As it is WRITTEN IN THE PROPHETS, “Behold, I send My messenger before thy face, which shall prepare the way before thee. The voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.” (Mark 1:2-3)
However, Christians can’t hide this error forever. So now the (Revised Standard Version) which is the (corrected King James Version) has the following.
“As it is WRITTEN IN ISAIAH the prophet, “Behold I send my messenger before thy, face, who shall prepare they way” (Mark 1:1)
When you read your {foot notes} to (Mark1:2) it has (Malachi 3:1) meaning THIS IS ACTUALLY IN (MALACHI3:1)!
So there we have someone attributing to Isaiah that which was spoken in Malachi. This is no amazing ‘prophecy‘, just a biblical error!
CONCLUSION: Making any text of the Tanach (Old Testament) into a ‘prophecy‘ the way the New Testament writers did is not really hard to do. To show some examples we will take some text IGNORE THE CONTEXT and make some ‘prophecies‘ of our own.
MAKING BIBLICAL ‘PROPHECIES’ FUN, CREATIVE AND EASY TOO…
To show the reader that it is not very difficult to take passages out of context in the “Old Testament” and make them apply to Jesus I decided to see if I was any good at it. You the reader be the judge.
“And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man, thus fulfilling what was WRITTEN of him.” (Luke 2:52)
Well, I would then have a {foot note} that would say (Proverbs 3:4). You the Christian wanting to see the amazing ‘prophecy‘ fulfillment’ would turn to find.
“And you will find favor and understanding in the sight of God and man.” (Proverbs 3:4)
So That is fulfilled in Jesus. If not why not?
“And they all forsook him and fled thus fulfilling what was WRITTEN of him.” (Mark 14:50)
I would then have a {foot note} that would say (Isaiah 53:3). You the Christian wanting to see the amazing ‘prophecy’ fulfilled would turn to find:
“He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.” (Isaiah 53:3)
So that was fulfilled when the disciples all left Jesus. If not why not?
“Jesus wept thus fulfilling what the scripture said concerning him.” (John 11:35)
I would then have a {foot note} giving (Psalms 69:3). You the Christian wanting to see this amazing ‘prophecy’ fulfilled would than find:
” I am weary with my crying; my throat is parched. My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God.” (Psalms 69:3)
So this was fulfilled when Jesus wept. If not why not?
OVERALL CONCLUSION: THE BIBLE HAS BEEN ADULTERATED
The statements by Allah in the Qur’an about the Bible (as a whole) show it does not pass the test! The Bible did not meet the 5 points.
1) Anyone can make something like the Bible. The Christians are not even sure what is or what is not revealed. They have been duped into believing certain passages or books are God’s word(s) when they were not.
2) The Bible has not been preserved. The adding and taking away of books and passages show this. If it had been preserved none of these arguments would have come up among Christians. The fact they don’t have the ‘authentic‘ Bible but just ‘ancient‘ and ‘most ancient’ proves the point as well.
3) The ‘scriptures‘ do not eve claim to be of divine origin. They are very candid about the fact they are not.
4) Any book claiming to be from God should be free from contradictions; even one!
5) On the so-called ‘prophecies’ in the Bible once again their own ‘scripture‘ indicts them on forging scriptures (Jeremiah 8:8) and making up prophecies (Deuteronomy 13:1-3) and attributing them to God.
Is it not time to look at the glorious Qur’an? To put the Qur’an through the above criteria? To consider it’s sublime divine guidance for all of humanity? To consider last of all that it is a divine message for all mankind?
“And when they hear what has been revealed to the Messenger, you see their eyes overflowing with tears because of what they have recognized of the truth. They say, “Our Lord, we have believed, so register us among the witnesses.”(Qur’an 5:83)
Prima Quran 