When Muslims attack the Bible for having many different versions?

[brandonmorris]

This has probably already been answered, but for the sake of repetition I feel inclined to post.

Suppose the Catholic Church did not fear God, and they collected all the manuscripts by an edict, so that all copies of the OT and NT were rounded up in the 10th century. The monks then decided to write one official copy and then having no fear of God set out to burn and destroy all copies that had minor inscriptions that crept in. Would we then from the 10th century onward to this day say, “Wow the Bible must be true because there is only a single copy”? Well we don’t say that about any other book.

The above fictional story about the Catholic Church is just that fictional, but the same cannot be said about Muslims and the Quran. Caliph Uthman in I think the 7th century or abouts did have all varying manuscripts rounded up. Because there was actually contradictions. It would be similar to adding the Gnostic writings to the cannon of scripture. After Caliph had an “official” copy he, who did not fear God, burned all other copies. It is only out of their ignorance of their own pronounced sacred writings and history they could ever make such a claim.

You have an interesting point of view concerning this matter but one thing to consider is that through out theage of the written Christian Scripture the Catholic church can make claim of always having the same common translations and books always having been used.It was up to theProtestant Reformation with Martin Luther and other Schimatics that took up to make translations to fit their ideas or teachings .We do also have the Authority of the Magesterium the teachings of the Apostles handed down from their own mouths.

 

[Brendan_64]

Of course most Muslims don’t interpret them that way, just like most folks don’t interpret the old testament versus as instructions for the present either. They simply see them in the context of the war that they were in at the time.

But it is not the same. The Bible is not a book composed of ways in which believers should live, we are not told that we have to emulate the actions of people in the Bible. As Christians we are called live our lives as Christ taught, and in the Old Testament there are laws that apply to the Jews (as God’s chosen people) and also some that we see as foundations for Christ’s teaching. But the Bible is not a book primarily made up of laws and models of behaviour that we should follow,

The Quran is different in that it is viewed as the actual word of God dictated verbatum to Muhammed by the angel Gabriel. It is not a historical account, it is a book of instructions on how believers should behave.

The Quran is one book written with the purpose of instructing believers on how they should behave. The Bible is a collection of many books with many different purposes. Muslims view the Quran is the actual word of God dictated word for word. Christians do not view the Bible as the actual word of God, but as accounts written by men inspired by the Holy Spirit. That is makes a big difference with regard to whether interpretation can be applied to what has been written.

 

[gmcbroom]

If a Muslim attacks the bible just tell them that Mohammed affirmed all prophets and scriptures old and New Testament he didn’t cherry pick verses. He strongly condemned those who did. So if the Old Testament and New Testament are different than the korans then that means the Koran is a lie.

 

[Brendan_64]

If a Muslim attacks the bible just tell them that Mohammed affirmed all prophets and scriptures old and New Testament

That is very interesting, I did not know this, nor do the Muslims who have spoken to me on this issue. What is your basis for saying that?

 

[gmcbroom]

The is a website called bible studying.net. They discuss the issue and give the page numbers that show where Mohammed affirms the prophets and scriptures with no distinction. He does this to valid his claim as a prophet. It is a very interesting website.

 

[gmcbroom]

Syrah 2:136 and makes no distinction among the prophets hence Mohammed believes in all of them.

Syrah 2:283 makes no distinction among the apostles either. So that means no cherry picking verses.

 

[gmcbroom]

Now the Koran also warns against taking Jews and Christians as friends lest you become one of them. Syrah 5:51 first paragraph. This is isolates any Muslim curious about the Jews or Christians and how or we understand our scriptures. So if our scriptures are different than what the Koran says they’ll never know it.

 

[Brendan_64]

Syrah 2:136 and makes no distinction among the prophets hence Mohammed believes in all of them.

Syrah 2:283 makes no distinction among the apostles either. So that means no cherry picking verses.

They will still argue that our scriptures have been altered and corrupted over time and will say that we have not kept to the original text. They will say that changing language alters meaning and that even today there are many different versions of the Bible in existence at the same time with different ways of writing the same parts of scripture, even in the same language. It is a difficult point to get around.