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HINDUISM, SIKHISM AND ISLAM: ARE THESE GOD'S RELIGIONS

CHAPTER 9

Was the Bible Altered

 
According to Muslims, the Quran states that the Jews altered the scriptures. In support of their belief the cite the following verses:

[2.75]: Do you then hope that they [the Jews] would believe in you, and a party from among them indeed used to hear the Word of Allah, then altered it after they had understood it, and they know (this).

[3.78]: Most surely there is a party amongst those who distort the Book with their tongue that you may consider it to be (a part) of the Book, and they say, It is from Allah, while it is not from Allah, and they tell a lie against Allah whilst they know.

[4.46] Of those who are Jews (there are those who) alter words from their places and say: We have heard and we disobey and: Hear, may you not be made to hear! and: Raina, distorting (the word) with their tongues and taunting about religion; and if they had said (instead): We have heard and we obey, and hearken, and unzurna it would have been better for them and more upright; but Allah has cursed them on account of their unbelief, so they do not believe but a little.

[5.13] But on account of their breaking their covenant We cursed them and made their hearts hard; they altered the words from their places and they neglected a portion of what they were reminded of; and you shall always discover treachery in them excepting a few of them; so pardon them and turn away; surely Allah loves those who do good (to others).

Many in Islam interpret these verses to say that the Jews having altered the Scriptures and justify their rejection of the Bible that differs from the Quran. However, many scholars now question these beliefs. These verses merely refer to interpretation or twisting of the Jewish scriptures when the Jews talked about them, and not altering the written texts. Quran is merely claiming that the Bible was badly presented to them and not that it was altered. Scholars now cite other verses that affirm that the Old and New Testaments as existed in Muhammed’s days were authentic, and not altered by the Jews and Christians.

Here are verses in the Quran that lend show that Muhammed believed that the Bible was authentic:

[21.7] And We did not send before you any but men to whom We sent revelation, so ask the followers of the reminder if you do not know.

Allah would not send Muhammed to those who had the previous revelation, meaning the Bible, if it had been altered.

Imam Baydaoui, commenting on Sura 2:75 says, “…altered [distorted] means that they misunderstood it and explained it as they wished.”

In his commentary, Imam Bukhari explains Sura 4:46 as follows: “…to alter words from their [normal] place…means to interpret them in an evil way.”

In Sura 5:46, Allah says that the Bible contains light and guidance. If it had been altered at the time of Muhammed, the Quran would not say that it provided light and guidance.

[5.46] And We sent after them in their footsteps Isa, son of Marium, verifying what was before him of the Taurat [Torah] and We gave him the Injeel [New Testament of the Bible] in which was guidance and light, and verifying what was before it of Taurat and a guidance and an admonition for those who guard (against evil).

While new scholarship points out that the Quran does not state that the Bible was altered, but rather that it was misinterpreted or deliberately distorted when the Jews talked about it to the followers of Muhammed, the Quran often speaks favorably of the Bible. However, there is absolutely no denying the fact that the Quran attacks the central message of the Bible: the divinity of Jesus Christ, and His sacrifice for payment of the death penalty for humanity’s sins to make eternal life possible for human beings. Quran is deliberately lying to distort these truths to directly attack the credibility of the Bible. Even the salvation Islam offers its followers is totally different from what is offered in the Bible. Because of these differences, we have to conclude that the Quran is not the inspired word of God.

From hundreds of already fulfilled prophecies we have proved that the Bible is the inspired word of God. To further establish its credibility, let’s verify what the prophets, Jesus Christ, the apostles and even God’s loyal angels had to say about the truth of the Bible.

Opinion of Jesus, Prophets and Apostles about the Bible

Jesus said in John 17:17: “…your word is truth.” So, Jesus emphatically said that God’s word, the Old Testament in the Bible (which is what was available as scripture when Jesus Christ was alive) is the truth.

Jesus also said in Matthew 5:17-18: “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily [or assuredly] I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle [the equivalent of a full stop or a coma as punctuation marks] shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.”

Here Jesus was saying that everything written in the Old Testament, including punctuation marks, will be fulfilled. Therefore, it is the truth backed by Almighty God.  

Jesus also said in John 10:35: “If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken.” Here Jesus was saying that the scriptures cannot be broken, meaning that the scriptures are infallible. Certainly, Muslims do not believe that Jesus Christ would lie. By the time of Jesus, the Old Testament scriptures had been written and preserved for a time period varying from more than 1450 years when Moses delivered his first 5 books of the Bible to about 450 years since Malachi the prophet wrote his book. Jesus thus confirmed that the Old Testament had been faithfully preserved by the Jews till His time.

Here is what the prophet Daniel thought of the scriptures: “But I will show you that which is noted in the scripture of truth…” (Daniel 10:21). This was probably the archangel Gabriel talking to Daniel, and Daniel recorded what was revealed to him, because he knew it was the truth. Thus, even the archangels of God call the scriptures truth.  Certainly, Muslims cannot accuse the archangel Gabriel of lying. The archangel confirmed that the Old Testament scriptures written up to that time were the truth

The angels of God also keep the sayings of the Bible. The angel that was revealing parts of chapters 21 and 22 of the book of Revelation to the Apostle John said in Revelation 22:6-9: “6 And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true: and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to show unto his servants the things which must shortly be done . 7 Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keeps the sayings of the prophecy of this book. 8 And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which showed me these things. 9 Then says he unto me, See you do it not: for I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God.”

When the prophecies in the Book of Revelation were revealed to John, all other books of the Bible had already been written and the final compilation already done by John the Apostle. When the angel said that he was a fellow servant like the prophets and kept the sayings of this book, he also signified that the canonization of books that John had done were also scripture. Thus, the angel signified that the New Testament of the Bible had been completed, and he as an angel of God kept the sayings of the entire Bible as they were faithful and true. As the angel had signified to Daniel the prophet that the Old Testament scriptures were the truth, the angel was now signifying to John the apostle that the New Testament that he had finally canonized with the book of Revelation was the truth and even he as an angel of God lived by its words. Besides Jesus Christ, what greater testimony can we have than that of God’s angels that the entire Bible is the true word of God?

The apostle Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:16-17: “All scripture [meaning the Old Testament and the New Testament, as we will see how the Bible was canonized] is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” The literal translation in place of ‘inspiration of God’ is “God-breathed.” So according to Paul, the entire Bible is God breathed, or inspired by God.

In Romans 1:2 Paul calls the scriptures ‘holy.’

Peter the apostle shows in 2 Peter 1:20-21 that God had an active hand in the writing of the Bible. He said that “No prophecy [which means ‘inspired speaking or writing’] of Scripture ever came by the will of man. Instead, holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.”

Thus, from the words of Jesus, the prophets, the apostles and even God’s angels, the scriptures, the entire Holy Bible is the true, inspired and infallible word of God.

How Was the Bible Written and Preserved

Another important question for us to consider is: How was the Bible written and preserved for us through thousands of years?

Romans 3:1-2 states: “1 What advantage then has the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision? 2 Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God.”

These verses say that God gave the Jews the responsibility of preserving the oracles of God. Oracles means “all the written utterances of God through the Old Testament writers.” Note that God said the Jews were responsible for the preservation of the Bible, not the interpretation of it. In the New Testament, Christ often rejected the Jews’ interpretations. After His death, the elders met together and used God’s Holy Spirit to make judgments as described in the apostles’ conference in Acts 15 to discuss the circumcision question.

The Jewish scribes were extremely careful and reverent in preserving the Bible. If they found even one error in a copy from the original, the copy was burnt rather than corrections being made to it. They also kept statistics such as identifying the total number of words in various books, the middle words, and the total words in the whole Old Testament and the middle words etc. so as to provide another way to verify no changes crept in from the original text.

Old Testament Canonization

Now let us take a brief look at how the Old Testament of the Bible was canonized. Moses wrote the first five books, called the Law in Deuteronomy 31:9. 24-26. Kings of Israel and Judah were to write personal copies of the law as stated in Deuteronomy 17:14, 18. So kings were involved in the preservation of the Scriptures.

Prophets, including Samuel, Nathan, and Gad also wrote parts of the Old Testament, as I Samuel 10:25 and I Chronicles 29:29 mention. King David wrote many of the psalms, specially the first 72 of them. King Solomon wrote the Book of Ecclesiastes (Ecclesiastes 1:1), the Song of Solomon (1.1) and most of the book of Proverbs (1.1; Ecclesiastes 12:9-11). King Hezekiah appears to have overseen the collection and preservation of some of the books as Proverbs 25:1states.

Jeremiah wrote the Book of Lamentations on the death of Josiah as 2 Chronicles 35:24-25 mentions.

Ezra and Nehemiah probably did the final editing, adding observations such as Deuteronomy 34:10 which says that a prophet like Moses had not arisen in Israel. Names of towns and cities change over time. So more modern names were used by the editors than what the original authors wrote.

New Testament Canonization

In Matthew 24:35 Jesus Christ said, “My words will by no means pass away.” If Jesus Christ’s words were not to pass away, how could they be preserved? There are limitations to passing His words on orally. They get distorted. The best way to preserve Jesus’ words was to write them down.

Matthew 28:19-20 says converts to Christianity were to be taught to observe ALL THINGS Jesus had commanded. Some say that Paul’s doctrine superseded all other apostles’ doctrine. But Acts 2:42 refutes this idea. It says the Church “continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship. The apostles here includes the 12 disciples of Jesus Christ who became apostles.

The gospels were written in the mid-60s, but were already considered scripture by Paul.  For proof, see Luke 10:7. It states: “And in the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give: for the laborer is worthy of his hire.” Now compare with I Timothy 5:18: “For the scripture says, You shall not muzzle the ox that treads out the corn. And, the laborer is worthy of his hire [or reward.]  The phrase ‘the laborer is worthy of his hire’ is not written in the Old Testament. It is found in Luke 10:7, but Paul is already considering and quoting the gospel of Luke in I Timothy 5:18 as scripture. This proves that the gospels were considered scripture.

In 2 Peter 1:12, 15, Peter said he wrote his epistles so that people would have a “reminder” of things after his death. He knew that he was writing scripture and that it would be preserved as such for all Christians afterwards. The reminder of things comes to us from Peter’s writings.

2 Peter 3:15-16 says people twisted Paul’s writings as they did the rest of the scriptures.  Here Peter is already equating Paul’s writings with Scripture.

In 2 Timothy 4:11-13 Paul asked timothy to bring the “books”, especially the “parchments”, indicating that he was compiling Scripture. Thus, Paul and Peter were involved in writing the Scriptures and Paul compiled, or canonized them. The final book of the Bible was written by the apostle John. Therefore, the final canonization of the New Testament was done by the apostle John. The canonization of the Old and New Testaments was not done by committees of scholars as critics claim

The final editing of the Old Testament was done by Ezra and Nehemiah. Compilation of the New Testament was done by the Apostle Paul, with the final compilation being done by the apostle John.

God’s true Church does not recognize the Apocrypha as part of the canon for the following reasons. Firstly, Jesus and the writers of the New Testament never quoted from any of these books but did from almost all the other Old Testament books.  Secondly, the Jewish historian Josephus who lived from about 30 A.D. to 100 A.D. explicitly excludes them and says there were 22 books in the Old Testament. In the Jewish Old Testament count of 22 books all minor prophets are included as one book and the books of Samuel and Kings are included as one book. Thirdly, Jewish scholars of Jamnia in 90 A.D. did not recognize the Apocrypha. Finally, it wasn’t until A.D. 1546, in a polemical action at the Counter Reformation Council of Trent, that these books received full canonical status by the Catholic Church.   

Jesus and the original apostles did not recognize the Apocrypha as scripture. God’s Church also does not consider any additional books such as the Quran or the Book of Mormon to be Scripture and equal with the Bible because: First, 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says that the Scriptures given by God in the bible are sufficient that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. Secondly, Revelation 22:18 says, “…If any man shall add to these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book.’ This means that Revelation was to be the final book of the Bible. And finally, the books of Genesis and Revelation seem to be bookends for the rest of the Bible. According to the Companion Bible Appendix # 3, there are 30 parallels between these two books showing that the Bible is a whole, complete book.

In summary then according to Sidney Collett’s “All About the Bible”, 20th Edition, p. 11, “Altogether about 40 persons, in all stations of life, were engaged in the writing of these oracles, the work of which was spread over a period of about 1,600 years.” In spite of all these writers over hundreds of years, the Bible has a consistent plan throughout.

Many have written against the Bible as God’s word. These types of arguments usually falsely claim that the Bible contradicts itself, that the people in the Bible didn’t really exist, and that the Jews wrote the book to enhance their national reputation.

Josh McDowell’s Evidence that Demands a Verdict has some quotes refuting this kind of thinking:

On p. 55-56 he says that 40 different kings are listed in correct order in the Old Testament. He says that the odds of that being right are incredible if the Bible were fraudulent. The chances are I in 75 followed by 22 zeros.

On page 58 he talks about the Dead Sea Scrolls. In these scrolls the Book of the prophet Isaiah is intact and dates to 125 B.C. Out of the 166 words in Isaiah 53, only 3 letters (one word) differ from the Massoretic text of A.D. 916.  And he says on page 141 that Messianic prophecies in the Old Testament number in the 100s, showing the great need for a New Testament.

Reliability of the Old Testament - importance of the Dead Sea Scrolls

The Dead Sea Scrolls provide a glimpse of the amazing accuracy of the transmission of the text of the Old Testament through the millennia. The Dead Sea Scrolls are collectively composed of some 900 documents that contain, besides other religious literature, sections of the entire Hebrew Bible except for the book of Esther. The scrolls range in date from the third century B.C. to the first century A.D.

When these manuscripts were discovered in various caves of the northwestern region of the Dead Sea close to Qumran, a site most archaeologists believe was a community of Essene Jews, scholars wondered how many discrepancies would be found between them and the Old Testament text used for the translation of our modern Bibles, a text whose oldest copies date to the 10th century A.D. More than 1,000 years elapsed between the two versions. How well would they conform?

Incredibly, when the two versions were compared, researchers found that they uncannily matched—virtually word for word. For example, the Dead Sea Scroll containing the entire book of Isaiah, some 26 feet long, was compared to the 10th-century version of the Masoretic Text, which is the basis for our modern Old Testament.  The researchers found it to match in virtually every instance.

Notes Bible scholar Gleason Archer: "Even though the two copies of Isaiah discovered in Qumran Cave 1 near the Dead Sea in 1947 were a thousand years earlier than the oldest dated manuscript previously known (A.D. 980), they proved to be word for word identical with our standard Hebrew Bible in more than 95 percent of the text. The 5 percent of variation consisted chiefly of obvious slips on the pen and variations in spelling…They do not affect the message of revelation in the slightest" (A Survey of Old Testament Introduction, 1974, p. 25).

This is the greatest contribution the Dead Sea Scrolls have made to biblical scholarship.  They have confirmed the reliability of the Old Testament text we now possess in our Bibles. "Critical scholars," states Garry Brantley, "questioned the accuracy of the MT [Masoretic Text], which formed the basis of our English versions of the Old Testament, since there was such a large chronological gap between it and the autographs [original documents]. Because of this uncertainty, scholars often 'corrected' the text with considerable freedom.

"Qumran, however, has provided remains of an early Masoretic edition predating the Christian era on which the traditional MT [Masoretic Text] is based. A comparison of the [Masoretic Text] to this earlier text revealed the remarkable accuracy with which scribes copied the sacred texts. Accordingly, the integrity of the Hebrew Bible was confirmed, which generally has heightened its respect among scholars and drastically reduced textual alteration" ("The Dead Sea Scrolls and Biblical Integrity," Reason & Revelation online journal, April 1995, ApologeticsPress.org).

In fact, the Masoretic Text we possess today has been found to be more carefully transmitted than the Dead Sea Scrolls version! When compared, the largest Isaiah Dead Sea Scroll was found to have more spelling errors—and this is generally the case when comparing the Masoretic Text and the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Reliability of the New Testament

What about the New Testament text?  How accurate is it? 

First consider the number of New Testament manuscripts available today in whole or in part as compared to the number of manuscripts of the classical Greek and Roman writers. The late F. F. Bruce, professor of theology at the University of Manchester, stated about the number of manuscripts available for ancient historical works:

For Caesar’s Gallic War (composed between 58 and 50 BC) there are several extant MSS [manuscripts], but only nine or ten are good, and the oldest is some 900 years later than Caesar’s day. Of the 142 books of the Roman History of Livy (59 BC – AD 17) only thirty-five survive, these are known to us from not more than twenty MSS of any consequence, only one of which, and that containing fragments of Books iii-vi, is as old as the fourth century. Of the fourteen books of the Histories of Tacitus (c. AD 100) only four and a half survive; of the sixteen books of his Annals, ten survive in full and two in part. The text of these extant portions of his two great historical works depend entirely on two MSS, one of the ninth century and one of the eleventh. The extant MSS of his minor works Dialogus de Oratoribus, Agricola, Germania all descend from a codex of the tenth century. The History of Thucydides (c. 460-400 BC) is known to us from eight MSS, the earliest belonging to AD 900, and a few papyrus scraps, belonging to about the beginning of the Christian era. The same is true of the History of Herodotus (c. 480-425 BC).

We are talking here about no more than 2 to 20 manuscripts surviving today of all these classical works, the earliest being dated more than 1,300 years after the original manuscripts were penned. Yet no classical scholar would listen to an argument that the authenticity of Herodotus or Thucydides is in doubt because the earliest MSS of their works which are of any use to us are over 1,300 years later than the originals (1960, 15-17).

Compare the number of manuscripts of these classical works surviving to the available surviving manuscripts, whole or in fragments of the New Testament. More than 5,300 Greek manuscripts survive today. Some of these ancient manuscripts date from just decades or just a century from the end of the New Testament canon by John the Apostle in the early to mid-90s A.D. Then besides the 5,300 Greek manuscripts there are tens of thousands of manuscripts of the earliest translations of the Bible. With all this mountain of evidence for the New Testament writings, in the words of Professor F.F. Bruce: “…if the New Testament were a collection of secular writings, their authenticity would generally be regarded as beyond all doubt.”

But there has been no book or writing whose authenticity has been more questioned and critically examined than the Bible. With the mountain of evidence supporting the authenticity of the New Testament as compared to the classical ancient Greek and Roman works, secular historians, not theologians, but historians have been much more willing to accept the authenticity of the New Testament. Most of those less ready to accept the authenticity of the New Testament have been theologians. That should give us a clue. These theologians have an agenda, which is to turn people away from the only true God and His instructional manual for mankind, the Holy Bible. That is their main business: to endlessly invent arguments in order to deceive people into believing that the Bible is inaccurate, and hence not God’s word; just as the theory of evolution has been beaten to dust, but its advocates still continue to spew out trash on a daily basis in order to deceive humans.

Because of the never-ending criticism of these masquerading theologians, genuine Bible scholars have been forced to examine the evidence for the authenticity of the New Testament over the past century or so. They have done a stellar job of nailing the lies and accusations of these masquerading theologians. In the process our understanding of God’s word and the mind of God have been immensely enriched.

Here then is the opinion of genuine honest scholars of the New Testament. From the thousands of ancient copies or portions of copies known, 98 percent of the New Testament texts agree. The variations that do exist are mostly spelling errors or scribal additions that are easily discarded.

Here is how Wayne Jackson writing for the Christian Courier summarizes this evidence:

“The accumulation of manuscript evidence has been so vast and the work of the scientific textual critic so precise, that we may express complete confidence in the reliability of the New Testament text. While it is true that some minor manuscript variations exist, they are negligible.

“Westcott and Hort felt that the significantly debatable portions of the New Testament text could hardly amount to more than a thousandth part of the whole—the equivalent of a little more than half a page in the Greek New Testament (as stated in Henry C. Thiessen in Introduction to the New Testament; 1955, 77).

“Let me emphasize how impressive this fact really is. The New Testament documents have been in existence almost nineteen hundred years. For fifteen of these centuries they were replicated solely by hand. In spite of this, there are only some twelve to twenty significant textual variations in the entire New Testament, and none of these affect an important doctrinal matter.

“On the other hand, consider the works of William Shakespeare. These writings have existed less than four centuries (and since the invention of the printing press) and yet:  [I]n every one of Shakespeare’s thirty-seven plays there are probably a hundred readings still in dispute, a large number of which materially affect the meaning of the passages in which they occur” (H.L. Hastings in The Corruption of the New Testament, A Square Talk About the Inspiration of the Bible. Boston, MA: H. L. Hastings, 1890, 13).

As the great text scholar Sir Frederic Kenyon noted after examining both the Old and New Testament texts (and it holds true even more so today), "The Christian can take the whole Bible in his hand and say without fear or hesitation that he holds in it the true word of God, handed down without essential loss from generation to generation throughout the centuries" (Our Bible and Ancient Manuscripts, 1939, p. 23).

Two Types of Errors

Two types or errors in transmission of texts can occur.  One is the errors of transmission in the original languages; and the second is the errors in translations. The errors in translations can be easily examined and discarded by referring to the reliable texts in the original languages. One example of such an error is in Acts 12:4: “4 And when he [Herod] had apprehended him [Peter], he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people.” In this verse the word translated Easter is pascha, which no scholar disputes that it should be translated Passover. So “Easter” is a mistranslation. Genuine scholars can easily identify such errors from the original Greek texts and discard them. Many modern translations have already corrected this error.

Second type of error is variations in the transmission of the text through the centuries in scribal errors or spelling mistakes. We have examined the evidence for these types of errors and the evidence shows that there are no material errors that affect doctrine.  Spelling errors can be easily discarded.

One such error is found in 1 John 5:7-8: “7 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. 8 And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.” These verses are often cited in support of the Trinity doctrine.

The words “in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. 8 And there are three that bear witness in earth…” are a spurious addition to the inspired text.

Here is what Dr. Norman Geisler and Thomas Howe state about these verses in The Big Book of Bible Difficulties (2008, pp.540-541): "This verse has virtually no support among the early Greek manuscripts…Its appearance in late Greek manuscripts is based on the fact that Erasmus was placed under ecclesiastical pressure to include it in his Greek NT of 1522, having omitted it in his two earlier editions of 1516 and 1519 because he could not find any Greek manuscripts which contained it."

Theology professors Anthony and Richard Hanson, in their book Reasonable Belief: A Survey of the Christian Faith, explain the unwarranted addition to the text this way: "It was added by some enterprising person or persons in the ancient Church who felt that the New Testament was sadly deficient in direct witness to the kind of doctrine of the Trinity which he favored and who determined to remedy that defect…It is a waste of time to attempt to read Trinitarian doctrine directly off the pages of the New Testament" (1980, p. 171).

The inspired words of 1 John 5:7-8 in hundreds of the oldest Greek texts and now correct in many modern translations should read: "In fact there are three witnesses, the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three are in agreement" (Revised English Bible). These words refer to the witness of Jesus Christ being the Son of God and salvation possibly only through water baptism, acceptance of the sacrifice and blood of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of one’s sins, and then receiving the gift of God’s holy spirit to live a Christian life of overcoming sin.

So what is the lesson in all this for humanity! The masquerading theologians with all their Satan inspired diabolical cunning have questioned the authenticity of the Bible in every possible way. Genuine theologians have been led as a result to critically examine every aspect of the Bible themselves. They have compared the transmission of the Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek texts, and have critically examined the translated texts.

They have determined that most of the errors are obvious spelling errors and other slips of the pen which can be easily discarded. The remaining minor variations in the Old Testament texts do not affect the message at all. In the New Testament, after spelling and other obvious errors are discarded, the variations in question in the original Greek Texts amount to no more than half a page in the entire Bible. And these variations do not affect any doctrine at all. These mistranslations and spurious additions have been identified, critically examined and commented on. That is why genuine Bible scholars have concluded time and time again as quoted earlier: “The Christian can take the whole Bible in his hand and say without fear or hesitation that he holds in it the true word of God, handed down without essential loss from generation to generation throughout the centuries."

The authenticity of the Bible has been questioned in many other ways. Here are other ways the critics have been proven wrong.

Bible and Archaeology

Many critics questioned the existence of empires and individuals mentioned in the Bible.  But the spade of archaeology has proved the accuracy of the Bible and its historical details. Archaeology proved the existence of the mighty Assyrian Empire and its capital Nineveh, existence of ancient Israel and its interactions with Egypt, existence of Bible personalities like Kings David, Ahab, Hezekiah, Manasseh, Jehu, Omri, Josiah, Uzziah, Zedekiah, many other kings and officials of Judah, Israel, ancient Assyria, Babylon and Persia. In addition, the existence of many New Testament personalities such as Anna the high priest, Caiaphas the high priest, Pontius Pilate, Herod the Great, Sergius Paulus and emperors of Rome has also been confirmed by archaeology.

The only conclusion we can draw can be stated in the words of archaeologist Nelson Glueck: "It may be stated categorically that no archaeological discovery has ever controverted a Biblical reference. Scores of archaeological findings have been made which confirm in clear outline or in exact detail historical statements in the Bible. And, by the same token, proper valuation of Biblical descriptions has often led to amazing discoveries" (Rivers in the Desert: A History of the Negev, 1959, p. 31).

Bible and Astronomy

A further proof of divine inspiration of the Bible is that it is in perfect harmony with the observations of astronomy. Theologians had endorsed the treatise by the sixth-century monk Cosmas...who...held that the world was a flat, rectangular plane... (William Manchester, A World Lit Only by Fire, 1993, p. 89"). But through observations and the use of mathematical tables, Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus concluded that the earth is not a disk about which the sun rotates; rather it is a sphere revolving around the sun.

But the Bible had given an accurate description of the earth thousands of years before Copernicus’ discovery. In the oldest book in the Bible, about 3,600 – 3,700 years ago Job wrote: “He [meaning God] hangs the earth on nothing.”  This was written thousands of years before astronomer and physicist Isaac Newton discovered the invisible laws of gravity that showed the earth truly is suspended "on nothing." Job knew this more than 3,600 years ago.

Some accuse biblical authors of believing in a flat earth because of the references to the "four corners" of the earth in Isaiah 11:12 and Revelation 20:8. But this is an expression that simply designates the four points of the compass. When we use the expression “four corners of the earth” today, we DO mean going north, south, east and west to gather information or search for something.

About 2,700 years ago, the prophet Isaiah wrote in Isaiah 40:22 that God "sits above the circle of the earth," showing that the earth was round.  So by using the expression “four corners of the earth” in Isaiah 11:12, the prophet was not implying that the earth is a flat rectangular plane.   

With this evidence, scholars are led to conclude that there are no errors of scientific or historical fact in the Bible, and it has not been altered. Bible is indeed the inspired word of God. Muslims need to give up the lies they have been led to believe about the Bible and the Quran.

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