The word bible comes from the greek biblia meaning books’†it is a collection of many books which form the foundation of Christian believes ,admittedly they have been written by a large numbers authors, known and unkown, but those authors are believed to have been inspired by god and they wrote the books under the supervision of god. Hence the bible is referred to as the word of god , the catholic bible ,however is somewhat different from the protestant bible .the former(catholic) consists 73 books while the latter (protestant)has only 66 books:
In general the bible is divided in to two main portion ,the old testament which was written before the advent of jesus christ . and new testament which was written after jesus Christ and describes the life and teaching of jesus Christ and the activities of his disciples or apostles, in spreading Christian faith, the new testament contains also the letters addressed to various Christian groups and individuals.these letters were written mostly by paul,a jew who converted to Christianity and became the chief exponent of the Christian faith as it is known today. He has at times described the true founder of modern Christianity “
The books of old testament in their present form were probably written after the return of the jews from the Babylonian captivity after 536 bc. Those new testament were collected and accepted as a legal in the fourth century after jesus Christ (about 367 ad) besides the four gospels which are in the bible there are a number of other gospels which were not accepted by the church elders,and some of them are available even today .
The books which could have formed part of bible,indeed were and are accepted by some Christians, but which the main body of the Christian church rejected are called=apocrypha= a greek word meaning =hidden= but which now has wrongly been understood as meaning false not genuine†the officially accepted books are calledâ€Âcanonicalâ€Âit is these canonical books of the bible which are regarded as the word of god†so what can we say if some one ask us =do you accept the bible as god,s word?
Before we muslims answer this question let us see what the Christian scholars say “
Dr. w. graham scroggie of the moody bible institute =Chicago= and one of the most prestigious Christian evangelical mission in the world answering question =is the bible god,s word (also the title of his book) under the heading :it is human ,yet divine, he says on page 17=yes the bible is human though some ,out of a zeal which is not according to knowledge have denies this ,those books have passed through the minds of men,are written in the language of men ,were penned by the hands of men ,and bear in their style the characteristics of men “
Another erudite Christian scholar, kenneth cragg ,the Anglican bishop of Jerusalem says on page 277 of his book ,the call of minaretâ€Ânot so the new testament there is condensation and editing ,there is choice ,reproduction and witness, the gospel have come through the mind of the church behind the authors.they represent experience and historyâ€Â
If words have any meaning , do we need to add another words of comment to prove our case ?
No.but the professional propagandists,after letting the cat out of bag ,still have proved beyond the shadow of any doubt that the bible is the irrefragable word of god.
Both doctors are telling us in the clearest language humanly possible that the bible is the handiwork of man ,all the while pretending that they are proving to the contrary ,an old arab saying goes=if such are the priests god bless the congregationâ€Â
But always there is dogged question ,when the muslim prove his point from the Christian,s own holy scripture and when the professional priest ,person or predikant cannot refute the arguments-the inevitable Christian evasion is-do you believe or accept the bible as god,s word? On the face of it the question seems an easy one but a simple yes or no cannot be given as an answer,you see one has first to explain one,s position but the Christian will not give one the opportunity . he gets impatient â€Âanswerâ€Âyes or no “he insist†I think the readers will readily agree that things are not always either black or white .between these two extremes there are various shades of grey if you say yes to his question ,than it would mean that you are prepared to swallow every thing hook line and sinker ,from genesis to revelation from his bible,if you respond with noâ€Âhe quickly unhooks himself from the facts you have presented ,and rallies support from his co-religionist in the audience with “you see this man does not believe in the bible ‘what right has he to expound his case from our book?
We muslims have no hesitation in acknowledging that in the bible there are three different kinds of witnessing recognizable with out any need of specialzed training.
First type:youwill be able to recognize in the bible what may be described as the word of god: example-I will raise them up a prophet – and I will put my words in—and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command himâ€ÂDeuteronomy 18:18
B) I even I am the lord and besides me there is no saviorâ€ÂIsaiah 43:11
c) look unto me and be ye saved ,all the end of the earth :for I am god and there is none else:†Isaiah 45:22) without any difficult you will agree that above references and statements seem to have the sound of being god,s word
second type :you will also be able to discern what can be described as the words of a prophet of god :exampleâ€Âa) jesus cried with loud voice saying eli’eli lama :matthew 27:46
b)and jesus answered him the first of all the commandment is hear ,o Israel ,the lord our god is one lordïŠmark:12-29)
c)and the jesus said unto him why callest thou me good there is none good but one that is god:mark-10-18)even child will be able to affirm that jesus cried,jesus answered ,and jesus said
third type:you will most readily observe that the bulk of the bible is the records of eye witnesses or ear witnesses or people writing from hearsay as such they are the words of historianâ€Âexampleâ€Âand seeing a fig tree afar o having leaves he (jesus)came if haply he(jesus)might find anything thereon,and when he(jesus)came to it he (jesus) found nothing but leavesâ€Â’’ mark 11:13)†the bulk of the bible is a witnesses of this third
for the muslim it is quite easy to distinguish the above typs of evidence contained separate books “example)first kind “the words of god-is found in a book called=the holy qu,ra
the second typeâ€Âthe words of the prophet of god(Mohamed peace and blessing of allah be upon him)are recorded in the books of tradition called=the hadithâ€Âlikeâ€Âbukhari,muslim,termidi,abu da,ud,ibnu majah and othersâ€Â
the third typeâ€Âevidence of the third kind abounds in different volume of Islamic history written by some of high integrity and learning and others of lesser thrusworthiness and found in a books called =the history books “like†ibnu is,haq,ibnu jariir atabary,ibnu katheer,waghidi and others,the muslim keeps the above three types of evidence jealously apart in their proper gradation of authority ,he neverequates them,on the other hand the bible contains a motley type of literature,which composes the embarrassing kind, the sordid and the obscene-all under the same cover-a Christian is forced to concede equal spiritual import and authority to all and is thus unfortunate in this regard and that is why the Christians are facing to main problem
1-multiple bible versionsâ€Âlet us analyze the Christian,s claim about his holy book “
As we mention before catholic bible consists 73 books while the protestant has only 66 books and catholics believe that the protestants have mutilated the books of god and the protestants believe that the catholics have mutilated the books of god so why multiple bible version?
2-the books christenedâ€Âwhy according to ? what about so-called new testament?why does every gospel begin with introduction-according to-according to ?the gospel is a frequently –used word but what gospel did jesus preach? The Christians boast about the gospelaccording st luke,according st matthew ,according st mark,according st john but there is not single gospel according to jesus himselfâ€Â†why according to†because not a single one of the vaunted four thousand copies extant carries its author’s autograph ,hence the supposition “according to “even the internal evidence proves that the matthew was not the author of the first gospel which bears his nameâ€Â†and as jesus passed forth thence ,he(jesus)saw a man ,named matthew,setting at the receipt of custom and he (jesus)saith unto him(matthew)follow me(jesus) and he (matthew)arose and followed him(jesus): matthew 9:19
Without any stretch of the imagination one can see that the he’s and him’s of the above narration do not refer to jesus or matthew as its author but some third person writing what he saw and heard –a hearsay account .if we cannot even attribute this book of dreams “(as the first gospel is also describe)to the disciple matthew,how can we accept it as the word of god ?
The question before us is “do you accept that the bible is god’s word? The question is really in the form of a challenge ,the questioner is not simply seeking enlightenment ,the question is posed in the spirit of a debate .we have every right to demand in a similar vein-which bible are you talking about?
It is unfortunate that jesus Christ has left for us nothing as authoritative as the prophet Mohamed has done.in the qur,an the teaching of islam in their unsullied purity .we do not find the same in the gospels the latter may be compared to the traditions of the prophet(sunna or the hadith)of the saying and actions of jesus as reported in the bible there are admittedly many which are spurious ,false,just as there were established and weak and false were weeded out ,it is undeniable that attempts were made for sectarian and other divisive reasons to fake saying and attribute them to the prophet,â€Â
Impartial criticism would have to admit ,however,that there was much more scientific methodology when the prophet,s traditions came to be collected and shifted than there has been at the adoption of the canonical gospels :â€Â’th great muslim scholars who devoted their lives collecting the traditions of the prophet made their best endeavors using strictly scientific standars to verify the genuine traditions.but even their best endeavors and their scientific methods were after all humen and not infallible.fortunatly there is the qur,an whose authenticity has never been questioned by friend or foe ,that is unshakable foundation of islam on which the tents of the faith are based,it is the final criterionof the genuineness of any tradition and the rock on which the structure of islam has been built
I would appeal to both my muslim brothers and sisters who know very little of Christianity ,and to my Christian friends who know next to nothing about true islam (and true Christianity for that matter)to come along in the research for the truth ,we will find it,for the truth is the house that has been founded upon the rock and the rain shall fall and the winds shall blow but the house shall not fall ’::â€Ââ€Ââ€Â
Allah(god) say’s in the holy qur,an
“and we verily gave moses the scripture,that haply they might go aright and we made the son of mary and his mother a portent and we gave them a refuge on a hight,a place of flocks and water spring.o ye messengersâ€Âeat of the good things ;and do right .lo†I am aware of what ye do and loâ€Âthis your religion is one religion and I am your lord so keep your duty unto me but they (mankind)have broken their religionamong them into sects,each sect rejoicing in its tents so leave them in their error till a time “23â€Â49-54
Let us not keep wandering in error when the straight path is clear before us
Nasradiin32 -dirir114@hotmail.com
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