Muslim Christian Dialogue

2. The Holy Bible

THE HOLY BIBLE

M. Okay. Are you sure that the Bible is God's word?

C. Yes, I am very sure it is God's Word.

M. Read what Luke said about his recording in 1: 2 & 3.

C. "Even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word. It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus."

M. Ponder carefully. Luke says here that he himself was not an eyewitness. The knowledge he gathered was from eyewitnesses and not as words inspired by God. How can the Bible be God's word from hearsay?

C. Maybe only this part is not God's word.

M. History has shown that the Bible suffered changes throughout the ages. As I stated before, from 1538 up to the 1970's it has undergone dozens of changes and there are dozens of versions of the Bible. You know that there cannot be different versions of God's word. The last two major changes made to the Revised Standard Version were in 1952 and 1971. The New American Standard Bible and the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures have expunged certain verses compared with the King James Version. Reader's Digest has reduced the Old Testament by fifty percent and the New Testament condensed by about twenty-five percent. Some years ago Christian theologians wanted to "desex" the Bible. Some Christian Theologians claim: "It is human as well as divine." This is a clear contradiction as it cannot be both! From the above facts it is clear that the Bible is "Human" and not "Divine". Does "holy" to you mean that the Bible is free from error?

C. Yes. But what kind of error do you mean?

M. Examples: The Bible states in Genesis that vegetation was created first and then the sun was created. This is clearly unscientific! Vegetation cannot grow without sunlight. Another example: Suppose one verse states that a certain person died at the age of fifty years and another verse states that the same person had died at the age of sixty years, can both statements be right?

C. Definitely not! Both statements can never be right. Only one can be right or both are wrong.

M. Right! If a holy book contains conflicting verses, do you still consider it holy?

C. Of course not, because a Holy Scripture is a revelation from God and it is impossible for it to contain mistakes, contradictions or conflicting verses. God is perfect!

M. Then it's not holy again.

C. Right! Its holiness disappears.

M. Agreed! So you can't trust it one hundred percent. What could be the causes then?

C. It could be a mistake in the recording; deliberate changes by scribes; deletions or additions.

M. If I show you conflicting verses in the Bible, would you still consider it holy?

C. I don't believe that the Bible is not holy, since I don't see any conflicting verses in it.

M. There are many conflicting verses in it.

C. In the Old or New Testament?

M. In both Testaments. These are just a few of them. But I want to remind you that you must not differentiate between the Old & New Testament as Jesus stated time and again that he did not come to change the Law. Otherwise the Church must cut out the Old Testament completely if today's Christians do not wish to believe in it any longer.