Is the bible today the true word of God?

[M.Khaled]

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You quibble about words changed here and there and seek to show this in some way proves the Bible has been changed to the extent that the original message has been lost.. Or changed beyond recognition. You have no proof of this what so ever. Do you even ask yourself how man could even achieve a hoax on this scale? Even in today's world it would be an impossible task as the sheer number of manuscripts available are held in different locations by different groups of people. Imagine 2000 years ago it would be an even bigger ask.

Actually Muslims don't say that the original message has been FULLY lost, yes corruption occurred either by addition or omitting or substitution, but there is still some truth either in the Bible or in other non canonical books, which is another issue of the basis of your canon, but it is not our subject now, actually there is a clear gap in manuscripts which is about 150 years between the time of Jesus and the age of the oldest present manuscript, which is not accepted in Islamic standards as we don't know what happened to the scriptures during this time which is really a long period of time, especially when we find other issues proving corruption.

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But the biggest obstacle of all in your premise.. And the most obvious.. Is that to believe this claim that the Bible has been changed means one has to view God as an impotent, weak God unable to protect His word from change by His creation!!!! Do you not see how ludicrous a scenario that is?

Well, there is no promise by God that He shall protect the Torah or the Gospel, but He promised to protect the Quran, and when He talked about the Torah and Gospel, He told that He left this mission to the People of the Book to test them:
44. Surely, WE sent down the Torah wherein was guidance and light. By it did the Prophets, who were obedient to US, judge for the Jews, as did the godly people and those learned in the Law, because they were required to preserve the Book of ALLAH, and because they were guardians over it. . (Holy Quran 5:44)
And this was very clear even in the Bible itself:
Deu 4:1 And now, O Israel, hearken unto the statutes and unto the ordinances, which I teach you, to do them; that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which Jehovah, the God of your fathers, giveth you. Deu 4:2 Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish from it, that ye may keep the commandments of Jehovah your God which I command you.
This verse clearly tells that corruption in the Bible can happen, and it is not impossible because if it was impossible, there would have been no need that God warns them against it. The same as God ordered us not to murder or steal, does this mean that if someone murdered or stole that God is impotent or that He cannot control His creatures?

[pandora]

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Actually Muslims don't say that the original message has been FULLY lost, yes corruption occurred either by addition or omitting or substitution, but there is still some truth either in the Bible or in other non canonical books, which is another issue of the basis of your canon, but it is not our subject now, actually there is a clear gap in manuscripts which is about 150 years between the time of Jesus and the age of the oldest present manuscript, which is not accepted in Islamic standards as we don't know what happened to the scriptures during this time which is really a long period of time, especially when we find other issues proving corruption.

And you see no problem at all with this belief you have? The question has to come back to how do you prove what was changed, by whom and indeed why? I do not understand how you do not see that these are important questions to ask. I have faith in God who I believe is well able to protect His message... That's all His message.. It is just not logical to suppose that God could protect some of His message yet allow some to be corrupted.. There by leaving us without correct guidance. Why would a Holy God do this? As a test?? That is even more illogical.. Seeing as God is omniscient God would know the outcome thus rendering the test obsolete before it started.. You are right, this is not about Bible canon.. So leave that for another time. Yet you continue to miss the point that Gods message cannot be changed. The onus is rather on yourselves to prove these claims you make against the Bible since I have the utmost faith that the core message the Bible contains is unaltered in essence from its conception and for all eternity.
Gap in manuscripts of 150 years? Really... I respectfully ask you to read the link I provide here :

http://www.normgeisler.com/articles/...0Testament.pdf

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Well, there is no promise by God that He shall protect the Torah or the Gospel, but He promised to protect the Quran, and when He talked about the Torah and Gospel, He told that He left this mission to the People of the Book to test them:
44. Surely, WE sent down the Torah wherein was guidance and light. By it did the Prophets, who were obedient to US, judge for the Jews, as did the godly people and those learned in the Law, because they were required to preserve the Book of ALLAH, and because they were guardians over it. . (Holy Quran 5:44)
And this was very clear even in the Bible itself:
Deu 4:1 And now, O Israel, hearken unto the statutes and unto the ordinances, which I teach you, to do them; that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which Jehovah, the God of your fathers, giveth you. Deu 4:2 Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish from it, that ye may keep the commandments of Jehovah your God which I command you.
This verse clearly tells that corruption in the Bible can happen, and it is not impossible because if it was impossible, there would have been no need that God warns them against it. The same as God ordered us not to murder or steal, does this mean that if someone murdered or stole that God is impotent or that He cannot control His creatures?

I really do not see how you come to that conclusion from that verse.. It is plainly admonishing any who believe they can change Gods words with impunity. God gave man free will, we are at the mercy of Satan who lords over this world even when we do not realise it.. There is a world of difference between man sinning.. (Which we all do every day.. Even small sins are a weight against us.. ) and God choosing not to protect His word when it's quite clear throughout the Bible that God claims His word is incorruptible and will last for eternity,

Peter 1:23 "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God which liveth and abideth forever."
Psalm 12:6-7 "The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O Lord, thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever."
Ps. 111:7-8 "The works of his hands are verity and judgment; all his commandments are sure. They stand fast for ever and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness."
Is. 40:8 "The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever."
Ps. 117:2 "... the truth of the Lord endureth for ever. Praise ye the Lord."
Ps. 119:152 "Concerning thy testimonies, I have known of old that thou hast founded them for ever."
Ps 119:160 "Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever."

We also have the Living Word of God Jesus who said..

Matthew 24:35 "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away."

I wonder that mankind puts too much emphasis on the written word and in the process losing the most important aspect of the message. Personally, I don't stress as much importance on the written words as the message those words convey.. They were conveyed by men.. Albeit men inspired by God but men none the less. God knows our weakness so surely would ensure that words alone are not all there is to God. Don't misunderstand, I enjoy reading my Bible and it brings me great peace and understanding.. My guidance comes from the living Gospel that is Jesus... And that truly brings me closer to God.

Peace.

am I to continue with Huria's questions? Or has Huria given up? Or maybe Huria is preparing his evidence. :)

[M.Khaled]

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And you see no problem at all with this belief you have? The question has to come back to how do you prove what was changed, by whom and indeed why? I do not understand how you do not see that these are important questions to ask.

Again pandora, I am not concerned with how these changes came, what I am concerned with is that there are changes and that the Bible we have now cannot be considered as a reliable evidence from God due to several reasons as listed in my site. I am not interested to know who changed it and how and why because I actually see that there are changes, and that's all I am concerned with.

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I have faith in God who I believe is well able to protect His message... That's all His message.. It is just not logical to suppose that God could protect some of His message yet allow some to be corrupted..

Ok, was God not able to protect His people from murder or persecution? This life is a test.

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Gap in manuscripts of 150 years? Really... I respectfully ask you to read the link I provide here :

So because there is a manuscript referring to five verses in John you assume that this is an evidence that the whole NT with its canon were present the same way it is present now as 27 books? To have some verses doesn't mean that this is the whole Bible, what is the proof that these verses were in another book other than Gospel of John and the writer of John took it from the source of this fragment whom we don't know who wrote it or which book did it refer to. Even if it really represented the whole NT, there is still a gap of about 70 years, even 1 year gap is not enough to prove that every thing was ok and no changes occurred.

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I really do not see how you come to that conclusion from that verse.. It is plainly admonishing any who believe they can change Gods words with impunity. God gave man free will, we are at the mercy of Satan who lords over this world even when we do not realise it.. There is a world of difference between man sinning.. (Which we all do every day.. Even small sins are a weight against us.. ) and God choosing not to protect His word when it's quite clear throughout the Bible that God claims His word is incorruptible and will last for eternity,

So why did God order His people not to add or omit from the Torah if they cannot do so?Would God forbid something that cannot be done? Actually the verses you quoted concerning God's words are not related to the books sent to Jews or Christians, but to His will and promises which is something else.

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I wonder that mankind puts too much emphasis on the written word and in the process losing the most important aspect of the message. Personally, I don't stress as much importance on the written words as the message those words convey.. They were conveyed by men.. Albeit men inspired by God but men none the less. God knows our weakness so surely would ensure that words alone are not all there is to God. Don't misunderstand, I enjoy reading my Bible and it brings me great peace and understanding.. My guidance comes from the living Gospel that is Jesus... And that truly brings me closer to God.

And you are supposed to have known Jesus from the Gospels, so your guidance is actually from the Gospels.

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am I to continue with Huria's questions? Or has Huria given up? Or maybe Huria is preparing his evidence. :)

Well, I am not replacing huria. I just wanted to add my thoughts.

[pandora]

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Again pandora, I am not concerned with how these changes came, what I am concerned with is that there are changes and that the Bible we have now cannot be considered as a reliable evidence from God due to several reasons as listed in my site. I am not interested to know who changed it and how and why because I actually see that there are changes, and that's all I am concerned with.

But really you should be concerned... Because if what you say is true it implies that God cannot be trusted to protect His message from change. That may be an acceptable scenario for you but it is not so for me. I refuses to see God that way. What are these changes you speak of? Before or after Mohammed? Because if you believe these changes occurred before Mohammed then we have the issue of The Quran claiming to confirm the scriptures.. I believe the sura states.. " in your hands".. This implies that it was confirming what was there and present in the hands of the Jews and Christians. So does Allah confirm something he knows to be corrupt? Would Mohammed tell the Jews and Christians to judge by "their" books if they were known to be corrupt? The manuscript evidence and the Bible canon we have now was set before Mohammed and the Quran.. So we know the Bible then as now is pretty much the same, and certainly in regards to the core message.. There is no change to that. So on that basis we know that it can't have been corrupted after the Quran as we could easily check when and even pinpoint where and what was changed.
Are these "changes" you speak of textual variants or errors in regards to spelling or translation issues?
I truly do not believe your Prophet Mohammed ever believed the Bible to be corrupt, he respected the scriptures. This leads me to suppose the idea of the corruption came much later long after Mohammed's death.. When Muslim scholars came to realise the the message in the Quran is for the most part diametrically opposed to that of the Bible.. Is it possible for them both to be the word of God? So obviously in order for the Quran to be right the Bible must be wrong.. This has plunged muslims into a life long quest to disprove the Bible... Sometimes coming up with the unlikeliness of scenarios. Hey.. I realise this may be pushing the boundary here and truly I mean know disrespect.. But unless one pushes boundaries in search of truth.. Then one sometimes ends up settling for something less than one should. I don't know about Islam per se but Christianity encourages us to always seek the truth.. Always question...

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Ok, was God not able to protect His people from murder or persecution? This life is a test.

Here again applying human standards to a Holy God. Of course God is quite capable of protecting His people from persecution and murder... Weather it would be right and just for God to do such a thing is a different matter. By saying God is not able to protect His word from His creation is an affront to God..
This life is a test?? A test for what? What reason for the test if the examiner already knows the outcome?

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So because there is a manuscript referring to five verses in John you assume that this is an evidence that the whole NT with its canon were present the same way it is present now as 27 books? To have some verses doesn't mean that this is the whole Bible, what is the proof that these verses were in another book other than Gospel of John and the writer of John took it from the source of this fragment whom we don't know who wrote it or which book did it refer to. Even if it really represented the whole NT, there is still a gap of about 70 years, even 1 year gap is not enough to prove that every thing was ok and no changes occurred.

Maybe not.. But it doesn't prove your position either does it... ;)

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So why did God order His people not to add or omit from the Torah if they cannot do so?Would God forbid something that cannot be done? Actually the verses you quoted concerning God's words are not related to the books sent to Jews or Christians, but to His will and promises which is something else.

Is adding or omitting the same as changing the message to and extent that it becomes completely different in meaning? Would God allow that? Just to be clear Christians have never made the claim that the Bible is word of God verbatim as you claim for the Quran. The Bible contains historical accounts, poetry etc. though inspired by God men penned the words.. But I feel we have been down this road already so will leave it there. I guess I find it easy to put my trust in God.. :)

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And you are supposed to have known Jesus from the Gospels, so your guidance is actually from the Gospels.

Yes, that is our first point of reference. Yet, when one accepts Jesus as their saviour and opens ones heart to Him the understanding of what Jesus meant by His mission it is truly inspiring.

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Well, I am not replacing huria. I just wanted to add my thoughts.

your thoughts are very welcome.. And I am pleased to hear them. It's a shame Huria seems to have given up. :( I accept my wordiness may irritate some people.. But I am as the good Lord made me.. :)

peace

[M.Khaled]

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What are these changes you speak of? Before or after Mohammed? Because if you believe these changes occurred before Mohammed then we have the issue of The Quran claiming to confirm the scriptures.. I believe the sura states.. " in your hands".. This implies that it was confirming what was there and present in the hands of the Jews and Christians. So does Allah confirm something he knows to be corrupt? Would Mohammed tell the Jews and Christians to judge by "their" books if they were known to be corrupt? The manuscript evidence and the Bible canon we have now was set before Mohammed and the Quran.. So we know the Bible then as now is pretty much the same, and certainly in regards to the core message.. There is no change to that. So on that basis we know that it can't have been corrupted after the Quran as we could easily check when and even pinpoint where and what was changed.

This is a common misconception that Islam acknowledges the Bible the same way you acknowledge it, which is not true. First of all, the misconception is in the definition in the word corruption, you think that I am saying the Bible as a whole is false, which is not true. Our Muslim belief in the Bible is that God sent the Torah to Moses(Peace be upon him), and the Gospel to Jesus (Peace be upon him), but this doesn’t mean that the Pentateuch or the four Gospels present now are the real Torah and Gospel sent to Moses and Jesus (Peace be upon them). The case is that the Torah and Gospel and other prophets’ books have been subjected to a lot of corruption and interpolations that the true verses are mixed with the false ones, that’s why God sent the Quran to Muhammad (Peace be upon him) who is the final prophet, where it was saved from corruption as it is the final book, and contains the absolute truth. So we consider the Quran as a judge on the Bible, we accept the Bible verses which agree with the Quran, and reject the Bible verses which disagree with the Quran, as for the verses the Quran didn’t talk about, we neither agree nor disagree.God said in the Quran in the context of talking about Jews:
79. Woe, therefore, to those who write the Book with their own hands and then say, `This is from ALLAH,’ That they may take it for a paltry price. Woe, then, to them for what their hands have written, and woe to them for what they earn.( Holy Quran 2:79)
Ibn Abbas, the Prophet’s disciple said:
“O Muslims! How could you ask the People of the Book about anything, while the Book of Allah (Qur’an) that He revealed to His Prophet is the most recent Book from Him and you still read it fresh and young Allah told you that the People of the Book altered the Book of Allah, changed it and wrote another book with their own hands. They then said, `This book is from Allah,’ so that they acquired a small profit by it. Hasn’t the knowledge that came to you prohibited you from asking them By Allah! We have not seen any of them asking you about what was revealed to you.”
And Prophet Muhammad(Peace be upon him) said in Bukhari:
Do not believe the People of the Book and do not deny them. Say: “We believe in Allah and what has been revealed to us and what has been revealed to you. Our God and your God is One, and to Him we have submitted.”
And said in Abu Dawood:
The Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) said: Whatever the people of the Book tell you, do not verify them, nor falsify them, but say: We believe in Allah and His Apostle. If it is false, do not confirm it, and if it is right, do not falsify it.
Also there was another Hadith in Bukhari that that Humayd bin `Abdur-Rahman heard Mu`awiyah talking to a group of Quraysh in Al-Madinah. He mentioned Ka`b Al-Ahbar, and said: “He was one of the most truthful of those who narrated from the People of the Book, even though we found that some of what he said might be lies.’
This means that Ka’b didn’t intend to lie, but he was telling what was interpolated by the People of the book.
The verses you are quoting that the Jews and Christians to judge by "their" books were in a certain context like stoning the adulterer and foretelling about Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him), but there is no full endorsement of the Quran to the Bible you have now but actually the Quran tells that it's a judge over the previous books.

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Here again applying human standards to a Holy God. Of course God is quite capable of protecting His people from persecution and murder... Weather it would be right and just for God to do such a thing is a different matter. By saying God is not able to protect His word from His creation is an affront to God..
This life is a test?? A test for what? What reason for the test if the examiner already knows the outcome?

I am not sure where I said that God is not able to protect His word, all what I am saying is that God ordered the people of the book to keep His words neither add nor diminish as He ordered them nor to murder or steal, if they murdered or stole, that doesn't mean that God cannot protect His people, same as keeping God's words. If they didn't keep it, this doesn't mean that God cannot protect His word. God tests us on our deeds to see who shall obey Him and who shall not. I am not sure what's unclear in that.

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Maybe not.. But it doesn't prove your position either does it... ;)

So at least we can agree that you don't have an evidence to prove that no change occurred in the Bible during these 150 years, which I see a good step. ;)

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Is adding or omitting the same as changing the message to and extent that it becomes completely different in meaning? Would God allow that? Just to be clear Christians have never made the claim that the Bible is word of God verbatim as you claim for the Quran. The Bible contains historical accounts, poetry etc. though inspired by God men penned the words.. But I feel we have been down this road already so will leave it there. I guess I find it easy to put my trust in God.. :)

Well, I am not talking here about superficial changes, I am talking about major changes.

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Yes, that is our first point of reference. Yet, when one accepts Jesus as their saviour and opens ones heart to Him the understanding of what Jesus meant by His mission it is truly inspiring.

Well, if each one claims he is inspired by Jesus or the Holy Spirit, then it is supposed that there should be no diversity among Christians, should there be?

[pandora]

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This is a common misconception that Islam acknowledges the Bible the same way you acknowledge it, which is not true. First of all, the misconception is in the definition in the word corruption, you think that I am saying the Bible as a whole is false, which is not true. Our Muslim belief in the Bible is that God sent the Torah to Moses(Peace be upon him), and the Gospel to Jesus (Peace be upon him), but this doesn’t mean that the Pentateuch or the four Gospels present now are the real Torah and Gospel sent to Moses and Jesus (Peace be upon them). The case is that the Torah and Gospel and other prophets’ books have been subjected to a lot of corruption and interpolations that the true verses are mixed with the false ones, that’s why God sent the Quran to Muhammad (Peace be upon him) who is the final prophet, where it was saved from corruption as it is the final book, and contains the absolute truth. So we consider the Quran as a judge on the Bible, we accept the Bible verses which agree with the Quran, and reject the Bible verses which disagree with the Quran, as for the verses the Quran didn’t talk about, we neither agree nor disagree.

Muslims today do not acknowledge the Bible as we do but I don't see this was always the way of things. You believe you say some of the Bible is corrupt whilst still contains some truth.. Conveniently for yourselves the "truthful" bits happen to coincide with the Quran. However, you have no proof of what if anything at all was corrupted.. Other than what you believe the Quran says on the subject, yet even those suras are not definitive on this wholesale corruption issue. This is circular reasoning as well as faulty.. If you believe any part of the Bible was corrupted then you cannot trust anything at all.. Not even the bits you like. Because unless you can proof where the actual changes took place and what EXACTLY has been changed then everything is suspect. Indeed if I thought the Bible was as corrupt as you believe it to be I wouldn't trust anything in it at all... Would I then become a Muslim and put my trust in the Quran? No.. I would not.. Because I could not have faith in a God that would allow His message sent for guidance to mankind to be corrupted by His lowly creation. That's tantamount to saying man is as powerful as God that man can change Gods message and God cannot prevent it. What nonsense!!!!
May one ask where is this real Torah sent to Moses and the real Gospel sent to Jesus? This seems like a misunderstanding of the nature of the scriptures, maybe Mohammed believed the Torah and the Gospel was sent down as the Quran was sent down. However.. We know this was not the case. Moses received the Torah from God Himself not an Angel. Jesus never received any Gospel.. Jesus was the Gospel. Gospel meaning good news and that's what Jesus is the Good news of our redemption? Jesus never wrote any Book.. The Word does not write itself but others were inspired to write about it.

~ And in their footsteps we sent Jesus the son of Mary confirming the Law that had come before him. We sent him the Gospel: therein was guidance and light, and confirmation of the Law.
Surat-ul Maida (5):46 ~


Please explain this sura to me? Because it appears to me that here Jesus was sent confirming the law that had come before Him... That must have been the Torah since the Gospel ... As the recording of His Birth, mission, earthly death and resurrection... did not come into being until after His ascension to God. So was Jesus telling a lie here? If He was sent to confirm the Torah would He not have had the knowledge to realise it had been corrupted? Surely.. Jesus, who even the Quran regards as sinless would not deceive His followers by confirming something that was not truth.

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God said in the Quran in the context of talking about Jews:

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79. Woe, therefore, to those who write the Book with their own hands and then say, `This is from ALLAH,’ That they may take it for a paltry price. Woe, then, to them for what their hands have written, and woe to them for what they earn.( Holy Quran 2:79)
Ibn Abbas, the Prophet’s disciple said:
“O Muslims! How could you ask the People of the Book about anything, while the Book of Allah (Qur’an) that He revealed to His Prophet is the most recent Book from Him and you still read it fresh and young Allah told you that the People of the Book altered the Book of Allah, changed it and wrote another book with their own hands. They then said, `This book is from Allah,’ so that they acquired a small profit by it. Hasn’t the knowledge that came to you prohibited you from asking them By Allah! We have not seen any of them asking you about what was revealed to you.”
And Prophet Muhammad(Peace be upon him) said in Bukhari:
Do not believe the People of the Book and do not deny them. Say: “We believe in Allah and what has been revealed to us and what has been revealed to you. Our God and your God is One, and to Him we have submitted.”
And said in Abu Dawood:
The Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) said: Whatever the people of the Book tell you, do not verify them, nor falsify them, but say: We believe in Allah and His Apostle. If it is false, do not confirm it, and if it is right, do not falsify it.
Also there was another Hadith in Bukhari that that Humayd bin `Abdur-Rahman heard Mu`awiyah talking to a group of Quraysh in Al-Madinah. He mentioned Ka`b Al-Ahbar, and said: “He was one of the most truthful of those who narrated from the People of the Book, even though we found that some of what he said might be lies.’
This means that Ka’b didn’t intend to lie, but he was telling what was interpolated by the People of the book.
The verses you are quoting that the Jews and Christians to judge by "their" books were in a certain context like stoning the adulterer and foretelling about Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him), but there is no full endorsement of the Quran to the Bible you have now but actually the Quran tells that it's a judge over the previous books.

if this is to be taken as proof it seems rather ambiguous to say the least.. It does not say all Jews. It seems to refer to some scribes.. It does not directly claim that it was the Torah they were changing. It implies they were interpreting the laws of the Torah for their own gain.. This is not the same as changing the word of God or the whole Torah. In fact maybe this admonishment stems from the Bible itself because I believe the Prophet Isaiah warned the very same thing. I'm sure I mentioned this on another thread here.

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I am not sure where I said that God is not able to protect His word, all what I am saying is that God ordered the people of the book to keep His words neither add nor diminish as He ordered them nor to murder or steal, if they murdered or stole, that doesn't mean that God cannot protect His people, same as keeping God's words. If they didn't keep it, this doesn't mean that God cannot protect His word. God tests us on our deeds to see who shall obey Him and who shall not. I am not sure what's unclear in that.

You are assuming that people of the book paid no heed to Gods orders, because you have to believe in this corruption stuff. Why do you see it so difficult for Jews and Christians to disregard Gods orders? Do you think we hold God in less esteem and respect than a Muslim does? Regards to God testing you on your deeds I accept that is how you as a Muslim sees things... We agree to disagree on this point. In all honesty, do you think it matters to God if we choose to obey Him or not? God does not need our obedience His power and majesty is eternal. If God has to test us to ensure our obedience then does He value us so little? This does not fit my Christian concept of God at all, who I believe loves us unconditionally and through His divine grace we are saved. I know I cannot save myself.. That why I know I need God and that's why I will endeavour to the best of my ability to serve Him in obedience as a measure of my gratitude for all the blessings bestowed upon me in this life.

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So at least we can agree that you don't have an evidence to prove that no change occurred in the Bible during these 150 years, which I see a good step. ;)

Neither do you... Which is also a good step.. Of sorts. ;)

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Well, I am not talking here about superficial changes, I am talking about major changes.

Such as? Examples?

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Well, if each one claims he is inspired by Jesus or the Holy Spirit, then it is supposed that there should be no diversity among Christians, should there be?

As we are all different, we all see things and interpret things differently? However, Christians of whatever denomination do not differ in the main. Except for maybe some more recent sects.. Like Mormons, J Ws etc. ;) how do you account for the different denominations within Islam? There is one Quran .. Yet not all muslims interpret it the same. Except for maybe the central message. So on this point... I don't see there's much of a point to answer. :)

Peace and Gods Blessings to you M.khaled

[M.Khaled]

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~ And in their footsteps we sent Jesus the son of Mary confirming the Law that had come before him. We sent him the Gospel: therein was guidance and light, and confirmation of the Law.
Surat-ul Maida (5):46 ~

Please explain this sura to me? Because it appears to me that here Jesus was sent confirming the law that had come before Him... That must have been the Torah since the Gospel ... As the recording of His Birth, mission, earthly death and resurrection... did not come into being until after His ascension to God. So was Jesus telling a lie here? If He was sent to confirm the Torah would He not have had the knowledge to realise it had been corrupted? Surely.. Jesus, who even the Quran regards as sinless would not deceive His followers by confirming something that was not truth.

This has nothing to do with deceit nor did Jesus lie. The case is that Jesus confirmed the Torah that was sent to Moses, I have no evidence that the Torah that was sent to Moses is the same as your Pentateuch. The case is that you project the Torah the Quran was talking about on your Pentateuch and assume that I also think so, which is not true.

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May one ask where is this real Torah sent to Moses and the real Gospel sent to Jesus?

I don't know, and it doesn't matter. For me the Quran and Sunna are enough as they are overwhelming the previous books and by examining the Bible you have, I find that it doesn't have a solid evidence that it is continuously connected to Jesus or previous prophets, besides I find many difficulties and evidence that manipulations occurred in it. So I can't rely on it when already I have a pure evidence from God.

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if this is to be taken as proof it seems rather ambiguous to say the least.. It does not say all Jews. It seems to refer to some scribes.. It does not directly claim that it was the Torah they were changing. It implies they were interpreting the laws of the Torah for their own gain.. This is not the same as changing the word of God or the whole Torah. In fact maybe this admonishment stems from the Bible itself because I believe the Prophet Isaiah warned the very same thing. I'm sure I mentioned this on another thread here.

Well, actually it's clear talking that the sources of the people of the book are not pure that's why we should neither deny them nor believe them. Besides, I am sure if you have seen the quotes of Islamic sources regarding the prophecies of Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) in the Torah and Gospel, you'll see that many quotes they have are not related to the Bible, so either you believe them that these were the sources they had at their time or that you know that the Bible you have is not the one they knew.

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You are assuming that people of the book paid no heed to Gods orders, because you have to believe in this corruption stuff. Why do you see it so difficult for Jews and Christians to disregard Gods orders? Do you think we hold God in less esteem and respect than a Muslim does?

In all Jews, Christians and Muslims, there are many people who disobey God. But the difference is that in case of the Bible is that it was left to people's honesty other than the Quran where Allah promised that He will keep it as it is the final message from God.

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Neither do you... Which is also a good step.. Of sorts. ;)

Well, you are the one who is supposed to give evidence not me, suppose I brought you a book and said it refers to a prophet, but actually all the evidence you gave is much late, why shall I believe you? You are the one who believe that the Gospels refer to the disciples f Jesus, so you are the one who should support your belief by solid evidence for me to believe you.

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Such as? Examples?

Well, lets's see what some early church fathers said about Jewish corruption in the Old Testament:
The first example is Justin Martyr(an early church father who died at about 150 AD) says in his dialogue with Trypho, a Jew:
Chap. LXXII. — Passages Have Been Removed by the Jews from Esdras and Jeremiah.
And I said, “I shall do as you please. From the statements, then, which Esdras made in reference to the law of the passover, they have taken away the following: ‘And Esdras said to the people, This passover is our Saviour and our refuge. And if you have understood, and your heart has taken it in, that we shall humble Him on a standard, and….. thereafter hope in Him, then this place shall not be forsaken for ever, says the God of hosts. But if you will not believe Him, and will not listen to His declaration, you shall be a laughing-stock to the nations.’…… And again, from the sayings of the same Jeremiah these have been cut out: ‘The Lord God remembered His dead people of Israel who lay in the graves; and He descended to preach to them His own salvation.’
So Justin Martyr here is explicitly accusing the Jews of corrupting the Old Testament by hiding some verses talking about salvation. But is it that easy that verses are removed from the Bible? Let’s see what John Chrysostom (church father who lived in the fourth century) says in his Homilies on Gospel Matthew when he came to the verse quoting the Old Testament” which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.”:
And what manner of prophet said this? Be not curious, nor overbusy. For many of the prophetic writings have been lost; and this one may see from the history of the Chronicles. For being negligent, and continually falling into ungodliness, some they suffered to perish, others they themselves burnt up and cut to pieces. The latter fact Jeremiah relates; the former, he who composed the fourth book of Kings, saying, that after a long time the book of Deuteronomy was hardly found, buried somewhere and lost. But if, when there was no barbarian there, they so betrayed their books, much 56 more when the barbarians had overrun them. For as to the fact, that the prophet had foretold it, the apostles themselves in many places call Him a Nazarene. ”
So simply John Chrysostom is not just accusing the Jews of being negligent who are not caring for their books, but also of destroying their own books. If these are accusations made by Christians, who are supposed to share the Jews their belief in the Old Testament, how could Muslims trust the Jews and consider that they were really honest and followed God’s commandment to keep Hi s books, not to add or remove or replace?

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As we are all different, we all see things and interpret things differently? However, Christians of whatever denomination do not differ in the main. Except for maybe some more recent sects.. Like Mormons, J Ws etc. ;) how do you account for the different denominations within Islam? There is one Quran .. Yet not all muslims interpret it the same. Except for maybe the central message. So on this point... I don't see there's much of a point to answer. :)

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Well, Muslims don't have Holy Spirit or Jesus who guides them, but just interpret Islamic scriptures. As for Christianity, you have no excuse, either the holy Spirit guides you that immaculate conception or sola scriptura or any other diversity is ok so the other team is blaspheming on the Holy Spirit and rejecting the inspiration of Jesus. There should be no room for accpetable diversity among Christians as long as they believe they are inspired by the Holy Spirit and Jesus.