4-2-3 The Islamic Perspective On The Bible

Katherine Kullman’s First Speech

Is The Bible The Unaltered Word Of God? An Islamic Perspective

I believe that the Torah and the Gospel of Jesus is from God. I also believe that there are righteous followers of both scriptures. The scripture I follow, the Qur'an, tells me so.

[Qur'an 5:46] …we sent Jesus, the son of Mary, confirming the previous scripture, the Torah. We gave him the Gospel, containing guidance and light….

The original versions of both scriptures however, given to us in Hebrew and Aramaic, are lost to the world. What we have are translations from translations, and no original towards which we can verify the words and passages. Thus, the versions in our hands today cannot be the absolute unaltered word of God. Simple logic tells us so.

Although reading the scripture in the original language is not a criterion to access the essence of God’s message, it is important to keep the above fact in mind when facing issues in the scripture which are contradictory, not clear, or simply not logical to us.

In this article, you will find proof that the majority of the Bible is indeed the word of God. You will also find proof that will clear up issues that for so long has been debated and disputed among Christians and non-Christians alike.

General Issues Of Concern Regarding The Bible

It is not the intent of this article to debate the well-known issues of contradictions and extreme violence attributed to God in the Bible. There is enough useful information available filling this function. Instead I wish to focus on new found facts which helps all of us determine what is true or not. For those who wish to study bothersome areas of the Bible in more detail, I do however recommend the following links.

· The contradictions

· The extreme violence attributed to God and His messengers

· The different versions of words and passages in different translations

(Listed at the end of this article)

Why Miracles?

Throughout time God has sent down words to us, to help us redeem ourselves. Abraham, Ismail, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Jesus, and all the prophets from God received words to pass onto the rest of us, and only by heeding the message they brought can we attain salvation. To help us recognize those sent by Him, God supported all His messengers and prophets with miracles.

John 10:25 ….The miracles I do in my Father's name speak for me….

The nine miracles performed by Moses were witnessed by perhaps hundred thousand people, yet only a few people believed with him in the end. The miracles of Jesus were witnessed by perhaps a few thousand people, yet only a few people believed with him before he returned to his Creator. This tells us that even if people witness miracles and hear the message first hand, it will not convince many, only a few.

The reason for the extremely few followers during the lifetimes of God’s prophets and messengers is not that people change after they leave, it is because the message changes after they leave. When the true teacher leaves, false teachers always appear, invariably accompanied by a message suggesting adjustments to the message “Worship God alone”. Other ‘components’ are added and suggested as necessary for our salvation. This is the time thousands and millions join the wagon.

You might wonder why people who do not like God’s unaltered message would prefer an altered version of it, instead of simply rejecting it entirely?

The problem is not that they do not believe in God, they do, just as Satan does. Thus, something inside them knows that the message they are hearing is from God. The problem lies in the fact that they do not know who God is, with all His attributes. Recognizing God with all His attributes leaves no room for anything or anybody else besides God to have power independent from Him.

What the altered, compromised version of God’s message achieves, is the illusion of a void in which the ego finds room to ‘rule’ as he or she wishes. It feeds the false notion that somehow something besides God has, or should have some power and influence. This is why the altered message always, always, suggests that other entities are somehow needed besides God for us to achieve salvation. Thus, by strongly supporting others in that attributed power, such as Jesus or Muhammad, they are indirectly supporting their own claim for power independent from God. This false and blasphemous idea is what got us to this earth in the first place. To read more, visit http://www.submission.org/suras/app7.html

So How Big Of A Sign Do We Need To Take Heed?

We accept something as a sign or miracle when it far exceeds human capabilities and probability. At the early times of human civilization, at the time of Saleh for example, the messenger sent to Thamoud, it was enough of a sign that God sent a camel that would only drink on a day assigned by God. So what kind of proof would God reveal in our day and age, that we may be convinced?

God sends miracles that match the time and the level of knowledge of people. If Jesus would revive a dead man, heal the leprous, or restore the sight of the blind today, there might be room for doubt, considering the advanced medical science we have today. Almost all aspects of our lives today are associated with numbers and computers. We visit other planets and work with such advanced parts of the human body as its DNA structure. Global communication and information is instant, at the touch of a button. Powerful Computers helps us precisely calculate the probability of almost any given event.

In this world, what kind of proof will be powerful enough to eliminate all excuses? If such a miracle were revealed, would we take heed? At what point would a sign be too powerful for us to ignore? At what point would you attribute something to God?