Muslims believe that God (Allah) originally gave His revelation (the Scriptures) to Jews and Christians, but Muslims claim that those Scriptures which God originally gave to Jews and Christians became corrupted and changed and that is why Muslims believe God called Mohammed and gave him new revelation, but all the evidence from hundreds of ancient manuscripts show that the message of the Judeo-Christian Scriptures has not been changed but, instead, remarkably and substantively preserved through centuries. For example, the present Christian New Testament revelation of Jesus Christ is completely trustworthy. Muslims believe that the original revelation God gave to to Jews and Christians became perverted, corrupted, and changed. What Muslims are saying is that God (Allah) was not capable or willing to preserve His original revelation to Jews and Christians.
Unlike the Koran, the Christian Scriptures were written over a span of thousands of years, and numerous ancient manuscripts of both Old and New Testaments show that the Christian Bible we have today is completely reliable, unchanged in any substantive way. God preserved the Judeo-Christian Scriptures remarkably in spite of imperfect humanity and the vast span of time.
Any so-called "mistakes" in the ancient manuscripts are not substantive and do not affect any doctrine. There are human mistakes, but they are minor (i.e. spelling, etc.). We have hundreds of ancient manuscripts to compare and corroborate. All this just goes to show that in spite of man's fallibility, God preserved His Word.
The KJV Bible translation is is based on the least reliable manuscripts, but the KJV is still accurate, just not as accurate as other translations based on older manuscripts. There are no contradictions between the older and younger manuscripts. The difference is in greater accuracy, not contradictions.
We have copies of enough ancient manuscripts and the corroboration with other historical documents to know that Christians, indeed, have the Word of God.
God preserved His Word to the Jews and Christians with more than enough substantive accuracy in spite of human fallibility and frailty in the copying process.
We can tell where the insignificant errors are precisely because we have enough older and accurate copies.
The Muslims don't have one ancient biblical manuscript to support what the Koran teaches about Jesus, not one! The Muslims claim God's Word has been corrupted. Where's the evidence for the corruption? To say that God's Word had become corrupted is Muslim fantasy and an insult to God. We have hundreds of ancient manuscripts testifying to the truth that Jesus Christ, indeed, is the divine Son of God.
Muslims claim to respect Jesus Christ as one of God's prophets, but the Jesus that Muslims believe and respect is a different Jesus from what The Christian Scriptures (The Bible) reveals. And it is the Jesus of the Christian Scriptures that all men will face on Judgment Day! The Muslims believe that Jesus was just a great and holy man, but not the uniquely divine Son of God who created all life and the universe as the Christian Scriptures teach. Jesus Christ Himself, in the Christian Scriptures, claims to be uniquely divine and the Son of God. This the Muslims will not accept. The Muslims sincerely believe they are honoring Jesus but they are sincerely wrong as long as they refuse to accept Jesus Christ as the Supreme Lord and Savior. Calling two different persons the same name doesn't make them the same. The Jesus of the Koran is not the Jesus of the Bible!
THE
TRINITY: Three divine Persons united with a single (one) eternal divine
nature and purpose. Just as Adam and Eve were two persons but one
flesh, so the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are three Persons but one
God.
The Bible says that God is love. Love cannot be alone. Love must have an object to love. That is why God (Who is love) cannot be just one Person. The three Persons of the Trinity are united in Their divine essence and purpose (not divided and competing against one another like the gods of polytheism).
The word “God” is a name. That name belongs to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. When the Bible talks about one God, the "one" does not mean one person. It's not a singular oneness. It is a composite oneness. The three Persons of the Trinity work together as one (not divided and competing with each another like the gods of polytheism).
The Bible says that God is love. Love cannot be alone. Love must have an object to love. That is why God (Who is love) cannot be just one Person. The three Persons of the Trinity are united in Their divine essence and purpose (not divided and competing against one another like the gods of polytheism).
The word “God” is a name. That name belongs to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. When the Bible talks about one God, the "one" does not mean one person. It's not a singular oneness. It is a composite oneness. The three Persons of the Trinity work together as one (not divided and competing with each another like the gods of polytheism).
Our sins are so great that it required God Himself to come and pay for them with His Own blood. The unconditional love of God expressed in giving us sinners His eternal and only begotten Son to pay for our sins is a love you will never find in the Koran.
The animals sacrifices for sin in the Old Testament were a picture of Christ's future sacrifice for sin. Those animal sacrifices also had to be repeated to show they are not sufficient to settle once and for all the sin issue before God. No animal can take the place of man.
The New Testament teaches that Jesus Christ was uniquely the Son of God, both completely divine and completely human, that He was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, and died a cruel death on a Roman Cross to pay the full penalty for the sins of men, and who bodily rose from the grave.
The Christian Scriptures teach that no human being can earn or merit salvation no matter how many good works are done, that all our righteousness is filthy rags in God's infinitely holy sight and falls infinitely short of the perfection in thoughts, words, and deeds that God requires from every life. The Christian Scriptures teach that only through faith in the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ can a person be freely forgiven by God of all his sins. The Christian will never be perfect in this life, but God Himself will dwell within the true Christian and cause the Christian to do good works out of genuine love for his God and his fellow man. God can be just in freely forgiving our sins when we come to Christ because His Son Jesus Christ paid the full price of all sins and iniquities.
How could Jesus take the guilt and blame for sins we have committed? The arrangement was made in eternity past between the Father and the Son for the Son to take the responsibility for the moral actions of all those whom the Father gave the Son from every nation and tribe in the world. God has a right to His own jurisprudence!
Just as a co-signer to a loan takes the responsibility to pay someone's else's debt should the loan go into default so too Christ took the legal and moral responsibility of debt for the sins of mankind and we are all sinners and we all have an infinite moral and spiritual debt before an infinitely holy God that we can never be able to fully pay through anything that we can do.
Even Muslims will accept the fact that the first man, Adam, took the moral responsibility for the whole human race in his act of disobeying God's command not to eat of the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. So, why should not Jesus Christ be able to take the moral responsibility of those who will be saved through His perfect obedience to the Father.
The Bible says, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16, KJV).
I encourage all Muslims, and everyone, to read the Gospel of John in the New Testament.
Question:
If God sacrificed Jesus for our sins, then whom was He sacrificing Jesus to?
Answer:
The word “God” is a name. That name belongs to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then how can They be one God? When the Bible talks about one God it’s not a singular oneness but a composite oneness. For example, Adam and Eve were two persons but one flesh.
The reason why the Father, Son, and Spirit are one God is because They share one eternal and divine nature and They work together for the same purpose. There’s no conflict or division among Them. They are one in nature and purpose. They are one God.
Question:
If Jesus is God why did Jesus pray to God?
Answer:
The Bible teaches that although Jesus is God, He gave up His rights as God and took upon Himself human nature and subjected Himself to God the Father. Because He emptied Himself of His rights and became Man, Jesus was fully dependent upon the Father for everything.
Question:
Why did God not spare Jesus from the Cross? If God is all powerful why can’t God just forgive us our sins without the Cross?
Answer:
God is holy and just. It would violate His nature to forgive sin without the penalty being paid. How come Muslims sacrifice animals for their sins. Why doesn’t Allah just forgive you Muslims of all your sins without animal sacrifices? If Allah is all powerful why the need for animal sacrifices?
The animal sacrifices for sin in the Old Testament were a picture of Christ's future sacrifice for sin. Those animal sacrifices also had to be repeated to show they are not sufficient to settle once and for all the sin issue before God. No animal can take the place of man.
Because Christ was God His life had infinite value to pay for our sins. For an infinitely holy God any sin, no matter or how small or big, is an infinite offense. Christ’s shed blood and death was able to satisfy God the Father’s infinite justice. And the bodily resurrection of Christ from the grave is proof that God the Father’s justice against us for our sins was fully satisfied.
Christian scholar Dr. James White, of Alpha and Omega Ministries, answers many questions and arguments Muslims have about the reliability of the Christian Scriptures. Dr. White is an expert on Islam and the Koran and you can view his debates with Muslim scholars on the Internet at Youtube.com .
Readers are encouraged to read the author's Internet articles:
CHRIST WAS BEGOTTEN, NOT CREATED
MODERN ISRAEL NOT A FULFILLMENT OF BIBLE PROPHECY
SECOND COMING OF CHRIST MISUNDERSTOOD
Visit my Internet site: THE SCIENCE SUPPORTING CREATION
Read the author's popular Internet article, TRADITIONAL DOCTRINE OF HELL EVOLVED FROM GREEK ROOTS
