Muslims believe that the Bible is God’s true word except that it has been changed. However, they can’t answer when it was changed, who changed it, or even what was changed. Muslims aren’t taught to question what they hear in Mosques, which is why they can make such claims and believe such things as the Bible having been changed without having any factual evidence.
The Quran says that they should read the Bible as it is still mostly God’s true word, but the average Muslim won’t read the Bible. This means most Muslims really have no idea what the Bible says, and just assume it says all the same things as the Quran.
The Bible then is an extremely effective key for Muslims to see the truth as they are told that they can believe most of what it says. The annoying problem with this is that Muslims have a very convenient cop-out. Whenever the Bible says something that points against what they believe they can always claim that the verse must be one of the places in the Bible that was changed. However, if we can show them that the Bible hasn’t been changed, then they would be forced to accept the truths of the Bible and therefore accept Christ…in theory this is how it should go. Below are some strategies we use in regards to building the Bible’s credibility.
1) God wouldn’t let his word be changed.
Muslims believe the Quran can’t be changed since it was God’s final revelation, which then begs the question, why did God suddenly decide to start protecting his word? Did he learn from his mistakes? Of course not; God can’t make mistakes. Was he then unable to protect his word before? This too is an obvious no as God has always been all-powerful. In fact, in order for the Bible to change, God must have willed it to be changed since Muslims believe that God is all-powerful to the point that we might not even have free-will.
Even if we do have free-will, then God would’ve been right there watching someone change his word and done absolutely nothing. As a writer myself, if I found out that someone was changing my books to make them say something directly opposed to what I intended them to say, I would publicly announced such a crime to defend my name and my books. If I would defend my name and my writing, wouldn’t that make me better than God if he willingly chose not to?
Muslims believe that the Quran won’t change because God promised that it won’t change. However, God promises the same thing in the Bible. Can God then break his word? And if he can, then how do we know he didn’t break his word when it comes to protecting the Quran?
The only logical answer to any of this is that if the Bible changed, then God must have wanted it to. I’ve heard friends say that God let the Bible be changed to test people. I can understand the whole testing idea, but God tests in different ways. God promises something in the future, and then allows hardship to test our faith if we believe in him like Job or David did. He never tells us something false. He never tells us something wrong and then expects us to see that it is false and not listen to what he says.
Satan is the father of lies, not God. We must always listen to God, if it is indeed God speaking. The Bible is God’s word. God wouldn’t change his word to test us. In fact, if he allowed the Bible to be changed, then he willingly led away from the truth billions of people who were searching for God through his word. According to Christianity, God never leads people astray, that’s the Devil’s work. I don’t think the God of Islam would either, but I don’t have the authority or knowledge to make such a claim.
2) How much was the Bible changed?
Some Muslims would say a lot, some say very little. But this is important. If it did change a lot, then why would Muhammad say to read the Bible? What a danger that would be if a book was considered God’s words but scattered with thousands of lies. How could you tell the truth from the lies? You wouldn’t be able to believe anything for fear of it being one of the spots that had changed.
It’s like walking a minefield. You don’t need mines on every square foot of ground. You just need to scatter them randomly until the cost of crossing is too great for anyone to try. If you were told that there was just one mine on a soccer field, that would be enough for you to go pick a different field. Even if the lies in the Bible were semi-rare, it would still be dangerous to tell people to read it as God’s word.
So, then, it would have to be changed just a little. One of my friends said that the Bible was just changed in the few places where it says that Jesus was God. I then opened up to the New Testament, told him to tell me when to stop, and began flipping through the pages. When he stopped me, I found three verses on the two open pages I randomly opened to in the Bible that stated Jesus was God in various ways. I didn’t need to flip again for my friend to get the point.
It isn’t just where the Bible points toward Jesus being God that Muslim’s claim have been changed, it’s also in all the places where the Bible and the Quran contradict. Things like the creation of the world, the location of the Garden of Eden, the sacrifice of Isaac or Ishmael, every prophecy of a coming Messiah, nearly every description of heaven, and the entire way of Salvation. The Quran and the Bible contradict on all these topics and many more.
So which is it? Was the Bible changed a lot or just a little? I’ve heard a number of different answers from Muslims varying from one extreme to another, but there’s no statement in the Quran that says how much. I, of course, would argue it never was changed.
3) The secular stand
With all this said, we don’t need to rely on logical thinking to come to a belief on whether or not the Bible was changed. There’s a whole science that tests the reliability of scriptures and historical books in general. Using these tests, the Bible passes in every category with flying colors to the point that if we as a society don’t see the Bible as a reliable and accurate replica of the original, then we must throw away every other ancient historical document as well.
It seems as if in every topic the secular and sacred stand opposed, but when it comes to the reliability of the Bible, there’s no argument. Those who have done their research admit that the Bible hasn’t been changed. Anyone who claims the Bible has changed are those who haven’t turned to experts in the field and say simply what they have heard from others who make nonfactual claims about this topic.
Ending points:
If the Bible hasn’t been changed, then why do Muslims believe it has? Easy, if you want people to follow you, and what you are saying contradicts with what has already been said, the easiest way to eliminate the problem is if you say the older words have been changed. Then you can pick and choose from the old to get what you want. With no solid foundation, you are then forced to accept the new. This is why it is so important that the Bible hasn’t been changed. This was also why it was so important for Jesus to lean on what the Torah said, because if he spoke anything against God’s first commands, then it would be clear he was teaching heresy.
One common Muslim thought is that God brought in Judaism, but the Jews twisted it. God then sent Jesus to introduce Christianity. When Christians twisted God’s word to make Jesus into God, God then sent Muhammad to introduce Islam. According to this logic, Christians then should just read the New Testament and believe the Old Testament was changed. The fact that we read both shocked my Muslim friends.
Another good point to discuss is the life of the disciples. If the Bible was changed to say that Jesus was God, then certainly his disciples would have known best who he really was as they spent years with him. However, the disciples right away began claiming that Jesus was God. Nearly all of them died as martyrs because they wouldn’t deny the deity of Christ. I find it hard to believe that Jesus could be so ineffective as a teacher to cause all of his followers to believe something completely false about himself immediately after he rose into heaven.
In the end, the Bible hasn’t been changed, but that doesn’t mean those who don’t want to follow it can’t claim it has.
Click here for Reaching Muslims Part 5: The Rock of Salvation
