Refuted: Muslim assertions the Gospels and Old Testament have been corrupted
Posted: Sun Sep 01, 2024 4:12 pm
Muslims are people that God loves - as ALL Christians should as well!
Muslims frequently assert that today's Old and New Testaments are NOT the same as it originally existed, as they repeatedly insist the modern translations of these have been corrupted. But even Muhammad and the Quran don't assert this to be true: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyMbi7oKHYk
Let's begin with the Old Testament - has it become corrupted, as many Muslims insist? Consider: The Dead Sea Scrolls, found in caves by the Dead Sea, near the ruins of Qumrān, in the 1940s, have been dated to about 2,000 years ago and include all of the books of the Old Testament, except for the Books of Nehemiah and Esther. But the most spectacular find amongst them is a scroll that includes the entire Old Testament Book of Isaiah (originally written seven centuries before the time of Jesus) - with the copy of it found at Qumrān having been dated to around 100 B.C. So, these ancient scroll copies absolutely PROVE the continuity and accuracy of the contents that, what was included in the original books of the Old Testament, that LONG preceded the time of Jesus, have been faithfully preserved. And, in one of the Old Testament's most-famous and predictive Messianic passages, written by the Prophet Isaiah - and also included in one of the discovered scrolls at Qumrān - is Isaiah 9: 6-7. And. in it, Isaiah prophesies that a CHILD will be born, who would, at BIRTH, have the titles of "Wonderful Counselor, Mighty GOD, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace," and that there will be NO end to His rule - that His rule would be EVERlasting. And note, Jesus descended through the Tribe of Judah and was a direct descendant of King David (Matthew 1:1-17). The discovery of the Dead Sea scrolls prove this passage was included in Old Testament of Muhammad's time, and that it has been accurately preserved in modern Bible translations - UNcorrupted!
And what is the New Testament's fulfillment of the Messianic prediction Isaiah prophesied about the Messiah to come, some seven centuries before Jesus' birth, in Luke 2, to shepherds out in the field on the day of Jesus' birth? "9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. 10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the LORD." So, for Muslims believing the Old Testament has been corrupted - particularly, believing it happened after the time of early Christianity - the discovery and dating of the Dead Sea scrolls completely refutes such an assertion!
Thus, the scrolls found at Qumrān make it clear that the Old Testament, as we definitely KNOW existed at the time of Muhammad (and that he acknowledged it to be legitimately from God) was essentially the same as modern translations of it. This fact TOTALLY destroys Muslim assertions that the Old Testament became corrupted after the time of Muhammad! Also note that the Quran was written SIX centuries after the time of Jesus and the eyewitnesses to His Resurrection, which is prolifically attested to by the New Testament writers. How are we to trust the claims of ONE man (Muhammad) for which he could not possibly know the truth of. Lest we forget, the writers of the Old Testament and it's line of many prophets which were each connected specifically by God to His covenant people of ancient Israel, and recognized as such by her people. And the Old Testament prophets made many prophesies about the Messiah (Jesus!) that was to come.
When Jesus showed up and began His ministry, He confirmed the ENTIRETY of the Old Testament to be inspired by God and that they pointed to Him (see Luke 11 and 24). In fact, Jesus not only embraced the Old Testament as God's Word, but He also prolifically quoted from it as such - as did His apostles. In fact, if one were to merely take the quotes of Jesus and the Apostles alone, he could almost re-construct the entirety of the Old Testament, from quotes about it alone. Contrast this long line of prophets and apostles connected by God specifically through Israel, with Muhammad. Where is his validation as speaking for God? Who was he? Did he do miracles or have any other validation that he spoke for God? NO! He goes off to some hidden, unknown place and asserts Allah had given him a series of revelations. And we are to believe this, why - ONLY upon Muhammad's assertions?!!! ALL of God's prophets and apostles in the Old and New Testaments gave evidences, through miracles, or FULFILLED and ACCURATE prophecies, etc, confirming that they spoke from God. The Old Testament prophets were all recognized in Israel as being God's prophets ( about God's OT prophets). In fact, the original apostles were each personally hand-picked by Jesus (excepting Mathias, who was later chosen to replace Judas Iscariot). The reality is, Muhammad used his teachings and asserted connections to the Old Testament to supposedly provide validation for his writings in the Quran, as the Old Testament was already widely followed and believed. It's the old, age-proven technique - that false things are most effectively believed when they are attached to some previously established truths.
As noted above by the ancient, pre-Christ dating of the Dead Sea scroll copy of the Book of Isaiah / Old Testament we absolutely KNOW its version circulated during Muhammad's time further predicts a child would be born who was already"Mighty GOD" and thus, eternal, upon His birth! As Isaiah further prophesied (also in the discovered scroll), in Isaiah 53, perhaps the most amazing Messianic prophecy of all, as it foretells of Jesus' suffering and Crucifixion. The passage says He "poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors." Who else could that have been but JESUS! And this passage is what was has now been unquestionably proven by scholars to have been in the Old Testament of Muhammad's time. Outrageous claims require validation - and Muslim claims about Old Testament corruption simply fold under the weight of the evidences against it! Of course, many contradictions also exist in the Quran that conflict with the New Testament - including the New Testament's testimony as to Jesus' Deity and His Resurrection - again, made by ONE man (Muhammad) some six centuries after the historical events occurred in the first century, New Testament era!
For a look at how the Quran contradicts what the Bible teaches, about the nature of God, Jesus, and other teachings see here: https://www.ciu.edu/allah-islam-same-ya ... ristianity
And to see some of the Quran's key, internal contradictions, go here: https://carm.org/islam/contradictions-in-the-quran/
Lastly, it's very interesting that there are commonalities amongst the founders of key false religious cults, such as Mormonism's Joseph Smith and Islam's Muhammad: Note that both of these affirmed (at least to some degree) parts of the Bible while ALSO tacking onto it NEW, writings of purely man-made, non-inspired (other than perhaps demonic) works (Muhammad adding on with the Quran and Joseph Smith adding on with the Book of Mormon). And this is a powerful technique of those of evil intent throughout history - as people have attempted to bring credibility to their own supposedly "truthful" or "inspired" writings of "god" by attempting to connect such false writings to the Bible, which are both many centuries older than the New Testament (about 19 centuries older than the Book of Mormon and 6 centuries older than the Quran).
The other commonality to those like Joseph Smith and Muhammad, who added / attached their own, much-later writings to the Bible, is that they went off by themselves, without validation or evidence, asserting they had received communications from God, in some unseen corner, claiming some sort of mystical transmission of supposed ADDITIONAL words from Him. These, as opposed to the many Jewish prophets and Apostles of God who often affirmed each other and that were all on the same page about the overall messages and teachings of Scripture. And this is how the writings of false mysticism have always typically worked.
But what about the New Testament and the Gospels - which Muslims often assert also became corrupted? The Quran contradicts many key teaching of the New Testament while nonetheless denying Jesus was Resurrected is God Incarnate. But the really strange thing about Muslims insisting upon the New Testament's corruption, is that it also AFFIRMS it as being TRUE! And it needs repeating that, as Muhammad lived some 600 years after the Bible had been completed, it is a CERTAINTY that both the Old and New Testaments were available to Muhammad during his time - making ALL such claims clearly false! Read the following links - here: https://carm.org/islam/if-the-quran-is- ... -is-false/ and here: http://www.luk.staff.ugm.ac.id/kmi/off/ ... Basic.html
Lastly, as for those who would assert they have been given new sacred writings and instructions from God - note that this is impossible! Why? Because God forbade it, through His last living Apostle, John, writing in the Bible's final Book, in Revelation 22, in one of its very last verses: "I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, 19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book."