The Issue of Bible Corruption

One of the very important issues is the issue of Bible corruption or modification. Can you please give us an idea about this issue?
The issue of the Bible corruption is one of the most important issues that we must discuss and we must clarify because the Bible is not an ordinary book written by a man, but it is the Law and the covenant by which The Lord is Going to judge and deal with men. So by believing that the Bible has gone through certain modification or changes (by increase or decrease of text) then the foundation determining ones eternity will be questionable which is a serious issue. Therefore, it should be thoroughly discussed or studied.

How did the issue of Bible corruption start?
It showed up after Islam started to spread in Christian countries as Koran came with different teachings than the Bible and this was a challenge before our Muslim brothers, which book is the book of God? Which book should the people believe? The two books are different and not in agreement at least about the main issues that determine man's eternity and his destiny. When it was found that there was no complete agreement in many issues between the Koran and the Bible, some people found they had to claim the Bible corruption or modification to get out of trouble. Which is the true and which is the false? We cannot say that the Koran is false or that the Bible is false so something must have happened to one of them to make it unreliable and from here came the idea of Bible corruption.

Why did they insist on the idea of Bible corruption?
Because this is the only way out to escape the Lord's commandments written in the Bible, and this is the only way to combine what was written in the Koran and in the Bible. So if we say today that the Bible was not corrupted or the Koran was not corrupted then theoretically, the stories should match as well as the events, and there should be no differences between the two of them. Or else we should answer the question why are the two different? But they are not only different in trivial issues but in the main issues related to human life and the nature of God and so forth.

What are the differences between the Bible and the Koran? Are they simple differences or major ones?
The reality is that the differences are not only major but also very obvious. There are 100% differences in many topics that matter to every human being and covering different domains. For example in the story narration, many stories that came in the Bible were differently written in the Koran.

Can you give us some Biblical examples to compare?
Let me go with you through the story of Jesus birth as an example. In the book of Matthew 1:18 we find the story of the birth of Jesus and this is from the Christian point of view, and when the Lord is speaking to the Christians about their book, it should be as obvious and as accurate as possible. So the reference here we are using is the book of Christians. The Bible says "This is how the birth of Jesus came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace he had in mind to divorce her quietly." In the Koran version, the Koran never mentioned the story of Joseph, Mary's Fiancée, at that time. Then the Bible says "but after he considered this an Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said Joseph son of David do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit". The word Holy Spirit here means the Spirit of God. Islam does not believe that God has a spirit. Islam believes that God is One and has no spirit. When we mention the Holy Spirit, we do not speak about an Angel for the Angel said, "what is conceived in her is from the Holy spirit". According to the theory of Islam the conception took place through an Angel as some people claimed, but it is obvious here that no angel had to do anything with the conception of Jesus blessed be his name. The angel was just a messenger to deliver a message of the birth of Jesus. In Verse 21 we read "and she will give birth a son and you are to give him the name Jesus because he will save his people from their sins". This is not accepted by Islam or any other religion that Jesus is the one who saves his people from their sins. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet the virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son and they will call him Immanuel, which means God with us ". As the Bible mentions Jesus was born in Bethlehem in a manger for cows as there was no other place for him to be born, but the Koran says that Jesus was born under a tree. The Bible never mentions that Jesus spoke as he was a baby in the cradle, but the Koran says that Jesus spoke as a baby in the cradle. If this was true, why did the Bible did not mention it specially that this thing would have been considered the miracle of miracles for a child to speak in the cradle and say " I am the Servant of God he Gave me the Book and made me a prophet". If this truly took place, this incident should have been written in the Bible but for some reason it was never mentioned.

Do you think the reason is the fact that each one wrote the story from his point of view?
It could be seen this way, true, but there is a difference between the subjective narration and the honor given by God to the newborn child the Lord Jesus Christ. If Jesus truly spoke as a child in the cradle, this is not a difference of opinion. According to the Koran, everybody saw Jesus speaking and heard him as they came to the Virgin Mary questioning her and said to her that both of her parents were decent people So where did this baby come from. Consequently, the baby Jesus spoke few hours after he was born. If this was true, it should have been mentioned in the book of the Christians. This is a serious story. If the Christians were trying to prove that Jesus was a living miracle, they should have used this story. This in fact was mentioned by the Koran to honor Jesus, but admitting this story as Christians, would come in conflict with a very important Christian doctrine.

What is this Doctrine?
The fact that Jesus was a normal child in every sense he lived as a perfect man He grew until he became thirty years old and then he started his ministry and he started saying that he is God in the flesh.. If Jesus spoke as a child in the cradle then he was not a normal child and he was not a perfect man like us and If he was not a perfect man like us ,without sin ,he would have not been qualified to represent us as human beings before God almighty but we as Christians believe that Jesus was born as a child from a mother only and had no human father , Islam as well believes the same and we believe that nothing above normal happened during His childhood except when he was 12 when he was teaching in the temple and arguing with the Pharisees and this is normal as we see children today showing great potential and intelligence, but the story of the birth of Jesus in the Koran is completely different from the bible, If the Koran story was true, then the Virgin Mary needed to give clear evidence of where the child came from while being unmarried, this was not acceptable to the Jews as the bible teaches us. According to the Old Testament law such woman who conceives a child outside marriage was condemned and stoned, and they would have not left her go unpunished. The Bible says the Jews were hardened of hearts, therefore the Bible mentions the fact that Joseph was her fiancée and not her husband and clearly states that he never knew her in the way a man knows a woman until the child was born. This story clearly differs in Christianity from Islam. And there are many other stories where we see differences such as the story of Joseph and the story of Moses and the person who got him out of the water whether it is the daughter of Pharoe as the Bible says or the wife of Pharoe as the Koran says. There are many differences in stories and even in geographical issues. The Koran says that the land is flat and God has established the earth by creating mountains on it to keep it stable it is also speaking about Alexander The Great, it says that he followed the sun to the sunset time and watched the son falling into a well of mud, but we know of course that the earth has no limit or end. On the other hand, the book of Job that was written thousands of years before the Koran Job described the Earth as a sphere even before they invented the telescope, or the new inventions that proved that the earth is a sphere. Obviously, the man who said that the earth is a sphere was burnt because they could not believe him, So the church burnt him. They could not believe that the earth is a sphere, but the Bible mentioned it thousand of years before this event and before the Koran was written, this to mention one of the differences in the geographical domain.

The disagreement around the redemption is there any thing related to Redemption in Islam or Judaism?
This is a very essential topic because redemption as known to Islam is represented in the feast of El ADHA or the feast of the Sacrifice. Some of the Muslim Imams say that there is no redemption in Islam. But we see it written about the son of Abraham when God asked Abraham to offer his son as a sacrifice. The Koran says that he was redeemed by a great sacrifice. But the Koran does not admit the Redemption related to the person of Jesus Christ because If it happens than they would acknowledge that Jesus Christ is the Lamb that came to redeem the world from their sins, and Islam does not accept this at all because If they did, they should accept the cross of Jesus. But Islam does not accept the cross of Jesus, and If they acknowledge, it will bring us back to the fact that the Bible was not corrupted and to the same old problem.

What is this problem?
The problem is that we have to believe one of the two theories either Jesus came to redeem men and was the sacrifice or there is nothing such as redemption or sacrifice. Christianity is founded on the issue of Redemption, and If there was no redemption and If Jesus did not die on behalf of men, then Christianity would not exist for Christianity is founded on the principle of redemption; that man is a sinner and needed redemption and that Christ redeemed him. Therefore, If there is Redemption then Christianity is the true religion that man has to follow and not Islam. So as you can see we cannot combine the two religions, as the disagreement between the two is not a difference of opinion or in story narration but in Human kind destiny or his eternity. If there was redemption and you discover in the Day of Judgment that you were not redeemed and that you should go to hell, it would be a disaster. But If redemption existed and Christ redeemed me, I will go to eternal paradise. So does redemption exist or not Christianity says there is redemption but Islam says there is no redemption.

How God deals with the issue of forgiveness of sins in the three religions? Can we start with Judaism?
The issue of forgiveness of sin is very important as it deals with man's eternal destiny. The truth is there is nothing more important to man than his eternal destiny as the Bible says "what good will it be for a man If he gains the whole world yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange of his soul? So the issue of the forgiveness of sin is one of the most important issues that should preoccupy man. In Judaism in the Old Testament forgiveness of sin took place through offering animal sacrifices. The one who sinned had to take a lamb or a pair of pigeons to offer. There was also a sacrifice offered on behalf of all the people once per year, only the High priest could offer this sacrifice. When offering a sacrifice a man would put his hand on the head of the sacrifice and confesses his sin that he is a sinner and needed God's forgiveness sin punishment is transmitted from the man to the animal and his sins are forgiven.

What about Christianity?
Christianity did not abolish the sacrifices and offerings of the Old Testament as some people imagine. Jesus came to complement what came in the Old Testament; he offered himself as a sacrifice and instead of all the animal sacrifices that was slain he offered himself as a sacrifice on behalf of men. The Bible says he found Eternal Redemption. This is the idea of redemption that forgiveness of sins does not depend on my works or that my good deeds will wipe away my bad ones. If we believe in the theory of Christianity, then every human being is a sinner and was born in sin and has to be redeemed as we said before. Consequently, forgiveness of sin in Christianity is based on accepting Jesus as a personal savior and Redeemer and confessing that he is the One coming to the world, and he is the one who saves from sin through his cross and death and resurrection. He is the only way to heaven and no one else as the Bible says; he is the only way to Salvation and nothing else can forgive our sins. This is the concept of forgiveness of sins in Christianity.