Reader asks how we know the Bible is the inspired Word of God, while other “holy books” are not

READER COMMENT:

I always go on your website because I believe the same way you do, but how do I tell my friend that spirit of God created the Bible through man. He has an issue that MAN, still created a book that wasn’t by God, and yes we have to walk through faith but he doesn’t get why Jews, Muslims, and Catholics all believe in a higher power but a book with letters tell us to be believe in one particular book, so why not Muslim or catholic?

OUR RESPONSE:

Good question! You are basically saying "How do we know the Bible is the inspired Word of God and not just 'made up' by man?" And, "How do we know that Muslim and Catholic texts are not the inspired Word of God?"

The thing is, many books have been written about this subject, so this brief response will likely not be sufficient, but we hope you get the gist.

First, let's clarify that the Catholic texts are the same Bible as everyone else uses except that Catholicism has added significant interpretation and instruction on just what Catholics should believe, i.e., the Catholic Catechism. Muslims, on the other hand, believe in the Koran, which was supposedly given to Mohammed in the 7th Century CE, and is presumably "superior" and subsequent to the Bible.

To be fair, even Judaism, also using the same Bible (though they don't consider what Christianity calls the "New Testament"), have their own "catechism" in the form of the Talmud which is the written commentary on the Tanakh (Old Testament) by the rabbis over the centuries - given equal weight to the Torah.

So, "How do we know the Bible is the inspired Word of God and not just 'made up' by man?"

Well, it's the "test of time." The Bible, was demonstrably produced more than 2000 years ago, and (discounting edited and biased versions) contains prophesied events which have proven historically accurate ,and geographical citations which have proven archaeologically accurate. For example, some 300 prophecies of the Messiah were captured in the Bible hundreds if not thousands of years before the Messiah's appearance, yet all were fulfilled.

Moreover, in 1948, God used the Holocaust to fulfill two of Isaiah's prophecies - that Israel would become a nation once more, and that it would happen in one day (Isaiah 66:7-8). This accurately describes what happened on May 14, 1948 - when "the world" briefly felt sorry for the Jews and returned Israel to them and they were able to declare independence for Israel as a united and sovereign nation for the first time in 2,900 years! 

The Bible is uniquely authentic among ancient literary works in terms of the number of ancient manuscripts recovered and the validity of the texts precluding any alteration from the original. This indicates that the Bible has been accurately transmitted throughout the ages (again discounting edited and biased versions), far more so than any other ancient documents.

On the other hand, Islam's Koran, whose verses were supposedly given to the "prophet" Mohammed by the angel Gabriel (who is actually first mentioned in the "Old Testament" Book of Daniel 8:15–26 and 9:21–27, and in other ancient Jewish writings such as the uncanonized Book of Enoch), is relatively 'recent' - i.e. from the 7th century CE (well after the Gospels!), and many centuries after the Torah. Mohammed, who suffered from epilepsy, was illiterate, and had his followers write down his visions on whatever was handy at the time - palm leaves, etc.)

Borrowed from Wikipedia:

"According to tradition, several of Muhammad's companions served as scribes and recorded the revelations. Shortly after his death, the Quran was compiled by the companions, who had written down or memorized parts of it. The codices showed differences that motivated Caliph Uthman to establish a standard version, now known as Uthman's codex, which is generally considered the archetype of the Quran known today. There are, however, variant readings, with mostly minor differences in meaning."

Unlike YHWH's Divine Messiah, Yeshua, who was never married (because he was all about his Father's business - Luke 2:41-52), and who rose from the dead three days after his crucifixion where he was seen by at least 500 people (1 Corinthians 15:3-9), Mohammed died in the arms of his fifth wife, and he was entombed in Medina, Saudi Arabia, a place myriads have visited over the centuries and can still visit today.

Given the above, we can be pretty sure that the Koran is NOT the inspired word of God!

We hope this helps!  Thank you for trusting us with an answer!