Posted: 08/10/05

"The Bible is Corrupt."

You would think that witnessing to a Muslim would be a snap.  Well, as they say in increasingly Islamic France, "Eau Contraire."

A Muslim must faithfully practice the five pillars of Islam and obey the Ten Commandments in an effort to please Allah and go to Paradise.  If that isn't burdensome enough, he will never know for sure if he was good enough until he meets Allah in the afterlife.  The Muslim sounds like a perfect candidate for the Good News.  Unfortunately, there is a two-fold challenge to witnessing to a Muslim. 

Challenge #1: Work Righteous Pride

Some Muslims respond to the demands of Islam with fear.  Due to the demands of the Law, this Muslim has a true understanding of his own guilt.  Like a sin aware Nicodemus or Zaccheus, he is ready for the Good News about Jesus Christ.

However, many Muslims believe they have the goodness to merit Allah's favor.  Breaking that kind of pride is a job for the Ten Commandments.  It is only the Law of God that can help them understand the exceeding sinfulness of sin.  But that is just the first challenge.  Once a Muslim trembles before a just and holy law, now you have to confront a second challenge.

Challenge #2: The Bible is Corrupt

Normally, once you help a self-righteous, pride filled, heaven-earner understand that he is a wretched sinner who deserves the wrath of God, the Good News of Jesus Christ is good news indeed.  Not so the Muslim.

Modern day Islam teaches the doctrine of tahrif: that the New Testament (Injeel) is corrupt.  Therefore, every Muslim claims that the Jesus of the New Testament is not the Son of God who shed His blood for the forgiveness of sins, He is merely a prophet. 

So, even if the Muslim is clearly shown the symptoms of his disease, he will reject your cure.  He does not believe your medicine is legitimate.  In order to help the convicted Muslim receive the grace offered in the New Testament, we must help them understand that our source material is reliable.

With all credit to Samy Tanagho's Glad News! God Loves You My Muslim Friend, here is how the Koran actually testifies that the Bible is trustworthy and accurate. 

The Koran commands Muslims to profess belief in the Bible.

Surah 2:136: "Say ye: 'We believe in Allah, and the revelation given to us, and to Abraham…and that given to Moses and Jesus, and that given to (all) prophets from their Lord: We make no difference between one and another of them.'"

The Koran does not accuse Christians of changing the Bible.  The Koran was given to confirm, not replace the Bible.

Surah 5:48: "To thee (Muhammed) We sent the Scripture (Koran) in truth confirming the Scripture that came before it; and guarding it in safety."  This thought is repeated in: Surahs 2:89; 2:101; 6:92; 46:12.

A Muslim who rejects the Old and New Testaments will be condemned.

Surah 40:70-72: "Those who reject the Book and the revelations with which We sent Our messengers: But soon shall they know-when the yokes shall be round their necks, and the chains; They shall be dragged along-In the boiling fetid fuel; Then in the Fire shall They be burned."

The Koran considers the Bible to be superior.

Surah 10:94: If thou wert in doubt as to what We have revealed unto thee then ask those who have been reading the Book from before thee."

The Koran never claims that the Bible was corrupt.

Surah 5:47: Let the people of the Gospel judge by what Allah hatch revealed therein.  If any do fail to judge by the light of what Allah hath revealed, they are no better than those who rebel."

Please, commit those surah numbers to memory.  It will help you dispel their "conspiracy theory" that the Bible somehow became corrupt between Jesus resurrection and 600 A.D.  Samy Tanagho continues to dismantle this conspiracy claim.

By the year 600 A.D. there were Christians in Asia, Africa and Europe.  Undoubtedly there were numerous Bibles on each of those continents.  Can you imagine an all-continent meeting to insert errors into the Bible?  Besides the fact that there were translations in many languages, they would have to:

1. Be in complete agreement on what verses they should change.
2. Deny what they truly believe.
3. Insert corruptions in order to cruelly convince people that Jesus is God when they actually believe He was merely a prophet.
4. They would have to lead their families to believe these lies and doom them to hell.
5. They would have to burn EVERY Bible that contradicted their new "corrupt" text.

No texts have been discovered that differ from the Bibles we possess today.  Not only would every accurate Bible have to be destroyed, but every extant manuscript that contained one of those verses would have to be destroyed too.  That is a conspiracy story that rivals any James Bond movie.

The conspiracy theory that is promoted in Islam is without support in the Koran.  More than that, the Koran contradicts the conspiracy theory.  If you can help a sin-burdened Muslim understand this, then you can share that God loves you, my Muslim friend.

By Todd Friel Email: todd@wayofthemasterradio.com Click here for bio and archived articles