The Bible vs. The Quran

Islam Review.com ^ | 08-30-02 | Abdullah Al Araby

[nmh]

"The Bible, on the other hand, has stood the test of time. To suggest that the Bible has been altered is against both reason and historic findings. "

You:" Okay, this is where I stopped reading. This statement is absolutely false. Next contestant please."

Hate to rain on your one person parade but ... back you your ridiculous statment.

[GiovannaNicoletta]

Right, and you disbelieve, but I did want to get it on the record that God said that He wrote the Bible, not man.

[nmh]

Thank you for posting this. Maybe some will see ... but as you know, many will not.

Have a wonderful weekend too!

[nmh]

It's sad to read a statement like this:

"Each requires faith, not reason, to be accepted by the respective believers. Arguing over which one is 'right' seems difficult."

Faith and reason go hand in hand when it comes to the Bible. This is not so with the koran. Again contrary to your who is "right" ... it is the Bible that is right. If you'd read it, you'd know that to be true. Those who know the Bible as being "right" don't have the difficulty of seeing where the koran is wrong, contradictory and illogical. It's just another blessing from being familiar with the Word of God. BTW, God isn't relative either. Right and wrong are clearly written about.

I like this verse on reasoning:

Isa.1:18

[18] Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

What the Lord is saying is that believing in Him and His teachings is not unreasonable and neither is faith in Him.

[Seti 1]

OK then, let's compare the historocity, as actual persons, of the Egyptian god seti with that of Jesus Christ.

OK, let's do that. Seti was a great pharaoh (and therefore a god) and the father of a greater one. He built temples all over Egypt (most notably at Abydos and Luxor). His name and deeds are written on stone, plaster and papyrus in copious amounts. And if you would like to meet him, his mummy currently resides in the Cairo Museum.

If you are interested in checking out the Ancient Egyptian religion (which was an active religion for twice the length of time Christanity has been around) in its modern manifestation you can go to: http://www.netjer.org/home/. I'm not a believer but I find this group amusing.

[Seti 1]

Christians are the largest religious group on the planet,and in the USA.

The largest, yes, but far less than half and, therefore, fewer people believe in Christ than don't. Got it? Or should I go through it one more time? I know, here's the numbers:

Christianity: 2 billion
Islam: 1.3 billion
Hinduism: 900 million
Secular/Nonreligious/Agnostic/Atheist: 850 million
Buddhism: 360 million
Chinese traditional religion: 225 million
primal-indigenous: 150 million
African Traditional & Diasporic: 95 million
Sikhism: 23 million
Juche: 19 million
Spiritism: 14 million
Judaism: 14 million
Baha'i: 6 million
Jainism: 4 million
Shinto: 4 million
Cao Dai: 3 million
Tenrikyo: 2.4 million
Neo-Paganism: 1 million
Unitarian-Universalism: 800 thousand
Rastafarianism: 700 thousand
Scientology: 600 thousand
Zoroastrianism: 150 thousand

[Seti 1]

You are right about the Exodus. There is no mention of it anywhere. Several million slaves revolt, perform several miracles including killing all the first-borns, then destroy pharaoh and his army before taking off into the desert. Yet no scribe writes it down. Scribes in palaces, temples, warehouses, etc., record that such-and such slave was absent sick on such-and-such day and that 20 deben of wheat was issued to the painters at Abu Simbel but they let the slave revolt and the death of the pharaoh slip their minds--all of them. How do the Biblical archaeologists handle this? They say that any day now something will turn up.They also have a problem with the pharaoh they identify as the guilty king--actually, he lived into his late 90's and died of an infected jaw. He was the son of Seti and lies with his father in the Cairo Museum.

So for 40 years several million people wandered around the desert, leaving no trace, although traces of older and smaller groups of travelers are common.

Then Joshua takes over and utterly destroys the major cities of Canaan. Oops! Most of these cities have been identified and dug and there are no destruction layers where there ought to be. Several weren't founded until centuries later. How do the Believers explain this? Hoffmeier, who is a Believer and an expert thinks all those stories about destroyed cities were just typical bragging, not to be taken seriously.

OK, but David and Solomon--they are real enough, right? Sorry, Charley. In all the thousands of tablets comprising the diplomatic correspondence of the kings of numerous cities, the names of David and Solomon do not occur. (Now before someone races in to tell me about the Tell Dan inscription which says "bit dwd" on it, which can mean House of David among other things please go to the following:

http://www.geocities.com/Paris/LeftBank/5210/tel_dan.htm.

This will put you in touch with a very serious scholar who is charging that the Tell Dan inscription is a forgery.

[Ahban]

Twice the length of Christianity? Christianity is either Judism fulfilled or it is nothing. I guess one could say Judism is the pure form of proto-christianity (what God was leading us to). Some who have studied the matter more than I say Hinduism is a corrupted form of proto-christianity as well. Once you cut through all the goo there is one ultimate god expressed in three forms. There is a flood story with a Noah-type character.

Jesus may not have built any temples, but He built a kingdom in the hearts of men that has changed History forever. The works of Seti are of historical interest only, save the tiny group you reference.

I'll admit You can't find the body of Jesus anywhere. That is not because He didn't exist, its because He STILL exists. We have proof Seti is not an actual God, it rests, as you say, in the Cario museum. We have no such proof concerning Jesus even though it was in the interests of the authorities of the day to take steps to ensure the body of Jesus was available as a museum piece.

[Ahban]

Hmmmm. You do believe the holocaust occurred, right?

As far as the dates not matching, I think the scholars are off by about 2-3 centuries because the Egyptian king lists have some folks in there that were not kings. If they go a little earlier, the archeology is a much better, though admittatdly not perfect, match.

The cities founded centuries later were most likely re-establishments of the original destroyed cities.

As far as the lack of official documents of the Exodus, people were probably busy cleaning up after the disaster. BESIDES, GOVERNMENTS record their victories, not their humiliations at the hands of slaves.

How many records would they find in Iraq 2,000 years from now of the American's victory in desert storm? If there is any mention at all, it will be of THEIR great victory over us!!! Technology has changed, but I think we can both agree that the mindset of absolute dictatorships does not!!

[tutstar]

bump

[be131]

But of course there are manifold inconsistencies within the Bible (and probably the Quran as well). For example, compare the genalogies of Jesus given in Matthew and Luke. They don't even agree on the name of Joseph's father.

[Eternal_Bear]

No one can trap God in a book and then use it as a weapon against others. It is absurd. Don't franchise God. It doesn't work any more. God existed before religion or any "holy' book. Modern Humans have been around for 200,000 or more years and we only need this stuff now?

[moteineye]

Actually the Egyptians were following ancient historical styles of recording history.They would never record their failures or humiliations. The Pharaohs would not put up with it.Many battles that they lost they would record as a victory......The Torah is one of the few records that includes both.The Jews recorded victories and failures.
It is very odd that there the Egyptians have no records of first born children during that time .Recently archeological digs have uncovered evidence of 600 stables for chariots in the vicinity of the Reed sea.The Reed sea could be the Red Sea mentioned in the King James Version of the Bible. I don't believe the spelling of English words then was standard until the first dictionary was written.A word could be written with several spellings.

[moteineye]

Again the word kill in 1600 could have meant the same thing as murder.The synonym for kill is murder.Look it up. That is not an error.

[Destro]

could have? reed sea-red sea?

[Teacher317]

The Bible vs. The Quran

No holds barred (as Islam has made readily apparent), best of 3 falls, no quarter given nor asked.

Coming to a theater (of war) near you very soon.

[moteineye]

Yes, have you ever done any research? Spelling was not standard. Red could be spelled any way someone wanted to spell it. Red could be spelled red,read,reed etc.

Until the first dictionary there was not a standard for spelling words in English.

[Destro]

Just playing Devil's advocate.

A List of Biblical Contradictions

[piasa]

He could say that if and only if he had more than one copy,

If Bill Clinton is any example, Muhammad, or indeed any person, could also say that if he just made it up off the top of his head. Which he may have had to- how many languages could he read, even if he had found manuscripts?

[Destro]

Just playing Angel's advocate: The following replies are to alleged Biblical contradictions cited by Jim Meritt (needless to say, not a Bible scholar, but an oceanographer) on the web page, "A List of Biblical Contradictions"