Unbelief

What is Unbelief?

Dictionary definition,

unbelief: The state or quality of not believing; incredulity or skepticism, 

               especially in matters of faith or religious doctrine. - Dictionary.com

Biblical definition,

unbelief: The choice of not believing: the finding of incredulity or being 

               skeptical concerning God, Jesus or the Doctrines of the Bible.

Simply put, unbelief in God and Jesus is the opposite of belief in God and Jesus.  Therefore, as belief is like and is similar to having or possessing faith, unbelief is like and is similar to possessing doubt. Unbelief receives its strength from doubt, for without doubt, unbelief has no grounds or possibility to survive.  Unbelief then is characterized by the supposed rational position of reasonable doubt about someone or something.  As it relates to Christianity, unbelief is the supposed rational position of reasonable doubt about God, Jesus and the Bible.  It is the doubts of what otherwise could be believed, which constitutes a person unbelief, about God, Jesus and the Bible.

What Unbelief is Not?

It is not fear.  Fear is the perversion of faith.  As faith is the evidence of things hoped for, (Hebrews 11:1) fear is the evidence of things not hoped for.  Fear works like faith but in the opposite direction.  Still Fear is not the opposite of Faith.  Faith and fear are polar opposites flowing in the same current of power. Just like we have positive charges of electricity and negative charges of electricity flowing in a single power line, we have faith and fear in the current of belief. Both flows of electrical power are in the opposite direction, yet they are same current.  Fear is the negative power, and Faith is the positive power, they are both are opposed by no power, they are both opposed by unbelief.

Now, not all faith is good, there is blind faith, whereas a person trusts without any wisdom, without any facts to substantiate its trust in someone or something or in some event to happen. Neither is all fear is bad, there is the fear of God, the fear of fire, these kinds of fears prevent us from foolishly doing the unwise thing and harming ourselves. They booth work, but in different directions, polar opposites if you will, for the purpose they are designed to do when properly used.

What is unbelief then if it is not fear?

Unbelief is an entirely different matter.  Unbelief can’t be caused by faith or fear for unbelief has no faith in anyone or anything.  You either believe or you don't believe.  Unbelief has no fear in anyone or anything. This can be dangerous because having no fear of anything can cause a person to be reckless and be a danger not only to himself but those around him.  A man without a health fear about things is a reckless and uncontrolled man. (Proverb 25:28) Having no fear is not necessarily having courage.  For courage is the position of challenging what fear presents. In short, courage challenges false expectations appearing real. 

The Bible states that God has given to each person is given a measure of faith (Romans 12:3), I would also state the opposite is also true that to each person is given a measure of doubt.   This means that every person has a degree or portion of faith. If that is true, then to every person is given a measure of doubt, which is the foundation of their unbelief. The question is what do they have unbelief about and why.  In respect to the Christian testimony about God and Jesus, it is the doubt that God is who he is and Jesus who he said he was. Therefore, without doubt, unbelief has no strength in the minds of many concerning God and Jesus.  What is doubt then? It is the rational thought based upon the evidence or the lack of evidence of an event, person or thing.  

Addressing Doubt

When people doubt, they do it with a reason, or rational   That reason or rational  usually begins with the word "If" followed by  the Christian claim to be challenge, followed by the reason or rational why the Christian claim cannot be true or proven. For example many people have said this doubt of Jesus's divinity, "If Jesus is God, then who was he praying to, Himself?" This question shows the lack of understanding of who God is and what is his constitution and attributional makeup.  

 When people doubt, they do it with a reason, or rational   That reason or rational  usually begins with the word "If" followed by  the Christian claim to be challenge, followed by the reason or rational why the Christian claim cannot be true or proven. For example many people have said this doubt of Jesus's divinity, "If Jesus is God, then who was he praying to, Himself?" This question shows the lack of understanding of who God is and what is his constitution and attributional makeup.  

God in the Christian view is Triune that is he is three expressions of his person contained in one Godhead; Jesus came to reveal the second member of the Godhead, God, the Son.  When God sent Jesus to die for mankind, he had to send his image, in the form of a man. If God can’t do this then he is not God.  The Bible shows us various images of God appearing to aid people of faith:

In Genesis: God is the voice that walked in the Garden, the voice that spoke to

                  Abraham before he sacrificed his son Isaac, the three men that                          appeared to Abraham before he destroyed Sodom and 

                  Gomorrah, and the angel that wrestled with  Jacob.

In Exodus: God is the pillar clouds by day and the pillar of fire by night that 

                   lead Israel from the Egyptians as they pursued them across the 

                   wilderness of the Sinai.  God is the erupting mountain in the 

                  country of Middian, where God wrote on two stone tablets his ten 

                  commandments for the Israelites, to keep as his chosen people.

              In Job: God is the whirlwind, which spoke with his servant job concerning 

                           his dispute.

I could name many other examples on how God became other things to perform his will. So why can’t God become a man? It was possible for him become everything else and he did not think it would make him less of the God of Creation to do so.  

Now someone would say to me: Ok, if that be so, then Jesus was speaking to himself when he prayed? The answer to that question is both yes and no.  Yes, in that Jesus even though was a man was also God manifested in the flesh while on the earth. No, because in his humanity he did not regard himself alone, he always felt that he was in the company of and in communion with God, his heavenly father.  In his human state, Jesus was humble and obedient to the will of his heavenly Father until death.  As God manifested in the flesh, Jesus was also well aware of his power and authority, for he said to his disciples in regard to those who mocked him, after his disciples requested that he call fire from heaven to consume them, "You do not know what spirit you are of.." (Luke 9:55).  In another place he said to them who heard him, "Do you not know I can call 12 legions of angels..." (Matthew 26:53)  The only one that can call angels to do anything is God and nobody else.   Christians view God as omnipresent, that is, he is always present at all times.  They have cause to believe this for the Bible states that "The eyes of the Lord is upon every place, beholding the evil and the good." (Proverbs 15:3) In order for God’s eyes to be in every place at the same time he has to be present everywhere at the same time. Being omnipresent allows God to be in more than one place at the same time. The question illustrates the doubt that God can be everywhere at once, even in the form of the Spirit and in the form and image of a man. The Bible clearly opposes this belief.

Jesus dealings with Doubt

Jesus throughout his ministry upon the earth had to deal with the level of unbelief of the people he spoke to.  Sometimes he had to tell his own disciples to not doubt.  There is a story in the Bible about a Father who had a son that was possessed with a devil.  The evil spirit vexed the boy so much that it would toss the boy about causing him harm.  The father after exhausting every means to cure his son even went to the disciples of Jesus and they could not cast it out of the boy.  The Father turned to Jesus and cried out, “I believe, help thou my unbelief.”  Jesus responded and cast the devil out of the boy and restored him to his father.  Later, the disciples came to Jesus and asked him why they could not cast out that devil out of the boy.  Jesus responded that, “This kind does not come out except by fasting and prayer,” (Mark 9:20-29)

This story illustrates to us the power a measure of unbelief can have.  The disciples of Jesus did not have enough belief to cast out the devil out of the boy and the father was having an inner struggle believing that whether or not his son could be delivered of the evil spirit that vexed him.  After the disciples failure to cast the evil spirit out of the boy, the father’s doubts and fears grew. The father of the boy was losing his measure of faith and increasing his measure of doubt, so he cried out “…help thou my unbelief…” meaning in my opinion that he wanted Jesus to put his unbelief back in check in regards to Jesus and his exorcist power.  When Jesus delivered the boy from the evil spirit, the fathers faith was back in the correct measure.    Now the disciples inquired on why they were not able to do what Jesus did.  Jesus said this kind, meaning the ones that have aggressive evil spirits causing the sickness or disease requires a fervent prayer life and regular practice of fasting of the exorcist, so that the evil spirit would remove itself from the person affected. This also indicates that all the other sicknesses are not the result of demoniac possession. We’ll save that for another Bible study.  The point is that Jesus deals with doubt by encouraging faith and responding to it.

Jesus Experiences Powerlessness

So what does the previous information has to do with unbelief?  Unbelief is the one thing Jesus or God can’t work with (Hebrews 11:6).  As long as someone has faith in him, he works in that person's life according to that person’s level of faith.  An example of how unbelief does not allow Jesus, the Son of God, to perform any miracles is when he is in his home town of Nazareth. (Matthew 13:53-58, Mark 6:1-6, Luke 4:16-32)   Jesus could not do many miracles there because the people regarded him as only the carpenter's son that they knew as a lad. The people did not believe that he was God or even the son of God. This illustrates that if you have no faith in Christ, you will have no power, but if you have much faith in Christ, as small as a mustard seed you will have much power. The people of Jesus's home town had little faith that Jesus had power to heal and do the other miracles they heard about, their reason: He was only the son of a carpenter. His brothers and sisters are living with us.  This is Mary’s son.  These facts made them doubt who Jesus really was. They had doubt of who Jesus was reported, and was testifying himself to be, the result was that not many miracles were done there.

You see, unbelief is very powerful in slowing the overwhelming power of faith, so it is imperative that believers build up their faith in Jesus and reduce their doubts about Jesus, the Christ and the Christian walk they aspire to live.  However, this is what the problem is with many "Christians" today; many have no or little faith in who Jesus is and what he can do for them.  They are Christians in name only, because they want their sins to be accepted as though it does not offend to God and still miss hell.  

Here is the sad news:  If they don't get know who Jesus is, they may hear these words at the judgment seat of Christ: "I never knew you" and still be cast into the lake of fire. (John 3:36, 17:3; Mathew 25:1-13; Revelations 20:15) All because they did not accept the free gift of eternal life in Christ Jesus.

Here is the Good News: They still have a chance to lay ahold of the salvation in Christ reserved for them.  How?  All they have to do is repent of their sins and sinfulness to God and start living holy according to what God expects them to live.  Many believers say that this is impossible to do because no man is perfect.  I used to believe that until I read this verse.

“He that smith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.”                      -1 John 2:6

Which in my opinion means: if anyone says he is a Christian, that is a follower of Christ, should also live as Jesus as Jesus lived.  Jesus even said, “ I am the way, the truth,  and the life, no man cometh unto the father , except by me” –John 14:6  meaning in my opinion that :  Jesus is the way we Christians we travel, the truth we rely upon and the life we lead.  Jesus didn’t just come here to die for our sins and be raised from the dead. Jesus came here to show us how to live this new life as a Godly Spirit Filled man.  He came to show us how to live, in faith, in power and in obedience to God, the Father.  So if he came to do that, it is not impossible to repent of my sins and sinfulness and embrace a holy life designed by God, in Christ.  The question for me as it is for many others is are you ready to commit to living it?

If you are, a good starting point is making sure that you have accepted God’s salvation offer. You do that by saying the following prayer with all your heart:

Dear heavenly Father,

In Jesus’ name, I come to you now as a repentant sinner.  I confess all of my sinfulness to you and ask you to forgive all of my sins for Jesus’ sake. Wash away all of my sins by the blood of your Son Jesus.  For I now believe that Jesus died for my sins according to your Holy Word, the Bible and that he was raised from the death according to the Bible.  I now invite your Holy Spirit to come and live inside of me and make me your child. I promise to strive to live holy everyday with the Help of your Holy Spirit and by studying the Bible every day. I thank you Lord for saving me.

If you have recited the above prayer with all sincerity, I welcome you the Family of God! Right now the Angels of heaven are rejoicing because you have repented and believed in the hope of all men’s salvation.  Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God.

The next thing you need to do is find a bible believing church, so that you can grow up in Christ and in God. To become what God designed you to be.  Isn’t that exciting!?!

Did Jesus say that he was the Son of God?

One of the many arguments that many people insist on promoting is that Jesus never said he was the Son of God.  So what is the big deal if  he did or he didn’t say that he was the Son of God?  The significance of whether Jesus said he was the Son of God or not is that if he did say he was, then by his own testimony he admitted to be divine and thereby made himself equal to God. If he did not say that he was the Son of God, then many people’s faith has been misplaced in something that is not simply true. 

Many believers in Christ, can tell of a number of places in the Gospels that Jesus inferred directly or indirectly that he was the Son of God. Also that Jesus testified to being the Son of God deliberately so that there was no mistaking what he meant. To find this to be so, all anyone has to do is to read the reaction to whoever he declared that he was the Son of God to. When he said it to those who were willing to believe or did believed that he was the Son of God, they acknowledged Jesus as such and worshiped him. To which Jesus did nothing to prevent people from worshiping him and believing that he was the Son of God, in fact he took it to mean that people honored him and God, his father when they chose to believe. When he said that he was the Son of God, directly or indirectly to those who were not willing to believe his testimony, they thought it was their legal right to have him killed for committing blasphemy.  

Here are a few examples from both sides of Jesus’ declaration that he was the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the Living God:

A.   Examples of when Jesus told those willing to believe or did believe that was the Son of God.

1. John 9:35-38: Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when he had found him, he said unto him, “Dost thou believe on the Son of God?” He answered and said, “Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him?”  And Jesus said unto him, “Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee. And he said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshipped him.

2. Matthew 14:22-33: And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away.  And when he sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when evening was come, he was alone.  But the ship was not in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves; for the wind  was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went unto to them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, “It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear.  But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, “Be of good cheer; It is I; Be not afraid.” And Peter answered him and said, “Lord, if it be thou, bid me to come unto thee on the water. And he said, “Come.” And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.  But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying,”Lord, save me!” And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, “O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?”  And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased.  Then they that were in the ship came and worshiped him, saying, “Of a truth, thou are the Son of God.”

3.John 4:20-26: “Our fathers worshiped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.” Jesus saith unto her, “Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him  must worship him in spirit and in truth.” The woman saith unto him, “I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things.” Jesus saith unto her,”I that speak unto thee am he.

4. John 1:44-49: Now Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.  Philip findeth  Nathanael and saith unto him, “We have found him, of whom Moses in the Law , and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” And Nathanael said unto him, “Can anything good thing come out of Nazareth?” Philip saith unto him, ”Come and see.”  Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, “Behold and Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!”  Nathanael saith unto him, “Whence knowest thou me?” Jesus answered and said unto him, “Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee.” Nathanael answered  and  saith unto him, “Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel.”

  

5.  Mark 8:27-29: And Jesus went out, and his disciples, into the towns of Caesarea Philippi: and by the way he asked his disciples, saying unto to them, “Whom do men say that I am?” And they answered, ”John, the Baptist: but some say, Elias; and others, One of the prophets.”  And he saith unto them, “But whom say ye that I am?”  And Peter answereth and saith unton him, “Thou art the Christ.”

6. Mathew 16:14-18: When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, “Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?”  And they said, “Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.”  He saith unto them, “But whom say ye that I am?”  And Simon Peter answered and said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”  And Jesus answered  and said unto him, “Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say unto thee, that thou are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

The point is, whether he told them directly or indirectly, in private or in front of others, Jesus told those who were willing to believe him that he was the Son of God.  Furthermore Jesus did not refuse the worship of his adherents for he also said,

John 5:23: That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father.  He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him.

B. Here now are some examples of when Jesus testified that he was the Son of God to those who were not willing to believe him.

1 John 8:47-59: “He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.” Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, say we not well that art a Samaritan, and hast a devil?” Jesus answered,  “I have not a devil; but I honour my Father, and you dishonour me.  And I seek not mine own glory: there is one that seeketh and judgeth. Verily, verily, I say unto you,  If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.” Then said the Jews unto him, “Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest,  If a may keep my saying, he shall never taste of death. Art thou greater than our father Abraham, which is dead? And the prophets are dead: whom makest thou thyself?” Jesus answered, “If I honour myself, my honour is nothing: it is my Father that honoureth me; of whom ye say, that he is your God: Yet ye have not known him; but I know him: and if I should say, I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto you: but I know him, and keep his saying. Your father Abraham rejoiced  to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.”  Then said the Jews unto him, “Thou are not yet fifty years old,  and hast thou see Abraham?” Jesus said unto them, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am.” Then took up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.

2. John 10:27-36: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.  My Father, which gave them to me, is greater thatn all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.  I and my Father are one.” Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, “Many good works have I showed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?” The Jews answered him, saying, “For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.”  Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said, Ye are gods’? If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken; Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, ‘Thou blasphemest’; because I said, ‘I am the Son of God?’”

3. Matthew 26:62-65: And the high priest arose, and said unto him, “Answereth thou nothing? What is it which these witness against thee?” But Jesus held his peace.  And the high priest answered and said unto him, “I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God.”  Jesus saith unto him, “Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you,  hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.”  Then the high priest rent his clothes, saying, “He hat spoken blasphemy; what futher need have we for witnesses? Behold,  now ye have heard his blasphemy.”

4. John 19:4-7: Pilate therefore went forth again, and saith unto them, “Behold, I bring him forth to you, that you may know that I find no fault in him.” Then Jesus came forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe.  And Pilate saith unto them, “Behold, the man!” When the chief priests therefore and officers saw him, they cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him.” Pilate saith unto them, “Take him, and crucify him: for I find no fault in him.” The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.”

5. Matthew 27:37-40: And set up over his head his accusation written, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.  Then were there two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand, and the other on the left. And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads, And saying, “Thou that destroyeth the temple, and buldest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross.”

6. Matthew 27:41-43: Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said, “He saved others, himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. He trusted in God; let  him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’”

            The point is, that whether or not he told them directly or indirectly, they all heard Jesus declare that he was the Son of God and by his own testimony accused him of the crime of blasphemy, which is according to the Law of Moses punishable by death. For it is written:

Leviticus 24:16: And he that blasphemeth the name of the Lord, he shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall certainly stone him: as well as the stranger, as he that is born in the land, when he blasphemeth the name of the Lord, shall be put to death.

            By Jesus proclaiming and testifying  to be the Son of God, the people who heard him that were not willing to believe him, believed that he was committing the crime of blasphemy. Yet other people who also heard him believed his testimony because they also believed that God send the Christ, the Messiah and he would be God’s son.  When Jesus gave them the evidence to be believe that he was the Christ, the long awaited Messiah, the Son of the living God, some believed and some refused to believe the evidence.   They regarded Jesus as a man born out of wedlock, whose real father was a Samaritan and that he was possessed by a devil.  So when Jesus declared that their God was in fact his father, they believed he was committing blasphemy and they had a legal responsibility and recourse to kill him.  They just could not do so according to the prescription of  the Law of Moses.  The problem was they could not exact capital punishment upon Jesus for the crime of blasphemy because their Roman rulers  would not allow it without first hearing the offender’s plea. When the Governor of Judea, Pontcus Pilate,  heard that the  charge against Jesus was that he testified that he was the Son of God,  he knew he had a real  problem.  The Romans had only one man who they deemed divine, that man was Caesar their Emperor.  Therefore, anyone that proclaimed himself a God, or a son of God or divine and a king was considered a threat to Caesar and had to be executed under Roman Law.  

While Pilate was conducting a private inquiry about the charges against Jesus with Jesus, he testified to Pilate that he was indeed a king, but he was not a king of this world.  That he was a King of truth.  After Pilate heard that testimony, he reasoned that this testimony of Jesus is not worthy of the capital punishment of execution that the Jews desired, so he sought to let Jesus go free.  When the high priests and other religious leaders heard that Pilate was going to set him free, the Jews told Pilate that he was not a friend of Caesar, if he let Jesus live as a Messiah, and as their king.  This made Pilate more afraid and so the Jews were given authority to kill Jesus by Pilate.

 The method of punishment of a man for the crime of calling himself a king of the Jews was crucifixion.  The Jews did not care how Jesus died, they just wanted Jesus to die, in accordance with what they perceived was the directive in the Law.   They had no reason to suspect that Jesus was actually who he said he was. The Jewish religious leadership where given authority, again by Pilate, to command the Roman guards to guard the sealed tomb so that Jesus’s disciples  could not secretly steal the body of Jesus and proclaim that Jesus rose from the dead. 

After Jesus rose from the dead, the Jewish religious leadership paid  the Roman guards  to spread the story that the disciples were successful in stealing the body of Jesus.  The only problem with this lie was that Jesus, for being someone that was so openly and brutally crucified and buried in a sealed tomb, kept appearing everywhere after his death and burial to those who was willing to believe in him as the Christ, the Messiah and the Son of God, just as he is doing in various parts of the world today.

            So did Jesus say that he was the Son of God?  Yes he did. He said it to those who were willing to believe him and to those who were not willing to believe him.  The question remains are you willing to now believe in him now that you have the evidence that Jesus did say that he was the Son of God?

John 1:12+13: But as many as received him, who believed in his name, to  them he gave power to become the sons of God, even to those that believe on his name: which  were born, not of blood, not after the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

What does the Q'uran say about the Bible being Corrupted?

The Quran says that the Scriptures were not corrupted because Muhammad instructed Christians to judge the Quran by the Gospel! Why would Muhammad instruct Christians to judge by a corrupted Gospel?

Sura 5:47 Let the people of the Gospel judge by what Allah hath revealed therein.

Sura 5:68 Say: "O People of the Book! ye have no ground to stand upon unless ye stand fast by the Law, the Gospel, and all the revelation that has come to you from your Lord."

Many say that our Bible that we Christians have in our possession is corrupted and the original scriptures that they were based upon are lost. Therefore, many also state that what we Christians have is a product of men’s interpretation and implication of what Christians believe.   According to the Quran they are wrong because Muhammad said 400 years after the Bible was completely complied, copied accurately and distributed by the millions throughout the known world in the 7^th century:

Sura 80:13-16 (It is) in Books held (greatly) in honour, Exalted (in dignity), kept pure and holy, (Written) by the hands of scribes- Honourable and Pious and Just.

(There were no Islamic books at the time of this Sura 80 "revelation" from Mohammed's early Mecca days.)

By Muhammad saying these ayats in Sura 80, he completely exonerates the producers of the Bible as well as the Bible itself. It clears them of tampering with the original texts. Who did he clear of any tampering? The Jews and the Christians who are the producers of the Holy books of God. So what does the Quran say about those who turn people away from God’s holy books?

Sura 4:136 O ye who believe! Believe in Allah and His Messenger, and the scripture which He hath sent to His Messenger and the scripture which He sent to those before (him). Any who denieth Allah, His angels, His Books, His Messengers, and the Day of Judgment, hath gone far, far astray.

At the time Muhammad said this Ayat in Sura 4, there was no Quran written.  So he was not speaking about the Quran or else he would have said “His Book ” not “His Books”.  In saying “His” denotes that the books were personally designated to Allah.  Allah is the Arabic word for God.  The only books that were in existence in Muhammad’s day that were considered God’s Holy Books was the Bible, both Old Testament (Torah in Hebrew or Tuarat in Arabic) and New Testament (Injil in Arabic).  Funny, the very same books that many people today cause many other people to turn from believing in, under the unprovable claim of corruption, is acting contrary to the instruction of the Quran!  According to Muhammad and the Quran, They that practice such activity have strayed very far away from God.

Now, someone will say that all those ayats were abrogated.  Really? Then how can anyone believe that which was abrogated?  The word “abrogated” is defined as completely wiping something completely out of existence or has no legal authority anymore.  The question is can you believe in something that no longer exists or has no legal power over you? No you cannot, for that which has been eliminated cannot be any longer believed upon.  For once it is removed from the recognition and memory of mankind it is impossible to ever retrieve it. It no longer exists. So the question is, what were those abrogated ayats superseded by? Furthermore, why recite it and commit to the memory of it if it is abrogated?  It appears that the Islam that is here in America, is a religion that produces unbelief in the words of the very book they believe in as well as the Bible.

By my observations and in my experience, the Quran abrogated ayats are superseded by the adherent’s level of understanding of the life of Muhammad in the 7^th century and Islamic Law as it relates to his life today, centuries later. The reason I state this is because many adherents of Islam state that you cannot effectively interpret the Quran without studying the life of Muhammad. Ok, Many have done so and have found, in the studying the life of Muhammad through the testimony of his companions many disturbing things. Such offensive things which are not the point of this article and out of respect for our Muslim friends will not be addressed here.  Just suffice it to say that in the view of many who has honestly researched the  life of Muhammad have found that he falls woefully short of his own standards, much less the standards of the great prophets of scripture which in the Quran, he associates himself with. The point is Muhammad is not a good example for Muslims or anyone to use to prove the inspiration or validity of the Quran.  I remember reading about the curse of death Muhammad placed upon himself in order to prove what he was saying was true from one the hadiths.   It was not that he predicted that he would live, he predicted rather that those who opposed him would die, if he was speaking the truth or he would die, if he was not speaking the truth.  He said in so many words, let their curse of death be his my head if  he is not speaking the truth or something to that effect.  Consequently Muhammad died thereafter in 632 AD.

It also has been said that the Quran only appeared because some error that needed to be corrected that was being made concerning the scriptures. Really?  Since we have read that the Quran proclaimed that the Bible is pure and holy, what needed to be corrected?  What Muslims deemed the part of the scriptures that needed correction is not the Holy Books in particular, but rather the interpretation of the scriptures that leads people to believe that Jesus is the Son of God, who died for their sins and rose from the dead.  The problem with this argument is that if anyone reads the pure and holy books of God (the Bible), that is exactly you come away believing about Jesus and his ministerial work on the earth.  However, many Muslims insist that Christians in the 4^th Century, in 325 AD, at the Council of Nicea inserted the interpretation that Jesus is the Son of God into the original scriptures. That before that, many believers did not believe that Jesus was the Son of God.   The truth of the matter is that at the Council of Nicea there were two camps of believers.  One influenced by the Marcionites of the second century, who believed that Jesus could not be God, or the son of God and be Jesus of Nazareth at the same time and the other camp was influenced by the Syrian Christian Church which believed that Jesus was the Son of God, thus making him fully God at the same time as he was fully a man.  There were also two Bibles at that Council, each supporting the beliefs of each camp. After much debate and consideration to the pre-existing written testimonies of the Apostles and their disciples, a vote was taken and the camp influenced by the Marcionite theology and bible they used to support their view of Jesus lost by a land side.  Now the important point here is that the Council of Nicea did not make up the idea that Jesus is the Son of God, rather they used existing written and oral testimonies of the church fathers as well as the pre-existing written testimony of the Apostles which were the Gospels and associated letters to make their decision.  The Council of Nicea was convened to confirm what already was believed by Christians concerning Jesus, the Christ, expose heretical teachings thereby and to unify the church.  It was not the council’s intent or will to insert, change anything that was already establish by verifiable written and oral testimony. So the Muslim suggestion that council was responsible for the corruption of the scriptures through the interpretation that Jesus is the Son of God is wrong.  Also as I have pointed out that the Quran agrees that the original scriptures were not corrupted, 300 years after the Council of Nicea.  If the Bible was not corrupted before Islam came into existence and was not corrupted during Muhammad’s life, then what does that make the Muslim argument of scriptural corruption in the first 3 centuries of the church?  It makes it a lie and a false accusation.  
If it be true that the Bible was not corrupted in the first 3 centuries of the church existence, then the Bible could not be lost, now could it?  This  argument that the original scriptures of  the Bible are  lost is also a joint claim that many Muslims make about the original scriptures being corrupted which is only partly true.  Which part you ask?  The part of that the original scriptures were lost. They just don’t know how they were lost or when they were lost.  The original scriptures were lost to decay, not from scriptural tampering as they have suggested. Decay is normal for written texts to experience when exposed to air for a long time.  It is known quite well that written texts turn to dust over time, which is why it is needed to make accurate written copies to replace them.  This means that  the original scriptures were lost to decay, but it also means that they were replaced by accurate copies of them.  So the original scriptures that were written on the earliest forms of paper vanished because of decay, but before they disappeared millions of  accurate copies were reproduced and sent all over the world.  Ah ha! Some Muslims state that is when the bible was corrupted and the idea that Jesus is the son of God was inserted into the Biblical text.  Wait now, see how hard it is for Muslims to admit that they were wrong:  First they said that the council of Nicea did the corruption of the original scriptures, that did not prove to be true.  They now run to the scribes who have copied the scriptures and accused them of proliferating the idea that Jesus is the Son of God in the replicas of the original scriptures.  That is also impossible as well as an insult.  Here is the reason why.  Back then they did not have printers, copiers and any other modern device to reproduce an accurate copy of a manuscript.  They had though was a pen and paper and a strict adherence to accuracy, particularly when it came to the Holy scriptures which we now know that Muhammad cleared them of doing any tampering of the scriptures.   If a book or a letter of the Gospel was not written correctly, it was destroyed and a new copy was made to take its place. This process of preservation of the Holy Books of God was adopted from the Jews.  The first Christians were Jews, remember?  So it is an insult to imply that the Christians and Jews who has dedicated themselves to the preservation of the Holy Books of God were the ones who inserted the interpretation that Jesus is the Son of God.  They not only insult Christians and Jews but they insult Muhammad who proclaimed that the Holy books of God are pure and holy and those who produce them as honest and pious. Now the Bible since that time has survived because believers took great care in its preservation, accurately making copies of it so its message would not be lost.  So yes, the original scriptures were lost, but not the copies of the original scriptures.  Since then, we have discovered so many old copies suffering the same fate as the original scriptures, they were also vanishing due to decay.  Therefore, many of the copies of the original scriptures were discovered with missing portions in different places, but believers dedicated to the restoration and preservation of the scriptures have complied and blended the relative pieces of  the copies of the original scriptures together to form an accurate replica of the original scriptures. So accurate was the replica they created that when another very old Bible was discovered, its contents matched that of the replica, what many believers have today in their hands is based upon that accurate  replica of the original scriptures.  Another reason that it was impossible to create a fraudulent copy of the scriptures is because if one was created, and many have been created and exposed as fraudulent copies, it would stick out like a sore thumb from the rest of the scriptures.  I can name you a few Bible translations that are not the genuine scriptural copies of the original scriptures, but that would take a whole lot of time.  I have wrote another article entitled “New Testament corrupted?” that covers why it is impossible for the New Testament to be corrupted.  Besides, there is a simpler way to tell the difference between a fake Bible version and the True Bible version that based upon the original scriptures. I share that later in this article.

So what Muslims do believing that the Bible is lost, which it isn’t; believing that the bible has been tampered with, which it hasn’t? They go about interjecting concepts into the pure and holy text of the Bible in order to prove to people to how they believe the scriptures is correct.  Now,  I have in every instance where a Muslim has insisted that a word was rendered incorrectly or translated incorrectly in the Bible, after I have investigated their “proof”, I found that every one of them was incorrect time after time.  In fact, in my investigations of their "proofs", I have discovered that what the Muslims accuse of Christians of doing to their sacred texts, Muslims were guilty of the very same thing. I found that they did the same sort of thing to their own sacred text, the Quran. It is a recorded fact that Muslims long ago destroyed the original texts of the Quran and produced another based upon what people remembered Muhammad saying 100 years after his death.  Muslims today are divided over the Uthman Quran and thereby produced 20 different versions of the Uthman Quran of which only 3 are allowed into the United States. (So there is no such thing as one authoritative Arabic Quran) They also have divided into several different groups (So there is no such thing as an universal Islamic brotherhood) that constantly fight with each other. The kicker about this issue is that Muhammad’s appointed top 4 teachers and reciters did not approve of the Uthman Quran, citing missing Ayats and whole Suras.  They were also not asked  to assist in the written compilation of it, 100 years after Muhammad died, in fact they took offense to not being asked to assist in its compilation.  Those 4 famed reciters and teachers of the Quran died or was killed because they would not surrender the words of the Quran that they learned from the lips of Muhammad. Their written versions of the Quran were confiscated and destroyed.  Think of it, the original words of Muhammad lost forever and in its place, words that people remembered that they heard or believed that they heard from the lips of  Muhammad 100 years later than when he actually said it. That is either the most amazing feat ever accomplished or the most impossible feat ever accomplished, to have accurately remembered what one man has said for 100 years without the aid of modern recording devices.  Muslims claimed that this feat was accomplished and proves that the Quran is Muhammad’s standing miracle, which verifies him to be a prophet of God.  The problem is that Muhammad told  his followers that the Quran can be recited ( remember during Muhammad’s lifetime there were no written Qurans) 7 different ways.   This has become problematic for Islamic translators as they wrestle about what is meant by an archaic Islamic word that only appears in one version of all the Arabic Qurans that exist in the world.  One Arabic word in the Quran expressed 7 different ways can and has changed the meaning of the text within it in all the Arabic versions in the world, forcing many Muslims to embrace the Uthman Quran which makes it one of the most popular Qurans today, a book whose words of origin are questionable at best. What is worst is that the Oldest Quran that was discovered in Yehmen, a country on the southeastern tip of the Arabian peninsula, and instead of the contents of that Old Quran verifying the accuracy of the Uthman and the other 20 Arabic Qurans, it reads completely different from all of them! What a mess! Conversely, the New Testament was compiled and completed by AD 90, Jesus died in AD 33, a difference of only 57 years!  Of the Gospel portion of the New Testament, the first Gospel written, Mark, was dated as being composed 25 years or earlier, after the death and resurrection of Jesus, that means the earliest copy we know of was composed in AD 58 but remember it is a copy of the original version, so this means that the original, the first one written, was really composed earlier than AD 58  and the last Gospel written, the earliest copy we have in our possession dates back to AD 70, but it is clear that it was written before the death of John, the Apostle which was a few years before that year bringing the actual year of composition closer to AD 58.  The point is, the Gospels were composed more closer to the death of Christ in comparison to the written compilation of the Quran after the death of Muhammad. Also the resources from which the Gospel was composed are of a better quality than those who submitted the ayats for the compilation of the Quran. No one who lived 100 years after Muhammad died who submitted an Ayat (verse) to be included into the Quran ever seen Muhammad say those words.  They were only repeating what they were told that Muhammad said from someone else’s memory. Their source of information is from someone else who claimed that is what Muhammad said.  Thus these words we read in the written versions of the Quran can not be authenticated. Conversely the Gospels were written by first and second hand eyewitnesses. What is meant by first hand witnesses is that they actually saw Jesus say the words he spoke. What is meant by second hand witnesses, even though they did not see Jesus say the words they recorded in their Gospel record themselves, they documented the words of another eyewitness that actually saw the words Jesus spoke. You cannot get any better idea of what Jesus actually said from these eyewitnesses, than that except for being there yourself. The Apostle John states in the Gospel that bears his name:

“But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.” –John 20:31

So let’s review:

1.      The claim that the Bible was corrupted by the Council of Nicea, by inserting the  interpretation that Jesus is the Son of God is not correct because:

a.        The Church council of Nicea convened to confirm EXISTING testimony about the status of Jesus, the Christ, repudiate FALSE teachings about Jesus, the Christ and unify the Church.

b.      Muhammad himself said 500 years after the Bible was compiled, accurately copied and widely distributed in the known world, in the Quran, that the Bible, representing God’s Holy Books, were keep pure and Holy by the scribes who produced them, which were the Christian and the Jews who dedicated themselves to the preservation of the holy scriptures. 

Now for some this is not enough proof of the Bible being tampered with, for they point to the many and various versions of English Bible Translations, claiming that it where the corruption is.  Now what I have say about that is this:  It is not surprising to find phony and fake bibles being circulated around as though they were legit copies of the scriptures.  Remember the Christian Church have been fighting against heresies from false doctrines and false Bibles ever since the first Church council was formed.  Even back then there were false bibles like the Nestorian Bible  which was the Bible with the first harmonized  Gospel record.  The problem with it was that the Gospel record within it denied the deity of Jesus, the Christ.  The church attempted to correct the problem by confiscating as many of these false bibles and replacing them with the true bibles, but some believers hid those false bibles, believing them to be the truth and circulated them throughout the Arabian peninsula all the way to western China.  It is believed that Muhammad befriended a Nestorian Christian monk and had him read his false Bible to him.  This is why possibly that Muhammad incorrectly proclaimed that Jesus was not the son of God, but rather the Son of  Mary who did not really die on the cross, but was raised to God in heaven.  Imagine what would have happened if Muhammad had gotten a hold of the true bible?  Looking at this issue another way, consider that if fake bibles are being circulated, what are they based upon?  The true one, of course, for you cannot have a fake if you don’t have the real thing to make a fake one from.   This means a true Bible version has to embrace what has been established by the church councils concerning Jesus, the Christ, meaning that any Bible version that does not embrace the interpretation that Jesus is the Son of God is a fake bible.

What separates Muslims from Christians is the view of who and what Jesus, the Christ is.  The Quran states many things about Jesus that is truly amazing. Then again we are looking at a testimony built on questionable resources.  Some of the things one finds in the Quran about Jesus is that he was born of the virgin Mary, but not as God’s son, that he performed miracles empowered by God and made a bird out of clay, that as an infant, he spoke from the cradle and prophesied about his own death.  In the Quran he was acknowledged as Christ and was a part of the line of the prophets of God, who was joined and assisted in the ministry by the disciples (who produced the Gospel records), who themselves testified that they were Muslims. That he taught people to adhere to the Law and supplied believers with the Gospel message.  That he did not die on the cross, but was taken back alive by God to heaven.  Now Christians have no problem with most of these representations of Jesus in the Quran, except for Jesus not dying on the cross and he not being born the Son of God.  Again we must consider that the quality of the sources of this Islamic testimony of Christ to be questionable because of the quality of the witnesses of what Muhammad said. It is not that Muslims are lying about Jesus, it is just the view of Christ they received from the Quran is the only Jesus they know about.  They are just speaking about what they know, even though the quality of their information is poor.  

Now the Quran also says that it comes as a guardian over the Holy Books which God has sent down to men confirming that which was said before.  The Quran certainly confirms as far as Christianity is concerned that Jesus was born of a virgin, but it also does not confirm that Jesus is the son of God.   But we know now that if the original scriptures was not lost and testifies to the fact that Jesus is the son of God. Therefore, the Quran is disqualified as a confirmer of the scriptures that came before it.  To confirm something is to support and verify it, but doing so also disconfirms whatever is not supported and verified.  The problem here is that the Quran complied by questionable testimony and the Bible is verified by eyewitnesses and authentic copies.  Which one would you believe? Furthermore, does the Bible need confirmation from the Quran? If the Bible is pure and holy as Muhammad said it was, then the answer is no.  The Bible does not need the Quran to give validity to it. The Bible can and has stood on its own, because of God’s design and will.  The Quran however needs the Bible and by claiming to be its guardian implies that its purpose is to protect the Bible from people who wants to corrupt it to their own means, but the Quran is guilty of the very thing it is supposed to protect the Bible from.  How does the Quran need the Bible?  There are many Quran passages that refer back to many biblical events, but they are revised, or changed.  Isn’t this the corruption of the pure and holy books of God by the Quran? Of  course it is, now consider the idea that the Bible is corrupted and the origin Bible is lost, what you have left is the Quran which made of the questionable testimony of men as the lone record of God’s dealing with mankind.  But without the Bible how would anyone know what the Quran says is true?  No one would know for sure what the Quran says is true. They would have to believe the Quran blindly that it is true without any collaborating evidence.  Or tear out every biblical reference mentioned in it, because if the Bible is corrupted the Quran is also corrupted.  The Bible has no reference implying the coming of the Quran, not one prophecy. Also the Bible does not need the Quran to prove what it says is true, it is the true and pure word of God. One only has to read its contents and its divine nature and character comes shining through, because it is written by eyewitnesses, its creditability is well founded and unquestionable.  It is no wonder that Muhammad told Christians and Jews to judge what he says by the Holy books of God they possessed, because he knew that those holy books creditability was unquestionable and they were the only written Holy and pure books of God at the time he said those instructions.   He felt that he was continuing the message of God that was given to previous prophets and supplying it to the people of Arabia, but he received the wrong gospel and thereby led millions, possibly billions away from their salvation by it.