I’ve been asked, on numerous occasions, if the Bible is the actual Word of God. My answer is always the same… “When reading the Bible, does it read as if God had it delivered by agents, or as if numerous men wrote it (claiming Divine inspiration)?” Often times, this response ends the discussion.
Just recently, a Christian theologian stated that my evasive remarks are typical Muslim responses, which completely avoids the original question. This coming from a person who has completely overlooked the fact that I have an extensive background, knowledge and understanding of the Torah, Bible and Qur’an from a linguistic observation (viz. lexically from Hebrew, Greek & Arabic).
After such banter, I then get defensive reconstructive rebuttals such as the following:
“If we read the Bible at face value, without a preconceived bias for finding errors, we will find it to be a coherent, consistent, and relatively easy-to-understand book. Yes, there are difficult passages. Yes, there are verses that appear to contradict each other. We must remember that the Bible was written by approximately 40 different authors over a period of around 1500 years. Each writer wrote with a different style, from a different perspective, to a different audience, for a different purpose. We should expect some minor differences. However, a difference is not a contradiction. It is only an error if there is absolutely no conceivable way the verses or passages can be reconciled.”
What? If he thinks that erases any an/or all doubts, he needs to look at this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUek0aXdDMI