Chapter 2: Contradictions in the Bible

“Then woe to thosewho write the book with their own hands and then say: ‘This isfrom Allah’, to traffic with it for a miserable price. Woe tothem for what their hands do write and for the gain they makethereby”

The noble Qur’an Al-Bakarah(2):79

“And when there came to them a messengerfrom Allah, Confirming what was with them, a party of the peopleof the book threw away the book of Allah behind their backs asif (it had been something) they did not know”

The noble Qur’an Al-Bakarah(2):101

“Ye shall not add unto the word which I (God)command you, neither shall ye diminish [ought] from it, that yemay keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I commandyou.”

Deuteronomy 4:22.1 Christian scholars recognizecontradictions p1

(note: Many of the following quotations wereobtainedfrom the writings of Ahmed Deedat although many other sourceswere used as well)

Let us start from the beginning.No Biblical scholar on this earth will claim that the Bible waswritten by Jesus himself. They all agree that the Bible was writtenafter the departure of Jesus peace be upon him by his followers.Dr. W Graham Scroggie of the Moody Bible Institute, Chicago, aprestigious Christian evangelical mission, says:

“..Yes, the Bible is human, although someout of zeal which is not according to knowledge, have denied this.Those books have passed through the minds of men, are writtenin the language of men, were penned by the hands of men and bearin their style the characteristics of men….”

“It is Human, Yet Divine,” W Graham Scroggie,p. 17

Another Christian scholar, Kenneth Cragg, theAnglicanBishop of Jerusalem, says:

“…Not so the New testament…There iscondensationand editing; there is choice reproduction and witness. The Gospelshave come through the mind of the church behind the authors. Theyrepresent experience and history…”

“The Call of the Minaret,” Kenneth Cragg,p 277

“It is well known that the primitive ChristianGospel was initially transmitted by word of mouth and that thisoral tradition resulted in variant reporting of word and deed.It is equally true that when the Christian record was committedto writing it continued to be the subject of verbal variation.Involuntary and intentional, at the hands of scribes and editors”

Peake’s Commentary on the Bible, p. 633

“Yet, as a matter of fact, every book ofthe New Testament with the exception of the four great Epistlesof St. Paul is at present more or less the subject of controversy,and interpolations are asserted even in these.”

Encyclopaedia Brittanica, 12th Ed. Vol. 3, p. 643

Dr. Lobegott Friedrich Konstantin Von Tischendorf,one of the most adamant conservative Christian defenders of theTrinity was himself driven to admit that:

“[the New Testament had] in many passagesundergone such serious modification of meaning as to leave usin painful uncertainty as to what the Apostles had actually written”

Secrets of Mount Sinai, James Bentley, p. 117

After listing many examples of contradictorystatementsin the Bible, Dr. Frederic Kenyon says:

“Besides the larger discrepancies, such asthese, there is scarcely a verse in which there is not some variationof phrase in some copies [of the ancient manuscripts from whichthe Bible has been collected]. No one can say that these additionsor omissions or alterations are matters of mere indifference”

Our Bible and the Ancient Manuscripts, Dr. FredericKenyon, Eyre and Spottiswoode, p. 3

Throughout this book you will find countless othersimilar quotations from some of Christendom’s leading scholars.Let us suffice with these for now.

Christians are, in general, good and decent people,and the stronger their convictions the more decent they are. Thisis attested to in the noble Qur’an:

“…and nearest among them (men) in loveto the believers will you find those who say ‘we are Christians’:because amongst these are men devoted to learning and men whohave renounced the world, and they are not arrogant. And whenthey listen to the revelation received by the messenger (Muhammad),you will see their eyes overflowing with tears for they recognizethe truth: They pray: ‘Our Lord! we believe; write us down amongthe witnesses’.”

The noble Qur’an, Al-Maidah(5):82-83.

All biblical “versions” of the Bible priorto the revised version of 1881 were dependent upon the “AncientCopies” (those dating between five to six hundred years afterJesus). The revisers of the Revised Standard Version (RSV) 1952were the first biblical scholars to have access to the “MOSTancient copies” which date fully three to four hundred yearsafter Christ. It is only logical for us to concur that the closera document is to the source the more authentic it is. Let us seewhat is the opinion of Christendom with regard to the most revisedversion of the Bible (revised in 1952 and then again in 1971):

“The finest version which has been producedin the present century” – (Church of England newspaper)

“A completely fresh translation by scholarsof the highest eminence” – (Times literary supplement)

“The well loved characteristics of the authorizedversion combined with a new accuracy of translation” – (Lifeand Work)

“The most accurate and close rendering ofthe original” – (The Times)

The publishers themselves (Collins) mention on page10 of their notes:

“This Bible (RSV) is the product of thirtytwo scholars assisted by an advisory committee representing fiftycooperating denominations”

Let us see what these thirty twoChristian scholars of the highest eminence backed by fiftycooperating Christian denominations have to say about the AuthorizedVersion (AV), or as it is better known, the King James Version(KJV). In the preface of the RSV 1971 we find the following:

“…Yet the King James Version has GRAVEDEFECTS..”

They go on to caution us that:

“…That these defects are SO MANY AND SOSERIOUS as to call for revision”

The Jehovah’s Witnesses in their “AWAKE”Magazine dated 8th September 1957 published the followingheadline: “50,000 Errors in the Bible”wherein they say “..there are probably 50,000 errors inthe Bible…errors which have crept into the Bible text…50,000such serious errors…” After all of this, however, theygo on to say: “…as a whole the Bible is accurate.”Let us have a look at only a very few of these errors.

In John 3:16 – AV(KJV) we read:

“For God so loved the world, that he gavehis only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him shouldnot perish, but have everlasting life..”

But as seen in section 1.2.3.10, this fabrication”begotten” has now been unceremoniously excisedby these most eminent of Bible revisers. However, humanity didnot have to wait 2000 years for this revelation.

In Maryam(19):88-98 of the noble Qur’an we read:

“And they say ‘Allah Most Compassionate hasbegotten a son!’. Indeed you have put forth a thing most monstrous!The skies are ready to burst (at such a claim), and the earthto split asunder, and the mountains to fall down in utter ruin.That they should ascribe a son to the Most Compassionate. Butit is not befitting [the majesty of] the Most Compassionate thatHe should beget a son. Not one of the beings in the heavens andthe earth but must come to the Most Compassionate as a servant.He has taken account of all of them and has numbered them allexactly. And every one of them will come to him singly on theday of judgment. On those who believe and work deeds of righteousness,will Allah most gracious bestow love. Verily, We have made this[Qur’an] easy in your tongue [O Muhammad] that you might deliverglad tidings to those who seek refuge [in Allah] and warn withit a people who are contentious. And how many a generation beforethem have we destroyed! Can you find a single one of them or hearfrom them so much as a whisper?”

In 1st Epistle of John 5:7 (King James Version) wefind:

“For there are three that bear record inheaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these threeare one.”

As we have already seen in section 1.2.2.5, thisverse is the closest approximation to what the Church calls theholy Trinity. However, as seen in that section,this cornerstone of the Christian faith has also been scrappedfrom the RSV by the same thirty two Christianscholars of the highest eminence backed by fifty cooperating Christiandenominations, once again all according to the “most ancientmanuscripts.” And once again, we find that the noble Qur’anrevealed this truth over fourteen hundred years ago:

“O people of the book! commit no excessesin your religion: nor say of Allah aught but the truth. ChristJesus the son of Mary was (no more than) a Messenger of Allah,and his Word, which he bestowed upon Mary, and a spirit precedingfrom him so believe in Allah and his messengers. Say not “Three”desist It will be better for you for Allah is one God Glory beto him Far exalted is he above having a son. To him belong allthings in the heavens and the earth. And enough is Allah as adisposer of affairs.”

The noble Qur’an, Al-Nissa(4):171

Prior to 1952 all versions of the Bible made mentionof one of the most miraculous events associated with the prophetJesus peace be upon him, that of his ascension into heaven:

“So then the lord Jesus, after he had spokento them, was taken up into heaven, and sat down at the right handof God”

Mark 16:19

and once again in Luke:

“While he blessed them, he parted from them,and was carried up into heaven. And they worshipped him, and returnedto Jerusalem with great joy.”

Luke 24:51-52

In the 1952 RSV Mark 16 ends at verse 8 and the restis relegated in small print to a footnote (more on this later).Similarly, in the commentary on the verses of Luke 24, we aretold in the footnotes of the NRSV Bible “Other ancientauthorities lack “and was carried up into heaven'”and “Other ancient authorities lack ‘and worshippedhim'”. Thus, we see that the verse of Luke in it’soriginal form only said:

“While he blessed them, he parted from them.And they returned to Jerusalem with great joy.”

It took centuries of “inspired correction”to give us Luke 24:51-52 in their current form.

As another example, in Luke 24:1-7 we read:

“Now upon the first day of the week, veryearly in the morning, they came unto the sepulcher, bringing thespices which they had prepared, and certain others with them.And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulcher. And theyentered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus. And it cameto pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two menstood by them in shining garments: And as they were afraid, andbowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Whyseek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen:remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee, saying,The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men,and be crucified, and the third day rise again.”

Once again, in reference to verse 5, the footnotessay: “Other ancient authorities lack ‘He is not herebut has risen'” Also, please read entries 16 and17 in the table in section 2.2.

The examples are far too numerous to list here,however,you are encouraged to obtain a copy of the New Revised StandardVersion of the Bible for yourself and scan through the four gospels.You shall be hard pressed to find even two consecutive pages thatdo not contain the words “Other ancient authorities lack…”or “Other ancient authorities add…” etc. inthe footnotes..

Let us now talk about the alleged authors of theNew Testament. We will note that every Gospel begins with theintroduction “According to…..” such as “The Gospelaccording to Saint Matthew,” “The Gospel according toSaint Luke,” “The Gospel according to Saint Mark,””The Gospel according to Saint John.” The obvious conclusionfor the average man on the street is that these people are knownto be the authors of the books attributed to them. This, howeveris not the case. Why? Because not one of the vaunted four thousandcopies existent carries it’s author’s signature. It has just beenassumed that they were the authors. Recent discoveries, however,refute this belief. Even the internal evidence proves that, forinstance, Matthew did not write the Gospel attributed to him:

“…And as Jesus passed forth thence, HE(Jesus) saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom:and HE (Jesus) saith unto HIM (Matthew), follow ME (Jesus) andHE (Matthew) arose, and followed HIM (Jesus).”

Matthew 9:9

It does not take a rocket scientist to see thatneitherJesus nor Matthew wrote this verse of “Matthew.” Suchevidence can be found in many places throughout the New Testament.Although many people have hypothesized that it is possible thatan author sometimes may write in the third person, still, in lightof the rest of the evidence that we shall see throughout thisbook, there is simply too much evidence against this hypothesis.

This observation is by no means limited to the NewTestament. There is even proof that at least parts of Deuteronomywere neither written by God nor by Moses. This canbe seen in Deuteronomy 34:5-10 where we read

“So Moses….DIED… and he (God Almighty)BURIED HIM (Moses)… He was 120 years old WHEN HE DIED… andthere arose not a prophet SINCE in Israel like unto Moses….”

Did Moses write his own obituary?Joshua also speaks in detail about his own deathin Joshua 24:29-33. The evidence overwhelmingly supports the currentrecognition that most of the books of the Bible were not writtenby their supposed authors.

The authors of the RSV by Collins say that the authorof “Kings” is “Unknown.” If they knew it tobe the word of God they would have undoubtedly attributed it tohim. Rather, they have chosen to honestly say “Author….Unknown.”But if the author is unknown then why attribute it to God? Howcan it then be claimed to have been “inspired”? Continuing,we read that the book of Isaiah is “Mainly credited to Isaiah.Parts may have been written by others.” Ecclesiastics: “Author.Doubtful, but commonly assigned to Solomon.”Ruth: “Author. Not definitely known, perhaps Samuel.”and on and on.

Let us have a slightly more detailed look at onlyone book of the New Testament:

“The author of the Book of Hebrews is unknown.Martin Luther suggested that Apollos was the author…Tertulliansaid that Hebrews was a letter of Barnabas…Adolf Harnack andJ. Rendel Harris speculated that it was written by Priscilla (orPrisca). William Ramsey suggested that it was done by Philip.However, the traditional position is that the Apostle Paul wroteHebrews…Eusebius believed that Paul wrote it, but Origen wasnot positive of Pauline authorship.”

From the introduction to the King James Bible, Newrevised and updated sixth edition, the Hebrew/Greek Key Study,Red Letter Edition

Is this how we define “inspired by God”?

As seen in chapter one, St. Paul and his church afterhim, were responsible of making wholesale changes to the religionof Jesus (pbuh) after his departure and were further responsiblefor mounting a massive campaign of death and torture of all Christianswho refused to renounce the teachings of the apostles in favorof the Pauline doctrines. All but the Gospels acceptable to thePauline faith were then systematically destroyed or re-written.Rev. Charles Anderson Scott has the following to say:

“It is highly probable that not one of theSynoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) was in existence inthe form which we have it, prior to the death of Paul. And werethe documents to be taken in strict order of chronology, the PaulineEpistles would come before the synoptic Gospels.”

History of Christianity in the Light of ModernKnowledge,Rev. Charles Anderson Scott, p.338

This statement is further confirmed by Prof. Brandon:

“The earliest Christian writings that havebeen preserved for us are the letters of the apostle Paul”

“Religions in Ancient History,” S.G.F.Brandon, p. 228.

In the latter part of the second century, Dionysius,Bishop of Corinth says:

“As the brethren desired me to writeepistles(letters),I did so, and these the apostles of the devil have filled withtares (undesirable elements), exchanging some things and addingothers, for whom there is a woe reserved. It is not therefore,a matter of wonder if some have also attempted to adulterate thesacred writings of the Lord, since they have attempted the samein other works that are not to be compared with these.”

The Qur’an confirms this with the words:

“Then woe to those who write the book (ofAllah/God) with their own hands and then say: ‘This is from Allah’,to traffic with it for a miserable price. Woe to them for whattheir hands do write and for the gain they make thereby”

The noble Qur’an Al-Bakarah(2):79

Victor Tununensis, a sixth century African Bishoprelated in his Chronicle (566 AD) that when Messala was consulat Costantinople (506 AD), he “censored and corrected”the Gentile Gospels written by persons considered illiterate bythe Emperor Anastasius. The implication was that they were alteredto conform to sixth century Christianity which differed from theChristianity of previous centuries (The Dead Sea Scrolls, theGospel of Barnabas, and the New Testament,by M. A. Yusseff, p. 81)

These “corrections” were by no means confinedto the first centuries after Christ. Sir Higgins says:

“It is impossible to deny that the BendictineMonks of St. Maur, as far as Latin and Greek language went, werevery learned and talented, as well as numerous body of men. InCleland’s ‘Life of Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury’, is thefollowing passage: ‘Lanfranc, a Benedictine Monk, Archbishop ofCanterbury, having found the Scriptures much corrupted by copyists,applied himself to correct them, as also the writings of the fathers,agreeably to the orthodox faith, secundum fidem orthodoxam.”

History of Christianity in the light of Modernknowledge,Higgins p.318

In other words, the Christian scriptures werere-writtenin order to conform to the doctrines of the eleventh and twelfthcenturies and even the writings of the early church fathers were”corrected” so that the changes would not be discovered.Sir Higgins goes on to say:

“The same Protestant divine has this remarkablepassage: ‘Impartiality exacts from me the confession, that theorthodox have in some places altered the Gospels.”

The author then goes on to demonstrate how a massiveeffort was undertaken in Costantinople, Rome, Canterbury, andthe Christian world in general in order to “correct”the Gospels and destroy all manuscripts before this period.

Theodore Zahan, illustrated the bitter conflictswithin the established churches in Articles of the ApostolicCreed. He points out that the Roman Catholics accuse the GreekOrthodox Church of remodeling the text of the holy scripturesby additions and omissions with both good as well as evil intentions.The Greek Orthodox, on the other hand, accuse the Roman Catholicsof straying in many places very far away from the original text.In spite of their differences, they both join forces to condemnthe non-conformist Christians of deviating from “the trueway” and condemn them as heretics. The heretics in turn condemnthe Catholics for having “recoined the truth like forgers.”The author concludes “Do not facts support these accusations?”

“And from those who said: “We are Christians,”We took their Covenant, but they forgot a good part of the messagewhich was sent to them. Therefore We have stirred up enmity andhatred among them till the Day of Resurrection,and Allah will inform them of what they used to do. O people ofthe Scripture! Now has Our messenger (Muhammad) come to you, explainingto you much of that which you used to hide in the Scripture, andforgiving much. Indeed, there has come to you a light from Allahand a plain Scripture. Wherewith Allah guides him who seeks Hisgood pleasure unto paths of peace. He brings them out of darknessby His will into light, and guides them to a straight path. Theyindeed have disbelieved who say: Lo! Allah is the Messiah, sonof Mary. Say: Who then has the least power against Allah, if Hehad willed to destroy the Messiah son of Mary, and his motherand everyone on earth? And to Allah belongs the dominion of theheavens and the earth and all that is between them. He createswhat He will. And Allah is Able to do all things. The Jews andChristians say: We are sons of Allah and His loved ones. Say;Why then does He punish you for your sins? No, you are but mortalsof His creating. He forgives whom He will, and punishes whom Hewill. And to Allah belongs the dominion of the heavens and theearth and all that is between them, and unto Him is the return(of all). O people of the Scripture! Now has Our messenger (Muhammad)come unto you to make things plain after a break in (the seriesof) the messengers, lest you should say: There came not unto usa messenger of cheer nor any Warner. Now has a messenger of cheerand a Warner come unto you. And Allah is Able to do all things.”

The noble Qur’an, Al-Maidah(5):14-19

St. Augustine himself, a manacknowledged and looked up to by both Protestants and Catholicsalike, professed that there were secret doctrines in the Christianreligion and that

“there were many things true in the Christianreligion which it was not convenient for the vulgar to know, andthat some things were false, but convenient for the vulgar tobelieve in them.”

Sir Higgins admits:

“It is not unfair to suppose that in these withheldtruths we have part of the modern Christian mysteries,and I think it will hardly be denied that the church, whose highestauthorities held such doctrines, would not scruple to retouchthe sacred writings” (The Dead Sea Scrolls, the Gospel ofBarnabas, and the New Testament, M.A. Yusseff, p.83)

Even the epistles attributed to Paul were not writtenby him. After years of research, Catholics and Protestants alikeagree that of the thirteen epistles attributed to Paul only sevenare genuinely his. They are: Romans, 1, 2 Corinthians, Galatians,Philipians, Philemon, and 1 Thessalonians.

Christian sect are not even agreed on the definitionof what exactly is an “inspired” book of God. The Protestantsare taught that there are 66 truly “inspired” booksin the Bible, while the Catholics have been taught that thereare 73 truly “inspired” books, not to mention the manyother sects and their “newer” books, such as the Mormons,etc. As we shall see shortly, the very first Christians, for manygenerations, did not follow either the 66 books of the Protestants,nor the 73 books of the Catholics. Quitethe opposite, they believed in books that were, many generationslater, “recognized” to be fabrications and apocryphaby a more enlightened age than that of the apostles.

Well, where do all of these Bibles come from andwhy the difficulty in defining what is a truly “inspired”word of God? They come from the “ancient manuscripts”(also known as MSS). The Christian world today boasts of an excessof 24,000 “ancient manuscripts” of the Bible datingall the way back to the fourth century after Christ (But not backto Christ or the apostles themselves). In other words, we havewith us gospels which date back to the century when the Trinitarianstook over the Christian Church. All manuscripts from before thisperiod have strangely perished. All Bibles in existence todayare compiled from these “ancient manuscripts.” Any scholarof the Bible will tell us that no two ancient manuscripts areexactly identical.

People today generally believe that there is onlyONE Bible, and ONE version of any given verse of the Bible. Thisis far from true. All Bibles in our possession today (Such asthe KJV, the NRSV, the NAB, NIV,…etc.) are the result of extensivecutting and pasting from these various manuscripts with no singleone being the definitive reference. There are countlesscases where a paragraph shows up in one “ancient manuscript”but is totally missing from many others. For instance, Mark 16:8-20(twelve whole verses) is completely missing from the most ancientmanuscripts available today (such as the Sinaitic Manuscript,the Vatican #1209 and the Armenian version) but shows up in morerecent “ancient manuscripts.” There are alsomany documented cases where even geographical locations are completelydifferent from one ancient manuscript to the next. For instance,in the “Samaritan Pentateuch manuscript,”Deuteronomy 27:4 speaks of “mount Gerizim,” while inthe “Hebrew manuscript” the exact same versespeaks of “mount Ebal.”From Deuteronomy 27:12-13 we can see that these are two distinctlydifferent locations. Similarly, Luke 4:44 in some “ancientmanuscripts” mentions “Synagogues of Judea,” othersmention “Synagogues of Galilee.” This is only a sampling,a comprehensive listing would require a book of it’s own.

There are countless examples in the Bible whereversesof a questionable nature are included in the text without anydisclaimer telling the reader that many scholars and translatorshave serious reservations as to their authenticity. The King JamesVersion of the Bible (Also known as the “Authorized Version”),the one in the hands of the majority of Christendom today, isone of the most notorious in this regard. It gives the readerabsolutely no clue as to the questionable nature of such verses.However, more recent translations of the Bible are now beginningto be a little more honest and forthcoming in this regard. Forexample, the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, by OxfordPress, has adopted an extremely subtle system of bracketing themost glaring examples of such questionable verses with doublesquare brackets ([[ ]]). It is highly unlikely that the casualreader will realize the true function these brackets serve. Theyare there to tell the informed reader that the enclosed versesare of a highly questionable nature. Examples of this are thestory of the “woman taken in adultery” in John 8:1-11,as well as Mark 16:9-20 (Jesus’ resurrection and return), andLuke 23:34 (which, interestingly enough, is there to confirm theprophesy of Isaiah 53:12)…..and so forth.

For example, with regard to John 8:1-11, thecommentatorsof this Bible say in very small print at the bottom of the page:

“The most ancient authorities lack 7.53-8.11;other authorities add the passage here or after 7.36 or after21.25 or after Luke 21.38 with variations of text; some mark thetext as doubtful.” (emphasis added).

With regard to Mark 16:9-20, we are, strangelyenough,given a choice of how we would like the Gospel of Markto end. The commentators have supplied both a “short ending”and a “long ending.” Thus, we are given a choiceof what we would prefer to be the “inspired word of God”.Once again, at the end of this Gospel in very small text, thecommentators say:

“Some of the most ancientauthorities bring the book to a close at the end of verse 8. Oneauthority concludes the book with the shorter ending; others includethe shorter ending and then continue with verses 9-20. In mostauthorities, verses 9-20 follow immediately after verse 8, thoughin some of these authorities the passage is marked as being doubtful.”

Peake’s Commentary on the Bible records;

“It is now generally agreed that 9-20 arenot an original part of Mk. They are not found in the oldest MSS,and indeed were apparently not in the copies used by Mt. and Lk.A 10th-cent. Armenian MS ascribes the passage to Aristion, thepresbyter mentioned by Papias (ap.Eus.HE III, xxxix, 15).”

“Indeed an Armenian translation of St. Markhas quite recently been discovered, in which the last twelve versesof St. Mark are ascribed to Ariston, who is otherwise known asone of the earliest of the Christian Fathers; and it is quitepossible that this tradition is correct”

Our Bible and the Ancient Manuscripts, F. Kenyon,Eyre and Spottiswoode, pp. 7-8

Even at that, these verses are noted as having beennarrated differently in different “authorities.” Forexample, verse 14 is claimed by the commentators to have the followingwords added on to them in some “ancient authorities”:

“and they excused themselves saying ‘Thisage of lawlessness and unbelief is under Satan, who does not allowthe truth and power of God to prevail over the unclean thingsof the spirits. Therefore, reveal your righteousness now’ – thusthey spoke to Christ and Christ replied to them ‘The term of yearsof Satan’s power has been fulfilled, but other terrible thingsdraw near. And for those who have sinned I was handed over todeath, that they may return to the truth and sin no more, thatthey may inherit the spiritual and imperishable glory of therighteousnessthat is in heaven’.”.

Dr. Lobegott Friedrich Konstantin Von Tischendorfwas one of the most eminentconservative biblical scholars of the nineteenth century. He wasalso one of the staunchest most adamant defenders of the “Trinity”history has known. One of his greatest lifelong achievements wasthe discovery of the oldest known Biblical manuscript know tomankind, the “Codex Sinaiticus,”from Saint Catherine’s Monasteryin Mount Sinai. One of the most devastating discoveries made fromthe study of this fourth century manuscript was that the gospelof Mark originally ended at verses 16:8 and not at verse 16:20as it does today. In other words, the last 12 verses (Mark 16:9through Mark 16:20) were “injected” by the church intothe Bible sometime after the 4th century. Clement of Alexandriaand Origen never quoted these verses. Later on, it was also discoveredthat the said 12 verses, wherein lies the account of “theresurrection of Jesus,” do not appear in codices Syriacus,Vaticanus and Bobiensis. Originally, the “Gospel of Mark”contained no mention of the “resurrection of Jesus”(Mark 16:9-20). At least four hundred years (if not more)after the departure of Jesus, the Church received divine “inspiration”to add the story of the resurrection to the end of this Gospel.

The author of “Codex Sinaiticus”had no doubt that the Gospel of Mark came to an end at Mark 16:8,to emphasize this point we find that immediately following thisverse he brings the text to a close with a fine artistic squiggleand the words “The Gospel according to Mark.” Tischendorfwas a staunch conservative Christian and as such he managed tocasually brush this discrepancy aside since in his estimationthe fact that Mark was not an apostle nor an eye witness to theministry of Jesus made his account secondary to those of the apostlessuch as Matthew and John. However, as seen elsewhere in this book,the majority of Christian scholars today recognize the writingsof Paul to be the oldest of the writings of the Bible. These areclosely followed by the “Gospel of Mark” and the “Gospelsof Matthew and Luke” are almost universally recognized tohave been based upon the “Gospel of Mark.” This discoverywas the result of centuries of detailed and painstaking studiesby these Christian scholars and the details can not be repeatedhere. Suffice it to say that most reputable Christian scholarstoday recognize this as a basic indisputable fact.

Today, the translators and publishers of our modernBibles are beginning to be a little more forthright and honestwith their readers. Although they may not simply openly admitthat these twelve verses were forgeries of the Church and notthe word of God, still, at least they are beginning to draw thereader’s attention to the fact that there are two “versions”of the “Gospel of Mark” and then leave the reader todecide what to make of these two “versions.”

Now the question becomes “if the Church hastampered with the Gospel of Mark, then did they stop there oris there more to this story?. As it happens, Tischendorfalso discovered that the “Gospel of John” has been heavilyreworked by the Church over the ages. For example,

1. It was found that the verses starting from John7:53 to 8:11 (the story of the woman taken in adultery) are notto be found in the most ancient copies of the Bible availableto Christianity today, specifically, codices Sinaiticus or Vaticanus.

1. It was also found that John 21:25 was a laterinsertion, and that a verse from the gospel of Luke (24:12) thatspeaks of Peter discovering an empty tomb of Jesus is not to befound in the ancient manuscripts.

(For more on this topic please read ‘Secrets of MountSinai’ by James Bentley, Doubleday, NY, 1985).

Much of the discoveries of Dr. Tischendorfregarding the continuous and unrelenting tampering with the textof the Bible over the ages has been verified by twentieth centuryscience. For example, a study of the Codex Sinaiticusunder ultraviolet light has revealed that the “Gospel ofJohn” originally ended at verse 21:24 and was followed bya small tail piece and then the words “The Gospel accordingto John.” However, some time later, a completely different”inspired” individual took pen in hand, erased the textfollowing verse 24, and then added in the “inspired”text of John 21:25 which we find in our Bibles today.

The evidence of tampering goes on and on. Forexample,in the Codex Sinaiticusthe “lord’s prayer” of Luke 11:2-4differs substantially from the version which has reached us throughthe agency of centuries of “inspired” correction. Luke11:2-4 in this most ancient of all Christian manuscripts reads:

“Father, Hallowed by thy name, Thy kingdomcome. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so upon earth. Give us dayby day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, as we ourselvesalso forgive everyone that is indebted to us. And bring us notinto temptation.”

Further, the “Codex Vaticanus,”is another ancient manuscript held by the scholars of Christianityin the same reverent standing as the Codex Sinaiticus.These two fourth century codices are together considered the mostancient copies of the Bible available today. In the codex Vaticanuswe can find a version of Luke 11:2-4 even shorter than that ofCodex Sinaiticus. In this version even the words “Thywill be done, as in heaven, so upon earth.” are not tobe found.

Well, what has been the official Church positionregarding these “discrepancies”? How did the Churchdecide to handle this situation? Did they call upon all of theforemost scholars of Christian literature to come together ina mass conference in order to jointly study the most ancient Christianmanuscripts available to the Church and come to a common agreementas to what was the true original word of God? No!

Well then, did they immediately expend every effortto make mass copies of the original manuscripts and send themout to the Christian world so that they could make their own decisionsas to what truly was the original unchanged word of God? Onceagain, No!

So what did they do? Let us ask Rev. Dr. George L.Robertson. In his book “Where did we get our Bible? he writes:

“Of the MSS. of Holy Scripture in Greek stillexisting there are said to be several thousand of varying worth… Three or four in particular of these old, faded out, andunattractivedocuments constitute the most ancient and the most precious treasuresof the Christian Church, and are therefore of special interest.”First in Rev. Richardson’s list is the “Codex Vaticanus”of which he says: “This is probably the most ancient ofall Greek MSS. now known to exist. It is designated as Codex ‘B.’In 1448, Pope Nicholas V brought it to Rome where it has lainpractically ever since, being guarded assiduously by papal officialsin the Vatican Library. It’s history is brief: Erasmus in 1533knew of its existence, but neither he nor any of his successorswere permitted to study it… becoming quite inaccessible to scholars,till Tischendorfin 1843, after months of delay, was finally allowed to see itfor six hours. Another specialist, named de Muralt in 1844 waslikewise given an aggravating glimpse of it for nine hours. Thestory of how Dr. Tregelles in 1845 was allowed by the authorities(all unconscious to themselves) to secure it page by page throughmemorizing the text, is a fascinating one. Dr. Tregelles did it.He was permitted to study the MS. continuously for a long time,but not to touch it or to take notes. Indeed, every day as heentered the room where the precious document was guarded, hispockets were searched and pen, paper and ink were taken from him,if he carried such accessories with him. The permission to enter,however, was repeated, until he finally had carried away withhim and annotated in his room most of the principle variant readingsof this most ancient text. Often, however, in the process, ifthe papal authorities observed he was becoming too much absorbedin any one section, they would snatch the MS. away from him anddirect his attention to another leaf. Eventually they discoveredthat Tregelles had practically stolen the text, and that the Biblicalworld knew the secrets of their historic MS. Accordingly, PopePius IX ordered that it should be photographed and published;and it was, in five volumes which appeared in 1857. But the workwas very unsatisfactorily done. About that time Tischendorf madea third attempt to gain access to and examine it. He succeeded,and later issued the text of the first twenty pages. Finally in1889-90, with papal permission, the entire text was photographedand issued in facsimile, and published so that a copy of the expensivequartos was obtainable by, and is now in the possession of allthe principle libraries in the biblical world.”

“Where did we get our Bible?”, Rev. Dr.George L. Robertson. Harper and Brothers Publishers, pp.110-112

What were all of the Popes afraid of? What was theVatican as a whole afraid of? Why was the concept of releasingthe text of their most ancient copy of the Bible to the generalpublic so terrifying to them? Why did they feel it necessary tobury the most ancient copies of the inspired word of God in adark corner of the Vatican never to be seen by outside eyes? Why?What about all of the thousands upon thousands of other manuscriptswhich to this day remain buried in the darkest depths of the Vaticanvaults never to be seen or studied by the general masses ofChristendom?

“[And remember] When God took a Covenantfrom those who were given the Scripture: You shall make it knownand clear to mankind, and you shall not to hide it; but they flungit behind their backs, and purchased with it a miserable gain!How evil was that which they purchased!”

The noble Qur’an, A’al-Umran(3):187

“Say: ‘O people of the Book! exceed not inyour religion the bounds [of what is proper], trespassing beyondthe truth, nor follow the vain desires of people who went astrayin times gone by, who misled many, and strayed [themselves] fromthe straight path.'”

The noble Qur’an, Al-Maida(5):77

Returning to our study of some of the “discrepancies”to be found between our modern Bibles and between the most ancientcopies of the Bible available to the chosen few, we find thatthe verse of Luke 24:51 contains Luke’s alleged account of thefinal parting of Jesus (pbuh) and how he was “raised up intoheaven.” However, as seen in previous pages, in the CodexSinaiticus and other ancientmanuscripts the words “and was carried up into heaven”are completely missing. The verse only says:

“And it came to pass, while he blessed them,he was parted from them.”

C.S.C. Williams observed, if this omission werecorrect,”there is no reference at all to the Ascension in theoriginal text of the Gospel.”

Some other “inspired” modification of theChurch to Codex Sinaiticusand our modern Bibles:

• Matthew 17:21 is missing in Codex Sinaiticus.
• In our modern Bibles, Mark 1:1 reads “Thebeginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God;”however, in this most ancient of all Christian manuscripts, thisverse only reads “The beginning of the gospel of JesusChrist” Strangely, the very words which are most gratingto the Muslim’s Qur’an, “the Son of God,” arecompletely missing. Isn’t that interesting?
• The words of Jesus in Luke 9:55-56 are missing.
• The original text of Matthew 8:2 as found inCodex Sinaiticus tellsus that a leper asked Jesus to heal him and Jesus “angrilyput forth [his] hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thouclean.” In our modern Bibles, the word “angrily”is strangely absent.
• Luke 22:44 in Codex Sinaiticusand our modern Bibles claim that an angel appeared before Jesus,strengthening him. In Codex Vaticanus, thisangel is strangely absent. If Jesus was the “Son of God”then obviously it would be highly inappropriate for him to needan angel to strengthen him. This verse, then, must havebeen a scribal mistake. Right?
• The alleged words of Jesus on the cross”Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do”(Luke 23:34) were originally present in the Codex Sinaiticusbut was later erased from the text by another editor. Bearingin mind how the Church regarded and treated the Jews in the middleages, can we think of any reason why this verse might have stoodin the way of official Church policy and their “inquisitions”?
• John 5:4 is missing from Codex Sinaiticus.
• In Mark chapter 9, the words “Where theirworm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.” are againmissing.
• In Matt. 5:22, the words “without cause”are missing in both the codex Vaticanus and Sinaiticus.
• Matt. 21:7 in our modern Bibles reads “And[the disciples] brought the ass, and the colt, and put on themtheir clothes, and they set [Jesus] thereon.” In theoriginal manuscripts, this verse read “and they set [Jesus]upon them,” However, the picture of Jesus beingplaced upon two animals at the same time and being asked to ridethem at once was objectionable to some, so this verse was changedto “and they set [Jesus] upon him” (which”him”?). Soon after, the English translation completelyavoided this problem by translating it as “thereon.”
• In Mark 6:11, our modern Bibles contain the words”Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable forSodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.”However, these words are not to be found in either of these twomost ancient of Christian Biblical manuscripts, having been introducedinto the text centuries later.
• The words of Matthew 6:13 “For thineis the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever.”Are not to be found in these two most ancient manuscripts as wellas many others. The parallel passages in Luke are also defective.
• Matthew 27:35 in our modern Bibles contains thewords “that it might be fulfilled which was spoken bythe prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesturedid they cast lots.” This passage, once again, is notfound according to Rev. Merrill in any Biblical uncial manuscriptdating before the ninth century.
• 1 Timothy 3:16 originally read “And withoutcontroversy great is the mystery of godliness: which wasmanifest in the flesh..” This was then later (as seenpreviously), ever so subtly changed to “And without controversygreat is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest inthe flesh….” Thus, the doctrine of the “incarnation”was born.

2.2 A small sampling of these contradictions p1

“And the chief priestsand all the council sought for witness against Jesus to put himto death; and found none. For many bare false witness againsthim, but their witness agreed not together. And there arose certain,and bare false witness against him, saying, We heard him say,I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and withinthree days I will build another made without hands. But neitherso did their witness agree together.”

Mark 14:56-59

Christian scholars have known, recognized, anddocumentedthe many and varied contradictions to be found in the Bible forcenturies now. These contradictions are a direct result of thecontinuous and unrelenting attempts to correct, fix, and amendthe Bible in order to make a given doctrine “clear”to the reader. It is the masses who have been kept in the darkin this regard. There is extensive historical and scriptural evidenceto be found in the books of the Bible which support this conclusion.Many detailed examples have been presented in this and other chaptersof this book. As shown above, some Christian scholars estimatethe errors in the Bible to be in the range of 48,800.This is why it has become necessary for the Church to demand “blindfaith” from the masses.

Matthew is now recognized as not being the authorof Matthew (read for example Matthew 9:9). John is also recognizedas not being the author of John (read for example John 21:24)….and on and on. These Christian scholars (not Muslims) have evengone so far as to attempt to identify the original documents fromwhich these books were originally derived, such as J, P, Y,Q,…etc.(seesection 2.3) . For centuries now, the Qur’an has been bearingwitness that the previous books of God had been modified by thehands of the unscrupulous few. Even now when Christians and theiruniversities themselves recognize this to be a historical factthey still do not bother to tell the masses. Some of these Conservativescholars, such as Mr. F.F. Bruce, appear to have completely givenup on refuting the proof of distortion and have now resorted to”spiritualizing” the Bible and telling people in effectthat the teachings of the Bible are useful anyway even if we don’teven know who the inspired authors are.

Others will adamantly refuse to believe that anyonehas changed the word of God or that the Bible contains any conflictionswhatsoever no matter how much evidence is presented. They arewilling to either:

1) Explain it away using abstraction to explain the”true” meanings of the verses presented, or

2) Explain it based upon assumptions of their ownnot contained in the Bible, or

3) Claim that these matters are all insignificantand that the words remain the inspiration of God even if we don’tknow who the “inspired” authors were and their narrationscontradict one another.

Even at that, they don’t attempt to explain allthe contradictions presented. As we have seen in the previouschapter, they have developed a system where in one paragraph theymanage to reduce many thousands of discrepancies to “onlya handful which are at all important,” and even before reachingthe end of the paragraph, even this “handful” is quicklybrushed away as being “only apparent discrepancies.”

The problem in many cases is that it is human naturewhen given a choice between two matters, to take the simpler ofthe two, sometimes even against one’s better judgment. This isindeed how many people lose their life savings to people who tellthem that they will invest it for them in a “sure thing,”or people who encourage others to participate in lotteries. Wewould not expect that our land would grow fruit without our havingto lavish upon it months of back breaking work. We would not expectthat a large company would be willing to pay us a handsome weeklypaycheck without our actually doing some useful work for them,however, when it comes to the ultimate reward and the ultimateprize, the Paradise of the Lord of creation, now we are told thatit is no longer necessary to work for the ultimate prize.

Paul has made salvation a very easy commodityto come by in Christianity. They only have to “believe.”No actual work is required. No one has to work for theirsalvation (Romans 3:28, etc.). Paul has brought for them the “surething” and the short cut to salvation. The commandments ofJesus (pbuh) which he himself observed faithfully and fully upuntil the crucifixion, are all discarded by Paul as old, decaying,and ready to vanish away (Hebrews 8:13, etc.). The fact that Jesus(pbuh) himself told his followers that observing the commandmentsand selling their belongings shall make them “perfect”is forgotten (Matthew 19:16-21). The fact that Jesus (pbuh) himselfcommanded his followers to keep the commandments until the endof time is also forgotten (Matthew 5:17-19). All they need is”faith.” They have already been saved. The commandmentsare merely “extra.”

In this chapter I have presented a table containingonly a small sampling of the many and varied contradictions betweenthe verses of the Bible. These are only some of the very simpleand obvious examples known today. Other more serious ones requirecomparisons of many passages with each other (see for examplesections 5.2, 5.4 and 5.5) or with historical or scientific knowledge.The reader is encouraged to investigate these examples and totry to analyze the excuses given for them objectively.Please do not accept any and all attempts to justify thesecontradictionswithout first analyzing them carefully. When someone tells youthat something was a scribal error then remember that the transmittersof even the Old Testament claim that every wordand every letter was faithfully countedand recorded and thus, it would be impossiblefor unintentional errors to creep in. This claim by itselfshould refute all excuses.

For instance, the contradiction between Matthew 17:13and John 1:21 (point 16 below) is explained by Mr. J as: “Johnis answering the question directly and literally, he is not Elijah,he is John the son of Zechariah…. John was not interested inpromoting all kind of speculation about his identity, but to focusattention upon the one he had been sent to prepare the way for.”So, if Joe is a vice principal, and someone asks the principal”Is Joe the vice principal?” and the Principal says”yes,” then it is OK for Joe to say “I am not thevice principal” because he is “talking within thecontext that he is Joe” and he wants to “focusattention” on the principal?

Does this sound logical? These apologists’ argumentsare usually presented with such confidence that people don’t botherto analyze them or look any further. The Jews acceptance of Jesusas the Messiah hinges on John admitting he is Elias (Mark 9:12).If John does not admit to being Elias then Jesus’ (pbuh) wholemessage will lose credibility. Is this how John “focusesattention” on Jesus?

It is inconceivable to think that John, peace beupon him, a prophet of God, would intentionally lie especiallyin a matter that can totally nullify Jesus’ whole message. Itis also inconceivable that a prophet of God would remain a prophetof God for many years before the coming of Jesus (pbuh), fulfillingmany prophesies, but neither know that he was sent by God, norbe informed by God that He sent him.

The Qur’an tells us that if the word of God wereever to be tampered with by the hands of mankind then it willbe easy to detect this tampering by the contradictions which willinevitably result. We read

“Do they not consider the Qur’an (with care)?Had it been from other than Allah, they would have surely foundtherein much discrepancy.”

The noble Qur’an, Al-Nissa(4):82.

Even the Bible itself gives the same criteriafor discovering such modifications,

“For many bare false witness against him(Jesus),but their witness agreed not together.”

Mark 14:56

2.3 Did mankind tamper with the OldTestament

“And it came to pass,when moses had made an end of writing the words of this law ina book, until they were finished, That Moses commanded theLevites(Jews),which bare the ark of the covenant of theLORD, saying, Take this book of the law, and put it in the sideof the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, that it may bethere for a witness against thee. For I know thy rebellion, andthy stiff neck: behold, while I am yet alive with you this day,ye have been rebellious against the LORD; and how much more aftermy death? Gather unto me all the elders of your tribes, and yourofficers, that I may speak these words in their ears, and callheaven and earth to record against them. For I know that aftermy death ye will utterly corrupt [yourselves], and turn asidefrom the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befallyou in the latter days; because ye will do evil in the sight ofthe LORD, to provoke him to anger through the work of your hands.”

Deuteronomy 31:25-29

“How can you say we (the Jews) are wise andthe law of the Lord is with us, when in fact the false pen ofthe scribes has made it into a lie?”

Jeremiah 8:8 (Revised Standard Version)

“And because of their (the Jews) breakingtheir covenant, We have cursed them and made hard their hearts.They change words from their places and have abandoned a goodpart of the message that was sent to them. And you will not ceaseto discover deceit in them, except a few of them. But forgivethem and overlook (their misdeed). Verily! Allah loves the kindly.”

The noble Qur’an, Al-Maidah(5):13.

“O Messenger!(Muhammad) Do not be grievedby those who vie with one another in the race to disbelief, ofsuch as say with their mouths: “We believe” but theirhearts believe not, and of the Jews: of them are those who listeneagerly to lies -listener to others who have not come to you.They change the words from their places; they say: If you aregiven this then take it, but if you are not given this then beware!He whom Allah dooms unto sin, you (by your efforts) will availhim naught against Allah. Those are they for whom the will ofAllah is that He cleanse not their hearts; for them there is adisgrace in this world, and in the Hereafter a great torment.”

The noble Qur’an, Al-Maidah(5):41.

For countless ages, the only book of historyavailableto Christians and Jews was the Old Testament. When someone wantedto know what happened in the past, they would go back and studythe Old Testament to find the answer. New theories about historyliterally lived and died by their conformance to what the OldTestament taught. Then the discrepancies began to be noticed.

Once mankind began to study the Old Testament indetail, comparing the various passages which referred to the sametopic in order to obtain as much detail as possible, they beganto notice conflicting accounts of many matters as well as otherproblems. For instance, in the eleventh century, it was noticedthat the list of Edomite kings in Genesis 36 names kings who livedlong after Moses was dead Then people began to noticesuch statements as “to this day” something istrue, which implies that the author was looking back at thesematters through history and has seen that they have endured.

After this, it was noticed that in the beginningverses of the OT manuscripts, Deuteronomy says: “Theseare the words that Moses spoke to the children ofIsrael across the Jordan….” They noticed thatthe words “across the Jordan” refers to people who areon the opposite side of the Jordan river to the author. But thealleged author, Moses himself, was never supposed to have beenin Israel in his life.

It was also noticed that Moses speaksin detail in Deuteronomy 34:5-10 about how he died and where hewas buried. Moses also calls himself the most humble man on earthin Numbers 12:3 (would the most humble man on earth call himselfthe most humble man on earth?). In Deuteronomy 34:10 we read “Andthere arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses.”This also implies that the author was looking back at Moses throughhistory a long time after Moses’s death. Now the flood gates wereopened and countless other discrepancies began to show up.

In the beginning, it was claimed that Moseswrote the Pentateuch (Five “books of Moses”)and anyone contesting this fact would be severely punished orworse. However, when these matters started to become well known,it became necessary to find explanations. For example, the firstexplanation presented for the verses referring to the death ofMoses was that Moses (pbuh) had written his books, but that laterprophets, as well as “inspired” scribes (who could alsobe considered prophets), had later on added on a couple of lineshere and there. In this manner the text remained 100% the “inspiration”of God. This explanation, however, did not stand up to scrutinybecause the style and literary characteristics of the verses arethe same throughout. For instance, the verses which describe thedeath and burial of Moses exhibit the same literary characteristicsas the verses before and after them.

After this, the trend became to explain any and alldiscrepancies through abstraction and elaborate interpretations,or through the introduction of additional narrative details thatdid not appear in the biblical text. Around this time, a startlingnew discovery was made. It was noticed that the stories in thefive books of Moses were made up of doublets. A doubletis a case of one story being told twice. Even in the Englishtranslationof the Bible, the doublets are noticeable. These doublets havebeen masterfully intertwined so that they become one narrative.

For example, there are doublets of the creation ofthe world, the covenant between God and Abraham,the naming of Isaac, Abraham’s claim that his wifeSarah was his sister, the story of Jacob’s journeyto Mesopotamia, Jacob’s revelation at Beth-El,…etc. In manycases these doublets actually contradict one another. The apologistsonce again jumped up with an explanation in hand. They claimedthat the doublets were complementary and not contradictory. Itwas claimed that they came to teach us a lesson by their “apparent”contradiction. However, this claim did not hold water for long.The reason is that not long after, it was discovered that whenthe doublets were separated into two separate accounts, each accountwas almost always consistent about the name of the deity thatit used. One would always refer to God as Yahweh/Jehovah. Thisdocument was called “J.” The other always referred toHim as Elohiym(God). It was called “E.” There were variousother literary characteristics which were then found to be commonto one group or the other. It became obvious that someone hadtaken two separate accounts of the ministry of Moses(pbuh), cut them up, and then woven them together quite masterfullyso that their actions would not be discovered until countlesscenturies later.

Once this startling discovery was made, the OldTestamentwas once again placed under the scrutiny of scholars and it wasdiscovered that the Pentateuch was not made upof two major source documents but FOUR.It was discovered that some stories were not only doublets, buttriplets. Additional literary characteristics were identifiedfor these documents. The third source was called P (for Priestly),and the fourth D (for Deuteronomy). In the end it was concludedthat the first four “books of Moses” werethe result of the merging of three separate accounts which werecalled J, E, and P, and the book of Deuteronomy was found to bea separate account which was called D. The person (or persons)who collected and intertwined these sources was called “TheRedactor.”

“D (DEUTERONOMIST). The designationof one of the principle literary sources or strata of the PENTATEUCH.The Deuteronomist was the editor or compiler of this source, whichis roughly coextensive with the book of Deuteronomy”

The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, AbingdonPress, Vol. 1, p. 756

“E (ELOHIST). One of the principlenarrative sources or strata of the PENTATEUCH. The term is derivedfrom a Hebrew word for ‘God’ … the use of which is characteristicof this source”

The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, AbingdonPress, Vol. 2, p. 1

“J. One of the principle narrativesources or strata of the PENTATEUCH. The symbol is derived fromthe personal name of God, Jehovah … the use of which ischaracteristicof this source. It is commonly regarded as Judahite in origin,and somewhat earlier than E (tenth-ninth centuries B.C.)”

The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, AbingdonPress, Vol. 2, p. 777

“P. The designation of the so-calledPriestly source of the PENTATEUCH. To this source are assignedmost of the liturgical, genealogical, legal, and technical materials,connected by a bare minimum of narrative. The Priestly narrativeis usually dated after the captivity, in the sixth or fifth centuryB.C.”

The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, AbingdonPress, Vol. 3, p. 617

“The critical analysis of the Hexateuch [thefive ‘books of moses’ plus the book of Joshua] is the result ofmore than a century of profound study of the documents by thegreatest critics of the age. There has been a steady advance untilthe present position of agreement has been reached, in which Jewand Christian, Roman Catholic and Protestant, Rationalistic andEvangelical scholars, Reformed and Lutheran, Presbyterian andEpiscopal, Unitarian, Methodist, and Baptist all concur. The analysisof the Hexateuch into several distinct original documents is apurely literary question in which no article of faith is involved.Whoever in these times, in the discussion of the literary phenomenaof the Hexateuch appeals to the ignorance or prejudice of themultitude as if they were any peril to faith in these processesof Higher Criticism, risks his reputation for scholarship by sodoing. There are no Hebrew professors on the continent of Europe,so far as I know, who deny the literary analysis of the Pentateuchinto the four great documents”

Who wrote the Bible, Washington Gladden, Boston:Houghton, pp. 57-58

What exactly does the author mean by the statement”Whoever in these times, in the discussion of the literaryphenomena of the Hexateuch appeals to the ignorance or prejudiceof the multitude as if they were any peril to faith in these processesof Higher Criticism, risks his reputation for scholarship by sodoing” ? Well, he is referring to the practices of menwho have a regrettable formula for selling their books which isbased upon backing the reader into a corner and then giving themonly one way to save their faith. For example, they would saywords to the effect “Either the Bible is 100% the inspired,unchanged, and undisputed word of God or else it is the greatesthoax ever foisted upon mankind from the beginning of time.”Such authors only allow their readers to accept one extreme orthe other. In effect, they are telling their readers “eitheryou accept every word and every syllable as undying inspired truthor else renounce Jesus and become a pagan.”

However, the truth lies at neither extreme. AllahAlmighty tells us in the Qur’an:

“O people of the book! Do not go to extremesin your religion: nor say of Allah aught but the truth.”

The noble Qur’an, Al-Nissah(4):171

The fact that we recognize that mankind has tamperedwith the Bible does not mean that God, at one point in time, didnot send down a revelation upon prophet Moses, orthat He did not send down a revelation upon prophet Jesus (peacebe upon them both). It only means that “thou shalt lovethe Lord thy God … with all thy mind, …” Mark12:30. The fact that we wish to sift out the words of man fromthe book of God and only follow the words of God is not by anystretch of the imagination an abandonment of God or Jesus. Quitethe contrary, anyone who is not willing to do their utmost inprotecting the words of God from the tampering fingers of mankindhas indeed forsaken the very first commandment of God.

“For almost two millennia the Pentateuchbuted to Moses as author by both Jewish and Christiantradition. Although significant questions about his authorshipwere raised along the way, it was not until the eighteenth centurythat the question was seriously broached. Today, it is commonplacethat he did not write the Pentateuch, but as we shall see theformation of these books is still shrouded in mystery.”

The New Jerome Biblical Commentary, p. 4

Grolier’s encyclopedia, under the heading “Divisionsof the Old Testament” states:

“The Pentateuch is based on four principalsources. The oldest, J, was perhaps written in Judah, the southernkingdom, about 950 BC. Between 900 and 750, another version fromIsrael, the northern kingdom, was woven in; this is called EPHRAIM(E). In the 7th century BC, Deuteronomy, or most of it (D), wascompiled. About 550 BC, during the exile, the final edition ofthe Torah added a priestly source (P), some parts of which arevery old.”

Encarta’s Encyclopedia says:

“Pentateuch (Greek penta, “five”;teuch, “book”), collectively, first five books of theOld Testament, that is, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, andDeuteronomy. The term was used by the Christian theologian Origento denote what the Jews of his time called the “Five-Fifthsof Torah (teaching).” Pentateuch is the translation of theHebrew term for this concept. The Torah is the holiest and mostbeloved of the sacred writings of the Jews. “The Five Booksof Moses,” as a designation of the Pentateuch,was first used in the Western church by St. Jerome and the Christiantheologian Tyrannius Rufinus. The Mosaic authorship of the workis not directly affirmed in the books themselves, but it becametacitly accepted by Christian orthodoxy. The Pentateuch includesvarious textual strata of writings, notably the Yahwist (J, whichrefers to God as Jahwe-modern Jehovah-or Yahweh) and the Elohist(E, which refers to God as Elohiym). The Hebrew priest and reformerEzra, whose work is associated with another textual componentof the Pentateuch known as the Priestly stratum (P), gave impetusto observance of the regulations of the Pentateuch.”

Let us have a look at an example of these doubletsfrom Genesis 6:5 to 8:22. The Jehovah(J) text is in regular type,the Priestly(P) is in bold:

Genesis 6:5 And God saw that the wickedness of manwas great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughtsof his heart was only evil continually.

Genesis 6:6 And it repented the LORD that he hadmade man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.

Genesis 6:7 And the LORD said, I will destroy manwhom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, andbeast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for itrepenteth me that I have made them.

Genesis 6:8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of theLORD.

Genesis 6:9 These are the generations of Noah:Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations,and Noah walked with God.

Genesis 6:10 And Noah begat three sons, Shem,Ham, and Japheth.

Genesis 6:11 The earth also was corrupt beforeGod, and the earth was filled with violence.

Genesis 6:12 And God looked upon the earth, and,behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way uponthe earth.

Genesis 6:13 And God said unto Noah, The end ofall flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violencethrough them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

Genesis 6:14 Make thee an ark of gopher wood;rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within andwithout with pitch.

Genesis 6:15 And this is the fashion which thoushalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundredcubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirtycubits.

Genesis 6:16 A window shalt thou make to the ark,and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of theark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, andthird stories shalt thou make it.

Genesis 6:17 And, behold, I, even I, do bringa flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, whereinis the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing thatis in the earth shall die.

Genesis 6:18 But with thee will I establish mycovenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou,and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’ wives with thee.

Genesis 6:19 And of every living thing of allflesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keepthem alive with thee; they shall be male and female.

Genesis 6:20 Of fowls after their kind, and ofcattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earthafter his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keepthem alive.

Genesis 6:21 And take thou unto thee of all foodthat is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shallbe for food for thee, and for them.

Genesis 6:22 Thus did Noah; according to all thatGod commanded him, so did he.

Genesis 7:

Genesis 7:1 And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thouand all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteousbefore me in this generation.

Genesis 7:2 Of every clean beast thou shalt taketo thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts thatare not clean by two, the male and his female.

Genesis 7:3 Of fowls also of the air by sevens, themale and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all theearth.

Genesis 7:4 For yet seven days, and I will causeit to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and everyliving substance that I have made will I destroy from off theface of the earth.

Genesis 7:5 And Noah did according unto all thatthe LORD commanded him.

Genesis 7:6 And Noah was six hundred years oldwhen the flood of waters was upon the earth.

Genesis 7:7 And Noah went in, and his sons, and hiswife, and his sons’ wives with him, into the ark, because of thewaters of the flood.

Genesis 7:8 Of clean beasts, and of beasts thatare not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepethupon the earth,

Genesis 7:9 There went in two and two unto Noahinto the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah.

Genesis 7:10 And it came to pass after seven days,that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.

Genesis 7:11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’slife, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, thesame day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, andthe windows of heaven were opened.

Genesis 7:12 And the rain was upon the earth fortydays and forty nights.

Genesis 7:13 In the selfsame day entered Noah,and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah’s wife,and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark;

Genesis 7:14 They, and every beast after hiskind,and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thingthat creepeth upon the earth after his kind, and every fowl afterhis kind, every bird of every sort.

Genesis 7:15 And they went in unto Noah into theark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life.

Genesis 7:16 And they that went in, went in maleand female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and theLORD shut him in.

Genesis 7:17 And the flood was forty days upon theearth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it waslift up above the earth.

Genesis 7:18 And the waters prevailed, and wereincreasedgreatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of thewaters.

Genesis 7:19 And the waters prevailed exceedinglyupon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the wholeheaven, were covered.

Genesis 7:20 Fifteen cubits upward did the watersprevail; and the mountains were covered.

Genesis 7:21 And all flesh died that moved uponthe earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of everycreeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man:

Genesis 7:22 All in whose nostrils was the breathof life, of all that was in the dry land, died.

Genesis 7:23 And every living substance was destroyedwhich was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, andthe creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they weredestroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and theythat were with him in the ark.

Genesis 7:24 And the waters prevailed upon theearth an hundred and fifty days.

Genesis 8:

Genesis 8:1 And God remembered Noah, and everyliving thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark:and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters asswaged;

Genesis 8:2 The fountains also of the deep andthe windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heavenwas restrained;

Genesis 8:3 And the waters returned from off theearth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fiftydays the waters were abated.

Genesis 8:4 And the ark rested in the seventhmonth, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountainsof Ararat.

Genesis 8:5 And the waters decreased continuallyuntil the tenth month: in the tenth month, on the first day ofthe month, were the tops of the mountains seen.

Genesis 8:6 And it came to pass at the end of fortydays, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made:

Genesis 8:7 And he sent forth a raven, which wentforth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off theearth.

Genesis 8:8 Also he sent forth a dove from him, tosee if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground;

Genesis 8:9 But the dove found no rest for the soleof her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark, for the waterswere on the face of the whole earth: then he put forth his hand,and took her, and pulled her in unto him into the ark.

Genesis 8:10 And he stayed yet other seven days;and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark;

Genesis 8:11 And the dove came in to him in theevening;and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off: so Noah knewthat the waters were abated from off the earth.

Genesis 8:12 And he stayed yet other seven days;and sent forth the dove; which returned not again unto him anymore.

Genesis 8:13 And it came to pass in the sixhundredthand first year, in the first month, the first day of the month,the waters were dried up from off the earth: and Noah removedthe covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the face ofthe ground was dry.

Genesis 8:14 And in the second month, on thesevenand twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried.

Genesis 8:15 And God spake unto Noah, saying,

Genesis 8:16 Go forth of the ark, thou, and thywife, and thy sons, and thy sons’ wives with thee.

Genesis 8:17 Bring forth with thee every livingthing that is with thee, of all flesh, both of fowl, and of cattle,and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth; thatthey may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiplyupon the earth.

Genesis 8:18 And Noah went forth, and his sons,and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him:

Genesis 8:19 Every beast, every creeping thing,and every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth upon the earth, aftertheir kinds, went forth out of the ark.

Genesis 8:20 And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD;and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offeredburnt offerings on the altar.

Genesis 8:21 And the LORD smelled a sweet savor;and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the groundany more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart isevil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more everything living, as I have done.

Genesis 8:22 While the earth remaineth, seedtimeand harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and dayand night shall not cease

Richard Elliot Friedman is a professor in theUniversityof California, San Diego. He earned his Doctorate in Hebrew Bibleat Harvard University. He is one of many scholars who have attemptedto critically study these “source” documents of the”five books of Moses” in order to arriveat the identity of the authors, the time period when each waswritten, the motives for writing each narrative, and other information.In his book “Who Wrote the Bible,” Prof. Friedman presentsstrong evidence that each “source document” was writtenby a person or persons who, while on the face of it seem to narratethe same stories, in actuality had distinctly different goalsthey wished to achieve.

According to Mr. Friedman’s research, each sourceemphasizes a certain branch of the Jews, their nobility, birthright, and closeness to God. Sometimes at the price of other branchesof the Jews. For instance, J was written by descendants of Judah,E came from descendants of Israel, and P was written by a priestfrom the descendants of Aaron. According to Mr. Friedman,the P (Priestly) source seems to be particularly interested inpriests, their lineage, their being the only ones who are allowedto sacrifice to God, the importance of sacrifice to God, and thesurprising absence of all stories wherein anyone not of theirlineage made a sacrifice that was accepted by God (for instancethe sacrifice of the sons of Adam is missing from thisnarrative). It also contains stories of how all those who attemptedto make sacrifices to God without the agency of an Aaronid priestwere killed by God.

The author goes on to show how in J and E we canfind similar emphasis on one tribe of the Jews over the other.For instance, on pages 64-65 he shows how both the J and E documentsattempt to give the birthright of Jacob to their ownforefathers. He also shows how in the E version, Joseph is savedby his brother Ruben (the firstborn of Israel), while in the Jversion it is Judah who saves him. The author presents countlessother proofs of these claims.

The JE texts magnify prophet Moses. Theydepict Aaron as having fashioned the golden calf.They also describe Aaron and his sister Meriam as having criticizedMoses and having been chastised by God himself for this. Theyregularly have God saying “and Yahweh said unto Moses…..”On the other hand, the P document (written by Aaronid priests),usually states: “and Yahweh said unto Moses and untoAaron……” In this document, the staff Moses usedto perform his miracles is called “Aaron’s staff.”In the P document Aaron is also named as the firstbornbrother of Moses. Also, as mentioned previously, in the P textno mention is made of any sacrifices to God whatsoever until thelast chapter of Exodus wherein we find the story of Aaron’s sacrificewhen he was consecrated as high priest. After that, all sacrificesare performed by Aaron and his sons. In other words, the authorof P gives no precedence for sacrifice for anyone other than anAaronid priest. There are even a couple of places in this documentwhich denigrate Moses (pbuh). They depicts Moses (pbuh) as sinningand Aaron suffering for Moses’ sin.

Well, what about the rest of the Old Testament? Arethe remaining books of the Old Testament known to have been preservedfrom change since the time of their first writing and truly tobe the words of the claimed authors? No! Once again, Groliersencyclopedia tells us:

“…..Joshua tells of a thorough conquestof Canaan, but Judges contains traditions of the Hebrew tribesin the period before the monarchy that reveal the conquest aspartial. The books of Samuel are about the founding of the monarchyunder Saul and David and contain a magnificent early source forthe life of David, probably written about 961-22 BC. Allthe above books have been extensively edited by writers who sharedthe theology of the D source.”(emphasis added).

Yale Professor Harold Bloom is the author of thebook “Book Of J” His book goes to prove that the authorof Pentateuch was not prophet Moses(pbuh), rather, he believes that the Pentateuch, especially theoldest stories of Bible such as stories of Adam andEve, Noah, Joseph and even Moses were the works of awoman, probably a descendant of King David in10th century BC. Harold Bloom says that the “second-rateplagiarists” later formed scriptures out of her scripts.

Prof. Richard Friedman has also suggested that awoman contributed the OT which was later formally shaped as partof The Holy Bible. Though other scholars believe it was the workof a group of scholars and Jewish traditions. US NEWS & WORLDREPORT, Dec 10, 1990.

The famous 19th century French scholar, Alfred Loisysays

“To explain the divinity of the sources,the Papal Commission of Biblical Studies declared, in a memorabledecree, that moses had secretaries. The secretaries of Moses!A brilliant discovery, to be sure!”

Indeed, we can even find Jesus (pbuh) himself bearingwitness in the Bible against the Jews that they had changed thecommands and doctrines of God and substituted them with theirown doctrines. He says:

“Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees(learned Jews), which were of Jerusalem, saying, Why do thy disciplestransgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not theirhands when they eat bread. But he answered and said unto them,Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and,He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death. But yesay, Whosoever shall say to [his] father or [his] mother, [Itis] a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; Andhonour not his father or his mother, [he shall be free]. Thushave ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.[Ye] hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, Thispeople draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth mewith [their] lips; but their heart is far from me But in vainthey do worship me, teaching [for] doctrines the commandmentsof men.”

Matthew 15:1-9

He also says: “Then spake Jesus to the multitude,and to his disciples, Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sitin moses’ seat: All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe,[that] observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for theysay, and do not. For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to beborne, and lay [them] on men’s shoulders; but they [themselves]will not move them with one of their fingers. But all their worksthey do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries,and enlarge the borders of their garments. And love the uppermostrooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, And greetingsin the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi But be notye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, [even] Christ; and allye are brethren. And call no [man] your father upon the earth:for one is your Father, which is in heaven. Neither be ye calledmasters: for one is your Master, [even] Christ. But he that isgreatest among you shall be your servant. And whosoever shallexalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himselfshall be exalted. But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neithergo in [yourselves], neither suffer ye them that are entering togo in. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for yedevour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: thereforeye shall receive the greater damnation. Woe unto you, scribesand Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to makeone proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more thechild of hell than yourselves. Woe unto you, [ye] blind guides,which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing;but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor![Ye] fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or thetemple that sanctifieth the gold? … [Ye] fools and blind …Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay titheof mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier [matters]of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to havedone, and not to leave the other undone. [Ye] blind guides, whichstrain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. Woe unto you, scribes andPharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cupand of the platter, but within they are full of extortion andexcess. [Thou] blind Pharisee, cleanse first that [which is] withinthe cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are likeunto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward,but are within full of dead [men’s] bones, and of all uncleanness.Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but withinye are full of hypocrisyand iniquity. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchresof the righteous, And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers,we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of theprophets. Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye arethe children of them which killed the prophets. Fill ye up thenthe measure of your fathers. [Ye] serpents, [ye] generation ofvipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?”

Matthew 23:1-33

There is much more which could be said about thesematters, however, we will leave it up to the interested studentto consult Prof. Friedman’s book and make up their own minds.Fourteen hundred years ago, back when it was a blasphemy of thehighest order punishable by death and worse to dare allege thatthe books of the Bible were not 100% the inspired words of God,the Qur’an was sent down upon Muhammad (pbuh) by God Almightywith the claim that “the people of the Book” had changedthe book of God. Muhammad (pbuh) further affirmed that he wassent with the true religion of God which was sent down upon Mosesand Jesus (peace be upon them all). The Christians responded thatMuslims were ignorant savages who had concocted their own religionby copying Christianity (just as the Jews before them had claimedthat the Christians had plagiarized Judaism). I invite the readerto judge for themselves where the truth lies.

Is all of this restricted to the Old Testament? No!Christian scholars today call the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, andLuke, the “Synoptic” (One eyed) Gospels. This is becausethey all seem to have had access to a common source document theywere working from when they wrote their Gospels. This source documentis called ‘Q’. Now they are beginningto recognize that the alleged authors are not the true authors(see sections 2.1, and 2.2). Similarly, countless verses of theGospel of John, as well as other historical discrepancies, alsogo to show that John did not write the Gospel of John.

“Of the Jews are those who change words fromtheir places and say: ‘We hear (your words O Muhammad) and disobey;hear you as one who hears not’ and ‘give us concession’ with atwist of their tongues and as a mockery of religion(Islam). Butif only they had said: ‘We hear and we obey’ and ‘Do make usunderstand’it would have been better for them and more upright. But Allahhas cursed them for their disbelief, so they believe not, excepta few.”

The noble Qur’an, Al-Nissa(4):46.

“Do you covet that they will believe in youwhen [in fact] a party of them used to hear the Word of Allah(the Torah) then they would distort it knowingly after they hadunderstood it?”

The noble Qur’an, Al-Bakarah(2):75

“Then woe to those who write the book (ofGod) with their own hands and then say: ‘This is from Allah’,to traffic with it for a miserable price. Woe to them for whattheir hands do write and for the gain they make thereby”

The noble Qur’an Al-Bakarah(2):79

2.4 When is a book an “inspired” book?”Ye shall not addunto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish oughtfrom it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God.”Deuteronomy 4:2

Adi ibn Hatim al-Tai’i was a Christian who embracedIslam during the time of Muhammad (pbuh). One day, the verse ofthe Qur’an, Al-Tawba(9):30-31 was recited before him: “Andthe Jews said: Ezra is the son of Allah, and the Christians said:The Messiah is the son of Allah. That is their saying with their[own] mouths. They imitate the saying of those who disbelievedof old. Allah’s curse be upon them. How deluded are they! Theytook their rabbis and their monks as lords besides Allah, andthe Messiah son of Mary, but they were not commanded but to worshipOne God. There is no God but Him. Be He Glorified from all thatthey associate with Him!” When Adi heard this verse,he commented: “O messenger of Allah, we did not worship them.”The prophet Muhammad (pbuh) replied: “Did they not makematters lawful and unlawful for you?” (He was referringto the power the monks and Rabbis gave themselves because of theirclaimed divine inspiration to change laws and regulations). Adireplied “Yes, they did!”. Muhammad (pbuh) said: “That,then, is the worshipping of them in association with Allah.”

If we were to ask a Christian layman: “Wheredid the Bible in your hands come from?,” they would morethan likely tell us “from God!”

If you were now to ask him: “How do you knowit is from God? He will reply, “He inspired it to many peoplewho then wrote it down and preserved it for us.”

If we now ask: “Are all of these inspired peopleprophets?” He will answer: “No, they include both prophetsand other faultless ‘saints’, etc..”

“So these prophets and ‘saints’ signed theirnames to these documents?” we would ask. They would respond”No. But the Church knows who wrote them, and when they werewritten, and has irrefutable proof regarding this matter.”

If we were to now ask: “would it be possiblefor any unscrupulous person who had access to the Bible in thepast to modify it’s books?” They would reply: “Of coursenot! The church has told us that even the much older Old Testamentwas preserved with such diligent guardianship that they even countedand recorded every single word and every single letter in it.Thus, the church has justly reassured us that these words neverhave, and never could be, changed by mankind, even by scribalerror or by accident.”

“Let us now ask a different question” wewould continue. “Are the ‘New and Old Testaments’ in yourhands today the same “New and Old Testaments” availableto the apostles of Jesus (pbuh) till the present day?” Theywould answer “Of course! There has always been only one Bible!”

This is the general gist of any such conversationthat is held between a Muslim and a Christian layman regardingtheir Bible, it’s composition and preservation. However, if wewere to ask their SCHOLARS the same set of questions wewould be amazed to find a tremendous chasm in the responses suppliedby the Christian laypeople as compared to their own Christianscholars. If we were to go to a Western library and look up thehistory of the Bible as recorded by their own eminent Christianscholars throughout the ages, we would find that they tell usthat the books of the “New Testament” in our possessiontoday were not officially approved into the New Testament “canon”of “inspired” books until many centuries afterthe departure of Jesus. Tens of generations of Christiansliterally lived and died after the departure of Jesus (pbuh) neverhaving known nor seen such a “New Testament” or “Bible”as the one in our possession today.

After the departure of Jesus (pbuh), the apostlesand many other people began to write “gospels.” Eachone of these authors would travel to other lands and be followedby a number of people who would adopt this man’s gospel as his”Bible.” Now, even the unscrupulous began to write “gospels”and to claim they were from a given apostle or that they themselveswere receiving divine inspiration. Many new and innovative teachingsbegan now to be introduced into the religion of Jesus (pbuh).Enmity, hatred and war began to break out between these groups.Each person claimed that they alone held the “true”Gospel of Jesus (pbuh) and no one else. Their beliefs now ranthe gamut, from those who believed Jesus (pbuh) to be a mortalmessenger of God and nothing more, to those who claimed partialdivinity for Jesus (pbuh), to those who claimed Jesus (pbuh) tobe a true god, but independent of God himself, to those who calledfor a “Trinity,” to those who claimed that Mary (pbuh)too was a god, to those who believed in two gods, one good andthe other evil. This is when the war of the gospels began.

Everyone now cursed and damned everyone else.Christiansects butchered one-another right and left. There were more greatdebates and councils than you could shake a stick at. However,none of these groups had sufficient might to totally dominateand silence the others for good. They needed an undefeatable ally,so they began to look to the Roman empire for support. The Romanempire was a pagan empire, however, it was the dominant “superpower”of the time. Anyone who could enlist it’s aid would have anunconquerableally at their side and would themselves be undefeatable. On theRoman side, Emperor Constantine was greatlytroubled by the swelling ranks of his Christian subjects and thegreat division among their ranks which did not bode well for thecontinued stability of his empire.

Most of these fringe sects now began to fade intoinsignificance and the matter was now left between those who believedin the Unity of God and those who believed in a “Trinity.”The Roman empire’s support fluctuated between these two groupsfor a long time until the Trinitarian’s finally gained the upperhand and all but wiped the Unitarians off the face of the earth.They selected and collected the “truly inspired” gospelsinto one volume which later became the “New Testament.”They burned all other gospels. Many sweeping campaigns if “Inquisition”were launched. Everyone found possessing any of these “false”Gospels was put to death and his Gospel burned.

This state of affairs continued for many centuriesand many people were convicted of heresy and burned to death atthe stake for a great variety of reasons. Yet others had theirland and property confiscated and were imprisoned. Physical torturewas casually used in order to extract a confession of guilt whichwould then be used to justify a verdict of death by burning. Someof the methods used to extract a confession of guilt were thestretching of limbs on the rack, burning with live coals, andthe strappado (a vertical rack). Denial of the charges withoutcounterproof or refusal to confess resulted in the most severepunishments such as life imprisonment or execution and totalconfiscationof property. The number of those who fell victim to these inquisitionsare far to numerous to list here. Examples of these people includethe philosopher Giordano Bruno, Galileo, Joan of Arc, and thereligious order of knights called the Templars among countlesshundreds of thousands of others. If the Trinitarians did not havethe power to burn these people at the stake during their lifetime,then they would exhume their bodies after their death and burnthem after their death (e.g. John Wycliffe). In the end, overtwelve million people were put to death by the Church inquisitions(Apology for Muhammad and the Qur’an, John Davenport).

The inquisitions reached their height around themiddle of the fifteenth century in a massive and vicious persecutioncampaign the major targets of which were the Marranos (convertsfrom Judaism) and Moriscos (converts from Islam), many of whomwere suspected of secretly adhering to their original faiths.When things began to quiet down a little, the victor’s historiansand philosophers wrote their history books explaining how theymanaged to overcome the wicked, to defeat the blasphemers, andto burn the devils, sorcerers, and witches at the stake. Theseare the books which have had the greatest influence on the Westernhistory books we have in our hands today.

Whenever a scholar of Christianity would stumbleupon the truth and begin to write about it his works would invariablybe destroyed (e.g. Sir Isaac Newton,the 16th century Spaniard Michael Servetus, etc.). In all cases,it was recognized that there was no need to disprove the author’sevidence or refute it, rather, it was sufficient to muzzle theopposition, burn their books, extract a confession from them underduress, and expel them from society or kill them.

Even the Popes themselves would sometimes recognizethe falsehood of the “Trinity” and the fact that itwas a later fabrication of mankind. One of these popes, Honorius,was officially cursed forty eight years after his death by theSynod which was held in Istanbul in 680 C.E.

Sometimes it is an individual’s own silence whichproves to be the most deafening proclamation. As we saw in theprevious chapters, for the period of a century and more the only”Scriptures” used by the first Jewish followers of Jesuswere the Greek Septuagint translations (commonlydesignated LXX) of the Hebrew Old Testament, “the Law andthe Prophets”, supplemented by various Jewish apocrypha andthe Sibylline Oracles (150 BC to AD 180);these were the only “authorities” appealed to by theearly “Church Fathers” when preaching their new faith.Nowhere do they quote the books which we know today as the “NewTestament.”

Naturally, if the “history” of the TrinitarianChurch regarding their chosen Gospels and what are claimed tobe the inspired writings of Jesus’ first Apostles were true, andthese writings had indeed been accepted as authoritative at thattime, then they would have been the most precious and potent documentsof preaching for their doctrine. Undoubtedly, they would havespoken of nothing else, but would have quoted them and appealedto their authority at every turn as they have been doing throughthe centuries since. But, for some 150 years, little or nothingbesides the Old Testament and these Oracles were known or quoted.As said by the great critic, Solomon Reinach,

“With the exception of Papias, who speaksof a narrative by Mark, and a collection of sayings of Jesus,no Christian writer of the first half of the second century (i.e.,up to 150 C.E.) quotes the Gospels or their reputed authors.”

Orpheus, Reinach, p. 218

But let us back up a little and study how and whenthe “inspired” books of the Bible were incorporatedinto the Christian “canon” of the Bible. We have alreadygiven a brief introduction in section 1.2.5 onwards of how thecurrent Gospels of the Bible were introduced as “authentic.”Let us now have a very brief look at some of the details. Thefollowing was obtained from the book “Izhar ul Haqq”among other references:

In the city of Nicea(modern:Iznik, Turkey), in the year 325 AD, a great conference of Christiantheologians and religious scholars was convened under the orderof the Emperor Constantine to examine and definethe status of these countless Christian Gospels. After a thoroughinvestigation it was decided that the Epistle of Jude was genuineand believable. The rest of our current books of the Bible weredeclared doubtful. This was explicitly mentioned by Saint Jeromein the introduction to his book. St. Jerome, of course, was aChristian scholar and a great philosopher. He was born in 340AD He translated the Bible into Latin. He was a famous bibliographerand wrote many books on the Bible. Before the year 325 C.E., itis known that the Gospel of Barnabaswas accepted as canonical in the churches of Alexandria. It isknown to have been circulated in the first two centuries afterChrist (pbuh) from the writings of Irenaeus(130-200AD). After this council, four Gospels were selected outof a minimum of three hundred available and the rest, includingthe Gospel of Barnabas, were ordered utterly destroyed. All Gospelswritten in Hebrew were also ordered destroyed.

In the year 364 AD, another council was held inLaodiceafor the same purpose. This conference of Christian scholars andtheologians not only confirmed the decision of the council ofNicea regarding the authenticity ofthe Epistle of Jude but also declared that the following six booksmust also be added to the list of genuine and believable books:The Book of Esther, The Epistle Of James, The Second Epistle ofPeter, The Second and Third Epistles of John, The Epistle of Paulto the Hebrews. This conference pronounced their decision to thepublic. The book of Revelations, however, remained out of thelist of the acknowledged books in both the councils.

In 397 another great conference was held called theCouncil of Carthage. Augustine,the celebrated Christian scholar, was among the one hundred andtwenty six learned participants. The members of this council confirmedthe decisions of the two previous Councils and also added thefollowing books to the list of the divine books: The Book of theSongs of Solomon, The Book of Tobit, The Book ofBaruch, Ecclesiasticus, and The First and Second Books of Maccabees.

At the same time the members of this council decidedthat the book of Baruch was a part of the book of Jeremiah becauseBaruch was the deputy of Jeremiah. Therefore they did not includethe name of this book separately in the list.

Three more conferences were held after this in Trullo,Florence and Trent (1545-63). The membersof these meetings confirmed the decision of the Council of Carthage.The last two councils, however, wrote the name of the book ofBaruch separately.

After these councils nearly all the books which hadpreviously been doubtful among Christians were now included inthe list of acknowledged books.

The status of these books remained unchanged untilthe Protestant Reformation in the 16th century. TheProtestants repudiated the decisions of the councils and declaredthat there are only 66 truly “inspired” books of God,and not 73 as claimed by the Catholics. The following books wereto be rejected: The Book of Baruch, The Book of Tobit, The Letterof Jude, The Songs of Solomon, Ecclesiasticus, andThe First and Second Books of Maccabees. They excluded these booksfrom the list of acknowledged books.

The Protestants also rejected the decision of theirforbears regarding some chapters of the book of Esther. This bookconsists of 16 chapters. They decided that the first nine chaptersand three verses from chapter ten were to be rejected. They basedtheir decision on the following six reasons:

1 These works were considered to be false even inthe original Hebrew and Chaldaean languages which were no longeravailable.

2 The Jews did not acknowledge them as revealedbooks.

3 All the Christians have not acknowledged them asbelievable.

4 Jerome said that these books were not reliableand were insufficient to prove and support the doctrines of thefaith.

5 Klaus has openly said that these books were recitedbut not in every place.

6 Eusebius specifically said in section 22 of hisfourth book that these books have been tampered with, and changed.In particular the Second Book of Maccabees.

It now becomes apparent that books which had beenlost in the original and which only existed in translation wereerroneously acknowledged by thousands of theologians as divinerevelation. This state of affairs leads a non-Christian readerto distrust the unanimous decisions of Christian scholars of boththe Catholic and the Protestant persuasions. The followers ofCatholic faith still believe in these books in blind pursuanceof their forebears.

It is a prerequisite of believing in a certain bookas divinely revealed that it is proved through infallible argumentsthat the book in question was revealed through a prophet and thatit has been conveyed to us precisely in the same order withoutany change through an uninterrupted chain of narrators. It isnot at all sufficient to attribute a book to a certain propheton the basis of suppositions and conjectures. Unsupported assertionsmade by one or a few sects of people should not be, and cannotbe, accepted in this connection.

We have already seen how Catholic and Protestantscholars differ on the question of the authenticity of some ofthese books. There are yet more books of the Bible which havebeen rejected by Christians. They include the Book of Revelation,the Book of Genesis, the Book of Ascension, the Book of Mysteries,the Book of Testament and the Book of Confession which are allascribed to the Prophet Moses. Similarly a fourthBook of Ezra is claimed to be from the Prophet Ezra and a bookconcerning Isaiah’s ascension and revelation are ascribed to him.In addition to the known book of Jeremiah, there is another bookattributed to him. There are numerous sayings which are claimedto be from the Prophet Habakkuk. There are many songs which aresaid to be from the Prophet Solomon. There are morethan 70 books, other than the present ones, of the new Testament,which are ascribed to Jesus, Mary, the apostles, and their disciples.In this day and age, some Christian scholars are even making thecase for the authenticity of the Gospel of Thomas as the “fifth”Gospel (see “The Five Gospels,”written over six years by 24 Christian scholars from some of theUSA and Canada’s most prestigious universities)

The Christians of this age have claimed that thesebooks are false and forgeries. The Greek Church, Catholic churchand the Protestant Church are unanimous on this point. Similarlythe Greek Church claims that the third book of Ezra is a partof the Old Testament and believes it to have been written by theProphet Ezra while the Protestant and Catholic Churches have declaredit false and fabricated.

Groliers encyclopedia says under the heading “NewTestament, canon”:

“The process by which the canon of the NewTestament was formed began in the 2d century, probably with acollection of ten letters of Paul. Toward the end of that century,Irenaeus argued for the unique authority of the portion of theCanon called the Gospels. Acceptance of the other books came gradually.The church in Egypt used more than the present 27 books,and the Syriac-speaking churches fewer. The question ofan official canon became urgent during the 4th century. It wasmainly through the influence of Athanasius, bishopof Alexandria, and because Jerome included the 27 books in hisLatin version of the Bible called the Vulgate, that the presentcanon came to be accepted..”

Notice, as mentioned in the previous chapters, howthe writings of Paul were the first to be accepted by the Trinitarianchurch. All other gospels were then either accepted or destroyedbased upon their conformance to the teachings of Paul.

As mentioned previously, Lobegott FriedrichKonstantinVon Tischendorfwas one of the most eminent conservative Biblical scholars ofthe nineteenth century. One of his greatest lifelong achievementswas his discovery of one of the oldest known Biblical manuscriptsknow to mankind, the “Codex Sinaiticus,”with the monks of Saint Catherine’s Monasteryin Mount Sinai. In this oldest known copy of the Bible known tohumanity we find contained two gospels which would later be discardedby a more enlightened generation. They are “The Epistle ofBarnabas” (not to be confused with the Gospel of Barnabas),and “The Shepherd of Hermas.”Today, of course, neither of these two books is to be found inour modern Bibles. As also seen in section 1.2, many later “insertions”of the church were exposed through the study of this manuscript.However, following in the tradition of true conservative Christianscholars before him, Tischendorf managed to apply 12,000 “corrections”to this manuscript’s 110,000 lines before he was through “transcribing”it (see “secrets of Mount Sinai”, James Bentley, Doubleday,NY, 1986, p. 95)

We have already seen in chapter one how “St.Paul” all but totally obliterated the religion of Jesus (pbuh)based upon the authority of his alleged “visions”. Wethen saw how his teachings were based more upon his personal philosophyand beliefs than any attempt to cite words or actions of Jesus(pbuh) himself (e.g. Galatians 2). We further saw how his followersslaughtered all Christians who would not forsake the teachingsof the apostles for his teachings and how he was later made the”majority author” of the Bible and countless authenticgospels were burned and labeled apocrypha by his followers. Remember,”St. Paul” is claimed to be the author of Romans, 1and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Phillippians, Colossians,1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, and Hebrews.

“All the evidence indicates that the wordsof Jesus were authoritative in the Church from the first, andthis makes it the more remarkable that such scanty attention ispaid to the words or works of Jesus in the earliest Christianwritings, Paul’s letters, the later Epistles, Hebrews, Revelation,and even Acts have little to report about them… Papias (ca.AD 130), the first person to actually name a written gospel,illustratesthe point. Even though he defends Mark’s gospel (Euseb. Hist.III.xxxix.15-16), and had himself appended a collection of Jesustradition to his ‘Interpretation of the Oracles of the Lord’ (Euseb.Hist. III.xxxix.2-3), his own clear preference was for the oraltradition concerning Jesus, and the glimpses that Eusebius providesof Papias’ Jesus tradition give no hint of his dependence on Mark.Neither do the more frequent citations of Jesus in the APOSTOLICFATHERS, largely ‘synoptic’ in character show much dependenceon our written gospels”

The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible,SupplementaryVolume, p. 137

The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible containsmuch more revealing information in this regard, far too much toreproduce here. The reader is strongly encouraged to locate acopy in their local library and read the details.

The popularly accepted dates for the authorship ofthe current books of the Bible are approximately as follows:

Approx. AD Event / Document

—————————————————————-

30 Crucifixion (Ascension) of Jesus

50 First Epistle of Paul

62 Last Epistle of Paul

65-70 Mark’s Gospel

70 Epistle to Hebrews

80 Luke’s Gospel

85-90 Matthew’s Gospel

90 Acts

90-100 John’s Gospel and First Epistle

95-100 Revelation

100 I & II Timothy and Titus

Uncertainty about James I & II, Peter, John andJude does not allow historians to estimate their origin dates.(See “The Early Church And The New Testament,” IreneAllen, 1953). We begin to see the degree to which our currentreligion of “Christianity” is based more on the teachingsand writings of Paul than anything else. The Gospels which arepopularly believed to have been written first were in actualitywritten long after the writings of Paul. Now Christian scholarsare even beginning to uncover extensive evidence that these Gospelswere not even written by their claimed authors. The more Christianscholars study the Bible, the more it becomes painfully apparentthat what is popularly referred to today as “Christianity”should more appropriately be named “Paulanity.”

As mentioned in section 2.1, even when a book isclaimed to be truly “inspired” we still find that theChurch cannot say with 100% assuredness who wrote this “inspired”book. As mentioned there, the authorsof the RSV Bible by Collins say that the author of “Kings”is “Unknown,” the book of Isaiah is “Mainly creditedto Isaiah. Parts may have been written by others.” Ecclesiastics:”Author. Doubtful, but commonly assigned to Solomon.”Ruth: “Author. Not definitely known, perhaps Samuel.”and on and on. Is this how a truly unbiased mind defines “inspiredby God”? You be the judge.

“Verily, those who conceal that which Allahhas sent down of the Book and purchase a small gain therewith,they eat into their bellies nothing but fire. Allah will not speakto them on the Day of Resurrection, nor will He purify them, andtheirs will be a painful torment. Those are they who purchaseerror at the price of guidance, and torment at the price of pardon.What boldness (they show) for the Fire!”

The noble Qur’an, Al-Baqarah(2):174-175

What Did Jesus Really Say ? – Ancient paganism and the dangers of compromise