for dhimmi no more

Submitted by Peter Herz (United States), Dec 24, 2011 at 21:56

DNM, I long ago decided to leave it to Muslims to sort out what they believe or disbelieve about the Old and New Testaments--I'm satisfied to believe in the Old and New Testaments as the Word of God, and to disbelieve in the Qur'an (I am a Christian). Yes, the statements in Qur'an and Hadith about the character of the Bible seem to be self-contradictory, now saying they are God's Word, now saying they're corrupted by the Jews and Christians.

And I have yet to meet a Muslim apologist who has been able to explain how it is that the non-cooperating, often mutually hostile Jews and Christians, when push come to shove, end up reading the same Old Testament. Surely if the books were corrupted by one or the other side, the two sides would be reading a radically different text, and probably would not be able to recognize each other's Scripture.

And it greatly impresses me that whereas Muslims are encouraged to read neither the Old nor New Testaments, Christians have always prayed and sung from the Old Testament Psalms, taken comfort and support from the words of the prophets, and taught ethics using Moses. Moreover, when Christians say "Bible", they mean one in which 4/5 roughly is shared with the Jews.

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