"I have read the Old Testament Sameer"

Submitted by Lactantius Jr (United Kingdom), Dec 26, 2006 at 19:52

To Sameer

Allah (upon whom be peace), gives massive and eloquent testimony to the whole Bible, Old Testament ("Taurat") and New Testament ("Injil") saying it is his unchanged, unchangeable word, the Qur'an saying the words of Allah are unalterable:-

"there is none that can alter the words and decrees of Allah" Surah 6:34

and:-

"----------none can change his words-----------" Surah 18:27

see also:- Surah's 6:115, 10:64 and 50:29

The Qur'an repeatedly says that it confirms the previous Scriptures, for example Surah 3:3 says that Allah:-

"-----------sent down to thee (step by step), in truth, the Book, confirming what went before it; and He sent down the Torah and the Gospels."

Typical of every mention of the Torah and Gospels Sameer, there is no word about textual corruption. Surah's 2:97, 2:285; 3:3,7,23,48,65,84,93,184,199; 4:44,47,51,136,162-164 5:15,46,68-69; 6:91&92,154; 10:37; 11:17; 16:43; 17:2; 20:133; 21:7; 23:49; 26:196; 32:23; 35:31; 41:45; 46:10-12; 54:43; 57:25&27; and 87:18-19 all confirm, rather than repudiate or "complete" the Torah and Gospels, with the texts often being referred to as "inspired."

The Qur'an uses, for example, the following words:-

"musadiqalima mahum" (confirming what is with them)

"musadiqalima baina yadih" (confirming what is between their hands)

"musadiqalima makum" (confirming that which is with them)

Surah's 2:41,89; 3:3; 4:47; 5:48; 35:31 and so on.

Surah 5:43-49 for example, starts by saying:-

"But why do they come to thee for decision, when they have the Torah before them? Therein is the plain command of Allah, yet even after that they would turn away

but since you confine your erroneous claims for "Muhammad in the Bible" to the Old Testament, I will confine my response very largely to that.

I have known Muslims claim that Muhammad's coming is prophesied in various Old Testament Scriptures, but until I know what Scriptures you claim refer to him, I confine my remarks to saying emphatically, that Muhammad is mentioned nowhere in the Bible, in either Old or New Testaments.

You do however cite one quotation Sameer, without sourcing it, where does it come from? Here it is:- "the greatest of all is coming, who will be sent as a mercy to humanity, he will glorify my name and lead humanity onto the right path", and assuming you claim this is the Lord Jesus Christ referring to Muhammad, (please correct me if I misunderstand you), please explain exactly how, and where it is recorded in Islam's most authoritative source documents, that Muhammad glorified the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ?

The Lord Jesus Christ however, is mentioned in literally hundreds of places in the Old Testament, in prophecies finding their fulfillment in Him, the Incarnate Son of God, and recorded in the New Testament, prophecies concerning the life, death and resurrection from the dead of the Lord Jesus Christ, The Son of God, prophecies rooted in history, and contained in the Hebrew Scriptures ("The Old Testament").

Here are two Internet postings documenting some of those prophecies.

"Prophecies of the Old Testament Fulfilled in Jesus Christ"

http://biblia.com/jesusbible/prophecies.htm

"Jesus The Messiah Revealed"

http://www.jesusplusnothing.com/messiah/messiah.htm

Fulfilled prophecy, especially as in Jesus' case, massive cumulative fulfilment, gives us a valid basis to believe and trust in the author of the prophecy, and whilst the Lord Jesus Christ had various credentials to support His claims to being the Messiah, the Son of the Living God, one often overlooked credential, one of the most profound, is the fulfilment of so many prophecies, in His life, death and resurrection from the dead. Over and over again, Jesus appealed to the Messianic prophecies of the Old Testament, to substantiate His claims as the Messiah.

"But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law." Galatians 4:4

And on the first resurrection morning, walking along the road to Emmaus, with Cleopas and his friend, we read that Jesus:-

"Beginning with Moses and all the prophets, explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures." Luke 24:27

And when the risen Lord Jesus appeared to His disciples in Jerusalem, He said:-

"These are My words which I spoke to you whilst I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the law of Moses, and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled." Luke 24:44

and speaking to the religious leaders in Jerusalem, who criticised Him for healing a lame man on the Sabbath, Jesus said:-

"But do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set. If you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me. But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?" John 5:45-47

And again speaking to the religious leaders, Jesus said:-

"I tell you the truth, if anyone keeps My word, he will never see death. At this, the Jews exclaimed, ‘now we know that you are demon-possessed! Abraham died, and so did the prophets, yet you say that if anyone keeps Your word, he will never taste death. Are You greater than our father Abraham? He died, and so did the prophets. Who do you think You are?' Jesus replied,-------------- ‘your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing My day; he saw it and was glad.' The Jews said to Him, ‘You are not yet fifty years old, and You have seen Abraham!' ‘I tell you the truth,' Jesus answered, ‘before Abraham was born, I am!' at this they picked up stones to stone Him, but Jesus slipped away from the temple grounds.' John 5:51-59

The Apostles, the New Testament writers etc.constantly appealed to fulfilled prophecy, to substantiate the claims of Jesus as the Son of the Living God , the Saviour, the Messiah.

"But the things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ should suffer, He has thus fulfilled." Acts 3:18

"And according to Paul's custom, he went to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, and giving evidence that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, ‘this Jesus Whom I am proclaiming to you is the Christ.' " Acts 17:2&3

"For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures." 1 Corinthians 15:3&4

In the Old Testament there are sixty major messianic prophecies and approximately 270 ramifications that were fulfilled in one person, Jesus Christ, with His precise lineage, the place, the time, and manner of His birth, people's reactions to His teaching, His betrayal, the manner of His death, and His resurrection from the dead. These are some of the details making up the CV identifying the Son of the Living God, the Messiah and Saviour of the world.

Dr.Peter Stoner, Professor Emeritus at Pasadena College, describes, in his book "Science Speaks" ( Stoner Peter W. and Newman, Robert C Moody Press, 1976 ) how he took just 8 of the Old Testament prophecies fulfilled in Jesus Christ, and using the law of compound probabilities, calculated the probability of one man fulfilling them. Dr.Stoner wrote:- "we find that the chance that any man might have lived down to the present time, and filled all eight prophecies is 1 in 10 raised to the power 17." Written out longhand, this is 100, 000,000,000,000,000, and in order to help us comprehend this staggering probability, Dr.Stoner illustrates it by supposing that:- "We take 10 to the power 17 silver dollars and lay them on the face of Texas (267,000 square miles!! ~69.15 million hectares, ~170.9 million acres). They will cover all of the state two feet deep. Now, mark one of these silver dollars and stir the whole mass thoroughly, all over the state. Blindfold a man and tell him he can travel wherever he likes, but he must pick up one silver dollar, and say that this is the right one. What chance would he have of getting the right one?

Just the same chance the prophets would have of writing these eight prophecies, and having them all come true in any one man, from their day to the present time, providing they wrote them down in their own wisdom." H.Harold Artzler, of the American Scientific Affiliation, wrote:- "The manuscript of ‘Science Speaks' has been carefully reviewed by a committee of the American Scientific Affiliation members, and by the Executive Council of the same group, and has been found, in general, to be dependable and accurate in regard to the scientific material presented. The mathematical analysis included, is based upon principles of probability which are thoroughly sound, and Professor Stoner has applied these principles in a proper and convincing way." Fulfilling 48 prophecies by chance is just one chance in 10 to the power 157 (I won't attempt to write out all the noughts!!), but Jesus didn't fulfil just eight or 48 prophecies Sameer, He fulfilled over 300!!!.

How can one maintain intellectual integrity if this kind of evidence is ignored??

I have read the Old Testament Sameer, and am utterly convinced that the Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled the hundreds of prophecies it contains about Him, fulfilled prophecies recorded in the Injeel (Greek evangel, meaning "good news" or "news which brings joy"), and indeed it is "News Which Brings Joy".

With kind regards and best wishes

Lactantius Jr.

---

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".