Why is it that Christians accept only the Bible as being inspired by God? Why do we not accept the Koran? Why not the Book of Mormon? Just how is it we can know that other religious writings are not from Him?
First, writings such as the Koran and the Book of Mormon are based upon what one person allegedly saw and heard. Mohammed, the founder of Islam, supposedly received revelation from Gabriel on various occasions while alone in a cave. Islam is based entirely upon these private “experiences.” Similarly, Mormons claim that Joseph Smith was privately commissioned by God to translate the Book of Mormon from golden plates delivered to him by an angel. On the other hand, the Bible is based in history, not in the subjective experience of one individual. About forty different men from various backgrounds wrote the Bible over a period of 1,600 years. It is backed by objective historical events that thousands of people beheld. And many of its people, places, and events can be verified by history. Archaeology, literature, science, and geography confirm its details and tie it to a reality outside the mind of any single person or any group of people. Indeed, the Bible alone rings of authenticity!
Second, of all the books that claim to be from God [and according to Kenny Barfield only seven documents exist in the whole world that openly claim divine inspiration (1997, p. 186)], only the Bible is inerrant. The Book of Mormon contains numerous blunders in both content and grammar (see Bromling, 1994, pp. 15-16). Likewise, the Koran contradicts itself numerous times. Although Mohammed presented the Bible as being ordained and revealed by God (Sura 5:50,71), the Koran makes such mistakes as claiming that Pharaoh’s wife adopted Moses (Sura 28:9), when Moses himself claimed that he was adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter (Exodus 2:5-10). Amazingly, Richardson even says in his introduction to the Koran, “the Qur’an often contradicts itself as well as other scriptures” (see Myers, 1994, p. 10). In contrast, the Bible is accurate in every way. After 2000 years of attacks by infidelic scoffers, not one legitimate mistake has been found.
Finally, no other book in the world exhibits such amazing qualities as the predictive prophecy and scientific foreknowledge that can be found in the Bible. Such qualities bear testimony to the fact that the very existence of the Holy Scriptures cannot be explained in any other way except to acknowledge that they are the result of supernatural origin—they are the result of God.
REFERENCES
Barfield, Kenny (1997), Why the Bible is Number 1 (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Publishers).
Bromling, Brad (1994), “Can the Book of Mormon Pass the Test?,” Reason & Revelation 41:15-16, February.
Myers, Kippy (1994), “Why Christianity? Why the Bible?,” Reason & Revelation, 41:9-14, February.
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