Three grades of evidence
We Muslim have no hesitation in acknowledging that in Bible, there are three different kinds of witnessing recognizable without any need of specialized training. These are:
1. You will be able to recognize in the Bible what may be described as "The Word of God".
2. You will also be able to discern whhat can be described as the "Words of a Prophet of God".
3. You will most readily observe that the bulk of hte Bible is the records of eye witnessess or ear witnessess, or people writing from hearsay. As such they are the "Words of a Historian".
You do not have to hunt for examples of these different types of evidences in the Bible. The following quotations will make the position crystal clear:
FIRST TYPE:
(a) "I will raise them up a prophet......... and I will put my words in .......... and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him." (Deuteronomy 18:18)
(b) "I, even I, am the Lord, and beside me there is no saviour." (Isaiah 43:11)
(c) "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the end of the earth: for I am God, and there is non else.: (Isaiah 45:22)
Note the first person pronoun singular (underline,bold) in the above references,and without any difficulty you will agree that the statements seem to have the sound of being GOD'S WORD.
SECOND TYPE
(a) "Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying Eli,Eli, lama sabachtani?......" (Matthew 27:46)
(b) "And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; the Lord our God is one Lord" (Mark 12:29)
(c) "And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is God." (Mark 10:18)
Even a child will be able to affirm that: Jesus "cried", Jesus "answered", and Jesus "said", are the words of the one to whom they are attributed, i.e. the WORDS OF A PROPHET OF GOD.
THIRD TYPE
"And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he, (Jesus) came, if haply he (Jesus) might find anything thereon: and when he (Jesus) came to it, he (Jesus) found nothing but leaves.........." (Mark 11:13)
The bulk of the Bible is a witnessing of this THIRD kind. These are the words of a third person. Note the underlined pronouns. They are not the Words of God or of His prophet, but the WORDS OF A HISTORIAN.
We Muslim have no hesitation in acknowledging that in Bible, there are three different kinds of witnessing recognizable without any need of specialized training. These are:
1. You will be able to recognize in the Bible what may be described as "The Word of God".
2. You will also be able to discern whhat can be described as the "Words of a Prophet of God".
3. You will most readily observe that the bulk of hte Bible is the records of eye witnessess or ear witnessess, or people writing from hearsay. As such they are the "Words of a Historian".
You do not have to hunt for examples of these different types of evidences in the Bible. The following quotations will make the position crystal clear:
(a) "I will raise them up a prophet......... and I will put my words in .......... and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him." (Deuteronomy 18:18)
(b) "I, even I, am the Lord, and beside me there is no saviour." (Isaiah 43:11)
(c) "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the end of the earth: for I am God, and there is non else.: (Isaiah 45:22)
Note the first person pronoun singular (underline,bold) in the above references,and without any difficulty you will agree that the statements seem to have the sound of being GOD'S WORD.
SECOND TYPE
(a) "Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying Eli,Eli, lama sabachtani?......" (Matthew 27:46)
(b) "And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; the Lord our God is one Lord" (Mark 12:29)
(c) "And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is God." (Mark 10:18)
Even a child will be able to affirm that: Jesus "cried", Jesus "answered", and Jesus "said", are the words of the one to whom they are attributed, i.e. the WORDS OF A PROPHET OF GOD.
THIRD TYPE
"And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he, (Jesus) came, if haply he (Jesus) might find anything thereon: and when he (Jesus) came to it, he (Jesus) found nothing but leaves.........." (Mark 11:13)
The bulk of the Bible is a witnessing of this THIRD kind. These are the words of a third person. Note the underlined pronouns. They are not the Words of God or of His prophet, but the WORDS OF A HISTORIAN.
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