My rebuttal to Sam Shamoun's "Messengers were never sent to other than their own people?" article:
This article is a rebuttal to Sam Shamoun's article that is located at: http://www.answering-islam.org/Quran/Contra/jonah.html.
He wrote:
Qur'an Contradiction:
The Quran claims that messengers were sent to their own people proclaiming the Message in their native tongue:
"Then after him (Noah) We sent (many) messengers to their peoples: they brought them Clear Signs, but they would not believe what they had already rejected beforehand. Thus do We seal the hearts of the transgressors." S. 10:74
"And We never sent a messenger save with the language of his folk, that he might make (the message) clear for them. Then Allah sendeth whom He will astray, and guideth whom He will. He is the Mighty, the Wise." S. 14:4 Pickthall
"Verily We sent before thee (Muhammad) messengers to their own folk. Then we took vengeance upon those who were guilty (in regard to them). To help believers is ever incumbent upon Us." S. 30:47 Pickthall
Here are Ibn Kathir's comments regarding S. 14:4:
Every Prophet was sent with the Language of his People; Guidance or Misguidance follows the Explanation.
Allah is Kind and Compassionate with His creation, sending Messengers to them from among them and speaking their language, so that they are able to understand the Message that the Messengers were sent with ...
<the All-Wise> in His decisions, misleading those who deserve to be misled and guiding those who deserve guidance. This is from Allah's wisdom with His creation, every Prophet He sent to a people SPOKE THEIR LANGUAGE and every one of these Prophets WERE ONLY SENT TO THEIR PEOPLE. Muhammad bin Abdullah, Allah's Messenger, peace and blessings be upon him, was sent to all people. It is recorded IN THE TWO SAHIHS that Jabir said that the Messenger of Allah said, ...
((I have been given five things which were not given to anyone else before me. Allah made me victorious by awe, (by His frightening my enemies) for a distance of one month's journey. The earth has been made for me (and for my followers) a place for worship and a purifier. The war booty has been made lawful for me and it was not lawful for anyone else before me. I have been given the right of Intercession (on the Day of Resurrection). EVERY PROPHET USED TO BE SENT TO HIS NATION ONLY, but I have been sent to all mankind.)) Allah said, ...
<Say: "O mankind! Verily, I am sent to you all as the Messenger of Allah ...> [7:158] (Tafsir Ibn Kathir, Abridged, Volume 5, Surah Hud to Surat Al-Isra, Verse 38, abridged by a group of scholars under the supervision of Shaykh Safiur-Rahman Al-Mubarakpuri [Darussalam Publishers & Distributors, Riyadh, Houston, New York, Lahore; First Edition: July 2000], pp. 309-310; bold capital emphasis ours)
Yet this contradicts both the Holy Bible and the Quran. Both the Holy Bible and the Quran mention the story of the prophet Jonah son of Amittai, called Yunus in the Quran. Jonah was an Israelite who was sent to the Assyrians in Nineveh:
"The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me ... So they asked him, Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you? He answered, I am a Hebrew and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land. This terrified them and they asked, What have you done? (They knew he was running away from the Lord, because he had already told them so.)" Jonah 1:1-2, 8-10
And:
"He was the one who restored the boundaries of Israel from Lebo Hamath to the Sea of the Arabah, in accordance with the word of the Lord , the God of Israel, spoken through his servant Jonah son of Amittai, the prophet from Gath Hepher." 2 Kings 14:25
Compare:
"The third lot came up for Zebulun, clan by clan: The boundary of their inheritance went as far as Sarid. Going west it ran to Maralah, touched Dabbesheth, and extended to the ravine near Jokneam. It turned east from Sarid toward the sunrise to the territory of Kisloth Tabor and went on to Daberath and up to Japhia. Then it continued eastward to Gath Hepher and Eth Kazin; it came out at Rimmon and turned toward Neah. There the boundary went around on the north to Hannathon and ended at the Valley of Iphtah El. Included were Kattath, Nahalal, Shimron, Idalah and Bethlehem. There were twelve towns and their villages. These towns and their villages were the inheritance of Zebulun, clan by clan. Joshua 19:10-15
This indicates that Jonah was perhaps from the tribe of Zebulun, son of Jacob.
My response:
First of all, none of the Noble Verses above limit the Prophets to only their nationality or race. Let's take a close look at the Noble Verses that Sam Shamoun presented above:
"Then after him (Noah) We sent (many) messengers to their peoples: they brought them Clear Signs, but they would not believe what they had already rejected beforehand. Thus do We seal the hearts of the transgressors." S. 10:74
Comment: This Noble Verse DOES NOT give any limitation or exclusivity that the Prophets who came after Noah, peace be upon him, had to be from the same nationality as their people.
"And We never sent a messenger save with the language of his folk, that he might make (the message) clear for them. Then Allah sendeth whom He will astray, and guideth whom He will. He is the Mighty, the Wise." S. 14:4 Pickthall
Comment: Notice the Noble Word "language". It does not say nationality or race! A Prophet is a Messenger of GOD Almighty to any and all of the people that he encounters. Certainly if his tribe is a different race from close by tribes, then this does not disqualify him from Spreading the Divine Truth of GOD Almighty to the other tribe as long as he could speak with them in their native tongue language.
"Verily We sent before thee (Muhammad) messengers to their own folk. Then we took vengeance upon those who were guilty (in regard to them). To help believers is ever incumbent upon Us." S. 30:47 Pickthall
Comment: Again, this Noble Verse DOES NOT give any limitation or exclusivity that the Prophets who came before Muhammad, peace be upon him, had to be from the same nationality as their people.
He wrote:
The Quran and the Islamic traditions agree on Jonah being sent to Nineveh:
If only there had been a single township (among those We warned), which believed,- so its faith should have profited it,- except the People of Jonah? When they believed, We removed from them the Chastisement of Ignominy in the life of the present, and permitted them to enjoy (their life) for a while. S. 10:98
And remember Zunnün, when he departed in wrath: He imagined that We had no power over him! But he cried through the depths of darkness, "There is no god but Thou: glory to Thee: I was indeed wrong!" So We listened to him: and delivered him from distress: and thus do We deliver those who have faith. S. 21:87-88
So also was Jonah among those sent (by Us). When he ran away (like a slave from captivity) to the ship (fully) laden, He (agreed to) cast lots, and he was of the rebutted: Then the big Fish did swallow him, and he had done acts worthy of blame. Had it not been that he (repented and) glorified Allah, He would certainly have remained inside the Fish till the Day of Resurrection. But We cast him forth on the naked shore in a state of sickness, And We caused to grow, over him, a spreading plant of the gourd kind. And We sent him (on a mission) to a hundred thousand (men) or more. And they believed; so We permitted them to enjoy (their life) for a while. S. 37:139-148
Here is Ibn Kathir on S. 10:98:
"... The point is that between Musa and Yunus, there was no nation in its entirety that believed except the people of Yunus, the people of Naynawa (Nineveh). And they only believed because they feared that the torment from which their Messenger warned them, might strike them. They actually witnessed its signs. So they cried to Allah and asked for help. They engaged in humility in invoking Him. They brought their children and cattle and asked Allah to lift the torment from which their Prophet had warned them. As a result, Allah sent down His mercy and removed the scourge from them and gave them respite.
... In interpreting this Ayah, Qatadah said: No town has denied the truth and then believed when they saw the scourge, and then their belief benefited them, with the exception of the people of Yunus. When they lost their prophet and they thought that the scourge was close upon them, Allah sent through their hearts the desire to repent. So they wore woolen fabrics and they separated each animal from its offspring. They then cried out to Allah for forty nights. When Allah saw the truth in their hearts and that they were sincere in their repentance and regrets, He removed the scourge from them. Qatadah said: It is mentioned that the people of Yunus were in Naynawa, the land of Mosul. This was also reported from Ibn Mas'ud, Mujahid, Sai'd bin Jubayr and others from the Salaf." (Tafsir Ibn Kathir, Abridged, Volume 4, Surat Al-Araf to the end of Surah Yunus, first edition May 2000, p. 660; bold emphasis ours)
And also Ibn Kathir's comments on S. 21:87-88:
YUNUS
This story is mentioned here, and in Surat As-Saffat and Surah Nun. Yunus bin Matta, upon him be peace, was sent by Allah to the people of Nineveh, which was a town in the area of Mawsil [in northern Iraq] ... (Tafsir Ibn Kathir, Abridged, Volume 6, Surat Al-Isra', Verse 39 to the end of Surat Al-Mu'minun, first edition July 2000, p. 481; bold emphasis ours)
Interestingly, the hadiths have Muhammad naming Jonah as the son of Amittai:
Narrated Ibn 'Abbas:
The Prophet said, "One should not say that I am better than Jonah (i.e. Yunus) bin Matta." So, he mentioned his father Matta. The Prophet mentioned the night of his Ascension and said, "The prophet Moses was brown, a tall person as if from the people of the tribe of Shanu'a. Jesus was a curly-haired man of moderate height." He also mentioned Malik, the gate-keeper of the (Hell) Fire, and Ad-Dajjal. (Sahih Al-Bukhari, Volume 4, Book 55, Number 608)
Narrated Ibn 'Abbas:
The Prophet said that his Lord said: "It does not befit a slave that he should say that he is better than Jonah (Yunus) bin Matta." (Sahih Al-Bukhari, Volume 9, Book 93, Number 630)
Ibn Sa'd, presenting a list of the Prophets' genealogies, writes:
... Yunus Ibn Matta from the family of Ya'qub Ibn Ishaq Ibn Ibrahim ... (Sa'd, Kitab Al-Tabaqat Al-Kabir, Volume I, parts I & II, English translation by S. Moinul Haq, M.A., PH.D assisted by H.K. Ghazanfar M.A. [Kitab Bhavan Exporters & Importers, 1784 Kalan Mahal, Daryaganj, New Delhi - 110 002 India], p. 48; bold emphasis ours)
Ya'qub, Ishaq and Ibrahim are Arabic for Jacob, Isaac and Abraham.
This leaves absolutely no doubt that this is the same Jonah referred to in the Holy Bible. This being the case, Allah is wrong for claiming that Messengers were sent to their own folk teaching in the language of their people. The Assyrians were not Jonah's people, nor did they speak the same language as the following passage demonstrates:
"The king of Assyria sent his supreme commander, his chief officer and his field commander with a large army, from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. They came up to Jerusalem and stopped at the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Washerman's Field. They called for the king; and Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went out to them. The field commander said to them, Tell Hezekiah: "This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: On what are you basing this confidence of yours? You say you have strategy and military strength - but you speak only empty words. On whom are you depending, that you rebel against me? Look now, you are depending on Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff, which pierces a man's hand and wounds him if he leans on it! Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who depend on him. And if you say to me, We are depending on the Lord our God - isn't he the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, You must worship before this altar in Jerusalem?" Come now, make a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses - if you can put riders on them! How can you repulse one officer of the least of my master's officials, even though you are depending on Egypt for chariots and horsemen? Furthermore, have I come to attack and destroy this place without word from the Lord? The Lord himself told me to march against this country and destroy it. Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, and Shebna and Joah said to the field commander, Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, since we understand it. Don't speak to us in Hebrew in the hearing of the people on the wall." 2 Kings 18:17-26
The Qur'an again contradicts itself and the Bible confirming that the Quran is not the word of God.
My response:
Nothing of substance was really added by Sam Shamoun here. His points in this section are the same in the first one. I therefore will post my answer again that will clearly refute his nonsense above:
First of all, none of the Noble Verses above limit the Prophets to only their nationality or race. Let's take a close look at the Noble Verses that Sam Shamoun presented above:
"Then after him (Noah) We sent (many) messengers to their peoples: they brought them Clear Signs, but they would not believe what they had already rejected beforehand. Thus do We seal the hearts of the transgressors." S. 10:74
Comment: This Noble Verse DOES NOT give any limitation or exclusivity that the Prophets who came after Noah, peace be upon him, had to be from the same nationality as their people.
"And We never sent a messenger save with the language of his folk, that he might make (the message) clear for them. Then Allah sendeth whom He will astray, and guideth whom He will. He is the Mighty, the Wise." S. 14:4 Pickthall
Comment: Notice the Noble Word "language". It does not say nationality or race! A Prophet is a Messenger of GOD Almighty to any and all of the people that he encounters. Certainly if his tribe is a different race from close by tribes, then this does not disqualify him from Spreading the Divine Truth of GOD Almighty to the other tribe as long as he could speak with them in their native tongue language.
"Verily We sent before thee (Muhammad) messengers to their own folk. Then we took vengeance upon those who were guilty (in regard to them). To help believers is ever incumbent upon Us." S. 30:47 Pickthall
Comment: Again, this Noble Verse DOES NOT give any limitation or exclusivity that the Prophets who came before Muhammad, peace be upon him, had to be from the same nationality as their people.
We Muslims do not follow the Bible:
Not that Shamoun's points from the Bible above refuted anything from the Noble Quran, but the reader must know well that we Muslims do not regard the bible of today as the Original, Perfect and True Word of GOD Almighty. There are ample corruptions, man's alterations and textual and historical contradictions in the book that beyond the shadow of the doubt prove that it is not Divine!
Let's look at the following examples:
From http://www.answering-christianity.com/bible_quran_differences.htm:
Irrefutable contradictions, and proofs that the original authors of today's Bible are UNKNOWN!
Muslims and Christians both agree that the Noble Quran does not agree with today's Bible in everything. Just because the Bible might disagree on something in the Noble Quran, it doesn't at all negate the claim of the Noble Quran or make it false. There is a certain flow of logic that the Noble Quran presents which we the Muslims believe that it is the truth.
The Bible's contents today were not written by their original authors. For example, we read from the book of Matthew so many verses such as this one:
"...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) and HE (Matthew) arose, and followed HIM (Jesus). (Matthew 9:9)"
Did "Matthew" write this about himself? Why then didn't Matthew write for example: "he (Jesus) saw ME, and my name is Matthew. I was sitting at the receipt of custom " etc.
Similarly, we read in the books of Moses things such as "And the LORD said to Moses...", or "Moses went to that place....", etc... We also read in the Old Testament about Moses' burial. Now if Moses alone supposedly wrote his books, then how is it possible for him to write about his own burial when he is already dead??!!
Such evidence can be found in many places throughout the Old Testament and the New Testament. The so called "Original letters/Gospels" that were written in Greek and Hebrew, were written by third party people!
Consider the following few examples that consist of historical
contradictions in the Bible:
II Samuel 10:18 talks about David slew the men of 700
chariots of the Syrians and 40,000 horsemen and Shobach the commander.
I Chronicles 1:18 says that David slew the men of 7000 chariots and 40,000 footmen
I Chronicles 9:25 says that Solomon had 4000 stalls for
horses and chariots.
I Kings 4:26 says that he had 40,000 stalls for horses
Ezra 2:5 talks about an exile Arah having 775 sons.
Nehemiah 7:10 talks about the same exile Arah having 652 sons.
II Samuel 24:13 So God came to David, and told him, and said unto
him, shall SEVEN YEARS OF FAMINE come unto thee in thy land? or will thou flee three
months before thine enemies, while they pursue. thee?
I Chronicles 21:11 SO God came to David, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Choose
thee. Either THREE YEARS OF FAMINE or three months to be destryed before thy foes, while
that the sword of thine enemies overtaketh thee;
How did Judas die?
"And he cast down the pieces of silver into the temple and departed, and went out and
hanged himself." (Matthew 27:5)
"And falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all of his bowels gushed
out." (Acts 1:18)
2 Samuel 6:23 Therefore MICHAL the daughter of Saul had no child
unto the day of her death.
2 Samuel 21:8 But the king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bare
unto Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of MICHAL the daughter of Saul, whom
she brought up for Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite.
2 Kings 24:8 Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to
reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. And his mother's name was Nehushta, the
daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem.
2 Chronicles 36:9 Jehoiachin was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned
three months and ten days in Jerusalem: and he did that which was evil in the sight of the
LORD.
26th year of the reign of Asa I Kings 16:6-8
36th year of the reign of Asa I 2 Chronicles 16:1
How old was Ahaziah when he began to reign?
22 in 2 Kings 8:26
42 in 2 Chronicle 22:2
Who was Josiah's successor?
Jehoahaz - 2 Chronicle 36:1
Shallum - Jeremiah 22:11
Also, your original scriptures are all doubtful according to the Bible's own theologians and historians. It's quite hilarious that even the Bible itself admits that it has been tampered with and corrupted by man's garbage:
"`How can you say, "We [the Jews] are wise, for we have the law of the LORD," when actually the lying pen of the scribes has handled it falsely?' (From the NIV Bible, Jeremiah 8:8)"
The Revised Standard Version makes it even clearer: "How can you say, 'We are wise, and the law of the LORD is with us'?
But, behold, the false pen of the scribes has made it into a lie.
(From the RSV Bible, Jeremiah 8:8)"
And regarding who wrote the books and gospels of the Bible, as I quoted above, here is a sample of what the NIV Bible's theologians and historians wrote:
"Serious doubts exists as to whether these verses belong to the Gospel of Mark. They are absent from important early manuscripts and display certain peculiarities of vocabulary, style and theological content that are unlike the rest of Mark. His Gospel probably ended at 16:8, or its original ending has been lost. (From the NIV Bible Foot Notes, page 1528)"
"Although the author does not name himself, evidence outside the Scriptures and inferences from the book itself lead to the conclusion that the author was Luke. (From the NIV Bible Commentary, page 1643)"
"The writer of this letter does not identify himself, but he was obviously well known to the original recipients. (From the NIV Bible Commentary, page 1856)"
"The letter is difficult to date with precision....(From the NIV Bible Commentary, page 1905)"
"It seems safe to conclude that the book, at least in its early form, dates from the beginning of the monarchy. Some think that Samuel may have had a hand in shaping or compiling the materials of the book, but in fact we are unsure who the final author or editor was. (From the NIV Bible Commentary, page 286)"
"Although, according to tradition, Samuel wrote the book, authorship is actually uncertain. (From the NIV Bible Commentary, page 322)"
"The date of the composition is also unknown, but it was undoubtedly during the monarchy. (From the NIV Bible Commentary, page 322)"
"The author is unknown. Jewish tradition points to Samuel, but it is unlikely that he is the author because the mention of David (4:17,22) implies a later date. (From the NIV Bible Commentary, page 360)"
"Who the author was cannot be known with certainty since the book itself gives no indication of his identity. (From the NIV Bible Commentary, page 368)"
"There is little conclusive evidence as to the identity of the author of 1,2 Kings. (From the NIV Bible Commentary, page 459)"
"Whoever the author was, it is clear that he was familiar with the book of Deuteronomy. (From the NIV Bible Commentary, page 459)"
"According to ancient Jewish tradition, Ezra wrote Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah (see Introduction to Ezra: Literary Form and Authorship), but this cannot be established with certainty. (From the NIV Bible Commentary, page 569)"
"Although we do not know who wrote the book of Esther, from internal evidence it is possible to make some inferences about the author and the date of composition. (From the NIV Bible Commentary, page 707)"
"The unknown author probably had access to oral and/or written sources....(From the NIV Bible commentary, page 722)"
"Regarding authorship, opinions are even more divided....(From the NIV Bible Commentary, page 773)"
etc...
How do you respond to this?
To the reader, please visit: Contradictions and
proofs of Historical Corruptions in the Bible,
and see exactly what I mean, instead of acting like a total fool and saying things that
even the Bible refutes in it!
It is quite obvious that Christians today believe in third party authors' words as the words of GOD. This is a very serious corruption in the Bible that must be taken into deep consideration by the Bible's followers. Please visit "Is the Bible the true word of GOD?" to see a full and complete paper about the logical corruptions in the Bible, along with many Christian famous priests and ministers opinions that agree with the Bible's corruption. I have their personal quotes in that site.
Also, as to the parts of the Bible that Muslims believe are closest to the Truth, please
visit: www.answering-christianity.com/warning.htm
After that, please visit: Prophet Muhammad was foretold in many places in the Bible in both the Old and New Testaments.
It is quite obvious that Christians today believe in third party authors' words as the
words of GOD. This is a very serious corruption in the Bible that must be taken into
deep consideration by the Bible's followers. Please visit
"Is the Bible the true word of GOD?" to see a full and complete paper about the
logical corruptions in the Bible, along with many Christian famous priests and ministers
opinions that agree with the Bible's corruption. I have their personal quotes in
that site.
From http://www.answering-christianity.com/contra.htm:
7- The Bible's "original manuscripts had been lost" according to the Christian scholars and theologians:
Some Christians decided to respond to many of the Bible's contradictions. They named their site "101 Clear Contradictions in the Bible." Ironically, their own quotes below refute them! For example, you can do a search on this text in their site: "Confirmation of this type of copyist error is found in various pagan writers as well." Even those Christian scholars admit with their own typed words by their own fingers that the Bible does indeed contain "copyist error(s)", and they lowered their Holy Scripture to the level of a pagan book through their comparison. My question is then, how can it be the word of GOD when it contains Satanic "copyist errors"???
Also in their link and in other links of other scholars we read the following quotes:
"Christians readily admit, however, that there have been 'scribal errors' in the copies of the Old and New Testament. It is beyond the capability of anyone to avoid any and every slip of the pen in copying page after page from any book, sacred or secular. Yet we may be sure that the original manuscript (better known as autograph) of each book of the Bible, being directly inspired by God, was free from all error. Those originals, however, because of the early date of their inception no longer exist."
"Because we are dealing with accounts which were written thousands of years ago, we would not expect to have the originals in our possession today, as they would have disintegrated long ago. We are therefore dependent on the copies taken from copies of those originals, which were in turn continually copied out over a period of centuries. Those who did the copying were prone to making two types of scribal errors. One concerned the spelling of proper names, and the other had to do with numbers."
"Most Christians will affirm that the Bible is our rule of faith and practice. It is a little self contradictory to stand in the pulpit and say the word of God is inspired, when in his heart the pastor knows he is not referring to any book here on this earth that people can hold in their hands and believe. He really should say what he believes - that the word of God WAS inspired at one time but we no longer have it, so the best we can do is hope we have a close approximation of what God probably meant to tell us." (http://www.geocities.com/brandplucked/transinsp.html)
"It also seems a bit inconsistent to say he believes the originals were inspired, when he has never seen them, they never were together in one single book and they no longer exist anyway. How does he know they were inspired? He accepts this by faith. Yet he seems to lack the faith to actually believe that God could do exactly what He said He would do with His words. God said He would preserve them and that heaven and earth would pass away but His words would not pass away." (http://www.geocities.com/brandplucked/transinsp.html)
Yet, this same person writes:
"How Old Was Ahaziah, 22 or 42?
This is an apparent contradiction that frequently is thrown in the face of Christians who believe we have an inspired Bible. Many Atheist, Islam and Bible dubunker sites bring up this example. Sad to say, most of the Christian apologetic sites which promote the new bible versions cave in here and say the number 42 is a copyist error.
Here is a typical response by those Christians who use and promote the modern versions. This one comes from Techtonics Apologetics. This defender of the faith answers: Was Ahaziah forty-two or twenty-two (per 2 Kings 8:26) when he ascended the throne? More likely 22, and 2 Chronicles has been hit by a copyist error. See our foundational essay on copyist errors for general background. In favor of the "22" reading in 2 Chronicles: The 2 Kings reading; some LXX and Syriac manuscripts.
This typical Christian response is not limited to this one example, but in many objections brought up by the infidels or the curious, this same rote answer is given. There is a copyist error. There is a typo in Gods book. The skeptics laugh and the modern version proponent looks like a fool.
2 Chronicles 22:2 tells us that Ahaziah was 42 years old when he began to reign. The Hebrew texts, plus Wycliffe 1395,Coverdale 1535, Bishop's Bible 1568, Geneva Bible 1599, the Revised Version, the American Standard Version, Douay 1950, the Spanish Reina Valera 1960, Italian Diodati 1602, NKJV, RSV, NRSV, the Jewish translations of 1917 and 1936, the 1998 Complete Jewish Bible, Hebrew Names Bible, Rotherham's Emphasized Bible, Webster's 1833 translation, the New English Bible 1970, the New Jerusalem, KJV 21st Century, and the Third Millenium Bible all say Ahaziah was 42 years old when he began to reign.
The inspired Hebrew text clearly says Ahaziah was 42 years old. The masoretic scribes were very scrupulous in copying their sacred trust. No word or number was written from memory but each word was carefully checked before he recopied it. The copies were checked and checked again and if there were a single error, the whole was discarded and and new one begun......" (http://www.geocities.com/brandplucked/22or42.html)
My Response:
How do you know that the above references (written by ordinary men)
that you used in proving that Ahaziah was 42 years old are correct when the original
manuscripts had been lost? What makes you be so sure that Ahaziah was indeed 42
years old and not 22 or any other age? You said the Christians make themselves look
like "fools" when they attempt to answer away the apparent and
irrefutable errors in the Bible. Didn't you too just make an utter fool out
of yourself too?
Face it and admit it! The Bible's overwhelming errors and corruptions are unanswerable! The Bible is corrupt no matter how you try to decorate it.
The authors of the sites in the quotes above admit that the entire Bible is NOT perfect,
and contains man's corruption or alteration in it. They also admit that the original
manuscripts that came from GOD Almighty are lost. I'd like to comment on their
points of the type of errors that exist in the Bible today:
1- There is no evidence that the errors are only limited to spelling of proper names and numbers. They're only assuming this and are using it as fact. And even if this was true, then as they openly admitted, this takes away the Bible's perfection. The reader must remember that the Christians' entire polytheist trinity paganism comes solely from conclusions and interpretations! There is not ONE SINGLE claim or hard evidence in the Bible about GOD Almighty being 3, or that Jesus is our Creator. Jesus who ran away from King Herod to Egypt, and who begged GOD Almighty for Mercy and prostrated his face down to the ground before Him on the night of crucifixion can not be the Creator of the Universe. The trinitarian pagans would happily try to convince you that trinity is right from their corrupted book, while at the same time, they openly admit that there are errors and man's alterations that exist in the Bible, and the original manuscripts had been lost. If the original manuscripts had been lost, then what makes you be so sure that trinity is the correct conclusion?
2- According to the Bible's theologians, no one even knows who wrote the copies that they're referring to. In other words, we don't even know if these people were anointed from GOD Almighty or not, because we don't have any evidence that the letters found that make up the Bible today were officially written by men.
Responses to all of the so-called "Contradictions" in the Noble Quran.
My Rebuttals, and exposing the lies of the Answering Islam team section.
Rebuttals to Sam Shamoun's Articles section.
My rebuttal to Sam Shamoun's "A Brief Rebuttal to Anti-Missionary Attacks on the Trinity" article.
What is the Role of the Holy Spirit in Islam? Why can't we call it GOD?
Errors and History of Contradictions and Corruption in the Bible.
Christians are Commanded to follow the Old Testament.
Allah, Islam, Quran, Muhammad questions and answers.
What is the place of Jews, Christians and non-Muslims in Islam?
"Allah" was GOD Almighty's Original Name in the Bible according to the Hebrew and Aramaic sources.