138. Has the Bible been corrupted?

The Bible has been authenticated as to its accuracy in the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1948 by a Bedouin shepherd boy who found the text of Isaiah buried in jars in a cave in Qumran. These scrolls dated back to 100 – 300 BC. They contained the whole of the book of Isaiah. This book contains the majority of the prophecies of Isaiah concerning the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus. This allegation of corruption of the Biblical text is hard to take seriously. When we study the disciplines of the Hebrew scribes and their intricate code of jots and tittles to make every letter of the alphabet unique so it cannot be placed in the wrong place, we can understand the absolute accuracy of the process. The Old Testament contains 333 prophecies about the life of Christ and all these came to pass. This gives the Bible a unique thread of prophecy throughout the many books that was not broken. in the last 100 years history and archeology have uniquely testified loudly about the characters, events, stories, messages and truth and accuracy of the Bible. The ‘corruption’ claim is widely refuted by modern Biblical scholarship.

Some Muslims believe that the Holy Bible was the Word of God but it has been corrupted and Surah 4 Al Nisa’ ayat 46 and 47 states: ‘Of the Jews there are those who displaced words from their right places and say: ‘We hear and we disobey’. And ‘Hear may you not hear’. And,‘Ra’ina’, with a twist of their tongues and a slander to Faith. If only they said: ‘We hear and we obey.’ And ‘Do hear’ and ‘Look at us’: It would have been better for them, and more proper; But Allâh hath cursed them: for their Unbelief: and but few of them will believe. O People of the Book! Believe in what we have now revealed, confirming what was already with you, before we change the face and fame of some of you beyond all recognition, and turn them hindwards, or curse them as we cursed the Sabbath-breakers for the decision of Allâh must be carried out.’ The Bible verse used to justify this allegation is found in Jeremiah chapter 8 verses 8-10: ‘How can you say we are wise because we have the word of the Lord’ when your teachers have twisted it by writing lies? These wise teachers will fall into the trap of foolishness, for they have rejected the word of the Lord. Are they so wise after all? I will give their wives to others and their farms to strangers from the least to the greatest, their lives are ruled by greed. Yes, even my prophets and priests are like that, they are all frauds.’

This verse from Jeremiah is actually quoted out of context. The people God is complaining about who have changed the scriptures were grave robbers and moon and sun worshipper. They had been trying to change the book of Jeremiah to endorse their evil worship practices. God caught them out and openly exposed their wicked plans – read Jeremiah 8 verses 1-6.