IS THE BIBLE THE ONLY TRUE, INSPIRED BOOK?
We know the Bible is inspired by God (for proof see https://www.christiantrainingonline.org/our-ministries/india/articles/). But has God also inspired other books? What about the books other religions use? Are they true as well? If so, we may be missing something by not studying them, or they may say something we like better than what the Bible says. How do we know the Bible is the only inspired book from God to man?
PROOF FROM REASON We know that our God is the only true God. Since that is true, then other religions’ gods cannot also be true. If their gods are false, so also are their books about them.
PROOF FROM THE BIBLE The Bible claims it is the only inspired book from God (Revelation 22:18-19). It clearly states there are no other inspired books. God only had one Son (John 3:16), who came to earth only once to die for mankind (Romans 6:10; 1 Peter 3:18). Only the Bible tells us that story and that Jesus is the only way of salvation (John 14:6), thereby teaching that none of the other books have the way of salvation. What good are they without that?
PROOF FROM COMPARISON WITH OTHER BOOKS When we compare the Bible with the holy books of other religions, we can see that they all can’t be true, for they contradict each other and say very different things about God, sin, man and his relationship to God. None of the other books are 100% true in everything they say about science, history, morality, etc., like we saw is true of the Bible. None of the other books brings about the kind of changed lives and healthy culture that the Bible encourages. Look at the histories and the current living conditions and standards of the people who follow the other books, and you’ll see how God has blessed those who have followed Him and His Word.
CHRISTIANITY has the Bible, which has a lot of evidence showing it is inspired by God.
JUDAISM honors the Hebrew Bible, but not the New Testament or anything about Jesus. Many Jews reject the inspiration of the Bible and only see it as a book of Jewish traditions.
ISLAM follows the Koran, which some put on an equal place with the Bible. The Koran is about 1,300 years old. Unlike the Bible, the Koran was created by one person, the prophet Mohammed. He recited it, and his scribes wrote it down. Both the Bible and the Koran claim to be divine revelations. Both books claim to have been accurately preserved through the centuries. The Koran was written about 550 years after the New Testament and affirms the Bible as the word of God, but says the Koran is more recent, therefore it must be superior. There are many factual and historical inaccuracies in the Koran. There is doubt Mecca even existed when Islam is claimed to have started. There is much factual evidence to question the character and motives of Mohammed himself. In his book, Mohammed speaks very disparagingly of women, saying they have half of the mental acumen of men, and that the inhabitants of Hell will be for the most part women because they are ungrateful to their husbands. The Koran allows for wife beating, so how could it ever have originated with God?
The Koran says Jesus is not God (5:17, 75), was not crucified (4:157), did not rise from the dead and was not the son of God (9:30). The Bible says salvation is by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9), but the Koran says it is by sincerity and works (3:135; 7:8-9; 21:47; 49:14; 66:8-9). There are no miracles and no fulfilled prophecies in the Koran. The Koran says Abraham sacrificed Ishmael and that Alexander the Great was a Muslim who worshipped Allah. However, Alexander lived hundreds of years before Muhammad started Islam. With all these differences, it is not possible for both books to be true: only one can be true. The truth of the Bible has been proven many times over.
Mohammed himself has said, “I have fabricated things against Allah and have imputed to him words which he has not spoken.” (Al Tabari, The History of Al-Tabari, vol. 6, p.111). He also admitted to having mistaken the words of “Satan” for those of Allah (Ibn Ishaq, Sirat Rasul Allah, pp.165-166). How can anything else he has said be trusted?
HINDUISM looks to the Vedas, Upanishads, Brahmanas and other special writings as their authority. They speak of a god who is impersonal and undefinable. They say the world was born in a golden egg which lived one year then divided into two parts, which became heaven and earth. They say sin is ignorance, not something done against deity. The Bible says man dies once (Hebrews 9:27), but Hindu scriptures say man goes through successive cycles of deaths and rebirths called reincarnations. These teachings are totally contrary to the Bible, so both cannot be true. The god they describe is much different than the God the Bible describes. These books cannot be God’s inspired books to us.
BUDDHISM has no one scripture. They have collections of stories and legends about Buddha, some of which were added by Buddha’s followers after his death. They do not claim to be inspired and faultless, and they contradict much of what the Bible says.
CONFUCIAN writings say nothing about worshipping a god, confessing sin, or seeking forgiveness. They encourage the readers to be hard working, modest, sober and thoughtful. They were not given by God to man.
MORMONISM has a book, the Book of Mormon, which they claim is equal or even superior to the Bible. Since the original writing of the book, there have been thousands of changes and alterations to eliminate very poor grammar and clear contradictions. A lot of it has been copied word by word from the King James Bible. Despite all the changes, there are still many errors and false prophecies. It denies the deity of Jesus by making him a man like us who worked His way to becoming a god. It also teaches that everyone can earn a degree of deity as Jesus did. Objective scholars all agree the Book of Mormon is not a book that shows any signs of being written or preserved by God.
For all these reasons we can be assured that the Bible is God’s Word, his only Word to mankind. Since that is true, it is important for us to appreciate this divine revelation. We must study and learn its truths and be able to correct those who live and believe in error.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God a may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
What, to you, is the strongest proof that the Bible is the only inspired book by God?
Think about what an awesome privilege it is to have a copy of God’s very own inspired words in your possession. Thank God for making His Word available to you.
Take some time to read it now.
cto Rev. Dr. JERRY SCHMOYER
Christian Training Organization
Jerry@ChristianTrainingOrganization.org
(India Outreach, Spiritual Warfare, Family Ministries, Counseling, World View)
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