III.

How the Bible was preserved by God and men

A. The Bible has been preserved without corruption.

This can be demonstrated by examining how the Jews preserved the Old Testament and by examining how Christians have preserved the Old and New Testaments of the Bible. This objective examination confirms the words of Scripture where God says:

"The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever." (Isaiah 40:8 (NIV))

When this issue is examined the following things can be seen:

  1. The Old Testament of the Bible has always been the Scripture of the Jews,
     
  2. the Old and New Testaments of the Bible have always been the Scriptures of the Christians, and
     
  3. these books have not been tampered with or corrupted but are the authentic revelations God gave to the Jews and Christians.

The focus of the evidence given will be on the historical time period preceding Muhammad. This is because this is the only possible time corruption of these documents could have occurred to the degree that many Muslims assert.