IX.

Final Conclusions

In view of the preceding evidence, before the time of Muhammad, corruption of the Biblical texts would have been impossible for ten reasons:

1. Since before the time of Jesus, the Jews have regarded the books of the Old Testament as the Word of God. Since the days of the Apostles, the Christians have regarded the books of the Old and New Testaments as the Word of God. There is no evidence that any other books were regarded by them as their Scriptures.
    
2. Christians and Jews were spread throughout the world with their texts. They had no opportunity to gather all the texts and change them or to authorize one text and destroy all the others.
    
3. There were too many copies of the Biblical texts in circulation to change.
    
4. The texts were in too many different languages for a change to be made.
    
5. Christians and Jews were hostile to each other. No agreement could have been achieved as to changes to be made.
    
6. Differing sects within Christianity and Judaism would have disagreed with mainline groups. A uniform set of alterations could not have been made among the Jews or among the Christians.
    
7. The Jews have never accused Christians of changing the Old Testament text. And in Christianity's first six centuries of existence, no one accused the orthodox Christians of corrupting their texts.
    
8. There is no satisfactory reason to explain why the Jews or Christians, who both deeply valued preserving written Scriptures, would want to change their texts to the degree it would take to agree with Muslim assertions. There was no sufficient motive for them to attempt to change
    
9. Jesus himself held the Old Testament to be without error. He also promised his disciples that he would give them revelation through the Holy Spirit. There is an unbroken chain of reliable testimony from the closest disciples of Jesus to Christians today that the Bible we possess is the authentic Word of God.
    
10. The contents of the Old and New Testaments testify to the trustworthiness of the Bible in that they show remarkable agreement about Jesus. The Old Testament records vivid and precise predictions of the Messiah's life and ministry, and the New Testament records their fulfillment in Jesus.

No other Scripture can live up to this standard of preservation. The burden is on critics of the Bible to present objective evidence that shows corruption. If someone wishes to accuse Christians of corrupting the Scriptures then let them bring forward the originals that we may see the differences. This booklet is an attempt to objectively examine the evidence that the Bible has been preserved throughout its long history. This author invites the reader to present any evidence that he or she feels has not been explored or has not been objectively examined. 

Also, this has been written from the conviction we must all search for truth and ask hard questions of our holy books. Our eternal destinies depend on answers to these questions. If they are not asked and answered, one's eternal destiny is in peril from ignorance or prejudice. May God bless you, the reader as you examine the rival claims of Scriptures. God does want to lead us into His truth.