Introduction

Thousands of years ago, God commanded the Jews through Moses, Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the Lord your God that I give you (Deuteronomy 4:2). This commandment is repeated in the same book, See that you do all I command you; do not add to it or take away from it (Deuteronomy 12:32).

Several centuries later Solomon testified, Every word of God is flawless; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. Do not add to his words, or he will rebuke you and prove you a liar (Proverbs 30:5,6).

At the end of the Bible we find this stern warning, I warn everyone who hear the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book (Revelation 22:18,19).

After such stern warnings, would any believer in God, His books and His apostles dare to distort God's word, and thereby lose his part in all spiritual blessings which God has prepared for His devoted ones, and the promises of salvation and eternal life which God promised to mankind? As for unbelievers, it is not in their power to distort the divine books since they would not be able to obtain the thousands of manuscripts scattered all over the world, in order to forge them.

It is unfortunate that in the last days people should stand up and accuse the innocent apostles of Christ of distorting the gospel which was entrusted to them, thus contradicting not only the Holy Scriptures but also the Muslim Qur'an which testifies to the apostles, known for their integrity and honesty, and calls them helpers of God (Sura Al Imran 3:52).

There are many proofs of the authenticity of the Bible and its freedom from distortion, corruption and perversion. These we will explain in the following passages.

The Origin And Development Of The Bible

God has carefully watched over the unfolding of His Book with all wisdom and sagacity. Those who examine the Old Testament can see that the divine Scriptures themselves reveal that it took shape in three periods on history.

First period: Adam to Moses

The Sacred Scriptures, inspired by God, inform us that God gave a command to Adam, and that He brought animals and birds to him to see what he would call them (Genesis 2:15-19). But this passage does not say how God spoke to man in the beginning. Therefore most of us resort to conjecture and imagination when passing judgement on sacred history, forgetting that millions of years separate us from the events recorded in the first passages of the book of Genesis.

We are not sure when God began his revelations to mankind, but the contents of the Bible help us to come to a conclusion. Enoch, mentioned in the fifth chapter of Genesis, was, according to Jude the apostle, a prophet in the seventh generation after Adam. The Bible says that Enoch walked with God. There in so doubt that this prophet and some information about the past and, according to the genealogy of the Bible, he knew Adam and spoke with him. Methuselah, Enoch's son survived till the time of Noah, and was righteous in his generation and walked with God.

Unquestionably Noah, who preached righteousness and truth, passed on the sacred news to the generations after the flood (2 Peter 2:5).

Shem, Noah's son, lived till the time of Abraham (Genesis 10:21 and 11:10,26). The Bible tells us that accounts of the sacred news were communicated to Abraham. In Galatians 3:8 we read the following, The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: 'All nations will be blesses through you.' This verse assures us that Abraham had clear information about previous events and that he in his turn passed on what he knew to his sons. In Genesis 18:19 we read, I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just, so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him. It is evident from this text, that continuity of communication between Abraham and Moses was not hard to achieve.

Second period: The generations of Moses

Beginning with the book of Exodus, a chronicle of events was recorded in detail in the holy Books in agreement with God's command to Moses to do so. Therefore we read, The Lord said to Moses, 'Write this on a scroll as something to be remembered and make sure that Joshua hears it' (Exodus 17:14).

In fact we know that He (Moses) took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people (Exodus 24:7), and that at the Lord's command Moses recorded the stages in their journey (Numbers 33:1). We also read that, After Moses finished writing in a book the words of this law from beginning to end, he gave the command to the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord: 'Take this Book of the Law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God. There it will remain as a witness against you' (Deuteronomy 31:24-26).

Third period: Joshua to Malachi

God said to Joshua, Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it (Joshua 1:8). And Joshua recorded these words in the Book of the Law of God (Joshua 24:26).

Samuel explained to the people the regulations of the kingship. He wrote them down on a scroll and deposited it before the Lord (1 Samuel 10:25).

Towards the end of the era of kings, during the reign of Josiah the king, the reading of the Holy Scriptures by Shaphan the scribe at the command of Hilkiah the High Priest caused a revival (2 Kings 22:8-13).

Isaiah the prophet, called upon his people to go back to the Word of God and recite it, affirming its infallibility. He said, Look in the scroll of the Lord and read: None of these will be missing, not one will lack her mate. For it is his mouth that has given the order, and his Spirit will gather them together (Isaiah 34:16).

The prophet Jeremiah was commanded by God to place his prophecies on record, saying, Take a scroll and write on it all the words I have spoken to you concerning Israel, Judah and all the other nations (Jeremiah 36:2).

The prophet Daniel testified to the Holy Scriptures in his prophetic book, when he said, I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the Lord given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years (Daniel 9:2).

In the reign of Artaxerxes, the king of Persia, both Ezra and Nehemiah devoted themselves to the law of Moses that the Lord God gave to him. The Bible says, For Ezra had devoted himself to the study and observance of the Law of the Lord (Ezra 7:10). In the book of Nehemiah we read, All the people assembled as one man in the square before the Water Gate. So... Ezra brought the Law before the assembly, which was made up of men and women and all who were able to understand. He read from it from daybreak till noon as he faced the square before the Water Gate (Nehemiah 8:1-3).

And the word of the Lord came again to Zechariah: 'This is what the Lord Almighty says, 'Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another...' But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and stopped up their ears. They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the Lord Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets' (Zechariah 7:8-12).

Malachi spoke of the Bible, which he called a scroll of remembrance, in the following words: Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honoured his name (Malachi 3:16).

The foregoing make it obvious to us that the Lord God watched carefully over the development of His Holy Book throughout the generations, inspiring His holy men to write down their prophecies and teachings for the good of mankind. And such a living God, after inspiring His laws, would see to it that these laws are preserved in accordance with His will and promises.

Read more here: www.the-good-way.com (External Link)