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What makes the Bible different than other religious books?
Its timeless assurances
- Ability to predict future events in time.
- Specific prophecies about the nation of Israel (destruction of Jerusalem, rebuilding of Jerusalem, Daniel’s timing of the Messiah)
- Specific prophetic statements about Jesus Christ’s birth and death
Its unity
- Continuity and commitment to a single humbling story over generations.
- 40 authors over 1600 years in several different countries in four or five different languages
- Comparatively speaking
| Quran
(Islam) |
1 | 610-632 AD
(23 years) |
It is a set of rules supposedly from Gabriel to Mohammed in a defense of Islam and the moon god Allah. It is the work of one man and consists mostly of Bible verses pulled out of context and retold. Full of contradictions. |
| Tripitaka
(Buddhism) |
1 | 528-483 BC
(45 years) |
Tripitaka handed down in oral tradition after Buddha died. A collection of his sayings. It is a set of rules that elevates man and says the truth is inside him. (Time of Esther Buddha is teaching in India under which King Ahasuerus had dominion. Esther 1:1) |
| Bhagavad Gita
(Hinduism) |
1 (unknown) | 4th Century BC | The Gita is an account of Krishna and Arjuna having a conversation before a great battle and Krishna showing Arjuna that he is God and giving Arjuna some rules to live by. It elevates man to godly status. |
- By fishermen, political officials, kings, prophets,
- The Bible is a library.
- The authors wrote under the threat of death many times
Its righteous requirements
- There is a requirement to participate with the words
- Required to love honesty and truth
- Required to approach the scriptures humbly
- Required to practice goodness
Its identification of God through a people He created that hate him
- Jesus from the line of Judah, particularly Davidic line.
- Exodus the nation begins to be a people through which God is revealing Himself.
- Is it necessary for God to speak to man?
- Would God reveal himself to man?
Its universal correlations to the physical world through spiritual principles
- The parables like the seed and the sower.
- Living in sin is like being diseased.
- Cleaning work of the word of God is like running water.
