Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Again, let youth know that they are appreciated and that I enjoyed being with them last week/tonight

If someone were to come up to you and ask you what the Bible is, what would you say?

If someone were to ask you why you believe what the Bible says, what would you say?

The Bible is the most popular and studied book in human history and for many of us, we don’t know it as well as we should.

Tonight we’re going to look at several questions that people have about the Bible and several questions that you all asked last week about the Bible!

If we have time afterward, we’ll have some more time for questions.

Islam vs Christianity

Islam was not a thing until the early 600s AD and was founded by a man in present day Saudi Arabia named Muhammad.

He claimed to have received visions from the angel Gabriel and claimed to be the one true prophet of Allah.

He conquered Saudi Arabia and his followers would conquer much of Africa/Middle East/Southeastern Europe.

The main book in Islam is the Quran.

Quran - Contains historical and prophetic errors within it.

The Quran states that during Moses’ leadership a Samaritan led the people into error.

Moses was in leadership around 1400 BC and Samaria was founded in 870 BC.

The Samaritans didn’t exist until after the nation of Israel split in 722 BC.

We’re talking about a gap of over 500+ years, yet the Quran says that these people were around at the same time.

This is simply not historically accurate and there are dozens of other historical inaccuracies associated with the book, not to mention theological inaccuracies.

Some say that Muslims and Christians worship the same God - while they both claim to worship the God of Abraham, they trace things very differently.

Who was Abraham’s son with Sarah?

Isaac.

In the Bible this is the son of the promise and eventually Jesus will come from Isaac’s offspring.

The Muslims trace things through Ishmael - Abraham’s son with his wife’s slave, Hagar.

Because of this, there are some similarities in the stories in the Quran and in the Bible, but there are some significant differences as well!

The Quran tells Muslims to kill the infidel (non-Muslim) if the infidel doesn’t convert to Islam - Jesus tells us in the Bible to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us

Muslims believe that Abraham was not the father of the Jews but a Muslim.

There are 3 different types of Muslims out there

Sunni

85% of Muslims

Relatively peaceful and mainstream Muslims

Much of Africa/Middle East

Shia

10-14%

Smaller amount but more radical

Very common in Iraq and Iran

Sufi

1-3%

More mystical than other 2 - more interested in personal knowledge than following Quran

Muslims are familiar with the Bible and often respect it but the Quran and Bible are not compatible with one another as they teach different things.

The Quran praises parts of the Bible (first 5 books and parts of the Gospels) but says the other parts are corrupted and false.

The Bible says that all Scripture is God-breathed and profitable.

Differences between Quran and Bible

Quran never says that God is love - Bible does repeatedly - 1 John 4:8 says that God IS love

Quran says that God cannot be approached - Bible says that God draws His people into a relationship like a father and son

Quran says that God does not seek to redeem sinners - the Bible says that God seeks to redeem sinners and sent His Son to do this - Romans 5:8 shares this truth

Quran says that God is only merciful to Muslims - the Bible says that God is merciful to all as Titus 3:5 says

Quran says that Jesus is not the Son of God - the Bible clearly says that He is

The Quran says that Jesus is not the Savior - the Bible says that Jesus is the only savior

The Quran oppresses women and tells men they can beat their wives - the Bible says that a husband must love his wife as Christ loved the church

The Quran teaches that men have greater rights than women - the Bible says that we are equally created in God’s image and that we are equal in Christ

Bible Translation

Why are there so many translations of the Bible?

Which one is right?

Which one is wrong?

KJV - good translation

ESV - good translation

CSB - good translation

Whenever a translation is made, people base what they translate off of the original text of Scripture: Hebrew or Greek.

The KJV was translated 500 years ago and that’s why you have some language that isn’t used any more in our culture.

No one goes around talking in thee or thou language - we say he or they instead.

Before the KJV there were the original languages and there was Scripture in a language called Latin - used in the Roman Catholic Church.

No one could understand these languages, though, and no one could read the Bible for their own.

As a result, people like Willian Tyndale, John Knox, Martin Luther, and countless others broke off from the Roman Catholic Church in hopes that people would be able to possess and read Scripture in their native language and be able to worship God individually rather than simply taking someone else's word for things.

The earliest English translators used the best Greek and Hebrew manuscripts available to them: Erasmus in 1515 did this and he had a 12th century Greek manuscript for the New Testament.

This means that the KJV is based on Greek manuscripts written 1000 years after Jesus’ death.

Now, these manuscripts are very reliable because they are copies of other copies!

But, still, a lot of time has transpired between Jesus’ life and these manuscripts.

In the years since the KJV was translated, Christian historians and scientists have found thousands of additional Greek and Hebrew manuscripts that are much closer to Jesus’ day - in fact, we have some manuscripts dating to 30-40 years after Jesus’ life!

These types of manuscripts are valued more in the academic community because of their closeness to Jesus’ life.

Newer translations, such as the New American Standard Bible and the Christian Standard Bible, are able to use the information found in these older manuscripts and that’s why you have some differences from one translation to another.

2 reasons for different translations:

English language changes - translation matches language

Balancing literal vs dynamic method

[Insert translation chart here]

You have very literal, word by word translations on this side and more functional or thought by thought translations on this side

Many of these are good translations.

Whenever you’re doing your quiet time, a translation like the ESV, CSB, or NASB is going to be helpful as it’s going to give you the literal meaning.

A translation like the NIV or NLT or Message is going to be a little more thought for thought and it’s going to give you the overall idea in a different way.

Here’s a Bible study tip: If you read something in the CSB (what I preach out of and use to study) and you can’t quite get the meaning, try the NIV or NLT to see if it helps.

The literal one, in my mind, is better for Bible study because of its accuracy, but the other ones are helpful!

Are there Errors in Bible?

If we were able to read the Bible without a preconceived idea one way or the other, we’d find the Bible to be a relatively easy to understand book that tells us a story from cover to cover of how God loves and redeems His creation.

This doesn’t mean that there aren’t difficult passages and stories!

The Bible was written by 40 authors over 1500 years, of course there’s a lot of differences just among those people and their contexts.

Take this for example: Paul says in Ephesians 2 that

James says something different, though

James says that we have to have faith and works - Paul says that it’s just faith and not works.

Some say that this is an error and a contradiction because these 2 verses oppose one another.

We have to study what they mean a little bit!

Paul is talking about what it means to be saved - we are saved by God’s grace, not through our works

James is talking about the impact of salvation on our lives - we are saved to work, not saved to sit

If you are saved, you will work because you are a new creation!

This isn’t a contradiction, it’s a different perspective about a different thing.

Whenever someone tells you that there is an error or you think that there is an error do these things:

Pray and study Scripture to see if there’s a simple solution like the one above

Consult a commentary and do some research, Google is awesome but some of the stuff on there isn’t the most accurate

Ask teachers at church!

Ask your pastor!

If you still can’t understand the difference after these 3 things, understand that God is God and we are not and that the solution might not be realized today, but it will be realized one day either through study or whenever you meet God in heaven

When were the Bible books written?

The Old Testament was written from 1400 BC - 400 BC and the New Testament was written from around 40-90 AD.

We read in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 that “all Scripture is inspired by God.”