How to defend a christian bible vs other religions bibles

The Jewish Bible, the Tanakh, is the Christian OT. There is no defense here. You would need to defend the veracity of the NT to the Jew. I think that the simplest approach would be to related what you were like before and after salvation. They are not going to accept any intellectual argument here.

There is an intellectual approach to the qu'ran. This was compiled 600 years after Yeshua walked the earth. The Bible states that the canon of scripture is closed. The Bible was given its final form during councils held in the fourth century. There are many instances where the qu'ran and the Bible disagree. Only one can be correct. There are many doctrinal differences.

JayR

Hi Mary,

Just tell them what thus says the Lord and leave the rest up to God.

II Timothy 2:23-26 But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes. And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto men, apt to teach, patient, In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to acknowledging of the truth; And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.

Titus 3:9 But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain.

Be Blessed.

Anon-

Here are some verses from the Bible that speak to your question

Gal 1:6-9  I am shocked that you have so quickly turned from God, who chose you because of his wonderful kindness. You have believed another message,  when there is really only one true message. But some people are causing you trouble and want to make you turn away from the good news about Christ.
I pray that God will punish anyone who preaches anything different from our message to you! It doesn't matter if that person is one of us or an angel from heaven.  I have said it before, and I will say it again. I hope God will punish anyone who preaches anything different from what you have already believed.

Paul, who wrote most of the NT says that the message of Jesus should not be altered, or subtracted from, or added to.

Mat 5:17  "Do not think that I came to abolish the Law (Torah) or the Prophets{6. Joshua [יהושע / Y'hoshua]7. Judges [שופטים / Shophtim]8. Samuel (I & II) [שמואל / Sh'muel]9. Kings (I & II) [מלכים / M'lakhim]10. Isaiah [ישעיה / Y'shayahu]11. Jeremiah [ירמיה / Yir'mi'yahu]12. Ezekiel [יחזקאל / Y'khezqel]13. The Twelve Prophets [תרי עשר] a. Hosea [הושע / Hoshea]b. Joel [יואל / Yo'el]c. Amos [עמוס / Amos]d. Obadiah [עובדיה / Ovadyah]e. Jonah [יונה / Yonah]f. Micah [מיכה / Mikhah]g. Nahum [נחום / Nakhum]h. Habakkuk [חבקוק /Havakuk]i. Zephaniah [צפניה / Ts'phanyah]j. Haggai [חגי / Khagai]k. Zechariah [זכריה / Z'kharyah]l. Malachi [מלאכי / Mal'akhi]}

; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.

Jesus Himself acknowledges the OT's truth and it is implied that there is nothing to be added to it.

Rev 22:18  Here is my warning for everyone who hears the prophecies in this book: If you add anything to them, God will make you suffer all the terrible troubles written in this book.

John the Apostle makes a claim for one of the books that he authored.

GOD works thru people.

The major councils (involved in the canonization) were:

1. 
   1. The Council of Laodicea (A.D. 363) - this particular council accepted all of the books of the New Testament except the Book of Revelation.
2. 
   The Council of Carthage (A.D. 397) - this council of chaired by the preeminent early church father and theologian, Augustine. The Council of Carthage accepted all 27 New Testament books.
3. 
   The Council of Hippo (419 A.D.) - this council reaffirmed the Council of Carthage..

That is about the best that I can do in answering your question.

JayR

Where does the Bible itself state that the canon is closed? I don't recall that...but then I could be wrong. I agree that the canon is closed, but I wasn't aware that the Bible stated this.

To the OP-well the first answer is by faith we know the Word of God. But for someone who is trying to find their faith, they are going to need more.

A Jew and a Christian are likely to agree on the authority of the Old Testament since they are mostly identical. So when speaking to a Jew about the authority of the NT, you must make the case for Jesus indeed being the Messiah. If someone of the Jewish faith does not awknowledge this, then they are not really going to accept the NT.

I don't know anything about the Koran. It is my understanding that it was written by one man. That right there could make it suspect as being an authoritive word of God. (I may be wrong on this point, so forgive me).

The Bible on the other hand, was written by a variety of authors over centuries. Given that each book is written for its own purpose for a specific audience (not always the same) and in a specific style...and considering the overall coherency of the Bible and the historical accuracy, there is a strong case for divine inspiration.

Mary asks:

"What makes you think the Christian bible is right and others aren't?"

1.  History.  The Q'ran is the work of Mohammed, a prophet who lived some 600 years after Christ.  The very few predictions in the Q'ran did not come true, their doctrine is warlike, and they have failed to meet the tests of true prophecy.

2.  The Vedas (the Hindu bible) also fail to meet the tests of historocity, their doctrine is inconsistent, they the worship the creation rather than the Creator, and their doctrine of reincarnation makes no logical sense nor does it meet the tests of science.

3.  22,000 other religions have failed in every regard.  Most were cults that lasted only as long as the false prophet lived.  None call for mercy, good stewardship of one's life, and most are so aggressive that they believe the slightest deviation from their utterly strict doctrine is good for a one-way ticket to hell.  Shinto, for example, is exclusively a Japanese religion that calls for the people to be utterly militant, to die for their emperor, and to act out atrocities against persons other than Japanese.  Its racist (and sexist) doctrine make it clear that God did not sanction Shinto.

The reason you have a functional spirit is to guide you, through your priceless insight, to the truth.  Even if you are indoctrinated into a cult, God will recognize it and account for that in evaluating your character.

Actually it is not competiting content of Bible in each religion. It is competiting between the literal and unliteral people. Because not all people are same perception, some other people in other religion said Jesus Christ is human while Christian Church Jesus Christ is a son Persona of God. Actually each religion had different tradition for example Judaism had Passover while Christian Church has "Holy Week" and Islam had Ramadan. The similarities of Bible in each religion are Pentateuch except Hinduism, Buddhism and other religion doesn't have Pentateuch. In Judaism doesn't have Revelation while Christian and Moslem does have.

Mary, remind thim of this when they ask you   "What makes you think the Christian bible is right and others aren't? "

This is what you tell them

the only true God—had a Son named Jesus Christ to whom all the power of the Father was delivered (Matt 28:18), and whom died and resurrected so that His faithful children whom believed upon Him could be forgiven and thus attain eternal life.

The God of Christianity is not the same God as the god of Islam or Judaism; as the Christian's God—the only true God—had a Son named Jesus Christ to whom all the power of the Father was delivered (Matt 28:18), and whom died and resurrected so that His faithful children whom believed upon Him could be forgiven and thus attain eternal life. 

Neither the Jews nor the Muslims acknowledge this great and necessary truth and thus are not to attain eternal life with God, no matter how "pious" they pretend or seem to be.

    Being "nice" doesn't get you into Heaven; believing upon Jesus Christ is now, since he was once offered, the only door to Heaven.  "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me . KJV " (John 14:6).  Period.  And to tell a Jew or a Muslim that they are not going to Heaven is not "Hate Speech," it is the greatest of love; for, who knows if they will fear and investigate and perchance come to the faith in Jesus Christ that saves?

    But on the other hand, allowing them to believe that there "are many paths" to God—and allowing them to believe that belief upon Jesus Christ is irrelevant to salvation—is to enable their final utter destruction before God, the Lamb, and all the holy angels of Heaven.  And it makes one guilty in part for that destroyed soul.

    That is a hard truth that the greatest majority of today's lukewarm, saltless, Christ-betraying preachers dare not utter for Political Correctness' sake, get-along-with-everybody-itus , and to present a false illusion of piety, charity, and godliness.  "Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. " (2 Tim 3:5). 

NO OTHER BOOK LIKE THE BIBLE 3 If the Bible really is from God, we should expect it to be the most outstanding book ever written. Is it? Yes, and for many reasons. First, it is very old; you would not expect God’s Word to all mankind to have been written a short time ago, would you? The writing of it began some 3,500 years ago in the Hebrew language. Then, over 2,200 years ago, it began to be translated into other languages. Today almost everybody on earth can read the Bible in his own language. 4 Also, no other book comes close to the Bible in the number of copies that have been made. A book may be called a “best-seller” when only thousands of copies are produced. Yet every year many millions of Bibles are printed. And over the centuries thousands of millions have been made! There is hardly a place on earth, regardless of how isolated it may be, where you cannot find a Bible. Is this not what you would expect of a book that really is from God? 5 What makes this great distribution of the Bible even more outstanding is the fact that enemies have tried to destroy it. But should we not expect that a book from God would come under attack by agents of the Devil? This has happened. Bible burnings once were common, and those who were caught reading the Bible were often punished with death. 6 You would expect a book from God to discuss important matters that all of us should want to know. ‘Where did life come from?’ ‘Why are we here?’ ‘What will the future bring?’ are some of the questions it answers. And it plainly says that the information it contains is from Jehovah God. One Bible writer said: “The spirit of Jehovah it was that spoke by me, and his word was upon my tongue.” (2 Samuel 23:2) Another wrote: “All Scripture is inspired of God.” (2 Timothy 3:16) Since the Bible so definitely states that it is the Word of God, would it not be wise to examine it to see if it is?