Other Religious Writings – Are They From God Too?
Bodie
Hodge, M.Sc., B.Sc., PEI
Biblical Authority Ministries June 2, 2025 (Donate)
What about the Hadith, Josephus, Koran (Qur’an), Book of Mormon, Vedas and Upanishads, Apocrypha, Studies in the Scriptures, Book of Enoch, Protoevangelium of James…and the list continues? My answer sometimes seems too simple to grasp: No, they disagree with the Bible.
Let me explain this “presuppositional” concept. Being “presuppositional” means that we take on faith that God exists and that His Word, the Bible, is the truth. This is our foundation, starting point or “presupposition”. We use the Bible, like a set of glasses, to look at all other worldviews and test them.
When we look at the Bible, God never tried to prove His existence or prove that His Word is superior. God simply opens with a statement of His existence and that His Word is flawless (Genesis 1:1, Proverbs 30:5). The Bible also says that Christ has all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, so God’s Word should be our starting point for all knowledge and wisdom (Colossians 2:2-3). As a point of note, God can only reveal Himself as the final authority that He is. He is that source authority for all knowledge, truth, wisdom and revelation.
In fact, if God would have tried to prove He existed or that His Word was flawless, then that created evidence, tool of logic or other means to try to prove such a thing would be greater than God and His Word. But God knows that nothing is greater than He and His Word and so logically, God is also presuppositional—that is that God takes Himself as the ultimate standard and stating point.
In
a like manner God expects us to take on faith that He exists. Hebrew 11:6 says:
But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.[1]
The next several verses mention “by faith Noah”, “by faith Abraham”, “by faith Sarah”, “by faith Isaac”, “by faith Jacob”, “by faith Joseph”, “by faith Moses” and so on. So faith is an important aspect. By faith, these people trusted God’s existence and what He said to them (His Word to them).
We shouldn’t neglect their example. By faith we trust God exists and that His Word is the truth just as these great people of faith. This faith, though, is not a blind faith as some suppose but a logical, defendable faith. True science confirms the Bible; the Bible’s history is accurate, and so on.
In taking the Bible as the Word of God on faith, books that disagree with the Bible are not the Word of God nor even close to equal with its status. This doesn’t mean these other books are useless as they can have other value, such as historical uses (e.g., Josephus), but they are not infallible and inerrant as God’s Word, the 66 books of the Bible, is.
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God (2 Timothy 3:16). If a book isn’t from God, then who is it from? It would be from man (even if is it influenced by satanic or demonic ways). So regardless if a book that is claimed to be from God or not, if it not the Bible, then it is not holy or of divine origin.
Some books attempt to add to the Word the God such as the Book of Mormon, some have even claimed the Qur’an is an addition to Scripture. When such claims are made, one should always be cautious. God warns about trying to add to His words in Proverbs 30:5-6 and Revelation 22:18.
When there is a claim of inspiration for a “holy book”, the book must be tested against the Bible (1 Thessalonians 5:21) because God will never disagree with Himself because God cannot lie (Hebrews 6:18) nor can He deny Himself (2 Timothy 2:23).
When Paul was preaching to the Bereans (Acts 17:11), he commended them for checking his words against the Scriptures that were already written. If someone claims that a book is of divine origin, then we need to be like the Bereans and check it and see if it is from God or from man. In other words, use previous revelation to test and check any alleged new revelation—if it contradicts, it is not new Scripture.
These other books such as the Qur’an[2], Book of Mormon[3], Vedas[4] and so on have disagreements with the Bible confirming they are not Scripture. For example, the Qur’an says God had no son in Sura (Chapter) 4:171 and Sura 23:91 whereas the Bible is clear Jesus is the son of God (Matthew 26:63-64).
The Book of Mormon says in Moroni 8:8 that children are not sinners whereas the Bible teaches that children are sinful, even from birth (Psalm 51:5). Few would dispute that the Vedas and other writings in Hinduism are starkly different from the Bible.
These other belief systems do have many adherents throughout the world. Of course, we knew that there would be false philosophies based on man’s ideas that would try to turn people from the Bible, Christ’s Word. It was predicted nearly 2000 years ago:
Beware lest anyone
cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of
men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to
Christ. (Colossians 2:8)
We need to be discerning when it comes to non-biblical writings and stand firm on the Bible and not be swayed (1 Corinthians 15:58, 2 Thessalonians 2:15). Also, it reveals the need to share the bad news in Genesis with them as well as the good news of the Gospel (Matthew 28:18-20). Many in false religions have false foundations and need the true foundation so that they can have a better understanding of the Gospel that is built on that foundation.
I want to encourage you, the reader, to consider the claims of the Bible, if you haven’t already. The Bible is the Word of God. So there are two options: place your faith in a perfect, all-knowing God who has always been there or trust in imperfect, fallible mankind and their philosophies. God will never be wrong so I want to encourage you to start with God’s Word and begin to build your faith begin to have a biblical worldview, instead of worldview based on man’s ideas.
It is better to trust in the LORD Than to put confidence in man. (Psalm 118:8)
For a more refutation of false religions, see World Religions and Cults, Volumes 1-3, Bodie Hodge and Roger Patterson, Master Books, Green Forest, AR.
Originally published in Answers Magazine and appeared here: https://answersingenesis.org/world-religions/other-religious-writings/;
Edited; Republished by permission.
[1] All
Scripture references from NKJV
[2] The
Koran vs Genesis, David Catchpoole, Creation
24(2): 46-51
[3] World Religions and Cults, Volumes 1, Bodie Hodge and Roger Patterson, Master Books, Green Forest, AR; chapter on Mormonism.
[4] A Ready
Defense, The Best of Josh McDowell, Compiled by Bill Wilson, Thomas Nelson
Publishers,
