In an article entitled, “Throwing Stones at the Quran from a Glass House”, The American Muslim claims that the verses of violence and war in the Bible can be misread in “exactly the same way as some verses in the Qur’an” (emphasis ours). In other words, the on-line magazine alleges that, like the Quran, there are Biblical verses with open-ended commands to violence that are not bound by historical context within the passage itself.
Our first clue that this probably isn’t true is the scarcity of Christian terrorist groups. Not too many people are losing their heads to fanatics screaming praises to Jesus (or Moses, Buddha or the many Hindu gods either) as they are to shouts of “Allah Akbar!” That there are so many Islamic terrorist groups composed of fundamentalists (or purists) of the Muslim faith is enough to impress any reasonable person that there is something far more dangerous about Islam.
Nevertheless, to support their claim, The American Muslim quotes son of the worst passages that the Bible has to offer in the way of violence. Others are alluded to as well, but delving into these particular verses should be a large enough sample to expose whatever sophistry might be at play.
Their first try is a passage from Deuteronomy that might appear to command present-day believers to take a city by force and slaughter the inhabitants on order from God:
“When you approach a city to fight against it, you shall offer it terms of peace. If it agrees to make peace with you and opens to you, then all the people who are found in it shall become your forced labor and shall serve you. However, if it does not make peace with you, but makes war against you, then you shall besiege it. When the LORD your God gives it into your hand, you shall strike all the men in it with the edge of the sword. Only the women and the children and the animals and all that is in the city, all its spoil, you shall take as booty for yourself; and you shall use the spoil of your enemies which the LORD your God has given you. Only in the cities of these peoples that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, you shall not leave alive anything that breathes”(Deuteronomy 20:10-17 -As quoted byThe American Muslim
Except for the part about sparing women and children, this sounds similar to a verse from the Qur’an:
And when We would destroy a township We send commandment to its folk who live at ease, and afterward they commit abomination therein, and so the Word (of doom) hath effect for it, and we annihilate it with complete annihilation.(Quran 17:16)
But, in fact, the Biblical passage is not an open-ended command to"kill anything that breathes", but instead, a story of history bound within the text. Having trouble seeing this? That’s because the author ofThe American Muslim piece cleverly left out this part of the passage:
“Completely destroy them—theHittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—as the LORD your God has commanded you”
These are the discrete targets referred to in the last part of the quoted text. The rest of the passage is bound by context as well, given to "Israel" (verse 3) and those "brought out of Egypt" (verse 1). These would be specific instructions to the ancient Israelites, which is why today's Christians and Jews do not treat these verses as present-day imperatives.
Strategic omission is just one way that Muslim apologists manipulate Biblical passages. (In this case,The American Muslim editors did not even include an ellipsis in place of the omission, since it may have raised the suspicions of the reader).
The next passage that The American Muslim claims promotes violence is from the apostle Paul, who writes:
“Hymenaeus and Alexander I have delivered to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.”(1Timothy 1:20)
The violence in the passage is not exactly evident from this reading. In the context of the previous verse, these two men “suffered shipwreck with regard to the faith,” but there is nothing to indicate that they were physically harmed as a result. It was the practice of the early Church to excommunicate apostates, and there is every reason to believe that this was the “fate” of these two individuals. They were expelled from the Church by Paul. The Christian Church does not advocate killing apostates.
Contrast this with the words of Muhammad:
"Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him.'"(Bukhari 84:57)
Not much ambiguity there. Abu Bakr, the first caliph and several other Muslims testified that Muhammad had indeed put Muslim apostates to death. For this reason, the practice is coded in Islamic law.
The next passage that is supposed to inspire Christians to violence is the recounting of David’s victory against the Philistines:
“This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down, and cut off your head; and I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, Then David ran and stood over the Philistine, and took his sword and drew it out of its sheath, and killed him, and cut off his head with it.... And David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem; but he put his armor in his tent. And as David returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, Abner took him, and brought him before Saul with the head of the Philistine in his hand.”(1 Samuel 17:46 -As Quoted by The American Muslim)
This is actually parts of verse 46 through 54. We won’t waste much time here, because it is apparent that this is a recounting of an historical event. The omitted passages from within the text make it even more obvious.
Compare this to the word of Allah in the Quran:
“I will instill terror into the hearts of the Unbelievers: smite ye above their necks and smite all their finger-tips off them.”(Quran 8:12)
There is no historical context to mitigate this Qur’anic exhortation either in the verse or in those that surround it. (The American Muslim actually makes a monumental effort to bring historical context to the verse from sources external to the Qur’an in this article, which contains several inaccuracies regarding the timing of the “revelation” of the verse,the justification for attacking caravans, and the fate of hostages taken in battle, some of whom were actually put to death).
At this point,The American Muslimpulls two verses out of the New Testament Gospels. The first is quoted as if they are the words of Jesus:
"I tell you that to everyone who has, more shall be given, but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away. But these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slay them in my presence."(Luke 19:26-27)
But, in fact, this is the tail end of a parable being told by Jesus. The words actually belong to one of the characters in his story.
Again, contrast this with the actual words of Muhammad:
[Allah's Apostle said] "The Hour will not be established until you fight with the Jews, and the stone behind which a Jew will be hiding will say. "O Muslim! There is a Jew hiding behind me, so kill him."(Bukhari 52:256)
We don’t have to play the same games here thatThe American Muslimdoes to try and convince Christians that they should kill based on the words of a parable. Not only are these Muhammad’s own words, but there are many Muslims at this very moment who are trying to kill Jews in Israel. Their religious leaders quote this passage to inspire them.
Moving along to the second New Testament verse that supposedly advocates violence:
"Do not think that I have come to send peace on earth. I did not come to send peace, but a sword. I am sent to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law"(Matthew 10:34-35)
Though not quoted in the article, the passage actually goes on to say,“Your enemies will be the members of your own household. Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves a son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it. “
Obviously, Jesus is speaking of the impending hardships that will be suffered by Christians (ironically, the worst abusers eventually turned out to be Muslims). Even Pope Urban, in his call for the Crusades, never quoted this passage, as it is obvious that the“sword” is a metaphor for the persecution against believers, not an admonition for them to take up arms.
If Jesus were speaking literally, then he would have produced the sword of which he was speaking. In fact, the only time one of his followers produced a sword in his presence (to defend him), Jesus issued a harsh rebuke against immediate and general violence. In keeping with his pacifist teachings, none of his disciples formed an armed militia of any sort despite tremendous persecution. There were no armies claiming to be “Christian” for many centuries - and well after the church structure had been co-opted by the government, in contradiction to what Jesus taught.
By contrast, Muhammad was a military leader who killed people in battle, executed captives and enslaved women and children. When he said that “Jihad in the way of Allah elevates the position of a man in paradise” (Sahih Muslim 20:4645), his followers knew what he meant. They engaged in warfare following his death, which continues to this day.


Source: http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/Pages/Bible-Quran-Violence.htm