I'm really confused about this Bible that Christians tell me about, can you explain?

Question

If God wrote the Bible, then it would be the word of God. But we don't have the originals. So how are we to be sure that an atheist didn't get his hands on the original and copy it to a new piece of paper but make up some stuff?

Like what if God really didn't have a problem with homosexual sex, but a homophobic person who didn't like gay people was supposed to copy the Bible for some people in a city over, and he put in all those anti gay verses thinking that might rid the world of gays, but that wasn't Gods intention?

You know what I mean, what if the word of God in the Bible was changed to suit the racist, homophobic, sexist attitudes that people used to have.

Answer 1

Evil ideas in the bible! I find that hard to believe!

If your own full brother, or your son or daughter, or your beloved wife, or you intimate friend, entices you secretly to serve other gods, whom you and your fathers have not known, gods of any other nations, near at hand or far away, from one end of the earth to the other: do not yield to him or listen to him, nor look with pity upon him, to spare or shield him, but kill him. Your hand shall be the first raised to slay him; the rest of the people shall join in with you. You shall stone him to death, because he sought to lead you astray from the Lord, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery. And all Israel, hearing of this, shall fear and never do such evil as this in your midst. (Deuteronomy 13:7-12 NAB)

Answer 2

A) Most of the Old Testament was orally handed down long before anyone wrote it.

B) Once written, it stayed pretty much the same for centuries.

C) The New Testament was written from the gitgo.

D) The whole thing was translated into Latin from its original languages, Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek, in the early 4th century by Jerome, a learned scholar. This version is called the Vulgate, from the Latin for the common people.

E) Several of the reformers tried to translate it into various national languages from the 13th century onward. They never caught on, partly because most people were still illiterate, but also because nobody trusted these guys to do it right. After all, Latin was already fading.

F) The English King James I asked the Anglican scholars of his day to do an English translation direct from the Vulgate. It's a poetically beautiful piece of work and, sadly, linguistically archaic today.

G) The Catholic Church translated the Bible after the Counter-Reformation. This version, in English, is called the Douay-Rheims for the location of the translating work.

H) At the beginning of the 20th century, several scholars decided to update the various translations. The results were mixed at best.

I) The Catholic Church decided to do a modern translation too. But lucky them, they have the Vatican archives and libraries, which are just chockablock full of ORIGINAL manuscripts in the original languages, so they could really get to the nitty-gritty of what was actually written down originally by the original scribes and authors. Ain't having 2,000 years of paperwork grand!?

J) Archaeological finds are still being made and those papyri and parchments are still being translated, copied, digitally stored and safely ensconced in special cases to prevent rot and decay in the Vatican archives to this day. Should we come upon a nifty find that contains scripture in the original, we'll check it against our translation and use the best available scholars to ascertain and maintain accuracy. We're real buggers about accuracy, ya know.

I don't think you have to worry too much about today's translations being screwed by racists, homophobes and the like. Believe me, the original authors weren't any holier. Just read Chronicles I and II. Such rhapsodic reportings of really sleazy court intrigues should be all the proof you need.

Answer 3

Although the bible does have some good lessons to learn, it has been used as a tool for autority and power. Remember that all the texts in the christian bible are NOT writtin from God. They are all written from man. If one would do their homework, they would find that in the Renesiance time, the bible was changed. This was the start of control in christianity. This was the start when it florished. Too bad it florished from people having guilt. Condemning is surely not the way to go. Then you have the ones holding authority forcing their ways on the guilty. This worked well for the ones who wanted power over others. Too bad that Jesus, Mary, and John, and God are all dead now in the christian religions. So here is the greatest lesson one should know. It is to know how to listen to your heart. God is there, I asure you. You do not need religion to find Him. You do not need the past to find Him. The past only makes things more complicated. Drop the past. Go forward and let God in your life. Not in the sense that religions say, but different. Most do not know God. So I say, just be open and let him show you how He is. You just learn and see if you like it. If not, that is quite alright. I am not going to condemn. That is the problem about religions. They think when you die, it is over. You either go to their fantasy hell or heaven. This is not true for life will always go on! So just relax and enjoy your life and do the best you can with it. That is all that is asked of you. Give yourself the ambition to change yourself for the better, compared to what you were yesterday. And most of all, be open! If you are close-minded, then God will have a hard time getting to you because you have closed the gates to your heart. Cheers!

Answer 4

Hey, this is a good question.

I saw your other question on scientific evidence for creationism, and I'd say go to the bookstore and get Lee Strobel's "Case for a Creator". It's pro-creationism, but it's not so blantantly biased towards it. It's very factual.

The scribes who made copies of the scriptures had to be meticulous in their work. If even one divergence from the original was found in their work, it was completely destroyed. They had to measure the lines, the words, the paragraphs, and even count the words. The entire Bible can be pieced together just by exerpts in letters from early church fathers. I don't think an antheist could have gotten his hands on every single Bible to change it. There were many copies in circulation, and for the most part, I believe, they were all in synch with one another.

There are a ton of resources that adress questions like that, which you could probably find online. Wish I could answer more clearly. Hope you find the answers you are looking for!

Answer 5

I'm a Christian and i understand what you mean. But first of all the Bible was written by Christians, and these Christians were Godly Christians and God insipred them and wrote through them, he used them as a tool in a way. So even though Man physically wrote the Bible the thoughts, wisdom, truth, and knowledge in the Bible was written by God through the people who wrote the Bible. Now what i think you are thinking, is that the Bible could have been contaminated since the Bible was finished. Well i believe it hasnt been i have faith in the Bible and I have a realationship with God and the Bible is living proof of what he says and how i should live my life. And i know the Bible is true because God would not contradict his own writings. We were all created by God and once we realize that we finnaly understand who we are, and what are purpose is.

Answer 6

Very briefly, there are some 13,000 extant hand-written copies of the Bible, in whole or in part, dating from close to the time of the originals. Therefore, are the Dead Sea Scrolls and other manuscripts, such as the Vatican 1209, the Sinaiticus, etc. A comparison of all shows that the scriptures we have today do not differ substantially from the original. The same copies and manuscripts which tell us God's personal name appeared in the original close to 7,000 times are the same copies that give us his view on conduct – such as fornication.

Answer 7

I understand your question completely.

There's no way to possibly (and positively) verify the identity of anyone that participated in writing "The Bible". I mean, we can't just go back and 'card' them like you would some underage guy tryin' to buy smokes and some Jack Daniels.

Suppose that the stories, fables, myths, and 'historical' accounts were the result of stories getting muttled over the centuries. Often times events were handed down verbally from generation to generation. Suppose the bible is like some kind of historical game of "telephone" where the original message gets lost due to misinterpretation or deception over the course of its telling... generation after generation.

Moreover, suppose it's something like those old Xerox machines where, if you make a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy of the original, and the result is just blurry and distorted?

Great question!!!

Answer 8

Christians interpret the bible to promote their own views
by the way the first christian roman empire apparently decide which parts of the scriptures went into the modern bible if you wanted to you could use the bible to support drug use [god created the flower and the fruits of the earth for mans pleasure ] a slightly in correct quote but i don't have a bible at hand
the bible does not condemn /slavery drinking or pornography in fact by modern definition some parts of the bible can be considered pornographic [ song of Solomon]

Answer 9

A couple of things: because something could possibly be true, doesn't mean that it probably is true. Second: If the Bible was the word of God as originally given to the Jews, they took pretty good care of it. So much so, that they stopped even realizing what it meant for the sake of copying it down word for word. So much were they committed to the letter of the law without understanding the Spirit that they killed Jesus for it. I'm pretty settled, though they were sometimes improper motives, that they kept it word for word.

Answer 10

Love you one another as I have loved thee! What man do you know of, who will actually suggest such virtue?
Verily one who judges partially will tell you to love some and hate other beings. To ask if the word is from God or from man means that you have not searched the meaning or have not meditated upon the reason for such word. A tip for him who seeks, man always look after their own desire while the Lord reasons with us for that which is profitable unto all. And a question also to guide you: if all species (terrestrial and celestial) were to be united in one kingdom, what would we need to keep and we will have to let go?
Then you will see that all that needs to be abandon has been written along with all that needs to be preserved. So my answer is that even if men wrote the Bible the meaning remains unchanged, it was met to lead us to better way of living rather then dividing nations.

Answer 11

What is the deal with people and the Bible!?
Get over it man, it's a book, a collection of stories from long ago. You read the Bible and you can clearly see that, yet people ignorantly insist on demanding that it's the 'Word of God'. It's amazing how many nations have based their entire way of life around this assumption.