What about the translations of the bible?

Question

Okay, I have been emersed in these religion questions for days and been really entertained. I want to know some of your answers. Agree or disagree. The bible was written thousands of years ago by different people and has lost certain things in the translations over the years. I don't want to hear that I will pray for you and other crap. I want an agree or disagree.

If 20 people witness the same thing and you go back and ask those same people about that thing, you will get 20 different stories. Same as in the bible.

Wake up people. Stop taking the bible so literally and read it for what it really is....a fictional story book. Sure there might be SOME truth in there as far as the things that happened. But the futuristic crap is just that...someone believing in something and now they have you pathetic losers believing it too. Get a life! There is more to life than being bound by a book and a belief!

Okay...jeez! I didn't think I would strike that much of a nerve with everyone. So many answers in less than 10 minutes. I'm glad to see that most people agree with me though and aren't as close minded and blind as some are. And to the person that told me to "get a life" with Jesus...I didn't say I didn't believe in God or Jesus...I just simply disagree with the bible and what religion and religious people have made it out to be. No where in the bible does it say that you have to go to church to go to heaven. As a matter of a fact, there are plenty of people who go to church every time the doors are open that will be rotting away in hell for eternity. Check yourself, you might be one.

Answer 1

The trouble with the premise to your question (especially in regard to the "futuristic crap") is this:

One third of the Bible is prophecy. Prophecy is the future predicted. Now, you might try to explain away the prophecies by saying that they are too vague, and that you could point to anything as a fulfillment of them.

But let's try and take an honest look at just the Messianic Prophecies. According to Alfred Edersheim, a former Jew, and biblical scholar, there are 456 prophecies regarding the Jewish Messiah. Edersheim research these, and after taking a candid look, realized that only one person had fulfilled each of them. And that was Jesus of Nazareth.

According to Peter W. Stoner, a mathematician, the chance of one person fulfilling only 8 of these prophecies is 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000.

Most of these prophecies were written hundreds, and in some cases, 1500 years before Christ's birth. So, let's not decide to dismiss the remaining prophecies of His return, just because they don't fit into your worldview.

Answer 2

There are several points that you make here that are real issues even if your tone is flippant. While educating you is perhaps too much of a challenge, others may have wondered the same so I will address them. To give background for my answer, I am a student for over 10 years in Biblical Hebrew and Koine Greek so I am in a position to give a reasonable answer.

Your point that we can't really know what words mean from an ancient language is baseless in general. First, men who were educated within the Jewish tradition made the translation of the Hebrew text into Greek. While it is true that Hebrew was more obscure, Koine Greek was not. Yes, sometimes there may be disputes about the identity of minor points like which animal is a barn owl or a hoot owl, but, it is baseless to argue that we do not know what the words and syntax mean.

it is odd that all those who argue these positions never think to actually apply the principles they advocate. No one says 'We can't understand Plato because no one speaks Attic Greek so he is meaningless!' Why, that Shakespear uses archaic words so his plays have no value!

It seems to me that the only people who need to "wake up" are those echo rant wildly about what the y know nothing bout and spin fallacies and ignorance is a web in which they alone are caught.

Answer 3

Evrryone may witness the same thing but write it down from their viewpoint, but this doesn't make the event any less.
Matthew was a tax collector, Luke was a physician. Matthew will see an event from his perspective, while Luke could see the same event but through different eyes. Sometimes different things become evident from one eye and not another.
Why do a man and a woman see the same movie but yet, can give different reviews? Different viewpoints. Wife is a romantic, I like comedy. What happens when they see a romantic comedy movie? The woman will remember the happy ending, the man will remember the funny parts.

Second, you have no foundation to say pathetic losers with the basis on your biased opinion. My life goes beyond this time on earth.

From MY viewpoint, you cr*p stinks, even you believe it doesn't.

Answer 4

The Bible was inspired by God in its original autographs. The most modern translations like NIV, NASB, NKJ, HCSB, ESV, and a few others were all translated from early manuscripts. Their accuracy is nearly 100%. They do use different words-because they are different translations. Some are 'word for word', others are 'dynamic equivalent', and others are 'thought for thought.' There is no difference in any of them as to doctrine or content. There is no contradiction between any of them. There are some so-called bibles and holy books that are corrupt or outright fake. The NWT of the Jehovah's Witness, and the book of Mormon are such. But the Bibles I listed are solid and without error.

Answer 5

I enjoyed the book "Misquoting Jesus". The author is a Doctor and Professor of Relgious Studies (Columbia? I forget). He has something like 200 different manuscripts in the university's collection and not one is the same. It's not only translation that is the problem, it is the fact that before the printing press people had to hand copy everything and people make mistakes/take short cuts.

Answer 6

Bible is the source of money and i think bible is good. The mroe we sell the mroe money we have in our economy. The only problem its hard to force Christian read thier own absolute truth. They just freeking don't read. We should punish them.

Wow nice speech williamzo
Except you forgot to mention that greek scriptures fall into 2 categories and while one was prefered over another for translation many bibles today including NIV are from opposive group of scripts from KJB. I like when ppl go the distance to prove something but will hide the facts.

Answer 7

bible was written and editted by numerous people. and what you say about the 20 people thing is correct so accuracy is in question. translation from different languages also decreases the accuracy of words or phrases used in it's original context.

many people will say GOD inspired man to write down HIS words. as we all know man is faulty and fallible yet this idea does not seem to enter their minds. it is the SOME truth that "proves" to chrisitans the book is real. oddly enough it is science that proves these things, not the book itself.

Answer 8

To many, the origin of the Bible can be summed-up as follows: "A mere translation of a translation of an interpretation of an oral tradition" - and therefore, a book with no credibility or connection to the original texts. Actually, the foregoing statement is a common misunderstanding of both Christians and non-christians alike. Translations such as the King James Version are derived from existing copies of ancient manuscripts such as the Hebrew Masoretic Text (Old Testament) and the Greek Textus Receptus (New Testament), and are not translations of texts translated from other interpretations. The primary differences between today's Bible translations are merely related to how translators interpret a word or sentence from the original language of the text source (Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek).

Origin of the Bible - The Reliability of Ancient Manuscripts
Another challenge against the origin of the Bible is the reliability of the manuscripts from which today's Bibles are translated. Remarkably, there is widespread evidence for absolute reliability. There are more than 14,000 existing Old Testament manuscripts and fragments copied throughout the Middle East, Mediterranean and European regions that agree dramatically with each other. In addition, these texts agree with the Septuagint version of the Old Testament, which was translated from Hebrew to Greek some time during the 3rd century BC. The Dead Sea Scrolls, discovered in Israel in the 1940's and 50's, also provide phenomenal evidence for the reliability of the ancient transmission of the Jewish Scriptures (Old Testament) before the arrival of Jesus Christ. The Hebrew scribes who copied the Jewish Scriptures dedicated their lives to preserving the accuracy of the holy books. These scribes went to phenomenal lengths to insure manuscript reliability. They were highly trained and meticulously observed, counting every letter, word and paragraph against master scrolls. A single error would require the immediate destruction of the entire text.

The manuscript evidence for the New Testament is also dramatic, with over 5,300 known copies and fragments in the original Greek, nearly 800 of which were copied before 1000 AD. Some manuscript texts date to the early second and third centuries, with the time between the original autographs and our earliest existing copies being a remarkably short 60 years. Interestingly, this manuscript evidence far surpasses the manuscript reliability of other ancient writings that we trust as authentic every day. Look at these comparisons: Julius Caesar's "The Gallic Wars" (10 manuscripts remain, with the earliest one dating to 1,000 years after the original autograph); Pliny the Younger's "History" (7 manuscripts; 750 years elapsed); Thucydides' "History" (8 manuscripts; 1,300 years elapsed); Herodotus' "History" (8 manuscripts; 1,300 years elapsed); Sophocles (193 manuscripts; 1,400 years); Euripides (9 manuscripts; 1,500 years); and Aristotle (49 manuscripts; 1,400 years).

Homer's "Iliad", the most renowned book of ancient Greece, has 643 copies of manuscript support. In those copies, there are 764 disputed lines of text, as compared to 40 lines in all the New Testament manuscripts (Norman L. Geisler and William E. Nix, A General Introduction to the Bible, Moody, Chicago, Revised and Expanded 1986, p. 367). In fact, many people are unaware that each of William Shakespeare's 37 plays (written in the 1600's) have gaps in the surviving manuscripts, forcing scholars to "fill in the blanks." This pales in textual comparison with the over 5,300 copies and fragments of the New Testament that, together, assure us that nothing's been lost. In fact, all of the New Testament except eleven verses can be reconstructed from the writings of the early church fathers in the second and third centuries. (A General Introduction to the Bible, Ch. 24.)

Origin of the Bible - The Power of Prophecy
The origin of the Bible is God. It is a historical book that is backed by archeology, and a prophetic book that has lived up to all of its claims thus far. The Bible is God's letter to humanity collected into 66 books written by 40 divinely inspired writers over a period of over 1,600 years. The claim of divine inspiration may seem dramatic (or unrealistic to some), but a careful and honest study of the biblical scriptures will show them to be true. Powerfully, the Bible validates its divine authorship through fulfilled prophecies. An astonishing 668 prophecies have been fulfilled and none have ever been proven false (three are unconfirmed). God decided to use prophecy as His primary test of divine authorship, and an honest study of biblical prophecy will compellingly show the supernatural origin of the Bible. Skeptics must ask themselves, "Would the gambling industry even exist if people could really tell the future?" Again, no other holy book comes even close to the Bible in the amount of evidence supporting its credibility, authenticity and divine authorship.

Answer 9

I understand what your saying. Have you read the Bible? I mean really read the Bible. If you did really read the Bible you would not be asking this simple questions. I'll give you a lead to consider. Research the predictions of the prophet Isaiah, and Jeremaih.

Answer 10

Agree