How can we be sure that the Bible is the word of God?

Question

That the words said 2000 years ago have not been distorted or corrupten in any way? That nothing has been added or removed? How can we be sure?

Answer 1

When you understand truth for yourself, you will be able to see a lot of the truth and falsehood in the Bible.

For example, I think some of the original words of Jesus (as written down in the Gospels) were really spoken by him. But I recognize a lot of crap in there, too. If you look closely, you will find alterations, additions, and non-sequiturs*, the purpose of which was to make the original words say something they didn't mean.

Truth recognizes truth. Get rid of some falsehood in yourself and then take another look at the Bible.

* A non-sequitur is a statement that doesn't logically follow the previous statement. An example is Luke 16:16-17: "The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it. And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail."

Makes no sense.

Good luck.

Answer 2

The Bible doesn't claim to be the word of God. In the Old Testament, thousands of years of history (and mythology) were put together to form the first five books of the Torah (traditionally believed to have been written by Moses). Then it kept getting added to, of course with a mix of propaganda, legend, and the belief that only Jews were the favored people of God.

With the New Testament, the gospels were written after Jesus' lifetime, some parts apparently from the same source because of a duplication evident from exact word for word sentences. Christianity was an outlawed faith. It would be great to find that one older source and work from it, but it probably doesn't exist any more. When Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire, he took certain things out of the New Testament to ensure that he could control the public afterwards. So the essence of the Bible, its message, is what is important, not the exact wording.

Answer 3

Do a little research and you will find that the Bible is not the word of God, it's the word of a bunch of different people. Also, over time, the Bible was re- and re- written, to fit the needs of those in position of political power at any given time. Politics and religion used to be closely linked - and guess what! They have become that way again!

But to answer your question - we can't only not be sure, we can for certain know that the Bible is not the word of God. For words of God - look into your heart.

Answer 4

The Bible has been translated from Aramaic into many modern languages. English versions of the Bible differ from each other in little ways. The words--obviously--are not exact, since they're not in Aramaic (plus other languages used to write certain books of the Bible).

So, how can we be sure? This is how: (1) If you believe that God is the truth, and you believe that God has all power, then you can believe that the inspired word of God is preserved throughout the translations. That is, you can be certain that God "oversaw" the process of translation and led his people to maintain the accuracy of the documents.

Another way to "be sure" is to read what is said. In the New Testament, the things that come out of Jesus' mouth, and the things that Jesus does, are often baffling if looked at in a cause-effect sort of way. He is not predictable; instead, he is wildly surprising in what he says and does. If you "study" him, you will find that he is like no other person who ever lived or is living--and it will become lucid that he is the truth.

People are concerned about the integrity of translations in all sorts of areas--in international politics, in literature, and so forth. What many folks who read translated texts come to, eventually, is that "the spirit" is preserved, even though the exact words are different. It is unavoidable that the word for "cat" in English is just--no argument--a different word than the one for "cat" in Russian (for example). But people come to accept that "cat" means "cat" means "cat," no matter what language it's written in. It calls to mind a cat--plain and simple. So take this into consideration when reading a translation of the Bible.

About nothing having been added or removed--there are Bible scholars throughout the world. Find one at a university or church near to where you live. Go talk to him or her. Ask for a detailed discussion of how we know that nothing has been added or removed from the Bible. It is a historical document that can be traced, and people have traced it. I am not a Bible scholar, so I cannot give you the hard facts. But plenty of folks out there can. I mean, just like we can be certain that the Declaration of Independence hasn't been corrupted or distorted--it has its scholars, and they have traced its origins and various configurations. The D of I is younger than the Bible, sure, but in another 1,800 years (whether or not the U.S. still stands as a nation), someone much like yourself is going to be asking, "How can we be sure the D of I hasn't been corrupted or distorted? That nothing has been added or removed?" And chances are high that there will be people around who will be able to show that person how he or she can be sure.

The facts are out there if you wish to find them. You just have to put forth the effort into searching.

Answer 5

Because there are tens of thousands of manuscripts; by examining all of them, we can see where typos had crept in.

If there had been some conspiracy to change the Bible, this group would have had to have gathered all of them and changed them all. It's not logical.

When the Dead Sea Scrolls, the oldest known at that time, were discovered, infidels said that people would be able to see how much the Bible changed. They did; these manuscripts were essentially the same.

There is no evidence of any changes to the Bible, and a great deal against it.

Answer 6

The Bible was given as the perfect word of God. Some minor changes in language may have occurred. But there are many manuscripts that agree with each other, and, as far as the history part of the Bible, it is true.

Answer 7

Things have been added and removed. Pope Constintine and King James both edited the bible to their liking.

There are now 24 different versions of the bible in the world. Jahova's Whitness has their version, Mormons, King James version, they are all different in some way.

Answer 8

The original texts written in the original language are still around. How would you add to a 4000 year old text, the writhing material alone would be hard to fake, not to mention the ink. Then copy somehow the stile of writing in a mostly dead language, good luck!


Now you have to assume they were written by man under the direct guidance of God, or not.

Answer 9

We can be sure that the words contained in Sacred Scripture are authentic and are in fact God's Holy Word to His creation is by the fact that they speak of Truths that can not be denied of refuted. God's glory has shined forth through all creation, just look around you, everything was created for man. The Bible is simply God's promise to us.

Answer 10

The Bible is very very important, but the most important thing in there to know is: Jesus was born of a virgin, He is %100 God and %100 man, he lived a sinless life, he was betrayed and crucified, he was dead for 3 days and preached to the dead, and then on the third he rose and if we agknowledge him as our savior then we have eternal life.

Everything else in the Bible is only secondary to the importance of that.