can we trust the bible??

Question

the bible was written over 2000 years ago by men after/before the death of jesus. how do we know this is real? this might be a bunch of fables in a book, i read in the Da Vinci Code, that there has not been a definite bible over many centuries and the bible has been edited by roman emperors and many popes. how can we trust this book that might be lie?? Can we trust this book that is supposedly the words of god? is there a god? is this book merely more than a bunch of fairy tales? can we trust this book? i want the truth!

Answer 1

I'm sorry, this is going to be a very long post. I am going to assume for now you are only referring to the New Testament because you mentioned 2000 years and popes, etc. Please read it with an open mind and consider all points made. Thanks.

Firstly, let us see what the Bible has to say for itself...

-The New Testament writers weren't writing just stories or fables, they wrote what they saw, felt, witnessed, what they experienced. "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete." (1 John 1:1-4)

-"All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." (2 Timothy 3:16-17 NIV) The Bible isn't a man-made book, or a book of history, or a book of commentary; it is GOD-BREATHED.

Ok, well, most likely, if you are non-Christian you won't listen anyway. You will say, "Well good for you, your Bible says that it’s true." That's like me saying, "I'm Ghandi!" I believe it, I said it, but you won't.

Ok then, lets review the history of the Bible a little then...

-After Jesus died, people began to share about Christ through word of mouth for about the first 15 years of the church. "Does that make you nervous? Remember back in grade school when you used to play that game Telephone?" But that is the way people did things back then. They didn't have PDAs or computers or not even really paper! Unless you had a lot of money and could buy a bunch of scrolls. But people often memorized things to retell, especially sacred texts. Back then it was normal. If you look at the way the OT has been preserved, and look at the Dead Sea Scrolls, we find that these things, even though they were a couple hundred years before Christ, you find that they match exactly the manuscripts of the OT that we have before then, and almost exactly what we have today. For thousands of years these things have been passed down faithfully and accurately. And at this point, if people are saying things that aren't true, the apostles are still around to be like, "Uhh, yeah, that's not what He said."

-Right about the year 48, letters began to be written by Paul. Then you have the Gospels. Before the Council of Nicea even happened, individual churches decided what books they believed were true, the Council just put like a "stamp of approval" on it. Isn't that crazy? Like all the churches picked the same books, by themselves. "People didn't put together the New Testament; God put together the New Testament."

Here are some questions that people often have and the answers:

Q: Don't you know that the Bible is man-made? Man, fallible people, they get things wrong all the time!
A: "The Bible is the most unique book that has ever been written." It took over 1500 years to write the Bible. It is written by over 40 authors covering 40 generations. It was written on three separate continents, and has three separate languages: Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic. Furthermore, it speaks on hundreds of controversial topics with unity. Now, let us think about this. Over 40 different people from all walks of life: peasants, prophets, kings, shepherds, fisherman, doctors. They are writing different styles of literature: poetry, history, law, letters, biographies. Totally different types of literature. When you put it all together, on those hundreds of controversial topics, the Bible speaks in unity. How in the world could you ever do that? How could you concoct that? You can’t, but God can!

Q: We don’t even have the real Bible, it’s just a copy of a copy of a copy. How do you know that was even what was written?
A: “Part of that is true. Let me explain. We do not have, somewhere, the original copy of The Bible…It is lost to the sands of time.” Today we have manuscripts, over 5,000 of just the New Testament, and that is just in Greek. If we include all of the languages, we have over 20,000 manuscripts. The earliest manuscript we have is within 60 years of the original. Now, there are errors in some of those manuscripts, but when you have 300 manuscripts of the same passage, and 298 of them say the same thing and in two of them a word is misspelled, I think you can figure out what that word is supposed to be.

Q: What about all the translations today, could you explain those?
A: The translations vary on level of paraphasing. A paraphrase is "A restatement of a text or passage in another form or other words, often to clarify meaning." So, Bibles like "The Message" or the "New Living Translation" are VERY paraphrased Bibles. The "New International Version" (or NIV) bible is about halfway between paraphrase and literal translation. It is a very good Bible for first-time Bible readers. The two Bibles that are closest to the most literal translations of the original Bible texts are the "New American Standard Bible" (NASB, the one I use) and the "King James Version" (KJV).

Also, there are books that are translated to fit certain sects, like say, the Jehovah's Witnesses. Their translation, the "New World Translation" basically gets rid of every reference that says that Jesus is God. These translations are not true to the original text at all.

Hope this helps! If you have any more questions, feel free to message me.

Much love.

Answer 2

You can trust the Bible. Have you ever heard of textual criticism? The Bible has withstood many centuries of serious criticism, I mean actual word-by-word scrutiny by a whole host of Hebrew and Greek scholars. Works of fiction like "Da Vinci Code" only affect people who have no idea which end is up. There is no document on this planet that has undergone so much critical analysis as the Bible and passed all the test. The 'Da Vinci Code" fell apart on the first test. Every Bible scholar who read it was able to dispute every claim it made against the Bible. It is a work of fiction-nothing more.

Answer 3

If you think about it, the bible wasnt even written down for centuries, in some cases millenia, after the events were supposed to have happened. Which means that the stories were handed down orally. Does anyone remember the game you played in elementary school where all the class would stand in a line and the first person would whisper a sentence in the next guy's ear, who then would do the same to the next guy? In the end, the last guy had a totally different sentence that he heard. That is what happened with the bible.

Its all just myths anyway.

Answer 4

The sad truth is, we don't know the truth. That is why religion is a powerful thing. No one really knows anything. We all have to take a leap of faith. Who knows they might not be right, the bible might be a brillant work of fiction. Afterall there were religions before the bible. But personally I think every religion has a bit of truth. I don't think the bible is right in making god out to be some big scarey creature we fear. But I do think they have some of the right teachings. Like be a good person, respect and honor people, don't hurt people. That is true in almost any religion you can find. It is just how they teach it that is different.

Answer 5

I'm sorry you are so confused!
Listen to me please! I am a Christian teenager, and I know for a fact that the Bible is true. It is 100% genuine. There are no lies inside. Jesus Christ was sent to the earth as a living sacrifice for our sins. And, yes, there has been a definite Bible. The DaVinci code is not real. It has confused many people. There is a God, and he wants to have a personal relationship with you. And, no, the Bible has not been edited. It is the best piece of literature that has ever been written. It tells us of God's promises. He can forgive your sins. You can spend an eternity with him in heaven if you choose to follow him. He can change your life. Please don't doubt him. In the Bible, God says that He will never leave us nor forsake us. Please go to www.larrygrays.org and click on the "God's plan of salvation" link. It will tell you so much more. God has a big plan for everyones life. We are all called the obey him, and we will be blessed. I hope this helped!

Answer 6

Yes, we can and most of us do trust the Bible. God gave this to us as His letter of history and instructions to live and get by in this temporary world until we get our reward or punishment, what ever the case may be. You have to have faith. Had God provided undisputable proof, there would be no point in the whole matter, no choice to make. Most unfortunately will not believe and will pay for it later. It's really a no brainer. Give God a chance. Give His Holy Spirit an opportunity to make a difference in your life.

Answer 7

The Davinci Code is a fairy tale in and of itself. It's fiction. There is no proof to back up any of the claims made in the book and the author himself states that the book is a work of fiction. There is archaelogical proof to back up things in the Bible. The Bible contains the words of Christ himself, and the claims in the Bible are the truth. There were over 500 witnesses to see Christ alive after he was crucified. It's pretty hard to fabricate a lie that includes hundreds of people who can't deny the fact that they saw Him after He was nailed to a cross, dead for 3 days, and alive and kicking.

Answer 8

you can trust phrophecy and bible yes but relgions that take and distort to their version NO .. it even says do not make a religion out of my word.. people take things so differently but surely according to revelation we are in that book of times anyone can see some coincidence?

Answer 9

the da vinnci code is a deception for the people the bible is the living word of god must keep your faith

Answer 10

i do not believe in the bible as truth and until someone can show me solid proof...i stand by that