Why has the Bible been edited so much(is it the word of God)?

Question

tFirstly forget politics out of this and talk ab religion. The word bible isnt even in the bible, so there begins the human fabrication, how can someone claim its the word of God if it was changed so much by humans. The New Testament was written 200 years after Jesus(pbuh) died and in a language he didnt even speak. Jesus didnt even call himself a christian(another fabrication). In the Bible Jesus predicted that ppl would worship in vain, "But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." This verse, Matthew 15:9. Would someone please tell me which Bible is the right one bc if i were trying to convert i would sure be at a loss. Why are there so many mistakes in the bible surely this cannot be attributed to God (e.g. of conflicting verses II Samuel 6:23 Genesis 6:3 John 5:37). Lastly i dont understand how christians can claim monotheism when they worship jesus and God, how can he be the Son of God and God at the same time this is the biggest contradiction

Answer 1

because it isn't.
it was written by man. and that's all it ever will be.

Answer 2

Ah but you're a little off there...

There is a codex (list of bible text) that is dated to just about 10 years after the death of Jesus that lists almost all the books of the bible that we use today.

Bible means Book. Holy Bible = Holy Book, aka Sacred Scripture.

While it's true that if you REALLY want to know Scripture you should learn Hebrew and Aramaic then go back to the "source scrolls," you can gain a lot of insight reading a good translation.

Yes, some denominations have heavily edited the bible to fit their needs as a congregation. That's why we have "Lectio Divina" or divine reading. You read the same passage in several different bibles then ponder what God is actually trying to tell you.

The New Testament was not written 200 years after Jesus. There are Gospel scrolls that have been dated to the time of Jesus. You might want to check out some of Carsten Peter Theide's work.

The confusion is that the Council of Hippo, which was about 40 years after Constantine made Christianity legal (around 395AD) whas when Christian bishoops got together and compared all the scrolls they had. That was the birth of what we call the Holy Bible.

No one can tell you which bible is the right one for you. Amazon has a good description. What grade level do you read at? What denomination are you? Around the 1800's or so, Protestants pulled 7 books from the bible. Wisdom, Judith, Tobit, Baruch, 1 & 2 Maccabbees and Sirach. They also edited parts of Daniel and Esther.

Conflicting verses are not mistakes. They could be mistranslations. Or they could be lessons for us to learn. Give it a try. You might enjoy yourself.

I also highly recommend the Great Adventure bible study by Jeff Cavins. But for that you'd need a Catholic bible.

Answer 3

Your Questions and my answers:
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Q. The word bible isnt even in the bible, so there begins the human fabrication, how can someone claim its the word of God if it was changed so much by humans.

A. Where has it been changed so much by humans, based on your study?
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Q. The New Testament was written 200 years after Jesus(pbuh) died and in a language he didnt even speak.
A. Your information is incorrect. The NT has over 5000 supporting Greek manuscripts existing today with another 20,000 manuscripts in other languages. Some of the manuscript evidence dates to within 60-100 years of the original writing.
...How do you know what Jesus spoke? Greek was commonly spoken in the Roman Empire, and the New Testament was written in Greek.
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Q. Jesus didn’t even call himself a christian (another fabrication).

A. Whoever said Jesus called Himself a Christian? “Christian” was a name given to the disciples of Jesus, it was perhaps slanderously intended, but stuck.
Acts 11:26 (New American Standard Bible)

26 and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. And for an entire year they met with the church and taught considerable numbers; and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.
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Q. In the Bible Jesus predicted that ppl would worship in vain, "But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." This verse, Matthew 15:9.
A. What the problem here? If you carefully read the verse in its context, He is scolding the Pharisees for their hypocrisy - it is prophetic, written many years before they lived.
************************************************************Q. Would someone please tell me which Bible is the right one bc if i were trying to convert i would sure be at a loss.

A. If you are really serious about getting into the Bible, I recommend the New American Standard Bible or the King James Version, both good word-for-word translations. Stay away from paraphrases.
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Q. Why are there so many mistakes in the bible surely this cannot be attributed to God (e.g. of conflicting verses II Samuel 6:23 Genesis 6:3 John 5:37).

A. It is unclear why you object to these passages – you will have to explain.
2 Samuel 6:23; Genesis 6:3 -John 5:37
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Q. Lastly i dont understand how christians can claim monotheism when they worship jesus and God, how can he be the Son of God and God at the same time this is the biggest contradiction

Is it? I don’t think so. God can only beget God. Jesus said, “ I and Father are one.” In the OT we read, “Let Us make man in our own image.” I don’t pretend to understand it all, but I believe what God said, and you must also.
...Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”
...Hebrews 11: 6 says, “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.”
...Mark Twain said that it wasn’t what he didn’t understand in the Bible that bothered him, rather what he did understand was what bothered him.
...What about you ? You must believe on Christ to be saved. Don’t let your curiosity or intellect stop you from believing on Christ. Have you believed on Christ as your Savior? If you will, He will give a home in Heaven, and you will start to understand many things, because God gives the believer the Holy Spirt to empower him and help him live for Jesus.

Answer 4

You may not see it that way, but your whole "question" is a fabrication. The original texts of the Bible were written from verbally transferred records in a language that people understood at that time. Languages change over time.

Most of us can't read the original texts. The Bible had to be translated into a language we can understand today. Our language has changed also since the first translations. So some of those are difficult to understand today. That's why there are newer versions.

As for your sample (Matth. 15:9), Jesus is referring to Isaiah 29:13, illustrating the mental frame of the people at that time. Jesus did NOT predict that. He stated it as illustration for the mental frame of the Jews of His time as predicted by Isaiah. So learn to read in context.

What about these "conflicting " verses: Matthew 27:5 and Luke 10:37 :-).

You have a body, you have a mind, you have a mouth speaking your words, you have hands typing those words into your computer. Which one of them is not you? Are you a "contradiction"? The Trinity is ONE person in three aspects or appearances, yet ONE.

Why not concentrate on the essential message: "What does the Lord require of you but to act justly and to love kindness", or as Jesus put very clearly:

We must WANT to act out of compassion: 1. to love God with all our being and above all things and 2. to love (be kind to) ALL our fellow human beings, even those who don't agree with us or those we don't agree with.

Jesus says those two are the "first and foremost commandments" and are the basis of THE LAW. Any other laws or interpretations of laws that don't align with those two basic laws are invalid.

Just imagine! If all humans would willingly (not because they have been told) act out of compassion toward the "others" there truly would be peace on Earth! Unfortunately we are not perfect and to bear "our cross" often seems too hard (or illogical, or "unscientific). - No, I'm not perfect either!

The texts of the Bible may be confusing to some (most?), the basic message is very clear!

Answer 5

Following a civil war in Rome, the Roman general Constantine claimed it was the word of God for political purposes -- it meant his physical and political survival. What books made it into the Bible and what books did not are pretty much single-handedly attributed to him. (Interesting note: Constantine was trying to decide if God was a compassionate God or a punishing God. He decided the latter, and this influenced his decision on what books constituted "The Bible".)

Mistakes were made because the books of the Bible were written in Hebrew and Greek thousands of years ago making it difficult to translate into modern day languages.

Constantine retained some of the pagan customs. The original holy Trinity was The Mother, The Maiden and The Crone. The Christians changed it to Father, Son and Holy Ghost and they made up the "Holy Ghost" part because men cannot bear children.

Answer 6

Your absolutely right! The Christian "Bible" has been written and re-written so many times that we have lost count. Also, it has been translated to so many different languages that a lot of the real meanings are lost from the original language.
This is why most scholars only trust historic scripts that have not been touched or have been touched as little as possible by known human hands. That means: The Jewish Torah!

It was originally written in Aramaic (an ancient middle eastern language) and parts of it were converted to Hebrew over 5000 years ago. Eversince then, it has not been modified from the original. That is as close as you can get to the truth.

All the other stuff that came along since then is human fabrication as you stated. Oh, and by the way, Jesus was Jewish. I don't know how the whole Christian thing came along. Nothing is more solid then Judiasm. If you want to convert go for that.

Answer 7

Have you ever tried to read the King James version?? Human dialog changes from generations to generations. If you really want to challenge what is written (say in the NIV Bible) then do research on ancient Aramaic and Hebrew words and see how they have been translated. Only then can you criticize the Word of God.....He watches over and guides those who carry on His words.
The Holy Trinity is a hard concept for human minds to grasp but if you study, the answers are found throughout the Bible starting with the very first verse of Genesis.

Answer 8

Wow. You did such a great job at taking that scripture out of context. Taken out of context it really supports your argument. But I think you should read it in context. Jesus is talking about Pharisees who were more worried about the law than about God.

Matthew 15:1-10. Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, "Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don't wash their hands before they eat!" Jesus replied, "And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? For God said, 'Honor your father and mother' and 'Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.' But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is 'devoted to God,' they are not to 'honor their father or mother' with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:
" 'These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
They worship me in vain;
their teachings are merely human rules.'"
Jesus called the crowd to him and said, "Listen and understand. What goes into your mouth does not defile you, but what comes out of your mouth, that is what defiles you."

You should study about the trinity. It means that God is 3 in 1. God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit are all one God. While you may think that there are contradictions in the Bible, there are not. Read a commentary on those verses you pulled and you will see. You will also find that it is much more clear if you read things in context as I have shown.

God used human beings to physically pen the biblical text. But remember God is the author, they are His words. The Bible is inspired by God. The Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew. The New Testament was originally written in Greek (with a few portions in aramaic). Learn those languages so you can read it for yourself in it's original. Check out some good commentaries (NIV Application commentary, Anchor Bible Commentary, New International Commentary on the New Testament (also one on OT), New International Greek Testament Commentary).

The Bible is inerrant and infallible. Inerrant means it is incapable of having errors, and infallible means incapable of being false. So this means that God protected the Bible while it was being translated to other languages and other translations.

When scribes were copying the biblical text they would count how many words were in each book, in each page, and in each sentence. They knew which word would be exactly the middle of the book/page/sentence. If their text did not match up they threw it away and started over. So they were extremely careful and meticulous in their work.

Answer 9

First of all the Bible meaning is this.

B = Basic
I = Instructions
B = Before
L = Leaving
E = Earth

These instructions was written by man through the inspiration of God. No man can claim its veracity except God.

The Bible was written in Hebrew, Aramaic and in Greek languages, Some interpretation thereof was done intentionally wrong to discredit the scriptures. but there are good translation from the greek. the original translation was in syria, called septuagint and it is in a museum owned by the catholics.

What leads Jesus to say these words in Matt 15:9? The answer is in verse 8!

Matthew 15:8-9 "This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

How can Jesus call himself a christian? The word christian is a brand name given to the believers (christian) because of the word "Christ" and the "ians" for his people during the Roman empire. And the pagan Rome adapted the teaching of the Christian and incorporated it to their pagan doctrine. and the christian then was subjected to many heinous crimes till now.

The Bible has no mistakes, people who translated it intentionally made the mistake. especially the new translations.

The word GOD (Elohim) is plural not singular (Eloah). nobody can understand the tri-unity of God, the Father who is head overall, the Son who is the executor, the Holy Spirit who is the teacher. Today when men goes to God, the Father brings them to christ and christ brings them to the Holy Spirit for empowerment, in order to live a holy life.

There is not contradiction whatsoever in the Tri-Unity of God. I pray that you will be enlightened like other muslim who sees the truth by themselves through the working of Jesus in thier heart.

Christianity is not a religion, they make it a religion, it is a faith in the risen christ. In order to enter the kindom of heaven, you must enter by the door "The Church" that was build by Jesus not by men.

Answer 10

Well, Christians believe in the Trinity (that God, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost are all the same thing (which sounds a little convienient for me , but hey there you go).
The Old Testament had been handed down orally for centuries, surely changing the story. When Chrisianty became the religion of the Roman Empire at the Council of Nicea, it became regulated and many books were accepted or denied and the "official" church teachings became codified and altered.
Yes it's written by men and it's up to the person to believe or not.

Answer 11

Actually the Bible as such hasn't been edited other than translations into other languages. It was originally in The Ancient Greek and Hebrew. Both very difficult languages. If you ask this quesion you should be following the translation of the Dead Sea Scrolls. What they know of them now is they are nearly identical to the original transcripts of the original and King James Bible. King James apparently had some things "altered" to benefit some of his "political" positions.

What those editings you speak of are "Mens" attempts to get the Bible to say what they want it to say. Remember RELIGION was created by "Man" and man will continue to use it to their advantage. The present political positions of fundementalist christian who will and have used the Bible (in their interpretation) to gain political advantage........this doesn't speak well for "religion" does it?