The Bible....?

Question

What if the bible was changed?, you have to realize the Bible is made by man not by god. And the Printing Press was developed way past when jesus died. I don't know if im allow to ask this question, my family is Catholic, but im not baptized yet, so that makes me atheist. I truely believe there is god and he has plans for all of us, but im questioning my faith, asking if the Bible is the truth, and we are beliveing the facts.

Answer 1

the Bible isn't factual, and that is the whole point. it is meant to be questioned. without questioning, it would be factual, and therefore everyone (mostly) would believe the Bible without questioning it. However, there are so many different interpretations of the Bible by all these different variations of Christianity. So, what i struggle with is the question, who is right???

Answer 2

Even if the Bible was true to the letter to the original documents when they were first transcribed (which it most certainly isn't), you still couldn't be certain that you were reading "the ultimate truth." The writers themselves brought their own interpretations to the scriptures, and those writers also wrote long after Jesus' death - more than 70 years later, in some cases. The writers recorded stories about Jesus based on stories passed down through oral tradition. Some scholars also believe that the Gospels are based on some mysterious, ancient document that has yet to be found containing quotations supposedly said by Jesus (often referenced simply as "Q"). This theory was born when people noticed that the gospels, including many of the gnostic gospels, contained the same quotations.

I don't think that ultimate truth exists anywhere. Even in science, much of what we have are just "theories," which are often changed based on new experiments. Since it is impossible to test every possible situation, it is impossible to confirm that any of these theories is infallibly true. Despite what you learn in school, for example, no one really knows what gravity is. Physicists still argue about that one. What we learn about are simply the most popular theories.

Although no one has found ultimate truth, everyone seeks it. Whether they choose religion, science, philosophy, art, or some other medium to come as close as possible to some unchanging ideal, everyone pursues it. That is my reason for believing in God. We all strive so fervently for perfect truth that I cannot believe that it doesn't exist. In fact, it seems an inherent part of human nature to look for truth. I think that the ultimate truth we all search for - the unifying force that contains everything within it - is God.

Personally, I am a Catholic. That doesn't mean that I don't question my faith. In fact, there are things that I don't agree with that the Church says. I recognize that it wouldn't matter what faith I chose - I would disagree with it in some respect.The reason why I stay a Catholic is because I think that having some form of religion keeps me grounded. It's one of the mediums that I choose to help me to find God, and it provides a good framework to help me to do that. I think that science is valuable, despite its shortcomings. Similarly, I believe that books like the Bible have value. Something can have value without being perfect.

Hope that this helps. Good luck with your personal discovery.

By the way, not having a religion doesn't make you an atheist. An atheist is someone who doesn't believe in God. You can choose not to have a religion and still believe.

Answer 3

Did you know there are words in spanish that don't translate literally into english (without some extensive explanation). The word Amante literally translated is lover... but the connotation is more than that... it implies someone for who the speaker has deep intimate feelings for (whereas, in English, Lover simply denotes someone with whom you have sexual relations).

My point is this: Often times when things are translated, they are not always translated with 100% accuracy. That having been said... There are many texts (including the Dead Sea Scrolls) which provide a pretty reliable basis for today's biblical translations...

Understand that questioning your faith is not a bad thing... Even Job questioned God... and there's an entire book in the Bible devoted to him. The fact that your family is Catholic but you've not been baptized does not make you atheist. An Atheist is someone who doesn't believe in God (Atheist literally means without God).

When trying to determine if something is believable or credible, you should examine it against other sources and take it's origins into account. I could go into great detail here, but as most people usually are bored with me long before I reach this point in my response, I will end with this: There are numerous historical and archeological records that support the authenticity of the Bible...

So go ahead question your faith - sure... but be careful who you are asking and what their motives are when they are providing answers.

Answer 4

The Bible is written by man, but by the Word of God. it is 100% true and it is NOT metaphoric. i dont understand what makes people feel that way... what does the printing press have to do with anything? it was written before then.... obviously it just wasnt printed before then. of course you're allowed to ask questions, that is what makes our faith stronger. you're family is Catholic, yet you havent been baptized?? i strongly suggest getting baptized sooner, rather than later. I am Roman Catholic as well. and just because you arent baptized does NOT mean you are atheist. I recommend praying to the Lord, our Savior, for guidance and perhaps, if not already done so, consult your parents. they should hopefully be a good source of help for you. I hope that your faith may grow incredibly stronger through this journey. God Bless.

Your brother in Christ.

Answer 5

You aren't atheist... You believe there is a god, that is the definition of theist. Just because you haven't been recognized by your religious group doesn't make you an atheist.

The bible has changed over time... it's obvious. Especially early texts such as genesis. It's clear that the work of many years of elaboration and reinterpretation has gone into these stories. Many texts viewed as holy scriptures were left out of the bible during canonization as well.

The bible needs to be revised to work in our modern world. Ancient laws and cultures do not work in the 21st century.

Answer 6

Well you I believe that all the scriptures are inspired of God. He may of used mankind to write it but I believe that if this God could create the Hevans and the earth then he surely could make sure that mankind wrote what he wanted it the bible.
You could look at alot of evidence, to start with maybe the Archaeology side of the bible.The tower of babel-GEN11:1-9 look up babilonian history and you find that such a place excists and the very thing the bible talked about were found inscripted on the wall.
Shishak- the king of Egypt was mentioned 7 times in the bible. Recently there have been records that have been found of his attack on Judah.
It came in the form of Hieroglyphycs and pictures on the south wall of a vast Egyptian temple at Karnak.
The moabite stone--In 1868 this discovery was made.--Look that up.
King Sennacheribs prism--- Look that up.
The Lachish letters--Look that up.
the Nabonidus Chronicles--Look that up.
The Cyrus Cylinder---Look that up.
Danarius Coin with Tibrtius' Inscription--Look that up.
The Arch of Titus--Look that up.

All of these things are proof of the bible being acurate.
the reason I did not tell you everything and asked you to look them up yourself is I think you need to really pray that you find the trueth and then you need to research yourself.
The bible tell you to do this and not to rely on mans word .
So start praying and start discovering the trueth yourself.
It will be a good spiritual meditation for you at this time.

Answer 7

this is my theory, i think that there is a chance that the bible once upon a time was here and made for us, but just to think of how many times its been translated and all that into so many languages, then rephrased and so on, i mean, i think that the true meaning and scriptures have been lost in translation. Also think about this, you know most of the scriptures are metaphores. You know people can read a sentence and understand it differently than the next person. I think thats why there are so many religions out here, they all say they go by the bible but with so many translations, you know people get different perceptions of it, who knows what it says originally! We dont really know, all we can do is make up our own understanding of it and just be good people. I mean we all know the difference between right and wrong right? Thats one of the reasons i dont follow any type of organized religion, because by now, they all have made their own ideas and have added or made their own interpretations that i dont always agree with

Answer 8

Not being baptized does not make you an atheist.

Old documents like the Constitution and the Bible do appear to become outdated but if you take their overriding theme and apply it to life today, the message holds true. Socially, we are not that much more knowledgeable than we were 2,000 years ago but we have become better in much of the world because of the teachings of religions. "Thou shalt not kill", was a fairly new concept back then. Now we struggle to execute mass murderers and have abortions. God will forgive you if you don't believe that Moses parted the seas or Noah loaded 2 of every living thing in the world on a boat that he built by himself.

Answer 9

The ancient writings which we have found all agree substantially. By that, I mean the Dead Sea scrolls which scholars have examined have shown minor differences in the spelling (an example in English would be 'colour' versus 'color) or easily corrected changes in word order ('wept Jesus' when it was supposed to be 'Jesus wept') compared to manuscripts before and after their time. The continuity of the scriptures, carefully copied by dedicated men who prized the accuracy of the words, was not altered and modified. It was not substantially altered from the time it was first given untl it was set in print.

Back in the days when few people were literate, many men memorized large portions of the Bible. And, given the reverence in which the Bible was held, if anybody had tried to present to them an altered version of the events, they would have been stoned to death. Nobody would have dared to alter it for a prank or a lark. There are references in the Gospels and Acts to the effect that the apostles decided to set down accurate records of the things to which they were eyewitnesses. And these men insisted on the accuracy and the truthfullness of what they were saying, and refused to retract their statements even if it cost them their lives, which it did. Nobody is going to die just to play a practical joke on someone. And ALL the apostles were willing go to their deaths; all but John did.

The Bible was written down by men, but that does not mean that it had its origins in the mind or imagination of men. As God impressed the truth on each writer, until he reached the point where he could no longer deny it to himself, each man wrote what he had been brought to believe. Not what someone told him to write, or tricked him into writing, but that which he no longer had any moral choice to refuse to write, if he was going to remain honest with himself.

The Bible is the only ancient writing which deals adequately with the deep questions of whether our lives have any real meaning or value, of whether there is any real difference between good and evil, of whether truth means anything or not.

Now, having said that, there is a great deal of difference between the Bible and tradition. If it's in the Bible, we can depend on it. If it's a 'tradition', it might have been added long after the Bible was finished. You have to ask which things you are taught are human traditions and which are the Word of God, and which one is more important.

Answer 10

Yes, the Bible was changed numerous times and no one has the original words. You might be interested in the book Misquoting Jesus. The author explains different interpretations, texts that were likely changed on purpose, and the difficulties in determining what is "original". Here's a link to the book on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Misquoting-Jesus-Story-Behind-Changed/dp/0060738170/sr=8-1/qid=1159935972/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-2257416-4693701?ie=UTF8&s=books