To Christians who know their bible and their history?

Question

Devout Christians and those knowledgable about the faith..... what do you know about the canonization of the Holy Bible? Do you feel secure in the validity of the text? Do you feel secure in the criteria that was given for a book to be included in the Holy Bible?

***I'm not asking to offend. I'm a religious studies major and I'm interested on the Christian perception of such events. I'm considering writing a term paper on the holy books of the three major monotheistics faiths so any answer with a serious opinion is welcomed.


*no reservations, all i ask is respect

you all made it very hard to choose which answer is the best..... i think i'm going to leave this one to voting.

peace to all

Answer 1

The canon is nothing except the books that were selected to be in the Bible, the early church fathers had nothing to do with actually writing them; the manuscrips were already there. The books they chose were the books that mainstream Christianity already accepted, so they excluded the Gnostic texts and such which they believed were contrary to the Christian message. By reading the Gnostic texts, you can tell why they were exluded, such as in one how Jesus purportedly said he would transform Mary into a male so she can go to heaven.

My Greek teacher, who was taught by Bruce Metzger, said that they were so careful in writing the manuscrips that they would have one scribe looking over each of the writer's shoulder, and if the writer made just one error they would burn the entire scroll (and back then they didn't have individual pages, they wrote it in one huge scroll).

The thing I do not trust is the English translations. In nearly every verse I translate, the meaning is not quite translated right. The only difference in the Greek manuscrips I have noticed is that one may say Christ Jesus, but another says Jesus Christ, but in Greek the words could be arranged in virtually any order without changing the meaning, so it doesn't really matter.

Answer 2

Regarding the Old Testament: The KJV is the first - and most likely most accurate - English language Bible. The problem remaining however (and it's a BIG problem) is that it was translated from Greek which had been translated from Hebrew. Now keep in mind there are Hebrew words whose meaning don't translate cleanly into Greek and there are Greek words that don't translate cleanly into English. Twice removed translations can really miss the mark, and has left scholars debating key Biblical issues for centuries. The New Testament was originally most likely written in Greek, so at least there was one less translation to muck things up. Studying the Bible is a life long adventure - it's absolutely fascinating. As far as the apocrypha goes, keep in mind that governing committees of men have always decided what's in and what's not in the Bible. What goes in is "canon". Be careful - far too many people get caught up in trying to decipher what a certain passage means or trying to figure out which church is 'more right'. NONE of that matters. What does matter is treating others how you would like them to treat you. The rest is just filler.

Answer 3

Latin Vulgate
Douay-Rheims Bible

The Douai Bible, also known as the Rheims-Douai Bible or Douay-Rheims Bible and abbreviated as D-R, is a Catholic translation of the Bible from the Latin Vulgate into English. The New Testament was published in one large volume with extensive commentary and notes in 1582. The Old Testament followed in 1609 in two large volumes, also extensively annotated. The notes took up the bulk of the volumes and had a strong polemical and patristic character. They also offered insights on issues of translation, and on the Hebrew and Greek source texts of the Vulgate. The purpose of the version, both the text and notes, was to uphold Catholic tradition in the face of the Protestant Reformation which was heavily influencing religion in England. As such it was an impressive effort by English Catholics to support the Catholic Reformation.

The Vulgate Bible is an early 5th century version of the Bible in Latin partly revised and partly translated by Jerome on the orders of Pope Damasus I in 382. It takes its name from the phrase versio vulgata, i.e., "the translation made public", and was written in a common 4th century style of literary Latin in conscious distinction to the more elegant Ciceronian Latin. The Vulgate was designed to be a definitive and officially promulgated translation of the Bible, improving upon several divergent translations then in use. It was the first, and for many centuries the only, Christian Bible with an Old Testament translated directly from the Hebrew rather than from the Greek Septuagint. In 405 A.D., Jerome completed the protocanonical books of the Old Testament from the Hebrew, and the deuterocanonical books of Tobias and Judith from the Aramaic. The remainder of the version and the psalter were translated from the Greek. Since the Council of Trent, the Latin Vulgate has been the official bible of the Roman Catholic Church. There are 76 books in the Celementine edition of the Vulgate Bible, 46 in the Old Testament, 27 in the New Testament, and 3 in the Apocrypha.

Answer 4

I don't belong to any organized religion but did study the bible for 10 years. However, since it appears you're looking primarily for secular answers, I won't be of much help.

The bible is a book of instruction and history. If the world did as the bible instructs, we'd never have wars. The bible speaks of false religion and that satan appears as an angel of light to deceive many. It speaks of the time of the end, if a person reads it without looking for loop holes or trying to find fault, it's a real eye opener and there's no doubt about what's going on today and what the end result will be.

I absolutely believe it's inspired of God and believe he's protected his word from those who would want to destroy it up to this point. But the bible says the day will come when his people will be persecuted and killed because of their love for him just as Jesus was. And that he will have to cut those days short lest no soul would survive. All we have to do is look around us to see that's possible.

Currently there's forces in the US, that will aid in having the bible and it's believers banned. We're headed for a socialist/communist rule, everyone will be forced to worship science and the state. Communist believe that God is the cause of all the problems in the world. That's like saying the gun manufacturer is responsible for murders instead of the one that pulled the trigger.

Well I probably didn't say anything that will be of help to you, but I enjoyed commenting about it. Do you reside in the US? If so, I'm surprised they allow studies about the bible. Good luck with your studies!

Answer 5

I am Catholic and I love the Bible, recognizing that it is a collection of 2000 years worth of history, which didn't start getting written down until about 1000 BC and even after that was edited, re-edited, combined, and then translated and translated again.

It is a beautiful set of Books full of wisdom and grace and teach us about who we are and who God is and about our relationship to him.

I don't care whether Adam and Eve were real people or not -- that's just not the point. There is so much wisdom in that story and I love it for what it is.

Parts of it make me cringe. The other day I read that Moses ordered someone to be stoned for collecting firewood on the sabbath. I was horrified. Another old testament story has a man sacrificing his daughter to God. Yikes.

I am familiar with how Constantine called the Council and the bishops came together and had to decide which books to keep as inspired by God and which ones didn't meet the bar. I am glad they kept four gospels, knowing each was a little bit different, rather than declaring only one of them as 100% accurate and burning the rest.

As for the gnostics, I understand this was a sect that practiced meditation and inner visions, and much of what is in the gnostic gospels is someone's inner vision or sleep-deprived fantasy that they dreamed up, and that this kind of inner vision was prized in that community. Much was symbolic -- i.e. Jesus kissing someone on the mouth was a symbol of passing on spiritual wisdom.

All in all, I think the Council did a pretty good job. I would like to read more of what was not included, and I might someday, but I think all the fuss being made about the Church oppressing the Truth is sensationalism that sells (how rich is Dan Brown by now?).

I do not say that the Bible is imperfect, for it is perfect in its wisdom and in the context of what it is. But I do not see it as a direct dictate of God, the way the Muslims perceive the Koran.

God is love, and Love is of God, and that's the foundation of Christianity. Knowing God intimately, inviting Him to come dwell in the depths of your heart, feeling his love wash over you and through you and pour out of you onto others -- this is the essense.

The Bible is the best tool we have as Christians to keep that love alive. I love it for what it is, and I try not to sweat the small stuff.

Answer 6

The bible is politics, the old has 5 gods the new is about 7 percent accurate of what Christ said . It was edited to the hilt by Constantinople, and a few others, all the mysticism was taken out, there are contradictions all through it, and people still say it is, The Word. I am a student of Jesus, not a follower, been studying for 22 years.

I AM

Answer 7

I think the "book" or writings of Enoch should be looked at more closely. The new testatment writers were influenced by them. The book is even quoted in Jude verse fifteen. Even terms like "the son of man" can be attributed to these writings long before Luke penned his gospel. As a jewish rabbi I am sure Jesus was very much aware of them. While the theology may be controversial, if the early church fathers had so much respect for these writings perhaps we should be willing to take a closer look. For those of you not familiar with this book it was thought to be lost until copies were found in Ethiopia in the nineteenth century.

Thanks for the question

Answer 8

I believe in God the Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost. I believe that they have the power to give the English Speaking and all other Languages a Holy Bible that contains the Truth that will give us the way to be Saved.
Men pick at the Holy Bible and become fools in their own wisdom.
God is all power full therefore the Holy Bible is just as He wants it to be. Men have made many interpretations that are his opinion and not necessarily Holy Inspirited. The King James Version is the translation for English Speaking people.

Answer 9

When I was younger and didn't believe and this was one of my arguments for not believing....the fact that man has altered, changed, rewritten the Bible as parts and as a whole. Let alone the Bible itself at the beginning was written by man and not Jesus or actually from God himself.

But once I believed I came to the conclusion, actually without much thinking...that as each hand wrote or changed the Bible, it was actually changed for how God wanted it to be. Since it is his book, I really can't believe that he would let it become deceptive in its message.

Just like why the Bible will survive twisters, hurricanes, etc and be left totally untouched while the rest of the room is totally destroyed. He won't allow his book to be destroyed by his own actions. Since weather is a creation of his, it cannot destroy his word.

So saying that....since man is his creation....no matter how someone might try to write or change the book....God ensures its written and speaks his word as he wishes. As he is not a deceptive God nor would he lead us down a wrong path.

Answer 10

You don't offend me, As far as do I have Faith & trust in the way the Bible is written, Yes I do, Why, because I have seen & also Can see Prophecies in the Bible That either has come to pass exactly as it is written with the Revelation of that verse or those verses, And I can see future Prophecies taking step by step to fulfill it self.