How do you know what part of the bible to believe when it's been rewritten so many times?

Answer 1

While the Bible has been translated many times (few people today read ancient Greek and Hebrew, so it has to be translated to modern languages), it has not been rewritten.

We still have today thousands of manuscripts of the New Testament that date back so to withing 50-75 years of when the originals were written. (A handful of fragments that may be with 10-15 years). These come from different groups of Christians all across Europe, Asia and Africa. When these manuscripts are compared, there are about 40 lines out of the over 7,000 line of the New Testament where there are difference in the manuscripts. Most of those are differences in spelling of a word. None of them have any affect on the meaning of the scriptures.

There are many translations. Some, like the King James, have been around for centuries. Because of changes in spelling and the English language, even the King James has had to be "updated" a few times. Here is how John 3:16 read in the very first version of the KJ Bible: "For God so loued ye world, that he gaue his only begotten Sonne: that whosoeuer beleeueth in him, should not perish, but haue euerlasting life."

You can see that the meaning of the verse as not changed in the KJ commonly used today, only the spelling.

If you have ever tried to translate anything between two languages, you will know that it is not always easy. For example, the Greek language does not use the 's to show possession (like in John's book). It always says "the book of John". Then, in Greek, pronouns are rarely used. Instead a letter is added to the end of the verb in the sentence to represent the pronoun. It would not say "I am his son", it would "Am I the son of his". If translated word for word, it would make no sense in the English, or would appear to be a question? (Am I his son?). So the translators often have to move the words around to make them correct English grammer. So one might translate a sentence as "This is Sue's book" and other as "This is the book of Sue". Same meaning, but different styles.

You also hit a problem with words that have no exact English word to match, or have more than one meaning. For instance in the Greek there are three different words for "love", philos, which is a brotherly love, eros which is a sexual love, and agape with is pure and precious love. You get a verse like in John 21, where Jesus says to Peter "Do you (agape) me?" and Peter answers, "Yes, I (philos) you". Both words are translated as "love" in English, but the verse intends for them to mean very different things. So a tranlator has to decide how to convey that difference in English. They would have to use a word other then "love" for one of the two. So you could end up with difference in the wording of this verse in two translations.

It is recommended that you get yourself a couple of good translations, and if you have a question about a verse, compare them to help you get the whole meaning. No one translation will ever be able to perfectly translate every word of the Bible. There are simply too many shades of meaning to so many words. But any good translation should give you the meaning of the scriptures.

The Bible has not been rewritten. But it has been translated as needed to keep it rereadable and understandable for each new generation and language.

Answer 2

Why are you reading the Bible, for what purpose? If you are reading the Bible to gain an understanding of the character of God that will lead you to salvation, then any good translation will do, and all parts are essential. If you are reading the Bible to discover whether dinosaurs ever lived concurrently with mankind, or to find out how many legs an insect has, you will find many errors and be sorely disappointed. The purpose of inspiration is not to quell your curiousity, but to deliver to you eternal life. The Bible must be take all or none. If you choose to believe only part of the Bible, which parts are valid, and who chooses?

The Bible was written by erring, sinful men, who did not have PHD's in science. There are errors, both cultural and scientific aplenty. What you will not find though is any doctrinal error. The Holy Spirit inspired the men who wrote the Bible not the words that were written. The Holy Spirit only corrected the authors when doctrinal error was introduced, as in Revelation 19:10 when John fell down to worship the angel. By comparing text with text, any honest seeker will find adequate light in the pages of the Bible to find eternal life through Jesus Christ. Skeptics will also find plenty to hang their skepticism on. God is looking for earnest seekers after righteousness. The difference is not in the Word of God, but in the heart of the hearer. Remember the parable of the sower. The seed was all the same, it was the soil (the heart) that made the difference in the acceptance of the seed and the produce it made.

Answer 3

Presuming you're speaking about an English-language Bible, my advice to you would be to compare it to the Textus Receptus which is the New Testament as written in the original Greek. You can also research early manuscripts of the books of the New Testament written in Greek or Aramaic. There is also the Latin Vulgate, but being Latin it would require re-translation to Greek if you're concerned about translation errors from re-writes of the books.

As for the Old Testament, you can easily get a Hebrew "Tanakh", which is the Old Testament in the original Hebrew.

You're concerned about the re-writes of all these books, but do you have the same concerns when you read Plato's Republic or other ancient texts??? At some point, it must be trusted that the books were copied correctly. In the case of the Bible, there is the added element that if it is indeed from God then He would ensure it is passed on correctly.

It's funny to me that people rarely question if Aristotle's myriad writings as "authentic", or Plato's Republic, despite those being manually transcribed for centuries and with no original text fragments surviving, but they will always question the verity of the Bible's authenticity, despite the more widespread transcription of the Bible in so many different languages (Ge'ez, Latin, Armenian, etc.) which corroborate one another as well as fragments of original texts being in existence. The double standard most have for the Bible leads me to believe that it's more a matter of people not wanting to believe in it rather than needing more evidence of its accuracy.

Answer 4

It's this wonderful thing called faith. There was a lot of division in the past about this, and it has been rearoused in more recent times. As Chatholics and Christians, We belive that it was written in divne insperation by the Holy spirit, and to cut a long story short, no man can skrew it up. A family member has recently taken an adult bible class from a language professer (Which if you are still uncertaint, a class on the bible from someone who really knows what they're talking about is reccomended), and if any thing, the only bit thats really lost, is the names and almost the puns derived from there meaning.

Answer 5

We must believe all of it- or none of it. It has not been rewritten, it has been re-translated many times. There is a great difference. Most any modern translation that comes form the accepted ancient text is okay. They all may use different English words, but that say the same thing.

Answer 6

Because, as the Dead Sea Scrolls demonstrate, there have been no significant differences even in 1000 years. Accurately copied.

Most people have the problems with the parts of the Bible that condemn their ways of life; they don't want to change!! So, they attempt to discredit the Bible.

Answer 7

As with anything else, you must go with what you "feel" is correct and right. The basics of what the Bible teaches has never changed. Also, the old tesament has not really been changed only correction to the new testament as people attempt to bring the words into modern, more understandable perspective.

Answer 8

That's a myth. Archaeologists have found identical scriptures from 4000 years ago and more. UNCHANGED. Just because a book has been translated doesn't make it different.
It also helps when archaeologists find such interesting things as the chariots that were destroyed in the Red Sea.

Answer 9

by using academic standards. the bible has many errors but over 95% are merely grammatical and spelling changes.

smart christians use the gospels as the center of their faith.

the person of JESUS is the word made flesh. he shows god's love and compassion. using his life as our guide, one reads the rest of the bible.

some parts of the bible are literal history, some are songs. some are proverbs. some are letters written to specific churches. some are prophecies written to the people of israel. some, like the creation story, are stories to help us understand god.

no book is perfect. the bible, though, is a reliable guide. yes it has some sexism and other problems inherent to humanity. but it is a remarkable book. christians believe god inspired it

Answer 10

You know in your heart what is right. Even though the bible has ben rewriiten so many times, it is all good. All bibles teach us to be a good God loving person.