If god is omniscient, then he knew giving his word to humans would be allowing it to be messed with, tweaked, and otherwise perverted, so why did he do it? How can he expect anyone to know what is really his word and what isn't? What tools do christians have to decipher what in the bible is truly the word of god and what has been added or changed? How do they know nothing is missing? Why are there so many translations? if the words were in one language to begin with why should it be interpreted so many different ways? Don't words have limited meanings?
2007-01-22 08:19:37 · 5 answers · asked by bensbabe 4 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
He fell asleep on the 7th day and when he woke up on Monday...
2007-01-22 08:26:16 · answer #1 · answered by Gene Rocks! 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
That's a load of questions in one question!
Okay, let me address these concerns individually.
First, God IS omniscient. He only gave us one commandment, and we blew it. He knew it would happen. Ever since, the world has been under a curse. It is no longer "perfect." It's ours and our ancestor's faults. God allowed it because He allows us our free will. He gave us the command to rule, and just as an employer hires a manager to work, sometimes, they don't act according to his or her will. Same with God giving us stewardship over the earth. And we messed it up.
Second, It is easy to know what His Word is. He has cared for and nurtured it for millennia. You can have great confidence that the Bible you can purchase at a book store is the Bible that God wants you to read. I will show you how you can have faith in it, contrary to the naysayers.
When the translators of the King James Bible wrote the Old Testament, the oldest available manuscript for them to use, was known as the Masoretic Text. This had been written in the 9th century A.D. It was this text that the translators based their work on the Old Testament. In 1947, a shepherd boy discovered some pottery in caves in the area called Qumran, near the Dead Sea. In these jars, he discovered scrolls, which archaeologists and Bible scholars have researched ever since. Every book of the Old Testament (except Esther) was discovered. Most of these scrolls are dated to 150 B.C. After comparing these Dead Sea Scrolls to the Masoretic Text, the scholars discovered an amazing degree of unanimity between the two, although they were written a thousand years apart. Further, the Septuagint (the Greek language translation of the Hebrew Bible) was also compared. With all of these references, there is plenty of evidence that no biblical doctrine has been tampered with.
Naturally, the next book under a lot of scrutiny is the New Testament. However, there is no larger ancient body of manuscript evidence in the history of mankind than the papyri and parchment manuscripts of the New Testament. With over five thousand actual Greek manuscripts, and numerous other manuscripts in four other languages, there are about twenty-four thousand available manuscript texts for the New Testament.
Even if we didn't have these documents, we could almost have a complete New Testament from extra-biblical sources, such as ancient lectionaries, church fathers' records/sermons/writings, etc.
Because of the sheer volume of these manuscripts, and the ability to compare them to each other, we know what is and is not the true Word of God. It is the unanimity of these texts that have stood the test of time. The Bible has been attacked by great minds, and some of these have actually been converted after examining the evidence. Nothing is missing, because of the nearness of these manuscripts to the original autographs.
There is no other body of ancient work that comes close. No one really disputes Julius Caesar's The Gallic Wars (10 manuscripts remain, with the earliest one dating to 1,000 years after the original autograph). No one really disputes Pliny the Younger's Natural History (7 manuscripts; 750 years elapsed). Or Thucydides' History (8 manuscripts; 1,300 years elapsed). No one disputes Herodotus' History (8 manuscripts; 1,350 years elapsed). No one really disputes Plato (7 manuscripts; 1,300 years elapsed). No one really disputes Tacitus' Annals (20 manuscripts; 1,000 years elapsed.) Homer's Iliad, the most renowned book of ancient Greece, is the second best-preserved literary work of all antiquity, with 643 copies of manuscript support discovered to date. In those copies, there are 764 disputed lines of text, as compared to 40 lines in all the New Testament manuscripts.
As to the number of translations, there are many because we all want to understand the ideas behind what the original languages said. Some translations are more literal, but don't convey the meaning well. Others are a bit loose with the literal words, but convey the thoughts behind the words better. You cannot convey into English word for word with what the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek languages say. That is why there are many translations. Again, it is the fact that all of these translations really say the same thing that validates the translation.
Words don't necessarily have limited meanings. It is with words that we convey thoughts and ideas. When we cross language barriers, we have to find agreement in the words, thoughts and ideas. People have done this since the Tower of Babel. It continues to this day.
Sorry this was so long, but you did ask a lot of questions. I hope this helped some.
2007-01-22 08:40:09 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Ah, you have all of it found out have not you? properly, my finite minded buddy, interior the organising all became in simple terms suitable, particular, even devil. He was an angel in spite of everything. Then he desperate that, solid, he might evaluate and purpose besides as God, so why now no longer venture God, why now no longer be God? And that was the 1st step he took, much like the step you're taking now. Then the entire concern grew to become imperfect. Our egotism and selfishness created a merciless, imperfect international.
2016-12-12 17:49:23 · answer #3 · answered by parenti 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
James 1:5 "If any of you lack wisdom let him ask of God who giveth to all men liberally and upraidth not." In other words, we can know all truth if we ask of God and sincerly (key word) wish to know the answer. He will reveal it unto our hearts by the power of the Holy Ghost and by the power of the Holy Ghost you can know the truth of all things.
2007-01-22 08:25:59 · answer #4 · answered by garo g 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Forget your long explanation.
So that yahoo can get your money so you can have a soapbox and we can jeer at you.
A perfect solution to silly humans thinking they really understand.
2007-01-22 08:27:06 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋