Q for Bible believers: Is the Bible trustworthy, given the fallibility of its being edited & translated?

Question

If the content of the Bible was passed on orally long before ever being recorded in text, and then edited repeatedly, then translated repeatedly, over the time it has been in circulation around the world, how can it be trusted to provide the inspiration that many religious denominations claim came from God?

I welcome anyone who believes in the Bible, whether you have read it or not, and regardless of your religion, to offer your opinions on my question.

Sumerfest_01: How do you know that not much has changed over thousands of years? Who told you? Was it someone that has a vested interest in your believing such a claim? Was it the Bible itself? If so, even if they were telling the truth its tainted testimony.

Several answerers (Puppetman and Lt. Dan and Mark g and Dee) have mentioned that original texts have been found that are similar to more recent translated versions, and other answerers mentioned that the texts that currently exist in different languages are generally similar in message, even if not in individual word interpretations. I hope I understand this correctly.
However, only a couple of people responded regarding the Bible being passed on orally long before being recorded, with one person mentioning that some writings go back to the time of Moses.
I am not contesting the clearly valuable core messages the Bible contains, such as murder being a bad thing, and I'm certainly not a Bible basher or Christian Basher. My goal is to acquire wisdom about how the Bible is not meant for literal, word-for-word compliance but rather its message. Fundamentalist extremists of the Bible faith often quote passages like it is infallible, which it isn't.

Moxiewoman: I can't be sure Homer wrote the Iliad/Odyssey, but if it is so, then they most likely didn't write it alone, and therefore it's not purely his work. The stories of Caesar I can tell you I'm pretty sure are tainted and inaccurate, at least in part. I've seen evidence.
You, and a few others, have mentioned Strobel. One answerer is nick named after him. I too have done similar work as he, and seen some of his work, and agree that the Bible cannot be proven to be a lie, and that it contains power beyond human understanding, but that doesn't make it trustworthy or entirely accurate.
Truth is anything but universal. It's actually very relative, spurious to some and accurate to others. I have seen evidence that SOME of the Bible is true, but I've also seen evidence that SOME of the bible is "not neccessarily true or false, but something else." In doubt, conjecture, opinion, interpretation, leading, fluid, relative, metaphorical, etc, the list goes on. Not much is totally wrong.

Summerfest_01: It is notable that the underlying messages of the Bible haven't changed in centuries, but what does that mean? In the least supernatural meaning, it means that a few wise people put their heads together and developed a text of how things could be back in a time when being alive was really hard. Having dreams and visions of this sort are very common among humans (I get them), and it wouldn't take much to get a few impoverished slaves and farmers from 4000 years ago to agree on simple terms of treating each other better. And you could say this visionary experience was insired by God. Over the centuries it developed into The Good Book, later renamed The Bible (hypotheticallly speaking).
Therefore, It really IS saying something when you realise that what we as a species really want (peace, harmony, truth, fairness and justice) hasn't changed in millenia. It really says something about how we can justify conducting relatively evil acts that contravene our beliefs.

Nana: You are right in your first sentence, but what if it is Gods will that we be allowed to 'improve' on His word as we progress as a society?
His word is called the Living Word of God because it tells of tales of people who once lived, and offers advice that can be applied directly to one's life. Problem is, each person's life is different, so the method and means of applying the advice of the Living Word is different, sometimes so different that it is unrecognisable as His advice.
I expect that many people think that keeping the Bible intact is a simple thing, which is exactly why it is susceptible to corruption.

Kaliroadrager: If you are saying that the testimony of living persons in the Bible is validated by being similar to the testimonies printed in unrelated texts documenting that period of time, I ask you to do more research. The people that wrote those books lived in that region, a society that is exclusively of that religion, therefore the secondary source is tainted.

Answer 1

I have never ceased to marvel at the wonder of how the Bible has been preserved through the centuries. The God who revealed its message and who inspired its being written is powerful enough to see to it that it is passed down to each generation with His message intact. This is called Divine Providence. And yes, I do trust the Scriptures and if a few words here and therfe have been mistranslated, we still have the original languages versions of both the Old Testament and the New Testament. I am an M.Div in Biblical Studies and beleive me, we "take the Bible apart" when we study it in its original langauges (Hebrew, Aramaic and Koine Greek) and the "mistranslations" are only so few in number and do not at all detract from the principle message of a book as a whole. When we do word studies, it is not so much to get a more "accurate" tranlsation, but to discover nuances of the original word - like digging for gems. Our present English translations are very good; some better than the others. But on the whole, yes, I do trust the Scriptures and beleive they are the inspired Word of God to humankind.

Answer 2

Gladly, I shall do that.

Answer to your question is: Yes. If you dont question whether or not Homer wrote the Iliad (which has less surviving original copies than the Bible), then you should not question the reliability and trustworthiness of Holy Scripture.

The Bible is God's word breathed, and inspired by the Maker Himself.

some of the people who translated scripture (wycliffe, namely) had such high reverance for the Word of God (as they should), that many of them have said to have washed their hands carefully and treated the text with utmost reverence.

Since it is God's word, and God is Sovereign (among His many mindblowing attributes), the way that the words have been copied have not gone unnoticed by Him. And He still speaks loudly and clearly to us through His word. I have heard countless stories of how the Bible has changed lives. I am one with such a testimony.

If you can beleive that Homer wrote the Odyssey and if you can think that the stories of Caesar, though they were written in a totally different language, still convey the actual events, then, my friend, the Bible should be no different.

Lee Strobel was a sceptical man. He set out to disprove Christianity as a whole. He was serious about his endeavor. He researched tirelessly and read the Bible backwards and forwards, he asked all the sceptical questions he could think of. And at the end--the ended up converting to Christianity because the truth cannot be proved as a lie, and it contains power beyond human understanding. As is typical of humans, if they dont understand it, then they wont accept it. Dont make the same mistake. If you can't understand the Bible or have hard questions, ask. One day you will be dead and it will be too late for questions. I recommend you to any of Lee Strobel's books (he is now a zealous proclaimer of the truth he found in God's word and how it has changed him). You can just search him up on Amazon.

It is good that you are asking this question. You will be dead longer than you will be alive (!) so it is good to figure out truth. Truth is universal, it's either truth to all, or spurious to all. And I have seen evidences of God's word being true, the changing power of God's word to change peoples' lives. You can accept it, or reject it, but what we do with it does not determine it's (the Bible's) truthfulness and reliability.

I provided you a link, I am a member of a movement of churches that prize truth and share it openly.

Answer 3

If it is indeed the Word of God, inspired by God, and written by God through men, then God would certainly have the ability to keep His Word as True. So far, He has kept the Bible from becoming extinct and in-fact has now expanded it to meet all the nations and in all languages, even audio, and in Braille. He is giving all peoples of the world access to His Word. It is still the number one selling book throughout history from the time that it began. The Word still changes lives. If God created the universe and keeps it in balance, and maintains all that we know, then I would imagine that keeping His Word intact is probably a simple thing. The Word of God is also known as the Living Word, because in it is life. I believe that God and His Word are One and simply Truth. Mankind may be able to twist it, and misinterpret it but people still get the message He has put in it.

Answer 4

This link (below) goes over that question. I think the notion that the Bible was ever edited/tampered is blown to absolutely ridiculous proportions. Most scholars agree that the Bible has been one of the most accurately transmitted ancient writings, with hundreds of old manuscripts being all nearly identical.

The reason is because once the Bible was written (old testament and new, at different times) many, many copies were soon made , some that survive even today. Thus, tampering is difficult to achieve, as it conflicts with the many other manuscripts available at the time, making it easy to pinpoint what was edited, and when.

Answer 5

My first question to you is if you have read the Bible......Reading the Bible for me from start to finish was like an outline in those college courses we used to take.....it had a beggining and an end, a source to look to and then He promised the Messiah, almost seven hundred years in advance.....re-read it again if you missed that part about God announcing this....

Especially after Psalms, where the Hebrews elected a King after God told them not to. God orders us to do things but sometimes we are not wiling to follow His judgement. The Hebrews were conquered by this kingdom and that kingdom, but the prophets always foretold of Christ, hundreds of years before Jesus was born.

If you have never read the Bible, then please do before you make such rash stereotypes, I almost never even answered your question because of it.

The Bible was written by those who have witnessed it, both in the Old Testament and New Testament. The New Testament especially has many accountable facts that made that book valid just by what they said and when they were dated....

If you are just a Christian basher, then I'm sorry, but I do have hope for you. Read the New Testament, Saul was a Christian basher and killed many to satisfy the local governent, until he became Paul, and started to convert many to Christ by hi testimony....

Answer 6

While there have been many mistranslations over the years, most are trivial in nature. Understanding the commandment thou shalt not kill, properly translates to thou shall not murder. The Old Testament was found to be 94% accurate with the Dead Sea Scrolls after they were found. The most accurate translation of ancient manuscripts in history.
As far as the statement that they had to have been passed down Orally. Excavations in Iraq, near UR, and early Babylonian and Sumerian cities, have found writing was used back in the time Moses lived and possibly farther back from there.

Answer 7

Well you have to think not all translations will come out the way they were meant to, I've hear that "Finger licking good" means "Eat your fingers" in some languages i think its either chinese or japanese. Also Christians don't follow the Bible word for word anyhow they cut and paste what they want to believe in and turn it into a doctrine, which of course Jesus spoke against.

Of course there are some people that believe that Bibles mysteriously end up in christian book stores and aren't printed by a printing press.

Answer 8

The Dead Sea Scrolls showed that the texts used for translation were amazingly close to the older scrolls. There is more reason to doubt the Shakespeare copies. Read "Evidence That Demands a Verdict" by Josh McDowell, a former agnostic who became a believer by researching such questions as this one.

Answer 9

I have read quite a bit about this. Answer: It hasn't been edited that much and not much has changed over thousands of years. There must be something to it.

Response: G.S., it was researching the original scrolls against the current edition of our Bible. I am telling you, not much has changed. Minimally in the realm of things. If a mere book were written and copied the same way beginning two centuries ago, at present it is doubtful given trial, error, and study, that what we would currently possess would bear even a slight semblance to the original. Now that IS something, isn't it?

Answer 10

Try to read it with the understanding that yes over the years things have changed the meaing of the words in it. Not at fault of the writers but at the fault of men.

Read it as a whole. Try not to pick it apart. Do that with anything and you will find wrong in everything.

The bible is a good thing.. It wants us to love god and jesus and each other and take care of each other and respect ourselfs.