If Christian was the right religion....?

Question

If Christian was the right religion , Why have christians change the word of g-d more than a billion times ?? Does it state in the bible that "please edit this book every year" ?? Show me where it says that man is allowed to change "the word of g-d" ... and dont give me the " times are changing" excuse

I was referrin to, why are there so many versions of it like ie: why is there a new 1 every year and in most bibles theres always a slight change

Answer 1

That's a big if you're using there....

They haven't changed it more than a billion times....

.... Just one or two really big times (the NT) and the nicene council and several small changes in the translation.

Answer 2

What do you mean by changing the word of God?

Are you asking why the translations?

Are you asking because of the "new" versions that have come out in the last 20 years, like NIV, The Message, and a few others? Those that I've mention are NOT what I call the Bible because the NIV left out over 300 passages and the The Message has put it in layman terms so much it is almost blasphemy. (my opinion)

There is NOTHING in the scriptures that says we can't "translate" to other languages. It just says you "can't ADD nor TAKE AWAY" from the scriptures (the Holy Bible). Which, in my opinion, the NIV and The Message as done exactly what we are NOT to do.

We are a "religion" by the definition of the word, but we are not a religion like other organizations are a religion. Religion was man made, Christianity was God made.... big difference. Christianity is none other than what the earlier followers were called in Antioch. They were called Christians, therefore that is where Christianity came from. No where in the Old Testament nor New Testament to you see the word Islam, Hindu, Buddha, and all the other off the wall religions out there.

Answer 3

There is no factual or historical basis for claiming that man has changed the word of God a billion times. Rather if you examine that text of the New Testament, you will find that it can be dated back to within 17 years (for some sections) of the time it was written. There still exist today over 2,300 manuscripts of the New Testament from before the time of the Council of Nicene (were supposedly the first alterations happened) which agree word for word with each other and the text used to translate Bible today. Over 7000 manuscripts from before the time of mass printing. No alteration has happened to the text of the New Testament.

As for why there are so many translations...most people do not read Hebrew or Koine Greek. So for them to be able to understand the scriptures, they need it in a language that the can read and speak.

When the church allowed the scriptures to become locked into one language (Latin) for over a thousand years, it caused many problems. People could not read or understand the scriptures for themselves, so they had to rely on priest, bishops and popes to tell them what it said. The results were inquistions, crusades, false doctrines, and the Dark Ages.

It took the Protestant Reformation and the translating of the Bible into common language to begin the Renaissance and the Age of Enlightment.

At what point should we stop translating the Bible? As language changes every few generations, any translation made today will become as outdate and useless as the Latin translation did within a matter of years. Have you ever tried to read the King James Bible as it was originally published in 1611? (The one normally used today is a revision from the 1790s). Here is the famous John 3:16 from 1611: "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." Can you see the need for keeping the translation up to date with the language?

If you feel the need to read the scriptures in the original language, there are many excellent books to help you learn the Greek and Hebrew. You can also purchase interlinear scriptures, which have the original language with a word for word English translation under each word. With that, and a good Greek or Hebrew dictionary, to look up words should you have a question about the translation in the interlinear, it does not take long for a person to be able to see that today's translations of the scripture are accurate and reliable. They have not altered or changed the scriptures. They have only translated them into our language.

No translation of any document from one language to another can every be 100% perfect - there are words in one language that have no counterpart in the second language, or that have shades of meaning that can not be perfectly matches in the second language. (Such as which is the better word for "oiktirmōn": tender or gentle. It carries both ideas. Either is an equally good translation into English). Add to that differences in grammar, word order, etc. and no two translation will ever be word for word identical.

But if you actually take the time to sit down and compare three or four translations to each other, you will find that they agree. There may be some difference in style, or word chooses (such as between an American English version and a Bristish English version) or in word order (Greek says "house yellow" where English says "yellow house"). But when compare the meaning of the text, you will be able to see that today's translations are accurate and reliable representations of the original text of the Bible.

Answer 4

This is a common misconception. Some people think that the Bible was written in one language, translated to another language, then translated into yet another and so on until it was finally translated into the English. The complaint is that since it was rewritten so many times in different languages throughout history, it must have become corrupted . The "telephone" analogy is often used as an illustration. It goes like this. One person tells another person a sentence who then tells another person, who tells yet another, and so on and so on until the last person hears a sentence that has little or nothing to do with the original one. The only problem with this analogy is that it doesn't fit the Bible at all.
The fact is that the Bible has not been rewritten. Take the New Testament, for example. The disciples of Jesus wrote the New Testament in Greek and though we do not have the original documents, we do have around 6,000 copies of the Greek manuscripts that were made very close to the time of the originals. These various manuscripts, or copies, agree with each other to almost 100 percent accuracy. Statistically, the New Testament is 99.5% textually pure. That means that there is only 1/2 of 1% of of all the copies that do not agree with each other perfectly. But, if you take that 1/2 of 1% and examine it, you find that the majority of the "problems" are nothing more than spelling errors and very minor word alterations. For example, instead of saying Jesus, a variation might be "Jesus Christ." So the actual amount of textual variation of any concern is extremely low. Therefore, we can say that we have a remarkably accurate compilation of the original documents.
So when that we translate the Bible, we do not translate from a translation of a translation of a translation. We translate from the original language into our language. It is a one step process and not a series of steps that can lead to corruption. It is one translation step from the original to the English or to whatever language a person needs to read it in. So we translate into Spanish from the same Greek and Hebrew manuscripts. Likewise we translate into the German from those same Greek and Hebrew manuscripts as well. This is how it is done for each and every language we translate the Bible into. We do not translate from the original languages to the English, to the Spanish, and then to the German. It is from the original languages to the English, or into the Spanish, or into the German. Therefore, the translations are very accurate and trustworthy in regards to what the Bible originally said

Answer 5

While I agree with your sentiment that people have been misinterpreting and changing God's word for a long time now this is not the fault of God's word, but of sinful man who twits God's word to his own mental and spiritual delight.

The answer to your question is already written in the Bible. If more Christians just spoke how and where the Bible does and didn't where it does not they would be better off.

Answer 6

No one has the right to change what God has written and commanded for us to do. But man has been doing this verbally for centuries. They twist scripture to make it fit their own ideas instead od accepting what God says and doing it.

Answer 7

Because in all human endeavors human error is unavoidable. This just shows that there is no true "word of g-d"

Answer 8

They edit the Bible so that it is easier to read...easier to understand...easier for the non-believers to catch on to the truth.

Answer 9

Those changing it will be punished just as all those who lie will pay for them.

Answer 10

Got any examples? That's a pretty sweeping statement.