325 years actually :P.
Looking through the other answers; the bible may be correct in many historical events but that by no means makes it correct about the existence of God and Christ's resurrection which is really the entire item behind it all.
2007-03-01 07:43:11
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answer #1
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answered by thomasgilboy 3
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The official canon didn't get established until 300 years after Christ's death. But that was probably mainly because the church was not hierarchical and not dictatorial (you'd have to check church history) until it became official under Constantine. The canon though was a broad set of what was regarded as reliable - perhaps they could have left out 1 or 2 of the letters as being not so understandable, e.g Revelation and Hebrews which require Jewish knowledge to understand.
Before that people knew what books they could rely on, and ignored the ones that manifestly weren't in the spirit of Christ, ie the gnostic trash.
You'd have to consult an expert but I think nearly all, or possibly all, the books in the NT come from the 1st century.
The gospels did get written 30 or more years after Jesus' death, probably when someone realised "oops, the original generation of believers is beginning to pop off, better investigate the eye-witnesses and get it down on scroll". Eg in Luke it says he carefully investigated everything and wrote an orderly account. John' s gospel seems to have also involved a considerable amount of meditation on the meaning of Jesus' life.
The letters of course were penned and kept, at least I presume that. A few of them were regarded when the canon was made as not quite so reliable or understandable - eg Jude repeats some of the arguments in 2 Peter.
They would have had copies of those books, and doubtless they got worn out and copied. They didn't have the finicketiness of trying to affirm they have kept the original copy because christian faith is basically about relationship with God. You get into that when you hear the message and believe. The basic message about Jesus dying for our sins is very clear and multiply expressed.
2007-03-01 16:52:30
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answer #2
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answered by Cader and Glyder scrambler 7
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It did not take 500 years for the Bible to come out.
The New Testament, for instance, is a collection of letters that were distributed, by the Apostles, to other Christians. The Old Testament books were around when they were written too.
In fact, the earliest copy of part of the New Testament is less than 5 years after the last book was written. We have Old Testament fragments dated to the time between the Old & New Testaments.
If you want more info. email me.
2007-03-01 15:50:39
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answer #3
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answered by Jeff- <3 God <3 people 5
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for goodness sake, have you actually ever read the bible?
in those days they didn't have a printing press, everything was was spread by word of mouth, and remember that there wasn't a billion followers of christfrom day one, it was a movement that spread over time, and they were heavily persecuted in the begining, so couldn't write things down for fear of being caught. the new testament is made up of the testaments of people who were reputed to have been around at the time. there were more than just mathew, mark, luke and john, but when the church was putting the bible together they left texts out because of repetition, also because some of the teachings didn't match with what they were trying to teach at the time. this is one of the reasons why a lot of people call the bible the greatest work of fiction, because the stories were handed down before being written down, also they were translated, which means mistakes could have crept in, and they were edited to suit those in power.
as for jesus, he is mentioned in enough texts, the dead sea scrolls, the jewish religion and the muslim religion, there seems to be enough evidence that he was a real person, but either didn't write anything down or get people to do it for him through his teachings.
2007-03-01 15:51:05
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answer #4
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answered by sirdunny 4
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People had to witness what Jesus was saying, that is why he had disciples to log and write their testimonies. If Jesus wrote it, then it would become a farce, he needed to publicly demonstrate what Christianity was all about, which of course is very basic, respect for ourselves and love one another. If you think about it, how long did it take us to develop? there are people living now, who still cannot read or write. What must have that been like 500 years ago.
2007-03-01 16:01:27
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answer #5
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answered by ambertottie 3
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The Holy Scriptures were written by holy men of God as they were moved by the Holy Ghost (2 Pe.1:20-21, 2 Samuel 23:2, Eph.3:5 below).
2 Pe.1:20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
2 Pe.1:21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake [as they were] moved by the Holy Ghost.
2 Samuel 23:2 The Spirit of the LORD spake by me (David), and his word [was] in my tongue.
Eph.3:5 Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit;
Pat (ndbpsa ©)
2007-03-01 21:40:15
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answer #6
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answered by BibleProphecyOnTheWeb 5
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Man spent early years evolving from ape by learning to hunt, comunicate and eventually learning to read and write.
Jesus died with the bible as his guidance and therefor couldn't have wrote it. God allowed every first impression of the bible to reign with the people before sending his only son to correct them. The people accepted Jesus back upon correction, but Jesus didn't commit sin?, that's the first impression!.
2007-03-05 14:39:05
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answer #7
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answered by Paul B 2
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The Bible is a long-term compilation of what was considered acceptable. There NEVER was `one word`, only a collection of wide ranging Christian works, matching wide ranging Christian beliefs. The Bible is the `corporate message` as the early church arranged it. We do not have any `paperwork` from Jesus, only the words, schemes and wishes of those who built the story.
2007-03-01 16:20:28
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answer #8
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answered by ED SNOW 6
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1) There was oral tradition. The Church gave us the Bible, not the other way around.
2) The Church is the "second incarnation" - Baptized members of the Body of which Jesus Christ is the Head.
2007-03-01 15:44:00
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answer #9
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answered by Anonymous
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Christianity is true, just because you say it is not doesn't make your opinion true. The gospels in particular were written by the apostles who were eye witnesses to the truth of Christ. The dead sea scrolls also hold the book of Isaiah. Historians have researched all this and have documented their finds.
2007-03-01 16:00:17
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answer #10
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answered by angel 7
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Your facts are incorrect.
Have you considered the reliability of the bible? Ignore for the moment the whole notion of God and just think about the book's content.
Some have claimed that the bible is no more accurate that Homer's Iliad. I respectfully disagree and the table shown at the link below clearly demonstrates my argument that the Bible is one of the most accurate sources for the events described in it.
Investigation will also reveal that there exists NO SINGLE SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY that has been shown to prove error, factually or doctrinally, in the Bible. There is plenty of speculation and hypotheses, but not a single verifiable fact. To make this claim alone is quite a feat for ancient texts, but when you add to it the fact that the Bible was written over more than 1,500 years by forty vastly different writers, yet every book in the Bible is consistent in its message. These 66 books talk about history, prophecy, poetry, and theology.
No human beings could have planned such an intricate combination of books over a 1,500-year time span. Bible manuscripts (remember, there were no printing presses until 1455) have survived despite weather, persecution and time. Most ancient writings written on weak materials like papyrus have vanished all together. Yet many copies of the Old Testament scriptures survived. For instance, the Dead Sea Scrolls contain all books of the Old Testament, except Esther, and have been dated to before the time of Christ. Consider Julius Caesar’s Gallic Wars. Only ten copies written about 1,000 years after the event are in existence. In comparison, there are over 24,000+ New Testament manuscripts, the earliest one dating to within 24 years after Christ.
The Bible also validates its divine authorship through fulfilled prophecies. An astonishing 668 prophecies have been fulfilled and none have ever been proven false (three are unconfirmed).
An honest study of biblical prophecy will compellingly show the divine authorship of the Bible. Further, archeology confirms (or in some cases supports) accounts in the biblical record. No other holy book comes close to the Bible in the amount of evidence supporting its divine authorship.
Few fail to realize this and show their lack of knowledge in the historicity of the Bible by objecting when folks use the bible to support their own positions. While no one objects when a journal article or some popular book or media piece is quoted, there is always lots of flippant commentary when Christians use the bible as a reference.
When I examine the evidence on both sides, I can only rationally conclude that given the bible's accuracy on so many issues, I have no reason to doubt its validity on all issues it contains, especially when it speaks to God's divine revelations.
To learn how the books of the bible came to be assembled as such see: http://gbgm-umc.org/umw/bible/canons.stm
Many versions of the bible existed before the King James and the advent of mass printing. See: http://www.greatsite.com/timeline-english-bible-history/
If you run across what you think is a biblical contradiction, please study the two sites' content below for a comprehensive list of so-called biblical contradictions.
http://kingdavid8.com/Contradictions/Home.html
http://www.bringyou.to/apologetics/bible.htm
If and when you are prepared, emotionally and educationally, to discuss the issues rationally, I am sure I will be around here to respond to your questions.
Accuracy of bible:
http://www.carm.org/questions/trustbible.htm
http://www.carm.org/demo2/bible/reliable.htm
2007-03-01 15:46:48
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answer #11
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answered by Ask Mr. Religion 6
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