The Bible has been changed because God did not promise to protect it from change ?

Question

“For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:”
“And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and [from] the things which are written in this book”. ---- Rev 22:18-19


This is a severe warning to the Israelites to not change the revelations because the Bible is not guaranteed to be free from human corruption/changes.

If the Bible was to be protected from change by divine decree then this warning would not be needed.

That is why both the Old and New Testament and the Torah have gone through so many changes over the centuries and you can see the difference if you look at a 100 year old bible.

This doesn’t mean the Bible is not scripture…. It just means that not every word is guaranteed by God to be exactly what was revealed in the original form and therefore you cannot say it is the infalliable word of God.


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Answer 1

I agree, in fact, I wrote this same thing myself about a week or two ago.

Answer 2

No, nothin like that, but there are commands as you have mentioned, + there's the warnin right at the end of the last book about not addin or takin away, as juvegirl + others have mentioned. I don't know why this has caused so much strong feelin - seems a reasonable enough question to me. As for the Bible being tampered with - well, that's a really complex issue, so too complicated to answer in full. But very briefly, the Hebrew Bible was revised many, many times, but with the intention of keeping it's central message pure + unchanged. The cannon especially, [the individual books regarded as divine revelation] has altered over time as groups of editors have made scholarly judgements on authenticity + consistency. Muslims believe that the books of the New testament were already inaccurate when first written circa 1st century C.E. anyway. There is little evidence that their content has changed significantly since then. The Christian Bible is significantly less 'altered' than most muslims believe, + the individual books are historically traceable + accurate translations. But it was compiled by panels of scholars who had faith in Paul's revelations. The question is whether you believe them to be right.

Answer 3

The bible has the same message as when first written inspired by God, men moved by the Holy Spirit.

I have been anointed with the Spirit of Truth (John 2:27) who leads me into all truth and also tells me the Bible is True.

It is Jesus who told John to write the vision of Revelation. And because of the last warning to not add or take away..., Revelation has stayed the same. People can only change the bible by adding other books that say the bible writes this instead of that. This has been attempted many times and these additional books are called apocryphal (false) & have been proven contradictory to Gods Word.

And the Word of God has been tested, tried & found true.

It is just those who don't accept Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God, the Atonement for sin, & Resurrection who say the bible has been changed. Those usually have written up a different gospel.

Answer 4

Revelation 22:18-19 does not apply to the whole Bible. "This prophecy" means the prophecy in the Book of Revelation. "This book" means the Book of Revelation. The Bible is a set of Books. Revelation is a book. John did not say that one couldn't add to the Bible - John said that one could not add to or take away from the Book of Revelation.

That's important, because the Protestants like Martin Luther during the Protestant Reformation "took away" from the Bible when they removed the 5 books known as the Deuterocanonicals or Apocrypha from the Bible. When the Bible was put together in the 3rd and 4th centuries, they settled on the Bible that is now the Catholic Bible. The Protestants thought that the Deuterocanonicals should not have been in there in the first place, and removed them.

So, if Rev. 22:18-19 applies to the whole Bible then either the Protestants (for removing) or the Catholics (for adding) have a big problem on their hands. And since all the people from the 4th century through the Protestant reformation a thousand years later would have not had any alternative Bible -- if they were following the wrong one at their peril, how in the world were they to know?

Answer 5

There was no change to the Revelations, todays NT is the same as the first copy we have.

God's written Word must not be altered or deconstructed in any way.
Matthew 5:18-19; John 10:35; II Peter 1:20-21; Revelation 22:18-19

Matt. 24: 35
35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

God's written Word is eternally valid and supernaturally protected.
Matthew 24:35; Psalm 119:89; Psalm 119:160; Isaiah 40:8; I Peter 1:23

God's written Word is the standard of both righteousness and judgment.
John 12:44-50; II Timothy 3:16-17

God's pleasure and will (truth) is revealed through the Scriptures.
II Peter 1:21; John 17:17

160 Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever.
Psalms

Isaiah 40:8 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.

1Peter 1:23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.

Answer 6

Interesting argument...but it ignores some of the facts.

There are just over 2,300 manuscripts of the New Testament books which predate the Council of Nicene (the time when it is alleged that the NT was re-written). They come from all across Europe, Asia, and Africa. Many are from non-Catholic sources and even from groups that were anti-church of Rome.

Yet when these manuscripts are compared, the reading between them is 99.7% word for word indentical. Of the 0.3% that are different, the majority of those are either different spells of the same word, or tranpositions of words ("Jesus Christ" instead of "Christ Jesus"). One variant reading is found in three different manuscripts. Four variant readings in two different manuscripts. The rest occur once in the 7,500 know (early and later) manuscripts. That is an incrediable record for accuratcy.

Compare that to Homer's Illiad, where nearly 1/3 of the poem is in dispute. Or to the writings of Shakespears, where not a single one of his plays has not had to have one or more scenes recreated because the original is lost.

If every copy of the New Testament were to disappear today, it is possible to recreate all but 11 verse of the NT from quotes in letters, prayer books, literagies, inscripts, artwork, etc. that all date from the first 150 years of the Christian faith.

There is really no need for God to have a "protection" listed in the scriputres. All we have to do is look at the existing manuscripts, some of which have been dated to less then 20 years after the originals, to know that the New Testament is unchanged.

Usually solid, tangible, historical proof is better to present then just a promise.

Answer 7

How can we be sure the Bible has not been changed?

“In the number of ancient MSS. [manuscripts] attesting a writing, and in the number of years that had elapsed between the original and the attesting MSS., the Bible enjoys a decided advantage over classical writings [those of Homer, Plato, and others]. . . . Altogether classical MSS. are but a handful compared with Biblical. No ancient book is so well attested as the Bible.”—The Bible From the Beginning (New York, 1929), P. Marion Simms, pp. 74, 76.

A report published in 1971 shows that there are possibly 6,000 handwritten copies containing all or part of the Hebrew Scriptures; the oldest dates back to the third century B.C.E. Of the Christian Greek Scriptures, there are some 5,000 in Greek, the oldest dating back to the beginning of the second century C.E. There are also many copies of early translations into other languages.

In the introduction to his seven volumes on The Chester Beatty Biblical Papyri, Sir Frederic Kenyon wrote: “The first and most important conclusion derived from the examination of them [the papyri] is the satisfactory one that they confirm the essential soundness of the existing texts. No striking or fundamental variation is shown either in the Old or the New Testament. There are no important omissions or additions of passages, and no variations which affect vital facts or doctrines. The variations of text affect minor matters, such as the order of words or the precise words used . . . But their essential importance is their confirmation, by evidence of an earlier date than was hitherto available, of the integrity of our existing texts.”—(London, 1933), p. 15.

It is true that some translations of the Bible adhere more closely to what is in the original languages than others do. Modern paraphrase Bibles have taken liberties that at times alter the original meaning. Some translators have allowed personal beliefs to color their renderings. But these weaknesses can be identified by comparison of a variety of translations.

Answer 8

These verses are not necessarily referring to translations of the Bible. This verse is a warning against religious creeds and rules that are written by man and passed off as "religious writings" also referred to as "religious traditions". Adding various practices to the worship service, such as instruments, women preachers, etc fall into the same warning. If they are not found in the scriptures, it is a warning not to add them and declare them part of the worship service.

A good, recent example, is the change to the "limbo" policy. The concept is not found anywhere in the Bible, yet is something that is bound to the Catholic religion. Any such decrees, creeds and traditions that are not of God have been "added" to the teachings of the Bible. This is what the warning refers to.

Answer 9

So,it has been changed..the Christain scholars couldnt save it from being changed alil here n there...,the God did not promise to protect it from alterations..so..now what?..what does logic say?..what does the brain tell u?..question ur self..and ask..why not find a book which God promised to his people n took upon himself as a gaurntee that his book shall never change in any way..even a fullstop shall not be changed..It is the quran..that God has promised n it has not n never shall change or alter in anyway!...Had jesus himself signed n autographed Bible..there would hv been no question asked...we all would have been following it without anyyy questions..but he didnt infact bible was written n re written after his death soo many times,,,that THAT has enabled it to contardict with it self..That is the reason the fact that soo many christain scholars have converted to Islam..BUT NOT ONE muslim scholar has converted to Christainity.

Answer 10

You are comparing Allah's word to the Holy word of God the question is ridiulous as God's word is truth and we do not ask God for an extra promise to keep his word Moses himself knew better. God is true to his word we had no need to question his ability to keep his word. We understand that other words may be written which are not God's word like the Qu'ran but the true word of God is still intact and available to all...We do not insult God by questioning his ability ot keep his word. The Bible in many places testifies to the word enduring forever it is his word and it does endure forever.
If Allah is so imperfect that his word could not be trusted unless he promised to further protect it. Muslims have a problem with their Allah. It is an insult to think that God who created the world needs more than his word but a further promise because for some reason he is incapable of protecting his word. If the word of Allah is fallable then a promise made within the word to protect it is worthless. You have yourself a serious problem with your God.

Answer 11

The word of god need not be changed because the word of god is supposed to be perpetual and foreverlasting.