Don't you think a new bible would help to save Christianity from the big fall that seems to be ahead?

Question

Whenever I read the Bible, and especially the first books of the OT, I honestly wonder why decent Christian folk do not discard it...all the slaughter, genocide, rape, incest, human and animal sacrifice, talking bushes and talking snakes, etc., etc. Everyone who knows even a little bit about the Bible knows it was written and edited again and again, and changed again and again, by walking, talking human beings. Why, then, not give it a new life and bring it up to our time, the 21th century? Bronze Age desert nomads aren't the best role models, that's for sure. Hey, you merry ancients, you were wrong, the world is not flat.

I should not, to be fair, respond to responses to my modest post, but one matter cries for a word or two: the belief that the Bible cannot be changed, or, more to the point, has not been changed, is not true. I am not gay but my younger daughter is, and in my world, the professional theatre, gay guys and lesbians are the cornerstone...however, the word 'homosexual' has been added to later versions of the Bible. The word was 'invented, if you will, in 1869, in Germany. As the Bible was first interpreted from Greek and Hebrew, into Elizabethan English, mistakes were made. In any event, societies change, they evolve, if you will, and gay and lesbian relationships we were have today simply did not exist at the time that either the OT or the NT first emerged centuries ago.

Surely it is not the hope of Christians to always base their religion on the barbarism which makes the OT a book of horrow and dehumanization. Surely.

Answer 1

Some people say that they do believe in the Bible but not in the Bible we have today. One of the most frequent objections is that we do not have the very first manuscripts. They argue that scholars of the Bible themselves agree that all the original manuscripts of the Bible have perished. [1]

Whilst it may be true that all the original manuscripts of the Bible may have perished, we should bear in mind that when the books of the Bible were originally written, there was no printing press available to reproduce the copies. Each copy had to be written by hand and relatively few copies could be made. In the political conditions of the times it was inevitable that some ancient manuscripts would be lost.

Old Testament

There are Hebrew Old Testament manuscripts pre-dating Muhammad. Until 1947, the oldest copy of the Old Testament available to us came from around 900 AD. This is because a committee of Jewish scholars did the same as Usman had done. Then the Dead Sea Scrolls were found and we got partial or complete copies of every book of the Old Testament except Esther. They are all dated before AD 70, and many can be dated to a century earlier.

The Nash Payrus which contains sections of Exodus and Deuteronomy is dated between 100 BC and AD 70. There is also a collection of around 200 thousand fragments of biblical texts in Hebrew and Aramaic, other Jewish literature, religious and non-religious texts available to us. It is called the Geniza Fragments and dated to the AD 400s.

We also have available to us lists of Old Testament books pre-dating Muhammad. For example Josephus (AD90), a Jewish historian who wrote to Greeks and Romans in defence of the Jewish nation and faith. We have the list of the Council of Jamnia (AD 75-117). At this assembly the Jewish elders in the course of their discussion listed Old Testament books. Later the Council of Laodicea (AD 363), a Christian church council was held to recognize the books of Scripture in the Old and New Testament. There are several other lists available to us in the writings of various early church fathers and all these lists show that the Jews were very serious and sure of the contents of the word they had received. Christians accepted the same Hebrew Scriptures as the word of God also.

There are many translations of the Old Testament in Greek, Latin and Syriac that pre-date Muhammad. They list the same books of the Old Testament that we have today. We are also aware that translations in Ethopic, Armenian, Georgian, Nubian etc. were available before the time of Muhammad.

New Testament

As for the New Testament, the evidence is even greater. We have about 4,500 manuscripts in whole and part. Comprehensive ones known as the Vatican, the Sinaitic and the Alexandrian uncials are world famous. They date back to AD 300-450.

There are 192 Greek New Testament manuscripts pre-dating Muhammad currently in existence and available for study. Five Greek lectionaries, books that were used in church services and which contain Scripture portions, predating Muhammad are presently in existence.

Five Greek lectionaries, books that were used in church services and which contain Scripture portions, predating Muhammad are presently in existence.

We have available to us about 30 translations of the Greek New Testament from the time before Muhammad.

The earliest papyrus fragment containing portions of the verses of John 18:31-33, 37-38 is dated as AD 125 and is housed at the John Rylands Library in Manchester, England.

There are also two Greek fragments from the Dead Sea Scrolls that may very well be from the Gospel according to Mark and 1 Timothy. Both of these fragments date to before AD 70.

We also have the evidence from the early Christian leaders (AD 69-150). They wrote about the Bible and quoted in their writings portions of the Scriptures so that today almost the entire New Testament can be reconstructed from them. All these manuscripts do have variants in the text. However please do note that unlike Islam these variants have not been destroyed. They have been preserved, catalogued, studied and evaluated with the highest and most impartial degrees of scholarship. None of these variants affects any major or minor doctrine of the Christian faith.

In Old Testament times the Jews revered the sacred scriptures deeply, as many do the Qur'an today. For this reason they would not allow any part of them to become dirty or ripped and thrown away like a piece of rubbish. They were committed to memory, accurately copied, and then the original was disposed of with great ceremony and dignity.

There are many other ancient books that have no original manuscripts available. Consider the Qur'an, for example. There is no known first manuscript nor contemporary copy available to us. As there were a number of differing copies with variant readings, Usman, the third successor of Muhammad, appointed a committee to collect and compile an official version of the Qur'an. When the task was completed, he ordered that the source copy and all previous copies should be burnt [2]. This does not mean that the Qur'an is not valid. But it does seem to be inconsistent to accept the Qur'an but reject the Bible when neither of them have their original manuscripts.

Answer 2

Excellent question. As we study the growth of Christianity, we begin to understand that the our current Bible was compiled at the request of the Roman government, certains things were added, and deleted, that formed the book to their political agenda. And, then just think of the translations, meaning of words were taken out of context, changed.

Indeed, it was through the confusion surrounding this book, that I decided to look elsewhere for guidance. This does not mean that there is not value, it just means that I wanted a spiritual perspective.

We have been taught that we must look OUTSIDE of ourselves for spiritual guidance. I believe that the first place we must look is INSIDE......not to another Bible, or any other writing, but to our own Divinity. Everything we need to know is already within us, we just have to ask to receive the understanding. Recognizing our own Divinity is a key concept. Unless the Bible is changed to focus on the internal (which is actually what Jesus was teaching) relationship verses the external (church, etc.), then we will end up at the same point. If people discover that they don't need the church to know God, then what will happen to organized religion? I would love to see an updated guidebook......free from guilt, shame and fear. I believe it revolutionize our culture, and our impact on the world.

Answer 3

To be Honest, the fall has already started. People have begun to Question the Authenticity of the Bible More and More but the Christians have NOTHING LOGICAL to give them. The same old answers: its in the Bible, the Bible says so, John 1:1 (As if that verses came out of Jesus mouth), we have done away with the OT etc. How long will people accept these baseless explanations?

Answer 4

Where you get flat earth is beyond me. God sits on the circle of the earth is in Scripture.

If it were not containing evil men exactly as I know men can be then I would think I was reading a nice, lieing, white washed book of today. But because He portrays men exactly as they lived their lives as imperfect, then it is easy to believe.

Why not a talking snake (portrays Satan wondefully) and talking bushes and talking donkeys. Everything that has breath will praise the Lord one day.

Science says everything in the universe talks. The sun is so loud you couldn't stand the sound if you could get close. Everything created sings. If it moves, it will make noise.

Answer 5

It is inconsistent to believe that individuals can be mistaken about interpreting the bible on one hand, and on the other hand to believe that interpretations of the bible are infallible. This is after all an imperfect world, and no human is perfect (according to the bible).

The FACT is that any translation or edition of the bible is subject to human fallibility.

Having said that, the bible won't be rewritten again with so many people watching and so many stored copies. It will however be reinterpreted in an even more far-fetched way than it already is - that is the only path left.

Answer 6

To accurately reply your query, it's first crucial to furnish a few definitions for you. Firstly, Paganism itself isn't a faith. "Pagan" is an umbrella time period that defines a satisfactory quantity of religions. It is quite often elaborate to outline which features a faith have to have so as to be labeled as Pagan, however mainly it's used to consult both Earth/nature headquartered religions or ancient polytheistic religions. Some latest examples might be Wicca and Druidism, even as a few older examples might be the religions of the historical Greeks, Romans and Celts. However there are 3 religions which might be most likely no longer Pagan and those are Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The umbrella time period to consult those religions is "Abrahamic Religions" as they're all headquartered at the devout direction that supposedly used to be headquartered through the legendary determine Abraham (regardless that Islam used to be headquartered through Muhammad, it's an extension of the opposite 2 Abrahamic conventional ideals). Now, Wicca: Wicca is an Earth-headquartered Pagan thriller faith that worships a God and a Goddess. It could also be a paranormal procedure of witchcraft and often it is usually a priesthood. Traditionally humans might be initiated into Wicca and in so doing they end up monks of Wicca and coach as witches. The so much high-quality factor with regard on your query is in what a Christian, Pagan and Wiccan are and whether or not or no longer those matters can co-exist as a notion procedure. Wicca and Christianity fairly can not be joined from the Christian standpoint. One of the leader explanations for that is due to the fact that Wicca is a polytheistic faith (believes in more than one Gods) and Christianity is a monotheistic faith (believes that there's just one God). This implies that the 2 religions are routinely at odds and are not able to be unified. You are not able to be a Christian and a Wicca. However, you CAN be Wiccan (or a Pagan regularly) and nonetheless suppose that the Christian God exists. The handiest change is that on this method, you suppose within the Christian God, however no longer that he's the one God. The Christian God might simply be one in all many and no higher or worse than another. If you opt for this course, then do not count on Christians to appear upon you too favourably - chiefly if you happen to additionally start to train magic, that's frowned upon through the vast majority of Christians. Now, in spite of what a few humans would possibly suppose, there may be truthfully not anything to give up you being a witch (or another type of magic consumer) and likewise being Christian. It is right that almost all English Bibles say that a individual have to no longer train witchcraft, nonetheless many pupils (and a few Christians) see using the phrase "witchcraft" in Bibles as a mistranslation, misuse, or in any other case no longer relevant to latest confident makes use of of witchcraft. I myself understand a few Christians who additionally train magic and it will have to be famous that the Jews themselves have their possess magical procedures and that there are a few very outstanding Christian magicians in historical past. But it will have to be famous that simply due to the fact that you're a witch, does no longer imply that you're a Wiccan. Witchcraft is simply a unique type of magic, even as Wicca is a faith that contains witchcraft into its ideals. There are a satisfactory many witches on the planet at present who don't seem to be Wiccan. I desire that helped in answering your query. But to summarise: You are not able to be a "Christian-Wiccan". You generally is a Pagan who believes within the Christian God as only one God amongst many. You generally is a Christian and train magic, regardless that many Christians will appear down on it.

Answer 7

The Bible was technically written by God, He gave the men who wrote his words down what to say....so, by saying that He didn't write it, it smacking Him in His face and mocking Him. Every story in the Bible, has a significant purpose to the coming of Christ the first time and the second time. The Old Testament is made up of stories written to tell about God's chosen people, or the important people that are ancestors to the line of Christ....everything is significant to the purpose God has to bring His people home to him.

Answer 8

I don't believe that everything in the Bible actually happened because I do know that it contains imperfections due to being copied by hand for several hundred years. I do believe in the 10 Commandments, that they are good moral guidelines regardless of whether or not you are Christian. I believe that God created the universe and the planets, but that once life started it did continue to evolve. I believe that God sent Jesus to die on the cross. I believe that if I sincerely repent my sins, that God will forgive me for being a sinner and I will spend my afterlife in Heaven.

Answer 9

At the end of my bible there is something about any man changing the Bible and his demise--so no, I would not want to mess with a new Bible--plus look at all the many years we have had the Bible and how historically many in power have tried to destroy it unsuccessfully! Also, God does not hold people accountable for true ignorance--so if you are ignorant about something biblically due to someone changing something--you won't be held accountable, I don't believe!

Answer 10

You seem to be very preoccupied with religion. If the old testament is so offensive, why do you claim to read it frequently? Nearly every question you post is anti-religion in nature. Is that the point of your life? If so, you are a sad, little human being.

If the world isn't flat, then why are most maps flat?