The Bible: One looong game of "Telephone"?

Question

Have you ever played "telephone" (also refered to as Chinese Whispers)? When played in a classroom environment, one person comes up with a short phrase or very short story, then whispers it into the ear of the person next to them. The story or phrase continues around the class until it reaches the last person, who speaks what they "heard" out loud. Everyone laughs because the finished version is always way different than how it started. It only takes a class of less than thirty people to distort what was originally said.

Now take the Bible. This book has been translated countless times over centuries. There are over 2,000 Christian sects that interpret the Bible differently. There are many people who do not even read the Bible and choose to interpret it on a personal level.

If one short phrase told in a small classroom can be warped in the span of fifteen minutes, how can the original meaning of the Bible have survived? How can it possibly be accurate?

Answer 1

It can't be accurate. Even though the original documents still may exist, writing definitely did not at the dawn of mankind. Therefore the stories of Adam and Eve and all others before the invention of writing were passed down by mouth. Have you ever known story tellers not to embellish? Even if it stayed straight for awhile, someone inevitably always wants to add their own details.
You also have to ask yourself "Who wrote the original documents?" What makes them any more believable than Joseph Smith or L. Ron Hubbard? They were charismatic enough to get ancient peoples to believe that God talked to them and gave them his true word. Remember, God didn't write the Bible. Man did.
Also, research the Nicene Creed, and the creeds that followed it. Think about the motives behind the men making the decisions as to what would and wouldn't be included in the revised Bible.

Answer 2

I sort of agree with you. Here is my opinion:

Humans have always wondered many of the same things, such as; how was the universe created? In the past, we had too little and too unsophisticated technology to determine the answers. In the spirit of finding, or rather developing, an answer, people became more and more creative within their search efforts. After all, it is human nature to become frustrated. And when people become frustrated, their work becomes sloppier, and they don't think as clearly. More than anything else, they want answers simply to quench their hunger for answers to their questions.

After quite a bit of searching, information was found. However, it couldn't have all fit together perfectly. People wanted the answer so badly that they made assumptions and guesses. Facts were found, then translated and manipulated until they morphed into something that answered the questions well and was, at the time relatively believable. The game of telephone began, and simmered, until today, when various forms of religion are available.


There is also another point I'd like to bring up:

Religious people warn others of "satanic" and "evil" practices. Those who follow religion are taught to stay away from these.

However, when you think about it, religion surfaced quite a time ago--long enough that, in my opinion, ideas of right and wrong may've been switched. Consider it this way: When you are in an argument, both sides believe that they are correct. So really, as everyone believes that one side or the other is right, and there is no mediation, how do we really know which side is right? It is all a matter of opinion.

Back on topic, how do we know that religion as we view it today, and the worship of God, is not some type of evil practice? The human race may've been slowly brainwashed to believe that this is right, to the point that nearly everyone believes something. For all we know, maybe Satanism, theistic, LaVeyan, or otherwise, may be the correct way to think; true religion as it is thought today may actually be some type of cult that has gained far too many followers.

Please do not judge me by this, by the way--I've received many complaints, insults, and thoughts of anger due to my beliefs, including quite a few thumbs down. I cannot change how I feel, and neither can you, so telling me that I'm wrong will not change anything.

Answer 3

“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.” This is a quote from "The Bible From the Beginning" (New York, 1929), P. Marion Simms, pp. 74, 76.

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 4

What about a Jenga inspired Tower of Babel game, haha. Maybe a trivia game where you're trying to rescue all the pairs of animals from the flood. In the center of the board there's Noah's ark, and all around the board are tiled paths. Each tile has a certain color, and that color deals with a certain category of trivia question (places, events, people, etc). For all the trivia types they have 3-4 animals each, so you'd have to answer correctly questions from all the categories in order to collect all the animals, then try to reach the ark in the center. Could call it Two-by-Two or something like that. Flood related :p

Answer 5

The really extraordinary thing is that such an old collection of books still has the power after all these years to convey God's truth and change lives for the better. It still draws people in to read and study, even if, like so many on here, they do so with such a sad lack of understanding.

How many other texts of comparable age have that same power today to change lives? And by comparison, does anyone seriously think that people will still be reading Richard Dawkins' books in two thousand years' time?

Answer 6

This is a very interesting thought. I would def. agree with you, when playing the telephone game the short phrase is usually changed drastically, but you have to think about the source of the starting phrase. One has to eval. in his or her mind if there is a God. How does he communicate with His creation? The question arises in ones mind," is there an absolute truth"? Well of course there is! There is an objective standard. Even if there is thousands of different interpretations, that does not mean that there is not one correct one, the interpretation that God intended for man. How just would God be if he said, "the Truth shall make you free" and it be impossible for one to obtain truth? If a person desires to be successful at any endeavor, that person puts forth maximum effort to acheive that goal. If one desires to know truth and dilegently searches for it, it is possible to KNOW IT, and APPLY IT.

Answer 7

God will not allow his Word to be warped beyond understanding, we can also ask Him to help us interpret it in the correct way.
And for most modern translations of the Bible the translators go back to the original Greek and Hebrew texts. So we are assures that what we read is what the original Christians in the 1st century AD read.

Answer 8

umm.. except you missed a couple of key points:
1) the Bible wasn't whispered, it was written, so now each time a new translation is made, they can go back to some of the earliest manuscripts... that would be like having the second or third in line person in your telephone game, writing down what they heard and passing it on to the last person.

2) We have many manuscripts from early on until now, therefore it is easy to compare different manuscripts and find where there were copy errors.
3) A pivotal part of the Christian faith is the belief that God watched over His word through the centuries and made sure that the main message remains accurate.

Answer 9

Your question is lengthy, so my answer will echo the same sentiment. Let me start off by saying that the Bible is the MOST RELIABLE BOOK THAT WE HAVE!!!!!!!!!!!
You make a good point by using the analogy of the "telephone game." Lets say it was changed, what would these people have to do. We have over 12,000 manuscripts of the new testament dating back as far as the first century. If one were to change the bible they would have to track down these manuscripts, make the same changes, don't let your ink-work show, and return them back before anyone noticed. Then, you would have to find the numerous copies made in latin, egyptian, and coptic, and make the same changes as with the others. And finally, you would have to change the writtings of the early church fathers (they had a nasty habit of quoting the new testament, so much so, that if all we had were their writtings, we could compile about 80% of the new testament). Change them to mach the other lies you told in the first two, don't let anyone notice the lie. Oh, and by the way, don't die before you accomplish the task.

We accept the works of plato, Julius Caesar's Gailac Wars, etc. Plato, we have 7, the earliest dating about 13,000 yrs after. Julius Caesar, about 10 dating to 1,000 yrs after. But with the New Testament, we have around 5,600 in the original greek (the earliest fragment dating to around 40-60 years after Christ). It amazes me how a book that has soo much evidence backing its authenticity recieves so much scrutiny. This book has been the foundation for most of our laws, has aided in the discovering of ancient civilizations that were otherwise unknown (Hittite), and has changed lives.

Answer 10

It is incredibly unlikely that documents would keep their integrity after thousands of years. I; however, believe through faith that since the Bible is God's word that he has protected these documents and kept them safe so as to not misled those who want to follow Him. Yet, have you ever heard of the Dead Sea Scrolls? They are copies made in roughly 100 AD that include many books of the Hebrew Old Testament, the meaning and stories are the same even after 1900 years of translation. This gives me confidence that God has kept His book safe.

Also when monks used to write down the Bible as their life's work, if a word was misspelled or something was not accurate, the entire copy would be destroyed so as to keep the Bible unscathed from misinterpretation by an educated reader.