Christians help! Can anyone give me a clear answer?

Question

Christians say the Bible is the only true Word of God, correct? They even demean other Bible based religions for changing/adding to The Word (think Mormon, Jeh. Witness, etc.) The Bible is composed of writings inspired by God.(?) These writings were accumilated and compiled several generations later by other men inspired by God.(?) I have been told several times by my Christian friends that you either believe every word of the Bible or none at all.

Why then did the "experts" remove 12 accepted and God inspired books of the Bible some 150 years or so ago (I think)?

More recently: why do today's newer versions of the Bible omit the last line of "The Lord's Prayer"? (Mt. 6:13..."for Thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory, for ever. Amen."). For some 1500 years the Bible was 100% correct, now it is wrong? It seems to me that Christian leaders are doing the very same thing they have condemed others for doing over the years. HELP!!!

Answer 1

The Bible was never 100% correct to begin with. I like to thing that it's somewhere between 80% and 95% correct. Just look at the inconsistencies between the three synoptic Gospels (Matt, Mark, Luke).

The Bible is a guide book, not an end-all authority on the absolute will of God. Each person must learn to trust God him/herself and follow the inspirations of the Holy Spirit to do God's will.

The Bible's job is to testify of God and of Christ. Nowhere in the Bible does it say "The Bible is 100% correct", and nowhere does it say "take every word to the letter".

The Bible didn't even exist until the Catholic Church put it together some 250-300 years after the death of Christ. Because it was compiled, translated, and edited by men (often uninspired men), it is prone to have many errors, whether it was originally inspired of God or not. The people who would have you believe that God handed it to the world as-is on a silver platter are the ones that lose their faith in Christ when they start to see the smallest inconsistencies between different books of the Bible. If you hold the Bible on such a high pedastal, it will really hurt when you see it start to fall.

Answer 2

There is much confusion about the apochryphal books, including the exact count, because the books are counted different ways - some books were divided into parts by one compiler, but combined by others. A brief history of the Bible: In the 4th century BC, the Jews used a Hebrew version of what Protestants now call the Old Testament. They also had other books that were considered historical, but not Holy Scripture. After the period of Greek rule in the Eastern Mediterranean, a Greek translation of the Bible was made in Egypt. It included certain historical books, not considered Holy Scripture, written during the period of Greek rule over Israel. This Greek bible was called the Septuagint, and was later translated into Latin to become the Vulgate Bible. When Martin Luther translated the Vulgate Bible into German, he included the historical books, but gave them the name "Apocrypha". He maintained that the Catholic Church was wrong to adopt certain doctrines found in these books that were not found in the books recognized as Holy Scripture. The Catholic Church then held the Council of Trent in the mid-1500's and declared that the Apocryphal books were thenceforth to be considered Holy Scripture by Roman Catholics. This decree did not effect The Orthodox Church. When The King James Bible was produced, these books were included, though labeled as Apocrypha, not Holy Scripture. Much later, the Apocryphal books were dropped from the King James Bible and the modern translations because people were not interested in paying for books that were not Holy Scripture. So you see, those bibles that do not include the Apocrypha did not take away from Scripture, but the Catholic Church added to Scripture in its bible.
For the 2nd part of your question, some modern translations omit the last line of Mt. 6:13 because some old copies have it, and some don't. There is thus not total agreement whether that line was in the original. Some new translations still carry it, such as New King James.

Answer 3

Wow! I agree.
In my opinion, the reason why all of this is happening is because most don't have all of the truth. They DO have part of the truth, and are doing their best with what they have as they see fit. But when all you have are the noodles, it's hard to make lasagna. The noodles are vital to making the lasagna, but there's more to lasagna than noodles. For Christians, the Bible is important, it's correct teachings are vital. But in some cases and for various reasons and at various times, changes have been made which have in some cases helped to make it more correct, but for the most part have introduced corruption into the holy writ. Precious and vital truths have been lost from the Bible, and it's hard for some people to accept that because they never knew the Bible anyother way accept the way it is today. And since many (not all) people want to be spoon fed their religious doctrine, they refuse to even consider that maybe some parts of the Bible shouldn't be taken literally, and other parts should be taken literally. Therefore some people "retranslate" the Bible from KJV to NIV to all the other upteen gillion versions there are out there. Each one taking a precious truth and either distorting it's original meaning or doing away with it all together.

If you haven't guessed yet, I'm Mormon. I consider myself a Christian, just not a Protestant or a Catholic (obviously). I've always believed that the Bible is the word of God, but that over time it was and may continue to be changed through mistranslations, or through the efforts of Satan. In the LDS church we have an article of faith which states that we believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly. What God said to those who wrote the books of the Bible was true and correct - without a doubt. But the way those men understood it or wrote it or percieved it could have contained errors. And each time it was written or rewritten or translated, those errors persisted and either grew worse or more errors were introduced or both. So that now we don't have the pure undefiled word of God in the Bible.
You probably know that as a Mormon I believe that those lost truths have been restored in another book. But since you didn't ask about that, I'll not go any further into that topic.

Answer 4

First, some Christians say that, but not all. I am a Christian, and I don't believe that the bible is 100% accurate, factual, or correct. It was written by men. Divinely inspired, but still, MEN...then it was taken and translated by more men...many, many times...then the official "Church" of the time decided what books of the Bible would be included, and which weren't...These other books, the Apocrypha, were written at the same time as the books of the traditionally accepted Bible, but were determined to not be "divinely" inspired...Is this true? Who knows, but I personally don't take the word of some men in the 16th century who just decided that these books were not divinely inspired---and shouldn't be included in the Bible....

I keep all of these things in mind when I read the Bible. I personally believe it is a guideline that we can live our lives by, but not something that is set in stone and cannot be misinterpreted. Men make mistakes. That is common sense. I think if more Christians used their common sense, you wouldn't hear so much of this nonsense.


Also it wasn't 1500 years...The bible as we know it wasn't put into form until 1546 at the Council of Trent by the catholic church....and the King James Version didn't come about until 1611....

Answer 5

Same reason some atheists say that God does not exist and some say they just do not believe in a god. Same reason some atheists say multiverse is true, while other say it isn't. Why are Christians having differing opinion a contradiction? Everyone has differing views. I know how much we love those little boxes that we can put people in, but people rarely ever fit in the boxes. The only reason you demand this is because you want a good target to attack. But consider that atheists, in general, have nothing that they specifically believe to attack. Example: If I ask about why fine-tuning exists, I get 1.) it doesn't 2.) multiverse 3.) ontologic argument among just a few. Now any of the views I can slaughter to pieces in an argument. Pick one view trying to explain away fine-tuning, and it can fall under such harsh criticism and to make the belief look foolish. Arguing against 20 at the same time from different directions is nearly impossible. The fact is that all people have beliefs that they accept with no evidence. You do as well. You complain about lack of specificity in Christians, but they have the Bible which they must explain. You have nothing. Your beleifs can change in the middle of an argument. You provide nothing. So honestly, your criticism seems like the pot calling the teacup black.

Answer 6

Yes, that's it. Nowadays, some last steps to the endtime a lot of pressing in has been assumed by both human and spiritual servants of hell to do their best to eliminate the True Word from being accessible to people. Time and again it's rumored to have found a new Bible,mainly somewhere from the territory of Israel when in fact it was "made-up" in one of their satanic gatherings. And the "bibles" you mentioned from aren't the only fake ones. A lot of fake translations & interpretations started about one and half a century back, and are being carried out with extreme vehemence nowadays. What they failed to do in the Middle Ages they're trying to do now. So I advise you and others to be extremely watchful on this point. A person that thirsts after The Word of God and True Faith will be assissted and protected by The Holy Spirit and led into ALL Truth. And the accurately performed translations shall be given them.
The reliable and trustworthy Bible meeting the accuracy of translation from the original Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek are: Young's Literal Translation and the NLT as well as the KJV but still not as accurate as these two.

Answer 7

Yes, the Bible was written by inspired men of God. God didn't come to earth, pen and paper in hand and write it. He let mankind do that through His providence. Had God come to earth and written the Bible, would everybody accept it? I doubt it. There would still be all sorts of doubts, questions, and dis-belief etc. Much of the New Testament was written by eye witnesses of Jesus. That is one reason some Bibles put the words of Jesus in red print. The deleted books... I don't actually know. That would be a question you might want to pose to a major denomination minister. Omitting the last line of the Lords Prayer? I have never seen a Bible that does that but that doesn't mean it isn't omitted in some newer Bibles. "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" ..Bible.

Answer 8

right... the Bible is the true word of God.

Christians find those other religions objectionable because it contradicts central teachings of the bible.

Some books were "removed" b/c they were repetitive, others b/c there were arguments on their validity.

Btw. The Catholics have more books in their bible than the Protestants. and The Catholic Lord's prayer ends with deliver us from evil. Lutherans add an ever at the end.

The lessons are true, the morals of the stories are true, the laws are true and it is God's word, it may not be as complete as it was ment to be, but we should read what we have.

Answer 9

This is just my opinion, but here it goes.... The Bible was meant to serve as a guideline. If man was to believe every word in the Bible, then we wouldn't have so many religions. We would all be exactly the same, right?

When you sit down to read the Bible, God's words speak to you. You read with your heart. You pray to God to guide you with his word. You can read a passage ten different times throughout your life and it might hold a different meaning each time. You must seek and find what you believe to be true.

If you take the Bible and then read parts of the Koran, you will see that they are similar and hold certain truths. Find a Christian leader that does not scream, point, or cast judgement.

It is like any piece of literature. When you look at author's purpose or intent.... Only the true author knows its exact meaning. You have to analyze it to see what you get from it. You look to see what you can learn from it and take with you.

Treat others with kindness, love God, pray for guidance. That is my suggestion.

Answer 10

Start with this: If there is a God, and if God created everything, do you suppose He would have difficulty seeing to it that His Book, His Word was not translated or written incorrectly??? He created the earth, the sun, the moon, man, and He doesn't have the power or the will to keep His Book accurate and trustworthy????

Next realize that the Bible was written for multiple purposes. Some of those purposes enlighten, some intentionally hide the truth. Some truths are only meant to be known at certain times. The author of one complete book was told after completing the writing not to worry about the fact that he had no idea what his writing meant. He was told that the book would be sealed until the time of the end.

Lastly realize that not even Christ's own disciples, men who had been present at multiple miricles, seen dead men brought back to life, seen damaged bodies made whole, men who heard Christ Himself speak - even those men did not have the capability to understand. Understanding did not come to them until the Holy Spirit, God's own spirit, was placed in them.

Men will interpret the bible differently. Some will see a particular direction, others will pick and choose what to believe, and others will say it's all a fairy tale. Why???

The original sin of man - eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is the cause. God gave Adam and Eve certain knowledge and certain rules. They were not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They did anyway.

Does this mean that man, as explained by Satan himself, suddenly acquired the knowledge of good and evil at that time? No. Satan is a slippery rascal. He tells "almost" the truth.

Adam and Eve's sin was deciding for themselves what was good and what was evil. By eating of the tree they gained no knowledge. What they did instead was to say - by their actions - "God, You have told us what is good and what is evil. We really don't go along with your explanation or your rules. WE will decide for ourselves what is good and what is evil. We have decided it is ok to eat of this tree."

The Bible is the Holy Word of God. It is true and accurate in every respect. If we decide a part of it is outdated, a part really doesn't go along with our interpretation of what a loving God would be or do, then we are taking it on ourselves to decide for ourselves what is good and what is evil just as Adam and Eve did in the beginning.

God will open more and more of His Book to your understanding as you grow in your faith. He will not let you know what you cannot handle. If you don't understand a verse, pray to God for help. If you still don't understand, pass it by, and read other verses you do understand. The truth will come to you when you are ready for it.

Doug C.
Houston, Tex.