Is it possible to have an inerrant Bible in English or for that matter, in its original languages?

Question

Although some truths can be gleaned from the Bible, I don't think it would be possible for any physical object to be inerrant. After all, if a person or group of persons recieved a vision from God, the biases and limited intellects of these people will result in a some loss of information as the recollection of the event is put down in these people's original language. A further loss of information would occur as the original language itself changes and its original meaning distorted as it is translated into other languages. The Ancient Hebrew and Aramaic Old Testament is closer (but not exact) to the original meaning of the visions and revelations as well as the original Classical Greek books of the New Testament.

Answer 1

If you mean 100% accurate then the answer would be "No". But if you want to know if God can make sure that the essential truths that He wants to be made available to mankind can be counted upon then the answer is "Yes".

Is Our Copy of the Bible a Reliable Copy of the Original?
by Rich Deem

Old Testament - How do we know the Bible has been kept in tact for over 2,000 years of copying? Before the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, our earliest Hebrew copy of the Old Testament was the Masoretic text, dating around 800 A.D. The Dead Sea Scrolls date to the time of Jesus and were copied by the Qumran community, a Jewish sect living around the Dead Sea. We also have the Septuagint which is a Greek translation of the Old Testament dating in the second century B.C. When we compare these texts which have an 800-1000 years gap between them we are amazed that 95% of the texts are identical with only minor variations and a few discrepancies.

New Testament - In considering the New Testament we have tens of thousands of manuscripts of the New Testament in part or in whole, dating from the second century A.D. to the late fifteenth century, when the printing press was invented. These manuscripts have been found in Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Turkey, Greece, and Italy, making collusion unlikely. The oldest manuscript, the John Rylands manuscript, has been dated to 125 A.D. and was found in Egypt, some distance from where the New Testament was originally composed in Asia Minor). Many early Christian papyri, discovered in 1935, have been dated to 150 A.D., and include the four gospels. The Papyrus Bodmer II, discovered in 1956, has been dated to 200 A.D., and contains 14 chapters and portions of the last seven chapters of the gospel of John. The Chester Beatty biblical papyri, discovered in 1931, has been dated to 200-250 A.D. and contains the Gospels, Acts, Paul's Epistles, and Revelation. The number of manuscripts is extensive compared to other ancient historical writings, such as Caesar's "Gallic Wars" (10 Greek manuscripts, the earliest 950 years after the original), the "Annals" of Tacitus (2 manuscripts, the earliest 950 years after the original), Livy (20 manuscripts, the earliest 350 years after the original), and Plato (7 manuscripts).

Thousands of early Christian writings and lexionaries (first and second century) cite verses from the New Testament. In fact, it is nearly possible to put together the entire New Testament just from early Christian writings. For example, the Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians (dated 95 A.D.) cites verses from the Gospels, Acts, Romans, 1 Corinthians, Ephesians, Titus, Hebrews, and 1 Peter. The letters of Ignatius (dated 115 A.D.) were written to several churches in Asia Minor and cites verses from Matthew, John, Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus. These letters indicate that the entire New Testament was written in the first century A.D. In addition, there is internal evidence for a first century date for the writing of the New Testament. The book of Acts ends abruptly with Paul in prison, awaiting trial (Acts 28:30-31 (1)). It is likely that Luke wrote Acts during this time, before Paul finally appeared before Nero. This would be about 62-63 A.D., meaning that Acts and Luke were written within thirty years of ministry and death of Jesus. Another internal evidence is that there is no mention of the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. Although Matthew, Mark and Luke record Jesus' prophecy that the temple and city would be destroyed within that generation (Matthew 24:1-2 (2),Mark 13:1-2 (3), Luke 21:5-9,20-24,32(4)), no New Testament book refers to this event as having happened. If they had been written after 70 A.D., it is likely that letters written after 70 A.D. would have mentioned the fulfillment of Jesus' prophecy. As stated by Nelson Glueck, former president of the Jewish Theological Seminary in the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, and renowned Jewish archaeologist, "In my opinion, every book of the New Testament was written between the forties and eighties of the first century A.D."

With all of the massive manuscript evidence you would think there would be massive discrepancies - just the opposite is true. New Testament manuscripts agree in 99.5% (5) of the text (compared to only 95% for the Iliad). Most of the discrepancies are in spelling and word order. A few words have been changed or added. There are two passages that are disputed but no discrepancy is of any doctrinal significance (i.e., none would alter basic Christian doctrine). Most Bibles include the options as footnotes when there are discrepancies. How could there be such accuracy over a period of 1,400 years of copying? Two reasons: The scribes that did the copying had meticulous methods for checking their copies for errors. 2) The Holy Spirit made sure we would have an accurate copy of God's word so we would not be deceived. The Mormons, theological liberals as well as other cults and false religions such as Islam that claim the Bible has been tampered with are completely proven false by the extensive, historical manuscript evidence.

Answer 2

And if the Bible is God's word and God directly or indirectly inhabited the authors to protect/guide/control what they said and wrote... Then would it be possible that God created an inerrant bible via people? That's really the question. Does God have the power and the will to create a inerrant manifestation of his Word in physical form? Also, inerrant does not equal perfect. the 'limited intellect' argument you use may result in a loss of information (as would the act of ascribing finite words to an infinite creature) but not necessarily an error in the information. Thus the difference between perfection and inerrant.

Answer 3

Mostly Hebrew and Greek, with some possible Aramaic usage (though any Aramaic originals are long-lost). There are no original bible texts in existence. Not a single one for any part of the bible. Mainly because none of them were written originally with the idea that they would be "holy" writings compiled into one book and passed down through generations. They were stories of their time, nothing more. And if you're implying that somehow the Quran is "better" because it's "pure" in Arabic or because it's still available in the original language, that's a rather silly claim. You should look at the very good evidence that much of its original language was Syriac, look into the "Uthmanic recension," and other issues. Finally, even if it was the same as originally dictated, that doesn't make what's in it true... Peace.

Answer 4

This is something that Biblical Scholars are concerned with. That is why when you pick your Bible, you can choose different translations. My bible has different translations so that I can study all the different translations.

It's kind of like the example of the ending of Mark. Some translations end with Mark 16:8. Others end with Mark 16:20. The most reliable early manuscripts conclude the Gospel of Mark at verse 8. Other manuscripts include various endings to the Gospel. Who am I to say where it should end? I do think I should continue to study.

Answer 5

It is possible to have an inerrant text, at least as far as the core message of the biblical texts is concerned. But it is not possible to have inerrant interpretation of the text, once separated from the Church Christ founded, the Church which gave us the texts, the Church which the text itself refers to as "the pillar and foundation of truth", the Church without which the truth cannot stand.

Answer 6

In revelations it says young men will see visions, and old men will dream dreams....these are the same types of ways information was received from God and was put down into a written form and later complied into the Bible....and people still have a hard time with it being able to happen, that the person couldn't believe what they saw or said or dreamed.....well I tell you that if you ever had one of these things happen to you ,do you think you would forget it ...after all this is messages personally sent to one person , picked by God....Almighty,
this happened to me over 4 yrs ago...I don't think I will ever forget as long as I live...and I had such a compulsion to write it down...and when I did the words seem to fly on to the paper and I didn't set out to make a poem...and I don't do poetry....I wrote this in about 25 minutes......it was a felling I will never forget...never....and this is what came out of this encounter with God.
So I do believe the majority of the Bible is true the way it was written, some meanings and words may have changed in the translations. But I know what I felt and every time I think about this ,I have the same feelings ...it's all true....


THE DREAM

I DREAMED ONE NIGHT TWO ANGELS CAME TO MY BED. THEY TOOK ME TO HEAVEN I FELT I HAD NOTHING
TO DREAD. WE STOOD IN FRONT OF A BIG WHITE GATE. IT OPENED SLOWLY AS WE STOOD IN WAIT.
MANY CLOUDS BILLOWED AND SWIRLED ABOUT US AS I STOOD IN AWE OF THE SIGHTS AND SOUNDS THAT
SURROUNDED US. WHAT I SAW WORDS COULD NOT EXPRESS, I WANTED TO STAY AT THIS BEAUTIFUL ADDRESS.
THE ANGELS ALLOWED ME TO LOOK INSIDE, THE BEAUTY THE MAJESTY, MADE ME CRY.
"IT'S TRUE, IT'S ALL TRUE, I KNOW THAT IT'S TRUE" I HEARD MYSELF CRY, AS TEARS RAN STREAMING
FROM MY EYES.
I KNEW WHAT I SAW WAS NOT OF THIS EARTH,THIS CREATION WAS FOR THOSE OF THE NEW BIRTH. THE
POWER, THE BEAUTY, THE SIGHT OF IT ALL WAS SO STRONG,THAT THE ANGELS SHUT THE GATES QUICKLY
TO MY NEW HOME. "IT'S NOT YOUR TIME," I HEARD THEM SAY, " WE JUST WANTED YOU TO SEE WHAT WAS
ON THE WAY," THEY SAID "YOU WILL NOT REMEMBER WHAT YOU HAVE SEEN INSIDE THE GATE, BUT YOU WILL REMEMBER WHERE
YOU HAVE BEEN.YOU MUST TELL OTHERS ABOUT THIS DREAM. THAT GOD'S WORD IS TRUE. IT'S THE REAL THING.
GOD HAS LET YOU SEE WHAT IS YOUR REWARD IF YOU WORSHIP, LOVE HIM, AND KEEP HIS WORD."
WE ALL NEED TO REALIZE THAT IT'S REALLY TRUE. WE NEED TO GET THE LOST ONES IN IF IT'S ALL THAT WE
DO. WE DON'T HAVE MUCH TIME, THE END IS NEAR, AND YES, IF YOU ARE LOST YOU HAVE EVERYTHING TO FEAR.
CALL ON JESUS NOW, SO YOU CAN GO TO AND YOU'LL SEE WHAT I SAW AND YOU'LL BE EXCITED TOO.
I'LL SOON BE IN MY NEW HOME,PASS THE BIG WHITE GATES. DON'T YOU WANT TO GO THERE TOO? I JUST CAN'T
WAIT!!!!


I REALLY DREAMED THIS DREAM JUST AS IT IS WRITTEN. I FEEL IT WAS INSPIRED BY GOD AND HE GUIDED MY
THOUGHTS AND MY HAND IN PUTTING THIS TOGETHER.

I AM GIVING THIS TO YOU BECAUSE I LOVE YOU AND GOD HAS DIRECTED ME TO DO SO.
I HOPE THIS MESSAGE WILL HELP YOU TO MAKE THE BIGGEST DECISION OF YOUR LIFE
TO ACCEPT JESUS AS YOUR PERSONAL SAVIOR AND TO SERVE HIM. SO YOU, ONE DAY
WILL STAND AT THE BIG WHITE GATE AND BE INVITED IN FOR ETERNITY

Answer 7

When God gave us the Bible He also gave us the Holy Spirit to "guide us and lead us into the truth." Without the Spirit of God dwelling in you, you wouldnot be able to understand the truth of God even if you had the original inerrrant documents.

Answer 8

You're asking if it's possible to accurately present a perfect message in an imperfect tongue. We can get close, but you need the Holy Spirit to understand it 100%.

Answer 9

Yes,the King James Bible.And you haven't studied history or the Bible or you would know this.

Answer 10

the letter killeth but the spirit maketh alive ...