Christians: A question concerning embelishment and story enhancement? Your thoughts?

Question

Okay, limited space here, but here is a story:

Several years ago a friend of mine was in a minor car accident. He walked away unhurt. He called his mom and told her what happened, then used a rental car the rest of the day.
When he got home, about 10 hours later, his grandmother called and asked him how badly his leg and arm were broken.

Stunned, he asked her what she meant. She said she had heard that he'd broken his right leg and arm and had a head injury and that she heard this from another family member.

Intrigued, he traced back the calls through the family. He found that the story had been passed on through 11 family members before getting back to him. Each family member embellished the story just a little bit more.

There are deeper details, but limited space here to explain, but you get the gist.

So, since the bible was not even written until 200 years after the supposed death of Jesus, how much embellishment do you think was infused over 1500 years?

Answer 1

It is pretty clear that this is exactly what happened with biblical text.

It was such a problem that eventually the ruling party of the day had to put together a committee to decide which accounts were truth and which ones were not accurate. This gave us the official New Testament canon. Which, in reality, was compiled to create doctrine, not based on the relative accuracy of the documentation, because by that time, there was no way to account for error or embellishment.
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Sister Paper and scrolls were available during the life of the disciples, the belief that the disciples carted around stone tablets is a perfect example of how embellishment and enhancement takes hold.

Answer 2

I am going to presume that by Bible you mean New Testament because the Old Testament was around long before Jesus was born. I took college courses about the Bible that were taught by theologians. My professors were clear to point out that some books attributed to St Paul weren't actually written by him but by someone else and that some of the stories like Daniel in the lion's den were allegories to help the Hebrews through difficult times with an occupation by foreign forces. There have been some mistranslations along the way and many documents from the earliest days of Christianity were destroyed by the Romans or the Jews or just lost. The New Testament as it exists today was decided upon by one of the councils at the beginning of Christianity where a group of men chose what would be included in the Christian Bible.

For myself, I believe that the Bible is a wonderful book that provides guidance and wisdom. Whether some part of it was remembered wrong or translated incorrectly doesn't affect the overall greatness of the book. Your example of your friend's accident shows that sometimes people embellish or misunderstand what's being said and that's human nature.

Answer 3

You may want to read Misquoting Jesus, about who change dthe Bible in why, by Bart Ehrman. He's a great scholar, in my opinion. However, he makes the same mistake I think a lot of people make, which is assuming that SOME embellishment means the whole thing is unreliable and useless.

The problem with this is that we know what the earliest Christians believed and how they practiced their faith. By the second century there were a host of references to various texts in what is now the New Testament as scripture, giving those writings regulative and authoritative status. The changes since then, looking at the oldest extant transcriptions are not of the kind that would spontaneously create a fictionalized story of God on earth. About the most outlandish change I still think might have happened is the elimination of Jesus' sexuality and family.

Ultimately, however, we believe in the Bible's truth not based on factual claims or its own tautological authority but because when we live the Christian faith, which includes the Bible (along with tradition, reason, and experience), we find that its claims mysteriously come true in our lives.

Answer 4

Here's the thing. If he had been with each of the people that told the story, and corrected them in each error before the story was passed on, then there wouldn't have been any embellishment. So if he, limited as he is, could do that, why can't God, without the same limitations, do the same?

That is how we Jesus Freaks view the scriptures. They were penned by human hands, but God was indeed involved, making sure the writing was accurate.

Answer 5

The Old Testament was written several hundred years before the birth of Jesus, and Jesus confirmed that the Old Testament was true.

And the Bible tells us that God would give people His Holy Spirit.

Millions of people today have this gift, and the Holy Spirit confirms that the Bible is true.

Answer 6

After Constantine there is none accept new translation and new sect. See the wisdom of God? Anyone can twist and add new words but God will have no nonsense of it.
If this bother you than you are not ready for the truth. The Bible is so beautiful today, as it suppose is or should be. It has Power. To know it's truth, you must test it in Faith or you will be searching for more excuses to nullify it.
Don't touch on the Bible if you have not read it. After that you can comment even you could not accept it.

Answer 7

Surprisingly very little. A comparison with the oldest available manuscripts with progressively younger ones and the Bibles available today reveal only minor differences and most of those have to do with spelling and grammar not content.

EDIT: Also the other responders are correct, The Bible was written over a period of 1600 years starting in 1513 B.C.E.

Answer 8

None, because everyone who wrote the Bible was inspired by God what to write. God insured that we have His teachings as they were written. Everyone in your story is just a human being, as we all are, and therefore, susceptible to errors, embellishments, etc.

II Timothy 3:16-17 -- 16All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; 17so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

Answer 9

Did the people that passed on the story (about the accident) write it down under the influence of the Spirit?

Answer 10

No, the Bible was NOT writen, that long after Jesus' death & resurrection.

James, John, Peter, & all those that wrote the books, all survived to write them.

The books that comprise the Bible were gathered together much later.