Is it true that the bible has been changed a bunch of times?

Question

How do you know this?
What are your sources?

Answer 1

In order to read the most accurate Old Testament and New Testament Bibles you would have to learn the original languages and try to find the closet collection of the original manuscripts out there. The original languages are Unpointed Hebrew and Koine Greek and a few books were in Aramaic. The reason why they say the Bible has been changed is because when one language goes through a translation to another language some of the words are hard to change over and the exact meaning of a word or a group of words may be lost or slightly changed. One example of that is when Jerome wrote the Latin Vulgate for the Roman Catholic Church one of the words in the Koine Greek New Testament meant "Repent" and Jerome translated it to "Pentance". Repent simply means to change your mind. Pentance means to do good deeds in order to right a wrong.

Answer 2

1. The Bible is 98 percent textually pure. Through all the copies of the Biblical manuscripts of the entire Bible, only 1% has any question about it. Nothing in all of the ancient writings of the entire world approaches the accuracy of the biblical documents.
2. The 1 percent that is in question does not affect doctrine. The areas of interest are called variants, and they consist mainly in variations of wording and spelling.
3. The NT has over 5000 supporting Greek manuscripts existing today with another 20,000 manuscripts in other languages. Some of the manuscript evidence dates to within 100 years of the original writing. There is less than a 1% textual variation in the NT manuscripts.

4. Some of the supporting manuscripts of the NT are:
1. John Rylands MS written around 130 A.D., the oldest
existing fragment of the gospel of John
2. Bodmer Papyrus II (150-200 A.D.)
3. Chester Beatty Papyri (200 A.D.), contains major
portions of the NT
4. Codex Vaticanus (325-350 A.D.), contains nearly all
the Bible.
5. Codex Sinaiticus (350 A.D.), contains almost all the
NT and over half of the OT

In essence, the Bible we have today (not the "modern" translations i.e. Good news for Modern Men, Living Bible, etc.) is texturally very pure and very close to the ancient manuscript copies and the original Bibles. Once the canon was discovered, books or text were not taken out. The RCC included apocryphal books that are not in the Septuagint (Greek old testament) or the original Hebrew scriptures.

Answer 3

Yes. Just google it and you will find all the resources you want.

The bible is a collection of "books". Genesis, 1 John, 2 John, etc are books. These books were circulated among people for many years as the "bible" but they were not together.

Then around like 1430 (might be off here w/o digging back in) a priest gathered many other priests in a group. And they sat around and choose what to include, what to not include and what order the books would be put in. To create the "bible" we have today.

The books that were not included by these preists are what we call the "lost books of the bible". Most think they are nonsense but they are not, for they are bible stories as well. Book of Enoch is an excellent read, explains the fallen angels, what we call ufos' today and other points of why we do things we do as man. And Enoch was the only human taken by God in the flesh form. Not even Jesus was taken this way. So that shows how Enoch pleased God, for God tells us Enoch pleased Him.

But since the priests combined the stories and left some out and called it the bible. It has been altered since then. The catholics had a version that was for the congregation and a thicker version that was for the priest only. You can still find these version at times on ebay and other locations.

Plus the Gnostics got in there and rewrote the bible some. The catholics did not like these versions and grabbed them and hid them for years. But over the past 10 yrs or so they have leaked out and are what we call the NLT, NKJV, etc. All these "new" versions are the gnostic, wrong versions. For they alter words, leave out passages, etc.

Now most swear by the KJV but they fail to realize the KJV has issues as well. Like where it says LORD and GOD. That was altered. It use to say YHWH, G_D's name. But due to a fight between the Jehovah Witness's and the American Baptists in the early 1900's, the Baptists removed the name. Bible is clear to not allow His Name to become nothingness, for it is an abomination. Removing the name is allowing that.

I have studied many versions, researched them, talked to others, etc. I have settled on the Jerusalem or the New Jerusalem bible as the closest to proper bible. It has the book of songs, book of wisdom, uses the proper name of YHWH and it includes the missing passages from other bibles. Along w/ the New version (1999 not really new) shows the links to other passages to make an easier read.

Here are some vids on the differences: (scroll to bottom for vids)
http://rutroe.wordpress.com/category/religious-books/

Answer 4

tru dat....

Nearly everyone can agree that the Bible may be the single most important and influential book ever written. Nearly every home has a Bible and millions of people read their Bible daily seeking inspiration and hope. However, very few people ever question the accuracy of their Bibles.

Leading Bible scholars admit that today's translations are quite different from the original writings. They have found more than 20,000 errors in the most popular translations. In many of today's versions, words and phrases have been added or deleted, making it nearly impossible to understand the true meaning of many crucial verses.

The Bible was first written in Hebrew, and then translated into Aramaic, then Greek, then Latin and finally to English. When translated from one language to another footnotes were added. The copyists, scribes, and translators would write footnotes in their manuscripts of the Bible which would later be included in the text by other copyists.

Besides these additions, other words in the ancient Hebrew manuscripts were either left untranslated or completely removed. Many archeological discoveries in the past 30 years or so have shed great light on the vast differences between the original writings and the many English translations that flood the market. The most amazing of these discoveries involves the very Name of the Creator.

Answer 5

The Bible has evolved (no pun intended) because it was the basis for the Jewish and Christian religions and was also translated from Hebrew and Greek to Latin and eventually English. Some words do not easily translate from one language to the other.

There were also several books that were not included in the Bible, for example the Gnostic Gospels which were not/are not recognized by the christian church.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnostic_Gospels

Answer 6

Sounds like just another conspiracy theory to me. Who would change it? How would they achieve this? It's not like there's some master copy sitting around someplace--even the original manuscripts were copied almost immediately.

Now if you want to say that errors occurred in the copying process, you'd have a little stronger case--but even then, the *redundancy* of having so many copies floating around gives scholars ample resources for determining what the text is really supposed to say.

Answer 7

Nothing foundational to the faith has been changed. After many centuries upon centuries there are some proven changes in the Bible from those of the oldest texts.

All the differences never touched my trust in God. I am aware of them, but the reasons why some were altered are dubious, that's because the intent of some were to make it that way. But as older texts were found, so too were the errors found to be made.

I am confident, because not only do I have this knowledge, but I also have the Holy Spirit to guide me. God doesn't just work from the pages of the Bible, but He also works in the spirit, many just do not understand or believe that - which makes me feel pretty good about all of this. I am so blessed! lol

Answer 8

Yes. There are over 2,000 copies of the Bible. Just read the different versions of the Bible and you will see that they all contradict each other and there are entirely different verses and books used in each bible.

Answer 9

Many, many times. Changes have been made, chapters removed, chapters added, revisions, translations..... It is still going on.

If you want sources, it's all over the web. Google Bible and you will find more that you want.

Answer 10

Yeah

It's been noted by those who changed it.

The coucil of Nicea changed it in 300 AD, King James' staff changed it twice.

There are a variety of versions from different sources.