The bible has been rewritten many times , can it be trusted to be accurate ?

Question

Michelle C... How do you know what i believe ?

Unsilenced lamb unblock me i want to ask you some questions.

Answer 1

Yes and No, do not depend on one version or one person's intrepetation of what those versions say. The Truth is in there, the Almighty saw to that. Some of it takes some ferreting out.

Isaiah 28:9 Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.
10 For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:
11 For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.
12 To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.
13 But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.(KJV)

Answer 2

As many people have already said the bible has not been rewritten many times. The bible is composed of books and each one has it's own history. In some cases there is internal evidence that it went through different stages of editing before it was finalised.
The Hebrew Bible - know as the Old Testament is shared with Judaism and was originally written in Aramaic and Hebrew. - although they have the books in a different order. The Greek Bible - the New Testament was collected together and read at worship for about 200 years before the earliest surviving complete texts were written. Because of copying over that period there are numerous variations but the vast majority are of no consequence. Many devoted scholars have worked on establishing the most accurate text but inevitable there are some issues which remain.
Some people rely on the King James Version from the seventeenth century which in the light of the knowledge of the time was remarkable but since then scholarship has moved on and we now have slightly different views on the most accurate text and translations.
Many other books were written. Some we know about from the writings of the early church fathers and from some we have fragments. The Jesus Seminar carried out a full review when it started work about twenty years ago and concluded that the Gospel according to Thomas should be studied and they also looked carefully at what we now have from the Gospel of Peter. Otherwise, I think, they rejected the rest as not adding to our knowledge of Jesus.

Answer 3

If you look at the New Testament, you will find that there about 2,300 manuscripts of the New Testament books that date from early years of the church, before any of the church councils that "supposedly" rewrite the books.

When these manusctips are compared, they are word for word identical 99.7% of the time. Most of those are different spellings of the same word. Of the roughly 7000 lines that make up the New Testament, there are fewer then 40 about which there is any scholastic debate on what the original reading was. Not a single one of those affects a Christian doctrine.

Some of these manuscripts have been dated within a few years of the original books. Such as a fragmented manuscript of all the writings of Paul (written before his death in 67AD). The manuscript is on paper that was last produced in 68 AD when the Romans destroyed the place where it was manufacturered. From the fragments, scholars have been able to reconstruct 72% of the manuscript. (Looks like a jigsaw puzzle with about 1/4 of its pieces missing. The parts that are there are indentical to Greek text used to translate Bibles today. Where there are holes, today's Greek text would fit perfectly in each.

Or a manuscript of the gospel of John that scholars believe may date from 17-20 years after the original. They have been able to reconstruct 809 of the 893 verses (and working on the rest). Again, it is word for word identical to the Greek text used today.

Add to that over 8,600 quotes from the New Testament books, commentaries, translations into other languages, harmonies of the gospels, litergies, prayer books, etc. It is possible to recreate every word of all but 11 lines of the New Testament from other sources that date before the first church council.

While the New Testament has been "retranslated" many times over the centuries, as new languges appear and old ones change, it has not been "rewritten". The scholars who make Bible translate all go back to the same early Greek manuscripts and retranslation them. They are not basing their translation on an earlies English version, which was translated from German, which was translated from Latin, which was translated from a classical Greek text, which was translated froma Koine Greek text. Instead they go back to the original Koine Greek text each time a new translation is made. That makes it difficult to "rewrite" the New Testament.

As someone who can read the original language, and has studied many of the early manuscripts, I know that they the Bible we have today is an accurate and reliable text of the original material.

Answer 4

The Bible has been translated many times. That is not the same thing as being re-written. It is common to continually provide translations in contemporary language. For example, we don't speak the way that people did in 1611 when the King James version of the Bible was translated. The Bible was originally written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. The Old Testament or Hebrew Scriptures in Hebrew and Aramaic. The New Testament or Christian Scriptures in Greek. There are many archaeological discoveries of ancient biblical texts or ancient texts about Scripture that confirm much of what is read in the Bible today. The Dead Sea Scrolls are an example of one such discovery.

Answer 5

It seems that the apostate Unsilenced Lamb doesn't waste any chance to talk badly about Jehovah's Witnesses.

When the NWT was made Jehovah's Witnesses were aware of what the Bible says in Revelation 22:18,19:

"I am bearing witness to everyone that hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll: If anyone makes an addition to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this scroll; and if anyone takes anything away from the words of the scroll of this prophecy, God will take his portion away from the trees of life and out of the holy city, things which are written about in this scroll."

<> -- Watchtower October 15, 1999


http://www.watchtower.org/e/na/article_05.htm
http://www.watchtower.org/e/bible/index.htm

Answer 6

The Hebrew Scriptures have remained true, and this can be proven from the ancient copies that have been found. The new testament has been monkeyed around with for so long that it is hard to really know what is true and what is not.

If anything in the "new testament" cannot be proven by the Hebrew scriptures, then it is not wise to form doctrine upon it. Take the nobility of the Bereans to heart and follow their example.

Messiah came to turn men back to the Torah. That's what repentance is all about.

Answer 7

Whenever something is translated, you always lose something, because certain words just cannot be translated. Some people don't realize that the bible was originally written in Arabic, not Latin or Greek. It was translated to Greek during the Hellanization period, and then eventually to Latin which was the official language of the Catholic Church. After Vatican II the bible was translated into many other languages. But the bible itself has never been re-written. There's a difference between being re-written and being translaled.

For me it doesn't matter how many languages the bible was translated into. For me as long as the message of the bible stays the same, I'm okay. I think the translations keep the same themes, keep the same stories, keep the same message, and that is more important to me than getting the exact word correct.

So for me, I think the bible can be trusted, and is accurate as far as its themes and teachings. But I see your point. Great question.

Answer 8

i see, so God the Father has very little power in all your eyes and minds. He hold the every atom of the earth together with His power, people, and what is even more amazing He keeps the endless universe going. Him and Him alone. so to believe that the bible is not accurate as it can be, is to deny His great power. He would definitely make sure His word would be there for His church. now some words were added and punctuations not easy when translating from one language to another and so on, i will admit. but the nkjv of the bible italicized those words which were added to the texts from which they had translated. the best i can say is get every translation of the bible and compare and cross reference.

Answer 9

I am amazed by some of the ignorance out there. Some of you need to do some research on the volume of manuscripts available for the scriptures and the volume of manuscripts for secular wittings such as Plato and Socrates's ect. You will find the balance scale leans very very heavy to one side.

Yes,

It is the most documented literary work in the entire world of antiquities.

It is the most scrutinized literary work ever.

Recommendation- Use a Bible that has been translated by a group of differing Christian org.s.. the KJV, Strong's and Young's Dictionaries and some good old fashioned open minded work.

You will find that the scriptures will speak for them selves, most times.

A word's true original meaning many times brings deeper appreciation for what the passage is saying.

I use esword for much of the above. It is for the most part free and is downloaded from the internet.

Finally, do not rest on your own understanding. Study with a group of people that have the same goal: To understand His word and apply it to one's life.

Grace and Peace to all.

Answer 10

The BIBLE has not been rewritten many times. That would be sort of impossible since the writings are those of 40 men spanning more than 1500 years. It HAS been translated a number of times and new ones come out still today, most to accommodate political correctness, like one that eliminates any reference to God as a male. Others designed for children. But if you take the time to study and review the serious bibles and compare them (I like blueletterbible.org) you will find very little differences in them. You also have archaological evidence, in the form of the dead sea scrolls/ They contained handwritten copies of certain books, some of which date back to not long after the originals were written, and show little variation from what is written down there and what we have today.