People has always pondered and shaken upon the questions like "Is the bible true? Has it been changed?" And those are quite the good questions, which I have also grappled with.
This means you have to do research, find out the facts. And when you look at the facts its astonishing.
The Old Testament books (Genesis - Malachi) were written from 1400 B.C. to 400 B.C. and the books of the New Testament were written from 40 A.D. to 90A.D. So, doing the math, anywhere from 3400 to 1900 years have elapsed since a book of the Bible was written originally. Today, most of the original manuscripts have been lost, or likely don't exist anymore, also the books have been copied again and again. So, its reasonable to question the inerrancy of the Bible. In 2 Timothy 3:16-17 the bible says that it is inerrant and God-breathed when God originally inspired men to write it. That doesnt apply to copys of the manuscripts. In early times scribes devoted their whole lives to copying the bible exactly, but no one is perfect, so minor differences have resulted in various copies of the bible, and of all the Greek and Hebrew manuscripts in existence no two are alike until the 1500's when the printing press was invented. But, if you ask any unbiased document scholar they will agree that the Bible has been remarkably preserved over such a long period of time. Copies of the bible from the 14th century ar nearly identical to copys from the 3rd century. When the Dead Sea Scrolls were found it was amazing how similar they were to other ancient Copies of the Old Testament, even though the dead sea scrolls were hundreds of years older than anything previously found. So, no matter how hard of a skeptic you are you have to admit that the bible has been transmitted over the centuries far better than any other ancient document. Also, there is no evidence that the bible has been revised, edited, or tampered with in any way. The number of manuscripts would immediately point out one that distorts God's word. There is also no change in biblical doctrine by the minor differences that have appeared, because those differences were probably just misplaced periods or misspelling of peoples names or other things. We can have all the confidence that the Bible is the same as it was originally written, because God has protected his word even against people trying to destroy it, how else could it last so long?
The bible is unique in its continuity, it was written over roughly a 1600 year period by 40 authors, some fishermen, others politicians, kings, shepherds, and historians. They were from three different continents, and wrote in three different languages. They wrote about hundreds of controversial subjects, yet they wrote everything in agreement and perfect harmony. They wrote in dungeons, temples, on beaches, and on hillsides, during peace and during war. Yet their words sound like they came from the same source. 10 people today couldnt write about something and totally agree on one controversial subject, yet God picked 40 different people to write the bible, and its in total agreement.
The bible is unique in its cirulation. The invention of the printing press in 1450 made it possible to print books in large quantities. The first book printed was the Bible. Since then, the Bible has been read by more people and printed more times than any other book in history. By 1930, over one billion Bibles had been distributed by Bible societies around the world. By 1977, Bible societies alone were printing over 200 million Bibles each year, and this doesn’t include the rest of the Bible publishing companies. No one who is interested in knowing the truth can ignore such an important book.
The bible is unique in its translation in that it has been translated into over 1400 languages, no other book compares.
The bible is unique in its survival. In ancient times, books were copied by hand onto manuscripts which were made from parchment and would decay over time. Ancient books are available today only because someone made copies of the originals to preserve them. For example, the original writings of Julius Caesar are no longer around. We know what he wrote only by the copies we have. Only 10 copies still exist, and they were made 1,000 years after he died. Only 600 copies of Homer’s The Iliad exist, made 1,300 years after the originals were written. No other book has as many copies of the ancient manuscripts as the Bible. In fact, there are over 24,000 copies of New Testament manuscripts, some written within 35 years of the writer’s death.
The bible is unique in withstanding attack. No other book has been so attacked throughout history as the Bible. In A.D. 300 the Roman emperor Diocletian ordered every Bible burned because he thought that by destroying the Scriptures he could destroy Christianity. Anyone caught with a Bible would be executed. But just 25 years later, the Roman emperor Constantine ordered that 50 perfect copies of the Bible be made at government expense. The French philosopher Voltaire, a skeptic who destroyed the faith of many people, boasted that within 100 years of his death, the Bible would disappear from the face of the earth. Voltaire died in 1728, but the Bible lives on. The irony of history is that 50 years after his death, the Geneva Bible Society moved into his former house and used his printing presses to print thousands of Bibles.
The Bible has also survived criticism. No book has been more attacked for its accuracy. And yet archeologists are proving every year that the Bible’s detailed descriptions of historic events are correct.
Q: How is the Bible different from other religious books?
A: The Bible not only claims to be God¹s Word, but the verifiable evidence from archaeology, fulfilled prophecy, and its self-testimony authenticate this claim.
Q: How did we get the Bible?
A: God guided human authors to write down His Word without error. Then it was copied and recopied by professionally trained men, reproduced in print and preserved in the words we have today.
Q: Who has the right interpretation of the Bible?
A: The Bible, like any other book, can be misinterpreted. Interpreting each phrase within its context by considering its historical background, taking the words in a plain, ordinary, normal way, will clarify the author¹s meaning. The correct interpretation is what the author intended his readers to understand.
Resources:
me
www.gotquestions.org
www.evidencebible.com
www.relationalconcepts.org
