Let's discuss in brief Bible reliability.
"Mortimer Adler, one of the greatest living literary scholars, spent decades researching a book called 'The Great Ideas.' He read every single major piece of literature in Western history,
and his book explores the 102 most influential ideas that have defined Western culture.
In the first chapter, he talks about 'The Twentieth Century Delusion.' What's that? It's the fact modern people *think* that we are more enlightened about all subjects than people were 1000
years ago. Are we more enlightened about science and technology? Yes. Are we more enlightened about morality, philosophy and politics? Hardly.
In college I took a class called 'English Authors Before 1800.' I was amazed at how sharp those writers were. Once you get past the 'old English' language, you discover that Shakespeare's
characters are just like the people you talk to every day.
The book of Proverbs in the Bible was written 3000 years ago, but its advice has saved my [back side] many, many times. ''A soft answer defuses anger, but harsh words stir up evil.' 'A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.' 'The fool hates to be corrected by his father, but a wise son listens to advice.'
Are we really wiser in the 21st century than people were thousands of years ago? Solomon, the author of Proverbs, said 'There is nothing new under the sun.' Many people have laughed at that statement. But he wasn't talking about technology. He was talking about the issues of the human heart. Malcolm Muggeridge said, 'News is old things happening to new people.'
So is the Bible a translation of a translation of a translation? Could it be reliable? Is it worth taking seriously?[source - Perry Marshall]
When the Authorized King James Bible and the Douay-Rheims Catholic Bible were written, only 2 or 3 ancient manuscripts were available and they were really not that old. Whereas, today over 20,000 really ancient manuscripts, codex's, scrolls, and fragments thereof are available to translators. Because so many prophesies in the Old Testament had actually came true, many scholars started to doubt the accuracy of the Bibles and manuscripts they had in the 16 to 18 century; and started to believe that the original had been corrupted by later additions and changes. In fact, this was actually the case in a few rare instances with the New Testament such as the addition at 1 John 5:7.
However, the finding of much earlier documents in the nineteenth and twentieth century quickly changed the thinking with regard to the accuracy of the Bible as received down through the centuries. How so, many ancient documents including a description of the execution of Jesus (Yeshua) in one such document that described it accurately, a Bible fragment to be precise from a period 700 years before the actual event. This started to turn around the thinking of scholars who had previously thought that these prophecies were written after the fact.
This occurred gradually, until the sudden finding in a cave in the Qumran valley in 1947 that we now know as the Dead Sea Scrolls. These scrolls dated back to around 200 BCE proved that the prophecies were NOT written after the event, but before the event occurred.
This was just the real beginning with respect to finds of ancient manuscripts, codex's, scrolls, and fragments thereof. Today, we are blessed to have over 20,00 of these that are very ancient, and they prove beyond doubt two things, first, that the Bible did NOT suffer any major corruption over time, and second, that the prophecies therein were written before, and not after, the event occurred. This clearly established divine authorship by God (YHWH) himself as a fact.
This clearly shoots holes into the false theories of those individuals who maintain the Bible is corrupt and those who claim that its author was human, and make it clear that the writers, all faithful men, were divinely inspired as scribes to put the thoughts of God (YHWH) into the words of men.
The same holds true for the New Testament which contains not one, but four separate'Gospel' accounts with respect the life of Jesus (Yeshua). All four accounts, written independently by separate individuals, collaborate each other such as recording the various miracles of Jesus (Yeshua). One such account is when Jesus feed approximately 5,000 individuals by miraculously making a few fish and loves of bread expand into more so all could be fed. But the biggest single event or miracle was when his Father, Almighty God (YHWH) raised Jesus (Yeshua) his beloved only begotten Son from the grave and he later ascended into heaven to sit at his Father's (YHWH's) right hand.
Why is this miracle so important? It makes firm the belief in the resurrection as no written word without an actual event could ever do.
Your Friend in Christ Iris89
"Mortimer Adler, one of the greatest living literary scholars, spent decades researching a book called 'The Great Ideas.' He read every single major piece of literature in Western history,
and his book explores the 102 most influential ideas that have defined Western culture.
In the first chapter, he talks about 'The Twentieth Century Delusion.' What's that? It's the fact modern people *think* that we are more enlightened about all subjects than people were 1000
years ago. Are we more enlightened about science and technology? Yes. Are we more enlightened about morality, philosophy and politics? Hardly.
In college I took a class called 'English Authors Before 1800.' I was amazed at how sharp those writers were. Once you get past the 'old English' language, you discover that Shakespeare's
characters are just like the people you talk to every day.
The book of Proverbs in the Bible was written 3000 years ago, but its advice has saved my [back side] many, many times. ''A soft answer defuses anger, but harsh words stir up evil.' 'A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.' 'The fool hates to be corrected by his father, but a wise son listens to advice.'
Are we really wiser in the 21st century than people were thousands of years ago? Solomon, the author of Proverbs, said 'There is nothing new under the sun.' Many people have laughed at that statement. But he wasn't talking about technology. He was talking about the issues of the human heart. Malcolm Muggeridge said, 'News is old things happening to new people.'
So is the Bible a translation of a translation of a translation? Could it be reliable? Is it worth taking seriously?[source - Perry Marshall]
When the Authorized King James Bible and the Douay-Rheims Catholic Bible were written, only 2 or 3 ancient manuscripts were available and they were really not that old. Whereas, today over 20,000 really ancient manuscripts, codex's, scrolls, and fragments thereof are available to translators. Because so many prophesies in the Old Testament had actually came true, many scholars started to doubt the accuracy of the Bibles and manuscripts they had in the 16 to 18 century; and started to believe that the original had been corrupted by later additions and changes. In fact, this was actually the case in a few rare instances with the New Testament such as the addition at 1 John 5:7.
However, the finding of much earlier documents in the nineteenth and twentieth century quickly changed the thinking with regard to the accuracy of the Bible as received down through the centuries. How so, many ancient documents including a description of the execution of Jesus (Yeshua) in one such document that described it accurately, a Bible fragment to be precise from a period 700 years before the actual event. This started to turn around the thinking of scholars who had previously thought that these prophecies were written after the fact.
This occurred gradually, until the sudden finding in a cave in the Qumran valley in 1947 that we now know as the Dead Sea Scrolls. These scrolls dated back to around 200 BCE proved that the prophecies were NOT written after the event, but before the event occurred.
This was just the real beginning with respect to finds of ancient manuscripts, codex's, scrolls, and fragments thereof. Today, we are blessed to have over 20,00 of these that are very ancient, and they prove beyond doubt two things, first, that the Bible did NOT suffer any major corruption over time, and second, that the prophecies therein were written before, and not after, the event occurred. This clearly established divine authorship by God (YHWH) himself as a fact.
This clearly shoots holes into the false theories of those individuals who maintain the Bible is corrupt and those who claim that its author was human, and make it clear that the writers, all faithful men, were divinely inspired as scribes to put the thoughts of God (YHWH) into the words of men.
The same holds true for the New Testament which contains not one, but four separate'Gospel' accounts with respect the life of Jesus (Yeshua). All four accounts, written independently by separate individuals, collaborate each other such as recording the various miracles of Jesus (Yeshua). One such account is when Jesus feed approximately 5,000 individuals by miraculously making a few fish and loves of bread expand into more so all could be fed. But the biggest single event or miracle was when his Father, Almighty God (YHWH) raised Jesus (Yeshua) his beloved only begotten Son from the grave and he later ascended into heaven to sit at his Father's (YHWH's) right hand.
Why is this miracle so important? It makes firm the belief in the resurrection as no written word without an actual event could ever do.
Your Friend in Christ Iris89
