15 Jan 2011

Evaluating the Bible

Submitted by Stephen Winters
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Any thinking person will evaluate what he or she is reading. While reading it is normal to ask questions about the content of what is being read.

  • Who is the author?
  • Does the author have first-hand information about what he or she has written?
  • If the author doesn't have first hand information, did he or she thoroughly research the subject?
  • Does the author have any prejudice or biases that distort what was written?
  • Is what was written true? How much of it is true and to what degree?
  • Has the author proven himself or herself true in othe things that they have written?
  • Does the author write in a well reasoned and credible manor, or does he or she make outrageous claims?

 

I have been told by well meaning people that I could loose my salvation if I don't believe that every part of the Bible was written by God's Holy Spirit. Is this true? Upon what basis is this claim made?

Any thinking person should evaluate the writings in the Bible to see if the are true.

 

Inerrancy of the Bible?

It has been emphatically stated by numerous Christian leaders that the Bible is without error..... Is this true? The inferance seems to be that if there were to be found any errors in the Bible, then it would be found to be false. But this conclusion in itself is erroneous. This leads to many errors

 

Why are religious people afraid to examine the validity of the bible itself? If people claim

Many people stake their lives and salvation on a book they haven't critically examined.

 

Many people claim that the bible was inerrant in it's original....

However, no original copy of any part of the bible exists today. All we have are copies of.... So, no one who is alive today has ever seen or examined those originals. In addition, none of the authors of the books of the bible ever claimed that their writings were free from errors.

But, even if those original documents were written by divine inspiration and were totally errorless, what about the copies and the translation that are around today. Are they inerrant? Do the modern translators have proofreaders to check for errors? (I'm being rediculous here now) If God is in the business of making sure all of his writings are perfect and error-free, then what would be the need for proof readers? After all, if God is in charge, wouldn't the translators just automatically make perfect copies the first time.

If god was watching over the original documents to make them inerrant the first time through, then God could and would protect the following copies from error (in the same way that he is said to have guided the writing of the first documents.) Has that happened without fail?

  • Are all the copies error free?
  • Are all the translations error free?
  • Why are there so many translations?

With all the modern word processore (and their built-in spell checkers), typesetters, and other computerized equipment of today, there are still many  documents that have errors. Therefore these documents need to be proofread.

To say that Paul's pen never slipped, that he never made an error in his writing, is ludecrous.

 

Here's a problem. If one says that the Bible is the Word of God, that was written by the Holy Spirit, then you have to claim that "there are no mistakes in the Bible". When mistakes are found, then you have to say that they are really not mistakes OR

God himself will be our teacher.

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