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So a number of disputes have come up about the Bible being infallible or not. There is one view that the Bible is the undisputed Word of God written to text through divine intervention. There is another view that the Bible is just an intrictate and marvellous story based on facts written by powerful men who needed a tool to manipulate nations. Still there is a middle view that the Bible is indeed inspired by God but written by men, and while it does contain errors and multiple versions, and missing books, that it is still an accurate guide to the Words of God.

The astonishing accuracy of the Bible in its historical and archeological details is a testament (pardon the pun) to the potency of the Anthology. In fact ... based on my searchings on the Internet I have yet to learn of any proven historical or archelogical finds that contradict anything in the Bible. Not only is the Bible historically accurate, but its different scriptures and geneologies have been deemed no less than an "incredible work of literature unrivaled by few others" by sceptical experts in the filed of literature and history. Add to this the information pointed out to me by another member, that the Kings James version of the Bible matches almost perfectly with the Dead Sea Scrolls (the first found manuscripts of the Word of God), and I have reason to believe that the Bible was indeed inspired by my Lord.

But I still do not conform to the notion that the Bible is the undisputed Word of God and is also infallible just because of its historical legitimacy. In fact, the history of the Bible itself would support my claim that the Bible has indeed been tampered with time and time again.

First off, the Bible is not based on translations from an original manuscript but instead based on 5,664 Greek manuscripts, 8,000 to 10,000 Latin Vulgate manuscripts, and another 8,000 Ethiopic, Slavic, and Armenian manuscripts. All in all about 24,000 manuscripts; which are copies of copies of manuscripts, edited and re-edited over a 1,400 year span of time. The first Bible was created when Jewish and Christian writings were brought together and various bishops voted on what was authentic and what was not (already we find tampering by man). Even if the earliest manuscripts reflect the original manuscripts (of which none exist), one can only "hope" the 1,900 year succession of copying, editing, re-editing, and translating is close to accurate. Even today, the Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Protestant scholars cannot agree on which books are authentic.

Even today the process of deciding what scriptures were authentic or not is not fully agreed upon, as Catholic and Protestant Bibles have differing numbers of books, and varying translations of the Bible include or exclude various contested passages.

As for contradictions within the Bible. There are many. Some have labeled the contradictions discrepencies. But what is a contradiction?

Contradiction (noun)
1. The act of contradicting.
2. The state of being contradicted.
3. A denial.
4. Inconsistency; discrepancy.
5. Something that contains contradictory elements.

So even the English dictionary would seem to agree with me that a discrepency and a contradition is one in the same. Now that thats cleared up I have numerous confessions in other threads that the Bible contains discrepencies caused by imperfect translations.

I have more to say on the subject but I know that 80% of the people in here will not read anything that is too verbose and I may have already committed that cardinal Imix sin.

Oh gosh man. Look another 20+ page thread that would never come to a final concensus. Wow.

I try my best

I'll try my best not to be here tomorrow morning when the arguments will be raging.

This post is really for mah bredrin Bakes who challenged me to do some research. So I did. As long as the discussion is construcitve I am all for it. If Fantasy had the religious forum up I could have just posted it there ... alas.

[QUOTE=fiyah]
The astonishing accuracy of the Bible in its historical and archeological details is a testament (pardon the pun) to the potency of the Anthology. In fact ... based on my searchings on the Internet I have yet to learn of any proven historical or archelogical finds that contradict anything in the Bible. Not only is the Bible historically accurate, but its different scriptures and geneologies have been deemed no less than an "incredible work of literature unrivaled by few others" by sceptical experts in the filed of literature and history. Add to this the information pointed out to me by another member, that the Kings James version of the Bible matches almost perfectly with the Dead Sea Scrolls (the first found manuscripts of the Word of God), and I have reason to believe that the Bible was indeed inspired by my Lord.


QUOTE]

They have found no ark, although it was supposedly discovered several times, and the parting of the red sea i think it was has been tested at facilities plenty of times but no luck.

But that does not mean the Ark did not exist or the Red Sea wasn't miraculously parted.

I know what I'm going to say is probably going to make it a next hundred posts,

1) the bible also says the earth is what how many years old?

-supposedly in the thousands..

What is your reply to that?

2) Maybe it was a miracle, but then that leaves the door wide open for all other organized religions to say they've had miraculous stories as well..

Fiyah yuh couldn't give us a nice summary of your thoughts? Yuh come wit this long long post to put me ain know who to sleep.

And so they have.

This post is to weed out the OPP members.

According to the Bible..."The sheep from the goats". G'night.

i think it's perfect

Fiyah - would this fit in nicely with a RELIGIOUS FORUM???

Come on island fancy stop stickin!

There are a couple of things right off the bat. First, we both believe the Word of God is inspired. We both believe that there IS a God. We both believe that there must be a Devil. Said Devil is the creator and master, the all time expert at controversy, deception, confusion and counterfeits. Has the Bible been tampered with? Yes, but it depends on which, or more specifically, whose sponsored version Bible.

The Bible (Santa Biblia, or Holy Book) as the world has it, has been translated from three main manuscripts. They are the Textus Receptus, Vaticanus and Sinaiticus. The Vaticanus and Sinaiticus throughout the Reformation have been greatly disputed (and still are today) by the Reformers and Bible commentators. Martin Luther referred to the Vaticanus as the bastardized version of the Bible. (As a side note, the Vaticanus does not contain the story of the adulteress in John 8 of the KJV and NKJV versions of the Bible. Should make you go ... hmmmmm)

The KJV and NKJV versions are translations of the Textus Receptus which contain all the books of the New Testament and Old Testament (which parallels records kept by the Jews and the Dead Sea Scrolls). The NIV version and many subsequent versions borrow from the Textus Receptus, Vaticanus and Sinaiticus. The Vaticanus was "found" in the Vatican while the Sinaiticus was discovered in a trash heap of the St. Catherines Monastery on present day Mt. Sinai. Many of the manuscripts you mentioned are rewrites and addendums of the latter two manuscripts. In addition, the Vaticanus and Sinaiticus have abridged versions of the Gospels and books of the New Testament.

Any in depth study of the Reformation will lead you to the wranglings between Rome and the Christians. The Devil is an expert at his craft, which is why I'm not surprised that he's cast enormous doubt on the origins and validity of the Word of God Himself. The Word of God has survived despite Satan's best efforts to destroy it. Through persecution, the Dark Ages, the Waldenses, Huss, Jerome, Wycliffe, Luther ... Christians have fought to preserve the Bible, while others have sought to destroy it. When it couldn't be destroyed, they altered it to suit their tastes.

You are right, we could end up with a 20+ page thread that leads nowhere. But I see that you are inclined and open to study, so I'll recommend picking up "So Many Versions" from any Christian book store. It should shed more light than this thread could.