The Bible of Today = Is it Authentic & Original word of GOD ?
Was The Bible Assembled By Vote?
40 AUTHORS & THE HOLY SPIRIT
Most modern day Christians claim the assembly of the Holy
Bible is in fact, a Perfect Book, written by forty (40)
authors, all being inspired by the Holy Spirit, and it has
remained unchanged for thousands of years. I know, because
when I was still a Christian, I used to believe the same
thing.
However, this claim is not really from the Biblical
scholars themselves, but rather by various laymen, being
uneducated in the actual work of working with ancient
documents and it promotes ignorance of the subject. When
this is offered as some type of religious authority, it
provides a deceptive and misleading presentation that is
easily exposed as nonsense and could actually turn the
believers of Christianity away from religion altogether.
SERIOUS CHANGES OVER CENTURIES
The scholars of Canon of the Bible are quick to concede
that the books we know in today's Bible, both in the Old
and in the New Testaments, have undergone very serious
changes throughout the centuries. First year students of
Biblical manuscripts will immediately acknowledge this is
the undeniable case. The Dead Sea scrolls (actually know
as Wadi Qumran scrolls) for example, are clear evidence to
this fact without doubt. Although hidden from the public
for over forty years after discovery, the facts have now
come to light. These scrolls were not something recorded
before the advent of Christ (peace be upon him). But
rather, these are now accurately placed at the very time
of the first century of the Christian Era (C.E.). These
ancient manuscripts demonstrate a number of very different
variations of scripture all being distributed all at the
very same time. Some of these scrolls are noted by present
day scholars to be even more accurate, more extensive and
of much better quality than what we find in our Bibles
today.
What is the Real History of this Book? - The Holy Bible?
Has the Bible always been, as claimed by some, the
unchangeable, uncompromised - Word for word - Letter for
letter - Dot for dot - Word of God, that we know today?
REAL HISTORY
Let's first consider the real history. For centuries there
have been translations in and out of many different
languages, too many to even number. My own library
contains more than a dozen very different translations and
I know of many more in the local Christian book store.
While many Christians would like to think the Bible they
have on the coffee table, in their bookcase, hall closet
(or in the bathroom) is the very same Bible used by the
church for two thousand years, this is simply not true.
ENGLISH BIBLE NOT EVEN 1,000 YEARS OLD
First and foremost, English must be ruled out as an
authentic language for the Bible, as the English language
did not even exist until after the Normans invaded the
Saxxons in the Christian Era 1066 (C.E.) and that is not
even one thousand years ago.
PROTESTANT BIBLE EXISTED
AFTER PROTESTANT REFORMATION
The Protestant Bible with its sixty six (66) books, did
not exist until after there were Protestants. That may
sound a bit humorus, yet many Christians today rely on the
Protestant Bible as though it had come to them directly
from the time of Jesus himself (peace be upon him).
MANY MISTAKES OF
4TH CENTURY LATIN VULGATE
Actually, the Catholic Latin Vulgate is the Bible
translated by Jerome in the Latin language. It dates back
to the fourth century (C.E.) and is currently located in
the Vatican in Rome. Irregardless of its value in
antiquity, the evident mistakes and deviations from the
older manuscripts make it more of a museum spectacle than
a serious reference.
CATHOLIC BIBLE HAS 73 BOOKS
The Catholic Bible has been comprised of seventy three
(73) books for many centuries, athough from time to time,
the Book of Revelations has come under question and been
removed by one council or another and then replace by
other councils at later dates.
PROTESTANT BIBLE HAS 66 BOOKS
Most Protestant Christians seem to think their Bible of
sixty six (66) existed for thousands of years. This is
incorrect. This particular version cannot exit prior to
the advent of Bishop Martin Luther and his followers, all
within the last five hundred (500) years or so.
DEBATES ABOUT BOOKS UNTIL 1647
The word 'canon' refers to specific writings that are
accepted by the Church as being from the 'Devine' source
(God). However, as to which books or writings are
acceptable as canonical and which are not acceptable has
been the subject of debates amongst the Judeo-Christian
leaders for the last two millenium. As already mentioned,
the Catholic Church has maintained over seventy (73) books
in their version, while the Protestant verison limits the
number to sixty six (66) and even then the Protestants did
not agree on which books should be part and parcel o the
Bible up until 1647, at the Assembly of Westminster.
NEWLY ACCEPTED BOOKS
A few of the New Testament Books now accepted (but earlier
rejected) include: Hewbrews, James, 1st Peter, 2nd Peter,
2 John, 3rd John, Jude and the book of Revelations.
ORIGINALLY ACCEPTED BOOKS
(BUT NO MORE)
At one time in earlier manuscripts we find as part of the
New Testament canon (at that time) the inclusion of:
Shepher of Hermas, Epistle of Barnabas, 1st Clement, 2nd
Clement, Epistle to Laodiceans (by Paul) and the Apostolic
Constitions.
JEWS & CATHOLICS ACCEPT
PROTESTANTS DO NOT
There are more than a dozen Books of the Old Testament
accepted by some Jews and for the most part by Greek and
Roman Catholic Churches, yet rejected by the Protestants.
These include: Baruch, Tobit, Judith, Book of Wisdom, Song
of Three Children, History of Susanna, Bel and the Dragon,
Prayer of Manasseh, Ecclesiasticus, 1st Esdras, 2nd
Esdras, 1st Maccabees, 2nd Maccabees, 3rd Maccabees, 4th
Maccabees, 5th Maccabees.
ALL AGREE ON
ONLY 5 BOOKS
Only the first five (5) books, called the Pentateuch, were
accepted by all Jewish and all Christians as being
canonical or Devine. These are the famous first books of
the Old Testament: Genesis; Exodus, Leviticus; Numbers and
Deuteronomy.
LOST BOOKS OF THE BIBLE
While in my father's study, I came across a reference book
for the ancient manuscripts of the Bible. In it I found
listed the "Lost Books of the Bible". I was fascinated
with this and through close examination, I found there
were many other Books or manuscripts I had never heard of.
The authors or writers of the Bible actually had referred
to these works: Book of the Wars of the Lord; Book of
Jasher; Book of the Covenant; Book of Nathan (the prophet,
son of David); Book of Gad; Book of Samuel; Prophecy of
Ahijah; Visions of Iddo; Acts of Uzziah; Acts of Solomon
(son of David); Three Thousand (3,000) Proverbs of
Solomon; A Thousand and Five (1,005) Songs of Solomon;
Chronicles of Kings of Judah; Chronicles of Kings of
Israel; Book of Jehu and the book of Enoch (the first
person to write scripture of God, according to Islamic
traditions).
CANONIZED BIBLE BOOKS
CHOSEN BY POPULAR VOTE
The 'Canonized' Version of the Bible did not exist until
after the Council of Bishops and even then is was still
being debated for many centuries afterward. The books to
be contained in the Holy Word of God, were actually just
chosen by the popular vote, much the same way we would
vote on any public law today. Which brings to mind a
number of complications as to these really having any real
Divine authority. Which bishop was against or for certain
books that did not make it into the final edition (and
why?). What was the reason some endorsed while others
declined on various books?
GOSPELS LEFT OUT
We now come to another very important issue concerning
books, actually 'Gospels' (Greek: 'Good News') of the New
Testament. Why are we now deprived of the 'Good News' of
Thomas? Or Jade? Or Peter? Those were the names of actual
Gospels that were left out of the final version of the
council choices. Along with others such as: The Gospel of
Hebrews; Gospel of the Egyptians; Gospel of Perfection;
Gospel of Judas; Gospel of Thaddeus; Gospel of the
Infancy; Gospel of the Preaching of Peter; Gospel of the
Shepherd of Hermas; The Epislte of Baranabas; Gospel of
the Pastor of Hermas; the Revelation of Peter; the
Revelation of Paul; the Epistle of Clement; the Epistle of
Ignatius; the Gospel of Mary; the Gospel of Nicodemus and
the Gospel of Marcion.
MORE GOSPELS & ACTS LEFT OUT
Did we somehow miss out on all of this "Good News"
(Gospels) by one or two votes? How much did we miss these
by? And then, what about: The Acts of Pilate, Acts of
Andrew; Acts of Mary; Acts of Paul; Acts of Thecia and
even more. Consider what would have happened in the year
365 (C.E.) at the Council of Laodicea, if even one of
those Bishops had voted differently, or maybe not even
shown up on that particular day. A vote or two cast
differently would have produced a very different belief
for millions upon millions of Christians in the last 1600
years.
As a matter of fact, why would we be forced to accept the
voting of some men back 16 centuries ago?
BIBLE NOT REALLY A 'BOOK'
UNTIL 15TH CENTURY
The Gutenberg priniting press brought about a
revolutionary change in reading material that changed the
way people read, learned and understood informaiton as
never before. It was this invention that produced for the
first time, a Bible that could be said to be exactly the
same as other Bibles coming from the same printings on
this press.
At the same time, we become seriously aware of the fact
that prior to this marvelous invention, the Bible was not
in one solid form. Rather it was in pieces in manuscript
form on scrolls and parchments and could not have been
reliabily copied, translated, recopied and transferred
from one parchment to the next without at least some
mistakes, omissions, alterations or errors.
WHAT ABOUT CHANGES? ALTERATIONS? OMISSIONS? DELETIONS?
This begs the question, how easy would it have been to
intentionally change, alter, add or omit certain words,
verses or even whole chapters by church leaders or scroll
keepers in an effort to appease rulers or enforce certain
objectives on the believers?
How could we ever know just how much of the Biblical text
has been altered, changed, deleted or rewritten by the
hand of well meaning (or not-so-well-meaning) monks and
scroll keepers over the centuries?
We are all in a serious condition these days. Atheism is
on the rise amongst many of our youth. And dependency on
drugs, alcoholism, sex, family abuse, adultry, rape,
murder, terrorism, wars and suicides are happening
everywhere. All the while we have people insisting on
reliance to a book, that in all fairness is much more from
mankind than it is from Above.
All the faithful would agree, there must be reliance on
the the Word of the One God Above for solutions to these
problems. But how many will really take a step back to
consider what the correct source for God's Word to mankind
might really be?
lol
