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July 24, 2011 Part 5
WE AFFIRM GOD HAS
PROVIDENTIALLY HAD
SUFFICIENT WITNESS TO
THE ORIGINAL TEXT OF
THE BIBLE PRESERVED
UNTIL OUR TIME SO THAT
WE KNOW WE HAVE THE
ORIGINAL, AUTHENTIC
WORD OF GOD.
THE THIRD QUESTIONAre you sure no one ever changed the
Bible?
Every word of God proves true... Do not add to his words, lest
he
rebuke you and you be found a liar (Proverbs 30:5-6 ESV).
In three places the Scriptures specifically warn us not to add
or take
anything away from the Scriptures (Deut 4:2, 12:32; Prov 30:5-6;
Rev 22:18-19). In
essence God has commanded that his word remain unaltered. But,
has it?
Weve already seen that scribal errors dont amount to any
significant change
in the text, so we do have a Bible that has been faithfully
passed down fromancient times until now.
However, there are some who claim that the Bible was at least
selectively
assembled by someone like Constantine in the 4th Century. (Well
examine that
claim with question 4.) There are others who claim it was
changed, maybe
even fabricated during the late 1st Century (before the date of
our oldest
existing manuscripts) by the Christian community. Getting to the
truth is a
matter of faith and a little critical thinking.
The faith issue has to do with what we understand about the
nature, power
& purposes of God with regard to Scripture. What would be
the use of God
sending his Son to save the world, inspire apostles &
prophets to write about it,
and then just let liars so corrupt it as to leave us with no
testimony? Does that
seem to you to be consistent with Gods nature? He allows men
free will , &
abusing it, some blatantly produced perversions of Scripture.
But, his
providence saw that we have so many witnesses to the true text
that weve
never been without it from the 1st Century until now. Is not
such basic
providence what faith ought to
expect from God?
The critical thinking has to do
with what the Bible says
compared to what its critics say
about it. Is there substance to their
claims? Do the claims of Scripture
seem like what people would just
make up? Are there passages that
contradict one another, as would
certainly be the case if someone
had tampered with sections of it?
Where is the evidence that the
Bible has ever been changed in
any lasting, far reaching way?
SUMMER QUARTER COUPLES/FAMILY CLASS - 2011
THE TRUSTWORTHY WORD
ARE YOU SURE?
Are you sure no one has ever
changed the Bible?
The Bible was written over a
period of 1,500 years by
some 40 men in three
languages. It contains threeor four distinct types or
genres of literature in two
sections divided (in Christian
Bibles) into sixty-six individual
books. In spite of all this
complexity, it is a
masterpiece of literary unity.
No other book can
compare! What does that
say about its trustworthiness?
The unity of the Bible, its
authentic historical
details, & its unbiased
presentation of the lives of
its greatest characters,
working together make a
strong case against any
considerable changes of
its text.
Are you sure?
