What is Truth?

August 2008  Vol. II Number 8

Know What You Believe

I would guess that most people that profess to be Christians know that the Bible is by far and away the “Best Seller” of all time (although I’m not sure that the New York Times is aware of this) and has been translated into more languages than any other book.

“Bible means "book." But what kind of book is the Bible? Some suggest it is a record of man's religious striving toward and encounters with God—an essentially human book. Traditionally, the historic Christian church has seen the Bible as far more than this—namely, as the written Word of God. The first words of the book show that God is the leading character of this divine auto biography: "In the beginning God . . ." Its pages show us God taking the initiative, giving us information about Himself, and showing His purposes for us”— Paul E. Little; Know What You Believe.

But what do you, as a Christian, really know about the Bible? How you view the Bible is crucial because it hold the key to knowing for certain that God exists. Moreover, it is God’s written plan of Salvation for mankind.

In today’s postmodern worldview era it is more important than ever to know exactly where you stand. There are many false prophets about… perhaps they are even well intentioned. At best they are misguided products of postmodernism with its elastic morality; challenging the time-honored concepts of the God of the Bible. Ideas such as "All roads lead to Rome" and "There is no One Way" come from every corner of the globe. Relativism has taken over; disavowing all possibility of one truth source; and secularism joins in exalting existential experiences. At worst they are minions of Satan doing his bidding in his war with God.

The Bible is a book and a collection of Books. The Old Testament was written in Hebrew and was translated to Greek about 250 BC. The New Testament was written in Aramaic, Hebrew and Greek the three primary languages of its day. Although none of the original manuscripts survive there are some 25,000 copies of the originals. These copies were made by hand until the advent of the printing press in 1545. That is important to note because throughout the 25,000 extant manuscripts in existence today there is less than 1.5% variance of the recorded message and those variance are mostly grammatical and do not in anyway impact doctrine. But wait…

What is happening today? Today’s translators are not adhering to the same standards as the scribes who presented us with the Bible we read today. They believed that they were handling the very word of God and treated the text reverently. The purpose of today’s translators is to make the Bible “easier to read.” What they are doing is basically dumbing it down and in the process changing not only the words but changing the Word. The Bible is not that hard to read. In fact for the first 150 or so years of our existence as a country the Bible was used to teach children to read. Given the sad state of reading scores among young people today perhaps we should look in to reinstating it as required reading.

Study your Bible but make sure that the Bible you study is in fact the inerrant word of God. The King James translation is still today the best English version available. The New King James translation has allowed some Liberal thought to creep into the text and is not as good as the KJV. You have to be concerned also with concordances, dictionaries and commentaries also. They too are being revised into more Politically Correct and heretical content. For example here is a list of KJV scriptures missing from the NIV Bible:

Matthew 17:21,
Matthew 18:11,
Matthew 23:14,
Mark 7:16,
Mark 9:44 & 46,
Mark 11:26,
Mark 15:28,
Luke 17:36,
Luke 23:17,
John 5:3b & 4,
Acts 8:37,
Acts 15:34,
Acts 24:7,
Acts 28:29,
Romans 16:24,
1 John 5:7


Be aware that there are some hard to understand verses and that the Bible sometimes appears to contradict itself. Key word, ‘seems to.” But if you read it in context and with an open mind and prayer, the Holy Ghost will deliver the truth of God’s Words.

Next month I will talk about some of the problems. You need to know about them because every atheist can and will point them out. You will need the full amour of God to show them the error of their ways.

 


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