Hi all,
In another discussion, "What Religion Are You And Why?" -- the discussion has bogged down in arguments about the King James Bible. So, maybe it is good if we back off a bit and clear the air. What do most conservative Christian churches, ministries, and organizations say in their Statement of Beliefs about the Bible? I believe you will find the one I use in my ministry to be pretty close to what you will find in other conservative ministries:
That the Bible, consisting of the books of the Old Testament and the New Testament, is the Written Word of God; is a supernaturally inspired revelation from God; and is His full plan for mankind and His full revelation to mankind.
That the Bible is without error in its moral and spiritual teaching and in its record of historical facts.
Now, what does this mean? It means that the Bible, in its original manuscripts, is the literal Word of God because it was written by men under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit -- and since these books were inspired by the Holy Spirit; it can be correctly called the Written Word of God. While the men who did the writing did so in their own particular ways and styles; the Holy Spirit was right there guiding their thoughts and their hands. The Bible IS literally the message which God wanted to transmit to mankind down through the ages -- a message of pure love, pure justice, and salvation for mankind.
When I write "That the Bible is without error in its moral and spiritual teaching and in its record of historical facts" -- I mean that this was true in its original manuscript. Unfortunately, none of the original manuscripts exist today. What we have today are copies of the originals and translations from the original languages into English.
Have copying errors crept into the text? Most certainly. However, the early scribes who did the copying were meticulous in their fervor to make correct copies. They had methods of proof-reading that is unknown today. Each portion of the scroll which was copied was carefully reread, the letters counted, the words counted, etc. -- and if one single mistake was found, that scroll was destroyed and the scribe began all over again.
There are so many books, religious and secular, written about and from the Bible since the days of the apostles; and so many manuscripts and fragments found from those days -- that it is estimated that, if all the Bibles in the world were somehow destroyed -- the Bible could be reproduced from these early writings, manuscripts, and fragments to completely recover the entire Bible except for possibly eleven verses. No other book in history has such legitimate evidence of its existence and its accuracy as the Bible.
To summarize, a God who is powerful enough to inspire forty men, over a period of sixteen hundred years, all living in diverse geographical locations, to write these sixty-six books which comprise our Bible -- and to have all of these writings maintain a consistent, unified, single theme: salvation for mankind -- this God is most certainly powerful enough to protect the writings He originally authored. He can and has done this through all copying, translations, and canonization processes.
So, when I write "That the Bible is without error in its moral and spiritual teaching and in its record of historical facts" -- I believe this is a fact you can take to the bank. God does not and has never -- made mistakes. The word "Oops!" is not in His vocabulary. God authored, protected, and brought His Written Word, the Bible, to us as we have it today. Therefore, I feel confident in stating that the Bible is the inspired, inerrant, literal Word of God; His full revelation to mankind.
God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,
Bill
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