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Originally posted by Gifted Child:
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Originally posted by Bill Gray:
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Originally posted by b50m:
Those people who interpreted and translated the Bible over 2000 years all had free will as well. If God wanted a perfect inerrant copy, He should have placed one on the table in front of the Council of Nicea.
Hi B,
Yes, those who copied, translated, and canonized the Bible -- all had "free will" -- just as those forty men who wrote the Bible under the inspired authorship of God had "free will." But, at such times, God is still in control.
Why did God not lay His chosen translation on the table at Nicea? Is that the ONLY way YOU will believe Him -- if He gives you specific signs and wonders? The Pharisees were the same -- and, that did not sit well with Jesus.
I wonder how YOUR "signs and wonders" conditions for believing God sits with Him.
Bill -- where did the KJV come from?
Hi Child,
That is a good question. The following information answers your question better than what I might say:
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ORIGIN OF THE BIBLE - CREDIBLE & AUTHENTIC
http://www.allabouttruth.org/origin-of-the-bible.htm Origin of the Bible - The Truth About Translations: To many, the origin of the Bible can be summed up as follows:
"A mere translation of a translation of an interpretation of an oral tradition" - and therefore, a book with no credibility or connection to the original texts.
Actually, the foregoing statement is a common misunderstanding of both Christians and non-Christians alike. Translations such as the
King James Version are derived from existing copies of ancient manuscripts such as the Hebrew Masoretic Text (Old Testament) and the Greek Textus Receptus (New Testament), and are not translations of texts translated from other interpretations. The primary differences between today's Bible translations are merely related to how translators interpret a word or sentence from the original language of the text source (Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek).
Origin of the Bible - The Reliability of Ancient Manuscripts: Another challenge against the origin of the Bible is the reliability of the manuscripts from which today's Bibles are translated.
Remarkably, there is widespread evidence for absolute reliability. There are
more than 14,000 existing Old Testament manuscripts and fragments copied throughout the Middle East, Mediterranean, and European regions
that agree dramatically with each other. In addition, these texts agree with the Septuagint version of the Old Testament, which was translated from Hebrew to Greek some time during the 3rd century BC.
The Dead Sea Scrolls, discovered in Israel in the 1940's and 50's, also provide phenomenal evidence for the reliability of the ancient transmission of the Jewish Scriptures (Old Testament) before the arrival of Jesus Christ.
The Hebrew scribes who copied the Jewish Scriptures dedicated their lives to preserving the accuracy of the holy books. These scribes went to phenomenal lengths to insure manuscript reliability. They were highly trained and meticulously observed, counting every letter, word and paragraph against master scrolls. A single error would require the immediate destruction of the entire text.
The manuscript evidence
for the New Testament is also dramatic, with
over 5,300 known copies and fragments in the original Greek, nearly 800 of which were copied before 1000 AD. Some manuscript texts date to the early second and third centuries, with the time between the original autographs and our earliest existing copies being a remarkably short 60 years.
Interestingly, this manuscript evidence far surpasses the manuscript reliability of other ancient writings that we trust as authentic every day
Origin of the Bible - The Power of Prophecy: The origin of the Bible is God. It is a historical book that is backed by archeology, and a prophetic book that has lived up to all of its claims thus far. The Bible is God's letter to humanity collected into 66 books written by 40 divinely inspired writers over a period of over 1,600 years. The claim of divine inspiration may seem dramatic (or unrealistic to some), but a careful and honest study of the biblical scriptures will show them to be true.
Powerfully, the Bible validates its divine authorship through fulfilled prophecies. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
And, just a final note: The book of Isaiah found in the Qumran Caves in 1948 is complete -- and is virtually identical to the book of Isaiah found in our Bibles today. The Qumran version was copied somewhere between 200 BC to 100 AD; so, most likely predated the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ.
God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,
Bill