Hi to my Forum Friends,
In an earlier discussion which I began titled "Hallelujah! - He Is Coming! - Are You Ready?" -- my Friend, Sofa, wrote, "Logic tells me that if the bible is 100% literal word, then I'm in the wrong religion. The God as depicted by the early Jews is mean and spiteful. So it must have been corrupted by the touch of man. Perfectly understandable."
And, I replied to Sofa, "Could be; which religion do you follow? As for me, I am a Christian, a Christ Follower -- so, instead of a rigid religion; I have a personal relationship with my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. You really should try it. Is God depicted as mean, spiteful, evil? Not in my Bible. (I'm) not sure which Bible you are reading."
Sofa tells me, "THE bible, Bill. The one where God commands his people to conquer a village, kill all the men and smash the babies against the rocks, kidnap the virgins and take them for wives."
Please show me the Scripture verse or passage where God commands the Israelites to "smash the babies against the rocks."
Did God instruct the Israelites to conquer the pagan nations and kill all the people? Yes. Why? To protect His chosen people from being lured into the worship of pagan gods -- which would, could, and did happen -- when all the conquered pagans were not destroyed. Keep in mind; this was the dispensation of the Law -- and was quite different from our present dispensation of Grace. God had chosen a people to be His people -- and He protected His people. Kind of makes one want to be one of "God's people" -- doesn't it?
Next, he tells me, "The God that bargained with Abraham to rain fire upon an entire city killing them all, then 50, then 45, then 10 because God was concerned with how they were having sex with each other."
You, of course, are speaking of Sodom (Genesis 18, 19) -- which was a city totally mired in the unGodly lifestyle of homosexuality. God sent His two angels into Sodom to rescue Lot and his family, and to destroy this immoral city which was wallowing in the homosexual lifestyle. And, to emphasize the truth of God's judgment upon this city; the men of Sodom wanted to have homosexual relations with the angels, for they thought these were two handsome men. Yes, under God's dispensation of the Law in the Old Testament -- homosexuality was dealt with very firmly.
Then, Sofa tells me, "MY God is a God of love and compassion and would never command such a heinous crime against His children."
First, these people of the pagan nations, and especially Sodom, were NOT His children. They were His creation; but, definitely not His children. We become His children when, by grace, through faith in Jesus Christ, or in the case of the Old Testament people, faith in their coming Messiah -- we believe and receive His free gift of salvation. Hebrews, chapter 11, explains this very well.
So, no, God did not destroy His children -- He destroyed pagans who followed pagan gods and pagan lifestyles.
Sofa, you say, "I can only surmise that man polluted the story for his own wicked needs. To me, this is an example of how Man can misuse the power of the Holy Spirit in order to justify all sorts of evils."
Have people misused the Word of God for their own evil greed and power? Yes! Without a doubt -- yes! We see it every day on television with many of the false teachers who wear the cloak of Christianity to gain wealth and power. We see His Word misused and abused by Prosperity Theology preachers; we see His Word misused and abused by "Feel Good" Theology teachers; we see His Word misused and abused by many False Prophets today. Their day will come.
Does this mean that the Bible, or God, are to blame for this? No. Man has an inherited sin nature -- and with some people, it goes to extremes. This is why I spend so much time doing apologetic writings -- to refute the false teachings of such people, along with atheists, secularists, and New Age Religion teachers. This is why I will continue to share the Word of God -- from the Bible; not from Bill Gray's mind.
He tells me, "Of course, this is just a couple of many such horrible stories of retribution, intolerance, and downright hatred portrayed of the God of the Old Testament by MEN. This kind of justification for evil is precisely why "you" behave as you do even under the eyes of the Lord. You believe that if the Lord can act in such a horrible, angry way, then "you" can also pull the same crap. It doesn't work that way, my deluded friend."
My, my, you do not think very highly of God -- do you? Why do you even bother to tell us you are a Christian and worship God -- when you feel this way about Him? My Friend, you do need to better understand God, the Word of God, and get right with Him. You might want to get more involved in a good Bible study.
It is okay for you to dislike or disbelieve Bill Gray. Actually, for that, you will have to take a number and stand in line to be heard.
However, to dislike or disbelieve God; that is another ball game altogether. In this, you are putting your eternal soul at risk. So, if I were you, I would seriously rethink this attitude toward God and His Written Word, the Bible.
Finally, he tells me, "So either the bible is 100% inerrant and God acts like an angry child when he doesn't get his way (what moral person could worship such a being?). OR it has been corrupted by man. Which is it, Bill?"
Sofa, my Friend, I am glad you asked! The Bible is the Written Word of God, authored by Him, and protected by Him. It is His complete revelation to man regarding salvation and Christian living. God cannot make a mistake. God's vocabulary does not contain the word, "Oops!" Therefore, we have to say that the God-authored Written Word of God, the Bible -- is, indeed, inerrant.
What do I believe about the Bible?
That the Bible, consisting of the 39 books of the Old Testament and the 27 books of 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.
References: 2 Timothy 3:16-17, 2 Peter 1:20-21, Isaiah 46:9-10, Malachi 3:6, John 4:24, 1 John 4:10, John 3:16, 2 Peter 3:9, Matthew 18:14, Romans 3:10, Romans 3:23, Romans 8:16-17, Romans 12:1
That the Bible is without error in its moral and spiritual teaching, and in its record of historical facts.
References: 2 Timothy 3:16-17, 1 Samuel 15:29, Titus 1:2, John 10:34-36
You can find this and my full "Statement of Biblical Doctrinal Beliefs" on the Bill & Dory Gray Christian Ministries Blog at:
http://www.BillDory-Christian-Ministries.BlogSpot.com
Does the Bible contain copyist errors, i.e., Biblical versions of typos? Yes, but, very few. Scribes in the Old Testament day were meticulous about their work. Scrolls, or pages, of Scripture, when being copied -- were proof read by word, character, and number of characters per page or scroll. If even a small error was found -- that scroll or page was destroyed and the Scribe began all over again, copying this portion of Scripture. Records show that the book of Isaiah found in the Qumran Caves is virtually identical to the book of Isaiah in our Bibles today.
What of our Bibles today? Well, we do have many translation; some very good, some not so good -- and, then we have paraphrases which are nearly worthless. And, then there are those which are modified to agree with cult church teachings.
But, although no translation is perfect, we do have many very good Bibles to study today. And, whichever translation you chose, it is a fruitful adventure. You cannot go wrong studying the Bible.
The types of Bible translation are:
Formal Equivalency: This method is based upon doing a direct word-for-word translation from the original language into English; bearing in mind that this is often difficult when translating from a language where a word might have many shades (such as Greek), into a language where that word has only one shade, i.e., English. Still, for indepth study of Scripture, the translations based upon the Formal Equivalency are by far the best to use. Examples of Formal Equivalency Bibles are: King James Bible (KJV), New American Standard Bible (NASB) and the New King James Version Bible (NKJV).
Often called the "literal translation" -- Formal Equivalence seeks, as closely as possible, to preserve the structure of the original language. It seeks to represent each word of the translated text with an exact equivalent word in the translation -- so that the reader can see, word for word, what was originally written by these human authors, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
Dynamic Equivalence: This method is based upon doing a thought or phrase translation. In other words, the translator takes a thought or phrase, gives consideration to the culture and idiom of that day, and translates it into today's modern English. For example, in the days of the New Testament writers, the common, or street, language was the Greek language called Koine Greek. That would be equivalent to what we, today, call our conversational English.
The NIV falls into the category of Dynamic Equivalence. Often called "thought-for-thought" translation, the principle of dynamic equivalence does not preserve the structure of the original language. Its goal is to determine the meaning of a text from its form, and then translate the meaning of that phrase into an English phrase that can be more easily understood by readers today. Doing the translation by this method negates, or, at the least, seriously limits any serious Bible word study often required to fully understand the original writer's intent.
Paraphrase: This is where the person doing the translation takes a thought, phrase, sentence, or paragraph -- and combining his own version of translating along with his own "personal interpretation" of that Scripture passage -- decides what "he believes" the original writer was intending to say. Today we would call that "second guessing" or being an arm-chair quarterback.
There is a value here, in that these loosely paraphrased Bibles are in such simple English that people who are not believers, and not Biblically literate, can more easily be enticed into reading these versions. There is also a serious downside. When this person does get involved in a church or Bible study group; they may wonder what in the world they have been reading up to that point.
Radical/Heretical: This is when a person, or group, takes the Bible and decides to make drastic changes in it to make it fit their non-Christian theology. The Jehovah's Witnesses New World Translation bible is a great example of this type of book.
But, back in the real world; the NASB, NKJV, and KJV are best for doing serious, indepth Bible study. While I would rather see our churches and fellowships stay with the NKJV or the NASB Bibles for their teaching and study; I am still happy to see them teaching and encouraging the study of the Bible, even if it is from an NIV Bible.
For my personal study, I prefer the NASB. However, when I am writing an article, I will sometimes use different versions -- most often NKJV, KJV, or the NIV. When looking at a particular verse, and applying it to my writing, sometimes a different translation will convey the point I am trying to make more clearly than the NASB. But, as I said, for my own personal study, I prefer the NASB.
So, Sofa, in response to your question: "Has (the Bible) been corrupted by man?"
No! God is still, has always been, will always be -- in control. Man may do his best to subvert and corrupt God's Word; but, his attempts are futile.
God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,
Bill
Original Post
