Trusting the Bible

"For the word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the the heart."   ~Hebrews 4:12

One of my great loves is studying God's Word...the Bible.   I can't remember exactly what year I started, but about 8 or 9 years ago I began having a daily Bible study time every morning. I don't mean to sound overly dramatic...but to put it simply, it has changed my life...and all for good.  I strongly recommend it to anyone who desires to draw closer to God, to know more about Him and about his faithfulness, his sovereignty, his goodness, his mercy and love.  

However,  before I started studying, I did not have much interest, or frankly, much trust in what the Bible said.  I had been taught growing up that the Bible, although it was good, it contain errors, distortions and omissions.  Before I could truly start studying it, I had to address some of the doubts that I had.

Here are some of the things about the Bible that I learned:

1. Written in a 1500 year period.

 2. Written in different places...wilderness, dungeon, palace etc.

 3. Written in different times...war, peace, prosperity etc.

 4. Written by 40 authors who...

-lived over 15 centuries

-lived on 3 different continents...Asia, Africa, Europe.

-spoke different languages...Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic.

-came from every walk of life...kings, military leaders, philosophers,    poets, scholars, peasants, shepherds, tax collectors, etc.

 5. Written during different moods...joy, sorrow, despair, certainty, confusion and doubt.

6. Contains 66 different books that read as 1
7. Contains: History, Law, Science, Drama, Poetry, Songs, Biographies, personal            correspondences, Prophecy, and Philosophy. 

 8. Addresses hundreds of controversial topics from parenting to homosexuality and with        amazing harmony.             

9. Despite it's diversity it reveals one simple theme--God's redemption of Mankind.

How well is it preserved?  This is where the doubts come in.  For many years it was hand-copied, so how can you trust that it was done accurately?  Many believe that the words of scripture was changed, either added or omitted, to support a certain belief.  Is that true...do the facts support that?

Well, here are some facts... there are 5,656 manuscripts (hand-written copies) of the New Testament in Greek (original language of the NT) alone.  (Some of these manuscripts are just parts of the NT) There are many thousands of manuscripts in other languages too...Latin, Ethiopic, Slavic, Armenian, Arabic, Gothic, Persian and others.  Together they total over 19,000 manuscripts and combined with the Greek manuscripts it totals over 24,900 manuscripts.  It is the most frequently copied and widely circulated document of antiquity.  Nothing come close to it.  The second most preserved is Homer's Iliad with 643 manuscripts.  

These manuscripts have been studied, analyzed and compared.   In the book, Foundations for Biblical Interpretation, by D. Dockery, S. Kenneth, and S. Mathews (1994), they said, "...although there are certainly differences in many of the New Testament manuscripts, not one fundamental doctrine of the Christian faith rests on a disputed reading."  May I also recommend the book The New Evidence That Demands a Verdict by Josh McDowell.

Learning all of this was very helpful to me and helped me to trust it more.  But the real conviction came as I studied it and came to know more of our good and faithful God.  This is His holy word to us.  He would not allow it to become faulty.  Men over the ages have tried to destroy and corrupt it, but have failed. 

~"The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but the word of our God shall stand for ever." Isaiah 40:8
~"Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away."  Matt. 24:35
~"All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness." 1Timothy 3:16