bible help

[dumbdude]

I have begun reading the bible not long ago but am wondering why I should trust the scripture, what is supposed to be the word of god, when it has been through the hands of so many men. Even king james altered the bible over 20 times so how can I truely believe that it is the word of our lord when man could have put anything in the bible over the centuries? Humans have the tendancy to try to manipulate and control other people so why would they not use the word of our lord to make people belive in what they want, even if it means desecrating the bible, and adding things they want you to believe in or removing what they don't want you to believe?

[Redeemed Papist]

Re: bible help

Are you seriously suggesting that the all powerful creator of the earth and firmament is incapable of getting people to write and translate a book about Him properly?

Yes. It all sounds a bit silly as soon as you think about it.

[Zechariah Smyth]

Re: bible help

How far along are you in the Bible? When exactly did you start reading it?

Think about those two questions while you are typing up a proper introduction.

Yours in Christ,

Z. Smyth

[Jedediah]

Re: bible help

I have begun reading the bible not long ago but am wondering why I should trust the scripture, what is supposed to be the word of god, when it has been through the hands of so many men. Even king james altered the bible over 20 times so how can I truely believe that it is the word of our lord when man could have put anything in the bible over the centuries? Humans have the tendancy to try to manipulate and control other people so why would they not use the word of our lord to make people belive in what they want, even if it means desecrating the bible, and adding things they want you to believe in or removing what they don't want you to believe?

Welcome, friend. You have come to the right place to have your misconceptions about God's Word cleared up. Clearly, your being here is part of His Plan. For starters, you should be aware that God promised to preserve His Word for all time, and if there is any being in existence that you can count on to come through on such a promise, it is the LORD.

Psalm 12:6-7
The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.
Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.

True Christians™ follow the entire Bible, and our discernment in determining what is True and what is not is guided by the Holy Spirit (I Corinthians 2:12-14). Not once has the Spirit told me to ignore a single verse of Scripture.

II Timothy 3:16
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

Now I know what you're thinking - "But the Bible was written in Greek and Hebrew and has been translated so many times. How can the King James Authorized Version ©1611 be the true Word of God when it has been translated and re-translated so many time?" Please allow me to dispel your confusion:

The King James Authorized Version ©1611 is not only as good as the original Greek and Hebrew, it is better!

There are three "translations" spoken of in the Bible. In all three cases, the translation referred to is better than the original. Since we accept the Bible as our final authority in all matters of faith and practice, the Bible's "practice" will have more authority than any "mere human" opinion.

The first "translation" found in Scripture is found in II Samuel 3:7-10:

And Saul had a concubine, whose name was Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah: and Ishbosheth said to Abner, Wherefore hast thou gone in unto my father's concubine? Then was Abner very wroth for the words of Ishbosheth, and said, Am I a dog's head, which against Judah do shew kindness this day unto the house of Saul thy father, to his brethren, and to his friends, and have not delivered thee into the hand of David, that thou chargest me to day with a fault concerning this woman?
So do God to Abner, and more also, except, as the LORD hath sworn to David, even so I do to him;
To translate the kingdom from the house of Saul, and to set up the throne of David over Israel and over Judah, from Dan even to Beersheba.

After the death of King Saul in I Samuel 31, Abner, who had been the captain of Saul's army installed Ishbosheth as King instead of David (II Samuel 12:8,9). Later Ishbosheth and Abner had a falling out. Abner, in anger, announces to Ishbosheth that he is going to "translate" the Kingdom of Israel from Ishbosheth to David.

It is obvious by Abner's statement of II Samuel 3:9 that the LORD wanted David to be king over all twelve tribes of Israel. Therefore, the "translation" of the kingdom of Israel to David was BETTER than the "original" state which has a split kingdom with David rightly ruling over one portion and Ishbosheth wrongly ruling over the other section.

The second "translation" found in Scripture is found in Colossians 1:13:

Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:

Here the "translation" spoken of is the conversion of a lost sinner to a new life in Jesus Christ. No one in their right mind could even pretend that this translation is not a massive improvement over the "original" condition.

The third "translation" found in Scripture is found in Hebrews 11:5:

By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.

The word "translate" only appears five times in scripture. Once in II Samuel, once in Colossians and the remaining three times here in Hebrews 11:5.

A Christian with even a shallow knowledge of the Bible is familiar with the story of Enoch from Genesis 5. Enoch walked with God and is known to have pleased God. He was a prophet (Judges 14) and a man of faith. God saw fit to physically take Enoch to Heaven so that he would not have to experience death. This individual action is a miniature version of what Christians call "The Rapture," mentioned in I Corinthians 15, I Thessalonians 4, Titus 2 and various other places in the Bible. Since the word "Rapture" appears nowhere in Scripture, a more proper name for this future occurrence might be "The Blessed Hope" (Titus) or "The Catching Up" (I Thessalonians) of "Our Translation" (Hebrews).

It is obvious that Enoch's translation was an improvement over his original condition.

Thus we see that every "translation" in our final authority on all matters is an improvement over the original.

If you are a simple Bible believer you will have no trouble accepting this. If you worship education or just hate to be wrong, you will reject this Bible Fact as easily as you have rejected every Bible Fact that you couldn't agree with.

Now which will you follow son, the Bible or men?

[dumbdude]

Re: bible help

I want to be able to follow the bible, not man. its just history that makes the bible hard to believe. In all of history man has done many evil things, and even sometimes in the name of the lord. If man is willing to use the name of our lord and saviour for evil and disturbing things, why would man not modify the word of god to suit their own needs, in order to make it seem like they are following the words of our lord, when they are just following their own will? And I am just here for help, please leave mean comments at the door, I just want help understanding.

And jedidiah I understand what you are talking about but still have my doubts. Not that the translations are not an improvement, just that the bible may have fallen into the wrong hands somewhere along the line and that they could have added or removed things that benifited them at the time.

[dumbdude]

Re: bible help

I am not sayin that the whole bible is no longer the true word of our lord, just that I don't trust man enough to believe that they left it the way it was written, and that they didn't add or subtract things that may have lost them power over the people of the past. I want to believe, I've just had my problems with men and find it hard to trust something that has gone through the hands of so many men that may or may not have been corrupt.

[Levi Jones]

Re: bible help

I have begun reading the bible not long ago but am wondering why I should trust the scripture, what is supposed to be the word of god, when it has been through the hands of so many men.

Of course it has. The Bible has many authors all inspired by God.

Even king james altered the bible over 20 times

Do we have any evidence for this?

man could have put anything in the bible over the centuries?

What did they put in and when? Do you have any specific examples or just vague assertions?

even if it means desecrating the bible, and adding things they want you to believe in or removing what they don't want you to believe?

Why not study for yourself? I should do your looking for you?

[Missionary in Sweden]

Re: bible help

I want to be able to follow the bible, not man. its just history that makes the bible hard to believe. In all of history man has done many evil things, and even sometimes in the name of the lord. If man is willing to use the name of our lord and saviour for evil and disturbing things, why would man not modify the word of god to suit their own needs, in order to make it seem like they are following the words of our lord, when they are just following their own will? And I am just here for help, please leave mean comments at the door, I just want help understanding.

And jedidiah I understand what you are talking about but still have my doubts. Not that the translations are not an improvement, just that the bible may have fallen into the wrong hands somewhere along the line and that they could have added or removed things that benifited them at the time.

There are versions of the Bible that are wrong. Altered perversions. That's why God in his infintiate mercy provided us with the correct version, King James.

Because man is sinfull, isn't it nice that God intervenes in this world?

[Faith_Machine]

Re: bible help

Medude, Zechariah hinted very subtly that you should type up a proper introduction, but you don't seem to have taken the hint.

Please tell us what church you attend, what your favorite Bible verse is, and which Republican you are fervently praying will be the next President of the United States.

My money's on Jeb Bush!!!!!!

[Levi Jones]

Re: bible help

and that they didn't add or subtract things that may have lost them power over the people.

They would never, because the Bible tells them not to.

Deuteronomy 4:2 Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.

Revelation 22:19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

[BelieverInGod]

Re: bible help

The KJV 1611 has stood the test of time. 400+ years and still going strong.

These new hippie perversions of the Bible are just a sign of end times. You will notice that they've all been published since the 1960's. If you look at the NIV 2011, they've now changed the wording to say that you have to "believe", but doesn't say what you need to believe in.

[dumbdude]

Re: bible help

Faith machine, I'm not here for an introduction, just thoughts from others and levi this is why I am asking everyone here, what better way to learn than to get it from those that have been following god longer than I? Like I said leave mean comments at the door, I'm not here to read others negative views on what I think but to learn from the positive views that people share with me.

[BelieverInGod]

Re: bible help

Faith machine, I'm not here for an introduction, just thoughts from others and levi this is why I am asking everyone here, what better way to learn than to get it from those that have been following god longer than I? Like I said leave mean comments at the door, I'm not here to read others negative views on what I think but to learn from the positive views that people share with me.

Introducing yourself is part of our forum rules.

The introduction forum Attention Unsaved Trash: This the ONLY subforum you can start threads in. Here is where you introduce yourself. Tell us what church you go to and what your favorite Bible verse is and how you came to find Jesus.

If you can't follow the simple rules of our forum, how do you expect to follow the rules that God has laid out for us in the Bible?

[Rev. Waynetta Kerr]

Re: bible help

I am not sayin that the whole bible is no longer the true word of our lord, just that I don't trust man enough to believe that they left it the way it was written, and that they didn't add or subtract things that may have lost them power over the people of the past. I want to believe, I've just had my problems with men and find it hard to trust something that has gone through the hands of so many men that may or may not have been corrupt.

Jesus is in your heart, young man. Many parts of the Bible are mistranslated or just plain mistaken when it was written. I mean, do you really think god wants us to kill gays?

Leviticus 20:13 "If a man practices homosexuality, having sex with another man as with a woman, both men have committed a detestable act. They must both be put to death, for they are guilty of a capital offence.

Search yourself inside, young man. You know this is wrong. You know it's not right to kill people just because they are gay.

However, when the bible says stuff that sounds kind and loving and as if Jesus was a nice person who thought women should be treated equally then you can be assured it has been translated correctly and should be followed as if it is the absolute truth! It's all a matter of using your judgement and under no circumstances thinking you could just go it alone and forget about God and just make up your own morals.

[Faith_Machine]

Re: bible help

Faith machine, I'm not here for an introduction, just thoughts from others and levi this is why I am asking everyone here, what better way to learn than to get it from those that have been following god longer than I? Like I said leave mean comments at the door, I'm not here to read others negative views on what I think but to learn from the positive views that people share with me.

Leave mean comments at the door? Friend, if I've said anything to you that sounded like a mean comment, I sincerely apologize! I just wanted to make sure you posted a proper introduction, mainly because I'd like to get to know you better, but also because our rules require it.