So just how reliable is the bible? For those struggling with their faith this is one of the big reasons why. We presume that the bible is an ancient document, which it is, but since this is the case that it must be chalked full of mistakes, inconsistencies and errors as it’s been passed down from century to century. This however goes against the evidence and just isn’t the case.
Let’s just look at the tip of the iceburg and talk about manuscript evidence…
Over 5,500 different pieces of manuscript evidence and counting have been discovered. They range in form from Lectunaries to Papyrus fragments and more. So how close are these fragments to the actual time in which the events of the New Testament taking place. From the time Jesus walked the earth to the time we have the earliest manuscript evidence is a period of about 30-50 years. So we have manuscript evidence that’s been discovered within 3-5 decades of the actual events themselves taking place.
So how does that stack up against other manuscripts of antiquity?
Let’s look at Homer’s Illiad. This ancient document is the next closest in terms of the amount evidence we have in comparison to the bible. Here’s the problem with that. We only have about 650 pieces of manuscript evidence for the Illiad in comparison to the 5,500+ of the Bible. Now are you ready for the big kicker? The time gap between the earliest copies of the Illiad that we’ve found is 900-1000 years after Homer originally penned the work.
So with the New Testament we have thousands of manuscripts to rely on. The earliest that date back to within 30-50 years of the events taking place. With the Illiad we only have hundreds of pieces that are a 1000 years older than the original.
I don’t hear people arguing over the Illiad in their high school and college courses. So why are you arguing over the authenticity of the New Testament when the evidence is so much more overwhelmingly in favor of its accuracy?
Check out this great video on the Lee Strobel website that talks about this very subject.
No mention of dinosaurs. But, in abstract, I firmly believe these incidents did occur, but in realistic terms. During times when religion brought peasants around their kingdom, the scholars and monks were the 1% of the population that knew how to transcribe to make more bibles for the rich to preach down to the peasants.
Kingdom after Kingdom, the scribes were dictated how to alter the text, on top of poor translations. From that, you can grandiose tales of the same event. Moses parting water, probably just swam like he “parted water.”
Jesus didn’t come back. But his spirit lived on in others. That’s it – to me. Oh, and Noah? Some crazy guy in a boat that hoarded animals. It probably sank.
This was such an informative, relevant answer. It was exactly what I was looking for. I’m so happy to know I’ll be getting something out of you posts.