When Anxiety Attacks
7 years ago
Thursday, February 5, 2009
The Bible has been translated and copied so many times there’s no way we can actually know what it says. There are so many different variants we can’t know which is right. And then there are all the other books that didn’t make it into the Bible. What makes them any less right or true than the ones that made it in? The Bible wasn’t even formed until centuries after the fact. What about all the contradictions in the Bible? Why should I believe the Bible is reliable?
I have encountered these basic statements and questions in one form or another multiple times in the last few days, and even more times in the last couple of months. With all that is out there right now on other gospels, the conspiracies of the Bible, and the “scandalous” contradictions of the Bible, it is no surprise that many have these questions or ideas.
However, a point of interest I have noticed is that few people, when asked to elaborate further can give much detail or reason for these concerns. Ask a person to which contradictions he refers, and he typically has a very hard time coming up with a single one. Ask someone which variant readings are most troublesome, and she often can't give an answer. Most often it seems that people are simply throwing about a nebulous accusation which is currently en vogue while not actually having the slightest shred of evidence beyond the generic, “Everyone knows...” or “They say...” The funny thing is if you follow up with the natural question, “Who are 'They'?” You still are not likely to actually get any names beyond a catch-all “people who know” or “scholars who study those things”.
I have had some instances when a person who makes these claims can provide some basic response that shows more familiarity with the issues involved. They may be able to give an example of a seeming contradiction in Scripture or give a ballpark figure of the current number of manuscript variants. I will be the first to admit that there are some things in Scripture that are hard to figure out. And there are some issues that I am still working on. Interestingly, however, the contradictions people give or the manuscript variants don't fit anywhere in that picture for me. The vast majority of seeming contradictions can be quickly answered in a logical, plausible manner. The variants issue is not an issue when you actually spend time studying what is being found, rather than simply taking the word of certain popular professors who have a vested interest in selectively choosing and wording scholarly facts in order to create sensation and sell books to the public.
In an effort to lay some basic groundwork for people who want to know the truth of the situation, I'll address some of the most common issues or concerns raised about the reliability of the Bible in a series of blogs I'm starting here. Hopefully, this will help provide a basic foundation upon which those who wish to learn more can build. (What I will cover is not based upon my own smarts. I’m primarily standing on the shoulders of scholars much smarter and more educated than I. Two good starting points for a basic understanding of what I will hit on are Tim Keller’s Reason for God and Lee Stroebel’s The Case for the Real Jesus. For a much more scholarly and substantive book, that really is chewing on some academic meat, check out Jesus and the Eyewitnesses, by Richard Bauckham.)
I have encountered these basic statements and questions in one form or another multiple times in the last few days, and even more times in the last couple of months. With all that is out there right now on other gospels, the conspiracies of the Bible, and the “scandalous” contradictions of the Bible, it is no surprise that many have these questions or ideas.
However, a point of interest I have noticed is that few people, when asked to elaborate further can give much detail or reason for these concerns. Ask a person to which contradictions he refers, and he typically has a very hard time coming up with a single one. Ask someone which variant readings are most troublesome, and she often can't give an answer. Most often it seems that people are simply throwing about a nebulous accusation which is currently en vogue while not actually having the slightest shred of evidence beyond the generic, “Everyone knows...” or “They say...” The funny thing is if you follow up with the natural question, “Who are 'They'?” You still are not likely to actually get any names beyond a catch-all “people who know” or “scholars who study those things”.
I have had some instances when a person who makes these claims can provide some basic response that shows more familiarity with the issues involved. They may be able to give an example of a seeming contradiction in Scripture or give a ballpark figure of the current number of manuscript variants. I will be the first to admit that there are some things in Scripture that are hard to figure out. And there are some issues that I am still working on. Interestingly, however, the contradictions people give or the manuscript variants don't fit anywhere in that picture for me. The vast majority of seeming contradictions can be quickly answered in a logical, plausible manner. The variants issue is not an issue when you actually spend time studying what is being found, rather than simply taking the word of certain popular professors who have a vested interest in selectively choosing and wording scholarly facts in order to create sensation and sell books to the public.
In an effort to lay some basic groundwork for people who want to know the truth of the situation, I'll address some of the most common issues or concerns raised about the reliability of the Bible in a series of blogs I'm starting here. Hopefully, this will help provide a basic foundation upon which those who wish to learn more can build. (What I will cover is not based upon my own smarts. I’m primarily standing on the shoulders of scholars much smarter and more educated than I. Two good starting points for a basic understanding of what I will hit on are Tim Keller’s Reason for God and Lee Stroebel’s The Case for the Real Jesus. For a much more scholarly and substantive book, that really is chewing on some academic meat, check out Jesus and the Eyewitnesses, by Richard Bauckham.)
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