Has the Bible Been Changed?

Nevertheless, some people, especially those who don’t like the moral constraints of the Bible, want to say that the Bible has changed since it was written. If Jesus was proved to be the authentic Son of God through the resurrection from the dead, this cannot be so.

The textual evidence for the integrity of the Bible is better than for any other ancient book or document. Compared to other ancient writings, we have more manuscripts still in existence, and manuscripts whose age we know is much closer to the time of original writing, than it is in the case of other ancient writings. All variations which exist are of a very minor nature which do not affect any major doctrine of the Bible. We believe that it can be deduced which manuscripts in fact are closest to what was originally written, but it is outside the scope of this lesson to discuss this.

There are amazing mathematical patterns in Bible when looked at in the original Hebrew and Greek languages. Hundreds of facts based around the number 7 appear in every passage of the Bible when you look at the numerical values of the words in the original Hebrew and Greek texts of the Bible. Many of these patterns were discovered by Ivan Panin in the 19th century. This discovery turned him from being an agnostic to being a Christian. His subsequent research provides a virtually irrefutable evidence that the Bible is not simply the product of human minds. No computer today could create such a text. The conclusion is once again that the Bibleis the Word of God.

There will always be people however who refuse to believe. This is basically because they are not willing to consider the evidence honestly. Human beings often believe things for reasons other than logic or persuasive argument. Many times people believe what they want to believe, because it is convenient that way or too emotionally painful to recognise that they and their family have been fundamentally deceived all this time. People today are often “lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God.” (2 Timothy 3:4). Hiding in their pride and communal ignorance, they do not want to consider the evidence for the Bible, in case they are forced to admit it is true and they have to give up their ungodly passions and pleasures. The Bible makes it clear that God is looking for a change in our lives. But that change will be good, because God is good, wise, and able to help us be what we were created to be.

Since God is manifest in creation, in our consciences and our personhood, we are without excuse if we do not believe in a personal God. The Bible points this out in Romans 1:18-20. The truth is that a person who rejects the message of the Bible will often believe something very improbable or ridiculous from a rational point of view. This is actually part of God’s judgment on those who wilfully suppress the truth in unrighteousness (Romans 1:18; 2 Thessalonians 2:11,12).

Copyright (C) 1996, Michael Fackerell.

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