Reliability of the Manuscripts - Foundations of Apologetics

Are the manuscripts we have which form the Bible reliable? Hasn't the Bible been changed? Did different groups of people change the message of Scripture? Amy Orr-Ewing defends the reliability of Scripture in this clip from volume five of the Foundations of Apologetics, "The Trustworthiness of the Christian Scriptures." Visit http://store.rzim.org for the entire DVD and to find out more about the 12 DVD series.

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[TheTruthMatters1971]

Philos: what "universal"language? There wasn't such a thing, just like there isn't now.

Everything is open to interpretation, no matter how plainly it is written. Especially when someone doesn't like what is written.

Apologetics is 'defense'. It is necessary because the gospels are subject to constant attack and skepticism.

I especially like when you start out with "your god is the dumbest...". That type of statement that betrays your emotional feelings, not any factual info.

[friendlydiplomat]

99.7%?! That's quite good. Actually, that's really good!

[keatris]

@keatris

The canon of the New Testament started with lists such as those of the Muratorian Fragment, as early as 170. But don't take my word for it, research!

I suggest you start with Bart Erhman's "Fact and Fiction in the Da Vinci code,"

although there are plenty more.

If you want, you can find translations of the primary sources for the council of Nicaea online. You'll notice, that although there are 20 canons, none of them have to do with the New Testament Canon.

[keatris]

@ACCSESS247

I don't want to sound rude, but I think you still have some research left to do as well.

The New Testament might not have existed in one volume before around 330, but all the books in it were written before, and we have manuscript copies of most of them from before then. As for the canon of the New Testament, it was not decided at council of Nicaea. There were numerous canonical lists before them, all fairly similar; and besides, the topic was not even about the canon. TBC

[ACCSESS247]

@keatris If you do some research then you will find out the the new testament was created at the behest of the Roman Emperor Constantine by the First Council of Nicaea. Some of the manuscripts were written before (as I have already said) but they were not put together to make the new testament until 325ce

[keatris]

@ACCSESS247

I'm sorry but in fact the New Testament was completed long before that.

We have a manuscript fragment of John, the 4th gospel (in written order as well) dating to about 125 A.D.

Most of the books in the modern New Testament can be found in early canonical lists.

300 years after Jesus, or about 330 A.D. was when the earliest extant and (nearly) complete Bible, the Codex Vaticanus was probably writen, but the books of the New Testament way before.

[ACCSESS247]

@keatris The new testament was NOT put together until 300 years after Jesus was supposed to have lived, some of the manuscripts may have been written before this but certainly none were written while Jesus was alive or by anyone who had meet him. Paul was not even born before Jesus had died.

[keatris]

@ACCSESS247

On the contrary, the 4th gospel, the gospel of John, was completed before 125 A.D. (or less than a hundred years after Jesus's) death. We know this because we have a fragment of a manuscript of the gospel dating to then; in fact, though, it was probably writen way before then. The Pauline epistles, also, were completed in the 1st century. 300 years after Jesus lived is when the Church was well enough established to enforce an official canon.

[ACCSESS247]

The new testament was not even started until 300 years after Jesus allegedly lived.

[gsschoenfeld]

I think she is smart, and forgive me for noticing, but rather attractive too. But here is my objection. People don't claim that the Iliad is literally true, word for word. Or that I will burn in hell if I don't accept their interpretation of the Iliad. Further modern bible publishers do discredit many verses in the footnotes, and they have changed things too. For example the KJV used to promote the existence of dragons and unicorns, but the modern translations do not.

[GTosca10]

Aren't the earliest Christian manuscripts from the 4th century and in Greek? Jesus spoke Aramaic. Aren't there any manuscripts in Aramaic or Hebrew?