In Defense of the Word

How often have you heard or debated the Bible can’t be trusted or considered reliable in its entirety because:
1 – the number of authors that wrote it or some books have unknown authors, 2 – the number of language translations or errors in translation 3 – it was for “the times it was written” and not as relevant today? If you believe God to be an almighty, omnipotent and loving God He proclaims to be, do you believe He would give us flawed and dysfunctional information?

Colliers Encyclopedia was the gold standard of factual information for years, but don’t recall anyone questioning their definitions because of multiple authors. How about The Republic, by Plato? I haven’t read it but generations considered it the most influential writing of its time and opinions weren’t lessened because his book was translated from the original Greek (like the New Testament). How about Ann Frank’s book, originally penned as her diary in Dutch, The Diary of a Young Woman? How many of Frank’s readers discounted the translated copies as hearsay or untrue due to translation errors?


How many other books utilized dozens, or possibly hundreds, of the foremost language translators, biblical scholars and noted historians each time a revised language edition was executed? The answer is there are none that have been so carefully scrutinized for accuracy in original word meanings. Many Hebrew and Greek words used in the original books of the Bible have no direct singular word translations and require study to extract the details or the authors intent. Any student of Scripture knows there is, more often than not, additional knowledge and value within God’s breathed verses when we approach Scripture study with the reverence it commands and deserves.

Society today wants their information quickly and easily, like we used to want our hamburgers, but we have learned our burgers are not as tasty or nutritious as those conventionally prepared. We have also discovered a regular diet of fast foods will likely lead to heart disease, diabetes or at best, high blood pressure. What is the long term prognosis for beliefs (which define us and determine our actions) if Scripture is cherry picked or whole passages are simply ignored because they don’t fit what is culturally popular? Part 1 of 2 Parts.


2 thoughts on “In Defense of the Word

  1. Awesome, Steve. Surely if God can speak to us at all, He can communicate in such a way as to make Himself understood–but do we have ears to hear? And are we willing to put in the hard work to make sure we “rightly divide the word of truth”? (2 Timothy 2:15) For those who genuinely seek the truth, I believe with all my heart God makes it not only possible but increasingly sure. But for those who make the excuse that it is “impossible” to really know for sure what God is saying (that is, that there is no way to have solid confidence in the authority of the BIble–“who’s to say?”), you have to wonder if such a person is really interested in knowing the truth? I think far too often it means we are afraid of what it might require of us if God actually means what He says–especially in the places that are as plain as day.


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