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Are Some Books of the Bible Forged, Part 5

Updated on May 15, 2019
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Understanding Scripture

One of the reasons why scholars like Dr. Ehrman come to the conclusion that there are forged books in the Bible, is that they do not understand the Bible itself. For example on page 161-2, Dr. Ehrman makes the following claim:

Some early Christians realized that the religion would be

based on conflict. The author of the New Testament book of Eph-

esians, allegedly Paul, tells his readers to “put on the full armor

of God”

He is wrong in conclusion because he does not understand the nature of the supernatural world. It is not conflict the armor is for. The armor is for spiritual protection. It keeps the believer safe from the attacks of evil.

One way to avoid the attacks of evil is to find and remain in the truth. Not the truth as subjectively defined but as God defines it.

Excluding the truth

Some people also do not understand the nature of discussion. They feel that the truth must be excluded for all people to be on the same level. Of course, excluding the truth would put everyone on the same level, it is just that no one would have the truth.

Excluding the truth means we end up with discussions that are common throughout secular science. Everyone has their own theory or hypothesis and no one has any inkling of what is right or wrong./

For discussions and debate to progress, someone has to have the knowledge and accepted the truth. If they don’t, these discussions and debates just end up spinning their wheels and no one gets anywhere near the right answer.

Plus, excluding the truth only allows unbelievers to hide from it and miss out on its important message

Bringing the light

Another [part that people like Dr. Ehrman do not understand is that the believer’s duty is not to become like the unbeliever and use their ways in any discussion. The believer is to follow Jesus’ instructions to be the light unto a dark world.

One cannot be the light if they hide it and do not introduce it into any discussion. Then as the Psalmist says, believers are not to follow the counsel of the ungodly. To remove the truth as unbelievers would want means that the believer is not following God and sinning in their discussions.

We know that Paul did not do this with all of his discussions with unbelievers nor should modern believers attempt it. They are only putting their faith at risk. You cannot get to the truth if you exclude the spirit of truth and the truth itself from any discussion.

By making these exclusions, you are also not bringing any light to any topic. The secular world, as Jesus said, does not have the Spirit of Truth in them.

This is why we do not listen to certain scholars

Because there are many scholars like Dr. Ehrman, we need to be careful when listening to their words,. lectures, or reading their books and so on. No matter their position, experience or education, if they are not believing in God then they do not have the help of the Spirit of Truth.

Without that aid, it is impossible for them to accept the fact that there are no forged book sin the Bible. It is also hard for them to accept the fact that the books were written in the era tradition says that they were penned.

They would rather find weak arguments stating that the books of the Bible were penned by liars, forgers, or written centuries after the fact. They do so without any credible or compelling ancient evidence supporting their claims.

The Bible is not human authored

Even though most of the books of the bible have human names attached to them, the words of God were not of human origin. For the Bible to be the word of God, then those words have to come from God himself.

Not one word can be of human origin. Yes God used humans to pen his words but he gave them the words to write, How else would God communicate his word to us? Even if he used his divine power, would people accept that rendition as his words?

Most likely not as who could vouch for the contents? With men who were eyewitnesses to different accounts, contemporaries to the accounts and knowing Jesus or his disciples, God’s word gets better credibility.

The original readers cold talk to the writers and see the Holy Spirit in their lives and feel the authority the writers had. That knowledge then is passed on to those not so fortunate and those people understand the difference between God’s word and other religious writings.

The evidence is huge

Also, as has been pointed out in previous articles in this series, human works do not last as long as the Bible has nor do they have the numerous pieces of evidence supporting their authorship.

With the New Testament alone, we have over 5,000 New Testament manuscripts and myriads of fragments. Far more than any classical or historical author could ever dream of having.

Also, those manuscripts date back to within 100 years of the original writing. Again, this is something no ancient writer enjoys. Scholars have accepted the works of Herodotus, Caesar, Pliny and other ancient writers as verified authors of their works with scant physical evidence and manuscripts dating approx. 1000 years or more after the fact.

With the ancient authors silent on forgery claims, there is no real evidence supporting any claims Dr. Ehrman or scholars like him make about the Bible. Any arguments produced by those ancient dissenters can easily be put down to personal subjective views.

Those author do not record any verifiable physical evidence that their views are correct. They are just like Dr. Ehrman. They make unsubstantiated claims based on personal views and not fact.

Some final comments

No matter how you look at this subject, Dr. Ehrman and those scholars, etc., that agree with him do not have a leg to stand on. Their evidence is suspect and not really evidence.

What they claim supports their ideas is merely information that provides them excuses for not accepting all the books of the Bible as God’s word. All the books of the Bible are original and not forgeries.

No one would have anything to gain by writing false books and getting them accepted into the canons. The only people who would have something to gain would be those unbelievers who are miserable after their rejection of Christ and God and would want to side with evil in its attempt to destroy God’s creation.

The people of God would want to save their fellow man and make sure the truth remained in the Bible. That is God’s desire and that is what he has done.

{This is the final part in the series on Forged.}


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    • david tee profile imageAUTHOR

      David Thiessen 

      12 months ago from Philippines

      Hopefully you will see the weak arguments and look at his words in a new light

      I am off to bed

    • John Welford profile image

      John Welford 

      12 months ago from Barlestone, Leicestershire

      To quote you: "my words were for Christians and that they were not to listen to the ungodly". So how have I misunderstood you?

      I have just bought Bart Ehrman's book on Kindle and have started to read it. I think I would like to form my own opinion based on his actual words. Presumably this is OK - the ungodly listening to the ungodly!

    • david tee profile imageAUTHOR

      David Thiessen 

      12 months ago from Philippines

      I do not think you understood me correctly at all. What you claim I said is actually something you said in another post. You did not read the words I wrote correctly and my words were for Christians and that they were not to listen to the ungodly .

      I did not limit who they could have a debate with. As I said, you cannot expect people to do the work allover again if they had already been challenged and found the truth. They will speak from what they have learned and that their words will not come from just faith but that knowledge and experience.

      You tend to forget that God has a closed attitude as well as he condemns and warns about false teachers and teachings

    • John Welford profile image

      John Welford 

      12 months ago from Barlestone, Leicestershire

      I have to say that I find your philosophical position to be somewhat worrying - and I write from the perspective of a holder of a degree that included Philosophy.

      If I have understood you correctly, you say that one should not enter into discussion with someone who does not share your fundamental world view at the outset - like me, for example! That strikes me as a highly dangerous attitude to take, and one that is fortunately not shared with most leaders of world governments, or indeed religions.

      How is it possible to make progress, or indeed to refine one's own views, if one does not allow them to be challenged, or - as you do - immediately refutes opposing views as being biased or subjective?

      It is this closed attitude that leads to the formation of sects and the growth of extremism, with people believing that they are right and everybody else must be wrong. The evidence of the danger that this approach foments is crystal clear - both historically and in the modern world. Surely an open approach and true discussion is what is needed.


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