Why Do People Say The Bible is God Breathed?
One volume containing sixty six books! The Bible is an unusual book to say the least and at first it can seem quite a daunting prospect attempting to read it...
And it would be if you just started at the beginning and read it to the end. But fortunately there’s more to the Bible than just a big book with onion skin paper.
A few historical facts:
The Bible consists of sixty six separate books which were written over a period of about 4000 years which includes Genesis and the story of Adam and Eve through to the Book of Revelation written by Jesus’ disciple John in about 70AD, about thirty years after Jesus was raised up to heaven.
As Christians, we accept that the Bible is God breathed, that it is wholly inspired by God through the various authors through the ages. It was written by kings, queens, servants, prophets, army generals, fathers, mothers, sons and a whole host of law breakers.
The books that make up the Bible were supposedly agreed by the Council of Nicaea back in 325AD in what is now called Turkey.
By approximately 600AD, Bibles were only allowed to be reproduced in Latin and so began the rise of religious control by the Catholic church.
It wasn’t until 1517 when Martin Luther protested against the Catholic church and so began the Protestant movement in Germany.
At the same time William Tyndale in the UK was the first person to translate the Bible from the Hebrew and Greek texts. If any unlicensed individual was found in possession of a Tyndale Bible, they were sentence to death!
Ultimately, Tyndale was executed for heresy, however, his translation of the Bible was to become a major source for the later King James Version which was completed in 1611 and is still available and used today.
What About Authenticity
What makes this so special is that in 1946, the Dead Sea Scrolls were found in Israel, in a cave. These scrolls were carbon tested and it was confirmed that they were written in and around the first century AD.
The content of the scrolls confirmed the much later translations that we use today. Since the findings, a number of newer translations have been produced, but they generally follow the King James Version.
The Bible is truly a magnificent book. By reading it, you are firstly acknowledging God and secondly, you are opening yourself up to actually hearing from Him – and this is when your life starts changing. For me, this is how I know when God is speaking to me as I write it down!
So far so good!
And here's the 'but'. There are about 5,000 Antiochan (Turkey) codex and parchements that make up the Bible. The Dead Sea Scroll were based upon and concurred with the texts from Alexandria, Egypt. Much like today's main stream media (MSN), the Alexandrian texts are different. And it is the Alexandrian texts that have been used as a basis for alternative Bibles, NIV, ESV, New King James and so on.
Is it strange there are two versions?, not at all. The alternative versions are to lead to the one world religion as in certain versions they omit or change up to 64,000 words.
Think for a moment; God lead the Israelites out of captivity from Egypt and brought plagues on the Egyptians to force them to let God's people go. In all logic, do you for one minute think God would be telling His people to believe certain texts that came from Alexandria/Egypt as proof of His word?
Facts vs Truth
The facts may be that you’re out of work, ill, or you’re experiencing some other affliction. But the truth is in the Bible, that’s why you have to read it. That’s why Christians have trusted it, because it works!
The key take-away here is that the Bible is to be ‘used’. It’s a work-book. You are to write in it, highlight it and reference it. The Bible is our moral and lifestyle guide book. It is ‘The Truth’, it clearly sets out what God’s promises are for us. If we don’t follow God’s code, whose code do we follow?
Additional Reading
I stronly recommend you click on the link below about the Missing Verses & Changed Words in Modern Bibles, as it also links to a recent series of articles and podcasts about the veracity and staggering authenticity of the 1611 King James Bible. I assure you, you will never look at the Bible in the same way ever again in your life: -
