Can You Trust The Bible In This Age Of Reason?

SEATTLE - Dec. 19, 2014 - PRLog -- To undertake this controversial hot potato I will be contesting a challenging and notorious book, The Age of Reason, by Thomas Paine (Parts I, II, and III written in 1794, 1795, and 1807 respectively).  The Age of Reason is a wordy dissertation, popular to this day, about why the Bible (and therefore Christianity) is not believable.  Every Christian should read this book, or a book like it, and grapple with the issues it raises.  A book like this may ruin a weak faith.  Such has been the plight of many a sheltered college student.

Paine thought he did a bang up job, for sure.  His book is brilliantly written.  But the arguments are speculative, not conclusive.  Speculative, in that Paine is resting on his sole interpretation of why there are apparent discrepancies, and not probing into other possible explanations.

For example, in his arguments about certain statements in Bible books which could only have apparently been made after the authors of the books had died (which is Paine’s basis to later conclude that the whole Bible is untrustworthy), he misses or ignores that certain statements could be testimony purposely added later by some person(s) who concurred with the stories, perhaps even hundreds of years later.  It would not be a stretch at all to think that, over time, some biblical writings had some commentaries added by others which were inadvertently or even intentionally blended with or appended to the main text.  If these notes or commentaries did not detract from the meaning of the original story, there is not much of an issue.

Or, perhaps two authors just saw things slightly differently, which quite frankly is the most likely.  In fact, this is so common – ask any police officer or psychologist.  The fact that any two people can experience exactly the same event and yet describe details differently could account for every discrepancy between authors in the Bible.  This is a real phenomenon of human experience.

There is another very likely explanation as well.  Parts of the Bible were written over long spans of time (from hundreds to thousands of years).  There could simply be different language forms and translations.  Have you ever read different English translations of the same Bible verse?  They are wildly varying in their exact wording, yet the same message is there.  It’s actually amazing to see just how different the interpretations can be and still say the same basic thing.  Or, just go to a pub and listen to an English bloke or a mate from Australia or an American Yankee.  Different languages in many ways, yes?  Imagine seeing that effect accumulate over hundreds of years.  Perhaps this is what Paine is seeing in his biblical concerns, yet he calls it a problem.  I call it a typical facet of language.

Documentation Challenges

We can’t be sure of every circumstance that surrounded the history of these writings, what the documentation methods were at the time, how much was translated from oral tradition, who every participant was, or how all the copies were made.  Come on, we’re talking about two, three, four thousand plus years ago.  We do, however, have the message.  It’s clearly there and unarguably preserved, and I’ll get to that.  Yet Paine doesn’t see the forest for the trees, or would rather light a match.

Keep in mind the innumerous challenges that would have to be overcome for any ancient writing to survive for thousands of years.  Think about the difficulties in preserving and storing the original media (skins/parchments, stone tablets, wooden media), the hassles of making endless copies of the deteriorating originals and copies, and in getting translations to other languages.  Add to that endless wars, natural destruction, and time.

What human measures could have ensured that the original words remained exactly as written?  Or turn this idea on its head.  What diligent effort over thousands of years would have been required to maintain such a readable document!  Think about how much just the English language has changed in several hundred years.  Many words and sayings go out of use; numerous new ones come into fashion.  So in many ways you would expect and demand that the biblical text change over time, to keep up with ever-changing languages, otherwise it would become useless.

Has The Original Meaning Been Lost?

If errors of any kind occurred in the Bible over the thousands of years of copying and translating, what would it really mean?  I will concede that any errors could add some confusion over details and beg questions as to what else might have been altered.  Here’s the good news.  If the overall message has remained intact, despite some editorial debates, then nothing is lost.  And that is the very beauty of the constant updating.  Without the editorial clarifications, wording updates, and translations, everything would likely have been lost.

And so, whether God intervened to make sure the message always remained, or mankind just did a good job of running our own Documentation Management department, one thing remains crystal clear.  It is the Bible’s central message:  Do good, love your neighbor, and love God.  Is this not the ultimate religion?  Who can object?  I think deist Paine would not have any issue with such a religion.  Jesus and his followers endorsed this as the ultimate religion too.  Yet Paine still blasts Christianity.  Go figure.

Where’s The Beef?

There is still every reason to think that the Bible is inspired by God.  There are so many amazing, true-to-reality and true-to-God facts and stories in the Bible, obviously there to be a help to us.  And so many of the biblical truths can be verified by our own real life experiences if we want to test them.  The Bible contains quite good evidence.  And a large volume of works has been established since Thomas Paine’s day, validating the authenticity of the Bible.

Does the text of the Bible have to appear to be perfect for us to believe?   No.  But the message had better be.  And it has remained so, amazingly, consistent with the earliest texts that have ever been found.  It is still to this day a rational, authentic, and simple message of love, forgiveness, and hope.  The Bible is a compilation of innumerous eyewitness accounts and personal testimonies all pointing to a God who wants us to love him, love our neighbors, and leave the world a better place.  Were these stories inspired by God?  They clearly appear so.  And I think Paine’s universe would agree.

See the full version of this article at http://jesuspaid.wordpress.com/2014/12/16/can-you-trust-t...