One of the most common accusations against the Bible is that it had been changed over time, making it unreliable. How do we know if what we have today is what the original Bible actually said? How can we be confident that we are reading the accurate Word of God? What if the story of Jesus has just been hyperbolized over the hundreds and thousands of years? Well, there is an answer to each of these questions. Scholars engage in textual criticism, which allows these questions and more to be answered. To do this, scholars and textual critics review thousands and tens of thousands of ancient manuscripts, compare these manuscripts to one another, validate the validity of the manuscripts, and come to a conclusion on whether or not the text is accurate.
One important distinction to note is the difference in a manuscript and a copy. A manuscript is handwritten. If you were to copy, paste, and print the Bible that would not be considered a manuscript, and therefore would not be eligible for review in textual criticism. Each of these manuscripts was written by hand, and there are tons of them.
Some Bible critics, such as Dr. Bart Ehrman, intentionally mislead people when talking about the accuracy and validity of the Bible. These critics will use phrases like “there are over 400,000 variations of the Bible,” which is a true statement, but not in the way that we understand it. The same is true for the word “corrupt” in textual criticism; this word has a slightly different meaning, but that difference completely changes the way we understand this argument.
Spoiler alert, the Bible is shown to be accurate through textual criticism, and has more support than some of the other most famous writings in modern history.
Want to find us on other platforms? Links below! ALSO…. THE MERCH IS HERE! Bottom of the page!
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/coleandcole/
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/thecoleandacoleshow
Apple Podcast:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-trey-cole-show/id1539366886
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/08IsnWeRTO8hc2sTEZpo3E
Anchor:
https://anchor.fm/thecolecoleshow
YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzznRITnQNnpBOW36ZjqG8A
Personal Links:
Cole— https://www.instagram.com/cole3harris/
Trey— https://www.instagram.com/treycole1/
THE MERCH!!
