They have immeasurably enriched your life. The very mention of their names causes us to bristle with indignation. We hear a silent hiss with any reference to these critics in public. Although you would be hard pressed to name even one, you have developed a hostile prejudice against them. If you have been in Christian circles long, you have frequently heard of the mysterious and mischievous “critics.” They are an oft-maligned company of persons, enemies of the faith, opponents of the truth. The science of textual criticism answers this question and bridges the gap. Since, by de finition, inspiration extends only to the original manuscripts of our Bible, and since none of the original manuscripts are in existence today, how can we rely upon the accuracy of our modern Hebrew and Greek Bibles? This, of course, is an important question because the translations of our English Bibles are based upon the available Greek and Hebrew Bibles. It is to this field of study that we now turn. Overwhelming evidence comes from the little-known and often misunderstood work of textual criticism. As never before, the facts warrant our implicit faith in the trustworthiness of our Bibles. ” In the final analysis, of course, every such decision is a step of faith. How we have all thrilled to his decisive and dynamic declarations, “The Bible says. It has affected the nations of the earth. That step of faith set the direction for his life. He loves to tell of that moment of triumph when, by God’s great grace, he quietly accepted the Bible from God as His Holy Word, to believe it, to preach it and to live it. As a young preacher of the gospel, he fought this very same battle. How they emerge often determines the course of their lives. Most thinking and sensitive Christians sooner or later enter into that valley of decision and wrestle with the trustworthiness of their Bible. I have since discovered that such a dilemma is no unique experience. A positive answer would give me an anchor, a rudder, a compass and a course. A negative answer would hurl me into a state of reckless despair. Having no answer would leave me in a state of limbo: neutral, uncommitted, insecure and frustrated. Before I can stake my future on its teachings, before I can commit my life to obey it, I have to know, Is it really trustworthy? As a young man this question constantly haunted me. What raging controversy in textual criticism today touches every one of us because of the influences in our translations?Ĭan I really trust my Bible? I have asked myself that question a hundred times. ![]() ![]() In what sense can we say that we have today the content of the original manuscripts?.What doctrines are seriously affected by textual variations?.There are 150,000 variants in the New Testament.What are the two oldest complete manuscripts?.How many original manuscripts of the Bible do we have today?.What are the two main problems of a textual critic?.How does lower criticism differ from higher criticism?.
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