The Bible & How we got it (4 views)

From:  David (DavidABrown)    7/3/2001 9:38 pm  
To:  ALL   (1 of 38)  
 
  105.1  
 
What are the Origins of the Jewish and Christian Bible?? 
* 2:Timmothy 3:16 All Scripture is given by Inspiration of God.. 

Humans have placed reed to parchment and pen to paper and have compiled a staggering array of written works. The ancient library at Ephesus, alone contained over 150,000 written scrolls that were available to the public. What makes some writings Inspired and other writings Uninspired? 

The Bible is about One Topic: God's relationship with Mankind: 

The Entire Bible Concept consists of the first 3 Chapters of the Bible, Genesis chapters 1- 3, with the Creation of mankind by God, and the fall (separation from God) of mankind by sin, and the Promise of God to reconcile mankind back to God. 

The rest of the Bible is Added Detail to Genesis Chapters 1 - 3. 

Here is a Time Line to help graphically represent Bible Era. 

New Testament Timeline 
http://gbgm-umc.org/umw/bible/timece.stm 
Old Testament Timeline 
http://gbgm-umc.org/umw/bible/timebce.stm 
Church History Timeline 
http://gbgm-umc.org/umw/bible/timechu1.stm 
Life of Apostle Paul 
http://gbgm-umc.org/umw/corinthians/chronology.stm 

Bible Canon Info: 

Bible Canon 
http://www.acns.com/~mm9n/canon/canon.htm 
Bible Canon Old & New 
http://www.judeministries.org/Bible/canon.htm 
Bible Canon & Various Info: 
http://gbgm-umc.org/umw/bible/canon.html 
Canon GospelCom 
http://www.gospelcom.net/rbc/questions/bible/canon.shtml 

Additional Info: 

Nicea Council *Gospel of Thomas 
http://petragrail.tripod.com/nicea.html 
Book of Jasher 
http://answers.org/Bible/jasher-book-of.html 






David A. Brown
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  From:  M_DAuvergne   7/4/2001 6:44 am  
To:  David (DavidABrown)    (2 of 38)  
 
  105.2 in reply to 105.1  
 
Uh, so sorry, but you still have yet to prove that god exists in the first place, and that the bible was written by it. (god)

Je te remercie! 
~M. D'Auvergne
 
  
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  From:  David (DavidABrown)    7/4/2001 9:33 am  
To:  M_DAuvergne   (3 of 38)  
 
  105.3 in reply to 105.2  
 
Psalm 14:1 The Fool has said in his heart, there is no God. They are corrupt, they have done Abominable works, there is non that doeth good.
It sounds naive for you to Boast that you exist but God doesnt and cant exist.

You exist, the earth, the world, the universe all exist, Angels exist, Satan & demons exist, Heaven and hell exist, but God doesnt exist.

God did prove Himself to you, He did at the Virgin Birth and again on the Cross and again in the Resurrection. Each event Prophesied and written about in the Bible years before it took place.

John 15:12-15 .. as I (Jesus) have Loved you, Greater hath no man than this, that a man lay down His Life for his friends. Ye are My friends if ye do whatsoever I command you.

Because God does Exist and He is God, He is Perfectly capable of Communicating. We exist and communicate because we are made in His Image. God has Communicated to mankind through Prophets and they in turn have written it down into what we call the Bible.

On the first Post in this topic I placed links to History Time Lines, so people can easily see that the Bible is written as Prophecy that most of the Bible is written Before the events written about take place. 






David A. Brown
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  From:  Natureboy (Vamp_Rob)   7/4/2001 10:06 am  
To:  David (DavidABrown)    (4 of 38)  
 
  105.4 in reply to 105.3  
 
Fundie: "God wrote the Bible" 
Sceptic: "according to who/what?" 
Fundie: "according to the Bible" 
Hokay ..... sure. 

P.s. this post was inspired by God and that's true because God just said so in this post.... see, it says so in this very sentence and because this was inspired by God it must be true.
 
  
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  From:  David (DavidABrown)    7/4/2001 3:30 pm  
To:  Natureboy (Vamp_Rob)   (5 of 38)  
 
  105.5 in reply to 105.4  
 
The Bible is written according to Devine Revelation (information about Who God is) and Prophecy. Neither of which are in your post.



David A. Brown
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  From:  M_DAuvergne   7/4/2001 10:11 pm  
To:  David (DavidABrown)    (6 of 38)  
 
  105.6 in reply to 105.5  
 
I would like to add to your post 
...according to the bible. 

It's like saying that I'm right on all that I say (I'm not) because I say so. 

Moronic, no?

Je te remercie! 

~M. D'Auvergne
 
  
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  From:  Natureboy (Vamp_Rob)   7/5/2001 2:14 am  
To:  David (DavidABrown)    (7 of 38)  
 
  105.7 in reply to 105.5  
 
I am the second coming of Jesus (third if you''re mormon)[Divine Revelation, namely: I am God] and people will be pissed because I said that. [Prophecy, namely: in the future some of you will be pissed]. 
P.s. this post was inspired by God and that's true because God just said so in this post.... see, it says so in this very sentence and because this was inspired by God it must be true. 




 
  
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  From:  David (DavidABrown)    7/5/2001 8:16 am  
To:  Natureboy (Vamp_Rob)   (8 of 38)  
 
  105.8 in reply to 105.7  
 
What you have written has No resemblance to the Bible and therefore Christianity. 
Christianity is about Life Events. When Jesus comes again He will establish His Kingdom (Government) upon the earth. 

Jesus Healed the blind, cured the sick, comforted the hurting. Jesus rebuked Satan. Jesus calmed the storm, fed the hungry, walked on water. After the Resurrection Jesus appeared in a room where the door was locked. 

The Bible is not philosophy it is Reality. 
You have to Actually Be and Do the things you claim. 





David A. Brown
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  From:  Natureboy (Vamp_Rob)   7/5/2001 9:54 am  
To:  David (DavidABrown)    (9 of 38)  
 
  105.9 in reply to 105.8  
 
erhm.... I never saw Jesus do hose things ... what proof other then the bible do you have that he actually did it. 
by the way I'm already building my kingdom and I'm learning to be a doctor .... does that convince you? 

Satan begone !!! satisfied now?
 
  
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  From:  Tyriel   7/6/2001 4:05 pm  
To:  David (DavidABrown)    (10 of 38)  
 
  105.10 in reply to 105.3  
 
"You exist, the earth, the world, the universe all exist, Angels exist, Satan & demons exist, Heaven and hell exist, but God doesnt exist." 
Of course angels and demons and god exist. I exist, god himself hand crafted me... 

But god doesn't exist as you would think he did. God, well, the christian god anyway, is only one of hundreds of thousands of gods happily residing on this earth. There is no heaven, only alternate states of being, and I have a feeling that, because of your innate ignorance, that you will be stuck on this plane for a long, long time. God didn't create the universe, nature did. Also, god can't exist without nature. God is infinately smarter than you will ever be. In fact, judging from all your posts to all of the smart people here (Especially Doc Shock) that your soul will lose its consiousness before anything important happened to you. Also, on Jesus, he is the posession of god, but like any other reincarnation he had to go through an awakening. (God was living before he became a god. He was particularly fond of humans. History is shaky, but some say that he was among the first humans. So him becoming jesus is reincarnation) God is not all-powerful, all-seeing, nor is he all-knowing. He didn't know how the universe began, he only has a strict code of philosiphy. All your jargon about the bible is rediculus! (don't mind my spelling) The bible is a collection of jewish stories, and the accounts of jesus are almost completely lost through mistranslation. Tell me the last line of Mark. It has no account of the Ressurection. The last verse of Mark is "...and they were terrified". Shows how wonderful your bible is. The bible is total fallicy, because it was written by man. God really didn't have much to do with it. 

Anyways...I lost my train of thought...~ Burning with Desire and looking for answers, 
Yours eternally, 
Tyriel 




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Edited 7/6/2001 7:06:00 PM ET by TYRIEL 
  
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  From:  R/C Floats (RachelsChild)   7/6/2001 5:36 pm  
To:  Tyriel unread  (11 of 38)  
 
  105.11 in reply to 105.10  
 
Hi Tyriel.... 

If nothing written by man is reliable how can the historical sources you propose to be accurate be accurate? 
Regards, 
R/C 
  
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  From:  Al Kupone (Kupone)   7/6/2001 10:38 pm  
To:  R/C Floats (RachelsChild)   (12 of 38)  
 
  105.12 in reply to 105.11  
 
Hi Tyriel.... 
If nothing written by man is reliable how can the historical sources you propose to be accurate be accurate? 
Regards, 
R/C 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 

I hate to come out on Tyriel's side, (Ick) but historical records of a non religious basis are quite a bit more easily believed than some of the 'historical' records of the bible. 

Example 1 - The age of the men in the bible. 

How long did Adam live for? (nine hundred and thirty years) Doesn't this seem a bit long? His son only lived to be 911. His son Enos made it to being 940! How realistic is that. Even if divided into 13 moon cycles for a year that is still 72 years old and an average age of... 927... where if divided into moon cycles averages to being 71 years 4 months! The average age 15 years ago for a man had only just topped that. Twenty-five years ago it was 68! One hundred years ago the average lifespan was 47! It goes down the further you go back too. 

Example 2 - Romans: 13 - 11: And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. 

Define near, by the contextual basis of chapter 13 you would think the end was a lot closer than 1900 years later. 

I suppose then that one should be careful of how something is translated... or maybe the book is totally accurate and somehow the life expectancy took a nosedive and salvation has been just around the corner by the definition of a non-human since I have no experience with humans who have lived over 125 and I did work in a retirement home for a while. 

Al Kupone 

 
  
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  From:  David (DavidABrown)    7/6/2001 11:45 pm  
To:  Al Kupone (Kupone)   (13 of 38)  
 
  105.13 in reply to 105.12  
 
As for the long human life spans, they are all prior to the Flood of Noah. The earths atmosphere was different before the flood of Noah. There was a canopy of water above the earth and it is thought that water filtered out harmful rays from the sun. This canopy of water above the earth came down and caused some of the flood on the earth. After the Flood of Noah human life spans came down into the 100 year range where we are now.
Genesis 1:7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.

As for the 1900 years (actually closer to 2,000 in writting) that the Church has waited for the return of Jesus. Every Day that Jesus delays His Return, His Church grows bigger. Had Jesus returned 2,000 years ago He would have had a Church of 12 disciples and a few hundred other Christians. Now when Jesus Returns He will Bring with Him, Millions of Saints from the 2,000 years of the Christian Church.

Our own individual Salvation is nearer each day. As each day that we are in our physical body is a day we are closer to seeing Jesus. Either when He returns or when we Individually die and go into the presance of God.






David A. Brown
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  From:  R/C Floats (RachelsChild)   7/7/2001 4:18 am  
To:  Al Kupone (Kupone)   (14 of 38)  
 
  105.14 in reply to 105.12  
 
Hi AL: 

I was curious how one can identify, reliability/accountablity, from one textual source over another. I think it is subjective, dependent on one's perspectve to believe it or not. 
Anyway, I do believe the Bible as it records the ages of Adam etc. A lot of folks believe mankind is getting more perfected but I believe mankind is cycling down from perfection. Man lived longer because the affects of sin were not yet as prounounced....sin was just beginning to take it's toll. The human body worked much better back then( as did all of creation) because it was closer to it's perfect, created state. Actually, I believe mankind was intellectually more capable back then too...I believe we are quite a few pegs down on the intelligence level from Adam. 
As for our salvation (excuse me mine) being nearer then when we 
(me) believed...yep and I'm looking forward to it's completion. 

You don't have to believe in the Bible, that's your choice.You don't have to defend to me what you want to believe or not believe. My choice is to believe the Bible. 

As for "proof texting" eachother, we can go play " my dog's better then your dog " all day long too... We can exchange volley after volley but gee whiz what does that accomplish? I'm not budging in what I believe and neither are you....it just becomes point and counterpoint, yes? 

As for the accuracy of translations... I assume you reconcile that conflict with other ancient/historical texts/documents as well by deciding to believe the account or not. How else can it be done? 

I am interested in why and what you believe. Why is it necessary for you to detract form what I believe and why? Is that a part of your core belief system to change mine? Curious? 
Regards, 
R/C 








 
  
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  From:  David (DavidABrown)    7/7/2001 7:25 am  
To:  R/C Floats (RachelsChild)   (15 of 38)  
 
  105.15 in reply to 105.14  
 
Hi Rachelschild, 
Well Posted!!! 

I Agree 100%. Mankind due to sin is spiraling downward. 

We are handed the evolution junk that people are physically changing for the better. The truth is Everything physical is tending from order to disorder. 

Also I am staggered by the Amount of Neglect that is persistent in posts that attempt to refute the Bible. There is a complete Ignoring of the sequence of Events that the Bible as well as many secular sources record. 

I would like to see more Documentation and Less Opinion, by Non-Christian posters to support their views. 





David A. Brown
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  From:  Al Kupone (Kupone)   7/7/2001 11:00 am  
To:  David (DavidABrown)    (16 of 38)  
 
  105.16 in reply to 105.13  
 
<Every Day that Jesus delays His Return, His Church grows bigger.> 
Actually... the church has been on a decline since the late 17th century. If you check the books, the number of Christians has declined since around the American/French Revolution.... Also that was one of the signs of the end of the world 'starting' within 100 years of that date... funny... we still have 4 popes to go before the world ends. (Read your prophecies, you can find it with a bit of research, it was said right in front of the Pope, but not PJP II). 

Al Kupone
 
  
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  From:  Al Kupone (Kupone)   7/7/2001 11:06 am  
To:  R/C Floats (RachelsChild)   (17 of 38)  
 
  105.17 in reply to 105.14  
 
I am interested in why and what you believe. Why is it necessary for you to detract form what I believe and why? Is that a part of your core belief system to change mine? Curious? 
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 

Actually, for what I believe, it has been posted on this board, you just have to look for it. As for being part of my core belief system, I think I will quote one of the more influential church leaders that I agree with. 75% of Mankind cannot think for themselves. 15% Think they think for themselves. 10% Actually think. By the posts I am delivering onto this board I am trying to help promote thought, as to your religious bias... I care more about seeing that you have more than just blind faith, but an educated faith. I can respect anyone believing what they want, but, only so far as they have actually made that thought for themself and been willing to question it. 

Sorry, I'm not showing you my circumcision. 

Al Kupone 
 
  
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  From:  Dr_Shock   7/7/2001 11:08 am  
To:  David (DavidABrown)    (18 of 38)  
 
  105.18 in reply to 105.13  
 
<<<The earths atmosphere was different before the flood of Noah. There was a canopy of water above the earth and it is thought that water filtered out harmful rays from the sun. This canopy of water above the earth came down and caused some of the flood on the earth. After the Flood of Noah human life spans came down into the 100 year range where we are now.>>> 
The radiation which most land plants need to survive can't pass through water. If a physically impossible high atmosphere of water ever existed, nothing on Earth would be around right now. Secondly, water doesn't filter out any of the harmful rays from the sun, hence why you're more likely to get sunburned when you go swimming then when you're just out on a sunny day. Even then, none of this explains the shorter lifespans. 

Not to mention, if such a thing ever existed, there would still be traces of it in the upper atmosphere. There are still traces of vulcanic eruptions from over 100,000 years ago up there. The only thing ever found in mass avalibility way up high is O3 (ozone). 

Ever think that the Bible passage you mention might just be talking about something more mundane like clouds? 

-The Mad Dr. Shock 



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Edited 7/7/01 2:25:53 PM ET by DR_SHOCK 
  
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  From:  David (DavidABrown)    7/7/2001 7:40 pm  
To:  Dr_Shock   (19 of 38)  
 
  105.19 in reply to 105.18  
 
No traces of water? What do you call Comets? 
Comets are Giant hunks of frozen Ice (i.e. water). 






David A. Brown
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   From:  Dr_Shock   7/7/2001 9:36 pm  
To:  David (DavidABrown)    (20 of 38)  
 
  105.20 in reply to 105.19  
 
They're not pure water and most don't even have H2O in them. Ice comes in many forms other than water like Methane, Hydrogen, CO2, etc. Most comets are also half the size of Earth. They aren't part of the Earth's atmosphere in any way, shape or form.


-The Mad Dr. Shock 
  
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From:  David (DavidABrown)    7/8/2001 7:52 am  
To:  Dr_Shock   (21 of 38)  
 
  105.21 in reply to 105.20  
 
Better check your science books. 
Comets ARE Mostly water. 

Comets have been Best Described as dirty snowballs, Composed of frozen Ices of Water, and other volatiles mixed with dust and small rocky debris. 

Source The 20-CM Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescope, A practical observing guide; Peter L. Manly; Cambridge University Press 1994 





David A. Brown
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  From:  Al Kupone (Kupone)   7/8/2001 12:04 pm  
To:  David (DavidABrown)    (22 of 38)  
 
  105.22 in reply to 105.21  
 
Comets ARE Mostly water. 
Comets have been Best Described as dirty snowballs, Composed of frozen Ices of Water, and other volatiles mixed with dust and small rocky debris. 
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 
This was proven mostly wrong a bit more recently. Not all comets are made of water. While many of them have water in thier compososition that is not true with all of them... nice dodge though, arguing a specific to avoid the criticism laid upon you over the statement... 

'They aren't part of the Earth's atmosphere in any way, shape or form.' 

In Shock's statement about comets after you made claim that they were proof that God put an atmosphere of water around the earth. Isn't it a bit more believable that since _everyone_ thought that the atmosphere was water for a very long time that perhaps this is where that belief came from? The logic was as follows. 

Water is of a blue hue. 

The sky is blue and brightened by the sun. 

Therefor, the sky is water! 

This is called assumptive logic. It falls to much the same catagory as the statement of... 'After the Flood of Noah human life spans came down into the 100 year range where we are now.' and 'The human body worked much better back then( as did all of creation) because it was closer to it's perfect, created state. Actually, I believe mankind was intellectually more capable back then too...I believe we are quite a few pegs down on the intelligence level from Adam.'. These quotes also follow assumptive logic! There is no other proof in existance of lifespans anywhere near those for humans. Also... our life expectancy is going UP not DOWN. The human life-span range (as you call it, more commonly known as the life expectancy rate) was in the 30s, MAYBE in the time of Noah and from records we do have was closer to 22-25, AKA we had just a bit more than enough time to breed then shuffle off our mortal coil after raising the children to an age where they could take care of themselves.... 

It was not pedophelia in those days to marry a 13 year old, very often you were an adult at 12 and an old maid (if female) at 16! 

Al Kupone 

I realize this is too much for you to handle as more than one subject was spoken of, but don't worry, you'll handle it the way you handle all points that are made that you have to grasp for straws in order to refure, you'll sidestep or delete. 

PS... A Copy of this post is being placed on ' 
Lyrk & Adrasteia's Den of Iniquity! 
http://www.delphi.com/firefight/start ' DAVID. 




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Edited 7/8/2001 3:08:14 PM ET by KUPONE 
  
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  From:  Dr_Shock   7/8/2001 12:25 pm  
To:  David (DavidABrown)    (23 of 38)  
 
  105.23 in reply to 105.21  
 
Perhaps you should read something written for people who care rather than the general public. The explanation given in the book you mentioned is far from complete. Comets are often comprised of frozen hydrogen and oxygen which have yet to bond. 98% of books say that comets are made of ices (notice the plural) and rock. And, as I said, ice can be anything solid and crystalline. Most comets are made up of odd composites of methane, ammonia and water. Not to mention, water vapor doesn't burn blue as does the tail of a comet. In fact, most ice in the universe isn't even water. Its usually CO2 (see the ice caps on Mars for example). 
Please see: http://encarta.msn.com/find/Concise.asp?z=1&pg=2&ti=761578966 for details on this. - "For one, of the observed gases and meteoric particles that are ejected to provide the coma and tails of comets, most of the gases are fragmentary molecules, or radicals, of the most common elements in space: hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen. The radicals, for example, of CH, NH, and OH may be broken away from the stable molecules CH4 (methane), NH3 (ammonia), and H2O (water), which may exist as ices or more complex, very cold compounds in the nucleus." 

In other words, there has been no exact evidence ever found to confirm that water in the form of ice itself is part of a comet's composition (although it probably is to one degree or another). Perhaps water is produced by the superheating of other compounds in the comet's composition, but water itself has never been proven to exist directly in the core of a comet even with spectrogram analysis. Either way, any water in a comet would be so dirty with other compounds (like ammonia) that it would have killed everything on Earth. 

I can't believe I forgot to mention this, but the period of a comet's orbital cycle also blows apart any notion that they were once part of Earth's atmosphere by your logic. You say the Earth has only been around 7000 years or so while most comet's periods are usually in the tens of thousands of years. If they were ever part of our atmosphere, they'd also be orbiting the Earth and not the solar system. 

You still didn't refute the fact that most comets are large enough to take out most of the Earth in an impact. Nor did you (or I for that matter) explain that, because of their size, Comet's often display a reasonable gravitational pull on the Earth when they pass, effecting tides, weather, etc, to a minimal degree. Such a close encounter with a comet would cause some MAJOR problems for everything. 



-The Mad Dr. Shock
 
  
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  From:  R/C Floats (RachelsChild)   7/8/2001 2:31 pm  
To:  Al Kupone (Kupone)   (24 of 38)  
 
  105.24 in reply to 105.22  
 
Dear Al.... 
Where is your proof of these incredible low life spans? The life span in some socities, has risen, in other's, it has remained the same. Certainly the life expectancy rate varied depending on living conditions. Bubonic Plague certainly wiped out the prime of life in London but in the countryside the populice was largely uninfected and lived the *normal* span of life....70 years plus or minus. Nuns and Jews were litle affected by bubonic plague as they practiced the sanitary advise from the Bible...washing and cleaning etc. 

Genectics, certainly contribute to longevity or lack there of. Gender contributes as well.( female living longer) as does ethnic background. 

So please with all your wisdom, with all the knowledge you wish to bestow upon we ignorant here, back up your statements with proof that the whole world at one time only lived to be 22 or 23. If that were true who would be old enough to raise these babies 15 year olds were having, if everyone is dead by 22? LOL 

R/C 




 
  
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  From:  Bob Blaylock (Bob_Blaylock)   7/8/2001 4:14 pm  
To:  R/C Floats (RachelsChild)   (25 of 38)  
 
  105.25 in reply to 105.24  
 
RACHELSCHILD wrote:
Where is your proof of these incredible low life spans?
  I think Al is mistaken.  So far as I know, we have no records, other than the Bible, concerning the lifespan of people before the great flood, and the Bible seems to very clearly indicate that human lifespans were much longer before the flood than after.



So please with all your wisdom, with all the knowledge you wish to bestow upon we ignorant here, back up your statements with proof that the whole world at one time only lived to be 22 or 23. If that were true who would be old enough to raise these babies 15 year olds were having, if everyone is dead by 22?
  Here, you are being fooled by a trick of statistics.  Usually, when the lifespan of humans is discussed, it is the average lifespan that is used.  If there is a significant rate of infant mortality, this has the effect of greatly lowering the average lifespan, and causing this average to become misleading if you try to apply it in the obvious way.  Consider this:  Suppose that in some primitive society, there is a very high rate of infant mortality, such that only one person in five survives beyond the first month of infancy.  Now suppose that of those who survive past this point, everyone lives to be exactly 100 years old.  In this society, the average life expectancy is 20 years.  This does not mean that most people, or any people, are dying at or around the age of 20; it means that each person who lives to the age of 100 is being balanced out, in the average, by four persons who are dying shortly after birth.



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  From:  R/C Floats (RachelsChild)   7/8/2001 7:32 pm  
To:  Bob Blaylock (Bob_Blaylock)   (26 of 38)  
 
  105.26 in reply to 105.25  
 
Hi Bob.... 
On this we can agree. ;o) 
R/C 
  
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  From:  Al Kupone (Kupone)   7/8/2001 11:05 pm  
To:  R/C Floats (RachelsChild)   (27 of 38)  
 
  105.27 in reply to 105.24  
 
<Where is your proof of these incredible low life spans?> 
Let's start with this, it's in a number of history books, both at the Junior High School, High School, College and Graduate level. I can reference specific books and lectures from various 'respected' historians as well. It is hardly difficult. 

<Bubonic Plague certainly wiped out the prime of life in London but in the countryside the populice was largely uninfected and lived the *normal* span of life....70 years plus or minus. Nuns and Jews were litle affected by bubonic plague as they practiced the sanitary advise from the Bible...washing and cleaning etc. > 

The Bubonic plague is part of what is considered when you take the 'average' lifespan, but 70 was still considered to be very old and an exception even in the days of bubonic plague. Please though, feel free to show me the source of this information. In science there is a statement, 'Large claims require equally large evidence.' I think such is the case for the claim that the Nuns and Jews were living into thier 70s regularily. It is true that it was possible in those days, but not unheard of. Also please, educate me on where in the bible it covers sanitation past how one is to prepare food and the like. 

<Genectics, certainly contribute to longevity or lack there of. Gender contributes as well.( female living longer) as does ethnic background.> 

Actually, many many many women in the older days died in childbirth... or had a great deal of thier life taken from them in such, today it is said 5 years is taken from a woman's life for every child she bears, 500 years ago it was considered to be 15 years... life expectancy was higher for women because otherwise they had a bit less of other stresses and perils. 

<So please with all your wisdom, with all the knowledge you wish to bestow upon we ignorant here, back up your statements with proof that the whole world at one time only lived to be 22 or 23. If that were true who would be old enough to raise these babies 15 year olds were having, if everyone is dead by 22? LOL> 

Average Lifespan is a cumulation of statistical data, this includes those who died at vey young ages and who died after living a great deal of years. This is something you can find even listed in the dictionary and in most encyclopedias including my M. Webster Encyclopedia. It is also a historical fact that people were getting married at 12-15 years of age, even in the renisance. Age of consent rose as life expectancy rose. 

Al Kupone
 
  
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  From:  Al Kupone (Kupone)   7/8/2001 11:08 pm  
To:  Bob Blaylock (Bob_Blaylock)   (28 of 38)  
 
  105.28 in reply to 105.25  
 
Usually, when the lifespan of humans is discussed, it is the average lifespan that is used. 
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 

And again, the mormon proves that he has at least a rudimentary high school education and is gifted with the ability to use words clearly... Now if one also factors out the infant mortality rate for the era Jesus was born in the average life-span rises to an incredable 38 years old. This also is something that can researched and verified. This Statistic is taken from an encyclopedia again. 

Al Kupone
 
  
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  From:  R/C Floats (RachelsChild)   7/9/2001 6:13 am  
To:  Al Kupone (Kupone)   (29 of 38)  
 
  105.29 in reply to 105.27  
 
Al.... 
I think you are waffling. To insinuate Christains would be unfamilar, far less unknowledgable of the contents of H/S history texts and encyclopedias is nothing more then a tactic called subterfuge. You attempt to paint the Christian as the *village idiot* whenever your belief system is challenged, attempting to shift attention away from your own unsubstantiated opinions and biases. Much of what you present as proof, is little more then scientific junk...ever changing, upgrading, retracting, to which ever way the humanistic, societal, political wind is blowing. 
As for women dying at childbirth ...absolutely and why?... because of the filthy squalored environments many women birthed in. When hand washing, cloths washing, body washing was not practiced, the results killed people...women in particular....it's called germs. Long before "scientists" found germs under their microscopes, God had prescribed cleaniness to combat germs. Like it or not, it is a fact Jewish women died much less from childbirth as also did women who birthed with the assistance of Nuns and Natural Midwives. Why? because they followed the biblical practice of cleaniness and washed their hands and bodies. 

Read Leviticus and Deuteronomy . You say don't like spoon feeding information and want the masses to learn how to think for themselves....so I'll leave it to you, to look up the scriptures on cleaniness for yourself. 

As far as young women getting married at 12/14 so, your point? Mary, Jesus mother probably had Jesus at 15/16. We also know she was still alive whe he was cucified. So let's see, she was probably around 48 years of age ...hmmmm then again she was Jewish and practiced cleaniness. 
R/C 



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Edited 7/9/01 10:45:45 AM ET by RACHELSCHILD 
  
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  From:  Al Kupone (Kupone)   7/9/2001 3:38 pm  
To:  R/C Floats (RachelsChild)   (30 of 38)  
 
  105.30 in reply to 105.29  
 
<Much of what you present as proof, is little more then scientific junk...ever changing, upgrading, retracting, to which ever way the humanistic, societal, political wind is blowing.> 
You're writing this on a computer or are you having someone pass it along? Science at least can be replicated and proven. While it is true that the human understanding of the universe is expanding it is vey difficult to call science junk just because any new discovery might prove a previous though theory to be wrong. 

<because they followed the biblical practice of cleaniness and washed their hands and bodies.> 

Again you tell us of this but do not point to where it is to be found. BTW The Jewish dietetic laws were written by men, even more Jews I know agree with this thought. Think about the nasty things you can see in shrimp and pork without a microscope. 

Answer me one question though, why is it the Church of Rome outlawed bathing houses as unclean? 

Al Kupone
 
  
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  From:  R/C Floats (RachelsChild)   7/10/2001 6:26 am  
To:  Al Kupone (Kupone)   (31 of 38)  
 
  105.31 in reply to 105.30  
 
Hi Al, 
Sorry, I cannot answer why the Church of Rome outlawed bathing houses as unclean. Not having read the edict, I can only speculate why. 

Unfortunatly, when many scientific or medical theories are presented, more often then not, they aren't regarded as theory but arrogantly presented as fact. As the posting on *comets* demonstrated. 

Okay, read Leviticus 15, Lev. 13: 52 - 59, Lev. 17: 15& 16, Lev:14, 
Exodus 29:4 Lev. 8:6, Deut. 23:10 - 11 

These teachings indicate God's concern for cleaniness in living..in the physical home, bedding, personal clothing, bodily functions etc. These practices of washing and burning kept bacterial infectections from gaining hold and communicable diseases in check. 

It is of interest to note the problems modern man is having with mildews and molds in homes. It makes people vey sick and short of tearing a home down or (burning it) eradicating molds is most resistant. 

Dietary laws are specific in the O.T as well. Although I do not view it as required doctrine, if someone tells me they prohibit pork or shellfish and other items form their diets, I have no problem with that. God did place a high priority on the source of our food, diet etc. In light of today's contaminated foods, ( hormones, fertilizers,genetically altered) and so on...Practicing more thoroughly the O.T approach in cultivating and harvesting crops, the preparing and eating of certain foods could be helpful to more diligently practice. 
Regards, 
R/C 

 
  
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  From:  Al Kupone (Kupone)   7/10/2001 1:54 pm  
To:  R/C Floats (RachelsChild)   (32 of 38)  
 
  105.32 in reply to 105.31  
 
Unfortunatly, when many scientific or medical theories are presented, more often then not, they aren't regarded as theory but arrogantly presented as fact. As the posting on *comets* demonstrated. 
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 

That depends upon the scientist. Not all Scientists regard theory or things that are known to the best measurement at the time as theory but as fact, then again, not all scientists are honest about doing thier own work (See Edison and Newton). Consider that at this time our accumulated knowledge is supposedly doubling every three years AND that at this time it has been proven we can send things that are at the atomic level forward and backward in time, stop light and accelerate things to being faster than the speed of light which was declared impossible only 50 years ago. 

Theory - Soemthing that according to known data should be right but has yet to be proven solidly. 

Fact - Something that has been proven and replicated. 

Faith - Belief in a theory that is strong enough to believe it is a fact. 

Humanity - Still a theory since it cannot be replicated in a lab (yet). 

Al Kupone 

 
  
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  From:  R/C Floats (RachelsChild)   7/10/2001 5:38 pm  
To:  Al Kupone (Kupone)   (33 of 38)  
 
  105.33 in reply to 105.32  
 

Well Al, Moving back and forth in time, or out of time, is a fascinating topic. Of course, I believe what the Bible teaches, there is no measurable time at all, when eternity begins. In fact, what is time for that matter? God is not prohibited or constrained by time at all...a whole different dimension of to consider. 
Regards, 
R/C 

 
  
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  From:  Al Kupone (Kupone)   7/10/2001 7:15 pm  
To:  R/C Floats (RachelsChild)   (34 of 38)  
 
  105.34 in reply to 105.33  
 
Well Al, Moving back and forth in time, or out of time, is a fascinating topic. Of course, I believe what the Bible teaches, there is no measurable time at all, when eternity begins. In fact, what is time for that matter? God is not prohibited or constrained by time at all...a whole different dimension of to consider. 
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 

Ah, so then God is Quantum in nature? 

Seriously though, time is hard to define since we're the only race on the planet who seems capable of defining it in the first place. Time is, as simply put as is possible, a stream that we are caught up in. 

Al Kupone
 
  
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  From:  Natureboy (Vamp_Rob)   7/13/2001 4:24 pm  
To:  R/C Floats (RachelsChild)   (35 of 38)  
 
  105.35 in reply to 105.29  
 
question is: why would God create germs anyway? By the way, Genesis say nothing about the creation of bacteria and fungi, it doesn't even describe the creation of anything that doesn't live in the field or the sky (or the ocean). 

 
  
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  From:  Corkybob   7/23/2001 7:55 pm  
To:  David (DavidABrown)    (36 of 38)  
 
  105.36 in reply to 105.1  
 
Dear David, 
Problem is that from the time that the bible was canonized in about 398 AD, the Christian Church held to the Septuigent as Canon. What your sources do not, or at least seem to not understand, is that what you call the Apacaphia is in fact the Septuigent. As far as the Greek Jews taking liberties with the Scriptures it should be evident from the Dead Sea Scrolls that they in fact were not taking liberties for the Dead Sea Scrolls did contain the books of Judith, and Tobit, and Macabees, which are said to be some of these books that were supposibaly taken liberties with. The thing with these manuscriptes is that they were not in Greek but in Hebrew and Arimeic. 

Christianity was united, even after the Great Schism of 1054, over what was canon and what wasn't. The debate did not happen until Martin Luther used subjective reasoning to decided that these books were not canon. He did then search through history to find a letter in which Jerome wrote to the Pope in which Jerome found that the Palestinian Jews did not accept the Septuigent and he felt that the Catholic Church should follow suit. With this one Letter Martin Luther decided that the Catholic Church placed these books into scripture, yet with the Tome of Damisus we find Damisus I declaring these as scripture before they were formily canonized. It isn't that the Catholic Church put other books into the Sacred Scripture but that Martin Luther took out books of the Holy Scriptures. Not only this but he wanted to remove many of the catholic epistles (those epistles that are adressed to the entire church. 1 and 2 Peter, James, Jude, 1 John, etc.) These books contian passages in them that troubled Martin Luthers subjective theology. 1 Peter 2:21 salvation by baptism. James 2:14f Salvation by works and not faith alone. 1 John 5:16-17 Sin unto death (Mortal) and Sin not unto Death (Venial). As far as his objection to the Septuigent, his biggest problem was 2 Macabees 12:43 and alms given for the dead for it is a good and rightious thing. 

Pax 
John
 
  
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  From:  David (DavidABrown)    7/23/2001 10:34 pm  
To:  Corkybob   (37 of 38)  
 
  105.37 in reply to 105.36  
 
The Original King James Version also had the Apocrypha included in it, as it has always been considered Historically important. 
Church history has always held there are many Valued early Writings the Apocrypha and other various epistles and writings. I have posted the Didache on this forum which is another early Church document if not the earliest Church document not to be canonized. 

The Old Testament ends with Malachi 4:5,6 telling the people that God will send the forerunner to turn the hearts of the people. This forerunner in part is John the Baptist. The New Testament then begins with John the Baptist coming on the scene. I think it is entirely appropriate to bridge from Malachi to Matthew, and to regulate the Apocrypha writings as extra-Biblical historical sources. 





David A. Brown
Basic Christian: Forum
 
  
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 From:  RETNOM1   9/10/2001 3:20 pm  
To:  David (DavidABrown)     
 
    
 
BIBLE.........FACTS 

THE BIBLE


THE WORD
 

RETNOM WHY DO WE CALL THE SCRIPTURES THE "BIBLE?" (Some the following material in the this heading was taken from On-Line Bible notes Ver. 6.1, edited by and with additional information by Pastor Abrams) The word "Bible" is the English form of the Greek word "Biblia," meaning "books," the name which in the fifth century was given to the entire collection of sacred books, the "Library of Divine Revelation." The name Bible was adopted by John Wycliffe (1380 AD to 1384 AD) , and afterward came gradually into use in our English language. The Bible consists of sixty-six different books, composed by many different writers, in three different languages, under different circumstances; writers of almost every social rank, statesmen and peasants, kings, herdsmen, fishermen, priests, tax gatherers, tent makers; educated and uneducated, Jews and Gentiles; most of them unknown to each other, and writing at various periods during the space of about 1600 years: and yet, after all, it is only one book dealing with only one subject in its numberless aspects and relations, the subject of man's redemption. It is divided into the Old Testament, containing books, and the New Testament, containing books. The names given to the Old Testament in the writings of the New Testament are: 1. "The scriptures" "Matt 21:42" 2. "Scripture" "2 Pet 1:20" 3. "The holy scriptures" "Rom 1:2" 4. "The law" "John 12:34" 5. "The law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms" "Luke 24:44" 6. "The law and the prophets" "Matt 5:17" 7. "The old covenant" "2 Cor 3:14" R.V. There is a break of 400 years between the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament is divided into three parts: 1. The Law (Torah), consisting of the Pentateuch, or five books of Moses. 2. The Prophets, consisting of: a. The former, namely, Joshua, Judges, the Books of Samuel, and the Books of Kings; b. The latter, namely, the greater prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, and the twelve minor prophets. 3. The Hagiographa, or "holy writings", including the rest of the books. These were ranked in three divisions: a. The Psalms, Proverbs, and Job, distinguished by the Hebrew name, a word formed of the initial letters of these books, "emeth," meaning truth. b. Song of Solomon (Canticles), Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther, called the five rolls, as being written for the synagogue use on five separate rolls. c. Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, and 1 and 2 Chronicles. Between the Old and the New Testament no addition was made to the revelation God had already given. The period of New Testament revelation, extending over a century, began with the appearance of John the Baptist. The New Testament consists of : 1. The historical books include the Gospels , and the Acts of the Apostles. 2. The Letters or "Epistles." 3. The book of prophecy is the Book of Revelation. The division of the Bible into chapters and verses is altogether of human invention, designed to facilitate reference to it. The ancient Jews divided the Old Testament into certain sections for use in the synagogue service, and then at a later period, in the ninth century A.D., into verses. Our modern system of chapters for all the books of the Bible was introduced by Cardinal Hugo about the middle of the thirteenth century (he died 1263) The system of verses for the New Testament was introduced by Stephens in 1551 and generally adopted, although neither William Tyndale's (1525 AD) nor Coverdale's (1535 AD) English translation of the Bible has verses. The division is not always wisely made, yet it is very useful. Versions of the Old and New Testaments A version is a translation of the holy Scriptures. The word "version" is not found in the Bible, nevertheless, as frequent references are made in this work to various ancient as well as modern versions, it is fitting that some brief account should be given of the most important of these. These versions are important helps to the rightly interpretation of the Word. The Old Testament. 1. The Targums of the Old Testament.. After the return from the Babylonian Captivity, the Jews, no longer familiar with the old Hebrew, required that their Scriptures should be translated for them into the Chaldaic or Aramaic language (in Old Testament called Syrian Tongue) and interpreted. These translations and paraphrases were at first oral (spoken), but they were afterwards placed in writing, and thus targums, (i.e., "versions" or "translations") have come down to us. The chief of these are: a. The Onkelos Targums, i.e., the targums of Akelas=Aquila, a targum so called to give it greater popularity by comparing it with the Greek translation of Aquila mentioned below. This targum originated about the second century after Christ. b. The targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel comes next to that of Onkelos in respect of age and value. It is more a paraphrase on the Prophets, however, rather than a translation. Both of these targums were issued from the Jewish school which then flourished at Babylon. 2. The Greek Versions of the Old Testament and New Testament. The oldest of these is the Septuagint,(pronounced "sept-to-a-gent") usually quoted as the LXX, which is the Roman numerical for seventy. The origin of this the most important of all the versions of the Old Testament is involved in much obscurity. It derives its name from the popular notion that seventy translators were employed at the direction of Ptolemy Philadelphus, king of Egypt, and that it was accomplished in about seventy days, for the use of the Jews residing in that country. There is no historical warrant for this notion. It is, however, an established fact that this version was made at Alexandria; that it was begun about 280 B.C., and finished about 200 or 150 B.C.; that it was the work of a number of translators who differed greatly both in their knowledge of Hebrew and of Greek; and that from the earliest times it has borne the name of "The Septuagint", or "The Seventy." This version, with all its defects, must be of the greatest interest: 1. As preserving evidence for the text far more ancient than the oldest Hebrew manuscripts; 2. As the means by which the Greek Language was wedded to Hebrew thought; 3. As the source of the great majority of quotations from the Old Testament by writers of the New Testament. Jesus quoted from the Septuagint. The New Testament. The New Testament manuscripts fall into two divisions: Uncials, (written in Greek capitals letters), with no distinction at all between the different words, and very little even between the different lines. Cursives, (written in small Greek letters) , and with divisions of words and lines. The change between the two kinds of Greek writing took place about the tenth century. Only five manuscripts of the New Testament approaching to completeness are more ancient than this dividing date. 1. The first, numbered A, is the Alexandrian manuscript or Codex (450 AD). In 1078 it was given to Patriarch of Alexandria, Egypt after whom it was named. In 1621 it was taken to Constantinople by Cyril Lucar, the Patriarch of Constantinople, who gave it to the British Ambassador to Turkey, Sir Thomas Roe. In 1624. it was brought to this England to be presented to James I. However, the king died and it was given to Charles I in 1627 too late to be used in the translation of the King James Bible. It is kept in the National Library of the British Museum. It is believed that it was written, not in that capital, but in Alexandria; whence its title. It is now dated in the fifth century A.D. (A "Codex" is a book in manuscript form with sheets bound together in book form rather than a scroll which is rolled) It contains the whole Old Testament, and most of the New. The text is "Western" or "Byzantine" means being geographically associated with Europe. 2. The second, known as B, is the Vatican manuscript. "Vaticanus Codex" (325-350 AD) Is said to be the oldest manuscript called "vellum". (A fine qualify writing material usually made from calf or antelope skins) It and the Codex Sinaiticus are the two oldest uncial manuscripts. They were probably written in the fourth century. The Vaticanus was placed in the Vatican Library at Rome by Pope Nicolas V. in 1448 its previous history being unknown. It originally consisted in all probability of a complete copy of the Septuagint and of the New Testament. It is now imperfect, and consists of 759 thin, delicate leaves, of which the New Testament fills 142. It is referred to by critics as Codex B. No one has been allowed to see the original manuscript since 1475 AD. Photographs were made in 1889-90 and 1904 (New Testament only). It is identified as "Eastern Text" and an example of Alexandrian type text, being associated with Egypt. 3. The Third, C, or the Ephraem manuscript or Codex, was so called because it was written over the writings of Ephraem, a Syrian theological author, a practice very common in the days when writing materials were scarce and dear. It is believed that it belongs to the fifth century, and perhaps a slightly earlier period of it than the manuscript A. (This type of manuscript is called a "palimpsest" meaning "rubbed again." The parchment was originally written on, but later erased and rewritten upon) 4. The fourth, D, or the Beza Codex, was so called because it belonged to the reformer Beza, who found it in the monastery of St. Irenaeus at Lyons in 1562 A.D. It is imperfect, and is dated in the sixth century. 5. The fifth (called Aleph) is the Sinaitic manuscript. "Sinaiticus Codex." Usually designated by the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, is referred to as one of the most valuable of ancient MSS. of the Greek New Testament. On the occasion of a third visit to the convent of St. Catherine, on Mount Sinai, in 1859 it was discovered by a Dr. Tischendorf. He had on a previous visit in 1844 obtained forty-three parchment leaves of the LXX., which he deposited in the university library of Leipsic, under the title of the Codex Frederico-Augustanus, after his royal patron the king of Saxony. In the year referred to (1859) the emperor of Russia sent him to prosecute his search for MSS., which he was convinced were still to be found in the Sinai convent. The story of his finding the manuscript of the New Testament has all the interest of a romance. He reached the convent on the 31st January; but his inquiries appeared to be fruitless. On the 4th February he had resolved to return home without having gained his object. "On that day, when walking with the provisor the convent, he spoke with much regret of his ill-success. Returning from their promenade, Tischendorf accompanied the monk to his room, and there had displayed to him what his companion called a copy of the LXX., which he, the ghostly brother, owned. The manuscript was wrapped up in a piece of cloth, and on its being unrolled, to the surprise and delight of the critic the very document presented itself which he had given up all hope of seeing. His object had been to complete the fragmentary LXX. of 1844 which he had declared to be the most ancient of all Greek codices on vellum that are extant; but he found not only that, but a copy of the Greek New Testament attached, of the same age, and perfectly complete, not wanting a single page or paragraph." This fragment, after some negotiations, he obtained possession of, and conveyed it to the Emperor Alexander, who fully appreciated its importance, and caused it to be published as nearly as possible in facsimile, so as to exhibit correctly the ancient handwriting. The entire Codex consists of 346 1/2 folios. Of these 199 belong to the Old Testament and 147 1/2 to the New, along with two ancient documents called the Epistle of Barnabas and the Shepherd of Hermas. The books of the New Testament stand thus: the four Gospels, the epistles of Paul, the Acts of the Apostles, the Catholic Epistles, the Apocalypse of John. It is shown by Tischendorf that this codex was written in the fourth century, and is thus of about the same age as the Vatican codex; but while the latter wants the greater part of Matthew and sundry leaves here and there besides, the Sinaiticus is the only copy of the New Testament in uncial characters which is complete. Thus it is the oldest extant MSS copy of the New Testament. Both the Vatican and the Sinai codices were probably written in Egypt. It should be noted that in both of these manuscripts there are obvious signs of tampering with the text. More is said later in this study. 6. The Syrian (Aramaic) Versions/B> In 2 Kings 18:26, Ezra 4:7, Dan 2:4" the translation of the Scriptures into "Syrian tongue" more correctly rendered "Aramaic," which includes both the Syriac and the Chaldee languages. In the New Testament there are several Syriac words, such as: 1. "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" "Mark 15:34, Matt. 27:46" gives the Heb. form, "Eli, Eli") 2. "Raca" "Matt. 5:22" 3. "Ephphatha" "Mark 7:34" 4. "Maran-atha" "1 Cor 16:22" A Syriac version of the Old Testament, containing all the canonical books, along with some apocryphal books(called the Peshitto, i.e.,simple translation, and not a paraphrase), was made early in the second century, and is therefore the first Christian translation of the Old Testament. It was made directly from the original, and not from the LXX. Version. The New Testament was also translated from Greek into Syriac about the same time. It is noticeable that this version does not contain the Second and Third Epistles of John, 2 Peter, Jude, and the Apocalypse. These were, however, translated subsequently and placed in the version. 7. The Latin Versions. A Latin version of the Scriptures, called the "Old Latin," which originated in North Africa, was in common use in the time of Tertullian (A.D. 150) Of this there appears to have been various copies or recensions made. That made in Italy, and called the Itala, was reckoned the most accurate. This translation of the Old Testament seems to have been made not from the original Hebrew, but from the LXX. This version became greatly corrupted by repeated transcription, and to remedy the evil Jerome (A.D. 329) was requested by Damascus, the bishop of Rome, to undertake a complete revision of it. It met with opposition at first, but was at length, in the seventh century, recognized as the "Vulgate" version. The word "vulgate" is Latin for "common or "usual." It meant is was the normal text or usual Latin text used. It appeared in a printed from about A.D. 1455 the first book that ever issued from the press. The Council of Trent (1546) declared it "authentic." It subsequently underwent various revisions, but that which was executed (1592) under the sanction of Pope Clement VIII. was adopted as the basis of all subsequent editions. It is regarded as the sacred original in the Roman Catholic Church. All modern European versions have been more or less influenced by the Vulgate. The Vulgate has many clear errors. For example in Genesis 3:15, it reads incorrectly reads "ipsa" (feminine ending) instead of "ipse" (masculine ending) in "She shall bruise thy head." Correct translation is "He shall bruise thy head." 8. There are several other ancient versions which are of importance for Biblical critics, but which we need not mention particularly, such as: a. The Ethiopic, in the fourth century, from the LXX.; b. Two Egyptian versions, about the fourth century, 1. The Memphitic, circulated in Lower Egypt 2. The Thebaic, designed for Upper Egypt, both from the Greek; c. The Gothic, written in the German language, but with the Greek alphabet, by Ulphilas (died A.D. 388) of which only fragments of the Old Testament remain; d. The Armenian, about A.D. 400 e. The Slavonic, in the ninth century, for ancient Moravia. Other ancient versions, as the Arabic, the Persian, and the Anglo-Saxon, may be mentioned. 9. The English Versions. The history of the English versions begins properly with Wycliffe. Portions, however, of the Scriptures were rendered into Saxon (as the Gospel according to John, by Bede, A.D. 735 and also into English (by Orme, called the "Ormulum," a portion of the Gospels and of the Acts in the form of a metrical paraphrase, toward the close of the seventh century), long before Wycliffe: a. To Wycliffe the honor belongs of having first rendered the whole Bible into English (A.D. 1380) This version was made from the Vulgate, and incorrectly renders "Gen. 3:15" after that Version, "She shall trede thy head." b. This was followed by Tyndale's translation (1525-1531) c. Miles Coverdale's (1535-1553) d. Thomas Matthew's (1537) really, however, the work of John Rogers, the first martyr under the reign of Queen Mary. This was properly the first Authorized Version, Henry VIII. having ordered a copy of it to be got for every church. This took place in less than a year after Tyndale was martyred for the crime of translating the Scriptures. e. In 1539 Richard Taverner published a revised edition of Matthew's Bible. f. The Great Bible, so called from its great size, called also Cranmer's Bible, was published in 1539 and 1568 In the strict sense, the "Great Bible" is "the only authorized version; for the Bishops' Bible and the present Bible [the A.V.] never had the formal sanction of royal authority." g. Next in order was the Geneva version (1557-1560) h. The Bishops' Bible (1568) i. The Rheims and Douai versions, under Roman Catholic auspices (1582, 1609) j. The Authorized Version (King James Version 1611) k. The Revised Version of the New Testament in 1880 and of the Old Testament in 1884 Modern Versions: 1901 American Standard Version 1902 Weymouth NT 1924 Centenary NT 1924 Moffatt Bible 1927 Smith-Goodspeed Bible 1946 Revised Standard Version NT 1952 Revised Standard Bible 1960-70 New American Standard 1973 New International Version of Bible 1982 New King James Version LESSON FOUR HOW THE BIBLE WAS WRITTEN I. The Bible is the basis of all truth on earth and the foundation of the Christian Faith. A. Satan has attacked the Bible through out History. In the first 300 years Christians were persecuted and killed. Diocletian, 303-305 AD, the Roman Emperor ordered meeting places (homes) razed to ground, Scriptures burned, leaders placed in prison if they did not recant from their belief in Jesus Christ. During the next 1200 years the Scriptures were locked up by the Roman Catholic Church in monasteries and were not in public view. In 1380 AD John Wycliffe, published the first English Bible. He believed that the Scriptures alone in the hands of the people would be sufficient for the Holy Spirit to use them. He sent out the Lollards, who were "lay" preachers into the English country side. Wycliffe was a member of the Roman church, and sought reform. He believed the Scriptures alone to be the sole authority for the believer. It is noted that in 1401, the English Parliament, made preaching the Lollard ideas, punishable by death. During this time the common people did not have access to the Bible expect through their priests. In 1456, Johann Gutenberg, invented the printing press, and the book printed was the Marzarin Bible. At the same time cheap paper was introduced to Europe. The first Hebrew Bible was published in 1488. Over 80 editions of the Latin Bible appeared in Europe. There still was not an English Bible in the hands of the people. Finally in 1524, William Tyndale began his translation of the Bible into English and just completed it before he was executed in 1536. In 1546, Martin Luther, a Catholic monk, lead the Reformation which was an open denunciation of the false and unbiblical teachings and practices of the Roman Church. At this time many were already in political revolt against the Roman Catholic Church. There was great interest in the Scriptures. During this period the Roman Church canonized the Apocryphal books and added them to the 66 books of the Bible. Although the Bible was being published it was expensive and it was still many years before the Scriptures were readily available to common people. In the 1800's "Higher Criticism" of the Bible came into being in Europe. Led by unbelieving churchman and influenced by evolution it strived to discredit the genuineness of the Bible. It was the father of the liberal movement which went so far as to deny even God. Satan's attack today is in the form of a new philosophy called, Existentialism. This false philosophy teaches that the Bible is not the Word of God, but it is beneficial if it helps a person to overcome his hostile environment. Its subtle influence can be seen in such modern "Christian" movements such as Unity, Norman Vincent Peale, the "Jesus freaks" and the new "Hollywood Christianity." Basically it denies any authority the Bible has. Other attacks come in the form of the modern so called "revelations" of the cults, Pentecostals and Charismatics. These movements teach that God is still giving revelation to man and this means the Bible is not complete. Closely connected to these attacks is the modern translation movement. Almost monthly a new ""translation" or paraphrase is published and these groups readily jump to use. The "inerrancy" controversy has caused great division among the Southern Baptist Convention over the past ten years or more. The controversy is divided between the moderates or liberals who say the Bible "contains" the Word of God and the conservatives who believe that the Bible "is" the inerrant Word of God. The problem is this: If the Bible is not the infallible inerrant Word of God, then who is to say what is? If the Bible is not inerrant, then it stops being the authority that God gave it to be. Determining what is the real Word of God is then left for a man determine. This then leaves the critical question of determining what is truth to the faulty devices of men. God clearly says however that He is not the author of confusion. God has removed the confusion by telling us the Bible is the inerrant Word of God, and that He has preserved it for us. B. The reliability of the Bible, that means the one we have today, it is vital to the Christian Faith. If the Bible we have is not the complete, and true revelation from God then we have no basis to say what really is. For the most part, those who sit in the pews in our churches, believe in Bible is the very Word of God. But it is hard to find a Bible college or seminary of any major denomination that teaches that truth. It, however, does not take many years before men trained by these schools begin teaching what they learned. C. The most recent attack on the Word of God is coming in the form of the modern English translations. All modern translations, with the single exception of the New King James Bible, are all based on the corrupt Greek Eastern text and the work of liberal Greek scholars Westcott and Hort. This is discussed in greater detail in Lesson Five. (Click here to go to that section) This controversy has grouped Christians into three groups. (1) The Extremists, called Ruckmenites, who following apostate preacher Peter Ruckman, who teaches the King James Bible was a second revelation from God and it corrects the Greek text. This group with is unbiblical and cultic teaching have done more to discredit the King James Bible than all the liberal put together. (2) The Only King James Bible group which believes the KJV is the best English translation we have and that is the preserved Word of God. Mostly believe that the KJV could be improved, but it is not in its present form in error. The OKJB people reject all modern translations because they are based on the corrupt Eastern Greek texts. (3) The Modern Translations Group, which say all the translation are the Word of God, with some better or worse than the others. The accept all modern translations. The conservatives of this group prefer the popular modern translation of the Bible is the New International Version. On the conservative side would be those that use the American or New American Standard Version. The chief reason that like the modern translations is they say it is easier to read and they do not like the Old English of the KJV. In defending their preference for the modern Bibles they lump the Ruckmenites and the Only King James people together. They do a great injustice to the many God fearing preachers and believers who love the Word of God, revere the King James Bible as God's preserved Word, reject the attacks of the liberals on the Bible and do not believe in the extreme and erroneous teaching of the Ruckmenites. It is the author's opinion that they knowingly do so showing an extreme intolerance for those who disagree with them. II. THE TRANSMISSION OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. A. The Old Testament is divided into four major sections. THE LAW (Pentateuch) First five Books of the Bible. Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy POETRY Five Books Job Psalms Proverbs Ecclesiastes Song of Solomon HISTORY Twelve Books Joshua 2 Kings Judges 1 Chronicles Ruth 2 Chronicles 1 Samuel Ezra 2 Samuel Nehemiah 1 Kings Esther PROPHETS - Seventeen Books Major Prophets; Minor Prophets Isaiah; Hosea; Habakkuk Jeremiah; Joel; Zephaniah Lamentation; Amos; Haggai Exekiel; Obadiah; Zechariah Daniel; Jonah; Malachi Micah Nahum B. The Pentateuch was written by Moses, and was the first five Books of the Old Testament to be written. The Pentateuch dates between 1500 BC and 1400 BC. Also, the Book of Job is believed to have been written during this period. Following is a list of the Old Testament Books written after the Pentateuch. (These dates are only approximate.) 1. 1000 BC Judges and Ruth. 2. 1000 BC Davidic Psalms were written. 3. 900 BC Samuel, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon. 4. 800 BC Obadiah, and then Joel and Jonah. 5. 700 BC Amos, Hosea, Micah, Isaiah. 6. 600 BC Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah 7. 500 BC Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Kings, Daniel 8. 400 BC Haggai, Zechariah, Esther, Ezra, Chronicles, Nehemiah, Malachi. C. The Old Testament was written in Hebrew. In 300 BC, Alexander the Great, made Greek the official language. Hebrews fearful that the Scriptures would be lost to their children who were being taught Greek, called a group of seventy scholars (six from each Tribe) together in Egypt and the translated the Old Testament into Greek. The translation is called the Septuagint, meaning The Seventy which is the supposed number of Scholars who made the translation. The Roman numerals LXX, symbolized the name. It was completed in 250 BC. It was a poor translation in many aspects and certainly not a uniform work. The spurious ancient "Letter of Aristeas" is presented as a record of how the translation was made saying for example it was completed in seventy two days. Probably the translation actually took more than a century to complete. The LXX differs greatly from the the Hebrew text in the books of Ester, Job, Amos, and Jeremiah. Job is 25% shorted and Jermeiah is almost 15% shorter. Daniel, Job and Proverbs are very loosely translated. Some conclude that this was the translation in which Jesus and the Apostles read and quoted. Some of Jesus' quotes seem to be from the LXX and some are quotes are where the LXX and the Hebrew text is the same. Minton makes the following statement about Christ's use of the Old Testament: "Jesus taught and preached almost exclusively to the Jews in or near Judea and Galilee, so he very likely used Aramaic and Hebrew, not Greek, in his everyday ministry. The quotations from the Gospels are Greek translations of Jesus' discourses. When Jesus quoted Psalm 22:1 from the cross it was in Aramaic Targum rendering of the text." (Ron Minton, The Making and Preservation of the Bible , Piedmont Bible College, Jan. 2000, pg. 101) [Author's note: There is no real support for the modern translations in saying that Jesus used the LXX which was a poor Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament. Although many "scholars" believe Jesus and the Apostles used the LXX there is also serious doubt that they actually did.) D. The Masoretic Text. These are copies of the Old Testament made during the middle ages dating from 5th to the 9th Centuries AD. Scribes would carefully copy word for word each page of the Scriptures. These were the oldest copies of the Old Testament known until the Dead Sea Scrolls were found in 1947 to 1956. Many critics of the Bible cast doubt on the accuracy of the Scriptures, stating that we only had recent copies of the Old Testament. Further, they said that because of supposed copy errors we could not be sure the Old Testament was correct. However, the Dead Sea Scrolls, pushed the date of the manuscripts back a thousand years. When the Scrolls were compared with the Masoretic Text, they compared in 95 per cent of the text word for word. The 5 per cent variations between the two texts were ALL misspelled words, or obvious slips of the pen. Modern critics of the Scriptures were proven wrong again. God's Word was shown to be accurately preserved down through the ages. E. The Canonicity of the Old Testament. Canonicity is a human process of recognizing the authority of the Bible, which authority is inherent in the books of the Bible because of their inspiration. The word "canon" was originally from a Hebrew word "qaneh" meaning "reed" and from the Greek word "kanon" meaning "rod." The reed or rods were used to measure things. It came to mean "anything that serves to determine or regulate things." The word was applied to the authentication of the Scriptural books. A canon then is "the body of writing which go to make up the inspired ruler of faith and practice." The Old Testament canon is the 39 books of the Old Testament. The New Testament canon is made of 27 books. The 66 books that make up the Bible have then been recognized down through time by examining both internal and external evidences that they are truly the authentic Word of God. Other books written through time have been rejected as not canonical because they contain historical, scientific and doctrinal errors. One series of these books are called the "Apocrypha." These 14 or 15 books are I & II Esdras, Tobit, Judith, The Rest of Esther, The Wisdom of Solomon, Ecclesiasticus, Baruch, The Letter of Jeremiah, The Prayer of Azariah and the Song of the Three Young Men, Bel and the Dragon, The Prayer of Manasseh, I & II Book of the Maccabees. These non-canonical books were composed during the last two centuries before Christ and in the first Century afterwards. The Apocrypha, although not revelation from God does give much secular information on the political and religious developments during the Inter-Testamental Period (400 years from Malachi to John the Baptist). The beginnings of the Pharisees, Sadducees, and the synagogues are recorded in these books. Christ nor any New Testament writer quotes from the Apocrypha and they have never been accepted by the Jews. They were totally rejected by the Roman Catholic church until 1546 Ad when they accepted them as being Scriptures. Their teaching of purgatory (place where man go to be tormented for unpaid for sins after death before they are allowed to go to heaven) came from one of these books. (Ref: An Outline of Bibliology, by Dr. Hoyle E. Bowman, Piedmont Bible College) Before the Exile (Period of 70 years in Babylon) there was a large body of sacred literature (Ex. 21-23; 24:4, 7; Josh. 24:26; I Sam. 10:25). Each of the Books of the Old Testament canon were accepted by Hebrews at the living Word of God. In the Fifth Century BC, the canonical books were collected and the Jews officially recognized the whole Old Testament as being inspired. Josephus (the Jewish historian, who was born in Jerusalem in 37 AD) is quoted as limiting the Old Testament canon to 22 books, (the same as our 39 books). He called them "divine," and dates the Old Testament from Moses to the reign of Artazerxes (465-425 BC). Cyril of Jerusalem also wrote in 315 AD of the 22 books of the Old Testament. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The History of the Old Testament Canon 1500-1400BC Pentateuch, Job? & Joshua. Original Pentateuch Scrolls Stored Inside the Ark of the Convenant ( Deut. 10:5,31:24, Joshua 1:7-9, Deut 17:14-20) 1300 BC 1200 BC 1100 BC Shiloh Destroyed by Philistines & Tabernacle Moved. Original Scrolls Dispersed and New Copies made(?) Judges & Ruth written. 1000 BC Davidic Psalms written. I Samuel, David. The Levites Distributed copies throughout Israel. 900 BC Proverbs, Eccl. Song of Solomon, II Samuel added. Obadiah written near the end of the century. Copies brought to the Northern Kingdom during Elijah's reform. 800 BC Joel & Jonah Written. 1 Kings written by a succession of prophets & collected & edited by Jeremiah(?). Amos, Hosea & Micah written. Assyrians capture Samaria. 700 BC Isaiah Copies obtained by priest at the order of Saigon (2 Kings 17:27-28). Nahum, Habakkuk, & Zephaniah written. The Book of the Law is rediscovered in the Temple (2 Kings 22:8, 2 Chron. 34:6-9,21) 600 BC Ezekiel( Ezekiel Taken captive & Jerusalem destroyed) Copies brought to the people from Jerusalem during Josiah's reform (2 Chron. 34:6-9, 21). Jeremiah, Lam. & I&II Kings written. Daniel, Cyrus captures Babylon. Haggai, The Temple Rebuilt. 500 BC Zechariah 550 BC Esther, Ezra, Chronicles, Ezra returns to Jerusalem. Nehemiah, Copies taken to Samaria at time of Nehemiah (Neh. 12:28-30). 400 BC Malachi -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- LESSON FIVE THE EVIDENCE THAT THE BIBLE IS THE WORD OF GOD The modern attack on the Bible has taken many forms. It would be a voluminous work to answer each criticism, however a better way to effectively address the issue is to study the evidences for our infallible, Bible. In examining the evidences for the Bible being the Very Word of God, and correctly transmitted to us today, we will see that the Bible is completely reliable, and is God's revelation to man. EVIDENCES FROM THE WRITERS OF BIBLE. A. There are forty known writers of Scripture and others that are not identified. These writers wrote over a period in time of fifteen hundred years. These men came from all walks of life, from the common unschooled man, to learned men as was Paul. Some were kings, while others farmers, fishermen, doctors, tax collectors, a soldier a cup bearer to the king, a scribe and a statesman. One thing that was common to all them was that had complete confidence that what they wrote was the Word of God. They claimed to be writing the Word of God, thousands of times in Scripture. B. Earlier in our notes we have examined the Doctrine of Inspiration of Scripture. This was the process by which God enabled men to accurately write His very words, completely and without error. II Tim. 3:16, teaches that God "breathed" on them, and thus lead them to correctly produce His Word. II Peter 1:12, teaches these men were "holy" or men dedicated and separated unto God, but the accuracy of what they wrote does not rest on there "godliness". It does rest on the fact that God "breathed" on them as they wrote, this is why what they wrote is God's word. All that they wrote was also not included in the Bible. Paul wrote three letters or epistles to the Corinthians, but only two were included in the canon of Scripture. (I Cor. 5:9) One letter he wrote addressing the practice of fornication is lost. This shows us that all God that the writers produced was not Scripture. The Bible has been throughout history studied as literature alone, because it is one of the greatest literary books ever written. Yet it was produced by mostly untrained men over fifteen hundred years. Peter and John, unlearned fishermen, addressed the scholars of the Sanhedrin, and amazed them at their knowledge. (Acts 4:1-13) The Bible is in complete agreement in all its sixty six books. There exists about 13,000 manuscript portions of the New Testament. All of them agree, with the exception of some obvious variants caused by hand copying. In the Old Testament only one word out of 1580 varies at all. In almost ever variant it can be seen it was caused by a copyist inverting a letter, or copying it wrong. Of all the variants in Scripture, over 99 percent of them are nothing more than variations in spelling. If you think about the fact it was written over a period of fifteen hundred years, and consider how many times man has changed his philosophy, traditions, customs and government during that time it seems an impossible task. However, the Bible is not the product of man's mind, but the mind of God. He is immutable, meaning He does not change. (James 1:17, Heb. 13:8) The fact of the absolute accuracy and harmony of the Scriptures is further evidence of God's direction of the writing of the Bible. The Scriptures are in harmony because God is unchanging, and even if the Bible had been produced over millions of years, it would still be in perfect harmony, because its true author, God does not change. C. In the Old Testament, three thousand and eight times, the writers claimed to be writing the Word of God. See Deut. 4:1-2. As God's prophet, Moses said explicitly that they accept his teachings as God's Word and do them. Also see Deut. 6:1-25. The writers of the New Testament believed that the Old Testament was the Word of God, and quoted it 320 times. In over a thousand times they referred to it. Jesus believed the Old Testament was God's Word and quoted the Old Testament. One tenth of the 1800 verses quoting Jesus are Old Testament quotes. (These verses written in red in many Bibles. Jesus said that "Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me." (John 5:39) Also, see Luke 24:27, when Jesus used Moses and the prophets or the Old Testament to tell those He walked with on the Emmaus road about Himself. Jesus said He came to fulfill the Old Testament Scriptures. (Matt. 5:17, Matt. 26:24 & 54, John 10:35. Luke 18:31) When Jesus was tempted, He quoted the Old Testament as God's answer to Satan's tempting. (Matt. 4:3-10) Jesus fulfilled all the Old Testament Messianic prophecies. Jesus substantiated the Old Testament teaching on: Adam and Eve, the Flood, Abraham's faith, Circumcision, Sodom and Gomorrah, Jonah in the whales belly, the burning bush, Manna in the desert, and the Brazen Serpent. In Luke 16:29, states that the Old Testament was sufficient for salvation. THE MANUSCRIPT EVIDENCE ------------------------- The Number of Manuscripts of New Testament GREEK 81 Papyrus manuscripts (papyri, A ancient paper or writing material made from the pith of a plant by that name, with grew in the marshier of Egypt.) 276 Unicals (or Majuscles) (Means literally, "inch high," referring manuscript printed in large letters similar in size to capital letters) 2,764 Minuscules (Manuscript written in rather small letters, commonly in a cursive or free-flowing hand.) 1,997 Lectionaries (Early church service books containing selected Scripture readings usually from the Gospels and sometimes from Acts or the Epistles) LATIN 8000 Various manuscripts in Latin. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Number and Date of Bible manuscripts compared to other ancient manuscripts. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- "There are only 643 manuscripts by which the Iliad, which is attributed to Homer (700 BC) is reconstructed, nine or ten good ones for Julius Caesar's, (58 BC - 51 BC) Gallic Wars, twenty manuscripts of note for Roman historian Titus Livy, (59 BC - 17 AD) History of Rome, and only two by which Tacitus (55 - 117 AD) a later Roman historian is known, yet there are about 5000 Greek manuscripts to attest of the New Testament." Comparing the time frame of the Bible manuscripts to other non-biblical ancient manuscripts. The oldest manuscript for the Gallic Wars is some nine hundred years later than Caesar's day. The two manuscripts of Tacitus are eight and ten centuries later, respectively, than the original. In the case of Thucydides and Herodotus, the earliest manuscript is some thirteen hundred years after the autographs. With the New Testament, it is different. In addition to the complete manuscripts only three hundred years later (B, Aleph), most of the New Testament is preserved in manuscripts less than two hundred years from the original. (P45,46,47). Some Books of the New Testament from little over one hundred years after their composition. (P 66) and one fragment (P52) comes within a generation of the first century. (Ref: A General Introduction to the Bible, Norman L. Geisler & William E. Nix, Moody Press, Chicago, 1968, pg284-5 and Which Bible?, David Otis Fuller, Grand Rapids Intern. Publications, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1970, pg26) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ARE THE OLDEST MANUSCRIPTS THE "BEST," "MOST RELIABLE" or "MOST TRUSTWORTHY?" Often in the margins of reference Bibles you will find statements such as: "These verses do not appear in two of the most trustworthy manuscripts of the N. T., though they are part of many other manuscripts and versions. If they are not a part of the genuine text of Mark, the abrupt ending at verse 8 is probably because the original closing verses were lost. The doubtful genuineness of verses 9-20 makes it unwise to build a doctrine or base an experience on them (especially vv. 16-18)" (Note on Mark 16:9-20, The Ryrie Study Bible, King James Version, Charlies Caldwell Ryrie, Moody Press, Chicago, 1976, p1432) This note is taken from the margin of the Ryrie Study Bible and is referring to Mark 16:9-20. When the average person reads this he will most likely accept that the statement as true and thus disregard these verses as worthy of acceptance as a part of the Word of God. At best he will seriously question their authenticity because the Bible "scholar" Charles Ryrie says is unwise to build a doctrine on verses with doubtful genuineness. What the reader is not told is that the statement is only the opinion of the writer of the notes and that many other scholars, with equal or higher qualifications disagreed with his opinion and accept this as the Word of God. The "two of the most trustworthy manuscripts" Ryrie and others are referring to are the ancient manuscripts of the Bible called the Sinaiticus (Aleph), dated 340 AD. and the Codex Vaticanus (B) dated 325-50 AD. These verses are indeed left out of these manuscripts plus ms 2386, certain Aramaic manuscripts and the writings of Clement, Origin, and Jermone. However, it is found in the mss A, C D K X W plus nine other ancient manuscripts and mentioned in the Diatessarn, (170 AD), the writings of Justin Martyr (died in 156 AD) in his work "Apology" and Irenaseus (140-203 AD). Note that the dates of this last group from the Lectionaries predate the Aleph and B, by almost two hundred years. Therefore the oldest evidence supports Mark 16:9-16 as being in the originals. This then casts doubt on the accuracy of manuscripts the Aleph and B, and brings up the possibility that it was left out of these two manuscripts by mistake or some other reason, maybe deliberately. The truth then, is there is strong manuscript evidence that Mark 16:9-20 was in the original autographs. The Textus Receptus -------------------- (TR) is a representative of what is called the Majority Text which is based on over 5000 Greek extant (existing) manuscripts. It is referred to as the Byzantine or Western text which is associated geographically with Asia and Eastern Europe which was where most of the New Testament was written and distributed among the early churches. The Westcott-Hort text is referred to as the Minority text or Alexandrian or Eastern text geographically originating in Alexandria Egypt. The Minority text today is comprised manuscripts the Codex Sinaiticus (Aleph), (340 AD) and the Codex Vaticanus (B) (325-50 AD), the Codex Alexandrius, and P33 (papyri). [(A codex is a manuscript bound together like a book instead of rolled into a scroll.] In reality there is no manuscript evidence that the ending of Mark 16 was lost. Ryrie even notes that if verses 9-20 were not part of the original text you are left with an abrupt ending to the Charter at verse 8. If you conclude the verses 9-20 are not genuine and how then do you explain the abrupt ending at verse 8? Is is proper and honest to invent an explanation by concluding that real ending was lost! The fact remains that no ancient manuscript with any other ending exists. However, in several Lectionaries dating almost two hundred years before the Aleph and B, you find the verses in whole or part quoted by the church fathers such as Tatian (Diatessaron, 170 AD), Justin Martyr (156 AD) and Irenaseus (140-203 AD). The Greek scholar, John Bergen, in his excellent work, "The Last Twelve Verses of the Gospel of Mark." in over 300 pages goes over every scrap of evidence and proves that these verses should be here. All modern English versions of the Bible with the exceptions of the KJV and the NKJV (*see note below) are based on a Greek text of the NT compiled by two Brook Foss Westcott (1825-1901) and Fenton John Anthony Hort (1828-1892)who were British "scholars" at Cambridge University in England. Hort as a young man a dispised the Textus Receptus which was the Greek text from which the KJV was translated. He vowed to rid the New Testament of any influence of the Textus Receptus. These two men based their new version of the Greek New Testament on two ancient manuscripts the Sinaiticus (Aleph), dated 340 AD. and the Codex Vaticanus (B) dated 325-50 AD. Although they claimed their work was done by examining ancient Greek manuscripts they actually produced their Greek text by consulting the published works of other scholars. They concluded that because the Aleph and B manuscripts were the oldest they were the best and most accurate. They ignored the obvious evidence that these manuscripts had been tampered with and were corrupt. The fact is that these two manuscripts disagree more than thirty four (34) times per chapter in the Gospels alone. In some of the Epistles they disagree even more. These two manuscripts came from Egypt which was a hot bed of heresy during the time these manuscripts were produced and they seemed to have been changed (corrputed) in order to support false doctrine. Therefore the basis of all modern versions of the English Bible are based on the flawed work of the Westcott-Hort critical text. Only the KJV and the NKJV are based on the Textus Receptus and represent the Majority text. *(The translators of the NKJV claim that it is based entirely on the Textus Receptus, however, there are problems with the translation work. See http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/sbs777/faq/nkjv.html) Liberal scholar, Bruce M. Metzger is in the forefront of promoting the Westcott-Hort text. In his book, he concludes his statements about denouncing the authenticity of Mark 16:9-20 with this statement: "At the same time, however, out of deference to the evident antiquity of the longer ending and its importance in the textual tradition of the Gospel, the Committee decided to include verses 9-20 as part of the text, but to enclose them within double square brackets to indicated that they are the work of an author other than the evangelist ( Mark)." (Bruce M. Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, United Bible Society,1971, p126) He thus admits the antiquity of the evidence for including verses 9-20, and includes it in the text, but still denies its authenticity. Such are the webs the liberals weave, in which they catch themselves, and knowingly discredit the Majority Text which is the Word of God. Question is this: ------------------- is the shadow, that Charles Ryrie and other "modern scholarships" have cast over the ending of Mark, and an about 6000 other changes to the modern versions grounded in true scholarship and correctly presents the evidence? The obvious answer is no, it does not! Why then do some Bible scholars make statements such as these and present them as being scholarly and supported by the best evidence? The answer is that they prescribe the idea that the Westcott-Hort, or minority Greeks texts of the New Testament are better than the Majority texts of the Textus Receptus. Their statements are based on their liberal biased opinion...and nothing more. They do not believe in verbal plenary inspiration of Scripture and have little respect for the Word of God they treat so lightly. Clearly, these "scholars" are knowingly being dishonest which is simply lying. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Two Divisions of Ancient Manuscripts. There are two division of the ancient manuscripts of the New Testament that have been preserved and survived until today. They are as follows: The Majority Texts The Minority Texts Based on: Erasmus' Greek Text, 1516 Westcott-Hort Greek Text, (Referred to as "Textus 1881-82 Receptus"or "Received Text') Geographical Family Western Europe Eastern (North Africa, Alexandria Egypt) Number of Manuscripts Over 5000 3 (Yes, just three) Time span of the Manuscripts (117-138 AD) (325-50 AD Rylands Fragment Codex Vaticanus (B) ) (250 AD) (340 AD) P45,46,47 Chester Beatty Papyri; Codex Sinaiticus (Aleph) (200 AD or earlier) (450AD) P66,72,75 Bodmer Papyri; Codex; Alexandrinus (A) (others) Modern; Versions; King James Version (1611)(KJV or AV) American Standard Versions; (ASV) New King James Version (1985) (NKJV) Revised Standard Version (RSV) New American Standard Version (NASV) New International Version (NIV) All modern versions -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Obvious Problems in the Westcott-Hort Scholarship Note the following examples: MATTHEW 27:49-50. The Text as it reads in the KJV: 49 The rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him. 50 Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. In the Codex Sinaiticus (Aleph), Codex Vaticanus ( B), Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (C), Codex Regius (L), Uncial, 110, and a few others, add John 19:34, after verse 49. It reads "But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water." The reading as found in the KJV, which does not have the added verse, is found in the following manuscripts: Codex Alexandrinus (A), Codex Bezae (D), Codex Cyprius (K), Codex Washingtonianus (W), and D PI THETA OP90. All these are all Uncials. 4 or 5 or 9th Century. Also this reading is found in the f1, f13 , which are families of a number (4 or 5) manuscripts. So on one hand we have a great number manuscripts with this verse omitted and other early texts with the these words included. What then is the solution to this variant reading in the available manuscripts? First, after the Sinaiticus (Aleph), only one later manuscript has the text added. Second, including the verse here cannot be true because Christ would have to be alive at the time the soldier used the spear. John 19:33, says "but when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs:" The soldier then thrust the spear into Jesus's side after He had given up the spirit and died. In Matthew, between verse 49 and 50 Jesus is alive! This means this reading is not correct and was clearly added to Matthew's Gospel in these four or so manuscripts. It appears a inapt scribe added to Matthew's text the information that John (John 19:34) gives about the soldier piercing Jesus' side and the water and blood running out. The point is that this is a great embarrassment to the Westcott-Hort folks, because they boldly state as fact that the "better, best, most reliable, most trustworthy, and etc" texts are the very ones which clearly have obvious errors. This and other examples show that these early Eastern texts were partly corrupted and in this case doctrinally in error. In the United Bible Society text, which follows the Westcott-Hort tradition, they give these verses an "A" classification. This means they are stating that these verses absolutely should be in the text! But on what basis do they make such conclusions? It is based on three Eastern manuscripts which show clear evidence of being tampered with. However, it does not matter that the evidence is questionable or that the adding the verse is doctrinally in error. They state the Eastern text is older and therefore better thus it must be correct. This is putting the theory ahead of the evidence! They have committed themselves to the Minority text and thus they judge all things in how it supports these texts. Even if the evidence does not support the Westcott-Hort conclusions, they stand by that text. Obviously, they know they are wrong, but knowingly continue perputrating the error and all the modern translations contain this error. The average person in the pew has no idea that the text he is reading is in error. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- EVIDENCES FROM ARCHAEOLOGY. ------------------------- A. OLD TESTAMENT Genesis tells us that God placed man in the area of the Fertile Crescent, or Mesopotamia. Archaeology has confirmed that man began in that area and migrated into the rest of the world. Genesis 11:1, states the earth had one language before the Tower of Babel. Philologist state that all modern languages probably had a common origin. The Bible says the walls of Jericho fell outward, Joshua 6:20. Dr. John Garstang, director of the British School of Archaeology, in excavations of Jericho (1929-36) found all the walls had indeed fallen outward and were completely flat. In all other excavations of walled cites which fell the walls fall inward. God told the Israelites not to taken any spoils from the city. Garstang found, under the ashes and fallen walls, in the ruins of the store rooms, and abundance of food stuffs, wheat, barley, dates, lentils, and such, turned to charcoal by intense heat, untouched and uneaten: evidence that the conquerors refrained from appropriating the foods. (Halley's Bible Handbook, Henry H. Halley, Zondervan Pub. House, 1965, p 161.) The genealogy of Abraham, ------------------------- has been proven historical. In 1974, in excavating the ancient city of Ebla, in modern Syria, over 16,000 clay tablets were found. Ebla dates at 2340 BC, which predates Abraham. The discoveries upheld the chronologies of the book of Genesis. Many names, such as "Abraham," were names that was in common use then. Before these discoveries, archaeologists did not know it Abraham was a title or persons name. It was a man's name just as the Bible states. It also, completely disproved the Graf-Wellhausen theory, which stated Moses lived in a primitive age in which writing was unknown and thus could not have written the Pentateuch. Basically the archaeological discoveries have led most honest scholars, no matter what their religion, to affirm the historical accuracy of the Old Testament. B. NEW TESTAMENT. The Gospel of Luke, and the book of Acts is proven historically correct. Sir William Ramsey, believed that the Book of Acts was written in the mid-nineteenth century. He was a world renowned scholar, and set out to prove his beliefs. After his exhaustive research, Ramsey, concluded that Luke was "a historian of the first rank." In over twenty matters in which modern scholars thought Luke wrong, they proved him right. Archaeology has confirmed that the book of Acts is historically correct in every detail. John 19:13, refers to the court where Jesus was tried by Pilate. Scholars believed it was a myth. Archaeology, has shown that the court was in the Tower of Antonia, the Roman military headquarters, which destroyed in the AD 66-70 siege of Jerusalem. There was no record of the Pool of Bethesda, except in the New Testament. In 1888, it was found in the northeast quarter of the city. The places visited by Paul in his journeys have each been found as recorded. The daughter of Herodias, who asked for John the Baptist's head (Mark 6:22). The bible does not name her, however, archaeology has discovered her name was Salome, and her likeness was preserved in a small coin . Actually there are thousand of archaeological discoveries which confirm the accuracy of the New Testament. (For some really interesting reading on this subject read a good book on archaeology and the Bible such as "The Bible as History", by Werner Keller, or "The Bible and Archaeology" by J.A. Thompson. Also much information is found in Bible dictionaries, and Bible hand books such as Halley's and Unger's) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- EVIDENCES FROM PROPHECY. ------------------------- A. Prophecies of the Bible concerning events yet future to the time when they were made are evidences that the Bible is the Word of God. Man is not able to accurately predict the future. Of course there are those such as Jeanne Dixon, and Neostriatums who have made many predictions. Generally their predictions do not come to pass. Those that do are often very general in nature. It would be well to note that demonic activity is clearly involved in man's attempts to predict the future. Also most predictions a not specific and are very vague. Deut. 18:20-22, states clearly that if any man prophecies and even one of his prophecies does not come truth, he is a false prophet. In the Old Testament the false prophet was to be killed. A true prophet of God is one hundred percent correct, one hundred percent of the time! (See Jer. 28:9) B. There is a great deal of prophecy in the Bible. Some examples are: ----------------- 1. Genesis 3:15, is the first prophecy in the Bible. 2. Isaiah has 20, consecutive chapters of prophecy. 3. Jeremiah has 17 chapters. 4. Ezekiel has 9 chapters. 5. Amos has 2. 6. Daniel has many prophecies as to world governments and the Messiah. 7. Many cities of the Old and New Testament were predicted to fall. C. The Bible makes very specific prophecies. Isaiah 44:28. Before Judah was taken into captivity God predicted through Isaiah a king would release the Jews from captivity, and his name was given as Cryus. This was 150 years before Cyrus was born! History records he came to power and did indeed free the Jews from the Babylonian captivity. Every detail of Isaiah's prophecy came true. I Kings 13:2. Three hundred years before Josiah was born his coming was prophesied. It also said he would burn the false priests. He was born and did just that! In the Old Testament there are over three hundred prophecies which refer to Christ's coming. The latest of these prophecies of the birth of Christ was made four hundred years before Jesus was born. Yet their were fulfilled to the letter. No man would predict that a man would be born of a virgin, neither would man predict the exact year five hundreds years in the future when the Messiah would come or predict the very town of his birth. Yet the Old Testament prophets in over three hundred times made specific predictions of the coming of Christ. It further compounds the difficulty for accuracy when you think that not just one but many different prophets made these predictions over hundreds of years! Yet they all came true. One of the most interesting prophecies was the great city Tyre. In Ezekiel 26:1-28:19 the Scriptures specifically predicted: Nebuchadnezzar will destroy Tyre. (Ezekiel 26:7-8) Tyre was a great walled city fortified with 150 foot high walls, which were 15 foot thick. Nebuchadnezzar attacked the city and for 13 years laid siege to it. The people in the city, took their valuables a small island a half mile off shore. No spoils of the city were taken. In Ezekiel 26:12, it was said the towers would be broken down and the walls smashed, which was exactly what happened. The new city of Tyre existed for 250 years in the new location on the island. Many nations will rise against Tyre. (Ezekiel 26:3-4) Down through the years even to today the cities has seen many different nations come against it. Tyre will be made bare like a flat rock. (Ezekiel 26:4,14) and the rubble would be cast into the sea. (Ezekiel 26:12). Alexander the Great, who conquered most of the known world in 332 BC complete destroyed the island city after it refused to surrender. To reach the city from the land he took the ruins of the old city and cast them into the sea and built a causeway to reach the island. Today you can not find any ruins of the old city. Fishermen will dry their nets there. (Ezekiel 26:5,14) Where the city was even today fisherman spread their nets there to dry. It will never be rebuilt. 26:14 To this very day the ancient city has not been rebuilt. Many other prophecies of cities such as Sidon, which is twenty miles north of Tyre, are in Scripture. Sidon, founded by the first born child of Canaan, was a wicked city. Ezekiel 28:21-23 states that there would be swords and blood in its streets. It fell in 351 BC, to Persia is a horrible slaughter. Forty thousand of the city were burned in their homes by the Persians. Down through history the city has seen one blood bath after another. The Crusaders destroyed the city three times, as also the Moslems three times. In 1840, England, France and Turkey bombarded the city to ruins. Yet the prophecy did not say it would be ultimately destroyed. It stands still today. Babylon, one of the greatest cities of the ancient world. The city was 196 square miles in area with a wall 56 miles long. It had a 30 foot moat around it. The double walls on the outside was 311 feet high and 87 feet thick. It had 100 huge brass gates and 250 watch towers which were 400 feet high. It was thought to be completely undefeatable, yet the Persians diverted the Euphrates River which ran into the city under the walls into canals and when the river was dry marched under them into the city. Isaiah 13:19-22, 14:23, and Jeremiah 51:26, 43 stated the city would fall and it did. It was so completely destroyed that until nineteenth century no one knew where it had existed. Jesus said in Mark 13:2, that "there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down." He was speaking of the Temple. In 70 AD, were the Roman general Titus, entered Jerusalem after a long seize, he ordered the Temple to be left standing. However, it caught fire burned to the ground. The great wealth of gold which was inside melted and ran into the cracks of the stones. The Roman soldiers in recovering the gold literally dug all the stones up and left the Temple flat and totally destroyed. Not one stone was left upon another just as Jesus said. IV. THE PROBABILITIES: ------------------------ A. It has been figured that the probability of just eleven of the prophecies of the Bible to come true by accident was 1 in 5.76 x 10 to the 56 power. One can easily see that behind this ancient book, the Bible is the God of the Universe. Only God working through man could have made these most specific prophecies all come true. There are many prophecies yet unfulfilled, yet they will come to pass as assuredly as those in the past. B. All these evidences give us a overwhelming confidence in the reliability of our Bible. It is God's Word to man. No other so-called "bible", or scripture written by man compares in any way the Bible. C. You and I can known that: First: The Bible we have is the inerrant, preserved, infallible word of God. Second: We can trust that in following it we can find eternal life and know God personally through studying and following it. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Evidences From Medicine that the Bible is the Word of God I. GOD'S MEDICAL PROMISE. EXODUS 15:26 A. The Hebrews had been in Egypt for four hundred years. The Egyptian Pharaoh had decreed all boy babies born to the Jews were to be put to death. Moses saved by Pharaoh's daughter when his mother placed him in a basket in the water near where the Pharaoh's daughter bathed in the River Nile. Pharaoh's daughter took Moses to be raised as her own son and he was trained in all the "sciences" of Egypt. God called Moses to lead the Children of Israel out of Egypt and to make them a nation under God. At Mt. Sinai God gave Israel the Law which would govern their nation. The form of government was a "theocracy", or a nation ruled by God. The Ten Commandments and the rest of the Law was given to give them instruction in all areas of their lives including civil matters, foreign policy, criminal law, personal relationships, taxes, worship practices, and even medicine. God's made specific promises to Israel if they would obey Him and follow His instructions. "...If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that health thee." This was the best government man has ever seen on earth being designed by God Himself. The Law was fair and just and gave Israel a freedom that was unknown previously on Earth. B. The Medicine of Egypt. The cure for loss of hair was to make a compound of six different animal fats. Horse, hippo, cat, crocodile, snake and ibex (wild goat). For the royal family the mixture was made of equal parts of the heel of an Abyssinian greyhound, date blossoms, asses hoofs boiled in oil. To cure snake bite one poured magic water on the wound, which was made by pouring water over an idol. Sticking a splinter in you finger could be fatal for the Egyptian! The cure was to made a medicine from worms blood and asses dung and apply to the wound. Dung being loaded with tetanus spores caused many to die of a simple splinter wound. From the Egyptian medical book, the Papyrus Ebers, was recorded the contents of many medical "cures." They used items such as lizards teeth, putrid meat, stinking fat, moisture from a pigs ear, milk of goose grease, excreta from animals, humans and flies. These were the latest medical cures of Moses' day. C. With remedies such as these the Israelites fully understood the magnitude of the promise God made them in Exodus 15:26. Their only responsibility was to simply follow God's instructions to Israel. II. GOD'S MEDICAL JOURNAL. ------------------------- A. If the Bible is the Word of God then it will be correct in all areas or subjects in which it addresses. This includes medical science. Long before man knew of "germs" or even what disease really was God gave positive effective cures and preventions for many diseases. These were not "miracle" cures, but practical methods of healing and prevention of disease. The medical advice the Bible contains has been proven accurate, and yet it was given in many cases thousands of years before man's knowledge had grown to the point of understanding the causes of man's medical problems. B. Many times man explains away the prophesies of Scripture by saying the events supposedly "prophesied" were written "after the fact," and falsely claimed to be written before the events spoken of. However, this cannot be said of the medical statements of the Bible. The latest date anyone gives the Bible is found 90 AD. Yet many of the modern medical discoveries made only within the last 100 years have been known in Scripture for thousands of years earlier. The point is that the accurate medical instructions could have only come from one who was knowledgeable of medical facts. This "one" was God, who is the creator of man, and author of the Bible. III. SOME OF THE BIBLE'S MEDICAL INSTRUCTIONS. ------------------------------------------------ A. LEPROSY. In the Middle Ages leprosy was one of the greatest threats to human life. There was no cure for this dreaded disease. Doctors of that age thought the disease was caused by things such as the way the planets aligned or eating pepper, garlic, hot food or diseased hog meat. No quarantine was practiced and the disease spread unchecked through the population. The physicians of that day failed completely to stop the disease. Church leaders finally took over leadership and guided by the Old Testament laws of sanitation began to separate the lepers from the rest of society. Following this simple Biblical procedure the spread of leprosy was eradicated. B. THE BLACK PLAGUE. When this plague struck Europe the cities were quickly filled with the dead and dying. Bodies lay in the streets and houses and the chore of burying the dead was accomplished by unceremoniously dumping the dead in hastily dug trenches. The rich and poor were buried alike. It was a time of horror as millions died. There was no cure and again physicians could offer no help in stopping this murderous disease. However, church leaders again applying the Biblical laws of sanitation led the way in stopping the plague. The Bible set forth the effective sanitation practices which helped stop this disease. C. CHOLERA, DYSENTERY, TYPHOID FEVER. These disease caused by unsanitary practices caused great lost of life. With no sewers human waste was dumped in the streets. At times heavy stenches hung over cites, and millions died from these diseases. Deut.23:12-13, gave Israel practical advice as to disposal of human waste. "Thou shalt have a place also without the camp, whither thou shalt go forth abroad. And thou shalt have a paddle (shovel) upon thy weapon; and it shalt be, when thou wilt ease thyself abroad, thou shalt dig therewith, and shalt turn back and cover that which cometh from thee." Deut 23:12-13 For 3500 years this simple instruction was ignored by man and millions paid the price with their lives for man's ignorance. D. CANCER OF THE CERVIX. Among non-Jewish women, cancer of the cervix accounts for 25 percent of all cancer in women. Jewish women are relatively free of this cancer. The reason research found was that Jews practice circumcision. This practice was instituted by God in Genesis 17:12. Every male born was to be circumcised on the eighth day after birth. Although this was a religious act given as a sign of the covenant between God and Abraham, it also has great medical value also. Circumcision effectively prevents the growth of the cancer producing Samegna bacillus and stops its transmission to women. God said that if Israel would obey His commandments they would be spared the diseases of Egypt. Only until recently did man know of the extent of the benefits of keeping God's laws. Another interesting fact was the day in which the new born child was to be circumcised. God specifically stated on the eighth day. Only until 1946 did medical science understand that before eight days the infant's body did not contain enough blood clotting agents vitamin K and prothrombin. Vitamin K is produced between the fifth and seventh days after birth. Prothrombin production in a child is only about 30 per cent of normal after three days, however on the eighth day it sky rockets to 110 percent of normal. The best possible day to circumcise is the eighth day, the day in which God told Israel to perform the act. Man had no knowledge of Vitamin K or prothrombin, yet the creator of these vital blood clotting agents knew and specified the correct time of circumcision. It would be well to note that God did not reveal why He gave that particular day, but to Israel who obeyed God's instructions in faith and trust it was of great benefit. God is our creator and it is He who made us and this world. Who could one put his trust in better, than the designer of our world? Man's knowledge is limited, but we can overcome our ignorance by simply trusting God's Word. Only by living as God says live can a man experience a fulfilled and purposeful life. E. ALCOHOLISM. One of the greatest contributors to untimely death in the world today is alcohol. Millions each year around the world are killed due to alcohol related deaths. Better that 41 percent of all violent deaths are related directly to consumption of alcohol. Its detrimental effects on man go far beyond death, and greatly effect man's life and always in each case negatively. There is no way to measure the heartache and suffering caused by drinking to ones self, ones friends, business associates, and most of all ones family. The horrible effects of alcohol go far beyond the unfortunate one who develops alcoholism. Its greatest harm is done in the realm of the "social" drink. It is social drinking which causes everything from adultery and family break up, to manslaughter on the highways. It is social drinking that gives the potential alcoholic his first drink. Drunkenness has been one of the major vices of man from antiquity. God directed His prophets to denounce drunkenness as a great social evil. The Bible vividly pictures the degrading effects of this drug. (Gen. 19:32-34, Job 12:25, Psa. 107:27, Isa. 19:14, 28:7, Hosea 4:11) The Bible clearly states that God's instruction to man was voluntary abstinence from all intoxicants. (See Matt. 6:24f, Mark 9:42f, Rom. 14:13-21, I Corinthians 8:8-13.) By simply living according to the principles God has given us in His Word, man would be free from this killer today. There would be no abuse of drugs of any type. No Christian has a license to use alcohol as a beverage and God has been very clear about this. Alcohol is a drug and the Bible approves its use only as a medicine. See Prov. 31:6, I Tim. 5:23. Priests, kings and princes were warned against its use. (Lev. 10:9, Ezek.44:21, Prov. 31:4-5) Other Scriptures on drinking. Numbers 6:3,20, Deut. 32:29-33, Judges 13:4 (alcohol forbidden the pregnant woman), Deut. 29:5-6 Prov. 20:1, 21:7, 23:30-35, 26:9, 1 Cor. 5:11, Luke 1:15, Eph. 5:18, Gal 5:21, Deut. 29:5-6. F. SMOKING. The number one killer today is heart disease and number two is cancer. The number one contributor to these two diseases is smoking. The surest way to shorten life and die an untimely death is to smoke. Smoking is gradual suicide! It causes hardening of the arteries, cancer, heart disease, gastrointestinal illnesses, ulcers, nervous disorders, high blood pressure and lung disease. Today after over 30 years of research tobacco is a proven killer. The Bible's answer is found in I Corinthians 6:19-20: "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body; and in your spirit, which are God's." G. SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES. The current epidemic of AIDS and venereal disease would be ended abruptly if God's laws were obeyed. Most see the commandments of God as social restrictions, which they in fact are. However, they are in a real sense preventive medicine also! When God said, "the wages of sin is death", and named sexual permissiveness as sin, he was giving both social and medical advice Today many believe the current spread of venereal diseases such as AIDS and herpes is a special judgment from God. I believe, however it is simply the natural and normal results of sin. Sin is progressive and its detrimental effects on man increases as it is allowed to continue. Few understand that sin is a sickness of the mind and heart. A spiritual sick mind or heart will produce physical sickness. God's answer? "Be not drunk with wine wherein is access, but be filled with the Spirit." "Abstain from all appearance of evil", I Thess. 5:22. H. STRESS: Most overlook the medical benefits of God's instruction to avoid envy, strife, pride, selfishness, and covetousness. It is good medical advice to "mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth", and to "put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:". (Col. 3:1,10) One of the greatest causes of all diseases of man is simple stress. Stress causes all types of mental and physical problems from loss of muscle tone to heart attacks. Sin makes people sick! Bitterness, hate, guilt are feeling which can destroy a persons peace, contentment and personal satisfaction. There is a peace available to man, and the ONLY way is by accepting Jesus Christ. What a multitude of medical and mental troubles would be avoided by simply taking God at his Word, trusting Jesus Christ as one's Savior and then living as He directs. 
 
