Quote:
|
Quote by: whoracle No offense intended, but don't you think it's had a bit of cut and paste over the years? why else would that ditch around jerusalem have been given that name...of all names? i said people LIKE king james. i can't even count the number of publishers who've put the bible out with their own copywriters/editors. do you honestly believe that's a new thing?
Job most certainly predates that occurence...but do you really believe that no one ... no one in the course of time ... ESPECIALLY during the crusades had their hand in the cookie jar?
Even tithing has been contaminated from it's original purpose. And for what? Money. I refuse to believe they'd hold the book of Job sacred when they raped so many others over profit. I'd even assert that those 54 verses were added after the fact.
Just my opinion... |
Jewish scribes were held in high esteem because of the seriousness of copying God’s Word. Jewish tradition demanded a precise method of preparing themselves, preparing the materials, and the copying process; failure to adhere to God's standard of copying without error had serious consequences. The copying of any error was considered a sin. In recognition of this, a process was developed and codified in the Hebrew Talmud. The following is just a sample of the regulations.
* There was a specific way to prepare and dedicate the manuscript material so that it would be pure to receive God’s Word.
* There was special and dedicated black ink for copying Scripture.
* Each word was read alone and aloud from an authentic copy before it was written.
* When the word GOD was encountered, the scribe’s pen had to be wiped clean. When YHWY was encountered, the scribe had to wash his body before he could write it.
* Each letter and word had a certain distance from each other and could not touch.
* Each letter and word was counted.
* Each column of text could only permit 48-60 lines.
* Each page could only permit a certain number of letters and words.
* Each page was rigorously checked (in addition to counting, finding the beginning, mid-point, and ending letter, etc.)
* Any mistake on a page, the page was condemned.
* 3 mistakes on one page condemned the whole manuscript.
would you like the job? this is the extremely rigorous method by which scribes copied holy manuscripts then. so, in answer to your underlying question, "is the copy we have today reliable?" by the historical facts concerning the process of copying, especially concering the focus on quality, yes it is. for years, the argument that people had changed the Old Testament over the years had been used. however, upon the finding of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the copies made by the Essenes are translated exactly the same as ours. there was 1000 years between the copy we had after that and them. that is the essence of the quality of the copying demonstrated. 1000 years, and not one change. on a second count, the spiritual count, I say yes as well, for all scripture is "theopnuestos" or "God-breathed." God literally dictated each word of the gospel in it's original form, and there are enough copies of the New Testament to cross-reference, and enough quality to the copies of the Old Testament, that I count them as completely reliable copies.
edit: there are also enough copies prior to the Crusades, including the Dead Sea Scrolls, to see what was changed and then deposit the altered ones into the "deuterocanonical section."