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Errors of Truth - Can I trust the Bible? Can I trust church doctrine?

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2/14/2010

Updated 5/5/2021

Can I Trust the Bible?
The Holy Bible is the foundation for church doctrine and Christian beliefs. It is God's instruction and revelation to us for understanding our history, roles, and reality as a whole. Accurate and untainted scripture is important for our journeys in this life, as well as into the next, so we need to trust its content.

But how can we trust it completely when there are many unexplainable discrepancies in scripture? How can we trust it when it was recorded by men - fallible and corruptible creatures? How can we trust it when it was modified by centuries upon centuries of manual copying and translated into different versions and languages?

Scripture is the spiritual fuel we need to run our lives on. If this fuel is tainted or the wrong kind altogether, our engines will falter, sputter, and may even be destroyed beyond repair. Can we go full throttle with the scripture we have today?

Like going full throttle in a road race, the answer is, "Yes, but with wisdom." If you don't have enough experience and use fuel that is tainted, your engine will not run well, and worse, your control of your race vehicle will be lacking, so you'll likely run very quickly off the road.

We must be able to discern good fuel from bad. But even more important, we need the Mind of God or His Spirit in us (1 Corinthians 2:10-16), as well as wisdom or the experience to use His word correctly (2 Timothy 2:15). This means we must be literally reborn with God's Spirit, so the true meaning of scripture and spiritual guidance can come forward easier. See The True Gospel and Imposters¹² for more about that.

I say "easier" because having God's Mind and belonging to Him are no guarantees you will understand and correctly use scripture or other spiritual guidance. Spiritual warfare is a real concern and the enemy can easily influence you and your interpretation of things, whether you belong to God or not. But that is a subject I won't discuss here.

This article is concerned with whether or not you can trust the Bible and church doctrine. Discerning good fuel from bad or validating scripture also requires us to have the original writings God gave His servants since the time of Moses. This means we must have the manuscripts from the original languages of the Bible in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, and compare their content to the scripture we use today.

Do we have those ancient manuscripts? Yes, as Dr. Bruce M. Metzger, a distinguished scholar of ancient documents, notes we possess over 5,600 ancient manuscripts of the New Testament in Greek alone¹. And there are some 24,000 total in ancient languages that were compared to evaluate if scripture changed since the earliest manuscripts¹.

Furthermore, the earliest manuscripts were dated to within decades of the writings by the original authors², and the content of the manuscripts agree among each other to a very high degree⁷. Biblical scholars, Norman Geisler and William Nix, also conclude the New Testament survives in a form that is 99.5% pure⁵.

Dr. Metzger also notes that the errors among the manuscripts are largely superficial, such as misspellings, and that there are no doctrines in danger of being rejected simply because of these errors⁴. In contrast, the ancient document that comes closest to that of Biblical content and accepted as authentic by scholars today is the Illiad, which we know from less than 650 manuscripts in the original language that were dated about a thousand years after the original composition in 800 B.C.³

One thousand years as opposed to decades for the New Testament! Other ancient documents considered authentic and reliable today, such as works by the Roman historians, Tacitus and Josephus, survive today through only a handful of manuscripts (less than ten) dated hundreds of years after the original compositions⁸.

The contrast is obvious. Are we willing to discredit the Bible when we so readily accept the validity of other ancient documents that survived through copies in far less quantity and are much further removed in time from the original compositions? Common sense and reason tell us that we have more than enough ancient manuscripts to trust that scripture has survived intact to this day.

That fact also makes unfounded any claims that scripture in general was changed for political or other corrupt reasons. The great quantity of ancient manuscripts has been cross-referenced for the validity of our current Bibles. However, this does not mean that every Bible or translation is pure in content or was not altered for less credible reasons. Every Bible that was translated from the original Biblical languages will have errors simply because translating from one language to another cannot be done with 100% semantic accuracy if the translator does not completely understand what is being said or interprets things in the wrong way.

After many years of Biblical study, I have not found any single Bible translation to be free of error. But that doesn't mean we should throw them all away. The level of which a Bible defers from the meaning in the original manuscripts is important in whether we can trust it or not, and every Bible today from the oldest, like the King James Version (KJV), to the newest, like the New International Version (NIV), has content that differs from the original languages.

We have to get past these differences in interpretation by using multiple good Bibles, as well as reference the original language manuscripts and resources, so we can compare the differences and make a better judgment to the meaning God intended.

Of course, most of us cannot read the original Biblical languages or understand the culture and historical context of Biblical times, so we cannot readily compare our current Bibles to the original words. Fortunately, this job was done for us by many scholars already, and through the fruits of their work we have many good Bibles today, such as the NIV, which concurs with original scripture to a high degree by the meaning of the words, but not as much by the letter of the word. This is because the translators for the NIV strived to get the proper meaning of scripture conveyed rather than preserve it literally, word-for-word.

The KJV is also a good translation even though it is centuries old. It concurs with original scripture by the letter of the word more faithfully than the NIV, but it is also not a perfect translation. A big flaw of the KJV is that its language is archaic Old English and difficult to understand today.

We can see that because of problems with translation and interpretation, no single modern Bible is a perfect representation of scripture from the original languages. To counter this, it is essential to use more than one Bible for serious study. Combining the NIV or another good translations (see Choosing A Bible⁹ for help with picking good translations), such as the KJV and NASB, are necessary for understanding scripture better.

Comparing scripture between multiple translations can give insights that would be missed by reading only one translation. If you can't afford more than one Bible, then it is best to choose a translation that tries to faithfully preserve the meaning of scripture (see Choosing A Bible⁹ for recommendations), because no matter what language we speak or what culture we understand, truth will come forward better as long as the meaning of God's words are kept intact and you have His Mind to help you.

Can I Trust Church Doctrine?
A serious problem we face in measuring our modern Bibles to the standard given in original scripture is not so much of translation, but of modification. These can be deliberate attempts to skew or add to the meaning of scripture or may come from errors of interpretation. Many interpretive errors result from not taking proper context into account or not understanding scripture as a whole. These problems are compounded by the tendency for people to put traditions made by man over what is actually stated in scripture.

These problems produce false beliefs and incorrect doctrine that are very difficult to change. However, these issues must be resolved, because the wrong understanding of God's word can have very serious consequences. Missing important details can even cost people eternal salvation (see The True Gospel and Imposters¹² and Light Within¹¹ for examples).

Change must come, and the first thing we have to understand is that church doctrine is not sacred. God's word (as originally spoken) is sacred, not mankind's interpretation of it. It is only God's intended meanings that matter, but the church views even valid scripture through shattered glass by interpreting it in incorrect and scattered ways. The church also uses things that are not valid scripture or spiritual guidance that skew things and mislead even further.

There are many doctrines that need correction, but here we will only evaluate our Bibles - the source for much of our spiritual fuel. How do we know which Bibles are more faithful to the meaning of God's original words?

To evaluate this and subsequently church doctrine, we must understand the most important universal truths laid out in authenticated scripture and use them as a rule to test the validity of our Bibles and doctrine. But what is "authenticated" scripture?

Authenticated scripture is the scripture that was established and validated by the early church in the time after the age of the apostolic church that was led directly by the first disciples of Christ. This scripture includes the 39 books of the Old Testament, which were already firmly established by the time of Yeshua (Jesus), and the 27 books of the New Testament, which were judged and deemed authentic by three criteria for acceptance: Apostolic authority, Conformity to the common tenets of Christianity, and Adoption by the early church⁶.

The criterion of apostolic authority simply means that the document had to have been written by the original apostles or by their immediate followers. The original apostles were the first-hand witnesses to Christ before and after His resurrection.

The second criterion of conformity means that the writings conform to or are in sync with the already established rules of Christianity, and the criterion of adoption means that the document must have had wide spread acceptance and usage by the church at the time⁶.

This authenticated scripture is the result of the early church's efforts to uphold the authenticity and validity of Holy Scripture. This is the canon of the Christian church - the rule and standard for our belief and faith - and as discussed earlier, we do have the ancient manuscripts to verify and validate its content today, as well as good modern translations for our use.

Authenticated scripture is the tool and measure we must use to evaluate any other scripture and doctrine, so the truths found in it are essential to understand correctly. There are many more important truths than I list here, but they are beyond the scope of this document. I will only point out the most important for our discussion:

Monotheism - There is only one true God and Creator in all existence. There were no others previously nor can others be made¹³.
Holy Trinity - The concept that the Father, Son (Yeshua Mashiach (Jesus Christ)), and Holy Spirit (or Holy Ghost) are all the same one true God. They are only different manifestations or extensions of God (see 3rd Compass, Chapter Five, "The Big Picture"¹⁰ for more detailed discussion of the Holy Trinity).
Gospel of Yeshua (Jesus) - Christ was God incarnate, "in the flesh," on earth - God's Word manifested into a man (John 1:14). He brought the New Covenant of grace in Christ and died on the cross to finalize it. He was resurrected afterwards to show the promise of eternal salvation we can all have through the New Covenant. The New Covenant has more details everyone should understand so they are actually saved by it. See The True Gospel¹² for those details.

The points listed above are only a starting point, but from these we can identify and reject a lot of bad doctrine and flawed scripture. There are faiths, churches, and ministries all over the world that maintain doctrine and scripture that go against one or more of these universal truths. These can be easy to identify. See Choosing a Bible⁹ for elaboration.

It is the responsibility of every Christian to know the truths of authenticated scripture. Use them to evaluate the faith, doctrine, and Bibles of every church and belief system you encounter, and reject anything that goes against these truths. Our hearts run best on pure spiritual fuel. Don't let your spiritual engine sputter and seize by persisting in beliefs and doctrine that don't preserve the teaching God intended.

Perhaps the most important teaching is what the True Gospel¹² actually is. Continue reading about that here...

References

¹ Strobel, Lee. "The Documentary Evidence". The Case For Christ. Pg. 81. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 1998. Print.

² Strobel, Lee. "The Documentary Evidence". The Case For Christ. Pg. 76, 80. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 1998. Print.

³ Strobel, Lee. "The Documentary Evidence". The Case For Christ. Pg. 78. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 1998. Print.

⁴ Strobel, Lee. "The Documentary Evidence". The Case For Christ. Pg. 84, 85. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 1998. Print.

⁵ Strobel, Lee. "The Documentary Evidence". The Case For Christ. Pg. 85. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 1998. Print.

⁶ Strobel, Lee. "The Documentary Evidence". The Case For Christ. Pg. 86. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 1998. Print.

⁷ Strobel, Lee. "The Documentary Evidence". The Case For Christ. Pg. 78, 82. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 1998. Print.

⁸ Strobel, Lee. "The Documentary Evidence". The Case For Christ. Pg. 77. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 1998. Print.

⁹ Huynh, Ty Alexander. "Choosing a Bible." 3rd Compass - Christ Hephzibah Church.

<http://3rdcompass.org/g?BIBLES>

¹⁰ Huynh, Ty Alexander. "Chapter Five: The Big Picture." 3rd Compass: Navigating Reality and the Last Days. Print and online.
<http://3rdcompass.org/g?BOOK-CH5>

¹¹ Huynh, Ty Alexander. "Light Within". 3rd Compass - Christ Hephzibah Church.
<http://3rdcompass.org/g?LIGHT>

¹² Huynh, Ty Alexander. "The True Gospel and Imposters". 3rd Compass - Christ Hephzibah Church.
<http://3rdcompass.org/g?TRUE-GOSPEL>

¹³ Biblical references for only one God Creator: Deuteronomy 4:35, 4:39, 32:39; Isaiah 43:10, 45:5-7, 45:14, 45:21-22, 46:9; 1 Samuel 2:2; Joel 2:27; John 1:3, 5:44; 1 Corinthians 8:4

Update - God's links with Uvalde and Highland Park Shootings

7/6/2022

In the original Uvalde mass shooting post, I noted that God marked it with the number 213 for a reason. Now, just a couple days ago on July 4th, America’s Independence Day, I also noted the Lord marked the mass shooting in Highland Park, Illinois...

, where a gunman killed 7 people and shot about 40 people attending a small-town Independence Day parade.

Soon after initial news reports about the shooting, I also saw reports that it was the 309th mass shooting in America this year^{[2.1, 2.2]}. The Lord marked Uvalde as shooting number 213 to reinforce the fact that the harsh times of the very end of this age are bringing God’s judgment into all communities because of their sin.

Now the Lord marked the Highland Park shooting with 309, which is a number I was guided on to mean “To go too far or act fruitlessly,” so on July 4th, I updated The Meaning Of Numbers to note what God was referring to with this shooting and 309.

Because the shooting happened on Independence Day and I know the Lord is very angry with this country’s handling of sin and what is right, I also knew the Lord was saying the United States, especially, but also Western Society that emulates American values, is in the state of 309 now and has gone too far into societal corruption and has acted fruitlessly with insufficient gun laws.

If this society does not return to true righteousness with God swiftly, it will not be able to experience God’s renewal, peace, or blessing without having to go through much more judgment and Tribulation. I fear it is too late now for it to turn away from its ways. Sin and darkness - hate, anger, lust, greed, fear, and pride – are not so easily given up by the people.

Some years ago, I already thought it was too late for America’s problem with violence in communities and in law enforcement, because society is too saturated with violent, hateful, and fearful values, and the most threatening individuals are lethally armed. People have suggested law enforcement be trained more in de-escalation and non-lethal tactics, but when you are an officer faced daily with a belligerent and lethally armed public, can you blame law enforcement for being fearful of their lives and more anxious to use force?

Many people in minority communities complain about being fearful of law enforcement, but think more carefully why law enforcement is so anxious. Do not be so quick to blame when you have not walked in their shoes.

Still, it does not excuse the overuse of force by law enforcement, such as in the police shooting of Jayland Walker in Akron, Ohio last week, where eight officers fired 70-some rounds at Jayland when he ran unarmed^[2.3]. Law enforcement stated that the officers acted as they were trained, some of them reloading their gun clips after emptying it. What justification is there to fire more than a few bullets into an unarmed person? Officers should be trained to assess threats before and after firing, instead of simply neutralizing perceived threats.

But critiquing law enforcement is not the main purpose of this post. I also noted that the number of deaths from the Highland Park shooting climbed to 7, which reminded me of the meaning of that number and how God also used it to say that other deadly events were judgment from Him, so like the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, the Highland Park shooting is also God’s judgment on the community.
It is another big EXCLAMATION POINT to the world to say that God’s blessings and protections on peoples, communities, and nations is removed and God’s judgments will continue to come, whether they are believers or not. Many victims I've seen in tragedies are Christian and Jewish (at least three people killed in the Highland Park shooting were Jewish).
The United States and nations were warned that God’s blessings were being removed decades ago when He allowed terrorists to attack New York City and the Pentagon on 9/11 in 2001. Jonathan Cahn talked about this reality in his 2011 book, The Harbinger, (also see 9/11 Prophecy) and noted that like the protection of the Northern Kingdom of Israel in ancient times was removed to allow the Assyrians to invade because of her sins, the 9/11 attacks were also God’s warning of protection and blessing removed from the United States and Western World.

Jonathan also noted that if the country did not repent and turn away from sin, further and worse judgment would come, which did happen to the rest of Israel after northern Israel fell. The Southern Kingdom of Judah centered at Jerusalem fell to the Kingdom of Babylon under King Nebuchadnezzar because of the people’s continued sin, and the whole nation went into exile.

This ancient history foreshadows what is to come for God’s People today, because like Jonathan stated, referring to Isaiah 9, the people are prideful and arrogant of heart (Isaiah 9:9), unable to see or accept their wrongs, so when they see their “bricks have fallen down,” they say, “But we will rebuild with smooth stones. The sycamores have been cut down, but we will replace them with cedars” (Isaiah 9:10).

They are stating they will build back better and stronger to withstand future attacks. Doesn’t this sound familiar? One of President Biden’s slogans is, “Build back better,” and former President Trump emphasized making America strong again. Jonathan also noted in his book that multiple prominent politicians made similar comments after 9/11, and I’m sure many of you remember those sentiments decades ago – America will be resolute and stand strong; We will rebuild.

But what is happening when people don’t see the reason why they have to rebuild? Instead of seeing their sins brought God’s judgment, they think they are blameless and were not brought down by God, but only by evil in the world. There is no recognition of their sin, so God says, “Therefore the Lord Yahovah raises superior adversaries against them… and provokes their enemies… and they devour Israel with gaping jaws. In spite of all this, His anger does not turn away, and His hand is still stretched out” (Isaiah 9:11), and so the rest of Israel came to judgment.

Did you see God’s linking to the terrorist attacks on 9/11 with the last verse? It is Isaiah 9:11.

Let you not be blind as the rest of the world is to sin and darkness in even your believing communities, but have the strength and wisdom to leave it and keep walking into further maturity and righteousness with the Lord, so that you would be blessed and protected in these times. Leaving the ways of the Harlot Babylon as I have been talking about is an important part of that (see God's Alarm for more), so be of sober mind to walk in the truth, through Mashiach Yeshua (Christ Jesus). Amen.

References
[2.1] "USA has so far witnessed 309 mass shootings in 2022; including Chicago, Illinois massacre: Gun Violence Archive". Times Now. 2022 Jul. 4. Retrieved 2022 Jul. 4
<https://www.timesnownews.com/...>

[2.2] Saeed Ahmed. "Halfway through year, America has already seen at least 309 mass shootings". NPR (National Public Radio).2022 Jul. 4. Retrieved 2022 Jul. 4
<https://www.npr.org/...

[2.3] Dakin Andone. "What we know about the fatal police shooting of Jayland Walker". CNN. 2022 Jul. 5. Retrieved 2022 Jul. 6.<https://www.cnn.com/...>

Update - God gives more proof of His judgment

7/17/2022

Last week, I noticed news reports stated the Uvalde shooter was in the school for 77 minutes before law enforcement confronted him^{[3.1, 3.2]}. After video was made public that showed the police waiting in the hallways for over an hour while the shooter was still firing, many expressed outrage at the lax and cowardly response.

This made most people blame the police for all the deaths, which included 19 young children. That kind of response to obvious threats truly highlights the problems in society that I've been pointing out - insufficient and lax response to sin in our communities is the main cause of so much more violence and crime being perpetrated.

But if you read the previous posts here, you also know that it was God’s judgment that is another cause for this and many other tragedies. It was God’s will the police did not take down the shooter until 77 minutes passed, as 77 is two sevens, and seven is a significant number that goes with God to mean completeness and divinity.

Earlier this year, I pointed out sevens in a tornado disaster to say it was God’s judgment, and in the last update I brought up Jonathan Cahn’s book about 9/11, which also showed that the 9/11 terrorist attacks were God’s judgment. Now, the Lord is highlighting sevens again with Uvalde, so I will also bring up that Jonathan’s book after The Harbinger brought up much more evidence about the shemitah, or seventh sabbatical year, that links it and the number seven to God’s judgments on the world and especially the United States.

In that book, The Mystery Of The Shemitah, Chapter 15, “The Mystery Of Sevens,”^[3.3] is full of references to the number seven that miraculously link to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, such as 9/11 happened seven days before the stock market crashed, the market lost 7% of its value in that crash, 777 stock market points were lost in the last day of the seventh (shemitah) year, and when periods of hours and minutes were tracked, Jonathan found that the 9/11 airplane strikes happened within the seventh hour and a cycle of seven minutes.

These sevens show obvious links to God’s judgment, just as I have been showing with other numeric guidance through the years. So despite the insufficient response from law enforcement in the Uvalde shooting, people still need to see the real reasons why their communities are suffering major tragedies. God is saying, Look at yourselves before making accusations and change your ways to come out of sin. That is how you will come to know the better parts of seven – God’s blessings and divine protection.

References
[3.1] Gareth Evans. "Uvalde shooting: Families express anger at leaked video of school attack". BBC News. 2022 Jul. 13. Retrieved 2022 Jul. 17.
<https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-62145143>

[3.2] Uriel J. Garcia. "Uvalde residents frustrated with officials over finger pointing, conflicting accounts and leaked video". The Texas Tribune. 2022 Jul. 15. Retrieved 2022 Jul. 17.
<https://www.texastribune.org/2022/07/15/uvalde-shooting-details-officials>

[3.3] Cahn, Jonathan. The Mystery Of The Shemitah. Chapter 15. "The Mystery of Sevens". pgs. 147-153. Lake Mary, Florida. FrontLine. 2014. Print.

Update - God gives more proof of the Day of the Lord

6/9/2023

I recently noticed a news article citing gun violence trends are at all time highs and now amount to 1 person being killed every 11 minutes, and more than half of those deaths are suicides^[4.1]. I noted the 1 every 11 minutes was a 111 number link that goes with the numeric links God already gave with gun violence before (above).

...

In this thread, God linked gun violence to the numbers 7 and 213, which referred to God and His judgment coming at the end of the age, respectively. 111, though, refers to the beginning of this age. Why would He have the link come up a year after showing the links with 213 about the end of the age?
The number 111 also represents God's presence and power coming to completeness for the Christian Age (see 111 in The Meaning of Numbers for details), and this time the Spirit revealed the 111 link here gives more affirmation to Biblical prophecy about The Day of the Lord, which I proclaimed had begun in recent years beginning with the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. This Day of the Lord is when judgment upon judgment (terror, pit, and snare) is coming upon all people of the world, which I have noted many, many times includes people of believing communities (see God's Alarm for more).
God is giving more affirmation that prophecy and His judgments at the end of the age, our days now, are truly coming to fulfillment. This goes with multitudes of affirmation or wonders in the sky and on the earth (Joel 2:30) that I have been speaking of for years now (see Predestined and God's Alarm for more) and which accompany the great and awesome Day of the Lord Yahovah (Joel 2:31; Isaiah 24:17-23; Amos 5:18-27). If you have seen my testimonies, you know how much and significant God's affirmations of the truth are - they cannot be faked by any human nor devil - yet God sees it fit to continue giving affirmation like this.
Why? Because His people everywhere are stubborn and cling to lies and false teaching, not showing much change despite being given clear rebuke and correction. They give partiality and remain loyal to their own, which is against righteous judgment (James 2:1-9; 1 Timothy 5:21; Leviticus 19:15; Deuteronomy 1:17, 16:19; Job 10:13; Psalm 82:2; Proverbs 18:5, 24:23, 28:21). How forceful must the Lord be for His people to heed? Many of the chosen will continue to turn away, but praise be to the Lord in His lovingkindness, He continues to give these signs and affirmations to everyone and anyone who would heed and change. May you be one of those who understand and come to walk in purity of loyalty to God through Christ as He has been urging... (see God's Alarm for more).

Reference
[4.1] Scott Neuman. "Gun deaths hit their highest level ever in 2021, with 1 person dead every 11 minutes". MPR (Minnesota Public Radio) and NPR (National Public Radio). 2023 Jun. 6. Retrieved 2023 Jun. 9.
<https://www.mprnews.org/story/2023/06/06/npr-gun-deaths-in-2021>

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