Biblical Errors - Why Haven't They Been Fixed?

Tintin · Oct 26, 2015

Before you break out the flaming torches and the pitchforks, first I want to clarify something. I believe the God's Word is His ultimate written authority to us. I believe the Bible is perfect. I believe the whole Bible is written FOR us, but that not every part is written TO us. I believe God is absolute truth and His ways don't change with the times. I believe we need to conform to Christ's image and not try and make Him conform to our image (it had to be said!) I believe we need to understand Law to understand Grace and the Old Covenant to understand the New Covenant. I believe we are saved by grace through faith alone. I even believe those wacky first 11 chapters of Genesis are history.

That said, I believe the Bible has errors. I'm not talking about doctrinal issues, I'm talking simple scribal errors. Spelling, grammar, people's names, little inventory details. Like how many chariots went to war or Cainan in the genealogies. Does anyone know why these errors haven't been corrected? The Church has known about them for a long time. Just curious. Thanks.

ukok102nak · Oct 27, 2015

:smoke: we could only give a hint
For now

2 Peter: 3. 13. But we look for new heavens and a new earth according to his promises, in which justice dwelleth.
14. Wherefore, dearly beloved, waiting for these things, be diligent that you may be found before him unspotted and blameless in peace.
15. And account the longsuffering of our Lord, salvation; as also our most dear brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, hath written to you:
16. As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are certain things hard to be understood, which the unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, to their own destruction.
17. You therefore, brethren, knowing these things before, take heed, lest being led aside by the error of the unwise, you fall from your own steadfastness.

God bless us all always

:smoke: thank you very much :happy:

crossnote · Oct 27, 2015

Smoke Whistle whatever.

They won't change the manuscripts as they find them but I believe some of the newer translations/versions will make the corrections in the text with a footnote explaining or just make the correction in a footnote.

Smoke happy, whatever.

GaryA · Oct 27, 2015

Tintin said:

What if you "correct" an 'error' -- and, it was not really an error...???

Like the chariots thing, for example. If you are talking about what I think you are talking about -- there is actually --- not ---- any error.

How closely do you examine the scriptures before you decide that there could not possilby be a good reason "why it is like that"...???

"Something to think about..."

atwhatcost · Oct 27, 2015

Tintin said:

Okay? I've read all you've written and understand nothing of what errors you're talking about...

Now can I light the torch and go get my pitchfork?

(A little more seriously, I'll have to come back to this to see if anyone can help you. Because maybe then I'll start picking out what you mean.)

atwhatcost · Oct 27, 2015

GaryA said:

Well, I'm pretty sure the rabbit isn't really in the Bible, and yet... it is. There were no rabbits in that part of the world back in those days. There is no reasons from The Law that Jews cannot eat hossenfeffer!

Donkeyfish07 · Oct 27, 2015

I've seen a great many claims of errors or mistranslations. Investigated lots of them. Never once so far (and I am open to the possibility but have not yet observed one) have I found a true mistranslation. The only exception to this is the NIV. That one particular version has wording that is not reconcilable to the original in a few places (but some of this has been corrected from one publication to the next).

As far as errors in the original text, haven't seen any of those in the New Testament thus far.....but I don't spend every day combing through the Greek either. In the OT, I am unaware of any claims but if you could tell me what your looking at exactly I would be happy to educate myself. If any true errors are present, I would love to know what they are.

crossnote · Oct 27, 2015

GaryA said:

That's a good reason we should keep the original manuscript copies as is...sometimes later what was deemed an error turned out not to be.

willfollowsGod · Oct 27, 2015

Tintin said:

There is usually a footnote that mentions that Cainan fellow and his genealogy (though sometimes I wish there were less footnotes except for certain cases and more just put the verses in the text, that is how I would do it if I was part of these translation committees). As for the chariots that has to do with the manuscripts being so old and sometimes in pieces that they have to be put together like a puzzle. You can have cases for example where a k looks like a g or something like that. Due to that, it is not clear how many chariots went to war in the passage you are thinking about. First of all, the scribal errors are usually variants of people's names and the grammatical errors do not cause havoc to the text or to any doctrinal issues as you pointed out already. I think there is a book by Norman Geisler called The Big Book of Bible Difficulties. I personally have not read it since I am just reading the Bible like crazy because I am hungry for it, to grow, etc. I am in Amos right now. So much good stuff in the major and minor prophets. God bless.

Tintin · Oct 27, 2015

ukok102nak said:

:smoke: we could only give a hint
For now

2 Peter: 3. 13. But we look for new heavens and a new earth according to his promises, in which justice dwelleth.
14. Wherefore, dearly beloved, waiting for these things, be diligent that you may be found before him unspotted and blameless in peace.
15. And account the longsuffering of our Lord, salvation; as also our most dear brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, hath written to you:
16. As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are certain things hard to be understood, which the unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, to their own destruction.
17. You therefore, brethren, knowing these things before, take heed, lest being led aside by the error of the unwise, you fall from your own steadfastness.

God bless us all always

:smoke: thank you very much :happy:

I never know what you're talking about.

:smoke:

:happy: :why:

Tintin · Oct 27, 2015

GaryA said:

Just curious, brother. Which 'chariots' thing do you think I'm thinking of?

Tintin · Oct 27, 2015

atwhatcost said:

Right. Rabbit is a poor translation. The author (Moses, if we're talking the Books of Law) is probably referring to the hyrax.

GaryA · Oct 27, 2015

Tintin said:

Those are attempts-at-a-smiley that did not translate.

These do get translated:

:mad: -->

:confused: -->

:rolleyes: -->

:cool: -->

:eek: -->

GaryA · Oct 27, 2015

Tintin said:

I will have to get back to you on this later --- too close to bed time...

crossnote · Oct 27, 2015

GaryA said:

HAHA, I have an excuse not knowing that fact being 66y/o but Tintin? tsk tsk ROFL.
Mystery solved!!

Tintin · Oct 27, 2015

crossnote said:

Haha! I know, I don't have an excuse, but I kind of do. I didn't even know what emojis were until about a year ago.

Andrew1 · Oct 27, 2015

Tintin said:

Before you break out the flaming torches and the pitchforks, first I want to clarify something. I believe the God's Word is His ultimate written authority to us. I believe the Bible is perfect. I believe the whole Bible is written FOR us, but that not every part is written TO us. I believe God is absolute truth and His ways don't change with the times. I believe we need to conform to Christ's image and not try and make Him conform to our image (it had to be said!) I believe we need to understand Law to understand Grace and the Old Covenant to understand the New Covenant. I believe we are saved by grace through faith alone. I even believe those wacky first 11 chapters of Genesis are history.

That said, I believe the Bible has errors. I'm not talking about doctrinal issues, I'm talking simple scribal errors. Spelling, grammar, people's names, little inventory details. Like how many chariots went to war or Cainan in the genealogies. Does anyone know why these errors haven't been corrected? The Church has known about them for a long time. Just curious. Thanks.

I feel sorry for any Christian who believes that God is either a liar, makes mistakes or only half hazardly preserved his word. I for one am blessed to have a Bible that I believe is 100% free from error and therefore infallible, the KJV. Jealous?

Magenta · Oct 27, 2015

Andrew1 said:

No. Here is just one of the KJV errors:

“GHOST” INSTEAD OF “SPIRIT” WITH REFERENCE TO JESUS CHRIST AND THE HOLY SPIRIT.

“Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.” (Matt. 27:50 KJV)

“Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:” (Matt. 28:19 KJV)

GREEK TEXTUS RECEPTUS

Matthew 28:19

poreuqenteV <4198> (5679) {GOING} oun <3767> {THEREFORE} maqhteusate <3100> (5657) {DISCIPLE} panta <3956> {ALL} ta <3588> {THE} eqnh <1484> {NATIONS,} baptizonteV <907> (5723) {BAPTIZING} autouV <846> {THEM} eiV <1519> {TO} to <3588> {THE} onoma <3686> {NAME} tou <3588> {OF THE} patroV <3962> {FATHER} kai <2532> {AND} tou <3588> {OF THE} uiou <5207> {SON} kai <2532> {AND} tou <3588> {OF THE} agiou <40> {HOLY} pneumatoV <4151> {SPIRIT;}

TRANSLATION ERROR

“Ghost” is a mistranslation of the Greek word “pneuma” which means breath or spirit. The KJV inconsistently translated the word pneuma as spirit or ghost, with 91 instances of Ghost or ghost referring to God. The word “Ghost” with reference to God, which is used in all English Bibles predating the King James Version, can be traced to the Wycliffe translation (1395). Although the Wycliffe Bible was translated from the Latin Vulgate, Jerome used the Latin term “Spirtu Sancto” for the Holy Spirit and “spiritum” for Jesus’ spirit. Wycliffe did not actually translate the Bible that bears his name; it was translated by other Lollard scholars at Oxford University while Wycliffe led the Lollard movement politically. (See: Chap. 19 “The Lollards: John Wycliffe”) These scholars would have been familiar with the famous Old English (Anglo-Saxon) epic poem Beowulf, which was based on a Germanic oral tradition; they would therefore have known that the Old English word gást and gaést from the Gothic word usgaisjan were used in the poem to describe monsters, i.e., dragons and devils. The Wycliffe/Lollard translation of Eph. 6:17 is most inappropriate and disturbing: “And take ye the helm of helthe, and the swerd of the Goost, that is, the word of God. That the Lollard scholars were “knights” is evident in their use of the word “knyyt” or “knyytis” 92 times in their translation, e.g., 2 Tim. 2:3: “Trauele thou as a good knyyt of Crist Jhesu.”

http://www.watch.pair.com/TR-kjv-issues.html

Tintin · Oct 27, 2015

Andrew1 said:

Oh, go away KJV-Onlyist! I don't think God's a liar, or that He makes mistakes or did a half-assed job of preserving His Word, not at all. But some scribes have been known to bugger up their copies spelling-wise, grammar-wise etc. That doesn't change God's truth. It just means at one point there may be 4,000 chariots going into battle and then in other part of the same story, there may be 40,000 chariots. Again, nothing doctrinal. I mentioned that. So you can get off my back. Please. Also, I believe God's Word is infallible/perfect. I mentioned that in my above post.

Magenta · Oct 27, 2015

Tintin said:

Oh, go away KJV-Onlyist! I don't think God's a liar, or that He makes mistakes or did a half-assed job of preserving His Word, not at all. But some scribes have been known to bugger up their copies spelling-wise, grammar-wise etc. That doesn't change God's truth. It just means at one point there may be 4,000 chariots going into battle and then in other part of the same story, there may be 40,000 chariots. Again, nothing doctrinal. I mentioned that. So you can get off my back. Please.

Forsooth, thou makest me larf :smile:

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