The Bible
The Bible contains essential revelation from God that we need to understand spiritual things but is the Bible itself THE WORD OF GOD?! Believing that the Bible is the Word of God many believe that in the Bible they have all the revelation that is available to man about God and dismiss others who claim that God has spoken to them.
Through these articles prepare to have your thinking and assumptions challenged. It is by every word of God that man shall live eternally. Is owning and reading a bible sufficient to have that word? Very necessary understanding in this time where so many confidently claim to be standing on the Bible as the Word of God?
Holy Bible
Is it the word of God?
Holy Bible, Is it the word of God? examines the common belief that the bible is the word of God
what the Scripture says about itself. We need to have the Word of God to live but who has the word of God? Is claiming to have it just because we own a bible good enough? This book is available on-line and at cost price from our eBay store
. Check out the eBay store for other good gospel materials and music.Thought for Today
Dec. 25
ERRORS IN THE KING JAMES VERSION NO. 2 - GERSHOM, SON OF MANASSEH
The Word of God is perfect, and if the Bible is the Word of God, then it, too, must be perfect. If errors exist in any translation of the Bible, then that translation of the Bible cannot be the Word of God, for the Word of God is without error. After considering this example of mistranslation in the King James Version of the Bible (KJV), ask yourself whether it or any other version of the Bible is the perfect Word of God.
When Israel came into Canaan, there were times of mass confusion concerning the way to serve God. The Levites, who were ordained to teach God's people the right ways of God's Law, failed miserably to do so. One story from the book of Judges tells us of a young, bright Levite who traveled from his home to find a place where he could function as a priest, even though he was not ordained by God to do so, not being of the priestly lineage of Aaron. He found a wealthy man named Micah living within the tribe of Ephraim who offered him a large salary to function as a priest in the house of gods that Micah had built. The young man agreed to this magnanimous offer and became the official priest of Micah's household.
Soon afterward, however, a group of men from the tribe of Dan passed by and, having learned of Micah's house of gods, dropped by for a visit and made the young Levite a more lucrative offer. They seized Micah's gods and rode off with the foolish young man who now was thrilled with his new position as priest of an entire tribe in Israel instead of priest for just one household.
He rode away with the thieves, and his descendants became the priests of the tribe of Dan in northern Canaan for the entirety of Israel's history in the Promised Land. Even during the time of David, who labored to restore unity and government under God's Law in Israel, the young Levite's descendants continued in the north to pervert God's ways and ruin the hope of eternal life that God had given to His children. For hundreds of years, they taught and practiced a kind of worship that did far more harm than good, and they prevented many thousands of God's own people from seeking Him as He had told them to do.
Judges 17 and 18 tell us of this story, and we only learn the young Levite's name near the end. Judges 18:30 in the KJV says, "And the children of Dan set up the graven image; and Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh, he and his sons were priests unto the tribe of Dan." But wait! Gershom, the son of Manasseh? I don't think the genealogical records of the Bible will support this. So, we look at the original text, where we see that the word "Manasseh" does not exist in this verse. Instead, the Hebrews says: "Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Moses . . ." Sad, isn't it? Moses, Israel's meek deliverer, is the man who had a son named Gershom (Ex. 18:3), not Manasseh. And Gershom's young son, Jonathan, did more to undermine Moses' godly influence on Israel than almost any other person in Israel's history. But you would never know this tragic irony if you trusted only the King James Version of the Bible because those translators erred when they translated the Hebrew word for "Moses" as being "Manasseh".
As I said before, the King James Version of the Bible is the best translation of all translations that I have read. But it is not the Word of God. The Word of God has creative power in it. Whatever it says, is. If the KJV were the Word of God, then when it called Gershom the son of Manasseh, Manasseh would have suddenly had a son named Gershom. But the Bible isn't the Word, and it cannot create a son for Manasseh by the name of Gershom.
The error of Judges 18:30 is an error in translation of a simple name that is impossible to explain, just as it is impossible to deny. But there is no such error in the Word of God.
You can trust your souls to the Word of God. But when it comes to trusting the Bible, as with trusting anything from a man, you had best know the truth first so that you can know whether or not he is speaking the truth that comes from God alone. And the only way to be able to recognize the truth of God is to get in touch with God for yourself. That way, you will be able to understand and recognize the fundamental difference between the Word that proceeds from the Almighty and a word, even something as simple as a name, that comes from the pen of a frail human.