#The living bible plus#
#The living bible professional#

The original author had either been writing about Joan OR about John, and the other of these manuscripts contains a copy error. With few manuscipts (MSS) the textual base is small Suppose we have two such manuscript copies and in the same section of each of them we find the following translated phrase: Of course, usually more that one manuscript copy of a document is in existence today.

The shorter this interval (labelled вЂ xвЂ™ in the diagram) the more confidence we can place in the accurate preservation of the document to our modern day, since the period of uncertainty is reduced.

Consequently, a principle used help answer questions about textual reliability is to look at the length of this time span. This time period predating the origin of currently existing copies (the period x) is thus the interval of textual uncertainty. For example, if copying errors (intentional or otherwise) were made when the 2 nd copy was made from the 1 st copy, we would not be able to detect them as neither of these documents are available to compare against each other. Consequently the period from 500 BC to 500 AD (labeled x in the diagram) is the period where we cannot make any copy verifications since all manuscripts from this period have disappeared. This means that the earliest that we can know of the state of the document is only from 500 AD onwards. In our example diagram this extant copy was made in 500 AD. At some point a copy is preserved so that it is in existence (extant) today ( 3 rd copy). As the years advance, copies are made of the copy ( 2 nd copy & 3 rd copy).

#The living bible professional#

A professional class of people called scribes did the copying work. This original however does not last indefinitely, so before it decays, is lost, or destroyed, a manuscript (MSS) copy of it is made ( 1 st copy). This simplified diagram shows an example of an ancient document written at 500 BC. This figure illustrates the process by which any such writing has been preserved over time.Д®xample of Stages in life of a hypothetical ancient document Naturally this question is true of any ancient writing. Can this game be comparable to the passing of the Bible through time, so that what we read today may be substantially different from the original writings? Principles of Textual Criticism Then the last person says the message out loud and all participants note how it has changed so much from its start at the beginning of the human chain. Since the original manuscripts have long been lost, how do we know that what we read today in the Bible is what the original authors actually wrote long ago? As my resolute friend pointed out to me, many young kids often play a game called telephone, wherein a message is whispered into someoneвЂ™s ear, and (s)he in turn whispers this message into the next personвЂ™s ear until the message has traversed all participants in the game. So the original manuscripts were copied by hand, generation after generation, as languages died out and new ones arose, as empires crumbled and new powers ascended. For most of these millennia there has been no printing press, photocopy machines or publishing companies.

#The living bible plus#

After all, it was written two thousand plus years ago. The question my inquirer was asking is fairly straightforward вЂ“ many of us ask it, and rightly so! It stems from what we know about the Bible. вЂњWhy should I even consider the Bible? It was written so long ago, has had so many translations and revisions done to it вЂ“ it is most likely that its original message has been altered and misunderstood over the course of time.вЂќ The young man who asked me this question was intent, wondering if there was any reasonable answer to his skeptical outlook about the Bible.