What could be more central then the question of who compiled the New Testament bible and where did it come from? (The old testament is rarely ever challenged at all having been around for many centuries before Christ walked the earth as a God man.)
Since we derive our truth from its pages, knowing its origins is indeed important. The fact is, there is a lot of dis-information that goes around regarding exactly how the Holy Word of God came to be. ****Right off we want to make it very clear that God's Word was given, inspired, written, compiled and preserved over the age's not by man; but by God's hand, though men. The roman catholic system likes to make claims that "they created/compiled the bible" and others say it was a very corrupted / ill got event all the way around making it of no use or importance. What is the truth?
I will attempt to list some reasons why the above is simply not true. It was not compiled, corrupted or manipulated at the hands of the pagan roman catholic system and that the scriptures we have today came into being by God. If you believe either of these false claims you are very ill informed as the facts will show.
Let me address the first claim... "that the holy scriptures are full of errors and have little historical evidence behind them".
If one does a history study you will quickly learn that their is NO writings in ALL of man's history that has anywhere near the ancient manuscripts to back up its authenticity like the New Testament writings. (These are copies of the very old writings handed down though the ages by various people making it known just what it says and when it was said. ) Today there are over 24,000 manuscripts that show over and over the accuracy and history of the entire New testament writings. The truth is they say it is possible to recreate the entire New Testament just from the writings of the early men of the Christian church. (100 AD to 300 AD)
Now would you care to know what book of man's writings is in second place and how many ancient manuscripts is has to validate it? The answer is Homer's Iliad with under 700 manuscripts in total. (Both secular and Christian scholars agree with this.) So it is over 24,000 to 700 but it get's worse.
If you believe in William Shakespeare writings; there are ZERO ancient manuscripts to support his work and some of it had to be filled in by other men since parts were missing all together.
Also within the text of Homers Iliad there are 764 disputed lines of text, as compared to 40 lines in all the New Testament manuscripts. ( none of them are of critical doctrinal importance )
What this means is if you contest the accuracy of the New Testament writings then you must also contest ALL other writings known to man as they have far less documentation to back them up. Please research this and you will see the facts.
So much for the claims God's Word is not accurate or has little evidence behind it!
Now let me address..... who compiled the bible?
As I said, many want to make the claim that that it was roman catholics who compiled it. If that is your view, you have a "big problem" right from the start.
Let me explain.
Usually those who make this claim will say look at the Council of Nicaea in the 4th century.
If you study the origins of the roman catholic faith, the current system you see today and all of its various man made ways was NOT even in existence for several centuries AFTER the 4th century Nicaea Council. It is true is was Roman Emperor Constantine who decided to make Christianity legal and he then merged very pagan ways into the faith. He then started the road to the false man made pagan roman catholic system you see today. But it was not formed for centuries after and it was not at the council of Nicaea at all. in truth then; if there was no established roman catholic church in 325 during the Nicaea council they could NOT have been the ones to compiled it.
Another great evidence against the roman catholic faith compiling the bible is that God's Word teaches against so much of what they teach today. Please go to THIS POST HERE that exposes the roman catholic faith using their own catechism vs God's Word. It is clear evidence they are not responsible for compiling God's Word as they don't even teach it.
Next.... you have the fact that the council of Nicaea was "not" called to compile the bible at all. It was called for various reasons and one was to state the doctrinal claims of the faith that heretics were trying to teach in error. Example: who Christ was... God or man? Here are something's that came out of the council: cannon laws, breaking with the Jewish calendar and the Nicene creed. Again the aim of the Council was not to build a bible as its pages were already well known and in use by the early church. If you keep reading you will see evidence that was true.
Today many people don't know that the entire New Testament writings were in existence and use far before the Nicaea Council in 325. Did you know that various early church writers make references to most all of the entire New Testament or all of it. ( see Tertullian, Clement, Irenaeus all well before the Nicaea Council time) It is also well known that Origen who lived from 185-245 AD mentioned every single New Testament book and Old testament book in His writings. The fact is the New Testament was all written by 95 AD and was in use by the early church well before 325 AD. So ask yourself.... how could the roman catholic church ( that didn't even exist yet ) compile what was already in use centuries before that? It couldn't and it didn't! This idea is a lie by those who try to smear God's Word and truth. Please don't fall for it.....
Do you need more evidence of the NT writings in use even earlier then the Nicaea council?
*Justin Martyr (100-160 AD) writing about the Apostles memoirs ( the NT writings )
*The Moratoria canon; many scholars believe is from about 170-200 AD and it mentions all the NT books except Hebrews, 1 & 2 Peter and 3 John.
*The bible itself gives evidence saying this:
as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures. 2 Peter 3:16
In this text above the Apostle Peter states that Paul's writings are equal to "scripture".
As a side note. Here are the main areas that were needed to be true before any writings would be considered true and inspired:
The author was an apostle (or closely connected with an apostle or eye witness to the events described)
The book was widely accepted by the body of early believers.
The doctrines were consistent with that taught in other inspired works.
The writing bore moral superiority and spiritual values shown by the work of the Holy Spirit
So when you study it and consider the historical facts; you will come up with these conclusions.
1) The bible is THE most ACCURATE writing in all of mankind's history and it can be trusted.
2) And the holy scriptures were in use far before any men thought to "make up a bible" including the roman catholic religion.
3) It was not the 325 AD Nicaea council that gave us what we have today as they didn't even meet to create a bible at all but to settle other matters of faith.
In truth, a fact of history is there was NO council of man that ever gave us God's Word at all. There were councils that confirmed what was already put in place by God long ago or they had meetings and rejected what false teachers tried to pass off as holy scriptures ( see Gnostics ) but the bible is of God and not from any man or religious group at all.
To claim otherwise is a arrogant mistake to make and the facts don't support it!
You can rest in this....God Himself created and preserved His Word for all to know about Him and what He has done for us in Christ Jesus ( eternal life through repentance and faith )
Another amazing fact is that the bible ( God's Word ) has enemies all over the globe yet it has stood for thousands of years without anyone disproving its truth. (Each year more evidence is found to confirm it is true and accurate.)
Remember Jesus said ... we live by every word out of the mouth of God.
Matthew 4:4
Do you know His Word and the way to eternal life?
Please go HERE to read or hear the gospel and find eternal life in Christ
www.dontperish.com
Since we derive our truth from its pages, knowing its origins is indeed important. The fact is, there is a lot of dis-information that goes around regarding exactly how the Holy Word of God came to be. ****Right off we want to make it very clear that God's Word was given, inspired, written, compiled and preserved over the age's not by man; but by God's hand, though men. The roman catholic system likes to make claims that "they created/compiled the bible" and others say it was a very corrupted / ill got event all the way around making it of no use or importance. What is the truth?
I will attempt to list some reasons why the above is simply not true. It was not compiled, corrupted or manipulated at the hands of the pagan roman catholic system and that the scriptures we have today came into being by God. If you believe either of these false claims you are very ill informed as the facts will show.
Let me address the first claim... "that the holy scriptures are full of errors and have little historical evidence behind them".
If one does a history study you will quickly learn that their is NO writings in ALL of man's history that has anywhere near the ancient manuscripts to back up its authenticity like the New Testament writings. (These are copies of the very old writings handed down though the ages by various people making it known just what it says and when it was said. ) Today there are over 24,000 manuscripts that show over and over the accuracy and history of the entire New testament writings. The truth is they say it is possible to recreate the entire New Testament just from the writings of the early men of the Christian church. (100 AD to 300 AD)
Now would you care to know what book of man's writings is in second place and how many ancient manuscripts is has to validate it? The answer is Homer's Iliad with under 700 manuscripts in total. (Both secular and Christian scholars agree with this.) So it is over 24,000 to 700 but it get's worse.
If you believe in William Shakespeare writings; there are ZERO ancient manuscripts to support his work and some of it had to be filled in by other men since parts were missing all together.
Also within the text of Homers Iliad there are 764 disputed lines of text, as compared to 40 lines in all the New Testament manuscripts. ( none of them are of critical doctrinal importance )
What this means is if you contest the accuracy of the New Testament writings then you must also contest ALL other writings known to man as they have far less documentation to back them up. Please research this and you will see the facts.
So much for the claims God's Word is not accurate or has little evidence behind it!
Now let me address..... who compiled the bible?
As I said, many want to make the claim that that it was roman catholics who compiled it. If that is your view, you have a "big problem" right from the start.
Let me explain.
Usually those who make this claim will say look at the Council of Nicaea in the 4th century.
If you study the origins of the roman catholic faith, the current system you see today and all of its various man made ways was NOT even in existence for several centuries AFTER the 4th century Nicaea Council. It is true is was Roman Emperor Constantine who decided to make Christianity legal and he then merged very pagan ways into the faith. He then started the road to the false man made pagan roman catholic system you see today. But it was not formed for centuries after and it was not at the council of Nicaea at all. in truth then; if there was no established roman catholic church in 325 during the Nicaea council they could NOT have been the ones to compiled it.
Another great evidence against the roman catholic faith compiling the bible is that God's Word teaches against so much of what they teach today. Please go to THIS POST HERE that exposes the roman catholic faith using their own catechism vs God's Word. It is clear evidence they are not responsible for compiling God's Word as they don't even teach it.
Next.... you have the fact that the council of Nicaea was "not" called to compile the bible at all. It was called for various reasons and one was to state the doctrinal claims of the faith that heretics were trying to teach in error. Example: who Christ was... God or man? Here are something's that came out of the council: cannon laws, breaking with the Jewish calendar and the Nicene creed. Again the aim of the Council was not to build a bible as its pages were already well known and in use by the early church. If you keep reading you will see evidence that was true.
Today many people don't know that the entire New Testament writings were in existence and use far before the Nicaea Council in 325. Did you know that various early church writers make references to most all of the entire New Testament or all of it. ( see Tertullian, Clement, Irenaeus all well before the Nicaea Council time) It is also well known that Origen who lived from 185-245 AD mentioned every single New Testament book and Old testament book in His writings. The fact is the New Testament was all written by 95 AD and was in use by the early church well before 325 AD. So ask yourself.... how could the roman catholic church ( that didn't even exist yet ) compile what was already in use centuries before that? It couldn't and it didn't! This idea is a lie by those who try to smear God's Word and truth. Please don't fall for it.....
Do you need more evidence of the NT writings in use even earlier then the Nicaea council?
*Justin Martyr (100-160 AD) writing about the Apostles memoirs ( the NT writings )
*The Moratoria canon; many scholars believe is from about 170-200 AD and it mentions all the NT books except Hebrews, 1 & 2 Peter and 3 John.
*The bible itself gives evidence saying this:
as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures. 2 Peter 3:16
In this text above the Apostle Peter states that Paul's writings are equal to "scripture".
As a side note. Here are the main areas that were needed to be true before any writings would be considered true and inspired:
The author was an apostle (or closely connected with an apostle or eye witness to the events described)
The book was widely accepted by the body of early believers.
The doctrines were consistent with that taught in other inspired works.
The writing bore moral superiority and spiritual values shown by the work of the Holy Spirit
So when you study it and consider the historical facts; you will come up with these conclusions.
1) The bible is THE most ACCURATE writing in all of mankind's history and it can be trusted.
2) And the holy scriptures were in use far before any men thought to "make up a bible" including the roman catholic religion.
3) It was not the 325 AD Nicaea council that gave us what we have today as they didn't even meet to create a bible at all but to settle other matters of faith.
In truth, a fact of history is there was NO council of man that ever gave us God's Word at all. There were councils that confirmed what was already put in place by God long ago or they had meetings and rejected what false teachers tried to pass off as holy scriptures ( see Gnostics ) but the bible is of God and not from any man or religious group at all.
To claim otherwise is a arrogant mistake to make and the facts don't support it!
You can rest in this....God Himself created and preserved His Word for all to know about Him and what He has done for us in Christ Jesus ( eternal life through repentance and faith )
Another amazing fact is that the bible ( God's Word ) has enemies all over the globe yet it has stood for thousands of years without anyone disproving its truth. (Each year more evidence is found to confirm it is true and accurate.)
Remember Jesus said ... we live by every word out of the mouth of God.
Matthew 4:4
Do you know His Word and the way to eternal life?
Please go HERE to read or hear the gospel and find eternal life in Christ
www.dontperish.com