The Written Word
Does God have control of His written word? Many claim the Bible has been changed and they have little faith in its purity because they consider it to be written by men, and also that it was assembled by a panel of men, not trusting that Christ had control over the words of those men and their actions in assembling this collection of books that make up today's Old and New Testaments, but in the same breath these men profess to believe in God Almighty, which must be according to their concept of God. Some professed Christians who claim the Bible is impure, worshiping a god of their own imagination, and they pick from God's word what they choose to believe, which is destructive to God's complete message, plus not understanding that this is dangerous for the sake of their own salvation. Outside of Christianity, many men, and women choose to avoid believing in any superior being at all, believing that man came to exist by evolution. As a result of these various attitudes, the rock of truth has been made unstable for them, and many new believers become easily confused, questioning the ground on which the doctrine given to them is based on. If one can not trust in the one Book He has left for us to follow, hindering a sound basis for someone new to develop what God has called us to exercise, a "faith" in God's truth, then any gained ground is lost, sooner or later. An obvious reaction to having a diminished or limited guideline to stand on, one designs a god as his secular education perceives a god should be, relying on their own concepts of a righteous god and blindly determining their own concept of righteousness. This kind of environment leads to a wide open door for Satan's influence to wonder in. Some Christians, not trusting that God's word as valid, often claim that the "Holy Spirit" is instructing them, guiding the incautious down wrong paths, ignoring that the “holy spirit" will never give anything that is contradictory to what is consistent throughout God's word. According to God's word, Jehovah's guiding hand has set up kingdoms and rulers according to His plans, causing them to do His will, "And now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant. And I have given him the beast of the fields to serve him, and all nations shall serve him, and his son..." (Jeremiah 27:6,7), there are many other accounts in the Old Testament of God's controlling hand. Should we question Christ's control over the assembling of God's book, the Bible, having sent His Son for its delivery, which is a small task for Jehovah or Jesus, in comparison to setting up earthly kingdoms? Should I even mention God Jehovah's creation of all existence, all that we can know are His acts of creation, which has no limit?
Without a solid knowledge of Scripture, Satan’s deceptions can be convincing, therefore, for us to unmask his demon's deceptions, we must read God's word for ourselves, and this means, all of Scripture, seeking to find what is consistent throughout His pure and perfect word. Unfortunately, many Christians read only some of the Bible, but generally they read books written about the Bible, relying on the understandings of the authors and not depending on Christ's spirit to enlighten them. Great caution is needed in reading the many words of men, every book is filtered through the hearts and minds of man and every Christian should know by now, we are all imperfect; we must compare all the words of every man to the pure original, God's word, to justify its Biblical alignment.
The question remains, can we know that the Bible is completely true? This summons a complex answer: If we had the original scrolls and perfect translations, we could be completely confident, but this is not the case, we only have close. If we believe in the God of the Bible, then trusting in Jehovah is necessary to rest securely that He is in control. I choose to believe that His guiding hand has protected the Hebrew text that has been in the possession of the Hebrew nation down through the centuries from the very beginning. Is the Old Testament of today's Bibles as pure as what was kept in the temple before Christ's arrival? I must believe that the Hebrew text has been protected, if not, then we have no stable rock to stand on, however the current English translations of the Old Testament has been altered, and it takes only to look at the Hebrew text to realize that first, the personal name of God, the Hebrew symbols, called the "Tetragrammaton" that is translated into English as "Jehovah" has been almost completely omitted and substituted with three titles, "Lord", "LORD" or "God" and whatever claims are made to justify these changes, diverting from the original Hebrew text was unauthorized by any deity, Jehovah or Christ. This act of substitution can only be correctly viewed as a transgression of Jehovah's Third Commandment, making God's personal name of little to no value, treating His holy name vainly, knowing that the Hebrew text, which clearly represents the Tetragrammaton, Strong's Concordance #3068 and #3069 to the sum of 6746 times, which can easily be verified by counting all the times #3068 and #3069 appears in the Old Testament Hebrew text, via the Strong's Concordance, by looking at the lists of "Jehovah", "Lord" and "God".
As for the New Testament Greek text, because Greek wasn't generally the language of the original manuscripts, and understanding that most all the original writings were in the possession of the original church, which later became involved with secular matters, plus admitting that they have the authority to change parts of the Bible, even some of the Ten Commandments, the second and the tenth. I assume that the originals are now lost or kept from the public eye. I also doubt that the Greek translations are perfectly pure, and I believe this, not only because they admitted changing of two of God's commandments, but also when Christ read from the scrolls in the temple or quoted from Old Testament verses, including the three verses Christ quotes to Satan, which all three included God's personal name. The Ten Commandments also represent His name, "Jehovah" eight times, which Jehovah spoke and wrote with His finger onto stone. Christ surly would have read and quoted it as He inspired His Father's words to His chosen writers, but God's name or a Greek translation does not appear at all in the New Testament Greek of today's Bibles. According to the Hebrew text, God's personal name was used extensively, and surely was most important to His Son Jesus. The KJV Bible reduced the appearance God's name to only four times. This topic I address in the file, "God's Name" in this website. I cannot answer why Jehovah has allowed this to happen, but I trust His reason is wise and valid. How should each of us, on our personal level handle these multitude of discrepancies, and there are more then that I have addressed here? In my studying of many topics within God's word, we need to look for what is consistent throughout the entire Bible and what doesn't seem to be in line, we need to look at the original Hebrew or Greek text, since there is no other alternative or earthly authority to determine if there is a better and consistent translation, choosing from the many English words that are available in translating each Hebrew or Greek word. I must, and do believe that the original content of God's word is consistent, pure and perfect, just as God Jehovah is pure and perfect.
If we consider the complexities of translating such a body of work into another language, it is impossible to ignore that the translators must make many judgment calls when choosing one word from the list of many words given for each Greek or Hebrew word, hence, the variations in each Bible, not to mention the more recent Bibles that take it upon themselves to simplify or paraphrase God word. I choose to believe that God is considerate of the translations/versions that are available and have left enough truth to lead men to salvation, but for the searching soul only; there must be a version that is purer and represents to the original. If truth would not be available to man then why would a perfect God give us any instructions at all? Jehovah certainly wouldn't leave it up to imperfect humans to find their own way to divine truth, especially since He stresses "faith" and "trust" throughout His word. I do believe that there is one better Bible then all the others, one that is close to the way God intended it to be read, but that is similar to finding the best church, which is your decision to make. It is on your shoulders to seek the truth that God wants us to know, and to seek your own salvation and not to rely on your pastor, a writer, speaker or a trusted friend to lead your way, Christ calls us to follow Him, if accompanied with prayer, remembering God searches the heart. A person's search may lead them to several Bibles before they are sure they have reached the closest to God's word in purity, which will be consistent from Genesis to Revelation. The church's job is to bring you to God's word, but it is your responsibility to search His word and to ask for Christ's guidance. It seems only logical that having the Hebrew and Greek on hand is necessary and this is possible with an Interlinear Bible, one containing both the Hebrew and the Greek, and one with a numbering system connected to a concordance and dictionary, for exploring your own translations, in order for you to find the truth in God's precious and necessary word.
The Bible’s main purpose is so we successfully find our way home, to Jehovah's kingdom and Jesus is the only One who can lead us there, if we follow the words He inspired to the many Bible writers, “Jesus said to them, I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6), then we need to ask Jehovah in prayer to inform Christ of our request for Him to lead us home by directing us into correct understanding of His word, and to guide us toward God's righteousness, which is obedience to Jehovah's directions, his commands and His just laws.
God’s written word enlightens us to His character which is wrapped in the commandments of God; to consume His prophets writings, which has not been changed or abolished because God does not change and He is steadfast to the system He designed and to the government He set up from the very beginning, just as it is in Heaven, this will also be present in the new earth. If His laws were at all changeable or done away with, then Almighty God would not be true to His word. God Jehovah said He does not change, "For I am Jehovah, I change not. Because of this you sons of Jacob are not destroyed." (Malachi 3:6). If the law, the standard of pure righteousness, was done away with by Christ's death on the cross, as some teach, then what was the purpose of the Old Testament and its multitude of instructions and examples, being three quarters of the entire Bible? Christ Himself confirmed that the law is still in force, "Do not think that I came to annul (destroy KJV) the law or the prophets; I did not come to annul (destroy) but to fulfill." (Matthew 5:17). Christ did fulfill God's laws by walking perfectly in His Father's laws, which qualified Him as the "Lamb of God" and Christ asks us to follow Him; to do as He did. All the Sacrificial laws were a shadow of the coming Christ, they needed to be discarded when the perfect final sacrifice was offered, that the shadow pointed to, the "Lamb of God" and He accomplished His task on time and perfectly, according to Old Testament prophecies. The Old Testament stories and history, all have meaningful and guiding purposes; the journey to the Promised Land is to be a guide for our spiritual walk to God's Kingdom. The New Testament and the Old Testament work together and cannot be fully or properly understood, one without the other. The Ten Commandments were not part of the sacrificial laws because they were given to us directly by God Jehovah, and He gave the Mosaic laws through Moses, and transgression of His perfect laws and commands are sin, unrighteousness. Christ also called all to repentance, "and repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached on His name to all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem." (Luke 24:47), if not God's way, then of what is Christ calling us to repent from, could it be anything other then our transgressions of His perfect laws and commands?
Most people don’t consider they have the time to read the entire Bible, however
this is incorrect, this is one reason why God has given us, first at Creation, then
in the Fourth Commandment, a full 24 hour day to devote to Him, “…And He rested on
the seventh day from all His work which He had made.” (Genesis 2:2). One 24-
On a personal note: in consuming God's Book, I had no idea how this would improve my life, my personal peace and confidence. I could never have known what I was missing without reading all of God’s word; hearing sermons never made the Bible personal, nor did I ever feel close to God and His Son. Now I can understand why: the connection comes from applying the effort and commitment, which is a spiritual and physical connect with God, available for man's passion for His truth, His word for our good fortune. Hearing and reading someone else's thoughts or perception of what the Bible says is a distraction from the Bible's intended purpose, and bypasses the understanding given to us by His spirit. God's written word is an absolute must for every Christian, reading the entire Bible to receive correct understanding, which is not possible without the spirit of Christ responding to our pleadings for nourishment and our personal commitment in learning what we need to know, in order to reach the blessed destination, God's kingdom. There is no substitute for His light and His blessings of understanding.