Blind faith? Nope! (continued)

Last time, I introduced our study, and laid a foundation for our discussions. We're going to be digging into what some peeps call "apologetics," for the Bible, the Word of God. That doesn't mean we are apologizing. (Grin)
Here is what the word means:

    1. Formal argumentation in defense of something, such as a position or system.
    2. The branch of theology concerned with defending the truth of Christian doctrines.

We all have probably been in the situation of having someone question the Bible's accuracy, it's validity, it's being the Word of God, etc.  It's easy to get passionate about something that is as deep as our faith. The best way to be ready for that situation is to prepare ahead of time. So, let's study and see if we can be confident in our apologetics -- I can guarantee you that many of the scoffers will back off when they see our confidence and our thoughtful answers! Many of them are like schoolyard bullies; they pick on ones they think will be easily beaten. Our motto at a time like this should be Peter's words:

But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hopethat you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, (I Peter 3:15)

You see, we all are called to be apologists. It just means that when a critic questions our faith, we are prepared to defend it. It's that simple. They may question the revelation of God in Christ, or they may question the Bible. They ask. We are ready to give an answer. Now, there are some people who spend all their time on apologetics: they may study biblical manuscripts and their transmission, philosophy, biology, mathematics, logic, and more. But apologetics in its simplest form is simply giving an answer when someone asks a question about Jesus or about a Bible passage. No years of ivy-covered-tower study needed!
Let's see if we can lay some groundwork for why we believe that God has spoken, and that His Word is recorded in the Bible. Let's determine if we are using "blind faith" or if there are real reasons why we can trust in the Bible for this life and for the next.

The first thing that apologists would say is that the Bible is an accurate transmission of God's words. Where do we start?
Well, we start with the words coming from God to man. They call that inspiration.
I guess it might be nice if the Bible just dropped down from heaven into the Christian book store in the town closest to me, or onto the shelf at the Walmart. We could look inside and see that it was either written by the hand of God, or maybe by the hand of an angel.
But as Joe Friday would say in Dragnet, we need "just the facts." The fact is that the Bible was authored as a partnership between God and humans. Check back one post for those verses we listed. "Given by inspiration of God" and "men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit." These words are not things dreamed up in the heart or mind of a human. God worked through men to record the words He wanted us to have.
No, He didn't dictate it, though some portions He did say to write it down, or to tell the people, and those would qualify as dictation. And it wasn't just general thoughts or concepts that God put in their heads, and whenever they felt like it, they wrote it down. In some mysterious way, God's words were written down by human hands.
If you're like me, you have no problem with the God part of the equation here. (Grin)
God doesn't make mistakes.
It's the human part that worries people.
Humans do make mistakes. How can we know they got it right? We will look at some evidence for that soon, but for now, let's say that the God Who has the power to create the universe certainly has the power to make sure that His words were recorded accurately! The words from Him, the history, the stories of the good people and the bad, all were recorded the way He wanted.
Ya know, one of the wonderful things about our Bible is that it's not all dry history. It's got poetry and proverbs; it has what people today call "human interest" stories, and much more. It's not just a list of "thus saith the Lord," although those are extremely important.
Sometimes people who question us may point out those stories of people who had epic failures -- why are those included, they demand? Well, I think it's because God wanted to show us the "whys and wherefores" of certain requirements in His word. I think He shows us the consequences when the right path is NOT followed, and the blessings that happen when the pathway is followed. He shows us that choices have consequences AND rewards. That the things recorded in Scripture are not only true, but truly applicable to our lives.

Now, as I said, I have no worries about God transmitting His words to man, but what about all the years in between, until I pick up my study Bible and begin to read? This is one area that some people really stress over. Some obsess over it! The concept of the words of God passing from man to man (or woman). All. That. Copying.
Why is that a problem? Well, I can't go somewhere and look at those original writings. None of those (the scholars refer to them as autographs) have survived all these years. All that we have of those is copies.
Well, actually we have copies of copies of copies. And each time a copy is made, there is a possibility of some human making an error. Kind of like when we kids used to play the game "telephone," when we were all sitting in a circle, and the first person would whisper a phrase in the next person's ear. That person would pass it along, and so on and so on. By the time it got all the way around the circle, the phrase may have become "the cow jumped into the peanut butter," or some such nonsense. But that was OK, because the whole purpose of the game was to have fun and laugh.

The people who copied the text of God's message had a significantly different purpose, and they realized it was their responsibility to transmit God's truth. So, they were very careful. In fact, some of them went to great lengths to be accurate.
The Massoretes, a group who copied in the 500-900 AD era, numbered each verse, word, and letter in a book. They calculated the middle word and the middle letter of each. That way, when they finished a book, they could count the letters and words in the copy and compare it to the original. If they had left something out (or added something) it would be immediately apparent.
Another group of copyists would only allow between one and three copying errors in an entire book. What if you were the one copying Genesis? You get to the end of the final (fiftieth) chapter and they examine it. You made one mistake in the fiftieth chapter - you should have dotted an "i" but instead, you crossed it, and made it a "t." They would burn the whole thing. They didn't want to be responsible for any errors.
Even so, I wonder just how well they did? Have you ever heard the story of the discovery of the Dead Sea scrolls? It was in the spring of 1947 that a shepherd was looking for a lost lamb and tossed a rock into a cave opening. Instead of a tiny "plink" of the rock hitting the wall or floor of the cave, he heard pottery shattering! He had discovered the scrolls that had been written two hundred years before the birth of Jesus. They'd been squirreled away in the cave just before Jerusalem was destroyed (in 70AD). The discovery netted several jars with leather scrolls inside....
One was over twenty-four feet long and ten inches high -- the whole of the book of Isaiah was there. When translated, it was 95% word-for-word identical with the book of Isaiah today. The 5% was obvious slips of the pen, and variations in spelling!
Between the time the scrolls were written, and the Bible of 1947, there was a time span of well over one-thousand years. That's many, many generations of copies, and many possibilities for errors. The fact that there were no significant differences in the old text and the current one, stands as a testimony to the trustworthiness of the copiers' work.

But what about the New Testament?
There are over 5,000 full or partial copies of the New Testament in Greek. Preachers of the first few hundred years after Jesus would quote passages of Scripture in their written sermons and in their letters.
                  " Those ancient sermons, letters, and other writings include so many
                  New Testament citations that even if we were to lose every copy we
                  have of the Bible....scholars could reconstruct the entire New Testament
                  with the exception of eleven verses." Sir Frederick Kenyon

I found excerpts of the book "Our Bible and the Ancient Manuscripts" to be invaluable and inspiring as I prepared this study. I highly recommend it.
Sir Kenyon also said this, after years of scholarship and study:

“Because [of quality and quantity of] the copies we have..., although the originals are lost, there is certainty about virtually 99.9% of the Bible. And no questionable verse is the basis for any doctrine.”

This post has gotten lengthy, so I will close and start again next time. I hope that we have a lot to think about, and a lot to be thankful for!