NEW TESTAMENT
We no longer have the original copies of any ancient texts; however, we do have copies of the originals. The document that has the best manuscript evidence besides the Bible is Homer's Iliad. There is currently no debate as to the authenticity of the Iliad, so lets compare the New Testament to the Iliad and see how they stack up. Work Homer (Iliad) New Testament When Written Copy Earliest Time Number of Span Copies
900 B.C. 400 B.C. 500 Yrs 643 40-100 A.D. 125 A.D. 25-85 Yrs over 24,000
Therefore, since we have so many copies and the oldest copies are so close in time frame to the originals, we are certain that the copy we have today is essentially unchanged and uncorrupted compared to the original. "If we compare the present state of the New Testament text with that of any other ancient writing, we must...declare it to be marvelously correct. Such has been the care with which the New Testament has been copied." Benjamin Warfield (from Evidence That Demands a Verdict, McDowell, p. 45)
OLD TESTAMENT
1. Talmudists: A.D. 100 to 500; catalogued canonical law by transcribing synagogue scrolls. 2. Massoretic Period: A.D. 500 to 900; The Massoretes edited the text and standardized it; painstakingly copied texts and counted every dot and letter. 3. The Dead Sea Scrolls - before they found it the latest copy of the book of Isaiah was from 900 A.D., the dead sea scrolls contained a copy of Isaiah dated 100 B.C. which was over 95% accurate, the 5%
errors occurring in mainly spelling variations and "slips of the pen", but in no significant doctrinal issues.
CONCLUSION
The Bible is historically trustworthy. If the Bible is considered to be unreliable, then almost all other ancient literature must also be considered unreliable.
This makes the Bible essentially useless unverifiable. How do you determine which is which? Jesus believed in verbal plenarism. Most "errors" can be resolved.
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