Are there Christians who think there are or might be errors in the Bible?

Question

I am wondering if there are Christians who believe that there may be errors in the Bible (whether due to translation errors, errors in the memory of the people who wrote down the gospels, etc.).

If you think there might be errors, are they only small ones that do not affect God's message, or is it possible that there are big ones that may be incorrectly giving one or more of God's messages?

Just curious about others' opinions. Thanks!



(Obviously, this is directed toward Christians only, no need for others to reply with hateful intolerance - I wouldn't do that to your questions.)

Answer 1

Yeah, there are plenty of errors in the Bible. Doesn't really bother me. The Bible doesn't claim to be inerrant, so why should I insist it is?

Answer 2

Translations by nature cannot be perfect. I like to look at several translations on difficult topics and even use a Greek/Hebrew dictionary. I do think that they have done a great job though and I'm grateful for what I'm provided.



I've looked at a whole lot of "contradictions" that people point out in the Bible. When I look closer, they aren't contradictions at all. Either, one is giving more details than the other, or one is telling one part and another a different part, or the words have more than one meaning, or it's poetry. Stuff like that.



There are minor errors. These are noted in the margins of most modern Bibles. Mostly they are spelling differences, or a word is missed. Numbers seem to be off. Like if a king was 8 or 18 for example.



We have thousands of early copies in the original language. They agree very well. The main message comes through loud and clear.

Answer 3

I accept the fact that humans make mistakes. Humans have copied and translated the Bible numerous times. The earliest manuscripts of Biblical text do not fully agree with every other early manuscript of Biblical text.



If nothing else, that points out problems in copying (or transcribing). Until the widespread use of the printing press, there was no way that a new copy could be made without the strong likelihood of a copying error being introduced into the text.



The myriad of translations and the differences in how they are read is ample proof that there are problems inherent in translating documents, particularly where poetry is involved (and there is a _lot_ of poetry in the Old Testament).



What is impacted, isn't the message, but our ability to properly interpret the message. People get hung up on small details and fail to step back and look at the scriptures as a whole (and take all of it into context). Not only that, but there are references to works that are not found in the Bible (and are identified as the missing books of the Bible).



Do we have everything that was given to us by the prophets and early leaders of the Christian movement? Given the nature and references to material not found in the Bible, obviously not. Could we be missing one of more concepts God wants us to live by? It is a possibility. After all, we are human and subject to human mistakes.

Answer 4

If you’ve read the Bible through a few times, you can’t help but notice many conflicting numbers mentioned. Most Christians consider them “copyist errors.” For example, there’s the passage about how old Ahaziah was when he began to rule over Jerusalem (2 Kings 8:26 and 2 Chronicles 22:2). But here’s the question: If God intended to protect the transmission of Scripture from error, why didn’t he prevent such honest mistakes in the primary source documents? It seems to me that the only conclusion is that God isn’t sweating the small stuff when it comes to mistakes in the Bible – rather, He’s more concerned with issues of major importance.

Answer 5

Obviously there are minor errors in the New Testament manuscripts, since many of the very old ones differ from one another in wording somewhat. However, by comparing ancient copies of the various New Testament books to each other, we can, by a logical process of elimination, figure out the original wording to about an estimated 99 percent certainty. That's fairly good, so I wouldn't be too concerned about it.



Likewise, there appear to be minor scribal errors in the Old Testament, but the Jews went to extraordinary lengths to insure accuracy, and of course we have very old copies (like the Dead Sea Scrolls) that we can compare modern versions to, so any errors are probably too slight to make any real differences in meaning of the text.



There also seem to be some minor translational errors in the King James Version of the Bible, based on our more complete understanding of Ancient Hebrew and Konie Greek, but these errors seem to be insiginificant.



I don't think that it makes logical sense to assume that the Bible contains any major errors in God's message. First of all, if God, who is all knowing & all powerful, were trying to give us his message, and he was going to judge us for how well we followed it or not, then it would be cruel & unfair for God to give us a confusing book full of mistakes.



Second of all, if the Bible writers were mistaken about what God wanted, then how would we know, unless God spoke to you directly also? And if he did, then how do we know that you didn't make the same mistake that all of the other prophets did? After all, you are just as human as the other prophets were, you know.



I think that it makes more logical sense to assume that God, who was all knowing & all powerful, picked just the right people to convey his message to us, so that any possible errors are negligible and don't affect the message. If the Bible has errors, then it is useless as a guide to living, and one might as well chuck religion in to the trash can and just do his own thing, if God is too incompetent to figure out how to get his message to us right.

Answer 6

There are definitely Christians who believe that we get the wrong meaning from certain parts of the Bible. No doubt. Just ask a Seventh Day Adventist about people dying and going straight to hell fire or immediately going to heaven. They can show you the Scriptures in your own bible show some error in interpretation. It scares people or makes them VERY angry when they are shown that what they believe is in error. I am not saying that the Adventists or anyone has it ALL together and know it all and are never wrong. They are no doubt in error on some things they believe about the Bible just like all of us. They will stay away from certain parts of the Bible that thier beliefs are weak on just like other Churches avoid certian books of the Bible or rush past them.

The people who call them selves "Jehovah's Witnesses" rewrote the Bible to try and make it fit their own twisted views.

The meanings of words have different meanings depending on where you live. Even in various parts of the United States, words have different meanings so why would words in England translated from Greek and Hebrew be considered to mean the exact same thing hundreds of years later in a place across the ocean even??

Answer 7

There are a few small possible errors.



One is when Paul says women are to be silent in the churches as in the law. That isnt in the law.



Handling snakes at the end of Mark?



A few theories are that these arent authentic because the end of Mark isnt in the earliest manuscripts we have.



The verse about women is jammed right in the middle of what would be a more complete passage and has nothing to do with what he was talking about.



They arent huge problems. No church I know proposes that women remain silent in church. Some people do handle snakes but if thats what they want to do and feel led to, fine.



These are of little consequence. The "errors" that unbelievers come up with are very explainable and not a problem Ive noticed. Usually its due to ignorance of other Scriptures and interpret it and Christian theology in general.

Answer 8

In the middle of the 20th century a new method of translating became popular call Dynamic Translation or Paraphrase Translation. Prior to that translations were literal and so they basically said the same thing as the originals. The Paraphrase or Dynamic (From Dynamite - blow up) sought to expand on the meaning and actually interpret scripture while translating. Since that happened there are certainly errors, and some major ones. The NIV is probably the most guilty of changing the Bible and unfortunately it is one of the most popular translations today.

Answer 9

I think that there are quite a few translation errors. As to whether they are small ones or big ones I have no idea. There are some people that rely too much on the bible for their salvation, instead of looking to God. And true enough God might have inspired the bible, but man wrote it. And everyone knows that people are not perfect. If I have questions I look to my bible to help me find answers. Sometimes it does and when it doesn't I revert to YA.................jk.



Anyway, hope this helps. Have a great day!! :)

Answer 10

Oh yes . I'm a Catholic, and I just think that the Bible is recorded by man, and therefore is certainly open to human errors. I think they got the basic gist of it right though. Also I would read many parts of the Bible metaphorically, for example the creation story in Genesis. That's just me though! :)



EDIT- Satan himself, the idea that people in the middle ages

believed that the world was flat is a misconception. No one even vaguely educated doubted that the world was spherical, the ancient Greeks and Egyptians having proved it a good few centuries B.C.

Answer 11

I'm Catholic and believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God. And has no errors. But I also think that many Bibles are in error due to translation issues and by omitting books and even chapters and verses and changed of words. The Protestants don't have all the books like the Catholics do.

Answer 12

No doubt there are words in the original that have been mistranslated~that's why knowing the culture of Jesus' time and place will help us understand some things more clearly



I do believe even if somewhat watered down in some parts in some translations that for the most part the message is there

Answer 13

It is impossible to be a Christian and believe that there is error in the bible. The bible is the holy, infallible word of God, inscribed by man and inspired by The Holy Spirit. There are many types of versions, so beware. Your best bet is to look into the canonization of the bible, study this history and then ask yourself this question....Was Jesus real? Was he God come in the flesh? Are these documents trustworthy? I promise that you will find that they are. (If you seek, you shall find) Pray and ask God to fill you with the discernment and wisdom to see what He has for you in this query. Take care and p.s. "A FOOL SAYS IN HIS HEART THERE IS NO GOD"

and the only reason the fools who are answering your question in this way (no God) is because they are answering to confirm their own self doubt about his existence. Every breath they take is a testimony to God. If only they really wanted to know Him, he would respond. I believe this so strongly that I would say God, yes the God Almighty will prove to them in a matter of time (3 days, is my prayer) that He desires to have a relationship with them. To those fools, enjoy the journey. God Bless.

Answer 14

If you are comparing today's bible to the originals (which we do not have) or the earliest manuscripts, there are scribal errors, this is not a secret. This is normal when someone is hand writing copies of other manuscripts, some which may be hard to decipher do to age or wear and tear. But there are no "errors" which alter the teaching of Scripture, not in doctrine, morals or history. The Bible we have today is over 99% pure compared to the earliest manuscripts.

Answer 15

No, God would not allow mistakes in the Bible. Now, how some people choose to "interpret" them for their own means rather than God's, that is a different story. But the words are all true when you read them with your Heart as well as your eyes and brain.

Answer 16

I used to be a Christian, and errors in the Bible was one of many reasons that made me realize that there is no god, after all.

The fact that we find inconsistencies and errors in the Bible (such as Tyre to be destroyed, never to be rebuilt...



Ezekiel 26:14

I will make you a bare rock, and you will become a place to spread fishnets. You will never be rebuilt, for I the Lord have spoken, declares the Sovereign Lord.



yet it thrives today [see the satellite image of Tyre here: http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=33.270843,35.200324&spn=0.016541,0.027637&t=h&z=15 ])

indicates that man, not a god, wrote the Bible. When I was a Christian, I had no way of knowing which portions were written by God, and which were written by man. How could I know, for I am not god.

Answer 17

Many people have claimed the bible is 99% accurate. If we accept this as true, that means two and a half chapters are incorrect. With that being understood, that means that the entire virgin birth chapter could be wrong. The entire parts about Satan could be wrong. The entire parts about salvation could be wrong.



Do you understand the implication of there being errors?



Oh, and yes, the book is full of them.

Answer 18

Christians would have to believe that bats were birds, if they claim no errors in the bible. Also, Pi = 3. Also, that Tyre has been destroyed, never to be inhabited again. These are just 3 random observations out of hundreds of obvious errors.

Answer 19

There are some people who think there are errors in the Bible. The idea of Biblical inerrency pertains mostly to errors in doctrine rather than specific detail, geography, etc.

Answer 20

I seen some sites that had some pretty good questions that needed to be answered that appeared to be contradictions till I seen this site that has the best answers that I have ever seen on the hardest Bible questions. I think you'll appreciate its content also...on the subject of is there any Bible errors.



http://www.the1stkjv.com

Answer 21

In 1492 Europeans still believed the world was flat. On the same note when Noah's flood happened "christians believe it covered the entire world. When historically speaking a tribal person from that period would mostly have thought their local areas were the entire earth.... And then that story about Jake and David... or Goliath and the beanstalk... or whatever you know.

Answer 22

It has never been claimed the Bible is a scholarly textbook of history or science. The books, written over a period of some 1500 years by dozens of different people, in as many different literary styles, is inspired to reveal the truths of God and faith.

Answer 23

I'm not sure if I would consider myself Christian, I know the christians wouldn't, they would like to see me burnt at the stake for heresy fortunately for me its not enviromentally friendly, the message and Gospels I follow are not accepted by the orthodox church.



I don't accept the physical Resurrection, miracles, virgin birth, or that Jesus is God, is a God yes but not the one true God born in human form.



and the message is one of teaching enlightenment by learning about who we are, getting to know God by discovering the christ consciousness's (holy spirit) that lives with us.

Answer 24

yes just remember how many cultures got to this before it was turned into your copy how do you know no one changed you shouldn'ttrust a priest just because you are one does not make you good or not corrupt i do not mean the popes were all evil but some of the early one killed people and were rapist history does not lie

Answer 25

There are bible followers in every degree imaginable. In Bill Mahers film Religulous, he interviews a Catholic priest who doesn't believe in genesis, or the virgin birth. I know a guy who believes Jesus was a man, but not the son of god, but still follows his teachings. As I said, there are followers of every degree imaginable.

Answer 26

How come The Bible of Catholics has seven books more than that of Protestants. Of course isn't it men's work ?

You can have proof in some sites:

www.searchforislam.com

Answer 27

Yes, especially discrepancies between the old and new testaments- but I think the message is still clear.



(And there are a LOTof discrepancies between the Latin and Greek translations of the Bible. Serious inconsistancies.)

Answer 28

It's chock full-o-errors.

The basic message is love God above all and loveyour neighbor as yourself. What contradicts that message of seeking justice, practicing mercy, and speaking truth is garbage.

edit

I don't have to Worship the Bible to be Christian. Can one be Christian who does Worship the Bible?

Answer 29

none that alter the meaning but we should always ask God to guide us when reading the bible.

Answer 30

A few translation errors, but other than that I don't think so.

Answer 31

No. No mistakes in the Bible.

Answer 32

you arent a Christian anymore if you question it.

Answer 33

If they don't, they cannot read!