What is the point of having so many versions, didn't God reveal one or did he reveal all of them? ( i know i read in the bible that you gave me that these people have been inspired by God to write the bible, but can you clarify it for me)
God has communicated over the years with various persons who have been instructed to preserve it by writing it down. Exodus 17:14, Exodus 34:1, Exodus 34:27, Deuteronomy 27:3, John 14:26. These books have been kept and preserved by God into the book we know today as the bible. God is all powerful and will ensure that his words are preserved. The bible is still the best selling book in the World. The various versions or translations are there to make the bible easier to read and to keep it accurate as language constantly changes. That being said, should you read the bible from start to finish, you will find that the message is consistent and clear no matter what version you read.
Summary:
The entire bible is based on 2 principles (Laws or commandments):
– Love God with all your heart and all your soul
– Love others as you Love yourself
God created the earth and created man to have fellowship with Himself. Man (Adam) sinned causing him to be separated from God (God cannot co-exist with sin). Even though man did this, God still clothed them and communicated with them.
Over time the world became evil and God could not find one righteous person except Noah. He instructed Noah to build a gigantic ship on land and through the faith of Noah, he and his family were the only survivors of the flood that destroyed the earth. God promised never to destroy the entire earth by flood again and gave the rainbow as a sign of this promise.
Sometime later Abraham was called by God and instructed to leave his home for a land God would show him. By faith Abraham left his home and followed God. God promised Abraham to make him a great nation giving him the land he was to show him, however Abraham had no children and was very old and his wife was well beyond child bearing age. God kept his promise and blessed them with a son Isaac. God requested that Abraham sacrifice his son, and by faith Abraham took Isaac and placed him on an alter. God spoke to Abraham and stopped him as he was about to take his son's life; “Gen 22:12 And he said, Let not your hand be stretched out against the boy to do anything to him; for now I am certain that the fear of God is in your heart, because you have not kept back your son, your only son, from me”. Many nations descended from Isaac and other sons that Abraham had after.
The bible tells how God kept his promise to Abraham and created a great nation Israel. They rebelled against God and through history God taught them many lessons still applicable to us today. It was clear that even with Laws and God dwelling with a people, it was not enough to keep them away from sin.
The old way did not work, so God commanded a new covenant for the future.
Jer 31:31 See, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new agreement with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah:
Jer 31:32 Not like the agreement which I made with their fathers, on the day when I took them by the hand to be their guide out of the land of Egypt; which agreement was broken by them, and I gave them up, says the Lord.
Jer 31:33 But this is the agreement which I will make with the people of Israel after those days, says the Lord; I will put my law in their inner parts, writing it in their hearts; and I will be their God, and they will be my people.
Jer 31:34 And no longer will they be teaching every man his neighbour and every man his brother, saying, Get knowledge of the Lord: for they will all have knowledge of me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord: for they will have my forgiveness for their evil-doing, and their sin will go from my memory for ever.
Jer 31:35 These are the words of the Lord, who has given the sun for a light by day, ordering the moon and stars for a light by night, who puts the sea in motion, causing the thunder of its waves; the Lord of armies is his name.
God in his wisdom realized that the only way to redeem man was to provide a sacrifice that could cover all sin once and for all. The prophets wrote about a savior that would not only redeem the Jews but the entire World. God provided a way to redeem us unto himself by sending his son to die for us, because he loved us. So whoever believes in his son, not by any actions of his, but through God's grace will be saved.
So by the sin of one man (Adam) all were condemned, so by the sacrifice of one man all were justified. Jesus was without sin, and therefore able to be a blameless sacrifice for the redemption of our sins.
While I believe that the bible is the true words of God, I believe that it is God who reveals truth to us, opening up our understanding by the Holy Spirit. Without God revealing his truth to us, it will seem like foolishness and will not touch our heart.
John 14:26 But the Comforter, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things...
Luke 12:12 For the Holy Spirit shall teach you... |
