Is it Really Infallible?

To fallar is to fail. Infallible on the other hand is the incapability of failing.

I was perusing the ATS forums tonight and in the thread "Not psychic/but something" I came across this statement:

"For centuries they used and changed the holy text to fit their missions. Are prayer and repentance not a practice of magic. Are you sure the one you pray to is the one true God or an imposter of tricks that guides your way?

Are you certain the Bible you read is not a forgery bent to the will of man?"

I am pretty certain that when the poster used the words "holy text" it was in reference to the Bible, as later on they mention the Bible leaving it up to debate in their mind as to whether it is really God's word and not man's.

Read through the rest of the thread and really didn't see any argument to the doubt that was brought out here, so wanted to make a thread and point out some things I've come across in my decades-old search for truth.

The books found in the Bible certainly are old. But have they been changed throughout the centuries as was claimed by the poster? If that was the case when we find older existing texts of the Scriptures we should be able to detect the fraud!

Let us take the Dead Sea Scrolls as an example. Before they were discovered the oldest known manuscripts of the book of Isaiah were 1,000 years older than the Dead Sea Scroll of Isaiah carbon-dated to about 300 B. C. E. Here is a link to information about the Isaiah Scroll here:

Isaiah Scroll

So between the 1,000 years was a lot of changing taking place? Comparing the texts that were a thousand years older with the Dead Sea Scroll of Isaiah it was discovered that there were no changes in the later copies, even 1,000 years later.

We can see the statement of the poster that said that the text had been changed over the years to fit man's agenda does not hold up under scrutiny.

There are spurious texts that have been added into certain translations of the Bible over the years, but faithfully studying older manuscripts scholars are able to detect the fraudulent, spurious texts added into the Bible. One example is a verse that upholds the very pagan and very unholy Trinity doctrine found in the Catholic Bible at 1 John 5:7. This was indeed added to try and influence, and successfully so the people's mind's away from the truth about who God and his only-begotten created son Jesus Christ are. But we can see the spurious addition, and faithful translators remove it.

Another thing to think about is that the text in the Bible was recorded by Jews. Everyone used to pen God's word were descendants of Abraham through his grandson Jacob, of the nation of Israel.

The Israelites were a unique people among the ancient world in their beliefs and practices. To this day many Jews are still very traditional and consider themselves as separate and above everyone else. I know this from personal experience. Not to say they are all like this. Unlike the records of other nations where the defeats and the defects of the leaders are glossed over and omitted from their known secular histories, the Bible is very candid about Israel's sordid past. If you actually read through it, while you find there were always good examples of God fearing people among the Jews, the far majority of them were bad. And the defeats, the sins and errors, and ultimately their destruction was written by their own historians in a very candid and honest manner.

Even the best of the Jews such as Moses, David, and so forth have records of gross errors, such as David's sin of adultery, and his murder of Bathsheba's husband to try and cover it over. Or when Moses stopped being meek for a time and accepted glory for something God did through him, and because of his gross temporary lack of good judgement lead to him dying before entering into the promise land as a punishment.

Most of what religion teaches is steeped in pagan tradition, and spiritism. But the Bible rejects all of that. In fact it is very unique among all of the ancient holy texts. Why? Because it alone talks of the one true God. No other ancient book, no ancient or recent holy text talks of one true God. In this the Hebrew and Greek scriptures found in the Bible are entirely unique in world history. You can do your research, it has already been done by others in the past, but you can try and you will find no other ancient text referring to one true God.

I will get back to the part about spiritism because it is an important one. But first talking about what the archeological records tell us about things discussed in the Bible. The more that is discovered, the more ancient events, places, and people in the Bible are confirmed in the historic record in secular history.

Another thing, the Bible was penned by 42 different writers over a period of about 2,000 years. And when reading through the texts they are all in agreement with each other. That is, it is all canon. That in and of itself is an inhuman feat. Think about it. In the past written records were not nearly as easy to use as they are today. I know of a family who as a project undertook to make a replica of the scroll of Isaiah. And when it was finished (it was one long parchment with writing, no chapter number, no verses) you could see how long it must have taken and how difficult it would have been to study and locate specific events and texts. That people over a span of 2,000 year (a little less) were able to all be in agreement is not humanly possible.

Even today when you see arguments of people over modern-day pop culture fiction such as Star Wars, Star Trek, and comics such as the Marvel Universe, although only decades old, no one gets canon right. There are always contradictions. Even in video game histories such as the game series The Elder Scrolls. There are videos on YouTube you can watch where people tear through the contradictory lore of the fictional universe created.

And when you really read the Bible, it contradicts and condemns much of what people have proclaimed to do in the name of its God. So it really isn't God or the Bible's message that is at fault. But power-hungry and dishonest people that contradict what the Bible teaches such as the totally unscriptural teaching of the "divine right of kings" or unscriptural doctrines and God-dishonoring teachings such as the Hellfire doctrine, and others that are not found in scripture.

We can go on and on about really good reasons to believe that the Bible really is reliable, recorded history that has been inspired by the one true God. For the open-minded person it is worth the investigation! I have found that to be the case and have convinced myself of its divinity. It really is God's word given to man.

In fact I have found this to be the case in my lifetime, a simple, yet elegant truth: The only two reliable books are both inspired by God. The first is the book of creation wherein we find written the four fundamental laws of the universe: (1) gravity, (2) electromagnetism, (3) the strong nuclear force, (4) the weak nuclear force. By means of these fundamental established laws of the universe that are true and wholly reliable (even if we totally do not understand them) we are able to calculate with precision trajectories to send satellites to the moon and far off and distant planets and comets.

...

By means of these unfailable laws we are able to live without worry of falling off the earth, we are able to discover technologies to make our lives easier, to communicate instantly with each other by means of the internet, using smartphones, and all the other plethora of techo gadgets.

The second book is the Bible. In it we have words that are beyond human wisdom. They will always stand up as true for eternity.

Now to get back to the point on spiritsm. No other spiritual textbook, or holy text contrasts the occult works with the worship of the one true God Jehovah.

In fact all other religions are very steeped in spiritistic practices and teachings. On the other hand the Bible very uniquely condemns all practice of spiritism, demonism, occult arts as disgusting and demonic.

As there is a supernatural, and we are not able to peer into it ourselves, we have to rely on the beings from the supernatural that communicate with us about it. Since the Bible has the true mark as being from God what it says about the supernatural should matter a great deal. We can rely on what it says about the unseen spirit realm. And it tells us to reject spiritsm.

Faith and prayer are not magic. There is the slight of hand magic, that is not what is being discussed here. The magic that deals with the supernatural, omens, divination, witchcraft, communication with the dead, all of this is magic and is of Satan the Devil. Satan is a spirit as are the fallen angels. They are capable of doing things ordinary to them which we would consider and rightly so, supernatural. They also have a far far deeper understanding of God's natural laws and are able to do things we are not.

Prayer is a miracle. It is not magic. God is real and he is the hearer of prayer and it is by means of his holy spirit that he answers prayers and he deals with humans. God is able to do all things. And he condemns the religious system of things in this world. He calls all false religion a great prostitute filled with spirtistic practices which is disgusting in his eyes. Speaking of the world-wide empire of false religion the Bible states:

": “Thus with a swift pitch will Babylon the great city be hurled down, and she will never be found again. 22 And the sound of singers who accompany themselves on the harp, of musicians, of flutists, and of trumpeters will never be heard in you again. And no craftsman who practices any trade will ever be found in you again, and no sound of a millstone will ever be heard in you again. 23 No light of a lamp will ever shine in you again, and no voice of a bridegroom and of a bride will ever be heard in you again; for your merchants were the top-ranking men of the earth, and by your spiritistic practices all the nations were misled. 24 Yes, in her was found the blood of prophets and of holy ones and of all those who have been slaughtered on the earth.”-Revelation 18:21-24.

Well said!

Yeah...

I was raised Catholic, and did 14 years of Catholic school. My high school was run by monks.

They even taught us the difference between "biblical truth" and "historical truth" and that the bible is largely allegorical, but that doesn't detract from it's validity.

Also I was taught all about how the bible was written, and the books comprised herein.

It was done by "divine inspiration" but still written, interpreted, and transplanted thousands of times over by the hands and minds of man.

The bible is not infallible. It's the oldest most prominent game of telephone.

A personal relationship with God is more important than what is transcribed on those pages.