"The Bible's been translated and re-translated so many times, no one knows what it means."
I was in college the first time I heard those words. The accusations went on: "Modern Bibles just change the King James into modern English, and it was translated from Latin. No one knows what the Bible said when it was written."
It's hard to believe someone can fit so many inaccuracies into such a small space.
Every skeptic isn't necessarily as poorly informed as that person was, but it's still common to hear that we cannot trust the Bible because it's been "translated and re-translated". How do we respond to that?
There are lots of places in the Bible I would remove if I could. Whether it's a rule I don't want to follow or a judgment that just seems too harsh for modern sensibilities, my fallen flesh would love to apply a bottle of white out to many verses. There's one place, though, that's nothing like that. It's convicting without doing either of those things. Right in the middle of one of my favorite passages in the Bible sit a few simple words that always make me squirm.
I like to say I’m a creature of inertia. An object at rest will stay at rest; an object in motion will stay in motion. That’s me. If I can get going, I’ll keep going. But if I stop ... oof! So what I really am is a creature of habit. If I can form a good habit, I’ll just keep cruising.
I used this to my advantage several years ago when I got in the habit of working out at lunch three days a week. I reached that point fitness gurus talk about where I didn’t ask whether I was going to the gym; it was Monday, so I needed to pack my workout clothes. I got into a routine and stayed with it. I was feeling better and looking better. I was happy; my wife was happy. It went on that way for a couple of years. Then circumstances changed. Life broke the habit.
If it hasn’t happened already, it will soon enough: someone will do you wrong. They may take advantage of you, steal from you, even physically harm you. And they’ll get away with it. Maybe the law won’t catch up with them; maybe the law won’t even care. When that happens, you’re going to long for justice. And when that day comes, you’ll find you love something about God that tends to be very unpopular.
Picture, if you will, a world in which you have founded a new religion. It does not matter whether the religion is about peace and love or the collection of unusual cabbages. What matters is that you will not write any of the holy books for this religion. Who would you allow to write your new Bible?
