Did you know that…

1.       We do not have any of the original biblical documents that were made by the original authors of the Bible?

2.       We cannot even say for sure that some of the authors we attribute to the Bible are correct. Most Biblical scholars do not agree that the Apostles Matthew and John actually wrote their Gospels, for example.

3.       The copies of the Bible that we have contain an incredible amount of errors! Between the few thousand manuscripts we have of the Bible, there are something like 300,000 errors. Now of course, most of them are very minor – like spelling errors (they after all did not have spell check back then – but some are major ones, like for example, the last 16 verses of Mark, which most Biblical scholars now believe were added many years after the original was composed.

4.       When the Bible was copied over the years, the scribes who copied them made changes – either unintentional ones (like as I said, spelling errors, or sometimes they would omit entire lines… have you ever been reading a book and accidently skipped a line?). Some of these changes, though, were intentionally made in order to fit a scribe’s own theology.

So what? Well, 2 extreme positions can be made based on this. The first is what you may call the “ultraconservative” position held by many fundamentalist biblical scholars: complete denial. They believe that the Bible is inerrant (without errors), and there are theological explanations for some of the “mistakes”. The second is equally unfortunate. It’s the position taken by the biblical scholar we are studying in my New Testament class, Bart Ehrman. He believes that because of these mistakes, the Bible has become completely unreliable, and there is thus, no way of knowing exactly what original Christianity meant. This has lead him to lose his faith, as he now considers himself agnostic (he went from being an ultra fundamentalist who attended Moody Bible Institute, to an Evangelical who attended Wheaton College, to a cynical Agnostic after completing his doctorate in Princeton).

So what’s my take then? Well first I think it’s completely irresponsible to believe that the Bible is perfect in every way. Frankly, it elevates the Bible to a standard which should only be reserved for Jesus Christ. What’s this called? Most won’t like the answer: it’s called Idolatry. Taking something inside of creation (the Bible) and attributing to it a quality that only God has (perfection).

On the other hand, Bart Ehrman’s reaction shows that he did not have a good foundation in his faith to start off with. He missed out on one of the most fundamental teachings of the Christian faith, the explanation for human imperfection: so that the Glory is God’s alone. 2 Corinthians 4:7 says, “we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves”. Yes the Bible has errors, but it is nonetheless inspired scripture; this “written word” is merely a shadow, but it is one which points to the Living Word, Jesus!

Let me say it again, we are but earthen vessels, but oh, how great is the treasure we have within! While the Bible is imperfect, it continues to be used by God to change lives. That to me is much more a testimony of God’s amazing grace, than an inerrant, perfect Bible ever could be. Praise the Lord! He is mighty to save.

From the National Post: “People who play video games have better family lives, are more social and make more money than people who do not, according to two new studies.”

Hahahahahahahahahaha. For the whole story: http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=914078

I got some birthday presents early…  Thursday, to be exact (my birthday is tomorrow). Horay!

 Hehe. A big thanks go out to the Ontario Government ($150 textbook grant… hahaha) and of course to the parents of all of my piano students for providing the funds for this wonderful gift. Now if only my TV was fixed I wouldn’t have to be sitting around waiting my dad to finish with the TV so I can play.

Anyway. Tomorrow is a “musicking” day for me.. Followed by my small birthday… “Make Your Own Sushi” bash… My “real” party… the “adults only” one will be in a couple of weeks, after midterms.

So… Happy Birthday to me. Yay!