FAQ: HASN'T THE BIBLE BEEN CHANGED?
Concerning the Old Testament, now that the Dead Sea Scrolls have been found with an incredibly high textual integrity to modern versions--yet pre-dating the first century by 100s of years--this time-worn assertion betrays a certain ignorance.The texts found at Qumran are the SAME as we have today in our Jewish and Christian Bibles.
Remember that an entire Isaiah scroll was found at Qumran INTACT. This is proof POSITIVE that the texts were not altered in and around and after the first century. (It is also ironic, because before the Qumran discovery Isaiah had long been viciously attacked as "obviously" written after the crucifixion of Christ--as its prophecies are descriptive and exact.)
The nature of the way the New Testament was spread allows for any errors or changes to be fairly accurately traced, as is the case for the minuscule modifications and additions. The "gospels" and "letters" which make up the New Testament were sent from town to town, copied and distributed from city to city. Thus, we have thousands of manuscripts or fragments of the New Testament texts, all with VERY HIGH textual consistency. The differences are minor and noted in most new translations, and we take the earliest ones as most accurate. None of the differences have any doctrinal significance. And every time a new manuscript is found it is virtually identical to what we already have.
Thus 1) by the nature of the way it was copied, and 2) by the evidence of the manuscripts we have, and 3) in light of recent archeological discoveries, both the Old and New Testaments of scripture have to be regarded as reliable and significantly unchanged. There is NO evidence to the contrary, although many would wish it so.
Asserting that the moon is made of cheese sort of ruins your credibility in the modern world, and especially among serious astronomers, where only a few decades ago this was a semi-serious lark. The same can be said for those who still (against all archaeology and history) claim that the biblical texts have been significantly altered.
The Bible is as advertised, and, interestingly enough, no other documents in human history are as solid. Having even two or three manuscripts with 50-60% textual integrity is enough to validate any other person's life and times. We Christians have THOUSANDS and counting, with the highest textual integrity of ANY documents of antiquity, all written contemporaneously to the events, under duress and threat of death, and we STILL get second-guessed by people like the "Jesus Project" who do not like the consistent texts they see and want to "edit" the history.
Maybe something else is going on here besides scholarship and logic, eh?
As God likes to say in his revelation, "Men have no excuse..." "For they have rejected Me..."
http://www.acts17-11.com/snip_reliability.html