Well, first of all, God is Truth and Jesus is truth......And i dont only mean they tell the truth, but rather that they ARE Truth.
This is one of their attributes or characteristics.
And so, if God provides you with scripture, then you know it will be true.
2nd, He will preserve his Word, accurately, because if He didnt, then it could be corrupted or remanufactured based on the writer's perspective.
So, God is obligated to make certain that his Word is presented truthfully.
And the reason God does all this, is because He wants us to have His Word.
And if you realize that God can create "man" from dirt, from a rib, from a virgin, and from sex between a man and a woman, then He can certainly make certain His Word is kept pure for 2000 years without much effort.
God is amazing.
The next question would be......"well, which bible version"..
I use the KJV and the Amplified.
I can give you a lot of "textural" reasons for using the "received text" ("textus receptus") greek manuscript, and i can teach you some church history about greek texts, and Origin, and church fathers, and why the Vulgate is not a good manuscript....but, for me, i just came to this conclusion about the KJV after reading many other versions...
I noticed that important verses , doctrinal verses, important words....were taken out in some places in most other popular bibles, and when this happens, things get diluted and even confused.
For example.......I believe that Jesus is God......and so the KJV tells me in 1 Tim 3:16, that "God was manifested in the flesh"....so, from this scripture in the KJV im shown/taught that Jesus is God.
So, then i looked at many other popular versions, and they have taken out the word "Jesus", and have instead put in the word "him" or "he", etc.......and that is fine, unless i need a verse that proves the DOCTRINE that JESUS is God, as is written in the KJV.
So, do you see how, one omitted word, changes everything?.......Dilutes and even hides the fact of the Deity of Christ?
Well, i discovered that this was happening in many many verses in almost all popular versions, with the exception of the KJV.
So, that is one reason i use a specific bible version.
But then, i was thinking one day about bibles and i thought....
"If a snowcapped mountain has pure water in its snow, and it melts.....then it runs down the mountain.......what happens to the water by the time its at the bottom"?
And i realized that the water is dirty at the bottom of the mountain, its not as clear or as pure, and that is because it is far from the original source.
And so it is with all other contemporary bibles, other then the KJV........they are all hundreds of years newer, and that means they are farther from the original source then is the KJV.
The KJV is closer to the original source because its much older, and for me that matters as i think about the mountain water.
Just my perspective.
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man, there are many more testimonies about god(s) and faith, such as the so-called "yoga" of krishna and patanjali, "vaishnavism", "hindusim", "shaivism", "vedas", "sikhism", "adi granth", "buddhism", "pali tipitaka", "islam", "quran", "avesta", "jehovah's witnesses", "lds/mormonism", "book of mormon", "scientology", "new age", etc., and usually each of those creeds/religions/denominations has their own scriptures written by their notable spiritual leaders, so, if, God forbid, someone reads e.g. bhagavad gita, which represents krishna as a supreme god, or another scripture that represents another god/lord as an only true god/lord, then isn't it possible that the same reader believe that krishna or that other god/lord is the supreme or the only true god/lord?!, or if, God forbid, some spiritual/religious seeker is not familiar with (the right exercise of faith in) Those Who really are the only true God and the only true Lord i.e. God the Father and Jesus Christ that are shown in the biblical scriptures of the New Testament, then isn't it possible that the same receive another testimony (i.e. of another god/lord/jesus/christ that had not been preached as true by the true Saints shown in the Bible) and be won by it before managing to understanding the Lord God of the Bible's New Testament is the only true Lord God and accepting the right faith in Him?!, i ask you these things, because there have (already) been many that were won by other gods/lords(christs) and creeds/doctrines, and even not to mention all those Bible believers that had/have not understood correctly many things of the Bible, though they all believe(d) ostensibly in the Lord God of the Bible, why?!, because their faith was/is not right enough, for at least many of them did/do not exercise the faith right(ly) enough, but rather prefer(red) to rely on Bible reading, therefore it is written:
2 Corinthians 3:1-6 "Do we begin again to commend ourselves? or need we, as some others, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you? Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men: Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart. And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward: Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life."
because the biblical scriptures are given as a means of rectification so that the Bible might be read in principle no more than e.g. once, twice or thrice, but the right exercise of the faith must be more important for the believers, because what if the believers know the Bible by heart, but do not know That Who really is the true Lord God and His (true) Word(truth)?!, for it is written:
1 Corinthians 2:1-16 "brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought: But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ."
as for the usable versions of the Bible, beware of the amplified bible(amp), because there are many misleading translations and interpretations therein, it was enough for me to read its 1st page(Genesis 1) to understand that there is something very wrong with it, for example Genesis 1:2 "The earth was formless and void or a waste and emptiness, and darkness was upon the face of the deep [primeval ocean that covered the unformed earth]" is very misleading, because, according to the written in the square brackets, the "darkness" was/is ostensibly a primeval ocean that covered the earth, which God created according to the written in the previous verse(1), while it is quite comprehensible that the "darkness" was not created by God, because it is written that the first things that He created were the "heaven" and the "earth" (in the 1st verse), then(in the 2nd verse) it is written that there had (already) been a "darkness" upon the face of the deep, which means upon the bottom of the universe, so it is not written that the "darkness" covered the "earth", because the "darkness" was upon the bottom of the universe, while the earth is shown as something created by God, so why must God let the "darkness" cover His creation after it is written: "...This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:"(1 John 5:1-6)?!, because that "darkness" in the Bible is actually the negative side of the uncaused divine (nature) i.e. the other(negative) god that is a first enemy of the true God...
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