Bible "edited"?  Whats the deal with all the "conspiracy theory" nuts out there?!?
446861
First, as is obvious from the above comments, people don't read historical documents.  They hear something from a preacher and accept it as true.\n\nSecond, I believe the primary source of the current conspiracy theory on the bible is Chick Publications who do publish actively pamphlets on a Catholic Conspiracy to alter the bible.\n\nThird, in one case a denomination really did edit the bible.  The Jehovah's Witnesses have mistranslated, or from their point of view correctly translated, the bible.\n\nFourth, the Deuterocanonical books are a source of confusion.  Luther removed James, Jude, Revelations, Tobit, 1 & 2 Maccabees, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, parts of Esther and Daniel.  Lutherans put James, Jude and Revelations back after the Ecumenical Council at Trent.  The other books remain out of their canon.  The problem comes with the novel idea of sola scriptura.  Like predestination, it lacks any precedent prior to the 16th century.  It is a purely man made, unscriptural doctrine and goes against all prior Christian thought.  However, if you decide to use sola scriptura as your decision tool, then what makes it into scripture matters at a profoundly different level than in the older forms of Christianity because it alters the role of scripture completely.  This means that if you base your appeal on scripture and someone is using a different set, the charge that "they" edited it comes up pretty easily.\n\nThe process of choosing books was in process long before Constantine and was really triggered by the presbyter Marcion's heretical sect forcing orthodox Christianity to look at the books read during the Mass.  The current list was promulgated by Pope Innocent and Damasus following the local synod at Carthage's work and the synod at Hippo Regius and possibly a synod at Rome as well as prior work by other of the Fathers.\n\nConstantine's role was somewhat practical.  The books were in separate form and most congregations could not afford all the books and there wasn't agreement until the year 405 what books should be in it.  His role was to push for a single set of books and that the church spend to get them.  He returned three centuries of seized property of Christians tried and executed for their faith.  He didn't make Christianity the state religion, but in handing back all that property and making it legal, the effect was about the same.\n\nFinally, until the late 19th century many Protestant translations were quite poor.  A simple example of this comes from the "scriptural" Christmas carol.  The verse, "Peace on Earth, good will toward men," is not in the bible.  It is "Peace on Earth toward men of goodwill."  It wasn't really the translator's fault.  They lacked access to the oldest documents, which were in Catholic and Orthodox hands.  When they were permitted access they began retranslating the bible and found that their bibles often matched Catholic bibles.  This triggered a big response in many Protestant denominations because key verses disappeared.  Some extreme denominations lost their justification for existance.  So, it wasn't really "editing," so much as correcting and improving as the textual record improved.\n\nThat, while a long time ago, is retained in the oral traditions and memories of some modern Protestant groups.\n\nLike evolution, arguments about the trinity are arguments about sola scriptura.  Without sola scriptura, the evolution problem disappears as does the trinitarian problem.  If you take sola scriptura to its logical extreme, you have intelligent design, Christomonism, and bibliolatry.
521714
What is with the "metaphysical" thing on EVERY question so far?\n\nAnyway, I read the story yesterday. It is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard, and all the more reason religion has such a bad name and non-believers associate believers with crazy, zealous, bible thumpers. Sad.
918725
Ah ...the soft-shoe routine you can get from people who believe in the "inerrant" Bible - when a text clearly states something so awful that it must be re-re-reinterpreted.\n\nSo .. a word from our sponsor:\nIsiah 45:7 "I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and CREATE EVIL: I the LORD do all these things."\n\nAnd now let's hear the various (laughable) renditions of what "evil" means "in this context," or "the actual Hebrew means something totally different." - obviously it couldn't just mean "evil," .... could it? \n\nThere is no one answer to your question. Current theology, in a vain attempt at sidestepping the mystical trend that produced the citation above, holds that God did NOT do what He says He did, or that it's a "mystery to be revealed in the end to us all."
308106
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.  IT's a fabricated - fake - "document" of a big conspiracy.
179102
I'm glad to be on the bottom of this mess. So many people who know so little about the Bible, and say soooo much!\nIt isn't what God thinks---as though he owed you anything. It's what he did! creation is over with. Your a new comer.\n\nRead your Bible and discover the truth. There are those who can help you to understand what your reading, and alone, you will be led astray by interuptions, wandering mind, all forms of things you forgot to do. Even sleep. All Satan's tools to keep you from finding the truth in God's word.\nA literal place-Heaven? Jesus said there was. Hell, meant for Satan and certain others but not for mankind in general.
517394
The second edition is very good.  So, I read all of the above and I have way too much in my head to try and type it all here.  All I will say is I have no "conspiracy theory."  I have questions...many, many questions.  "Loose Change" does just the same thing, asks questions.  I'm going to a conference put on by Alex Jones next month in Los Angeles and the young guys that made "Loose Change" will be there, as well.  It should be interesting.\nThe Popular Mechanics article is bunk.  http://answers.yahoo.com/question/?qid=1006051612475&pa=FZB6NXXtFWMW0cLWwu4T8Vz6aiAvUt4M43cHcOeaifCbrDhBhhA- (My rebuttle.)
1114929
Then obviously all of us Egyptologists are part of a vast conspiracy to all somehow come up with similar translations of the same text independently of one another, defend those translations based on the premises of the grammar that has been worked out over the past 200 years, and not ONE of us has broken ranks and told the world.  Nor have any of the other philologists who frequently work with Egyptologists noticed or pointed out the discrepancy. \n\nDamn, I wish I'd known that we didn't know what the hell we were doing.  It would have saved me a lot of late nights translating "The Ship-Wrecked Sailor"; "The Marriage Scarab of Amenhotep III;" the various commemorative stelae of the Tutmosids and Amenhoteps; "The Tale of the Eloquent Peasant;" "The Hekanakht Letters"; various medical texts and any number of other texts.  Not to mention having to carefully identifiy each part of speech, explain verb forms, and defend my translation in front of several other students and my professors.  And I really could have done without looking up words in the Worterbuch:  going from glyphs, to transliteration, to German, and then to English sucks.  Obviously, my entire graduate career has been a waste of time.  \n\nStrange how all those translations worked out almost perfectly and made sense seeing as how we really have no idea what we're doing...
1013457
Kelis who?\nNever heard of him (or her, or it).\n\nTo compare a video to printed matter is ridiculous.\nTo compare Kelis (who?) to the Bible is so far beyond comprehension that I really have to question your state of mind.\n\nWhat the hell have you been smoking?
499970
Yes, just as crazy.\nThe "Bible rib story" is pretty fooking retarded as well. Guess it lies in personal comprehension. Simple people need simple answers.
531741
Dear Lord, you have to realize that the book is FICTION. F-I-C-T-I-O-N!!! Do you honestly believe that Dan Brown is the keeper of the truth? NO! The Bible is God's word, not The Da Vinci Code. C'mon.
208161
If you are looking to find some great conspiracy you won't find it.  There is one book in the New Testament that we don't know who wrote it, the book of Hebrews.  We have some educated guesses, though.  Other than that, we know who wrote the New Testament books.  Even the most critical atheist literary critics agree that the New Testament is one of the most authenticated anceint writtings we have.  \n\nThe Old Testament is a bit harder to authenticate, but no more than any other anceint writting.  There is more actually more evidence to support that Moses wrote the first 5 books of the Bible, for example, than there is evidence to support that Homer wrote the Illiad.  And there is MUCH more reason to believe that it is, essentially, unchanged.  We know the exact process that was used in copying the Old Testament books, and we know that the books were often used for 400 years or more before a new copy was made.  \n\nI recommend "How we Got the Bible" by Lightfoot if you want to know more about this amazing piece of literature and how it has survived thousands of years.
410921
I've always held the belief that the Bible has been changed to fit the beliefs of whoever commissioned the latest translation.  It's no surprise to me at all that some of the stories were tacked on later as some were removed when they didn't fit in with what was being taught at the time.  \n\nWhy is the Bible supposedly above scrutiny?  Why is it that when people question whether or not it was written and re-written by men, people freak out?  In this day and age, if somebody were to claim they were divinely inspired to write a holy book, we'd call them nuts.  But, we should just believe that this particular group of men really were divinely inspired?
1014272
Nostradamus had predictions that has come true so far and as far as the bible goes, No one knows. The bible was man written. How do you know that those men just had to sit down and figure out where we came from and that so they did. And today those words are read by many. But it is still a theory. Not a truth. Some chose to believe it, and some don't.
467154
I think the site is very interesting. Conservative Christians believe the bible is the word of god, which is obviously not true, as people here have said, there is a difference between the old and new testiment... therefore they ignore parts of the bible, so people DO ignore some of gods words! I have always wondered how people decided what parts of the bible they to ignore and what parts they follow... and have posted a lot of questions about that.. no one has an answer, they say you feel it in your heart or through god... all this explains why in the past Christians were so racist and destroyed so many cultures... and why they are homophobic now. They are affraid to even question the bible, but by ignoring things (like the old testiment) they not only question, they judge and reject. The site is worth a read... as it comes to the conclusion.. lets just reject the lot!\nChristianity is like this weight dragged along by humanity, reinforcing old out dating philosophies. We drag them along.. and say to them... slavery is bad.. they argue its in the bible, its ok... then after time the accept, because its from society where they get their beliefs not the bible.
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wait,  you think them getting info from a picture and some "papers" are ridiculous?\n\nDoesn't someone walking on water sound ridiculous?  water to wine?  dying and rising on  3rd day?  raining toads?  an ark big enough to hold two of every animal on earth?  a "devil" in the form of a serpent?  Does none of this sound ridiculous to you?\n\nNow I'm not saying the bible is wrong or that the da vinci code is right, but you have to keep your mind open.  Because if people didn't keep an open mind, the bible wouldn't be as widely believed in as it is now.
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How long do you think it will be before a person or group successfully reassembles the bible to include recently discovered religious texts that they feel better suit modern times?\n\nNever.  For all practical purposes, the Bible as now been “set in stone.”\n\nWhat do you think about this?\n\nI believe that those who tend to be the loudest on this topic have either done the least amount of study or have very extensive time invested in their current belief.  Most claim as articles of fact pieces of information which are not true.  Less than one in one billion (if any) could give me that actual names of the men who met to determine which books and works were included in either Testament.  Yet they propose that these men were inspired by G-d to make these choices for all time.  They are seem to ignore that most works which were not included were systematically searched for and burned as heretical.  The mere fact that any remain after 2000 years is a miracle.\n\nWhat will the cultural/spiritual ramifications of this be?\n\nA continuation of our current position.  As beautiful as the KJV is to read, it is flawed.  This fact has been shown over and over again by scholars who do know the languages involved.  Yet look at the number of supporters that it has.  The sad part of this is that many who claim to understand the meaning of the KJV of the Bible (which is a very serious and metaphysical work) do not understand and cannot follow a simple Shakespearean play (which is light entertainment) that was written at about the same time.  What does this yell you about the ignorance of humans?  And ignorance is bliss.\n\nIf God is really solely responsible for the bible's contents why does he have hundreds of millions of Christians using different versions?  And how would a new version be any worse?\n\nThose humans who claim to be privileged to the plans or purposes of Divinity are deluded.  No human has that capability.  Only Divinity is perfect.  Humanity is arrogant, not understanding that the message is important, not the delivery of the message.  Those that must quote scripture for every answer (especially those claiming that it is the Word of G-d) are probably idolaters.  They have worshipped the written word instead of Divinity.  Each believing that they are right and all others wrong.  They are the cause of the fragmentation of the Church and people like them are usually too stubborn to see their own sins.\n\nA new version of the Bible is not needed.  These recently discovered and translated works should be made available to the widest reading audience for study and debate.  At least by those who are capable of understanding that Humanity did not have the message right then and still is lacking in understanding.  This is human nature.  Divinity is the only proper judge; and Divine Judgment, unlike human opinion and understanding, IS perfect.
1176563
Wow! Some of the people that gave you answers should learn to be a little more excepting of other religions! Mormons probably think that their veiws are a load of crap too! Anyway, I think that you are over looking the fact that changes in the bible did cause a bit of controversy. And I think that maybe since The Book of Mormon hasn't been changed alot in the past (if at all), then they don't want to ruin such a holy and unchanged thing.