I completely agree that it being tainted is no excuse for not reading. But is also means apocryphal texts like the Gospel of Thomas should also find it's way into the mainstream of Christian teaching. It was abridged for a reason.
The only way to make the claim "the Bible has been tampered with" is if one already knows what the original text said in the first place.
One doesn't know what a crooked line is until they have a straight line to compare all other lines with. Same with counterfeit money. The only way one knows a dollar bill is a counterfeit (or has been changed) is to already know what a true dollar looks like.
To say "the Bible has been changed" is tacitly admitting that you know what the original said.
It's a self defeating argument.
The issue of why some books were admitted and others were not (the Cannon) is an entirely different discussion.
All Scripture is God breathed (2 Tim. 3:16). As Jesus said, "Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out from the mouth of God (Matt. 4:4). Uzziah thought that God needed help to protect His testimony from falling. He was fried for his trouble (2 Sam. 6:6-7). God was able to protect His testimony in the house of enemy idols (1 Sam. 5). I'm sure He is still watching over His word. What should be in the Bible is there, and what should not be there, is not there.
I completely agree that it being tainted is no excuse for not reading. But is also means apocryphal texts like the Gospel of Thomas should also find it's way into the mainstream of Christian teaching. It was abridged for a reason.
The only way to make the claim "the Bible has been tampered with" is if one already knows what the original text said in the first place.
One doesn't know what a crooked line is until they have a straight line to compare all other lines with. Same with counterfeit money. The only way one knows a dollar bill is a counterfeit (or has been changed) is to already know what a true dollar looks like.
To say "the Bible has been changed" is tacitly admitting that you know what the original said.
It's a self defeating argument.
The issue of why some books were admitted and others were not (the Cannon) is an entirely different discussion.
All Scripture is God breathed (2 Tim. 3:16). As Jesus said, "Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out from the mouth of God (Matt. 4:4). Uzziah thought that God needed help to protect His testimony from falling. He was fried for his trouble (2 Sam. 6:6-7). God was able to protect His testimony in the house of enemy idols (1 Sam. 5). I'm sure He is still watching over His word. What should be in the Bible is there, and what should not be there, is not there.
Amen!
Correction: Uzzah, not Uzziah.