If you like the idea of God directing (and who doesn't) then, consider, that perhaps he would allow the bible to be corrupted. Perhaps, in his infinite cleverness, there remains a kernel of truth under it all, a splinter, a remnant, a thread that the curious could pull upon. And just like we are experiencing now, the corruption leads to overreach, and arrogance, and in enough time, contradictions build. Then new readers come to it, and directed by God perhaps, they read first those kernels, and not those corruptions, and thereby they see the corruption as it casts its shadow on the truth. In doing all this God allows the metaphorical field of wheat and tares to grow until harvest... and only then, does the truth emerge, and become clear for everyone to see, when those weeds are finally removed, leaving but a field of truth, uh, I mean wheat, I am confusing my metaphors.
Jesus spoke in parables for a reason, maybe he needed the right setting for the meaning to become clear. //EDIT: and needed those to get past the censors. In my reading of the bible I always wonder what was left out. For example, Jesus (I prefer to say Yeshua) spoke to some fishermen at the start of the gospels, and they put down their nets "straight away" and followed him. But there is no mention of what he said. That gets me curious, all that remains is the relatively impenetrable parables, and they do not become clear until you have seen a good deal of the world and the corruption in it. Does not Yeshua's message REQUIRE corruption to be understood? A world of perfection has no use of it, there is no crucible of the soul without the struggle. //
I think God could have allowed the bible to be corrupted, for just such a time as this.
If you like the idea of God directing (and who doesn't) then, consider, that perhaps he would allow the bible to be corrupted. Perhaps, in his infinite cleverness, there remains a kernel of truth under it all, a splinter, a remnant, a thread that the curious could pull upon. And just like we are experiencing now, the corruption leads to overreach, and arrogance, and in enough time, contradictions build. Then new readers come to it, and directed by God perhaps, they read first those kernels, and not those corruptions, and thereby they see the corruption as it casts its shadow on the truth. In doing all this God allows the metaphorical field of wheat and tares to grow until harvest... and only then, does the truth emerge, and become clear for everyone to see, when those weeds are finally removed, leaving but a field of truth, uh, I mean wheat, I am confusing my metaphors.
Jesus spoke in parables for a reason, maybe he needed the right setting for the meaning to become clear. //EDIT: and needed those to get past the censors. In my reading of the bible I always wonder what was left out. For example, Jesus (I prefer to say Yeshua) spoke to some fishermen at the start of the gospels, and they put down their nets "straight away" and followed him. But there is no mention of what he said. That gets me curious, all that remains is the relatively impenetrable parables, and they do not become clear until you have seen a good deal of the world and the corruption in it. Does not Yeshua's message REQUIRE corruption to be understood? A world of perfection has no use of it, there is not crucible of the soul without the struggle. //
I think God could have allowed the bible to be corrupted, for just such a time as this.
If you like the idea of God directing (and who doesn't) then, consider, that perhaps he would allow the bible to be corrupted. Perhaps, in his infinite cleverness, there remains a kernel of truth under it all, a splinter, a remnant, a thread that the curious could pull upon. And just like we are experiencing now, the corruption leads to overreach, and arrogance, and in enough time, contradictions build. Then new readers come to it, and directed by God perhaps, they read first those kernels, and not those corruptions, and thereby they see the corruption as is casts its shadow on the truth. In doing all this God allows the metaphorical field of wheat and tares to grow until harvest... and only then, does the truth emerge, and become clear for everyone to see, when those weeds are finally removed, leaving but a field of truth, uh, I mean wheat, I am confusing my metaphors.
Jesus spoke in parables for a reason, maybe he needed the right setting for the meaning to become clear.
I think God could have allowed the bible to be corrupted, for just such a time as this.