The Bible should not be taken literally.  It is just good literature that has been passed down from generation to generation.

Nobody really knows what the Bible originally said.  All of the text was written many years after the events happened, thus causing human memories to fade with time.  Plus, it has been translated into so many languages that each time this happened, more of the original text was lost in translation.

None of the original Hebrew text exists any longer, so everything you read that’s placed “back” into Hebrew is at least the second translation from the Greek language.  Also, since certain letters of the Hebrew alphabet do not exist in Greek, a perfect Hebrew text cannot possibly exist.

Anybody can use the Bible and find things written that support their personal beliefs, so basically you can make it say whatever you want it to say.

Etc., etc., etc….  I’m sure you could cite other comments that you’ve heard of why it’s a fools errand to read the Bible with the false hope of it being a credible source of information.  If you do, you must also believe in pixie dust and unicorns.  The snarky condescension that is so often the hallmark the “enlightened” class among us may make them feel smug and superior, but unfortunately, it doesn’t rebut the facts contained in scripture (if you know where to look).  We can begin with the false claim that the original Hebrew text has been “lost” to history.

The first Biblical author was Moses, who wrote the first five books, often called the “Torah” or “Pentateuch”, consisting of Genesis to Deuteronomy.  Already, in the book of Deuteronomy, Moses had instituted the important task of preserving scripture for future generations.

Deut. 31:24-26–“And it came to pass, when Moses had made an end of writing the words of this law in a book, until they were finished,  ²⁵ That Moses commanded the Levites, which bare the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, saying,  ²⁶ Take this book of the law, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of Yahweh your Elohim, that it may be there for a witness against thee.”

The tribe of Levi was responsible for preserving what Moses had written.  Exact copies were made and–to prevent errors–every line was counted word for word.  Then, another person had to make sure that the middle letter on every line was the exact same on both the original and the copy.  The Levites who were responsible for making these copies were called “Scribes”, literally meaning “writers”.

2 Chron. 34:13–“Also they were over the bearers of burdens, and were overseers of all that wrought the work in any manner of service: and of the Levites there were scribes, and officers, and porters.“

In the centuries that followed, and many other books were written which comprise today’s Old Testament, these same Scribes diligently made perfect copies of all these holy texts.  By the mid-10th century B.C.E., King Solomon had constructed the Temple in Jerusalem and from that point forward, it contained each “master copy” of all scripture, not the “only” copy of scripture.

When that temple was destroyed in 587 B.C.E, and Israel was taken into captivity in Babylon, we did not lose any of those holy writings.  The Scribes continued to make perfect copies and distributed those scrolls to their fellow captives.  The time of captivity finally ended in 516 B.C.E., and they returned to their homeland with all of the holy texts intact.

Soon, in the following century, after all of the books that comprise today’s Old Testament were completed, the prophet Ezra was ordered by the King of Persia to return to Jerusalem and to bring all the Commandments and Statutes of Yahweh with him.

Ezra 7:11–“Now this is the copy of the letter that the king Artaxerxes gave unto Ezra the priest, the scribe, even a SCRIBE of the words of the Commandments of Yahweh, and of his Statutes to Israel [a.k.a.: all of existing holy text]….  ¹³ I make a decree, that all they of the people of Israel, and of his priests and Levites, in my realm, which are minded of their own freewill to go up to Jerusalem, go with thee.  ¹⁴ Forasmuch as thou art sent of the king, and of his seven counsellors, to enquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem, according to the law of thy Elohim which is in thine hand;”

In order for all of the law to have been “in his hand”, it had to have been in written form.  King Artaxerxes demanded even more of Ezra than this.  He demanded that Ezra take those same written words in his hand and use them to teach others what they mean.

Ezra 7:25–“And thou, Ezra, after the wisdom of thy Elohim, that is IN THINE HAND, set magistrates and judges, which may judge all the people that are beyond the river, all such as know the laws of thy Elohim; and teach ye them that know them not.”

Afterward, for the next five centuries, the Scribes of the tribe of Levi continued their task of making perfect copies of all scripture all the way up to the time of Yahshua’s ministry.  Having spent centuries making perfect copies of scripture in exact detail, the Scribes knew how to “create” copies, but they had long since forgotten how to understand the “content” of what those words said.  This is why they were so strongly criticized by Yahshua in the book of Matthew.

Matt. 23:23–“ Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.”

The Scribes of the tribe of Levi were so committed to making perfect copies of scripture, they had lost sight of what scripture is all about!  The WEIGHTIER matters are the actual message of scripture.  It is clear, from Yahshua’s comment, that all of the “Old Testament” existed at that time.  If any portions of the Law, the Writings or the Prophets were incomplete, his criticism would have been that they “ought to have preserved those writings”.  Since it IS preserved it is NOT “undone”.  I know, that’s a double-negative, but it expresses exactly what Yahshua said in this instance.

So much for the assertion that portions of the Old Testament have been lost.  What about the books of the New Testament?  Weren’t they written long after the fact and the authors had to base their books on a distant memory?

No–the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were all written in real-time, on-the-spot, as if the events were being recorded by a court stenographer.  These first four books were not written sometime after Yahshua had died and returned to heaven, as most people would surmise.  They were written–as required by Jewish law–to record Yahshua’s ministry as it was happening, not at some later date.

While Yahshua was in human form, he had to be obedient to all of the existing law that Ezra had codified and that the Scribes maintained.  To hold him accountable, at least one Scribe followed Yahshua everywhere he went to record his every word and every movement.

Matt. 8:18-20–“Now when Yahshua saw great multitudes about him, he gave commandment to depart unto the other side.  ¹⁹ And a certain scribe came, and said unto him, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest.  ²⁰ And Yahshua saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.”

Most people read this verse to mean life would not be comfortable if you were determined to follow Yahshua, so you should prepare yourself for an uncertain future filled with many hardships.  But the most important lesson in this brief passage is verse 19.  This provides a hint of how dedicated the scribe was, determined to follow Yahshua anywhere he went, or one of his peers recording every step of the way.  Thus, we don’t have to draw an incorrect conclusion that the New Testament was written long after Yahshua was gone.  It was written as the events happened.

One might ask, if scribes followed every movement of Yahshua throughout his ministry, then why are the New Testament gospels so relatively short?  Wouldn’t there have been many volumes of information that ought to have been passed down into scripture for our consumption?  John answers this question with the summation of his gospel, here:

John 21:25–“And there are also many other things which Yahshua did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.”  And THAT comment explains why the life and ministry of Yahshua is only provided to us in an abbreviated narrative.

In fact, Luke also makes it clear that there were already written documents in existence when he began his gospel.  It was from these that he was able to carefully analyze and compose his own book and add details not found in the other gospels.

Luke 1:1-4–“Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us, [grabbed a pen and composed various narratives of real-time events]  ² Even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word; [“DELIVERED”, not “spoken”.  Only something written could be delivered.  Plus, they delivered their writings of what they were eyewitnesses to, not written years later.]  ³ It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus, [Luke is about to compose something ELSE that will also be in written form–his gospel]  ⁴ That thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed [he had read and studied earlier written materials].

In verse 1 above, you cannot “set forth a declaration” of things “spoken”…with your HAND.  Obviously, such “declarations” cannot be confused with things others have “said”.  Luke makes it absolutely clear that those declarations, created by many people’s hands, were already well known.  It was from these first documents that Luke was able to study, research and give a more thorough explanation of these same events.  It was his nature to do so, as his occupation of a doctor had required a higher education than most people.  He was bringing that experience and attention to detail to the creation of his gospel.

In verse 3, Luke says that he ALSO felt compelled to WRITE unto Theophilus, as the prior authors had already done.  Most readers quickly glance at these first four verses, as if it’s just a brief introduction to his gospel, then begin paying attention to the true “substance” of his book, starting in verse 5.  But to do so, they overlook this powerful point that Luke had already made.  Here, we have more proof that the books of the New Testament were not written decades after these events occurred.

This explains the four gospels, and perhaps the book of Acts, but what about all of the other books of the New Testament?  Those books were also preserved, fully intact, because of a brilliant plan from the Apostle Paul.  While he was a prisoner in Rome, Paul was fully aware that the Temple in Jerusalem would soon be destroyed.  There was no worry about the preservation of the Old Testament books for reasons I’ve already explained, but every original of the New Testament books (scrolls) were kept in the Temple, carefully attended to by the Scribes of the tribe of Levi.  Paul knew he must have all of those “books” removed from the Temple before it was too late.  So, he instructed Timothy to get them.

2 Tim. 4:13–“The cloke that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with thee, and THE BOOKS, but ESPECIALLY THE PARCHMENTS.”

Did Paul ask Timothy to bring him the latest edition of “Cuneiform For Dummies”?  Was it first editions of the “Iliad” and the “Odyssey”?  Of course not.  Paul was determined to prevent all of the recently written New Testament books from being destroyed.  Obviously, this would have included all 14 of his books, but without a doubt it would have also included every other book written in the 30+ years since Yahshua’s ministry.   But, there was one huge problem.

The Temple was being watched by Roman guards.  No Hebrew items were permitted to leave the Temple.  So, the only way that any of Paul’s books or the other N.T. books could be taken out was if they were in a different language than Hebrew.  Much earlier, Paul had devised a plan to have scribes translate all of the New Testament into Greek.  Paul did not wait until the last possible moment, when it might have been too late and all of these books would have been lost to history.  He actually came up with his plan a decade earlier to do this very thing.  With every parchment written in Greek, Timothy would have no problem bringing these written materials out of the Temple and past the Roman guards, and thus preserving for all time these sacred books.  In fact, Paul even outlined, in exact detail, how this task was to be done in the book of 1 Corinthians.

1 Cor. 4:6–“And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes; that ye might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another.“

You don’t see it?  I don’t blame you; almost nobody fully understands the huge impact of this verse when you read it in English.  But if we look at this verse in Greek, a totally new thought is revealed.  The  expression “I have in a figure transferred TO myself…” in Greek is Έχω μεταφερθεί σε μια φιγούρα στον εαυτό μου, pronounced: “meteschEmatisa eis emauton…”.  This Greek expression, exactly transliterated into English, is “I-transfer-in-a-figure into myself…”  Paul is not saying that HE was somehow “transferred into a figure”.  That would just be silly.  No, in this verse he wasn’t talking about HIMSELF.  He was talking about WHAT he wanted “transferred”.  The things he wanted “transferred” are perfectly identified at the end of this verse: “that you might learn in us not to think of men ABOVE THAT WHICH IS WRITTEN.”

Still don’t see it?  Paul has given very specific instructions that the WRITTEN text of holy scripture needed to be “transferred” into a different language.  The “figures” he was talking about were the physical shapes of the letters from the Hebrew alphabet into the Greek alphabet.  THESE “figures” were what Paul insisted be transferred from one language to the next.  It was the written text that needed to be carefully re-written into Greek.  By doing so, this would make all of the holy scriptures portable and safe from destruction.

Scribes and Notaries carefully completed this task well in advance, and when the time came that Paul understood the Temple was soon doomed to destruction, his brilliant plan worked perfectly.  100% of all New Testament text made it out of Judah and was brought to Paul.  Even though it was all in Greek, this near-perfect translation is why we can be confident that today, 2,000 years later, all of scripture is intact and accurate.