Do you believe God has preserved his words in any one place in any one Greek/Hebrew text or any translation?
Or are all our bibles subject to error?
How do we determine what is error and what is truth?
Who/What is your final authority?
Please refrain from attacking the King James bible and just answer the questions as honestly as you can.
I believe the purpose of inspiration was to produce originals that were without error AND to provide a self-defining sentence, paragraph, chapter, book and overall context for the words used.
In the transmission of these originals through copying and translating this self-defining context is transmitted. Minor copying and translator errors do not affect this self-defining contextual format as comparing scripture with scripture provides the proper understanding.
For example, take an afgan and look at it. You can see an overall pattern as well as immediate patterns within the afgan. If another person took it and either through wear or negligence cut minor holes in it, another person could study the overall pattern and determine what should fill the holes. Likewise, with Greek and hebrew copies and the minor differences between them can be studied and determined either what should be the proper translation or at least what should be rejected as the proper fill for such a hole. Likewise, with translations of the Greek and Hebrew copies into other languages. The contextual pattern is transferred into the other langauge and by studying the copies in connection with the translation the proper understanding of minor holes can be determined.
Since even the most radical scholars don't challenge over 98% of the Biblical text as faithful to the originals the only less than 2% is disputed. In that less than 2% most are differences of word orders, or omission of definite articles and other minor points that affect no teaching of scripture when interpreted within the contextual pattern. The very few real problems are not significant to overrule the vast amount of scripture on any given Biblical teaching.
However, in regard to transmission lines there are two major lines (1) Traditional or the Majority line of transmission and (2) The Critical line of transmission. Scholars do not deny that the Majority line of transmission is much more consistent with itself and the critical line is much more inconsistent with itself as there are many more problems and differences in this line of transmission. Moreover, this line of transmission is not found between the 4th and 16th century thus leaving only the Majority line of transmission in that period. I believe the Majority line of transmission is the better line, as it is the line used by the free church movement between the 4th and 16th century and continued to be the line of transmission used by God between the 16th and 18th century by evangelicals. The Critical textual line was found and used by those who routinely denied inspiration of the Scriptures and placed secular uninspired history over the scriptures as final authority in interpretation.
Those translations based upon the Majority line of transmission regardless of what language it is translate into provide the best translations of the scripture and make it far easier to understand when properly translated according to the contextual pattern.
Hence, the Bible provides its own contextual pattern of interpretation established by inspiration in the originals. Faithful and diligent study of the Bible regardless whether it is a copy of the originals or a translation of copies of the originals is profitable so that the man of God can be throughly/thoroughly furnished in all doctrine, correction, instruction in righteousness and IS the Word of God.
