Are you amazed at how well the bible is written given it's ancient origins

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When you have a society where words are the main way to transmit knowledge, I feel that in many cases people take it seriously and are good at it, regardless of “education level”. So they just tend to be good at it.

Sort of like how in oral cultures people you get people who have memorized huge works of oral history and stories. Because they have to.

If you want a real trip, look at writings from the 19th century. The language used in newspapers and letters from people from all socio-economic levels would send people today running for a dictionary.
 
I’m not surprised at all. It was inspired by the Holy Spirit and not by man.
 
There are a lot of amazing things about the Bible.

The Jewish Publication Society Commentary on Genesis points out how in the first creation account in Genesis, the verses have either seven hebrew words or a multiple of seven hebrew words. So, the emphasis on the number seven is greatly dissolved in the translation to English.

The same commentary series on the book of Numbers (which the Jews name for the first several words in the text as “In the Wilderness”) has a short but in-depth analysis of the chiastic structure of the Torah, which is not lost in English, but is seldom reported in your average Catholic English Bible. Actually, it was not discovered by Jewish scholars, but by Christian scholars who published their findings in some journal of the Southwest Pacific Islands. That is really an amazing insight into the literary structure of the Torah – certainly not the result of some “explosion in the print shop.” Far from it, it show unequivocally the hands of the redactors of the Torah.

The repeated chiasms of larger and smaller scope actually provide a means for testing the long-term integrity of the text (from scribal errors, etc.)

My depth of knowledge of these subjects is limited to what I read in the commentary series.
 
ARSpade said:
When you have a society where words are the main way to transmit knowledge, I feel that in many cases people take it seriously and are good at it, regardless of “education level”. So they just tend to be good at it.

Sort of like how in oral cultures people you get people who have memorized huge works of oral history and stories. Because they have to.

If you want a real trip, look at writings from the 19th century. The language used in newspapers and letters from people from all socio-economic levels would send people today running for a dictionary.
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Even the language used in the founding documents of this nation! It surprises me that Pope John Paul 2 could recite from memory whole sections of Scripture in several languages.
 
The Bible is a very interesting book just as a text; many writers, many different time periods, different forms of language and such.

People criticize the Bible. But usually these are goofs just repeating **** they heard from somebody on TV.

If you look at other extant writings from the period, the Bible is remarkable.
 
SJacob7 said:
I’m not surprised at all. It was inspired by the Holy Spirit and not by man.
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Inspired by God, undeniably, but given the inherent weaknesses of man who put the quill to parchment, I think what the OP is saying the integrity of the document is amazing, despite the few errors that have occurred through numerous transcriptions and translations.
 
Robert_Sock said:
What was the education level back then?

LOVE! ❤️
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Not at all. In fact the ancient peoples were probably more intelligent than we because the gene pool was less degraded. Remember, in those days only the genetically superior survived.

Linus2nd
 
"Thousands of years before scientific explanation, the Bible was the very first text ever to describe the earth as a sphere; “It is He that sitteth upon the sphere of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as locusts: He that stretcheth out the heavens as nothing, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in” (Isaiah 40:22). Likewise, the Bible is the very first text ever to describe the earth as free floating in space; “He stretched out the north over the empty space, and hangeth the earth upon nothing” (Job 26:7).

ArguingWithAtheists.com/Pages/Bible_References.htm
 
Education is really not the point. We have to remember that the Bible is the “Inspired Word of God.” However, most people were not educated “back then” so at least in the context of being able to write, it is a wonder and that means that very few could contribute to the content of the Bible other than through oral stories over time.

The entire structure of the Bible is amazing, and the fact that those who wrote it were open to the inspiration of God in the first place. Prior to the written word of God people did have to rely on the oral stories passed down through generations. For me that is what is really amazing. It took several hundred years for the Bible to be written, so that the content would remain “Pure” throughout that time span is remarkable.
 
ARSpade said:
When you have a society where words are the main way to transmit knowledge, I feel that in many cases people take it seriously and are good at it, regardless of “education level”. So they just tend to be good at it.

Sort of like how in oral cultures people you get people who have memorized huge works of oral history and stories. Because they have to.

If you want a real trip, look at writings from the 19th century. The language used in newspapers and letters from people from all socio-economic levels would send people today running for a dictionary.
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You are so correct. This is one reason I don’t care much for new versions of the Bible and other writings. Our not so distant relatives had a much better command and understanding of language than people have now. That is not a good thing.

Some of the materials my great grandparents where expected to understand would send most people running to hide today. In fact I am pretty sure most would not understand what they just read. It is a shame.
 
Cricket2 said:
You are so correct. This is one reason I don’t care much for new versions of the Bible and other writings. Our not so distant relatives had a much better command and understanding of language than people have now. That is not a good thing.

Some of the materials my great grandparents where expected to understand would send most people running to hide today. In fact I am pretty sure most would not understand what they just read. It is a shame.
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A few months ago on either yahoo.com or gmail.com there was a quiz to see if you could understand some things 5th graders might have been taught 100 years ago. And you’re correct. I wanted to hide my face in shame, there were words I didn’t even know the PRONUNCIATION of?😊
 
Neofight said:
Inspired by God, undeniably, but given the inherent weaknesses of man who put the quill to parchment, I think what the OP is saying the integrity of the document is amazing, despite the few errors that have occurred through numerous transcriptions and translations.
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Thanks. That’s exactly what I had in mind. 👍

LOVE! ❤️
 
Nelka said:
:confused:
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It is amazing when translated from one language to another, that a document can mean the same in the language being translated from as the language being translated TO! Even in recent months, things that Pope Francis has said publicly have been “translated” into something he might not have originally meant, speaking in Spanish or Italian and being translated into English.🤷
 
Linusthe2nd said:
Not at all. In fact the ancient peoples were probably more intelligent than we because the gene pool was less degraded. Remember, in those days only the genetically superior survived.
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Then who were all of the handicap people that were healed by Jesus?
 
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