Free will and the bible

[SpaceGirl]

If I put this in the wrong place I am sorry! There are so many forums I don’t know where everything goes.

Question:

Do we believe the the bible is 100% GODS word? Has HE protected it from all the evil people who have had their hands on it or interpreted it to us.
What about translators, would he protect it from error ? If we have free will how could it he protected form such things. Willing or unwilling?

 

[Aureole]

Glory to Jesus Christ.

The Bible is 100% God’s Word, it couldn’t be otherwise since it was inspired by the Holy Spirit. This does not prevent people from misusing the Bible since, as you mentioned, God created us with free will. Because of this God allows us to even twist and attempt to shape His Word toward evil purposes.

Translators are not protected from error, that can be seen by taking two different translations and reading them. The Bible was written for the most part in Greek and Hebrew and there are words in both languages that don’t have an English equivalent. Because of this many translators have to use words that inadequetely relay what the passage says. Of course there are also instances of translator bias where they insert their own beliefs into the text of the translation. Some translations are overall better than others and some are better for some purposes and worse in other.

God bless you.

 

[Eileen_T]

That’s why the CC has been accused of burning Bibles in past times. They burnt the ones that had been translated badly to protect the purity of the Word of God.

Some of today’s translations could do with burning.

 

[Steven_Merten]

If I put this in the wrong place I am sorry! There are so many forums I don’t know where everything goes.

Question:

Do we believe the the bible is 100% GODS word? Has HE protected it from all the evil people who have had their hands on it or interpreted it to us.
What about translators, would he protect it from error ? If we have free will how could it he protected form such things. Willing or unwilling?

Hello Space Girl,

The Holy Spirit did not protect the bible (in Protestant form) from being distorted by Martin Luther’s free will.

 

[FCEGM]

If I put this in the wrong place I am sorry! There are so many forums I don’t know where everything goes.

Question:

Do we believe the the bible is 100% GODS word? Has HE protected it from all the evil people who have had their hands on it or interpreted it to us.
What about translators, would he protect it from error ? If we have free will how could it he protected form such things. Willing or unwilling?

Yes, the bible is 100% God’s word; i.e., it was all inspired by Him. But God’s Word is not 100% the Bible. Jesus Christ is the Word made Flesh and the Bible doesn’t contain all that He said and did during His life on earth. Catholicism believes in the living Word of God, not just in the words on a page in Sacred Scripture. The Church is the extension of His Incarnation in time and place and is given the responsibility of conserving the fullness of Christ’s self-revelation to mankind beit in written or spoken form through Sacred Tradition.

 

[Della]

Question:

Do we believe the the bible is 100% GODS word?

Yes. However, this does not mean that it can be simply opened and read by all and sundry and understood perfectly. That is where the Magisterium of the Church (all the bishops in union with the pope) comes in. Jesus gave the charism of infallibility to his Church in the persons of his Apostles and their successors. It is they who determine what God’s word means, not just anyone who reads it.

Has HE protected it from all the evil people who have had their hands on it or interpreted it to us.

No, God has not protected the Bible from evil people who would use it for their own ends. Books cannot be protected in that way, but once again, this is why Jesus established his Church–to bring God’s word to man pure and unadulterated.

What about translators, would he protect it from error ? If we have free will how could it he protected form such things. Willing or unwilling?

Translators are not given the charism of infallibility in translating which is why the Magisterium of the Church decides which translations may be used in our parishes and for the devotion of the faithful.

 

[inJESUS]

If I put this in the wrong place I am sorry! There are so many forums I don’t know where everything goes.

Question:

 

[Steven_Merten]

I once saw an add for a bible on CD in Greek and Hebrew. I thought this would be interesting. The idea behind having a Greek and Hebrew bible is that it would logically leave out errors in translating the bible to English.

I read down a little further in the add. It said King James Version. I had to chuckle. So they took a bible translation (KJV) that was written a thousand years or so after the first bible, a version (KJV) that even many Protestants consider has a vast amount of flaws, and they translated the English King James translation into the Greek and Hebrew languages. Plenty of room for error there.