New Testament Textual Criticisms

[txag007]

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I'm afraid I don't follow you entirely. Are you saying that all Scriptural doctrines and facts follow logically from the pure text?

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Yes, but let me back up. The interpretative authority which allows us to understand Scripture is the Holy Spirit. The Bible says when we become a Christian, God implants the Law in our hearts through the power of the Holy Spirit. I don't know how familiar you are with Christian theology, but you become a Christian by admitting you are a sinner, believing and confessing that you believe Jesus died for your sins, and asking Jesus "into your heart". When you do this, the Holy Spirit actually does enter your heart and live inside you. This same Holy Spirit is the interpretative authority which guides us in understanding Scripture.

My answer earlier was 'reason'. What I meant was that God designed our minds with the ability to reason. One of the characteristics that separates Christianity from other religions is that what we know about God is constantly growing. As we learn more about our world, under the Biblical belief that God designed it, we learn more about God. We are therefore able to tweak our interpretations of Scripture to fit this new knowledge.

This doesn't mean that the texts are purposefully edited from their originals. It just means that man's interpretations of these texts is sometimes flawed and needs updating, and there's a lot we still don't know about God.

One more thing: one of the criticisms that often appear on these boards concerning Christians is that if ever we are confronted with something that contradicts or conflicts with something the Bible says, we just reinterpret, and just like that the problem is fixed. There are two things about this on which I’d like to comment. First, I don’t believe this occurs on the same level to which it is accused to happen. Most doctrines of Christianity haven’t changed in hundreds and hundreds of years. And secondly, to know whether this criticism is valid (and obviously I believe it’s not) requires the application of reason, as well. One must look at the passage of scripture in question and reconcile the dispute in his own mind as to whether or not the criticism is or is not reasonable.

I hope this helps.