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Criticism of the Holy Bible

Copyright © February 1, 2025 by Robert Wayne Atkins, P.E.
All Rights Reserved.

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Introduction

There are two basic types of criticism:

1. Helpful: Its purpose is to benefit an individual, organization, product, or process. Its primary objective is to enhance future achievements. An example would be a mother who is teaching her daughter how to make cookies from scratch using flour, sugar, baking powder, shortening, and salt.
   
   
2. Harmful: Its purpose is to destroy an individual, organization, product, or process. Its primary objective is to reduce or eliminate future achievements by making false statements about things such as integrity, reliability, or honesty. An example would be a newspaper that praises everything that is done by one political party and they do not report any of that political party's mistakes. But the same newspaper condemns everything that is done by another political party.
   

Since the early 1800s there have been hundreds of demon-inspired men who have criticized the Holy Bible in an effort to destroy the faith that Christians have in the Holy Bible as being the true and authentic Words of God Almighty.

This article will briefly examine some of these demonic attacks against the Holy Bible.

Let's begin by briefly examining the original Hebrew language and the original Greek language. I am not including the following review to suggest that anyone should learn Hebrew or Greek. I am including the following review so that we can better understand some of the challenges that the original translators had to deal with when they translated one of these languages into another language, such as English.

The vast majority of the people who have invested their time and their effort in translating the Holy Bible into English have been spirit-filled men. In my opinion, it would be inappropriate to criticize these men based on trivial issues such as their choice of a specific English word that has a variety of reasonable synonyms.

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The Original Hebrew Language

The Old Testament manuscripts were written primarily in the Hebrew language. However, a very, very small amount was written in Aramaic.

The Ancient Hebrew Manuscripts:

1. Alphabet: There are a total of 22 letters in the entire Hebrew alphabet.
   Consonants: All 22 Hebrew letters are consonants.
   Vowels: There are no vowels in the original Hebrew alphabet.
   
2. Upper and Lower Case Letters:
   Upper Case (Capital Letters): There are no upper case letters in the original Hebrew alphabet.
   Lower Case: All 22 Hebrew letters are lower case letters.
   
3. Punctuation: There are no punctuation symbols, such as a period, comma, parenthesis, quotation marks, etc. in the original Hebrew language.
   
4. Spacing: There was a very small space between each of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. But there was no spacing between words, or between sentences, in the original written Hebrew language. And there were no paragraphs.
   

In summary, an entire sentence written in the original Hebrew language would consist of one lone string of letters and all of those letters would be consonants, and they would all be lower case letters. And there would be no spaces between words or sentences.

However, the Hebrew manuscripts were originally read aloud to people. And the reader had previously memorized what the word sounded like when it was spoken with vowels. Therefore the reader would speak each word correctly and pause very briefly at the end of a sentence. This enabled the people who were listening to clearly understand what was written on the Hebrew manuscript.

In approximately 900 A.D. the Masoretes created a system of dots and dashes that represented the sounds of the Hebrew vowels. The Masoretes then added those dots and dashes to the printed Hebrew words in order to help people consistently and correctly pronounce the Hebrew words. They also added space between the words.

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The Original Greek Language

The New Testament manuscripts were written primarily in the Greek language.

The Ancient Greek Manuscripts:

1. Alphabet: There are a total of 24 letters in the entire Greek alphabet.
   Consonants: There are 15 single consonants and 2 double consonants.
   Vowels: There are 7 vowels in the Greek alphabet.
   
2. Upper and Lower Case Letters:
   Upper Case (Capital Letters): All the letters in the original Greek alphabet were capital letters.
   Lower Case: There were no lower case letters in the original Greek alphabet. Lower case letters were created sometime after 800 A.D. which was long after the Old Testament and New Testament Greek manuscripts were written.
   
3. Punctuation: There are no punctuation symbols, such as a period, comma, parenthesis, quotation marks, etc. in the original Greek language.
   
4. Spacing: There was a very small space between each of the letters of the Greek alphabet. But there was no spacing between words, or between sentences, in the original written Greek language. And there were no paragraphs.
   

The above was typical of most written languages, including Greek, prior to the invention of the printing press. In order to efficiently utilize the available space on a scroll (papyrus or parchment), or on a clay tablet, or on a stone, the words and sentences were written without any space between them and there were no punctuation symbols.

For example, an ancient Greek document would appear similar in form to the following English sentence:
HESAIDGOODNIGHTTHENHELAIDDOWNONTHEBEDABOUTTENMINUTESLATERHEWENTTOSLEEP

A person could modify the above to make it easier for people to read and understand by writing it as follows:
He said, "Good night." Then he laid down on the bed. About ten minutes later he went to sleep.

Adding spaces between the words and sentences, and using upper and lower case letters, and adding punctuation does not change the original meaning. It just makes it easier to read.

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The Old Testament

The word "canon" refers to the "list" of books that are considered to be divinely inspired by God and the books in that "list" are included in the Holy Bible.

The Jewish historian Josephus (37 A.D. to 100 A.D.) stated that the Old Testament canon that was used by the Jews of his day was consolidated into its final form by the prophet Ezra. Ezra did this sometime between 450 to 440 B.C.

The Old Testament books were first translated into the Greek language sometime between 285 to 247 B.C. and it was called the Greek Septuagint or the LXX (Translation of the Seventy).

In approximately 31 A.D. Jesus Christ accepted and authenticated all the books in the Old Testament canon in the following scripture verses:
Matthew 5:17-18 (New King James Version):
17 "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 18 For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled."

Since about 250 A.D. there has been almost universal agreement among Jews and Christians on which books were God inspired and therefore those books should be included as scripture in the Old Testament. A few other books, referred to as the Apocrypha, were considered to be reasonable sources of historical information but those books were not in the same category as inspired Hebrew scriptures. In other words, those other books were not considered to be flawless.

It should be mentioned that the Hebrew canon contains 24 books. And the Old Testament used by Protestant Christians contains 39 books.

Some of the books in the Hebrew canon that appeared as one book were separated into more than one book in the Protestant Christian canon as follows.

Comparison of Hebrew Old Testament Books and Protestant Old Testament Books

Name of Hebrew Book	Corresponding Names of Protestant Old Testament Books
1 Book = Samuel	2 Books = 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel
1 Book = Kings	2 Books = 1 Kings and 2 Kings
1 Book = Chronicles	2 Books = 1 Chronicles and 2 Chronicles
1 Book = Ezra	2 Books = Ezra and Nehemiah
1 Book = Minor Prophets	12 Books = Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi
19 Other Books	19 Other Books
24 = Total of All Books	39 = Total of All Books

It should also be mentioned that the Old Testament canon used by Catholics contains an additional seven Apocrypha books. And the Old Testament canon used by the Eastern Orthodox Church added two more Apocrypha books to the Catholic canon. As already mentioned above, the Apocrypha books were considered to be reasonable sources of historical information but those books have never been in the same spiritual category as the God inspired 24 books that are included in the Hebrew canon.

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The New Testament

In 170 A.D. the Muratorian Canon included 22 books in the New Testament but excluded Hebrews, James, 1 and 2 Peter, and 3 John.
In 363 A.D. the Council of Laodicea included 26 books in the New Testament but omitted Revelation. That council also certified the entire Old Testament canon.
In 367 A.D. the Council of Nicaea certified all 27 books in the New Testament as scripture including Revelation.
In 393 A.D. the Council of Hippo certified all 27 books in the New Testament as scripture including Revelation.
In 397 A.D. the Council of Carthage certified all 27 books in the New Testament as scripture including Revelation.

Each of the above councils used the following general guidelines to evaluate a book for inclusion in the New Testament:

1. Was the author of the book an apostle or very closely associated with an apostle (such as Mark, Luke, Jude, and James)?
   
2. Was the book widely accepted as scripture by the members of the Christian church (the Body of Christ)?
   
3. Was the doctrine in the book consistent with the rest of the Holy Bible?
   
4. Was there evidence in the book that the book was inspired by God? (This is one of the reasons the Apocrypha books were omitted from the canon.)
   
5. Was the book consistent with the high moral standards of God and the Holy Spirit?
   

However, even though hundreds of spirit-filled men participated in the above decisions, the final decision on which books to include in the Holy Bible was ordained by God Almighty before He created the heavens and the earth. God Almighty guided these spirit-filled men in making a decision that was consistent with His Holy Perfect Will. If a person does not believe this then that person does not truly believe in the God of the Holy Bible regardless of what that person may say.

It should also be mentioned that these spirit-filled men had access to information and documents that are not available to critics today, and that information can no longer be accessed more than 1,600 years later.

Even though the 66 books included in the Holy Bible were written over a period of about 1,500 years, the entire Bible is consistent in its thought and message from Genesis through Revelation.

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Objections to the Books Included in the Holy Bible

Any critic, regardless of his or her "official credentials," who says that a specific book should be omitted from the Holy Bible is saying that he or she is "more spirit-filled and more knowledgeable" when compared to the combined knowledge of all of the spirit-filled men who were guided by God Almighty in the past. In your opinion, is this the type of statement that would be made by a spirit-filled person? Or is it the type of statement that would be made by a demon-inspired person?

Anyone who says that God was not involved in the original canon selection process, or that God made a mistake in the canon selection process, does not have faith in the Holy Perfect God of the Holy Bible. God Almighty absolutely does not need that person's help in "fixing" His Holy Bible.

Today in the year 2025 there are hundreds of ancient handwritten manuscript copies of each of the books in the New Testament. Anyone who says that all of these copies should be ignored except for the one or two copies that they select is intentionally trying to deceive Christians.

The reasons why all the existing manuscripts should be considered are:

1. All the ancient manuscripts have gradually aged and each manuscript has become a little less readable in a few places on the manuscript. However, other places on that same manuscript are frequently in better condition.
   
2. All the ancient manuscripts were handwritten. It is extremely difficult to create a perfect handwritten copy of another handwritten document if that document contains more than 1,000 words. It is extremely difficult to proofread a handwritten document and verify that it is a perfect copy of another handwritten document. Therefore there is always a chance that an old manuscript may contain one or more unintentional copying errors. However, if several handwritten copies were made using the same original source document, and if all of those copies are compared, then any copying errors can be more easily identified.
   
3. If a word or sentence was not copied perfectly then this type of mistake was probably unintentional. A scribe or monk who only occasionally made this type of mistake would probably not lose his job but he would be reprimanded to be more careful in the future. And there was a chance that a missing word or a missing verse may not have been detected by the proofreader. Therefore, a missing word or verse was the most common type of mistake. However, if the mistake was detected then the manuscript would need to be cut into two pieces and the missing letters written on a new piece of manuscript that was attached between the original two pieces.
   
4. If new words or new sentences were added to a document then this would usually be done intentionally. This type of mistake would have been easy to detect by someone who was proofreading the document because the person doing the proofreading would have been very knowledgeable about the original content of the original manuscript. This type of deliberate error would probably have resulted in the scribe or monk losing his job and in his being cast out of the church. In addition, it was easy to fix this type of error because the "new words" could simply be blacked out by the proofreader. In other words, the chance of being able to successfully "add a verse" to a handwritten copy of a manuscript was extremely slim.
   

In the late 1900s there was a trend towards accepting the "oldest" manuscript as being the "best" manuscript regardless of how many documented errors had been discovered in that old manuscript. That one manuscript became the "standard" against which all other manuscripts were compared. Any verse that was not included in that old manuscript was labeled as being "missing" and if it was included in future translations of the bible then it was included against the "better judgment of the translators" and they included comments to that effect in their translation of the bible. It didn't matter if that "missing" verse appeared in 98% of all the other ancient manuscripts, that verse was still labeled as a "missing" verse based on the oldest manuscript. And with each new "revision" of one of these bibles that verse had a very high chance of being completely omitted from the bible without any comment or explanation. And a few other verses that had previously not been in dispute were also simply deleted from the bible without any explanation. For example, the New International Version deleted Acts 8:37 which says, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God." If you are a Christian, then do you believe that this verse should be permanently deleted from the bible?

There are no surviving original manuscripts that were handwritten by one of the authors of the books of the Holy Bible. It is doubtful that any copy of an ancient manuscript that has survived until today is a "perfect" handwritten copy of the original manuscript that was written by one of the authors of the Holy Bible. However, if all of the surviving manuscripts are carefully compared, then it should be possible to identify any copying mistakes in one or more of those manuscripts.

This raises the question of whether or not the Holy Bible actually contains the true and accurate Words of God. The answer is yes. There are two reasons why the answer is yes.

1. People are Not Perfect: God always used ordinary people, who were flawed human beings, to convey His Words to His people. And God was able to use what each prophet wrote even if the prophet did not use the same exact Words that God had used. And God still uses His Holy Bible today even if the Words in the Holy Bible do not perfectly match a manuscript that was written more than 1,900 years ago. All the ancient manuscripts that are available today are slightly flawed copies of the original handwritten manuscripts. That is why all of the surviving manuscripts should be used to reconstruct the original manuscripts in the best possible way.
   
   
2. Faith: It is not possible to prove, or to disprove, the existence of God. It is also not possible to prove, or to disprove, that the ancient manuscripts contain the Words of God. We accept the existence of God and His Holy Words on faith. This is what God intended.
   
   Hebrews 11:6 (New King James Version):
   6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
   
   Each one of us must settle this issue in his or her own heart. Anyone who can do this will have the true peace that God intended for us to have. If we are asked then we should simply say that we have faith that God is real, and we have faith that the Words in the Holy Bible are the Words that God wants us to accept as His Words.
   

It should also be mentioned that at the current time we do not know what a few of the words mean that are used in all the different ancient manuscripts. However, this only applies to about 2 percent of all the words that are used. And these "unknown" words are rarely used in the ancient Hebrew manuscripts. And these words also do not appear in any other ancient writings that would give us a clue as to their exact meaning. However, these "unknown" words do not impact any major religious concept or doctrine.

No translation of the Holy Bible is perfect in every way. Every translation of the Holy Bible has some verses that are slightly different from other translations. As mentioned above, the reason is because the precise meaning of a few of the original Hebrew words is not known with certainty.

However, some translations claim they are based on the Hebrew and Greek manuscripts but they are significantly different than those manuscripts. And they add a lot of stuff that is not in those manuscripts as being the "new inspired words" of men who claim they have been chosen by God to reveal how God has changed His mind about many things. Examples are the "bibles" used by the Mormons and the Jehovah's Witnesses.

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The King James Version (KJV)

In 1603 King James issued a directive that a new and better English translation of the Holy Bible should be created and that it would replace all previous English translations, and that it should not contain any "notes" in the margins of pages. Work began in 1604. The Old Testament was based on the Masoretic Hebrew texts. The New Testament was based on the Greek Textus Receptus. The translators were permitted to consult previous English translations of the Bible if they encountered a translation problem. The translators also used the Greek and Latin versions of the Apocrypha. The finished Bible was originally called the King James Version, the King James Bible, the Authorized Version, and the Authorized King James Version. It was published in 1611. In the early 1700s rules for punctuation, capitalization, grammar, and the exact spelling of all English words was agreed upon and then standardized, and the Apocrypha books were omitted, and the Bible became known as the "THE HOLY BIBLE" and the "King James Version." Since then it has become the most widely printed and distributed book in history.

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New King James Version (NKJV)

Thomas Nelson Publishers commissioned the NKJV in 1975. The NKJV "New Testament" was completed and published in 1979. The entire NKJV Bible was published in 1982. There was a very minor revision in 1984. The NKJV has not been revised since 1984 and it has remained unchanged for more than 40 years.

The NKJV made the following enhancements to the KJV:

1. The NKJV used modern English words (such as "you" and "your" and "said") instead of old English words that are no longer commonly used (such as "ye" and "thy" and "saith").
   
2. The NKJV added quotation marks around spoken sentences.
   
3. The NKJV capitalized pronouns, such as He and My, when the pronoun refers to God, Jesus, or the Holy Spirit.
   
4. The NKJV also added a very short comment before a paragraph or before a section so a reader would know what he or she was about to read. This also helped a reader quickly scan several pages to find what he was looking for.
   

Some people object to the above enhancements because the original Hebrew and Greek manuscripts do not have quotation marks, or capitalized pronouns, or comments. But the original manuscripts also do not have chapter numbers or verse numbers.

The original Hebrew and Greek manuscripts also do not have any space between the words and between the sentences. The Hebrew manuscripts are all written in lower case consonants. The Greek manuscripts are all written in capital letters. Neither the Hebrew or the Greek have any punctuation symbols, such as commas, periods, or quotation marks. However, the use of upper case and lower case letters, and having a space between words, and using punctuation symbols, all significantly enhance the readability of a scripture verse without altering the meaning of the scripture verse. This is especially helpful when capitalizing pronouns and words that refer to God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. Without capitalization it becomes more challenging for a reader to grasp exactly what a scripture verse is saying. With capitalization the meaning of a scripture verse becomes clear the first time it is read.

Therefore I personally recommend the New King James Version (without any study notes or commentaries) because it uses quotation marks and it capitalizes pronouns and words that refer to God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. And the New King James Version (without any study notes or commentaries) does not include "comments" such as "the following verses do not appear in the oldest manuscript copy." In other words, the New King James Version follows in the footsteps of the King James Version which accepted all the books of the Holy Bible as being the inspired Word of God including all the scripture verses in those books. Therefore, the New King James Version (without any study notes or commentaries) does not cast any doubt on the truth or accuracy of anything in God's Holy Bible.

It should be mentioned that 99.9% of the study notes and commentaries in the NKJV study bible are well-written and they contain excellent historical information. However, the reason I do not currently recommend Bibles with study notes or commentaries is because those comments sometimes contain demon-inspired criticisms of the Holy Bible. And the inclusion of demon-inspired criticisms in a few of the comments adds the destructive influence of the devil into the Holy Bible. Even though the comments usually explain why the demon-inspired criticisms are basically invalid, the inclusion of those demon-inspired comments in a Holy Bible will cause some people to doubt the truth and accuracy of the entire Bible. I personally do not believe that this is acceptable to God Almighty.

If you can afford it, then you may wish to consider a copy of the New King James Version that has giant print, leather bound, thumb-indexed, words of Christ in Red, center-column references to related scripture verses, concordance, and full color maps. It should not have any footnotes at the bottom of a page, or study notes, or commentaries. As mentioned above, these "extras" may contain comments that may cast doubt on the inerrancy of the Holy Bible. However, an introduction to each book is really nice if that introduction does not contain "critical commentary" about the possible lack of authenticity of the book or the authenticity of specific verses in the book.

At some time in the future the publishers of the NKJV study bibles may decide to remove all of the demon-inspired criticisms from the study notes and the commentaries in their NKJV study bibles. If this happens then those revised NKJV study bibles will probably be an excellent choice for studying the Holy Bible in greater depth without being distracted by demon-inspired criticisms.

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The Revised Greek Critical Text
and the New International Version (NIV)

In 1881 two men (and only two men), Westcott and Hort, rejected the "Greek Textus Receptus" and they created their own "New Testament in Greek" or the "Critical Text." Their work was based primarily on the "Codex Vaticanus" and the "Codex Sinaiticus" and they ignored the thousands of other Greek manuscripts that were available. About 80 years later their work was updated and it was called the "Revised Critical Text." Even though it had some documented flaws, the "Revised Critical Text" became the foundation of the New International Version (NIV) in 1978. After it was used to create the NIV the "Revised Critical Text" was revised several more times based on newly discovered ancient manuscripts. The last revision was in 2012 and it was called the 28th edition of the Nestle-Aland text. This revision process will probably continue each time a new significant ancient manuscript is discovered. This means that the "Nestle-Aland text" will be in a constant state of revision based on the interpretations of each new group of men who believe they know exactly what the authors of the books of the Holy Bible really intended to say. And they will insist that their new interpretations are far superior to the inspired men of 1611 who created the English translation of the King James Version of the Holy Bible.

The first major issue with the NIV is that it changes some extremely important words in a sentence to a different word.

The second major issue with the NIV is that it deletes words, parts of sentences, entire sentences, and entire paragraphs that are included in the KJV and the NKJV and in most other English translations of the Bible.

For example, the NIV eliminates a significant part of the following scripture verses from the NIV:
Matthew 5:44 and Luke 9:56. (These are only two examples and there are many more.)

And the NIV completely eliminates all of the following scripture verses from the NIV:
Matthew 18:11 and Mark 11:26 and Acts 8:37. (These are only three examples and there are many more.)

Although the NIV does a very good job of providing a good English translation of the scripture verses that the NIV includes in the NIV, the two major problems with the NIV are as follows:

1. The NIV omits a lot of scripture verses.
   
2. The NIV plants doubts in the minds of its readers about the accuracy and the truth of the scriptures that they do include in the NIV.
   

In summary, the NIV significantly undermines the eternal Words of God and the reason Jesus died on the cross.

In the Old Testament Moses recorded the following words:

Deuteronomy 4:2 (New King James Version):
2 You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it,

Deuteronomy 12:32 (New King James Version):
32 "Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it."

The last chapter of the last book of the New Testament says:

Revelation 22:19 (New King James Version):
19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

Do you believe that Jesus is constantly changing His mind about what He wants us to believe? Or do you believe the following verse?
Hebrews 13:8 (New King James Version):
8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

God Almighty says the following in the Holy Bible:
Malachi 3:6 (King James Version):
6 For I am the LORD, I change not;

In your opinion, do you believe that God would allow the King James Version to be accepted as the "Truth" by billions of people since 1611 if God did not approve of the translation of the inspired men who created the King James Version in 1611? Do you believe that God would allow His children to believe a lie for 367 years? Or is it possible that we are in the end times and that we should remember what the Apostle Paul said in the following scripture verses?

1 Timothy 4:1 (New King James Version):
1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons,

1 Timothy 6:20-21 (New King James Version):
20 Guard what was committed to your trust, avoiding the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge —
21 by professing it some have strayed concerning the faith.

For all the above reasons, I personally do not recommend the New International Version. If you have a NIV then you may wish to consider replacing it with a Holy Bible that does not change verses, or delete entire verses, or include negative faith destroying comments along with the scriptures.

If you continue using the NIV in any way then you will be sending a "silent message" to other people that you consider the NIV to be an acceptable English translation of the Holy Bible. Is this the type of message that you want to transmit to other people? Do you want to encourage the spread of demon-inspired criticisms of the Holy Bible to the rest of the world? Do you want to encourage people to read a "partial bible" that has intentionally deleted a lot of important scripture verses?

I personally will not be quoting the NIV in any future book that I write, and I will not include scriptures from the NIV in any future articles that I post on my website.

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Scholarly Criticism

In every century for the past 1,900 years the Church has been infiltrated with demon-inspired men who temporarily succeeded in leading the Church astray.

Since the early 1800s Jews and Christians have been constantly criticized by demon-inspired people who have told us that we need to be more flexible, and more tolerate, and more understanding of the beliefs of other people. And we should adjust our standards and we should not be so stubborn about our own beliefs.

My personal reply is that I am only answerable to God Almighty for my own beliefs and for my own behavior. And I will not compromise my personal beliefs or my personal ethical standards that are based on the Holy Bible. Other people are free to believe what they wish. But I will not condone or agree with any belief that is not consistent with the Holy Bible from Genesis through Revelation.

Since the early 1800s the devil has used a new strategy to undermine the truth of the Holy Bible. That strategy has been to throw "scholarly criticism" against the Holy Bible in a multitude of different ways and telling Christians that we need to accept these "scholarly criticisms" and we need to put more faith in these demon-inspired men than we put in the truth of the Holy Bible.

I will never believe that God Almighty can make a mistake. And I will continue to believe that the King James Version of the Holy Bible that was created in the year 1611 is still a reliable source of the True Words of God Almighty and that no book, or sentence, or paragraph needs to be removed from the Holy Bible because some demon-inspired people insist that it should be. Nor will I ever agree that it is okay to insert negative comments in any Bible that implies that the 1611 version of the Holy Bible contains errors.

However, I have no objection to enhancing the readability of the Bible by using words such as "you" instead of "ye." And I have no objection to changing a word that is no longer used, such as "victuals," to a word that is currently used and that means the same thing, such as "food." And I approve of rearranging the words in a sentence to make the sentence easier to understand the first time the sentence is read by English speaking people (as long as the meaning of the sentence is not changed).

The criticisms of the Holy Bible do need to be answered in detail. But those answers should not be included inside the Holy Bible. A separate book should be created that addresses all the demon-inspired criticisms of the Holy Bible and anyone who desires to read that other book can purchase it. But demon-inspired criticisms should not be included anywhere in any of the pages inside a Holy Bible because this can only cast doubt on the Truth of the Holy Bible.

Any publisher of a Holy Bible that includes demon-inspired criticisms of the Holy Bible inside the Holy Bible is following in the footsteps of the publishers of the New International Version. However, this is just my opinion and you may believe whatever you wish.

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Scriptures from the Holy Bible

The following scripture verses from the New King James Version of the Holy Bible give us assurance that God's words are true and pure and His words will remain forever.

Psalm 18:30 (New King James Version):
30 As for God, His way is perfect; The word of the LORD is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him.

Proverbs 30:5-6 (New King James Version):
5 Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him.
6 Do not add to His words, Lest He rebuke you, and you be found a liar.

Isaiah 40:8 (New King James Version):
8 "The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever."

Matthew 24:35 (New King James Version):
35 "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away."

2 Timothy 3:16 (new King James Version):
16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Hebrews 1:1-2 (New King James Version):
1 God, who at various time and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;

1 Peter 1:23.25 (New King James Version):
23 having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever,
25 "But the word of the LORD endures forever."

2 Peter 1:20-21 (New King James Version):
20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, 21 for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Bible also warns us that demon-inspired people will attempt to destroy our faith in God's Holy Words by casting doubt on the truth and the accuracy of His words and that we need to be on guard against their attempts to weaken and pervert our faith.

Galatians 1:7 (New King James Version):
7 ... but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ.

2 Peter 2:1-2 (New King James Version):
1 ... but there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. 2 And many will follow their destructive ways, because the way of truth will be blasphemed.

Jude 4,19 (New King James Version):
4 For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. ...
19 These are sensual persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit.

The Holy Bible also warns us that some demon-inspired people will attempt to change the words of God by adding to His words or by deleting His words from the Holy Bible.

Revelation 22:18-19 (New King James Version):
18 For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book;
19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

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Respect and Reverence for the Holy Bible

The Old Testament of the Holy Bible says the following about the power of the Words of God.

Genesis 1:1, 3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24, 26 (New King James Version):
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. ...
3 Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. ...
6 Then God said, "Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters." ...
9 Then God said, "Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear"; and it was so. ...
11 Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seeds, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth"; and it was so. ...
14 Then God said, "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years, and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth"; and it was so. ...
20 Then God said, "Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens." ...
24 Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind"; and it was so. ...
26 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."

The above scripture verses tell us that God spoke and whatever God said immediately became a reality. God spoke the entire universe into existence. The power of the Words of God is awesome.

The New Testament of the Holy Bible says the following about the Word and about God.

John 1:1 (New King James Version):
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John 1:14 (New King James Version):
14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us,

Luke 2:11 (New King James Version):
11 "For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord."

In the book of Revelation Jesus returns to the earth just before the Battle of Armageddon and Jesus is described as follows:

Revelation 19:13 (New King James Version):
13 He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.

The Old Testament and the New Testament of the Holy Bible contain the Words of God.

According to Revelation 19:13 Jesus is called The Word of God.

According to John 1:1 the Word is God. The Word is God. The Word is God.

Therefore, the Holy Bible is the visible, tangible manifestation, and the actual physical presence of God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son.

If the above is true, then how would you answer the following questions?

1. Do you wash your hands before you touch the Holy Bible? If it is possible to stop and wash your hands, then should you wash your hands?
   
   
2. If you have your own personal copy of the Holy Bible, then do you kiss the cover of the Holy Bible each time you pick it up? Should you kiss the cover of the Holy Bible?
   
   
3. If you have your own personal copy of the Holy Bible, then do you hold the Holy Bible close to your heart for a few moments before you open the Bible and begin reading it?
   
   
4. Before you actually begin reading the Holy Bible, do you pause and pray and ask God to help you more clearly understand what you are about to read and to help you better understand how you should apply His Words to your life?
   

Regardless of your answers to the above questions, God loves you and Jesus loves you and the Holy Spirit loves you.

Do not let anyone, and especially some "scholarly critics" falsely so called, come between you and your faith, respect, and love for God Almighty, and for your complete, unyielding confidence in the truth and accuracy of God's Holy Bible.

However, each one of us needs to be diligent in our choice of which translation of the Holy Bible that we read. Based on the above, I currently recommend the King James Version and the New King James Version. Either one of these translations would be a very good choice, in my opinion.

May God Bless,
Grandpappy.

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Grandpappy's e-mail address is: RobertWayneAtkins@hotmail.com