Biblecrumbs: Inspiration and Preservation of the Bible Traced Through Time
Here's a tough pill to swallow if you are a Christian like me– your life's trajectory is based on the teachings of the Bible and yet you probably have little notion of how your English translation came into existence. Who translated it for you? What manuscripts did they use? Where did those manuscripts come from? etc.
Personally, I know the original scriptures were written (for the most part) in Hebrew and Greek, but then there is a mystical 2000 year gap between then and now, that ends with a Bible sitting on my lap. With my life's direction hinging on the authority of scripture, I've had a growing conviction that I must obtain a better understanding of the process of how my Bible got from point A (original manuscripts) to point B (my English Translation).
Though this may seem like an academic exercise, our view of the Bible directly impacts our faith. The average believer does not believe God's word is inerrant in their spoken language. This is problematic because if God's words are in question, then we as humans have to figure it out for ourselves. Remember Satan's first attack on humanity?
Yea, hath God said...?
- Satan (Genesis 3:1)
Consider this excerpt from God's Inerrant Word: An International Symposium On The Trust Worthiness of Scripture by John Warwick Montgomery:
But no less apparent is the steady increase of the anti-inerrancy viewpoint among American clergy. Jeffrey K. Hadden, in his careful sociological study, The Gathering Storm in the Churches (1969), has shown not only that but a small proportion of clergy–whatever their denomination affiliation–hold to the inerrancy of Scripture, but that there is a direct correlation between age and belief in this doctrine. Consider Hadden's statistics:
PASTOR'S AGE AND BELIEF IN THE INERRANCY OF SCRIPTURE
"Scriptures are the inspired and inerrant Word of God not only in matters of faith but also in historical, geographical, and other secular matters."
% Agreeing
| Episcopalian | Methodist | Presbyterian | American Baptist | American Lutheran | Missouri Synod Lutheran | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All | 5 | 13 | 12 | 33 | 23 | 76 |
| Under 35 | 4 | 8 | 6 | 17 | 6 | 63 |
| 35-44 | 2 | 12 | 9 | 30 | 26 | 74 |
| 45-54 | 9 | 15 | 17 | 41 | 32 | 85 |
| Over 55 | 8 | 17 | 21 | 42 | 50 | 90 |
A necessary conclusion from these statistics is that–even in the most traditionally conservative of the church bodies surveyed–the trend to a non-inerrancy view of the Bible has been vigorously operative: the younger the clergyman, whether Methodist, Presbyterian, Baptist, or Lutheran, the less likely he will believe that the Bible is totally veracious.
- Montgomery (p. 22)
In 2015, a small group of young adults at Midtown Baptist Temple in Kansas City, MO decided to launch a project affectionately named 'Breadcrumbs' with a primary goal of finding historical evidence that supported our faith in God’s inspiration and preservation of the Bible (Download Full Project Overview). I've decided that for findability on the internet, I will be referring to this project as 'Biblecrumbs'. My hope is that through the research and presentations of this endeavor, we will help in equipping the church to better understand the Bible's story. Lord willing, there will be much more content in the coming years.
The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand forever.
- Isaiah 40:8