I challenge the verity of Cheever's and Bunyan's claims and proceed
to apply to this book the tests of Jones and Horne. Instead of not
containing the shadow of a shade of error, I shall show that it is
so filled with the darkness of error that the truths existing in it
are scarcely discernible. Instead of being the direct utterance of
the Most High, I shall show that every book of it, every chapter of
it, every verse of it, every word of it, is the direct utterance of
man. I shall impeach the authority of the Christian canon and show
that all of its books are apocryphal; that they contain histories
and propose doctrines that are contrary to what is known to be true;
that they contain ludicrous, trifling, fabulous, and silly relations;
that they abound with anachronisms. If I have not already shown that
the style of these books is clearly different from the known style of
the authors whose names they bear, it is because the "known style" of
these authors is a myth. I shall adduce enough real contradictions from
the Bible to not only refute the claim that it is divinely inspired,
but to destroy its credibility even as a human authority.
Errors of Transcribers.
If the Bible were a divine revelation, as claimed, it would have
been divinely preserved. Not only the original writers, but the
transcribers, translators, and printers, also, would have been divinely
inspired. It is admitted that divine inspiration was confined to the
original writers. Consequently the Bible, as we have it, cannot be
an infallible revelation. If it be not an infallible revelation it
cannot be a divine revelation.
It is popularly supposed that the books of the Bible, as originally
written, have been preserved free from corruptions. That they are full
of textual errors--that the books as they were originally written
no longer exist and cannot be restored--is conceded even by the
most orthodox of the Lower Critics. The principal causes of these
corruptions are the following:
1. Clerical errors. The invention of printing made it possible
to preserve the original text of a writer comparatively free from
errors. With the works of ancient writers this was impossible. For a
period of from 1,200 to 2,200 years preceding the invention of printing
the only means of preserving the books of the Bible was the pen of the
scribe. However careful the copyist might be, errors would creep into
the text. But instead of being careful these copyists, many of them,
were notoriously careless. This is especially evident in the case of
numbers. Hundreds of errors were made in the transcription of these
alone. Probably one-half of the numbers given in the Old Testament,
and many in the New, are not those given in the original text, but
are errors due to the carelessness of transcribers and a want of
divine supervision.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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