About other gods-question for theists

[Jenny A]

Listen. Evaluate. Learn.

In order to evaluate the excerpt properly I'd like to listen to the full debate. I'm sure Bart Ehrman didn't agree with Craig Evan's line of reasoning. Mr Evans mentioned a few textual variances which don't declare any doctrine that's not supported by other verses in the bible. He talks of "hundreds of thousands" of mistakes in transcription. He failed to mention whether or not these "errors" changed any doctrine. That would have been a strong argument for his position if they had. What were the quality of the errors? Were they mostly leaving out an inconsequential word? How many actually changed the meaning of the verse? When the dead sea scrolls were discovered they found ancient copies of old testament scriptures, and experts were amazed that they read almost identical with copies 900 years apart. No meaning had been changed. He cited a couple of verses that were considered textual variances concerning the trinity and the divinity of Jesus as if these were the only verses that supported these doctrines. If I am to believe in an omnipotent God who created the universe, I'm surely going to believe that he can assure that his word is passed from generation to generation without changing what he wants to be contained in that word. And it doesn't have to be by ensuring that no transcription errors occur. I love how God uses imperfect humans to carry out his work. You say "if there's a transcription error that kills it all." I get a kick out of how you guys jump all over fundamentalist christians, but when you try to interpret scripture you interpret it in a wooden literal sense far more strictly than the most fundamental of fundamentalists.

The reason I posted the video for you is because it explains why it is that we are really really sure that the authors attributed to the gospels are not the authors.

But by all means listen to the whole debate. I did: Bart Ehrman vs Craig Evans Whole Debate on "Does the New Testament Misquote Jesus?" It's about an hour and a half long.

As to whether these things matter? They matter to me when someone tells me the Bible is divinely inspired and proves god. They also matter when trying to see how Christianity evolved.

Whether it matters to you and why depends on how much and in what way your faith depends upon the Bible. Miss-transcription of the Bible or even proof that is a miss-transcribed second -hand account certainly doesn't prove there was no Jesus. But it may alter your view of him or how much you think you know about him.