Old Manuscripts

[lomfs24]

Hopefully I am posting this in the right area. Simply put, my question is, how do I verify ancient documents, history etc... One of the biggest arguments to the Bible is that it has passed through thousands of years, with thousands of translations. Even today, there are hundreds of translations to choose from. The same could be said of ancient writers like Flavious, Josephus (hope I spelled their names right) and others. While reading modern books that quote from earlier translations of the Bible as well as ancient history manuscripts, how can I be sure that they are quoting accurately and not twisting it slightly to fit their own agenda? One writer uses some of the works of Josephus as a support for Christianity while the next uses different passages from the same work to discredit Christianity. Since I am unable to read the original work, how can one be sure who is telling the truth and who is twisting it for their own agenda?

[Ecurb Noselrub]

Hopefully I am posting this in the right area. Simply put, my question is, how do I verify ancient documents, history etc... One of the biggest arguments to the Bible is that it has passed through thousands of years, with thousands of translations. Even today, there are hundreds of translations to choose from. The same could be said of ancient writers like Flavious, Josephus (hope I spelled their names right) and others. While reading modern books that quote from earlier translations of the Bible as well as ancient history manuscripts, how can I be sure that they are quoting accurately and not twisting it slightly to fit their own agenda? One writer uses some of the works of Josephus as a support for Christianity while the next uses different passages from the same work to discredit Christianity. Since I am unable to read the original work, how can one be sure who is telling the truth and who is twisting it for their own agenda?

I'm not sure anyone can be absolutely "sure" that someone is not twisting a quote if you can't read the original Greek.  And, of course, translation of any language is as much an art as it is a science.  I would rely on a couple of literal English translations like New American Standard or New King James, and then compare the quote in question to one of those.  Some writers use paraphrase translations which take great liberties in translating the originals - the more literal the translation used the more accurate. 

I'm sure someone will point this out so I'll go ahead and do it: we don't have the actual originals of any book in the Bible - we have manuscripts beginning in the late 2nd century up to several hundred years later for the New Testament, for example.  But scholarly works like the United Bible Societies Greek New Testament are about as close as we can get to the originals, and most modern translations are based on such works.

Maybe I'm not answering your question, so if you need more, let us know.

[lomfs24]

Thanks Ecurb. I have pretty much resigned myself to the fact that the Bible has gone through countless translations. I also am aware that we have no original documents from the Bible, the earliest being from at least a several decades after the fact. I guess I didn't pose my question very well to begin with.

I am reading a book called "The Great Leap-Fraud" by A J Deus. And several places in the book he quotes from Biblical passages that he got from old manuscripts themselves. And from the book you can see there are some pretty significant differences between the manuscripts that come from North Africa, Europe and Middle East. That is, if what Deus is quoting is correct. Again, there I have no way of verifying the manuscript he is quoting from.

Secondly, in the book he often quotes from other writers of the time, Josephus (I worded that poorly in my original question, Flavious and Josephus are one and the same), Tertullian and others. Again, I have no way of verifying those writings. I don't read foreign languages. And it bothers me just a little bit.

One of the biggest reasons I quit going to church was I was tired of someone else telling me what the scriptures really meant and said, coupled with the fact that there is no definitive way to say that we, in fact, have the original writings. Seems I am going down another rabbit hole of "I will interpret for you what these writings 1) say and 2) mean.

[Ecurb Noselrub]

I am reading a book called "The Great Leap-Fraud" by A J Deus. And several places in the book he quotes from Biblical passages that he got from old manuscripts themselves. And from the book you can see there are some pretty significant differences between the manuscripts that come from North Africa, Europe and Middle East. That is, if what Deus is quoting is correct. Again, there I have no way of verifying the manuscript he is quoting from.

Secondly, in the book he often quotes from other writers of the time, Josephus (I worded that poorly in my original question, Flavious and Josephus are one and the same), Tertullian and others. Again, I have no way of verifying those writings. I don't read foreign languages. And it bothers me just a little bit.

There are differences between the various manuscripts, but I'm sure that if a manuscript is cited, you can go online and find an English translation.  Same for the early secular writers and church fathers.  I'm not sure of any other way you could check it out, unless you learned to read Greek.

[lomfs24]

Thanks Ecurb, I will just keep plugging along.