The Digital Bible Allows Each Christian to Write His Own


Since day one the Bible has been edited. We do not have the original copies, copies of the original authors. First, there were scribes who changed what they were to copy into something they liked better. After a couple thousand years of the printing press, which edited it further, came technology that made printing new versions of the Bible more accessible to everyone. With the Bible being online every online reader of the Bible can alter it to suit what they want it to say or mean. Moving passages from one place to another is easy. Instead of two people arguing about what some passage "means", they can each make it say what they think is means and go their separate ways. Each preacher can start his/her own "Bible-based Church." Preachers will be able to tape their own version of scripture into an authentic-looking Bible and pretend the online was in the printed book.

Is it a stretch to think pastors would do that? I don't think so. They already do it by claiming the Bible condemns homosexuality when it does not. They claim it condemns abortion when it does not. What is the limit? Writing new material and pretending it is original has been going on since forever. Even Paul goes out of his way in one of the writings attributed to him to say something like< "I actually wrote this. I was not written be an imposter." Bart Ehrman's most popular book is one about imposters who wrote various parts of the Bible.

Back in ancient times it was easy to be an imposter. There were famous people. To write a tome claiming to be a famous person was a common practice. What better way for writing to appear powerful and be influential. 

Today, it is easy to be an authority on the Bible. Online publications are there by the thousands. A skilled influencer can string together quotes from the Bible, all out of context, and make them appear like they were original material. Those that might do that would not be entirely out of line. There is no source of original material. If there were original writing it would not change things much. The originals had their own self serving reasons for writing what they did.

In the future we can look forward to a lot of original Bibles. 

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