One of the oldest skeptic digs is this,
“We’ve got so many manuscripts and so many translations, how can you know what the originals even said?”
Really? Tell that to the piles of papyrus and parchments that put every other ancient text to shame.
“The words of the LORD are pure words; as silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times.”
— Psalm 12:6
We aren’t fumbling in the dark.
5,800+ Greek New Testament manuscripts.
Some fragments (like Papyrus 52) date to within 25 years of the autograph, practically fresh off the apostle’s desk.
That’s like having a 1950s newspaper reporting on a 1925 event.
10,000+ versions in Latin, Syriac, Coptic, and more.
Each language offers a cross check. When a scribe “clarifies” a pronoun or accidentally skips a line, we catch it by comparing witnesses.
Every variant, whether a missing word or an extra sentence, is catalogued right in your Bible’s footnotes. No secret edits, no hidden agendas.
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness…”
— 2 Timothy 3:16
Translation committees, not lone scribes.
Modern Bibles (ESV, NIV, NRSV, etc.) are vetted by dozens of scholars from varied backgrounds.
They debate alternate readings, note them in prefaces, and justify choices publicly. Transparency baked in.
Over 99.5% of the text is certain.
The remaining 0.5%? Spelling quirks, word order swaps, or passages you’ll find flagged and explained.
You don’t need blind faith in some mystery “original.” You’ve got mountains of manuscripts, transparent variants, and rigorous scholarship. You know exactly what Paul, Peter, and John penned.
Not rumor, not myth, but solid, testable evidence.
So stop sneaking around translation conspiracy theories. Open your Bible’s footnotes, compare versions, and see for yourself. The text you read is the text they wrote.
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