“Can we be SURE we have a reliable Bible?”

BY GARY CAUDILL

Psalm 12:6-7 The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. 7 Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.

Sadly, if one were to listen to the average liberal seminary graduate today, you would be led to believe that we cannot be sure that we have a pure, preserved, trustworthy, and reliable copy of the words of The LORD for this generation.

But what does the Bible say? Verse seven says, “Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.” So either man is wrong, or God is wrong, and I’ll take my chances with God that He is the One who is right!

You see, the word “keep” means to put a hedge about, or to guard, or to protect, or to attend to, or to keep watch over. And then the word “preserve” means to maintain. This scripture teaches us that God personally supervises the oversight of His words written down in the earth so that every generation after it was originally written has a perfectly preserved copy.

So the question, then, is this; how can we know for sure which Bible is the preserved word of God for our generation? Before we offer some thoughts on that, we must first agree that things which are different are not the same.

If we have two or more Bibles that say vastly different things with the changing of the words, then they can’t all be right, right? That said, one must be careful when selecting a Bible that he or she selects one where the source (set of manuscripts used), the style of translation (word for word, paraphrase, etc.), and the system used when translating (for checks and balances) are all of utmost integrity and as detailed as possible for the most accurate and reliable translation results.

And after careful studying, it is my conclusion that there is no other Bible translation in the English language today that is superior to the accuracy and care given in the translation of the King James Bible.

I encourage you to do your own homework on this to draw your own conclusions, but one thing is certain; we must agree that if God’s Word promises He will preserve His word to all generations, then there must be a superior text to all others thereby signifying God’s hand in its preservation. Today, we can thank God that His Word is preserved!

Gary Caudill is the pastor of Oak Grove Baptist Church, located at 19 Asa Thomas Road in Noxapater. For more information visit oakgrovebaptist.info