This episode contends that believers should abandon an "all-or-nothing" approach to the reliability of translations of the Bible. As stated in the previous episode, the large number of textual variants is a natural bi-product of the more than 5,500 copies of the New Testament. Since most of the textual variants don't affect meaning (spelling, word-order, etc.), Christians can be confident that English translations of the Greek and Hebrew text are 99.9% faithful to the original autograph. Some are concerned that admission of doubt over the translation of ANY text places one on the slippery slope of skepticism leading to a shipwrecked faith. Miles Smith, one of the translators of the KJV, insisted in the preface that doubt was preferable to dogmatic claims of certainty where the meaning of a text was uncertain. "It is better to make doubt of those things which are secret, then to strive about those things that are uncertain." He acknowledges some room for doubt about the appropriate translation of a few passages, and this posture is preferable to unfounded confidence where "things are uncertain." He nevertheless affirmed the reliability of the KJV in the vast majority of translations, whose renderings amounted to "rubbing and polishing." The episode warns against unhealthy skepticism that quibbles over total certainty where compelling evidence is everywhere. Mark Twain remarked, "It ain't the parts of the Bible that I can't understand that bother me, it's the parts that I do understand."
Bury Your Doubt with Resurrection Power
This episode begins with the question, "how do you know the resurrection of Christ is true?" While many of us can articulate an apologetic answer, citing the Biblical and historical evidences for the gospel story, all of us should ideally be able to respond with the following testimony: "I know the resurrection of Christ is true because I experience everyday His resurrection power in my own life." This is the evidence that secures our faith in the Biblical account and assists us in presenting a compelling testimony to unbelievers regarding the truth of the gospel. The episode charts my conversion to Christ, subsequent doubt over the resurrection, culminating in renewed conviction that the resurrection of Christ occurred. I trace my journey from propositional embrace of the gospel to experiential conviction based on the everyday experience of resurrection power in my own life. The evidence of genuine conversion, according to Romans 6:4, is that "we walk in the newness of life." This of course bespeaks the resurrection power that is unleashed in every believer's life as he identifies with the death, burial and resurrection of Christ.