> This seems like an impossible task to me. It is not. Scripture defines the teachings of Christ. > Not only is there the issue of discovering what's been los

> This seems like an impossible task to me. It is not. Scripture defines the teachings of Christ. > Not only is there the issue of discovering what's been lost in translation, but also the existing texts have been heavily edited over the centuries. Entire books could have conceivably been lost. Forgeries could have been adopted. This gets into an area called textual criticism. I'm half-asleep right now so hopefully what follows will make sense... 1. Consider for a moment that the Bible is the most validated work of antiquity that humanity possesses[1]. The thing is, if you can look at the evidence and yet say "we don't know" then you (in order to be consistent) have to admit that you basically "don't know" about anything that you don't have exact photocopies of the originals. 2. If you understand the Christian claims surrounding scripture (and here, importantly is preservation) then you must understand that that doubt you have doesn't exist within our beliefs. 3. Based on what I understand, the Bible was essentially transmitted through time using something that instantly brought to mind the idea of bittorrent. We actually know when and where changes were made and we have gotten back to the original text in all but a handful of instances. And in the instances where there is a textual variant—it doesn't change any of the doctrines or core tenants of the faith. There are thousands of copies of the Old and New Testaments that have been preserved. Some of these copies were done under the threat of death (persecution). Scribal errors can be found because we have so many. BTW this stands in stark contrast with a book like the Quran which doesn't have sort of historical manuscript tradition. There were likely changes to the Quran by Uthman but we don't know what they were because they were destroyed... so keep that in mind. > Even if you disregard all that, is there really an objectively correct way to read Christian (or any) scripture? I'd say no. Sure there is. Jesus makes claims you either have to accept or reject. There is a very clear line. [1]: https://carm.org/manuscript-evidence https://carm.org/manuscript-evidence