Many people are familiar with the telephone game often used with kids to show the challenges and importance of clear communication. It usually works with a message being given to one person who has a single chance to pass it along to another person. By the time it gets to the end the message is hilariously (?) garbled.
Sometimes skeptics will use the telephone game analogy to criticize the writings of the Bible, and of the Gospels in particular. Their premise is that the message was transmitted orally for at least a couple decades (and, by their often convoluted reasoning, many decades), so of course it got changed many times before it was put to paper.
But that game is different than how the Bible was transmitted orally in many key ways:
- The Bible wasn’t translated just one-on-one. There were many witnesses and many people who heard and recounted the events. People would catch errors instantly.
- They didn’t get just one try. In the telephone game you only get one chance, but in real life – and especially with the New Testament – Jesus probably gave the same message many times, and people repeated it many times with overlapping audiences. Again, errors would be caught quickly.
- Transmitters were well trained in memorizing stories. People in that culture – especially Jewish men – were trained to memorize things well. Many Muslims memorize the whole Koran even in our times.
- The message being transmitted wasn’t insignificant. These people thought they had the words of life, and they worked hard to communicate it carefully. And they often risked their lives to communicate this message. A good analogy I heard was that if a group of cancer patients went to hear someone describe how they could be cured, they would be inclined to pay close attention and to collectively document the information accurately.
- The New Testament writers had the benefit of the Holy Spirit to guide them. I don’t think the Holy Spirit is actively involved in too many instances of the regular telephone game.
A more detailed perspective is available here.
Filed under: Bible | Tagged: Bible, Christian, God, Jesus, religion, translation
It seems like unbelievers will do anything to prove Scripture isn’t true.
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.” Romans 1:18, 19
again I say…airtight logic there!
The bible says it’s real, so the bible must be real. “God” says his message is the message is the message of truth, so it must be true.
Joe, that is a straw man argument. You are arguing against a claim that was not made. We have lots of evidence for the claim that the Bible is God’s word. Yes, it does claim to speak for him (~3,000 times) but that isn’t the evidence we provide.
What amazes me is their zeal in evangelizing their lack of faith in the scripture. If you don’t think it is the inspired word of God, then don’t live by it. Their religion becomes the refutation of the Bible.
Why they feel it necessary to convert others to their way of thinking, at the same time bashing Christians for trying to convert sinners to salvation, is beyond me. Further, it is hypocritical.
Non-believers reading and commenting on a site like this are perfect examples. They don’t believe, and that is fine as no one can force them into believing, but they spend so much energy time and energy here. I can’t imagine employing the same strategy on an anti-Christian blog.
It would be pretty boring if we only hung out on sites where we agree with everything. I came to know of this site through a comment Neil made on another, decidedly anti-Christian blog. And guess what, through reading and commenting here I’ve learned a lot and my views on some things have changed, if not completely then at least they’ve been informed with different points of view. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again – try reading books about the things discussed here that are not written by Christians, or visit blogs that offer another side to things. You shouldn’t have anything to be afraid of, right? And at least you’ll then be able to characterise your opponents arguments correctly.
Agreed.
Fairly characterizing opposing views is crucial on many levels, such as having a chance at an audience and for our intellectual integrity.
I just read the comments that preceded Michael’s. I would add that I don’t mind non-Christians disagreeing with basic Christian doctrine as long as they are charitable in discussing it. It is sort of in their job description.
But — and this may come as a huge surprise — I mind it a lot when Liberal “Christians” deny the essentials while pretending to be believers and say ridiculous things like how all religions are valid paths to God. Even atheists can read the Bible and know that it doesn’t say that.
I don’t think the biblical telephone game ANYTHING to do with the translating of the bible. It has to do with the 300 or so years that passed between the men who supposedly saw Jesus perform miracles and ressurect and the men who actually wrote the gospels.
Hi Joe,
I’m not sure where you arrived at the figure of 300 years. That is wildly inaccurate. The accounts were written within a generation or two of the resurrection and in a highly reliable manner.
If you have an authentic desire to know the truth, you should investigate that further. One resource I recommend is Can We Trust the Gospels?: Investigating the Reliability of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John by Mark Roberts — http://www.amazon.com/Can-Trust-Gospels-Investigating-Reliability/dp/1581348665/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1261492185&sr=8-1 .
For many of the gospels it was 5-10 generations and up to 500 years.
I love how my other comments were taken down btw
Your other comments were gibberish, just like this fact free comment of yours.
You made the claim, so the burden of proof is on you to demonstrate which Gospel(s) took 500 years to be written. I’ll wait here.