The Written Word

The (Christian) Bible, which we read today, was written, and re-written, and re-written by men, not by God.

Some people claim it was "inspired" by God.
Some people claim it is the "Word of God"
Some people claim it is verbatum, infallible, and absolute.
Let me see if I understand this correctly.
1. It may have been "dictated by God" or "inspired by God" to, and through, his prophets,
2. The stories were repeated by men from generation to generation.
3. It was "written down" by men (whom themselves heard it second hand, and not directly from God.)
4. It was copied by men (from one copy to another, and another, and another.)
5. It was translated from one language to another, and another.*
  1. For example, The King James Version is the Bible translated into English by scholars of the 17th Century.**
  2. See the Shakespeare Rumor
  3. The Douay Version (widely used by the Roman Catholic Church) was published around the same time period.
    - The Douay version was in English and translated from Latin
      (which itself had been translated from Hebrew).
    - Whereas the King James Version was translated from Greek.
6. And into how many different languages has it now be translated by fallible people?
7. And how many different English translations are there?
  
  And how do we know "which one" is the correct one,
  -- the one that is the absolute, infallible word of God?
8. Each modern Bible usually carries a claim of copyright, albeit not owned by God, but of men (i.e., a publishing organization, and often for-profit).

*

While the Old Testament portion of the Bible was written in Hebrew and Aramaic, the New Testament was originally written in Koine Greek. The Greek language, however, has several different dialects or denominations. This required several different translations done by several different individuals and groups of people.

-- Wikipedia

**

The original King James Bible (translation) was commissioned in 1604, finished and published in 1611. In the 18th century, portions between the old testiment and new testiment were deleted as "not inspired by God" and therefore not accepted by all Christians. What was left is what most people call the King James Version today.