"I believe in God or a higher being, not the bible."

A friend of mine received the following in her e-mail. Below is my response:

"Well I believe in God or a higher being, not the bible. Theres proof that its been tampered with, stories were falsified. Also, it's a bit fishy how after Jesus's death he was just referred to as a intelligant mortal man, until about 1,500 years later when it was recorded. The Christian bible is based on Pagan beliefs. Most of the devil's charateristics are Pagen, to twist peoples minds into their believe. Pagen harvest fork for cultivation? The Devil's pitchfork. When the Roman's came wanted people to switch religion's they morphed their beliefs to be bad. Also their's proof in Medival Time's when the power struggle between the Church and the Monarchy, the church used God to their advantage to gain power. Ultimently creating false idea's to gain popularity. I do believe in a high power, and in some aspect I do believe the Bible should be there, it creates some order in a crazy society."

I can understand how you would come to the conclusion that you have reached; however, please consider the following:

The Bible has not been tampered with. God has preserved His Word. In the spring of 1947, the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered. These manuscripts were copies of large portions of the Old Testament, a thousand years older than any other existing copies. Study of the scrolls has revealed that the Bible hasn't changed in content down through the ages as many skeptics had surmised.

Anyone can now obtain access to computer programs that give the original Hebrew and Greek words, and the only "changes" have been made for clarity. For example, the old English translation of 2 Corinthians 12:8 is "For this thing I besought the Lord thrice ...," while a contemporary translation is "Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times..."

How is this a reason to dismiss the Bible? I say this for illustration only, so please don't take this the wrong way: one has more reason to dismiss your reply based on the number of misspellings than dismiss the Bible over editorial updates for clarity ("intelligant," "pagen," and "Medival" are misspelled).

You said "Jesus was referred to as an intelligent mortal man until 1500 years after it was recorded." Please explain what you mean. Besides, how is that a reason to disbelieve the Bible? Is this a false statement?

Next, you said that the Bible is based on pagan beliefs. How does one explain the fact that the Bible actually confronts paganism from the very beginning (all things in nature are not to be worshipped because they were created by the True and Living God), thus proving that biblical concerns existed long before paganism was formed as a rebellion against the Creator?

The Bible never says the devil carries a pitchfork. Nor does it say that the devil is red, has cloven hooves, rules over hell or any such thing. The Bible clearly describes Satan as one who disguises himself as an angel of light, that he prowls about like a lion, seeking whom he may devour. Hell was created for the destruction of the devil and his angels. This is no reason to dismiss the Bible but to dismiss tradition. The Romans did not care about who people worshipped.

It is true concerning the power struggle between the church and the monarchy. What about the persecution of those who believed the Bible during those times? The Church made many official statements and persecuted Bible believers, only to retract their statements when the Bible was confirmed by science . . .

If the Bible brings order to a crazy society, doesn’t it deserve a closer look as to HOW that happens?