Is Christianity an Institution to Hoodwink and Control the Majority?

Published on 04/28/24 by Dr-Shirley-Cheng.

What Are the Reasons Why We Can Trust the Bible as the Word of Yahweh God Almighty?

What is so special about the Bible? Is it trustworthy? Here, I will briefly touch upon these questions that so many of us wonder about. This article is in reply to a question submitted by Donna Lee, author of Nowheresville, Everywhere, Earth, who asked:

"With all the controversy in the early first millennium about the nature of the personage known as Jesus Christ, such as the Council of Nicea of 325 A.D., the myriad of versions of the Bible, including the many 'mistake' Bibles that have deliberate or otherwise mistakes, and the many editings of the Bible over the centuries (which is true of just about any holy book), the fact (or rumor or history) that King James was into bestiality and suppressed the last edition of the Bible which was translated from the original Greek and Hebrew before putting out the King James Version, most of which the vast majority of people have never heard about, not practicing Christians, not most of the general public, wouldn't you say that it's very hard to know or even believe a lot of what Christianity is supposed to be about except as an institution to hoodwink and control the majority?"

First off, our modern Bible versions are essentially the same doctrinally as the oldest surviving manuscripts of both the Old and New Testaments. Since we have tens of thousands of manuscripts from different time periods, scholars, linguists, and translators have been able to compare them and therefore, discover manmade errors, whether made by mistake or deliberately. (These manuscripts are copies of the copies of the copies, etc. of the originals or "autographs"; copies were made by hand in order to preserve the text.)

During the first century, the Septuagint (Greek translation of the Old Testament) was a popular version, which Jesus' disciples and apostles (and even Jesus himself) used and quoted from. Thus, their use attested to the reliability of that version. We still have that version, which, besides manmade errors, is essentially the same in doctrine as our modern Bible translations. It's wording is also similar to the Dead Sea Scrolls, the earliest surviving Hebrew manuscripts which date between 200 and 70 BC.

The oldest manuscripts we have of the New Testament (Greek Scriptures) are dated between 200 and 400 AD (a fragment of the Gospel of John is dated around 125 AD), and scholars affirm that those versions are doctrinally the same as our modern versions; only errors made by copyists exist, and these errors do not affect Biblical doctrines. Thus, the Bible in its entirety has been preserved for these past 3,500 years.

Second, the Bible is unlike any other sacred text ever existed. The Bible is proven to be the only book written by God. The Bible is:
a) Historically accurate: Archeologists have unearthed evidences of certain people, places, and events described in the Bible, and historians have attested to the Bible's historical accuracy.
b) Scientifically sound: The Bible stated certain scientific facts thousands of years before scientists proved them. No contradiction between Bible accounts and scientific facts exists.
c) Prophetic: Hundreds of prophecies in the Bible have been fulfilled exactly as they were foretold hundreds and thousands of years before the events actually took place. Only a handful of prophecies are yet to be fulfilled, and they concern all of humanity.

The Bible's historicity, scientific soundness, and fulfilled prophecies, among other unique characteristics, attest to its divine origin, setting it apart from all other books. No other book has the credentials the Bible has.

Lastly, the Bible is clear, concise, and consistent in laying down Christian principles. It is the primary source we should go to about the Christian faith and its accurate teachings, as it's the very eternal Word of God, who cannot lie (Titus 1:2). Therefore, the Bible is the only source about Christianity we need, and it's the only source where we can find absolute truths of the faith.

Pure Christianity as presented in the Bible is non-political, non-violent, and non-oppressive. The Bible commands Christians to respect and honor human governments and leaders (Romans 13:1-3; 1 Peter 2:13-14). True Christianity operates on the principle of self-sacrificing love, as Jesus commanded, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, just like I have loved you; that you also love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." (John 13:34-35) The earliest Christians would rather die than to disobey Bible teachings. They diligently followed this commandment: "Don't be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." (Romans 12:21) An uncounted number of Christians had indeed been martyred; they were tortured in various ways by various means until death released them. Even under such cruelty inflicted upon them, these Christians remained faithful to God till death, cursing or harming no one.

Thus, when we study the Bible, analyze Jesus' examples, and examine how true Christians have lived out Biblical principles, it becomes unfounded and unreasonable for us to entertain in our minds even for a minute the idea that true Christianity is an "institution to hoodwink and control the majority." Is it wise for us to misjudge Christianity just because so-called Christians throughout the centuries have misrepresented the Bible by committing heinous acts against humanity and ultimately against God?