now that i've kept you in suspense for about 1 week, here's the answers

1.if you believed that god kept his promise...

turns out this did occur; around the middle ages, when an english bible was greatly needed for the masses, as a unanimous one did not exist yet, the great majority of hebrew and greek texts, regardless of time it was produced, were thoroughly examined by the greatest of biblical scholars, and found this: 95% of all of them agreed with one another; only 5% did not. GOD DID KEEP HIS PROMISE! the texts that were in majority of agreement were then pooled together, and then a greek text was written. this was called the "textus receptus." this text would become the basis for which was used to write the kjv of the bible.

if you believe the bible to be the pure word of god, then this is your book.

no other single bible version uses this method.

2.if you believed that god didn't keep his promise...

this method was also used; modern day biblical scholars(let's say, somewhere around the mid 19th century) decided that only the earliest biblical texts could be used; the earlier, the more accurate. they were able to find 2 biblical texts, which still remain the earliest than anybody else's, that exists(around 200 AD i would say? gotta go back and check). these two are named the vaticanus and the sinaicitus; the 1st was found in the Vatican, and lay in excellant condition, but was virtually unused for 1000s of years. it lacked MANY key christian doctrines. the sinaicitus was found in a wastebasket in a monastery at the base of mount sinai. it was reedited so many times and scribbled so badly that anybody staring at it could tell you that it was a bad job. both not only disagreed with most texts and lacked MANY verses, but also disagreed with each other. and yet... both were used to create all other bible versions that were NOT the kjv... niv, tniv, rsv, nlt, nasb, nkjv, etc.
furthermore, what did the scholars do when they came across a verse where both texts disagreed? they had an expert scholar pick what they thought was the right one. so in essence, you're not reading the word of god; you're reading what a scholar thinks is the word of god.

yes, what i'm stating down here is VERY contraversial. i am basically saying the kjv is the only english bible you should be reading. you may be thinking i'm nuts. you may be thinking i've been too gullible, and picked this up from some random joe's site. but we know something like this is not found on biblegospel.com. would never be. that's why i believe now it's my turn to research in the tradition of the skeptics-turned-christians. except now i'm travelling a road is even less clear-cut. evidence is truth, and once i compile enough and can safely say i've looked at the majority of what matters, i'll be able to determine the truth, whatever it is, and it'll set me free. but don't worry; jerm and jon are skeptical enough to keep me in check every step of the way.

only pray that i won't give up on this quest; most likely it'll take all of my spring quarter and maybe 1 year to more than 3. and that i don't lose sight of everything else in the persuit(grades, jobs/internships, spiritual life, etc)

yeah... jon and jerm are going along for this ride whether they like it not.

one thing's for certain though... no matter the outcome, i think i'll end up a changed man.

let's say you want to create the 1st mainstream english bible. the NIV, KJV, NASB, RSV, etc, has not been created as of right now. at this point in time, the printing press has not yet been invented, which means copyists of the bible ARE subject to some error, depending upon how careless they are. you have to be careful, as you know this bible will influence the rest of 20th century and beyond americans and englishmen. this will become the essential word of god(or word of satan, if this bible becomes corrupted). you have a variety of texts to choose from. cost is not an issue. how can you approach this? there are 2 ways in mind...

well, if you truly believe that god has preserved his word to always be with his people and not let it become corrupted over time(as stated in the scriptures), you could compare the majority of current hebrew and greek texts used throughout the world. you could gather the majority of the texts together that agree with each other. if one copy is false(ie does not match up with the other 95%), you assume it was a sloppy copy and throw it away. you pool together these scriptures that agree with one another, then use these as a basis for writing a new english bible.

or, if you truly believe that the word of god has become corrupted up to this point in time, that would mean you should look for the earliest manuscripts possible. these will be used for the basis of creating the new english bible. the fact is that there are too many factors that influence the bible, that we must simply choose the earliest manuscripts to ensure least amount of error. copyists are prone to error, and so, when all is said and done, it's better to look as far back as possible.

what would you do? think about it for a sec, and if you want, reply in the comments. or not. but seriously think about it. because this is what's really been preoccupying my mind lately. i'll post the results later this week. i already know what the answer is. however, it's more of a matter of research for me now to make sure all of this is true; this is why it's now my turn to do research on what i have never truly thought about before; this subject has popped up before for me; but i brushed it aside.

don't worry about me...

i plan on doing a LOT of research on this topic before i can truly arrive at a conclusion.

just trying not to accept what's thrown at me straight up, but not disregarding it immediately either...

picks of the week:
(updated every friday, saturday or sunday)

1. bible verse:
back to Jeremiah 29:13, as i've realized the urgency of my situation
2. food:
*haven't really been thinking about food this week* but i guess cooking beef noodle soup again was nice; gonna fast for 2 days starting sunday night, as it's that time of month again, plus, it just so nicely fits in with my current situation, so that kinda gets rid of thinking about food those days as well(haha... well, i DO like food, but somehow, i don't find it as interesting to throw up every post of mine with "oh i tried this today" or
whatnot, unlike mandy)
3. music equip:
Speed Mechanism for Lead Guitar instruction book(this should help my solos)
4. place:
wasn't for most of the week, but as the next one approaches, it's gonna have to be my meditation spot, the good ol arboretum... unless if it rains, doh!
5. song:
3rd day/mercy me/steven curtis chapman - i see love
6. sports game:
Warriors win at Sonics(I should've posted later last week when it came to the game of the week; say all you want about Fisher, but on friday with Bucks at Oakland, let's just say you were glad Fish was on your team)
7. thought:
I MUST find out the truth before it's too late(the other big thought of mine has become "it's now my turn to search the truth")
8. video game:
Tekken 5
9. other:
Antichrist Conspiracy - 1st e-book i've found on the web(that's free)... it's very clashing with what a lotta uninformed christians believe, but i'm
starting to get scared reading it... it seems like what it says is really true, and i'm afraid of what that means i'll have to do... i'll talk later
about where i found it and stuff
10.other 2:
prayer request that i might find out the truth soon, but that i don't neglect my studies enough to make me suffer; i'm asking god that he'll grant me the grace to allow me sufficient time to find out what i need to find out as soon as possible, and that ultimately i find out the truth, but that i don't drop in my studies or my future stuff

anybody else liking the celtics and the bulls?