Do Not Add To God's Word

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read this message: Do not add to God's Word.
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Amen and amen. Do NOT add to God's Word!!

purgatory

But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse!

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LostChildinTheMidst

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Amen and amen. Do NOT add to God's Word!!

purgatory

But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse!

View attachment 204073
What if I was trying to explain the gospel but I didn't get everything right. Am I under gods curse now? Does that mean I have to stop sharing the gospel to my unbelieving friends?? I'm so scared. I tiold my friends "Jesus is lord and God" but that's it and we beleive he came down in the flesh to cover our sins, I hope I was right, but before when I was a lukewarm Christian I told someone Jesus was the son of God but he is not god. I was wrong so I got a chance to tell her I was wrong what about now where do I stand??
 
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Papias

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Um, which one of the many Bibles are you considering the "correct" one, not to be "added" to?

Christians have often changed or added books, as they felt was right, just as you do yourself. That's why the canon of the various Bibles is not only not settled today (there are Bibles with 73 books, 66 books, 100+ books, other numbers, etc), and that it really never has been settled. Early Christians often excluded books such as Revelation, Jude, and others, and the Protestants removed several Old Testament books, and there were many different sets in use before that too.

The NT books were written between ~50 AD and ~150 AD, along with a wide range of many Gospels, letters, books and so on, all being discussed and alternately used by various Christians. For, some of our earliest references to a Gospel are to the Gospel of Peter, which along with the Apocalypse of Peter, was widely seen as part of the scripture at the time.

around 200 AD, the muratorian fragment shows that the NT canon was not settled, and puts forth a canon that doesn't match our current NT canon (including books like the Apocalypse of Peter and excluding 3 Jn, etc.)

Our Bibles from the 4th century still don't match the NT canon, including books like the Epistle of Barnabas and the Shepard of Hermas.

Eusebius doesn't clearly give the NT canon, questioning James, Jude and others.

From 330 AD, the Codex Claromontanus includes the Acts of Paul, the Ap of Peter, Barnabus and Hermas as above, and excludes Phil, 1 & Thes, and Hebrews.

The council of Laodicea was called to settle the canon in 363, and produced a list of 26 books (excluding Revelation).

Athanasius is the first, of all those various canons, to match our current canon but that wasn't until 367, and more importantly, was just one voice of many, since highly various canon lists continued for centuries after that.

the Apostolic canon #85 in 380 listed the books of the NT canon, including the epistles of Clement.

In the western Catholic church, this was still being discussed in the council of Carthage in 419 AD. - and of course the western church is not the only church.

The Peshetta New Testament is used to this day in much of the eastern Syrian church, and many versions of it keep the 22 book NT that it has had without dispute until recently.

The Armenian NT included 3rd Corinthians until the 1200s AD.

Luther rejected James, Jude, Heb and Rev in the 1500s.

The Roman Catholic church added Mark 16 (and other verses) to it's NT in 1870. - Which you cited in your blog post, even though scholars agree that it wasn't in the original gospel of Mark.

And of course, even today the both the Coptic and Ethiopian canons don't match the 27 book NT we use.

And that's not to mention the 11 million Mormons who have added several whole volumes to their New Testament.

And even that is a simplification of the many changes over time. More can be found here (which is itself an incomplete summary). Development of the New Testament canon - Wikipedia

The NT canon has never been settled. It wasn't settled in the 5th century, nor in the 9th, nor in the 11th, nor in the 17th, and not today. It doesn't look like it will ever be settled.

And that's not to mention the Old Testament, which is also said to be infallible by literalists, which has even more changes, different versions used today, and convolutions. The latest change by a major church was the removal of some old testament books by the Roman Catholic church in 1979 - within the lifetime of many of us. More on that is here: Development of the Old Testament canon - Wikipedia

And all of those miss all the many changes inside the books - which KJV onlyists add up to, in just the new testament, more total text than the whole books of 1st and 2nd Peter.
So there never really was one "Bible". It doesn't look like there ever will be a Bible that Christians agree on.

At least we can agree on Jesus, right?

In Christ-

Papias
 
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woobadooba

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I read the message you linked to, and ironically, I believe the person who wrote it appears to be adding to the word of God...

The person appears to be saying we can do all of the following signs if we believe:

Mark 16:17-18 NKJV "And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover."

I believe Jesus' words. But I also believe in keeping things in context. It is important to note that these signs only happen according to God's will. It's God's choice to use whomever He desires to do these things, not ours. And just because you cannot do all of these things, it doesn't mean you are not a believer or that you don't have the Holy Spirit in you, as some falsely say.

It's not about what we want to do, but about what God wills.
 
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Instrument150

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read this message: Do not add to God's Word.
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In saying that, do you mean "Do not write something down and say here, this needs to be added to the Bible because God told me so."

or do you mean, "Do not use explanations for the words in The Bible that come from your own mind, only present the exact words that are written therein."

?

Because I have an issue with the second interpretation with what you've said
 
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What if I was trying to explain the gospel but I didn't get everything right. Am I under gods curse now? Does that mean I have to stop sharing the gospel to my unbelieving friends?? I'm so scared. I tiold my friends "Jesus is lord and God" but that's it and we beleive he came down in the flesh to cover our sins, I hope I was right, but before when I was a lukewarm Christian I told someone Jesus was the son of God but he is not god. I was wrong so I got a chance to tell her I was wrong what about now where do I stand??

My dear sister, do not be scared. You are NOT under God's curse.

If you explain the gospel, but don't get everything right....you are NOT under God's curse.
 
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Korean-American Christian

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What if I was trying to explain the gospel but I didn't get everything right. Am I under gods curse now? Does that mean I have to stop sharing the gospel to my unbelieving friends?? I'm so scared. I tiold my friends "Jesus is lord and God" but that's it and we beleive he came down in the flesh to cover our sins, I hope I was right, but before when I was a lukewarm Christian I told someone Jesus was the son of God but he is not god. I was wrong so I got a chance to tell her I was wrong what about now where do I stand??

My dear sister, the Bible verse that I posted is talking about so-called "Christian" religious groups that create THEIR OWN VERSION of the Bible and so-called "Christian" religious groups that ADD an entire book (Book of Mormon) and say that it is equal to or more important than the Bible.

Example - Book of Mormon, New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (JW's), The Holy Bible - Recovery Version (Watchman Nee and Witness Lee)
 
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Hank77

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The Holy Bible - Recovery Version (Watchman Nee and Witness Lee)
?
It is my understanding, which could be wrong, that the Recovery Bible does not add to the scriptures or take away any scriptures but contains notes, explanations, etc. rather like a Scofield Bible, or a commentary written in notes.
Can you be a little more detailed, such as scripture that is added or taken away? Thanks
 
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Papias

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My dear sister, the Bible verse that I posted is talking about so-called "Christian" religious groups that create THEIR OWN VERSION of the Bible and so-called "Christian" religious groups that ADD an entire book (Book of Mormon) and say that it is equal to or more important than the Bible.

Example - Book of Mormon, New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (JW's), The Holy Bible - Recovery Version (Watchman Nee and Witness Lee)

The NWT and the recovery version are both much closer to the protestant Bible than any of them are to the Catholic Bible with 73 books, or the Orthodox Tewado Bible with 81 books, or other differences. There are many different Bibles, just as there are many different types of Christians. Are you claiming that anyone who's Bible isn't just like yours isn't Christian?

Did you read my post (#4)? What makes up "The Bible" isn't nearly settled today, and has never really been settled.

In Christ - Papias
 
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Jane_Doe

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The NWT and the recovery version are both much closer to the protestant Bible than any of them are to the Catholic Bible with 73 books, or the Orthodox Tewado Bible with 81 books, or other differences. There are many different Bibles, just as there are many different types of Christians. Are you claiming that anyone who's Bible isn't just like yours isn't Christian?

Did you read my post (#4)? What makes up "The Bible" isn't nearly settled today, and has never really been settled.

In Christ - Papias
In addiction to the wide variety of Bibles Christians use, there's also a wide variety in extra-Biblical documents accepted as authoritative by various Christians (such as which Creeds, etc).
 
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Korean-American Christian

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Are you claiming that anyone who's Bible isn't just like yours isn't Christian?

In Christ - Papias

My dear Papias, the only thing I am firmly stating is that the New World Translation (JW's) and the Book of Mormon are NOT Christian books.....just as The Urantia Book is NOT a Christian book
 
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Papias

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My dear Papias, the only thing I am firmly stating is that the New World Translation (JW's) and the Book of Mormon are NOT Christian books.....just as The Urantia Book is NOT a Christian book

I agree that the Urantia book and the book of mormon share very little text with any of the many Bibles used by Christians before ~1800. However, the JW NWT is more similar to the KJV than it is to, say, the NIV, not to mention that all of those are much more similar to each other than to the RCC Bible or the Eastern Orthodox Bible, or many others. So trying to exclude the JW NWT without also excluding Bibles used by hundreds of millions of Christians doesn't make sense. The big difference with JWs is interpretation, not scripture. Do you agree that there are many different Bible used by different Christians, and that only a small offshoot of Christians use a 66 book Bible?

Papias
 
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However, the JW NWT is more similar to the KJV than it is so, say, the NIV,
Do you agree that there are many different Bible used by different Christians, and that only a small offshoot of Christians use a 66 book Bible?
Papias

My dear Papias, although the JW New World Translation may SEEM TO BE similar to the KJV....JW's are NOT Christians in any way, shape or form.

From John chapter one, verse one of the New World Translation used by JW's
In the beginning was the Word,+ and the Word was with God,+ and the Word was a god

The New World Translation is most definitely NOT A VALID VERSION of God’s Word.

The New World Translation INTENTIONALLY CHANGES the rendering of the text to conform to JW theology. The New World Translation is a PERVERSION of the Bible.

My dear friend, I DO agree that only a small offshoot of Christians use a Bible that is composed of 66 books.
 
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Papias

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My Dear KAC-

It sounds like we mostly agree. : )

My dear Papias, although the JW New World Translation may SEEM TO BE similar to the KJV....JW's are NOT Christians in any way, shape or form.

I wasn't arguing whether or not they *are Christians*. I was only talking about their scripture.

From John chapter one, verse one of the New World Translation used by JW's
In the beginning was the Word,+ and the Word was with God,+ and the Word was a god.....
The New World Translation INTENTIONALLY CHANGES the rendering of the text to conform to JW theology.

Yes, they did change that. They added one letter "a". Yes, that was an intentional change to conform to their theology.

The New World Translation is most definitely NOT A VALID VERSION of God’s Word. ....The New World Translation is a PERVERSION of the Bible.

But hold on. You are saying that their adding of one letter renders their scripture invalid and a perversion? But the KJV is missing 7 whole books compared to the Catholic Bible - and those differences also are directly related to theology & practice - such as the divine status of Mary, prayer to the saints, and many more similar issues. Luther took out the book of James because it didn't fit with his Sola Scripture theology, and so on and on.

The NIV is missing text equivalent in length to the whole books of 1 and 2 Peter compared to the KJV - and that's not a "perversion", even when the JW NWT is only different by one letter? How does that make sense?

And so on, such as the other Bibles which have over a dozen additional books, etc. How are all of those not an "invalid" "perversion", compared to one additional letter in the NWT?

In Christ -

Papias
 
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My Dear KAC-
I wasn't arguing whether or not they *are Christians*. I was only talking about their scripture. Yes, they did change that. They added one letter "a". Yes, that was an intentional change to conform to their theology.
In Christ -
Papias

My dear Papias, if you are speaking of the textual accuracy of the NWT, I agree with you....the only change that the writers of the NWT seem to have made is changing "and the Word was God" to "the Word was a god"

Papias, may our Lord Jesus Christ be with you always

may God our Father bless you
 
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Hank77

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But the KJV is missing 7 whole books compared to the Catholic Bible - and those differences also are directly related to theology & practice - such as the divine status of Mary, prayer to the saints,
Why aren't these scriptures brought up in discussions about the divine status of Mary? I'd be interested in knowing what they are.
 
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Hank77

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But hold on. You are saying that their adding of one letter renders their scripture invalid and a perversion?
Here is another....because they don't believe in the deity of the Christ. They believe that Jesus was a created being. "All other things" besides Him were made....


KJV
Col 1:16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:

NWT
He is the image of the invisible God,+ the firstborn of all creation;+ 16 because by means of him all other things were created in the heavens and on the earth, the things visible and the things invisible,+ whether they are thrones or lordships or governments or authorities. All other things have been created through him+ and for him. 17 Also, he is before all other things,+ and by means of him all other things were made to
 
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Papias

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Why aren't these scriptures brought up in discussions about the divine status of Mary? I'd be interested in knowing what they are.

They sometimes are brought up. First of, the full canon of the Catholic church is more directly related to the idea of intercessory prayer - why Catholics ask Mary to pray on our behalf, as well as to ask the saints to do so as well. Scripture supporting this is in the books of Maccabbees. Scripture more directly related to Mary in particular is in 4th Esdras. Other books that are sometimes included in some Bibles and not others include the Apostolic Fathers, which also supports devotion to Mary (in the section that covers the martyrdom of Polycarp).

CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary

Many of those books and others are easy to find in many Bibles, such as Catholic or Eastern Orthodox Bibles. A summary of the canonical differences can be seen by paging down on this page and looking at the table. As you can see, comparing the various Bibles is very complicated.

Biblical canon - Wikipedia

In Christ-

Papias

P. S. Yes, good catch - another small change - adding the word "other".
 
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