Textual Criticism ~ How Can We Know Our Bible is Reliable?

No!!! Please don't pass this post by cause you THINK you have no "interest" in textual criticism--or no idea what it is!

I'm sure you've heard this question (or something along the same lines) asked many times by skeptical friends or family, and even immature believers, "How can we know our Bible is reliable?"

I encourage you to read THIS post by C. Michael Patton over at the Parchment and Pen team blog. He does a wonderful job of presenting the topic in a very understandable and readable manner.

Being married to a N.T. Greek language guy, I've heard many phrases like "textual criticism" and "majority text" used often over the years. However, I have for the most part been content to leave the "deeper" language issues to him--satisfied to benefit from HIS work and thinking through things. You should have seen the smile on my husband's face last Saturday morning (during our weekly "date" at a local coffe shop) as I enthusiastically shared what I'd read and was working to apply.

BTW, after you've read Patton's post, be sure to check out the quiz by Dan Wallace (one of the Greek profs at DTS) TEXTUAL CRITICISM QUIZ , and get the quiz answers in his follow-up post, ANSWER KEY TO QUIZ.

Oh yea, I got only 5 correct out of 10, but learned quite a bit in the process! Hope you have fun with this--be glad that you won't have to "expose" your ignorance to the world like I did! :-)