The sheer volume of uncertainty in regards to the Bible

DonZabu

(This is not going to end well...)

Once you take in the number of possible mistranslations that have occurred over the centuries, the number of ways the messages therein could've been intentionally distorted by self-serving translators, all the apocryphal gospels that have cropped up over the years, the questionable validity of those and, by extension, the questionable validity of the regular gospels in relation to that when it comes to the actual life and teachings of Jesus, and the questions of what the rest of the Q document said, Christianity starts looking less like salvation and more like a thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle with half of the pieces missing.

Khwarizmi

Of course.  If it was entirely clear and unambiguous, we wouldn't have multiple denominations.

Chagen

I think this stems from how the Bible is quite often considered to be the absolute truth and therefore it it heresy to challenge any part of it.

This means that any audacious enough translator/scribe can simply change something to his will and proclaim that his version is the true version and everyone else's is wrong. And no one will challenge him on this and immediately take his version to the truth.

And then someone else makes their own version and proclaims that it is the true one, and then we get into a "MY VERSION IS BETTER THAN YOURS" war.

Doesn't something similar happen with the Qu'ran and Islamic Extremists?

DonZabu

^ Actually, if I understand correctly, the Qu'ran has remained mostly consistent over the centuries. Most of the factional differences in Islam have stemmed from hadith and sunnah (not sure what the plurals of those would be).

Khwarizmi

AFAIK, that's true.  Changing the Qu'ran is so frowned upon that even translations are regarded as less authentic than the original text, whereas the Bible has had numerous translations approved by churches throughout history.  The stuff that Muslims find controversial (for example the whole debate about how women should dress) originate in the Hadiths, not the Qu'ran.

Vorpy

Spoiler:

Jesus and Abraham die

Bob

"(This is not going to end well...)"

Don't say that, you're just going to jinx it.

DonZabu

^ Truth be told, the only bad reaction I would've expected would've been from Chagen.

Chagen

Oh no. This is something I agree with. It's very annoying how Christianity is a giant cesspool of Fan Wank and Alternative Interpretation.