Triune Man in Two Dominions Part 3: Man, the Soul

I. Introduction

A.   This is a continuation of the Triune Man in Two Dominion Bible Study. In the last article:   Man, the Spirit, focused upon the spiritual nature of a man.  We discussed and discovered that when God made man after his image and after his likeness, he made mankind to think and to act like him as well as look like him. That is mankind is an earthly reflection of God’s image.  We also found out that Jesus had declared that God is Spirit, not a spirit, but rather the Spirit of Creation and he made mankind in the God class, which means he made mankind as a Spiritual being that lives in a physical body and possesses a soul. We also learned that Adam lost his spirituality in the Garden through his disobedience to the command of God.  Thereby translating his fallen condition to the rest of Mankind, Adam was the first seed of the human race upon the earth, all children that came from Adam and after Adam had lived are inheritors of the sinful condition of Adam. We then learned that Jesus is the second man Adam, who came and redeemed what the first Adam lost in the Garden. Thereby restoring all who would believe in him back to the status mankind had before the fall of the Garden.  We also learned that Jesus is our example of how a Spirit man is to operate on the earth, and that we are directed and encouraged by the teachings of Christ and his Apostles to emulate him.  We learned all these things about our spiritual nature in the second part of this Bible Study, but it would be all for nothing without understanding how the Spirit of man is to function with the soul of man. Therefore, this article, which will also appear as a blog article on my blog site page, which is a location I will share later at the end of this article, will focus upon the soul of mankind. We will discuss certain Bible passages that deal with the creation of mankind as a living soul.

B.    Many things have been said by many a bible teacher and preachers of the word of God about the soul of man.  What I was taught long ago was that the soul of man was made up of 3 things: Ambition, Intellect and Emotion. Which sounded good and logical, but I could not find how these three things constituted the soul of man in the Bible.  In fact the only thing I often heard about the topic was the fact that every soul of man is lost in sin, alienated from the life of God and doom to an eternal existence in Hell.  I also heard that accepting Jesus as a personal Savior and Lord was the only way that a soul could be saved so that every soul could escape the consequences of living with a sinful nature.  All this being true, it fell woefully short on how the Spirit of a man and the Soul of a man transacts with each other. So I went on an adventure in the scriptures that only students of the word of God can experience.  Not the kind that accepts what is given to him, rather the kind that asks question and digs deep into the scripture concerning a given topic.  I have made such an investigation surrounding these questions:  What does the Bible say the Soul of man is comprised of? What does the Soul of man do? What does the Soul of man experience?  Get ready we are going to travel deep and long because this area that needs much explanation and clarification.

II. What Does the Bible Say The Soul of Man Is Comprised of?

A.   Another way of saying the title question of this section is: What is the constitution of the Soul of a Man?  We are not going to use the traditional explanation that many have been taught, that is also well established.  What we are going to use is just the scriptures to explain the construction and constitution of a Man’s soul.  In order to properly do this we must first examine the meaning of the word Soul?  Does it mean a certain swagger or attitude that a person possesses?  Or does mean something entirely different? Let look up the word “Soul” in the following reference sources.

1.     According Dictionary.com  the word “Soul” is defined as:  The principle of life, feeling, thought, and action in humans, regarded as a distinct entity separate from the body, and commonly held to be separable in existence from the body; the spiritual part of humans as distinct from the physical part.

2.     According to Strong’s Hebrew Bible Dictionary the word “Soul” is “nephesh”, which is found 458 times in the Old Testament of the KJV of the Bible is defined as:  A breathing creature.

3.     According to Strong’s Greek Bible Dictionary the word “Soul” is “psuche” which is defined as: the rational and eternal, also as breath

The definitions above share with us a glimmer of what a soul is.  It is the residue of the Spirit of life that was breathed into the first Man which allowed him to become a Living Soul. So powerful was this breath of life, which even Adam’s disobedience could not snuff it out immediately?  Since that time every person has had that breath of life in him or her. It is that breath of life that allows mankind to reason and rationalize.   This is a good start, to the bible study, but we need to know more. In order to do this we must examine the scriptures.  We begin by gathering scriptures that use the following paring of words in a verse, in order to find the order and location of a Man’s soul.

Paired Words	How many times they appear in 1 verse in the Bible?
Soul and Mind	4 times: Once in the OT, 3 times in the NT
Soul and Heart	32 times: 26 Times  in the OT, 6 times in the NT
Mind and Heart	7 times:  4 times in the OT,  3 times  in the NT

The reason that I chose these words to be paired together in our search, is not only to save time because the amount of references regarding the word “Soul” is many and would take a lot of effort to list each and every one of them.  I also did it this way to specify our search to those references regarding the soul of man and its constitution.  When we go into the other sections of this bible study all the other related scriptures about the Soul that is talked about, described or illustrated,  we will observe what portion of the soul that is in action in this study.  Without further delay, here are the scriptures that speak about the soul of man.

a.      First the Scriptures concerning Soul and Mind (all scriptures are from the KJV Bible):

But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth. -Job 23:13

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.-Matthew 22:37

And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.             –Mark 12:30

And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. –Luke 10:27

         

These are the only four verses that have the words “soul” and “mind” within them.  What is interesting here is that all the New Testament quotes are from Jesus and he is reciting a scripture in Deuteronomy. That scripture is Deuteronomy 6:5 which reads:

And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.-Deuteronomy 6:5

         

When we compare the OT scripture with the similar NT scriptures we find that the words  heart, mind and soul are treated as though they are separate and distinct parts.   Why is this significant?  It is significant because the heart of a man deals with his emotional intelligence, the mind of man deals with his rational intelligence, his logic.  The word soul is related to the person of a man. We also find that it is the soul of the man, the desires of the soul of a man that directs him or her to do what he or she does.  As we consider the OT verse of the 4 listed above, we find that the one scripture in the OT is the patriarch of faith, Job, speaking about the Lord, how the Lord is of one mind and one soul. What is this? The Lord has a soul? Yes, the Lord has a soul and this give evidence that God made mankind in the God class. As a result, so we too have a soul, because God made us like himself: In his image, after his likeness.  The Lord is in one mind means that the Lord is single in purpose and plan.  Job asks, “Who can turn him?”  The answer to Job’s question is whosoever believes in him and what he can do.  The woman who touched the hem of Jesus’s garment turned Jesus insomuch that Jesus had to ask, “Who touched me?” while the crowds pressed upon him as he traveled through the streets of a Israeli town. (Mark 5:25-32) Again in another instance, Abraham pleaded to the Lord for the righteous souls in Sodom and Gomorrah, that he may spare their lives. He turned the Lord and Abraham’s nephew, Lot and his daughters, were saved from the judgment of  God. (Genesis 18:19-19:29) We can say that Abraham had a relationship with the Lord, he was indeed the friend of God.  So someone can turn God, if he has faith and a relationship with him.  What is the point? Since God created us after his own image and own likeness, we are a reflection of him. So if God can be turned because someone having faith in him, we too can be turned by someone’s faith in us.  Let us look at the other pairing of words to see if we can receive more information about the soul of a man.

b.     Next all the scriptures that deal with the words “soul” and “heart”

Deuteronomy 4:9- Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons' sons;

Deuteronomy 4:29- But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.

Deuteronomy 6:5-And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

Deuteronomy 10:12-And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of  thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul,

Deuteronomy 11:13-And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the LORD your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul,

Deuteronomy 11:18-Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes.

Deuteronomy 13:3-Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

Deuteronomy 26:16-This day the LORD thy God hath commanded thee to do these statutes and judgments: thou shalt therefore keep and do them with all thine heart, and with all thy soul.

Deuteronomy 30:2-And shalt return unto the LORD thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul;

Deuteronomy 30:6-And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.

Deuteronomy 30:10- If thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law, and if thou turn unto the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul.

Joshua 22:5-But take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law, which Moses the servant of the LORD charged you, to love the LORD your God, and to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and to cleave unto him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.

1Kings 2:4-That the LORD may continue his word which he spake concerning me, saying, If thy children take heed to their way, to walk before me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, there shall not fail thee (said he) a man on the throne of Israel.

1Kings 8:48And so return unto thee with all their heart, and with all their soul, in the land of their enemies, which led them away captive, and pray unto thee toward their land, which thou gavest unto their fathers, the city which thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for thy name:

2Kings 23:3-And the king stood by a pillar, and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD, and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all their heart and all their soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people stood to the covenant.

2Kings 23:25-And like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to the LORD with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither after him arose there any like him.

1Chronicles 22:19-Now set your heart and your soul to seek the LORD your God; arise therefore, and build ye the sanctuary of the LORD God, to bring the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and the holy vessels of God, into the house that is to be built to the name of the LORD.

2Chronicles 6:38-If they return to thee with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, whither they have carried them captives, and pray toward their land, which thou gavest unto their fathers, and toward the city which thou hast chosen, and toward the house which I have built for thy name:

2Chronicles 15:12-And they entered into a covenant to seek the LORD God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul;

2Chronicles 34:3-And the king stood in his place, and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD, and to keep his commandments, and his testimonies, and his statutes, with all his heart, and with all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant which are written in this book.

Psalms 13:2-How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? how long shall mine enemy be exalted over me?

Psalms 24:4- He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.

Psalms 84:2-My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the LORD: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God.

Proverbs 2:10-When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul;

Proverbs 24:12-If thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? and shall not he render to every man according to his works?

Isaiah 32:6-For the vile person will speak villany, and his heart will work iniquity, to practise hypocrisy, and to utter error against the LORD, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail.

Isaiah 44:20-He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?

Jeremiah 4:19- My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart maketh a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.

Jeremiah 32:41-Yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole soul.

Matthews 22:37-Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

Mark 12:30- And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.

Mark 12:33- And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.

Luke 10:27-And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.

Acts 4:32-And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.

 Hebrews 4:12

For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

         

The interesting thing about these scriptures is that they shed light on what the heart and soul of man can do. However, the heart of Man and the Soul of man are still treated as two distinct parts that relates to the person of man. The heart of man has distinct qualities: It can be a unifying factor when people gather together. (Acts 4:32) It can store the things that God commands, it can be expressed in levels of commitment to the will of God, it can be also deceived, it can be pierced with the word of God, it also expresses longing or desire for someone or something and is essential in making a covenant promise to God. It is the part that seeks after the will and purpose of God.

B.    When God tests a person, he tests his heart (soul), to see if that person will still love Him and seek after Him. The heart of a person is also convertible, it is the place in the constitution of a person where he or she makes the choice to convert. It experiences the emotions of sorrow and gladness and it is the entrance way for new wisdom and new knowledge to be imported into a person.  It can be purely good or wicked, but never a combination of both. The mind (soul) of a man has also distinct qualities some of the similar to the heart (soul), but remember the heart (soul) deals with the emotional intelligence of a man, while the mind (soul) deals with the logical intelligence of man. A soul (both mind and heart) of a man can be knitted to another soul (mind and heart) regardless of the gender of the persons involved. (1 Samuel 18:1) This binding of the souls of two distinct individuals however does not promote homosexuality, nor does make it acceptable. It rather shows how close two individuals can become in a non-sexual friendship.  The soul (both mind and heart) also can be pierced by the word of God (Hebrews 4:12), it can be expressed in levels of commitment and is essential in making a covenant promise with God. (2 Chronicles 34:3)  The soul is made pleasant when the heart (soul) receives wisdom. One thing that the mind (soul) has different than the heart (soul) of a man, that is that not in one of the scriptures discussed or shared in this bible study does it state that the mind (soul) is corruptible or can be made entirely evil. This leads us to believe that the heart (soul) of man is the quality of the soul of a man. (Mark 7:15-20; Matthew 15:11)  For also the bible states: “…Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity;…” (Ezekiel 3:19) How does a soul become wicked in the eyes of God?  By bearing iniquity in a soul’s heart (Jeremiah 17:9). God knows and tries the heart of man (Psalms 7:9; 1 Thessalonians 2:4) to get him to repent of the wicked ways lodged in his heart.  Constantly calling every soul to himself through  the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus, that they might find faith in Him and be saved. (Isaiah 65:2, Romans 10:21)

C.    We also see through these scriptures that it is the individual’s responsibility to keep one’s soul, both mind and heart, in God.  This makes the heart of man and the mind of man practically indivisible.  We find that knowledge enters the heart of a man and effects a change in the soul. (Proverbs 2:10)  This is where God communicates to man the soul. He communicates through his heart. How does the heart receives knowledge of God? Through the words of God that is found in the Bible.  Let us take a further look at this from the last group of scriptures which deals with the next pair of words:  mind and heart, and let us see what else we will find.

a.      Remember that all scriptures are from the King James Bible

Deuteronomy 28:65- And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest: but the LORD shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind:

1Samuel 2:35-And I will raise me up a faithful priest, that shall do according to that which is in mine heart and in my mind: and I will build him a sure house; and he shall walk before mine anointed forever.

1Chronicles 28:9- And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the LORD searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off forever.

Daniel 5:20- But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him:

Matthew 22:37- Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

Mark 12:30- And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.

Luke 10:27- And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.

The interesting thing is that even when we attempted find more verses with the last pairing we ended up repeating some verses because all three words: Heart, Mind and Soul, are found  within them. Which tell us that God still needs a full commitment from a person. He wants a person’s passion, thoughts and choices all to be about His will. 

b.     After reviewing all the scriptures we can safely deduce that the Soul of a man is comprised of the quality of his heart and the commitment of his mind.  That it is the heart that receives knowledge and it is the mind that judges that knowledge and then consumes it. (2 Corinthians 10:5)  The mind is a man’s rationale, his logical intelligence, how he goes about thinking about things. The heart receives the knowledge, the mind evaluates it and if it appeals to a person’s logic his soul is content to rest in it.

This was very good but we are not finished yet.

III. What does the Soul of man do?

A.   Now that we have gotten our bearings in this complex matter of the Triune Man we now analyze what a soul does. Don’t worry much of the hard part is done, but was necessary to form a foundation that is biblical and sound.  In order to find out how the soul operates, we must understand its importance.  The soul is the residue of the Spirit of life of God. Some call it the spark of life in every individual that is born on this planet.  It is that residue of the Spirit of life of God within a man that interfaces and communications with the spiritual world. It makes choices that the body of man must follow. 

B.    Ever heard the saying “I couldn’t help myself” when someone does something wrong or offensive to God or another soul.  Well in some cases that is not true. The problem lies with the commitment of the soul, for when the soul decides to have control, it will strive to keep it and command the body to do things so that it will maintain in control.  When someone says. “I can’t help myself”. They are really saying they do not know how to control themselves or they do not want to control themselves. Why, because of some falsely perceived benefit they suppose that they receive from making such a claim.  This is where the power of a spirit filled life comes in.  A spirit filled man has the power to control himself if he chooses to.  It is really a matter of revelation that a person receives about himself  or herself and has about himself or herself and what power a person has to change his or her life. If a spiritual filled person does not have the revelation that he or she has the power to change his or her life for the better, he or she will not make the changes necessary in his or her life for the better.

C.    The soul also communicates to the body and when it is in its proper function it dictates to the body despite how the body feels at the time. Because the mind of the soul knows that if it can tell the body the right things to do it will do it. If the mind of the soul instructs the body to do evil it will do it despite how the body feels at the time.  When the  soul of a person is following the dictates of the senses of the body and its appetites, the soul is in its un-natural role  as it reacts to the effects of the body from its lack of decision making.   

D.   Now we have to deal with wills here.  The Soul of man drives the will of a person and whatsoever the soul agrees to, that it will dictate to the body to do. This is why Satan wants to control every soul of man on the planet. So that he can inflict the self-destruction of the human race on the earth and take all unredeemed souls to the lake of fire with him.  He has one problem. Satan is a spirit and he needs a body to operate in the physical and natural dimension of Earth. The only way he can enter a person is through the temptation of this heart. (Luke 22:3; John 13:27; James 1:14+15)

E.    Think about how Satan tempted Adam and Eve in the Garden. (Genesis  3:1-6) Eve began to desire the forbidden fruit based upon the misinformation Satan gave to her, Adam was right there with her receiving the same misinformation, so he is without excuse.  It was Adam’s and Eve’s desire to be like God in every way, but that was the trick, for they already was created like God in every way.  Satan’s stratagem was to make Adam feel like God was holding back on them. They both fell for it because they wanted to be like God their Creator in his wisdom and in knowledge, so they both ate of the forbidden fruit and as a consequence spiritually died, just as God said they would.  Satan hasn’t, since that time, changed his method, he still uses people and words to get spiritually filled people out of character and to commit spiritual suicide.  In order to condemn them before God or better yet have them condemn themselves before men and God through sins consciousness. The only difference is that this time a spiritual filled person can repent and be forgiven for many offensives he may commit against the will of God and be spiritually restored and develop a righteousness consciousness  (1John 1:9).  This is possible because of Jesus, the second man Adam.  He succeeded where the first man Adam had failed and now, as a result, God has children with whom he can communicate his will to through the Spirt all because of the finished work of Jesus, the Christ upon the cross.

F.     So this gives every soul the opportunity to repent and be saved, because just as the fall in the Garden was done by the choice of the soul, so must be the decision to repent, and be redeemed of God through Jesus, the Christ,  it also must be by the choice of the soul. So salvation is not just a matter of faith, it is also a matter of choice based upon logical and emotional intelligence of a soul that is informed by the word of God.

G.   The decision has become difficult to make because of uninformed preachers and other religions making their offer of a spiritual relationship with a “God” or a religious life one that does not command such a moral commitment to obey an unseen God.  In a free choice society as most Americans in the US live in, to be asked to commit oneself both mind, soul and body to live a life that seems contrary to normal human appetites  is a bit much.  Deep in the conscious of their souls is the hunger for true spirituality and their constant seeking for satisfaction through that which does not satisfy results in continual longing.  Many choose to seek satisfaction in this or that, but  It is until a soul makes the choice to live a life in God with Christ, is when a soul’s life really begins. It is when a soul’s satisfaction begins to be fulfilled.  However, time is of the essence. There is a day when God will judge the Earth and the inhabitants in it. Those who have made the choice to receive Christ will enter into life. While those who chose other ways will enter into Hell.

H.   So what does the soul of a person do?  It does whatsoever it chooses to do. Either to adhere to the dictates of the commands of God, in the Bible or to adhere to the dictates of his own natural desires that can be influenced by the temptation of Satan. In saying that, I want to make it clear that all natural desires are not evil or even wrong.  For example: Going to school to improve oneself is not sin or working a job to earn a living is not sin, neither is being a good parent or member of society is not sin. These things are not outside the context of what God designed and commanded.  It is just outside the context of what God designed for the Human experience when a person does things without His guidance and against God’s commands.  This action outside the context of what designed and commanded is called sin.  Sin is missing the mark.  The falling short of the target of living up to God’s expectations. When a soul chooses to do things outside the context of what God has designed and commanded, that soul is participating in sinful behavior.   Is all actions a soul chooses to do outside of the context of what God designed and commanded sinful behavior? Yes it is, no matter how one may justify the behavior it is still sinful if it is not what God has designed and commanded in His word, the Bible.

We are not finished yet!

IV. What does the Soul of a Man experience?

A.   The Importance of the Five Senses to the  Experiences of the Soul

1.     The soul of a person experiences things through the five physical senses of the body.  These senses are well known as the following: Sight, Touch, Smell, Taste and Hearing.  It is through these senses that a soul can receive information and respond to it for “Faith cometh by hearing…”. (Roman 10:17)   In other words, “faith” is a spiritual substance that can only come about from the soul of a man receiving it from the physical sense of hearing.

2.     Here is another example, after Adam had disobeyed God and ate of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, he knew he did wrong and hid himself from the voice of God in the Garden when God called for him to appear.  Adam knew he (and she) had did wrong, but he did not know what he did was sin. Sin was not identified as sin in Adam’s day, it was only known as disobedience and an Adam knew he(and she) had  disobeyed the command of God. Adam’s (both male and female) soul experienced alienation from the fellowship with God they once had and the only way for them to communicate to God was through the shed blood of innocent animals. (Genesis 3: 8-10,21)

3.     We can say that it was through the improper use of the five senses that Adam made the wrong choice and disobeyed God and ate of the fruit.  Adam used lust, the improper use of his senses, to make the wrong choice and sinned against the command of God in the garden of Eden, but it was through the senses of sight, touch and taste: the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life. How so?  The fruit looked appetizing; this is the lust of the eyes. Then their desire for the fruit of the knowledge of Good and Evil grew; this was the lust of the flesh. Finally they wanted to be like God; this was the pride of life for they wanted something out of life that they believe they ought to have. So they ate of the fruit of the knowledge of Good and Evil.

4.     The problem was they already had the Godly life of God overshadowing them and through their disobedience, spiritually died that hour.  This improper use of the senses problem is still with mankind till this day. This is why Jesus is the only solution to mankind’s sinful disobedient condition. (John 14:6) The good news is the God has allow us to follow after Jesus, to do what he did in the proper use of the senses and live like he did. (1 Peter 2:21) Through Jesus, God has made all members of mankind eligible to experience the Godly life, only if we each individually choose to live it.

V. In Conclusion.

A.   What have we discovered? We discovered what I call the tip of the iceberg concerning man, the soul in this Triune man in two Dominions series. Bible study. I do encourage you to do further studies into this matter on your own.  Maybe there were questions about the soul of a man that this study did not address. As I have stated in the beginning of this article, the study of the Triune nature of man is a complex and moving topic and all we have as a point of reference is what God describes a soul, how he deals with a soul and what he wants from a soul, and all those things can be found in the Bible. 

B.    The purpose of this study was to introduce a very complex subject matter and give you the reader and the Bible student some foundational background in the subject.  In the hopes that you may come to understand how God designed how your soul to operate in conjunction with his Spirit and be obedient to the will of God.  After receiving this knowledge, there can be no longer the excuse of ignorance of not knowing how to behave,  for Jesus did not leave us comfortless (John 14:16,26; John 15:26),  he sent us the Holy Spirit to speak to us about all things and to bring what Jesus said to our remembrance.  “And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, ‘This is the way, walk ye in it’, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.” (Isaiah 30:21) If we fail to hear the Spirit’s voice, we have the written words of God in the Bible to assist us.  This is one of the many reasons I carry a bible with me where ever I go, so that when the Spirit of God wants to teach me something I can have a point of reference that I can fully place my faith upon.

C.    Now all this is for nothing if you are not a Believer in Christ. Your soul cannot enjoy the fellowship with God through Jesus the Christ now, or in the life to come. Why? Because you have not made Jesus the Lord of your life.  Or sure you can go to church, attend a bible study and even go to a prayer meeting, but until Jesus becomes your personal lord and savior, you will still operate outside of the context of what God has designed and commanded and do whatsoever what satisfies the appetites of your body. Which leaves your soul open to the temptations of Satan and the desire to disobey God.   What is the consequence of such a life? The bible states, “…the wages of sin is death…” (Romans 6:23) Every man has the spark of life, that God gives to every life born on this earth, it is up to the choice of every soul to enhance that spirit of life or to extinguish it.  God has done everything so that each soul has the opportunity to save himself from this evil and wicked generation.  What shall you do?  Repent and be saved! How do you do that?  Just sincerely with all your heart recite the following prayer.

Dear heavenly Father,

In Jesus’ name, I come to you now as a repentant sinner.  I confess all of my sinfulness to you and ask you to forgive all of my sins for Jesus’ sake. Wash away all of my sins by the blood of your Son Jesus.  For I now believe that Jesus died for my sins according to your Holy Word, the Bible and that he was raised from the death according to the Bible.  I now invite your Holy Spirit to come and live inside of me and make me your child. I promise to strive to live holy everyday with the Help of your Holy Spirit and by studying the Bible every day. I thank you Lord for saving me.

If you have recited the above prayer with all sincerity, I welcome you the Family of God! Right now the Angels of heaven are rejoicing because you have repented and believed in the hope of all men’s salvation.  Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God.

The next thing you need to do is find a bible believing church, so that you can grow up in Christ and in God. To become what God designed you to be.  Isn’t that exciting!?!

Grief

What is grief from the Christian perspective?  In order to answer that question we must first understand what grief is.

Grief is defined as:

Keen mental suffering or distress over affliction or loss; sharp sorrow; painful regret or a cause or occasion of keen distress or sorrow. –Dictionary.com

Grief is an emotion that expresses distress from an affliction or loss.  Grief therefore, can be experienced in various different ways. For believers in Christ, there are some things we have to bear the grief of and there are other things we should not be grievous about.  Therefore, I am not going to tell you that you dear reader should never experience grief in your Christian walk, that would be unrealistic and impractical.  Instead what I hope to achieve through this article is to provide you with some guidance on how to deal with the emotion of grief.  More importantly, I hope to share with you how God deals with grief and how Jesus deals with grief, that hopefully it will shed some light on this topic that all of us can glean some strength from.

How does God deal with Grief?

Many believers, many people are surprised that God can even experience grief. He does and has experienced grief.  Here is a scripture when God became grievous of His creation of mankind:

“And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.”-Genesis 6:6

What does this mean? It means that God was very distressed about losing mankind to the ways of sin and disobedience.  It does not mean he was angry.  Here we see the word “repented” used with the emotions of the Lord.  The word “repented” in this verse, as it applies to God, our creator, does not mean that God made an error and was upset about it.  It means that God changed his mind about how he created mankind and He decided to judge the entire human race at that point of time. Before he executed His judgment upon all mankind, He searched and found one righteous and peace-loving man, who did not use violence to justify the ends of his means in life. That man was Noah, and God saved him and his family as He cleansed and restarted the world via the great deluge, the flood. He did so because Mankind had gotten so out of control with vengeance killing and the Sons of God (the line of Shem) committing unholy marriages with the daughters of men (of the line Cain, the murderer of his brother Abel) [Read Genesis 5 and 6].  Before the earth became consumed with violence and unholy marital relations, He wiped out all but 8 souls from that generation.

So how does this tell us how God deals with grief?  It tells us that when God is grieved enough he options to find one man and through him save the human race and the planet.  Before you begin to believe that all those souls are eternally lost or have the become evil spirits that now plague mankind, believe me the Bible does not teach any such thing about them.  What the Bible does teach is that Jesus, after his death and during his burial in the earth, during those 3 days and 3 nights, went down to Sheol, the holding place of the condemned and preached to them redemption (1 Peter 3:19, 4:6; Matthew 27:52+53). Those souls of the spirits of men, who anticipated the redemption of God accepted Jesus and rose from the dead and entered into the heavenly Jerusalem and many in Jerusalem saw it.  Those people who rose from those graves, were the ones who never heard Jesus preach on the earth they died before Jesus was born, they all heard the message of redemption in Sheol,  many believed and received salvation, then the arose from the dead before Jesus did and went on before him into the New Jerusalem which appeared in Heaven. I therefore, submit to you that all the saints of the former dispensations who knew of the forth coming of God’s redemption for them, through Christ, was of those who accepted the message and rose from the dead.  

So how does God deal with grief? He takes corrective action to relieve Himself of the loss he has experienced.  What did God lose?  He lost the cream of his creation, the apple of his eye, the love of his life, His companions, His friends, He lost the many souls of Mankind to sin, disobedience and death.  How did he choose to relieve himself of such a loss? The Apostle John tells us how:

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”-John 3:16

For the members of Mankind were not able to save themselves as a whole, entrapped by the sinful nature and the spirit of disobedience through the fear of (Hebrews 2:14+15) death and were on the path to eternal condemnation, that He sent Jesus, his only begotten Son, his image, born of a virgin, pure and without sin to become the sacrificial lamb for the sin of the world.  This illustrates that to overcome grief, God chose to love us and redeem us all, even those who died in the flood and those yet unborn.  Showing that what the Apostle Peter wrote about the Lord and his promises is true.

“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”- 2 Peter 3:9

For those who were asleep before the Lord Jesus appeared on the earth, believed in hope of redemption promised by God and because of that faith in that hope, God through Christ, raised them up redeemed.  Giving all of us hope that are suffering grief that whatsoever God has promised he will accomplish.   All we have to do is keep believing in his promises.

How does Jesus deal with Grief?

Jesus being fully man, experienced grief during his ministry. Here are some scriptures illustrating when Jesus experienced grief and how he dealt with it.

Mark 3:1-6 [vs 5]-The Healing of the Man with the withered Hand on the Sabath

“And he entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there which had a withered hand. And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the sabbath day; that they might accuse him. And he saith unto the man which had the withered hand, Stand forth. And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill? But they held their peace. And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other. And the Pharisees went forth, and straightway took counsel with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him.”

The passage we just read shows Jesus was grieved and angry, that  He experienced two separate emotions at the same time.  He was angry because of their silence, their lack of response to his question.  According to the Pharisees interpretation of the Law, if a cow or a lamb fell into a pit on the sabbath day, they couldn’t pull the cow or lamb out until the sabbath had passed.  However, the Pharisees overlooked this and allowed people to pull their livestock out of a pit on the Sabbath day because the livestock would be offered to them for atonement for breaking the Law.  What Jesus was saying since the religious leaders allowed the livestock to be saved on the Sabbath day, how much more should healing a man’s withered hand be allowed to be done on the sabbath day?  Isn’t a man of more value than livestock?  When the people did not respond to Jesus’ question he was angry that they would allow a man to suffer on the Sabbath day in comparison to saving their own livestock on the Sabbath from danger.  He was grieved because they were lost in their unbelief.  Remember this act was done inside of a synagogue, a place where the Pharisees have taught the people that Jesus was a law breaker because he performed miracles on the Sabbath day and among other things.  Jesus was angry because they did not respond. He was grieved because the people of the synagogue did not believe.  Now the man with the withered hand believed and did as Jesus bid him and he was healed as a result.

This shows that Jesus grieves when there is no faith in the people in his acts to heal and deliver.  It is because that they are lost without having faith in Christ. So how does Jesus deal with grief?  He finds one with faith in his ability to heal and performs a miracle.  Miracles can make unbelievers into believers all by one witnessed act. Yet it takes faith in Jesus to make miracles happen.  He performs miracles right in front of unbelievers in the hopes to turn them into believers.

Luke 7:11-17 The revival to life of a widow’s dead son.

And it came to pass the day after, that he went into a city called Nain; and many of his disciples went with him, and much people. Now when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow: and much people of the city was with her. And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not. And he came and touched the bier: and they that bare him stood still. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise. And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak. And he delivered him to his mother. And there came a fear on all: and they glorified God, saying, That a great prophet is risen up among us; and, That God hath visited his people.

In this passage of scripture we find Jesus dealing with the grieve of a widow who lost her only son.  The economic impact of such a lost upon the widow was such that she would not be able to provide a living for herself.  Let me clarify,  back then women were provided and protected by the men in their families.  When a wife loses her husband due to death, she becomes a widow. The Law stipulates that if a woman becomes a widow, must have her eldest Son take care of her.  In this case the man that was being carried out of the city dead was her only son. She had no other relatives, herself being a widow she had no one to provide for her.  The woman was grieving over the lost of her son because there was no provision in the law for her care, unless a kinsman marries her.  I repeat, the story does not tell us if there were surviving relatives, but she was weeping concerning her loss. This story does not lend to us the extent of her plight, but her weeping tells us that see was not a young widow because her son was not a boy, but a full grown man. Who would desire, to care for an old woman with no surviving relatives?   What did Jesus do? Jesus stopped the procession, comforted the widow in her grief, and raised her son back to life.  Jesus restored her provision to her, he returned her son to her, she did not need to worry about being cared for anymore and see had her son back

So how does Jesus deal with grief? If there is faith present he performs miracles and restores hope to the hopeless.  This teaches us that we must retain hope when suffer loss.

I remember when I lost my job, my family, my first wife, my car and my home all in single year.  I suffered grief for many days. Grief is very painful emotion, It can drive a man to do harmful and destructive things if not handled properly and kept in perspective. Yet it is good for a man to grieve,  For It makes a man appreciate what he once had, that which may have taken for granted.  It can make a man reset his values and bring his life into perspective.  Sometimes grief is experienced everyday a man remembers his loss. Sometimes it goes away, being something or someone he does not grieve over anymore, for whichever which way a man deals with his grief he must confront it with hope and purpose.  Hope of a better tomorrow, hope of a better life.  In my despair, in my grief over losing all that I held dear and to an extent still do, I found hope.  I simply told God through Christ,”…If you are real you will raise me up out of this place. I have faith that you are God and nothing is impossible to you, if I believe. Here is where the rubber meets the road, either you’re God or you are not God. If you are not God I will remain homeless and I will not live for you anymore, but if you prove that you are God I will continue to live for you and your glory…”  Well, long story short, God did raise me out of homelessness.  I now have a new wife, a new family, a new home and a new job and now I am serving God in whatsoever capacity I can.  I will preach his Gospel, I will teach his people and I will glorify his name forever.  Do I still grieve over that which I have lost? I would be lying if I said that I didn’t grieve each and every day, because sometimes pain of loss does not go away, but I meet it with hope and the promise that one day everything will change and I believe that God can make that happen, through Christ.  I learned that I cannot go on living grieving about what was.  I can make a new life with God’s help, and with his help I did. So that one day  when I draw my last breath of life, my family , both past and present, can look at my life and say that I was good man, that I was a real Christian.

The Power of Praise, The Power of Joy

Grief can not only be overcome with hope and purpose, it can be subdued by finding new joys. The power of praise should also not be underestimated for the bible states:

To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.-Isaiah 61-3

This scripture shows what God provides when we are grieving, we mourn when we grieve, but God provide us with these things: Beauty, Joy and the Garment of Praise. It is amazing that your really don’t see the beauty of life until you suffer some sort of loss.  When I saw the beautiful life I had before I became homeless, I thanked God, not for the loss, but rather for the opportunity of enjoying the life he had given me and repented from not appreciating it more. I take nothing for granted today because I experienced the loss, it has made me a better person. I did not allow my grief to cause me to do harmful things in the name of vengeance.  In my loss, I learned the true power of forgiveness and the freedom it gave to my soul and I praise God for it. When grief is properly dealt with, a believer in Christ, matures, he grows up and is taken to another level in his relationship with God.  I began to thank God for the little things, before long I was praising him for the great things he has done in my life.  So whenever I feel the pain of grief, I remember those things He has done for me and I praise him the more. 

The moral of this lesson is you do not have to stay in a grievous condition, which left unchecked can lead you into doing very harmful and vengeful things.  Things you will regret doing.  Or even prevent having the things that have been causing you grief, give you pain all your life.  Once you tap into the hope and purpose of your life and couple that with gratefulness and praise, you can experience new joys and joy can subdue your grief. Follow it up with the power of forgiveness and you can live again. 

You also can experience the joy of life everlasting with God. How? You can choose to accept the free gift of salvation provided by a loving God through the shed blood of Jesus. How?  Just recite the following prayer with all your heart:

Dear heavenly Father,

In Jesus’ name, I come to you now as a repentant sinner.  I confess all of my sinfulness to you and ask you to forgive all of my sins for Jesus’ sake. Wash away all of my sins by the blood of your Son Jesus.  For I now believe that Jesus died for my sins according to your Holy Word, the Bible and that he was raised from the death according to the Bible.  I now invite your Holy Spirit to come and live inside of me and make me your child. I promise to strive to live holy everyday with the Help of your Holy Spirit and by studying the Bible every day. I thank you Lord for saving me.

If you have recited the above prayer with all sincerity, I welcome you the Family of God! Right now the Angels of heaven are rejoicing because you have repented and believed in the hope of all men’s salvation.  Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God.

The next thing you need to do is find a bible believing church, so that you can grow up in Christ and in God. To become what God designed you to be.  Isn’t that exciting!?!

The Bible Changed?

There has been the idea that the Bible has been changed, in that the original scriptures now reads differently in message and purpose. The reason for this change, as claimed by the opponents of Bible credibility, was due to the repetitious manual duplication of Holy writ over time.  In that, words were changed, exchanged , re-arranged and replaced during this repetitive copying. This is the challenge we will address in this article and prove that no such thing happened.

Now Some of the opponents of Bible credibility have presented extracted passages of various portions of the Bible from various translations in order to prove their point.  Once again  under further investigation, like in many previous cases, the opponents of Bible credibility used either a false English translation in comparison to a true and accurate translation or used an older English translation of a original Greek or Hebrew word in comparison to an updated English translation of the same original Greek or Hebrew word. For example:  In an very old King James Version English translation of the Bible that I read when I was 8 years old, there is a passage in the book of Exodus that speaks about when Moses descended from the mountain where God's presence was. The passage read that Moses descended from the presence of God with "horns" poking out from his head. (Exodus 34:29) Now in the more up to date translation of the same passage it reads:

 "..when he came down from the mount, that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him.  And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come nigh him."  

What happened? Why was there a change from the older English translation of the King James version of the Bible?  Why was it changed from the way it was originally written?  I was 14 years old when I got a hold of a modern King James Version of the Bible and read the updated version of the passage.  I was determined to find out why it was changed.  So I investigated why there was change between the two King James English Versions of the Bible. What I found out was that there was no change in the words of the original languages of the scriptures from whence the two passages were translated into English.  No, rather it was human error in the translation of the older King James Version English translation of the scriptures. When the older translation of the original languages of the scriptures were translated into English, they did not know what those words actually could be properly translated in the English of their day, so they translated the words according to the sentiment of the day. I did some research and discovered that found that the time when the older English King James Bible was translated, there was great feelings of antisemitism, that is, there was a deep hatred for the Jews. Why? There was this idea that was propagated that the Jews killed Jesus, the Christ.  So  I concluded that the translator back then translated the text according to the sentiment of day.  Was it a correct translation? No, it wasn't. This translation of the phrase and those like it was proved as a wrong translation eventually by some scholarly work done by some fair minded, truth seeking Christians.  The Christian scholars proved that the Jews did not directly kill Jesus, even though the Jews solicited and persuaded the Pagan  Roman authority at the time to have it done.   Now there is a lot less antisemitism because of these corrections in the English translation of the original copies of the scriptures..  This also proves that just because a translation is older, does not mean that it is more correctly translated than a more modern translation. It also proves that a change the original languages of the Bible was not the cause of the change in the passages of the English King James Bible.   What cause the changes? In brief: Cultural perception and understand of a word. You see, American English is very different for the English of the King Jame Bible.  Even though they are related as American English is an off shoot of 16th Century English, some words have changed in concept and meaning between the two cultures.  For instance, the word "Let" in the Bible  doesn't mean the same today as it did when the King James Bible was first translated.  In the 16th century world of England, the word "let" meant to prohibit or to prevent, but in American English the word "let" means to allow or permit.  Why don't we take a look of a passage in the new testament  that uses the word "let" and apply the two different cultural definitions and perceptions:

For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. 2 Thessalonians 2:7

At first glance, this verse would appear to be saying according to the American concept and definition of the word "let" that the mystery of sin is already at work and only he who now permits sin will continue to permit it until he is stopped and taken out of the way.  

Now the King James English is not 21st century English, it is 16th Century English and the the passage above reads according to 16th century English definition and concept that the mystery of sin do already work: Only he who hinders and prohibits sin, will do so until he is stopped and taken out of the way. 

This is the reason for up to date English translations of the original language of the Bible, to prevent the misunderstanding of the intent of the Biblical author. This shows that what was written is not necessarily what the text means.  For modern English readers of the verse under discussion to understand it properly, they would  have to look at how a 16th century Englishman would have understood the verse.  This also proves that the original languages from whence this verse is translated did not cause nor do not cause the miss-understanding of the text, neither did the translation, rather it was the reader of the text being no careful to evaluate the verse read it according to his current understanding of the 16th century English words used in the verse. The problem is that many Americans read the scriptures according to their own cultural understanding  and not the according to the culture of the translation. I feel that this is one of the reasons why there is many denominations of Christianity in America.

How do we know then with any assurance that the modern English translations of the copies of  the original scriptures were not translated with some sort of prejudice of the translators?  This is a fair and honest question, a question that I myself had. So I went on another investigation into the Bible translation process, and this is what I have found out, Looking through some Bible translation history documents and just recently videos.  I discovered that  the King James version is not a word for word translation. The website http:\\www.christian.stackexchange.com,  a theologian  named Richard provides us the following information:

The King James Version or Authorized Version as it was originally known, was translated by a group of 47 scholars.

It was actually a thought-for-thought translation, rather than word-for-word translation. The idea is that they tried to take the original meaning of the text (not just the individual word) and translate that into the (then) common language.

Compared to modern paraphrase translations, the King James version is almost a word-for-word translation. However, there were places where the scholars explicitly rejected the word-for-word translation in favor of wording that would make more sense to the contemporary English reader of the day.

Here's an example in Romans 5:2-3

2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

3 And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;

The words "rejoice" (in verse 2) and "glory" (in verse 3) are the same word in the original text. A word-for-word translation would have given the same word for those in both cases.

Having said all of this and in light of today's translations, it's commonly accepted as a word-for-word translation. If you compare this, for example, to a thought-for-thought translation or a paraphrase, this translation is much closer to the original text (dramatically so in the case of a paraphrase).

While the original text scholars intentionally rejected word-for-word translations, it's commonly accepted as a word-for-word translation when compared to thought-for-thought or paraphrase translations.

This information provided by  the post of  Richard the theologian at the Christianstackexchange.com website,  shows that the intent of the translators was not to change what the original scriptures stated or insert words that did not exist in the original scriptures, rather they attempted to capture the concept of the original scriptural passage and translate that concept into the English of their day in the 16th Century, in order get as near to the meaning and ideas of the original scriptures as possible.  There was no intention to mar or to distort the original scriptures.   

 A very long time ago, when I had the opportunity I kept a vigil watch over the production of  the New International Version  English Bible,  also known as the N.I.V. English version of the Bible.  I saw that the Bible publisher used committees of theologians from the Jewish faith and the Christian faith for each book of the new Bible they intended to translate and to publish.  They would release one book at a time to see if the public would accept the new translation or would there be outrage from the pulpits of American churches and synagogues.  With each release there was an explanation for why they translated a word or a phrase differently than that of other Modern English translations,  however that did not stop the criticisms from the religious communities. There were a great many accusations laid at the translators feet, one of which was changing the scriptures from their original meaning.   To see if there accusations were true, I would go out and purchase a book of the new translated  Bible every time one was published and compared it to the King James Bible I had in my possession.  I asked myself this same question concerning each of them: What changes to the text did this Publisher allow the translator to make and on what grounds? I read  that part which came with each release  which was an explanation of the text, why certain words were translated  differently and why was it better than what the King James translation of the Bible presented in this new version of the scriptures.  

Not at one time did the issue of changing a concept or a word because of the translator's perception, perspective or prejudice was used.   The cited reason was always, what best presented the scriptures to the understanding of the common people was their goal in translating the original scriptures.  I was also comforted from the fact that each translator signed an oath to the readers of their intent and purpose in bringing in a new translation into the American culture was without bias or prejudice with each release of a portion of the new translation.  Therefore,  I have great confidence in the N.I.V. English Bible today, that it is one of the most up to date Bible readable and understandable translations ever assembled.  Now we also have the English  New King James Version Bible, also known as the N.K.J.V. Bible, which combined the readability of the N.I.V. English Bible with the authoritative style of the English K.J.V Bible.  I have all three bibles in my possession and is very confident that the concepts are consistent between all three of them and they  with the original copies of the scriptures.  

In a previous Facebook post, some time ago,  I responded to an opponent of the English King James Bible who deliberately changed the words of a English Bible text to make it say what he wanted it to say and claim it came from the K.J.V. of the Bible.  I pulled up my English K.J.V. Bible and found that he was miss-representing the K.J.V. Bible at a particular verse.   What I did was posted the actual K.J.V. verse in question and corrected his miss-quote.   Bible credibility opponents love to fool Christians with a good sounding self-paraphrased quote from the Bible.   I was not fooled by the person and demonstrated how the concept and the ideas of the original translated scripture was not changed through all 3 different  Bible English translations by posting all three English versions in my possession of the particular verse. Then he used a false translation and claimed that the Bible was in fact changed.  I pointed out to him that the translation he used was a false translation of the Bible because it did not follow the testimony of the Apostles and early church fathers.

A false translation is a Bible that is translated into English but the original concept of the original scriptures is not preserved in the translation. Instead, another alternative translation is inserted according to the beliefs and prejudices of those who published it or altered it.  For example: The New World Translation is a false Bible translation, in that the concept of Jesus as the only begotten Son of God is removed and the concept as Jesus being a separate God  is propagated through its texts. The Book of Mormon, which presented as another testament of Jesus Christ,  is a false testament, even though it is not a direct translation of the established original scriptures, it is written in the King James Bible translation style.  This was done to give it a "king James" kind of feel  to the readers of its contents. All in all it is a fabrication that tells of Jesus coming to the Americas, just before his ascension to bring the good news to the native Americans.  This all sounds good and plausible because after his crucifixion and resurrection  he appeared to the disciples while they were locked inside a closed and secured room. So why couldn't Jesus have appeared to the native Americans and preached the Gospel to them?  The reason Jesus did not come to the Americas to preach the Gospel  to the native Americans is because he did not need to come to the Americas to preach the Kingdom of God to the indigenous peoples of the Americas. Jesus assigned all believers with  the task of spreading the Gospel of the Kingdom to all nations starting from Jerusalem.  This concept that the book of Mormon presents makes it seem that Jesus believed that his disciples would fail in bringing the Gospels to the native Americans and had to do it himself. We all know that isn't the truth and there were countless Christian Missionaries that successfully preached the Gospel to the native Americans. Think about it,  if Jesus believed  that his disciples would fail in carrying out his great commission, why did he commissioned the Apostles with the task of preaching to the world the Gospel?  Also there are no archaeological discoveries to  confirm the contents of  the Book of Mormon when it speaks of people, places and events. The point is,  because there is so many accurate reproductions of the English translations of the original scriptures  that a false bible is real easy to identify. 

What also makes me so confident that the English King James Bible is accurate in its translation from the original scriptures?  I was made confident because when a English bible is published, each book is translated by a separate and distinct committee from another.  After each committee is finished translating the particular book of scripture into English,  the books are assembled together without regard to cross textual consistency.  Which means without changing the contents of one book to correlate to the contents of another book. This creates the appearance of a discrepancy when a New Testament character quotes Old Testament scripture, for example: In Isaiah 53:5  there is a phrase that says "...and with his stripes we are healed...." This phrase  of scripture is quoted by the Apostle Peter, but in his letter it reads, ".. by whose stripes ye were healed...." (1 Peter  2 :24 ) Is this a miss-translated verse in the Old Testament or is it a miss-quoted verse in the New Testament? The answer is that it is neither. Both English translations are true to its expression in the language it was translated from.  What this supposed variation shows is the revelation that the Apostle Peter had concerning the Isaiah 53 prophecy.  He looks at the prophecy as being fulfilled in Christ and quotes it according to that revelation. He quotes it in the past tense, looking back at the Cross where Jesus was crucified. With this understanding, the supposed discrepancy disappears.  This is also true with many other New Testament quotes of Old Testament scriptures.

Finding all this stuff out about the King James Bible translation and other modern English translations that are consistent with the testimonies of the early church and the Apostles of Christ. I was impressed with the thoroughness of the various bible committees  and concluded that no malicious attempt to change the bible was possible.  As explained before, if someone attempted to change any of the original concepts, without justifiable explanation,  of the English Bible it would be quickly identified as a fake bible and by and large rejected by many Churches and Christians.  

The only question that is left is this: Have the original copies of the scriptures been changed through the repetitive copying of them?  The logical answer is yes, but the factual answer is no.  Why is it logical to believe that the original copies of the scriptures have been changed due the repetitive copying of them.  It is logical to think that as those who copied the first document, also known as the autograph,  and then repeatedly copied the copy of the copy, that over time as they became more removed from the autograph, the first original document composed, that some words could have been changed, re-arranged and replaced.  The fact of the matter, that is not what happened at all concerning the reproduction of the holy scriptures. What did happen was exact replicas of the autographs were reproduced.  How could this be?  First, please understand that there were no copying machines when the first copies were produced. What they had were men that were trained as scribes. Their job was to produce an exact replica of the autograph or the exact copy of the autograph for people who were willing to pay a good price for it if they were a foreigner, it was free if they were an Jewish leader or a Christian.  In order for them to properly do this they had to adhere to strict copying policies and techniques. If a error was made and discovered, the document produced by the scribe was destroyed and he had to start all over. There was no tolerance for error in copying the autographs of Holy writ. No incorrect copies of any authorized  Old Testament and New Testament scriptures were allowed to survive. Add to this the popular demand for exact copies of the autographs of  the original scriptures and you find that thousands were reproduced, the ones that were not distributed were stored in various places on papyrus paper scrolls.  These copies were generated during the first two centuries of the Church and circulated throughout the known Roman world.  Even though all these exact copies were reproduced, the papyrus that they were written on began to decay and rot away. So more vigilant efforts were performed to preserve the copies of the autographs as time moved on.   I must state here that the original copies of the holy scriptures are among the most well preserved set of books in the world.  This why we have exact copies of the autographs dating from the first and second centuries of the church still with us today.  It is from these exact copies of the autographs, which have long since decayed away, that modern English translations including the King James Bible are translated from.  

Now the icing on the cake is that one of the oldest complete Bibles discovered, Codex Sinaiticus, which was written in one of the original languages and dates back to the early 4th century, when it was translated into modern English, it confirmed that no changes were made in concept or purpose in the words  bible since that time.  If that wasn't enough, a theologian took up the challenge that the bible was changed and did something completely different.  He took the 800 plus pieces of literature which were  the autograph copies of the early church fathers and using only their quotes of the New Testament reassembled the entire New Testament to the letter. He didn't even use the known Codexes of the Bible and was able to produce an accurate copy.  The Old testament, on the other hand  has had a incredible record of authenticity and accuracy over the centuries, insomuch that the ancient city of Nineveh was found just using the geographical references provided within its pages.  The Kingdom of the Hittites  was discovered just where the Bible said they would be.  Archaeology has confirmed the the Bible many times and has given us reason to believe its contents as accurate and authentic. Think about it,  if a story in the bible was just made up and presented as fact, it would never be confirmed by archaeology . So has the Bible changed since its inception?  Many have tried and failed to change its contents to suit their beliefs.  Just remember in order for a fake Bible to be created there must be an authentic one to emulate. 

The last evidence is the Apostles and the many disciples who died to preserve the original scriptures.  If they died for false scriptures, then they were all fools, because they died for what they did not know was false. Even worse If they knew it was false and persisted in the propagation of that which is false, they are guilty of being co-conspirators in a mass con scheme of the likes the world have never seen and willingly died for it.  Or they just lost their minds and gave up their lives preserving that which is not authentic or accurate.  Regardless of any of those possibilities they never recanted their testimony  and preserved the holy scriptures until the day of their death. They left a standing testimony of scriptural accuracy and authenticity that still effects us today  and all who believe because of their sacrifices and testimonies preserved in the holy scriptures have the assurance that what is in the Bible is true when responsibly translated into whatsoever language it needs to be in order that the Great commission of our Lord would be accomplished.