An Analysis of the BJU-Sponsored Book, God's Word in Our hands--
The Bible Preserved For Us

Pastor D. A. Waite, Th.D., Ph.D.
President, Dean Burgon Society

Given at the 26th Annual Meeting of the Dean Burgon Society
Thursday, July 15, 2004
At the Heritage Baptist University
Greenwood, Indiana

A Power Point Presentation of 37 slides

God's Word in Our Hands
The Bible Preserved For Us

Fundamentalist Deception on Bible Preservation

This book is a sequel to the BJU production From the Mind of God to the Mind of Man.  It has the same general and managing editors (J. B. Williams and Randolph Shaylor).  6 of the 7 members of the "Text and Translation Committee," are connected to BJU.  It was published in 2003. 

Fundamentalist Deception on Bible Preservation

I can sum up this book in one word.  It is a "VERISIMILITUDE." It means:    It means "the appearance of being true or real; something having the mere appearance of being true or real; seeming to be true or real; plausible; likely." This book's view of "Bible Preservation" has only the "appearance of being true."

The following are 39 of the 334 Deceptions found in the book, God's Word in Our Hands--The Bible Preserved For Us.  I have called this book, "FUNDAMENTALIST DECEPTION ON BIBLE PRESERVATION."  In this paper, I have quoted from the authors and then given a brief TRUTH reply to each.  Pastor D. A. Waite, Th.D., Ph.D.

Deception #28, out of 334 on page xxi,  "We Have the Word of God," Randolph Shaylor (BJU graduate) says: "We believe that the Bible teaches that God has providentially preserved His written Word. This preservation exists in the totality of the ancient manuscripts of that revelation.  We are therefore certain that we possess the very Word of God."

Truth #28.  That's what Randolph Shaler (the managing editor of this book and a graduate from Bob Jones University) printed in the introductory pages.  He defines some of the things. Where is the Word of God preserved?  If it is preserved "in the totality of ancient manuscripts," how can it be "God's Word in our hands"?  You can't go to the far-flung fields of the world and read God's Word.  We believe that God has preserved His Hebrew and His Greek Words and the most accurate translation of those preserved Words is the King James Bible.   

Deception #31 out of 334 on page xxii, "We Have the Word of God," Randolph Shaylor (BJU graduate) says:  "Written Word"--"God has not chosen to preserve every WORD which He has spoken by audible voice through His prophets.  He has chosen to convey the MESSAGE of His person, purpose, glory, and works in written form."

Truth #31.  Notice that word, "message." "Now the original inscripturation, God's Word has not passed away.  He preserves the truth that he gave us in a form that is consistent with the original writing."  Now, notice these special words: "form," the "truth," and so on.  Here we have the word very illusive not the Words are preserved, but the "message" and the "truth."

Deception #60 out of 334 on page 28,   "The Heritage of American Orthodoxy," John Huheson, Sr. (BJU grad & BJU Cooperative Board) he says, "Both of these giants of the faith [R. A. Torrey and A. T. Robertson] were committed to the preserved Word of God in the eclectic Greek text and multiple conservative translations."

Truth #60.  That's not the source of preservation to the Words of God.  It might be the "Word" of God meaning thoughts, concepts, ideas, message, but not WORDS.  The Words of God are not preserved in the "eclectic Greek text" of Wesott and Hort, Nestle/Aland, or the United Bible Society Text.  They are certainly not preserved in "multiple conservative translations."  The only translation that preserves in the English language, (because of its accurate translation from the Preserved Hebrew and the Greek Words) is the King James Bible.  There are not "multiple conservative translations" that do this.  There is only one.

Deception #61 out of 334 on page 28,   "The Heritage of American Orthodoxy," John Huheson, Sr. (BJU grad & BJU Cooperative Board) he says, "However, God's people . . . must be free with a clear conscience and the rich heritage of historic Christian doctrine to use any conservative English bible in the pew and in the pulpit in order to hear the Holy Spirit communicate His Truth to them in words of understandable everyday English."

Truth #61. Get a Defined King James Bible if you want to have the words in the English "understandable."  We do not want to communicate only "God's truth" (by which they mean message, thoughts, ideas, and concepts).  We want God's WORDS communicated from Hebrew to English and from Greek to English as our King James Bible has done.  There's no "rich heritage of Christian doctrine" in these multiple so-called conservative English translations that are in the pew and in the pulpit.  The only conservative and accurate translation of the English language IS our King James Bible, not the NIV, not the NASV, not the RSV, and not the NRSV and so on.  The New Testament alone in those texts has over 8,000 differences from our Textus Receptus, which underlies our King James Bible.

Deception #67 out of 334 on page 39, "The Voice of the Preachers," J. Drew Conley (BJU grad.) says, "Some portray the current translation controversy as a battle between those who believe God has preserved His Word and those who don't, but that is not where the disagreement is."

Truth #67. It IS a battle between "those who believe God has preserved His WORD and those who don't."  These authors do not believe God preserved His WORDS, yet they believe He has preserved His "Word," meaning only thoughts, ideas, concepts, message, truth, or teachings, but not "Words."  I believe this is a distortion of the issues involved.

Deception #74 out of 334 on page 85, "What the Bible Really Says About Its Preservation" by the unnamed Editorial Committee, says:  "Many passages of Scripture are often sited as demanding supernatural preservation of every Word of Scripture at a particular extent, text, or lineage of text even in a particular translation."  "Careful exegesis of these texts led to the conclusion that they are often misunderstood and or misapplied."

Truth #74.  We are not misapplying these Scripture verses.  These men are the ones who are misapplying them.  These men are the ones who are changing the written Words of the living God, and changing the policies of the preservation of His Hebrew and Greek Words.  When the Lord Jesus said, "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my Words shall not pass away," how can they say that this is a distortion or a misrepresentation of the preservation of the very Words of God?  Those are the Words, which we contend God has promised to preserve.  We believe the preserved Words of God are the Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek Words which underlie our King James Bible.

In Matthew 24:35 & Mark 13:31, & Luke 21:33, the Lord Jesus Christ stated clearly, three times, His Divine position on BIBLE PRESERVATION:   "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but MY WORDS shall not pass away."

Deception #78 out of 334 on page 87, "What the Bible Really Says About Its Preservation" by the unnamed Editorial Committee, says:  "Verse 6 [in Psalm 12] is a clear statement of David's confidence in the truthfulness, purity, and trustworthiness of God's Word."

Truth #78.  It's more then simply "confidence in the truthfulness, purity, and trustworthiness of God's Word."  He says the Words of the Lord are pure Words."  He says that God "shalt keep them" and "preserve them."  This speaks of preservation of those Words.  It's more then simply "trustworthiness."  It's also a teaching of the preservation of the Words that God has given to us in the Greek and in the Hebrew texts.

Psalm 12:6-7:  "The WORDS of the LORD are pure WORDS:  as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.  Thou shalt KEEP THEM, O LORD, Thou shalt PRESERVE them from this generation FOR EVER."

Deception #97 out of 334 on page 103. "What the Bible Really Says About Its Preservation" by the unnamed Editorial Committee, says:  (talking about jots and tittle here).  "The Lord's referring to these minutia of the written law has been regarded generally by conservatives as the most explicit possible confirmation that He viewed the Old Testament to be verbally inspired and therefore inerrant."

Truth #97.  Not only is it verbally inspired, but it is also verbally preserved.  The Lord Jesus says in Matthew 5:18, "Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled."  This refers to the smallest Hebrew letter, the YOD, which is just like a comma.  It also refers also to the smallest difference between two Hebrew letters, the TITTLE.  The Lord Jesus Christ promised verbal preservation of His Words.

Matthew 5:17-18:  (17) "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets.  I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. (18) For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, ONE JOT or ONE TITTLE shall IN NO WISE PASS from the law, till all be fulfilled." 

Deception #106 out of 334 on page 110, "What the Bible Really Says About Its Preservation" by the unnamed Editorial Committee, says: ". . . the key passages cited by those who insist that the Bible demands its perfect preservation in a single manuscript or translation simply do not support the claims of this position."

Truth #106.  That's exactly what these men have not done.  They have misinterpreted every one of these verses which, in actuality and by precise exegesis, DO teach the preservation of the very Hebrew and Greek Words of the Lord Jesus Christ.  They have taken these precious verses and say they don't mean what they clearly mean.  These men are wrong.  We are correct.  Everyone of these verses that we bring out for Bible preservation of the Hebrew and Greek Words teach us that very thing.  They say oh no they teach only the preservation of the Word of God meaning the concept, the idea, the thoughts, or the message, but not the Words of God.

In Matthew 24:35 & Mark 13:31, & Luke 21:33, the Lord Jesus Christ stated clearly, three times, His Divine position on BIBLE PRESERVATION:   "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but MY WORDS shall not pass away."

Deception #124 out of 334 on page 152, "Preservation of the Copies" John Mincy (BJU grad.) says:  (they quote me,) "Waite says that God has preserved His Words in the TR which underlies the KJV.  He does not specify which TR.  He leaves his readers with the false impression that there is but one fixed TR which underlies the KJV."

Truth #124.  I do "specify which TR."  It is the Hebrew and Greek Words that underlie the King James Bible.  That's the text I refer to.  That's the text of Dr. Frederick Scrivener (which we have and we've reproduced in the Scrivener's Annotated New Greek Testament).

Deception #127 out of 334 is a footnote on page 154,  "Preservation of the Copies" John Mincy (BJU grad.) says:  (They are quoting me again.) "D. A. Waite, for example, writes, It is a gross misinformation to say that the Textus Receptus began with an edition of Erasmus."  [Fundamentalist Misinformation on Bible Versions, Collingswood, NJ, Bible For Today Press, Page 68.]

Truth #127.  They quote me again in this footnote, "Again Waite writes The Textus Receptus is a Greek text of the New Testament that has been handed down from generation to generation.  It had its origination in the apostolic era when the New Testament was written.  Erasmus merely put these Traditional Text manuscripts into print A.D. 1516.'"  We've been quoted here and we agree with our quotation.

Deception #164 out of 334 on page 183,   "Are Copies Reliable? Keith Gephart (BJU grad.) says: "The TR and the KJV are the Word of God; in them we meet and hear God and are brought into saving fellowship with Him.  However, it is also true that the W-H text,  N-A text, the UBS text, the H-F text and the R-P text are the Word of God.  Moreover, the NKJV and the NASV\B and the NIV are the Word of God."

Truth #164. How can the Textus Receptus, the King James Bible, the Wesott and Hort, the Nestle Aland, the United Bible Society, Hodges and Farstad, Robinson and Pierpont all be the "Word" of God if you mean the Words of God?  They can't be.  All of these things cannot be the Word of God.  You have over 2,000 variations in the New King James Version of the Hebrew and Greek Words.  There are over 4,000 differences in the New American Standard Version.  There are over 6,653 differences (and then we stopped counting) in the New International Version.  To say they are all the "Word" of God means they are talking about the message, thoughts, ideas and concepts, but not Words.  This is serious error.

Deception #165 out of 334 on page 183,    "Are Copies Reliable? Keith Gephart (BJU grad.) says:  "We can be thankful that through the centuries the Lord has equipped  men with knowledge and textual skill and that He has blessed us with the fruit of their labors.  How foolish to criticize and debunk the praiseworthy efforts of these remarkable servants who have exerted such labors over the text of our Scriptures."

Truth #165. Many of these that he is talking about [like Tischendorf, Lachmann, and Wesott and Hort] were apostates, liberals, and heretics bound for Hell.  Why should we not be against them?  How can we be thankful for apostates and liberals who have shortened our Textus Receptus as Wesott and Hort have done by 2,886 Greek Words?  How can we be thankful for these apostates Wesott and Hort who have introduced to the Greek text over 356 doctrinal errors.  How can we be thankful for Wesott and Hort who have changed our Textus Receptus that underlies our King James Bible in over 8,000 specific places?  I'm not thankful for that at all.

Deception #221 out of 334 on page 271, How Much Difference Do the Differences Make? Mark Minnick, BJU grad and BJU teacher, says: "But not a single variant in any way alters what Christians believe and practice.  Every variant could be included in our Bibles or every one could be omitted and it would not affect our faith or practice in the slightest way."

Truth #221. That is totally and completely false.  How can 356 doctrinal passages as outlined by Dr. Jack Mormon in his study [BFT #2956 100 large pages @ $10.00 + $4.00 S&H] not important.  When the deity of Christ is questioned, as it is in I Timothy 3:16, how can Mark Minnock explain away that one.  "Great is the mystery of Godliness God was manifest in the flesh." Not "HE" but "God."  That's the Textus Receptus.  That's the Traditional Text.  That's the King James Bible.  That's not Wesott and Hort.  That's not NIV, or NASV, or the new versions of our day.  When God Almighty was manifest in the flesh.  That's doctrine and that's the incarnation that is denied by the false text of Wesott and Hort and these others.

A new research study from Dr. Jack Moorman (BFT #3084 @ $55.00 + $6.00 S&H, 535 large pp.) has listed over 8,000 differences between the critical text of Nestle-Aland 26-27 and Scrivener's Textus Receptus.  The Greek Words are given with English translation from Matthew through Revelation. 

Dr. Jack Moorman has listed 356 PASSAGES in the Greek N.T. Text INVOLVING DOCTRINE where the W/H-type Greek Text differs from the T.R.  It is BFT #2956 (100 large pages @ $10.00 + $4.00 S&H).     "    Dr. Jack Moorman has listed 356 PASSAGES in the Greek N.T. Text INVOLVING DOCTRINE where the W/H-type Greek Text differs from the T.R.  It is BFT #2956 (100 large pages @ $10.00 + $4.00 S&H).    

Deception #248 out of 334 on page 312, "The Autograph Though Dead Yet Speaketh--On the Translation of the Copies" Hantz Bernard says, [After quoting Eugene Nida's 1964 book, Toward a Science of Translating]  "As such, dynamic equivalence was basically good.  All the basic principles of dynamic equivalence are proper linguistic, grammatical principles.  They can be adequately applied to translation.  In fact, even the most conservative schools that offer some courses related to Bible translating use textbooks written by proponents of dynamic equivalence."

Truth #248. Dynamic equivalency is evil.  It is not "basically good."  It is evil because it does one of three things to the Words of God: (1)  It adds to God's Words whenever it wants.  That's sin.  (2) It subtracts from God's Words any time it wishes.  That is sin.  (3)  It changes God's Words in some other way.  That is also sin.

Deception #290 out of 334 on page 376,   "What the Preservation Issue Has Taught Us" Paul Downey (Pensacola Chr. Col. grad.)  says,  "The written, inspired, inerrant, infallible autograph was physically destroyed.  But the Word of God endured.  The scroll was not protected by heaven, but God's Word was settle in heaven.  God's Word transcends written documents, even the physical universe, and will be completely and ultimately fulfilled if not one copy remains.  The power and effectiveness and duration of the Word of God, and man's responsibility to obey it, do not demand the presence or even the existence of any physical copy."

Truth #290. That is absolute heresy to say that "the scroll [meaning the very Words of God] was not protected by heaven."  God has protected His Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek Words, not only the message, thoughts, ideas, concepts, truth, or teachings.  This is rank heresy to say that God has not protected and preserved His Words. 

Deception #292 out of 334 on page 377,  "What the Preservation Issue Has Taught Us" Paul Downey (Pensacola Chr. Col. grad.)  [quoting Combs from Detroit Baptist Seminary] says:  "The essential message of Scripture has been preserved not only in the Byzantine text-type, but in the Alexandrian text-type as well; the KJB is the Word of God as well as the NASB.  When we refer to either or both of these versions as the Word of God, we do so because we rightly assume they are tethered to the autographs and are thus sufficient representatives of them."

Truth #292. Notice that all Combs says that has been "preserved" is only "the essential message of Scripture."  With the wide variations between the Byzantine, Alexandrian, KJB, and NASB, how can there be anything but confusion?  They can't be "sufficient representatives" of the "autographs" for me!

Deception #302 out of 334 on page 389,  "What the Preservation Issue Has Taught Us" Paul Downey (Pensacola Chr. Col. grad.)  says,  "We must insist, however, that despite the presence of minor variations among the texts and translations of Scripture, we are absolutely certain that God's Word has been kept for us by God's providential care and is available to us today.  Actually, God's Word is more readily and completely available to more people in our generation than ever before in history."

Truth #302. Notice, only "God's Word has been kept for us," not God's very Words, according to these false teachers.    All these authors have is message, thoughts, ideas, concepts, truth, or teachings--but not Words.

Deception #308 out of 334 on page 390,  "What the Preservation Issue Has Taught Us" Paul Downey (Pensacola Chr. Col. grad.)  says,  "While the Bible's preservation is not perfect in any one copy or translation, it is complete in the entire body of documents, and it is sufficient in each to be accurately called the Word of God.'  God has kept His Word for us."

Truth #308. They don't say "God has kept His Words."  If their concept of preservation is in the entire body of over 5,255 Greek manuscripts, how can it be "God's Word in our Hands"?  It's got to be preserved in one place otherwise it cannot be God's Word in our hands?

Deception #309 out of 334 on page 390,   "What the Preservation Issue Has Taught Us" Paul Downey (Pensacola Chr. Col. grad.)  says,  "Some among us believe the Bible makes no direct promise of its own preservation, that it only implies it by inference.  Others believe it is promised."

Truth #309. The Bible makes repeated promises of its own preservation of its Words.

Deception #310 out of 334, on page 391,  "What the Preservation Issue Has Taught Us" Paul Downey (Pensacola Chr. Col. grad.)  says,  "We all believe we have the trustworthy, reliable, authoritative WORD of God.  We all ought to be about the business of proclaiming the TRUTH of God's WORD rather than dividing over differences of opinion about the TEXT of God's WORD."

Truth #310. The "truth of God's Word" is not enough.  We must have the "text of God's Word" and God's very Words, not simply what these men believe we have, that is, only the thoughts, the concepts, the ideas, and the message.

Deception #312 out of 334 on page 392,  "What the Preservation Issue Has Taught Us" Paul Downey (Pensacola Chr. Col. grad.)  says,  "The fact that God's Word has been preserved is irrefutable.  That is not an abstract theological statement; it is a historic and practical fact.  The Bible exists; we can hold it in our hands.  Whether it is in the form of ancient manuscripts, a Biblical language text, a historic version, or a contemporary translation, its content is virtually the same as has been handed down for hundreds, even thousands, of years."

Truth #312. "Virtually the same" will not do it.  He is speaking about the content, but the words are not the same.  Do you know that the New International Version, for example, is 63,000 words shorter then the King James Bible?  This is by computer count.  Downey doesn't even know what he has said.

Deception #318 out of 334 on page 407, "We Have God's Word in Our Hands" Randolph Shaylor (BJU grad.) says:  "Thus inspiration has to do with the giving of a message and preservation of the continuity of that message."

Truth #318. This wrong both for "inspiration" and for "preservation."  God did not "inspire" a mere "message," but exact Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek WORDS.  He did the same thing in "preservation."  It is more than a mere "message."  It is accurate WORDS.

Deception #321 out of 334 on page 408, "We Have God's Word in Our Hands" Randolph Shaylor (BJU grad.) says: "Because of confusion about the term some have begun to call it the King James Bible and to call other translations, which they reject, versions." 

Truth #321. That's exactly what I call it, the King James Bible.  It's the only Bible in the English language because it is the only Bible that has the proper Hebrew and Greek Words underneath it, which have been accurately translated into the English language.  It is the only real "Bible" and the others are mere "versions"--and bad ones at that.

Deception #331 out of 334 on page 414, "We Have God's Word in Our Hands" Randolph Shaylor (BJU grad.) says: "The statement that God's Word is preserved in the totality of manuscripts includes those of both the Majority Text family and the minority text family.  In reality there is a greater degree of similarity than differences between the families."

Truth #331. He completely disregards the fact that heretics' knives operated on those early texts to change them.  There are over 8,000 differences between the Greek Words underlying the KJB New Testament and the Words of the critical Greek text.  "Families" simply do not exist.

Deception #334 out of 334 on page 422,  "We Have God's Word in Our Hands" Randolph Shaylor (BJU grad.) says: "When we use a faithful conservative translation such as the King James Version, New King James Version, the New American Standard Version, or another version of demonstrated accuracy we can trust our Bible as the Word of God.  We can be confident that we have God's Word in our hands."

Truth #334. There are no other "faithful conservative translations" except the King James Bible.  When he speaks of "God's Word," he means God's message, thoughts, ideas, concepts, or truth, but not the actual Words that God has given.  In the King James Bible we have God's Words kept in tact in the English language because it is the only accurate translation of preserved  Hebrew and Greek Words that underlie it.

Inaccurate Comment by Bob Jones III.  In the back of this book here's what Bob Jones III said,

"Like a clean edged sword, God's Word in our Hands cuts through the current confused schematic clatter on the subject of Biblical preservation.  These conservative and God fearing authors do the church great service by presenting us with so thrilling evidence of the reliability and durability of the eternal word."

Notice, Bob Jones III does not talk about "eternal Words."  He limits the durability to the "eternal word," which means ideas, concepts, thoughts or message.  I dispute that completely.

This book is written by two men connected with BJU:  (1) Samuel Schnaiter is Chairman of the BJU Ancient Language Department.  (2) Ron Tagliapietra is a graduate of BJU and has written a number of books for BJU Press.  The book was published in 2002.

"However, the presence of manuscript variations leads us to analyze more carefully the considerations of PRESERVATION into two categories:  (1) The PRESERVATION of the authoritative MESSAGE of God, and (2) the PRESERVATION of the precise WORDING of that MESSAGE." (Samuel Schnaiter, BJU, p. 284)

These Bob Jones University authors believe only in the preservation of the "message of God," but not the "precise wording of that message."

"It is therefore reasonable to assume that God's providence is at work to preserve His REVELATION in spite of the minor variations in its WORDING.  To realize this should encourage fundamentalists to relax their concern over minor variations that do not affect the TEACHINGS of God's WORD."  (Samuel Schnaiter, BJU, p. 284)

It is clear that Schnaiter believes only God's "revelation" has been preserved, NOT God's "Wording."