Here's the nuts-n-bolts of this topic............
The Scripture, written over a period of years, and translated and re-copied by countless Scribes, has had its share of mis-translations, outright errors in some translations...........it goes on and on.
But here's the "skinny" on the whole thing.............we, in this day and age, rely as all generations have, on the ability of God, by His Spirit to "lead us into all Truth." (as noted before in another thread response of mine).
So let's start with................."who" can we trust? Well "God," of course, but then also, if we are truly students of Scripture, we've had enough long term exposure to Bible Exposition to give reasonable scrutiny to any translation that's out there, relying on our understanding over time, of contextual understanding.
In short, "study to show thyself approved" is more than just (dare I say it?) "reading the Word." It is about listening to trusted teachers; Praying ferverantly to the Lord to guide our eyes and minds as we read His Word; not being a finger-finder interpreter of Scripture...........
(What's a "finger-finder" you ask? There once was a guy who believed that God did His most direct guidance, by opening the Bible at random, and plopping his finger down on a passage, believing that God meant for him to have that Scripture, in that moment, and for that day.
So he flipped his Bible open at random; plopped his finger down, and read what was under it: ".....and Judas went out and hanged himself."
He slammed the Bible shut.......
"That can't be for me," he grumbled.
So He flipped his Bible open to ANOTHER place, and read what was under his finger THIS time: "....go thou and do likewise.." )
With careful study, yielding ourselves to the Lord to guide us; having good Concordances and Commentaries, and good teachers (Pastors, online Seminary courses, etc). we can get the substance of the Word of God, in spite of the flaws that might have been introduced over the years.
It also means doing your homework, and finding out what "Bible" translation is most commonly accepted by trusted Teachers/Pastors/Leaders and buying one of those.
Over the years, I've bought many Bibles, of a variety of Translations, (including Paraphrases like "The Message" Bible, the Living Bible, etc.)
Just like how we learn to recognize a "real" dollar bill, so that we can see a phony when it comes across our path; so too we study the Word from a foundationally trusted version, and then can more easily spot error in those Translations or Paraphrases that we see.
But let's back up a second..........
If our relationship to God is truly real, (meaning that we have made a personal choice to let God guide us; we live in the image of Christ; our devoted to Him), knowing we are not perfected creatures, and we are on a life-long growth journey, we can trust that God will, by the power of His Spirit, keep us from error. He will not let His Word return void.
We have seen examples in our lives, of those who were led by leaders who have grossly mis-interpreted Scripture. Take Jim Jones for example, or David Koresh (sp?). There's a couple of winners, eh?! The tragedy is the lives that were adversely affected and even destroyed by their mis-guided teachings.
There's an ad that runs daily in our local newspaper. It used to be a full page ad, but they cut it back to a full top to bottom column.
About ten years ago, after seeing this ad over and over again, on a Sunday morning when the wife was under the weather, and seeing that the crux of the message seemed Biblical, I decided to attend their Church. I figured that any Church that had the kind of money committment THEY did, to a daily ad, must have one heck of a great Pastor and Staff, and their message MUST be sound.
When I got to the Church (about 10 miles from my home) I walked in and found the only empty seat in the place, at the right side end of the last pew in the back.
All the men were wearing crew-cut haircuts, black suites, white shirts and black thin ties. All the ladies were in the same dress pattern (style) but of varying prints, their hair cuts were all the same.
I was in blue jeans and a casual polo shirt and a brown coat jacket.
When the Pastor and his wife entered the auditorium from the front, he was sporting a crew-cut, black suite, white shirt and thin black tie. She was wearing the same pattern cut dress, hair cut exactly the same as the other ladies.
All my alarm bells went off............why?
Does the word "cult" mean anything to you?
We are taught in Scripture that the Body of Christ is made up of many parts. That doesn't just mean that all have different talents. It also means that God uses people with all kinds of different personalities, backgrounds, .....he blends the Body together with a vast array of people, uniquely different, and yet bonded by the same Spirit.
What that Church was doing, clearly, was listening to a man who wanted to mold and shape his congregation into carbon copies. No individuality; no uniqueness...........a cult if ever there was one!!
As I left quietly, before the service started, I was getting in my car to leave, and I noticed a fella a few years younger than I, walking towards the front door of the Church. He was wearing jeans, sneakers, and a t-shirt.
I said, "first time here?!" (lol) He said, "why YES; how did you know?!" (lol)
"Do yourself a favor," I said, "There's an open seat right by the door. When you decide to leave, just leave quietly." (I rolled up my car window and drove off.
That whole story was just to say, be careful what voices you listen to. Be careful what leadership you subject yourself and your family to. Remain completely open to the leadership of the Holy Spirit, and read the Word with "study" in mind. Don't just "read" it.
-Soupy