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Originally written by Jumpin' Salmon:

I had a conversation once with a biblical scholar while in college. He had access to copies of some of the original documents and was able to read them in the original languages. I'm not sure if he ever published his work, but the thing I still remember after all these years is that many important things were dropped at each translation. Originally this was due to the inability to accurately convey the message while translating, mostly because of differences between Hebrew and Greek. Then it was purposeful when translated to Latin, as many of the gospels contained contradictory messages. Finally, the translation into English corrupted it further by adding some moral statements which hadn't existed before.

By way of example, he pointed out that many of the original characters were female due to the matriarchal nature of society in that area. This was at odds with both Greek and Roman society, so it was changed. Female nouns became male nouns, with all the inherent subtexts associated with them.

I find the bible to be a fascinating document, it is a 2000 year old document which contains the oral histories of another 6-8000 years. It is however corrupt by nature if it is intended to be a holy book, as it wasn't written by or through a higher power. Imagine if each US president was able to re-write the constitution according to their wishes. We would not have the same thing today as existed in 1778.

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The archaeologist Nelson Glueck said,
"as a matter of fact, however, it may be stated categorically that no archaeological discovery has ever controverted a Biblical reference. Scores of archaeological findings have been made which confirm in clear outline or in exact detail historical statements in the Bible. And, by the same token, proper evaluation of Biblical descriptions have often led to amazing discoveries."

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Originally written by Electorael:

Unless you're denying the Old Testament, Jews are doing what God says far more literally than Christians are. I know less about Islam, but the Koran is also what God says. You're exactly as right as the other religions for exactly the same reasons.

No, the Koran is what Allah says.

Note that the Old Testament is the word of God. The New Testament is the word of humans. As far as I know, none of it is even written by Jesus himself. It's all secondhand at best.

Both testaments are actually the word of humans, as either testimony from eyewitness accounts, letters, or words coming directly from God or Jesus.

—Alorael, who recalls that Omlette could provide a fair amount of evidence supporting a global flood. There's also a fair amount against it, too, so take it as you will. Anyway, most of the most spectacular events in the Bible would leave no archaeological evidence anyway. The sun stopping, the parting of the Sea of Reeds, people turning into pillars of salt, and all the rest are all impossible to prove or disprove.

Do you know if there was evidence found directly refuting something said in the Bible? While I agree with you here, it seems that as archaeology and the such progresses, so does evidence for the Bible.

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As written by SoT:
These are either essentially impossible, or miraculous only in timing.

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