One of the most common misunderstandings about the Bible is that it can’t be trusted because it’s been translated so often. The English versions one can buy in any bookstore or online are not translations of translations, but are translations from the oldest manuscripts of the original biblical languages, Greek and Hebrew.
Some question whether we can really know anything about Jesus since the gospels, it’s commonly thought, were written long after the events they claim to describe. But we know that the stories of Jesus found in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were told and written down within 30-50 years after Jesus’ life – far too soon to develop into legend.
Others have been led to believe that the New Testament writings were picked by the theological side (namely, the orthodox Christians) who were strong enough to eliminate its opponents. But historically, the four gospels were recognized as authoritative already in the early second century, and the rest of the New Testament was recognized soon after. In other words, the early church didn’t choose the books of the Bible; they recognized the books that the whole church was already reading as God-given scripture.
And many people believe that the Bible can’t be believed because it has many contradictions, but this false belief is usually based on a misunderstanding of the Bible’s genre – many contradictions are just the result of different parts of the story. Actually, many of the supposed differences are actually good evidence that the events they describe have not been fabricated and their descriptions choreographed.