The claims of the various Christian communities are that the Word of Jesus has been preserved in its entirety without any errors whatsoever. Sometimes in spite of all the evidence to the contrary they stick to their guns in this matter thinking that in so doing they are showing their allegiance towards Jesus.

While there is nothing wrong in showing allegiance to Jesus, the way it is done betrays an uncertainty and a rigidity born of blind faith. How could the Word of Jesus have been preserved for posterity when He Himself in various verses of the Bible declared to His disciples His disappointment that they could not understand Him?

Jesus already knew that His closest associates did not fully grasp what He was telling them and that in most cases they had no idea of what He was talking about. How then could His Word have been fully preserved? In the most favourable of circumstances His disciples would simply have transmitted their own understanding of the Words of Jesus in the way they understood It and not in the way and in the sense that these Words were meant. In the most unfavourable circumstances we would have wilful distortions and additions through human opinions.

So the disciples themselves probably transmitted their own understanding of the Words of Jesus to those around them whereas those who came later and actually wrote down the Gospels not only took these words of the disciples but also added something of their own opinions. Additionally not a single one of the disciples could claim to be able to remember in detail all that he experienced during the life of Jesus. So a deficient memory which is characteristic of mankind played a big role in all this.

No one could claim to have so reliable a memory as to be able to recall the exact Words used by Jesus Himself and in the context in which He uttered them. That would have been impossible. That is not even possible today nor was it possible then.

What could not be remembered in detail the disciples, or those who tried to recollect or remember what was said by Jesus added something of their own making. We must remember that many of the Gospels were written many decades after the death of Jesus and as such there could be no question of an exact recording of what happened. So the Gospels were written down at third or fourth hand.

Who then after all this can objectively stand up and claim that what we have today in the Gospels were the exact Words of Jesus? He would only be demonstrating a blind zeal which has no place where the Word of the Lord is concerned which must be assessed with clear objectivity.

Some claim that the Spirit came upon them at Pentecost and that made up for everything else. Yes, the Spirit came upon them so that they might receive the power to spread the Message of the Lord and fulfil their destinies as disciples but this power did not at the same time repair the deficiencies in their memories or prevent those who came later from adding something of their own opinions to the Word of God.

The power which came upon the disciples did not prevent the Word of God from falling into the hands of those who abused It and the Name of God in carrying out acts of cruelties against their fellow men in the history of the organised religion.

The schisms and dissensions and the various ecumenical councils where men considered themselves capable of arguing over the Word of God already showed there was something unsound in the whole process. If the Word of Jesus had been preserved there would have been no room for arguments because It would have been clear to everyone what was meant.

The incomplete transmissions was what led to these dissensions in the first place. If the transmissions had been complete exactly as Christ intended and in the right context, every single man, woman and child would have understood this Word because it could not be otherwise since we all came from the Truth and the real Truth is easily understandable.

So the best proof of the faulty and incomplete transmission of the Word of Jesus are the many schisms and dissensions which still plague the Christian religion even to this day.

It is therefore imperative for us to read the Bible carefully and boldly accept and acknowledge where we find inconsistencies and realize that our knowledge is not yet complete. We should continue to seek until we find so that all the questions we have about our existence are answered clearly and completely.