This post is part of our ongoing series examining Mark Clark’s book, The Problem of God, one section at a time. Each post critically analyzes Clark’s claims through the lens of reason, evidence, and The God Question’s core philosophy: we don’t begin with belief—we begin with curiosity. This installment responds to the opening sections of Chapter 3 (pp. 63–67): “The Problem of the Bible,” “Modern Questions,” and “Has the Bible Been Changed?”
What happens when we stop assuming the Bible must be defended, and instead begin asking whether it stands up to scrutiny?
Mark Clark wants us to believe that skepticism toward the Bible is a modern trend rooted in rebellion, not reflection. But that framing betrays a deeper fear: that when we do examine the evidence, the Bible doesn’t hold up.
Clark starts Chapter 3 with a sweeping defense of the Bible’s accuracy and reliability, tying emotional imagery (like Torah celebrations) to claims of textual consistency. But as moving as these traditions are, they don’t prove the Bible’s divine origin or historical accuracy. At best, they show a deep reverence for a text. And reverence, however sincere, is not the same as evidence.
He argues that the Bible “hasn’t changed in any significant way,” but this claim is misleading. Textual criticism tells another story—one filled with variants, edits, redactions, missing books, and theological motivations behind what was preserved and what was excluded. From the dozens of versions of Genesis to the synoptic problem in the Gospels to the contested authorship of nearly half the New Testament, the real issue isn’t scribal accuracy. It’s the content itself. Is it true? Is it moral? Is it coherent?
Clark’s strategy is to confuse preservation with truth. But even if every manuscript had been copied flawlessly, we would still be left with a book filled with contradictions, moral atrocities, and mythic claims unsupported by archaeology or historical consensus.
So has the Bible been changed? Yes—by translation, by interpretation, by exclusion, and by centuries of theological agenda. But perhaps the better question is: Has our willingness to question the Bible changed? Fortunately, for many of us, it has.
God or Delusion? 