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To: HarleyD; Forest Keeper; kawaii; annalex; Kolokotronis; Quix; Dr. Eckleburg
As someone who has gone on record as stating that there are errors within the translations, criticized the writings of Paul, and believe the Old Testament is mostly made up fables; how do you know that the older version is accurate and not the newer one? Certainly someone must have noticed that before.

Not really. What about the Pericope Adulterae or the (in)famous Comma Johanneum? But your question is not without merit. How do we know, for example, what the original Gospels contained? The oldest samples, sometimes called "fragments," are copies themselves and reveal almost nothing. Even the oldest fragment (more like a shred) of the NT is a copy!

The Gospel of John 18:36 - 19:7, 2nd century AD

Now, I am willing to believe that the Prophets and the Apostles were inspired. I do not believe those who copied and re-copied were.

In essence, you are suggesting that there's a possibility that the oldest bibles are "faulty" those copies made hundreds of years later were correct. Yes, of course, there is a possibility, but what is the probability that later texts would somehow be closer to the original?

I would say very, very slim. Those texts that were in the canon at one time (Clement, Epistle of Barnabas, etc.) were rejected and this rejection was made known. In the case of 1 Cor 13:3 the difference is one letter. What makes you think the scribes in those days had Unbound Bible to consult for dozens of variants? Someone made a mistake and it was multiplied without questioning it.

Most of the monks are not even priests, so their knowledge of the scriptures is not necessarily superb. They were manual copying machines, doing the same repetitive production-line work daily. I doubt they were meticulous bible scholars.

Obviously by the 5th century 1 Cor 13:3 "developed' the words "burned" but the older two bibles, from the century earlier, say "boast." I tend to believe the older ones are closer to the original. There is no commentary of any of the Fathers to this change.

But there are plenty of examples of corruption occurring in later texts (due to copying, insufficient language skills, etc.) than the other way around.

Let me give you an example: Act 9:6, the part that starts with "And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do..." is not in any Greek manuscript.

Erasmus translated it into Greek from (Latin) Vulgate and passed it on as "Greek" text, his Textus Receptus, and from thence, as a "genuine" Greek source it was used by Luther for his Bible, and found its way into KJV. This is how different people corrupted the word of God.

For People who use the Bible as the alpha and omega of authority, some Protestants show an amazing lack of knowledge about it and treat it as something pristine that fell ready-made from heavens into everyone's lap.

13,081 posted on 04/19/2007 1:40:32 PM PDT by kosta50 (Eastern Orthodoxy is pure Christianity)
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To: kosta50; Forest Keeper; kawaii; annalex; Kolokotronis; Quix; Dr. Eckleburg

Would you say that the Orthodox Bible, soon to be released, represents the accurate inspired word of God? Or are you going to say that the Orthodox Bible is a man-made invention based upon Orthodoxy speculation?


13,091 posted on 04/19/2007 4:42:55 PM PDT by HarleyD
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