Why, even the colloquial Serbian Lord's Prayer is a copy of the KJV version ("...as it is on earth and in heaven" instead of "in heaven and on earth...", "as we forgive those..." instead of 'as we hgave forgiven those..." and "deliver us from evil." instead of 'rescue us from the Evil One.").
These errors contain subtle theological distortions whose sum-total results in one large distortion.
The oldest bibles, the Alexandrian text-type 4th century Codex Vaticanus and Sinaiticus show variations, but are not as altered, redacted and edited, indeed manicured, as all the later ones, including the 5th century Codex, which is a mix of Byzantine and Alexandrian text-type; the rest (the so-called Majority Text), literally a couple of thousand of them, ar basically all Byzantine text-type and are highly unreliable.
Corruption and manipulation has been in Christian NT copies from the earliest days. Because there are no originals to compare it to, and because the oldest manuscripts come is shreds (we call them fragments to give them more dignity) which are still copies of copies, the only way to compile an orthodox (lower-case "o") bible is by textual criticism, and that is like trying to solve a major mystery by circumstantial evidence with no reliable leads.
For a Bible to be considered unadulterated Word of God, it must be beyond the shadow of a doubt in the strictest meaning of the phase. And, thus far, that is not possible except on blind faith.
This is not because we doubt God, but because we doubt men. The Apostles may have very well written pristine inerrant Gospels, because they were inspired. But copiers and falsifiers who copied them were not.
Does scripture still carry the powewr of God unto Salvation?... Can a man be lead to Christ with the available scriptures, in your estimation? Or, like the Mormon apologists I’m debating on another thread, do you think a more perfect telling of the Gospel is needed and those who have lived in the past are lost due to the errancy of men and the gnarl ‘Messoretic’ Jews made of the Tanach? How weak is your god?
Kosta is right, HD and it is for that reason, among others, that Kawaii in 13,132 is too. The nearest thing we have to knowledge of how and what the very early Church believed is contained in the Traditions of The Church and writings of The Fathers which provide us with the context within which to understand, as best we can, and live out the scriptures we do have.
Dear Bro, I read this post and like so many with such erudite words and references . . .
I STILL
come away feeling . . . ‘tis much ado about RELATIVELY NOTHING.
GOD’S ESSENTIAL WORD IS TRANSCENDENT IN VIRTUALLY ANY REASONABLY QUALITY TRANSLATION.
I’m beginning to think that these slightly different versions are another test from our Master . . .
will you draw from the written Word AS MY SPIRIT LEADS YOU DAY BY DAY—REGARDLESS OF THE TRANSLATION
AND
WILL YOU LOVE EACH OTHER in the process whether they eat meat or don’t eat meat as you do; read the same identical text or don’t read the same identical text as you do
or NOT.
It appears disturbingly often that the answer from individual after individual but especially group after group is . . .
!NOT! HARUMPH!
I imagine DADDY shaking HIS head going . . . HAVE IT YOUR WAY . . . but you won’t like the results!