Replies

MR””You will note many of the parchments date well prior to the church council which you say gives them authenticity.””

I am aware of this but as you well know(I think) the oldest surviving NT is traced back to around 125 (we think) and you don’t have much in a larger pieces until dated around 200-250. So, it’s not until the 4th century that we see some volume of what’s in the Vatican Library and some other places.

I’m sure you have seen the following link before ,I don’t think it’s even a Catholic site, but It pretty much matches the work done by Robert Kraft from UPENN and others

N.T. Ancient Manuscripts
http://biblefacts.org/history/oldtext.html

The Catholic Church is STILL THE WITNESS that says these are authentic since the Gospel does not come with signed autographs and the Church has been the deciding factor over what is Gnostic or not in the many,many writings from the time of Christ through the ages.

“”One thing that gets me angry is when Catholics feel a need to denigrate the word of God to build up their tradition. As I understand it, the Catholic teaching is that scripture IS the word of God and reliable, BUT that it needs the ‘lens’ of tradition to ensure it is understood clearly and correctly.””

I believe Scripture is the word of God because the Church says it is and I trust the Church as witness to authenticate them. We are both in agreement that Scripture is the Word of God,we differ in the interpretations .

I believe all the Sacraments are completely Scriptural and I can trace them back through consistent teaching through the ages. Those who disagree with this can only use a modern approach,not consistency from the 1st century on

“”The Catholic Church did not wake up one day and suddenly find itself astray. It was a gradual process, and I don’t know many evangelicals who believe it was totally bad by 500 AD””

Look ,dear brother. If you believed the Church went bad in 500 AD this means you must think the Church was correct from the 1st century to than.This would ALSO mean you also mean you would agree with those saints within the uncorrupted Church like Saint Ignatius ,Irenaues,Polycarp,Clement etc...
who taught the Sacramental system-infant Baptism,Eucharist,Confession etc..

Once you realize this you ought to realize that Sacraments have not changed and therefore the Church is still NOT corrupt.

MR””and yet all that research shows the manuscripts used by the KJV were pretty good”’

The problem is the KJV used wrong translations many times and is corrupted.

Let me point you to Kosta 50’s tagline as just one example .....God is tired of repenting — Jeremiah 15:6, KJV.

What does God need to repent from! utterly ridiculous!