2.1
Christian scholars
recognize contradictions p2
In all, Tischendorf
uncovered over 14,800 "corrections" to
the manuscript by nine (some say ten) separate
"correctors," which had been applied to this one manuscript over
a period from 400AD to 1200AD (see Fig. 1). Although he was well
known to be quite ruthless and unscrupulous in his dealings with
his fellow Christian, still, he strove in his dealings with his
holy texts themselves to be as honest and sincere as humanly
possible. For this reason he could not understand how the
scribes could have so continuously and so callously
"allow themselves to bring in here and
there changes, which were not simple verbal ones, but materially
affected the meaning" or why they
"did not shrink from cutting out a passage or inserting one."
Fig. 1 14,80014,800
errors "corrections" to only one Biblical manuscript
In the book "The Story of the Manuscripts" by
Rev. George E. Merrill, the good Reverend quotes Prof. Arnold as
stating:
"there are not more than fifteen hundred to
two thousand places2,000 errors in
which there is any uncertainty whatever as to the true text.."
this number being in the respected Professor's
estimation quite minuscule. Prof. Arnold then goes on to explain
how all of these "variant readings" are undeserving of his
attention with only about a dozen being of any doctrinal
importance. In this manner, many thousands of additions,
omissions, and "corrections" of the church over the ages are
suddenly transformed to only a dozen and then quickly reduced to
none. Notice how casually and quickly centuries of tampering
with the text of the "inspired word of God" is brushed off and
justified?.
The reader is encouraged to go back and read
all of these inserted verses that the conservative Trinitarian
scholars themselves now admit were later forgeries of the
Church. Notice the intricate detail that is to be found in them.
Notice the attention to the minutest aspect that is lavished
upon these inserted verses. Notice how "spiritual" they are.
Notice how truly "inspired" they are. What does all of this tell
us?
Please keep in mind that these are only but a
few of the most outstanding of these discrepancies. In many
cases the translators appear to have been unable to determine
the true wording in any truly scientific and unbiased fashion,
thus, they appear to have been reduced to such actions as
choosing the version adopted by the majority of the "ancient
authorities." I am sure no one will mistake this for a truly
scientific determination (e.g. perhaps the minority version is
found in the most ancient manuscripts, as seen above).
Think about it.
"O People of the Book! Our messenger has
come to you revealing to you much of what you used to hide of
the Book and forgiving much. There has come to you from Allah a
light and a plain scripture"
The noble Qur'an, Al-Maida(5):15
As we have seen, these are not simply the
ramblings of a small number of obscure crackpot
Christian-haters. This information has become so well recognized
and acknowledged in the Christian West today that even their own
encyclopedias affirm it, and although no one will ever mistake
an encyclopedia for an official Christian reference, still, this
does go to show the extent that this information has become
accepted in the West today. Grolier's encyclopedia says under
the heading "Jesus Christ":
"The Gospels According to Matthew, Mark,
Luke, and John, the first four books of the New Testament of the
Bible, are the principal sources for the life of Jesus. These
works are primarily testimonies to the faith of the early
Christian community, however, and have to be used critically as
evidence for the historical Jesus. The methods include source,
form, and redaction criticism...These methods provide criteria
to sift through the redaction and tradition and reconstruct the
message and the mission of the historical Jesus...Application of
the critical methods described above reveals that the gospel
tradition apparently started originally with Jesus' baptism by
John the Baptist (Matt. 3:13-17; Mark 1:9-11; Luke 3:21-22; John 1:29-34). The stories concerning the birth of Jesus were
probably later additions. These stories--the annunciations to
Mary and Joseph, their journey to Bethlehem for
the Roman census, and Jesus' birth there (Luke 2:1-7); the
visits of the shepherds (Luke 2:8-20) and the three magi from
the East (Matt. 2:1-12); and the flight of the family to Egypt
to escape the massacre of young boys that had been ordered by
King Herod (Matt. 2:13-23)--may be characterized conveniently,
if loosely, as 'Christological midrash,' expressions of
Christological faith cast into narrative form. If there are any
factual elements in them, these will be found among the items on
which Matthew and Luke agree: the names of Mary, Joseph, and
Jesus; the dating of Jesus' birth toward the end of the reign of
Herod the Great (d. 4 BC); and, less certainly, the Bethlehem
location of the birth" (emphasis
added).
"The Five Gospels," is
a 550 page book containing translations of the Gospels of
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. It was the result of a six year
study by 24 Christian scholars from some of the most prestigious
universities the Western world. They decided to produce a
translation of the Gospels which would be uncolored by the
translator's personal faith. It was decided that this
translation was to give the reader an honest picture of what
Jesus (pbuh) truly said. They scanned the text for the words of
Jesus (pbuh), and collect an index of over 1,500 such sayings.
They then tested the validity of each of these sayings, one at a
time, to see whether Jesus (pbuh) truly said each one. They then
produced a fresh translation, color-coded to show authentic
Jesuit sayings and those of an unreliable nature. Their
conclusion (page 5) was:
"Eighty-two percent of the words
ascribed to Jesus in the gospels were not actually spoken by
him."
They go on to reveal that:
"biblical scholars and theologians alike
have learned to distinguish the Jesus of history from the Christ
of faith. It has been a painful lesson for both the church and
scholarship. The distinction between the two figures is the
difference between a historical person who lived in a particular
time and place...and a figure who has been assigned a mythical
role, in which he descends from heaven to rescue humankind and,
of course, eventually returns there."
Well then, if 82% of the "words of
Jesus" found in the Bible were apparently never spoken by him
then where did they come from? Some of the sources demonstrated
by the authors are:
"The concept of plagiarism was unknown in
the ancient world. Authors freely copied from predecessors
without acknowledgment. Sages became the repository of
free-floating proverbs and witticisms. For the first Christians,
Jesus was a legendary sage: it was proper to attribute the
world's wisdom to him. The proverb in Mark 2:17, for example, is
attested in secular sources (Plutarch and Diogenes for
example)...in the parallel to the Markan passage, Matthew adds a
sentence taken from the prophet Hosea (Matt 9:13)."
Also:
"Hard sayings are frequently softened in
the process of transmission to adapt them to the conditions of
daily living...Variations in difficult saying often betray the
struggle of the early Christian community to interpret or adapt
sayings to it's own situations... Matthew's version of the
aphorism "The last will be first and the first last"(Matt 20:16)
is softened in Mark 10:31 to "MANY of the first will be last,
and of the last MANY will be first"."
And probably most revealing:
"Christian conviction eventually overwhelms
Jesus: he is made to confess what Christians had come to
believe...The contrast between Christian language or viewpoint
and the language or viewpoint of Jesus is a very important clue
to the real voice of Jesus, the language of Jesus was
distinctive, as was his style and perspective."
The above is only a very small sampling of the
very large cache of evidence clearly showing the Bible to have
been seriously distorted and altered. To this day it is being
continuously edited, corrected, and modified. This is not to say
that Christians are not good and honest people in search of the
truth. Quite the opposite. Among them are some of the most
decent and moral people on this earth. The goal of this book is
only to show that the Christian faith as it stands today is not
the same one preached by Jesus peace be upon him to his
followers nineteen hundred years ago. This is exactly what the
Qur'an has been asserting for over fourteen hundred years now.
"O People of the Book! Why do you reject
the Signs of God, when you [yourselves] bear witness [to their
truth] ?. O People of the Book! Why do you clothe Truth with
falsehood, and conceal the Truth, while you have knowledge?"
The noble Qur'an, A'al-Umran(3):70-71
"Say: 'O People of the Book! Why do you
reject the Signs of God, when God is Himself witness to all you
do?' Say: 'O People of the Book! Why do you obstruct those who
believe from the path of God, Seeking to make it crooked, while
you were yourselves witnesses? But God is not unaware of what
you do'"
The noble Qur'an, A'al-Umran(3):98-99
"Truly, the Religion in the Sight of God is
Islam (literally: "the submission"). Nor did those who were
given the scripture dissent therefrom except after knowledge had
come to them, through envy of each other. But whosoever
disbelieves in the Signs of God, [then surely,] God is swift in
calling to account."
The noble Qur'an, A'al-Umran(3):19
"They are not all alike. Of the People of
the Scripture there is a party who stand [for that which is
right], they recite the revelations of Allah throughout the
night, falling prostrate [before Him]."
The noble Qur'an, A'al-Umran(3):113
"And there are, certainly, among the People
of the Book, those who believe in God, and in that which was
sent down unto you, and in that which was sent down unto them,
humbling themselves before God: They will not sell the Signs of
God for a miserable gain! For them is a reward with their Lord,
and God is swift to take account."
The noble Qur'an, A'al-Umran(3):199
"O people of the Book! Now has come unto
you Our messenger, revealing to you much of what you used to
hide in the Book, and passing over much. Indeed, there has come
to you from God a light and a plain Scripture"
The noble Qur'an, Al-Maida(5):15
Table of Contents |
Next Page
|