1) The main Issue with Bible Versions today is the underlying manuscript usage.
Bible Editors and Text Critics are very careful of NOT telling you anything about what manuscripts they use. This fact alone is very deceptive. Most Christians are totally not aware of this. Even worse is the common deception (as they usually state) that their translation is a continuation and build upon the King James Bible - again, not true.
It is stated that much research has been done and new discoveries lead to exciting new updates. Then at the end of the preface they indicate that their basis for their New Testament Text is based on UBS/Nestle-Aland 28th edition. The ESV states: "Throughout, the translation team has benefited greatly from the massive textual resources that have become readily available recently, from new insights into biblical laws and culture, and from current advances in Hebrew and Greek lexicography and grammatical understanding."
Does this not sound wonderful? You think they did an excellent job. Oh, how greatly they fool the People! Nobody reading this will understand what really happened.
Fact: There are basically two separate streams of manuscripts available.
2) They created a brand new Greek Text in 1881 - It has been changed many times since then.
Fact: The latest Version is called Nestle/Aland version 28 - version 29 is coming soon with lots of changes
Again, you see, you were not told any of this. So, in the last 140 Years the compiled Greek Text for the NT changed so many times. Not only has this happened, but this will forever change going forward. Version 29 is coming out soon.
Question: Did the Lord Jesus Christ leave his Church for over 1800 Years without the correct Word? This is shocking and should be a concern for a born again Christian. Think about it. Our Salvation is based on Scripture - every single Word counts.
Please understand, if you use any modern Bible, you are in fact reading a translation of a Text which was created just recently by modern Text Critics and will be outdated with the upcoming updates.
3) All Modern Bibles use this newly created Text - it is commonly called "Critical Text" or Alexandrian Text Line
4) This newly created Greek Text relies mainly on Codex Vaticanus and Sinaiticus
Fact: about 98% of this New Text comes from: Vaticanus 90% - Sinaiticus 8%. Both have their roots from Alexandria, Egypt. A place we know very well from History where Greek philosophy and Gnostic beliefs were part of the corruption and changing of early New Testament Manuscripts.
5) These 2 Codices are the most corrupt and useless Manuscripts in existence.
To show the total depravity of these Manuscripts, please click on Codex Vaticanus above. Just to give you an example: Modern Text Critics proclaim Vaticanus as the oldest and best Manuscript dating back to the 4th Century. What they DO NOT tell you is the fact that in the 15th Century it was "corrected" or revised, (overwritten, changed). Nearly the entire Manuscript was affected in a way that makes it impossible to trace back to the 4th Century writing.
Question: Can this still be considered a 4th Century Manuscript? Of course not. It is now a 15th Century witness. You think this is not possible? Click here to see a 5 minute video interview of Dr. Scot McKendrick at the British Library talking about Codex Vaticanus. Remember, 90% of modern Bibles are based on Vaticanus! That is simply shocking!
6) These 2 Codices greatly disagree with each other. There is NO coherence between them.
7) There are now 2 separate modern Text Critic Camps - and they do not agree.
Fact: The German Text Critics are using a Program called CBGM to let a Computer try to "reconstruct" an "initial text".
Instead of using the multitude of Manuscripts available which the Churches have used throughout its history, they are now hoping that a Computer matching program can provide a better text. This is so preposterous to handle God's Word in this manner! One Camp of Text Critics rejects the use of this Software.
However, this software tries to establish a text linked to Manuscripts, early language translations and early Church Father quotations. Although a Christian would reject this, there is something very interesting coming from this: Modern Text Critics have always stated that the Traditional Text was "manufactured" sometime in the 4th Century. Nevertheless, the changes provided by this software do establish the fact that the Traditional Text is true and old and this 4th Century "manufacturing" of the text was just another LIE by modern Text Critics.
Here is an example how this Software has made changes in the Gospel of Mark. Note that Byz means the Traditional Text and NA28 means Nestle/Aland version 28, ECM = created Greek Text by the Software. See that almost all the changes are going back to the Traditional Text. Why? Because it is the true text and you can find it also in early translations as well as quotations from early Church Fathers. Click here to see it!
If you would like to see a summary Overview of this Software (it's called CBGM - Coherence-Based Genealogical Method) go to Page 12 on this link - excellent article by Jeffrey Riddle, Ph.D.
Consider this: The burden of Proof rests on the Modern Critical Text and NOT on the Traditional Text. From the time of the Apostles until 1881 there was a common, widespread, widely available Text available within the Church of Christ. This Text was not influenced or altered by pagan philosophy or Gnosticism practiced in Alexandria in Egypt.
If they alter YOUR Bible, it is their responsibility to show you proof, beyond any reasonable doubt, before these changes should be accepted. Well, they mostly attack the Traditional Text of the Church and come up with imaginary theories, like it was the Church itself who has corrupted the Text somewhere in the mid-fourth century. Just a Lie. There is zero evidence in history of such a preposterous event.
Look under Heretics and you find a 3rd century Text Critic, named Origen, who was well known to change those apostolic writings according to his liking. He is one of the earliest sources of corruption. This is no secret at all, but why are you not aware of this? Modern Text Critics would never mention these facts to you! If they would be honest and explain correctly what had happened, Christians would investigate this further and without a doubt would reject this highly corrupted "Critical Text".
According to the 500 page study by Hoskier which detailed and discussed the errors in Codex Vaticanus and another 400 on the idiosyncrasies of Codex Sinaiticus, he found out that they differ from each other in the Gospels alone about 3,036 times – not including minor errors such as spelling or synonym departures. Their agreements are even FEWER – and these two manuscripts are “the best and most reliable”?
Consider this: Since Vaticanus and Sinaiticus disagree so much, Modern Text Critics have an unending possibility of picking a text to their liking. How do they pick Matthew 1:1? Today they may use the reading from Vaticanus, in 10 Years the next crop of modern Text Critics uses the reading form Sinaiticus and in 20 Years they may use a combination of the two. On top of this, there is an endless stream of changes being made to the Critical Text based on the whims and arbitrary decisions by Modern Text Critics. This is NOT SCIENCE.
Do you see now how corrupt and unreasonable all this is? Go to Heretics - Archaic Mark, there I will show you an example on just how untrustworthy their methods are.
8) Modern Text Critics reject the traditional Text the Church used in a quest to Reconstruct a new Text as close as possible to the Originals (called Autographs)
This sounds so noble and trustworthy, however that is totally impossible. Whatever text they produce CAN NOT be compared to the Originals since they are no longer available. This quest for Reconstruction gives the Modern Text Critics unlimited possibilities and as a result we now have dozens of new Texts produced. Oh, each new text produced will then be used for more "new" Bible Versions - this is a huge Money making machine. Text Critics and Publishing Houses make a fortune with royalties and copyrights on the ever falsification of the Word of God.
Today, the Christian is being seduced and asked to believe in the "INSPIRATION" without believing in the "PRESERVATION" of the Scriptures. We are being asked to believe in the inspiration of the "originals" without believing in the preservation of the text of the Scriptures. It is a statement of unbelief when we say that we only believe that the original autographs were inspired. What we really are saying is that we do not believe that we have the infallible Word of God on this planet, or at least in our hands, at this moment.
A born again Christian however rejects all this folly. The Traditional Text of the Church is preserved this way: 1) Faithful Scribes produced many trustworthy copies of the Original New Testament Manuscripts called Apographs. 2) These trustworthy copies were read and recopied by true believers down through the Centuries. 3) Untrustworthy copies were not so generally read or so frequently recopied. In the long run they were laid aside and consigned to oblivion.
Fact: There are NO Original Manuscripts available today
9) The fascination of Modern Text Critics with Biblical Papyri. They have an Elite Status among Text Critics
Fact: A New Testament papyri is a copy of a portion of the New Testament made on papyrus. The majority (85%) are a witness to the Traditional Text and NOT the Critical Text. Unbelievably most of them were found at an Egyptian city's garbage mound, deliberately discarded.
To be more precise, the place they found most of these Papyri came from a Garbage mount in Oxyrhynchus, Egypt and some from Nag Hammadi, Egypt, a GNOSTIC Compound, where they also found the "Gospel of Thomas", a Gnostic writing.
Why would anyone consider these to be legitimate representations of Holy Scripture? Modern Text Critic's lusting after thrown away Garbage at places known for falsifying God's Word defies any credibility we would like to extent to them.
Thankfully, as promised by Jesus, we do have his preserved Word within the compounds of his Church preserved for us now and for all future Generations!
Here is an Abstract by AnneMarie Luijendijk: Most New Testament papyri with a known provenance were found at the site of the ancient Egyptian city of Oxyrhynchus, or more precisely: on that city’s rubbish mounds. The fact that sacred scriptures were discarded as garbage is surprising in view of the holiness of Christian biblical manuscripts, intrinsically and physically. Yet the trash aspect of provenance has never been adequately problematized or studied. Taking a social-historical and garbological approach, this article demonstrates that at Oxyrhynchus in antiquity entire manuscripts with biblical writings were deliberately discarded by Christians themselves, unrelated to persecution and issues of canonicity. Click here for the full report
10) Modern Text Critics "House of Cards" would fall apart with a Chemical Testing of Paper and Ink of Sinaiticus, which would prove that it is NOT an authentic 4th Century Manuscript!
LEIPZIG UNIVERSITY LIBRARY REVERSAL OF PLANS .. NO TESTING!
Test were planned on the German parchment by world-class experts in the Materials Sciences, who had done similar work on the Dead Sea Scrolls.
These tests were planned for April, 2015, to be conducted by the Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM).
The tests that had been planned for April, 2015 were cancelled by the Leipzig University Library.
Fact: Codex Sinaiticus Inks have never been chemically characterized, and the type and proportions of ingredients mixed together have never been determined.
This "Critical Text" is nothing more than an eclectic, completely imaginary, concoction.
On this picture you have a snapshot of this text, called NA28 (short for Nestle /Aland version 28) - looking at Matthew 20:23. Take a closer look at the blue highlighted area. The black greek words are the greek words the Text Critics have selected. Arbitrarily, based on their own made up guidelines. The blue numbers, letters or symbols refers to the Manuscripts they have selected for their support.
Looks very Scholarly, but keep in mind, the multitude of Manuscripts - of the Traditional Text Line are mostly ignored.
In this example of Matthew 20:23, picking and choosing the Greek Words from various Manuscripts means that there is not a single Greek Manuscript in the World who reads exactly the way they have manufactured it. You will be hard pressed to find any sentence in this "Critical Text" from the New Testament which has just ONE Greek Manuscript in agreement. This means any Bible Version translated from this Nestle/Aland has the same enormous Problem.
The Traditional Text is just the opposite. Over 5000 Manuscripts agree with 99% of the Text. Differences can for the most part be fairly easily identified and collated. There is almost none of this arbitrary modern Text Critic's pick and choose mentality involved. Hope you can see the gigantic difference between the two Text Lines.
Here is a picture of Unpublished Papyri from Oxyrhynchus. Will this material from the Garbage Dump change your Bible in the future?
Absolutely yes, once the modern Text Critics figure out what is written on them.