Many Christians, as they have been taught the catechism, are convinced that the current translations of the New Testament are "error free" and bring back the infallible Word of God Christian scholars and apologists of around the world and of all time are aware of the fact that no one owns the original manuscripts of the NT and that the earliest Greek manuscripts we possess differ tremendously. In this regard, the influential Catholic Encyclopedia says:
E 'has been estimated that these MSS [manuscripts] and quotations differ among themselves between 150,000 and 250,000 times. The full picture is, perhaps, much higher. A study of 150 Greek MSS of the Gospel of Luke has revealed more than 30,000 different readings ... It can be said with certainty that there is a phrase in the NT on which the MS tradition is wholly uniform . (* 1)
These differences range from differences in terminology in steps missing in some manuscripts and other added or significantly different from manuscript to manuscript. These differences are due all'imperizia, dishonesty and naivety of the early Christian copyists and scribes that we assume the right to "correct" the Word of God [ blasphemy! ], adding ideas and changing the steps and told to comply with their own idea of \u200b\u200bJesus and their worldview. As the Christian scholar Ehrman says, " copies full of errors were in turn copied, and copies of copies full of errors were copied, and so on, until today ." (* 2) This
practice by the Christian scribes to alter or falsify the texts that came into his hands is well known and even documented by a comment that is in the Codex Vaticanus, one of the oldest and most complete Greek manuscripts of the NT This comment by a scribe, probably addressed to a previous medieval scribe who edited the copy in question reads as follows:
" fool and villain! Let the old reading, do not change it! "
" ἀμαθέστατε καὶ κακέ, ἄφες τὸν παλαιόν, μὴ μεταποίει (* 3)
The comment seems quite eloquent and a witness situation is quite embarrassing. As observed by the Murdock in Who Was Jesus - Fingerprints of the Christ (p. 57):
If these Gospels are very reliable reporting of the events of Jesus 'life, why Jesus' words vary from one source to another? The exact words of the Lord, should not be cited literally? Why the Lord's Prayer, for example, differs from gospel to another, and from manuscript to manuscript? It would not be sensible for the Lord, as the Holy Spirit, refresh the memory of his disciples to contain his exact words? If these are the precious words of Almighty God, as it may have been changed? And why? For if God had made mistakes in his original statements and therefore had to correct them later? What sense would the Holy Spirit to guide the important efforts of those who recorded the life of the Lord, if his speeches were not to be verbatim? In other words, what is the purpose of the Holy Spirit than to correct the errors? And if these records are not verbatim transcript, how can that be called "infallible"?
It 'true that the apologists, over the centuries, many have sought to overcome these contradictions by developing a process called "harmonization . The problem is that their arguments often seem far-fetched, if not dishonest or extravagant.
In light of these facts, how can you honestly say that the NT is the infallible Word of God?
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(1) Quoted by DM Murdock inWho Was Jesus - Fingerprints of the Christ, p. .
48 (2) Ehrman, Misquoting Jesus, p..
69 (3) Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codex_Vaticanus
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