1. That translations of Hebrew/Arabic/Greek into English can convey same meaning and that translators are super accurate.
2. That best manuscripts are used. Oldest extant manuscripts already differ, so how choose between them?
3. Ancient copies were handwritten. Trust ancient scribes to not make mistakes of addition or ommission? As #2 explains, the differences prove mistakes.
4. That those people (such as Athanasius of Egypt and some Council of Nicea folk) who decided which writings would be included knew what they were doing. (All sorts of religious writings were floating around at the time, and a particular set weren't focused on until 367.)
5. That earlier interpretations, such as Arians or Gnostics, weren't just as good.
5. That somebody like Paul, who apparently never met Jesus, had a clue.
6. That people writing in 90 CE had any notion what Jesus thought since Jesus didn't write anything.
That's a lot of people (And if you're Protestant, a lot of Catholic ones.)
2007-01-06
04:46:17
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8 answers
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asked by
Anonymous
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Religion & Spirituality