Christians: is this correct concerning textual criticism?

Question

yesterday i asked a question about the transcription of the bible and a christian told me:

"Overwhelmingly, these 'mistakes' are grammatical, capitalization, punctuation, misspellings, and other minor transcription errors as such. Less than 0.5% of the 'mistakes' misplace one word for another (such as us using 'huge' for 'enormous') and NONE of these inconsistencies even slightly alters a bit of doctrine."

I had heard that there a considerable amount (not a ton, of course) of copies, that aren't gnostic or heretical ones, but rather are ones that are considered reliable, that have noticeable yet slight variations in some verses that have at least minute differences in doctrine.
Not enought to destroy the veracity of the bible of course, but challenging enough that that it is still a moot point point between bible scholars.
Isn't this so?

hghostinme: You sure look like you have approached this issue with the knowledge that it important to be objective.....Not!

Answer 1

Yes. It is.

Even though the men who compiled the Bible were, I think, generally wise and spiritual, the Church was still a highly political organization at the time the canon was being put into place. Yes, even MORE political than today. The holy men of the Church were also wise enough to know not to put things in there that the Holy See and other powers that be didn't want in there.

Answer 2

The original texts were copied over and over again and widely distributed. By comparing these widespread copies it is possible to get back as close as possible to the original text. The best modern translations compare many of the earliest documents against each other and try to get an exact translation but even then you will see in some documents a comment like "* Not included in some ancient texts" when there is some disagreement. The versions don't disagree on the message but these differences are ther.


* Funny Note...I think I have the right version the 1613 printing of the 1611 King James Bible left out NOT in the "Thou shalt not commit adultery". There were only a few copies printed but it does show that there can be typos. If we are to take that as an example by comparing the other version of the King James Bible and where that command is written elsewhere it is obvious the typo.

God Bless
Todd

Answer 3

Yeah, it's a shame we still don't have the original Hebrew and Greek scriptures to draw from anymore. The Dead Sea Scrolls are the next best thing, and agree remarkably (although not precisely) with modern day Old Testament translations, but the Greek scriptures of the Septuagint and New Testament remain unaccounted for ( to the best of my knowledge )

Of course every time someone translates it, the chance for subtle differences in translation becomes ever higher. A translation of a translation of a translation (etc) will surely vary from the "original" to such a degree that doctrine will also vary.

I think this is why the Catholic Church was so hardcore about keeping the Latin Vulgate under wraps, and trying to prevent amateurs from translating the Bible for themselves.

Answer 4

Word differences such as “huge” versus “enormous” aren’t mistakes; they are simply different interpretations. Some versions (such as KJV) try to get everything word-for-word while other versions (such as NIV) try to get the general meaning. This difference in goals accounts for the difference in wording. However, there is no way to say which one is better because it depends on how deeply you are trying to understand the Word of God. KJV is more accurate, but it is harder to understand. On the other hand, NIV is easier to understand but isn’t as accurate.

Interesting side note: the original texts did not use uppercase/lowercase letters the way we do now and they didn’t have anything called punctuation. All the periods, commas, and question marks were added by English translators in order to make it easier for us to read.

Answer 5

I would say so.
But the points are not always so moot moot to bible scholars.
It can make a major difference in doctrine.
Ex. JWs do not believe the thief on the cross was with Jesus in Paradise the same day of his death, even tho the Bible states: "And Jesus said, 'Verily I say unto you, today thou shalt be with me in paradise".
JWs inject a different punctuation mark to make the verse read as such:
"And Jesus said, "Verily I say unto you today: Thou shalt be with me in paradise.
Translating the Bible from the original Hebrew, Greek or Arabic was extremely difficult and many today study and dissect the translations.

The original versions did not use punctuation marks either.

Answer 6

Some people have to much information from the worlds views about the word of God for their own good. Why? We are too lazy to ask God in prayer or read it for ourselves. We must have wisdom,understanding and insight. How can you make a comment on anything without knowledge of it?

God is not hiding he wants us to know him and want him.He makes himself known to the world. But we look to much into each other and self to see him. Christian told you what? If it was a so called Christian that told you this,he knows nothing about God and his word. Some may carry that label but there are also other things that have a label and when you open it up it is a whole different animal.

Answer 7

If you go spend an hour at Borders and look at the various transcriptions (e.g. KJ, NIV, New American etc.) I think you will find a fair amount of difference between them, which implies that there could very well be differences of opinion in language that could 'alter' doctrine.
Even beyond this, based on sitting through many sermons, I have learned that there is a large amount of 'contextual' information that we don't necessarily automatically 'get' (e.g. about the differences between values and culture in 1 AD Middle Eastern life and our own) which can make a HUGE difference in how we interpret what's written.

A simple example - today, when we read that Jesus told people they might have to abandon their unbelieving families to become a Christian, we might think "ooh, that would be a ikky...." But it's not that dramatic for us - I mean, people today 'leave' their families all the time - for work, for cultural reasons, even over disagreements about lifestyle etc. Families are important to us, but today they are just a part of who we are. By contrast, in the time of Christ, family was EVERYTHING. It would be like saying to us today- abandon your family, your spouse, your wealth, your career, your friends - everything about who you 'are', and start over from scratch with me. Very, very scary. But unless someone who knows a little about the history puts it in context for you, you might miss the immensity of what he asked of his disciples (and they did).

Given this, it seems obvious to me that we might be missing a lot - not just through transliteration but because we just don't get the whole picture. This is particularly true in English which is a lousy language for context....

Answer 8

In Bible Colleges many many outright contradictions and inconsistencies are viewed as "difficulties" in clases like Apologetics 101 through 905.

God the Son Jesus Christ was quoted as saying all the time, "I tell you the truth" -- That kinda person you need to watch! Check this:


Luke 14:26 (NIV) Jesus Christ said, "If anyone comes to me and does not HATE his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters--yes, even his own life--he cannot be my disciple."
Mark 10:28-30 (NIV) Peter said to him, "We have left everything to follow you!" "I tell you the truth," Jesus replied, "no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields--and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life.

It was very dishonest of Jesus to pay up for following him. He never deliverd, either! How can you trust a crip like that? There are hundreds of cases like that in the Bible...

Jeremiah 6:13 (NIV) "From the least to the greatest, ALL are greedy for gain; prophets and priests alike, ALL practice deceit."

Answer 9

There are NO MISTAKES in GODS WORD...........man through his own deciets and foolishness.....tries to take the infalliable word and REWORD it to what he wants it to say............translated from the original Hebrew and Greek texts...there are words and numbers that are translated to english by King James.....and at his order there were to be nothing other then what it said.....byt through translations...thier words and or numbers doesnt coinside with our ABC's as it where...........and that is the only thing there ever was...till the new ways came out and are trying to twist what was said to what they want said generation..thats why now we have so many branded so called bibles........and they my friend are the ones that are incorrect..........the original KJV.....was and is the correct translations of the old text of Hebrew and Greek..................

Answer 10

I was just thinking about this today.