myths about

The Bible’s text has been corrupted over time

MYTH #1

OLD TESTAMENT

OLDEST MANUSCRIPTS

AD 900’s

1947 – 1956Dead Sea Scrolls

33 AD (plus or minus 200 yrs)

http://carm.org/old-testament-corrupted

ONLY ABOUT 13 VARIANTS

IN ALL OF ISIAH

OVER 800 – 1000 YEARS

NEW TESTAMENT

HEREDOTUS

MANUSCRIPTS:

8

JOSEPHUS

MANUSCRIPTS:

9

LIVY

20

MANUSCRIPTS:

TACITUS

ONE: 9TH CENTURYMANUSCRIPT

Lucretiusdied 55 or 53

B.C.1100 yrs 2 ----

Pliny 61-113 A.D. 850 A.D. 750 yrs 7 ----Plato 427-347 B.C. 900 A.D. 1200 yrs 7 ----

Demosthenes

4th Cent. B.C.

1100 A.D. 800 yrs 8 ----

Herodotus 480-425 B.C. 900 A.D. 1300 yrs 8 ----Suetonius 75-160 A.D. 950 A.D. 800 yrs 8 ----

Thucydides 460-400 B.C. 900 A.D. 1300 yrs 8 ----Euripides 480-406 B.C. 1100 A.D. 1300 yrs 9 ----

Aristophanes

450-385 B.C. 900 A.D. 1200 10 ----

Caesar 100-44 B.C. 900 A.D. 1000 10 ----Livy 59 BC-AD 17 ---- ??? 20 ----

Tacituscirca 100

A.D.1100 A.D. 1000 yrs 20 ----

Aristotle 384-322 B.C. 1100 A.D. 1400 49 ----Sophocles 496-406 B.C. 1000 A.D. 1400 yrs 193 ----

Homer (Iliad)

900 B.C. 400 B.C. 500 yrs 643 95%

NewTestament

1st Cent. A.D. (50-100

A.D.

2nd Cent. A.D.

(c. 130 A.D. f.)

less than 100 years

5600 99.5%

http://carm.org/manuscript-evidence

NEW TESTAMENTMANUSCRIPTS:

5 500Over 500 before 10th Century

http://danielbwallace.com/2012/05/01/the-bart-ehrman-blog-and-the-reliability-of-the-new-testament-text/

5500 GREEK, PLUS:

LATIN, SYRIAC, COPTIC,ARAMAIC TRANSLATIONS

19000

24 000 PLUS

The position I argue for in ‘Misquoting Jesus’ does not actually stand at odds with Prof. Metzger’s position that the essential Christian beliefs are not affected by textual variants in the manuscript tradition of the New Testament.

(Quick aside)

One is the word, the Parent of the light of everything, he who came forth from the Silence, he whose name is an invisible symbol. A hidden, invisible mystery came forth:Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii, EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE, ooooooooooooooooooooooo, Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu, eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa,OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

The Gospel of the EgyptiansFrom Nag Hammadi Codices IV, end pg 43 - 44

Simon Peter said to them, “Mary should leave us because women are not worthy of life.”Jesus said, “I myself will lead her so as to make her male, so that she may become a living spirit resembling you males. Every woman who makes herself male will enter the Kingdom of heaven.”Gospel according to Thomas (saying 114)

The Bible simply full of Myths and Legends

MYTH #2

HOW THE GOSPEL WRITERS GOT IT

RIGHT!

GEOGRAPHY

LOCATIONS

PLACE NAMES

PEOPLE’S NAMES

SIMONJUDASJAMES

MARY

PETER

JESUSNAOMI

FAMOUS PEOPLE

PILATE STONE

ANCIENT BIOGRAPHY

RATHER THANMYTH

ORAL TRADITION

TIME FRAMEORAL HISTORYRATHER THAN ORAL TRADITION

PAUL IS OUR EARLIEST SOURCE

Paul writes as if he knows that his audience are aware of details of Jesus’ life:He holds up Jesus’ life as THE model to imitate: 1 Cor 11:1, 2 Cor 8:9, 10:1, Rom 15:2-3,(Eph 5:1) Phil 2:5-7, 3:8-10)

Paul knew Jesus’ earthly life was characterized by meekness, gentleness, self-sacrificiallove and humble service (2 Cor 10:1, Phil 2:5-7)

Paul knew:Jesus had been born and raised as a Jew (Gal 4:4)He descended from Abraham and David (Gal 3:16, Rom 1:3)Jesus had a brother named James (Gal 1:19) and other brothers (1 Cor 9:5)Paul knew a number of Jesus’ disciples and that Peter was married (1 Cor 9:5, 15:3-7)

Paul knew:Jesus had been betrayed (1 Cor 11:23), executed by crucifixion (1 Cor 1:17-18, Gal 5:116:12, Phil 2:8, 3:18), with the help of certain Judean Jews (1 Thess 2:14-15)Jesus had instituted a memorial meal the night before his death (1 Cor 11:23-25)Jesus was buried after His death and was resurrected 3 days later (Rom 4:24-25, 6:4-9,8:11, 34, 1 Cor 6:14, 2 Cor 4:14, Gal 1:1, 1 Thess 4:14)

Paul was aware of a number of contemporary people who were eyewitnesses of the risenChrist (1 Cor 15:4-8)

Resources for further reading:www.carm.org – very easy reading

on lots of topicsThis is a good link to start with:

http://carm.org/bible

For more in depth reading: www.tektonics.org and

www.christianthinktank.comGreat stuff! Worth the effort

More websites: http://danielbwallace.com/2012/05/01/the-bart-

ehrman-blog-and-the-reliability-of-the-new-testament-text

Check out the website, but this is greatreading on texts, in response to BartEhrman (quoted earlier)

http://bible.org/article/gospel-according-bart

Also a great response to Ehrman’s one book in particular, but good info on lots of stuffCheck out the bible.org website for more info onother topics too!

Some recommended books:

http://markdroberts.com/?cat=18(Check out his blog too)

Can we trust the GospelsBy Mark D. Roberts

Lord or LegendBy Gregory A. Boyd and Paul Rhodes Eddy

The Case for Christ and The Case forThe Real Jesus – both by Lee Strobel

All of these book recommendations are very accessible reading, you don’t needto know lots of stuff to understand.And there are many more resources,but these are a great start.