It appears I was incorrect yesterday in my relaying of the evidence behind the accuracy in fact and translation of the New Testament. There is a method by which the consistency and accuracy of ancient writings are tested. This is not exclusive to religious writings but all ancient writings. For accuracy, historians will look at the time lapse between the time a book is written and the events the book is written of, or originally took place. For example, the writings of Plato first appeared 1,200 years after his death. A little questionable. That’s better than Aristotle who saw 1,400 years pass before his writings were put down. Homer’s Iliad showed up a paltry 500 years after it was said to be written. The New Testament, 27 books written by a variety of authors, range anywhere from a few years after Jesus’ death to a maximum of 100 years.
The second test – consistency – looks at the number of manuscripts in the originating languages, compared to our English translations, to seek any errors in translation that change the meaning or teachings. We have seven copies of Plato’s writings, and 49 of Aristotle’s. Not bad. Homer does even better – 643 original manuscripts! With 643 writings to look back on we can be fairly certain the Iliad we read today is the Iliad Homer wrote. Yesterday I noted there were 5,600 manuscripts of the New Testament. This is true – in the original Greek there are 5,600 manuscripts. However, if you add Syriac, Latin, Coptic, and Aramaic translations that came almost immediately following the Greek, we have 24,000 manuscripts.
My larger point? Start doubting the historical accuracy and consistency of the New Testament and there appears to be almost nothing you can trust. Textbooks, scientific writings, and any ancient piece of literature. Curious.
Not sure if any of you are regulars at the China King restaurant outside Buffalo. If so, this article may be of interest. Who knew it was illegal to butcher a dead deer in your kitchen? The Government needs to stay out of their business!
No longer do we have to rely on frying eggs to represent a drug fix. Thanks to the advent of the interweb we can now try drugs virtually! Enjoy.
Today’s Random Links
An unrequested fission surplus of the top utterances of Montgomery Burns.
Rejected ‘Guitar Hero’ and ‘Rock Band’ titles. Loving Polyphonic Spree.
An epic ChaCha messaging service fail.. Eiffel Tower.. haha!