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"most depraved" & "mutilation without parallel"
#1
Shlama lukhohn,

I was reviewing some of the strong language used in William Norton's introduction to the Peshitta (or as he calls it the 'Peshito-Syriac Scriptures'). Here are some comments from some very astute scholars on the Westcott & Hort text....

The statement of Dean Burgon may, with apparent reason, be regarded as lamentably true, that this text is "the most depraved which has ever appeared in print." (Revision Revised, 1883, pg. xxx.)
THE GREEK COPIES CALLED ALEPH AND B, are those on which Drs. Westcott and Hort chiefly rely. They say that the readings of these "should be accepted as the TRUE READINGS, until strong internal evidence is found to the contrary." Yet, as Dean Burgon has said, these copies "have come to us without a character, without a history, without antecedents of ANY kind," (pg. 14); except, indeed, such antecedents as Canon Cook, in his "First Three Gospels, (1882)," has shown to be almost ascertained facts. He has shown it to be in the highest degree probable, that these Greek copies were made when Arianism was in high favour, and under the superintendence of Eusebius of Caesarea, whom Jerome calls "The standard-bearer of the Arian faction." (Cook, pp. 151, 164, 183.) Canon Cook says that the omissions and corruptions of these two Greek copies are "logically incompatible with an entire faith in the Saviour's proper and true Divinity." (pg. 177.) He says also, that these two oldest manuscripts, Aleph and B, "are responsible for nearly every change which weakens or perverts the record of sayings and incidents in our Lord's life." (pg. 142.) Among these changes Canon Cook mentions the following. Drs. Westcott and Hort omit the leading point in the title of Mark's Gospel, " 'Son of God,' an act of singular temerity." (pg. 35.) They reject, as a forged addition, the account of our Lord's bloody sweat in Gethsemane; Luke xxii. 44. They omit the doxology in the Lord's prayer, Matt. vi. 13, "For thine is the kingdom," etc. They reject the first words uttered by the Redeemer on the cross, Luke xxiii. 34, "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do." (Cook, pg. 106.) They omit the last 12 verses of Mark, which Canon Cook calls a mutilation without parallel in the critical history of the New Testament," (pg. 120); and one which removes Mark's account of the ascension, removes the only statement in the Gospels that Christ is seated at God's right hand; removes an emphatic statement of the necessity of faith, "and the most emphatic statement in the New Testament as to the importance of baptism." (pp. 121-122.)

Shlama w'Burkate, Larry Kelsey
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#2
You are totally correct. Consensus amongst scholars in the world of Greek NT manuscript criticism is like living in Alice in Wonderland. These depraved and corrupt manuscripts, Vaticanus and Sinaiticus, are the very Greek manuscripts that scholarly consensus in the Greek manuscript world believe are as close as you will get to the "original Greek" autographs. They believe that it is ALL THE OTHER Greek manuscripts that are corrupt. At the time of Westcott & Hort, there were many, many Greek scholars who wrote volumes on just how bad those manuscripts were, but few listened and the scholarly world was set alight with new theories and ideas.

Also, take a look at this post in the BibleWorks forums:
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.bibleworks.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2954">http://www.bibleworks.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2954</a><!-- m -->

It shows that not only are the Greek NT manuscripts corrupt, even "scholarly editions" collating these manuscripts and producing "critical" editions of them, are highly corrupt. There are so many errors that it is not even due to incompetence and carelessness.

Then compare the situation with the Peshitta manuscripts, and it is like leaving a room full of chaos and darkness and entering into a world light and sanity.
- Ewan MacLeod
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#3
Shlama all,

I wholeheartedly agree concerning the modern critical Greek editions and concerning Vaticanus and Sinaiticus, and have held the same position for the past 33 years. It is one of my life's goals to see the Greek textual criticism world collapse like the house of cards it really is and be replaced by the house built of living stone and upon The Rock. The text of the New Testament writings is The Peshitta (in the broadest sense of that word).

Dave
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