TRANSMISSION OF SCRIPTURE
The
Bible; The Koran; The Book of Mormon
"Every word of
God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in Him.
Add
thou not unto His words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a
liar." (The Bible: Proverbs 30:5-6)
Anonymous
(Investigator
107, 2006 March)
TRANSMISSION
DEBATE RELEVANCE
A debate
on
whether modern Bible translations accurately reflect the ancient
original documents appeared in Investigator 96 to 101.
Determining
how
reliable the copying and transmission of the original has been is
important because:
1.
The Bible implies that its text will be available forever and this
claim needs to be tested. For example, Jesus said, "…not one letter, not
one stroke
of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished."
(Matthew 5:18)
2.
Investigations into the accuracy of what the Bible says need to base
their conclusions on whether the original statements, not later
additions, are accurate.
3.
Mormons,
Muslims and Bahais explain disagreements between the Bible and their
own holy books by claiming, "The Bible has been corrupted, today's
Bibles differ from the original."
We need
to
know, therefore, when comparing Bible statements with modern science or
with other "holy books" whether or not the text of the Bible (or of the
other holy books) was "corrupted".
The Book
of
Mormon of the Mormon religion teaches that a group of ancient
Israelites sailed to America in 589 BC. (1 Nephi 18) They grew into two
nations and Jesus went to America after his death and resurrection to
preach to them.
The
Bible in
contrast teaches that Jesus "appeared once" and then stays out of sight
until his "return" when "every eye will see him."
Mormons
answer
such disagreements by claiming modern Bibles are translated from
inaccurate manuscripts. They quote their founder Joseph Smith
(1805-1844) who declared, "the bible to be the word of God as far as
it is translated correctly." The Book of Mormon (BOM) claims that the
Bible has, "plain and precious things taken away". (I Nephi 13:28)
Similarly
with
Islam. The Glorious Koran has numerous allusions to the Bible
and mentions many Bible characters such as Adam, Noah, Abraham,
Ishmael, Isaac, Moses, Solomon, Jonah, Mary, Jesus, etc.
The
Koran
says that it came or originated from Allah (God) and that the
"Scriptures", i.e. the Old and New Testaments, are from Allah also. And
Allah is "all knowing" and truthful. Yet there are many discrepancies
between the Bible and The Koran. Muslims explain this by
claiming the original Scriptures were correct but re-copying led to
errors.
The
Bahai
religion is a 19th century offshoot from Islam. It claims its founder,
Baha'ullah, is the return of Christ. The Bahais claim the holy
Scriptures of all major religions were inspired by one God. This
position is particularly difficult because it requires not only for the
Bible and The Koran to agree – when they don't – but other holy books
as well!
The
Bahai
argument is the same as the Muslims and Mormons – the Bible Scriptures
were tampered with.
The Investigator
debate on the accuracy of transmission revealed that 5,400 ancient
Bible manuscripts are known and have about 200,000 differences. The
variations are mainly word spellings but include hundreds of variations
in words, some entire verses, and large parts of several chapters.
In the Investigator
debate I summarized the work of "textual critics" who compare all
variations in the ancient manuscripts to work out what the original was.
It's
generally
concluded that:
- Over 99%
of the original wording of the Bible can now be established;
- Discoveries
of ancient manuscripts have not ceased; and
- Therefore
the trend of getting every closer to the original will continue.
"Textual
criticism" is a scientific discipline and has established the original
Greek and Hebrew text with high certainty.
Claims
that the
Bible text is corrupt whenever it differs to other holy books are
dogma, whereas the work of textual critics is science that can be
checked, redone, and falsified where false.
TESTING
ALLEGED CORRUPTION
The
Englishman's Greek Concordance of the New Testament (9th edition
1903) includes a "Concordance of Various Readings". New Testament words
and verses in which ancient manuscripts vary are listed and the
conclusions by eight textual critics indicated.
People,
therefore, can check for themselves the evidence on whether any
particular New Testament verse is "corrupt" or not.
Evidence
on
whether the Old Testament was accurately transmitted is less
precise. However, we have the Dead Sea Scrolls (now available in
English), the Septuagint Version (the ancient translation of the Hebrew
into Greek), the books of Josephus (a 1st century Jewish historian) and
various other ancient versions and parchments – and all these can be
compared.
Therefore,
if
disagreements between the Bible and other holy books are explained with
"The Bible was transmitted inaccurately", we can often test this claim
by consulting appropriate references.
If we
find that
Bible verses accused of being altered are in fact faithfully
transmitted this would not prove that the verses are correct in what
they state – because accuracy in transmission does not imply
accuracy of content. Words may be accurately transmitted but be
wrong in what they say.
For
example,
suppose I send a message far and wide which says "Hitler is alive and
lives on Venus". One day the message returns to me in Chinese and
translated it says, "Hitler is alive and lives on Venus." The
transmission was accurate but the content i.e. the statement or
message is false.
Investigating
the truth or accuracy of the content is different to investigating the
accuracy of the transmission. The content is tested by
comparing its testable statements with scientific discoveries in
archaeology, astronomy, geology, biology, etc. If, for example, a holy
book says the stars are too numerous to count, we'd consult astronomy.
MORMONS
The
Book of
Mormon narrates that an Israelite family fled Jerusalem in 589 BC
and sailed to America. The father had a number of sons including Nephi
and Laman.
Nephi
and Laman
started two nations – Nephites and Lamanites.
The
Lamanites
were miraculously made black and were more primitive. The Nephites were
"white … and delightsome":
And
it came to pass that they did multiply and spread, and did go forth
from the land southward to the land northward, and did spread insomuch
that they began to cover the face of the whole earth, from the sea
south to the sea north, from the sea west to the sea east. (Helaman 3:8)
The BOM
names
about 40 cities built by Nephites!
In 385
AD the
Lamamites exterminated the Nephites and became the Indians. Mormon (a
Nephite) wrote the BOM on gold plates in "reformed Egyptian". (Mormon
9:32) His son Moroni completed the Book. In 1823-1827 Moroni – now an
angel – visited Joseph Smith and gave him the plates. Smith translated
them, producing the English BOM in 1830.
Mormons
therefore believe that the Lamanites, and further back the Israelites,
are the main ancestors of the American Indians.
The BOM
further
teaches that Jesus Christ went to America in 34 AD after his
resurrection to preach to the Jewish descendants and then ascended to
heaven again.
The
Bible,
however, teaches that Jesus came, appeared and died "once for all":
But
as it is, he [Jesus] has appeared once for all at the end of the age to
remove sin by the sacrifice of himself. (Hebrews 9:26)
Christ,
having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second
time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting
for him. (Hebrews 9:28)
Consulting the
"Various Readings" section in the Englishman's Greek Concordance
as explained above, confirms that these Bible verses were in the
original writings and are not "corrupt".
Which
book then
is correct? Did Jesus preach in America in 34 AD?
DNA
EVIDENCE
Many
non-Mormon
researchers conclude that the BOM began as a novel by Solomon Spalding
(1761-1816) a minister of the Congregational Church. Sydney Rigdon
(1793-1876) an excommunicated Baptist minister obtained the manuscript,
remodelled the story, and passed it to Smith who revised it further.
(Cowdrey et al 1977)
Another
book –
which has been called a "ground plan" for the BOM – is View of the
Hebrews (1825 Ethan Smith). View of the Hebrews was
published in the town where Joseph Smith's cousin, who helped him
produce the BOM, lived!
With no
proof
for the BOM's authenticity Mormons hoped the new science of DNA
research would link the Indians to ancient Israelites and prove that
the BOM is a translation of an ancient document.
However,
the
opposite happened. DNA research confirmed what anthropologists
concluded long ago – Native Americans originated in East Asia over
10,000 years ago, not in Israel 2,600 years ago.
A
videotape and
DVD titled DNA Evidence and The Book of Mormon was produced in
2003 by Living Hope Ministries of Utah. Eight scientists including
Mormon anthropologist Thomas W Murphy were interviewed. The conclusions
are:
- Genetic
research shows American Indians resemble Mongolians and Siberians more
closely than other people.
- Linguistic
data shows similarities between American Indians and East Asians.
- Human
skeletal remains show that people in North, Central and South America
are of East Asian descent.
- Archaeology
has shown similarities between East Asian and American cultures in the
artifacts they used.
Dr
Murphy
concludes, "It is genetically, archaeologically, historically and
linguistically impossible for American Indians as a whole to be
descendants of Lamanites who came from Israel."
Molecular
biologist with the CSIRO Simon G Southerton authored Losing a Lost
Tribe (2005). Therein he presents the genetic data that
reconstructs human migrations to America and Oceania.
Christianity
Today quotes Southerton saying, "The DNA evidence backs up decades
of archaeological, linguistic, cultural, and anthropological research
that indicates there is no Israelite influence in the Americas before
Columbus arrived."
Furthermore
no
remains of the about 40 American cities named in the BOM have been
found. The Old Testament, in contrast, names about 900 geographical
locations of which over 300 have been found and another 200 tentatively
identified. (Investigator 50)
Of about
180
ancient American people named in the BOM not one has archaeological
verification. However, at least 60 Old Testament people have
archaeological verification. (Investigator 61)
No event
in the
BOM has archaeological support. No object mentioned in it has been
found – no coins, armour, Egyptian writing, swords, gold plates,
chariots, steel or copper, nor remains of domestic animals such as
cows, oxen, asses or horses. (1 Nephi 18:25)
Furthermore,
we
have at least two versions of the BOM. Mormons actually use a revised
version with almost 4,000 alterations! The "Reorganized Church" which
split off after Joseph Smith died still uses Smith's first version of
the BOM.
The BOM
furthermore includes about 25,000 words from the 1611 King James Bible
(KJB) – which, like other Bibles, can be checked by textual criticism.
III
Nephi
11:27, 36, for example, paraphrases 1 John 5:7 of the KJB. In this case
textual criticism has shown that 1 John 5:7 was added to an ancient
manuscript and wrongly entered the KJB. Because textual criticism has
identified the interpolation modern Bible translations omit it.
Similarly,
III
Nephi 12:27 quotes Matthew 5:27 including the phrase "by them of old"
which does not appear in modern Bibles because textual criticism has
exposed it as an interpolation.
If the
BOM were
ancient it would have avoided such errors. It didn't because it's a
fabrication of the 1820s.