ES, I couldn't find your earlier note, but here are some observations to your comments (" ")on Constantine's impact on Bible:
".... yes the LDS were the first to implement irrigation in the USA and to politically oppose slavery)"
* that is interesting, as I recall, blacks weren't allowed into BYU until about 20 years ago; could it have been national pressure against discrimination or a need for a more competitive football team? <G>
" The point being, it takes the hands of men to do God's work.... whether preserving the Bible or bringing forth a colony in the wilderness...."
* Concur II Peter 1:20,21 - the inspired (God Breathed) origin of scriptures and preserved, in spite of attempted corruption. The Bible is the most sold book in the world and no man has had more impact than than the "one solitary life - Jesus Christ".
"... several hundred various christian creeds spanning the globe... glaringly similar to the hundreds of creeds Constantine tried to unite with his abridgement of the facts/truths... when one tries to be all things to all people something gets lost in the translation.... so what we have today is a hodge podge of christian truth, folklore and sophistry all parading together as Christianity.... no, God didn't preserve his word... abunch of pagan apostates did.... do you believe them??? I sure don't...."
* Satan has been attacking mankind since the beginning in the Garden of Eden, he tried to tempt Jesus Christ (failed), to destroy the written word left behind after departure of the "Living Word" and the Christians who were separated to the Gospel.... They were tortured and gave their lives (see Foxes book of martyrs - they seemed to believe the Word and gave their lives for their beliefs). Attempts, such as by Origen to alter scriptures ( to match his own belief that Jesus was only a created being and not the Son of God), have been made to water down the Word and subtly change doctrine (e.g. virgin to "young woman", etc). However, the Word was never lost as it was always carried forth by small groups such as the anabaptists (and mankind was not in the dark, as some suppose, until 1830 when Joseph Smith came along with a "new vision") as the Word was preserved all along from the Textus Receptus to KJV and supported by Peshitta Version (150 A.D.), Italia Bible 157, Wycliff's Bible 1382, Tyndales Bible 1525, etc, etc. in spite of another line of altered scriptures from Constantines time and before. . .
*God has a warning for those who "add to" or " take away from" the word in Rev 22: 18,19 (similar warnings in Deut and Psalms). Alas there are "sheeps and goats", wolves in sheeps clothing and tares among the wheat as spoken to in the parable of the wheat and tares Matt 13: 24 -30. At the judgement day the tares will be gathered in bundles to burn and the wheat brought into the barn (heaven).
* As far as the KJV it was compiled from the ancient manuscripts of the old testament by the Masoretes Hebrew scholars and comes from "original textus receptus". Most modern translations come from Rudolph Kittet's "revised" Masoretic texts, coming from Origen and the days of Constantine. Many of todays popular versions also use this same source. Creation Research Institute has a 20 page copy for free (1-800-628-7640) in answer to "should creationists abandon the King James Version" question.
*The Sinaiticus and Vaticanus texts (from 331 AD), discovered in 19th century are old but there is no proof they are better or more reliable than the Textus Receptus. As you say there are many "scholars" who debate the texts, but I don't think God is the author of confusion, rather it is the subtle one in the garden who deceived Eve with slight changes to what God had said, using a little truth with a little lie - how effective still today.
* Unfortunately Constantine managed to incorporate a number of pagan rites, images, symbols, etc into the religious practice of the majority of the day (but there were those who refused them as well)
*Hey, this subject is more interesting than any stock that I know and will last a whole lot longer - for eternity.
* You ought to read a book called the "Handwritting of God" (Henry has it now so I don't have the authors name), but numerous codes have been discovered in the scriptures (Hebrew) that man cannot explain aside from God's encoding. Very interesting reading. |
