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Dr. Lobegott Friedrich Konstantin Von Tischendorf was
one of the most eminent conservative Biblical Scholars of the nineteenth
century. He was also one of the staunchest, most adamant defenders of the “Trinity”
that history has known. One of his greatest lifelong achievements was the
discovery of the oldest known Biblical Manuscript know to mankind, the “Codex
Sinaiticus,” from Saint Catherine’s Monastery in Mount Sinai. One of the most
devastating discoveries made from the study of this fourth century manuscript
was that the Gospel of Mark originally ended at verses 16:8 and not at verse
16:20 as it does today. In other words, the last 12 verses (Mark 16:9 through
Mark 16:20) were “injected” by the church into the Bible sometime after the 4th
century. Clement of Alexandria and Origen never quoted these verses. Later on,
it was also discovered that the said 12 verses, wherein lies the account of “the
resurrection of Jesus,” do not appear in codices Syriacus, Vaticanus and
Bobiensis. Originally, the “Gospel of Mark” contained no mention of the “resurrection
of Jesus” (Mark 16:9-20). At least four hundred years (if not more) after the
departure of Jesus, the Church received divine “inspiration” to add the story
of the resurrection to the end of this Gospel.
The author of “Codex Sinaiticus” had no doubt that the
Gospel of Mark came to an end at Mark 16:8, to emphasize this point we find
that immediately following this verse he brings the text to a close with a fine
artistic squiggle and the words “The Gospel according to Mark.” Tischendorf was
a staunch conservative Christian and as such he managed to casually brush this
discrepancy aside since in his estimation the fact that Mark was not an Apostle,
nor an eye witness to the Ministry of Jesus, made his account secondary to
those of the Apostles such as Matthew and John. However, as seen elsewhere in
this Book, the majority of Christian scholars today recognize the writings of
Paul to be the oldest of the writings of the Bible. These are closely followed
by the “Gospel of Mark” and the “Gospels of Matthew and Luke” are almost
universally recognized to have been based upon the “Gospel of Mark.” This
discovery was the result of centuries of detailed and painstaking studies by
these Christian scholars and the details cannot be repeated here. Suffice it to
say that most reputable Christian scholars today recognize this as a basic
indisputable fact.
Today, the translators and publishers of our modern
Bibles are beginning to be a little more forthright and honest with their
readers. Although they may not simply openly admit that these twelve verses
were forgeries of the Church and not the word of God, still, at least they are
beginning to draw the reader’s attention to the fact that there are two “versions”
of the “Gospel of Mark” and then leave the reader to decide what to make of
these two “versions.”
Now the question becomes “if the Church has tampered
with the Gospel of Mark, then did they stop there or is there more to this
story?. As it happens, Tischendorf also discovered that the “Gospel of John”
has been heavily reworked by the Church over the ages. For example,
1. It was found that the verses starting from John 7:53 to 8:11 (the story
of the woman taken in adultery) are not to be found in the most ancient copies
of the Bible available to Christianity today, specifically, codices Sinaiticus
or Vaticanus.
2. It was also found that John 21:25 was a later insertion, and that a
verse from the gospel of Luke (24:12) that speaks of Peter discovering an empty
tomb of Jesus is not to be found in the ancient manuscripts.
(For more on this topic please read ‘Secrets of Mount
Sinai’ by James Bentley, Doubleday, NY, 1985).
Much of the discoveries of Dr. Tischendorf regarding the
continuous and unrelenting tampering with the text of the Bible over the ages
has been verified by twentieth century science. For example, a study of the
Codex Sinaiticus under ultraviolet light has revealed that the “Gospel of John”
originally ended at verse 21:24 and was followed by a small tail piece and then
the words “The Gospel according to John.” However, some time later, a
completely different “inspired” individual took pen in hand, erased the text
following verse 24, and then added in the “inspired” text of John 21:25 which
we find in our Bibles today.
The evidence of tampering goes on and on. For example,
in the Codex Sinaiticus the “lord’s prayer” of Luke 11:2-4 differs
substantially from the version which has reached us through the agency of
centuries of “inspired” correction. Luke 11:2-4 in this most ancient of all
Christian manuscripts reads:
“Father, Hallowed by thy name, Thy kingdom come. Thy
will be done, as in heaven, so upon earth. Give us day by day our daily bread.
And forgive us our sins, as we ourselves also forgive everyone that is indebted
to us. And bring us not into temptation.”
Further, the “Codex Vaticanus,” is another ancient
manuscript held by the scholars of Christianity in the same reverent standing
as the Codex Sinaiticus. These two fourth century codices are together
considered the most ancient copies of the Bible available today. In the codex
Vaticanus we can find a version of Luke 11:2-4 even shorter than that of Codex
Sinaiticus. In this version even the words “Thy will be done, as in heaven,
so upon earth.” are not to be found.
Well, what has been the official Church position
regarding these “discrepancies”? How did the Church decide to handle this
situation? Did they call upon all of the foremost scholars of Christian
literature to come together in a mass conference in order to jointly study the
most ancient Christian manuscripts available to the Church and come to a common
agreement as to what was the true original word of God? No!
Well then, did they immediately expend every effort to
make mass copies of the original manuscripts and send them out to the Christian
world so that they could make their own decisions as to what truly was the
original unchanged word of God? Once again, No!
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