Basically, Bringas says that there is a tremedous gulf between what
scholars know, and what the general public knows about the Bible. He says
"our religious beliefs are significantly out of line" with what scholars have
discovered about the Bible. Bringas asserts that blind faith in the
correctness of the Bible was and is a cause of many of Christianity's worst
evils, and that unchecked, bibliolatry will doom Christianity in the long
run.
The book is fairly new, published in 1996 by Hampton Roads. I was shocked
to learn that none of the major dogmas of Christianity are considered true by
genuine Bible scholars. Bringas even points out how Bruce Metzger showed that
1 John 5:7-8 was concocted, and did not appear in manuscripts of the Latin
Vulgate until after 800 AD. In the early copies of the Vulgate, it reads
"There are three which bear witness, the spirit and the water and the blood,
and the three are one." Later editions of the Vulgate give: "There are three
which bear witness on Earth, the spirit and the water and the blood, and
these three are one in Christ Jesus: and there are three who bear witness in
heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Spirit, and these three are one." The
addition helps to support the doctrine of the Trinity.
I did a survey, and here is how some modern Bibles render it:
"For there are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood;
and the three are in agreement." NASB
"For there are three that testify: the Spirit, the water and the blood; and
the three are in agreement." - NIV
Pretty close. Now take a look at the KJV:
"For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and
the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. And there are three that bear
witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three
agree in one."
That's right, the KJV has the passage that Metzger says is bogus. Bad news
for those who claim that the KJV is the "closest to the autographs". Are you
listening, McDonald? What have you to say?
Izz
"Ignoring knowledge is sickness" - Lao Tzu