Comments on: ‘Misquoting Jesus’ in the Washington Post http://www.dennyburk.com/%e2%80%98misquoting-jesus%e2%80%99-in-the-washington-post/ A commentary on theology, politics, and culture Sun, 12 Feb 2012 06:07:42 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Mark http://www.dennyburk.com/%e2%80%98misquoting-jesus%e2%80%99-in-the-washington-post/#comment-584 Mark Thu, 09 Mar 2006 17:05:00 +0000 http://www.dennyburk.com/?p=234#comment-584 D, That is a difficult article to read. I really feel bad for Ehrman. All the knowledge of a scholar; with academinc success, a beautiful house, loving wife, yet he still has that emptiness. He should try to see why there is still turmoil inside even after all the outside answers have satisfied him. How does this happen? Is it disbelief in the power of the Holy Spirit to have guided the church throughout history? Did he never truly believe? It doesn't sound to me like he just prematurely ran away from his faith under baseless questions or persecution. It seems to me that with his popularity, and background, Ehrman had good reason to shy away from causing a stir. It also seems like he went further than most will ever go, or get a chance to, in trying to understand the church's history and the reliablity of the Bible. I was shocked when I read 'Case For Faith, maybe it was 'Case For Christ', that one of Billy Grahams closest associates, who was with Billy when he began his ministry, moved away from the Lord and ultimately rejected his faith in Christ. From the article, I don't see that the WP writer went out of his way to unfairly criticize 1John 5:7. I think it profound too. It doesn't mess me up though, because like you, I know there is so much more evidence than that verse, and I don't beleive it is duplicated by other English translations. I had a similar reaction when I first came across this textual problem. I was discussing Trinitarian texts in the Bible and a fellow believer pointed me to his fool-proof text for the Trinity: 1John 5:7. Even though I had studied this doctrine, I didn't recall KJV's version of 'Father, Word, and the Holy Spirit' in any of the translations I was familiar with. Well to my blessing, I had my copy of the NET Bible and it points out this error in it's textual criticism section (it exaplined in fair detail the J Comma - fascinating). My well meaning friend was blown away because he had relied so heavily on this text. I assured him all was well, and proceeded to show him the large volume of Biblcal trinitarian texts, as you pointed out D. So it seems there are some, maybe not scholars, who don't know better yet, but should. Grace and peace, D,

That is a difficult article to read. I really feel bad for Ehrman. All the knowledge of a scholar; with academinc success, a beautiful house, loving wife, yet he still has that emptiness. He should try to see why there is still turmoil inside even after all the outside answers have satisfied him.

How does this happen? Is it disbelief in the power of the Holy Spirit to have guided the church throughout history? Did he never truly believe?

It doesn’t sound to me like he just prematurely ran away from his faith under baseless questions or persecution. It seems to me that with his popularity, and background, Ehrman had good reason to shy away from causing a stir. It also seems like he went further than most will ever go, or get a chance to, in trying to understand the church’s history and the reliablity of the Bible. I was shocked when I read ‘Case For Faith, maybe it was ‘Case For Christ’, that one of Billy Grahams closest associates, who was with Billy when he began his ministry, moved away from the Lord and ultimately rejected his faith in Christ.

From the article, I don’t see that the WP writer went out of his way to unfairly criticize 1John 5:7. I think it profound too. It doesn’t mess me up though, because like you, I know there is so much more evidence than that verse, and I don’t beleive it is duplicated by other English translations.

I had a similar reaction when I first came across this textual problem. I was discussing Trinitarian texts in the Bible and a fellow believer pointed me to his fool-proof text for the Trinity: 1John 5:7. Even though I had studied this doctrine, I didn’t recall KJV’s version of ‘Father, Word, and the Holy Spirit’ in any of the translations I was familiar with. Well to my blessing, I had my copy of the NET Bible and it points out this error in it’s textual criticism section (it exaplined in fair detail the J Comma – fascinating). My well meaning friend was blown away because he had relied so heavily on this text. I assured him all was well, and proceeded to show him the large volume of Biblcal trinitarian texts, as you pointed out D. So it seems there are some, maybe not scholars, who don’t know better yet, but should.

Grace and peace,

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