The British Library has just put Codex Sinaiticus online. The world's oldest bible, handwritten over 1,600 years ago, is now available for the general public to peruse. Just don't expect to find the familiar biblical stories you learned at Sunday school:
Discovered in a monastery in the Sinai desert in Egypt more than 160 years ago, the handwritten Codex Sinaiticus includes two books that are not part of the official New Testament and at least seven books that are not in the Old Testament.
The New Testament books are in a different order, and include numerous handwritten corrections -- some made as much as 800 years after the texts were written, according to scholars who worked on the project of putting the Bible online. The changes range from the alteration of a single letter to the insertion of whole sentences.
And some familiar -- very important -- passages are missing, including verses dealing with the resurrection of Jesus, they said.
Richard Allen Greene of CNN has more: Link | Codex Sinaiticus [wikipedia]
this would make for a good read.
[Plenty of evidence elsewhere regarding religious idiots.]
This is the earliest complete compendium of the books that make up what might be called a Bible (modulo the differences noted in the original article). There are much earlier texts available for the constituent books. Those other earlier texts as well as the texts making up this codex are used by Biblical scholars to work towards the original text.
To illustrate this point, I do not have a college degree. I am a Quality Assurance engineer. Before Christ, I would've said that the resurrection was a silly thing. But after being baptised by the Holy Spirit, God confirmed the truth in me through His word and by His Spirit. Whether written 1600 years ago and leaving out some accounts, the world will still look for the 'temporal' when what it needs is the 'eternal.'
I'm thankful to have a God that is faithful.
Christian or not, that's poor logic.
Firstly, people die for crap reasons all the time. Lung cancer, cirrhosis, suicide; none of those should be regarded as proof of the divinity of cigarettes, alcohol, or mental illness. People also give their lives in support of assholes and phonies all the time, Hitler, Kim Jong-Il, Jonestown Massacre. Never underestimate the power of mass hysteria.
Now that being said, secondly, one doesn't have to believe that someone is divine in order to believe they are right. It sounds perfectly plausible to me that someone could have never heard of the virgin birth, the Resurrection, or even that Jesus was anything more than *A* child of God and still feel that the words he preached and principles he stood for, together with the belief in the right to worship freely, were worth dying for.
maybe Jesus is not the son of God after all and the Jewish people are closer to the truth.
p.s. i'm unitarian universalist, not jewish
thanks
Take it for what it is, the perception of Christianity 1600 years ago and probably more historically accurate than the bibles written today.
If it can be proven, it's no longer faith. Actually, faith is all about the absence of proof. It's how humans believe - not because it can be proven, but exactly because it cannot be proven.
Today, scholars try to discover and translate the true meaning of the words of the Bible. They bring out new versions as the English language changes, and as our knowledge progresses. They study this version and compare it with other versions of the Bible in the hopes of determining which words are original and which may have changed.
The comment about the website not being useful because there are no translations, is ironic. We have copies of the Bible everywhere. You want a translation? Google it. The work involved in translating the Bible and its related sacred works is massive.
Christians from the 1st century onward did believe in the resurrection of Jesus and had faith in his return.
No, not only is this an interesting find, no doubt it will fly in the face of that which we call the bible because Jewish, Christian, and Muslim scholars have been changing their bibles as time progresses.
Richard Allen Greene of CNN
I found the above comment very interesting and misleading. After a brief 20 minute search of the Codex Siniaticus and comparison with the modern day NIV version of the Bible, through a few passages relating to the resurrection of Jesus, I found surprising continuity. I will continue my search to find those that may be "missing" and seek answers as to why that may be.
I would encourage all of those interested in this subject to study and compare. Simply reading Mr. Greene's comment and then walking away with a shrug of the shoulders believing that the resurrection of Jesus is false would be a mistake.
Each of us must ask ourselves if we are seeking truth or simply justification of our own chosen lifestyle.
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.” Matthew 7:7-8 NIV Bible
“Ask, and it shall be given you: seek, and you shall find: knock, and it shall be opened to you. For every one that asks receives; and he that seeks finds; and to him that knocks it shall be opened.” Matthew 7:7-8 Codex Siniaticus Bible
People would deny what their eyes could see never mind what is required by faith. What is more loving than asking you to love thy neighbour and do good to all men. If people need proof of a Creator they should look around them and if they cannot find the proof they seek around them then no matter what is put before them they will never believe. Remember, "he who refuses to be convinced is of the same opinion still".
The difference between christianity and other religions is the resurrection of Jesus and Him being the Son of God. I believe in God and believe that Jesus is the Christ. Put one million 'contradictory' Bibles before me and it would not change that. Call me stupid or blind if you will. Believing in and/or praying to a God does not preclude me from doing nothing to better my life or those of others. I do not sit down and wait for my creator to do things for me. My faith encourages me to work and provide for those I am responsible for.
The key is your relationship with your God. It doesn't matter what transcribers, pastors, bishops, imams, jews, etc., delete or insert in the various versions. The facts is that the main message of Christ and the path he opened for us to reach God runs through each of the versions. Take that and run with it.
May His Love and Grace birng us salvation.
1.)do you still have to jump off from the top of the empire state building to prove that gravity is there?
2.)anyone (anything) that does not confess that Jesus Christ has risen is simply not from God...and not of God.
3.)go ahead live your life the way you want it. You want to live without God? then go and spend it according to your pleasure. If you really don't want it then no one can force you to do it.
You want to live under the God of the Bible? then live your life according to what He says in the Bible. just think to yourself that without this book, there would be no CONCRETE basis and meaning to what we call MORALITY in our society these days. M.O.R.A.L.I.T.Y.
4.) after all, if man dies believing that there is a sovereign God when there's really no God, then he would lose nothing. But if man dies without believing that there is God or God is there, i would be so sorry for him that his body would just ROT under the ground and his soul cries out in hell because of great, unquenchable, eternal suffering while all others who live their lives believing in God would rise up with a glorified body from the grave or be caught up alive from the world and be joined to their Creator in heaven. that simple.
5.)Oh...forgive them, Lord. They just don't know what they're doing.
Have you studied human history? Most historians like myself agree the Rig Veda is thus far the oldest documentation of human history. It is 8000 years old from 6500 BC. That is about 6400 years before the bible. Sorry to burst your bubble.
The earliest extant Greek New Testament to explicitly contain the name Christian is the Codex Alexandrinus 450 c.e. This is just far too late for Christian to begin appearing in manuscripts if it were the original term given to followers of the Nazarene Messiah. The appearance of Christian in the Greek text is clearly an anachronism which has been paraded as supporting evidence for the Christian name and faith, both of which are counterfeit.
In effect, "Christians" were later integrated - and are clearly identified as the Beast of Revelation. The True followers of Yahushua are the Natsarim. Discover the truth at: http://www.Natsarim.com.
Written by Tina Arradondo
What's on the other side sometimes I know is not for me,
I can see through some mountains so clear and perfectly...
Is it my fault that I have wisdom that others may see as strange?
I feel things that others don't and so I claim it cause It can't change.
Is your death predetermined at the time you were concieved?
Or do you believe you can make choices that can change what's
meant to be?
God said "BE" and there I was, put on this path so am I the judge
of how I view what's in my path whether it's money, sex, lies or
love?
The path I'm on is full of twists and turns and mountains I can't
climb. When I say can't, I do mean CAN'T. It doesn't matter
if I tried.
My mind is perfect. The world is flawed. I was created by Divine
Law. It's logical that I'd feel radical if to me the 'norm ain't normal.
I feel, "whats being bought should've never been sold", You feel, "what's
being sold should've never been bought". So what's real?
I feel, "Whats being taught should've never been told" and you feel
"what's being told should've never been taught", so what's real?
To act without thought, then react when the consequences unfold
is insanity to me
We're looking to the future to answer questions that have been
answered in the past...like, "What causes pollution?" Gas! and a
mask ain't the solution.
Arguing over problems that were never meant to be solved...like,
the evolution of man, Damn, when will Truth just evolve.
To think rational is beautiful. War is complicated
Peace is simple. And simply put...The ones that know it
don't control it but the ones in control, DO know. So now what?
If the beginning and the ending were already written then is there
room for shifting? Or are we just drifting?????
We have choices to make, voices to take back.
We've failed in fiction, but will prevail in facts.
God is Real, Religion is false. Lies are always easily found in
this life but the truth?.... So easily lost.
We've been on pause for too long. Push play or just stop re-
winding the song. Stop compromising with wrong when you knew right
all along.
It's a classic case and such a drastic mistake to trade a coal mine
for plastic because it's easier to lift and sift...WAIT!! I'll
take the coal with the dirt, I'll sift til it hurts.
I'll take that boulder, carry it through life on my shoulders if in the
end I deliver a diamond to the Giver of Life as my gift.. Beauty is in the eye
of the beholder. Or is it???
I see beauty in love, while others see beauty in hate. So the definition
of beauty is up for debate.
The smoke in your eyesight creates the illusion of gray. The world
is indeed black and white. My mind spins and truth wins but it's
not in the fight.
The battles not really between wrong or right. It's about how you
viewed things on the path you were on. It's about YOU and what
you thought of it all, all along.