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Voddie Baucham - Did Ancient Monks Conspire To Change The Bible · Voddie Baucham Sermons

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  Speaker 1: Not only do we have a reliable collection of historical documents,
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  Speaker 1: but they were written down by eyewitnesses during the lifetime
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  Speaker 1: of other eyewitnesses. Look at what he says. But we
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  Speaker 1: were eyewitnesses of his majesty. We saw him. Anybody love
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: crime dramas? I love crime drama. You know, when I
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  Speaker 1: was a kid, I used to watch Quincy. You know,
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  Speaker 1: I used to watch Quincy, you know, growing up. You know,
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  Speaker 1: nowadays they got this, what is it, CSI or whatever.
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  Speaker 1: Everybody's all excited about CSI. CSI is just Quincy on crack.
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  Speaker 1: That's all that is, y'all. Quincy was the man. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: he'd figure that stuff out, you know. You know what
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  Speaker 1: would mess up an episode of Quincy or CSI or
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  Speaker 1: whatever else you want to watch? if early on you
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  Speaker 1: have corroborating eyewitness testimony. You got no mystery then. That's
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  Speaker 1: what we have when we read the Bible. Corroborating eyewitness testimony.
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  Speaker 1: Turn with me to the right, if you will. And
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  Speaker 1: look at what John says in his epistle. Look at
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  Speaker 1: what John says. What was from the beginning, what we
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  Speaker 1: have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what
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  Speaker 1: we have looked at and touched with our hands concerning
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  Speaker 1: the word of life. Look at verse two. The life
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  Speaker 1: was manifested and we have seen and testified and proclaimed
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  Speaker 1: to you the eternal life, which was with the father
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  Speaker 1: and was manifested to us. Verse three, what we have
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  Speaker 1: seen and heard, we proclaim to you also. Eyewitnesses, a
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  Speaker 1: reliable collection of historical documents written down by eyewitnesses. But
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  Speaker 1: I also said during the lifetime of other eyewitnesses and
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  Speaker 1: first Corinthians chapter 15 says, Paul says that Jesus was resurrected.
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  Speaker 1: After he was resurrected, he appeared to Peter. Then he
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  Speaker 1: appeared to the 12. Then he appeared to all of
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  Speaker 1: the disciples at once. Then he appeared to over 500
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  Speaker 1: brethren at one time. And he says these words, most
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  Speaker 1: of whom remain until now. When you do the math,
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  Speaker 1: you realize that when 1 Corinthians was written, there were
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  Speaker 1: over 300 eyewitnesses, at least, of the resurrection of Jesus
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  Speaker 1: Christ who were still alive during that time. Oh, I
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  Speaker 1: hear you. You're well-educated people. You've heard the arguments. Yes, brother,
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  Speaker 1: I understand that. But you see, what happened was... There
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  Speaker 1: were individuals who came and doctored the Bible up and
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  Speaker 1: it's been translated so many times and it's been changed
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  Speaker 1: so many times. And when I talk to college students sometimes,
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  Speaker 1: they tell me about this myth of these overzealous monks
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  Speaker 1: who went out and changed the Bible so that things
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  Speaker 1: would match up, so that it would look like we
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  Speaker 1: have older documents than we actually have. And in fact,
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  Speaker 1: and I think they're really telling me something when they
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  Speaker 1: tell us, you know, we don't have any of the originals.
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  Speaker 1: Like I'm supposed to shake in my boots when they
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  Speaker 1: tell me that. Listen to me. If overzealous monks want
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  Speaker 1: to change the Bible, can I explain to you what
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  Speaker 1: they would have had to do? Three levels of conspiracy.
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  Speaker 1: Level number one, they would have had to have a
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  Speaker 1: manuscript conspiracy. When we're talking about just the New Testament itself,
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  Speaker 1: there are over 6,000 manuscripts or portions of manuscripts for
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  Speaker 1: the New Testament itself. Now, that may not sound like
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  Speaker 1: a lot to you, but can I compare it to
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  Speaker 1: a couple of things? Julius Caesar's Gallic Wars. That's how
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  Speaker 1: we know about Julius Caesar and his conquest. We have
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  Speaker 1: around 10 manuscripts. Aristotle's Poetics, we have nearly five manuscripts.
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  Speaker 1: When it comes to the writings of Herodotus, we have
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  Speaker 1: less than 10 manuscripts. When it comes to the writings
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  Speaker 1: of Homer, less than 10 of each of his writings.
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  Speaker 1: When it comes to the New Testament, We have 6,000
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  Speaker 1: manuscripts or portions of manuscripts for the New Testament. Folks,
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  Speaker 1: that's not even close. Well, you don't have the originals. No,
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  Speaker 1: we really don't. But guess what? We can get earlier
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  Speaker 1: than A.D. 120 with some of the copies that we have.
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  Speaker 1: When it comes to Julius Caesar's Gallic Wars, the earliest
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  Speaker 1: thing we can put our hands on was written 900
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  Speaker 1: years after the original. But nobody's tearing down the walls
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  Speaker 1: in college because they're reading Caesar. When it comes to Aristotle,
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  Speaker 1: the earliest thing we can put our hands on was
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  Speaker 1: written 1400 years after the original. But when it comes
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  Speaker 1: to the New Testament, we can put our hands on
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  Speaker 1: documents that were written within decades of the originals. So
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  Speaker 1: if these overzealous monks wanted to doctor the Bible, what
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  Speaker 1: they would have to do is find over 6,000 manuscripts.
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  Speaker 1: Change all of them, not show their ink work, get
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  Speaker 1: them all back where they stole them from and never
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  Speaker 1: tell anybody what they did. That's just level number one.
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  Speaker 1: Here's level number two. Jesus said, go and make disciples
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  Speaker 1: of Taethne, every people group. Funny thing about people groups,
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  Speaker 1: they tend to speak different languages. So within the first
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  Speaker 1: few centuries, we have the Bible translated into Syriac, Coptic,
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  Speaker 1: and Latin. So now these overzealous monks have to find 6,000
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  Speaker 1: Greek manuscripts, change those, doctor them up. Don't show your
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  Speaker 1: ink work. Get them back. Go find all the Syriac, Coptic,
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  Speaker 1: and Latin translations of those Greek manuscripts. Change those to
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  Speaker 1: match the lies that you told in another language and
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  Speaker 1: get those back where you stole them from. And that's
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  Speaker 1: just level number two. Now you got level number three.
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  Speaker 1: The early church fathers had this terrible habit of writing
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  Speaker 1: commentary on the New Testament. So much so that Bruce
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  Speaker 1: Metzger argues, if all we had of the New Testament
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  Speaker 1: was the quotations and citations by the early church fathers,
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  Speaker 1: we could reproduce over 95% of the New Testament just
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  Speaker 1: from their writings. So now these overzealous monks have to
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  Speaker 1: find 6,000 manuscripts and portions of manuscripts, steal them, change them,
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  Speaker 1: don't show your ink work, get it back without anybody
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  Speaker 1: finding out. They got to find Syriac, Coptic, and Latin translations,
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  Speaker 1: change those to match the lies that they told in
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  Speaker 1: the 6,000 manuscripts, get those back where they stole them from,
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  Speaker 1: and then find all of the writings of all of
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  Speaker 1: the early church fathers. Change those to match the lies
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  Speaker 1: that they told two layers ago. Get those put back.
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  Speaker 1: Never tell anybody what they did and never ever get caught.
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  Speaker 1: Help you if you believe that.