So much for the external evidence, so fraudulently offered.
What about the 'internal evidence'?
Once again we find something strange going on:
This is an old hypnotic / political technique, to bamboozle the audience while selling snake-oil. Seeing the two separate arguments separately exposes clearly the fraud:
"Some have suggested..."?
Why hasn't she told us who? The answer is simple: The 'some' are three of the most important and earliest witnesses to the shenanegans being played with the text: Ambrose, Augustine, and Jerome!
Augustine says,
"Some of little faith, or rather enemies of the true faith, I suppose from a fear lest their wives should gain impunity in sin, removed from their MSS the Lord's act of forgiveness to the adulteress."
And Jerome adds,
"in the Gospel of John many manuscripts, both Greek and Latin, contain the account of the adulterous woman."- and he of course included it in the Latin Vulgate as Holy Scripture, having found it also in the Old Latin.
And there are other later witnesses. But the point is, what better witnesses could be hoped for? Who knew more as to what was going on in the 4th and 5th centuries to account for the minority of ancient manuscripts which omit the verses, and at the same time the near unanimous rejection of the omission by the churches (except the Syrians of the Far East)?
Yet she can boldly say (lets hope she's just misquoting her professor):
"There is no evidence, whether from marginal note or commentary, that these verses were deemed by scribes to be too morally imprudent to be included in the Bible."
- after she has just referred to the evidence above, so widely known? Who could possibly so misleadingly state the case, unless they meant to deceive? Technically, yes, no public (liturgical) commentary comments on the verses, since they were not publicly read, and you don't comment during a service on what nobody has heard. And perhaps 'technically' one might also claim that there are only one or two marginal notes that fall into the category of 'evidence' here.
But this is such a dirty method of hiding the very evidence you are citing and its significance, that it can hardly be accidental.
And again, a weak point is made to appear fatal to the opposing arguments, and the sources are left unnamed, unreferenced, uncredited. In fact, the strong arguments referred to in favour of the verses were made by a dozen near-famous textual critics, all recognized experts. And these men knew all about the variants. Every one of them to a man presented plausible explanations for those variants: certainly more plausible than the proposal that the verses were later 'additions' to John.
No argument to date is a complete or perfect account of what has happened in the history of transmission. But there are good arguments on both sides of the case here, that should be properly presented and accredited.
In making one's own case for or against these verses, it is dishonest not to acknowledge or account for the counter-evidence and arguments properly and fairly.
The point is, this is not just a case of sloppy footnoting, or incomplete documentation of sources.
This is deliberate deception as to the nature and sources of the counter-evidence, counter-arguments.
In a word, fraud. (again.)
What about the 'internal evidence'?
Once again we find something strange going on:
You'll pardon me for re-splitting and restoring the two separate threads running through this paragraph, which were blended to create an additional distraction and smokescreen.Some have suggested that the reason why this pericope is missing is because it seems to breach the seventh commandment. So scribes would intentionally omit it in order to preserve the unity of the Bible.
... These theories follow the common types of scribal errors, but there is no evidence to support them. There is no evidence, whether from marginal note or commentary, that these verses were deemed by scribes to be too morally imprudent to be included in the Bible.
This is an old hypnotic / political technique, to bamboozle the audience while selling snake-oil. Seeing the two separate arguments separately exposes clearly the fraud:
"Some have suggested..."?
Why hasn't she told us who? The answer is simple: The 'some' are three of the most important and earliest witnesses to the shenanegans being played with the text: Ambrose, Augustine, and Jerome!
Augustine says,
"Some of little faith, or rather enemies of the true faith, I suppose from a fear lest their wives should gain impunity in sin, removed from their MSS the Lord's act of forgiveness to the adulteress."
And Jerome adds,
"in the Gospel of John many manuscripts, both Greek and Latin, contain the account of the adulterous woman."- and he of course included it in the Latin Vulgate as Holy Scripture, having found it also in the Old Latin.
And there are other later witnesses. But the point is, what better witnesses could be hoped for? Who knew more as to what was going on in the 4th and 5th centuries to account for the minority of ancient manuscripts which omit the verses, and at the same time the near unanimous rejection of the omission by the churches (except the Syrians of the Far East)?
Yet she can boldly say (lets hope she's just misquoting her professor):
"There is no evidence, whether from marginal note or commentary, that these verses were deemed by scribes to be too morally imprudent to be included in the Bible."
- after she has just referred to the evidence above, so widely known? Who could possibly so misleadingly state the case, unless they meant to deceive? Technically, yes, no public (liturgical) commentary comments on the verses, since they were not publicly read, and you don't comment during a service on what nobody has heard. And perhaps 'technically' one might also claim that there are only one or two marginal notes that fall into the category of 'evidence' here.
But this is such a dirty method of hiding the very evidence you are citing and its significance, that it can hardly be accidental.
Another reason for its omission is suggested by the fact that John 7:37-8:12 was used for the liturgy on Pentecost and it was judged expedient to do away with the unnecessary and inappropriate incident of adultery.
...Also, these theories fail to take into account why the descriptive verses of 7:53-8:2 were also omitted.
And again, a weak point is made to appear fatal to the opposing arguments, and the sources are left unnamed, unreferenced, uncredited. In fact, the strong arguments referred to in favour of the verses were made by a dozen near-famous textual critics, all recognized experts. And these men knew all about the variants. Every one of them to a man presented plausible explanations for those variants: certainly more plausible than the proposal that the verses were later 'additions' to John.
No argument to date is a complete or perfect account of what has happened in the history of transmission. But there are good arguments on both sides of the case here, that should be properly presented and accredited.
In making one's own case for or against these verses, it is dishonest not to acknowledge or account for the counter-evidence and arguments properly and fairly.
The point is, this is not just a case of sloppy footnoting, or incomplete documentation of sources.
This is deliberate deception as to the nature and sources of the counter-evidence, counter-arguments.
In a word, fraud. (again.)
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