Critiquing the ‘Critical Text’ Critics

Critiquing the ‘Critical Text’ Critics

Dr. James J. S. Johnson

The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. ⁷  Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever. (Psalm 12:6-7, KJV)

Recently a friend, Brian Shepherd, asked me to write a limerick about Biblical text transmission controversies, specifically the so-called ‘Critical Text’ fabricated in the late AD1800s by academic clergymen Brooke Foss Westcott and Fenton J. A. Hort.

Without further ado, here is that limerick:

CRITIQUING THE ‘CRITICAL TEXT’ CULPRITS

When Satan hired Westcott & Hort,

God’s Word Satan aimed to distort;

those false hearts, being Hell-hexed,

attacked the God-given Received Text  —

Thus, Scripture fraud, they made a foul sport.

 

With gloating glee, Lucifer hissed,

As Vaticanus those 2 foes kissed,

with Sinaiticus, its twin,

due to Tischendorf’s spin  —

While manuscript thousands dismissed.

 

Westcott’s team had feigned to agree

To edit/update KJV;

but like Vandal  barbarians,

they joined Unitarians  —

And Hell’s hosts cheered, yelping ‘Whoopee!’

 

‘Critical Text’ lies were spun;

The year was 1881;

But the snake hissed, long ere that day,

“Did God  ‘thou-shalt-die’  really say?”

The lie was nothing new under the sun.

 

Not all fell for Westcott-Hort’s sludge;

For one, Dean Burgon did not budge;

While Genesis, some did deny,

Burgon stood true, refuting the lie —

John 5 says one day Moses will judge!

 

The conflict will not soon disappear;

Let’s teach truth, while infidels jeer;

Some compromise, seeking man’s praise

But let’s serve God, all of our days  —

The test is: do we God’s Word revere?

                                                                                                ><> JJSJ    profjjsj@aol.com

The main point, here, is that it’s a very bad idea to corrupt the original God-given texts of the Old and New Testament of the Holy Bible, which are miraculously jot-and-tittle perfect.   For details on how complicated such corruption can be, see the detailed scholarship of Dr. Bill Cooper, in his forensically focused rebuttal of Codex Sinaiticus, a “darling” of the ‘Critical Text’ revisionist camp:  THE FORGING OF CODEX SINAITICUS (Creation Science Movement, 2016;  140 pages  —  see  https://www.amazon.com/Forging-Codex-Sinaiticus-Bill-Cooper-ebook/dp/B01E1SUPRO ).

A host of similar scholarship (by Dr. D. A. Waite and others) can be accessed via  http://www.biblefortoday.org/ .   Likewise, the scholarship of David Daniels has contributed very relevant research, presented in very readable books, including his IS THE ‘WORLD’S OLDEST BIBLE’ A FAKE?  HOW A 19TH CENTURY HOAX AFFECTS YOUR FAITH (Chick Publications, 2017), and DID JESUS USE THE SEPTUAGINT? (Chick Publications, 2017), both available via http://www.chick.com .

The bottom line  —  regarding the historical transmission of God’s Word to us, over many generations  —  is that God Himself has providentially preserved the original texts of the books of the Old and New Testaments, and they were transmitted to us by what we call the Masoretic Text (of the Hebrew/Aramaic O.T.) and the Received Text (of the Greek N.T.).  Many Scriptures teach reverence for God’s Word, including Psalm 12:6-7; Matthew 5:18; Psalm 138:2; 2nd Timothy 3:15-16; John 5:44-47; John 17:17; Psalm 119; etc., etc.

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