plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose

nobts

For the past 11 years The New Orleans Theological Seminary has been researching how the Bible has been subject to fabrication over the centuries.

They are finding no evidence in the Gospel of John that Jesus ever uttered the now-famous line: "Let any among you who is without sin cast the first stone." 

In the original Greek manuscripts for Mark the story of Jesus appearing before his disciples after rising on the third day after his crucifixion is also nowhere to be found. 

But!... it’s in the Bible!

"The authors intended to deceive their readers, and their readers were all too easily deceived," UNC-Chapel Hill religion professor Bart Ehrman writes. "The use of deception to promote the truth may well be considered one of the most unsettling ironies of the early Christian tradition."

“Acting with deliberate forethought [and] knowing exactly what they were doing” Ehrman continues, “the Bible is rife not only with mistakes and untruths, but with deceptions and lies.”

"A faith ought to be an examined faith...” contends Dr. Bill Warren, Professor of The New Testament and Greek, leading the New Orleans project. “Too many blindly accept mere stories for the sense of security it can bring.”

“In the first several centuries after Jesus... his followers resorted to forgery, fabrication and character assassination to disparage their adversaries and bolster their own ranks”, Ehrman writes.

photo credits: 

http://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/stories/bibles-new-testament-filled-with-forgeries

http://www.kirkusreviews.com/blog/question-and-answer/forged-bart-ehrman-bibles-true-authors/