I like being informed. I like having accurate facts and information from which to draw my conclusions. With that in mind I need to clarify a bit more about my statement yesterday about Mark 16. The only part I excerpted and focused on as inaccurate information to base faith and doctrine on was the part that has no corroboration in other Gospel writers accounts; but to be completely clear about what was not originally in the old texts of Mark's gospel, I need to point out that Mark 16: 9 -20 is all missing....
You can use your Search engine - I used Google - and find all of the verses that were not in the original texts of the New Testament. Most were conspicuously borrowed from other texts and inserted, and are consistent with what all of the Bible teaches, so they are not the ones that concern me.
What does concern me is the one fragment I mentioned yesterday because it is an inconsistency that has been a game changer for some people - and it is in error. But, to be absolutely transparent, we need to explore all of what was added.
There is a disclaimer at the beginning of these verses in my ESV translation, and in another translation these verses are only listed as a footnote and are not in the main body of the text at all, but in the King James Version there was no disclaimer, and that's a significant part of the problem.
Mark 16: 9 - 20 ESV:
[Now when he rose on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons. She went and told those who had been with him, as they mourned and wept. But when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they would not believe it.
After these things he appeared in another form to two of them, as they were walking into the country. And they went back and told the rest, but they did not believe them.
Afterward he appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at table, and he rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen. And he said Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. "Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents with their hands, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover."
So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by accompanying signs.]
There is absolutely nothing in this that causes concern for me except the verses I pointed out yesterday. It appears that it was not until about 600 A D that the other verses were added. I don't know when for sure, obviously, but of all the other snippets of verses that were borrowed from other texts and added over the years it is only the part about snakes and poison that are questionable. And my point still remains: I wouldn't base my doctrine on them.
As for all of the rest of the New Testament, there is nothing else that creates any conflict. Because verse 18 always did bother me, it is actually a relief that it wasn't originally there. My research indicates that the King James was translated from later texts, and once earlier texts were found and available for comparison, it was discovered that those verses were not there, and of the verses added, only this one raises red flags. It appears to be a very early manipulation of the text - and that is why many translations either leave it out completely or acknowledge it only with a disclaimer or footnote.
The good news is that it is the only thing in error that I have found. It is amazing how purely God's Word has been maintained through thousands of years. And, it still speaks to us today. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. We cannot grow spiritually without being fed, and our spiritual food is God's written Word.
Just like the little song in the musical I wrote states, "Ya got ta read da Word if you want to grow!"
That's the most basic of all basics in a Christian's basic training. You have to read the manual! Then after we read it we need to study it, to compare various writers and see how what we read fits with the whole of the Bible. Letting the Bible translate the Bible is our best resource...and if something doesn't make sense, as it doesn't in this case, we shouldn't base theology or action on it. God does heal. God does protect. But he does not command us to pick up snakes or drink poison to prove it.
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