Timothy wrote:”The fact remains that the new testament manuscripts are the best attested documents in all of judaica. in fact they are the best attested ancient documents period.”
Here is my reply to him: The following will discern whether they are reliable or not [Click on the links for documentation.]:
The first century Rabbi Yeshua ha-Mashiach – the Messiah - from Nazareth was called a Ribi (redacted in “the gospel of Matthew” to the greek word for “rabbi”), which implies he was a Ribi – a title with a similar meaning to ‘rabbi’ – and thus had Rabbinical ordination from Raban Jamlieil, the president of the beit din ha-Jadol – the great Judaic Supreme Court. This was uncontested.
This and the fact that his apprentice students Netzarim were in good standing in the Jewish community implies that Rabbi Yeshua was always in good standing in the Jewish community. Thus we can know that his teachings were perfectly in accordance with the Torah.
Lets’ compare Torah and Rabbi Yeshuas teachings with what Christians say that ‘Yahshua’ taught – the ‘gospels’.
Yeshayâhu [’Isaiah’] 1.17-18: ‘Wash up, clear yourself.… Learn [what is] good, seek mishpât.… Prithee come, let us reprove,’ says HaSheim, ‘If your kheitare like scarlet they shall be whitened like snow.’”
As stipulated in Devarim ["Deuteronomy"] 6:4-9,11:13-21 one is required to keep all of the directives of Torâh′ to one’s utmost—viz., “with all one’s heart, psyche and might [lit. "very"]“—”for the purpose of extending your days and the days of your children… like the days of the heavens above the earth” (i.e., eternal life). According to the Tan’’kh -Yekhezeqeil ["Ezekiel"] chapter 18 et.al – the Creator confer His atonement in His loving kindness to those turning away from their Torah-transgressions and (re)turning to non-selectively Torah-observance including mishpat.
Clearly, seeking mishpat is required in order to be forgiven by the Creator according to the above verses.
This contradicts the ‘gospel’-teachings that Christians say Yahshua – the name some of Christians use – taught.
This implies that “the gospels” contain words he never taught and that they have been redacted [based on note 2]. Simple, if he would have taught the “Christian gospel” he wouldn’t have been in good standing in the Jewish Pharisaic community [note 2].
Secondly,
Even according to the most authoritative Christian scholars, e.g., The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, acknowledges that the “NT” has been heavily redacted.
They write: “ Many thousands of the variants which are found in the MSS of the NT were put there deliberately. They are not merely the result of error or careless handling of the text. Many were created for theological or dogmatic reasons”
[Read more in www.netzarim.co.il; ”Glossaries”; ”NT” about the redaction of the ”NT”.]
It is possible to use a formal logical methodology – based on well documented premises – to derive historical facts from the “gospels”; and to filter out Hellenist redactions. However, do you claim that they are reliable?
Dead Sea Scroll 4Q MMT is for example a good attested Judaic document.
Notes:
1: http://bloganders.blogspot.com/2010/08/netzarim-followers-of-ribi-y…
2: Proof that the “gospels” contradict Torah: http://bloganders.blogspot.com/2010/07/matt-517-20-what-did-ribi-ye…
