quas wrote:

proudfootz wrote:Given the propensity of people to write things and attribute them to some supposed authority of the past (Moses being a prime example) there's plenty of reason to be skeptical of claims about these epistles.

I am not that familiar with history, so correct me if I'm wrong here, but we now know that, the documents we used to attribute to being written by Moses, were not written by Moses. I guess the reason we know is because textual scrutiny reveals them to come from 5 different sources? Is that right? Do you think there's a similar thing going on here? Do you have proof that Paul's letters were written by more than 1 person?

dejuror wrote:Virtually ALL the markers that the Pauline letters were written before the Fall of the Jewish Temple are Missing.

An examination of the Pauline writings for Textual Variations also show that they are compatible with ALL LATE writings.

The contents of each book and letter of the Canonised NT have many Textual Variations and there is a Predominant Pattern.

The earlier compositions have MORE Texual Variants than LATER texts.

It is expected Earlier Texts would show more transmission Degradation by the the time they were Canonised.

For example, The earliest Jesus story, gMark, only 45.1% is free of Textual variations, that is, 54.9% of gMark, more than half of gMark, shows some form of Transmission degradation, whether by interpolation or error.

There is an average of 10.3 Variants per page of Greek versions of gMark.


Now, Examine the Pastorals, which are considered to be AFTER the Pauline letters to the Churches.

Examine 1 Timothy--81.4% is FREE of Variants, free of transmission Degradation, that is ONLY 18.6% have textual variations.

There is an average of 2.9 variants per page of Greek versions of 1 Timothy.

Now when we examine and compare the Pauline letters to the Churches, all the letters have very high percentages of Variant Free Verses, or very low tramnsmission degradation.

Mark ---45.1 % Free of Variants and 10.8 variants per page.

Romans--- 75.5% Free of Variants and Only 2.9 variants per page.

1 Corinthians--- 75.7 % Free of Variants and Only 3.5 variants per page

2 Corinthians--- 78.1 % Free of Variants and Only 2.8 variants per page

Galatians--- 76.5 % Free of Variants and Only 3.3 variants per page

Ephesians--- 76.1 % Free of Variants and Only 2.9 variants per page

Philippians --70.2 % Free of Variants and Only 2.5 variants per page

Colossians-- 72.6 % Free of Variants and ONLY 3.4 variants per page

1 Thessalonians--- 68.5 % Free of Variants and Only 4.1 variants per page

2 Thessalonians--- 72.3 % Free of Variants and Only 3.1 variants per page

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novum_Test ... _Testament

The Pauline letters to the Churches show NO signs of being early or that they were written BEFORE gMark.

The Pauline letters to the Churches show NO signs that they were MUTILATED by Marcion or that there were MULTIPLE altered versions of the Pauline letters to the Churches in circulation.

Remarkably, although Tertullian and Irenaeus claimed that Marcion mutilated the Pauline writings and that the Pauline letters were written Before the Fall of the Temple, the Pauline letters have LESS variants per page than the Epistles of 1 Peter, and James, which are considered to be AFTER the Pauline letters and were NOT claimed to have been mutilated.

James-- 61.6 % Free of Variants and 5.6 variants per page.

1 Peter--- 66.6 % Free of Variants and 5.7 variants per page.

The Pauline writings are NOT Authentic based on the Abudance of evidence---the textual variants per page of the Pauline letters MATCH those of writings composed AFTER gMark and about the same time as the Pastorals and Hebrews.