The texts of the bible are historically unreliable

One can believe whatever one wants. However, when we are in an academic discussion, beliefs don’t count. Only hard evidence counts. When we consider the new testament, we have scores of manuscripts. However, no two manuscripts are identical. There are variations. Scholars like Bart Ehrman say there are more variations in the manuscripts than there are words in the new testament. A majority of these variations don’t really affect the overall message of the bible. However, there are many variations that are quite serious. Let me present three such cases. Case no.1: This is famously called the Johannine Comma by the textual critics. The reference is 1 John 5: 7-8. The verse reads: For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. This verse is still extant in many of the modern bibles. But scholars agree that this verse is an interpolation that entered the Greek bible as late as 1522. When you go back to the most ancient manuscripts available, this verse is not to be found there. Why was this verse inserted? Because the proof for trinity in the bible is weak without it. This is the clearest verse explaining the concept of trinity. Case no. 2: Gospel of John, 7:53 – 8:11. This is the famous story of Jesus saving the adulteress. Here Jesus saves an adulteress from being stoned in contradiction to the Mosaic Law which he was following. This parable is not found in any of the 3rd or 4th century manuscripts. Leading bible authorities like Bruce Metzger have strongly argued that it was a later addition. Case no. 3: The strange ending of Mark. Mark 16:9-19. This is a long passage that talks about Jesus’ resurrection. Without these verses Mark would end very abruptly , without Jesus appearing to Mary Magdalene and later to his disciples etc. These is a very crucial event for Christianity, but none of the oldest manuscripts available today relate them. In conclusion, I would like to say that there is indisputable proof (many more than just these three cases) to show that the original books of the new testament have undergone massive editions in later periods, and with no two manuscripts agreeing with each other, sifting out the corruptions is impossible. One might ask then, how were the corruptions cited above found out? Well these have been identified as corruption only in relation to manuscripts dating from the 3rd and 4th centuries. As we don’t have any manuscript of significant size dating farther back, it’s impossible to say how different these so called most ancient manuscripts differ from the original text. One more peculiarity between the manuscripts is that the older the manuscripts, the more chaotic the variations. This shows that the ancient scribes were less professional than later ones. However, the ancient manuscripts are more crucial to us in identifying authentic texts than later ones. Secondly, even between the most ancient manuscripts there are serious variations. Between Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus, there are huge differences, which are hard to reconcile. At best, bible scholars can only speculate as to which of the verses in these and other manuscripts are more loyal to the original… but to get certainty is impossible. One more point to note is that here we are not dealing with differences in translations between different bibles that are current today. Among the different bible translations, there are many bibles that still contain these corruptions stated in the three cases above. Some bibles have removed some of them and retained some of them. Therefore, the translations are never an accurate depiction of the original manuscripts (SORRY, not original, because the originals are lost, we only have copies - several generations later - of the originals). Let me sum up my case to help Con: If we don’t have the original manuscripts of the biblical texts, and all we have are copies from centuries later, with massive variations between them, how are we to know which of those variants are at least close, if not exact, to the original?