I thought this excerpt was of interest to this discussion. It is taken from
http://www.orthodoxlutheran.org/pdf/Modernbibleversions.pdf
Now we have said that 99.9% of those 5000+ manuscripts agree with each other almost
perfectly, but what about the other
.1%??? These are commonly called the MINORITY TEXTS, but
they are also known to many as the corrupted manuscripts. For much unlike the 5000+, these five
manuscripts are radically different. They do not even agree with each other. Their names are as
follows:
Codex Vatican B
Codex Sinaiticus (Aleph)
Codex Alexandrian (A)
Codex Ephraemi C
Codex Bezae (D)
If we are to understand the foundation of the NIV, it is critical to understand that the NIV is translated
from these five manuscripts above which do not agree with one another.
Westcott and Hort were the original textual critics of their day. Though they no longer live, their
legacy lives on in the form of a corrupted Greek text. The influence of their methods blackens and
corrupts every modern translation of the Bible available (NIV, NASB, NKJV, NRSV, NAB, REB, RSV,
CEV, TEV, GNB, LIVING, PHILLIPS, NEW JERUSALEM, NEW CENTURY, and the New Word
Translation). Readers of these new Bibles are quite unaware that they are reading the translation of a
corrupt text. Without thinking or looking deeper into the matter, they blindly assume that every Bible
is the same. They assume some are just more easy to read than others. But we must remember that
Bibles are translated by men, and thus corruption is possible. Westcott and Hort did what was
unthinkable.....they picked through five Greek texts which did not agree with each other, and came up
with a new revised Greek version of the Bible. All modern Bibles of the day have therefore not been
translated from the 5000+ Majority text, but from the 5 disagreeing witnesses. Which Bible do you
think is more reliable? Isn't it better to trust that God preserved His Word in the 5000+ witnesses rather
than the five witnesses who do not agree with each other? The KJV is a straight translation from the
Majority text. The NIV (and others) is taken from the five Minority texts, which do not agree. We
don't even know what part of which text they used and where! The consensus however is they favored
the Aleph and B text more than the others.
......
I have not undertaken to investigate these claims. But I have investigated the beliefs of Westcott & Hort and those beliefs are anything but Christian. Perhaps you (whomever cares) could go to the website given and decide for yourself if it has any validity.
It was written by
Pastor Tobin Pederson of the Luthern Churches of the Reformation. This may be a surprise to some that a reformed clergyman would support the position shown here.