False Scriptures

The following is a list of passages that were added to Scripture or modified from the original in some way. This page is not calling any part of Scripture itself false, but rather, it's the modification of Scripture that is being called false. For passages who's English translations are wrong, see Mistranslated Scriptures.

Old Testament

There aren't very many instances of false Scriptures in the Tanakh.

Genesis 18:22

"And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the Lord [KJV]."

In the original text, it's the Lord who is standing before Abraham. For some reason, the scribes in charge of copying Torah didn't like the idea of the Creator standing before his creation, so they reversed the roles.

Isaiah 61:1-2

"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord... [KJV]."

A statement about the blind receiving sight was removed from this passage of Scripture by the Pharisees after Jesus' ministry on Earth. In Luke 4:18-19, Jesus quotes the passage as saying "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord." The reason for doing this is quite simple: They wanted to make Jesus look like a false prophet in order to justify their hatred of him. And what better way to do that than to make it look like he misquoted one of the prophets? Typically, when someone modifies Scripture, they add to it. This time, they have taken away from it.

New Testament

The vast majority of false Scriptures come from the "New Testament". The Church, becoming more and more corrupt after the death of the apostles, added to and modified the New Testament texts in various places in order to be able to claim that Scripture supports their unbiblical teachings. Note that this section is incomplete.

Matthew 28:19

"Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: [KJV]."

This passage of Scripture was modified to include baptism and a reference to the Trinity very early on, either in the process of translating the manuscript from Hebrew to Greek, or when the number of Greek manuscripts were few and far between. We know from Acts onward that not all of the disciples baptized those whom accepted the Gospel message. And when they did, it was always in the name of Jesus, not in the name of the Trinity. Rather, they were teaching all nations in the name of Jesus. This apparent act of disobedience was never corrected either by prophet, by vision, or by a fellow believer. This proves that the command, as it is presented to us, is not the command was given. It was most likely the case that the original command was "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations in my name." This matches what we see recorded in the book of Acts and explains why absolutely no correction was given: There was no need for correction because there was no disobedience.

Mark 16:9-20

"Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils. And she went and told them that had been with him, as they mourned and wept. And they, when they had heard that he was alive, and had been seen of her, believed not.

"After that he appeared in another form unto two of them, as they walked, and went into the country. And they went and told it unto the residue: neither believed they them.

"Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen. And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

"So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen. [KJV]"

The last 12 verses of Mark are nowhere to be found in the oldest available manuscripts, which means that the passage was added afterwards. This addition blatantly contradicts the first 8 verses of the chapter, which says (a) when Mary Magdalene and Mary (the mother of James) went to the tomb early in the morning, they found that the stone had already been rolled away and that Jesus had already risen from the dead[1]. But verse 9 says that Jesus rose from the dead early in the morning[2]. Furthermore, the first few verses of the chapter make it clear that the two women went to the tomb to anoint Jesus' body, while verse 9 implies that no such journey was made. Verse 8 says that the two women told nobody what they saw because they were afraid[3] while verse 10 says that Mary Magdalene told "those who had been with him and who were mourning and weeping"[4].

John 7:53-8:11

"And every man went unto his own house.

"Jesus went unto the mount of Olives. And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them. And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, they say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou? This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not. So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more. [KJV]"

This passage is nowhere to be found in the oldest available manuscripts, which means that it was added later on. While the setup is like that of a test, the alleged events show that the author does not know how such a test would be passed, or the proper interpretation of "but I say". This test would be in accordance with a corrupted form of the Deuteronomy 13 Test. One of the first red flags is the fact that Jesus made no mention about the lack of witnesses that allegedly caught the woman in adultery. Deuteronomy 19:15 makes it clear that there must be at least two or three witnesses present. And the Pharisees made never claimed to be the witnesses. In other words, there is no credibility to the claims that the woman was caught in the act of adultery. Ignoring the Pharisees is the wrong thing to do. Saying "let he who is without sin cast the first stone" is also the wrong answer, as there is no evidence that the woman is guilty of the crime she is being accused of.

Another point is that in several places, the Law states clearly that both the man and the woman who had the adulterous relationship are to be put to death.[5] It is impossible to catch the woman in adultery without also catching the man who is with her in adultery. Yet Jesus makes no mention of the fact that the Pharisees twisted the Word of God for this test. And if they failed to bring the man who committed adultery with her, then (a) putting her to death would be a violation of the Law and (b) reduces the credibility of the claim that she was caught in adultery. The failure to mention the Pharisees breaking the Law in this way is a huge red flag.

One interpretation of the saying "let he who is without sin cast the first stone" is that the saying means "let he who has not committed adultery with this woman cast the first stone". Jesus, knowing each person's deeds, would know who has or has not committed adultery with her. And each man would know if he has committed adultery with her. This would mean that all of the potential witnesses would be guilty of committing adultery with the woman, meaning they too deserve to be put to death. While this would be a good way to expose the hearts of those involved, it fails to address the fact that none of the other issues were addressed.