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Dennis McKinsey and the Fallacy of the Homicide Detective

Many interesting things surfaced during an exchange between James White and Dennis McKinsey of Encyclopedia of Biblical Errancy infamy, and fallacy. Their exchange is found as Letters to an Anti-Theist on James White’s Alpha and Omega Ministries website.

What interested me in particular was a statement found in the 2nd Reply to Dr. James White from Mr. McKinsey.

The issue at hand was what Dennis McKinsey refers to as “over 200,000 disagreements among these writings on what verses should say and what verses should he [sic] included.” Writings refers to the New Testament’s over 24,000 manuscripts.

Interestingly, Dennis McKinsey prefers the term “disagreements” while when he quotes “A General Introduction to the Bible” by Norman Geisler and William Nix (pp. 360-361) the appropriate term “variant” is employed:

“The multiplicity of manuscripts produces a corresponding number of variant readings, for the more manuscripts that are copied the greater will be the number of copyists’ errors…. The gross number of variants increases with every new’ manuscript discovery…. To date there are over 200,000 known variants and this figure will do doubt increase in the future as more manuscripts are discovered.” [as quoted by Dennis McKinsey]

He makes the point that “Apologists even go so far as to imply that the greater the number of variants the greater the precision” and again quotes Norman Geisler and William Nix (p. 366):

“At first, the great multitude of variants would seem to be a liability to the integrity of the Bible text. But, just the contrary is true, for the larger number of variants supplies at the same time the means of checking on those variants. As strange as it may appear, the corruption of the text provides the means for its own correction.”

He editorializes thusly,

“‘Strange is hardly the word; absurd’ is much better. Imagine a homicide detective saying his knowledge of what occurred grows as the number of conflicting testimonies increases. Twenty- four thousand manuscripts would provide a tremendous support if they agreed, but when they don’t, when over 200,000 disagreements exist, precisely the opposite occurs.”

My title meant to focus on this issue of the homicide detective. Indeed, imagine one saying that his knowledge grows as the number of conflicting testimonies increases. I was surprised to learn that Dennis McKinsey held a view example by the detective since it is such a fallacy and one that I would have thought would have been corrected my common sense, common knowledge, or by simply asking a question.

dennismckinsey-theencyclopediaofbiblicalerrancy-5730701

Well, I do not have access to a homicide detective in particular but I did ask a police officer of the law. I asked what would happen if he came upon and crime scene and got various conflicting accounts as to what events occurred. I specifically asked whether this would mean that he could not possibly come to an actual conclusion as to what had occurred. His answer was instant as he explained that he arrives at the crime scene expecting various conflicting accounts.

If all accounts were the same he would know that there was collusion. In fact, he will separate the witnesses so that they can retell their account while not being influenced by others and so that they do not have a chance to change their story in order to fit another account.

The conflicting accounts allow the officer to parse the individual perceptions from the facts of the matter. The officer gets a full picture of the events by recognizing the similarities in the various accounts. A vehicle may have been said to be blue, black or purple but one will not say that it was a sports car and another person that it was an eighteen wheeler. The strength of the variant accounts is that they are cross referenced and make certain connections with the others. Moreover, variations do not necessarily mean deception but different perspectives, differences in perception.

Thus, “Twenty- four thousand manuscripts would provide a tremendous support if they agreed” depending on what he means. If they agree word for word a pseudo-skeptic such as Dennis McKinsey would claim that the writers had a back room meeting to get their story straight in a collusive manner.
Yet, if by “agreed” we mean put forth the same message then this is what we have in the New Testament.

Let us conduct a thought experiment: Let us consider the most well attested set of books/letters of antiquity—the New Testament. Let us take the 24,000 manuscripts and destroy them (and also destroy all photographs of them, etc.). Let us now destroy all New Testaments. Now let us consider the writings of the early church fathers. Let us collect their quotations from the New Testament and compile them. What do we have? We have the entire New Testament with the exception of 11 verses that do not affect any major doctrine.

Thus, even destroying the New Testament published as it is, in one volume, and the manuscripts from which it is derived it can be reconstructed.

Of further interest may be:

Selling Snake Oil – A Select Review of C. Dennis McKinsey’s “Encyclopedia of Biblical Errancy” and C. Dennis McKinsey’s Encyclopedia of Biblical Errancy: Critique and Answer Key—J. P. Holding

Canonization Controversy—Ken Ammi

The Historicity of the Empty Tomb of Jesus—William Lane Craig

Support for the Authenticity of the Book of Matthew—Neil Altman

Shattering the Christ-Myth—J.P. Holding

Easter: Myth, Hallucination, or History—Edwin Yamauchi

Qumran Fragment 7Q5—Carsten Peter Thiede

Biblical Pool of Siloam Discovered—Thomas Maugh, II

The Resurrection as a Historical Problem—N.T. Wright

Early Traditions and the Origins of Christianity—N.T. Wright

Third Century Christian Church Discovered in Israel

Expert Doubts ‘Gospel of Judas’ Revelation—Richard Ostling

The Christian Canon—Don Closson

The Gospels as Historical Sources for Jesus—RT France

The New Testament Documents—FF Bruce

How Can We Know Anything About the Real Jesus—Mark D. Roberts

The Historical Veracity of the Resurrection Narratives—Greg Herrick

How Accurate is the Bible?—Kenneth Boa

Was Nazareth Invented by Christians?—Glenn Miller

Evidence of the Exodus from Egypt—IBSS Article

Jesus as Theos: Scriptural Fact or Scribal Fantasy—Brian Wright

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