``Well, the orginal text said ...''

common misconception is that very statement... truth is, we don't have the original text anymore. it was lost during the churh's persecution by Rome between 100-300 AD. so the oldest (but not necessarily the most preserved) is dated about 400. but we do have the writings of early church fathers, and they quoted a lot. it is said that from the quotes alone, you can reconstruct all of the new testament except for 17 lines. and the discovery of the dead sea scrolls also bolsters the claim that the texts are well preserved. direct comparison from the 2000 year old scrolls with today's tranlations show almost NO distortion in the old testament. [edit]took out the link, because i just realized that it pointed to a KJVonly site. stupid infighting within the church, along with creation vs theistic evolution.[/edit]