Should A Christian Have The Gumption To Question Anything In The Bible?

[Campbell]

I mean there are hundreds of verses which really cause my eyebrows to rise and my lips to tighten. These are a few which really require a lot of faith:

John 2
…9When the headwaiter tasted the water which had become wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the headwaiter called the bridegroom, 10and said to him, "Every man serves the good wine first, and when the people have drunk freely, then he serves the poorer wine; but you have kept the good wine until now."
(Anyone who is familiar with winemaking knows the chemical processes and aging which are required to produce decent wine much less fine wine.)

Matthew 14:
…20and they all ate and were satisfied. They picked up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve full baskets. 21There were about five thousand men who ate, besides women and children.
(C'mon now....12 baskets of leftovers from two fish and five loaves?)

Matthew 16:
17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
18 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.
(Try this one at your gathering next Sunday)

I read the bible and the book of Mormon while I was still in high school. By the time I was thirty years old I had most of the new testament memorized, chapter and verse. I was baptized before a congregation of nearly 1000 on a March morning in 1957 but I never believed these kinds of fables...not for a minute! Methinks most people who say they do are stretching the truth a little. You know....like the folks who wrote the stuff.

In Judaism the groom comes to his Bride at Night, the celebration is at Night.
Jesus was the forbidden first groom who came in the Morning-rev 22:16=Lucifer.

You can serve many with few loafs of bread and a little fish, it's called Gefilte Fish *L*
By mixing a little bread (Shev) and a little Fish (Dagon) they truly feed many the mixture of knowledge both good and evil.

LOL...just holding 2 fish and five loaves of bread close to that many people would evaporate the food. I mean 5000 men plus women and children who also ate...you're talking conservatively about 10,000 people. Besides that...as if the lie wasn't big enough they acted like a child and said they gathered 12 baskets of leftovers. ROTFL!!!

 

[rdean]

Jesus had to be a conservative. He believed in slavery.

I like the part where the rapist has to marry his victim. Talk about a good old fashioned marriage.

 

[Spinster]

That explains your confusion. You were raised in the Mormon church, it sounds like. If that were me, I wouldn't believe it either. The Book of Mormon ISN'T the Word of God, it's the hallucinations of Joseph Smith he had one night following indigestion of a pizza feast.

 

[Campbell]

I've picked up on one thing.

You have a nice day. I thought you might be interested in what a few scholars found in studying John in the original languages. My apologies for bothering you.

I'm sorry....I thought I was responding to the Blue Phantom.

 

[Campbell]

That explains your confusion. You were raised in the Mormon church, it sounds like. If that were me, I wouldn't believe it either. The Book of Mormon ISN'T the Word of God, it's the hallucinations of Joseph Smith he had one night following indigestion of a pizza feast.

If that was addressed to me you need to get straightened out. All religion and ancient god worship is horse shit to me. Because I don't believe it doesn't mean I didn't read it.

 

[Spinster]

That explains your confusion. You were raised in the Mormon church, it sounds like. If that were me, I wouldn't believe it either. The Book of Mormon ISN'T the Word of God, it's the hallucinations of Joseph Smith he had one night following indigestion of a pizza feast.

If that was addressed to me you need to get straightened out. All religion and ancient god worship is horse shit to me. Because I don't believe it doesn't mean I didn't read it.

Did I even infer you didn't read it??? NO!!! I did not. YOU need to get your shit straight. Because you don't believe doesn't have anything to do with your misreading my post. Or, maybe you were suffering from the same malady when you read the Bible. Just can't comprehend what you read, is that it??

 

[Avatar4321]

I mean there are hundreds of verses which really cause my eyebrows to rise and my lips to tighten. These are a few which really require a lot of faith:

John 2
…9When the headwaiter tasted the water which had become wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the headwaiter called the bridegroom, 10and said to him, "Every man serves the good wine first, and when the people have drunk freely, then he serves the poorer wine; but you have kept the good wine until now."
(Anyone who is familiar with winemaking knows the chemical processes and aging which are required to produce decent wine much less fine wine.)

Matthew 14:
…20and they all ate and were satisfied. They picked up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve full baskets. 21There were about five thousand men who ate, besides women and children.
(C'mon now....12 baskets of leftovers from two fish and five loaves?)

Matthew 16:
17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
18 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.
(Try this one at your gathering next Sunday)

I read the bible and the book of Mormon while I was still in high school. By the time I was thirty years old I had most of the new testament memorized, chapter and verse. I was baptized before a congregation of nearly 1000 on a March morning in 1957 but I never believed these kinds of fables...not for a minute! Methinks most people who say they do are stretching the truth a little. You know....like the folks who wrote the stuff.

So you don't believe miracles. What does that matter? I've seen miracles. Why should I ignore them for ignorance?

Btw you realize that the passage in John wasn't talking about the process of making wine, right? The people were marveling because more people presented the higher quality wine first and waiting till people were drunk to present the lower caliber. Apparently the wine the Lord created from water was a higher caliber.

 

[Avatar4321]

Matthew 16:
17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
18 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.

That's not Matthew, you idiot, it's Mark and it's a section of Mark that was added centuries later by an unknown author, presumably to give it a better ending because the earliest manuscripts of Mark that we have end very abruptly. Our earliest manuscripts end Mark at 16:8 where it reads "8 Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid." and that's it....it ends. It is not until centuries later that verses 9-19 begin to show up.

For a guy who claims to have memorized the New Testament chapter and verse I guess you didn't memorize that one nor did you spend much time learning about it.

I'm 81 years old. I was baptized in a Baptist church in 1957. I memorized the new testament chapter and verse while I was in my twenties. Forgive me for misquoting Matthew, Mark, Luke or John.

Speaking of that....did you know that many Muslims memorize the entire Quran? The Quran is perhaps the only book, religious or secular, that has been memorized completely by millions of people.

Misquoting the verse wouldn't be an issue if you weren't pretending to have memorized it.

 

[Avatar4321]

That explains your confusion. You were raised in the Mormon church, it sounds like. If that were me, I wouldn't believe it either. The Book of Mormon ISN'T the Word of God, it's the hallucinations of Joseph Smith he had one night following indigestion of a pizza feast.

Breaking the 9th commandment isn't a way to impress people. He claims to have been raised a Baptist.

 

[Campbell]

That explains your confusion. You were raised in the Mormon church, it sounds like. If that were me, I wouldn't believe it either. The Book of Mormon ISN'T the Word of God, it's the hallucinations of Joseph Smith he had one night following indigestion of a pizza feast.

If that was addressed to me you need to get straightened out. All religion and ancient god worship is horse shit to me. Because I don't believe it doesn't mean I didn't read it.

Did I even infer you didn't read it??? NO!!! I did not. YOU need to get your shit straight. Because you don't believe doesn't have anything to do with your misreading my post. Or, maybe you were suffering from the same malady when you read the Bible. Just can't comprehend what you read, is that it??

Yeah right...the last twenty five of the forty one years I worked for Martin Marietta Energy Systems I was an operations supervisor over 25-41 technical employees in one of the largest computing centers in the southeastern U S...18,000 sq. ft. of 2 ft. high floating floor. I was also a computer and telecommunications security officer(CTSO) and wrote and updated security plans for a dozen large scale systems running classification up to and including Top Secret.......always had a lot of trouble reading and writing.

 

[aris2chat]

I mean there are hundreds of verses which really cause my eyebrows to rise and my lips to tighten. These are a few which really require a lot of faith:

John 2
…9When the headwaiter tasted the water which had become wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the headwaiter called the bridegroom, 10and said to him, "Every man serves the good wine first, and when the people have drunk freely, then he serves the poorer wine; but you have kept the good wine until now."
(Anyone who is familiar with winemaking knows the chemical processes and aging which are required to produce decent wine much less fine wine.)

Matthew 14:
…20and they all ate and were satisfied. They picked up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve full baskets. 21There were about five thousand men who ate, besides women and children.
(C'mon now....12 baskets of leftovers from two fish and five loaves?)

Matthew 16:
17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
18 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.
(Try this one at your gathering next Sunday)

I read the bible and the book of Mormon while I was still in high school. By the time I was thirty years old I had most of the new testament memorized, chapter and verse. I was baptized before a congregation of nearly 1000 on a March morning in 1957 but I never believed these kinds of fables...not for a minute! Methinks most people who say they do are stretching the truth a little. You know....like the folks who wrote the stuff.

Never stop questioning, trying to understanding, prove or disprove to yourself and questioning more.

It is not about memorizing, it is about understanding and applying the best of the faith into your life.

If you doubt, perhaps there is a good reason. It is not the letter of the bible but how do the teaching apply to life today. Are you hung up on curtain teaching yet find yourself hating or misusing other teachings? Do you hate and abuse others because of a presumption of sin rather than weigh the good and the bad and still find love n that person? Were you slighted or wronged, or were you told to hate by your church and fellow member?

Everything in life should be questioned. There is always room for more knowledge and understanding. Not just in faith but in every aspect of life. Religion should not be a rejection of reason and common sense.

 

[sealybobo]

I mean there are hundreds of verses which really cause my eyebrows to rise and my lips to tighten. These are a few which really require a lot of faith:

John 2
…9When the headwaiter tasted the water which had become wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the headwaiter called the bridegroom, 10and said to him, "Every man serves the good wine first, and when the people have drunk freely, then he serves the poorer wine; but you have kept the good wine until now."
(Anyone who is familiar with winemaking knows the chemical processes and aging which are required to produce decent wine much less fine wine.)

Matthew 14:
…20and they all ate and were satisfied. They picked up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve full baskets. 21There were about five thousand men who ate, besides women and children.
(C'mon now....12 baskets of leftovers from two fish and five loaves?)

Matthew 16:
17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
18 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.
(Try this one at your gathering next Sunday)

I read the bible and the book of Mormon while I was still in high school. By the time I was thirty years old I had most of the new testament memorized, chapter and verse. I was baptized before a congregation of nearly 1000 on a March morning in 1957 but I never believed these kinds of fables...not for a minute! Methinks most people who say they do are stretching the truth a little. You know....like the folks who wrote the stuff.

Bunch of man made rules from once apon a time.

 

[Campbell]

I mean there are hundreds of verses which really cause my eyebrows to rise and my lips to tighten. These are a few which really require a lot of faith:

John 2
…9When the headwaiter tasted the water which had become wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the headwaiter called the bridegroom, 10and said to him, "Every man serves the good wine first, and when the people have drunk freely, then he serves the poorer wine; but you have kept the good wine until now."
(Anyone who is familiar with winemaking knows the chemical processes and aging which are required to produce decent wine much less fine wine.)

Matthew 14:
…20and they all ate and were satisfied. They picked up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve full baskets. 21There were about five thousand men who ate, besides women and children.
(C'mon now....12 baskets of leftovers from two fish and five loaves?)

Matthew 16:
17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
18 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.
(Try this one at your gathering next Sunday)

I read the bible and the book of Mormon while I was still in high school. By the time I was thirty years old I had most of the new testament memorized, chapter and verse. I was baptized before a congregation of nearly 1000 on a March morning in 1957 but I never believed these kinds of fables...not for a minute! Methinks most people who say they do are stretching the truth a little. You know....like the folks who wrote the stuff.

Never stop questioning, trying to understanding, prove or disprove to yourself and questioning more.

It is not about memorizing, it is about understanding and applying the best of the faith into your life.

If you doubt, perhaps there is a good reason. It is not the letter of the bible but how do the teaching apply to life today. Are you hung up on curtain teaching yet find yourself hating or misusing other teachings? Do you hate and abuse others because of a presumption of sin rather than weigh the good and the bad and still find love n that person? Were you slighted or wronged, or were you told to hate by your church and fellow member?

Everything in life should be questioned. There is always room for more knowledge and understanding. Not just in faith but in every aspect of life. Religion should not be a rejection of reason and common sense.

Wronged me?? Where I come from we WRONG each other.
Don't worry about me, I've been retired here in a nice lake house for the last 22 years....ever since I retired. We've traveled the country from coast to coast and border to border.....Las Vegas and the Gulf coast dozens of times. We've been to Canada and the Hawaiian Islands. I have eight grandchildren. Two of them are married and I have two great grandchildren. My oldest daughter is in Korea with the two great granddaughters. Her husband is a helicopter pilot and flies a Chinook along the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea.

I spend a lot of time reading, operating amateur radio, playing piano and fishing. Being right here on the lake with a boat docked less than 200 ft. from my back door makes activities on the water handy. Only problem.....I've messed around and gotten old.

About the religion....I've got one helluva lot more sense than to worship an ancient god. I repeat.....put me in the court with Einstein and Tom Jefferson:

"I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation, whose purposes are modeled after our own--a God, in short, who is but a reflection of human fraility. Neither can I believe that the individual survives the death of his body, although feeble souls harbor such thoughts through fear or ridiculous egotism. It is enough for me to contemplate the mystery of conscious life perpetuating itself through all eternity, to reflect upon the marvelous structure of the universe which we can dimly perceive, and to try humbly to comprehend even an infinitesimal part of the intelligence manifested in nature."
~Dr. Albert Einstein~ (published in his obituary)

"And the day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the supreme being as his father in the womb of a virgin will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter. But we may hope that the dawn of reason and freedom of thought in these United States will do away with all this artificial scaffolding"
~Thomas Jefferson~ (excerpt from a letter to John Adams, April 1823)

 

[aris2chat]

>>About the religion....I've got one helluva lot more sense than to worship an ancient god. I repeat.....put me in the court with Einstein and Tom Jefferson:<<

I don't believe in any personal way but I don't deny others the right to believe, as long as they don't shove it in my face.
I think people should always question and test what they believe, faith or science.

I grew up in religion central so I know the good and bad of it. I can't believe in a god that lets people hate and decimate so much, a god that allows such cruelty.

Belief did not help, lack of belief did not hurt. Life goes on.

 

[Campbell]

>>About the religion....I've got one helluva lot more sense than to worship an ancient god. I repeat.....put me in the court with Einstein and Tom Jefferson:<<

I don't believe in any personal way but I don't deny others the right to believe, as long as they don't shove it in my face.
I think people should always question and test what they believe, faith or science.

I grew up in religion central so I know the good and bad of it. I can't believe in a god that lets people hate and decimate so much, a god that allows such cruelty.

Belief did not help, lack of belief did not hurt. Life goes on.

That's for sure...life does indeed go on. The religious thing is beginning to unravel in America. Young people are smarter and they spread the word. Like Thomas Jefferson said, a better day is coming though I'm pretty sure he figured it would happen a long time before now.

 

[koshergrl]

When you memorized the New Testament maybe you didn't really think about what you were reading. Not surprising, as you said you don't believe. Then you dis the "folks who wrote the stuff".

Jesus is God. When he walked the earth and turned water into wine and multiplied the loaves and fish, he was human and Divine. He performed miracles.

Thanks for the Sunday troll.

So you say...have you proved your faith by handling any copperheads or water moccasins lately? What about healing? Have you cured cancer for any of your family, friends or neighbors?

Matthew 16:
17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
18 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.

Obviously, you haven't read the Book. I don't have to prove my faith or anything else to you. Troll on. Bye now.

Campbell, along with duhs, is the USMB equivalent of the Village Idiot. Of course, in the case of USMB, it's more like "Village of Idiots". Ravi, Rtard, Statist, Dots, Care, Seawytch are council members.

 

[Campbell]

When you memorized the New Testament maybe you didn't really think about what you were reading. Not surprising, as you said you don't believe. Then you dis the "folks who wrote the stuff".

Jesus is God. When he walked the earth and turned water into wine and multiplied the loaves and fish, he was human and Divine. He performed miracles.

Thanks for the Sunday troll.

So you say...have you proved your faith by handling any copperheads or water moccasins lately? What about healing? Have you cured cancer for any of your family, friends or neighbors?

Matthew 16:
17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
18 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.

Obviously, you haven't read the Book. I don't have to prove my faith or anything else to you. Troll on. Bye now.

Campbell, along with duhs, is the USMB equivalent of the Village Idiot. Of course, in the case of USMB, it's more like "Village of Idiots". Ravi, Rtard, Statist, Dots, Care, Seawytch are council members.

Strange....counting the military I've had three IQ tests during my lifetime. The results were 126, 129 and 140. The 140 would be a bit inflated because part of it was recognizing a few characters of morse code and at the time I was routinely copying 30wpm. Average is 100....did you make it?

 

[koshergrl]

When you memorized the New Testament maybe you didn't really think about what you were reading. Not surprising, as you said you don't believe. Then you dis the "folks who wrote the stuff".

Jesus is God. When he walked the earth and turned water into wine and multiplied the loaves and fish, he was human and Divine. He performed miracles.

Thanks for the Sunday troll.

So you say...have you proved your faith by handling any copperheads or water moccasins lately? What about healing? Have you cured cancer for any of your family, friends or neighbors?

Matthew 16:
17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
18 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.

Obviously, you haven't read the Book. I don't have to prove my faith or anything else to you. Troll on. Bye now.

Campbell, along with duhs, is the USMB equivalent of the Village Idiot. Of course, in the case of USMB, it's more like "Village of Idiots". Ravi, Rtard, Statist, Dots, Care, Seawytch are council members.

Strange....counting the military I've had three IQ tests during my lifetime. The results were 126, 129 and 140. The 140 would be a bit inflated because part of it was recognizing a few characters of morse code and at the time I was routinely copying 30wpm. Average is 100....did you make it?

Gosh, with numbers like that you could be the King of Fools!

 

[The Professor]

Matthew 16:
17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
18 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.

That's not Matthew, you idiot, it's Mark and it's a section of Mark that was added centuries later by an unknown author, presumably to give it a better ending because the earliest manuscripts of Mark that we have end very abruptly. Our earliest manuscripts end Mark at 16:8 where it reads "8 Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid." and that's it....it ends. It is not until centuries later that verses 9-19 begin to show up.

For a guy who claims to have memorized the New Testament chapter and verse I guess you didn't memorize that one nor did you spend much time learning about it.

I'm 81 years old. I was baptized in a Baptist church in 1957. I memorized the new testament chapter and verse while I was in my twenties. Forgive me for misquoting Matthew, Mark, Luke or John.

Speaking of that....did you know that many Muslims memorize the entire Quran? The Quran is perhaps the only book, religious or secular, that has been memorized completely by millions of people.

Don't feel bad fro getting the Books mixed up. I've studied the Bible for over 60 years and sometimes I make the same type of mistake. I once said Noah instead of Moses even though I am very familiar with the history of both men. However, there is something you need to know about last twelve verses in Mark (mark 16:9-20) and that is they are not accepted as genuine by all Christians.

The NIV contains the following disclaimer immediately after Mark 16:8: “The most reliable early manuscripts and other ancient witnesses do not have Mark 16:9-20.”

The Message Bible states in a footnote: “Note: Mark 16:9-20 is contained only in later manuscripts.”

The New Century Versions says immediately after verse 8 : “Verses 9-20 are not included in some of the earliest surviving Greek copies of Mark.”

The Amplified Bible contains the following footnote: “Some of the earliest manuscripts do not contain verses 9-20.”

The Living Translation Bible has the following footnote: “The most reliable early manuscripts of the Gospel of Mark end at verse 8. Other manuscripts include various endings to the Gospel. A few include both the “shorter ending” and the “longer ending.” The majority of manuscripts include the “longer ending” immediately after verse 8.”

The NKJV states in a footnote: “Verses 9-20 are bracketed in NU-Text as not original. They are lacking in Codex Sanaiticus and Codex Vaticanus although nearly all other manuscripts of Mark contain them.”

(NU-Text These variations from the traditional text generally represent the Alexandrian or Egyptian type of text described previously in "The New Testament Text." They are found in the Critical Text published in the twenty-seventh edition of the Nestle-Aland Greek New Testament (N) and in the United Bible Societies fourth edition (U), hence the acronym, "NU-Text.")

In summary, the authenticity of the last12 verses in Mark are actually disputed by the Christian community.

NOTE: According to the NIV' footnote at the end of the book of Mark, the chapter should have ended with these words (after omitting verses 9-20): "Then they quickly reported all these instructions to those around Peter. After this, Jesus himself also sent out through them from east to west the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation. Amen."

 

[Campbell]

Matthew 16:
17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
18 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.

That's not Matthew, you idiot, it's Mark and it's a section of Mark that was added centuries later by an unknown author, presumably to give it a better ending because the earliest manuscripts of Mark that we have end very abruptly. Our earliest manuscripts end Mark at 16:8 where it reads "8 Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid." and that's it....it ends. It is not until centuries later that verses 9-19 begin to show up.

For a guy who claims to have memorized the New Testament chapter and verse I guess you didn't memorize that one nor did you spend much time learning about it.

I'm 81 years old. I was baptized in a Baptist church in 1957. I memorized the new testament chapter and verse while I was in my twenties. Forgive me for misquoting Matthew, Mark, Luke or John.

Speaking of that....did you know that many Muslims memorize the entire Quran? The Quran is perhaps the only book, religious or secular, that has been memorized completely by millions of people.

Don't feel bad fro getting the Books mixed up. I've studied the Bible for over 60 years and sometimes I make the same type of mistake. I once said Noah instead of Moses even though I am very familiar with the history of both men. However, there is something you need to know about last twelve verses in Mark (mark 16:9-20) and that is they are not accepted as genuine by all Christians.

The NIV contains the following disclaimer immediately after Mark 16:8: “The most reliable early manuscripts and other ancient witnesses do not have Mark 16:9-20.”

The Message Bible states in a footnote: “Note: Mark 16:9-20 is contained only in later manuscripts.”

The New Century Versions says immediately after verse 8 : “Verses 9-20 are not included in some of the earliest surviving Greek copies of Mark.”

The Amplified Bible contains the following footnote: “Some of the earliest manuscripts do not contain verses 9-20.”

The Living Translation Bible has the following footnote: “The most reliable early manuscripts of the Gospel of Mark end at verse 8. Other manuscripts include various endings to the Gospel. A few include both the “shorter ending” and the “longer ending.” The majority of manuscripts include the “longer ending” immediately after verse 8.”

The NKJV states in a footnote: “Verses 9-20 are bracketed in NU-Text as not original. They are lacking in Codex Sanaiticus and Codex Vaticanus although nearly all other manuscripts of Mark contain them.”

(NU-Text These variations from the traditional text generally represent the Alexandrian or Egyptian type of text described previously in "The New Testament Text." They are found in the Critical Text published in the twenty-seventh edition of the Nestle-Aland Greek New Testament (N) and in the United Bible Societies fourth edition (U), hence the acronym, "NU-Text.")

In summary, the authenticity of the last12 verses in Mark are actually disputed by the Christian community.

NOTE: According to the NIV' footnote at the end of the book of Mark, the chapter should have ended with these words (after omitting verses 9-20): "Then they quickly reported all these instructions to those around Peter. After this, Jesus himself also sent out through them from east to west the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation. Amen."

Constantine decided which books would be a part of the bible and which ones would not. Pulled off that little deal about 350AD. He also set the dates for Christmas and Easter and conveniently picked two pagan holidays which were already being celebrated. Very efficient don't you think?