According to my readings of several researches done on this subject by both Adventist and Non-adventist authors, there are basically two different streams of the New Testament Manuscripts: Western (Alexandria to Rome to Roman Catholic Vulgate to Revised Version of Wescott and Hort to Modern Translations) and Eastern (Syria to Constantinople to Waldenses and Gallic Churches to Reformation to KJV),
From the Eastern tradition of very strict copying endeavors came what is genreally know the Textus Receptus (Received Text) which was used as a basis for the KJV. From the Western tradition of lax and intentional corruption of orginal texts came both what are known as the Codex Vaticanus and the Codex Sinaiticus. The Codex Vaticanus was secreted in the Vatican Library for centuries and the Codex Sinaiticus was discovered by a German textual scholar named Constantin von Tischendorf in a trash can of an ancient monastery - they were being used to light the monastery's ovens.
The obvious problems with the two Western manuscripts are that they contain many disagreements and repeated alterations. Here are some quotes from the textual scholars on this regard:
"Dean Burgon pointed out that in the Gospels alone, Codex Vaticanus leaves out words or whole clauses no fewer than 1,491 times. It bears traces of careless transcription on every page. Codex Sinaiticus abounds with errors of the eye and pen to the extent not indeed unparalleled, but happily rather unusual in documents of first-grade importance. On many occasions 10, 20, 30, 40 words are dropped through very carelessness. Letters and words, even whole sentences, are frequently written twice over, or begun and immediately cancelled; while that gross blunder, whereby a clause is omitted because it happens to end in the same words as the clause preceding, occurs no less than 115 times in the New Testament." (from True or False, page 77 - David Otis Fuller)
"Dean Burgon went on to point out - In the Gospels alone, Codex Vaticanus differs from the Received Text in the following particulars: It omits at least 2,877 words; it adds 536 words; it substitutes 935 words; it transposes 2,098 words; and it modifies 1,132; making a total of 7,578 verbal divergencies. But the Sinaiticus manuscript is even worse for its total divergencies in the particulars stated above amount to nearly 9,000." (from True or False, page 78 - David Otis Fuller)
Another scholar states that these two corrupted manuscripts are found to disagree with each other in over 3,000 places in the Gospels alone: "I have tabulated the major part of these differences between X and B in the Gospels and given the supporting authorities in each side. They amount to Matthew - 656+, Mark - 567+, Luke - 791+, John - 1022+ for a total of 3,036." (Codex B and Its Allies, vol 2, Herman C. Hoskier).
The above reason is why you don't find verses such as Matthew 18:11 and mark 16:9-20 in the NIV. Some of other missing verses from most modern translations are: Matthew 17;21, 23:14, Mark 7:16, 9:44, 9:46, 11:26, 15:28, Luke 17:36, 23:17, John 5:4, Acts 8:37, 15:34, 24:7, 28:29, Romans 16:24, 1 John 5:7.
I have previously listed some of different translations between the KJV and other modern translations (which have significant impact on our Adventist understanding of the Gospels) in one of other threads on this forum.
Justin
[This message has been edited by Justin (edited 07-08-2001).]