Finding "New Spirituality In The Book Of Mormon"

[MormonMason]

I didn't want to draw attention to that... but that actually compounds the problem. It makes it more likely that someone compiling a 'wrap up' to Mark would feel inclined to promise forward to stories already 'in print.' A sort of "look, he said his true believers would be able to pick up snakes and stuff... and Paul did." And yet now we think these guys are a bit barmy: http://en.wikipedia....ndling_churches

Not likely. The source for the long ending of Mark more likely came out of something else now lost. It is too coherent to be a scribal afterthought like that. It is more likely originally a part of one of those many, now lost Gospels Luke mentioned. Even Westcott and Hort seem to take that position. I do not think Mark wrote it but it was available for someone to take and attach to Mark to fill in the lost ending.

The short ending attached in some manuscripts of Mark, on the other hand, does indeed look like a scribal afterthought. Its style is foreign to first century times, unlike the longer ending.

Oddly enough, the style of the long ending of Mark is quite close to Luke's style according to some biblical scholars. Of course, the Gospel of Luke is also a composite taken from many sources including the Gospel of Mark.