Hi Guys few questions

[Alan G77]

Hello Alan, i am kind of new myself, but here is my take:

1. [...]claims that the NT in Greek is 99% pure). What do you think of this?

it is all a matter of degrees. What is the unit of measurement here?
If the Greek is a translation of the Peshitta, then that translation may later have been edited, hence the differences. There would hardly be any essential changes here, but we could expect a lot of minor ones from a revision, as we can see them. One should also point out that for the comparisons, there are often times manuscripts used that are known to be corruppt simply by the manuscripts history. To get a basic idea of the differences in the greek, just compare TR to NA27. It's really not that much difference.

2. Do you agree with textual critics like Bart Ehram who believe that the Greek manuscripts were intentionally corrupted to suit their theological presuppositions and that most of what Jesus says in the Greek NT are interpolations?

That is utter rubbish. First of all, that is not text criticism at all, but bible criticism (note, the Peshitta essentially has the same sayings of Christ as the Greek, so if the Greek is interpolated, so is the Peshitta), and second, there are no places at all in the greek new testament that could possibly lead you to that conclusion, save maybe five verses, like 1John 5:7. Even those can easily explained as scribal errors like jumping lines.
If those were edited to suit theological groups, why did they edit only very few verses, whereas it would have to have been hundreds that did not fit their POV (note that the verses that seem "edited" to some seculars do not fit into any specific category, but are rather random verses)?

3. Shouldn't we be doing more to actually defend the Bible in general and it's message rather than only defending the Peshitta? I know our version is much more well preserved than the Greek NT, but regardless the NT is the NT and is utilised to transform lost souls and lead them to Christ.

Both are almost equally important. But, defending (or opposing) the Peshitta may be one of the basic necessities when one wants to defend the Bible's infallability. Many people would be more attracted by a 100% preserved Bible.
(i myself only recently learned of the Peshitta, but the issue of textual criticism has been important to me since a long time. Now that i found out about the Peshitta, text criticism seems much more satisfying (though i am not 100%on Peshitta primacy, i just believe it to be very likely for now).
One can only defend the Bible if one knows about it. Knowing what language it was written in is kind of basic, so it is necessary. But, you are right, many people can say they believe in the Peshitta, or in the TR, or in the KJV ( <!-- s:biggrin: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/biggrin.gif" alt=":biggrin:" title="Big Grin" /><!-- s:biggrin: --> ), and still they have no clue as to why, objectively speaking, true christianity is superior to any other faith / religion.

4. In saying all this, i really want to purchase my own Peshitta in English, which do you recommend as being the best one?

i guess Lamsa's(?), as it is most true to the actual Peshitta text (?).

Thanks for the info bro, but in regards to George Lamsa's translation I always hear that it isnt very accurate?