IMO, We should never attack the person.
Their works, have at it.
Expose their preceived errors, discuss it and then condemn those errors or cede the point of the discussion.
Why accuse someone (W&H, Dr. Bob, Ruckman, Riplinger, HankD) of lying, we can expose error or faulty scholarship or errors of fact but why, why must we persist in accusations of sin which may indeed be true but which in most cases is impossible to prove?
We simply cannot know for sure (IMO) if someone is lying or simply and honestly mistaken or caught up in their own "spin" or citing defective scholarship, etc.
Personally, I don't believe mssrs Wescott and Hort were willfully deceptive but were simply wrong in the major thrust(s) of their theories.
Exposing their errors (in my perception) or disagreement with their theology or writings is not an attack against their person.
I also disagree with Dean Burgon concerning his high-church Anglo-Catholic theology.
Anyway back to the thread:
RE: 1 John 5:7. I believe that 1 John 5:7 is apostolic and should be included in the text of the translation, but if it is not, is it a lie?
No, if it is spurious, the believable reason (IMO) is that the old Latin scribes and/or early Latin Fathers inserted it as a commentary of vs 8 (which are reversed in some old itala citations).
From my research, this in-line commenting seems a common practice of old Latin scribes. According to this propostion it (the Comma) later became absorbed into the actual text.
If it is spurious then it should be removed.
The translation committees of most MVs believe that it is spurious and therefore are justified, nay, obligated to remove or red flag it. IMO they are not agents of Satan but just as sincere in their desire to maintain the purity of the text as I am.
Granted our prejudice and leanings can make it easier to accept one theory over the other.
And yes, once in a while it is indeed scriptural and proper to question another's motive but even that requires the evidence of provable works:
Romans 16
17 Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.
18 For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.
KJV 2 Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
HankD