A lot of Christianity is based on belief in the original writings of the many books of the Bible. But how do we know anything about what was original? Don’t the various versions of those books say something different?
Well, yes and no.
Let’s pretend there’s a Gospel of His Chef. Chapter ten, verse five says, “And Jesus said, ‘I’m hungry. I think I’ll have a steak.’” But wait! That’s not what the Ephesian copy says! So let’s take a look at ten different copies Chef 10:5.
I’m hungry. I think I’ll have a steak. (Two copies of that.)
I’m hungry. I think I’ll have a T-Bone. (Two copies of that.)
I’m hungry. I think I am a T-Bone.
I grow hungry. I think I’ll have a steak. (Three copies of that.)
I’m hungry. I think I am a steak.
I’m hungry. A steak sounds like a good idea.
So we can analyze those ten copies. Nine of the ten agree that Jesus said, “I’m hungry.” A different set of nine copies have Him saying “I think.” Another set of nine indicates His intention to eat a steak, with three specifying the form of steak as a T-Bone. Since seven copies mention “steak” in general, and only three mentioning the specific “T-Bone,” it’s reasonable to conclude the original writing didn’t mention T-Bone. Therefore, we can say with confidence that Chef 10:5, in it’s original writing, reads, “Jesus said, ‘I’m hungry. I think I’ll have a steak.’”
That’s the kind of study that went into determining what the original writings really were. But there’s more to what determines what we read in our Bibles - namely, translations.
Ever look in an actual dictionary? Most words have more than one definition. The original writings were no different. The King James Version of the Bible has three different places that mentions “sweat.” Genesis 3:19, Ezekiel 44:18, and Luke 22:44. However, what’s translated into the English word “sweat” in all of those verses are actually three different words.
Some of you are saying to yourselves, “So what? Sweat is sweat.”
Even if that’s the case here, it’s not the case for every word we read in English translations of the Bible. A real study of what the Bible means has to delve into what the ORIGINAL writing was. That means context, which means you can’t simply pull out a single verse and know what it means. In fact, you can’t even take a passage out of context and get the full meaning.
To be perfectly blunt, the entire Bible must be taken as a whole to get a full feeling for what it means. A mere perusal means nothing, because the context of every passage depends on all the other passages to one degree or another.
Anyone can (and many have) taken a verse or two from the Bible to justify really odd things. But the book as a whole must be understood to really know what any individual passage says.
Example: Some groups teach, “All homosexuals are going to burn in Hell.” Uh, really? Does that mean homosexuality is unforgivable? So Jesus’ death and resurrection wasn’t enough to redeem ALL sinners?
That tells me those groups don’t believe the Bible, and I don’t need to take anything they say about Heaven and Hell with any seriousness. The fact is, the Bible they’re misinterpreting also says we’ve all sinned and fall short. But Jesus died so we don’t have to pay the penalty of those sins.
“Hey, wait a minute! Then we don’t have to follow all those ‘Thou shalt nots?’”
To quote the Apostle Paul, “By no means.”
Want to know more? Pick up your Bible and read it. Study it. Learn what it has to say, and don’t assume you already know everything that’s in it.
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