Translation Vs Version?
To clarify before we proceed. A translation is when you try to document from one language into another. There are multiple synonyms you can use for the same word, different translators have different vocabulary and hence will use different words which share a similar meaning i.e. ‘a kind man’ can be translated into ‘a giving man’ or a generous man’. These are acceptable. However, a version is when the meaning is completely different from the original, or passages are not included, extra words have been added. Below we will analyse the ‘Versions’ of the bible which is an issue.
a) -A roman catholic bible has 73 books inside. The King James version protestant bible has 66 books. Which means the protestant world threw out 7 books! That is a lot of material. After centuries since they were written it was decided they are not the word of God? Man is now picking what they want to keep and throw out, and Christian cannot agree to which books to keep and throw? How can you guarantee what has been thrown out was the actual words of Jesus, or how can you guarantee what has been kept are the actual words of Jesus?
b) the 1952 version of the Revised Standard Bible and the 1971 version of the Revised Standard Bible differ. They are not different ‘translations’ they are ‘versions’. The first RSV in 1952 dates back to the most ancient manuscripts as we are told by Christian Scholars. The King James version also goes back to the ancient manuscripts as we are told. Therefore the closer the bibles are to the time Jesus was around, they would be more authentic.
Now when you read the 1952 RSV which is backed by 32 scholars of the highest eminence and 50 co-operating denominations, the ascension of Jesus to the heavens in
Luke 24:51 “Jesus ascended into heaven” and then also
Mark 16:19 “Jesus Ascended into heaven” are both thrown out as a fabrication from this 1952 version. Mark 16 ends at verse 8. Verses 9 to 20 are missing. How can God's words be missing?
Jesus’ ascension into heaven was a big miracle and it was thrown out by Christian scholars. Now when they sold the 1952 RSV they made a net profit of $15 million (dollars) from this version. Then the Evangelists realised that this important passage about Jesus’ ascension has been removed which they believe in, hence they protested that they will preach against this version if they do not replace the missing verse. As a result of the protest, in the 1971 RSV bible, they have put those two verses back in afraid they will not sell as many and lose profit. Chopping and changing as they choose? How do we know what is God’s word anymore? How do we know what has been chopped and changed in other parts of the bible?
c) 1 John 5:7 “For there are 3 that bare record in heaven, the father, the word and the holy ghost, and these three are one” this verse was also thrown out as a fabrication from the 1952 RSV. Who threw this verse out? It was Christians scholars. In the 1971 version they put it back in. Such profound and important verses which are the core belief of Christianity. Is this not playing with Gods words?
d) Unknown to almost all of the over two billion people who claim the Bible as their spiritual foundation is that there are several books and two sections missing from all but a few versions of that Bible.
Perhaps one of the best kept secrets of the modern Protestant church is that the Bible used by that body is not the original King James Bible. That translation, completed in 1611, contained 80 books. Although attempts to remove the 14 books from the Bible began immediately after the King James translation was completed they remained in the Bible until the end of the 19th Century. There are 155,683 words and over 5,700 verses contained in 168 chapters now missing from the King James translation of the Bible due to the exclusion of the removed books. Although this only happened just over a hundred years ago, their existence as fully accepted scripture is virtually unknown.
This shows how heavily edited is the bible. Missing chunks and chapters, thousands of words missing from Gods book.
e) “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign: Behold, a Virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14 - AV)
The indispensable “Virgin” in the above verse has now been replaced in the RSV with the phrase “a young woman,” which is the correct translation of the Hebrew word Almah. Almah is the word which has occurred all along in the Hebrew text and not bethulah which means Virgin. This correction is only to be found in the English language translation, as the RSV is only published in this tongue. For the African and the Afrikaner, the Arab and the Zulu, in fact, in the 1,500 other languages of the world, Christians are made to continue to swallow the misnomer “Virgin”. Although on the surface it may seem like a light change, the difference between a young woman giving birth and a virgin giving birth is the difference of a miracle. This is how changing one word can change an entire narrative. This example was included to highlight the importance of words.
f) There are 24,000 manuscripts of the bible, not anyone of them is identical.
-how can there be so many versions of God’s word
- if man has made all these different versions, how do we know what original text was kept and which of the original God’s word was removed?
- how do we know if we are following Jesus’ word or the word of another man?
-ultimately, if we cannot be sure what is true in the bible, then how can we identify correct information from wrong information as we no longer have the original text?
-does this mean we could read a passage which is completely different to the teachings of Jesus’ yet believe in it as being his words?
g) The translation from Greek to English in the bible.
A book called ‘Strong’s Concordance of the Bible’, is a book which has the English of the bible in one line, and below this it has the Greek, It then tells you what the root of the word is, where it comes from, what its related to, and where it is in the bible, to help get a real understanding of the word. When you read this, you will find a whole lot of interpolation (inserting the wrong words). Where the EXACT same word is use in one place to mean one thing, then the exact same word is used in another place to mean another thing.
Here is one small example;
In the new testament the Greek word for son is ‘Pias’ and ‘Paida’ which means servant or son in the sense of a servant. These words are translated to ‘Son’ when reference to Jesus and then ‘servant’ when in reference to other people. A clear picking and choosing of words to misguide the reader who does not have the original Greek text.
Some people may reply to this that the upper case ‘S’ refers to ‘Son’ and the lower case ‘s’ refers to servant. However, neither in the Greek, Aramaic nor Arabic language do upper and lower case letters exist.
This is how we proof check a book of God,
1) Every prophecy in the book MUST come true, if even one is false, the book is false.
2) Every scientific fact mentioned must fit today's knowledge of science.
3) There must be no signs of error or contradiction i.e. JK Rowling says Harry Potter's father name is James, but in another version, she says its Robert. The Book must be consistent.
4) Any challenge in the book must not be proven wrong i.e. If a book states it will be preserved for all of time, then this must hold true
5) The linguistic miracles/perfection of the book, and mathamatical perfection.
If we can prove Harry potter has been changed and there are 50 versions of it, how do we know or how can we prove which version is the CORRECT original one written by JK Rowling?
How can we prove which PARTS of Harry Potter are original and which parts are not original? If you cannot distinguish the original from the false versions of Harry Potter, then how can we dedicate our entire lives and believe and follow exactly what J.K. Rowling says, especially if it has the possibility of leading us to hell or heaven?
We are merely questioning the authenticity of the bible. The bible was the Old and New testament,. We believe man has changed the bible. Even if a single verse of the bible has been changed and proven to be changed by man, then how can we guarantee any part of the bible is the true word of God?
Would an Engineer study from an Engineering book if they knew there were multiple mistakes? Would a doctor study from a medical book if they knew it had many mistakes?
Then why can this principle not apply to our holy texts?
