When I was still a babe in the Lord, my preacher was emphatic that the
King James version was the ONLY reliable English translation of the Bible.
I came to believe that the reason this was pushed was because it was so
totally unreadable by most people that preachers were able to hide behind
it and teach whatever they wanted by using excerpts, or verses, totally out
of context. It was very difficult for most English speaking people (especially
those without a higher education) to read this with any flow. Kind of like
reading Shakespeare. I started reading the NIV, and wore it out.
My wife loves the King James. She says the NIV translation is incorrect
in too many critical places, and she's probably right more often than not.
I maintain that any translation you can read will be OK. If you get to the
point that you want to know a more precise meaning to something, go ahead
and pull out a Schofield or King James or New American Standard and see
what they say for a translation. We have the Greek and Hebrew Lexicons,
that give exact translations for the original words, but it isn't necessary to
get the gist of what's being said.
There are many other books out there that weren't included in the Bible.
The Catholic version has several extra books, that were excluded in our
Bible because the original language wasn't Greek or Hebrew. Really though,
you can pick up a Mormon Bible and still find God's message in it. I've had
God speak to me when I've been reading fictional books. There's a series
of novels about a Navaho cop that speaks quite a bit about Navaho beliefs.
There's a lot of great stuff in there. Many of the so called secret societies
such as Dan Brown wrote about in his novels actually had glimpses of truth
that drove them underground to avoid persectution from the church.
God is Spirit. God is Love. God is Light. He lives in the hearts and minds
of many people. He doesn't just belong to Christians, Jews, Muslims, Eastern
Peoples or any one group. We are all His. And we can all learn from each
other. The idea of accepting the Yang side is contrary to the way we teach
our religion in this country, but it's not contrary to the teaching of the Bible.
We are who we are, and we need to learn to love ourselves as well. That
begins when we realize that God loves us. Not, loves us if we straighten
our lives out. Not, loves us if we walk the straight and narrow. For those
for whom that matters, they can become one with Him. Too bad it only
really matters to a few of us.
YOU can learn directly from God.
If you're religion is confusing to you, there's a reason. Get a red letter Bible, and read the words of Jesus to the priests and preachers of His day. Then understand this: There's no difference between them and the priests and preachers of our day. Why would there be? Just as there was in His day, there are some with good intent, but even they are learning from a corrupted system. Want the truth? Throw out everything you've learned from them, pick up the Bible, and read it for yourself. Not by chapter and verse as you were taught. Particularly in the New Testament, read the way they were written, as letters. And unless you're well versed in Old English, get a modern translation. One you can read and understand. Stick to the New Testament at first, so as not to be overwhelmed. And know this, it isn't the word of God the way you were taught. It's the word of God as understood by those who wrote it. Try to understand it from the point of view of those it was written to...we were taught to read it as if it was written to us!
The problem with that is, those the New Testament was written to were going through the transition from one Covenant to another. They were awaiting an event in their time. To learn about that event, one needs to consult historians, such as Josephus and his account of it in "Wars of the Jews."
The problem with that is, those the New Testament was written to were going through the transition from one Covenant to another. They were awaiting an event in their time. To learn about that event, one needs to consult historians, such as Josephus and his account of it in "Wars of the Jews."
Questioning the established theologies. The church teaches the law, just as it did when Jesus railed against it in His day. A discussion on the freedoms He gave us, and why true followers might want to operate on the outside. The truth is out there, but where?
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
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