Christianity is NOT “personal relationship” with Jesus

Maybe you’ve heard it in your own church. Maybe in your grade-school Sunday school class. I know I certainly heard the phrase (and believed it) when I attended church camp for the first time in  7th grade and ‘got saved’. And you might even see it on well-meaning facebook pages today or in a tweet. […]

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Regarding Bible Translations

This is part of a lesson I prepared for a Jr. and Sr. High Sunday School class some years ago. I present it here not as a complete discussion on English Bible translations, but as a starting point for those interested in the differences in modern English translations. Since I was working with teens, we […]

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Regarding Bible Translations

This is part of a lesson I prepared for a Jr. and Sr. High Sunday School class a few years ago. I present it here not as a complete discussion on English Bible translations, but as a starting point for those interested in the differences in modern English translations. We needed to start with the basics, and after agreeing (though not proving) that God DOES exist and agreeing (though not proving) that He WOULD reveal himself to us in some way, and finding that the events of the Bible are historically accurate(if they are, then logically the first two fall into place), we turned our attention to which Bible is the “right” Bible. That’s where this lesson comes in. I cannot vouch for 100% accuracy here, but the information presented is accurate for the sources I had. In places where it is vague, it is by design, encouraging the reader to seek for themselves.

Since I was working with teens, we needed to start with the basics, and after agreeing (though not proving) that God DOES exist and agreeing (though not proving) that He WOULD reveal himself to us in some way, and finding that the a substantial number of events described in the Bible are historically accurate(if they are, then logically the first two fall into place), we turned our attention to which Bible is the “right” Bible.

That’s where this lesson comes in. I cannot vouch for 100% accuracy here, but the information presented is accurate for the sources I had. In places where it is vague, it is by design, encouraging the reader to seek for themselves.

If this shows any bias, that is NOT by design and I would appreciate any feedback. It was never my intention to turn the reader toward any particular translation, only to provide some of the general facts behind the translations as I could find them. So, without further ado, here it is (the format for the chart doesn’t seem to want to transfer, sorry. I lost the original formatting somewhere along the lines.)….

PS. I realize now as I republish this, that I need to go back and cite my sources. And I will do so as soon as I have time. In the meantime, please forgive my less-than-scholarly presentation of this post.

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Roots of the Bible (before English)

Approx. 1,400 BC: The first written Word of God: The Ten Commandments delivered to Moses.

Approx. 500 BC: Completion of All Original Hebrew Manuscripts which make up The 39 Books of the Old Testament.

Approx. 200 BC: Completion of the Septuagint Greek Manuscripts which contain The 39 Old Testament Books AND 14 Apocrypha Books. (First “official” translation from Hebrew.) (The apocrypha are a set of Hebrew writings that are very much related to the Bible, but were never considered “inspired”. They are still used by some groups today and are published in some Bibles used today.)

1st Century AD: Completion of All Original Greek Manuscripts which make up The 27 Books of the New Testament.

315 AD: Athenasius, the Bishop of Alexandria, identifies the 27 books of the New Testament which are today recognized as the canon of scripture. (In other words, the institutionalized church finally “got it”).

382 AD: Jerome’s Latin Vulgate Manuscripts Produced which contain All 80 Books (39 Old Test. + 14 Apocrypha + 27 New Testament) – Latin becomes the official language of scripture used by the institutionalized church which eventually tried to suppress all attempts to translate scripture into English or any other language – even attempts to publish in the original languages of Hebrew and Greek).

The Bible in English

The chart below will give you the basics of the earliest English translations of the Bible. It’s important to know that translating the Bible into any language, other than those “approved” by the institutionalized church (as it existed at the time), has always been met with opposition. Men have been killed for just possessing pieces of the Bible in “unofficial” formats. A study of how the Bible came to us in English should not be made without acknowledging the sacrifices made by those who brought it to us. Many books have been written on the history of the Bible and the author encourages you to refer to those published works. The purpose of this lesson is to examine the Bible as it is available to us today in English.

The original writers of the books and letters that make up the Bible wrote in the common languages of the people who would be the first readers of them. The original writings, or autographs, are lost to us (or at least, have yet to be discovered). Instead, we have copies, or manuscripts, that have been made over the years. The manuscripts that exist today are copies of copies of copies. Early translators had fewer manuscripts available while modern translators have many more. Today, thousands of manuscripts that have been discovered, many are in Greek or Hebrew (depending on which testament they are from) but others are early translations from the original languages into Latin or other languages. As well as manuscripts we have quotations of the Bible from early Christian writers. In fact, we have so many quotes that if all manuscripts were gone, we could reproduce the Bible just from those quotations.

However, none of these manuscripts and quotations are in English and must be translated. Translation is basically taking a word or phrase in one language and finding a word or phrase in the target language that means the same thing.

Translation methods

All translation from one language to another, whether it’s for the Bible or something else, especially when you are dealing with a language as it existed hundreds or thousands of years ago, requires a certain degree of interpretation. Most languages do not use the same sentence structure as the target language. Some words do not have an exact match in the new language. Some figures of speech or turns of phrase will not make sense in the new language. The translator must make a decision about what word or phrase to use in the target language.

In some cases, a word is “transliterated”. A transliterated is not translated at all but is presented in the new language with a spelling that tells you how to pronounce it. Many words in the English language as it exists today are from other languages and sound almost the same as they do in the original language. The word “baptize” is the most obvious example that you will see in the Bible. The word did not exist in English until translators chose to transliterate it from the Greek word “baptizo”.

In most cases, translators will try to find an equivalent word or phrase in the target language. There are basically three ways to translate something. While no translation is exactly one way or the other, the following are the basics of the translation philosophies. The methods are “form-driven” (word for word or literal), “meaning-driven” (thought for thought) and “paraphrase” (in someone’s own words). To explain the differences, consider the following example.

Let’s use this transliterated (spelled how it’s pronounced) Latin text as our original:

Velox frons vulpes volpes tripudios super ignavus canis.

Now a real original may be handwritten and have other issues, but let’s assume we can read this clearly and are certain of what it says in the original language.

A form driven translation might read like this:

The expeditious tawny vulpes gamboled traversely the dilatory canine

Now we can read it in English, but while accurate, it may not be the best translation for everyone. Word for word translators strive to find the best word to communicate the meaning in the target language while keeping as close to the original’s word order as possible. Reading can sometimes be difficult since the best word in the target language may not be a commonly used word to most people who speak that language. Proponents of the form driven method say that accuracy in preserving the words themselves should be of utmost importance.

A meaning driven translation would read like this:

The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.

Very clear to read and gets the meaning across. Meaning-driven translations fall somewhere between Literal and Paraphrase but strive to keep the meaning of the words that were originally written. Proponents of this thought-for-thought translation method say that subtle meaning of words in the original may actually be better communicated using a meaning-driven method, while a word-for-word method might be technically correct it might lose the “color” and “flavor” of the meaning.

A paraphrase might read like this:

That speedy fox, the brown one, you won’t believe it, but he jumped over that dog that was sleeping.

That might be a little wordy, but you get the idea. Paraphrases can be very free and can drift from what was originally written. While not very useful for study (in this author’s opinion), paraphrases can bring light to texts that can otherwise be rather dull. Paraphrases are usually the work of one person and represent that person’s opinion of what the text says.

Here’s a real example of John 3:16:

English Standard Version (+)
(Literal, Form-Driven or
Word for Word)

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten
Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have
eternal life.

Good News Translation (++)
(Meaning-Driven or
Thought for Thought)

For God loved the world
so much that he gave his
only Son, so that everyone
who believes in him may
not die but have eternal life

The Message (+++)­­
(Paraphrase)

This is how much God loved the world:
He gave his Son, his one and only Son.
And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed;
by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life.

Which Originals?

There is also a question of which originals we have available today are “best” or “most accurate”. This is a complicated issue that can not be easily explained.

It’s important to know that there is no perfect English translation. Every translation we have today is the work of humans and in spite of our best efforts, humans make mistakes. Any translation from one language to another involves the translator using his opinion at some point as to what is the best word to use and sometimes that opinion may not be the best one. While it is possible for us to learn Greek and Hebrew, even to make our own translation, there is still no way to be sure what you are translating is exactly what the original author intended.

It is the opinion of the author that a true student of the Bible will study multiple translations and not depend on any single English Bible. Subtle differences in wording and phrasing between translations can reveal to you, in a way you can understand, what the true word of God is.

The manuscripts that we have today can be divided into “families” based on the differences between them. And while there are differences, the manuscripts that have the most differences are still 99.5% alike. The remaining half percent of differences are mostly scribal errors – things like minor spelling variations, slips of the pen, or stray drops of ink. The remaining differences are things like repeated words or phrases or missing words or phrases. Without going into the process of producing manuscripts, it’s enough to know that any differences that exist from one original to another have no bearing on who God is or how we are to respond to Him. The places where there is a difference in meaning are very few but can be figured out using a science called “textual criticism”.

Textual criticism is a complex science that can be best explained as using multiple manuscripts (which are copies of copies of copies) to figure out what the original most likely was. The issues under consideration are the age of the manuscript (how many years it’s been since the original), the number of manuscripts of a certain type, where it was found and most importantly what the manuscript actually says and comparing problem areas with other areas that are not problems. Textual critics then take what they believe the original said and compile it into a new “manuscript”. An interesting fact is that today there are two compilations of the New testament that are typically used by translators, the only difference between the compilations is punctuation.

Even with these practices, there are still ongoing debates about where the true word of God is. You will hear arguments about “King James Only” and “Byzantine is better than Alexandrian” and “the received text is the only one we should use”. You might even hear arguments against the practice textual criticism. You will have to make your own decision in these issues, but keep in mind that these arguments are dealing with very very minor differences in the manuscripts, none of which have any bearing on how God has revealed himself or how we are to respond to Him. (†)

There is also much discussion regarding the motives of the people and teams involved in creating this translation or that one. Human nature leads us to believe that people are generally good and that those working on a project like Bible translation have the best of intentions. The truth is, there is really no way to know what the motives of many of these people were without talking to them irectly, and even then you can’t be certain. If these matters are of concern to you, I highly encourage you to look into them. But this author’s opinion on the matter is “buyer beware” and it is still hte best practice to use many translations though the course of your Bible study.

Now, when you take all these things together, – different translation methods, different originals, textual criticism, possible motivations of translators – it’s no wonder we have so many different English translations. So what’s the difference? Which one should I use? The following chart gives you most of the English versions of the Bible that are available today, how they are related, and other pertinent information to help you make a decision as to which one is best for you . This list is by no means all-inclusive but includes most translations that can be found on the shelves of your average bookstore. The reader is encouraged to dig deeper than the information provided here as there is not space explore all differences.

Comparison of English Bible translations**

Name	Type (closest)	Based on (previous)	By whom	Which originals	Other
Beginnings
Wycliffe	Literal	from Latin	John Wycliffe	Latin Vulgate	Circa 1382
Tyndale	Literal	from German, some from Wycliffe	William Tyndale	Luther's German translation of the Latin Vulgate	Circa 1526 - Much of Tyndale's original wording and phrasing survives in today's KJV.
Coverdale	Literal	Tyndale	Miles Coverdale	Vulgate, Erasmus' Greek (from 1100s)	1537 - First Bible printed in English, first "Authorized Version" (By the King of England)
Matthew	Literal	Coverdale and Tyndale	Thomas Matthew	See Tyndale and Coverdale	"Grandfather" of the KJV, very little changed from Matthew to KJV
Great Bible	Literal	Coverdale		See Coverdale	Second "official" English Bible, first authorized by King to use in churches. Virtually no difference from Coverdale's original work.
Geneva Bible	Literal	Coverdale	Committee of scholars, including Coverdale himself	See Coverdale	1557 - Bible of the common people of England and the early imegrants to the "new World" - Used by Shakespeare, Bunyan, and the Pilgrims. First edition with verse numberings
Bishop's Bible	Literal	Great Bible and Geneva Bible	Bishops of the Church of England	Coverdale - some reference to Greek and Hebrew	1568 - Produced by Bishops in an attempt to remove the heresies they felt the Geneva Bible was promoting.
King James (1611)	Literal	Bishop's, Geneva, and consulting manuscripts where available	King James and Church of England	Westcott and Hort, Codex Vaticanus, Codex Sinaiticus	Did not receive widespread acceptance at the time, but through many revisions has become a popular version still used by modern readers.
American Standard	Literal	King James (1885 revised)	Church of England	See King James	1901 - First Copyrighted version
Revised Standard	Literal	American Standard	International Council of Religious Studies (US and Canada - multidenominational members)	See King James	1952 - First Bible widely accepted by Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant congregations
Amplified	Literal with alternate meanings	American Standard	Lockman Foundation	See King James	1955 - Can be difficult to read, but alternate meanings are preseented "inline"
Living Bible	Paraphrase	American Standard	Kenneth Taylor	See King James, but Taylor did not use any original language manuscripts	1971 - first time a paraphrase version was published. A very free-form paraphrase representative of the culture of the time.
New American Standard	Literal	American Standard	Lockman Foundation	OT - Biblica Hebraica - compiled by Rudolf Kittel, NT - Eberhard Nestle's Novum Testamentum Graece	1971 - Update of American Standard with new manuscript evidence, still carries traces of old English
Modern Translations
King James Version (1885 revision)	Literal	Bishop's, Geneva, and consulting manuscripts where available	Scholars and Bishops working under authority of King of England	Revision of King James to be in modern readable english - consulting Textus Receptus and Masoretic Text	1885- "Last" revision of the "old English" King James version.
New King James	Literal	King James	Nelson Publishers	See King James	1979 - Essentially a modern English update to KJV (you are instead of thou art, for example)
New Revised Standard	Literal	KJV, Revised Standard, American Standard	International Council of Religious Studies	OT: Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia - with reference to Dead Sea Scrolls, NT: Greek New Testament - United Bible Society 1966	1979 - Update of American and Revised Standard version. First translation to make use of Dead Sea Scrolls and other modern manuscript discoveries.
New World Translation	Claims literal	Not explained, but basically King James	Jehovah's Witnesses	Unknown, but probably same and KJV	Revised 2013 - Distributed by Jehovah's Witness church to members and prospective members. Some claim it is biased toward JW teachings.
New American (not to be confused with American Standard)	Mostly literal	Not explained, but based on previous English Bibles published by Catholic church	Catholic Church	Latin Vulgate with reference to modern manuscript discoveries including Dead Sea Scrolls	Used and distributed by Catholic Church for member is USA.
Today's English (Good News)	Thought for Thought/Paraphrase	Not explained	American Bible Society	OT: Biblia Hebraica (1937), NT: Greek New Testament (UBS, 1975) and other modern manuscript discoveries	First Bible to claim to use the thought-for-thought translation message. Intended audience were those who speak English as a second language, but adopted by general public.
New American Standard (1995)	Literal	American Standard	Lockman Foundation	See NAS (1971)	Modern update to NAS (1971) and American standard)
New International Version (updated 2011)	Between Literal and thought-for-thought	New translation, but with nods to Good News Bible	International Bible Society/Zondervan	From preface: OT Masoretic Text and Dead Sea Scrolls and others, NT "Best current Greek New Testaments"	Originally published 1978, most common English translation in use today
New International Reader's Version	See above	NIV	Zondervan	See above	Lower-reading-level version intended for younger readers
Today's NIV	See above	NIV	Zondervan	See above	Gender neutral version of NIV, using "mankind" or "people" instead of "men" where appropriate.
New Century	Thought-for-thought	Similar to Good News	World Bible Translation Center	From a translation prepared for the deaf - Biblia Hebraica, Greek New Testament (UBS, 1983)	Gender inclusive, marketed to teens
International Children's Bible	Thought-for-thought	Not explained	World Bible Translation Center	see above	Children's version of New Century, claims to be first 'new' translation for preteens
Contemporary English	Thought-for-thought	Not explained	American Bible Society	Not explained	Version meant to be read aloud for children
The Message	Paraphrase	Not explained	Eugene Peterson	Not explained	Peterson is a Bible professor turned pastor and had studied the original Bible languages for many years. The Message is meant to be read like a novel and not to be used for regular study
Holman Christian Standard	Like NIV, publisher describes it at "Optimal Equivalence"	New translation	Southern Baptist Convention - Holman Publishers	OT: Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 5th ed., NT: Nestle-Aland Novum Testamentum Graece, 27th ed. and UBS Greek New Testament, 4th corrected ed.	Claims to be the first Bible of the Information Age, technology was used extensively in producing this translation
New Living Translation	Paraphrase	Living Bible	Tyndale	OT: Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 1937, NT: UBS Greek New Testament, 1993 and Novum Testamentum Graece, 1993	Based on Kenneth Taylor's paraphrse, but utilized original language sourced to be suitable for sutdy
English Standard	Literal	New Revised Standard	Good News Publishers	OT: Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (2nd ed., 1983), NT: NT Greek New Testament (4th corrected ed. UBS), Novum Testamentum Graece (27th ed.)	2001, revised 2011 - Follows tradition of King Jaames and Revised Standard. Newest discoveries of manuscripts have been utilized as well as updating the language for the modern reader.
New Life Version (not to be confused with New Living Translation)	Thought-for-thought	Not explained	Christian Literature International, Gleason and Kathryn Ledyard	Not Explained	1969- An effort to bring the Bible to those who barely speak English. The vocabulary is composed of only 850 words.
God's Word	Thought-for-thought	Not explained	Lutheran church, Rev. Giessler	OT: Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, NT: Novum Testamentum Graece (26th ed.)	Claims to be the first Bible reviewd by English experts at every step of the translation process.

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† There are many excellent books that have been written on the subjects of manuscript differences and textual critcism that can give you a much more detailed view of the issues than what we have room for here. An excellent one to start with is “A User’s Guide to Bible Translations” by Dewey – Intervarsity Press © 2006.

**Most references to original manuscripts and translation styles are from the forwards in the published Bibles themselves. Other sources may tell you that Bible A translators used Manuscript family B, but since these sources vary in what they say, I am depending solely on what the translators had to say for themselves. Information on manuscripts, their sources, and their differences are available from many sources and are not included in this introductory study.

Quotes are cited within the text.

Types (Literal, paraphrase, etc.) that are mentioned are from personal reading and research in comparing the texts and personal study in Geek and Hebrew. I am by no means an expert in those languages, and depend heavily on dictionaries and software resources in arriving at the conclusions I have listed. I use Vine’s Dictionary, the Logos Bible Study Software original language tools (Logos Research Systems, Inc.), and eSword (freeware).

+ Scripture quotations from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, are copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

+++ Scripture taken from THE MESSAGE. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

++ Scripture taken from Good News Translation – Second Edition is Copyright (c) 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by permission.

Other sources include:

Wikipedia.com
A User’s Guide to Bible Translations, by David Dewey – Intervarsity Press © 2006
Study articles from The Archeological Study Bible (NIV) – Zondervan © 2006 see copyright information in the published work for information regarding authorship and other information on the study articles.
Stations of the Book (http://ift.tt/1nbLkhi) – Dr. Gene Scott
– University of Los Angeles
Why I use the NIV Bible (http://ift.tt/1N1phPb) – Graham Pocket, freelance.(There are many great links from here regarding the differences between the NIV and KJV.)
Christian Web Site (http://ift.tt/1nbLkxy) – this is a great tool for comparing the Greek text as it exists in different manuscript
families as well as seeing how different English translations have rendered the original. Here you can see what the differences really are.
Bible Gateway (http://ift.tt/uWcRHb) – complete online versions of many translations, includes the ability to look up passages in multiple versions.

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Romans 13 Applies To Everyone

With the #KimDavis thing, a lot of people in and out of Christian circles are talking about what the Bible says.

One passage many are talking about is Romans 13:1-7. Here’s what it says:

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.  For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval,  for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.  Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing.  Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed. (ESV)

A few things to note here:

It says “Let EVERY person be subject to the governing authorities.”
It says “there is NO AUTHORITY except from God.”
It says “Whoever resist the authority resists what God has appointed.”
It says “those who resist will incur judgement.”

It DOES NOT say “but it’s OK to ignore the authority when you think it goes against what you think God says”.

This came up in a discussion at our church shortly before same-sex marriage became legal nationwide (it was already illegal in our state, but apparently that was besides the point.) One of our elders asked of the group “So what should you do when you think the government is wrong?” One of the folks in our group responded “well, then you just don’t obey them”. The elder didn’t respond.

But I really want to know, does it say anywhere in the Bible that it’s OK to ignore the governing authority since said authority comes from God?

Seriously, I need an answer.

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10 Lies That Have Been Told To The Church

Dearest Church,

I am writing to you today to discuss with you a very difficult topic. This is going to be hard for both of us, but I really hope you’ll take the time to read this and to really think about what I’m saying before you just get mad and lash out.

So here goes:

You’ve been lied to. A lot. For many many years.

Now before you react, please just hear me out. Some of this is going to be hard to accept, but you’ll know I’m telling the truth if you just listen.

I’m not talking about the Bible., The Bible, by itself, is a wonderful thing. It tells and important story. It gives us some amazing lessons. Above all, it gives us hope. It’s an amazing amazing book. And deserves to be read and revered.

The problem comes when someone picks something out of the Bible and they build a whole “thing” out it. When they ignore the entire story of the Bible, when they force us to focus on a few verses and build an entire “mission” out of pushing that agenda they’ve created for themselves, we run into trouble.

You know who I’m talking about. He’s on the radio all the time. Sometimes he’s on TV. At first he seemed OK, but over time he’s developed an entire career around his message.

And it’s all a lie. Lie upon lie. Lies and more lies. But you, dearest Church, may not recognize them. So let me bluntly, honestly, lay them out for you. You might not believe them at first, I know I didn’t WANT to believe them when someone pointed them out to me, but trust me, you will be better for knowing.

 

Lie number one:

The United States of America is a Christian Nation Based on Christian Values and/or is God’s Chosen Nation

I have no idea where this came from. The basic premise is that just as the nation is Israel was God’s chosen nation during the time of Moses and after, the United States of America is now God’s chosen nation during this time in history.

That must be in some lost or forgotten Testament of the Bible because as the Bible reads now I don’t see that at all.

Now, granted, some of our Founding Fathers were religious men, or at the very least theists (meaning they believe in the existence of God but not necessarily the Christian God), but as many, if not more, were atheists or agnostic. And yes, some very general “Christian” principles are part of the writings that our country is based on, it is arguable that they are EXCLUSIVELY Christian. In many people’s eyes, these things are just common sense and common decency. And many other countries of the world have these same principles in their founding documents or common legal writings.

So why is this a thing?

Because, generally, Americans think they are better than everyone. We like to hear that we’re the best country. That everyone wants to come here because we’re best. And why are we the best? Because God must approve of what we are doing by blessing us with wealth and military might.

Ugh. I call bullshit. Pardon my language, but I really can’t think of a better word. Other places in the world have fantastic health care, lower crime rates, almost zero poverty and zero unemployment. These places are, from a common man’s perspective, much better places to live. But they have fewer millionaires, so they aren’t the best. The reason they have fewer millionaires is because they put people above business. The exact opposite of what we do in the United States. America is the best if you scratch and beat and claw your way to the top, crushing people along the way.

How very Christian.

No. America is not God’s chosen nation. Christians are God’s chosen nation. We’re a nation of faith, not a nation of money and might or geography. We’re supposed to be a nation of love and caring for each other and the world, not a nation of government and guns.

Please, stop and consider. You’ll know I’m telling the truth about this lie.

 

Lie number two: 

There are groups of people that God hates, therefore it’s your job to hate them as well.

You’ve seen the picket signs. “That” church in Kansas is on the news all the time for going to funerals and other events. “God Hates Fags”. And while, outwardly, you the Church, reject their ways, inwardly you  agree with what they say. God does hate Fags. And He also hates Muslims. And He hates alcoholics. The list goes on and on.

And because God hates these things, you’re obligated to hate them too. Hate them with a passion. God needs you to do His hating for him here on Earth.

Now there are things God hates. The Bible makes that clear:

There are six things that the Lord hates,
seven that are an abomination to him:
haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
and hands that shed innocent blood,
a heart that devises wicked plans,
feet that make haste to run to evil,
a false witness who breathes out lies,
and one who sows discord among brothers.
– Proverbs 6:16-19 (ESV)

 Do not set up any wooden Asherah pole beside the altar you build to the Lord your God,  and do not erect a sacred stone, for these the Lord your God hates.
– Deuteronomy 16:21-22 (ESV)

(God speaking through the prophet Isaiah):
Your New Moon feasts and your appointed festivals
I hate with all my being.
They have become a burden to me;
I am weary of bearing them.
– Isaiah 1:14 (ESV)

“For I, the Lord, love justice; I hate robbery and wrongdoing. In my faithfulness I will reward my people and make an everlasting covenant with them. – Isaiah 61:8 (ESV)

And there are a few other similar verses I didn’t include for the sake of brevity, but these make my point. I don’t see anything about skin color, where people come from, who they love, how much money they have, what they do for a living….. All those things you’ve been told to hate because God hates them? Where are they in the Bible? And where does God command you to do His hating for him?

You’ve been lied to, church. God is God. He doesn’t need you to do His hating. He needs you to be aware of what He hates so you don’t do it. What he need you to do is LOVE. The word hate shows up in the (English) Bible 127 times. Most of those verses are about a person hating another person or the actions of another person. Only a few are about God hating something. The word LOVE shows up 686 times.* And many of them are commands to one person, or to us, to love another or to love all men. God commands us to love, he doesn’t command us to hate.

And to make matters worse, you don’t differentiate between things and people.  Oh sure, you say “love the sinner, hate the sin”, but you don’t see the sinner as a PERSON, you only see sinner and therefore only see the sin.  All you do is use labels. Gay. Muslim. Unwed mother. Divorced. But people are PEOPLE. People are not the labels we put on them. They’re not (only) sinners. They have jobs and lives and feelings and families and are more than just a label.

Please, Church, think this through for yourself. Again you’ll see that you’ve been lied to. Your purpose is not to hate, never to hate, always to love. And to love selflessly, completely, and insanely. Love PEOPLE. All people. Leave the hate behind.

*Results are from the English Standard version. Different versions may have slightly different counts of the words ‘hate’ and love, but the verses, the lessons, are identical in meaning.

Lie number three:

It’s important to use any political influence you have to enact laws that will force others to live as you believe God intended, even if they reject your God.

By all means, vote, run for school board or mayor or city council or anything you like if you are able. I think it’s very important for everyone to be as politically active as they can be.

But I also believe that being politically active means you have a responsibility to everyone and not your own interests.

Dear Church, you have been told a huge lie in this area. You have been told that the only thing you should be doing, politically if you should be politically active at all, is forcing everyone to live as God intended. Or rather, as someone has told you God intended. Abortion. Marriage rights. Climate change (or rather the non-existence thereof). You’ve been told these are religious issues and they are the most important things to the religious voter and therefore it’s your responsibility to vote for the candidate that has God’s interests at heart in these things. And to hell with anyone that disagrees or will be harmed by the actions of that candidate.

There are important things that need your political attention. Your local school board. The city council. Whether a bond measure that will fix that dangerous bridge at the edge of town should be passed. Those are important things. Very important things to your everyday life. And there are important things at the state and national level too, things you’re probably ignoring because you’re too busy listening to that guy on the radio saying that abortion is the most important issue of our time and that same-sex marriage is a sign of the Apocalypse.

Dearest Church, you were never, ever called to force people, through legislation, to do things or not do things. You can argue that Jesus was not aware of the democratic process and therefore never spoke of it, but that doesn’t excuse you from trying to force your neighbor to live in a way that is detestable to him or her. You were never intended to take over the government to do God’s will here on earth. God is GOD. God’s will won’t be thwarted by the actions or inactions of man. God doesn’t need your vote. Your neighbors do. Your kids do. The stop sign that needs to be put up at the corner of Main Street needs your vote.

You can’t legislate morality. You can’t legislate love or choices. Oh sure, you can make them illegal, but the legality of something doesn’t mean it can or will end. In fact doing so could have disastrous effects. Something that is safe and legal can become dangerous.

Vote. Run for office. Support your candidates, but do so intelligently. Do so in a way that loves your neighbor, not fans the flames of division.

Lie number four:

There’s only one kind of Christian and anyone that is not the same kind of Christian as you is doomed to eternal Hellfire.

Why are there so many denominations within Christianity? Especially in the United States? According to the 2006 Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches, there are 217 Christian denominations. Two. Hundred. And Seventeen.  That seems insane to me.

But you have been told, Church, that yours is the only one that is “right”. Yours is the only true denomination and everyone that doesn’t attend with you on Sunday morning is doomed. They’re all going to Hell. It doesn’t matter if they sing the same songs as you, it doesn’t matter if they use the same Bible as you (translations are huge problem too, aren’t they? But that’s for another discussion), it doesn’t matter if their building is exactly the same as your’s, if they aren’t part of your denomination then they are lost. They’re cursed to endure eternal Hellfire.

It must be true, right? Because (insert name here) founded your denomination because they learned/discovered/were told by God Himself/told by an angel that all other churches were wrong/corrupt/used the wrong translation/allowed women to do stuff/didn’t allow women to do stuff/followed the wrong Jesus.

And obviously your guy is right and all those other guys that claim the same thing are wrong.

Denominationalism is both the best and worst thing to happen to you, Church. On the one hand, it’s made you bigger, it’s made you stronger, it’s made you look and learn and study and debate and discuss things. But on the other it’s made you smug, it’s made you feel superior, it’s made you argue, and in some cases it’s even made you kill.

Worse, it’s made you tell people they are going to Hell. That they are going to be eternally punished because they are just not right with God. That they are doomed to eternal Hellfire because they are Catholic or Anglican or Lutheran or whatever – because they don’t go to the same building as you, they are just not perfectly right with God they are doomed to burn forever.

We even tell it to children. Little children that aren’t really able to make a decision on something as important God. We tell them they are not right and they better get right or they’re going to die forever. That’s practically child abuse.

Are there ‘bad’ denominations? ‘Bad’ congregations? Well, sure, probably. But is it YOUR job to to judge them? Everyone you see, every face, is beloved by God. Consider how much God wants to punish anyone He loves.

You can’t be sure that everyone that doesn’t attend your church, that isn’t part of your local congregation is ‘wrong’. You should instead, assume, that they are all loved, because they are.

Lie number five:

Eternal Hell Fire.

 

I had started to write a whole big discussion on the debate as to whether Hell is real or not. Instead I am going to put my personal opinion and the entire theological debate aside to get to the real point I want to make:

The point of Heaven, of Jesus’ death on the cross, of fogiveness and redemption is NOT simply to avoid Hell.

I say again: there is more to being a Christian than just avoiding Hell.

There’s a Christian (or rather he calls himself a ‘Conservative’) comedian that  I’ve seen a couple of times. Both times he does a ‘rant’ at the end of his show that ends with this: “So, you say, mr funny guy, that I should only believe in God so I don’t go to ‘Hell’? Pretty much.”

NO! NO NO NO NO NO NO!! A buzgillion times, no.

If you are just looking for ‘fire insurance’ I think you are missing the point. If God is real and you believe He’s real and you believe that Jesus did what He did, then you need to do more than be content that you aren’t going to Hell. If you aren’t moved to respond to God with love and compassion and giving to your fellow man, then do you really actually believe?

Hell is not the point. Heaven is not the point. Love is the point.

Lie number six:

You have to like things that are “Christian” like movies and music and books while ignoring or even destroying movies, music, and books that are not “Christian”

Not all that long ago we heard a lot about Harry Potter book burnings. We sometimes hear about this leader or that holding a Quran burning. When I was in high school the big thing was to burn ‘bad’ music. Kids would bring their Kiss and AC/DC tapes to church and throw them in a fire. The kids would then be presented with a pamphlet that gave them Christian alternatives to popular artists. (“If you like Boston, you’ll like Petra”, that kind of thing.)

I mentioned a Christian comedian in the last section. He is actually kind of funny. Not brilliantly funny, but kind of funny. Mediocrilly funny.

And that kind of describes most things in Christian culture, mediocre. Christian music, Christian books, Christian comedy, Christian kids shows… all of it is really, honestly, pretty mediocre. I would even go so far as to say that mediocre is the high mark and most of it is really terrible.

“Oh, but I like Third Day! And I like that movie with Nicholas Cage in it!” That’s OK, you’re allowed to like what you like. Even if it is pretty mediocre in my opinion.

But the problem isn’t the quality of Christian music or films. The problem comes when church leaders insist that you have to ONLY like stuff you find at a Christian store and must forsake things in “secular” culture. Worse, you have to actually despise secular things so much you have to destroy them. And also push the Christian stuff on your kids and family.

If you want to be sure to push your kids to listen to AC/DC, tell them they aren’t allowed to listen to AC/DC.

Now, granted, the Bible does say “Do not be conformed to this world…” (Romans 12:2) and “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever isjust, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” (Philippians 4:8). But what do those MEAN? Do they mean that everything that is labeled “Christian” is ‘good’ and everything “Not Christian” is ‘bad’? Are we to avoid great works of are in the museums of Paris because we don’t know for certain that their artists were Christians? Should we only look at things Thomas Kincade paints because we know he’s a Christian (or at least claims to be?) Are we to avoid great works of classical music because we don’t know if the composers are now in Heaven? Should we only listen to Micheal W. Smith and Amy Grant because we know they are Christians (or at least claim to be?)

How insane is that?

I don’t think that’s what the Bible is saying. I think the point is where you put your love. What do you love more? The music of Led Zepplin or your kids? What should you love more? The books of JK Rowling or your neighbor? Should we set fire to everything that we see as ‘bad’? Becasue after a while, if we follow everyone’s opinions of what we think God wouldn’t like, that fire would get pretty huge.

The bottom line, though, is what is the intent of people telling you to only shop for music at Family Christian Stores (or similar places)?

They’re trying to get you to buy stuff. They’re trying to get you to spend money and make a profit. Yes, even Christian stores are there to make money. And that, honestly, is a worse sin than listening to the Beatles, simply aquiring things, filling our lives with things.

And that, just getting more an more things, is more conforming to the world than the things themselves.

Lie number seven:

You need to be afraid. Very very afraid of a whole long list of things. And if you’re not afraid you’re not faithful enough.

Isis. Big government. Iran. Syria. Terrorists. Fluoridated water. These are all things that I’ve heard political candidates, who refer to themselves as Christians (and are running because “God told them to”), say we need to fear. And that’s only a few of the things we should fear. And it’s not just politics, too many church leaders are preaching fear. Fear of everything from immigration to what’s in our food.

Why do they want us to be afraid?

One answer. Control. If you are afraid, then you will cling to the thing or person that you think has the way to keep you safe. In the case of the church, most often it will be the leader telling you what to be afraid of. Obviously they have ‘the answer’ because they’re talking about it. In some churches, it’s  guns. God gave us guns to keep us safe.

No, I’m not kidding. I know one right here locally.

But you know what the Bible says?

Fear not.

“Fear not, Abram, I am your shield”
“Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is”
“Fear not, for I am with you and will bless you and multiply your offspring”
“Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord”
“Fear not; do not be dismayed.”
“fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God”
“fear not; say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!”
“fear not, for I am with you”
“Fear not, I am the one who helps you”
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine”
“Fear not, nor be afraid; have I not told you from of old and declared it?”
” fear not the reproach of man, nor be dismayed at their revilings”
“fear not, peace be with you; be strong and of good courage”
“Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.”
“Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”
“Fear not, I am the first and the last”

All of these are either God speaking or Jesus.

Now the Bible does say we should fear God. For example, Acts 9:31 – “So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied.”

But did that mean they walked around, cowering in fear of what God would do? And how do we reconcile that with the “comfort” of the Holy Spirit?

The word in Greek (the earliest manuscripts we have of most of the new testament are in Greek) here is “phobos”, the root of the word we use in English as “phobia”. But in Greek, as in English, context is everything. Phobos also means “astonishment” or “amazement”. They weren’t afraid of God while being comforted by the Holy Spirit, they were AMAZED by what god was doing. They were ASTONISHED. Not cowering.

If we follow God. If we call ourselves Christian, then we have nothing to fear. And Isis and Iran and fluoride are nothing.

If we put our trust in God, then why are we talking about this stuff?

Granted, we shouldn’t be stupid about it. But we can talk about common sense ways to deal with terrorists and war without giving in to fear.

Lie number eight:

The Bible is perfectly clear on how we’re supposed to feel about just about everything, especially concerning the actions of other people.

There is only one thing to say about this. The Bible is not an instruction manual. It contains instructions on how to build the Tabernacle and what to do if Israelites found mold on their walls, but as for things like sex, marriage, medicine, education, and so on, the instructions are either obsolete or not existent.

Certainly the principles that the Bible teaches can be applied to you life. But if you think the Bible is meant to be a step by step instruction manual for every little part of your life, then you haven’t read it.

A huge part of the Bible is history, history of the Israelites. And instructions for how they were to live in the desert and the promised land. Other parts are songs and stories. And there are letters.

Certainly there are things to be learned. But it’s not a sex manual. It’s not a marriage manual. It’s not a medical journal.

And above all it’s not a political manual on how to govern people that don’t believe in the Bible. It’s not something that is meant to be used to clobber people that don’t believe it. It’s not meant to be a book of laws to dictate the lives of people everywhere.

We don’t get to say “The Bible says this is wrong, so you shouldn’t do it”. I’m not talking about things that are obviously wrong, like murder. There are law codes that pre-date the Biblical record that show that there are things, like murder, that are pretty commonly agreed upon as wrong. But there are other things, like eating pork, like having tattoos, that we can’t insist on making law because “The Bible is against it”.

And yes, I am tap-dancing around Same-Sex Marriage and Abortion. These are two things , among many, that the Bible is not clear on – I don’t care what anyone says, there is nowhere in the Bible that definitively says “do not get an abortion” or “do not let two men enter into the contract of marriage”. And nowhere does it say “enforce these laws I have given to you upon all people everywhere even if they don’t agree with you”.

It just doesn’t. I challenge you to show me where the Bible says any of those things. Not your “interpretation”, where it definitively says it.

You can certainly use the Bible to guide your life, but you have to agree that it’s not a step by step instruction manual for anything other than things that applied to the ancient Israelites. Now if you want to follow those instructions, more power to you, but I think you’ll find their treatment for things like leprocy to be far less effective than modern medicine.

Lie number nine: 

Women.

Pretty much everything taught in churches about women and their place in the church and society is a lie, so it’s hard to narrow it down to one lie.  Even in my own church there is a ‘tradition’ that women aren’t allowed to speak during the service. Oh, they can talk to greet people, they can sing, but they can’t read a verse from the Bible, nor can they lead prayer or do the Lord’s Supper meditation. (Our current preacher is trying to change it, but is’s been engrained into our congregation for so long that it’s really hard to shake it.)

One preacher even offered that women are meant to be Baby Makers. And that’s it. That’s their only job. And if a woman doesn’t want a child, she’s condemned to eternal Hellfire (see previous sections for my opinion on that).

(He didn’t last long at our church and I honestly don’t know where he is now.)

But dang it everyone, why do we do this? Why do we insist that women don’t have a real place in any part of the church?

I don’t… I can’t…. I don’t even know what else to say on this topic other than EVERYONE THAT TRIES TO SUBJUGATE WOMEN IS WRONG. WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG! God made men and women in his image (Genesis). If women are in the image of God just like men, then they deserve an equal place in the church, in the workplace, and in the world.

Period. The end.

 

Lie number ten: 

You must always be happy. Even though you need to be afraid (see number eight), you must always be happy. Happy happy happy. Because you’re “saved” and you are “loved” so be happy! And if you’re not happy, you’re obviously not faithful enough.

There is even a “churchy” word for this. Pollyanna. Someone is a ‘Pollyanna” if they are always happy. You can recognize these folks because they say things like “God is blessing my socks off!” and “God couldn’t bless me more if He tried!”

But there is a worse side to this than someone who is just so fake happy all the time.

I’m going to get a little personal here.

I struggle with clinical depression. I take medication for it and it’s pretty well controlled, but some days are a real struggle. Doctors and psychiatrists say it’s a disease. I don’t like that because in my mind a disease is something really medical like cancer or diabetese. Something you can look at in your blood and see that something is objectively not right. Depression isn’t like that. it’s not like there is something that is in your blood that you can look at and say “yep, that’s not right. (I have seen medical journal articles that there some promising tests being done that could lead to a test that could definitively diagnose the chemical imbalance that causes clinical depression, but it could be years and years before it’s a reality.)

One thing I hear all the time, all the freaking time, is “You’re depressed? Pray harder!” and “If you have enough faith, you wouldn’t be depressed” and “God loves you! If you knew that you’d be happy”.

GAH!

God never promised you’d be happy all the time. God never promised you’d never be sick. God never promised you wouldn’t have or get a disease. But Peter wrote, “Cast your anxieties on him because he cares for you”. No where does it say you will never have those anxieties. Or any other problems.

Faith is not magic. Faith is not a miracle cure. Faith, in faith itself, is nothing. It’s in where your faith is placed. Can God heal me of depression? sure. Will He just because I have faith in him? Maybe, maybe not.

But the fact that He hasn’t (yet) is no indication of my faith. At all.

Anyone that tells you they are always forever happy because of their faith is a liar. It’s not possible to be always forever happy. And not being happy, or not happy,  is not an indicator of faith or love. Depression, or any other psychological or medical condition is not an indicator of being sent to hell.

Drop it with the freaking hell stuff already.

 

 

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