I read an article yesterday talking about the "literal translation of the Bible". There are many different ways to look at the Bible, and many theories concerning its interpretation. Some say that the Bible is the word of God, no ifs ands or buts, what is says is what it means and there should be no question about that. On the other end of this spectrum are those who believe that the bible is a group of fairy tales. Fables made up by a group of authors who were too ignorant to understand how life was formed, so made up their own versions and wrote them down.
Then there are those who fall at various places between those two groups. Many believe you can't take the Bible literally, and many believe that some of the Bible was meant to be literal, while other parts were not.
Now for where I fall on this spectrum.
A little over 200 years ago a group of people sat down and penned a document meant to be a guide or a set of rules for how the government of the United States is to be run. Within that document they set up a procedure to be used for making changes. They knew that times would change and that changes would be needed. My belief is that we are so far removed from what those founders intended when they started this country that they might be turning over in their graves if they had seen some of the ways in which the things they wrote have been misinterpreted. So...if over a 200 year time span we have misinterpreted what was written in English, then is it unreasonable to believe that books written over 2000 years ago, in languages that are no longer spoken have been misinterpreted? Or at least their intent? Add to that the fact that (and anyone who has ever learned a 2nd language knows this) a literal interpretation from one language to another is often impossible. For example, in German the phrase "Was ist los?" means "What's going on?" or "What's up?" The literal translation is "What is loose?" So sometimes, when translating from one language to another requires knowing the original intent.
One example of this was part of the sermon the pastor at my church gave last Sunday. The Bible says “Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall be put to death.” Rev. Steindham went on to discuss some things about how the Bible was written and interpretted. He went on to say some of the same things I had come to believe, that being that the Bible was written by men. Also, that the Bible was translated from one language to another, and that language itself has evolved greatly over the last 2000 years, and the language being used at that time had fewer words, and fewer ways to express the information they were trying to get across.
So, did God really mean to say that if you worked on the Sabbath you should be put to death? Ironically, I didn't see this sermon, I read it later....because I was at work on Sunday morning and unable to attend church.
When it's all said and done, my belief is that, when I find myself in heaven at the end of my earthly life, I will find out that no one on earth today had it completely right.
Then there are those who fall at various places between those two groups. Many believe you can't take the Bible literally, and many believe that some of the Bible was meant to be literal, while other parts were not.
Now for where I fall on this spectrum.
A little over 200 years ago a group of people sat down and penned a document meant to be a guide or a set of rules for how the government of the United States is to be run. Within that document they set up a procedure to be used for making changes. They knew that times would change and that changes would be needed. My belief is that we are so far removed from what those founders intended when they started this country that they might be turning over in their graves if they had seen some of the ways in which the things they wrote have been misinterpreted. So...if over a 200 year time span we have misinterpreted what was written in English, then is it unreasonable to believe that books written over 2000 years ago, in languages that are no longer spoken have been misinterpreted? Or at least their intent? Add to that the fact that (and anyone who has ever learned a 2nd language knows this) a literal interpretation from one language to another is often impossible. For example, in German the phrase "Was ist los?" means "What's going on?" or "What's up?" The literal translation is "What is loose?" So sometimes, when translating from one language to another requires knowing the original intent.
One example of this was part of the sermon the pastor at my church gave last Sunday. The Bible says “Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall be put to death.” Rev. Steindham went on to discuss some things about how the Bible was written and interpretted. He went on to say some of the same things I had come to believe, that being that the Bible was written by men. Also, that the Bible was translated from one language to another, and that language itself has evolved greatly over the last 2000 years, and the language being used at that time had fewer words, and fewer ways to express the information they were trying to get across.
So, did God really mean to say that if you worked on the Sabbath you should be put to death? Ironically, I didn't see this sermon, I read it later....because I was at work on Sunday morning and unable to attend church.
When it's all said and done, my belief is that, when I find myself in heaven at the end of my earthly life, I will find out that no one on earth today had it completely right.
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