| Biblical Translation: Genesis
The word, “translate” means “to render from one language into a different language.” We base our beliefs, and most of our theology, on proper translation. If the translation is not accurate, then our beliefs and theology are not accurate. One word can create tremendous repercussions. We will use Genesis as being representative of the Old Testament.
A translation that is flawless may be worthless! There is a large probability that many of the details presented in the Bible are not accurate. This is FACT. As modern people we are incapable of reading the Bible in the same context as it was written!
We know our world is polluted in the physical sense. How do we know? We see it in our everyday lives. We read about it in the paper. Television bombards us with the message that the world is polluted. How much thought do you give to that? This may come as a shock to you, but the vast majority of Americans don’t care! They are tuned out, so to speak! If we wrote an article about pollution and could send it back 3,500 years into the past, would anyone be able to relate to it? Could they relate to any part of our modern contemporary times?
Biblical history is as polluted as we are! The writers of the Old Testament had something completely different in mind. They told stories. The stories themselves had very little meaning or importance! The purpose of these stories was to convey, in simple terms, a lesson or message. Most of the messages in The Old Testament are contained in the Ten Commandments. Modern man ignores the message and studies the facts, which are not facts! The Old Testament writers ignored the facts and studied the message. The Christian Church is embroiled with facts, not messages. We are one hundred and eighty degrees out of synchronization. While scholars and intellectuals debate these facts, they ignore the message. These are the people we follow in our quest for knowledge (facts) while we ignore the wisdom, which is the lesson! That is a mouthful. Read this over several times. Be certain you have a sense of its meaning in your heart.
It is truly unfortunate that so much of what we get out of the Bible depends on translation. The Books of Moses were written in Hebrew then translated into Aramaic. The Aramaic language lacked many words of the same or significant meaning as the original Hebrew. The translator had to translate something similar but not the same. The Torah came out in a first new edition in the 1st century in Aramaic. This Aramaic Torah was then translated into Greek with the same problems. The Greek translation was then translated into Latin. With the Reformation, the Catholic Bible was used as the base text to translate the first Protestant versions. English is one of them. We start with Hebrew and Aramaic. Then we translate to Greek, Latin and finally to English. I know of at least 75 different translations of the Bible. I am sure there are many more. Most are flawed in some manner or another. Which translation is right? If you have been using only one version, there is a very high probability that what you are reading IS NOT CORRECT! There are ways you can detect what is or is not true. This is accomplished by direct comparison of scripture. I usually work with between six and ten different translations.
There is no sin, no wrong and no punishment for you. Regardless of your faith, you may read every Bible you can find. THERE IS, HOWEVER, A GREAT DANGER IN YOUR ACCEPTING THE TRANSLATION OF ANY ONE PARTICULAR BIBLE. They should be used as companions. This enables you to see where consistency exists. If certain scripture is consistent, it is probably correct. If, on the other hand, they are all inconsistent there is a major problem. It means these Bibles may be written with a bias. This is very common. Many churches have rewritten scripture to make it conform to their belief system. In other cases a genuine change is required. Sometimes physical evidence may support a change. Remember, we are working with the book of Genesis. One of the oldest books of the Bible. It is the only book of mythology. We are using this text to demonstrate how consistency, bias and physical evidence can alter translation. Let’s study Genesis 1:1-3.
The Jewish Torah New JPS Translation “When God began to create heaven and earth-the earth being unformed and void, with darkness over the surface of the deep and a wind from God sweeping over the water-God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light.” (JPS Gene. 1:1-3)
Douay-Rheims Bible (Catholic, Circa 1749-1752) “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was void and empty, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God moved over the water. God said: ‘Be light made.’ And light was made.” (DR Gene. 1:1-3)
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And said, let there be light: and there was light.” (KJV Gene. 1:1-3) Protestant New International Version “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said ‘let there be light,’ and there was light.” (NIV Gene. 1:1-3) Protestant Revised Standard “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters. And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.” (RS Gene. 1:1-3)
Protestant Living Bible “When God began creating the heavens and the earth, the earth was at first a shapeless, chaotic mass, with the Spirit of God brooding over dark vapors. Then God said ‘Let there be light.’ And light appeared.” (LB Gene. 1:1-3) Protestant Life Application Bible “When God began creating the heavens and the earth, the earth was a shapeless, chaotic mass, with the Spirit of God brooding over the dark vapors. Then God said, ‘Let there be light.’ And Light appeared.” (LAB Gene. 1:1-3) The Catholic One Year Living Bible “When God began creating the heavens and the earth, the earth was a shapeless, chaotic mass, with the Spirit of God brooding over the dark vapors. Then God said, ‘Let there be light.’ And Light appeared.” (CLB Gene. 1:1-3) The first thing you should note is the Jewish Torah. Remembering history we know the tradition of the Hebrews and their devotion to accuracy. ALL CHRISTIAN BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT ARE ROOTED IN THE TORAH. The second thing of note is the translation from the Catholic Bible is circa 1752. These two sources will act as a control and benchmark for the Protestant Bibles that are all contemporary.
In each Bible, except for the Living Bible and the Life Application Bible, all the translations have changed very little from the Torah and the 18th century Catholic Bible. The Life Application Bible is from a different edition of the Living Bible. In most cases they are almost exactly alike. This, hopefully, will help to dispel some of the unfounded beliefs that the Catholic Bible is significantly different from the Protestant Bibles. It is not. This also brings up another question. Why is it necessary to nit-pick the words to death? Most of the changes are so insignificant that it raises more questions without answers. Using the first line or phrase of Genesis 1:1, which Biblical version is correct? They all sound pretty much alike. “In the beginning God Created the Heaven and the earth.”
Read them again. Which one would you pick and why? Make believe that the consequences of being wrong could range from a loss of God’s Power to answer your prayers to condemnation to Hell itself! Do not make your decision based on your church, the Bible you read, or your choice of belief systems. We should all agree on this translation. In the next chapter on interpretation we will not be using Genesis. However, we have a major interpretation problem with this verse that should be noted. What or which beginning are we discussing? Is it the beginning of God, the beginning of time, or the beginning of the creation of the earth? It is universally interpreted to mean the beginning of the earth. This is correct as far as the translation goes. The next problem is the creation of Heaven and the earth. It is saying that God created Heaven and earth in the beginning. This means at the same time. This is not correct. Heaven is God’s Home. It has existed since before time. God did not create Heaven. He is Heaven. Just as He is everything that exists. Ancient man was not capable of comprehending “before time” or Heaven. He refereed to the sky as Heaven, believing that God lived in the heavens meaning the sky. This should have been changed to “In the beginning God created the sky and the earth.” Why is this so? Man could relate to sky and the earth. He believed God lived in the sky. We still look up to Heaven, to the sky! God is not in the sky. He is in Heaven. The concept of Heaven is still a problem for most contemporary Christians. The second line is more difficult:
The Jewish Torah JPS Translation “...the earth being unformed and void, with darkness over the surface of the deep....” Douay-Rheims Bible (Catholic, Circa 1749-1752) “And the earth was void and empty and darkness was on the face of the deep....”
“And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep.” Protestant New International Version “Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep....” Protestant Revised Standard “The earth was without form and void and the darkness was upon the face of the deep....” Protestant Living Bible “...the earth was at first a shapeless, chaotic mass....” Protestant Life Application Bible “...the earth was a shapeless, chaotic mass....” The Catholic One Year Living Bile “...the earth was a shapeless, chaotic mass....”
Five of the Bibles say about the same things: unformed, void, empty, without and darkness over the face of the deep. All are mixed and matched, but the substance of the meaning is clear. What is not so clear is how to justify the nit-picking and the moving around of words. Do you believe you could take this phrase, or sentences, and sit down with a Jew, a Roman Catholic and the Protestants and hammer out a translation that is exactly the same for everyone? Why don’t the translators do it?
BECAUSE ALL OF THE INTELLECTUALS AND SCHOLARS WOULD HAVE TO GO OUT OF BUSINESS! IT WOULD ALSO THREATEN THE SECTARIAN NATURE OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. THIS IN TURN WOULD CONSTITUTE A THREAT TO CHURCH LEADERSHIP. ONCE YOU HAVE A BUREAUCRACY IN PLACE, IT IS VERY HARD TO ELIMINATE IT!
Human nature is at its very worst when it comes to religion. If you strip the Sunday suit off a Baptist Minister and the robes off of a Catholic Priest, you will find that they are both cut from the same bolt of cloth. The have different beliefs, but there is a commonality of their human natures. Their natures are the same. Their beliefs are different. Is it their beliefs that stand in the way of dialogue, or is it their natures? We can all discuss beliefs objectively when our human nature is not involved. Once human nature is involved, we can’t agree on anything. This is what Christ had to face with the Sadducees and Pharisees. They just weren’t going to listen. Their minds were closed. Returning to the translations, we find the Living Bible and Life Application Bible are very different from the others. The first five Bibles say dark, void, empty, and without form. The Living Bibles say the earth was a: “shapeless, chaotic mass.” There is no problem comparing the words “shapeless” and “without form.” They mean the same. But, why do we change it? What purpose does it serve? The answer is simplification and using words that are more in keeping with 20th century communication. It is a good choice. One word more clearly explains what it took two words to say and nothing is lost in the translation! The answer is contained in the question.
We are left with the words “dark” and “void” as opposed to “chaotic mass.” A dark void is the complete opposite of a chaotic mass! What gives a translator the right or justification to change the sacred and divinely inspired Word of God? The problem is the same. Ancient man was incapable of comprehending a chaotic mass, whereas he could understand a dark void. Do you understand what a “chaotic mass” is? How easy is it for you to understand a dark void? The human race has still not achieved a proficient understanding of the world around us. A definition of chaotic mass would elude most Christians today.
How large is the leap of faith from the other Bibles to the Living Bible? NONE! This is an exception to the rule. It is based on physical evidence! Thousands of years ago, man had a limited knowledge of the world around him. He described the world he could both see and understand. How could the earth be formless and empty? If it was formless and empty, it was not there! We would be saying: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, now the earth was empty.” How could the earth be empty if God created Heaven and earth? It is a contradiction to twentieth century man. To the ancients it made perfect sense. But, was their translation the same translation we are using? This is where the Interpretationalists and Literalists bang heads. One can argue that the translation of specific words retains the original words of the Bible, but the words being used do not necessarily have the same meaning to us as they did to our ancient ancestors. What is important is the lesson, and not the words. What is the lesson?
“God created the earth.” God is the creator. The details really mean nothing. It is the lesson that is important. There is another problem. If we have a formless, dark void or empty earth, how can it be on the “surface of the deep”? Surface of what deep? This is taken to mean water, what water? If something is void or empty it means nothing is there. How can water be there if nothing is there? Again, the same problem exists. Earlier, I spoke about man studying the facts that were not facts and not the lesson. This completely explains that statement. We study the words and try to make sense of them, even when they are different, contradict one another and/or are impossible. In so doing we ignore the message. The message is the same: GOD IS THE CREATOR. That is the lesson. The words we read were written for a people that existed 3,500 years ago. These same words have been in constant translation and retranslating from Bible to Bible.
This is why Christ came to us. He brought us a message that was much easier for us to understand and believe. Unfortunately, we have made the same mistakes in the New Testament. Further, the coming of Christ replaced the Old Testament text except for the Ten Commandments. Another extremely important concept which many Christians refuse to accept is a MAJOR DISCLOSURE in the creation concepts.
The Jewish Torah JPS Translation “...and a wind from God sweeping over the water.” Douay-Rheims (Catholic, Circa 1749-1752) “...and the Spirit of God moved over water.” Protestant Kings James Version “And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” Protestant New International “...and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” Protestant Revised Standard “...and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters.” Protestant Living Bible “...the Spirit of God brooding over dark vapors.” Protestant Life Application Bible “...with the Spirit of God brooding over the dark vapors.” The Catholic One Year Living Bile “...with the Spirit of God brooding over the dark vapors.”
There is something very important here. Do you see it? The Torah refers to a “wind” from God. The Jews implicitly understand this to be the Spirit of God. I can attest to why God’s Spirit is called the Wind of God. When asking for the answer to a prayer, or for a miracle, I often feel a breeze that transcends anything human. I know that prayer will be answered!
The Douay-Rheims, King James and Revised Standard Bibles all use a small “s” in the word “spirit.” The New International, Living Bibles, and Life Application Bibles use a capital “S.” The capitalization infers a duality: God and His Spirit. God was not brooding over dark vapors. HIS SPIRIT WAS. Why is it vital to your salvation to acknowledge the Holy Spirit? Most contemporary churches do not know much about the Holy Spirit and His Power. Some churches have a creed that includes His name, but that’s about it. Somehow the Holy Spirit has been lost to the mainstream churches. You must recognize from the very start that God has more than one nature. The Holy Spirit is the beginning. He is the Power of the Universe.
What’s the big deal? A small “s” does not designate a spirit that is separate and apart from God, but rather being God’s spirit. The Holy Spirit is one in being with the Father, but He is also SEPARATE FROM THE FATHER! He is the Power of God!
We run into the nit-picking translation work here as well. To describe the action of the Holy Spirit, the words “sweeping,” “moved,” “hovering,” “moving,” and “brooding” are all used. Why? Can this lead to confusion? The Old Testament has approximately 1,300 pages. Multiply that by 47 translations and we are in big trouble! Things like the capital “S” versus the small “s” are translations of one letter. This is not a sentence or a word. It is only one letter. One letter can change everything we believe! It is dangerous to our spirits.
We also find reference to the water which is implied by the deep. Taking both in context, it is implied, but not stated, that God created the water before He created the earth. In Genesis 1:6-7 we find:
In our early verses we find deep water. A sky is implied to hold all of the water in the form of vapors. Dry land is indicated as being below the clouds. Clouds filled with rain above. Now this was the second day. This verse would have been more at home in Genesis 1:1-3, the first day. This is more contradiction. We have deep water. Then we have dry land and clouds. The clouds make the rain which creates the deep water, which covers the dry land. Then on the third day, “Let the water beneath the sky be gathered into oceans so that the dry land may emerge.” (Gene. 1:9-10)
To the modern reader, our common sense and our understanding of God’s Natural Laws and events as presented are not correct. Can you prove it? Absolutely, YES!
The laws of all nature are God’s Laws. His Natural Laws are unchangeable, predictable and immutable. They were the same forty-five billion years ago as they are today.
Is it possible that the original myth was handed down by word of mouth and changed many times before Moses recorded them 3,500 years ago? Is it possible that translation from one language into another can change the words? It is possible that different translations, by different translators, either copied what already existed or made changes that caused verses to became fragmented or improperly numbered? The answer to all of these questions is YES. We will come back to this for more answers shortly. The final statement is confirmed in all translations; God said, “Let there be light and there was light.” The translations all agree. We have that much in common. There are many questions about this statement as well.
I realize that this dialogue may be very confusing. That is the entire point! If we really try to work our way through just a few verses, we begin to understand the magnitude of the problems the translators must experience. When we put our math to it and calculate:
We gain tremendous insight into the intellectual and scholastic dilemmas of the contemporary church. What we should be accomplishing is clearing up this problem, not compounding it!
Modern man ignores the message and studies the facts (words), which are not facts! The Old Testament writers ignored the facts (words) and studied the message. The Christian Church is embroiled with facts (words), not the messages. We are trying to learn about God in our minds, based on words, when we should be learning lessons, from the messages, in our hearts. If we did, we would all find that we agree on almost everything! There is one more item about these verses. To whom is God speaking? He was talking to the Holy Spirit. God gave the command and the Holy Spirit did the work. God always gives the commands, and the Holy Spirit always does the work. The Holy Spirit does ALL of the work. You say, “I don’t believe it.” You say, “I pray to God. I do not need anyone else.” You are in trouble. Let Mark give you some advice. Christ is speaking, let’s listen to what He is saying.
What did Christ say? “I solemnly declare....” How strong does Christ’s language have to get before we understand and believe Him? What is blasphemy of the Holy Sprit? It is denial of, or refusing to, acknowledging that God’s Power is the Holy Spirit! The Spirit is one with the Father, yet separate in being. What is the penalty? You can never be forgiven! It is an eternal sin! Please do not panic, yet! We will discuss more about this later. Stay with me, I will answer your questions. You may have some serious thinking to do. The Holy Spirit is the physical creator of the universe and the maker of man. It was by the Power of the Holy Spirit that Christ performed His miracles. Christ did not do it Himself. He asked the Holy Spirit to do it for Him. Every Bible I have seen contains these words or ones of the same meaning. How many times has your pastor or preacher told you that blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is condemnation to Hell? Earlier we quoted John 1:1-2. John states Christ was with God and was God in the beginning. Another duality is contained in this verse: Christ was with God. This means Christ was separate and apart from God, and yet Christ was God. This means that Christ was not only separate from God, but also a part of God! This is the only direct reference to Christ being with God from the very beginning. Christ is never presented as the Third Person of God in the Old Testament. He is prophesied as the Savior of the Jews, but we do not “see Him” working or communicating with His people. WHY NOT? John states He was there in the beginning. Is John a Liar? Where is Christ alive, active and serving mankind in the beginning? Has your pastor or preacher ever explained this to you? WHERE WAS CHRIST? He is there. Do you know where He is? Has anyone told you? How important is this? It is crucial! I will give you clues before I come out with it.
As you can see, there are some awesome issues at work here. A proper understanding of all of these questions is necessary to have a proper relationship with God. These are far beyond the scope of our current discussion. We will address it at some depth later.
We have been studying creation with no physical evidence to support the Genesis Myth. Most Christians are caught up and arguing about meanings of verses, doctrines or theologies. These go back as least 3,500 years to the origin of the written word. No one knows the date of the beginning.
We are a religion of BACKWARD VISION. We keep looking backward. Our minds are closed. We all have hard heads. All of the different Christian sects cannot and/or will not agree on anything. With all these different belief systems, the odds of YOUR REACHING THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN ARE NOT GOOD! Christ is betrayed by this division. We are worried about the speck in someone else’s eye when we have a rod stuck in our own eyes. This is exactly what Christ was most worried about in His time. Do you think it any less in ours? Follow Christ and He will help you to turn from BACKWARD TO FORWARD VISION. Most people go through life on their own and go to God only AFTER they get in trouble. That’s BACKWARD VISION. We forget God when things are going well for us.
We had a couple of friends that were borderline Christians. They never went to church and never prayed. Their reason was their life was going so well; they were “afraid” God might change it! They believed things might start going wrong if they reached out to God!
On the other hand, there are those people who ignore God. They pray only in times of crisis or when they want something from God. This is like a child climbing into Santa’s’ lap and asking for toys or my two dollar bet with God. They are usually short on patience and quit praying if the answer is not immediate. If you place God in front of you, completely surrender to Him and commit to His answer, no matter what it is, God WILL BLESS YOU WITH FORWARD VISION. This is one of the great truths of prayer. True prayer is asking God to do everything in accordance with His Will, and for Him to show you the way. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT! In God’s truth, there is very little we can do about our secular lives. If we are “true disciples” then God can and will do anything for us! If I say to God, “I am Your servant,” I am placing myself in God’s hands. The act of commitment and surrender is the strongest prayer in the world. Most Christians cannot pray it with conviction. This is sad. It is, however, the center of the faith of the Islamic people. Most of them are willing to die for God (Allah)! We criticize them for it! We betray the Christian Martyrs, who died for Christ, when we do this. We still have not resolved the riddle of Genesis. We must understand that all Natural Law was made by God. God never changes, therefore Natural Law never changes with one exception, miracles. Miracles do not happen to things. Miracles happen to people! When the Jews fled from the Egyptians, did the Red Sea just open on its own or was it opened by God to save the Jewish people? The miracle was not for the water, it was for the people. We cannot fight Natural Law without the help of God. Otherwise Natural Law continues on without intervention. Many people try to fight Natural Law without any luck and with much chagrin.
The Natural Laws are called science. Science is primarily based on the identification of a problem or an interest in a natural occurrence. All the available relevant data is gathered. A hypothesis or educated guess is formulated. This is then empirically or experimentally tested. The fly in the ointment is what is relevant data. Man studies by observing God’s Natural Law. It is not always possible for man to gather all of the relevant data. What is fact one day is not fact the next day. God’s Laws of nature have not changed. Man’s perception of God’s Natural Laws change. Science at its zenith believed only in science. Nothing else could be right. Why? Because, they could prove it. Just as they could prove the world was flat! In reality, the further science advances it starts to approach an understanding of God’s Law. We must all accept this. It is fact! For years scientists have taught that the universe is in a STEADY STATE. The steady state theory postulated that the universe and everything in it had no beginning and no end. It just was. Whatever happened, happened by chance. This concept refuted the existence of a creation. Genesis had to be wrong. Therefore, the Bible was invalidated by science.
Let’s take a lesson from Exodus. We reported earlier that the Egyptians never recorded their failures. On the other hand they made a lot of noise about their victories. People have not changed much in 6,000 years. Our scientist’s are just like the Egyptians. They have been quite about a new discovery. This discovery changes everything. Few people know about it, and if any church authority knows about it they are not talking. WHY? THE SCIENTISTS HAVE PROVEN THAT THEY WERE WRONG ABOUT CREATION! These scientists are called Cosmologists. They use the most advanced methods of astronomy and physics to study the universe. Their predecessors believed in the no beginning and no end theory. In a nut shell here is THE TRUTH: In the beginning nothing existed beyond a kind of primordial soup (dark vapors). A SUPER FORCE brought the universe into being th. THIS SUPER FORCE WAS SO POWERFUL THAT IT TOOK LESS THAN ONE SECOND TO CREATE THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE! THE FORCE WAS SO POWERFUL, THAT WITHIN THAT ONE SECOND, ONE BILLION GALAXIES WERE BORN WITH APPROXIMATELY A BILLION STARS IN EACH GALAXY. The light produced by the creation was, and will continue to be, the brightest light ever created. Evidence of the creation exists to this very day and is under great study. God’s Laws of nature went into immediate effect upon creation. After the stars formed, some of them convulsed and created matter. In the beginning this matter was as a shapeless, chaotic mass. This mass formed the earth, which was a lifeless barren place. There was no water and no rain. The earth was too hot for water to exist. As the earth cooled, clouds were formed which caused the first rains. These eventually filled the steams, rivers and oceans. Before this event neither time, space nor mass existed. All were created at the same time. What is of major note is that science formally acknowledges the existence of a Super Force that existed before time, space, or mass existed, as we know it! Equally as important is their change of attitude toward relative data. This discovery is on the magnitude of Columbus proving that the world was not flat!
If we take our scientific evidence and relate it to Genesis, and make allowances for all the things we have debated, we find that Genesis has all the right “facts.” They are out of order and communicated for men who lived 3,500 years ago, but collectively they are correct! This is the message we get from the story. If we ignore the words and look for the message and the lesson, we cannot go wrong! Our creation myth is verified to be true. The true age of science has just begun. Science is finding more every day that supports the Biblical writing.
The Literalists, who refuse to believe anything unless it’s in the Bible, have defamed the Power of the Holy Spirit. By insisting that the Holy Spirit took six days to create our puny little world. He built the universe in less than a second. Why would a small job like creating the earth take six days? What is six days to God? How does God measure time? This is where you must separate myth from fact. The creation myth is based upon the truth. However, that truth had to be explained to simple people, in simple terms, and in a way they could understand. Did they know about infinity? Did they know or could they understand that the Holy Spirit created a billion galaxies, with a billion stars in each? Did they even know what a billion was? You are a 20th century reader, reading about myth’s that are many thousands of years old. YOU MUST BE ABLE TO FOCUS ON THE SPIRITUAL PURPOSE OF SCRIPTURE. YOU SHOULD NOT DIRECT MUCH EFFORT TOWARD THE WORLDLY WISE, INTELLECTUALS AND SCHOLARS WHO SEE ONLY WORDS! It is enough that God did it. It really does not matter how, when, where, which, or how many. Thank God for what you have received. Here is part of the problem. God speaks to His people in a way they can understand in the times they are living. So, whenever we read something it must be in the context of the times, with a few very important exceptions, especially the words of Christ. His words were meant to be stories that people could understand thousands of years ago. Any Christian who allows the WORDS OR STORIES TO GET IN THE WAY OF THE LESSON is no better off than the Pharisees and Sadducees. The Christians who want to play pick and choose are no different. We are missing the point of the Bible. What is important is what is God saying, not where, when, why, and how much. It is precisely this obstinate HUMAN need to know the where, when, what, why, how, and how many that has shattered the Christian world. Do you have trouble getting your children to church? Kids today are not interested in dusty old ideas, or questions that raise more unanswerable questions. They are not interested in any particular church. They are looking for something. They are not getting it from their parents or their church. O.K. You say WHAT about the creation of man. There is that “WHAT” word. Adam and Eve were NOT AT ALL LIKE US.
Interesting conversation, wasn’t it? Who is the “us” and the “like ourselves”? God is talking to someone else! The Holy Spirit! God instructed the Holy Spirit to create man. The same Holy Spirit that created the universe in less than a second, what power. Other scriptural interpretations of man are: “Let us make man in our image and likeness” (Douay-Rheims). “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” (Torah and King James). “God created man in his own image” (New International). The others say about the same thing.
The word “man” was referring to whom? Adam and Eve. The all powerful Holy Spirit is receiving a command from God. Make man in Our image and likeness. Would the Holy Spirit create anything less than what God told Him? Hardly! Adam and Eve were, in their being, closer to God than we are to Adam and Eve. Again, it’s a matter of translation and subsequent interpretation. The story depends on who is telling it and the how it is perceived by the listener. The truth is they were very special to God. They were the MASTERS of the earth AS ORDAINED BY GOD. No human being has been able to match their power. They were totally Spirit filled. They lived in Paradise. Their needs were filled by God. They were never going to die. Are you? The truth is that we must work, face social and family problems, we get sick and go to the doctor, we argue religion, and we are all going to die. We have never seen God. The Old Testament tells us that to look upon the face of God brings instant death. Adam and Eve saw God, why didn’t they die? All humanity, from the earliest myths to the present day, has a nature by which:
These sides of our nature run wild in the Bible. We want to be just like God and have our own way. This is the source of the dynamic of the New Age Movement. Its purpose is the denial of God and to replace Him with a new god, man himself. Man’s inclination to do this makes him easy prey to movements such as New Age. Many Christian churches have been penetrated by the New Age movement. They have invited Satan in through the front door, hung up his hat and coat, and invited him to live with them!
This part of man’s nature is the source of sin and conflict within the Christian community, both CHURCH and INDIVIDUAL alike. Your spirit is simply yearning to be like Adam and Eve. In the deepest part of your spirit you remember what once was. God has left a portion of His original blue print on you. He left it there not to push us away, but to remember our way home. Unfortunately, like Adam and Eve, we use and abuse the gifts of God to serve a lesser purpose than that offered us by our Lord and God. WE ARE NOT ADAM AND EVE! Here comes that question again. WHO are we?
WE know that Satan was present in the Garden of Eden. He is always around looking for weak people. Satan convinced Eve that God was a liar. It’s impossible for God to lie about anything, or else He would not be perfect. Science confirms that the universe and everything in it runs with absolute perfection. God is perfect. So is everything the Holy Spirit created.
Satan convinced Eve that if they ate of the forbidden fruit, growing on the Tree of CONSCIENCE OR KNOWLEDGE, that they would be just like God. Eve was convinced of her own extra special self worth, pride and infallibility. She eats of the fruit and gives Adam the same. This has far reaching implications. They had FREEDOM OF CHOICE. They were not puppets. God did not control their lives. They made their own decision to eat from the Tree of Knowledge. God did nothing to stop then. Man likewise has FREEDOM OF CHOICE. We go and do as we please. We decide what we are going to believe and what we are not going to believe. Our choices can be as redemptive as that of the Apostles or as sinful as the Saducees and Pharisees. FREEDOM OF CHOICE COMES AT A HIGH PRICE. All the people around you have FREEDOM OF CHOICE. Husbands cheat on their wives. Your children cannot be controlled. Your home can be broken into and your most prized possessions taken. You could be murdered in a drive by shooting.
When God discovered that they had eaten the fruit of the TREE OF KNOWLEDGE, He asked Adam why he did it. Adam said, “Eve made me do it.” God asks Eve and she said, “the Devil made me do it.” Doesn’t this sound familiar? It’s not my fault. The blame belongs elsewhere. On Judgment Day, do you think God is going to accept the excuse from you? It’s not my fault, my church made me do it! It’s not my fault, nobody told me! No, sadly, God did not accept that excuse from Adam and Eve. He is not going to accept from us either. Having sinned God hands forth His justice:
A number of answers are contained in these verses:
THE WORLD IS NOT UNDER GOD’S BLESSING. IT IS ACTUALLY UNDER HIS CURSE! YES, HIS CURSE: READ THE SCRIPTURE AND THIS PARAGRAPH AGAIN.
Some churches refer to this as “original sin” and believe that the act of Baptism is an antidote against “original sin.” It is not. Yes, one must be Baptized to gain entrance into Heaven but, it does not lift the burden of God’s Curse on mankind.
We see this curse everywhere. People get sick and some die. Are we randomly selected by God? Are we being punished for our sins? ABSOLUTELY NOT! This garbage finds its way into the Christian Church from the teachings of the Sadducees. They did not believe in life after death. They believed man was rewarded or punished on the earth according to his sins. This fully demonstrates how some churches are trying to follow both the Old and the New Testaments. This distorts our understanding. We blame God for our own ignorance. It is a sin. It is best described by God’s own words: “we will have to sweat to master it.” These same words hold forth a special promise from God. He is giving mankind the opportunity to regain Paradise Lost. The End Time predictions ARE NOT mandated and are highly overstated. Man can save himself. GOD HAS SAID SO! We have freedom of choice. Our flawed nature gets us into a lot of trouble. God’s Judgment was not a slap on the wrist. He tossed us out of Paradise to struggle among thorn bushes and eat grass. God may have been so angry that He made us into apes. We both stand erect, have an opposable thumb and large brains. Apes still scratch around the earth eating among thorns and weeds! We are not suggesting that mankind evolved from the apes. It is possible considering the severity of God’s punishment for Adam and Eve. The flood surely suggests God’s Judgment can be quite harsh. How much difference is there between a life killing flood or making early man an ape-like creature as punishment?
I know that the shock of God’s Curse has probably hit you from a blind side. Oh, how could God do this to us? See how easy it is to blame God? God is not to blame. He is perfect. We are the ones who are failing, just like Adam and Eve. Whatever church you attend, has your Pastor ever given you a teaching on this CURSE and what it means? Why not? If so, was it fluffed off? God hands forth His Judgment to the serpent-Satan:
What is God saying? This is the first of many Old and New Testament writings where Satan is present. Just as he tempted Eve, he tests us today. He is always looking to turn people from God to sin. Sin condemns man to Hell in the same way that sin condemned Adam and Eve. This is a clear statement that Satan is our enemy. He will do anything to get us to follow him. Note the scripture “I will put fear of you in the woman,” the word “woman” is in the singular tense. This points to a single person in the future. God is making His first reference to Mary. The prophets called her Woman. Christ did not call His mother as mother. He called her Woman. God wants us to make no mistake about whom we are speaking.
Man’s True Condition MAN IS UNDER GOD’S CURSE. ALL MANKIND HAS THE FREEDOM OF CHOICE, HE MAY CHOOSE EITHER GOOD OR EVIL. WE ARE SUBJECT TO THE FREEDOM OF CHOICE OF OTHERS. SATAN IS RULER OF THE EARTH. This, beloved of Christ, is what devastated my wife. In reality she was blaming God when things went wrong. “How could God do this to me?” or “Why does God let bad things happen to good people?” How can we win? God keeps us under His heavy yoke with His Curse! We make wrong decisions! These sins of others have harmed us!
NONE OF THIS IS TRUE. THIS IS THE WORK OF SATAN. HE GETS INSIDE OUR HEADS AND FILLS IT FULL OF LIES JUST LIKE HE DID WITH EVE! Satan’s angels are hard at work. Satan is waiting for us to weaken so he may claim his prize, OUR SPIRITS!
For each of these bad things there is an antidote. There is an antidote for God’s Curse. There is an antidote for making wrong decisions. There is an antidote for the sins of others. There is an antidote against Satan or his angels. It is called The Third Covenant of Jesus Christ. My wife still did not understand. She kept saying it’s not fair over and over again. Why did God do this or that to us? In each case, irrespective of its origin, God’s Curse, etc., we all tend to say things like:
Many Jews turned to atheism as a result of the atrocities of the Second World War. They always used the same words, “I cannot believe in a God who allowed six million Jews to be killed by the Germans.” God had nothing to do with it. Man’s guaranteed freedom of choice did, and Satan did.
A large portion of our human nature is negative. We always think the worst. Most of the time what we think is what we get. We also have problems dreaming, hoping, believing, trusting, and loving. If we have no dreams in the future, we have no hope in the present. If we have no hope in the present, we can never believe in a future that is different from our present thinking. Most of our prayers die because we never allow ourselves to dream. We never dream or hope for what could be. We expect our fate as more of the same old thing. Why do people commit suicide? They have no dreams and no hope in the future! This is the 21st century Christian powder keg. My wife is a Pastoral Care Minister in our local hospital. She has worked with hundreds of people, and made some astute observations. People who have no visitors have a higher mortality rate than those which have large numbers of visitors. Why? The one who has visitors is brought dreams and hope. He receives hope, faith and belief from his loved ones. Love is central to all healing. They also have a reason for living. The lonely patient receives none of this. It makes the difference. Another case can be made in the emergency room. For example, two patients are brought into the hospital. The one does not appear to be any danger. The other should already be dead. The one that appears O.K. dies and the other lives! Why? Sheer force of will? Could it be commitment and surrender to God?
There are many terminal patients who, to their doctors amazement, are completely healed as a result of some unknown phenomena. These patients are healed by the direct intervention of God.
There are many Disciples of Jesus Christ in prayer networks. When praying for a person who is ill, the network is strongest when the person is a Disciple of Jesus Christ. Many healings are the fruit of this work. The medical profession has formally recognized by statistical methodology that prayer does in fact have a tremendous impact on the healing process.
This strongly confirms what any good Christian should know. God has not deserted us. He is not unfair. You have the choice to sit back in blind surrender and accept your fate, or you can fight back and WIN! God gives us everything we need to overcome His Curse, our freedom of choice and our battle with Satan. We are engaged in a WAR OF GOOD VERSUS EVIL. If you refuse to believe and arm yourself, how can you blame God? Is God’s Judgment, His Curse, absolute? No, it is not. God clearly states we can MASTER THE EARTH. We are going to have to work (sweat) to do it. He has left us to continue in His work. We have the power to regain PARADISE LOST by seeking the Kingdom of God. God did not abandon us. He sent us Jesus Christ to Seal the Third Covenant with His death and Resurrection. Christ gave us The Third Covenant. He also gave us the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is with us to comfort and help us on our journey to the Kingdom of God. We are left to finish Christ’s work. He pleads with us to do this. THE FATALISTS, WHO ARE WAITING FOR THE END TIMES, NEED TO TRUST GOD. GOD GAVE US THE POWER TO MASTER THE EARTH. THE DEVIL ONLY HAS WHAT WE GIVE HIM. ABSOLUTELY NOTHING MORE. IF WE DEFEAT SATAN, THERE WILL BE NO END TIME! I strongly suggest that you BECOME MOTIVATED or you will not be fit for earth or Heaven!
In our discussion of Genesis, we have not found our missing link. Nothing in all of science has found a missing link. It is amazing how much we know about pre-human species of ape-like man. We then make a big jump and find modern man. How is it that thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, of pre-human species can be found, and then we jump over to modern man and find hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of their remains? At the same time, we can find nothing in between. Is that hard to comprehend? Using the collected data, the scientists extrapolate that something must exist between the two extremes. We have evidence, then no evidence, and then evidence again. These are HUGE samples based on the scientific method. They keep looking for this great find. A little common sense should tell them that the relevant data does not support their hypothesis. Science is confirming the Bible. What is important is that we do not allow prejudice, self pride and an overestimate of self worth to get in the way of our relationship with God. Whatever God did, through the Power of Holy Spirit, is His right. WE HAVE NO RIGHT TO ARGUE ABOUT SUCH THINGS. THESE ARE GOD’S AND GOD’S ALONE. Where is Paradise? Some say it is between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. What does God say?
Wherever the Garden of Eden was, it was not on the face of the earth. They were removed from Eden and sent back to the ground that was used in their creation. This would clearly indicate that no missing link is to be found. Man’s appearance on the earth took place at the instant of the fall of mankind. Do not forget the Power of the Holy Spirit is absolutely limitless.
For reference, remember that God spoke of TWO TREES: THE TREE OF LIFE AND THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE. ADAM AND EVE COULD HAVE EATEN FROM THE TREE OF LIFE RATHER THAN THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE. WHY DIDN’T THEY? This question is answered by The Third Covenant of Jesus Christ. It will take time to understand. We are doing the very same thing right now. We keep making this same decision!
Purpose The purpose of this chapter was to demonstrate that the Christian belief in creation has been absolutely confirmed by science. There is NO DOUBT. It is fact. This fact is not exclusive. All the people of the earth must accept that a superpower was in existence BEFORE the creation of the universe. The force was capable of creating billions of galaxies, with billions of stars in each Galaxy. It took less than a second.
The STORY changes by the words used to tell it. We have the wealth of the entire Bible in the written word and none of the translations are the same. The translation is based on the person who is translating it, their knowledge of language (at least Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Latin), a historical understanding of the people and of their times, and personal bias. We are controlled by the translation of Bible we use as well as our church. We attempt to reach out to God with our intellectualism and misinterpretation of the Bible. This is complicated by the Literalists who view every word in the Bible as an unquestionable truth, even though those truths change with every new translation. On the other extreme we have the Interpretationalists who believe that everyone must decide for themselves what to believe, where to believe it, when to believe it, and how to believe it. We know that Jesus Christ did not walk this earth to have His words perverted or distorted by people who cannot agree on anything He said. We see these factors as one of the major causes for the Christian Church’s fragmentation, fragmentation into hundreds of sects. We allow the WORDS to get in the way of the LESSONS. We allow the why, what, where, how, who, and how many to stand in the way of CHRIST’S TRUE MESSAGE TO ALL MANKIND. Our estimate of ourselves is highly overstated, while our estimate of God is highly understated. We are like the Egyptians, we pick and choose our behavior and try to find some verse in the Bible that can be translated (twisted) to justify it. We view God as being like us. It is beyond our capability to know what all powerful and absolute perfection is, yet our false pride drives us and motivates us to all kinds of perverse views of God. Man has a flawed nature. He tends to be self serving and self centered. He is afraid, rebellious and self destructive. You cannot fight “Human Nature.” When you study the facts, you are the studying the words as opposed to the lesson. Accordingly, we miss the true lesson. Are you approaching the words with your own preconceived notion of what they should or could mean?
Our vision is backward. Each church studies their translation of the Bible to confirm that their church is the only true church and their view of God is correct. This is by way of a self fulfilling prophecy. Anything you set out to prove, you will prove. It is an easy accomplishment with the Bible. Your mind will only seek out those things you wish to find. Look at the Davidians. What did they find in the Bible--DEATH!
God is very simple. The Bible is very complex. Because the Bible is complex, it divides us and we miss the LESSON. Satan is so happy he is rubbing his hands in anticipation. We are doing it again. We are playing out the tower of Babel story. No one understands the other. Falsehoods are told about the beliefs of other churches. Each sect perceives itself to be the only true way to Heaven. Man’s true condition is contained in GOD’S CURSE, our freedom of choice, the freedom of choice of those around us, and Satan’s temptations.
Just like Satan tried to temp Jesus Christ, he temps all of us unceasingly! Just like in the Garden of Eden, the Apple, the sin, attracts all of us. We say God is not fair. We are stupid! He gives us everything we need. We can overcome God’s Curse. We can gain control over our freedom of choice by surrendering to God. We can help others to obtain these same gifts and defeat Satan! God gives even more. We have the ability to DEFEAT SATAN! Beloved of God, God offers you His hand, His forgiveness and His help. If you do not accept His hand, then whatever happens to you is by your own choice. Believe or not to believe, that is the question. Are you really living according to Christ’s Law? If there are one point two billion Christians in the world, and we all have a different translation, who is right? How can we all go to Heaven? We cannot. God’s Law is God’s Law. We are not its interpreters. We are its followers. We have one set of laws. Are you living with Christ’s Law?
Always remember God’s universe is perfect. This means all other things aside. Everything is in perfect balance, hot or cold, up or down, white or black, alive or dead, pain or pleasure, and happiness or unhappiness are all a part of that balance. He offers you everything you will ever need. It is your freedom of choice to submit to Him or take what He offers to you!
When we surrender control of our lives to God, we are in God’s care. The creator of the universe is in control of our lives! We must accept His Will with faith and trust. The world has blinded many to faith and trust. It is man that cannot be trusted. This makes us what we have become. It is the only prayer you will ever need. You must really mean it and accept the tests God will put to you. We need dreams, hope and belief. When we include faith, trust and love we can do anything!
Man, on the other hand, wants to do everything his own way, wants no advice and only calls for help when he is drowning in his problems. Then when God doesn’t move fast enough to satisfy him, man gets angry with God and says, “How could You do this to me?”
God is the essence of being. God does not do bad things to anyone. He treats the good and the bad alike. He, on the other hand, resides within our spirits through the Power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is a gentlemen. He harms no one, only does righteous things and only comes when He is called. All we need are dreams, hope, belief, faith, trust, and the love of Our Lord. The Lord speaks,
This is the Word of the Lord! |
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