The Bible is Reliable (part 1)

One of my first worries after I realized that the Book of Mormon and the other Mormon scriptures were false was whether the Bible was something I could depend upon. I decided I did not want to be deceived again and would research it thoroughly. As a Mormon I was taught that the Bible was only believable "inasmuch as it was translated correctly." My first order of business was to obtain as many translations as possible and compare. Since I don't remember much Greek or Hebrew from school (yes, I really studied those, along with Latin, but don't ask me for lessons), I stuck to English and one Spanish version.

I read sections that were reportedly in dispute, such as Psalm 22, verse 16. The King James Version reads, "For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet." A Jewish Bible reads "Dogs are all around me, a pack of villains closes in on me like a lion [at] my hands and feet."  It sounds much more Messianic in the King James Version.  But which is correct and why is there even a difference?

In written Hebrew there are no written vowels unless someone has taken the time to place marks on the text, kind of like we dot i's in English.  If I showed you this word, "rd"," you could say it was "red" or "rod" or reed," or, well, you get it.  So the difference between pierced and lion in Hebrew is a letter.  A page from the Jews for Jesus website explains it:

In Hebrew, the phrase "they have pierced" is kaaru while "like a lion" is kaari. The words are identical except that "pierced" ends with the Hebrew letter vav and "lion" with yod. Vav and yod are similar in form, and a scribe might easily have changed the text by inscribing a yod and failing to attach a vertical descending line so that it would become a vav. The evidence suggests that this may be what happened, since the Greek version of the Scriptures, known as the Septuagint, rendered in Egypt before the time of Jesus, preserves the reading of "pierced."
Unfortunately we don't have the "original text" to check whether that was a vav or a yod. What we have is the Septuagint translation which translated the Hebrew text as "pierced" and the Masoretic or standard text which has it as "like a lion."
Notice that the translation of the Hebrew is "pierced" in the Greek Septuagint which was completed in the centuries before Jesus was crucified. Therefore the charges made by some counter-missionaries, that fundamentalist Christian interpreters "twist" the meaning of the Hebrew Bible, rings hollow.

Somewhere I read that this one word doesn't change the meaning of the Psalm and I agree.  In the end, what does a lion do?  It pierces with its sharp teeth.

For the director of music. To the tune of “The Doe of the Morning.” A psalm of David.

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
    Why are you so far from saving me,
    so far from the words of my groaning?
My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,
    by night, but I find no rest.

Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;
    you are the praise of Israel.
In you our ancestors put their trust;
    they trusted and you delivered them.
They cried to you and were saved;
    in you they trusted and were not disappointed.

But I am a worm, not a human being;
    I am scorned by everyone, despised by the people.
All who see me mock me;
    they hurl insults, shaking their heads.
“He trusts in the Lord,” they say,
    “let the Lord rescue him.
Let him deliver him,
    since he delights in him.”

Yet you brought me out of the womb;
    you made me feel secure on my mother’s breast.
From birth I was cast on you;
    from my mother’s womb you have been my God.
Do not be far from me,
    for trouble is near
    and there is no one to help.

Many bulls surround me;
    strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.
Roaring lions that tear their prey
    open their mouths wide against me.
I am poured out like water,
    and all my bones are out of joint.
My heart has turned to wax;
    it has melted within me.
My mouth is dried up like a potsherd,
    and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;
    you lay me in the dust of death.
Dogs surround me,
    a pack of villains encircles me;
    they pierce my hands and my feet.
All my bones are on display;
    people stare and gloat over me.
They divide my clothes among them
    and cast lots for my garment.

But you, Lord, do not be far from me.
    You are my strength; come quickly to help me.
Deliver me from the sword,
    my precious life from the power of the dogs.
Rescue me from the mouth of the lions;
    save me from the horns of the wild oxen.

I will declare your name to my people;
    in the assembly I will praise you.
You who fear the Lord, praise him!
    All you descendants of Jacob, honor him!
Revere him,
    all you descendants of Israel!
For he has not despised or scorned
    the suffering of the afflicted one;
he has not hidden his face from him
    but has listened to his cry for help.

From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly;
    before those who fear you I will fulfill my vows.
The poor will eat and be satisfied;
    those who seek the Lord will praise him—
    may your hearts live forever!
All the ends of the earth
    will remember and turn to the Lord,
and all the families of the nations
    will bow down before him,
for dominion belongs to the Lord
    and he rules over the nations.

All the rich of the earth will feast and worship;
    all who go down to the dust will kneel before him—
    those who cannot keep themselves alive.
Posterity will serve him;
    future generations will be told about the Lord.
They will proclaim his righteousness,
    declaring to a people yet unborn:
    He has done it!

Today's New International Version (TNIV) © Copyright 2001, 2005 by Biblica

Anthem

I found the music that the new organist played on the day I joined the United Church of Christ: it's the finale of the First Symphony by Louis Vierne. It seems to tell the path God has led me along. I can hear the dark parts, the challenges, and the hope and faith and love all along the way. Wow! When he played it I thought the church building was launching into space! I recommend hearing it LOUD.

Ode to Joy

I've never been one to cry much.  But something has happened to me over the past few months.  I get teary-eyed over butterflies and all sorts of little things.  I suspect it has something to do with the Holy Spirit waking up my heart.

And today a friend in Europe sent me this video of part of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and I had to hastily dry my eyes to see the end. I imagined it as part of the soundtrack of the Lord's Second Coming.  Wouldn't it be great if we all joined together to praise Him?

In case you didn't already know, Ludwig van Beethoven wrote this when he was completely deaf.  The choir sings "Ode to Joy," a poem by Friedrich Schiller. Here are parts of it:

Do you fall down, you millions?
Do you sense the creator, world?
Seek him above the starry canopy,
Above the stars he must live.

and

Endure courageously, millions!

Endure for the better world!

There above the starry canopy

A great God will reward.

 

 

Another soul saved by the Bible

Max Lucado made me cry

and laugh and rejoice as I read his book, "He Chose the Nails."  One of the first things to get to me was a poem in the first chapter, and I will just quote the last stanza:

Why give a flower fragrance? Why give food its taste? 

                            Could it be

                         he loves to see

                            the look upon your face?

The book goes on to describe how the way Jesus died was much more than just the minimum required.  I still have a while before I finish reading it. I had only ever read one children's book he wrote.  I can see now Mr. Lucado is a force for good when it comes to grownup books too.

 

 

 

                     

Where did Jesus pay for our sins?

Sunday school answers--

If you're a Mormon: the garden of Gethsemane.

If you're a Christian: the cross.

In the Bible Dictionary at the end of the King James Version of the Bible printed by the LDS church is the following phrase listed under "Atonement" as it refers to Jesus:

"...the shedding of his blood in the garden of Gethsemane..."

I remembered this from all my years of hearing it and I double-checked with two long-time LDS friends to see if they would also give the same response when I asked them, "Where did Jesus pay for our sins?" Their response was the same.

Why the garden and not the cross?  Perhaps because Joseph Smith, in his revision of the Bible, changed a verse in Luke.

King James Version of Luke 22:44: "And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground."

Joseph Smith Version of Luke 22:44 as seen in the footnotes: "And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and he sweat as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground."

I put in the italics--it seems to be that Joseph Smith was saying Jesus sweat blood where the original text indicated that it was like unto, or similar to, blood.  I looked at every translation I own.  Nowhere else does it say it was actual blood.  But generations of LDS prophets and leaders, even up to the present day in General Conference, have spoken about Jesus' suffering in the garden and call that the payment for human sins.  They also expand on it, saying he took on humanity's infirmities, sickness, pain, etc.  (See the manual called "Gospel Principles," chapter 11, "The Life of Christ.") To be fair, some LDS authorities do state that the time on the cross was part of the sacrifice for sins (see James Talmage, "Jesus the Christ"). 

Even if Jesus did end up sweating blood, this is not a sufficient sacrifice for sins, according to the Old Testament Law of Moses.  The animals sacrificed to God then were not just bled a little and set free.  They were killed.  And those sacrifices were a foreshadowing of Jesus.


What's interesting is that Gethsemane, by name, is only mentioned once in Matthew and once in Mark, and appears in the same context of it being the place where Jesus went to pray on the night he was arrested.  In Luke the place is only named as the Mount of Olives.  (The name Gethsemane comes from Aramaic for "oil press.")  If it was such an important place where Christ saved us, then why did the original apostles and disciples repeatedly call attention to the cross?  Paul teaches about it several times in the epistles.  Jesus himself in Matthew 10 and 16 (and Mark 8 and 10, and Luke 9 and 14) refers to the cross.


Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:3 that Jesus "Christ died for our sins," not that he prayed and suffered and sweat blood for them in the garden. Death is the ultimate penalty of sin.


What came to mind for me was someone awaiting the death penalty in prison.  That person might kneel in their cell and pray and suffer, knowing that they are facing death, but that does not "pay" for their sins.  Only death in the electric chair "pays" the price. 


For an excellent article, see "Calvary or Gethsemane?" by the Mormonism Research Ministry.

We have liftoff!

I found a team: the United Church of Christ. I was affirmed as a member today during the service.  As the pastor pointed out, I've had some transitions lately.  I choose Ruth 1:16 as my scripture: "And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God." (KJV)  It speaks to my desire to follow the true God, to join with this people in the body of Christ.

I also chose the Statement of Faith because it says it all:

We believe in God, the Eternal Spirit, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and our Father, and to his deeds we testify:
He calls the worlds into being, creates man in his own image and sets before him the ways of life and death.
He seeks in holy love to save all people from aimlessness and sin.
He judges men and nations by his righteous will declared through prophets and apostles.
In Jesus Christ, the man of Nazareth, our crucified and risen Lord,he has come to us and shared our common lot, conquering sin and death and reconciling the world to himself.
He bestows upon us his Holy Spirit, creating and renewing the church of Jesus Christ, binding in covenant faithful people of all ages, tongues, and races.
He calls us into his church to accept the cost and joy of discipleship, to be his servants in the service of men, to proclaim the gospel to all the world and resist the powers of evil, to share in Christ's baptism and eat at his table, to join him in his passion and victory.
He promises to all who trust him forgiveness of sins and fullness of grace, courage in the struggle for justice and peace, his presence in trial and rejoicing, and eternal life in his kingdom which has no end.
Blessing and honor, glory and power be unto him.
Amen.

Why did I chose this church?  One: they welcome everyone.  Two: their logo reminds us that God is still speaking. Three: they have a goal of being a unifying force among the churches of Christianity.  And four: they are very proactive in social justice.

I'm excited to see where this road goes as I travel Home.