Category: Faith

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Lost in Translation

Part 1 of Many

Over the course of the past few months I have started a new read through of the Bible, but this time in the Jewish Bible English translation. From the first moments of this read through several things have come to light that removed my confusion from early in life with some Bible stories. So over the next few posts I plan to share some of those insights i have discovered and how they changed the way I view some of the scripture.

First I would like to point out that I have spent lots of time in college courses. While writing for such classes and academic research I have learned that specific words are used in purposeful ways. In the English language sometimes the lesser used words that are more complicated to the general Populus have a more appropriate meaning when expressing something. I often refer to these as $40 words.

In the Bible I believe the same is true. The original was written with very specific meaning and over the various translations small things have been changed which can change the meaning. The first example of this I want to share points out series of misconceptions I had as child in the first chapters of the Book of Genesis. One area I am going to focus on is the story of the tree of knowledge in the garden of Eden. For those that are not familiar with the story, I am using my own words to catch up to the point where I want to make a reference.

So, in this record, God has already created Adam. Adam has been placed in the Garden. God is speaking to Adam in a personal conversation to give him direction. No one else is around. God tells Adam he can eat any of the fruit in the Garden except the “Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.” Here is the King James translation of this reference.

Genesis 2:17

17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

Taken from Bible Gateway.

So growing up the pastor of the church explained that God didn’t mean Adam would die that day, or that it was a spiritual reference and Adams relationship with God died that day. From this translation I had to rely on the word of the pastor teaching me, because it was not super clear in the scripture.

Now if you compare this to the Complete Jewish Bible below.

Genesis 2:17

17 except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. You are not to eat from it, because on the day that you eat from it, it will become certain that you will die.”

Taken from Bible Gateway

Now when reading these two you can see that the Jewish Bible states this message more clearly. It does not say you will die that day like the King James does. It says “it will become certain that you will die.” This actually clears up the story because it is believed that Adam was immortal before hand. His action in eating from that tree made him mortal. There were other effects, but we will discuss that later.

Now I want to point out that Eve was not around for this conversation. She was not created until after these instructions took place. Eve was not created until verse 21. Once she was created it became Adam’s responsibility to share God’s instructions with her. This is an important point to note that I have not heard in a Sunday teaching from any pastor that I recall. Eve did not get her instructions direct from God, but instead from Adam. This was a Yreka moment for me.

Adam told her what God said, so this leaves room for the title “Lost in Translation” We don’t know how Adam shared those instructions but he was a guy and I can totally see him saying something like “don’t eat from that tree, don’t even touch it or you’ll die.” We men are simple creatures, but that left it open for the “Serpent” to question the words that were used. Which brings up the next part.

Chapter three starts the conversation of the Serpent and its deception of Eve.

King James Genesis 3:1-5 (Bible Gateway)

1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:

3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.

4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:

5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

Then here is the Jewish Bible:

Complete Jewish Bible Genesis 3:1-5 (Bible Gateway)

1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any wild animal which Adonai, God, had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You are not to eat from any tree in the garden’?” 2 The woman answered the serpent, “We may eat from the fruit of the trees of the garden, 3 but about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden God said, ‘You are neither to eat from it nor touch it, or you will die.’” 4 The serpent said to the woman, “It is not true that you will surely die; 5 because God knows that on the day you eat from it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Now compare these two. The first thing I notice is the word change from subtle in King James to Crafty in the CJB. I believed the word crafty is more appropriate. In the discussion the Serpent states that God did not say what Eve tells him. Knowing the story we discover that is true. Eve was given instructions from Adam that were not the same wording God had used.

Eve’s version of the instructions are not correct. This left the argument open for the Serpent to tell the truth to her and create doubts about God’s instructions, because what Adam told her was not totally accurate. Adam may have paraphrased or exaggerated. This lead to Eve being open for the Serpent to deceive her.

The Serpent meant something different or inferred something different than what Eve heard, but He used the technical truth to trip her up. What she told him was not what God had said.

I examine both translations further I found something that was not properly called out in either translation, in my lowly opinion. The tree they reference is called “the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.” as a child I though, what’s wrong with knowing good and evil? Thinking to myself that would help me choose good right?

Not the case here. Adam and Eve already knew Good and lived it. The only thing the action of eating from the tree taught them was Evil! They didn’t know evil before then. When that Evil entered their lives, they became mortal and disconnected from God Spiritually. Fear and eventual death entered their lives.

If all that wasn’t enough to open your eyes a bit, here is something that might totally blow your mind from this story. Lets focus for one moment on the Serpent. The Hebrew word for this is nachash which is translated as either serpent, snake or dragon. Yes that’s right, dragon!

Now in the whole greater story we find the serpent did not become a snake on his belly until after this incident for punishment. Before hand when Eve was speaking to him, the word was more properly translated as Dragon, because He was not yet a serpent.

Think about that for a moment. I believe the Bible is a direct account of things that happened and is not a “Story” unless it directly says so. If you take this as a real event, then Eve had a real conversation with a dragon and she was not afraid of it. It was not an unusual thing for her to speak to the dragon. That alone gave me a moment of “wait, what did that say?”

This is where I believe the myths of dragons came from. They became snakes afterward and the fear that God put between them and Eve most likely also prevented them from communicating again. Before that it was not unusual for a Dragon to be around and to have a conversation with it. I assume one would have to be careful in conversation with such a beast because of his “crafty” nature.

In all of this, we find that translation of the Bible can often cause a misunderstanding of Gods word. We need the guidance of the Holy Spirit to “see” these things.

When comparing what I believe to be a more accurate translation I have been picking up very small things that completely change my understanding. Then if that does not grab you, the reality of a talking dragon might.

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Racism vs. Privilege

These days’ school systems are deploying a massive campaign, requiring staff to be trained in what they call anti-racism and inclusion. From the title of the training it sounds like a great topic to discuss. Who doesn’t want to be more aware of racist habits and avoid them, or provide a more welcoming environment for other staff and students? At first impression I thought all this “training” was a really good thing. Upon spending hours in these sessions with my colleagues I have discovered something interesting. The training is a new mandate formed in many schools requiring all staff to listen and comply. The actual subject of these sessions is far different from my impression. Any resistance to this new training is met with threats of losing your job.

My first session was hosted just before the COVID shutdown and all staff were required to attend. It was two full days and students were sent home for staff “professional development.” The speakers introduced themselves by describing their sexual preferences. One was a woman who said she liked to “date” men and women equally. The other was a man whom had performed extensive surgery to become the “woman” he wanted to be.

My opinion here is that you do what you want to yourself. That choice is between you and God. The part that bothered me is that the entirety of both days of class were focused on sharing one general premise. Those who choose to be identified as the gender they were born with, and prefer to “date” the opposite gender are privileged people known as binary. This so called privilege in the trainers eyes meant all who fit this description were practicing prejudice against those who do not by being able to enter the bathroom labeled with their general gender appearance. That privilege was then described to us as Racism and the words used interchangeably. This “racism” was described as society’s exclusion of genders other than Male and Female.

The training actually labeled a person who made a personal choice to modify their body as another race. It continued to state, because I did not modify my body I am somehow a racist as I can go to the men’s bathroom.

This training has continued onward to more sophisticated levels as the months and years have worn onward. Now stories of discrimination toward persons of “different races” are shared hand in hand with stories of discrimination for sexual choice. In this training these things are considered the same. You as a person who may identify as the gender you were born with are a racist and you need to change your behavior because you do not spend your time considering how these “other genders” might be able to use the bathroom peacefully. They called me a binary person and because of that I was intrinsically racist.

Just by being in the room, being perceived as a white male, who is heterosexual I was labeled a racist without uttering a word. This “woke” culture of people treated me with preconceived ideas of who I was just by looking at me. They judged me to be privileged and racist because of my appearance!

So this is how a modern “woke” culture shows an example of love and acceptance? I have to accept you and all the changes you want in society, but it’s okay for you to treat me like trash simply because of who you think I am? Without me uttering a word, just being present.

My upbringing was in portions of the country where people that had white skin were rare. I was the minority in most cases. I lived around diverse populations and was taught we were all just people. Humans, and members of that one race. In addition I was often persecuted growing up because I have bright red hair. It’s not quite as bright red these days but you get the idea.

To really blow the minds of the judgmental crowd I will share a few facts about me. My lineage is Jewish which has its own story. That means I am Middle Eastern, but the typical government form doesn’t have a selection for that. In addition I have a rare gene that shows up in my family every few generations, where some have pale skin and red hair. Almost like an albino type thing but not quite. The rest of the family typically have darker olive skin and dark to medium hair. My Grandfather was a Jew and my Grandmother was Choctaw. This makes me not only of Jewish lineage, but also Native American!

With all this background the trainers didn’t care to learn, I was labeled a racist because I was present and had pale features.

If you make choices in your life that bring difficulty to you, than you have considered the change and are willing to accept the difficulty. This may not be true all of the time, but when it comes to things like Gender change it is. The difficultly and prejudice you face isn’t right, but you knew about it going into it. You facing that difficulty does not make me a racist just because I might remind you of those that treated you wrongly.

I can tell you that if we were nicer to one another much of that difficulty would melt away. The great Dr. King Jr. proved that.

I present to you a simple argument. Race and privilege are not the same thing. They should not be used to describe one another. There are people of many “races” who were raised in a privileged environment, and do not have a racist bone in their body. There are those on both ends of that spectrum. There are those who hate, and those who love.

While discussing the total content of this training and its impact on education is a much broader discussion I present to you a challenge.

Stop judging people by your limited view. We are all biased based on our view in life. We cannot see it all. We are only one person that has one little window into the world that we see. God is the only one that can see it all. Instead of judging, start reading the Bible and living by that example Jesus set for us.  While He lived as a man, He is God, He could see it all and lived as he wanted us to live knowing we are so limited. He knew we needed an example.

Start practicing hesitation when voicing your judgement or hostility toward others.

As of writing this, I live in a part of the United States where people can be nice in person at times and heavily entitled at other times. When they get behind the wheel of an automobile they turn into entitled pricks who hate everyone and everything. Their nature can be summed up in this phrase:

“Get out of my way, the rules don’t apply to me!”

STOP IT! Leave a little earlier on your commute so you can be nicer. You might even lower your stress level and live a longer healthier life.

Learn from the many aspects of the Southern US. There people tend to convey a pretty cheery aspect most of the time. They say crazy things like, yes ma’am, and no sir. Or even stranger things like Thank you. Southerners do this as a sign of respect toward you, the person they are interacting with. Even the highways are a far more pleasant experience in most cases. In addition it has been my observation that people in the southern states are far more accepting of people who are different. Other races or life choices are not as heavily judged as they are in northern or western areas. This is contrary to what many believe about the South but known to be true by those that have lived there.

Practice being helpful to others and living the example instead of yelling at everyone else to change. Be the change yourself and wait for opportunity for pleasant dialog before you try to conform others to that limited view you have. Then understand no matter how close you may be to someone else, their window is different than yours. No two people view things the exact same way. It’s just the way we are made. The wonderful part is that we can learn from one another’s views by sharing.

Your life and the choices you have made are not the only, end all, be all way things should be done. God loves and created us a diverse people, but He expects us to live up to the standard in the Bible. Just remember, don’t take someone else’s word for what it says. Of course there are many scholars that we can learn from but remember, their views are biased. Read it for yourself and ask God to show you the meaning. Seek Truth and Change in your own life before seeking to change others. Then understand we were created to be a diverse people.

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Faith

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

In Exodus chapter 14 there is a lesson of faith. In that passage, the nation of Israel reaches the point in their escape from Egypt where they are faced with crossing the Red Sea to get away from the army that pursues them. What many people do not see is the full context of that story. Earlier in the process, God tells Moses to camp near the Sea as if they are trapped by it. He says that He will use this opportunity to show to the world that He is God and Pharaoh will come after them. Moses and the entire nation did what they were told without question.


Later in the chapter, when the people of Israel start to see that Pharaoh is coming, they begin to get scared. In spite of the fact that they have a visible Angel before them that has been guiding them since they left. At that time, the Angel moved behind Israel to separate them from the army of Egypt. If you really think about it, this is a rather dramatic event. A literal wall of light on one side and darkness of night on the other. Would this be enough for you to go?

Some translations have a moment of interaction between God and Moses just before God tells him to stretch out his staff over the water. During this interaction, Moses is asking for direction and God basically says, why are you crying or complaining to me about this? In that interaction you can almost hear the frustration in God’s voice. He told Moses to take the nation forward. This direction included crossing the sea. Since Moses was reluctant, God told him to stretch out his staff over the water and as a result the sea parted.


At a much later time in the book of Joshua chapter 3, a similar event takes place. In this case God tells Joshua to send the Levites out into the water carrying the Ark. When they reach a point in the water God parts the sea again. In both cases, the people reached out to God for a physical sign that He was going to help them as they went forward. God had been taking care of this nation with a visible cloud of smoke during the day, and pillar of fire at night. Just as the rest of us grow complacent, these daily signs were not enough for the people. They cried out for a sign that they could cross the sea safely.


So, if we take a moment to consider what the Bible teaches about faith, it often speaks of God telling someone to go somewhere and they go. It is clear that God expects us to go forward on our journey, even if we don’t really know where or how we are going. Repeatedly the Bible shows God stepping in and healing or blessing when the people obey and go. Think about the story of the ten lepers who cried out to Jesus for healing. He responding not by touching them, but telling them to go and show themselves to the priest. At that time, showing themselves to the priest was a requirement to prove they had been healed. They were not healed until they started walking that direction. Maybe someone reading this needs to think about that. God may have told you to go to the doctor, but you’re not going because you’re afraid of what the doctor might say. The lepers did not get healing until they went.


Now, in James Chapter 2 around verse 14, the Bible starts to talk about faith. In those passages it reinforces the idea of faith and that it requires action. The evidence of a living faith is that it produces action. In the two previous cases, Moses and Joshua are considered men of great faith but even they had moments of doubt and God gave them physical things to obey in order to continue. He gave them signs but they had to follow with some action first.


So let’s consider modern times and travel. I am a car guy and I love to get out on the open road and drive. Especially in a classic car, windows down, low rumble of the engine and good music playing. The wind blowing, and life is good. Think for a moment, while I am driving how do I tell where I am going? Now before GPS I had to read the road signs right? I have a general idea the direction I am going, and the signs reinforce that I am going the right way.


While I am driving down the road enjoying the day, what must I do to read a road sign? I have to take my focus off of the direction I am going to read the sign on the side of the road. Then return my focus to my driving. This can cause distraction in heavy traffic or perhaps bad weather right?


During Jesus life on this Earth, one event is recorded in Matthew chapter 15. Jesus is being questioned about things to come and the people are generally asking him to prove what He is saying. He responds by saying a famous line “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign, and none will be given to it…” Now there is far more to that passage and its context, but think about this.


God gives us direction. Not normally specifics, but He does expect us to take action on what He provides. He says to get up and go. So we are expected to do so. We keep taking our focus away from the direction we are traveling, and looking for the signs on the sides of the road to make us feel better about our direction of travel.


Back to Moses and Joshua. What do you think would have happened to Israel if neither of these men questioned God for a sign, but just moved forward? Do you think God would have let them drown in the sea? Of course not! When He sent them on their way he knew the sea was there and sent them to it anyhow. God wanted them to practice faith and go forward in spite of what was in front of them.


Think about your journey now. You have some form of direction from God. We all do because we have His word. We may not have all the little specifics, but we know what direction we are expected to travel. Instead of just taking God at His word and going, we keep stopping on the side of the road and asking God to put a sign where we can see it, so we know we are going the right way. God just said go.


What does the Bible say about the path before us? In Matthew chapter 7, the Bible talks about the path we are to walk. It says the path is narrow and not many take it. The scripture also says not to look to the left or right, but continue forward. Even if there are no signs. Sometimes the signs can be false. Haven’t you ever blindly followed the GPS and ended up in the wrong place? That is a whole other topic to share, but the jist is to stop looking to the sides of the road and focus on the path forward.


Consider this. Time was created as a way for us to understand our lives. God created time and He is outside of it, not bound by it. He can see all time at the same time. God created us and He created the road we are traveling on. He knew what was on that road before he put us on it. He knew what we were going to face and how we would react. He put us on the road to teach us to stop looking to the sides but forward, focusing on Him, His direction and Go!

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Leadership and Modern Times

There has been a movement around the world in the last few years to redefine the qualities that want in our leaders. By redefine, I am not speaking of the personality type or the accomplishments, but instead the life choices that our leaders make.

When looking into a leaders profile we want to see someone whom we can trust. Someone who has faced adversity and come through it better. We also want someone with a vision beyond our own. If a leader has an obstructed view, than how can that person lead the rest of us? They will lead us in the wrong direction, right? In leadership we want solid people who can be folks we look up to. The people we want to be like. Those we want to model our own lives after.

The United States is a nation of immigrants. The only people among us that did not immigrate are native tribes of this land. All other groups and people came to the area as immigrants. So, as more people come into the land, our demographic adapts and changes.

In this same way, the faces and backgrounds of business and political leaders has changed . There are more women and other minority groups serving in leadership than ever before. This is in part due to that demographic shift in the country. Leadership in this country is shifting to reflect the new generations. This is not a bad thing at all. 

Where the debate is taking place, is in political parties torn by whether or not a potential leaders personal life choices should make a difference in their effectiveness in office. In the early days of our country, a political leader was evaluated by his or her personal life and accomplishments. Today that is may no longer be the case, but I ask you this; if a person cannot be evaluated by what they have done behind closed doors, how can you judge what they will do as a leader?

(Here is a disclaimer. I am speaking as someone who is experienced in Pentecost and the Christian church.)

In conjunction with politics and business so also the of leadership in the church. My experience has shown a shift in church leadership similar to the one in the secular world. The change in faces, genders, and skin color is natural as our own demographic adapts. As the people change so goes the church.

Today it is common place to see news articles about Christian organizations evaluating their stance on homosexual or other gender neutral persons in positions of leadership. The people on both sides of this argument claim they have the scriptures of the Bible to back up their personal views.

So, personal views aside, consider this for a moment. The Christian church claims to be driven and governed by God. This is the one thing they all can agree on. In addition to that, all parts of the Christian church agree that the Bible is God’s word for us. If a group disagrees with that, then they are not Christian. Those are the two major points a person uses to call themselves Christian. I am over simplifying it on purpose here.

Now, since Christians agree on those points, should we not then use the Bible and its words to govern our leadership and organizational structure and place our personal views aside?

The Bible clearly states that worldly people, who are not Christians, will know the Christians by their love for one another. We as Christians love and accept all kinds of people. We do this because we are not perfect, and don’t expect others to be perfect. At least we shouldn’t expect others to be. With that qualifier, no one should be excluded from becoming part of the greater body regardless of what they have done.

One of the greatest things that unites us as a church is that we have ALL sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.  In order to become Christians we have seen that our lives were wrong and we ask forgiveness from Christ. After that we learn and grow. We begin to change and become more like the model of Jesus, the son of God than we used to be. None of us started perfect and none of us will end that way. God is the only perfect being.

So let’s take that to the leadership side of things. We know those we choose for leadership are human. We also expect that our leaders have been through a few things in life and come out with a wisdom that we do not yet have. We look to their experience and wisdom to lead us. The Bible says leaders are “men” of integrity. Using the word “men” loosely.  Our leaders are to be what we want to become. Leadership is a lonely place, because we as followers want to keep our leaders on a pedestal.

In the Christian Church leaders must measure up to a higher standard than the rank and file who are just learning to become “like Christ”. With that in mind, our leadership should be people who have overcome many of the temptations and troubles of the world. This is the reason many great leaders in the church are advanced in age. We somehow think if you are a young person you have not seen enough. That is another topic as well.

Now, I begin to get to the point. Leadership in business and politics is very different from leadership in the Christian Church. The two positions require different qualifications. I am not saying a Christian leader cannot be a leader in business or politics. What I am saying is best put in a simple way. If you have someone in your organization that is a recovering opioid addict, then you don’t put that person in a position to lead or even work around a pharmacy right? Common sense here. That person has a sin weakness that they need help to overcome, and placing them in a position to fall back into a drug addict’s life is just irresponsible.

So returning to the standard of the Bible. While we are to love all peoples, help them, and show them our hearts, we do not look for leaders among the newly converted or those dealing with great struggles until such a time, that they overcome those struggles. Now if we are to put our personal view aside, and look at the Bible, the scripture Leviticus 18:22 states “that we are not to lie with a man as with a woman, for that is an abomination”. Paraphrasing here, this sentiment is all through the Bible and even the story of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah are because of the practice of sexual perversion. The evidence of that destruction can still be seen from space today.

Bear with me on this. As Christians we are not to reject people who practice such things. Even Jesus spent time with the people who needed him most. Now, if we model the church after the words of the Bible, then we want people who have overcome such sins as our leadership. Not people who are still in denial about the fact that such practice is a sin. Just like the recovering drug addict, we help them and love them into a right relationship with God, but we do not place them in a position of leadership until they have clearly demonstrated they have overcome the addiction.

In the same spirit, those who are living in a situation where they clearly have no desire to change to be more like Christ have no business leading the church. While this stance may not be popular today, it is based on the rules that Christians agree to live by. The Bible. Christians who live by these rules do not go out and persecute those who choose to live in a different way. Instead we love them, pray for them and welcome them into our fold. In this way, we can show them the love of Christ and His acceptance. Only then, can a person understand the things in their life that need to change to align with the scriptures. We should never reject people in sin because we are all in sin, but we do not ask those who deny their acts are sin to lead us.

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One Window

What can one window do? Picture this. If you had only one window out of a room then that window is the world to you. You see everything through the perspective of that single view. That one solitary space is your view and shapes the way you think and what you see about the world.

Think about this for a moment. Today many of us try to live our lives and experience as many different or new things as possible in the interest of broadening our outlook on life. We want to know what others feel like when they do a particular thing or live a particular way. We visit other nations and try to immerse ourselves in the culture to get a feeling for what it is really like. Those experiences change who we are and shape how we see the rest of the world, or how we interact with those we come into contact with.

In all of this we fail to realize we are still only seeing everything through a single window that is our own. We cannot change this. No matter how much we learn or how hard we try to seek new experience it is all seen through our individual window that no one else can see through. Only I can see the world as I do. Only you can see things shaped by what you have been through.

Now consider for a moment that there is one person that can see through your window. What would you share with that person? The essence of who you are and your very soul would be exposed to that one person like it or not. That person would know all your deepest thoughts. Even the things you never share with anyone. That person would have insight into who you are and why you do things the way you do.

Take that even further. What if that one person could see beyond your limited view, and see everything in the world that you couldn’t? In addition this person knows your view. That person would become your trusted advisor and confidant because they could see as you do, but also see well beyond what you can.

That one person can see past, present, and future. That person knows the intimate nature of who you are, but also knows everything else. That person can see the individual windows of everyone and see life from each of our individual points of view, experience what we have experienced, and still see everything else. What a concept right? This is the person of Jesus Christ! This is who God is. It’s time for each of use to start trusting the only one who can see through our window, and see beyond at the same time.