The bible is far more than simply a holy book for many Christians in this world - it represents the mouth of God, Himself. The bible is rarely taken for what it really is: a collection of stories reportedly inspired by God. The book, itself, is not magical or divine. It is a book. Inspiration did not end 2000 years ago. So why are people so stuck on worshiping the bible?

Masses of people worship the bible, memorizing it's verses and quoting it to others - all in the name of godliness. This world sincerely believes a person can't know of God if they do not study theology or holy books. There is not a single religion in this world which does not profess their own spiritual books to be perfect, literal instructions of the will of God.

As part of a worldly, cultural heritage, the Christian bible is possibly the most influential book in human history - yet no original manuscripts of the books of the Bible exist! There are thousands of copies which were copied by hand over a period of about 1,400 years. These copies differ significantly from each other, especially the earlier copies from the later. There are over 5,000 Greek copies of the books of the New Testament, and no two of them are exactly alike. The task of translating foreign languages is extremely complicated because there are rarely exact words to interpret into another language. Translators for the King James Version (KJV) were literally forced to compare the various scriptural texts which differed from each other, and decide which was most likely the original intent. When there were differences in opinion from the translators, the KJV Bible text reflects what the majority viewed as correct interpretation, and the margin states the minority opinion.

Since there is not an appropriate English word for many Greek words used in the copies, the translators had to make many choices on their own. When a Greek word was found to have more than a single meaning, the translators had to decide which meaning was intended. To further complicate things, the meaning of some English words used in the KJV do not now mean what they did when the KJV was created. For example, the word 'conversation' meant 'conduct' in the 1600's, and 'conduct' was translated to 'conversation' in the modern KJV New Testament. This is only a single example of translation and interpretation problems. For more precise interpretations, one must examine the original Greek copies which were used in the KJV, and the meaning of the translated words of the time it was written -- not the meaning of the word in this modern age, but the meaning of the world when it was translated.

In reality, the bible is actually a library of sixty-six books. Filled with stories of heroes and villains, love and hate, life and death - these books share a common theme: God revealing truth to a lost world. Written by the hands of people, the bible is regarded wrongly as the mouth of God. The collection of stories known today in various forms as the bible was organized and accepted by the Council of Carthage as authoritative and inspired in A.D. 397 - occurring nearly 400 years after the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The changes to the bible have been dramatic over time and there have been hundreds of reinterpretations before and after A.D. 397.

The bible consists of two parts: the old and new testament. There are only a few books of the bible written by individuals who actually knew Christ. They are called the gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The rest of the new testament, as it appears today, was influenced and mostly written by a man known as Apollo, who knew of Jesus Christ only through a vision. The self-proclaimed apostle Paul never actually knew Christ, and this fact is rarely discussed in modern-day Christianity. The words of Paul are accepted with the same authority as God or Christ.

Because of massive amounts of misinterpretation and misunderstanding regarding the bible, it is important for us to put the bible and its authors in perspective if we are to maturely discern truth. The dangers of blindly accepting the bible's authors as the mouth of God should be evident. How could any man or woman speak for God? Why should the Apostle Paul's interpretations of God's will be taken literally as God's will? How could we establish a Christian religion based upon the teachings of anyone except Jesus Christ? How could inspiration 2000 years ago outweigh that which we have each and every day in our lives from a living God?

The new testament did not exist in the time of Christ, so how could Christ have demanded we follow what the 'Apostle Paul' said or be damned to hell? Christ did not speak of such things, nor did he preach about moral perfection; fire and brimstone; or spending an eternity in Hell. Christ's message was about how we must fight against supernatural evil, and about the importance of love and truth. Thus, when a modern preacher demands moral perfection from you or reads from the many books of the new testament authored by the 'Apostle Paul' and proclaims them perfect and righteous, know that individual is misguided. It was Jesus Christ who said of himself, "I am your only teacher". Christ's purpose was centered on forgiveness, not damnation. Be weary of Christians who tout, "you are going to hell because..." It is they, themselves, who are on that road.

The ironic reality of religion and their spiritual books is most religions do not agree on critical aspects of truth, salvation, faith or the interpretation of God's will. Within Christianity there are found hundreds of factions and cults -- each of which profess their 'truth' to be the only real truth. This is true of religion in general. But we learn over time God's will is far more than described by a petty Baptist in Ohio or a rabid Islamic in Iran.

There are many versions of the bible. The reason for these differences is legion. Over centuries the bible has been retranslated to fit within realms of ever-changing cultural beliefs and languages. Even though great care has supposedly been taken to translate the bible over time, humanity debates each version furiously. Written by human hands, the bible has been exulted to the status of a divine object. This essay was not written to debate the sanctity of the bible or any other spiritual book. Truth is where you find it. The bible and any spiritual tool can be used for either good or evil. It is very important to realize the message of the whole bible, and not simple cut and pasted verses, which by themselves have been used as weapons by power mongers seeking to manipulate truth. Also, it is vital for a Christian to embrace the importance of the gospels over any other writings found in either new or old testament lore.

The bible is a book. As far as we know, it was inspired by God. Yet faith required for salvation is not that in a book, it is that in a living God. And it is the inspiration of God we must be willing to see between the moral and political mandates from the bible's ancient authors. It is that same inspiration which we must be willing to seek in our everyday lives. It is the inspiration of God and of Christ from which we must allow ourselves to learn in the lessons and metaphors of the bible -- but more importantly in our daily and continually growing relationship with the living God.

The bible is not perfect, nor a divine object unto itself. The bible is a rare collection of inspired stories which provide us insight into how other people were affected and inspired by direct contact with good and evil.

Since we are each different, we each have a unique way of interacting with good and evil. The lessons of the people who wrote the bible vary greatly and are often dramatic. Our own interaction with good and evil in today's world will also vary greatly and is often dramatic. The bible is a book of inspiration and must be given respect. But the bible was also written, interpreted, translated and retranslated by mortals, of which we must be weary. The Pharisees of old are still found today. Look around!

Religion is a major target of evil forces, and so is the bible. We must consider this as fact in our interpretations of the important lessons and communications we may find within its pages. A book is not immune to misunderstanding or misinterpretation because we, as individuals, are not immune to these things. Although most Christians will completely disagree with me, I believe if we confuse the authority of the bible as the exact authority of God, we are making a serious error of judgment.

God may have inspired or instructed mortals to write the stories found in the bible, but God was and remains much more than a book. It is God who inspires people daily with truth. Many people are open to stories which happened over 2000 years ago, yet are closed to the inspiration of a living God who subtly instructs millions of people every day.

God far transcends even the greatest of our biblical scholars and their interpretations of love and truth. An individual can memorize every verse of the bible and still not know of God or love or truth. They will know what other people did long ago in their interactions with good and evil, but they still may know not of God. Many biblical scholars and preachers teach millions the supposed 'true' path of righteousness and salvation based upon their own, misguided interpretations of the word - and do not know or recognize God. The implication of this hypocrisy is astounding. Salvation is nothing more than a commodity in this world, purchased for the price of a sermon from a book -- a book which many people worship as a deity and fail to interpret with maturity. This is the wide road.

Becoming intimate with the bible does not mean an individual is intimate with God. People who know not of Love, nor would accept a living God if confronted with Him, yet who preach of 'truth' are blind or wicked. These people entice others to accept the mystery and safety of an ancient book, an inanimate object and something which does not threaten the world's petty reality. This is something which they memorize and proclaim to follow; and something they can use mystically in order to dominate the minds of others. This is an example of how the bible is used for evil.

Many spend their days memorizing word for word the verses of their bibles. They count numbers and words in their bibles to extract hidden meanings and make prophecy. People such as this pay homage and make sacrifices to their book. They memorize text and recite scripture, never thinking to open their own minds to God and pray from their own hearts. They recite the Lord's Prayer over and over thinking it to have some special magic power, refusing to accept the prayer was given only as an example of how to talk to God -- and in the same breath, Christ said, 'repetitious prayer was heathen'. Bible worshipers defend their actions and their book, as a righteous angel defends love and truth. Bible lovers have placed a book on the Divine Throne and have named it their 'god'.

Spiritual conversations mean nothing to bible worshipers if you cannot quote from the book and interpret the passages the same way they do. Being in-touch with the bible, however, is not the same as being in-touch with spiritual truth or with God. The bible is their authority because it is their god. To people of this mind set, these are one in the same; and they refuse to look beyond conventional interpretations of the bible because they are not seeking truth - they are seeking worldly acceptance. Their minister or church have told them how to interpret a passage in the word, and this they believe with blind faith - putting faith in man and not in God. How many times have we heard this: "but what does the bible say about that?" The person who makes this statement is actually saying: "You don't know God's will because you don't know my bible...but I do. So you should listen to what I have to say because my bible is the authority."

The bible appears to be full of contradictions because it was written by many different people; each of which experienced God differently and applied their own conclusions as to the intention and will of God. In one chapter of the bible, God reportedly instructs an individual to tell others that murder is a mortal sin; yet in a different chapter, God supposedly orders an army of people to go into a town and murder everyone - even women and children. The reason for these contradictions is not the fault of God, but actually in the authors lack of understanding and explaining of God's will. It is our mistake if we do not see this clearly and accept the fact not only is God's plan beyond our comprehension, but equally the authors of the bible related His will carelessly and without illumination.

Regardless if a person lived 2000 years ago or in this modern day, they have a poor understanding of God. The reason mortals have such a poor understanding of God is because they look for God in religion, yet God is not religious. The bible offers safety to people because they can put it away when they feel like it. It is a book. Contrast this to learning to accept the presence of a living God around you all the time and I think you will begin to realize why the bible is so safe to so many people.

Realizing the bible is an extremely important tool by which we can learn, grow and help others allows us to put the book in perspective. The bible is a rich and vastly important heritage of many people's interactions with God, and from their experiences with good and evil we can learn a great deal. Yet is is possible for an individual to never read the bible, but still find God. They do not look to a symbol or a book, but to the source of truth; they do not put their salvation in the contradictions of worldly interpretation, but in something far greater. This is why most bible worshipers will never be able to see the forest: because of the trees.

The living God can show us hidden meanings in the bible - meanings which many religious people would not accept because they have already concluded their worldly interpretations to be perfect. When Jesus Christ began to announce his own interpretations of the Old Testament and what they meant to him, he was violently rejected. The wisdom which should have been learned from that lesson 2000 years ago is not accepted even today because so many people hold the bible as a 'god'. This is also how a person can stand at the gates, but not go in themselves or allow those around them to enter. God retains the privilege of showing us deeper shades of truth through many lessons not found in pages of a book.

The most popular bible is the King James version which has been revered among English-speaking peoples around the world for the last 400 years. It must be universally understood our language, like all living languages, undergoes profound changes over time. Although great care is presumed to be given to the translations of ancient Greek and Hebrew texts which have resulted in our modern-day bibles, it should be accepted any bible is not perfect. Some people prefer one translation of the bible over another. Others go so far as to proclaim their preferred translation of the bible to be 'right' and all others to be 'wrong'. The message should be clear: it is not a mere book which provides you salvation. It is the love and truth of a living God, which is discovered through diligent efforts for the positive.

Personally, the bible has been a way for God to show me insight into things I was already trying to learn. I have asked questions before, and have been shown answers in the bible. Yet there have been many times when I have interpreted the answers incorrectly, or I have misunderstood what God was trying to show me. The bible is an amazing tool in my life, but it is not a crutch, nor do I absolutely need it to have a meaningful relationship with God. The bible has helped me, at times, to understand the historical and metaphoric relationship of our spiritual reality, but it has also been used by evil forces to misguide and distract me. As I have said before, the bible can be used by good or evil - it must be used wisely.

As scholars of Truth and disciples of Love, we must seek to see the bible for what it is: an important tool. The bible, like other tools, can be used for good or evil. It can be used to judge others and galvanize power, or it can be used to help us understand God better and to love one another openly, without fear. Let those who can accept this teaching do so.

T G Johnson, July 1999

 

 

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