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The manipulation of the Biblical Gospel. |
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The mind job that the Jewish leaders had performed on the people was pretty awesome and absolute. By the time that Jesus arrived on the scene the grip that the priesthood had over the people was frightening. The Kings of Israel beheaded those who opposed them or spoke out against them – men like John the Baptist. And the Priests could quickly rally the people and incite them to a self-righteous religious fervour so that stoning was quite common place. All in all it would seem that it was a rigorous, hard, implacable, unmerciful society that the priests ruled over and instigated. Religious fundamentalism is frightening stuff no matter which religion it comes from – whether it is Judaism, Islam or Christianity, and while history shows us over and over again that it is not a good time for people to live in we are allowing it to raise its ugly head yet again. Christian Fundamentalism is on the rise and has steadily been gaining inroads into British society and politics. It is manipulative, aggressive, bigoted and full of uncompromising mind control freaks. Many before me have studied Christian Fundamentalism as it has grown and prospered in the USA and there are quite a few who are watching and studying its growth in Britain. It has been claimed that the following 4 points are the earmark of fundamentalism. 1. Inerrency or biblical literalism, the belief that every word of the Bible is to be taken literally as the word of God. From my experience when you are talking to a fundamentalist (and I have talked to more than a few over the years) you are basically on a hiding to nothing because they just aren’t listening. No matter what you say, how well you present it, nor how much evidence you may provide or supply them with their ears are closed. Their eyes are open, they are breathing, but when you knock on their brain there just aint anybody at home. The Roman church has encountered terrible problems over the years on this inerrency issue. The claim that the pope is God’s chosen ambassador on earth and what he claims as the mouthpiece of God is inerrant has given them more than a few problems when the church wants to change its mind and change what it teaches It would be interesting to see the brain summersaults that a few of the fundamentalists undergo when it is pointed out to them that if the Bible is to be taken literally and is inerrant then why has the church been so busy changing the wording of it and changing what it says. I know exactly why the church has been and continues to do it. It is doing it quite simply because it aids the churches desire to manipulate and change the thinking of the people under its control, but it would be interesting to hear what a few fundamentalists who believe in the total inerrency of the Bible make of it – after all – if the Bible was and is totally inerrant why the need to change what it says? And which version of it was/is totally inerrant? Here is an example “But knowing that man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ; we also believe in Christ Jesus, that we may be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: because by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.” Galatians 2:16 Douay-Rheims Bible The Douay-Rheims Bible is reputedly a faithful translation of the Latin Vulgate Bible which St. Jerome (342-420) translated into Latin from the original languages. So here is the original standard. It was indeed upon this standard that Martin Luther – Protestant Reformer – based his arguments and the Protestant Reformation message to Christianity gained strength. To wit - 1. Man was not justified by the works of the law because by the works of the law no flesh would be justified. Next - “know that a man is not justified of the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ; and we believe in Jesus Christ, that we be justified of the faith of Christ, and not of the works of the law. Wherefore of the works of the law each flesh shall not be justified.” Wycliffe New Testament - published in1388 Ok, so the wording is a little more explanatory, but no essential difference here because the principle and teaching is the same – 1. Man was not justified by the works of the law because by the works of the law no flesh would be justified. Next - “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.” Galatians 2:16 King James Authorised Version published in 1611 Again – so far so good – 1. Man was not justified by the works of the law because by the works of the law no flesh would be justified. Next – “having known also that a man is not declared righteous by works of law, if not through the faith of Jesus Christ, also we in Christ Jesus did believe, that we might be declared righteous by the faith of Christ, and not by works of law, wherefore declared righteous by works of law shall be no flesh.” Galatians 2:16 Youngs literal translation published in 1863 Again – still all is well. It may be a more in depth translation but the essential meaning and teaching is the same – 1. Man was not justified by the works of the law because by the works of the law no flesh would be justified. Next – “But knowing that a man is not justified on the principle of works of law [nor] but by the faith of Jesus Christ, *we* also have believed on Christ Jesus, that we might be justified on the principle of [the] faith of Christ; and not of works of law; because on the principle of works of law no flesh shall be justified.” Galatians 2:16 Darby Translation published in 1890 Ok, again, the wording is a little more explanatory, but no essential difference here because the principle and teaching is the same – 1. Man was not justified by the works of the law because by the works of the law no flesh would be justified. Next - “Yet who know that a man is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ, and not by works of the law, because by works of the law shall no one be justified.” Galatians 2:16 Revised Standard Version 1946 Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, just hang on to your hat there – IT HAS CHANGED. Do you see it? Suddenly man is no longer justified by the faith/faithfulness of Jesus Christ but by mans own faith in Jesus Christ – note – “even we have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ” And since then - “Nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified. Galatians 2:16 New American Standard Bible – 1971 Again - man is no longer justified by the faith/faithfulness of Jesus Christ but by mans own faith in Jesus Christ – note – “even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ ” And again - “Know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.” Galatians 2:16 New International Version 1973 Again - man is no longer justified by the faith/faithfulness of Jesus Christ but by mans own faith in Jesus Christ – note – “we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ” First off we have Israel’s flaming Priests in the time of Josiah attempting to re-write history and cover up the pantheistic background of Judaism. And now in our very own time these Christians are still at it. They are re-writing the so called inerrant Bible. It’s a case of now you see it - now you don't. They are re-writing it. They are changing it. The conniving mind control freaks are trying to rewrite history, and it is being done before Christianity’s very eyes. In a couple of hundred years the old text will have been forgotten and everybody will have been taught the new, and they won't even know that it has happened. Read it and weep, Paul. These mind bending, a***holes just don't miss a trick. Come back George Orwell, all is forgiven. George Orwell in his book “1984” wrote about a world that was basically split into 3 factions and the people were always at war with one of them. I think the factions were Eastasia and Eurasia or something. But as the political powers that be made friends with the faction that they were at war with and fell out with the other faction the ministry of change went through all of the books and documents and changed the news and history so that everybody could be fooled into thinking that the current war and enemy that they were fighting had always been the enemy. Let's say they were at war with Eastasia and they then made friends with Eastasia and went to war with Eurasia, the ministry of change re-wrote the history books and news to make it appear that they had always been at war with Eurasia. And that is what these mind control freaks are doing with the supposedly inerrant Bible. They have changed what it used to say so that it says something completely different. If we are looking at Biblical justification then you can’t be justified by your works of the law and neither can you be justified by your faith because your faith is a work done by you and within you. Faith is work of the law because you are commanded to have faith. It is right there in the first commandment - Thou shalt have no other Gods before me. Jesus knew that it was a work of the law, a fact that He brought to the attention of the scribes and Pharisees - "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgement, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. ( Matt. 23:23). Paul knew that faith was a work of the law, a fact which he makes quite clear when he is in the process of removing all excuses for boasting from those to whom he was writing - "Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay, but by the law of faith." (Rom 3:27) So what have these mind manipulating bunch of numbnuts done by their re-writing the Bible text and changing its meaning? Simple – by teaching that the Bible says that we are justified by our faith in Jesus Christ instead of by the faith/faithfulness of Jesus Christ, they have placed themselves and only those who have faith in Christ into the pole position of being the only ones who are within grace and justified before God. This new interpretation means that all of the millions of people who do not have faith in Christ are not justified before God. It makes them, the Christian church the only holders of the truth. It means that what they are teaching quite openly and plainly is that all of the millions of people who do not have faith in Christ are not justified before God. It excludes them and makes Christianity the only religion that God justifies and accepts. Clever isn’t it? But I digress – the question here is – what do the fundamentalist evangelicals make of it all? Because hey – guys and gals – if the Bible is to be taken literally and is inerrant then which interpretation is the right one? Oh and by the way – if you are insistent on the total inerrency of the Bible don’t forget the words of Jesus and what he said to those who had the pride and audacity to declare another to be outside of grace – “But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgement: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, (graceless wretch) shall be in danger of hell fire”. Mathew 5:22
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