IF I SEEK US
Imminent Fulfillment,  Immortality,  Safety, Empowerment, Equality, Knowledge,  Unity, Society

Intelligent, reasonable men of good will SHOULD be able to agree on things that matter.

"There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to
  one who is striking at the root." - Henry David Thoreau
Site Sections, Subject List, Reading Sequence, and Article Synopses

Bible Canon Links

 Error will slip through a crack, while
truth will stick in a doorway. - H. W. Shaw

Paradigm Translation Dependency
03/03/2020

The first thing that needs to be said is that out of the hundred basic verbal languages on earth there are no two languages where the "words" consistently map to each other. Most have significant differences. This should be considered alongside of the various other factors that apply to any translated passages:

• underlying cultural differences
• the  different "zeitgeist"
• context, or flavor of the era
• a modicum of different concerns
• different grammars which featured some different tenses and voices
• different expressions and "sayings" that cannot be taken literally
• different cultural  methods for indicating importance or emphasis
• loss of voice inflection or audible emphasis for quotes
• metaphors and analogies that no longer can be translated literally or succinctly
• various other aspects that are different.

Cultural languages, in contrast to some pictographic examples and modern mathematical, technical and computer languages, were developed orally, and intended to be ORAL and audible. The following points are notable:

• Conversion of the oral languages into writing ALWAYS came later after writing methods were developed and alphabets were designed.
• The conversion from verbal conversation, accounts, myths, legends, stories, etc., into written text ALWAYS suffers a loss from elimination of voice inflection and emphasis, and even from the lack of gestures, demeanor and facial expressions.
• Sometimes these extra-lingual factors can even negate or reverse the meaning of the actual phrase that is used.
• Sometimes the existing verbal conventions do not come through in the text, and/or especially in any translation to a different cultural language.

Regarding the New Testament Gospels–with which we will limit our concern–, most of all but the briefest conversations were NOT remembered verbatim, but were synopsized by the original person relating the account and put into his own words. And then these accounts were passed on to others, so that the Synoptics are collections of second, third, or even fourth hand oral accounts that were collected and transcribed by the compiler. Jesus and the disciples  ostensibly spoke Cyriac, and most Synoptic text was originally spoken in this language and recorded in Aramaic or Hebrew. They have had to be translated and recorded or written first into Koine Greek and then into an intermediate or final language such as English and the various languages in which the New Testament is published. In a few instances, even capitalization and punctuation–not provided in the original Greek manuscripts–play a role in affecting the meaning.

Agenda and paradigm differences

The three compilers of the Synoptic Gospels and the eyewitness John all clearly have different intentions or agendas for what they produced, and they all brought along their personal set of knowledge, beliefs, understandings and assumptions, including the overarching paradigm that they had accepted. However, whatever the impact of all other factors, the absolute WORST problem for translating the material meaning of the truth that Jesus proffered is the paradigm problem. The truth ALWAYS requires a paradigm to contain or display it, and if you have a flawed paradigm, you CANNOT ascertain the full truth of what was being said. Needless to say, the people that listened to Jesus had a severely flawed paradigm of God and reality, and Jesus tried in many ways to deal with this underlying problem. In a profound way, he came to change our paradigm, and without this change it all just engenders distortion at best and falsity at worst.

Paradigm Problems in New Testament Translation

It has long been known that the highest level secular Greek scholars laugh with derision and scorn at the way the New Testament is translated in the traditional Bibles. Modern English language Bibles are tethered, for social, emotional, practical and marketing factors, to the King James edition, widely recognized as a very poor translation. Besides a limited, "inbred" and misinformed lexicon, most of the rest of the problems are introduced because of two major factors: 1) the traditional but false paradigm of God in the Old Testament long held by the world's major religions, and 2) the unwarranted "faith-based" assumption that the Bible is its own best interpreter and commentator.

Personal Experience in Translation

I am not a formally trained Greek scholar, but at some point in my earlier review of the Gospels, I became convinced that they were badly translated, especially when I came across Green’s NT Greek English Interlinear. When I read that, I was shocked at the ignorance of the King James compilers and the liberties that they took. My heart fell, and I screamed at God the question, “To know the truth and understand, am I going to have to dig into the Greek text myself, and retranslate?” The answer, of course, was silence, and so I went down to the second largest book store in the world and bought 3 Greek reference works for about $140. Of course, I now realize that even these are somewhat contaminated by “Christian intellectual incest,” but for the most part, they were pretty straight and helpful.

I started with a copy of the Revised Standard text, and every place that I either didn’t understand or where I didn’t like the concept that came through, I did an in-depth study–as thorough as I could under the circumstances of relying on these 3 reference works. I changed many passages according to the clearer understanding that was developing. This initial effort took me two years. Eventually, the picture became clearer and clearer, and I kept adjusting my new text with a better choice of the several English phrases or words that can be staunchly defended.

Currently, I REALLY appreciate having as a friend and colleague a Greek scholar of the highest merit, one who has the advantage of the ancient catastrophe understanding and all that goes with it. He has read every document and scrap of ancient Greek that he can find, and has also been exposed to the findings and thinking of our mutual colleagues like David Talbott, William Mullen, Dwardu Cardona, Ev Cochrane, Roger Westcott, Rens van der Sluijs, Wallace Thornhill, et al.

Some of my most important passage changes have raised eyebrows from some of my associates–one a rector of Loma Linda University, another a science department head–, and they became determined to present my text to the university Greek scholars in the department of theology for any forthcoming challenge. I have heard back from nary a one!

When it comes to the usual translation, how bad is it? Here is just one instance of where the translation is 180 degrees wrong in literally every published New Testament out there. The problem appears in John 8:11, where Jesus ostensibly says in the extant translations, "I don't blame you either, go, and sin no more".

Foundation For Different Translation

1) When Jesus used the Mars rooted term "sin" as a noun, which means the "miss distance" or "distance of impact from the target mark"–amartia, literally outside of Mars the bullseye–, he primarily if not exclusively meant it to apply to a wrong concept or understanding of God, not a violation of the law nor bad, unethical behavior. He also primarily if not exclusively used the verb terms "sin" (miss the mark) and "sinning" (missing the mark) to apply to RETAINING and/or REINFORCING a misunderstanding or wrong concept of God. See: Definition of Sin John 15:18-27

2) If Jesus came to reveal the real character of God, change our concept of God and our paradigm, he did not come to "pay some ransom price" or to "balance the books" or to satisfy some larger than God justice system. Notice his frustration when Philip came and asked him to "show us the father, and we will be satisfied", and how he responded, "Have I been with you so long, and you still do not understand me, Philip? He who has seen [understood and experienced] me has seen the father. HOW can you say, 'Show us the father'?" It is in this way that Jesus came to solve the sin problem.
     Of course he always reflected truly in words and deeds the character of a real God worthy of the term, and thus "sinning" as reinforcement of wrong concepts stopped in his presence. There was no reinforcement of these when he was around! When he came to the temple, brandishing a whip he somewhat violently cleaned out its dreadful business. Why? The program there was sinning to the max! It was giving the message that an angry God was placated by the purchase and waste of an animal sacrifice acquired under religious extortion at an exorbitant price. That was a spiritual nadir!

3) Jesus wanted open minded followers, and he invited many to leave their petty and poor lives behind them and to come and follow him. If he had had his way, all would have followed and listened to him. He did not even send Judas away, and he went so far as to  invite that most unlikely candidate, the rich young ruler, to come and follow him. He sought out the Samaritan woman at the well, and if she had followed his instructions, she and her lover would probably have been privileged to have had special and private discourse with him, which discourse would have opened the gates of understanding the "kingship of the heavens" or empowerment.

4) The Koine Greek verb, which means "to pass, to move toward or away in relation to", can be translated in English variously as "come" or "go" or "pass", depending on the intent of the speaker, which can usually be inferred from the context. The proper selection of the antithetical "come" and "go" can ONLY be made by understanding what the speaker meant in the context of the situation and his thinking.

The More Reasonable Translation

Thus, in the light of the four foundation points above, the most reasonable translation of the statement should be, "Come, and sin no more." Of course, with this definition of sin, this could be restated as, "Come and misunderstand no longer."

Holy Ghost versus Adequate Attitude

The Greek word pneuma usually can be translated as breath or spirit, but more generally refers to a spirit or attitude that enlivens or animates with meaning. Unfortunately, early on in the process of spiritually dull translations, this word got translated as "Ghost", a superstitious and somewhat materialized concept of spirit. The actual Greek word for "ghost" would be phantasma, and pneuma should NOT EVER be translated this way.

So, instead of signifying the truer meaning of special, adequate, or triumphant attitude–the God attitude–the term now falsely implies to most people a reference to a mysterious living being that is a member of an imaginary trinity. Further support for this unwarranted false concept seemingly comes from Jesus personifying the term, but he also personified other non-person aspects, such as "wisdom". the devil, the Father, etc..

Falsely distorted "Biblical" meaning of Salvation

The Greek word soteria, translated as salvation, has a basic meaning of simply being delivered, preserved, rescued, or saved from death or danger, being made safe to STAY alive. Since the early Christians, in following the influential "apostle" Paul and the non-enlightened contingent of disciples led by Peter, ultimately did NOT experience deliverance from danger and death, it became necessary and fashionable in the Christian thinking and literature to accept that the Salvation offered by Jesus meant delivered from God's judgment of sin and being made safe to be saved literally at some LATER time after being resurrected. This is just simply and pathetically wrong!

Since the word salvation now for almost all Christians has taken on the meaning of eventual redemption, it has lost all of its immediate and literal meaning! This obscuring miasma of meaning regarding this word has become strong enough to override the plainest statements made by Jesus that his true followers are NOT subject to real danger or dying.

Bottom line implication?

The human race is little short of insane for clinging to these mistranslations and the old paradigm of the center-of-power-control-god, and the chronological-agenda-God. Insane for believing such nonsense as it does about the Creator, the realm of unfallen people, and salvation. These are only SOME of the good reasons to challenge most everything that is part of a failed paradigm and the religions based on it!

Home   Site Sections   Article Map   Contact   Store   Contributions   Survey