THE BIBLE IS MAN’S CREATION
It is critical to understand that many of the words in the Bible are not in the original Hebrew or Greek texts which was inspired by God. Perhaps as much as half of the words are filler words chosen by Bible scribes/editors. The inspiration for these filler words comes from the imaginations of human writers — not from God. Moreover, translation of Hebrew and Greek words to English and other languages is always done with words that agree with and support the religious biases of the scribe/author. The consequence of these editorial choices is a Bible that is man’s creation.
The truth that most of the words found in the Bible are there because men put them there will not be accepted easily by Jews or Christians who hold on to the belief that every word in the Bible came from God. People who believe that every word in the Bible came directly from God have been deceived by the teachings of religious leaders.
Knowing that man (i.e. Bible scribes/authors ) has had such an influence on the Bible is extremely important to recognize because God said that we should trust no man. But, when we interpret the Bible literally, we are trusting men (i.e. scribes) on two accounts:
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When we pause to think about all the Hebrew and Greek words that scribes must translate to write the Bible, we conclude that tremendous trust is put in their translating abilities. And when we pause to think about all of the English filler words that scribes insert between the Hebrew and Greek words, we conclude again that much trust is invested in their abilities to know the mind of God well enough to make all those decisions correctly.
When we look at the process of writing the Bible this way, we can see that claims that the written Bible is God’s inerrant word is a false claim. Indeed, some are God’s words, but, for the most part, the Bible is the words of men (i.e. scribes). How much is God’s word and how much is man’s word is debatable. No one can say for sure which is which.
The good news in this dilemma is that knowing which words are God’s words and which are man’s words is not critical to understanding the Bible. The critical element is now, and always has been, the desire to hear God’s voice instead of the voices/words of false prophets.
The understanding of people who seek to know God with all of their heart are not limited by the errors and shortcomings of Bible scribes/editors. God makes up for the limitations of the written word by interpreting the spiritual meaning of the written word as people read.
STUDY TIP: See LISTEN FOR GOD’S VOICE WHILE READING.
God has always known that scribes could never write the Bible so that it would be in complete agreement with his words. God understands full well that no man can know his mind or his thoughts well enough to accurately represent him in written, human words. And yet he has given us the Bible to teach us about him. It seems like a problem without a solution.
The reality of the Bible is that God does not need it to be a completely accurate recitation of his words. He knows that it is impossible for scribes to get it right and he is OK with that. Thus he does not interfere with their writings or the teachings of false prophets who add their own wrong interpretations of what God meant to the scribes’ wrong interpretations. Instead of intervening to ensure that scribes and religious teachers get it right, God lets them run with the deceptive visions and imaginations of their minds. God knows that the literal Bible is a lie but, he is not concerned because he compensates for the lies of the scribes by speaking truth to people who are ready to hear his voice. He dares to take this “hands off” attitude because he has a plan for revealing the truth that will offset the lies of the scribes and religious teachers: Listening to his spoken voice.
It was never God’s plan that people would learn to know him just by reading the written Bible. Indeed the Bible teaches some things about God, but written words are no substitute for the intimacy of hearing God’s spoken voice.
STUDY TIP: See this link for understanding of intimacy of hearing God’s voice.
God’s plan has always been that people would listen to his spoken voice. If having access to a written Bible was necessary to knowing God and acquiring faith, the heroes of faith in Hebrews 11 would not be heroes of faith. The only reason they are heroes is that they heard God’s spoken voice. They did not have any written texts to teach them about God, but they did hear God’s voice and that is why they did the things that God says are commendable in Hebrews 11.
Although the written Bible is not absolutely necessary to knowing God, it is nonetheless useful to learn to know him. God says that the law (i.e. Bible) is a tutor/guardian that leads his people to faith. Religion is based on the literal words of the written Bible, but faith is based on God’s spoken word. Thus it must be said that religion and faith are not the same thing.
It must be said also, however, that the act of reading the words of the Bible does not constitute faith and does not always lead to faith. Reading is basically an intellectual activity of the flesh. Reading is not a matter of faith because it involves things that can be seen and does not involve things that cannot be seen (i.e. God’s voice). True faith only comes by hearing God’s spoken voice. Reading can lead to faith, but it will not lead to faith unless the reader has the right heart attitude and listens to God’s voice.
STUDY TIP: See this link for understanding of the right heart attitude. Also see LISTEN FOR GOD’S VOICE WHILE READING.
People who trust the written Bible are deceived on the following points:
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- Belief that all the words of the Bible are all words spoken by God.
- Belief that the words found in the Bible are the complete collection of all the words ever spoken by God.
- Everything God wants us to know about him is contained in the written words of the Bible.
- Religious leaders have a God-given ability to explain Bible words that are hard to understand.
- If there is anything else that God wants us to know, he will tell us what that is through the teachings and writings of religious leaders.
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These are all wrong beliefs. We can see how absurd these beliefs are when we consider that no two Bibles contain the same written words. Perhaps as many as half of the words in any version of the Bible are filler words inserted by scribes/editors. This begins to explain why the total number of words varies from one Bible version to another, and begins to explain why it is absurd to claim that any Bible includes a complete collection of all of God’s words.
Unless we listen to God’s voice while reading the Bible, the words of the Bible are inadequate to teach us about God. This is true because Bible editors/writers have religious, theological biases that determine thousands of word choices they make when they write the Bible in their native language. Their theological beliefs affect the filler words they choose to make the Bible understandable and the words they choose to translate the original Hebrew and Greek words into their native language.
It is hard to understand the difficulty Bible editors face when choosing words for their Bibles. We can begin to appreciate the challenge, however, when we look at the following example:
Numbers 18:8 in the English version of the New American Standard Bible (NASB):
Then the LORD spoke to Aaron, “Now behold, I Myself have given you charge of My offerings, even all the holy gifts of the sons of Israel I have given them to you as a portion and to your sons as a perpetual allotment. (44 words)
This is Numbers 18:8 in the original Hebrew:
Yehovah Dabar ‘Aharown‘ aniy Nathan Mishmereth T@ruwmah Kol Qodesh Ben Yisra’el Nathan Mishchah Choq `owlam (15 words)
This is how the original Hebrew was translated into English:
LORD spoke Aaron behold Myself given charge offerings all holy sons Israel given portion sons perpetual allotment (17 words)
Then, the words and punctuation in bold were added as filler words to make the original Hebrew thought understandable and complete in English.
Then the LORD spoke to Aaron, “Now behold, I Myself have given you charge of My offerings, even all the holy gifts of the sons of Israel I have given them to you as a portion and to your sons as a perpetual allotment.
We see from this analysis that he original 15 Hebrew words have been translated into 44 English words. This shows how much influence man has on the Bible. Only one-third of the words in this one verse are God’s words. This shows that claims that the Bible is God’s word is a false claim. Man clearly has put his words in it.
When we look at the English interpretations of the Hebrew words, we see that interpretations of a particular Hebrew word also vary from one verse to another. This means that a Hebrew word from God is not always translated the same way. This shows again how much influence Bible editors/scribes have on the words written in the Bible.
The Hebrew words of Numbers 18:8 are useful examples to study to see the many different ways one word is translated into English and the number of times it is translated to different English words:
Yehovah: LORD 6510, GOD 4, JEHOVAH 4, variant 1
Dabar ‘: again 2, assert 1, boast* 1, commanded 1, counseled 2, declare 2, declared 5, declared* 1, directed 2, discuss 1, made 1, meant 1, named 1, passed sentence 3, preached 1, proclaimed 2, promised 34, promising 1, pronounce 3, pronounced 6, proposal 1, repeated 2, said 50, say 18, saying 1, saying* 1, says 4, sing 1, speak 297, speaking 61, speaks 34, speaks fluently 1, spoke 333, spoken 188, state 2, statements 2, subdues 2, talk 7, talked 7, talking 9, tell 18, telling 4, tells 2, threatened 1, told 16, utter 1, uttered 1, utters 1
Aharown‘: Aaron 345, Aaronites 2
aniy: alone 1, Myself 12, myself 5
Nathan : abandon 1, add 1, added 1, allow 14, allowed 3, applied 1, appoint 5, appointed 15, apportion 1, appropriated 1, ascribe 2, ascribed 2, assigned 5, bear 1, bestow 1, bestowed 2, blame* 1, bring 10, bring down 2, bringing 2, brings 2, brought 3, cast 3, cause 2, causes 1, certainly be given 1, certainly give 1, comes 1, commit 1, committed 1, conferred 1, consider 1, consign 1, contribute 1, cried 1, dedicated 1, defeat 1, deliver 26, delivered 26, delivers 3, designate 1, designated 1, direct 1, display 1, displayed 1, distribute 2, divide 1, enabled 1, entrust* 1, entrusted 2, entrusted* 1, establish 1, established 1, exchange 1, execute 1, executes 2, fasten 2, fastened 1, find 1, furnishing 1, gave 293, generously give 1, gift 1, give 491, given 259, gives 67, giving 37, grant 18, granted 11, growl* 1, had 3, hand over 2, hang 3, has had 1, have 2, have* 1, heap 1, held 1, hung 1, impose 1, imposed 3, indeed deliver 1, indeed give 1, inflict 2, inflicted 1, injured* 1, injures* 1, inserted 1, instilled 4, issued 5, kept giving 1, laid 5, lay 12, laying 1, lays 1, left 2, left hanging 1, lend 1, lends 1, let 7, lies* 1, lift 5, lifts 1, made 42, made turn 3, make 67, makes 3, making 3, marry off 1, offer 2, offered 4, Oh* 13, open* 1, over 1, paid 7, pay 6, performed 1, permit 2, pierce 1, pitch 1, place 13, placed 19, planted 1, pledged 2, pledged* 1, present 2, presented 1, prevent* 2, produces 1, provide 1, provided 2, provides 1, put 192, puts 4, putting 2, raised 2, reduces 1, render 2, repay 1, Requite 2, requited 1, roared loudly* 1, roared* 1, send 4, sends 1, sent 4, set 74, setting 5, show 2, showed 1, slander* 1, sounds forth 1, sparkles* 1, speaks forth 1, spend 1, spread 1, strike 1, submitted* 1, supplies 1, surely be given 1, surely give 2, take 2, taken 1, takes 1, to pay 1, took 1, traded 1, turned 6, used 1, utter 1, uttered 2, uttered forth 1, utters 5, wept* 1, wholly given 2, work 1, would* 7, yield 13, yield* 1, yielded 2, yields 2, yours 1
Mishmereth : charge 50, ward 9, watch 7, keep 7, ordinance 3, offices 1, safeguard 1
T@ruwmah: offering 51, oblation 19, heave 4, gifts 1, offered 1
Kol : all 4045, all for every 2, all his and every 1, all his everything 1, all its the entire 1, all the and every 1, all the of every 1, all the everywhere 1, all the throughout 1, all your concerning everything 1, all your to every 1, all your throughout 1, all men 2, all these 1, all things 11, altogether 1, always* 15, annually* 2, any 176, any or by all 2, any* 5, anyone 12, anyone* 2, anything 31, anything* 6, anywhere 3, anywhere* 1, both 2, complete 2, completely 5, continually* 15, countryside* 1, during 1, each 4, each one 1, each* 1, earnestly* 1, else 1, entire 16, entirely 1, every 366, every and everyone 1, every in all 1, every of all 4, every of any 1, every pertaining to all 1, every man 1, every one 1, every one 12, every thing 1, every way 1, everyone 96, everyone’s 3, everyone* 3, everything 52, everything* 4, everywhere 2, everywhere* 2, far 1, farthest 1, forever* 10, full 2, gaping 1, health* 1, just* 6, life* 1, lifetime* 1, long* 9, mere 1, much 1, no one 1, no* 33, none* 13, nothing* 12, one 3, only 1, perpetually* 2, plenty 1, something* 1, there is everywhere 1, throughout 20, throughout and all 1, throughout the whole 1, throughout all 1, throughout* 1, total 6, totally 2, utter 1, variety 1, whatever 24, whatever* 40, whenever 4, wherever* 20, whoever 45, whoever then any 1, whoever* 6, whoever…any 3, whole 125, whole and let all 1, whole and all 3, wholehearted* 1, wholly 2, whomever* 3
Qodesh : holy 262, sanctuary 68, (holy, hallowed,…) things 52, most 44, holiness 30, dedicated 5, hallowed 3, consecrated 1, miscellaneous 3
Ben: afflicted 1, afflicted* 1, age 7, aliens* 2, Ammonites* 7, anointed* 1, arrow 1, arrows 1, Assyrians* 3, baby 1, Babylonians* 3, beasts 1, being* 1, Ben-hinnom* 7, bough 2, breed 1, brothers* 1, builders 1, bull* 21, bulls* 5, calf* 2, calves 2, calves* 1, child 2, children 111, children and on the grandchildren 1, children and their grandchildren 1, children and your children’s 1, children and children’s 1, children’s 2, children’s children 5, colt 1, colts 1, common 2, descendants 14, descendants of the son 1, deserves 2, exiles* 5, father* 1, fellow* 3, fellows 2, fertile* 1, foal 1, fools* 1, foreigner* 6, foreigners 1, foreigners* 10, Gileadites* 1, grandchildren 1, granddaughters* 1, grandson 6, heir* 1, high* 1, homeborn* 1, Israelites* 1, lambs* 2, lay 4, Levites* 1, low degree* 1, low* 1, man 5, man one old 1, man* 1, men 19, men of low degree* 1, men* 4, mortal 1, must 1, must surely 1, nephew* 2, nobility* 1, offspring 1, old 167, old when his son 1, one 1, one 2, one born 1, ones 1, ones* 1, opening* 1, overnight* 2, people 5, public* 1, revelers* 1, satellites 1, scoundrels* 1, sired 1, slaves 1, son 1876, son and his grandson 1, son and your grandson 1, son of and grandson 1, son was old 1, son’s 16, son’s son 1, sons 2369, sons and his grandsons 2, sons and his sons’ 1, sons and on his sons’ 1, sons and their sons’ 1, sons and your grandsons 1, sons and your sons’ 1, sons and grandsons 2, sons of the son 14, sons’ 7, sons’ sons 2, sparks* 1, those 1, those who 2, those who are doomed 1, those who were doomed 1, troops* 1, unfortunate* 1, valiant* 3, warriors 1, whelps 1, wicked* 3, young 28, young goats* 1, young men 1, youths 1
Yisra’el: Israel 2485, Israel’s 13, Israelites 5, Israelites* 1
Mishchah: anointing 24, anointed 1, ointment 1
Choq : statute 87, ordinance 9, decree 7, due 4, law 4, portion 3, bounds 2, custom 2, appointed 1, commandments 1, miscellaneous 7
`owlam: ages 1, all successive 1, always 1, ancient 13, ancient times 3, continual 1, days of old 1, eternal 2, eternity 3, ever 10, Everlasting 2, everlasting 110, forever 136, forever and ever 1, forever* 70, forevermore* 1, lasting 1, long 2, long ago 3, long past 1, long time 3, never* 17, old 11, permanent 10, permanently 1, perpetual 29, perpetually 1
When we see the number of different ways a Hebrew word is translated into English, we begin to appreciate the difficulty that Bible scribes/authors had when making decisions about which words to choose to put in the Bible. Sometimes the differences in the words are subtle, and sometimes they are significant to the point of being unrelated. The fact that they chose to translate a Hebrew or Greek word differently in different scriptures proves that human judgment — not God’s voice — controlled the words that appear in the Bible. The fact that there are many different Bibles and not just one Bible proves that human judgment — not God’s voice — controlled the words that appear in the Bible. God does not change his mind or his words.
Most religious leaders are not aware that man has had this kind of influence on Bibles. Lacking this awareness, religious leaders would never say that the Bible is a deception produced by lying scribes. If they were to admit such a thing, the religious doctrines that they preach would all be disqualified. They must believe that every word written in a Bible is God’s word. If they didn’t believe this to be true, neither they, nor the religion they preach, would be credible.
Bible scribes/editors have ultimate control over the words of the Bible. And because religious leaders believe that the Bible is a complete and accurate recitation of God’s words, their editorial decisions have shaped religion. That fact makes them God’s enemy because religion is God’s enemy and because God hates religion.
God spoke to the prophets who did their best to record the words of the vision that God spoke, but after that, Bible scribes/editors controlled what was written. God said what he said, and then let the scribes/editors write what they wanted to write.
God took this hands off approach to the Bible because his emphasis always was, and always will be, on his spoken word. He knew that Bible authors would not accurately report what he said to the prophets and apostles who wrote the original Hebrew and Greek texts. They would get some of it right but could not get all of it right, but that was OK with God because he knew that he could always override the errors of the written Bible with his spoken voice. That is why he always said listen to my voice and never said read my words.
When God said we should not put our trust in men, he meant not to trust what any religious leaders say or write. When God said that the lying pens of scribes produced a deception, he was talking about all writers/editors of the Bible. When God said to trust him, he did not mean to trust the written Bible, he meant to trust the words of his mouth.