RE: A Former Atheist
May 5, 2015 at 5:09 pm
(This post was last modified: May 5, 2015 at 5:10 pm by Hatshepsut.)
(May 5, 2015 at 3:59 pm)Jericho Wrote: Further, some of these edits have been made for what appear to be contemporary political purposes. Hell, the latest revision to the Bible was made around the 1970's, ...
The newest New International Version is dated 2011. But the English translations aren't the original language texts, which have remained pretty stable for more than 1900 years (Old Testament) or 1750 years (New). Of course there were lengthy periods of redaction and flux for each text in the original languages as well, yet by a certain date each text reached its canonical form and hasn't been further changed since then.
It does pay to read translations carefully not only for bias, but because many concepts and language constructions in the originals do not translate directly to modern English. Ancients had different (and generally less) knowledge about the world than we do, and they organized that knowledge differently. For instance, in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 there's some doubt about sexual categories we translate as "homosexuals" but had specific connections with sexual servitude in the temple establishments of Graeco-Roman days. And this passage, used by fundamentalists to condemn homosexuality (itself a modern concept of sexual orientation that the ancients didn't have), is actually concerned mainly with Paul's believers suing each other over small disputes! While I doubt Paul approved of the "gay" thing, his comment on it was incidental and brief.
