People On Social Media Point Out That The Bible Was Translated Wrong And Didn’t Say Anything About Homosexuality
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History is tricky. It can be one-sided, deceitful, hurtful, it can get rewritten by those in power. It can be easily manipulated. But biblical history is even trickier to track, and it can also be used as a tool for manipulation. The original thoughts and ideas are prone to getting lost in translation, especially when the book is said to have been originally written about 2700 years ago. Apparently, some people believe that this was what happened with the word “homosexuality” in the Bible. Some say it wasn’t added to the Holy Book until 1946 and it’s causing quite a stir among some people. Scroll down to find out more.
More info: Tumblr
People on social media are pointing out the wrong translations in the Bible
Image credits: sunshine-tattoo
Image credits: sunshine-tattoo
These two social media users—one on Facebook and the other on Tumblr—are pointing out how the world “arsenokoitai” in the Bible was translated wrong. According to them, it actually translates to a “child molester,” not homosexual as recent translations indicate. “The way Leviticus 18:22 is truly written,” they explain, is: “Man shall not lie with young boys as he does with a woman, for it is an abomination.”
The Tumblr user under the username sunshine-tattoo reveals that they’re Jewish and that the topic is “incredibly important” to them. They go on to say that “Christians know very little about the culture that is found within the stories of the Old Testament.”
They say that homosexuality wasn’t mentioned in the Bible until the 20th century
Image credits: sunshine-tattoo
Image credits: www.tumblr.com
Image credits: sunshine-tattoo
Image credits: sunshine-tattoo
In an interview for Forge Online, Ed Oxford—a graduate of Talbot School of Theology and a researcher in how the Bible has been weaponized against LGBTQ people—went into more detail about the translations of the Bible.
“I wanted to see how other cultures and translations treated the same verses when they were translated during the Reformation 500 years ago. So I started collecting old Bibles in French, German, Irish, Gaelic, Czechoslovakian, Polish… you name it,” Ed explained. “I had a German friend come back to town and I asked if he could help me with some passages in one of my German Bibles from the 1800s. So we went to Leviticus 18:22 and he’s translating it for me word for word. In the English where it says ‘Man shall not lie with man, for it is an abomination,’ the German version says ‘Man shall not lie with young boys as he does with a woman, for it is an abomination.’ I said, ‘What?! Are you sure?’ He said, ‘Yes!’ Then we went to Leviticus 20:13— same thing, ‘Young boys,'” he continued.
Ed goes on to explain how he met up with a friend who’s fluent in Swedish and Norwegian to ask her the same thing: “She’s going through it [the verses] carefully, and then her face comes up, ‘Do you know what this says?!’ and I said, ‘No! That’s why you are here!’ She said, ‘It says boy abusers, boy molesters.’ It turns out that the ancient world condoned and encouraged a system whereby young boys (8-12 years old) were coupled by older men. Ancient Greek documents show us how even parents utilized this abusive system to help their sons advance in society.” He concludes by saying that “for most of history, most translations thought these verses were obviously referring to the pederasty, not homosexuality!”
Here’s what people online thought
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Interesting, because they only mention the Greek word that was changed. The Old Testament was written in Hebrew. No change is mentioned to the Hebrew text. I know a lot of you are thinking that Christians are hypocrites, and, to be fair, a lot of Christians are. My view is that I love and follow God as best as I can, but it is in no way my place to tell other people how to live their lives. I fully support LGBTQ rights, even though I’m not part of that community. Even if I thought that it was wrong, that’s still not grounds for discrimination against that group.
The Old Testament was written mostly in Hebrew, a few small sections were written in Aramaic. The New Testament was written Greek. There are over 5,000 handwritten copies of the Bible, in its entirety or just sections. They agree 98% of the time.
In my opinion, the root of the problem is what part of the Bible the group emphasizes. Also, many faiths have additional texts, often deemed more important than the Bible. The Old Testament, written over centuries for many reasons, is not a reference book. It is not a guide for judging others. The Bible tells us not to judge others, not once -- but several times. Primary messages of the New Testament include forgiveness, loving your neighbor and helping the needy. People focus on a few lines from Leviticus ignoring major themes -- God's intended message. God loves all of us, equally. We will be judged on our actions, not the brand of religion we follow. Words of a 3 year old, "Let God judge, he has thunder."
You're leaving out the two mutually contradictory creation myths in Genesis, regardless of translation. The various translations of the Bible do not even come close to agreeing '98% of the time', which explains a great deal of why Christianity has so many sects that all condemn each other to Hell every five minutes.
The New Testament was written in Aramaic. It was the language of the Hebrew people of Y'huda. They didn't speak Greek in their homes. They didn't write their stories in Greek. The Aramaic originals were carried to the east, the Greek translations were carried West. The eastern church was very careful not to alter the texts in any way. The early Christian church was happy to rewrite what they felt needed fixing. A Catholic man rewrote the names of the Hebrews in the Bible, saying the Jews didn't deserve to have their names in the Bible because they "killed their Lord." If you're looking for a more authentic original source, find and Aramaic-English New Testament. You'll be surprised how many questions are answered just because there are so many fewer hands adding to the task.
IIRC, the reason the greek word here is important is because, up until the Dead Sea Scrolls were found, it was the oldest 'copy' of the masoretic texts. From a historian's perspective, there were some unfortunate traditions of ritually destroying scriptural texts- to the point that prior to the Qumran cave finds, the septuagint was a few thousand years prior to the Aleppo Codex. not sure why 'old' matters here, considering that from the same historian's perspective, the jewish scribes had a few other traditions that were positively lovely, (namely ritually destroying any copy that had a mistake in it and starting over.) but that's why they care about what the greek translations had to say. Of course, the dead sea scrolls have changed this-they're more or less contemporary to the Septuagint.
Very well said.
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Ms.M. haha
That, Aragorn, is Christian.
Thank you sir, I try
The god that I am talking about would be the baby murdering, mass-murdering, eternally soul condemning depiction of jealousy, fear and power personified that serves as the very core and basis of the nonsense that you superimpose upon the fact because you're too much of a coward to address the truth, which is that neither that god nor the one that you imagine has any basis and nor does the original, which you are in denial of, inspire your actions and ideals. You're just living in a communally vicarious daydream, as far as can be from your true self. As far as can be from truth.
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
How do you love and follow something that you can not and have not possibly confirmed, let alone understand? You follow your ideals. Which seem to amount to much higher morals than the god mentioned in the bible. So, you rebel against that god, because you're better than the more bitter tribal hatred and the highest ideals of primitive inbreds. End of story. Why bullshit? Isn't that sinful?
I don’t know what god you’re talking about, but my God is the epitome of morality, love, and justice.
"..... than the god mentioned in the bible" or in any other religious scripts? What does it mean? How did God had done that? All religious scripts are written by people, and what's good in them - mainly universal love and justice - are not followed by the majority of the "faithful". If they were, the world would look a lot different. God always forgives them no matter what evil deeds they repeatedly committed, and off to the heaven they'll go.
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
That’s basically how I feel. I don’t want to hurt anybody’s feelings, but *sigh* isn’t the whole point of the LGBTQ movement to understand that we are all different? Do you really have to meddle with our religion?
It isn't a "movement." We are a group of people who share a common struggle- the discrimination against us, stigma, lack of representation, and other not-so-nice things we have to deal with on a daily basis. We are not "meddl[ing] with [y]our religion." We are trying to show you why it is, by the very foundations of your religion, not okay to discriminate against us. God says not to judge others, to love thy neighbor as thyself, and that everyone sins and all sins are equal. Of course we understand that everyone is different - that's what we're trying to get Christians to understand, too. It is not okay to be "different" when you're harming another person.
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There is no right to a**l sex.
I’m sorry?
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
Abinico Arts Good response!
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
Abinico Arts yes
Finally! As a nonbinary and pansexual Christian, I've been saying this since I first found out about it. Like, jeez. Calm down, Dad, so what if I want to wear a suit to prom, you're acting like I told you I was pregnant with you brother's baby.
My partner is non-binary and you could classify me as pan :) good luck to you. People have a hard time with nuance
I love finding other Christians that promote the love...ALL love...instead of hate. I believe Jesus would want you to be true to yourself, and I for one want you to be happy.
If you were pregnant with your uncle's baby they'd probably cover it up and then throw you out on the street for being a slut.
That's the trouble these days. Kids are immature and think just because they know more than when they were younger that it's ok to what they want when they want. Whether your right or wrong you're disobeying your parents.
So? Are parents infallible now? Must they be obeyed at all costs?
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
Whatever. Nobody really cares. If they say they do, they're probably really informing you that they're just f*****g nosey. Chances are that you'll be able to hold in your arms all who truly care during the entirety of your life, simultaneously.
There is not one BIBLE text. It was written down many times, over hundreds of years, in different languages and societies. There are several accepted versions. Taking anything word for word is a bit ignorant, don't you think? In the meantime, try to forgive, love your neighbor, and help take care of the poor.
Interesting, because they only mention the Greek word that was changed. The Old Testament was written in Hebrew. No change is mentioned to the Hebrew text. I know a lot of you are thinking that Christians are hypocrites, and, to be fair, a lot of Christians are. My view is that I love and follow God as best as I can, but it is in no way my place to tell other people how to live their lives. I fully support LGBTQ rights, even though I’m not part of that community. Even if I thought that it was wrong, that’s still not grounds for discrimination against that group.
The Old Testament was written mostly in Hebrew, a few small sections were written in Aramaic. The New Testament was written Greek. There are over 5,000 handwritten copies of the Bible, in its entirety or just sections. They agree 98% of the time.
In my opinion, the root of the problem is what part of the Bible the group emphasizes. Also, many faiths have additional texts, often deemed more important than the Bible. The Old Testament, written over centuries for many reasons, is not a reference book. It is not a guide for judging others. The Bible tells us not to judge others, not once -- but several times. Primary messages of the New Testament include forgiveness, loving your neighbor and helping the needy. People focus on a few lines from Leviticus ignoring major themes -- God's intended message. God loves all of us, equally. We will be judged on our actions, not the brand of religion we follow. Words of a 3 year old, "Let God judge, he has thunder."
You're leaving out the two mutually contradictory creation myths in Genesis, regardless of translation. The various translations of the Bible do not even come close to agreeing '98% of the time', which explains a great deal of why Christianity has so many sects that all condemn each other to Hell every five minutes.
The New Testament was written in Aramaic. It was the language of the Hebrew people of Y'huda. They didn't speak Greek in their homes. They didn't write their stories in Greek. The Aramaic originals were carried to the east, the Greek translations were carried West. The eastern church was very careful not to alter the texts in any way. The early Christian church was happy to rewrite what they felt needed fixing. A Catholic man rewrote the names of the Hebrews in the Bible, saying the Jews didn't deserve to have their names in the Bible because they "killed their Lord." If you're looking for a more authentic original source, find and Aramaic-English New Testament. You'll be surprised how many questions are answered just because there are so many fewer hands adding to the task.
IIRC, the reason the greek word here is important is because, up until the Dead Sea Scrolls were found, it was the oldest 'copy' of the masoretic texts. From a historian's perspective, there were some unfortunate traditions of ritually destroying scriptural texts- to the point that prior to the Qumran cave finds, the septuagint was a few thousand years prior to the Aleppo Codex. not sure why 'old' matters here, considering that from the same historian's perspective, the jewish scribes had a few other traditions that were positively lovely, (namely ritually destroying any copy that had a mistake in it and starting over.) but that's why they care about what the greek translations had to say. Of course, the dead sea scrolls have changed this-they're more or less contemporary to the Septuagint.
Very well said.
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
Ms.M. haha
That, Aragorn, is Christian.
Thank you sir, I try
The god that I am talking about would be the baby murdering, mass-murdering, eternally soul condemning depiction of jealousy, fear and power personified that serves as the very core and basis of the nonsense that you superimpose upon the fact because you're too much of a coward to address the truth, which is that neither that god nor the one that you imagine has any basis and nor does the original, which you are in denial of, inspire your actions and ideals. You're just living in a communally vicarious daydream, as far as can be from your true self. As far as can be from truth.
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
How do you love and follow something that you can not and have not possibly confirmed, let alone understand? You follow your ideals. Which seem to amount to much higher morals than the god mentioned in the bible. So, you rebel against that god, because you're better than the more bitter tribal hatred and the highest ideals of primitive inbreds. End of story. Why bullshit? Isn't that sinful?
I don’t know what god you’re talking about, but my God is the epitome of morality, love, and justice.
"..... than the god mentioned in the bible" or in any other religious scripts? What does it mean? How did God had done that? All religious scripts are written by people, and what's good in them - mainly universal love and justice - are not followed by the majority of the "faithful". If they were, the world would look a lot different. God always forgives them no matter what evil deeds they repeatedly committed, and off to the heaven they'll go.
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
That’s basically how I feel. I don’t want to hurt anybody’s feelings, but *sigh* isn’t the whole point of the LGBTQ movement to understand that we are all different? Do you really have to meddle with our religion?
It isn't a "movement." We are a group of people who share a common struggle- the discrimination against us, stigma, lack of representation, and other not-so-nice things we have to deal with on a daily basis. We are not "meddl[ing] with [y]our religion." We are trying to show you why it is, by the very foundations of your religion, not okay to discriminate against us. God says not to judge others, to love thy neighbor as thyself, and that everyone sins and all sins are equal. Of course we understand that everyone is different - that's what we're trying to get Christians to understand, too. It is not okay to be "different" when you're harming another person.
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
There is no right to a**l sex.
I’m sorry?
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
Abinico Arts Good response!
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
Abinico Arts yes
Finally! As a nonbinary and pansexual Christian, I've been saying this since I first found out about it. Like, jeez. Calm down, Dad, so what if I want to wear a suit to prom, you're acting like I told you I was pregnant with you brother's baby.
My partner is non-binary and you could classify me as pan :) good luck to you. People have a hard time with nuance
I love finding other Christians that promote the love...ALL love...instead of hate. I believe Jesus would want you to be true to yourself, and I for one want you to be happy.
If you were pregnant with your uncle's baby they'd probably cover it up and then throw you out on the street for being a slut.
That's the trouble these days. Kids are immature and think just because they know more than when they were younger that it's ok to what they want when they want. Whether your right or wrong you're disobeying your parents.
So? Are parents infallible now? Must they be obeyed at all costs?
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
Whatever. Nobody really cares. If they say they do, they're probably really informing you that they're just f*****g nosey. Chances are that you'll be able to hold in your arms all who truly care during the entirety of your life, simultaneously.
There is not one BIBLE text. It was written down many times, over hundreds of years, in different languages and societies. There are several accepted versions. Taking anything word for word is a bit ignorant, don't you think? In the meantime, try to forgive, love your neighbor, and help take care of the poor.