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Question #55
QUESTION:
Shouldn't we emphasize love for Jesus Christ rather than squabbling over
Bible translations?
ANSWER:
There is no better way to emphasize our love for Jesus Christ than to
jealously and zealously guard His word.
EXPLANATION:
You can show your "love" for the Lord Jesus Christ in two ways.
1. Any method that YOU deem as sincere and valid in
your own sight. (See Lev. 10: 1-3)
2. You can endeavor to keep Christ's Scriptural
admonitions as strictly as possible. (This tends to be a lifetime
endeavor.)
In John 14:23 one of the identifying marks of anyone who loves
Him is that they will "keep my words."
You may say, "That just means to keep the things that He said to do."
BUT, the fact is that no "love" is required to keep these
sayings as evidenced in John 8:51 and 52. Love is
required to keep His "words."
Again an argument may be made that, "That just referred to the
original Greek." But alas, such a statement only leads you into a deeper
more deadly trap. The following Scriptural example will
explain.
In the book of Jonah, it is recorded that Jonah, while running from
God, is swallowed by "a great fish." (Jonah 1:17)
In Matthew 12:40 the "great fish" is identified by Jesus Christ as a
"whale." (We are not arguing genetics here, we are arguing the value of
Christ's "w-o-r-d-s.")
Strangely, at this very scripture, those who claim to be able to
"love" Christ and correct His Bible steal the words right
out of His mouth.
Every new translation changes Jesus word "whale" to
"fish." This is done because they learned in their seventh grade Biology
class that "a whale is not a fish." Faced not only with a Bible that has a
seeming contradiction (not with itself but with their 7th grade Biology
teacher) but also with a Saviour who is so uninformed and uneducated as to
not know that "a whale is not a fish," they panic. They
rush to Matthew 12:40 and remove the word "whale" from both the Bible
(their "authority in all matters of faith and practice") and from Jesus'
lips (their "Lord" and Saviour.)
The Greek word used for "whale" in Matthew 12:40 is "ketos." The Greek
word for "fish" is "ichthus." They are NOT the same.
Jesus used the Greek word "ichthus" in several places in Scripture, such
as: Matthew 7:10 and 17:28. Certainly He could have used it in Matthew
12:40 if He so desired.
The fundamental Bible "enhancer" overlooks two monumental Scriptural
truthes.
First he overlooks the fact that Jonah was swallowed by a "great fish"
that was specially "prepared" by God. It
should be noted here that Adam gave names to all living creatures but
one. God gave whales their name in Genesis 1:21 BEFORE
Adam named the rest of creation in Genesis 2:19,20. That means the whale
had a "predestination" (Gen. 1:21) and a "predestination" (Jonah 1:17)
from the foundation of the earth. NOT
something even a Bible corrector should take lightly.
The second truth ignored by God's little "helper" is that by changing
" whale " to " fish " in Jesus' statement of Matthew 12:40 he is guilty of
breaking Jesus' admonition of John 14:23 to "keep my w-o-r-d-s."
("Correcting" the Bible is like "treading" quicksand. The harder you kick,
the faster you sink.)
Thus the authors of the New American Standard Version, the New
International Version, the New King James Version and the rest of the new
translations are not only wrong in their translation of "ketos" but in
their defiance of Jesus' mandate of John 14:23.
So, when Jesus says one thing (whale) and your Pastor, parent, or
professor says another (fish) you are bound by LOVE for
Christ to reject man's opinion and embrace and defend Jesus' w-o-r-d-s.
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