Ignorance breeds militancy. This is my quote learnt from an encounter with a student during yesterday's class.
Well, we were busy discussing the relationship between spirituality and ethics when this gent raised his hand. He had been quiet all through the class, so I expected a soft-spoken, yet profound input. Much to my surprise he started talking about the "fact"
that the English translations of the Bible are tainted with omissions from the original text in order to promote a "hidden" agenda. He cited the Lukan version of the Lord's prayer and stirred the other students up by proving that this account in the NIV and other translations do not have the "Our" in "Our Father". In fact, many of the other lines (that one finds in Matthew) are not even there.
So, I started by telling him about the Synoptic problem, but did not even get to telling him which Gospels form part of the Synoptic Gospels before he interjected again and rattled on for a few minutes. And then the grand finale... "We must read the King James Version of the Bible, because it is the only translation that is a direct copy of the Dead Sea Scrolls".
I couldn't contain my smile.
3 comments:
I too had a good smile, Wessel. You wonder where people pick this kind thing up. Strange, I have just read a quote from John Shelby Spong: "The books of the New Testament didn't just drop out of heaven, fully written in the King James Version." I'm sure the King James Version glows in the night.
Mmmmmm.... I have encountered a few of these in my time. Of course there are those who take it a step further and suggest that you can only read source texts (Hebrew and Greek), but then the question is which Codex they choose as authoritative? Then there are those who choose a particular codex, but dispute the inclusion of certain extant papyri (for example Mark 16), then there are those (like Bultmann) who can see the there is a radical process of redaction in even the 'simplest' books of the Bible (like John's Gospel) and so rework it to suit a better grammatical, syntactical and chronological order...
I say forget the King James Version and go for Marcion's version...
Ha ha! This guy must have studied under this dimwit preacher (PS. this is both theologically and morally offensive! Not safe for Children or work!)
Suggest that he only read Dan Brown because all translations are suspect...!
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