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The Legend of Lilith: The Origins of Evil and the Fall of Man<br />
CHAPTER 2<br />
LOST IN TRANSLATION<br />
“History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon.”-Napoleon Bonaparte<br />
“When I find men believing Genesis literally, which the ancients with all their failings had too much sense to receive except<br />
allegorically, I am tempted to doubt the reality of the improvement of the human mind.” Elohimfrey Higgins, Comte<br />
de Gabalis by Abbe N. de Montfaucon de Villars<br />
ost people are unaware of the fact that of the 6,000 or so Greek manuscripts we have of the “Greek New Testament”<br />
hardly a single one agrees with another. Each manuscript may have slight differences. Some have major<br />
differences. When someone or a committee decides to embark upon making a translation of the Greek and Hebrew<br />
manuscripts they must first decide on which manuscripts to use. This is a very difficult process of which<br />
few people are aware. The translator must make many decisions regarding how much weight should be given to various<br />
things like the new information gained from the Dead Sea Scrolls, the differences between the Greek Septuagint and the<br />
Masoretic Hebrew text, which family of Greek texts to follow, new information about the manners and customs of the<br />
Biblical period gained from various sciences like archaeology, copies of versions in other ancient languages, the writings<br />
of the early church “fathers” or Hebrew sages, etc. After a person or team brings forth a translation of whatever Hebrew<br />
and Greek texts they select as the best and most accurate, all they will have for their efforts when complete is another version<br />
of certain Greek and Hebrew manuscripts. They will NOT have created or invented “The Bible.” 32 M<br />
They will have<br />
created their version, their own translation, and their own interpretation of a select group of manuscripts. They will have<br />
had copies of copies of copies of copies of the original autographs. None of the original autographs still exist.<br />
The Bible has been called the most valuable book and the most worthless book in the world at the same time. It has been<br />
hated, praised, honored, criticized, loved, and fought. The Scriptures have been mistranslated to mislead the masses to<br />
follow a clergy class as blind sheep. Jerome intentionally falsified the scriptures in his Vulgate version. His defense for his<br />
actions was:<br />
• “So great is the force of the established usage that even acknowledged corruptions pleaser the greater part, for<br />
they prefer to have their copies pretty, rather than correct.”<br />
Millions do not read the Scriptures, do not know what is within its pages, and they really do not care. They do not know<br />
the true Scripture and the true meaning of spirituality, and have little room for it in their busy lives. Why should they read<br />
a book that they do not understand and what can they gain by reading it? If only the Scriptures were properly read and<br />
understood then unscrupulous men could not start new religions, cults, as they do by misinterpreting and mistranslating<br />
the Scriptures. A major problem is that a translation is now as sanctified by the ignorant as the original language version.<br />
It is a sin to worship a classical translation at the expense of sacrificing the true meaning of the Scriptures.<br />
32 Smith’s Bible Dictionary: “The Bible, i.e. ‘the Book, from the Greek ‘ta biblia,’ the books. The word is derived from the root designating<br />
the inner bark of the linden tree, on which the ancients wrote their books. It is <strong>THE</strong> book as being superior to all other<br />
books. But the application of the word BIBLE to the collected books of the Old and New Testaments is not to be traced farther back<br />
then the fifth century of our era.” Science of word histories”:“The earliest books were actually rolls of papyrus, a writing material<br />
that was made from the pith of the papyrus plant and used by the ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans. The Greek word for papyrus<br />
was biblos or Byblos, which they derived from the name of the Phoenician city Byblos [now Jubayl, Lebanon] from which is derived<br />
the word bible.”<br />
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