high jumping
TRANSCRIPT
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scientists say the universe is fifteen to twenty billion years old, and
the Bible says it's a few thousand years old then, say fundamentalists,
science is wrong and the Bible right. But what happens when the fact
is in another part of the revelation? For example, what happens when
the Bible contradicts itself? This brings us to the question of internal
consistence: does the bible agree with itself?
Throughout the ages, many leading religious figures have said it
does. For example, in Inerrancy And The Church ([I03]) we read that
Clement of Rome claimed that the Scriptures were
errorless. ([I03],23),
that
Tertullian was swift to argue . . . that the Scriptures
contained no contradictory material nor error.
([I03],24),
that Origen
. . . perceived the Scriptures as perfect and
noncontradictory . . . ([I03],25),
and, finally, that
[f]or Augustine, it was an article of faith that there is no
real discrepancy or contradiction in all of Scripture.
([I03],49).
Augustine's definition of error was strict.
When Augustine declared the Bible to be free from
error, he explicitly rejected the presence of inadvertent
mistakes as well as conscious deception. ([I03],53).
Yet he knew Matthew 27:9 attributes a quote to Jeremiah which is
actually Zechariah 11:13. If not a conscious deception, wasn't this at
-
8/22/2019 High Jumping
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least a mistake? Could Augustine avoid seeing it as one or the other?
He could. Augustine's explanation ([I03],44) was as follows.
Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the name "Jeremiah" first
came to Matthew's mind. Then Matthew realized the quote was
actually Zechariah's but decided the Holy Spirit had allowed
"Jeremiah" to come to mind to indicate "the essential unity of the
words of the prophets." So Matthew bowed "to the authority of the
Holy Spirit" and wrote "Jeremiah" instead of the correct reference,
Zechariah.
Augustine illustrates how religious believers defend scripture's
"inerrancy" and "harmonize" its inconsistencies. Augustine knows
Matthew 27:9 is wrong. Yet he can't make a simple correction or
acknowledge a simple mistake. Why? Why can't he improve scripture
and make it more truthful and consistent by correcting a simple error?
Because his way of knowing doesn't allow it. The principle that
scripture is written by God and already error-free prevents him from
acknowledging and correcting a simple mistake. Instead, he's forced
to find an "explanation" that upholds the inerrancy of scripture.
Augustine takes the safe, though not entirely truthful, path. Rather
than admit a simple mistake he "explains" it. What would have
happened if he had admitted and corrected the mistake? I don't know.
But here's what happened to some unfortunate monks who dared to
correct, not even scripture itself, but merely a manual of blessings.
By the seventeenth century, errors had crept into ([M02],66)
medieval Russia's translations of scriptures and other holy writings.
Three monks decided to correct a minor holy writing. But
[t]o correct any text that had been good enough for the
-
8/22/2019 High Jumping
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great saints of early Russian Christianity was
bordering on heresy. ([M02],66).
So
[i]n gratitude for their corrections made, the three had
been tried in . . . 1618; their corrections were declared
heretical. ([M02],67).
One monk was
. . . excommunicated from the Church, imprisoned in
Novospasskij monastery, beaten and tortured with
physical cruelties and mental humiliations. ([M02],67).
Mistakes Perpetuated
Anyone who denies the smallest part of "revealed" scripture risks
humiliation, ostracism, and perhaps torture and death. This was true at
many times in the past. And in some countries it's still true.
It would be wrong, however, to think that only dishonesty or fear
prevents Augustine from acknowledging mistakes in scripture.
There's a deeper reason: he is blinded by his way of knowing.
Believing that scripture is penned by God and error-free prevents him
from correcting simple errors. His way of knowing, which is
supposed to help him find truth, hinders him. This illustrates a failing
of the revelational way of knowing itself, as opposed to a failing of
any individual.
To elaborate, people who follow a certain ideology or belong to a
certain group and who happen to be untruthful, sadistic or murderous
don't necessarily discredit the ideology or group. (If members of a
knitting club decide to poison their spouses, that doesn't necessarily
-
8/22/2019 High Jumping
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show there is something wrong with knitting.) On the other hand,
when the ideology or group itself turns truthful, sane people into
untruthful, sadistic or murderous persons, then something is wrong
with the ideology or group. (Racism, for example, can have this evil
effect on those whom it influences.)
Although Augustine's way of knowing didn't make him sadistic or
murderous (I don't know if the same can be said for the architects of
the Inquisition.), it did blind him to an untruth and force him to accept
the false as true. The principle that God is scripture's author blinded
Augustine to a simple fact - that scripture sometimes contradicts
itself.
Therefore, the revelational way of knowing can enshrine error and
hinder the search for truth. The reference in Matthew could be easily
changed from Jeremiah to Zechariah, but belief in divine authorship
doesn't allow it. Yet the Bible has been amended - not with the effect
of reducing an error but of increasing it. Here's the story of an
intentional mistranslation that persists even today.
Consistency versus Truthfulness
Christianity teaches that Jesus was born of a virgin. About the Virgin
Birth of Jesus, Matthew writes:
Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which
was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,
Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring
forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel,
which being interpreted is, God with us. ([H08],Matt
1:22-23).
-
8/22/2019 High Jumping
5/74
One bible has a curious footnote to this verse.
[T]his is a prophetic reinterpretation of Is 7, 14 in the
light of the facts Matthew has outlined . . .
([N02],NT,6),
the facts being Jesus's virgin birth, messianic mission, and special
relation to God. The footnote continues:
All these things about Jesus that were faintly traced in
Is 7, 14 are now seen by Matthew to be fully brought
to light as God's plan. ([N02],NT,6).
It's not quite clear what "prophetic reinterpretation" and "faintly
traced" means. Perhaps a reference to Isaiah will help. Turning to
Isaiah 7:14, we read
Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign;
Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and
shall call his name Immanuel. ([H08],Is 7:14).
(This verse is an intentional mistranslation of the original, as we shall
soon see.) This verse, too, has a curious footnote.
The church has always followed St. Matthew in seeing
the transcendent fulfillment of this verse in Christ and
his Virgin Mother. The prophet need not have known
the full force latent in his own words; and some
Catholic writers have sought a preliminary and partial
fulfillment in the conception and birth of the future King
Hezekiah, whose mother, at the time Isaiah spoke,
would have been a young, unmarried woman
(Hebrew, almah). The Holy Spirit was preparing,
however, for another Nativity which . . . was to fulfill . .
-
8/22/2019 High Jumping
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. the words of this prophecy in the integral sense
intended by the divine Wisdom. ([N02],OT,832).
Again, a few things aren't clear. What does "transcendent
fulfillment" mean? Why would the church have to choose to follow
either Matthew (who never identifies the prophet he quotes) or Isaiah?
Why would some Catholic writers seek a "preliminary and partial
fulfillment" in King Hezekiah? How could a prophet fail to know the
"full force latent in his own words"? What does "integral sense
intended by the divine Wisdom" mean? The authors of the footnote
seem to be half-heartedly trying to tell us something. Like Augustine,
does their way of knowing prevent them too from acknowledging a
plain and simple fact, plainly and simply? We'll see that it does.
Arsenal For Skeptics ([A09]) has selections of biblical criticism
whose authors don't accept the absolute truthfulness and sacredness of
every biblical verse. Therefore, one writer can present a much clearer
explanation of the verses from Matthew and Isaiah.
Isaiah's original Hebrew . . . falsely translated by the
false pen of the pious translators, runs thus in the
English: "Behold, a virgin shallconceive and bear a
son, and shallcall his name Immanuel." (Isa. VII, 14.)
The Hebrew words ha-almah mean simply the young
woman; and harah is the Hebrew past or perfect
tense, "conceived," which in Hebrew, as in English,
representspast and completedaction. Honestly
translated, the verse reads: "Behold, the young
woman has conceived- (is with child) - and beareth a
son and calleth his name Immanuel."
-
8/22/2019 High Jumping
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Almah means simply a young woman, of marriageable
age, whether married or not, or a virgin or not; in a broad
general sense exactly like girlor maidin English, when we
say shop-girl, parlor-maid, bar-maid, without reference to or
vouching for her technical virginity, which, in Hebrew, is
always expressed by the word bethulah. ([A09],68).
Thus, the words of Isaiah are falsely translated even today, and
Matthew quotes no known prophet.
The authors of the footnotes tried to tell the truth of the situation,
but could not. Why? Because the belief that God is scripture's Author
prevented them. That belief prevented them from communicating the
plain and simple truth. Their way of knowing, in this case, prevented
them from reaching truth.
For those interested in a contemporary discussion of biblical
inerrancy there is 136 Biblical Contradictions ([O01]) and 136 Bible
"Contradictions"Answered([M08]). I've found contradictions in
other scriptures but don't know of any similar references although
they may well exist.
The Erosion of Truthfulness
Martin Luther once said:
We know, on the authority of Moses, that longer ago
than six thousand years the world did not exist
([C05],3).
Today some people still believe the world is only a few thousand
years old and like the Seventh-day Adventists, who follow a scriptural
view of creation, still reject biological evolution. From a Seventh-day
-
8/22/2019 High Jumping
8/74
Adventist publication:
Evolution in whatever form or shape contradicts the
basic foundations of Christianity . . . Christianity and
evolution are diametrically opposed. ([S10],92).
Other religions, however, over the past few centuries have finally
realized the Bible is less than perfectly true. The realization hasn't
come cheaply. For centuries, anyone who dared disagree with the
Bible risked exile, torture or death. Only the martyrdom of numerous
men and women, in the Inquisition and other religiously-inspired
pogroms, finally eroded belief in total biblical accuracy. Because of
their sacrifice, today some Christian groups can admit that scriptures
don't contain the absolute, complete and final truth. For example,
Leonard Swidler writes:
Until the nineteenth century truth in the West was
subatomic components of an uranium atom are suitably rearranged,
the uranium atom ceases to exist and two barium atoms come into
existence. exist and other atoms are formed. For example, ([L02],170) if the
Astronomers no longer look to the Bible for information about the
sun, stars, and planets. And the Catholic Church now teaches that
. . . the Bible is free from error in what pertains to
religious truth revealed for our salvation. It is not
necessarily free from error in other matters (e.g.
natural science). ([D09],12).
Biologists and astronomers have found science's way of knowing
superior to religion's. But if science's way of knowing yields superior
knowledge about the natural world, could it yield superior knowledge
-
8/22/2019 High Jumping
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about the "supernatural" world, as well? If revelation is wrong about
the natural world, could it be wrong about the "supernatural" world,
too? We'll return to these questions later.
Claim 1: Internal Consistency
Whenever revelation contradicts some accepted fact, fundamentalists
can always say revelation is right and the accepted "fact" is wrong. If
scientists say the universe is fifteen to twenty billion years old, and
the Bible says it's a few thousand years old then, say fundamentalists,
science is wrong and the Bible right. But what happens when the fact
is in another part of the revelation? For example, what happens when
the Bible contradicts itself? This brings us to the question of internal
consistence: does the bible agree with itself?
Throughout the ages, many leading religious figures have said it
does. For example, in Inerrancy And The Church ([I03]) we read that
Clement of Rome claimed that the Scriptures were
errorless. ([I03],23),
that
Tertullian was swift to argue . . . that the Scriptures
contained no contradictory material nor error.
([I03],24),
that Origen
. . . perceived the Scriptures as perfect and
noncontradictory . . . ([I03],25),
and, finally, that
[f]or Augustine, it was an article of faith that there is no
real discrepancy or contradiction in all of Scripture.
-
8/22/2019 High Jumping
10/74
([I03],49).
Augustine's definition of error was strict.
When Augustine declared the Bible to be free from
error, he explicitly rejected the presence of inadvertent
mistakes as well as conscious deception. ([I03],53).
Yet he knew Matthew 27:9 attributes a quote to Jeremiah which is
actually Zechariah 11:13. If not a conscious deception, wasn't this at
least a mistake? Could Augustine avoid seeing it as one or the other?
He could. Augustine's explanation ([I03],44) was as follows.
Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the name "Jeremiah" first
came to Matthew's mind. Then Matthew realized the quote was
actually Zechariah's but decided the Holy Spirit had allowed
"Jeremiah" to come to mind to indicate "the essential unity of the
words of the prophets." So Matthew bowed "to the authority of the
Holy Spirit" and wrote "Jeremiah" instead of the correct reference,
Zechariah.
Augustine illustrates how religious believers defend scripture's
"inerrancy" and "harmonize" its inconsistencies. Augustine knows
Matthew 27:9 is wrong. Yet he can't make a simple correction or
acknowledge a simple mistake. Why? Why can't he improve scripture
and make it more truthful and consistent by correcting a simple error?
Because his way of knowing doesn't allow it. The principle that
scripture is written by God and already error-free prevents him from
acknowledging and correcting a simple mistake. Instead, he's forced
to find an "explanation" that upholds the inerrancy of scripture.
Augustine takes the safe, though not entirely truthful, path. Rather
than admit a simple mistake he "explains" it. What would have
-
8/22/2019 High Jumping
11/74
happened if he had admitted and corrected the mistake? I don't know.
But here's what happened to some unfortunate monks who dared to
correct, not even scripture itself, but merely a manual of blessings.
By the seventeenth century, errors had crept into ([M02],66)
medieval Russia's translations of scriptures and other holy writings.
Three monks decided to correct a minor holy writing. But
[t]o correct any text that had been good enough for the
great saints of early Russian Christianity was
bordering on heresy. ([M02],66).
So
[i]n gratitude for their corrections made, the three had
been tried in . . . 1618; their corrections were declared
heretical. ([M02],67).
One monk was
. . . excommunicated from the Church, imprisoned in
Novospasskij monastery, beaten and tortured with
physical cruelties and mental humiliations. ([M02],67).
Mistakes Perpetuated
Anyone who denies the smallest part of "revealed" scripture risks
humiliation, ostracism, and perhaps torture and death. This was true at
many times in the past. And in some countries it's still true.
It would be wrong, however, to think that only dishonesty or fear
prevents Augustine from acknowledging mistakes in scripture.
There's a deeper reason: he is blinded by his way of knowing.
Believing that scripture is penned by God and error-free prevents him
from correcting simple errors. His way of knowing, which is
-
8/22/2019 High Jumping
12/74
supposed to help him find truth, hinders him. This illustrates a failing
of the revelational way of knowing itself, as opposed to a failing of
any individual.
To elaborate, people who follow a certain ideology or belong to a
certain group and who happen to be untruthful, sadistic or murderous
don't necessarily discredit the ideology or group. (If members of a
knitting club decide to poison their spouses, that doesn't necessarily
show there is something wrong with knitting.) On the other hand,
when the ideology or group itself turns truthful, sane people into
untruthful, sadistic or murderous persons, then something is wrong
with the ideology or group. (Racism, for example, can have this evil
effect on those whom it influences.)
Although Augustine's way of knowing didn't make him sadistic or
murderous (I don't know if the same can be said for the architects of
the Inquisition.), it did blind him to an untruth and force him to accept
the false as true. The principle that God is scripture's author blinded
Augustine to a simple fact - that scripture sometimes contradicts
itself.
Therefore, the revelational way of knowing can enshrine error and
hinder the search for truth. The reference in Matthew could be easily
changed from Jeremiah to Zechariah, but belief in divine authorship
doesn't allow it. Yet the Bible has been amended - not with the effect
of reducing an error but of increasing it. Here's the story of an
intentional mistranslation that persists even today.
Consistency versus Truthfulness
Christianity teaches that Jesus was born of a virgin. About the Virgin
-
8/22/2019 High Jumping
13/74
Birth of Jesus, Matthew writes:
Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which
was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,
Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring
forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel,
which being interpreted is, God with us. ([H08],Matt
1:22-23).
One bible has a curious footnote to this verse.
[T]his is a prophetic reinterpretation of Is 7, 14 in the
light of the facts Matthew has outlined . . .
([N02],NT,6),
the facts being Jesus's virgin birth, messianic mission, and special
relation to God. The footnote continues:
All these things about Jesus that were faintly traced in
Is 7, 14 are now seen by Matthew to be fully brought
to light as God's plan. ([N02],NT,6).
It's not quite clear what "prophetic reinterpretation" and "faintly
traced" means. Perhaps a reference to Isaiah will help. Turning to
Isaiah 7:14, we read
Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign;
Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and
shall call his name Immanuel. ([H08],Is 7:14).
(This verse is an intentional mistranslation of the original, as we shall
soon see.) This verse, too, has a curious footnote.
The church has always followed St. Matthew in seeing
the transcendent fulfillment of this verse in Christ and
his Virgin Mother. The prophet need not have known
-
8/22/2019 High Jumping
14/74
the full force latent in his own words; and some
Catholic writers have sought a preliminary and partial
fulfillment in the conception and birth of the future King
Hezekiah, whose mother, at the time Isaiah spoke,
would have been a young, unmarried woman
(Hebrew, almah). The Holy Spirit was preparing,
however, for another Nativity which . . . was to fulfill . .
. the words of this prophecy in the integral sense
intended by the divine Wisdom. ([N02],OT,832).
Again, a few things aren't clear. What does "transcendent
fulfillment" mean? Why would the church have to choose to follow
either Matthew (who never identifies the prophet he quotes) or Isaiah?
Why would some Catholic writers seek a "preliminary and partial
fulfillment" in King Hezekiah? How could a prophet fail to know the
"full force latent in his own words"? What does "integral sense
intended by the divine Wisdom" mean? The authors of the footnote
seem to be half-heartedly trying to tell us something. Like Augustine,
does their way of knowing prevent them too from acknowledging a
plain and simple fact, plainly and simply? We'll see that it does.
Arsenal For Skeptics ([A09]) has selections of biblical criticism
whose authors don't accept the absolute truthfulness and sacredness of
every biblical verse. Therefore, one writer can present a much clearer
explanation of the verses from Matthew and Isaiah.
Isaiah's original Hebrew . . . falsely translated by the
false pen of the pious translators, runs thus in the
English: "Behold, a virgin shallconceive and bear a
son, and shallcall his name Immanuel." (Isa. VII, 14.)
-
8/22/2019 High Jumping
15/74
The Hebrew words ha-almah mean simply the young
woman; and harah is the Hebrew past or perfect
tense, "conceived," which in Hebrew, as in English,
representspast and completedaction. Honestly
translated, the verse reads: "Behold, the young
woman has conceived- (is with child) - and beareth a
son and calleth his name Immanuel."
Almah means simply a young woman, of marriageable
age, whether married or not, or a virgin or not; in a broad
general sense exactly like girlor maidin English, when we
say shop-girl, parlor-maid, bar-maid, without reference to or
vouching for her technical virginity, which, in Hebrew, is
always expressed by the word bethulah. ([A09],68).
Thus, the words of Isaiah are falsely translated even today, and
Matthew quotes no known prophet.
The authors of the footnotes tried to tell the truth of the situation,
but could not. Why? Because the belief that God is scripture's Author
prevented them. That belief prevented them from communicating the
plain and simple truth. Their way of knowing, in this case, prevented
them from reaching truth.
For those interested in a contemporary discussion of biblical
inerrancy there is 136 Biblical Contradictions ([O01]) and 136 Bible
"Contradictions"Answered([M08]). I've found contradictions in
other scriptures but don't know of any similar references although
they may well exist.
The Erosion of Truthfulness
-
8/22/2019 High Jumping
16/74
Martin Luther once said:
We know, on the authority of Moses, that longer ago
than six thousand years the world did not exist
([C05],3).
Today some people still believe the world is only a few thousand
years old and like the Seventh-day Adventists, who follow a scriptural
view of creation, still reject biological evolution. From a Seventh-day
Adventist publication:
Evolution in whatever form or shape contradicts the
basic foundations of Christianity . . . Christianity and
evolution are diametrically opposed. ([S10],92).
Other religions, however, over the past few centuries have finally
realized the Bible is less than perfectly true. The realization hasn't
come cheaply. For centuries, anyone who dared disagree with the
Bible risked exile, torture or death. Only the martyrdom of numerous
men and women, in the Inquisition and other religiously-inspired
pogroms, finally eroded belief in total biblical accuracy. Because of
their sacrifice, today some Christian groups can admit that scriptures
don't contain the absolute, complete and final truth. For example,
Leonard Swidler writes:
Until the nineteenth century truth in the West was
subatomic components of an uranium atom are suitably rearranged,
the uranium atom ceases to exist and two barium atoms come into
existence. exist and other atoms are formed. For example, ([L02],170) if the
Astronomers no longer look to the Bible for information about the
sun, stars, and planets. And the Catholic Church now teaches that
-
8/22/2019 High Jumping
17/74
. . . the Bible is free from error in what pertains to
religious truth revealed for our salvation. It is not
necessarily free from error in other matters (e.g.
natural science). ([D09],12).
Biologists and astronomers have found science's way of knowing
superior to religion's. But if science's way of knowing yields superior
knowledge about the natural world, could it yield superior knowledge
about the "supernatural" world, as well? If revelation is wrong about
the natural world, could it be wrong about the "supernatural" world,
too? We'll return to these questions later.
Claim 1: Internal Consistency
Whenever revelation contradicts some accepted fact, fundamentalists
can always say revelation is right and the accepted "fact" is wrong. If
scientists say the universe is fifteen to twenty billion years old, and
the Bible says it's a few thousand years old then, say fundamentalists,
science is wrong and the Bible right. But what happens when the fact
is in another part of the revelation? For example, what happens when
the Bible contradicts itself? This brings us to the question of internal
consistence: does the bible agree with itself?
Throughout the ages, many leading religious figures have said it
does. For example, in Inerrancy And The Church ([I03]) we read that
Clement of Rome claimed that the Scriptures were
errorless. ([I03],23),
that
Tertullian was swift to argue . . . that the Scriptures
contained no contradictory material nor error.
-
8/22/2019 High Jumping
18/74
([I03],24),
that Origen
. . . perceived the Scriptures as perfect and
noncontradictory . . . ([I03],25),
and, finally, that
[f]or Augustine, it was an article of faith that there is no
real discrepancy or contradiction in all of Scripture.
([I03],49).
Augustine's definition of error was strict.
When Augustine declared the Bible to be free from
error, he explicitly rejected the presence of inadvertent
mistakes as well as conscious deception. ([I03],53).
Yet he knew Matthew 27:9 attributes a quote to Jeremiah which is
actually Zechariah 11:13. If not a conscious deception, wasn't this at
least a mistake? Could Augustine avoid seeing it as one or the other?
He could. Augustine's explanation ([I03],44) was as follows.
Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the name "Jeremiah" first
came to Matthew's mind. Then Matthew realized the quote was
actually Zechariah's but decided the Holy Spirit had allowed
"Jeremiah" to come to mind to indicate "the essential unity of the
words of the prophets." So Matthew bowed "to the authority of the
Holy Spirit" and wrote "Jeremiah" instead of the correct reference,
Zechariah.
Augustine illustrates how religious believers defend scripture's
"inerrancy" and "harmonize" its inconsistencies. Augustine knows
Matthew 27:9 is wrong. Yet he can't make a simple correction or
acknowledge a simple mistake. Why? Why can't he improve scripture
-
8/22/2019 High Jumping
19/74
and make it more truthful and consistent by correcting a simple error?
Because his way of knowing doesn't allow it. The principle that
scripture is written by God and already error-free prevents him from
acknowledging and correcting a simple mistake. Instead, he's forced
to find an "explanation" that upholds the inerrancy of scripture.
Augustine takes the safe, though not entirely truthful, path. Rather
than admit a simple mistake he "explains" it. What would have
happened if he had admitted and corrected the mistake? I don't know.
But here's what happened to some unfortunate monks who dared to
correct, not even scripture itself, but merely a manual of blessings.
By the seventeenth century, errors had crept into ([M02],66)
medieval Russia's translations of scriptures and other holy writings.
Three monks decided to correct a minor holy writing. But
[t]o correct any text that had been good enough for the
great saints of early Russian Christianity was
bordering on heresy. ([M02],66).
So
[i]n gratitude for their corrections made, the three had
been tried in . . . 1618; their corrections were declared
heretical. ([M02],67).
One monk was
. . . excommunicated from the Church, imprisoned in
Novospasskij monastery, beaten and tortured with
physical cruelties and mental humiliations. ([M02],67).
Mistakes Perpetuated
Anyone who denies the smallest part of "revealed" scripture risks
-
8/22/2019 High Jumping
20/74
humiliation, ostracism, and perhaps torture and death. This was true at
many times in the past. And in some countries it's still true.
It would be wrong, however, to think that only dishonesty or fear
prevents Augustine from acknowledging mistakes in scripture.
There's a deeper reason: he is blinded by his way of knowing.
Believing that scripture is penned by God and error-free prevents him
from correcting simple errors. His way of knowing, which is
supposed to help him find truth, hinders him. This illustrates a failing
of the revelational way of knowing itself, as opposed to a failing of
any individual.
To elaborate, people who follow a certain ideology or belong to a
certain group and who happen to be untruthful, sadistic or murderous
don't necessarily discredit the ideology or group. (If members of a
knitting club decide to poison their spouses, that doesn't necessarily
show there is something wrong with knitting.) On the other hand,
when the ideology or group itself turns truthful, sane people into
untruthful, sadistic or murderous persons, then something is wrong
with the ideology or group. (Racism, for example, can have this evil
effect on those whom it influences.)
Although Augustine's way of knowing didn't make him sadistic or
murderous (I don't know if the same can be said for the architects of
the Inquisition.), it did blind him to an untruth and force him to accept
the false as true. The principle that God is scripture's author blinded
Augustine to a simple fact - that scripture sometimes contradicts
itself.
Therefore, the revelational way of knowing can enshrine error and
hinder the search for truth. The reference in Matthew could be easily
-
8/22/2019 High Jumping
21/74
changed from Jeremiah to Zechariah, but belief in divine authorship
doesn't allow it. Yet the Bible has been amended - not with the effect
of reducing an error but of increasing it. Here's the story of an
intentional mistranslation that persists even today.
Consistency versus Truthfulness
Christianity teaches that Jesus was born of a virgin. About the Virgin
Birth of Jesus, Matthew writes:
Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which
was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,
Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring
forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel,
which being interpreted is, God with us. ([H08],Matt
1:22-23).
One bible has a curious footnote to this verse.
[T]his is a prophetic reinterpretation of Is 7, 14 in the
light of the facts Matthew has outlined . . .
([N02],NT,6),
the facts being Jesus's virgin birth, messianic mission, and special
relation to God. The footnote continues:
All these things about Jesus that were faintly traced in
Is 7, 14 are now seen by Matthew to be fully brought
to light as God's plan. ([N02],NT,6).
It's not quite clear what "prophetic reinterpretation" and "faintly
traced" means. Perhaps a reference to Isaiah will help. Turning to
Isaiah 7:14, we read
Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign;
-
8/22/2019 High Jumping
22/74
Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and
shall call his name Immanuel. ([H08],Is 7:14).
(This verse is an intentional mistranslation of the original, as we shall
soon see.) This verse, too, has a curious footnote.
The church has always followed St. Matthew in seeing
the transcendent fulfillment of this verse in Christ and
his Virgin Mother. The prophet need not have known
the full force latent in his own words; and some
Catholic writers have sought a preliminary and partial
fulfillment in the conception and birth of the future King
Hezekiah, whose mother, at the time Isaiah spoke,
would have been a young, unmarried woman
(Hebrew, almah). The Holy Spirit was preparing,
however, for another Nativity which . . . was to fulfill . .
. the words of this prophecy in the integral sense
intended by the divine Wisdom. ([N02],OT,832).
Again, a few things aren't clear. What does "transcendent
fulfillment" mean? Why would the church have to choose to follow
either Matthew (who never identifies the prophet he quotes) or Isaiah?
Why would some Catholic writers seek a "preliminary and partial
fulfillment" in King Hezekiah? How could a prophet fail to know the
"full force latent in his own words"? What does "integral sense
intended by the divine Wisdom" mean? The authors of the footnote
seem to be half-heartedly trying to tell us something. Like Augustine,
does their way of knowing prevent them too from acknowledging a
plain and simple fact, plainly and simply? We'll see that it does.
Arsenal For Skeptics ([A09]) has selections of biblical criticism
-
8/22/2019 High Jumping
23/74
whose authors don't accept the absolute truthfulness and sacredness of
every biblical verse. Therefore, one writer can present a much clearer
explanation of the verses from Matthew and Isaiah.
Isaiah's original Hebrew . . . falsely translated by the
false pen of the pious translators, runs thus in the
English: "Behold, a virgin shallconceive and bear a
son, and shallcall his name Immanuel." (Isa. VII, 14.)
The Hebrew words ha-almah mean simply the young
woman; and harah is the Hebrew past or perfect
tense, "conceived," which in Hebrew, as in English,
representspast and completedaction. Honestly
translated, the verse reads: "Behold, the young
woman has conceived- (is with child) - and beareth a
son and calleth his name Immanuel."
Almah means simply a young woman, of marriageable
age, whether married or not, or a virgin or not; in a broad
general sense exactly like girlor maidin English, when we
say shop-girl, parlor-maid, bar-maid, without reference to or
vouching for her technical virginity, which, in Hebrew, is
always expressed by the word bethulah. ([A09],68).
Thus, the words of Isaiah are falsely translated even today, and
Matthew quotes no known prophet.
The authors of the footnotes tried to tell the truth of the situation,
but could not. Why? Because the belief that God is scripture's Author
prevented them. That belief prevented them from communicating the
plain and simple truth. Their way of knowing, in this case, prevented
them from reaching truth.
-
8/22/2019 High Jumping
24/74
For those interested in a contemporary discussion of biblical
inerrancy there is 136 Biblical Contradictions ([O01]) and 136 Bible
"Contradictions"Answered([M08]). I've found contradictions in
other scriptures but don't know of any similar references although
they may well exist.
The Erosion of Truthfulness
Martin Luther once said:
We know, on the authority of Moses, that longer ago
than six thousand years the world did not exist
([C05],3).
Today some people still believe the world is only a few thousand
years old and like the Seventh-day Adventists, who follow a scriptural
view of creation, still reject biological evolution. From a Seventh-day
Adventist publication:
Evolution in whatever form or shape contradicts the
basic foundations of Christianity . . . Christianity and
evolution are diametrically opposed. ([S10],92).
Other religions, however, over the past few centuries have finally
realized the Bible is less than perfectly true. The realization hasn't
come cheaply. For centuries, anyone who dared disagree with the
Bible risked exile, torture or death. Only the martyrdom of numerous
men and women, in the Inquisition and other religiously-inspired
pogroms, finally eroded belief in total biblical accuracy. Because of
their sacrifice, today some Christian groups can admit that scriptures
don't contain the absolute, complete and final truth. For example,
Leonard Swidler writes:
-
8/22/2019 High Jumping
25/74
Until the nineteenth century truth in the West was
subatomic components of an uranium atom are suitably rearranged,
the uranium atom ceases to exist and two barium atoms come into
existence. exist and other atoms are formed. For example, ([L02],170) if the
Astronomers no longer look to the Bible for information about the
sun, stars, and planets. And the Catholic Church now teaches that
. . . the Bible is free from error in what pertains to
religious truth revealed for our salvation. It is not
necessarily free from error in other matters (e.g.
natural science). ([D09],12).
Biologists and astronomers have found science's way of knowing
superior to religion's. But if science's way of knowing yields superior
knowledge about the natural world, could it yield superior knowledge
about the "supernatural" world, as well? If revelation is wrong about
the natural world, could it be wrong about the "supernatural" world,
too? We'll return to these questions later.
Claim 1: Internal Consistency
Whenever revelation contradicts some accepted fact, fundamentalists
can always say revelation is right and the accepted "fact" is wrong. If
scientists say the universe is fifteen to twenty billion years old, and
the Bible says it's a few thousand years old then, say fundamentalists,
science is wrong and the Bible right. But what happens when the fact
is in another part of the revelation? For example, what happens when
the Bible contradicts itself? This brings us to the question of internal
consistence: does the bible agree with itself?
-
8/22/2019 High Jumping
26/74
Throughout the ages, many leading religious figures have said it
does. For example, in Inerrancy And The Church ([I03]) we read that
Clement of Rome claimed that the Scriptures were
errorless. ([I03],23),
that
Tertullian was swift to argue . . . that the Scriptures
contained no contradictory material nor error.
([I03],24),
that Origen
. . . perceived the Scriptures as perfect and
noncontradictory . . . ([I03],25),
and, finally, that
[f]or Augustine, it was an article of faith that there is no
real discrepancy or contradiction in all of Scripture.
([I03],49).
Augustine's definition of error was strict.
When Augustine declared the Bible to be free from
error, he explicitly rejected the presence of inadvertent
mistakes as well as conscious deception. ([I03],53).
Yet he knew Matthew 27:9 attributes a quote to Jeremiah which is
actually Zechariah 11:13. If not a conscious deception, wasn't this at
least a mistake? Could Augustine avoid seeing it as one or the other?
He could. Augustine's explanation ([I03],44) was as follows.
Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the name "Jeremiah" first
came to Matthew's mind. Then Matthew realized the quote was
actually Zechariah's but decided the Holy Spirit had allowed
"Jeremiah" to come to mind to indicate "the essential unity of the
-
8/22/2019 High Jumping
27/74
words of the prophets." So Matthew bowed "to the authority of the
Holy Spirit" and wrote "Jeremiah" instead of the correct reference,
Zechariah.
Augustine illustrates how religious believers defend scripture's
"inerrancy" and "harmonize" its inconsistencies. Augustine knows
Matthew 27:9 is wrong. Yet he can't make a simple correction or
acknowledge a simple mistake. Why? Why can't he improve scripture
and make it more truthful and consistent by correcting a simple error?
Because his way of knowing doesn't allow it. The principle that
scripture is written by God and already error-free prevents him from
acknowledging and correcting a simple mistake. Instead, he's forced
to find an "explanation" that upholds the inerrancy of scripture.
Augustine takes the safe, though not entirely truthful, path. Rather
than admit a simple mistake he "explains" it. What would have
happened if he had admitted and corrected the mistake? I don't know.
But here's what happened to some unfortunate monks who dared to
correct, not even scripture itself, but merely a manual of blessings.
By the seventeenth century, errors had crept into ([M02],66)
medieval Russia's translations of scriptures and other holy writings.
Three monks decided to correct a minor holy writing. But
[t]o correct any text that had been good enough for the
great saints of early Russian Christianity was
bordering on heresy. ([M02],66).
So
[i]n gratitude for their corrections made, the three had
been tried in . . . 1618; their corrections were declared
heretical. ([M02],67).
-
8/22/2019 High Jumping
28/74
One monk was
. . . excommunicated from the Church, imprisoned in
Novospasskij monastery, beaten and tortured with
physical cruelties and mental humiliations. ([M02],67).
Mistakes Perpetuated
Anyone who denies the smallest part of "revealed" scripture risks
humiliation, ostracism, and perhaps torture and death. This was true at
many times in the past. And in some countries it's still true.
It would be wrong, however, to think that only dishonesty or fear
prevents Augustine from acknowledging mistakes in scripture.
There's a deeper reason: he is blinded by his way of knowing.
Believing that scripture is penned by God and error-free prevents him
from correcting simple errors. His way of knowing, which is
supposed to help him find truth, hinders him. This illustrates a failing
of the revelational way of knowing itself, as opposed to a failing of
any individual.
To elaborate, people who follow a certain ideology or belong to a
certain group and who happen to be untruthful, sadistic or murderous
don't necessarily discredit the ideology or group. (If members of a
knitting club decide to poison their spouses, that doesn't necessarily
show there is something wrong with knitting.) On the other hand,
when the ideology or group itself turns truthful, sane people into
untruthful, sadistic or murderous persons, then something is wrong
with the ideology or group. (Racism, for example, can have this evil
effect on those whom it influences.)
Although Augustine's way of knowing didn't make him sadistic or
-
8/22/2019 High Jumping
29/74
murderous (I don't know if the same can be said for the architects of
the Inquisition.), it did blind him to an untruth and force him to accept
the false as true. The principle that God is scripture's author blinded
Augustine to a simple fact - that scripture sometimes contradicts
itself.
Therefore, the revelational way of knowing can enshrine error and
hinder the search for truth. The reference in Matthew could be easily
changed from Jeremiah to Zechariah, but belief in divine authorship
doesn't allow it. Yet the Bible has been amended - not with the effect
of reducing an error but of increasing it. Here's the story of an
intentional mistranslation that persists even today.
Consistency versus Truthfulness
Christianity teaches that Jesus was born of a virgin. About the Virgin
Birth of Jesus, Matthew writes:
Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which
was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,
Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring
forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel,
which being interpreted is, God with us. ([H08],Matt
1:22-23).
One bible has a curious footnote to this verse.
[T]his is a prophetic reinterpretation of Is 7, 14 in the
light of the facts Matthew has outlined . . .
([N02],NT,6),
the facts being Jesus's virgin birth, messianic mission, and special
relation to God. The footnote continues:
-
8/22/2019 High Jumping
30/74
All these things about Jesus that were faintly traced in
Is 7, 14 are now seen by Matthew to be fully brought
to light as God's plan. ([N02],NT,6).
It's not quite clear what "prophetic reinterpretation" and "faintly
traced" means. Perhaps a reference to Isaiah will help. Turning to
Isaiah 7:14, we read
Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign;
Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and
shall call his name Immanuel. ([H08],Is 7:14).
(This verse is an intentional mistranslation of the original, as we shall
soon see.) This verse, too, has a curious footnote.
The church has always followed St. Matthew in seeing
the transcendent fulfillment of this verse in Christ and
his Virgin Mother. The prophet need not have known
the full force latent in his own words; and some
Catholic writers have sought a preliminary and partial
fulfillment in the conception and birth of the future King
Hezekiah, whose mother, at the time Isaiah spoke,
would have been a young, unmarried woman
(Hebrew, almah). The Holy Spirit was preparing,
however, for another Nativity which . . . was to fulfill . .
. the words of this prophecy in the integral sense
intended by the divine Wisdom. ([N02],OT,832).
Again, a few things aren't clear. What does "transcendent
fulfillment" mean? Why would the church have to choose to follow
either Matthew (who never identifies the prophet he quotes) or Isaiah?
Why would some Catholic writers seek a "preliminary and partial
-
8/22/2019 High Jumping
31/74
fulfillment" in King Hezekiah? How could a prophet fail to know the
"full force latent in his own words"? What does "integral sense
intended by the divine Wisdom" mean? The authors of the footnote
seem to be half-heartedly trying to tell us something. Like Augustine,
does their way of knowing prevent them too from acknowledging a
plain and simple fact, plainly and simply? We'll see that it does.
Arsenal For Skeptics ([A09]) has selections of biblical criticism
whose authors don't accept the absolute truthfulness and sacredness of
every biblical verse. Therefore, one writer can present a much clearer
explanation of the verses from Matthew and Isaiah.
Isaiah's original Hebrew . . . falsely translated by the
false pen of the pious translators, runs thus in the
English: "Behold, a virgin shallconceive and bear a
son, and shallcall his name Immanuel." (Isa. VII, 14.)
The Hebrew words ha-almah mean simply the young
woman; and harah is the Hebrew past or perfect
tense, "conceived," which in Hebrew, as in English,
representspast and completedaction. Honestly
translated, the verse reads: "Behold, the young
woman has conceived- (is with child) - and beareth a
son and calleth his name Immanuel."
Almah means simply a young woman, of marriageable
age, whether married or not, or a virgin or not; in a broad
general sense exactly like girlor maidin English, when we
say shop-girl, parlor-maid, bar-maid, without reference to or
vouching for her technical virginity, which, in Hebrew, is
always expressed by the word bethulah. ([A09],68).
-
8/22/2019 High Jumping
32/74
Thus, the words of Isaiah are falsely translated even today, and
Matthew quotes no known prophet.
The authors of the footnotes tried to tell the truth of the situation,
but could not. Why? Because the belief that God is scripture's Author
prevented them. That belief prevented them from communicating the
plain and simple truth. Their way of knowing, in this case, prevented
them from reaching truth.
For those interested in a contemporary discussion of biblical
inerrancy there is 136 Biblical Contradictions ([O01]) and 136 Bible
"Contradictions"Answered([M08]). I've found contradictions in
other scriptures but don't know of any similar references although
they may well exist.
The Erosion of Truthfulness
Martin Luther once said:
We know, on the authority of Moses, that longer ago
than six thousand years the world did not exist
([C05],3).
Today some people still believe the world is only a few thousand
years old and like the Seventh-day Adventists, who follow a scriptural
view of creation, still reject biological evolution. From a Seventh-day
Adventist publication:
Evolution in whatever form or shape contradicts the
basic foundations of Christianity . . . Christianity and
evolution are diametrically opposed. ([S10],92).
Other religions, however, over the past few centuries have finally
realized the Bible is less than perfectly true. The realization hasn't
-
8/22/2019 High Jumping
33/74
come cheaply. For centuries, anyone who dared disagree with the
Bible risked exile, torture or death. Only the martyrdom of numerous
men and women, in the Inquisition and other religiously-inspired
pogroms, finally eroded belief in total biblical accuracy. Because of
their sacrifice, today some Christian groups can admit that scriptures
don't contain the absolute, complete and final truth. For example,
Leonard Swidler writes:
Until the nineteenth century truth in the West was
subatomic components of an uranium atom are suitably rearranged,
the uranium atom ceases to exist and two barium atoms come into
existence. exist and other atoms are formed. For example, ([L02],170) if the
Astronomers no longer look to the Bible for information about the
sun, stars, and planets. And the Catholic Church now teaches that
. . . the Bible is free from error in what pertains to
religious truth revealed for our salvation. It is not
necessarily free from error in other matters (e.g.
natural science). ([D09],12).
Biologists and astronomers have found science's way of knowing
superior to religion's. But if science's way of knowing yields superior
knowledge about the natural world, could it yield superior knowledge
about the "supernatural" world, as well? If revelation is wrong about
the natural world, could it be wrong about the "supernatural" world,
too? We'll return to these questions later.
Claim 1: Internal Consistency
Whenever revelation contradicts some accepted fact, fundamentalists
-
8/22/2019 High Jumping
34/74
can always say revelation is right and the accepted "fact" is wrong. If
scientists say the universe is fifteen to twenty billion years old, and
the Bible says it's a few thousand years old then, say fundamentalists,
science is wrong and the Bible right. But what happens when the fact
is in another part of the revelation? For example, what happens when
the Bible contradicts itself? This brings us to the question of internal
consistence: does the bible agree with itself?
Throughout the ages, many leading religious figures have said it
does. For example, in Inerrancy And The Church ([I03]) we read that
Clement of Rome claimed that the Scriptures were
errorless. ([I03],23),
that
Tertullian was swift to argue . . . that the Scriptures
contained no contradictory material nor error.
([I03],24),
that Origen
. . . perceived the Scriptures as perfect and
noncontradictory . . . ([I03],25),
and, finally, that
[f]or Augustine, it was an article of faith that there is no
real discrepancy or contradiction in all of Scripture.
([I03],49).
Augustine's definition of error was strict.
When Augustine declared the Bible to be free from
error, he explicitly rejected the presence of inadvertent
mistakes as well as conscious deception. ([I03],53).
Yet he knew Matthew 27:9 attributes a quote to Jeremiah which is
-
8/22/2019 High Jumping
35/74
actually Zechariah 11:13. If not a conscious deception, wasn't this at
least a mistake? Could Augustine avoid seeing it as one or the other?
He could. Augustine's explanation ([I03],44) was as follows.
Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the name "Jeremiah" first
came to Matthew's mind. Then Matthew realized the quote was
actually Zechariah's but decided the Holy Spirit had allowed
"Jeremiah" to come to mind to indicate "the essential unity of the
words of the prophets." So Matthew bowed "to the authority of the
Holy Spirit" and wrote "Jeremiah" instead of the correct reference,
Zechariah.
Augustine illustrates how religious believers defend scripture's
"inerrancy" and "harmonize" its inconsistencies. Augustine knows
Matthew 27:9 is wrong. Yet he can't make a simple correction or
acknowledge a simple mistake. Why? Why can't he improve scripture
and make it more truthful and consistent by correcting a simple error?
Because his way of knowing doesn't allow it. The principle that
scripture is written by God and already error-free prevents him from
acknowledging and correcting a simple mistake. Instead, he's forced
to find an "explanation" that upholds the inerrancy of scripture.
Augustine takes the safe, though not entirely truthful, path. Rather
than admit a simple mistake he "explains" it. What would have
happened if he had admitted and corrected the mistake? I don't know.
But here's what happened to some unfortunate monks who dared to
correct, not even scripture itself, but merely a manual of blessings.
By the seventeenth century, errors had crept into ([M02],66)
medieval Russia's translations of scriptures and other holy writings.
Three monks decided to correct a minor holy writing. But
-
8/22/2019 High Jumping
36/74
[t]o correct any text that had been good enough for the
great saints of early Russian Christianity was
bordering on heresy. ([M02],66).
So
[i]n gratitude for their corrections made, the three had
been tried in . . . 1618; their corrections were declared
heretical. ([M02],67).
One monk was
. . . excommunicated from the Church, imprisoned in
Novospasskij monastery, beaten and tortured with
physical cruelties and mental humiliations. ([M02],67).
Mistakes Perpetuated
Anyone who denies the smallest part of "revealed" scripture risks
humiliation, ostracism, and perhaps torture and death. This was true at
many times in the past. And in some countries it's still true.
It would be wrong, however, to think that only dishonesty or fear
prevents Augustine from acknowledging mistakes in scripture.
There's a deeper reason: he is blinded by his way of knowing.
Believing that scripture is penned by God and error-free prevents him
from correcting simple errors. His way of knowing, which is
supposed to help him find truth, hinders him. This illustrates a failing
of the revelational way of knowing itself, as opposed to a failing of
any individual.
To elaborate, people who follow a certain ideology or belong to a
certain group and who happen to be untruthful, sadistic or murderous
don't necessarily discredit the ideology or group. (If members of a
-
8/22/2019 High Jumping
37/74
knitting club decide to poison their spouses, that doesn't necessarily
show there is something wrong with knitting.) On the other hand,
when the ideology or group itself turns truthful, sane people into
untruthful, sadistic or murderous persons, then something is wrong
with the ideology or group. (Racism, for example, can have this evil
effect on those whom it influences.)
Although Augustine's way of knowing didn't make him sadistic or
murderous (I don't know if the same can be said for the architects of
the Inquisition.), it did blind him to an untruth and force him to accept
the false as true. The principle that God is scripture's author blinded
Augustine to a simple fact - that scripture sometimes contradicts
itself.
Therefore, the revelational way of knowing can enshrine error and
hinder the search for truth. The reference in Matthew could be easily
changed from Jeremiah to Zechariah, but belief in divine authorship
doesn't allow it. Yet the Bible has been amended - not with the effect
of reducing an error but of increasing it. Here's the story of an
intentional mistranslation that persists even today.
Consistency versus Truthfulness
Christianity teaches that Jesus was born of a virgin. About the Virgin
Birth of Jesus, Matthew writes:
Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which
was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,
Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring
forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel,
which being interpreted is, God with us. ([H08],Matt
-
8/22/2019 High Jumping
38/74
1:22-23).
One bible has a curious footnote to this verse.
[T]his is a prophetic reinterpretation of Is 7, 14 in the
light of the facts Matthew has outlined . . .
([N02],NT,6),
the facts being Jesus's virgin birth, messianic mission, and special
relation to God. The footnote continues:
All these things about Jesus that were faintly traced in
Is 7, 14 are now seen by Matthew to be fully brought
to light as God's plan. ([N02],NT,6).
It's not quite clear what "prophetic reinterpretation" and "faintly
traced" means. Perhaps a reference to Isaiah will help. Turning to
Isaiah 7:14, we read
Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign;
Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and
shall call his name Immanuel. ([H08],Is 7:14).
(This verse is an intentional mistranslation of the original, as we shall
soon see.) This verse, too, has a curious footnote.
The church has always followed St. Matthew in seeing
the transcendent fulfillment of this verse in Christ and
his Virgin Mother. The prophet need not have known
the full force latent in his own words; and some
Catholic writers have sought a preliminary and partial
fulfillment in the conception and birth of the future King
Hezekiah, whose mother, at the time Isaiah spoke,
would have been a young, unmarried woman
(Hebrew, almah). The Holy Spirit was preparing,
-
8/22/2019 High Jumping
39/74
however, for another Nativity which . . . was to fulfill . .
. the words of this prophecy in the integral sense
intended by the divine Wisdom. ([N02],OT,832).
Again, a few things aren't clear. What does "transcendent
fulfillment" mean? Why would the church have to choose to follow
either Matthew (who never identifies the prophet he quotes) or Isaiah?
Why would some Catholic writers seek a "preliminary and partial
fulfillment" in King Hezekiah? How could a prophet fail to know the
"full force latent in his own words"? What does "integral sense
intended by the divine Wisdom" mean? The authors of the footnote
seem to be half-heartedly trying to tell us something. Like Augustine,
does their way of knowing prevent them too from acknowledging a
plain and simple fact, plainly and simply? We'll see that it does.
Arsenal For Skeptics ([A09]) has selections of biblical criticism
whose authors don't accept the absolute truthfulness and sacredness of
every biblical verse. Therefore, one writer can present a much clearer
explanation of the verses from Matthew and Isaiah.
Isaiah's original Hebrew . . . falsely translated by the
false pen of the pious translators, runs thus in the
English: "Behold, a virgin shallconceive and bear a
son, and shallcall his name Immanuel." (Isa. VII, 14.)
The Hebrew words ha-almah mean simply the young
woman; and harah is the Hebrew past or perfect
tense, "conceived," which in Hebrew, as in English,
representspast and completedaction. Honestly
translated, the verse reads: "Behold, the young
woman has conceived- (is with child) - and beareth a
-
8/22/2019 High Jumping
40/74
son and calleth his name Immanuel."
Almah means simply a young woman, of marriageable
age, whether married or not, or a virgin or not; in a broad
general sense exactly like girlor maidin English, when we
say shop-girl, parlor-maid, bar-maid, without reference to or
vouching for her technical virginity, which, in Hebrew, is
always expressed by the word bethulah. ([A09],68).
Thus, the words of Isaiah are falsely translated even today, and
Matthew quotes no known prophet.
The authors of the footnotes tried to tell the truth of the situation,
but could not. Why? Because the belief that God is scripture's Author
prevented them. That belief prevented them from communicating the
plain and simple truth. Their way of knowing, in this case, prevented
them from reaching truth.
For those interested in a contemporary discussion of biblical
inerrancy there is 136 Biblical Contradictions ([O01]) and 136 Bible
"Contradictions"Answered([M08]). I've found contradictions in
other scriptures but don't know of any similar references although
they may well exist.
The Erosion of Truthfulness
Martin Luther once said:
We know, on the authority of Moses, that longer ago
than six thousand years the world did not exist
([C05],3).
Today some people still believe the world is only a few thousand
years old and like the Seventh-day Adventists, who follow a scriptural
-
8/22/2019 High Jumping
41/74
view of creation, still reject biological evolution. From a Seventh-day
Adventist publication:
Evolution in whatever form or shape contradicts the
basic foundations of Christianity . . . Christianity and
evolution are diametrically opposed. ([S10],92).
Other religions, however, over the past few centuries have finally
realized the Bible is less than perfectly true. The realization hasn't
come cheaply. For centuries, anyone who dared disagree with the
Bible risked exile, torture or death. Only the martyrdom of numerous
men and women, in the Inquisition and other religiously-inspired
pogroms, finally eroded belief in total biblical accuracy. Because of
their sacrifice, today some Christian groups can admit that scriptures
don't contain the absolute, complete and final truth. For example,
Leonard Swidler writes:
Until the nineteenth century truth in the West was
subatomic components of an uranium atom are suitably rearranged,
the uranium atom ceases to exist and two barium atoms come into
existence. exist and other atoms are formed. For example, ([L02],170) if the
Astronomers no longer look to the Bible for information about the
sun, stars, and planets. And the Catholic Church now teaches that
. . . the Bible is free from error in what pertains to
religious truth revealed for our salvation. It is not
necessarily free from error in other matters (e.g.
natural science). ([D09],12).
Biologists and astronomers have found science's way of knowing
superior to religion's. But if science's way of knowing yields superior
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knowledge about the natural world, could it yield superior knowledge
about the "supernatural" world, as well? If revelation is wrong about
the natural world, could it be wrong about the "supernatural" world,
too? We'll return to these questions later.
Claim 1: Internal Consistency
Whenever revelation contradicts some accepted fact, fundamentalists
can always say revelation is right and the accepted "fact" is wrong. If
scientists say the universe is fifteen to twenty billion years old, and
the Bible says it's a few thousand years old then, say fundamentalists,
science is wrong and the Bible right. But what happens when the fact
is in another part of the revelation? For example, what happens when
the Bible contradicts itself? This brings us to the question of internal
consistence: does the bible agree with itself?
Throughout the ages, many leading religious figures have said it
does. For example, in Inerrancy And The Church ([I03]) we read that
Clement of Rome claimed that the Scriptures were
errorless. ([I03],23),
that
Tertullian was swift to argue . . . that the Scriptures
contained no contradictory material nor error.
([I03],24),
that Origen
. . . perceived the Scriptures as perfect and
noncontradictory . . . ([I03],25),
and, finally, that
[f]or Augustine, it was an article of faith that there is no
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real discrepancy or contradiction in all of Scripture.
([I03],49).
Augustine's definition of error was strict.
When Augustine declared the Bible to be free from
error, he explicitly rejected the presence of inadvertent
mistakes as well as conscious deception. ([I03],53).
Yet he knew Matthew 27:9 attributes a quote to Jeremiah which is
actually Zechariah 11:13. If not a conscious deception, wasn't this at
least a mistake? Could Augustine avoid seeing it as one or the other?
He could. Augustine's explanation ([I03],44) was as follows.
Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the name "Jeremiah" first
came to Matthew's mind. Then Matthew realized the quote was
actually Zechariah's but decided the Holy Spirit had allowed
"Jeremiah" to come to mind to indicate "the essential unity of the
words of the prophets." So Matthew bowed "to the authority of the
Holy Spirit" and wrote "Jeremiah" instead of the correct reference,
Zechariah.
Augustine illustrates how religious believers defend scripture's
"inerrancy" and "harmonize" its inconsistencies. Augustine knows
Matthew 27:9 is wrong. Yet he can't make a simple correction or
acknowledge a simple mistake. Why? Why can't he improve scripture
and make it more truthful and consistent by correcting a simple error?
Because his way of knowing doesn't allow it. The principle that
scripture is written by God and already error-free prevents him from
acknowledging and correcting a simple mistake. Instead, he's forced
to find an "explanation" that upholds the inerrancy of scripture.
Augustine takes the safe, though not entirely truthful, path. Rather
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than admit a simple mistake he "explains" it. What would have
happened if he had admitted and corrected the mistake? I don't know.
But here's what happened to some unfortunate monks who dared to
correct, not even scripture itself, but merely a manual of blessings.
By the seventeenth century, errors had crept into ([M02],66)
medieval Russia's translations of scriptures and other holy writings.
Three monks decided to correct a minor holy writing. But
[t]o correct any text that had been good enough for the
great saints of early Russian Christianity was
bordering on heresy. ([M02],66).
So
[i]n gratitude for their corrections made, the three had
been tried in . . . 1618; their corrections were declared
heretical. ([M02],67).
One monk was
. . . excommunicated from the Church, imprisoned in
Novospasskij monastery, beaten and tortured with
physical cruelties and mental humiliations. ([M02],67).
Mistakes Perpetuated
Anyone who denies the smallest part of "revealed" scripture risks
humiliation, ostracism, and perhaps torture and death. This was true at
many times in the past. And in some countries it's still true.
It would be wrong, however, to think that only dishonesty or fear
prevents Augustine from acknowledging mistakes in scripture.
There's a deeper reason: he is blinded by his way of knowing.
Believing that scripture is penned by God and error-free prevents him
-
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from correcting simple errors. His way of knowing, which is
supposed to help him find truth, hinders him. This illustrates a failing
of the revelational way of knowing itself, as opposed to a failing of
any individual.
To elaborate, people who follow a certain ideology or belong to a
certain group and who happen to be untruthful, sadistic or murderous
don't necessarily discredit the ideology or group. (If members of a
knitting club decide to poison their spouses, that doesn't necessarily
show there is something wrong with knitting.) On the other hand,
when the ideology or group itself turns truthful, sane people into
untruthful, sadistic or murderous persons, then something is wrong
with the ideology or group. (Racism, for example, can have this evil
effect on those whom it influences.)
Although Augustine's way of knowing didn't make him sadistic or
murderous (I don't know if the same can be said for the architects of
the Inquisition.), it did blind him to an untruth and force him to accept
the false as true. The principle that God is scripture's author blinded
Augustine to a simple fact - that scripture sometimes contradicts
itself.
Therefore, the revelational way of knowing can enshrine error and
hinder the search for truth. The reference in Matthew could be easily
changed from Jeremiah to Zechariah, but belief in divine authorship
doesn't allow it. Yet the Bible has been amended - not with the effect
of reducing an error but of increasing it. Here's the story of an
intentional mistranslation that persists even today.
Consistency versus Truthfulness
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Christianity teaches that Jesus was born of a virgin. About the Virgin
Birth of Jesus, Matthew writes:
Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which
was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,
Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring
forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel,
which being interpreted is, God with us. ([H08],Matt
1:22-23).
One bible has a curious footnote to this verse.
[T]his is a prophetic reinterpretation of Is 7, 14 in the
light of the facts Matthew has outlined . . .
([N02],NT,6),
the facts being Jesus's virgin birth, messianic mission, and special
relation to God. The footnote continues:
All these things about Jesus that were faintly traced in
Is 7, 14 are now seen by Matthew to be fully brought
to light as God's plan. ([N02],NT,6).
It's not quite clear what "prophetic reinterpretation" and "faintly
traced" means. Perhaps a reference to Isaiah will help. Turning to
Isaiah 7:14, we read
Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign;
Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and
shall call his name Immanuel. ([H08],Is 7:14).
(This verse is an intentional mistranslation of the original, as we shall
soon see.) This verse, too, has a curious footnote.
The church has always followed St. Matthew in seeing
the transcendent fulfillment of this verse in Christ and
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his Virgin Mother. The prophet need not have known
the full force latent in his own words; and some
Catholic writers have sought a preliminary and partial
fulfillment in the conception and birth of the future King
Hezekiah, whose mother, at the time Isaiah spoke,
would have been a young, unmarried woman
(Hebrew, almah). The Holy Spirit was preparing,
however, for another Nativity which . . . was to fulfill . .
. the words of this prophecy in the integral sense
intended by the divine Wisdom. ([N02],OT,832).
Again, a few things aren't clear. What does "transcendent
fulfillment" mean? Why would the church have to choose to follow
either Matthew (who never identifies the prophet he quotes) or Isaiah?
Why would some Catholic writers seek a "preliminary and partial
fulfillment" in King Hezekiah? How could a prophet fail to know the
"full force latent in his own words"? What does "integral sense
intended by the divine Wisdom" mean? The authors of the footnote
seem to be half-heartedly trying to tell us something. Like Augustine,
does their way of knowing prevent them too from acknowledging a
plain and simple fact, plainly and simply? We'll see that it does.
Arsenal For Skeptics ([A09]) has selections of biblical criticism
whose authors don't accept the absolute truthfulness and sacredness of
every biblical verse. Therefore, one writer can present a much clearer
explanation of the verses from Matthew and Isaiah.
Isaiah's original Hebrew . . . falsely translated by the
false pen of the pious translators, runs thus in the
English: "Behold, a virgin shallconceive and bear a
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son, and shallcall his name Immanuel." (Isa. VII, 14.)
The Hebrew words ha-almah mean simply the young
woman; and harah is the Hebrew past or perfect
tense, "conceived," which in Hebrew, as in English,
representspast and completedaction. Honestly
translated, the verse reads: "Behold, the young
woman has conceived- (is with child) - and beareth a
son and calleth his name Immanuel."
Almah means simply a young woman, of marriageable
age, whether married or not, or a virgin or not; in a broad
general sense exactly like girlor maidin English, when we
say shop-girl, parlor-maid, bar-maid, without reference to or
vouching for her technical virginity, which, in Hebrew, is
always expressed by the word bethulah. ([A09],68).
Thus, the words of Isaiah are falsely translated even today, and
Matthew quotes no known prophet.
The authors of the footnotes tried to tell the truth of the situation,
but could not. Why? Because the belief that God is scripture's Author
prevented them. That belief prevented them from communicating the
plain and simple truth. Their way of knowing, in this case, prevented
them from reaching truth.
For those interested in a contemporary discussion of biblical
inerrancy there is 136 Biblical Contradictions ([O01]) and 136 Bible
"Contradictions"Answered([M08]). I've found contradictions in
other scriptures but don't know of any similar references although
they may well exist.
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The Erosion of Truthfulness
Martin Luther once said:
We know, on the authority of Moses, that longer ago
than six thousand years the world did not exist
([C05],3).
Today some people still believe the world is only a few thousand
years old and like the Seventh-day Adventists, who follow a scriptural
view of creation, still reject biological evolution. From a Seventh-day
Adventist publication:
Evolution in whatever form or shape contradicts the
basic foundations of Christianity . . . Christianity and
evolution are diametrically opposed. ([S10],92).
Other religions, however, over the past few centuries have finally
realized the Bible is less than perfectly true. The realization hasn't
come cheaply. For centuries, anyone who dared disagree with the
Bible risked exile, torture or death. Only the martyrdom of numerous
men and women, in the Inquisition and other religiously-inspired
pogroms, finally eroded belief in total biblical accuracy. Because of
their sacrifice, today some Christian groups can admit that scriptures
don't contain the absolute, complete and final truth. For example,
Leonard Swidler writes:
Until the nineteenth century truth in the West was
subatomic components of an uranium atom are suitably rearranged,
the uranium atom ceases to exist and two barium atoms come into
existence. exist and other atoms are formed. For example, ([L02],170) if the
Astronomers no longer look to the Bible for information about the
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sun, stars, and planets. And the Catholic Church now teaches that
. . . the Bible is free from error in what pertains to
religious truth revealed for our salvation. It is not
necessarily free from error in other matters (e.g.
natural science). ([D09],12).
Biologists and astronomers have found science's way of knowing
superior to religion's. But if science's way of knowing yields superior
knowledge about the natural world, could it yield superior knowledge
about the "supernatural" world, as well? If revelation is wrong about
the natural world, could it be wrong about the "supernatural" world,
too? We'll return to these questions later.
Claim 1: Internal Consistency
Whenever revelation contradicts some accepted fact, fundamentalists
can always say revelation is right and the accepted "fact" is wrong. If
scientists say the universe is fifteen to twenty billion years old, and
the Bible says it's a few thousand years old then, say fundamentalists,
science is wrong and the Bible right. But what happens when the fact
is in another part of the revelation? For example, what happens when
the Bible contradicts itself? This brings us to the question of internal
consistence: does the bible agree with itself?
Throughout the ages, many leading religious figures have said it
does. For example, in Inerrancy And The Church ([I03]) we read that
Clement of Rome claimed that the Scriptures were
errorless. ([I03],23),
that
Tertullian was swift to argue . . . that the Scriptures
-
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contained no contradictory material nor error.
([I03],24),
that Origen
. . . perceived the Scriptures as perfect and
noncontradictory . . . ([I03],25),
and, finally, that
[f]or Augustine, it was an article of faith that there is no
real discrepancy or contradiction in all of Scripture.
([I03],49).
Augustine's definition of error was strict.
When Augustine declared the Bible to be free from
error, he explicitly rejected the presence of inadvertent
mistakes as well as conscious deception. ([I03],53).
Yet he knew Matthew 27:9 attributes a quote to Jeremiah which is
actually Zechariah 11:13. If not a conscious deception, wasn't this at
least a mistake? Could Augustine avoid seeing it as one or the other?
He could. Augustine's explanation ([I03],44) was as follows.
Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the name "Jeremiah" first
came to Matthew's mind. Then Matthew realized the quote was
actually Zechariah's but decided the Holy Spirit had allowed
"Jeremiah" to come to mind to indicate "the essential unity of the
words of the prophets." So Matthew bowed "to the authority of the
Holy Spirit" and wrote "Jeremiah" instead of the correct reference,
Zechariah.
Augustine illustrates how religious believers defend scripture's
"inerrancy" and "harmonize" its inconsistencies. Augustine knows
Matthew 27:9 is wrong. Yet he can't make a simple correction or
-
8/22/2019 High Jumping
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acknowledge a simple mistake. Why? Why can't he improve scripture
and make it more truthful and consistent by correcting a simple error?
Because his way of knowing doesn't allow it. The principle that
scripture is written by God and already error-free prevents him from
acknowledging and correcting a simple mistake. Instead, he's forced
to find an "explanation" that upholds the inerrancy of scripture.
Augustine takes the safe, though not entirely truthful, path. Rather
than admit a simple mistake he "explains" it. What would have
happened if he had admitted and corrected the mistake? I don't know.
But here's what happened to some unfortunate monks who dared to
correct, not even scripture itself, but merely a manual of blessings.
By the seventeenth century, errors had crept into ([M02],66)
medieval Russia's translations of scriptures and other holy writings.
Three monks decided to correct a minor holy writing. But
[t]o correct any text that had been good enough for the
great saints of early Russian Christianity was
bordering on heresy. ([M02],66).
So
[i]n gratitude for their corrections made, the three had
been tried in . . . 1618; their corrections were declared
heretical. ([M02],67).
One monk was
. . . excommunicated from the Church, imprisoned in
Novospasskij monastery, beaten and tortured with
physical cruelties and mental humiliations. ([M02],67).
Mistakes Perpetuated
-
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Anyone who denies the smallest part of "revealed" scripture risks
humiliation, ostracism, and perhaps torture and death. This was true at
many times in the past. And in some countries it's still true.
It would be wrong, however, to think that only dishonesty or fear
prevents Augustine from acknowledging mistakes in scripture.
There's a deeper reason: he is blinded by his way of knowing.
Believing that scripture is penned by God and error-free prevents him
from correcting simple errors. His way of knowing, which is
supposed to help him find truth, hinders him. This illustrates a failing
of the revelational way of knowing itself, as opposed to a failing of
any individual.
To elaborate, people who follow a certain ideology or belong to a
certain group and who happen to be untruthful, sadistic or murderous
don't necessarily discredit the ideology or group. (If members of a
knitting club decide to poison their spouses, that doesn't necessarily
show there is something wrong with knitting.) On the other hand,
when the ideology or group itself turns truthful, sane people into
untruthful, sadistic or murderous persons, then something is wrong
with the ideology or group. (Racism, for example, can have this evil
effect on those whom it influences.)
Although Augustine's way of knowing didn't make him sadistic or
murderous (I don't know if the same can be said for the architects of
the Inquisition.), it did blind him to an untruth and force him to accept
the false as true. The principle that God is scripture's author blinded
Augustine to a simple fact - that scripture sometimes contradicts
itself.
Therefore, the revelational way of knowing can enshrine error and
-
8/22/2019 High Jumping
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hinder the search for truth. The reference in Matthew could be easily
changed from Jeremiah to Zechariah, but belief in divine authorship
doesn't allow it. Yet the Bible has been amended - not with the effect
of reducing an error but of increasing it. Here's the story of an
intentional mistranslation that persists even today.
Consistency versus Truthfulness
Christianity teaches that Jesus was born of a virgin. About the Virgin
Birth of Jesus, Matthew writes:
Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which
was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,
Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring
forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel,
which being interpreted is, God with us. ([H08],Matt
1:22-23).
One bible has a curious footnote to this verse.
[T]his is a prophetic reinterpretation of Is 7, 14 in the
light of the facts Matthew has outlined . . .
([N02],NT,6),
the facts being Jesus's virgin birth, messianic mission, and special
relation to God. The footnote continues:
All these things about Jesus that were faintly traced in
Is 7, 14 are now seen by Matthew to be fully brought
to light as God's plan. ([N02],NT,6).
It's not quite clear what "prophetic reinterpretation" and "faintly
traced" means. P