That’s not in the Bible!

When you Google “that’s not in the Bible”, you get silly things such as:

1. “God helps those who help themselves”
2. “Spare the rod, spoil the child”
3.  It was specifically an apple that Eve ate in the Garden of Eden
4.  It was the devil/Satan that tempted Eve
5. “God works in mysterious ways”
6. “cleanliness is next to Godliness”
7. three wise men visited baby Jesus

But … what’s actually not in the Bible?

• planets
• God=Jesus=Holy Ghost/Spirit (see 1 John 5:6-8 – some versions of the bible say these three are one; other versions say “these three are in agreement”.

•  You go to heaven when you die (see previous blog posts)
• You see your dead relatives in heaven (see above)
• Adam dies the day he eats the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil (as God stated in Gen 2:17 – every interpretation and tranlation agrees on this wording)

Genesis 5:3 When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth.

Genesis 5:4 After Seth was born, Adam lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters.

Genesis 5:5 Altogether, Adam lived a total of 930 years, and then he died.

• “I am saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen— that the Messiah would suffer and, as the first to rise from the dead, would bring the message of light to his own people and to the Gentiles.”

John 11:43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”

(The term “Messiah” only occurs in the New Testament. 

• Jesus saying “It is more blessed to give than to receive”: 
• John 19:33-36New International Version (NIV)
  33 But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. 35 The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. 36 These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken,”[a]

4 instances of “broken bones” in the Bible:

(1) Psalm 34:19-21New International Version (NIV)

19 The righteous person may have many troubles,
but the Lord delivers him from them all;
20 he protects all his bones,
not one of them will be broken.
(2) Jeremiah 23:9 [ Lying Prophets ] Concerning the prophets: My heart is broken within me; all my bones tremble. I am like a drunken man, like a strong man overcome by wine, because of the Lord and his holy words.

(3) Lamentations 3:4 He has made my skin and my flesh grow old and has broken my bones.

(4) John 19:36 These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken,”

• John 7:38New International Version (NIV)
  38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”[a]

Bible results for “rivers of living water.” Showing results 1-1.

• John 5:46New International Version (NIV)
  46 If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me.
• Luke 24:44-46New International Version (NIV)
  44 He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”
  45 Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. 46 He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day,

This is very interesting.  When I plugged “third day” into Biblegateway.com, I got over 45 hits.  The number three seems to be extremely significant to the Bible, and when you think about it (trinity, three “wise men” etc. it’s true.  Considering the fact that Jesus was crucified on “Good Friday” and rose on Easter Sunday (arguably 2 days later) this “rise from the dead on the third day”  falls more into the pattern of the magical number three than anything else.

• Matthew 12:1-5New International Version (NIV)
  Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath
  At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.”  He answered, “Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread—which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests.  Or haven’t you read in the Law that the priests on Sabbath duty in the temple desecrate the Sabbath and yet are innocent?

Exodus 31:14 “‘Observe the Sabbath, because it is holy to you. Anyone who desecrates it is to be put to death; those who do any work on that day must be cut off from their people.

• Matthew 2:23New International Version (NIV)  and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene.

4 Bible results for “Nazarene.” Showing results 1-4.

Bible search results
Matthew 2:23 and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene.
In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations
Mark 14:67 When she saw Peter warming himself, she looked closely at him. “You also were with that Nazarene, Jesus,” she said.
In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations
Mark 16:6 “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him.
In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations
Acts 24:5 “We have found this man to be a troublemaker, stirring up riots among the Jews all over the world. He is a ringleader of the Nazarene sect
In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations

• Jeremiah 34:4-5New International Version (NIV)
  4 “‘Yet hear the Lord’s promise to you, Zedekiah king of Judah. This is what the Lord says concerning you: You will not die by the sword; 5 you will die peacefully.  

See: 2 Kings 25:7New International Version (NIV)
7 They killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. Then they put out his eyes, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon.

and:

Jeremiah 39:6-9New International Version (NIV)
6 There at Riblah the king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes and also killed all the nobles of Judah. 7 Then he put out Zedekiah’s eyes and bound him with bronze shackles to take him to Babylon.

and: Isaiah 52:10-11New International Version (NIV)
10 There at Riblah the king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes; he also killed all the officials of Judah. 11 Then he put out Zedekiah’s eyes, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon, where he put him in prison till the day of his death.

I suppose he died peacefully, but it was certainly violent before that!

 

 

 

 

Changing horses in the middle of the stream

Why would God suddenly decide to change things up?  Why would he suddenly send a new “the real one, this time” prophet instead of starting out that way?  If there was one true religion, it would be the first one.  Yet we know it’s not because the first people worshipped animals.  You can’t start new religions and claim they are the only true ones. You can’t say Christianity is the one true religion, and Abraham and Isaac are up in heaven like the Bible says they are – that makes no sense.  They haven’t accepted Jesus as their personal savior.  And it doesn’t make sense to say Jesus was Jewish but Jews are going to hell for not accepting Jesus.

It’s like language.  What language did God speak when he said “let there be light”?  What language did he speak to Adam and Eve?  Why would there be new languages?  Why would the Bible have to have been translated into hundreds of different languages?  The original English versions don’t even make sense – they have to re-write them in “modern” English.

You must have read the wrong Koran

Yes, that was a comment I read on Facebook this morning.  And that is the whole problem.  There are multiple versions of the various holy books in existence today.  Multiple interpretations, multiple ways people try to make a paradigm from thousands of years ago fit into today’s society.

For example, Exodus 21:22 KJV reads: “If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her, and yet no mischief follow: he shall be surely punished, according as the woman’s husband will lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine.”

It’s impossible to detmine with any exactness the definitions of the terms “depart” and “mischief”.  The New American Standard Bible reads: “If men struggle with each other and strike a woman with child so that she gives birth prematurely, yet there is no injury…”; the Amplified Bible reads, “If men contend with each other, and a pregnant woman (interfering) is hurt so that she has a miscarriage, yet no further damage follows…”; the Bible in Basic English reads, “If men, while fighting, do damage to a woman with child, causing the loss of the child, but no other evil comes to her…”  The Modern King James reads “…so that her child comes out, and there is no injury…” The New Simplified Bible reads, ” When a pregnant woman suffers a miscarriage as the result of an injury caused by someone who is fighting, if she is not badly hurt…”

Here is a list from Wikipedia of the English translations of the Koran:

English[edit]

See also: English translations of the Quran

(In chronological order of publication)

• Alexander Ross, 1649, The Alcoran of Mahomet: Translated out of Arabique into French by the Sieur Du Ryer.
• George Sale, 1734, Koran, Commonly called The Alcoran of Mohammed, Translated into English immediately from the Original Arabic; with Explanatory Notes, taken from the most approved Commentators. To which is prefixed a Preliminary Discourse.
• John Meadows Rodwell, 1861, The Koran. (ISBN 0-8041-1125-1).
• E.H. Palmer, 1880, The Qur’an: The Sacred Books of the East Part Nine. (ISBN 1-4179-3010-1).
• Mohammad Abdul Hakim Khan, 1905, The Holy Qur’an, Patiala.^[30]
• Hairat Dehlawi, 1912, The Koran Prepared, Delhi.
• Mirza Abul Fazl, 1911, The Qur’an, Arabic Text and English Translation Arranged Chronologically with an Abstract, Allahabad.
• Maulana Muhammad Ali, 1917 The Holy Qur’an: Text.^[31] (ISBN 0-913321-11-7).
• Al-Hajj Hafiz Ghulam Sarwar, 1920, Translation of the Holy Qur’an, Singapore.
• Marmaduke Pickthall, 1930, The Meaning of the Glorious Qu’ran. (ISBN 1-879402-51-3).
• Abdullah Yusuf Ali, 1934, The Meaning of the Holy Qur’an, Lahore. (ISBN 0-915957-76-0).
• Maulvi Sher Ali, 1936, The Holy Quran with English translation.^[32] (ISBN 1-85372-314-2).
• Richard Bell, 1937–39, The Qur’an. Translated, with a critical re-arrangement of the Surahs.
• Abdul Majid Daryabadi, 1941, The Holy Qur’an, English Translation, Lahore.
• Arthur John Arberry, 1955, The Koran Interpreted: A Translation. (ISBN 0-684-82507-4).
• N. J. Dawood, 1956, “The Koran”. (ISBN 0-14-044558-7)
• Khadim Rahmani Nuri, 1964. “The Running Commentary of the Holy Qur-an”. Shillong
• Muhammad Zafrulla Khan, 1970, “The Qur’an: The Eternal Revelation vouchsafed to Muhammad the Seal of the Prophets”.(ISBN 1-56656-255-4)
• Muhammad Asad, 1980, The Message of The Qur’an.(ISBN 1-904510-00-0).
• M. H. Shakir, 1981, The Quran, Arabic and English. (ISBN 0-940368-16-1). (Controversial, see English translation controversy)
• T. B. Irving, 1985, The Qur’an: First American Version. (ISBN 0-911119-33-7).
• Zafar Ishaq Ansari, 1988 Towards Understanding the Qur’an, translated from Abul Ala Maududi’s Urdu translation Tafhim al Qur’an.
• Dr. Rashad Khalifa, (died on 31 January 1990), Quran: The Final Testament, Universal Unity, (ISBN 0-9623622-2-0).
• Allamah Nooruddin, Amatul Rahman Omar and Abdul Mannan Omar, 1990, The Holy Qur’an – Arabic Text and English Translation^[33][34] (ISBN 0976697238).
• T. B. Irving, 1991 Noble Qur’an: Arabic Text & English Translation (ISBN 0-915597-51-9)
• AbdalHaqq and Aisha Bewley, 1999&2005 The Noble Qur’an: A New Rendering of its Meaning in English, Bookwork. (ISBN 0-9538639-3-X).
• Dr. Muhammad Muhsin Khan and Dr. M. Taqi-ud-Din Al-Hilali, 1999. The Noble Quran (ISBN 1-59144-000-9)
• Dr. Zohurul Hoque, 2000, Translation and Commentary on The Holy Quran, Holy Qur’An Pub. Project. (ISBN 0-9678304-0-0).
• Dr. S.M. Afzal-ur-Rahman, 2001, The Holy Quran.
• Ahmed Ali, 2001, Al-Qur’an, a Contemporary Translation.(ISBN 0-691-07499-2) (ISBN 978-0-691-07499-3).
• Muhammad Taqiuddin Sarwar, 2001, The Holy Qur’an, Islamic Seminary Inc. (ISBN 0-941724-00-X).
• Shabbir Ahmed, 2003, Galaxy.
• The Message: God’s Revelation to Humanity, 2003, by ProgressiveMuslims.Org, iUniverse, Inc.^[35](ISBN 0-595-29035-3)(ISBN 978-0-595-29035-2)
• Kanzul Iman by Professor Shah faridul Haque, 1990, The Qur’an “Kanzul Iman” With a Phrase-by-Phrase English Translation, from Pakistan.
• Ali Quli Qara’i, 2005, The Qur’an With a Phrase-by-Phrase English Translation, ICAS Press. (ISBN 1-904063-20-9).
• Muhammad Abdel-Haleem, 2004, The Qur’an (Oxford World Classics). (ISBN 0-19-283193-3).
• Thomas Cleary, 2004, The Qur’an: A New Translation.(ISBN 1-929694-44-X)
• Ali Ünal, 2006 The Qur’an with Annotated Interpretation in Modern English. (ISBN 978-1-59784-000-2).
• Alan Jones, 2007, The Qur’an Translated into English, Oxford, Gibb Memorial Trust. (ISBN 978-0-906094-63-1).
• Edip Yüksel, Layth al-Shaiban, Martha Schulte-Nafeh, 2007 Quran: a Reformist Translation (Non-sexist, non-sectarian translation). (ISBN 0-9796715-0-7).
• Laleh Bakhtiar, 2007 The Sublime Quran.
• Syed Vickar Ahamed, 2007, The Glorious Qur’an (Interpretation of the Meaning of).^[36](ISBN 978-1-879402-68-3)
• Tahereh Saffarzadeh, translated Qur’an in Persian and English (bilingual).
• Justice Mufti Taqi Usmani, 2008, Translation of Quran, (ISBN 978-969-564-000-5).
• Usama Dakdok, 2009, The Generous Qur’an, Usama Dakdok Publishing. (ISBN 0-9824137-0-X).
• Tarif Khalidi, 2009, The Qur’an: A new Translation, Penguin Classics. (ISBN 978-0-14-310588-6).
• P. JainulAbideen, 2010, Al-Quran, (Beta Translation).^[37]
• Tahir-ul-Qadri, 2011, The Glorious Qur’an, Minhaj-ul-Qur’an publications. (ISBN 978-1-908229-00-7).
• Mufti Afzal Hoosen Elias, 2007, Quran Made Easy.

• Talal Itani, 2012, Quran in Modern English: Clear and Easy to Read, ClearQuran Publishing. (ISBN 1467948748).
• Syed Vickar Ahamed, March 2015, The Glorious Qur’an (Interpretation of the Meaning of)Arabic and English, side by side, 673 pages, Library of Congress Control Number 2004096319, ISBN 978-1-87940-296-6.
• The Study Quran Translation, Seyyed Hossein Nasr (editor-in-chief), Translation by Maria Dakake, Caner K. Dagli and Joseph E. B. Lumbard (HarperOne: New York and San Francisco, 2015) (ISBN 978-0061125867).
• The Clear Quran: A Thematic English Translation by Dr. Mustafa Khattab (Al-Azhar University), 2015. Pleasant to read, easy to understand. Published by SirajPublications.com (ISBN 978-0-9948895-0-8)
• Sam Gerrans, 2016, The Quran: A Complete Revelation. (ISBN 978-0995492004).

So yes, it is very easy to read the “wrong” version.