Most Tragic Mistranslation in English Bibles!

[Sherman]

The most tragic MISTRANSLATION of scripture in English Bibles is the mistranslation of the Greek word “Gehenna”. Gehenna is the Greek “transliteration” of the Hebrew “Ga Hinnom” which is today called “Hinnom Valley”, a very real place with a real history. Tod MISTRANSLATE it as “Hell” as is done in most English translations not only misleads the English reader, it actually nullifies the power of the word of God to call anyone to repentance!

Hinnom Valley was an open wound, a scar that had been re-tore again! It was a physical reminder of the most tragic of all events in Jewish history to date - the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem by the Babylonians, God’s Judgment of His people for their horrific, ongoing and increasing sin! Hinnom Valley was a constant geographical reminder of their horrific evil and God’s judgment of Israel as fortold by the prophets. If the Hollocaust was prophesied like the destruction of Jerusalem, then saying to a Jew today “you’ll burn in the fires of Auschwitz” would be similar to saying to a 1st century Jew “you’ll burn in the fires of Hinnom Valley”! But if possible it had even more of a horrific connatation to it than that for it spoke of the destruction of the temple, their way of life as a people, their heritage, their cultural identity!

Mistranslating Gehenna as Hell erases all that history and obscures what Jesus was trying to communicate through his warnings of being cast into Hinnom Valley! And for us today it nullifies the power of scripture to call anyone to repentance. Believers say, “No worries for me, I’m saved.” And unbelievers don’t care what it says. These passages were meant to be a warning to the children of God, to call them/us to repentance and radically illustrate the destructiveness of sin. It was meant to tap into the racial open and festering wound of occupation and slavery by an ungodly nation, and call the children of God to repentance. But mistranslating these passages as warning of Hell nullifies their power!

This is imo, the most tragic of all mistranslations of scripture!

[Stefcui]

Hi Sherman,

The path of understanding is a slow and rigorous journey. How we come to knowledge and awareness is truly a spiritual enterprise. The bible, God’s word, is full of misdirection and messages that give very strange anecdotes, and the language, poetry, “myth”, and allegory are extremely difficult for our ‘black is black’ conditioning. For some, the immediate response is to think that God is the author of confusion, and the bible is no longer trustworthy where questionable passages are exposed. For others, the path is simple, you just add up 2 + 2, and nevermind that the sum becomes negative. This is all part of our spiritual journey - to understand (a) what God’s word actually says (or means), and (b), who is this God who conceals His meaning through parable and poetry so that His meaning is obscured? What possible gain can come from this?

Before the church decided to use the ‘hell’ language, the Jews (pharisees) and Greeks had already subscribed to an underworld that needs payment for the ferryman. These errors were part of the mental matrix in which they lived. Sometimes Jesus tried to correct their errors, while at other times Jesus seemingly encouraged such fantasy. This is certainly confusing, and it gives rise to the array of denominations that we see today. Surely God would not want this? My answer is… Yes, God does want this. Spiritual truth would require from us some deep soul searching and critical thinking. It requires of us to experience a baptism of fire, and it requires a cross, and blood, and pain, and uncertainty.

The reason why God would want this from us is the key. To use a mineralogy analogy: in this impossible journey we are refined by fire, and we are purified as gold. In order to harvest the gold, this impossible process must be encountered. Diamonds don’t grow on trees. Diamonds are only made with a very devoted single-mindedness (element of carbon) and a concentration of pressure (ionic bonding) builds into us a completely new structure from what that element was formerly. If we survive this spiritual journey we become the diamond that God is mining. When we give up and become some other weaker body, by taking the easier path, we are then found to be similar to diamond in composition (still carbon), but weaker and less valuable (such as graphite).

This process is found within our journey and discovery of truth. As such, all mankind are out on display to showcase their metal. Our errors are accumulated because knowledge is spiritually attained. Issues of “misinterpretation” then fade into the background of being less important, because regardless what word was used to describe gehenna, people would still only obtain a true knowledge of God by walking correctly and living with reverence and respect for our creator. It is our failure to do this which is our greatest enemy, not how a particular word is translated, or whether or not manuscripts have been transcribed accurately. For God, it makes no difference whether or not we come from a culture which propagates false ideas, like the pharisees; it makes a difference what God can do with us once we fully live in Him and through Him. Spiritual truth cannot be learnt at school; it is perceived. Anyone can adopt a tenet of doctrine, such as eternal hell-fire, or universal reconciliation, but not all will be able to see God in their doctrines, and see their doctrine as a clumsy container in which we keep our God in. Having a correct doctrine does not assure that we walk with God, or understand Him. For what it’s worth…

Peace
S.

[Sherman]

I agree Stef, “*Having a correct doctrine does not assure that we walk with God, or understand Him.” *On the other hand though, having incorrect doctrine can certainly hinder us, even keep some from a walk with God. In the sermon on the mount Jesus addresses having good attitudes, correct doctrine, and right actions; it’s the convergence of these three (good attitudes, correct doctrine, and right living) that is the “narrow way”, the “straight gate”. So the translation and interpretation is important, not as important as right attitudes, but important none-the-less. And in this case, the mistranslation of Gehenna as Hell perverts scripture, nullifies its power, and darkens the revelation of the love of God.

Concerning Jesus sometimes seeming to encourage “such fantacy”, I don’t see that in Him. He used hyperbole and metaphor to communicate truth, even possibly used “fantacy” to communicate truth, but I don’t think He meant for people to take His hyperbolic statements, metaphor, parable, simile, or fantacies literally; rather, He intended to communicate verious aspects of truth. For example, the parable (story, possibly a common myth or fantacy) of the rich man and Lazarus was not meant to affirm that all rich people will be tormented forever or that all poor people will be go to heaven; rather, it was meant to communicate possibly several different truths or principles, like we cannot judge a person’s "righteousness based on whether they are rich or poor.

I like your diamond/graphite analogy; that’ll preach! Thanks for sharing.

[1824]

Sherman,

Quick question - would you say that whenever Jesus used the word “Gehenna” that He was referring specifically to the fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 ?

Said another way: have all the warnings of Jesus concerning the Hinnom Valley been completed (in their most direct meaning) ?

Thanks,

Dan.