| Subject: One of the most ludicrous assertions I've heard |
Author:
Ben
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Date Posted: 07/ 9/04 1:10am
In reply to:
Robert
's message, "Water baptism." on 07/ 8/04 2:09pm
>Please consider the following statement by Jesus:
>Matthew 7:13 +14.
>Vs. 13. Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is
>the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to
>destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
>Vs. 14. Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the
>way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that
>find it.
>
>Please notice how the word: STRAIT is spelt
>S - T - R - A - I – T
>It is NOT spelt S-T-R-A-I-G-H-T.
>
>The word STRAIGHT MEANS: Without a bend or curve -
>passing from one point to another by nearest course.
>
>The word STRAIT MEANS: A narrow channel of water.
>
>Here in Matthew 7: 13 + 14 Jesus is informing us of
>the MASSIVE IMPORTANCE of water baptism.
I'm not going to go into the overall thrust of this post, since... well, quite frankly, I don't care. It typically doesn't matter to me much who thinks what about the Bible saying this or that, since I don't see any reason to think that the Bible is anything special.
However, I had to comment on this egregious misuse of the English language. Maybe I'm commenting partly because this is a glaring example of what many fundamentalist Christians do on a smaller scale all the time in order to keep believing what they want to believe.
Basically, this is sheer ignorance of old style writing. The King James was written in a different time when different words were used. Ever read Shakespeare? Or anything written around the 17th century? It's hard to read, because many of the words either aren't used or are used differently nowadays.
Although I know how to go back to the original Greek in some sense, I think all that is needed here is to list the way other translations say these same verses. These newer translations are all written by very competent scholars, but they are of course written in more modern language. Here is what was quoted above in various versions.
--
King James (the original quote)
Matthew 7
13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
--
New International Version
13"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
--
New American Standard
13 "(1) Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.
14 "For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.
--
New King James Version
1) 13 "Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14Because[1] narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
--
You can see that even the New King James, which tries to stay as faithful as possible to the old way the King James was translated, says "narrow" rather than "strait." As much as the King James really is guilty of mistranslation, since it was written for a king who wanted it to read a certain way, this passage was never intended to mean "water" even in the first place. I'm sure that "strait" in the language of the day just meant "narrow" or "small" in our common language.
I just thought I'd comment on this horribly misguided attempt to make the Bible say something it doesn't. Not that I really care. But it was just too much for me. It does show, though, the great lengths people will go to in order to try to say that what they have already decided to believe is actually supported by the Bible. If the Bible really were trying to say this, it sure could have been a lot more straightforward. If people like this guy are right, our only option is to think that God really didn't want most people to figure out what he wanted, since he hid it so cleverly.
Ben
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