I was talking to someone about the Bible today, and she told me that she didn't take the Bible very seriously because she said it had been rewritten a number of times (this girl isn't a Christian). I was pretty confused. So of course I asked her who told her that. I'm Catholic and I go to a Catholic school and so did this girl. She said that the religion teachers at our school told her that, but I doubt they did because that's definitely not the Catholic teaching. So then I asked her if books like Matthew were rewritten. And she said yes! Well that doesn't make sense because why would someone rewrite what Jesus himself said? And when she says rewritten she means that their meanings were changed completely each time.
I know the Bible wasn't rewritten a million times. Translated differently but not rewritten, right? But I guess I'm just wondering what I should say to this girl to help her understand the Bible more. So if anyone has any advice for me, that'd be awesome!
Thank you!
Haley
I think she might be confused; I know some concepts are kinda hard for non-Catholics! Even some non-Christians have trouble. Basically, I think they were re-translated, so maybe the wording was changed. Secondly, a lot of the books were passed down through oral tradition, so it's not word-for-word. The basic concept is true though, and my religion teacher told me all the miracles and teachings did happen, just not necessarily that exact wording, and probably the order of it is wrong (like, maybe Jesus said the sermon on the mount, then went to galilee instead of the other way around or something.) I'd ask your teacher, though, they're probably the best resources you have!
ReplyDeleteOkay so this is what we were taught (at my school)- i might get some details wrong but the general idea is the same. So it was written in its original language and translated differently from there. Back in these times they didnt know as much as we do now about linguistics and the way language works. We were given the example of the King James version and were told how a lot of that translation isnt as accurate as more current versions are. It is also important to realize that even one small word being changed can change a meaning a lot. So i think it just depends on wether or not you would consider translation rewriting or not. Its not like people just sat around with a manuscript finding ways to change things to make the plot more interesting.
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