Inspired Translations?

“All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.” II Timothy 3:16-17

On the basis of these verses, some folks insist that we must interpret scripture according to the plain reading of the text. Some believe it is dangerous to dig into the Hebrew and Greek meanings, to study the cultures and beliefs of Bible times, because doing so may result in conclusions that disagree with traditional interpretation of the Bible.

But is the King James Version, the Revised Standard Version, or any other version the scripture to which these verses refer? Can we be certain that the translators maintained the meaning of the original scripture? Can we be certain the translators did not impose their own bias upon the translation? And considering that translations differ, must we consider all of them to be the Inspired Word of God?

The truth is, it is the original scripture that is inspired, not the translations. We all must do our best to understand the text from the original—or as close to it as we can get, not from the translation. And if the meaning from the original differs from the translation or from the interpretation, we must go with the original Hebrew and Greek, doing our best to determine what those words meant in Bible times.

Insisting that bible words must carry today's meaning is also a false belief. The meaning of words can change over time. Take the word “gay.” Fifty years ago that word meant happy and cheerful, but today it means homosexual and people rarely use it to mean happiness lest they be misunderstood. Although many words keep their meanings, the fact that many change over time makes it very important to do our best to find out what the word meant when it was written. If the Bible was written in 1925 and we tried to say the word “gay” meant “homosexual,” because that is what it means today, we'd be so far off in our interpretation and completely miss the real meaning of the passage.

Frankly, I want the real meaning, the meaning God authored and inspired, not the meaning some translator or interpretor imposed upon the text.



Waneta Dawn is the author of "Behind the Hedge, A novel" See www.wanetadawn.com A Mennonite woman fights to save her family yet keep her faith.

God as Help Meet

Having read Jocelyn Andersen's new book, which is due to be released July 20, 2010, “Woman this is War! Gender, Slavery and the Evangelical Caste System, I want to share a snippet of information that I picked up and enlarged on.

The words “help meet” are not in the original scriptures. Check it out. Look up “help” in Strong's Concordance, and then look up “meet.” The Hebrew word, #5828 is the same for both.

That same word, #5828 is also used in other passages. Therefore, what is translated “help” should be “help meet,” right?

Ex 18:4 “And the name of the other was Eliezer, for the God of my father, said he, was mine HELP MEET, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh.”

Deut 33:7 And this is the blessing of Judah: and he said, Hear Lord, the voice of Judah, and bring him unto his people: let his hands be sufficient for him; and be thou an HELP MEET to him from his enemies.

Deut 33:26-29 There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven in thy HELP MEET, and in his excellency on the sky.
The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, Destroy them. Israel shall then live in safety alone: the fountain of Jacob shall be upon a land of corn and wine; also his heavens shall drop down dew.
Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord, the shield of thy HELP MEET, and who is the sword of thy excellency! And thy enemies shall be found liars unto thee, and thou shalt tread upon their high places.

Psalm 33:20 Our soul waiteth for the Lord: he is our HELP MEET and our shield.

Psalm 20:1-2 The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble; the name of the God of Jacob defend thee; Send thee HELP MEET from the sanctuary, and strengthen thee out of Zion.

Psalms 121:1-2 I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my HELP MEET. My HELPMEET cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth.

ROFLOL (Rolling on the floor laughing out loud.) Every man’s wife comes from the hills, right?

Notice how replacing the word “help” with “helpmeet” gives the sense of one who is inferior to the one helped. It makes God sound subservient to those He is helping. In spite of the claims of Christians for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood that wives are not inferior to husbands in their doctrine, the effect of “helpmeet” when applied to our strong and Almighty God, shows that it is indeed a word that reduces Him to a menial position of an assistant to one who is greater. If it does that in reference to God, it is obvious it also does it in reference to wives.

The verse should read, “I will make him an help.” According to the blue letter, “for him” is also added and there is no corresponding Hebrew. When the verse is correctly translated, one can look at those other passages that use #5828 and see that “help” means someone of strength, might, and power, someone who is a deliverer, a rescuer, a savior who can do battle against the enemy—and win—an excellency that may be superior to the one being helped.

So one can deduce that God meant that He would make a woman who is a deliverer, a rescuer, a help in times of trouble, a strong person whose strength may be more effective than her husband's. Yet, because God's whole life is not involved in helping man, we can also assume that woman's whole life will not be wrapped around helping her husband. She is to be a deliverer, helping him up when he is down, but not his servant whom he can look down on and dominate. Just like man is not to dictate to God, so man is not to dictate to his wife. One ASKS for help from one who is an equal or a superior (wife and God, respectively); one doesn't DEMAND it, because if one demands it, the helper has good reason to refuse to extend aid.

May I suggest this is what the translators saw and understood. And because they did NOT want to think of women as superior—or even equal—in strength or importance, and did NOT want society to think of women as anything other than the inferiors they thought them, they decided the scripture was wrong, and therefore they changed it. Notice that they did NOT alert us to their deed by putting meet, for, or him in italics. In other words, for centuries they have gotten away with adding to scripture, with the intent to change the meaning. And the men who had the education to be able to study the scriptures, who saw this “error,” kept silence, thereby choosing to be accomplices in the sin of adding words to scripture in order to change the meaning to nearly the opposite of what was intended. How many “little ones” have they offended by their deed(s)? Jesus said it is better that a millstone were hanged around their neck and they were drowned in the depth of the sea, rather than face the wrath of God for causing anyone to lose faith in God.

If translators and scholars would change the meaning of scripture and teach the same, (they have done this with other gender-related passages as well), if pastors would see the error, yet continue to teach a false doctrine, what else were and are they willing to teach to keep women in a man-designed inferior place?

Waneta Dawn is the author of "Behind the Hedge," a novel about a wife who discovers traditional marriage advice doesn't always work. See www.wanetadawn.com