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August 21, 2016 |
| Adding And Taking Away | ||
The Bible contains warnings against straying from God's Word. Yet, we do that so easily and without even noticing that we are doing it. In this lesson we will look at the warnings, and at examples from the Bible and history where this has happened, and how it has happened.
I testify to everyone who hears the word of the prophecy of this book: Whoever will place upon these things, God shall place upon him the plagues that are written in this book. 19 And whoever subtracts from the words of the Scripture of this prophecy, God shall subtract his part from The Tree of Life and from The Holy City, those things which are written in this book. (Revelation 22:18-19 - Yeshua speaking)
You shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you. (Deuteronomy 4:2)
Whatever I command you, you shall be careful to do; you shall not add to nor take away from it. (Deuteronomy 12:32)
Every word of God is tested; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him. Do not add to His words or He will reprove you, and you will be proved a liar. (Proverbs 30:5-6)
And let us grasp firmly the confession of our hope and not waver, for he who has promised us is faithful. (Hebrews 10:23)
When people add to the Bible, most of the time they are sincerely trying to please God. We all want to live a life that pleases God some people get carried away trying to live an even better life. They don't realize that adding to the Word of God puts them in the position of being God, a serious error.
Adding to the Bible in this way is called Asceticism, the idea that God is pleased when you live within a tighter standard than God set. For example, if God said that we should never exceed 60 MPH on the highway, an ascetic would say, "Ah, God doesn't like us going fast, therefore I will please God even more by going 50 MPH."
One of the better Bible examples of this comes from Mark 7:1-23 where the Pharisees have added to the Bible. In this case they have taken what the Bible said and extended it, which is a common way of adding to the Bible.
And they saw some of his disciples eating bread when they had not washed their hands, and they found fault. 3 For all the Judeans and the Pharisees do not eat unless they wash their hands carefully because they keep the tradition of the Elders. 4 And coming from the marketplace, unless they bathe, they do not eat. And there are many other things which they had received to keep: washings of cups and pots and copper vessels and of beds. 5 And the Scribes and Pharisees asked him, "Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the Elders, but eat bread without having washed their hands?" (Mark 7:2-5)
They are saying that, to live a life that pleases God, Jesus and his disciples must follow this teaching that comes down from people before them. Jesus responds by quoting Isaiah.
[…] This people honors me with its lips, but their heart is very far from Me 7 and in vain they pay reverence to me as they teach doctrines of commandments of the sons of men. (Mark 7:6-7)
Jesus' point is that these people do not know his ways at all and therefore they teach doctrines made by men thinking this will please God. In fact it is "in vain" (wasted effort).
Note that Jesus does not say, "It's just washing, what does it matter? How can it hurt? The Bible doesn't say you can't. So scamper off, my disciples, and wash your hands." No, in fact he ignores the suggestion and continues to berate them for all their man-made traditions, some of which are causing them to disobey God.
We need to understand this clearly. Jesus is not saying that it is wrong to wash your hands. If you want to wash your hands, do so, and washing them before eating is a good idea. He is saying we should not believe that washing our hands pleases God. If it pleased God then God would have told us that.
Another addition to the Bible that is seen in some circles is the word "God" spelled as G-d. The idea is that God's name is so holy that it shouldn't be spelled out.
This idea originated with the Jews who decided that God's name, יהוה, should not be spoken or written because it was so holy. That name appears 6800 times in the Old Testament so it doesn't seem like God had a problem with his prophets writing it. So, instead of speaking it when reading, they would say either Hashem, which means "the name", or Adonai, which means "Lord". This same practice carries into the English translations where it is usually written as Lord
For the word "G-d" though this is particularly foolish. God's name is not God. That's a title.
A similar practice exists with using upper case pronouns when they refer to God. For example, "After that He said …". If God had wanted us to use uppercase this way he would have told us so. Oh, wait, Hebrew doesn't have uppercase.
When faced with such foolishness, some people try to twist a verse into supporting their idea. In this case the argument is sometimes that the third commandment requires it, "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain". First, "name" as used here means reputation or character, not personal name. Second, "in vain" means to use it for worthless purposes, for example using it to sell trinkets.
Many good examples of adding to the Bible come from that Catholic church. Even the early church fathers recognized they had a problem "Tertullian said of these practices that 'without any written instrument, we maintain on the ground of tradition alone'. These include, baptizing by immersion three times, giving the one baptized a 'drink of milk and honey' then forbidding the person from taking a bath for a week, kneeling in Sunday mass was forbidden, and the sign of the cross was to be made on the forehead. Jerome, echoing Tertullian, said that these 'observances of the Churches, which are due to tradition, have acquired the authority of the written law'."1
The concept of Purgatory, a place where you can "work off" your sins after death by suffering, is a good example of why we add to the Bible. The short answer is that we do it because we like what it offers. When the idea of Purgatory first came out the Bible Scholars of the time mocked it. The people of the time loved it, however, because it gave them a way to live a life that does not please God and still make it into Heaven. The church hierarchy also loved it because it gave them greater power. They could now pray people out of Purgatory. It wouldn't be long before they found a way to turn this power into money.
The people loved it and the church loved it so it got into church doctrine. Then the Bible Scholars who were against it were persecuted until they agreed to it or at least shut up. Then the church changed its writing to say that even the apostles had taught this doctrine. This is a pattern that was repeated over and over.
In a recent lesson we saw this with the pearly gates. What began as 12 gates on the New Jerusalem as it descends from Heaven at the end of time, became the one gate to Heaven with Saint Peter as the gatekeeper receiving people immediately after death.
Some people add to the Bible to demonstrate to themselves that they are in control of people. This was a major problem with the Roman Catholic Church. They created a pile of feast days and fast days for the people to observe. We need to understand that obeying the teachings of the religious elite makes us a follower of them. Too much of that and we fail to be a follower of Jesus.
The "why" of taking away is easy - we don't like what the Bible says. The "how" is more difficult. When we know deep inside that we are taking away from the Bible, we feel the need to find some way to justify it. Here are some of those:
These are not attempts at justification but are still reasons why people take away from the Bible