A couple of years ago, I visited an exhibit on the King James Bible that featured ‘the Wicked Bible’. It’s called the wicked Bible based on how the one of the verses read, “Thou Shalt Commit Adultery”. The error wasn’t discovered until it went to print in 1631.
It was one of those oddities I’d read about, yet had never seen. Whether the misprint it was a typesetting error or someone’s Freudian slip is open to debate.
In the case of the Wicked Bible, one word was left out which radically changed the meaning and message. Although no cult officially sprang up from that error, there are many people who follow it’s teachings. A little bit of error in religious teachings lead many people astray.
Few things get my dander up like twisting religious teachings in order to accommodate their own lustings.
Another twisting I’ve encountered lies within the commentaries and theology itself. There are some ‘experts’ or ‘ministers’ who tell their followers that there’s nothing wrong with having an affair with a married person who does not belong to your faith.
Somehow those of another faith don’t count in their view of whether or not the sexual activity is a sin. Things get so twisted that it’s not considered adultery when the other person is of a different faith.
In my mind, adultery is adultery. Sex outside of marriage is adultery no matter what the religious belief of the lover is.
In some cases, the experts are religious leaders or scholars who claim having ‘special revelations’. It strikes me odd how often ‘special revelations’ include some form of sexual liberties, including adultery.
One scam is that when other people are not married according to the guidelines of your faith, they are “not really” married and are thus considered free and available. That kind of teaching amounts to a form of poaching on other marriages.
Since the ‘experts’ tell you such poaching behavior is ‘acceptable’ you don’t feel guilty or ashamed. You actually feel like God has no problem with you doing it.
The reality is that adultery is disrespectful to the institution of marriage. Violating marriage damages trust. It breaks bonds that weren’t meant to be broken. You are unfaithful to your marriage and your vows when you cheat.
You may not view their marriage as legitimate, yet it’s still a marriage. Violating their marriage destroys trust on many levels. It shows that the cheater can’t be trusted, the lover can’t be trusted, and the ‘expert’ who encouraged the act for sure can’t be trusted.
When ‘special revelation’ means the theologian has sexual liberties others don’t have, it should send up red warning flares alerting you to the danger.
The good news is that you can repair damaged trust. You can’t undo what’s happened, but you can start repairing the damage. The video, “How Can I Trust You Again?” guides you through the step by step process of rebuilding trust in your marriage.
Best Regards,
Jeff
7 Responses
Sin steals , kills and destroys
Wrongly dividing the Bible brings confusion
A double index man is unstable in all his ways
So much confusion amidst those who are Bible readers would be alleviated by applying some directives we adhere to in reading most things ….paying attention to “To whom it is written”
The. Body of Christ is not Israel and the scriptures divided distinctly into Prophesy which applies to Gods program with Israel and to the Body of Christ as revealed to Paul from Jesus Christ in Acts 9 “the mystery hidden in God from the beginning ”
Adultery of the kind you mention is often thought to be only harmful to the faithful spouse but those who participate are harmed more than they think
It to mention any and everyone who the adulterers lives touch
And more….the name of Christ is brought to shame as those who are saved are supposed to consider their conduct not to bring a reproach upon His name ….that is for those who are saved
We are to submit to God ….resist the devil …and he will flee
Many resist God and submit to anyone who endorses and encourages sin……only God is true and offers all the grace to be saved by the full sacrifice of Jesus Christ shed blodd on the cross
Saved by hearing the gospel 1 Corinthians 15
For Gods glory and our good
What a gift !
Not “index”!
What? Auto correct strikes again!
Supposed to be “double minded ” in that text above
My phone has “ant print”!
Shed blood
Wow
I have bad allergies that are causing my eyes trouble …..but that doesn’t stop me from texting!
Haha sorry for the errors
Anyway this was interesting about that error back then
I wonder what the newer Bible version publishers have as their excuse for changes in the text they make with omitions and paraphrasing a that change the means of scriptures today ….hmmmmm.
Serious stuff
Zaza,
I find it interesting that one of the sections that many ‘modern’ versions have issues with concerns the woman taken in adultery from John 8:1-11, which is often either omitted or footnoted in order to water it down. It it more than ironic with the topic being adultery that there are still some people who twist or water down Scripture in order to excuse it much like the ‘wicked Bible’.
Devil is as brazen as he ever was in the garden of Eden but if believers consented to do as the Lord told us in 2 Tim 2:15 the truth would be established within and desire for the meat of the Word would inform us despite the hindrances of the newer Bible versions which are being published for $$$
Those who oppose the King James AV argue it doesn’t matter are not seeing how seriously the omitions effect doctrine which effects practical application
I have observed over my years in effort to learn what has happened to the church over the history to cause such illiteracy about the Bible among us believers that there have been distinct steps away from right doctrine due to higher criticism becoming the rule of thumb amidst those who decided to make the ministry their work of choice for income sake rather than each member of the Body in particular taking upon themselves the duty and privelege to learn from the study of the scriptures
The age of “reason” spent a good deal of time confounding and obscuring the Word of God with “corrections ” and “clarifications”
This kind of “scholarly “approach ” impressed the clueless new believers so it grew without many confining in the Word by way of heeding the way the Bible is to be rightly DIVDED by way of the dispensations “time past”…”but now” and “the ages to come”
Prophesy to Israel……and the dispensation of the age of Grace as revealed to Paul that was hidden from the beginning to all…new and gentile alike …the new creature in Christ
What a dynamic difference this perspective as declared in scripture makes in our study and understanding of what God has “breathed” that we might know those things which are written TO us in this dispensation !
Wow
Yes the section of adultery was to test Jesus to see if He would follow the protocols of the law as He came fulfilling all of what the prophets had said their MESSIAH would do
He did not break with the need for two or more witnesses which were required to condemn anyone to stoning due to adultery but called for those witnesses to come forward but made the distinction that they would have to be without sin
This setting the more righteous perspective in the law they knew by pinging out their need for a sinless “lamb”
All of the it sacrifices should have indicated this need and all of their scrturw should have opened their eyes as to Him being the one expected but they denied Him
Choosing rather the positions of power and control they were enjoying at the time …just as their choosing their fleshly and earthly realm of influence was like we to adultery rather than identifying and receiving their Messiah
Israel will eventually be again in the program God originally set up for them as a nation having an earthly kingdom after the age of Grace is finahed and the church of the Body taken up which is the program for all … out new and sentike NOW ….a new creation
After the gathering up to meet him in the clouds he will return to the program he had set up with Israel in the time before Acts 9 when Jesus revealed this dispensation of Grace to Paul
In the time after the harpazio of the church of the Body those who recognize Jesus had come in the flesh once already will be then instructed as to how they must live during the Tribulation of that time …thus Hebrews through Revelation were given to Peter , James and John before the news that Paul received was known
This makes a lot of things clearer so that the confusion of the idea of doing “works” designated to Israel are not part of the instruction given to the Church of the Grace administration which mixing has caused much confusion among believers even today
We are not saved by sight but by believing in the cross …the shed blood of the final “lamb” and His resurrection
We have forgiveness past tense and we are now Ambassadors sent by God
To proclaim the mystery by which no man may be saved
Our salvation is finished ! Nothing to o do to earn it ….receiving with meekness the engraphed Word that is able to save our souls
This gift of God takes our eyes off our fleshly life and assures of that we have what Christ provided for us
We have passed from death of the old man’s “life” into the newness of life in Christ and learning about that empowers us to become more and more free of that old man fleshly perspective….applying the truth of what we have and are equips us to live and walk in the truth of the victory Christ wrought by the renewed mind
No wonder the devil wants to obscur the truth but when we trust God is capable to have preserved His Word and is willing to reveal it to those who lean upon Him and trust Him we will be guided into all truth and overcome the confusion the “experts” of the higher criticism have professed
That’s good to know and cling to
Zaza,
Thank you for sharing your comments, insights and applications. Although I have firm convictions about the KJV, I’ll limit my remarks to adultery.
The episode of the woman taken in adultery (aka pericope de adultera) remains a controversial passage. I suspect that the efforts at leaving it out has a long history. There’s documentation that Augustine was complaining that some of the monks were leaving the passages out. Some of the early church fathers avoided reading this section in public meetings.
Although some take wide liberties and say that the adulteress was let ‘off the hook’. A closer examination reveals that the crowd was told to ‘stone her’. It was a capital offense. (Yes, there was a time when adultery was a capital offense).
It is also worth noting that had the man been a ‘nobody’ he would have been brought out. The cover up indicates he was someone of high standing. Imagine that! Someone of high standing being caught in the act of adultery and the person blamed was the woman.
The adultery passage is also a flash point for differences of opinion between Pentecostals and Eastern Orthodox Churches for various reasons. Many of the other groups gloss over it, or water it down with allegorical interpretations of the passage.
I think it’s about forcing us to be honest about the issue of adultery.