Same Song, Different Verse

"Jesus said to him,' You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment and the second is like it. ' Love your neighbor as yourself "- Matthew 22:37-39

Since the bible has been in written form, it has been translated and translated into hundreds of versions. whether by copying word for word, or by reading the word to several scribes who would record as they heard. It has been recorded into hundreds of different language in order to reach people who could not read it in its original text. But how often do we take this written word, and tell it with our own idea of how it should be interpreted? We will only give the portion of the verse that applies to us, and forget the rest. Sometimes, we do it so much, that it is almost as if we have each made our own personal version of God's word. We preach the good and ignore the things that make us uncomfortable. Without hesitation, we blast john 3:16, yet we struggle with Luke 9:23.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life". This is perfect pulpit material. Don't worry, all you have to do is believe and you will be saved. No worries, no trouble, no problem, as long as you believe. Now don't get me wrong, this is a great verse, but what about the verses that say hardship will come for those who believe. "Jesus said to them all, 'If anyone desires to come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me". That doesn't sound very- don't worry, be happy, go lucky-life. Yet we forget to mention this verse when new believers come to the faith. We tell them, now that you believe, everything will be alright. But in mind, this is like comparing a parody version of a popular song by saying, its basically the same thing, just spoken differently. Eventually, everyone starts singing the parody and have forgotten the original version. The song's writer has become belittled because someone decided his version was not good enough, so they changed some things around and took credit for someone else's work. In the same way, when we take scripture out of context and only read what we want to, we belittle God's spoken word. We change it to fit our needs, rather than changing our hearts and mind to fit His. Don't get me wrong, sometimes, putting the word into a language we can understand is important. We can learn it easier and absorb it faster when we know what we are reading, as long as when it is translated, only the language has changed, not the content itself. I don't want to have my own version of the Bible specifically made to fit my needs. Instead, I want to read what was written by the prophets way back when, the way they wanted it read. I don't want watered down, easy-going religion that makes me feel good. I want the true words to be the only version I know and to live by those words. God's words. Not mine.

Adam Semple- A young man on a mission from God