Telephone Scriptures

[Bill P]

I am not sure if I am the only one, but as a child in school we played a game that was called "telephone". What we would do is the teacher would start with one child in the front row and whisper to him a three or four sentence story. The teacher then told that student to tell the person behind him, and then the second child tells the person behind them, and so fourth until all the 25 or so students would have whispered the story to another student. When the story has been whispered throughout the class the last person to hear it would tell what they heard. To say it was never right, is an understatement. This had many lessons. As a Christian this can be a lesson in Gossip for one but also it can also be a testimony. Think of how accurate the Bible remained after so many years going from one scribe to another. The same denigrating excuse the secular world gives for the Bible's inaccuracy is what makes the Bible so spectacularly Amazing. They claim the Bible has went through so many tongues, kings, and scholars that it no longer is accurate. Through archeology they have found that to date it remains the most authenticated history book ever!

Now I ask why? The scribes were extremely careful in copying God's word because they knew it was the living word of God and it meant something to them. They wanted to make sure not to leave out even a single word. For this reason most versions of the Bible of today are almost word for word with the oldest manuscripts they have located.

This makes me see something profound, albeit disconcertingly dismayed. There are over 50 versions of the Bible in the English language. There are many arguments about which of these is the most accurate. I believe most of these versions are pure but there are at least half which are not. I will not go into which Bibles I disapprove of although I will give some impious examples. I will not name the versions I speak of but there is a Bible out there which changes God into a he/she, there is a Bible which calls Satan the morning star, another which is called a Bible yet it is nothing more than a glorified concordance. There are Bibles with added books, and some Bibles with added words just in the right spots to change the canon to mean what the religion wants it to mean.

My goal is not to revile any one version. Instead, I would like to ask, did the scribes (authors of these versions) of today think of them as God's infallible word that should not be altered or changed? Do we have the respect today for God's holy word as the day when Jesus walked the earth? Does there need to be over 50 English versions? I know some claim that if you take each of these Bibles you will get the same basic message because they all follow the canon and only radical versions use different sentence structure and words. Is it not true that we can say the same sentence in three or four different ways and change the entire meaning? This is merely something I ask the next scholars to ponder when they go to create yet another version of God's infallible Holy word.

We as Christians also are guilty of playing "telephone" with God's word instead of reading it and staying fresh in it. I know we do not always have the time to look up scripture when we quote it, and sometimes it is hard to find them, but I have found it keeps my mind sharp in God's word, when I strive to. We need to be like the scribes of old and remember the words we are wielding are God's and they are sacred. If we misquote them, are they still infallible or do our quotes leaves room for attack. Many times what happens when we become slipshod and nonchalantly quote scripture, we become guilty of what I call "telephone scripture". I will give an example of telephone scripture, enumerated vide infra.

"God is not willing any should perish but all should come to everlasting life"
"Spare the rod spoil the child"
"Pride comes before a fall"

Look for those scriptures (in any version), and if anyone can find them let me know. The fact is, these common quotes are NOT in the Bible! They are what I call "telephone Scripture". Everyone has probably heard these scriptures quoted more than once. Why does it matter? Are these not close enough to God’s word? Lets see by comparing them to actual scripture.


1. 2Peter 3:9 says, “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. “
John 3:16 says, Joh 3:16 “ For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

Some one who heard or read these scriptures and erroneously amalgamated them. Now this is commonly used by people and negligently quoted by Television evangelist who claim “God is not willing any should perish but all come to everlasting life.” Why does this matter? If God is not willing for people to perish than nobody will perish. After all God willed the world into existence. This gives freedom to do anything you want include not accept Jesus and you will still make heaven your home. Truth is, God “wills” that all should come to repentance and whether we do it here on earth or do it later everyone will some time do what God wills, and they will come to repentance. Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess. (Romans 14:11)

I will give more detail and examples of these in my article (or Blog). For now I leave everyone who reads this with my conviction. Should we play telephone with God’s word? Should we quote things without looking up scripture? In some areas of the world it is against the law to own a Bible or even a Bible page. If this ever happens where you live, will you be able to quote the infallible word of God accurately? Will you sound like a little child playing the telephone game with God’s word?

If anyone knows of more common “telephone scriptures” please share them with me so I can include them in my article. As always, any insight and critique will be respected and appreciated.

May God bless all you do and say and more importantly may we bless God with all we do and say.

Rev. William Paldino <><

[pat_davoll]

Wow, your arrow hit the mark I would say. Thanks for the reminder that we should not, must not, play fast and loose with God's precious Word. Please tell me where your blog is, Bill. I'd love to read more. I also have a problem with some of the translations. I know of one that is widely used that takes out the word "blood" in many, many places. What do we have if we don't have the precious blood that our Savior shed for all?

[Bill P]

Amen Pat,

I do not have a blog yet, on my to do list. :-)
I have been working on it. Thank you for your interest. I will list it as soon as I start it.

It does not surprise me that the blood is taken from the scriptures. It has been taken from worship music for some time now. Sad, very sad.

Bill P. <><

[sirguru]

Rev Bill,

As always, your post was right on point. I agree that we have a habit of unintentional scripture blending. It is unfortunate that even with the best of intentions, we do harm... no good deed goes unpunished. In this case, the punishment is shared between the speaker and the hearer.

To Pat,

All I can say is wow... you are right... but to put it in perspective (or to translate it ) in our society, doesn't seem to matter on what continent, we have removed God from almost everything. Wow, now to try to remove God from His own Word...

Makes me wonder... "earthquakes in divers places..."

[Dolores Bernice Davis]

I was astounded when I couldn't find, "...spare the rod..." in the Bible...I had been taught that all my life. My maternal great-grandfather was Amish, that phrase was written on the beam of his house, along with the, "Do unto others, etc."

The "telephone" game was called the "gossip" game when I was a kid...same results...Phones were invented before I was but not found in our small town; until I was in third or 4th grade. Since Great-Gramps was Amish, we probably were NOT going to get one while he was alive anyways

As a former Sunday School teacher of little ones, I often shortened verses to help my little ones remember the concept. Dear God I hope I did not harm those little ones by doing so. By the time they got to Kathy's class I am sure she set them straight

I can see one problem the telephone game can do to God's Word...Although a true Christian would not be set back by it, watering the word can become a tool of attack to non-Christians, especially atheists.

I am admonished to be very careful when I quote a verse. Even more so, to be very careful which Bible I quote it from.

This is a thought that never occurred to me, thanks to both of you, Pat and Bill

[mark albright]

Proverbs 13:24 He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.
Proverbs 22:15 Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.
Proverbs 23:13-14 Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell.

"Spare the rod, spoil the child" is not in the Bible but it might be an accurate paraphrase.

I guess one of the few disadvantages of so many available Bible translations is that there is less word for word Bible memorization. The KJV has a poetic ring in many passages but can also be misleading as the meaning of words change over time.

Since we're playing the game how about "God helps those who help themselves?" My seventh grade English teacher once told me that when I asked for help!

[Bill P]

Mark,

Thank you for your posts. I am aware of those scriptures and can quote where people came up with the other scripture that have been telephoned. The closest scripture to "spare the rod spoil the child" is Proverbs 13:24. Although we must agree the Bible says nothing about the child being spoiled if the rod is spared. In fact, he that spares the rod hates his son...a hated son is not a spoiled one is it? Out of all the verses I quoted this is probably the least hurtful because either way the point gets across to discipline our children. Problem is, I have met spoiled children who were spanked. This then would make the Bible inaccurate which brings me back to the point if we are going to quote the Bible we should not do so indolently, but instead locate what we are quoting. That way, when the words are challenged by the world we know the scripture can hold up to this challenge because scripture in infallible while men's words are fallible.

I agree with your statement about KJV. It is very poetic and accurate but tends to give some false impressions if they do not study deeply into the meaning, since the language it is written in, is old.

THANK YOU for another common phrase, I will use it. Many blessings.

Bill P <><

[Dolores Bernice Davis]

I think, then, the spoiled child was neither discipined consistently nor at correct times or in an appropriate manner. For example, a few of the cases I have had to deal with in drug use and alcohol. The parent is wrongly "disciplining" while under the influence, then over indulging the child while sober. There also many parents who feel guilty after spanking a child so they overindulge as well; leading to negation of the discipline.

The child then uses the overindulgence as a way of feeling loved? to compensate for the pshycological pain of the improper discipline? For either reason the child learns to be a manipulator.

Point is consistent discipline delivered by a reasonable parent when the child is actually deserving of it is my interpretation of Biblical correction as addressed in all those Proverbs.

It's possible the Biblical "spoil" is not the same as we use it today. Undisciplined kids often grow into young people who have no respect for authority and as often end up in jail. They may learn respect for authority in jail or become even angrier against authority. That would definitely be a "spoiled" leaven

Sooo, if we use the rod according to the Bible, the kid turns out well It's those deviations from God's word that mess it up. The Biblical integrity stands!

[Bill P]

Good answers Dolores,

My point remains that the Bible does not use the word "spoiled", so we cannot know if it is what this means today.
Instead, we can stand by the fact the Bible says if we love our children we will discipline them just as God disciplines us. You are right Dolores because we needs consistency. I noticed that every time there is discipline in the Bible there is some form of love that follows it or precedes it. That is because love is a prerequisite for discipline. Discipline will also help a child escape foolishness and last of all you can deliver his soul from hell. All this the Bible promises but the Bible nowhere tell us
if we spare the rod we will spoil the child." Nor does it say if we discipline our child we will not have a spoiled child. It only says we will have an un-foolish, heaven bound child who knows we love them. That is the only promises we are given about discipline. ;-)

One would have to look for advice on how to not spoil your child elsewhere in the Bible perhaps. I do agree with your wisdom of advice though. Reading the Bible obviously helped you in your thought some how.

Selah...

Bill P <><

[gralan]

I had a hard time, decades ago, trying to find out the reference for something I heard people say as if it was in the Bible:
God helps those who help themselves.

After much research, physically (before internet) I discovered it came from Aesops Fables regarding a merchant with a cart that had a broken wheel. Hercules (I think, its been a long time folks) comes to pick up the cart and the merchant expects him to also put the wheel back on the axle.

Thus the quote: The gods help them who help themselves.

I classify that under the heading: Hezekiah 12:34-56

haha
your brother gregory alan

(03-21-2010 01:41 PM)mark albright Wrote:  Proverbs 13:24 He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.
Proverbs 22:15 Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.
Proverbs 23:13-14 Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell.

"Spare the rod, spoil the child" is not in the Bible but it might be an accurate paraphrase.

I guess one of the few disadvantages of so many available Bible translations is that there is less word for word Bible memorization. The KJV has a poetic ring in many passages but can also be misleading as the meaning of words change over time.

Since we're playing the game how about "God helps those who help themselves?" My seventh grade English teacher once told me that when I asked for help!