Tanakh?

The Tanakh

The Hebrew old testament is called Tanakh. Vocalised as ‘tanach’ as in ‘Bach.’ The TaNaKh is formed from Torah (five books of Mosheh), de Nevi’im (prophets) and the Ketuvim (writings). The extant ancient manuscripts are named after the place where they were found or are kept, such as the Codex Leningradensis or the Codex of Aleppo.

Translations are interpretations

Many people think that versions of the holy bible in the English language are true translations of the ancient Hebrew manuscripts of the old testament (Tanakh) and the Greek manuscripts of the new testament sections.

This, however, is not the case. Since the first attempts at translating the scriptures, the Greek Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate, the way Hebrew words are translated into the target language depends on the mindset and worldview and the predisposition and the bias and the religious convictions of the people who were doing the translation. It furthermore depends on the political climate during the time of translation.

For instance, the Naardense Bijbel, a modern Dutch translation, is influenced by the political issue of gender awareness, which has become an important matter in contemporary society, but which did not exist a century earlier. This means that gender specific pronouns (he, she) are being considered problematic by Pieter Oussoren, who is responsible for this translation¹, and thus the practice of translation in 2019 differs vastly from for instance 1912, when the Leidse vertaling was produced.

It also completely differs form the ancient Hebrew original, which is a language actually based on gender specificity. Every verb in Hebrew is conjugated to reflect gender. I would even go so far as to claim that without gender specificity, the ancient Hebrew language would not exist and therefore the bible would not exist. So to maintain, as modern translators do, that gender specificity can and must be avoided in translating the bible is to base the whole project on a lie.

The christians I know, and know of, all want to believe that those who translate the bible are pious christians, inspired by the holy ghost, to produce inerrant translations. These christians believe in a lie and they are persisting in wilful ignorance.

Here is my summary of different translations interpretations of the Tanakh.

• The Talmoed is the rabbinic interpretation of the Tanakh.
• The Vulgate is the Roman Catholic Church interpretation of the Tanakh.
• The Luther Bibia is Martin Luther’s interpretation of the Tanakh.
• The NIV is the Zondervan Corporation’s interpretation of the Tanakh.
• The Geneva Bible is a reflection of John Calvin’s interpretation of the Tanakh.
• The Bible in Basic English is the interpretation of the Tanakh by a person who decided to use no more than 800 English words.
• The Septuagint is the conversion of the old Hebrew language into abstract Greek language.
• The modern day bibles are based on 500 years of theologian’s corrupted interpretations of previous deficient translations of the Tanakh.

Interpretations determine your religion

People regard judaism as a different religion than christianity. And considering the vast differences between Roman catholicism and protestantism, these, too, might just as well be regarded as different religions rather than merely diverse expressions of christianity.

• If you choose to believe the Talmoed, you’re an observant Jew.
• If you choose to believe the Vulgate, you’re an obedient Roman Catholic.
• If you choose to believe Luther, you’re an antisemite christian.
• If you choose to believe the NIV, you’re a sceptic. Or a blind sheep. Or a theologian.
• If you choose to believe the Geneva Bible, you’re old fashioned.
• If you choose to believe the BBE, you’re a non native-English speaker.
• If you choose to believe the Septuagint, you’re a naive ignoramus.
• If you choose to believe a modern bible, you’re an empty vessel.

But if you choose the believe the Hebrew manuscripts of the Tanakh, then, and only then, can you know what YHWH Elohiym, he who made heaven and earth, requires of us. This does not mean that everyone should learn to read ancient Hebrew, however, it does mean that everyone who wants to restore his relationship with his maker, should at least make an effort to investigate the issue of the role which interpretation plays in bible translation.

Restoration, christian version

The false teaching of christianity is that in order to restore the relationship between ‘God’ and a person, all that is required is for the person to believe that another person — who is also God and who is called Jesus Christ and who lived about two thousand years ago — died on a cross on a hill called Calvary in Jerusalem to atone for the sins of everyone who believes in him. That’s it. That’s all there is to it.

Now depending on what version of christianity you want to belong to, you need to decide whether you also believe in the notion that you cannot do anything by yourself to restore that relationship. You cannot even decide to start to believe in this person Jesus Christ. Rather, you have to patiently wait until a mysterious wind — which is called The Holy Ghost — flows through your brain, then enters your heart, and then regenerates you in such a way that you now have a genuine desire to believe. Before the wind in your heart, your desire to believe was not genuine, for the doctrine of total depravity teaches that you’re rotten to the core and simply incapable of wanting to believe in a good God.

The other version of christianity you may choose is the Roman Catholic variant. You simply leave it to the church to tell you what to do, and then you obey.

There are numerous variants of christianity in between the above Calvinist and Catholic positions. What all versions of christianity have in common, even the extreme variants, is that they are all based on a fraudulent injection of pagan trinitarianism, in AD325, which has resulted in the doctrine that the God of christianity is a Godhead consisting of three coequal persons who are all God. This doctrine has been elevated to be the most important teaching of all of christianity, as can be verified by anyone who simply needs to search for “Statement of Faith” on any website of any christian denomination in whatever country on earth.

The doctrine of the trinity is more important even to christianity than the teachings of Jesus Christ. One simply cannot be a christian without accepting the doctrine of the trinity.

Restoration, Hebrew version

The ancient Hebrew scriptures teach a different story. The relationship between human beings and YHWH Elohiym is not easy. YHWH Elohiym demands exclusive loyalty and obedience to his commands, and not many people are willing to make a sustained effort to comply.

Moreover, the priests who were appointed by YHWH to help the people to properly worship him, had become ever more corrupt. Resulting not only in wars, and being driven from the land, but also leading to a totally corrupt system of rabbi’s and high priests, who burdened the people with the most absurd rules and regulations.

So YHWH sent his son to free the people from the rabbi’s. The execution of the son of YHWH, whose name is Y’hoshua (or Yahusha) which means YHWH saves, was regarded by YHWH as the sacrifice which enacted atonement for anyone who would be willing to believe it.

But while christianity stops here (and still burdens christians with rabbi-like absurd rules and regulations and demands), the Hebrew scriptures and the early Hebrew followers of Y’hoshua who are the originators of uncorrupted christianity, have a second message.

The real ministry of Y’hoshua

This is the second message: during the final years of his life, Y’hoshua started his ministry. What was his ministry, was that to heal the sick? No, that’s only what theologians teach us and what christians have come to believe. No, healing some people from their bodily ailments had a simple and straightforward purpose: to convince his followers that he, Y’hoshua, really was the son of the highest Elohiym.

Y’hoshua performed miracles which no one on earth could perform unless he was the messiah from Elohiym whom YHWH had promised through his prophets. The miracles were to convince his followers that the old testament promises were being fulfilled before their very eyes and therefore true.

So, again, what was the ministry of Y’hoshua? The answer jumps from the pages of the New Testament: to teach the scriptures, the Tanakh, what we call the Old Testament! To teach the commands of YHWH Elohiym and to convince people that they have to obey those commands.

Christianity

Christianity is based on the doctrine of a triune Godhead and it teaches that people will be saved when they believe in Jesus Christ who is a member-god of that Godhead. Christianity also teaches that the Old Testament commandments and instructions have no relevance for believers today. Whether a person knows about the old testament has no bearing on that person’s relationship with God. It all revolves around faith, and the keeping archaic laws about non-kosher meat has nothing to do with it.

From a Hebrew perspective, the issue is markedly different. The relationship between YHWH Elohiym and people has been broken. The only way to restore that relationship is when a person accepts that the son of Elohiym has died as a sacrifice (which is an entirely old testament concept) for his or her sins. But then, contrary to christianity, the only way to maintain that relationship until the moment the person dies, is to obey YHWH’s commandments and instructions, including not eating unclean food.

When a person has his relationship restored, but then continues to disregard the commandments, he is lost just as much as when that person had not believed on Christ to begin with.

No christian wants to accept this, nor believe it. Almost all christians believe that they only need to believe in the sacrificial death of Jesus, and that such belief in itself will secure their place in heaven. Christians believe there is no need whatsoever to learn about anything written in the old testament.

Christians are blind fools. For their belief depends on the notion of sacrificial death, but they refuse to believe in the old testament which is not only the origin of the notion of sacrificial death but which also explains how it works.

Christians are like a person who buys a car thinking that buying a car is all that is needed to make journeys, but who then refuses to buy fuel because they believe that fuel destroys the environment.

If a person wants to drive all the way from A to B they need a car, and then they need to keep refuelling in order to drive the car and arrive at B.

If a person wants to go from Earth to Heaven, they need to restore their relationship with the maker of heaven and earth (belief in Y’hoshua) and then they ALSO need to maintain that relationship, by obeying YHWH’s rules and regulations, aiming to arrive at their moment of dying with their relationship intact. If at any moment during their life on earth they fall back, that would reset their relationship to unrestored.

Christians think that Jesus is their ticket to heaven. Sadly, many of them will eventually discover that their ticket does indeed give them entrance to heaven but NOT to the new Jerusalem in the Kingdom of Heaven. For their ticket only restored the relationship with their maker, but keeping the commandments is what’s required to become a member of his citizenry.

Christians. No Fun on Earth, and no Joy in Newtown.

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