Behind every Church Father is a Mother

Behind every Church Father is a Mother

In response to a comment left by Crystal on my blog, http://samuelmartin.blogspot.com/2011/11/if-king-james-version-was-good-enough.html, Crystal mentioned the following:

"My 4th child was born peacefully, painlessly, and calmly at home- blowing the pain-filled woman's curse out the window. "

First of all, do yourself a favor and visit Crystal's blog. http://piscessunleomoon.blogspot.com and see her really interesting experience with raising diaper less children (among other things).

Crystal's experimentation is in fact giving us all a glimpse into the past: a past which did not have diapers or any of the other so called modern 'conveniences' that, as Crystal has aptly demonstrated, help disconnect parents from the rhythm of life and the communications that even little infants can give. This is really amazing stuff and eye opening information that working daddies may miss, but attentive mommies know all too well. Thanks Crystal.

Her blog in fact was one of the most instructive things I have read in a while because I have been thinking about writing a major article on family life and her experience is so helpful because researchers often have so little to go on.

I mean when it comes to the Bible, often times, we just don't know what was going on in ancient times and this affects how we relate to the texts.

I know one scholar (Dr. Stephen Pfann of www.UHL.ac) who uses a grading system to help put things in perspective.

A. 100% sure were know about the issue
B. Somewhat certain
C. Less certain
D. Speculation or educated guesses

You'd be surprised how many times honest scholars will tell you that they simply do not know what was happening in the Biblical period (designating things grade 'D') because we just don't have enough evidence.

Family life is one of these. There is just so little information about all of this because most of the information we do have is passed down to us mostly from the perspective of men if we get anything at all. It is really hard to find a mother's voice sometimes and this is where Crystal's example is so helpful for the researcher.

Her experience allows us anthropologically to see how things may have been in ancient times in daily life of caring for little infants in particular. The Bible has a paucity of information on this and other sources are also equally sparse.

This is especially important to my research because I am seeking a better understanding of how to relate to the biblical texts relating to child rearing.

I'll have much more to say about this later because this has not only the potential to be a major paper, it could end up in fact being a small book, but I am asking for more inputs from mothers who have experience in this area.

But before I forget, let me say something about that child birth curse.

I am currently studying for my higher Theology degrees here in Jerusalem and I am seriously considering in the future doing my Ph.D. on the subject of equality between men and women in the Bible. This inspiration for this, in fact, comes from Karen Campbell at www.thatmom.com. Thanks Karen. Her question to me really touched a nerve. (The answer to her question is currently almost 50,000 words and counting.)

In fact, I have already started working on a dissertation in this regard with the hope that I will be able to move forward with this suggested subject for a doctorate. All in good time. Rest assured though that I will bring this material out in the future at the right time, but it is not ready yet.

However, Crystal's comment on my blog does raise a point which is important and it concerns the common conception that there is some awful curse associated with child birth. It goes back to Genesis 3:16 & 3:17. Here is a small excerpt from my possible future dissertation.

Now, after they both arrived, here is where we can thank our dear male scholars for starting us off on the wrong path of gender inequality. It starts right here in the third chapter of Genesis. Look at it here from the perspective of multiple versions. Here we want to home in two sections of Genesis 3:16 and 3.17.

Version	Text from Genesis 3:16 (about woman - Eve)	Text from Genesis 3:17 (about man - Adam)
NIV	“pains in childbearing”	“through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.”
NLT	“pain of your pregnancy,”	“All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it.”
ESV	“pain in childbearing”	“in pain you shall eat of it”
NASB	“pain in childbirth”	“in toil you will eat of it”
God’s WORD Translation	“pain and your labor when you give birth to children”	“Through hard work you will eat”
KJV	“in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children”	“in sorrow shalt thou eat”
NKJV	“in sorrow you shall bring forth children”	“in sorrow shall you eat of it”
ASV	“in pain thou shalt bring forth children”	“in toil shalt thou eat of it”
Bible in Basic English	“in sorrow will your children come to birth”	“in pain you will get your food”
Douay-Rheims Bible	“in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children	“with labour and toil shalt thou eat”
Darby Bible Translation	“with pain thou shalt bear children”	“with toil shalt thou eat of it”
English Revised Version	“in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children”	“in sorrow shalt thou eat of it”
Webster’s Bible Translation	“in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children”	“in sorrow shalt thou eat of it”
World English Bible	“In pain you will bring forth children	“In toil you will eat of it”
Young’s Literal Translation	“in sorrow dost thou bear children”	“in sorrow thou dost eat of it”

http://bible.cc/genesis/3-16.htm & http://bible.cc/genesis/3-17.htm

Now, in the above referenced table, you can see that the italicized words relative to the woman are: pain, pains or sorrow. However for the men, the words italicized are: painful toil, struggle, pain, toil, hard work, labour and sorrow.

Now, when we compare these two columns, we can note that the language that describes what happens to woman really looks harsher on the surface and these above referenced language differences highlight this issue. Here, on the surface, we see that woman is getting a seemingly greater punishment. This is how it has been framed by theologians down through the centuries until now. 

Modern versions correct this. For example, note my favorite, the ESV: (see http://www.esvbible.org)

    To the woman he said,
    “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing;
        in pain you shall bring forth children.
    Your desire shall be for your husband,
        and he shall rule over you.”
    And to Adam he said,
    “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife
        and have eaten of the tree
    of which I commanded you,
        ‘You shall not eat of it,’
    cursed is the ground because of you;
        in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
    thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;
        and you shall eat the plants of the field.
    By the sweat of your face
        you shall eat bread,
    till you return to the ground,
        for out of it you were taken;
    for you are dust,
        and to dust you shall return.”
(Genesis 3:16-19 ESV)

What we can see though when we look at these verses in light of an accurate Biblical understanding what is here being conveyed in the original Hebrew language, a different picture presents itself.

What we must understand is that the words italicized in the first column, which are designated towards woman and the words found in the second column which are associated with man are in fact in Hebrew the very same word!

Yes, that is correct. In Hebrew, we find in these two verses the exact same Hebrew word (עצבון – gitz-tzah-vohn) is used! There is no difference in the intensity or stress, the force or level: No! Not at all. What woman was to suffer in child birth, man was to suffer by working the ground. Not more for one and less for the other. Equality by using the same term.

There is no greater degree or intensity of punishment on woman or women in this text of Scripture at all, but were one to rely on these many Bible versions, mostly created by men, one would decidedly not get this opinion.

This is really where many well intentioned people get off on the wrong foot concerning gender relations in Scripture. In this verse, the gender relations are equal! There is no greater punishment for the one over the other in the original language.

In closing, thanks again Crystal for your really important capacity building. I hope that others will give some of your ideas a go.

 

Should we preach? publish?, or proclaim the Gospel - Yes? No? Maybe?

Should we preach? publish?, or proclaim the Gospel - 

Yes? No? Maybe?

I just got my copy of Michael Pearl's book in the post sent from a new friend in North Carolina (thanks TJ - your book is on the way). In reviewing the book, I opened up the front cover and saw a little box which says:

"All Scripture quotations are from the King James Holy Bible"

So, I went to page 35 and found Mr. Pearl's references to 'prove' his arguments in favor of spanking children. The texts he quoted were very familiar to me and to many of us. They are commonly known as the 'rod' verses. They were:

Proverbs 19:18
Proverbs 13:24
Proverbs 22:15
Proverbs 23:13,14
Proverbs 29:15
Proversb 29:17

So there it was - Case Closed. The Bible advocates spanking children. End of story. Well, not quite so fast.

I got to thinking about this whole issue once again and thought about this book and its assertions.

Here is a well intentioned Christian brother living thousands of miles away from the region where the Bible was written, using a 400 year old Bible version attempting to bring information which in some cases is over 3,000 years old into our modern day.

When I look on the front cover of the book, I saw the following page and you can review it at the following link.

http://www.newreleasetuesday.com/bookdetail.php?book_id=851

The front cover of the book shows a family riding in a horse drawn cart with a father at the reins with a wife at his side carrying a babe in arms with four other children in the wagon.

When I thought about this book and its teachings, I thought this cover was really appropriate because the information that you find in this book represents a type of a theological perspective which reflects a time about 400 years ago when people moved around by horse and buggy.

The good news is, theologically speaking, we no longer move around with horses and buggys. Today, we have airplanes that take us around the world to libraries where we can study thousands of Bible manuscripts; where online resources are the fingertips that even the non-expert can reach into the treasure troves of Bible scholarship and study at the feet of modern day Gamliels.

The bad news though is that many dear people like Michael Pearl, God bless him, continue to drive around the same old tired arguments which are based on a Bible translation, which was a monument to great scholarship in 1611, but today, it represents one of the biggest obstacles to understanding God's messages to mankind, especially concerning what the Bible means in the book of Proverbs.

And here is where we come to the title of my blog post -Should we preach? publish?, or proclaim the Gospel - Yes? No? Maybe?

I remember once my father telling of an experience he had when he first got into researching the Bible and in fact it relates to this issue we are here discussing. It concerned the issue of preaching, publishing and proclaiming the Gospel of Christ to the world.

My father was a minister as well as a college professor. The church that he was a member of was lead by a very charismatic leader. The Bible of choice in that particular denomination was the King James Version of the Bible.

The Church had a wide ranging ministry with numerous methods of outreach. They had a 'preaching' ministry and a 'publishing' ministry. Yes, the Church used all different types of outreach methods to get the Gospel message out to the world including radio and televsion.

The head of the Church not only insisted, however, in the 'preaching' ministry, but he made a big deal about the need for the Church to also engage in a 'publishing' ministry. This meant a top quality, slick four color magazine, books, booklets, pamphlets, newsletters, etc.

Now, these methodologies were used to 'proclaim' the Gospel. Anything wrong with that? No, not at all.

However, when Dad began to just do a bit of study in the New Testament, he learned that the Greek word keerusso is translated in the King James Version by several different English words: preach, preached, proclaim, proclaimed, proclaiming, publish, and published.

So when we read in Mark 13:10 in the King James Version saying: "And the gospel must first be published among all nations" we can compare this to another section in the Gospel of Matthew which describes the same event and time period. It is found in Matthew 24:14 saying: "And this gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations;"

So, Dad quickly found out that the words "published" and "preached" in these two verses are from the exact same word in the Greek language, which is the original one for the New Testament. Therefore, to say that one must have a "preaching" and or "publishing" ministry on the basis of these verses is really not justified in Scripture at all. Of course, that message is not one that Church leaders want to hear. This is because they often gain great power and influence through their "preaching" and "publishing" ministries.

There is of course nothing wrong with preaching, publishing or proclaiming the Gospel. On the contrary. What is wrong, however, is misusing the Holy Scriptures to attempt to prove that a particular Church or religious leader must engage in preaching and publishing and that Church members should pay to see that these things take place. Preaching and publishing ministries are fine and excellent things in and of themselves, but one should not use these passages as justification for demanding that Church members pay the bills for these ministerial elements based upon a wrong understanding of Scripture.

But here we get to the crux of the matter.  If these well intentioned ministers of the Gospel will use the modern tools that we have available instead of continuing to drive our Christian brethren around in the theological equivalents of horses and buggys, we might be able to avoid some of these nonsensical teachings promoted by many well intentioned but misguided religious leaders. Look at the ESV, which makes this whole issue clear.

    And the gospel must first be proclaimed to all nations. (Mark 13:10 ESV)

    And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations.
(Matthew 24:14 ESV)

So, the answer to my blog question is. Yes! We should proclaim the Gospel.

But, this all helps to contextualize something which I have dealt with in much greater detail in my book and that concerns the interpretation of those six verses that Michael Pearl uses to open and close his arguments on spanking children.

The question we have to ask Mr. Pearl and many other dear brethren in Christ is this: Should we spank? chasten? hit? switch? strike? our children in the way you tell us? Yes? No? Maybe?

Michael Pearl and many others say "Yes."

After reading my book, I think you'll agree that the answer to this question is a resounding:

No!

Note: Some of the material in this post is referenced in audio cassette tape which my father produced in the Foundation for Biblical Research in 1976 called: "A Brief Background of the Director."

“If the King James Version was good enough for Jesus, it’s good enough for me” & Newsletter for November

“If the King James Version was good enough for Jesus, it’s good enough for me

This post has been republished in a new book referenced below:

Amazon.com: Thy Rod and Thy Staff They Comfort Me - Book IV: Selected Essays on the Subject of Spanking Children in Support of Peaceful Parenting (9780978533984): Martin, Samuel: Books