Consider language. There is no exact way to count them, but there are approximately 6,500 languages being used on earth currently. This number does not account for dialects, of which there are many more. My entire world is defined by one of these 6,500 languages: English. I think in English, I communicate in English, and the things I see I identify in English. English defines my world. In French (a language in which I dabble) the world looks very different. The banal grapefruit becomes the exotic pamplemousse, formidable (seemingly a cognate) takes on a more positive connotation. I will always see these things in this light because I view French in comparison to English, but the French may not experience these words in the same way. The world looks different to them using their words then it does to me using my words. There are 6,499 groups of people who experience a reality, defined by language, that is completely seperate from my own.
What about religion? The Bible, for example, is old. No one can say exactly how old the Old Testament is, and the New Testament is 2000 years old give or take. The Bible is translated today by scholars, and while these scholars understand Aramaic, Greek, or Hebrew, chances are, these are not their principal language. Furthermore, the Bible is translated by numerous individuals who all bring their own meaning to the text and render it incongrous. Despite all this, we rest on the assumption that the Bible is fairly accurate.
The first Bible was translated into English is 1394 by the scholarly Lollard John Wycliffe. We have an English speaker who understands Biblical languages. Sounds just like today. The Bible should look exactly the same right? It's in the same language. WRONG. Check this out:
http://wesley.nnu.edu/biblical_studies/wycliffe/Mat.txt
This is Matthew, one of the principle books of the Christian faith that details Jesus's teachings. It is completely different, and this was only 700 years ago. Consider how it would have looked 700 years before that, and it would already be hundreds of years old!
How did the writers mean for it to be read?
If you can answer this, you must have a time machine.
Imagine a world without religious strife even within one religion. What an idea! Perhaps if it weren't for language, this would exist. Maybe Esperanto is a good idea after all.
There are more accurate translations. My youth pastor likes the
Holman Christian Standard, for its accuracy and readability. However, I never liked the more popular New International Version, a little too paraphrased, even watered down.
ya knows, I likes my bahble with all the godforsakens and the thithers and the notwithstandins, thees and thous in ther'!! Enuuf of your yankee-talk! Ah do agree sir, I can't take my bahble watered down, I'd ruther Jesus was smakin me in the face!
Michael Allen Yarbrough (PBUH)