The Altered Bible

The Bible has been altered over the centuries, but is what it says about Jesus DIFFERENT to us due to the alterations, or due to our misinterpretation of what it said, and now says?

Scholarly investigation brings us back very close to the original texts. We can see the purposes and intents of the alterations. The main difference, though, between what the original scriptures MEANT and how we now conceptualize that is in how we interpret them.

Deconverters say that there is no actual evidence of a Jesus in the past. The evidence to be sought is in the PRESENT. No Him now = no Him then, but Him NOW = Him THEN!

But how Him then--objective or subjective? I.e., was He a physically manifested subjective force of the Divine Consciousness? The present church consensus says, "Yes! The objective manifestation of the Word in and as an individual."

The scriptures ALMOST agree, saying, "Yes, He, AND YOU! The ineffable No-thing, you and I are ONE! You are my beloved Son, and in you I am well pleased, IF YOU BELIEVE."

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I do not know if I am Victor Alexander's biggest fan, but I think his idiomatic English translations from the ancient Aramaic best capture the purpose and intent of the original authors. Do his translations say what I have said above? That's a matter of interpretation.

The New Testament I have is this one: https://www.amazon.com/Aramaic-New-Testament-Ancient-Scriptures/dp/1456475789/ref=sr_1_4?crid=3QYP6M81TGF0B&keywords=victor+alexander&qid=1703445301&sprefix=victor+alexander%2Caps%2C215&sr=8-4 There are others, which see.

I love Vic's Story of Jesus: From His Own Words. It is small, but packs a theological punch. The errors it has are typos.

Vic has a collection of the Old Testament Scriptures he has translated thus far. I have it, of course, but it is thick and incomplete. I far prefer to pick up and use the individual books:

Genesis

Exodus: Liberation

Proverbs of King Solomon (the 24 chapters actually written by Solomon)

Book of Isaiah

Jeremiah

Daniel, Jonah, Zechariah, Malachi -- kiss your KJV of these goodbye.

Scroll of Hosea. I don't believe this is included in Old Testament Scriptures.

Vic also has an individual Gospel of John, which is just as the NT text. My early Christian thought was much influenced by an individual NASB Gospel of John that was given to me. This one book by Alexander is priced at Amazon same as the whole New Testament, but as a tract to the as-yet unconverted, I think it is worth it. I mean, come on, we are talking of the revelation of the Eternal Living One we are part of. I'd pay the whole world for that.

I do not have Vic's The First Civilization, as I read and saved so much of his v-a.com blog, which covered much of the same material when it was up.

Another of Vic's books I missed is Weltanschauung: Worldview. I am sorry I don't have Kindle, where it is available for free. Mentally, we can chose which world we are in—in the flesh, or in the spiritual. We can also choose the regime in which we participate: commie, capitalist, religionist, individualist, or tribal. Jesus chose spirit and God's-per-Moses. The point is these are real things, which God confirms with miracles. Choose well.