Did God really say that?

A few days ago I came across a forum thread about Bugs Bunny. The thread explained that Bugs Bunny's calling of Elmer Fudd as "nimrod" was actually a nod to the Bible's Nimrod, who was a mighty hunter before the Lord. Another post went on to say that Bugs' affinity for carrots was actually a nod to Clark Gable's character in "It Happened One Night." I could imagine parents back then getting the hidden meaning behind both references much like I do know as a parent watching some of the movies my children want to watch. I chuckle a bit and relish the opportunity later to let them in on the secret so they can have the same chuckle when they re-watch the movie later.

I can also see that as time passes and less and less of those callbacks are recognized they begin to take on their own meaning. For instance, because of Elmer Fudd's inability to bag the coveted gray hare he's chased for years, the term nimrod has become more synonymous with an imbecile than the mighty warrior Bugs' was calling him, even if it may have been sarcastically. At the same time, because of the years and years of scenes with Bugs eating carrots it seems like common knowledge that a carrot is a rabbits food of choice. But science actually shows that it couldn't be further from the truth.

With the passing of time the cultural references that a story once contained gets lost and the true meaning may be lost because they are now heard without the context that they were meant to convey to the people for whom they were written. This is extremely evident in how we read the Bible today.

For awhile now I've come across many videos from believers explaining why certain translations of the Bible should not be trusted. Anything from how recent they may have been written to how they have left out particular phrases of scripture. To that, I say just this, if you don't want to read a certain translation, then don't. But please don't consider them a failure of conveying God's word. The translations may be called into question but you shouldn't question the motives of  the translators. They have simply tried their best under the confines of the languages they are translating to.

You see, I don't think it's an accident God chose those who speak Hebrew and Greek to write a majority of the Bible. Their languages were so much more exact in how they conveyed an idea. It has been the languages since then that may have failed to capture and convey the true essence of what God really said that todays churches may have been missing the mark on becoming the means to restore the Kingdom here on Earth. But that's no excuse for us to abandon our personal pursuit of what is written in those pages. In the end it doesn't matter how the original languages were translated to I todays words, what matters is what those words mean to us in our today problems. What do they say to you when you read them.

Time in the Bible isn't like our time in other books of study to get knowledge or skills, it's about getting to know our Father and his nature. When you read school books or study guides they text remains the same and you begin to commit to memory the facts your reading, but with the Bible, you can read it repeatedly and the text doesn't necessarily change, but depending on your current situations you may see more to a story that you never noticed before.

It's those moments where we begin to really see that God continues to speak to us, no matter what translation we are reading in whatever language we choose. And that is the ultimate goal of why we read the Bible. It's to nurture the relationship the Father wanted to have with us and to allow his voice to come through in our time of need.