December 17, 2020
One of my favorite ironies of life is that people who have left Christianity tend to read the Bible far more often — and more deeply — than people still caught in the fold.
With that comes the wonderful pastime of analyzing the different Bible translations and pointing out their errors and inconsistencies.
For example, there’s this well known verse:
Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.”
— Luke 17:20–21 New King James Version.
A very popular Bible verse to be sure.
What I’ve always found interesting about this verse were the translations it went through over time.
I quoted the New King James Version above. In later translations, however, we see the words “within you” changed to “in your midst.”
Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There is is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst.”
— Luke 17:20–21 New International Version
Some other versions have it written as “among you.”
These alterations change the meaning of the verse entirely. The kingdom of God goes from being something you can find within yourself to something that is external to you, personified into another human (Jesus).
This is a huge difference.
Here’s an interesting social experiment that you don’t actually have to do because you already know how it’ll turn out:
- Tell a young child to point to God.
- Tell a grown adult Christian to point to God.
- Tell an atheist to point to God, if he were to exist.
What would happen?
They would all point upward, toward the sky.
This verse in the NKJV isn’t of much use to the modern Christian church. They have a vested interest in perpetuating the notion that God is external to people, the earth, society, culture, and everything. He is distant and far away.
To ever insist that God or his kingdom is already “within you” is heresy in modern Christian rhetoric. No wonder they whipped up that new translation to keep you focused externally rather than internally.
Once deconverted, it’s tempting to use these differing translations at yet another reason to toss the entire Bible over your shoulder. I’ve never recommended that any Deconverted Man do that, however; there is still much truth to be learned from the Bible.
Here, Jesus was basically saying, “Don’t look around for something that is outside of you. What you’re looking for is already inside of you.”
I tend to believe that some alterations to the Biblical text were done to shoehorn Jesus and his teachings into a dogmatic, rigid model that was later needed by the Church to fit their doctrines. That would explain why the kingdom of God was changed from being something already within you to being outside of you.
The last thing the Church wants you to do is find truth inside yourself, or discover that you can, in fact, rely on your own understanding. Nor does it want you build your own life of happiness and freedom outside of the Church walls.
Any of you reading this is capable of doing just that.
Love or hate the guy, Jesus and many of the teachings attributed to him are quite beneficial when incorporated into your life, and I consider this verse as an example of one of those valuable teachings.
No, of course I don’t think the kingdom of God is a physical place, or that it will be a physical place after some kind of rapture event.
The kingdom of God is found within. Whatever brings you happiness, freedom, purpose… whatever you can rely upon the most, whatever you have great expectation for… it is already within you. There is nothing external to you that you need. All you have to do is turn your focus inward and uncover it, then express it, then live it.
So where should you place your faith? Your trust? Who will guide you?
Take your finger that you once pointed up into the sky and turn it right back onto yourself.