The Bible describes many people, Israel and Adam included, as sons of God. Both 2 Samuel 7:13–14 and 1 Chronicles 22:10 read, He (Solomon) shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his Father, and he shall be My son. In the Bible, only begotten is translated from the ancient Greek monogenes.[4] And yet, Isaac is monogenes in Heb. 11:17.[5] Ishmael was born fourteen years before Isaac, and both were alive when their father, Abraham, passed on. At no time was Isaac ever Abraham’s only begotten son. So is only begotten a mistranslation of monogenes, or is Heb. 11:17 a mistake? If it’s a mistranslation, then John 3:16 must be mistranslated as well. If it’s a mistake, we can’t trust the Bible as a whole (a repeating refrain in these discussions). George Pettie once amended the old proverb, To err is human, to forgive is divine . . . by adding, and to persist in error, beastly. The self-righteous, I’ve got the Holy Spirit inside me and can do no wrong attitude of the John 3:16′ers is offensive for as many reasons as it is wrong. For one thing, it sounds too much like the lawyer’s maxim to argue facts and law when they serve the purpose, and holler when they don’t. If I am permitted to echo Voltaire’s conclusion: Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty in the face of contrary evidence is an absolutely absurd one. Despite the strength of the evidence against John 3:16, most Christians refuse to acknowledge the illegitimacy of the verse. And maybe non-Christians should accept that. Matthew 5:9 reports Jesus as having said, Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. So perhaps we should forget about trying to win this argument, and make peace over it. If we can’t unite on creeds, let’s at least unite on kind and charitable deeds. Let’s become blessed peacemakers who are called sons of God. Then, let’s point out that this is just one more biblical verse that contradicts John 3:16′s exclusive Son of God concept. Nothing says we can’t make peace, and continue to politely press our point at the same time. But that, to me, is an important element to any religious dialogue: Keep it light and polite, but maintain focus. About the author: Laurence B. Brown, MD, has authored several articles and books and his official website is leveltruth where he can also be contacted through the ‘Contact’ page.
Posted on: Tue, 17 Jun 2014 00:36:42 +0000
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