Blog - Joyful Curmudgeon - Blog
A Mary T. Hoffman Commentary from All-Creatures.org

 

"Joyful Curmudgeon" An oxymoron?
No! I see all the beauty of God's creation and I'm joyful.  At the same time, I see all the suffering and corruption going on in the world, and feel called to help expose and end it so that we may have true peace and compassion.

 

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The Bible – 27 April 2007
By Mary T. Hoffman

“Battle for the Bible” was the recent PBS offering in the “Secrets of the Dead” television series.

I wonder how many people watching this program thought about the enormous irony (to put it mildly!) of having people burned at the stake simply for wanting to have available in their language the teachings of the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ.

In a nutshell, “Battle for the Bible” is a historical account of the corruption and violence surrounding the attempt to introduce into England an English language translation of the Bible.

The stranglehold on the populace that the Church had in the Middle Ages should serve as a reminder that “power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Only Latin, the language of the Church and the elite, was acceptable. The few who wanted the printed Bible to be available to ordinary people were ruthlessly hunted down and burned alive, if caught.

This brings to mind Jeremiah 5:30-31, from the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament):

30 “An appalling and horrible thing
Has happened in the land:

31 The prophets prophesy falsely,
And the priests rule on their own authority;
And My [God’s] people love it so!
But what will you do at the end of it?”
~New American Standard Bible

Go on to: Deception – 28 April 2007
Return to: The Father of Lies – 26 April 2007
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