Deuteronomy 12:32 “What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.”
Matthew 23:8-10 “But you, do not be called ‘Rabbi’ ; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren. “Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. “And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ.”
Deuteronomy 4:2 “You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.”
Proverbs 30:6 “Do not add to His words, Lest He rebuke you, and you be found a liar.”
To be a Disciple, when is comes to the things of God and Morality and the History of the World, you must have no other Teacher & Master other than Jesus. And no other Father other than Yahweh. Even the prophets would always say “Thus speaketh the LORD”. It’s God & Jesus only.
When a Disciples discusses God’s word:
He must repeat what God exactly said word for word. If he is translating from Greek or Hebrew to English it must be the same exact meaning as the original text. It is up to the student of the Word to look up the meaning of every word.
When we are not quoting God, we must not make doctrines from opinions. If we have an opinion that goes beyond the text, it CANNOT be dogmatic, it must be stated “This is my opinion”.
Disciples & Christians differ on this point. Christians, their Pastor’s, their theologians, their parents, they have a habitual habit of adding and taking away from what God and Jesus have said.
Jesus said, “For ONE is your teacher”. “For ONE is your Father”. And Yahweh says, “You shall not add to His Words”.
So where do we see people adding to God and Jesus’ words? The answer is everywhere a cross hangs.
Chuck Smith Example of Adding and Taking Away
I. Adding Books
It began before the time of Jesus. In addition to the Tanakh [ Hebrew Bible ], the Talmud was added. The claim is that God gave Moses a Oral law which was not written down for centuries. The problem with the Talmud is people have equated it with True Scripture. The Talmud is a set of many writings from Rabbis throughout the centuries. It contains about 5900 pages. When we make this equal to Yahweh’s DIRECT words, we sin terribly. Judaism is largely based on these traditions of men. Jesus specifically addressed the Talmud when he said, Matthew 15:2-3 KJV “Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread.” But he answered and said unto them,” Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?”
Then, soon after Jesus ascended into Heaven. The True Gospels were penned , that is Matthew, Mark, and Luke. But then 100 more books attempted to get in. The Gospel of Judas, The Gospel of Thomas, The Gospel of John, The Revelation of John, The Revelation of Peter, etc.
Click here to read These Books
[How we know these are false books are discussed on another page on this site.]
Eventually the false Prophet Mohammad wrote the Quran. And here lately John Smith wrote the Book of Mormon.
II. Adding through Translations
The best translation is the original language. Every Disciple should use the tools available to get the full meaning of the words. Start today with the word ‘Faith’, and ‘Church’. Thayer & Strong’s can be found at www.blueletterbible.org.
Here is one key example. Because of people adding to God’s word, they have made God into a rape accessory.
Here is the text in the KJV:
Deuteronomy 22:28-29 KJV “If a man find a damsel [that is] a virgin, which is not betrothed, and lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they be found; Then the man that lay with her shall give unto the damsel’s father fifty [shekels] of silver, and she shall be his wife; because he hath humbled her, he may not put her away all his days.”
We have a man and a woman shacking up. The man then pays, and they get married.
But the NIV and the CSB add the word “Rape”. This word IS NOT in the text. They THOUGHT this is what is happening and so they decided to add the word rape. Too them, God is okay with men raping women and then paying a fine.
Here is the NIV:
Deu 22:28-29 NIV “If a man happens to meet a virgin who is not pledged to be married and rapes her and they are discovered, 29 he shall pay her father fifty shekels of silver. He must marry the young woman, for he has violated her. He can never divorce her as long as he lives.”
Here is the CSB:
Deu 22:28-29 CSB “If a man encounters a young woman, a virgin who is not engaged, takes hold of her and rapes her, and they are discovered, 29 “the man who raped her is to give the young woman’s father fifty silver shekels, and she will become his wife because he violated her. He cannot divorce her as long as he lives.”
Again, the word RAPE is not in this passage in the Hebrew.
III. Adding through Commentary
Using the example above, you can read many ‘theologians’ and see many used this faulty translation.
Here is an example from the ‘GotQuestions” Christian Website.
You can read it for yourself. Remember, this whole page is the result of people adding the word ‘Rape’ to the English.
This whole website is filled with commentary adding to and taking away from the words that God spoke.
Another example is found in the question “Got Forgiveness? How do I receive forgiveness from God?” A Disciple of Jesus already knows that in order to be forgiven you must:
- forgive others: Matthew 6:14-15 KJV “For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
2. He must not have blasphemed the Holy Spirit: Mark 3:29 “But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation”.
GotQuestions fails to add these two essential teachings of Jesus. The reason is, THEIR Christianity claims that you don’t have to do anything to be saved other than have faith. So, they purposefully ignore the many passages that say you do, including having to forgive others.
CRUCIAL QUESTION: If respected people who claim to represent Jesus don’t tell people you must forgive others, are they then responsible for the people who die without forgiving?
FOLLOW UP QUESTION: Do we only forgive when we are asked to forgive? Or do we forgive even if the person is happy they did wrong?
