[Excerpt (between horizontal lines) from COSMIC CONSCIOUSNESS: Do-It-Yourself Manual beginning in the last paragraph of page 48]

“T. S. Eliot has remarked that no great man has been so completely misunderstood.” as Nicòlo Machiavelli was and is.  It is apparent to me that the great man known as Jesus, the Christ is the most misunderstood, misinterpreted person in the history of this human species. This is obvious, for examples, from the periods of time of influence, 2000 years For The Christ compared to 491 years for Nicòlo, the percentage of Earth’s total human population who are influenced by one and/or the other of the two, the numerous and conflicting theories and interpretations of His birth, life, works, attributed words, death and resurrection (or not) claimed and/or debated for 2000 years, to this day, by full time career religious ‘leaders’ and scholars, and from the hundreds to thousands of institutions and organizations all around this planet, with varying interpretations, that claim to be “Christians”, telling who Jesus was and what Jesus told them, and/or is telling them to tell everyone else that we need to do to get into “Heaven.”

To better understand anything in its present form, it is best to know as much about its history as is attainable. We are told by the religious leaders who claim that they are the experts and authorities that know the truth about the life, work and meaning of the words attributed to Jesus, The Christ, that “The Bible” is the source of their knowledge, and that the current versions of “The Bible” contains the complete, inerrant, story and teachings. With consideration of that perspective it is important to take a look at and think about what “The Bible” is, its history and everything else that we can learn about it. The following is from “HOLY BIBLE: REFERENCE EDITION”, 1976 by Thomas Nelson, Inc., Nashville, Tennessee:

                              WHAT IS THE BIBLE?

The name “bible” is derived from the Greek word biblos, meaning “book.”  This “Book,” actually composed of sixty-six separate books, is a collection of ancient Hebrew and Christian writings, each complete it itself…

Original Languages of the Bible

Nearly all of the Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew; the small remaining portion was written Aramaic, sometimes called Syriac.  The Aramaic section comprises three passages (Ezra 4:8—6:18; 7:12—26; Dan. 2:4—7:28), one verse of Jeremiah (10:11), and two words in Genesis (31:47), a place name meaning “heap of witness”).  Aramaic was the language spoken by the people and was the language spoken by Jesus during His public ministry.  However, the New Testament was written in Greek, the language used in letters and other writings.  Greek was the language understood practically everywhere throughout the Roman Empire, even in the remote provinces, and was recognized as the language of culture.

Since few persons can easily read the ancient languages of the Scriptures, many versions and translations of the Bible have been made.  It has been translated, either in whole or in part, into nearly every language of the world today; but, because the spoken languages change from generation to generation, the work of translation continues.

Hebrew.—All of the Old Testament manuscripts which have been found are written in square, black letters which resemble the printed Hebrew of today. These square characters came into use some years prior to the birth of Christ.

Two facts made the translator’s task difficult.  First, Hebrew then was written without any spaces separating the words.  For this reason, the translator sometimes was puzzled to know when one word ended and the next began.  Second, the Hebrew alphabet consisted of twenty-two letters, all of them consonants.  (Four of these Consonants, however, were sometimes used to represent vowels.)  In writing only the consonants were put down.  The reader was expected to know what vowels should be added.  Evidently it was believed that the reader would be sufficiently familiar with the sacred text to be able to supply from memory the omitted vowels, or else it was thought that the context in which each word occurred would suggest the proper vowel or vowels to be inserted.  If we may use English to illustrate the problem, let us suppose one came upon the consonants m and n.  Could one tell with certainty what word was intended?  Would it be “man” or “men,” “main,” “mean,” “mien,” “moan,” “moon,” or even “omen.”

In the sixth and seventh centuries A.D., when Hebrew as a spoken language was beginning to die out, it was observed that the rabbis were not always agreed as to the proper reading of passages in the synagogue scrolls.  As a result, there was danger of confusion and misunderstanding.  Accordingly, Jewish scholars of that period, who became known as the Massoretes, undertook to determine and to indicate the proper vowel or vowels for every word in the Hebrew Scriptures.  They indicated these vowels by means of small marks above, within, or below the consonants.  They did not regard these vowel points as apart of the sacred text, and for that reason they refrained from marking them on the synagogue scrolls and in their commentaries on the scriptures.

Furthermore, in Hebrew there are no capital letters to distinguish proper nouns from common nouns and to make the beginning of each new sentence.  Finally, Hebrew is read from right to left, rather than from left to right as in English.  The lines of Hebrew follow naturally down the page, from top to bottom.  In the case of a scroll or book, one begins to read at what we would consider the end or back, and continues his reading till he reaches what we would consider the beginning or front.

Greek.—The Greek in which the New Testament books were written differs somewhat from the classical Greek of a few centuries earlier.  In is the koiné; that is to say, the everyday speech of the common people (and of the aristocrats also) in the first century A.D. Greek is like English in that it is read from left to right.  The vowels are included in the Greek alphabet, and they appear in all Greek words except a few frequently used abbreviations.  The oldest New Testament manuscripts are written entirely in capital letters, and for this reason are called uncials.  As a rule, there are no spaces separating the words.  Later Greek manuscripts are written in a running hand (cursives).  Both capital letters and small letters are employed.  The latter frequently are joined together, much as in handwriting today.  In the later manuscripts there are spaces between the words and some punctuation is employed.  These manuscripts come from the ninth to the fifteenth century A.D., and they are called minuscules.  The name means “rather small”; they take that name from the fact that they are written in small letters rather than in capitals.

Versions of the Bible

Through the centuries the Bible has found its way into the languages of the people as the tide of Christianity has swept through civilization.  As scholarly research uncovers other manuscripts, or acquires new understanding of the Bible languages, Hebrew and Greek, new translations are made.  Sometimes these are made by groups of scholars working together, sometimes by an individual scholar.  The versions which follow are those most important in the development of the Tnydale-King James tradition.

The Septuagint.—The Old Testament was translated into Greek even before these was a New Testament.  In the centuries immediately preceding the Christian era, the Jews became widely scattered.  A large colony of Jews was located in Alexandria, Egypt, and their native tongue, Hebrew, was little used, being superseded by the Greek.  In order that the Hebrew Scriptures not be lost, a group of seventy (or seventy-two) scholars was commissioned by the high priest in Jerusalem to make a translation into Greek.  This was at about the middle of the third century B.C.  The name of this translation, “Septuagint,” comes from the Latin word for seventy, and is commonly abbreviated by using the Roman numeral LXX.

The LXX received the endorsement of eminent rabbis, and within a short time was being widely used by the Jews and their Gentile proselytes in the Greek-speaking world.  It was only natural that it became the Old Testament which was read in the early Christian churches.  And, too, it was natural for the authors of the New Testament books to use the LXX when they wished to quote the Old Testament.  Many copies of the LXX, dating from the third century A.D., have been of great help to scholars in determining the original Hebrew text.

The Vulgate.—Latin, the official language of the Roman Empire, gradually replaced Greek in the Roman Church, and became the language of the ritual of the Church.  Various versions of the Scriptures, in what is known as Old Latin, came into use.  Finally, with the approval and aid of Pope Damascus, the scholar Jerome (A.D. 340?-420) undertook the translation of the Bible into Latin.  He went to Bethlehem, where he might visit the places mentioned in the Bible, and there completed the translation of the scriptures known as The Vulgate and also founded two religious orders.  This Latin translation became the official Bible of the Roman Catholic Church.  The first book printed from movable type, the Gutenberg Bible, is a printing of Jerome’s Latin Vulgate.

Early English Bible History.—Although the gospel was carried to what we know as Great Britain as early as the second century, it was not until the seventh century that Christianity become established there.  There were few Bibles, all in Latin and handwritten, from which learned men could read the Scriptures.  In order that the common people, who used Anglo-Saxton, might understand the Scriptures, translations or paraphrases were needed.

Caedmon, an unschooled servant in one of the monasteries, by a rare gift, was able to put the Bible stories into Anglo-Saxon verse, which he sang in minstrel fashion.  These verses cannot be called a translation but they deserve mention as one of the earliest attempts to put the Bible narratives into the language of the people.

The first real translation was a version of the Psalms by Aldhelm, bishop of Sherborne, who died in 709.  The Venerable Bebe (673-735) completed a translation of the Gospel according to John just before his death.  King Alfred (8480901) supported the Christian movement and either prepared himself, or had prepared under his supervision, portions of the Acts of the Apostles, Exodus, and some of the Psalms.  Also to this period belongs a translation of the Heptateuch (the first seven books of the Old Testament) and parts of other historical books by Aelfrick, abbot of Eynsham (995-1020).

In the Middle English period (1150-1500) were completed a metrical paraphrase of the Gospels called the Armulum, the Psalter of Richard Rolle (1290?-1349), and a prose version of the Psalms attributed to William of Shorehame (1270?-1350).

John Wyclif.—The first English versions of the entire Bible were two associated with the work of John Wyclif (1320?-1384), which were translated from the Latin Vulgate.  How much he did himself and how much was done by his associates is not clear.  The first version was a careful literal translation of the Vulgate, following the order of the Latin words as closely as possible, and thus perpetuating some of Jerome’s errors.  The second version was completed (1397 (after Wyclif’s death by his secretary, John Purvey.  Wyclif did more than translate the Scriptures; he also recruited and trained men, called Lollards, who would read the Scriptures to the people.

The Wyclif Bibles were small books, copied by hand, and very few persons could afford to purchase one.  Then too, laws were passed prohibiting the ownership of or the copying of the Scriptures in English.

William Tyndale.—The martyr, William Tyndale (1490?-1536) believed, as did Wyclif, that there should be universal reading of the Scriptures.  At this time there was a renewed interest in Greek and Hebrew, and increased knowledge of these languages made possible a translation based on Hebrew and Greek manuscripts which were available.  By reason of Gutenberg’s invention of movable type, books could be produced in larger numbers and at much less expense than could the Wyclif Bibles.

Tyndale tried in vain to get official approval and support in Britain for his work.  Finally, in 1524, when he realized there was no place in England where he could carry on his scholarly work with safety, he went to Germany.  In Cologne he made arrangements for the printing but before it was completed he was forced to flee to Worms where, in 1525, three thousand copies of the New Testament were printed for him.  Copies were sent into England but, because such translations had been banned by church authorities, they were seized and publicly burned.  Undaunted, Tyndale continued to review and improve his translation and to print several editions of the New Testament before his imprisonment in 1535.  Tyndale’s translation of the Pentateuch was published in 1530 and of the book of Jonah in 1531.  In 1534 he issued a revision of his translation of Genesis and a revision of the New Testament.  The New Testament yet once again corrected by William Tyndale, published in 1535, became the basis for all later revisions and the main source of the Authorized Version of the New Testament in English.

During the sixteen months of his imprisonment in Antwerp, where he had been safe for a time, Tyndale tried to complete his translation of the Old Testament.  Despite all efforts to save him, he was condemned to death and on October 6, 1536, was strangled and then his body was burned at the stake.

Miles Coverdale.—To Miles Coverdale (1488-1568) goes the distinction of being the first to prepare and publish a complete printed Bible in English (1535).  This was not a first hand translation from the original ancient languages but was based on a Latin Vulgate and upon translations by Tyndale into English, by Luther and by Zwingli and his associates into German, and by Pagninus into Latin.  Although Coverdale’s translation appeared in English while Tyndale was still in prison, the attitude of the church authorities in England had already become less hostile.  At a Convocation of the English Church there had been discussion of the desirability of an English translation. Coverdale was not hindered in his work, and he dedicated his translation to King Henry VIII.

When Queen Mary came to the throne in 1553 translations were again forbidden and Coverdale was imprisoned.  Upon his release he fled to the Continent where he remained the rest of his life.  However, this translation of the Psalms was adopted for inclusion in The Book of Common Prayer, where, with some modernizing of spelling, it still appears.  Many of Coverdale’s phrases reappear in the King James Version.  Coverdale was responsible for removing the books of the Apocrypha from the places where they had been located in the Septuagint and, out of deference for those unwilling to discard them completely, printing them together in a separate section between the Old and the New Testaments.

Thomas Matthew.—In 1537 there appeared a translation of the Bible by Thomas Matthew.  Matthew was probably a pseudonym for John Rogers, a friend of Tyndale, to whom Tyndale had left his unpublished work on the Old Testament.  This new material, including many notes and New Testament revisions, was combined by Rogers with the work of Coverdale for his translation of the Bible.

A license was second by Archbishop Cramner for Thomas Cromwell, prime minister of Henry VIII, to print the Thomas Matthew Bible.  Thus, after a long battle, the Bible could now be published in England without fear of reprisals from either the Crown or the church.

Richard Tavener.—The next English Bible appeared in 1539 and was the work of Richard Tavener, a wealthy and distinguished man who followed the Reformation cause.  Tavener apparently prepared this translation at the request of Thomas Cromwell.  While the Tavener Bible is of little literary significance, as it was largely a revision of Matthew’s Bible, it is important to note that this was the first Bible to be published in England; all preceding English Bibles had been printed on the Continent.

The Great Bible.—After the publication of Matthew’s Bible, controversy arose among members of the Anglican Church concerning certain marginal notes in this Bible.  These church leaders also thought that there was need for a large size Bible that could be placed in the churches so that members of the congregation could come and read from it.  As an answer to these problems Thomas Cromwell appointed a group of scholars to prepare a new translation.  This company was led, in the beginning at least, by Miles Coverdale.

This Bible appeared in 1539.  Because of its large size (similar to today’s “pulpit” Bibles) and the great number of scholars who worked on it, it gained the popular name of the Great Bible.

Geneva Bible.—Under the Roman Catholic Queen Mary no Bibles were printed in England and the use of the English Bible was banned.  Because of the widespread persecution of English Protestants under Mary, many English citizens fled to the Continent.  A group of these refugees settled at Geneva and undertook the next revision of the English Bible, and was published in 1560 and became known as the Geneva Bible.  A small book, as compared to the unwieldy Great Bible, it was the first Bible to contain both chapter and verse divisions.  This Bible was never authorized, nor did it have to be, as it quickly became very popular with the people.  It was reprinted at least one hundred and forth times, between 1560 and 1644, and competed with the King James Version longer than any other version of the English Bible.

Bishop’s Bible.—Shortly after the accession of Queen Elizabeth, an injunction was issued from the throne that a large English Bible be placed in every church.  Matthew Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury, commissioned a group of eminent clergymen to produce a new translation in order to carry out the Queen’s wish.  Each scholar was responsible for translating one or more of the books of the Bible.  The entire work was collated and edited by Archbishop Parker.

The finished version, known as the Bishops; Bible, was published in 1568.  It was authorized by Convocation and replaced the Great Bible on the church lecterns.

Douai Bible.—Up to this time the only Bible used by the Roman Catholic Church was the Vulgate, the Latin version of the Scriptures based on the work of Jerome, done over a thousand years earlier.  However, scholars insisted on amore accurate translation and the increased reading of the English Bible led Roman Catholic authorities to approve and English version.

The work on the Catholic version was done at a Roman Catholic college in Douai, Flanders.  Chief among the English translators was Gregory Martin, formerly a Fellow of St. John’s College at Oxford.  During this time the college moved to Rheims, where the New Testament was published in 1582, and then back to Douai.  Because of financial troubles the Old Testament was not published until 1609.

This translation, known as the Douai Version or the Rheims-Douai Bible, became the official Roman Catholic Bible in English.  Until comparatively recent times this was the only English translation receiving the official sanction of the Roman Church.

King James Version.—James I came to the throne of England in 1603.  Being the secular head of the Anglican Church, James was opposed to the various rivals of Anglicanism in England at that time.  In January, 1604, the King called a meeting at Hampton Court to discuss religious toleration.  During the conference, mention was made of the need for a new translation of the Bible.  The Puritans protested against what they thought were mis-translations in the Bishops’ Bible and they also preferred the Geneva Bible, thereby antagonizing the Anglicans.

Shortly after the Hampton Court conference, the King took steps to begin a new version.  The work was to be done by a large number of English scholars who were free to use any of the preceding translations which they found satisfactory.  When completed, their work was to be reviewed by the Bishops, the Privy Council, and finally by the King himself.  The company of translators were divided into six groups; two working at Oxford, two at Cambridge, and two at Westminster.  Work did not actually begin until 1607, and in 1611 the first edition of the King James Version of the Bible was printed and distributed.

This group effort resulted in a sacred and literary masterpiece, a work that soon became “the Bible” to English-speaking Protestants everywhere and against which all subsequent translations were measured.  Contrary to popular belief, the King James Version was never official “authorized” by the King, but won its place in Christendom on its own merits.

The translation is a scholarly work.  The translators were not dependent upon the Latin Vulgate along for the text; both Hebrew Old Testament and Greek New Testament manuscripts were available to them.  The aim of the translators was a concise, accurate, and polished translation that would be readily understood by the readers of that day.  This was a period when English literature was blooming and the Jacobean-Elizabethan English was being developed into a magnificent medium of expression.  For simple nobility of language, for beautiful cadence, for sublime expression of poetic ideas, the King James Version of the Bible has never been surpassed.

Modern Versions.—it was not until the end of the nineteenth century, nearly three hundred years later, that any serious thought was given to making a revision of the King James Version.  New translations were occasioned by the discovery of new manuscripts giving additional insights into the history, geography, religions, and cultures of Bible lands.

The first of the major translations following the Tyndale-King James tradition was the Revised Version, published in England in 1881.  This was followed in the United States by the publication of the American Standard Version in 1901.  Numerous translations by individual scholars followed, the most widely used being The Bible, A New Translation, by James Moffatt (1935); The Bible, An American Translation, by Goodspeed and Smith (1939); and The New Testament in Modern English, by J.B. Phillips (1958).

The modern translation most widely accepted by American churches is the Revised Standard Version authorized by the National Council of Churches of Christ in America.  The Revised Version and the American Standard Version both came too early.  They were published just on the threshold of a new period of archaelogical discovery, which included finding the Dead Sea Scrolls, shedding new light on Bible tests and providing new knowledge, particularly of the new Testament Greek.  The Revised Standard Version, the product of a group of scholars, incorporates this new knowledge.  The complete translation was published in 1952, the Apocrypha in 1957.  The Revised Standard Version with the apocryphal books and some notes was approved for use by Roman Catholics in 1966.

A later group translation to appear was The New English Bible, published by Oxford and Cambridge University Presses, the New Testament in 1961, the Old Testament in 1970.  Among the popular Roman Catholic translations are: The New Testament of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, translated from the Latin Vulgate, A Revision of the Challoner-Rheims Version, by the Episcopal Committee of the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine (1942); Translations of Holy Scripture, by Knox (1944); and the Jerusalem bible, published by Doubleday (1966). [From “HOLY BIBLE: REFERENCE EDITION”, 1976 by Thomas Nelson, Inc., Nashville, Tennessee]           

Of course there are lots more specifics, chronology and information in that and other “The Bible” reference sources. The origin of that book made up of many books, the many versions, changes and interpretations can be rather confusing and distracting from the main connection with Jesus, The Christ*. Evidenced by the fact that 2000 years later the highest acclaimed religious leaders and scholars have serious conflicts about their interpretations. The best way for any of us to have confidence about what Jesus, the Christ said and says, is to make a direct connection and communication with Him, in the Spirit world. Otherwise we’re left with trusting some one or more of the thousands of those making claims about their direct connections and communication with Him, more than we trust the direct connection and communications with Him from our Souls, Hearts and thinking.  Or, we are just left.

*[“Christ Consciousness was not something that was created 2000 years ago with the birth of Jesus; it was a fundamental part of the at-oneness, which has been the universal means by which man (humans) can be born again in the spirit and become one with the Father[1]. …Jesus said 'In my Father's House there are many Mansions, seek and ye shall find, knock and the door will be opened.' Clearly this is a statement of fact that the keys to the solution are within each of us.” http://www.ra-horakhty.co.uk/luxperpetua/unity06.htm] parenthesis mine RDD

Some of us learned—in the third grade or so of elementary school about the telephone game: when the teacher whispered something in the ear of the child in the first row, and that child tried to whisper the words from the teacher in the ear of the child sitting next to him or her, and so on until the next to the last child tried to whisper the original few words from the teacher into the ear of the last child in the last row—that the words the last child spoke out loud to the class were considerably, if not totally, different from the original words from the teacher (although all in the same language), according to the teacher.