Septuagint-Onlyism
(Remember, this is listed under Controversy. Maybe Sarcasm should be a new category.)
Many people have their favorite Bible translation. In English there is a choice of dozens of translations, paraphrases, or specialty Bibles. In some other languages, there is a more limited variety available. In some more remote regions there are tribal languages or dialects that have no Scriptures translated into their heart language, yet.
The subject of human language is a complex thing. In the early part of the human civilization, the entire world had the same language. In God's wisdom, He separated people groups by confusing their languages at the Tower of Babel (Gen 11). This separation of languages and borders of nations was God's idea. He had to reduce the rate of the spread of globalism which would have made world domination by evil forces easy. Even so, world domination is coming eventually.
I went to a Spanish language school for a year when I was 27 years old. I had a terrible time trying to learn a new language. I was too old, it seemed. Some of my classmates were at or near retirement age. They were dear people that loved the Lord but it was impossible for them to learn a new language. They left the school angry and frustrated. Two young women who were my class mates would become physically sick upon nearing time for a test in Spanish. Finally, the Lord had mercy and granted me an enabling in Spanish. I think I was pretty good. My time at the school started me on a journey of beginning to realize what a complex thing it is to try to transfer thoughts into various human languages.
A few years ago I found myself in an unusual state of mind. I was not feeling well and I might have also been affected by some post-op medicine. In that twilight state in between sleep and waking I was gripped by a panic/anxiety attack. I am not normally subject to these attacks, so this was very unusual. The reason for this sudden panic was made clearer to me. I was deeply distressed because I did not know Ancient Assyrian. That sounds totally nonsensical, I know. I could not read the dead language of Ancient Assyria. Information on some tablets in this language was therefore hidden to me and it produced all kinds of fear and intimidation.
As with my friends that had great problems learning the Spanish language, I think many are insulted, intimidated, and fearful when faced by the barrier of different human languages. This shame can be greatly magnified when others seem to be able to deal with the concept of different languages and we cannot. I think a type of panic attack assaults us and we believe that information is being hidden from us.
One defense mechanism for church-people is devoting ourselves to one particular Bible translation, or in other words, worshiping an -onlyism. This happens when we give up on trying to grasp the idea of multiple languages. We panic to some extent and become irrational. Overwhelmed, we become inconsistent and grab any kind of argument to bolster our new position.
I think I will start a Septuagint-Only (LXX) movement. This was a Jewish work translating the Hebrew into Greek. Today, of course, it has been translated into several forms in English. Realizing that many thoughts and ideas cannot be transferred into some other languages because of the limitations of different cultures and languages, I will now decide that the Septuagint is not only the best English Old Testament, but the only true English work that exists on the planet! I now stand, maybe alone, on the highest moral and sacred ground that there is.
Most people around me claim that they are able to see me becoming more and more detached from reality. In my inability to understand Greek, Aramaic, Hebrew, and maybe even English from a few centuries ago (or today), my illogical arguments would overtake my soundness of mind. That does not matter to me because I find new statistics that “prove” the superiority of the Septuagint. I repeat the statements of others that are joining this new movement. We agree with each other and congratulate each other. The more we repeat each other the more true our claims sound.
I realize there are some self proclaimed scholars and academics that suggest the Septuagint may not be the most careful work that exists, but I just ignore them. Problem solved!
There is an old joke which says, If The King James Bible was good enough for the Apostle Paul, it's good enough for me. Actually Jesus and the apostles did use the Septuagint. It looks like I am already well on my way to authenticating my new -onlyism movement.
Seriously
It is good to have a favorite translation for reading or for study. We could do a lot worse than adopting the attitude of the committee of one of the favorite English translations. They had humility, the best information of their day, and no delusions about their new work being perfect or even the best available. Like them, we need to have the Spirit of the Lord Jesus.
Dec. 4, 2024