https://anchor.fm/anti-modern/episodes/Episode-9–Divorce-and-Why-2022-Isnt-Your-Year-e1d6tqj

The late children’s story author Roald Dahl’s novels are set to undergo some harsh adjustments. The organizations that own the rights to the book have taken scissors to the original manuscripts in order to make it palatable for what they think aligns with the taste of the modern-day reader.

Anyone who has been paying attention to the vehicle of Western Society speeding towards the cliff edge would be unsurprised by this. Perhaps the only shock that would be present would be in the extent to which the changes are being made and the choices over what should be changed. After all, the one thing that can always be trusted to exceed expectations is foolishness.

In light of this, it seems to me a good opportunity to review one of the world’s oldest sets of manuscripts that seems to have survived the adjustments of an overzealous editor with pruning shears and learn a lesson or two from there. I speak of course of the Bible.

Gotcha! The Bible has been edited

In order to save us time and column inches it is best to address those who would say the Bible has already been edited. Without getting too far into the weeds of historical theological cases we can look at one clearcut matter that sits on the surface. 

The Bible is filled with narratives and prophecies given by individuals who could hardly be called heroes in their time. Prophets like Elijah were on the fringes of the ruling class and could only gain an audience during a Wrestlemania-esque showdown. Even after winning and being proven to be legitimate he was not restored to a place of prominence but spent years on the run because of the bounty placed on his head.

Jeremiah was no different. He prophesied negatively when the people wanted a positive message and was severely punished for it. When the time finally came for him to give a positive prophecy the people still would not believe him and punished him nonetheless. He is rightly called the weeping prophet.

The claim by those who argue for mass edits would be that these individuals, who were considered pariahs to their society, somehow had their message properly preserved by the mainstream establishment. For those who still think the mainstream establishment are keen on propagating contrary views, see the recent reaction to alternative theories regarding a disease of unnamed origin. For the remaining few who think religious leaders would be immune to such moves think of how many churches have publicly repented of forcing mask mandates (proven to not work), vaccination mandates (“safe and effective”) and the closing of churches against the pleas of the few with contrary opinions.

The fact that these records survived without editing to make the rulers look good is an amazing feat!

What about the different manuscripts?

We still need to deal with the different manuscripts that are in existence, a fact that I do not deny. The matter here is whether the variations of manuscripts communicate a variety of contrasting narratives or subtle changes to the core message. A simple test that can be done here would be to see if the different manuscripts teach contrasting things about the nature of God, the person and work of Jesus Christ, what it means to live a life that loves God, what it means to love our neighbour, all the way through to things like one condoning adultery while the other does not. You will find that such edits have not been done.

Compare this to the edits that are being conducted with modern-day books where ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ gets rid of the race factor that was so crucial to the story or the character of Ian Flemming’s James Bond is drastically altered making his decisions seem uncharacteristic. What we end up with is a cognitive dissonance-inducing muddled mess that is an insult to the original author.

Make no mistake, the edits are starting with children’s books but they are coming for the Bible. That is the last stop on the road to totalitarianism. We have already been disensitized to think language does not matter, when men are being called women, child sacrifice is called healthcare and homosexuals are being called married. With the walls weakened they have proceeded to editing manuscripts, starting with the children’s books. What makes you think they will stop there?

The question I leave with you is this. If you refuse to stand up and speak over the little things, what makes you think you will have the guts to stand when they come for the big ones?