2. Does "foreverS AND everS" Make Sense to You?
Does "foreverS AND everS" Make Sense to You? By Gary Amirault
Contents
1. Introduction 2. For ever and ever
3. Conclusion 1 - Introduction This article deals with one of the leading mistranslations of the Greek New Testament into English. Most leading selling English Bible translations contain this error. Some of the Bibles that contain this great error are: the King James Version, the New International Version, the New American Standard Bible, the New Revised Standard Version, the Living Translation, the Amplified Bible, all Catholic versions as well as many others. This article serves only as an introduction to this most important topic. There is a list of other works at the end of the article for those who want to prove out this serious error further. This one single error has caused much of Christianity to completely misrepresent the True God of the Christian Bible. If one accepts the proofs contained in this article, they will find themselves in direct conflict with much of "traditional" Christianity. Only a few of those reading this article will take the step of faith to turn aside from the traditional stand and repent, that is, change their minds and stand for the truth. But as we have seen from many Bible stories, God doesn’t need a majority to accomplish His purposes in this earth. A "remnant" will do just fine.
Question: If it was found to be true that the concept of God having created a place of "everlasting punishment" called Hell was false, would that change the world’s view of God, of Christianity, of themselves and their position with God? The answer is an obvious "Yes"! And that is precisely what the world will learn in the next few years...that God loves them and always has loved them and it has NEVER entered His mind to eternally torture anyone. This truth will change many people’s outlook on life, themselves and their neighbors. This article is a Scriptural baby step towards proving that the Christian Bible in its original form NEVER taught a place of being "tormented for ever and ever." This is a gross mistranslation!
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"In Hebrew and Greek, the words rendered ’everlasting’ have not this sense. They signify a long duration of time, a period, whence the phrase, ’during these eternities and beyond’" - Dr. Lammenois.
"All the way through it is never feasible to understand ’aionios’ (Greek word translated eternal, everlasting, and forever in many English Bible translations) as everlasting" - Dr. Nigel Turner.
"Let me say to Bible students that we must be very careful how we use the word ’eternity’. We have fallen into great error in our constant usage of that word. There is no word in the whole Book of God corresponding with our eternal..." - Dr. G. Campbell Morgan.
"’Olam (the Hebrew for aion) simply signifies for a long time. The Hebrew Scriptures do not contain any doctrine of everlasting punishment" - Rabbi Loewe.
These statements from leading Greek and Hebrew scholars may come as a shock to many Christians. One will not hear statements like the ones above in a typical Sunday school class, nor will one find them in some of the most prominent Biblical language reference works such as Strong’s Concordance, Thayer’s Lexicon, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words, etc.
How is an average Christian not versed in the original languages of the Bible to know which view is correct? Our whole concept of Christianity radically changes depending upon how one interprets these key words. This short article has been prepared to prove conclusively that those scholars and Bible translations which have rendered the words "aion" and its adjective in terms like "for ever and ever," "everlasting," or "eternal" are simply wrong. And one does NOT need to know Greek or Hebrew to prove this out for themselves.
I realize MOST Christians will follow tradition rather than "seeing if these things be so." It is the exceptional person who is willing to go against the tide of tradition and willing to stand for the truth regardless of the persecution it may bring upon themselves. If you are the type of person who wants the truth regardless of what it will cost them, then this article will be a blessing to you. We are going to look at the Greek behind the English expression "for ever and ever." We have many other articles and books dealing with other mistranslated words like "Hell," "damnation," "torment," etc.