You Can’t Change God’s Word to Make It Fit Your Life

  When it comes to living according to God’s Word in our time now, there are many Christians who want to change or twist God’s Word to make it fit their life or culture. They say that some of the Biblical principles are outdated. For them it’s OK to have pre-marital sex, abortion is OK, even homosexuality and transgenderism seem to be OK for them. They say the Biblical principles need to be adapted to our modern society and even Jesus would accept this. Some people say the Bible was mistranslated and contains errors. Other people say that some topics are not mentioned in the Bible and if they are not mentioned, then we should deal with them on our own. Is that really true? Can God’s Word be outdated? Can it be changed to fit our life? Was the Bible mistranslated and does it contain errors? If certain topics are not mentioned in the Bible, can we just deal with them on our own and make them fit our life or society? Let’s study the Bible to find the truth, especially these three claims: 1. The Bible is outdated. 2. The Bible is mistranslated. 3. The Bible doesn’t mention certain topics.

Claim #1: The Bible is outdated.

The first question to be answered is “Can God’s Word be outdated?” Read these Bible verses. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Hebrews 13:8 “For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. Malachi 3:6 The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. Isaiah 40:8 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. James 1:17 God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it? Numbers 23:19 Forever, O Lord, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens. Psalm 119:89 But you are the same, and your years have no end. Psalm 102:27 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. Matthew 24:35 From reading all these Bible verses it is clear that God’s Word doesn’t change and it is never outdated. It’s Satan who wants us to think that God’s Word can be changed. In the Garden Eden he already did that by asking the woman “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” (Genesis 3:1) We already know what happened to Adam and Eve when they disobeyed God’s Word.

Claim #2: The Bible is mistranslated.

Then there are people who think that the Bible might have been mistranslated when it was translated from the Hebrew and Greek into other languages. Especially when it comes to the word “homosexuality”, they say it has been mistranslated and actually refers to pedophilia (sexual attraction to children) or has another meaning. The Bible verse they are often referring to about homosexuality actually meaning pedophilia is Leviticus 18:22. You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination. Supporters of homosexuality say that the word “male” or “man” should actually be translated to “boy”. The word for male in the Hebrew is zakar and its meaning is “male of humans and animals” with no focus on the age according to Strong’s Definitions. While zakar can also mean “man child” in some cases, there is nothing in the context that would demand limiting the word to refer to a youth. The translation of Leviticus 18:22 clearly means that a man should have no sexual relations with another man regardless of their age. It is an abomination. There is another Bible verse that some people claim to be mistranslated. If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them. Leviticus 20:13 They say the word “man” should actually be translated to “boy”. Let’s look at the Hebrew meaning of the word. The Hebrew translation of the word “man” is ish according to Strong’s Definitions and ish means “a man as an individual or a male person”. The translation for “male” is zakar which emphasizes the specific idea of gender (male, as opposed to female). So again, this Bible verse doesn’t refer to sexual relations between a man and a boy but to sexual relations between two male adults. Another passage that people think to be mistranlated is the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. They say the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was mainly idolatry and inhospitability. It has nothing to do with homosexuality. This is not true. While the sin committed in Sodom and Gomorrah wasn’t exclusively homosexuality, it played a primary role in God’s decision to destroy both cities. When the two angels sent by God and disguised as men entered Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot met them and urged them to stay at his house. The angels agreed. Here is what the Bible tells us then.

God Rescues Lot

19 The two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed himself with his face to the earth 2 and said, “My lords, please turn aside to your servant’s house and spend the night and wash your feet. Then you may rise up early and go on your way.” They said, “No; we will spend the night in the town square.” 3 But he pressed them strongly; so they turned aside to him and entered his house. And he made them a feast and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. 4 But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house. 5 And they called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know them.” 6 Lot went out to the men at the entrance, shut the door after him, 7 and said, “I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly. 8 Behold, I have two daughters who have not known any man. Let me bring them out to you, and do to them as you please. Only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof.” 9 But they said, “Stand back!” And they said, “This fellow came to sojourn, and he has become the judge! Now we will deal worse with you than with them.” Then they pressed hard against the man Lot, and drew near to break the door down. 10 But the men reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them and shut the door. 11 And they struck with blindness the men who were at the entrance of the house, both small and great, so that they wore themselves out groping for the door. 12 Then the men said to Lot, “Have you anyone else here? Sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone you have in the city, bring them out of the place. 13 For we are about to destroy this place, because the outcry against its people has become great before the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it.” 14 So Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, “Up! Get out of this place, for the Lord is about to destroy the city.” But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting. 15 As morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city.” 16 But he lingered. So the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city. 17 And as they brought them out, one said, “Escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the hills, lest you be swept away.” 18 And Lot said to them, “Oh, no, my lords. 19 Behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life. But I cannot escape to the hills, lest the disaster overtake me and I die. 20 Behold, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Let me escape there—is it not a little one?—and my life will be saved!” 21 He said to him, “Behold, I grant you this favor also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken. 22 Escape there quickly, for I can do nothing till you arrive there.” Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.

God Destroys Sodom

23 The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar. 24 Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven. 25 And he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. 26 But Lot’s wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. 27 And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord. 28 And he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the valley, and he looked and, behold, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace. 29 So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the valley, God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had lived. Genesis 19:1-29   The primary sin practiced in Sodom and Gomorrah was homosexuality as we can read in the Bible passage above. When the people from Sodom and Gomorrah wanted to have sex with the angels, the angels struck them blind. Why would they do that? It was because of sexual immorality, including homosexuality. To this day, the area where Sodom and Gomorrah were located remains a desolate wasteland. Sodom and Gomorrah serve as a powerful example of how God feels about sin in general, and homosexuality specifically. There is a Bible verse in the New Testament which some people also claim to be mistranslated. Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 They claim that the phrase “men who practice homosexuality” which is arsenokoitai in the Greek translation doesn’t refer to all homosexual relationship but only to those involving abuse, prostitution, coercion, or unfaithfulness. They say that loving, faithful same-sex relationships are not described in this Bible passage. Arsenokoitai is a compound word: arseno is the word for “a male,” and koitai is the word for “mat” or “bed.” The word koitai has a sexual connotation in this context. The English word coitus derives from the word koitai and means sexual intercourse. For this reason, the translation of arsenokoitai is “men who are in bed with other men practising sexual intercourse”. That is homosexuality and there is no talk of some homosexual relationships being accepted if they are loving and faithful. There is no room for personal interpretation here. The whole Bible is clear that homosexuality along with other sexual sins like adultery is a sin and wrong as the following Bible verses confirm. Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. 26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. 28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them. Romans 1:24–3 the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine, 1 Timothy 1:1 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, Mark 7:21 God’s design for sexuality was and is to be exclusively between a married man and woman. He created us in His image as man and woman. And the primary reason for sexuality is procreation, not lust. Only a man and a woman can create new life together. Homosexual people can’t create new life. Therefore their sexuality is mainly based on lust. That’s not according to God’s will. Furthermore, marriage and love between a man and woman reflect God’s love for His people Israel and Christ’s love for His Bride. Homosexual relationship doesn’t reflect this special and intimate relationship between God and man. So everything outside of marriage, whether adultery, pornography, homosexuality, pedophilia, etc., is a sin. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:27 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. Genesis 2:24 Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous. Hebrews 13:4 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, Ephesians 5:25 But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. 1 Corinthians 7:2 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Ephesians 5:22-24 He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”  Matthew 19:4-6 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.”  Genesis 4:1 The good news, however, is that we are not under the Mosaic Law anymore because Jesus Christ died on the cross and paid the price for our sins. We are completely forgiven. If we repent of our sins and surrender our life to Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, God promises us full redemption. We become righteous in His eyes and He delivers us from our transgressions and sins. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. 1 Corinthians 6:11 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, Ephesians 1:7 Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, Acts 3:19 For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.” Hebrews 8:12 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 2 Corinthians 5:17   The Bible is not mistranslated. There might have been some words that are translated differently from the original Hebrew or Greek language but these slight alterations don’t change God’s Word completely. Homosexuality is not falsely translated, only people who can’t accept that homosexuality is a sin claim that it is mistranslated.

Claim #3: The Bible doesn’t mention certain topics.

It is evident that not all topics are covered in the Bible and so certain topics like abortion, pornography, transgenderism, etc. are not mentioned. It’s because theses issues or sins weren’t present yet or rarely appeared at the time of the Bible. However, that doesn’t mean you can do what you want because there is no reference in the Bible. Let’s take transgenderism, for example, because it is a current issue. We only find few Bible verses that refer to gender issues. “A woman shall not wear a man’s garment, nor shall a man put on a woman’s cloak, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord your God. Deuteronomy 22:5 “No one whose testicles are crushed or whose male organ is cut off shall enter the assembly of the Lord. Deuteronomy 23:1 For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let the one who is able to receive this receive it.” Matthew 19:12 All of these Bible verses don’t mention transgenderism – the broad spectrum of people who transiently or persistently identify with a gender different from their natal sex. Back then, this didn’t seem to be a big issue like it is nowadays. The big question is – Is transgenderism a sin? Was is it made by God? When we look at Scripture from the beginning, we can learn that God only created two biological sexes – male and female. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:27 Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created. Genesis 5:2 So before the fall in Garden Eden, there were only man and woman and they were created perfectly in God’s own image. Transgenderism was not created by God. It comes after the fall in Garden Eden when the first humans disobeyed God and received a sinful nature. Everything that was not part of God’s original design and creation is all a consequence of human’s sinful nature. Therefore, transgenderism is a sin. A sin is an immoral act considered to be a transgression against divine law. God created you “fearfully and wonderfully” (Psalm 139:14) but you think that God made a mistake and put you into the wrong body. God doesn’t make any mistakes because God is perfect. You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Matthew 5:48 What you experience as a transgender person is a disorder which occurrs as part of the sinful nature and world we humans live in. This is what the human body is according to God’s Word: We reflect the image of our creator. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:27 Our bodies are not our own. Our bodies are a gift from God. Jesus even paid a high price so we can live. Manipulating it by changing healthy sexual organs is interference with God having created you as a masterpiece. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 Changing your sex is a sin against your own body. You can’t change your sex by changing your appearance, your sexual organs or through hormones because your biological sex is coded within your DNA. If God created you as a man, you are designed to be a man. If God created you as a woman, you are designed to be a woman. Everything else is a sin against your own body. Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. 1 Corinthians 6:18 Our body was created to be a temple of the Holy Spirit. Our body belongs to God and He has purposes for how we should use it. These purposes are all for our good and His glory. He is our God and we can’t be own gods and do with ourselves as we wish. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 Let’s take another topic that isn’t directly mentioned in the Bible – abortion. The Bible doesn’t mention the word “abortion” but a planned abortion (compared to an unplanned abortion which is a miscarriage) is the willful termination of a pregnancy which results in the death of the fetus. And we know that willfully causing the death of a human being (and also killing animals for unnecessary reasons) is a sin according to the 6th commandment of the Ten Commandments. A lot of people say that a fetus is not a human, not life yet, only a cluster of cells. God has another view of this. Let’s study Scripture to see when life begins according to God. Several Scriptures indicate that life begins in the womb according to God. For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. 14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. 15 My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. 16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. Psalm 139:13-16 Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” Jeremiah 1:4-5 Listen to me, O coastlands, and give attention, you peoples from afar. The Lord called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name. Isaiah 49:1 In all three Bible verses we can learn that God knows us before He forms us in the womb. From God’s perspective, there is no barrier between prenatal and postnatal life. Life begins from the moment of conception according to God. God can already form a personal relationsip with His people in the womb as written in these Bible verses. This is further evidence that unborn children are already humans. In Exodus 21:22-25 we can read that the same penalty – death – is given to someone who causes the death of a baby in the womb as for someone who commits murders. This makes ist definitely clear that in God’s eyes a baby in the womb is just as much of a human being as a full-grown adult. Some people ask if it’s OK to abort a child in cases of rape/incest or when the life of the mother is at risk. While rape and incest are horrible sinful acts, the murder of the baby is not the answer. The baby is completely innocent and should not be punished for the evil act of its father. The baby could be given in adoption to a loving family who is unable to have children on their own. Answering the question if it’s OK to abort a child when the life of the mother is at risk, is not easy and should be carefully and indivdually examined. The cases where mothers need an abortion to safe their lives are very rare especially in our times where medical care and technology have progressed immensely. If all options have been exhausted and only an abortion could save a woman’s life, a decision like this can only be decided between a woman, her doctor, oftentimes the father of the child, and God. In these tough life situations, praying to God for wisdom is strongly advised. (James 1:5) The reality is that over 98 percent of abortions are done because the woman simply doesn’t want to have the baby as it doesn’t fit into her life situation. In this case, abortion is murder. In all other cases where abortion is considered an option because of rape, incest, or risk of the woman’s life, abortion should never be the first option. The life of a human being is so precious that it’s worth all the effort to let the child be born.

Conclusion:

• God’s Word is never outdated. It never changes.

• The Bible is not mistranslated. There might have been some words that are translated differently from the original Hebrew or Greek language but these slight alterations don’t change God’s Word overall. People don’t always agree with what is written in the Bible and so they do everything to change it to make it fit their life or worldview.

• Not all topics are mentioned in the Bible but we should always examine everything if it is in alignment with God’s commandments and will even if it’s not specifically mentioned in the Bible. Planned abortion, for example, is not specifically mentioned in the Bible but since it is an act of willfully ending human life in the womb, it is a sin according to the 6th commandment of the Ten Commandments.

• Many people nowadays want their sinful acts not to be considered as sins or transgressions even if they evidently commit sins. We are all sinners and fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23) However, God loves us and gave us His Son Jesus Christ who died on the cross for us so that God can forgive us our sins. You don’t need to live with sins. Overcome your sins by surrendering your life to Jesus and accept Him as your Lord and Savior. Then there is no need of changing God’s Word to make it fit your life anymore because now God transforms your life to make it fit His Word.

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