Many of the early Bible translators sacrificed their lives to give the Scriptures to the people of the world.
Prior to the actual publication of the Bible, it was forbidden to make the Scriptures available to the common people. It was believed that putting the Scriptures into ordinary language would desecrate the Word of God and encourage rebellion and anarchy.
A theologian from Oxford University named John Wycliffe agonized over the people's ignorance of the essentials of religion and of the Bible. He was moved to send a group of "poor preachers" throughout the countryside explaining the Gospel in simple language to the common people, and he and his followers translated the entire Bible from Latin into Middle English.
As a reward for his efforts, he was condemned by the church and imprisoned for heresy, but his followers carried his mission forward. Their efforts were a drop in the bucket in comparison to the peoples' hunger for the information.
Soon the Bible was being translated into both Greek and Hebrew.
It was Gutenberg's printing press that provided the vehicle for producing Bibles for mass distribution. Martin Luther completed his translation of the Bible into German from the original Hebrew and Greek in 1521.
William Tyndale was a scholar of Greek who was influenced by Luther's thinking. He began his own translation of the New Testament into English from the original texts. He found no support for this project in England because King Henry VIII thought the Bible would stir up rebellion, and he fled to Europe to confer with Luther and complete his text. Although obstacles were put in his path, Tyndale completed and published his New Testament in 1525, and proceeded to smuggle large quantities of them into England.
When Tyndale was arrested and sentenced to death in Germany in 1535, Henry did nothing to rescue him. His final words as he burned at the stake were, "Lord open the king of England's eyes!" Henry then decided to produce a Bible for which he alone could take credit, and he asked a churchman named Miles Coverdale to complete and publish Tyndale's translation. Certain changes were made to remove its militant glosses, anti-church translations, and Tyndale's name. This new conservative translation angered the people of England to the point that in 1537, Henry again published Tyndale's text, disguised as "Matthew's Bible," in effect authorizing it.
Assembled by a close friend of Tyndale's named John Rogers, the new version was even more radical than Tyndale's had been. Rogers, too, was eventually burned at the stake. Henry then turned to Coverdale for help.
The result was the Great Bible of 1539, an ultraconservative text that the English people could not tolerate. During the reign of Catholic Queen ("Bloody") Mary Tudor, more than 800 Bible readers left England for refuge in John Calvin's stronghold at Geneva. Here the Geneva Bible was written from the original Greek and Hebrew in 1560.
The new sovereign, Protestant Queen Elizabeth I, refused to allow it to be sold in England, believing that it was against the monarchy.
There were more versions to come after this: the Bishops' Bible of 1568, which was similar to the unpopular Great Bible, and the Rheims New Testament of 1582. To the queen's horror, the Rheims version became the popular choice.
When James VI of Scotland became king of England in 1603, the country was very much divided between the Geneva and the Rheims versions. They were also against the one legal Bible, the Bishops' text. To remedy the explosive situation, he decided to commission an entirely new translation of the Bible, to be carried out by 50 of England's most esteemed scholars.
The project was completed in 1611. James acquired theologians of every persuasion for this undertaking, since he wanted to appeal to both Protestants and Roman Catholics.
James was an unsuccessful king in that he was vain and extravagant, but he is to be commended for his efforts in creating a Bible which was acceptable, available, and affordable to the masses. The English people were at last united through the Scriptures.
Many biblical scholars that we interviewed thought that a great deal of controversy surrounds many scrolls and books that were once considered important religious documents of Christianity. These writings were omitted because of the references to the "Fallen Angels" and the "giants." The book of Enoch which describes these evil "Sons of God and the fallen Angels" is still included in the Coptic Christian bibles in Ethiopia.
Could these "giants" in the old testament be the same kings that had enlarged giant skulls just like the ones we found in Peru and Mexico?
