The Bible and Mind Control

When they want you to think it says something it doesn't.

I sometimes jokingly sound conspiratorial, dropping a line like "That's what THEY want you to think!" or "But THEY'LL never tell you that!" when "THEY" are a secret powerful cabal that wants to control what we think. We can't prove "THEY" exist, but nobody can really prove they don't. 

But I found a form of subtle indoctrination in a place I hadn't thought of before.

I've begun a project that involves reading the Bible through fresh eyes. And I noticed something at BibleGateway.com. The site is doing nothing wrong, but it exposes a dubious practice.

I'm not qualified to judge the quality of the various translations, but there is something I will judge: the editorial decision on the part of the translators or the original publishers to add headings to Biblical passages.

As an example, I'll use Genesis Chapter 3, the famous account of the man and woman (later revealed to have the names Adam and Eve) in the Garden of Eden eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

In four versions: New International Version, English Standard Version, Modern English Version, and Lexham English Bible, the chapter is led off with a heading: "The Fall." 

In none of those translations, however, does the word "fall," "fallen," or "fell" appear in the text.

In the New Living Translation, we see the heading "The Man and Woman Sin" but the word "sin" does not appear in the text.

The New King James Version has "The Temptation and Fall of Man" but neither "temptation" nor "fall" appear, and the word "man" appears only in the context of "the man,” that is, Adam. No reference to "man" in the collective sense like "mankind" or "humanity," which the heading clearly implies.

The New Revised Standard Version has the heading "The First Sin and Its Punishment." As you may guess by now, the words "first," "sin," and "punishment" (or a variant like punish) don't appear in the text.

The New American Standard Bible leads with "The Fall of Mankind." Neither "Fall" nor any description of man or human in the collective sense is found in the text. 

The New Life Version heading says "Man Does Not Obey God." Neither "obey" or "disobey" appears in the chapter.

The New Century Version leads Genesis 3 with "The Beginning of Sin," but you don't see the words "beginning" or "sin" in the text.

The New Catholic Bible leads with "The origin of evil." "Origin" is not found in the text.

Other versions and their headings:

• Contemporary English Version: "The First Sin."  Later in the chapter: "The Trouble With Sin."

• Names of God Bible and God's Word Translation: "The First Sin and the First Promise."

• Christian Standard Bible and Holman Christian Standard Bible: "The Temptation and the Fall"

• Common English Bible: "Knowledge, not eternal life"

• Evangelical Heritage Version: "The Fall into Sin"

• Easy to Read Version and International Children's: "The Beginning of Sin"

• International Standard Version: "The Temptation and Fall"

• Good News Translation: "Human Disobedience" 

In no instance do the key words in the heading appear in their translations of Genesis Chapter 3.

The Amplified Bible makes no bones about telling you exactly what to think by adding parenthetical remarks to the original text. Its heading for Chapter 3 is The Fall of Man, and a derivation of "fall" is found here: 

22 And the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us (Father, Son, Holy Spirit), knowing [how to distinguish between] good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take from the tree of life as well, and eat [its fruit], and live [in this fallen, sinful condition] forever."

An honorable exception is the New American Standard Bible, Revised Edition. Its Genesis Chapter 3 heading is "Expulsion from Eden." "Expelled" and Eden do appear in the text. In fact, that's what literally happens in the text.

All the other versions mentioned above impose theological opinion on us through the headings, as if the heading conveys what the chapter or section really means. It is what "they" want you to think.

But, "The Origin of Clothing" is just as valid a heading. Or, "The Man and Woman Become Mortal."

Or, "The LORD God Curses the Ground."

It seems, however, that the various translators or publishers are so eager to connect this story to Paul's understanding of the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, that important lessons in the chapter are glossed over.

What I gather from the chapter is that the desire to know good from evil is the only evil. As Shakespeare wrote in Hamlet, "There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so." In their pursuit of wisdom, Adam and Eve found their nakedness to be a problem, a source of shame (i.e., evil), when it wasn't before.

Perhaps this chapter's lesson for us is that we don't need to bite from that fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. We don't have to look for problems to solve. We don't need to look for wrongs to be righted. We don't have to go out looking for monsters to destroy. We're better off letting them be, or else we only create more work for ourselves, leading to our deaths. 

That's the meaning I get from it. Maybe you'll find some other meaning.

So I would suggest when you read the Bible, set aside anything anyone else has said or written about it, and don't let passage headings distract you. Read with an open mind.

To close: there are a few versions that don't have headings at all, that don't try to tell you what to think before you read. Among them are the King James Version, the American Standard Bible, the Living Bible, and Young's Literal Translation.

James Leroy Wilson writes from Nebraska. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter. If you enjoy his articles, subscribe and exchange value for value. You may contact James for your writing, editing, and research needs: jamesleroywilson-at-gmail.com. Permission to reprint is granted with attribution.

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