Stephen M. Miller
"Where worms don’t die" by Stephen M. Miller
TEMPTED? Give in to temptation, Jesus said, and we can end up where worms don't die. So he told people to cut off body parts if they thought it would help them avoid temptation. Most Christians take that seriously, but not surgically. Photo by Pixabay CC0.
I’D LIKE YOU TO DO something for me if you can spare the time. Tell me what you think about something I’m going to put in the Casual English Bible paraphrase I’m writing. It’s for the Gospel of Mark, which I hope to release this week.What you’re about to read is from a familiar passage in Mark. But I’m presenting it with what I hope are more contemporary words. Pardon the footnotes, but sometimes we need a little help with Jesus.
Tell me if you think I’ve gone too far. This is Jesus talking, though paraphrased with a poetic cadence:
“If your hand is what makes you sin, cut that thing off.1
It’s better to go one-handed into heaven2 than two-fisted into hell.
There, the fire never stops.
If your foot is what makes you sin, cut it off.
It’s better to go crippled into heaven than dancing into hell,
which is where you’ll get tossed with both feet.
There, worms don’t die and the fire won’t stop.
If your eye makes you sin, pull it out and throw it away.
It’s better to go into God’s Kingdom with one eye
than to see what hell is like with both eyes.
There, worms don’t die and the fire won’t stop.” (Mark 9:43-48 Casual English Bible)
What do you think? How does it compare with the Bible translation you usually read?Lyrics for a praise band?
I doubt these lyrics would ever make it into the Sunday set of a praise band.
But I like the beat and I can almost hear a guitar playing and someone singing the chorus, slightly off key:
There, worms don’t die and the fire won’t stop.
There, worms don’t die and the fire won’t stop.
There, worms don’t die and the fire won’t stop.
There, worms don’t die and the fire won’t stop…
And on and on until you get to wondering if you’re the worm and the song won’t stop.Notes:
1 9:43. Heads up. Not heads off. Jesus would not encourage us to cut our heads off if our heads make us sin. Ditto for hands, feet, and eyes. Bible scholars agree Jesus is using hyperbole in 9:43-48. It’s an exaggerated way of talking about self-discipline, and about the strategies we need to use to distance ourselves from temptation. Some people in ancient times as well as modern have taken these words of Jesus literally. They have cut off important body parts. That’s missing the point Jesus is trying to make, scholars say. Temptation doesn’t start with those body parts. It comes from deep within, and has to be dealt with there, long before the body parts get involved.
2 9:43. More literally “life,” referring to eternal life.
3 9:44. The Greek word for “worm,” skōlēx, can mean an earthworm, maggot, or grub. In many ancient stories, worms like these show up to feed on buried corpses.
4 9:44. This phrase, repeated in 9:44, 46, 48, is deleted from many Bible translations because it doesn’t show up in some of the oldest copies of the Gospel of Mark.
Recent Articles:
- Pray for bad politicians, really?
- Mark’s reputation: He won’t finish what he starts
- One million see the crucifixion video
- Spread the word: stop sinning
***
No comments:
Post a Comment