James I (1603-1625) commissioned the KJV in 1604 and welcomed its publication in 1611. Forty-seven appointed scholars from Cambridge and Oxford undertook the task of translation. All were members of the Church of England and all except one were clergy. These religious translators worked within a tradition steeped in the teachings of Augustine, whose mind became dominated by Platonic philosophy, as he subordinated God’s revelation to his own reasoning. Translator Miles Smith wrote a lengthy preface to the KJV rarely included in modern printings entitled “The translators to the readers.” In it, the name of Paul, commissioned by the celestial Christ as a herald, apostle and teacher of the nations in knowledge and truth (I Timothy 2:7, II Timothy 1:11) appears only once while the name of Augustine, who orated and wrote his own way into prominence, appears sixteen times.
A prevalent misconception throughout Christendom is the assumption that the translations of the Scriptures, particularly the revered KJV, are inspired and therefore infallible. Because of this, many people are reluctant to accept any truth that is an obvious part of the original Hebrew or Greek Scriptures, but is not in their Bible. Of course this would not be a problem if the KJV were an accurate, consistent translation of the ancient texts. But is it such? Absolutely not. The KJV does not match the original manuscripts in many vital respects. The original Hebrew and Greek manuscripts have been added to, and taken away from throughout the text of this so-called “Authorized Version.”
Here is a startling example:
Hell: The Norse Goddess of the Underworld
Like the word eternal, Hell is also a term that appears in the KJV but is absent from the Sacred Scriptures. Hell, or Hel, is the Norse goddess of the underworld whose father, appropriately enough, is Loki the Trickster. In the OT, the KJV translates Sheol as hell 31 times, as the pit 3 times, and as the grave 31 times. There is generally no concept of judgment, reward, or torment attached to Sheol in the earliest biblical writings; it was simply the end-point for all human existence. Yet, 31 times in the minds of the KJV translators, the threat of endless torment from Athena’s enchanting Creed negated and overpowered God’s truth.
In the NT, Hell is the mistranslation not simply of one, or two, but of three different Greek words. The first is Hades, the counterpart of the Hebrew Sheol. They both suggest “the unseen” or “the imperceptible.” Hades is not an actual place, but rather a figurative condition of the human soul after death.
The second is Gehenna. This is a valley just below Jerusalem. The garbage of the city and the corpses of criminals were thrown there to be devoured by constantly burning fires and ever multiplying worms. The bodies of the rebels will lie there during the millennial eon when Christ sets up His throne in Jerusalem, a warning spectacle for all who behold them (Isaiah 66:24).
The third, Tartarus, is mentioned only once in the Scriptures (II Peter 2:4), as the place where sinning messengers (or “angels”) are kept “to be reserved unto judgment.” The KJV gives the name of the Norse goddess of the underworld indiscriminately to all three of these.
God is love, in Greek agape which means unconditional love. Is it possible to reconcile God’s unconditional love with an intention to torture most of humanity, or even one person, endlessly? No. Today, that belief is known as cognitive dissonance⏤holding two utterly contradictory beliefs in one’s mind as both true. Inflicting endless pain on a human who never asked to be born into this world, for a finite crime is by every logical definition a prime example of injustice, therefore the god of apostate Christendom is not just.
Henry VIII by Hans Holbein