How Familiar Bible Translations Hide Your True Identity From You What is Your True Self Identity? Let's start with what it isn't. It isn't a faith-based Bible study. It isn't a faith-denying attack on the Bible. It isn't about trying to prove that any part of the Bible is true or false. It isn't about trying to persuade you that the Bible is eternal truth or made-up stories. It isn't a book about "what the Bible says" about your true self identity. What is it? Your True Self Identity is about "what Bible translations say that the Bible says about your true self identity." Whether you're a believer or a non-believer, whether you're a Bible reader or have never read a word in the Bible, claims about "what the Bible says" about your identity are pervasive in our Western culture. Does the Bible Really Say That?Series books focus on the blind spot in claims about "what the Bible says." Unless you are able to read the Bible in its original languages, you are reading translations of ancient documents. The result is that original meanings get lost in translation. What "the Bible says" in its original languages is not always what translations claim that "the Bible says" on any particular topic. The most important fact you can know about the Bible is that it was not written in English or French or Spanish or any other contemporary language spoken in any part of the world today. Every Bible you read is a translation of manuscripts originally written in the ancient languages of Greek and Hebrew with a very few words written in Aramaic. So, no one alive today speaks any of these ancient languages. Even Modern Hebrew currently spoken in Israel isn't the same as the Hebrew in the Bible. This means that every Bible is a translation of ancient languages into contemporary languages by people far removed from what the words meant in their original languages. If you have ever learned to speak another language other than your native language, you know how difficult it can be to convey exactly what you mean into that language. If you have this difficulty in contemporary languages, imagine how difficult it is to convey meanings from ancient languages into contemporary languages. Why Do Bible Translations Matter to Your Identity? Translators choose the words you read on the pages of your Bible. These translation choices define who you think you are. Even if you're not a Bible reader, these translations can still affect who you think you are. Since Bible translators control the flow of data between ancient Bible manuscripts and the words you read on the pages of your translated Bibles, Bible translators have the capacity to distort original meanings of these Bible verses. These distortions can affect your identity. Even with the best intentions, translators are affected by unconscious assumptions, unquestioned beliefs, cultural blind spots, theological intentions, and particular purposes. Your True Self Identity focuses is on specific misleading translation choices in Chapter 18 of the Gospel of Matthew. Whether or not these misleading translation choices are intentional or unintentional, Bible translation choices can hide your true self identity from you. If you're ready to delve in and learn how you're being misled by these translations, then get your own copy of Your True Self Identity: How Familiar Translations of Bible Verses in the Gospel of Matthew Hide Your True Identity from You and get started right now.