TLDR: The story looks at how the film “1946: The Mistranslation That Shifted Culture” reveals that a mistranslation in the Bible to include “homosexual” has deeply affected LGBTQ perception within Christianity. This error, from a 1946 translation team, has fueled generations of discrimination, despite evidence challenging its legitimacy. This story also looks at the intersection of faith, belief, and the potentially transformative power of reexamined truths.
Some Christians will dispute this, but the Bible itself seems clear on the issue: God hates gays. At least that’s what Christian evangelicals will tell us. As does the Bible. I mean, it’s clearly stated many, many times throughout the “good book”.
But does god really hate gays? Or is something else afoot, like human error?
I’ve always seen the Bible as something other than the word of god. It can’t be the word of god because god didn’t write the Bible. No matter how a theologian will try explaining it, god did not pen the Bible. Man did.
This post is about a new documentary I watched. It’s called 1946: The Mistranslation That Shifted Culture. The film takes on one of the biggest bombshells Christianity dropped on humanity and the massive destruction that bomb created.
Well, not really “Christianity”. It was “some Christians” who dropped it. The problem is, what they dropped shaped the world we see today. One where a lot of Christians don’t act very Christian. One where a lotta Christians persecute LGBTQ people, believing they’re doing “god’s work”.
Let’s dive in.
The original intent was pure
The film is great. It offers extremely compelling evidence supporting its contention. Its contention is the white, presumably straight, men who translated the most popular versions of the Bible got it wrong when translating two critical terms. While translating the Bible from Greek to English, they conflated those two terms to mean “homosexual”. Then, publishers used that conflation to fill the entire Bible with the word “homosexual”, thus creating the weaponized version many evangelical lay persons and their leaders use to condemn LGBTQ people today.
The difference that conflation created sent human civilization on a totally different trajectory than if that translation error never happened.
Not only does the film offer proof, it offers proof that’s extremely compelling. Turns out 20 white men in 1946 were translating the Bible from Greek. I believe all these men were theologians. It’s clear from factual examination of these men’s own notes that their intentions were pure. After the conflation happened, however, another man saw the group’s translation. This other man happened to also be a theologian.
But something else about this guy made him the perfect person to get involved: he also was gay. And he also was a pastor.
This person wrote a letter to the group. He urged them to reconsider the conflation. What’s amazing, given today’s Christian perspective on gays, is the group’s leader was super interested in this guy’s opinion. The two exchanged extremely cordial letters about the conflation. In the end, the group leader agreed with the gay pastor: the translation was wrong.
Sacrosanct words meet politics
However, our process-driven society amplified the problem. Some years would pass before revised translations could get published. In those years, publishers published two other versions of the Bible. Those versions contained the mistranslation.
Then Billy Graham and Jerry Falwell popularized those translations. Right about this time, Ronald Reagan became president. Politics and Christian values birthed the Religious Right. And that was all she wrote.
Needing a foil to keep Christians agitated and engaged, the Politicized Religious Right focused on gays as “the enemy”. Right around this time AIDS happened. AIDS was the perfect example of homosexual depravity. The Religious Right claimed AIDS was divine retribution for homosexual sin. Momentum took over from there.
This explains why, today, the Bible contains the word “homosexual”. Accurately translating those two words would put the Bible in a completely different standing on gay people. Proof the documentary offers attesting to this is undeniable. Unless you believe the Bible is the word of god.
And yet, many Christians will not consider this proof. Even though it comes directly from the men who did the translations. Again, many Christians believe the book is the word of god. It is therefore infallible. They don’t consider these words the words of man, translations prone to error.
The power of belief and momentum
The film maker’s family shows how powerful belief in the book as the word of god can be. The film maker is lesbian. Her father is an evangelical pastor. He swears the Bible is the word of god. As such, he believes what the Bible says about homosexuals. Even when presented with proof documentarians found, he’s unwilling to budge. It’s the word of god, he says. End of story.
Not only does this pastor’s example show how powerful Christian belief is, even when it’s based on distortion, it also shows how powerful beliefs in general are. Beliefs and momentum literally create our realities. So many Christians believe like this pastor does. Other pastors believe this too. And they pass that belief on to their flock, using oratory fire and brimstone, thereby creating even more fervent believers.
And so generations have believed this false truth as truth. Generations of congregations and generations of Christian leaders too.
Even some gay Christians find themselves believing. They can’t reconcile who they know themselves to be with what their religion tells them. Indeed a central figure in the film is another theologian. Like the pastor who challenges the conflation, this central figure is gay. At one point, inner conflicts drove him to nearly kill himself. In the film he says his life is significantly diminished compared to what it could be had the Bible not been translated the way it was. He claims the Bible destroyed his ability to form intimate bonds with people.
Our beliefs matter. They literally shape reality. Some literally shape society and culture. They are not trifling matters. Decades have passed with many tragedies happening because of this one translation error. A translation error picked up and weaponized by fanatical politicians as well as religious fanatics.
There’s hope
And yet, this documentary can potentially alter our future. I’m holding space for it to reach those who can do something about this egregious sin perpetrated by so many who have come before us. So many claiming to be Christian.
I also hold space for people to watch the film. Some of it is hard to watch. Especially interactions between the film maker and her father. I know after his transition, he’s going to be shocked when he discovers how wrong he was.
And yet, I must offer both the father and the film maker kudos. Despite this enormous difference between them, they maintain a relationship. One seemingly based on love and….tolerance of one another….if not outright acceptance. That’s not something I could do.
I prefer a life where life is peaceful and joyful. People with gross distortions, such as the film maker’s father, don’t appear in my life.
I like it that way.
Whether you’re Christian or gay or otherwise, watch this film. It’s powerful.
