From today’s reading...
When he neared his end he cried, ‘Ours is the better choice, to meet death at men’s hands, yet relying on God’s promise that we shall be raised up by him; whereas for you there can be no resurrection to new life.’” 2 Maccabees 7:14
On more than one occasion, I’ve had discussions on the Bible with non-Catholics about whose Bible is correct, because Catholics have more books in our OT and a few important translation variations in our NT.
During many of those discussions, my Protestant/Mormon/JW friends proudly and “definitively” bring up the last chapter of the last book of the Bible, “This is my solemn attestation to all who hear the prophecies in this book: if anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him every plague mentioned in the book;” (Revelation 22:18).
With a smug grin and folded arms, they look at me and wait for me to convert after tossing out that doozy.
And it is a doozy, yet it’s not even a complete sentence. It’s an introductory clause.
While it has been numbered as its own verse, note that it ends in a semicolon, which means it’s incomplete on its own. It’s important, like every verse in the Bible, but unfinished in its meaning.
“Well, Wes, what in tarnation is the rest of the sentence?”
I thought you’d never ask.
Verse 19, or maybe Verse 18b, reads, “if anyone cuts anything out of the prophecies in this book, God will cut off his share of the tree of life and of the holy city, which are described in the book.”
Then I tilt my head and ask my well-meaning but misinformed friend, “What the heck does that mean?”
Having been in the military for nine years and in sales since 1997, I’m no longer dumbfounded when I see people cherrypick their information to suit their own beliefs.
You see it in sports where fans yell at referees over the correct call.
You see it in politics, where people will vote for a stroke victim because they could never allow the other party to win, no matter what.
And you see people do it in matters of faith.
People literally use Revelation 22:18 to try to convince me that the Catholic Church is in error, and they literally skip the very next verse.
COME ON, MAN!
You really can’t read an entire sentence and pray on it and ponder it for a minute or two before you go spouting off vowels and consonants from your pie hole?
“WTH, Wes? Why does this even matter? What does this have to do with that fake, non-Christian, non-inspired verse you chose today? I mean, WTH is a Maccabee? Is that like a macadamia nut or something?”
You just made my point.
You haven’t heard of Maccabees because your Bible is incomplete, which means your faith is incomplete, which means your faith is in jeopardy.
I’ve said it many times before, but the NT is hidden in the OT, and the OT is revealed in the NT.
Our Gospel reading today is from Luke 20, where He stumps the Sadducees on the seven brothers marrying the one wife, yet they all die childless.
Ever wonder where a similar story about seven brothers might be found in the OT?
That’s right: today’s OT reading from 2 Maccabees, which tells of seven brothers and their mother giving up their lives rather than break God’s Law.
Do you know God’s Law?
If you have an incomplete and/or inaccurate Bible, you might not, so get yourself a full, complete, accurate Bible, read it, and follow it, which is the only way to...
Stay the course.
Keep the faith.
Endure.
Now go sell something.
