Is the King James Bible the true Word
of God?
Third, the King James Bible
has undergone three revisions since its inception in 1611, incorporating more than 100,000 changes. Which King James Bible
is inspired, therefore?
Luke 16:23
The word "damned", "damnation" is NOT in the NKJV!
They make it "much clearer" by replacing it with "condemn" (ditto NIV, RSV, NRSV, NASV). "Condemned" is NO WHERE NEAR AS SERIOUS as "damned"!
Damned is eternal! One can be "condemned" and not "damned".
Romans 14:22 says, ". . . Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth." Webster defines "condemned": to declare to be wrong, but the much
more serious and eternal "damn": "to condemn to hell".
Hell
Damn
devils
Is damn a bad word
well, it depends on who is asking. There are many ways of thinking about cuss words.
Damn is
not considered a bad word in today’s society. It is just like saying darn it if you were to say damn it. It might me
bad for young children to say it, but it is not bad for an older teen or young adult.
Damn really means to be sent to rot in hell and old preachers used it pretty often in their sermons. But now people
normally look at it as a cuss word and it's really only used as a cuss word anymore.
Damn isn't as offending as it used to be some time ago, it depends on who you say it to, I don't think it's
a cuss word because it just means something like "darn it". Some people think it's a cuss word, some don't,
but generally religious people think it's a cuss word, non-religious people don't think it's a cuss word. Damn
can be a cuss word, it just depends on how you use it and who you say it to. Well, if you were to say for instance:
"Shut the damn door!" a lot of people consider using damn like that as a cuss word or profanity, but no, it
isn't a cuss word in general, but is can be used as a cuss word in some ways.
Etymology of the Word "Damn"
By Gary Amirault
The words "damn" and "Hell" are among favorite words spoken by theologians of the "hell-fire"
type, that is, as long as they are used in church. These same words used in the local bar or on the athletic field would constitute
"cussing" which would not be considered proper. If you are a little uncomfortable even reading about the word "damn"
just remember the "Authorized" King James Bible uses it quite frequently. Let us look into the etymology of this
word "damn." We may find some interesting surprises.
The Dictionary of Word Origins written by John Ayto and published
in 1990 states the following about the word "damn":
Damn: Damn comes via Old French "damner" from Latin "damnare," a derivative of
the noun "damnum." This originally meant 'loss, harm' (it is the source of the English 'damage'),
but the verb damnare soon spread its application to 'pronounce judgment upon,' in both the legal and the theological
sense. These meanings (reflected also in the derived 'condemn') followed the verb through Old French into English,
which dropped the strict legal sense around the 16th century but has persisted with the theological one and its more profane
offshoots. Condemn, damage, indemnity.
As we can see, originally the word was neither a "cuss" word nor did it have
theological significance. It was a perfectly good word with which to translate the Biblical Greek words "apollumi,"
"krino," and "apolleia." But when theologians twisted this word out of its original meaning, it became
a word which would smear the character of our Father. The world followed the church and used it as a "cuss" word,
but it should be noted, that it was the church that turned it into its present meaning, not unbelievers.
The present meaning of the word does great injustice in rendering the Greek words in the Bible that have been translated
"damn," "damnable," "damnation," etc. Many scholars have raised their voices protesting the
use of this word in the Bible and it seems the trend presently is to remove it from scriptures. Below is given an example
of the view of some very orthodox scholars on this subject The author is F.W.Farrar, a canon of the Church of England. In
his book Mercy and Judgment he writes:
The words "damn" and its derivative do not once occur
in the Old Testament. In the New Testament they are the exceptional and arbitrary translation of two Greek verbs or their
derivatives; which occur 308 times. These words are "apollumi" and "krino." "Apolleia" (destruction
or waste) is once rendered "damnation" and once "damnable." (2 Peter 2:3, and 2 Peter 2:1); "krino,"
(judge) occurs 114 times, and is only once rendered "damned." (1 Thess. 2:12) "Krima, (judgment or sentence)
occurs 24 times, and is 7 times rendered "damnation." "KataKrino," (I condemn) occurs 24 times, and is
twice only rendered "be damned."
Now turn to a modern dictionary, and you will see "damnation"
defined as "exclusion from divine mercy; condemnation to eternal punishment." In common usage the word has no other
sense.
But to say that such is the necessary meaning of the words which are rendered by "damn"
and "damnation," is to say what is absurdly and even wickedly false. It is to say that a widow who marries again
must be damned to endless torments (1 Tim. 5:12, "having damnation," krima), although St. Paul expressly recommends
young widows to do so two verses later on. It is to say that everyone who ever eats the Lord's Supper unworthily, eats
and drinks "eternal punishment" to himself, though St. Paul adds, almost in the next verse, that the judgment (krima)
is disciplinary and educational, to save us from condemnation. (1 Cor. 11:29-34) It is to say that "the Day of Judgment"
ought to be called "Day of Damnation." (John 5:29) It is curious that our translators have chosen this most unfortunate
variation of "damn" and its cognates only fifteen times out of upwards of two hundred times that krino and its cognates
occur; and that they have it for "krisis" and "krima," not for the stronger compounds "katakrima,"
etc. The translators, however, may not be to blame. It is probable that "damn" was once a milder word than condemn,
and had a far milder meaning than that which modern eschatology has furnished to modern blasphemy. We find from an Act passed
when a John Russell was Chancellor (in the reign of Richard III or Henry VII), that the sanction of an Act against extorted
benevolences is called "a damnation"--that is, "the infliction of a loss." This is the true etymological
meaning of the word, as derived from damnum, "a loss"; and this original meaning is still found in such words as
"damnify," "indemnify," and "indemnity." In the margin of 1 Cor. 11:29, we find "judgment"
for "damnation"; whereas in verse 32 the "judgment" of the Lord is milder than His "condemnation."
Dr. Hey, in his lecture on the Ninth Article, says that the phrase, "It deserveth God's wrath and damnation,"
is used in the milder sense of the word which was originally prevalent. However this may be, the word has, as the Bishop of
Chester says, undergone a modification of meaning from the lapse of time, and it is an unmixed gain that both it and its congeners
will wholly disappear from the revised version of the English Bible. "Judgment" and "condemnation" are
the true representatives of krisis and katakrisis, and they are not steeped, like the word "damnation," in a mass
of associated conceptions which do not naturally or properly belong to them. Equally unfortunate is the word "hell."
The above writing was penned before the first major revision of the King James Bible
was printed. His words came true. The Revision of the KJV removed the "damn" words from the Holy pages of the Word
bringing us a few steps closer to removing the tarnish the church has put upon the character of the Creator of all human beings.
For more study in this area, write for the audio tape Christian Cussin' and the 50 page article entitled Eternal Death:
One step out of hell, One step short of Glory.
In conclusion, it is time for many preachers to stop blaspheming
our Father. When they say that hordes of humanity are "damned to hell," they themselves are actually guilty of misrepresenting
the Creator's role as Judge. The Scriptures declare that the earth will learn righteousness when His judgments are in
the earth. It is we, who call ourselves Christians, who need to clean up our mouths and hearts far more than the unbeliever
drowning his miseries at the local bar.
If the word damn is used in the Bible, is
it still considered a cuss word?
Etymology
Its Proto-Indo-European language origin is usually said to be a root dap-, which appears in Latin and Greek words meaning "feast" and "expense". (The connection is that feasts
tend to be expensive.) In Latin this root provided a theorized early Latin noun *dapnom, which became Classical Latin
damnum = "damage" or "expense". But there is a Vedic Sanskrit root dabh or dambh = "harm".
The word damnum did not have exclusively religious overtones. From it in English came "condemn";
"damnified" (an obsolete adjective meaning "damaged"); "damage" (via French from Latin damnaticum).
It began to be used for being found guilty in a court of law; but, for example, an early French treaty called the Strasbourg Oaths includes the Latin phrase in damno sit = "would cause harm". From the
judicial meaning came the religious meaning.
Ex:22:30: Likewise shalt thou do with thine oxen,
and with thy sheep: seven days it shall be with his dam; on the eighth day thou shalt give it me.
Lev:22:27: When
a bullock, or a sheep, or a goat, is brought forth, then it shall be seven days under the dam; and from the eighth day and
thenceforth it shall be accepted for an offering made by fire unto the LORD.
Deut:22:6: If a bird's nest chance
to be before thee in the way in any tree, or on the ground, whether they be young ones, or eggs, and the dam sitting upon
the young, or upon the eggs, thou shalt not take the dam with the young:
Deut:22:7: But thou shalt in any wise
let the dam go, and take the young to thee; that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days.
Main
Entry: 1damn
Pronunciation: \ˈdam\
Function: verb
Inflected Form(s): damned; damn·ing \ˈda-miŋ\
Etymology: Middle English dampnen,
from Anglo-French dampner, from Latin damnare, from damnum damage, loss, fine
Date: 13th century
transitive
verb 1 : to condemn to
a punishment or fate; especially : to condemn to hell
2 a : to condemn vigorously and often irascibly for some real or fancied fault
or defect <damned the storm for their delay> b : to condemn as a failure by public criticism
3 : to bring ruin on
4 : to swear at : curse —often used to express annoyance, disgust, or surprise
<damn him, he should have been careful> <I'll be damned>
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Main Entry: 2damn
Function: noun
Date: 1619
1 : the utterance
of the word damn as a curse
2 : a minimum amount or degree (as of
care or consideration) : the least bit <don't
give a damn>
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Main Entry: 3damn
Function: adjective or adverb
Date: 1775
: damned <a damn nuisance> <ran
damn fast>
—
damn well : beyond doubt or question : certainly <knew damn well what would happen>