Results 1 - 6 of 6
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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | "Who am I?" How important is it? | 1 Chr 17:16 | Reformer Joe | 12284 | ||
My answer is: "Not very." Instead of trying to find secret messages/codes/numerological minutiae somewhere hidden in Scripture, why don't you actually read and study the text itself. Want to show that God is Triune? You don't need some kind of crackpot way of doing it. Read the Gospel of John, Hebrews 1, Colossians 1, Philippians 2, Revelation 1 and 19 and 20 and a whole host of other passages. By the way, there is no capitalization in the original Hebrew, which has no copyrights, as far as I can tell. It is lunacy like this which lends to even greater lack of credibility of evangelical Christianity to the world... --Joe! |
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2 | "Who am I?" How important is it? | 1 Chr 17:16 | Ray | 12291 | ||
Hi Joe, Thanks for your responses. I'll answer this copy even though its a later copy. The Hebrew also had different manuscripts which translators use. And they were all very close copies were they not? I have read and compared all the references suggested throughout the years. I started in the Gospel of John. The entire book's pronouns can be divisible by three. It is in the comparisons of scripture to scripture that the books come alive. I looked at the Jehovah's Witness scriptures in the book of John. It reads "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god." What do you think? Is capitalization important for interpretation or not? Don't concern yourself about calling me a lunatic; my wife has been doing that for years.:) |
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3 | "Who am I?" How important is it? | 1 Chr 17:16 | Reformer Joe | 12299 | ||
The pronouns are divisible by three. What is your point? That is not a terribly hard feat to accomplish. Every third number is divisible by three. Mathematically speaking, this is far from miraculous, Ray. In the case of the New World Translation, I think that the "translators" didn't know their Greek grammar and had a predisposition to deny the deity of Jesus of Nazareth. Nothing more. Again, God has revealed himself (or Himself, depending on your preference...) quite well without resorting to "hidden secret decoder messages." Why don't we spend more time focusing on what the text actually means, rather than searching in vain for some esoteric knowledge beyond the Scriptures themselves? --Joe! |
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4 | "Who am I?" How important is it? | 1 Chr 17:16 | Ray | 12309 | ||
Hi Joe, My point is that we need our translators to be consistent in their interpretation as far as capitalization is concerned. My preference has nothing to do with it for God is God. He deserves the honor that capitalization gives Him. If we do not at least in our minds capitalize His name then we are denying His Deity. If we don't know that God is a Spirit then we are worshiping angels. I believe that at some time in the future we will be able to look at scriptures and compare them and we will have no need of commentaries. I say this in the sense that we will know God and what He is saying without extra information from someone else. Other information will be of interest but I'm talking of knowing God. In other words, if we had a correct translation of John 1:1 for the Jehovah's Witness and their god they could be shown John 7:63 "the words I spoke to you are spirit and life, or John 12:48 "the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day." So you see,this is God's word, and we are to know Him. And let me assure you that He is not a god. If you think that God does not know mathematics nor scientific nor pretty good with speaking and writing words, then you do not your Creator. A study about hearing the words of God could be understood using basic mathematics. Our Lord's name for His followers was "disciple" as in the disciple of math; and they were indeed given esoteric knowledge from the Scriptures, I believe. |
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5 | "Who am I?" How important is it? | 1 Chr 17:16 | Reformer Joe | 12341 | ||
I think it is fairly simplistic to attribute denying God's deity to a simple use of capitals. What you seem to be saying is that capitalization of pronouns in reference to Him is a must. Again, I must point out that neither ancient Greek nor ancient Hebrew employed capital letters. By your logic, the original manuscripts of the Old and New Testaments dishonor God and deny His deity. We do have a correct translation of John 1:1. The deity of Christ doesn't hinge on that one verse, in any case. The Jehovah's Witnesses are not interested in truth, but rather they, like all other unregenerate human beings, suppress the truth and replace it with a lie (Romans 1:18-20). Commentaries now are helpful, but they are neither inspired nor absolutely essential in understanding the Word of God. Plenty of people have come to a saving knowledge of who God is and Christ's sacrifice by reading the text alone. That list includes such notable figures as Martin Luther. I did not say that God does not know mathematics, and the word "disciple" means "learner"; it has nothing to do with any specific field of knowledge. Human authors wrote the Scriptures; the Holy Spirit's inspiration was not some form of word-for-word dictation, because we can clearly see the different writing style of the human authors (Paul vs. Isaiah vs. Peter, for example). The Holy Spirit made sure that all His intended revelation of God was included, and kept the writers from theological error. Saying you "believe" that the disciples were given esoteric knowledge has no basis in Scripture, and therefore remains your unfounded opinion. Again, understanding the nature of God (as Father and Son and Holy Spirit), His holiness and justice and wrath and love and grace and mercy go far beyond whether we use a capital letter or not, and is spelled out very clearly without the need to resort to playing numerological games with the text itself. Such trivia only distracts from the content of what God does intend for us to meditate upon. --Joe! |
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6 | "Who am I?" How important is it? | 1 Chr 17:16 | Ray | 12346 | ||
Hi Joe, To my mind, capitalization of Deity is a must.:) You can leave other deities and gods in lower case. I can't think of any references of "God's deity" so that shouldn't be a problem for us. In fact, because of your capitalization of pronouns concerning the Holy Spirit and His work I can know that you are a believer. (Along with your words of hundreds of posts here on the forum.) The Hebrew is in ALL CAPITALS. Capitalization of Deity is not a problem there. What it does allow for is the capitalization of MAN. And to me that is very important when we now look at the Man, the Lord Jesus Christ; as we look at the Son of David, and the Son of Man. I believe that Jesus taught His disciples from the OT scriptures often. And they were fulfilled as He spoke, lived, and died. The disciples were called in the Greek "mathtas" and called Christians in Antioch. Acts 11:26. The Greek word gives us our word math and mathematics. For this reason I am not concerned about counting to three and even to nine for that matter.:) I've said in other places and I'll say it here; that we have come to know God accurately through the ages without capitalization in our scriptures, but I believe we can know scriptures and the way of God "more accurately" with capitalization. |
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