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NASB | John 11:35 Jesus wept. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | John 11:35 Jesus wept. |
Subject: Reading Between the "Lions" |
Bible Note: A student, wishing to get away from the distractions of civilized society in order to work on an important research paper, decided to take up sojourn in a remote village hidden deep in the jungles of Africa. To his dismay, however, he soon discovered that his chosen Shangri-la was not the idyllic hideaway that he had envisaged it to be. Day after day huge prides of lions thundered through his camp, leaving only brief respites of calm between their molestations. The student was tenacious, however, and by dogged determination completed his research project. Upon being asked how he managed to accomplish his painstaking research amid such austere conditions, he replied, "Well, you see, I had to read between the lions." ...... In like manner so do we who attempt to make sense of many of the postings that are entered on this forum. So fractured is the the language that is used on this forum -- not by all, certainly, but by many -- that one must resort to 'reading between the lions' in an effort to extract some meaning from what is posted. Not every user is an expert in English usage, of course, but it is distressing to see with what frequency sloppy posts are released to the public for which there is really no excuse. I'm talking about typographical errors, spelling errors, (does no one bother to use a dictionary anymore?), basic syntactical blunders that result in sentences that make no sense at all. Questions frequently take on the form of incomprehensible speech fragments that convey no question whatever. For example, the total "question" will look something like this: "thorn in the flesh" or "eternal life" or will cite a Scripture verse, e.g., John 4:2 with the appendage, "What about baptism?" ..... Before any user makes any post he agrees that he has carefully proofread his post and that it represents his best effort. Is it unfair to say that some users are being less than truthful when they agree that they have complied with this condition of forum usage set forth by the owners of this forum, the Lockman Foundation? Folks, let's make a concerted effort to clean up our act by taking the time and exerting the effort to weed out as much of this lazy sloppiness as we can! The King James Bible is a noble example of the way English should be used. One can learn not only invaluable spiritual lessons from his study of this masterpiece; he can learn how to use better English as well. Many are the masters of English prose who have learned their art by a careful study of the King James Bible. The words of wisdom for anyone who wishes to improve his ability to use the English language more proficiently is "Go thou and do likewise." ..... I cite the verse "Jesus wept." taken from John 11:35 as a sterling example of English usage. It deserves study because it is a peerless example of clarity, brevity and apt wording. It is dramatic, it is arresting, it is packed with meaning, it evokes deep emotion, and it is complete. It has nothing of the clumsy verbosity that is all too frequently the hallmark of the inept writer who uses a thousand words when two would do far better. --Hank |