Omphaloskepsis

[Dr.Who]

When you translate Aramaic into Greek, Greek into Latin, Latin into English, you get intelligible gibberish. Yet you believers insist on believing that there is some meaningful message being conveyed. And all the simple old ladies with their mindless perpetual smiles, nod their heads in sage agreement. Such is a gathering of the faithful.

It doesn't make a lot of sense to blame the book when it this case it is the reader who was at fault.

Now there is another possibility. It could be that those passages are perfectly easy to read for millions of people because they are just perfectly easy to read and that you find it difficult because your heart has been hardened. As Jesus said:

"To you (the disciples) it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. For whoever has, to him shall more be given, and he shall have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him. Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. And in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says, "You will keep on hearing, but will not understand; and you will keep on seeing, but will not perceive; for the heart of this people has become dull, and with their ear they scarcely hear, and they have closed their eyes lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart and turn again, and I should heal them. But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. For truly I say to you, that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it; and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it."


So which do you think it is? Do you have trouble reading what peasant in China understand with slight effort because it is so difficult or because you do not want to understand?


P.S. The bible we read today was not translated from Latin. The bible was translated either from the original Hebrew into English or from the original Greek into English. Only a few passages in either the original Greek were spoken in Aramaic and they are indicated.

 

[zakiyeh]

Here is a verse that you already know of:

"Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question:

"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' Matthew 22

'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'
This is not an easy job, although it sounds as one;for anyone that don't like straight forward words on such important topics as "the chief end of man", and think man will not meet his chief end so much easily.
I mean before you can glorify God by your mind you first have to know him; at least as much as you can understand that you can't know him truely!
This is not a near goal. You can live a whole life on it!

 

[zakiyeh]

As Jesus said:

"To you (the disciples) it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. For whoever has, to him shall more be given, and he shall have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him. Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. And in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says, "You will keep on hearing, but will not understand; and you will keep on seeing, but will not perceive; for the heart of this people has become dull, and with their ear they scarcely hear, and they have closed their eyes lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart and turn again, and I should heal them. But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. For truly I say to you, that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it; and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it."

How similar to words of Quran!

 

[dahermit]

Additionally, we can see that you chose to read it old english when modern translations are available.

As the little old lady said in referances to modern translations: "If the King James version was good enough for Jesus, it is good enough for me!"

 

[Dr.Who]

As the little old lady said in referances to modern translations: "If the King James version was good enough for Jesus, it is good enough for me!"

Assuming you get that joke then you understand that it makes sense to use the best translations available and to cross reference to several of them.

 

[MichaelB]

I like your writing style and most of all how you think. I would like to hear more of your thinking and share mine as well. I am new at this so I'm still having a little trouble with navigation.