UN General Assembly demands Israel surrender its nuclear weapons after 149-6 vote

[jafo2010]

unite for individuality....
          because you were watching for a different interpretation.

INTERPRETATION  that is the key word to everything said here.  I have sat and listened to people render their INTERPRETATION of what the Bible says, and I have been condemned by this friend or that for believing in something different than their INTERPRETATION. 

For a period of time, I participated in a Bible study led by an individual that understands Hebrew, Greek, and Latin besides English, and he would sit and discuss the DIFFERENCE in the INTERPRETATION of the Bible in the different languages through time, and believe me, there is NOT a transfer of exact meaning from one language to another.  Those that believe the English version of the Bible is the one true INTERPRETATION of the Bible sadly are clueless.  Not even close, that is what I learned listening to this learned man on Bible INTERPRETATION. 

Best analogy I can draw, take a classroom of 50 ten year old children, the first is told a story and instructed to relay to the next person, and that person to the next until it goes through the whole classroom.  By the time the story arrives to person number 50, that story is NOTHING like the original story told to the first person.  That is somewhat the path of Biblical content.  Just the translation and INTERPRETATION from one language to another is no different than the process of 50 children relaying a story.  Now imagine 1200 pages of Bible being conveyed through the CENTURIES, actually MILLENIUM, suffering from translation from one language to another, suffering from INTERPRETATION.

Ahhh....I had a friend tell me I should tune in to this radio station that was a talk show on Christian thought, and I did one day.  They were talking about the BOOK OF THOMAS.  Never heard of it before, so I went to the book store, and sure enough, there were several books addressing the Book of Thomas on the shelf.  As it turns out, the Book of Thomas is virtually all words supposedly uttered by Jesus Christ, and it struck a huge chord with me.  In it, Christ talks about one building their church within their heart.  Well of course, the Roman Catholic church struck this book down and poo -pood it.  Imagine what that mindset would do to revenues?  But down to basic brass tacks, it is one's belief in their heart that matters perhaps above all else.  But hey, that is just me talking.  I thought the book had some simple yet profound thoughts, and it was only a few pages in length, an easy read.

[roamer_1]

INTERPRETATION  that is the key word to everything said here. 

[...]

Just the translation and INTERPRETATION from one language to another is no different than the process of 50 children relaying a story.  Now imagine 1200 pages of Bible being conveyed through the CENTURIES, actually MILLENIUM, suffering from translation from one language to another, suffering from INTERPRETATION.

That's true, but then again, it's not. In the end, the ways the scriptures can be bent are finite, and largely have all been invented already. There really has not been a new thought in a thousand years.

In my mind, what is most important is that the text is preserved, and than the reader can make out for himself what it means and incline himself to the various arguments in interpretation, or not, as the spirit moves him.

And as it turns out, that is how it is. It is not so much that the information is hard to find, or hard to interpret, as much as it is a matter of who one listens to (instead) - Because many of the arguments against convention (or better defined as the literal) are so obtuse and  poorly thought out, as to have no derivation or foundation in the Scriptures at all.

If one is content to be a sheep and be led, and having only an interest in the milk of it,  then that is a problem for the sheep - and that problem is in the shepherd rather than the text. But if one is unwilling to follow a shepherd, and will only follow The Shepherd, and are willing to dig and fight for the meat of it... the Scriptures will bloom, guaranteed, and that regardless of language.

Ahhh....I had a friend tell me I should tune in to this radio station that was a talk show on Christian thought, and I did one day.  They were talking about the BOOK OF THOMAS.  Never heard of it before, so I went to the book store, and sure enough, there were several books addressing the Book of Thomas on the shelf.  As it turns out, the Book of Thomas is virtually all words supposedly uttered by Jesus Christ, and it struck a huge chord with me.  In it, Christ talks about one building their church within their heart.  Well of course, the Roman Catholic church struck this book down and poo -pood it.  Imagine what that mindset would do to revenues?  But down to basic brass tacks, it is one's belief in their heart that matters perhaps above all else.  But hey, that is just me talking.  I thought the book had some simple yet profound thoughts, and it was only a few pages in length, an easy read.

Yeah, I have poo-pooed it too, as has every scholar of scripture I am aware of. Its provenance is questionable to say the least, and some of the philosophy within it is counter to Torah - which is the bellwether. Antithetical.

But that is an argument for another day... on the porch, with sweet tea in abundance. 

[unite for individuality]

Best analogy I can draw, take a classroom of 50 ten year old children,
the first is told a story and instructed to relay to the next person,
and that person to the next until it goes through the whole classroom. 
By the time the story arrives to person number 50,
that story is NOTHING like the original story told to the first person. 
That is somewhat the path of Biblical content. 
Just the translation and INTERPRETATION from one language to another
is no different than the process of 50 children relaying a story. 
Now imagine 1200 pages of Bible being conveyed through the CENTURIES,
actually MILLENIUM, suffering from translation from one language to another,
suffering from INTERPRETATION.

The "chain of custody" of scripture is not as long as the original post suggests.
For the Old Testament, the original Hebrew text is still available
almost identical to as it was originally written.
(The Dead Sea scrolls confirmed that.)
The same is true of the New Testament, most of which was originally written in Greek.

Both were translated into Latin in 400 AD.
That translation was considered to be THE Bible for 900 years.

Translations into German, English, etc. began appearing in the 1400s.
They were made from the Latin translation of 400 AD.

Later translations, beginning generally around 1600, (including King James)
were made from both the Latin translation, and from original Hebrew and Greek texts.

With all translations,
many words do not have exact equivalents in different languages.
And, words often get their meanings changed over time!
Translators have to select words whose meanings
come as close as possible to the original word,
but often can never find the exact same shade of meaning.

The hardest obstacle to correct understanding of the Bible (or any text!)
is often the reader himself!
Many people interpret everything they read
by cramming it into the beliefs they already hold.
Many people interpret "up" as "down", "left" as "right",
"dark" as "light", "in" as "out", and so on!

We all need to express our thoughts as clearly and precisely as we can.
When other people twist words to mean the opposite of what they say,
there's nothing more we can do.
Sometimes all we can do is give up on that person and move on.

[roamer_1]

The same is true of the New Testament, most of which was originally written in Greek.

I will agree entirely with everything you said - Except the above. I know it is the accepted convention, but I would wager that one of the things yet to shake modern Christendom is the discovery of NT books in Hebrew. And that will be as much of a landslide as the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls was.

But with that exception... Great post. 

[Texas Yellow Rose]

We have a flag here in Texas that we'll let Israel borrow......