Biblical Illiteracy

Lies lies lies....

You presume an unwillingnness on my part to "believe" - that is a condition not existing. I am quite willing to "believe", one way or another - however nothing I've encountered offers reason to "believe", one way or any other. All you are saying, for instance, is "One must have faith in order to believe, and in order to have faith, one must believe; without faith, one cannot believe, and without belief, one cannot have faith". You declare faith, you do not validate it.

Belief with reason leads to faith, I would never dare to assume anything about another person's personal spiritual connection with God.

Faith needs reason in order to be validated. Reason like, weighing life without God versus life with God... That alone is a "reason" to believe. Faith without reason is an insult to human intelligence.

You're chasing your own tail, Rex, you are not addressing the issue as presented.

Jer 27:2
Thus saith the LORD to me; Make thee bonds and yokes, and put them upon thy neck,

You got me side tracked but that is ok I can still address the issues. I have not walked off...

So, you're saying we all need to know Hebrew, before we can read the Bible?

Biblical illiteracy starts with the idea that God does not require reason... That the word is errant and needs to reinvented rather than simply researched.

This lack of faith in the Bible is prevalent among theists. This is why there is religion not truth.

Should we know English before we read the US constitution?

It is not a matter of knowing GAH (Greek, Aramaic and Hebrew) But today it is more a matter of seeing where these GAH words compliment each other. Where they are similarly used and where their textual meaning becomes altered by usage (if that is the case) over time.

Since one must understand the basis of life before one can properly base themselves in this life... The Bible is more important than any other learning available. This importance spans all people equally.

It is every person's duty to become literate with the spirit.

To seek the source where the spirit is most concentrated.

Like directions to a destination.

If the first left is correct and the second left is correct but the last left is supposed to be a right, then will you reach your destination? Truth must be fully true and not only half or partly true.

If truth is the basis of all life than it's quantity and quality is vital to actually obtaining the more than abundant life.

Timber,

Talking points, you know them better than the scriptures.

Few individuals know Hebrew, thus very few really know and understand the Bible.

Yiddish on the other hand. A shaynem dank dir im pupik.

Gei feifen ahfen yam.

If every sentence that you post contains separate thoughts and ideas, why would I not break them and make a statement on each one of them for the sake of clarity? Is there any other way to communicate a thought without resorting to such method?




It is not my fault you can't express yourself in a written manner.




I have studied literature…classical literature, which includes the literature of the Bible. FYI.. I still read work of classical literature...




Does this make any sense… "Not all literature is literature"? Literature is literature wether you like it or not…if it doesn't feel your ideal of what literature is, does it stop being literature? Stop with the nonsense already.




I have started and ended with the Bible. What is your point?




The Bible reveals nothing new when it comes to ancient literature…if you have ever read any other literature texts and made comparisons, you would see what I'm talking about.

But then again, all delusionals see ONLY what they want to see and ignore everything else.

Yes…God states it in the OT.


He says it in the OT…and he has displayed such characteristic.


Yes…there are tons and tons of evidence in the OT about HIM being vindictive...matter of fact, "vindictive" describes him pretty well…

You don't need to know Hebrew to research words. When you research them you learn them.

I don't know every Greek, Aramaic and Hebrew word but I know quite a few key words.

These key words unlock understanding.

Instead of going to a dictionary and looking up the meaning or just guessing based upon the collective knowledge a person has at the time. One could apply another method.

At this time a prayer to God for guidance is in order and faith that God will reveal all things in his own time.

Then one looks at the very word in question.

Let's take the word "receive" in the Bible. There are certain grammatical occurences that should draw an ardent reader/researcher to quandary.

For instance:
Ac 8:14 Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received [dechomai] the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John:

Ac 8:15 Who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive [lambano] the Holy Ghost:

Comment
This should cause one puzzlement... Why were two different Greek words translated with the same English word "receive" in the very same verses? Why would the ancient Biblical writers (God) have used two different words in the very same verse if they both had identical meanings?

In verse 14, Samaria (a city of ancient Palestine) has received the word of God

And when the apostles arrived they prayed that Samaria might receive the holy ghost.

If they have "received" then why should they pray that they "receive"?

When we look up the word "receive" in the Greek we find that there are two words used not one BEHIND the English word receive.

So do we guess what the subtle differences of these words are? Should we go read more literature for a few years then ask ourselves the same question again?

Or we could look at each time these words (lambano and dechomai) occur in the Bible.. we could read the context they are used in and try to glean the subtle difference between these words by letting the Bible interpret itself.

To make a long story short. When you do look up lambano and dechomai and read each entry you discover that dechomai is to receive the spirit within. It is the new birth... Dechomai happens only once to a Christian... Lambano is manifesting the spirit outwardly. After dechomai (receiving inwardly), lambano (receiving outwardly) may occur frequently or sparsely depending on the will of the believer.

So the Samarians had received the spirit within through the teaching of the word but they had not received it into manifestation. This meaning they had not learned how to speak in tongues, prophecy, miracles, healing etc...

Prayer is a manifestation of the spirit. So the apostles went to Samaria to "manifest" the spirit to the Samarians so that the Samarians would receive the spirit (lambano)... externally.

Now that you have received [dechomai] have you received [lambano]?

2Co 11:4 For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive [lambano] another spirit, which ye have not received [lambano], or another gospel, which ye have not accepted [dechomai], ye might well bear with him.

Col 4:10 Aristarchus my fellowprisoner saluteth you, and Marcus, sister's son to Barnabas, (touching whom ye received [lambano] commandments: if he come unto you, receive [dechomai] him;)

It does state it but is it true?