Language affects our ability to think

[Mojo]

We need to always remember that we can be a true disciple of Christ today, with our current knowledge, by simply following him to the best of that knowledge.
Seeking more knowledge is also a very good pursuit, and something we should certainly strive to do. But it is secondary. And we do need to get the balance right.

Usually we already know a whole host of things that we should be doing and aren't doing yet. It is tempting to seek more head-knowledge as a holy-feeling way of procrastinating from actually doing what he's already telling us to do.

You got where I was coming from
You have learned and scholarly rabbis who have been studying it all for lifetimes, but are so far from the real truth. It is all spiritually discerned from the lense of Christ...which they do not have.

 

[Mojo]

The more I study the Bible, the more I realize there is a considerable amount of value in better understanding the original languages, particularly idioms. The New Testament is interesting because whether it was written in Greek or Aramaic or both (I tend to lean toward believing the original language was mostly Aramaic with some Greek), there was no doubt about the Aramaic influences on the idioms used in scripture. Though I try to steer clear of any book that claims to hold a "key" to understanding the Bible, I would recommend George Lamsa's "Idioms in the Bible Explained and a Key to the Original Gospel." I think Lamsa's understand of Aramaic is invaluable in understanding some of the idioms we wouldn't get otherwise. This pdf: "Semitic Idioms in the New Testament, Suggest Peshitta Primacy – Part 1" is a good introduction to some Aramaic Idioms, though realize the authors are using this to support an Aramaic primacy. Like I said earlier, I tend to lean this way, but even if someone doesn't, the influence of the idioms of a highly spoken language of the time is important to understand. Paul Younan, a part author of the pdf, if one of the better modern references to Aramaic, and his opinions are highly trusted by many.

Another book I really enjoyed some time back is "Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes: Removing Cultural Blingers to Better Understanding the Bible by E. Randolph Richards and Brandon J. O'Brien. Though I cannot recall if the book referenced polygyny at all, it is one of the books that reinforced the importance of understanding that framing the Bible in my cultural biases is not the way to read scripture. My life should be molded to God's ideal not God's ideal molded to my life. It helped me to step out of the highly Americanized gospel to see that those reading the original scriptures would have read some of it very differently than we do with our cultural biases.

I like this. I will try to read these soon.

I am not well educated in the debate over Aramaic or Greek NT, but with what I do know, I would lean more towards thinking it was originally in Greek written...but from Aramaic oral gathering. I believe Jesus spoke primarily in Aramaic, unless in the synagogues to read in Hebrew. The Gospel writers would have used a universal language IMO to be sure that any Jew or Gentile could understand. Just my opinion.

What if each Gospel was written in both concurrently and just Greek stuck??? Best of both theories???

So true about needing an understanding of the original idioms, etc. But, let's not just blame us Yanks. I seem to recall some medieval paintings of Jesus in European garb or in a medieval villages. We have White Jesus, Black Jesus, short-hair Jesus, long-haired Jesus.....you get it.

 

[Mojo]

Another book I really enjoyed some time back is "Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes: Removing Cultural Blingers to Better Understanding the Bible by E. Randolph Richards and Brandon J. O'Brien. Though I cannot recall if the book referenced polygyny at all, it is one of the books that reinforced the importance of understanding that framing the Bible in my cultural biases is not the way to read scripture. My life should be molded to God's ideal not God's ideal molded to my life. It helped me to step out of the highly Americanized gospel to see that those reading the original scriptures would have read some of it very differently than we do with our cultural biases.

Did some Amazon description reading of this book. I want to buy it! I truly believe that the whole aversion to polygyny in our churches is TOTALLY cultural, not biblical...cuz a sincere reading of it in scripture, within context, will never result in it's rejection.

 

[aineo]

I am not well educated in the debate over Aramaic or Greek NT, but with what I do know, I would lean more towards thinking it was originally in Greek written...but from Aramaic oral gathering. I believe Jesus spoke primarily in Aramaic, unless in the synagogues to read in Hebrew. The Gospel writers would have used a universal language IMO to be sure that any Jew or Gentile could understand. Just my opinion.

One of the interesting things I read sometime back was the thought that we should look at who the audience of the particular book was. For example, some think Matthew wrote to the Jews (perhaps in Aramaic), Mark wrote to the Romans, Luke to the Greeks, and John to everyone. Another example is Hebrews, which was written to the Hebrews. Aramaic was widely called Hebrew at the time these books were written, so it may have been that Hebrews was written in Aramaic.

At the very least I think what you have said correct: written in Greek with Aramaic oral gathering.

This is one of those topics that people can get vehement about. I have found that I cross reference from both original Greek sources and original Aramaic sources to try to better understand. Sometimes I find it helps.

 

[Joleneakamama]

Bump.

 

[Keith Martin]

Bump.

Why?

 

[MeganC]

A lot of discussion comes back to whether a woman is a "wife" or not, and when she becomes a "wife".

I don't think there's any magical ceremony that makes a woman a wife. Even when the storybook wedding takes place the change from a single woman into a wife is a process.

Sex is the big issue here and it's useful to use it to underline how this is a process and not something that just magically happens.

A man can have sex with a woman and it's just once and it's just a fling and no one thinks the woman is a wife.

But somewhere between the first time they have sex and when the baby is born it becomes obvious that she's now his wife even if there wasn't a ceremony and a permit from a government bureaucrat.

And that's still just part of the process.

But my point is that it's a process.

And it's not always successful.

 

[Keith Martin]

^^ Golden ^^

 

[Joleneakamama]

Why?

Because along with looking at the baggage we have associated with words like marry, marriage, man and wife, how we define words like Israel, Jew and Gentile impacts how we see everything connected to those words.

I remember reading about how people who want to paint or draw can improve the quality of their work tremendously by inverting whatever image they are rendering. That turns off the part of the brain that says "I know what that is, it's a chair" causing your eyes and brain to stop analyzing the image. The paintings done looking at the inverted images reveal that the perception is improved and the object seen with more accuracy when the "auto pilot" in the brain is over ridden.

 

[Keith Martin]

Because along with looking at the baggage we have associated with words like marry, marriage, man and wife, how we define words like Israel, Jew and Gentile impacts how we see everything connected to those words.

I remember reading about how people who want to paint or draw can improve the quality of their work tremendously by inverting whatever image they are rendering. That turns off the part of the brain that says "I know what that is, it's a chair" causing your eyes and brain to stop analyzing the image. The paintings done looking at the inverted images reveal that the perception is improved and the object seen with more accuracy when the "auto pilot" in the brain is over ridden.

Thank you, @Joleneakamama.

The beginning of this thread is perhaps the best thing written by @FollowingHim I've ever read.

 

[Joleneakamama]

The beginning of this thread is perhaps the best thing written by @FollowingHim I've ever read.

I agree. It is outstanding!