Do You Need to Learn Hebrew and Greek? (WT 11/01/09)

by Midget-Sasquatch 34 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  OnTheWayOut

  Without learning Hebrew or Greek, it is still good to learn enough to know that people can make the Bible say whatever they want it to say.
  "All inspired scripture..." was already given as an example.
  
  I have learned that Adam could have simply been the generic name for "the man" or "man." (Don't lecture me with wisdom to get me to understand the deeper meaning here, then lose us on the main point.)
  
  I have learned that the meek shall inherit the earth and man will forever reside on the earth in that more men will be born to be here "forever" according to the Bible.

  I can take it that experts know much of what they are saying, but experts have to be compared. What does the other one say?

  WTS wants everyone to just trust their expertise. Sadly, the majority do that.
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  JustHuman14

  Well I guess WT's writting committee are well known Scollars of the Greek and Hebrew Scriptures!!!

  On my behalf I don't need to learn the Hellenic language...I WILL BLINDLY OBEY WT's advice....
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  Narkissos

  On the plus side, one good thing that comes of studying highly inflected ancient languages like Greek or Latin is that a person is forced to give much more thought to the grammar of their own language.

  Very good point. The correlation of monolinguism and dogmatism (or, plurilinguism and scepticism) would be a fascinating subject in se. Struggling with several languages forces you (I think it's the right term, because it is a painful experience at first) to realise that meaning, concepts and thinking do not belong to some supra-linguistic sphere which could be accessed indifferently from any language.
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  PSacramento

  I certainly don't think that anyone needs to learn greek or hebrew, but if someone profess to be a bible student, ie: a student of the bible, it make sense that they would desire to knwo the MEANINGS of the words.

  Interlinears and bible commentaries allow us to tkae our understanding of The Word to a different level and it also allows us to agree or disagree with how a word and its meaning may be used, in short it can help us understand context better.

  ex: He was TOLD to obey / He was COMMANDED to obey.

  EX: The flood covered all the world / covered all the land
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  TD

  The correlation of monolinguism and dogmatism (or, plurilinguism and scepticism) would be a fascinating subject in se.

  Yes. I think a related observation would involve the sheer number of unusual little Christain sects that were born in the United States in the 19th century. The majority seem to have been led by Bible students playing the "Translate with a dictionary" game.

  From the notion of "Reformed Egyptian" being written on golden plates (Because Hebrew would have taken up too much space(!)) to "Parousia" meaning, "Invisible presence," it's a comedy of ignorance.
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  isaacaustin

  Doesn't the organization have responsible men assigned to that task??
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  skeeter1

  I think alot of true Bible colleges do offer Greek, Hebrew, and Latin. I've known a few ministers who spoke of learning it.

  Given the WTS wrongful interpretation of scripture and words, it is no surprise to me that the WTS would not advocate learning these languages.
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  JWoods

  Wasn't there some story from the old days that either Russell or Rutherford were challenged in some court proceedings to read out something from the Hebrew or the Greek, and whoever it was was unable to?
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  isaacaustin

  That was Fred Franz- unable to do Hebrew.
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  JWoods

  That was Fred Franz- unable to do Hebrew.

  Yup. Was this in some kind of court proceeding in either Ireland or Scotland? BTW, also in ancient history - did they just do away with the old Diaglot that was given to them by the Christedelphian guy when they redid it as the KIT? Or, is it possibly still available. I thought that part of the terms of the bequest was that they continue to publish it and make it available to the public.