Women sperm

by peacefulpete 14 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  rebel8

  If the bible really says that, that is more concrete proof that it is not inspired by an infallible god.

  <walks off to test out pseudoscientific theory>
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  ezekiel3

  WTS Version:

  *** it-2 p. 887 Seed ***

  Figurative

  Use. In the majority of instances in which the word ze´ra` appears in the Bible, it is used with reference to offspring, or posterity. Animal offspring are designated by this term at Genesis 7:3. Human offspring of Noah are referred to at Genesis 9:9; those of the woman Hagar at Genesis 16:10. God commanded Abram and his natural "seed" to be circumcised as a sign of the covenant God was making with them.—Ge 17:7-11.

  The Greek word sper´ma is used in the same applications as the Hebrew ze´ra`. (Compare Mt 13:24; 1Co 15:38; Heb 11:11; Joh 7:42.) Jesus Christ used the related word spo´ros (thing sown) to symbolize the word of God.—Lu 8:11.

  ---

  New World Translation:

  (Hebrews 11:11) 11 By faith also Sarah herself received power to conceive seed, even when she was past the age limit, since she esteemed him faithful who had promised.
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  peacefulpete

  The response in the Insight book is typical dismissive rhetoric. The Hebrew in Gen. and Greek in Heb. is different in the two passages as my post said. The Rabbis certainly saw the need to interpret the passage in Gen. as saying more than she simply had a child. Note how the NIV attempts to deal with the Heb. sperm passage by inserting Abraham as the subject of the sentence though no Abraham is in the Greek: 11 By faith Abraham, even though he was past age—and Sarah herself was barren—was enabled to become a father because he [a] considered him faithful who had made the promise

  The NAB and many others including the NWT try to change the meaning from providing sperm to receiving sperm, this also is not justified:

  11 By faith even ( AD ) Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered Him ( AE ) faithful who had promised.

  Others simply omit the troublesome phrase and gloss the passage over.

  Sorry about the bold text, I have no idea why it is doing that.
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  Cicatrix

  Perhaps it was a simple way to describe chemotaxis of sperm to the ovum, or of the polarity/electrical event which hardens the membrane surrounding the egg and results in the inability of other sperm to penetrate once a sperm has penetrated the zona pellucida (an insurance that it was only Abraham's, and that none of those suitors she had even into her old age, thanks to Abraham fudging the truth about her being his sister, had a chance at being the daddy.
  
  
  
  
  
  That lil ovum is pretty active itself, and so is the "sperm" of the female reproductive tract, if you will. The male sperm is not able to actually fertilize an ovum until it's in contact with the fluids of the female reproductive tract. This is called capacitation.That ability to mobilize the sperm for fertilization could be just as easily seen as being a woman's "sperm".Ditto the chemicals that attract the sperm to the egg.
  
  Then there's all the tricky issues of implantation, too (just ask women who are struggling with infertility how important that issue is).Implantation issues are more pronounced in older women, but Sarah did just fine, thank you.
  
  While Abraham's seed was of definite importance, so was his wife's reproductive tract's ability to chemically attract that sperm to the ovum, to mobilize that seed so that it could flagellate it's way to said ovum and fertilize it, and her ability to carry the resultant child in her womb.
  
  I personally don't see any conflict at all in this passage with science.I just think the passage was a shorthand way of explaining all of this biology stuff people weren't aware of until they got around to inventing microscopes.
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  peacefulpete

  You should write for the WT Cicatrix. What you are proposing would be a 'tricking' of the minds of believers in the style you say you are 'sick of'.