Posts by Navigator

23

Peculiar Sayings in the Bible

by Navigator in

one of the problems in understanding the bible is the use of "idoms".

the word idiom comes from the greek word "idioma" which means peculiarity or peculiar phraseology.

scholars have estimated that there are more than 1000 idioms used in the bible.

Women ministers

by Pleasuredome in

i recommend to you phoe'be our sister, who is a minister of the congregation that is in cen'chreae.

romans 16:1 .

i thought it was only men who are ministers?

I agree that it makes no sense for women to relegated to secondary roles in the Christian Church. The problem is that,when the new testament was written, women were in subserviant roles by virtue of customs and culture. Although there were exceptions, women were generally not as well educated as the men were. The apostle Paul seems very much bound by customs and culture in that regard as evidenced by his advice concerning women in various letters to the churches. Why the fundamentalist churches today feel bound by the culture of 2000 years ago has always mystified me. Some of the most successful churches that I know of are (or were) led by women. Paul was not above using women when it suited him. When he could no longer witness in the synagouges, he would witness to the women gathered at the community well.

Much of the "fundy" attitude toward women is based on Paul's letters to the Corinthians. Corinth, however, was a special situation in which many of the recent converts were from Roman religion in which women took a leading role and which involved temple prostitution and esoteric worship which included speaking in tounges. The women spoke and a male priest interpreted. Some of those practices had crept into the Corinthian church. The main activity in Corinth was the entertainment of sailors while their ships were being hauled over the narrow part of Greece. It was indeed the San Diego of its day. Paul was very much aware of the situation in Corinth and knew that he had his work cut out for him.

23

Peculiar Sayings in the Bible

by Navigator in

one of the problems in understanding the bible is the use of "idoms".

the word idiom comes from the greek word "idioma" which means peculiarity or peculiar phraseology.

scholars have estimated that there are more than 1000 idioms used in the bible.

Navigator

Yerusalem

According to Dr. Lamsa, middle eastern weddings were celebrations rather than religious occassions. Only the men drank. The requirement to toast the happy couple and to keep the cups full made it difficult for the men to stay sober. In fact the comments of the steward which read in the Jerusalem bible, "people generally serve the best wine first, and keep the cheaper sort till the guests have had plenty to drink" would tend to support Dr. Lamsa's position. The poorer people provided the cheapest wines. I have traveled some in the middle east and the cheaper wines are barely fit to drink when you've grown accustom to German and California wines. They are extremely cheap, however. The backwards valleys of Syria and Iraq have changed little over the centuries. They are still plowing with oxen. I have no information regarding the financial status of the guests. Each guest was expected to do his duty and provide adequate quantities if somewhat poorer grades of drink. The exception was for the Rabbis who were not expected to provide wine, but generally had water served. My son-in-law, who is a lebanese christian, tells me that the only change in the custom is that they don't go on for three days anymore. He never shows up at any occassion without several bottles of wine.

23

Peculiar Sayings in the Bible

by Navigator in

one of the problems in understanding the bible is the use of "idoms".

the word idiom comes from the greek word "idioma" which means peculiarity or peculiar phraseology.

scholars have estimated that there are more than 1000 idioms used in the bible.

Navigator

Old Hippie

Your premise that the translators would have been associated with Jesus or his associates hardly seems likely since they were probably working with written material. Aramaic was the common language of the middle east, but there were many dialects of it. Had they lived in the area of Palestine, they would have been more familiar with the customs and culture of that area. The idioms used varied even in the short distance between Galalie and Jerusalem, probably because Assyria captured the northern part of Palestine, but was not able to take Jerusalem. The translators were apparently not aware of the derrogatory nature of the nickname applied to Simon (Cephus) which means "Stonehead" and was translated Peter by the greeks. It implies someone not too swift in grasping new ideas. It would have been used only by his closest friends.

15

Thanksgiving at Valis'

by Elsewhere in

jw
friends

valis and one of his "chickens" (sorry man... i can't recall their names .

shelly and the two chickens playing with their new toys that valis had waiting for them.. .

valis helping with a new toy.. .

Navigator

Elsewhere

Nice pics. Thanks for sharing. There must be a huge plot afoot. Those of us who gathered at Jade's, (Megadude, Navigator, and Roo) also suffered from Turkey poisoning with similar results. I'm glad to say, however, that we all recovered.

2

Jesus' Name

by Utopian_Raindrops in

ok i have a question...does anyone know why we call jesus.....well jesus...i mean he was jewish and his hebrew name was yeshua.

so why did the whole world adopt the greek version of his name?

i do like it and all but, with jehovah now...depending on where you live you call him by his name in your language not the hebrew language.

Navigator

Utopian Raindrops

I think that if you research it you will find that Peter's name was Simon. He was called Cephas which is a nickname that would have been used only by his most intimate friends. It means "stonehead" and implies that Simon was a bit slow to grasp new ideas. The greek translator of the now lost aramaic accounts translated Cephas as Petra (rock) and was probably not aware of the somewhat derrogatory nature of the name. It makes one somewhat suspicious of the phrase used by the Catholic Church to support the idea of the papacy.... .and upon this rock I will build my church.

The information on the meaning of the name Cephas came from an article by Dr. Rocco Errico, head of the Noura Foundation which specializes in aramaic language and culture.

Edited by - Navigator on 1 December 2002 18:31:8

36

Some of my ART

by vanilla sky in

jw
friends

okay i think ive figured it out.

heres some of my art.http://vanillasky.strike9.com there kinda blurry and theres a random picture of me so just ignore.

i have the long hair if your wondering.

Navigator

VS

I like the one that Incense picked. Very Buddist! Keep up the good work!

Nav

5

Beast feast

by RubyTuesday in

jw
friends

some of our relatives dropped in unexpectedly for thanksgiving dinner.

i thought for sure we didn't give them our new address!!

sedited by - rubytuesday on 30 november 2002 11:43:41.

Navigator

Gee RT, those folks look like some of my relatives. Maybe we are related.

20

My High School Reunion

by eyegirl in

jw
friends

i received and email a couple of weeks ago that there was going to be a sort of impromptu reunion the night after thanksgiving.

last year i got the same notice, but was out of town so i couldn't attend.

thought about it for awhile and decided i was going to make myself go this year.

Navigator

Eyegirl

I just attended the 50th reunion of my graduating class. It was a blast. We had about 85 of the 435 members represented. Sad to say that our list of deceased members is getting rather long. Every now and then, the school where I graduated holds a Mega Reunion where all the members from all of the classes come back. Since the school has been in place for 77 years, it is one heck of a gathering and you get to see folks from the classes just ahead and behind. Hotel space is at a premium when those events take place.

23

Peculiar Sayings in the Bible

by Navigator in

one of the problems in understanding the bible is the use of "idoms".

the word idiom comes from the greek word "idioma" which means peculiarity or peculiar phraseology.

scholars have estimated that there are more than 1000 idioms used in the bible.

Navigator

3rd Son

Thanks for sharing that "idiom" with us. It makes a lot more sense now.

Hurt

I think Boaz was asked to lift up his skirt over her. Considering that men wore skirts in those days, it makes perfect sense.

Waiting

You are correct. Naomi certainly took her responsibility for Ruth seriously and definitely knew what she was doing.

Neon Madman

The fact that many of Lamsa's supporters are involved with metaphysics doesn't bother me at all. I am too. I am not aware of any support in Christian Science, but considerable support in Religious Science. I happen to belong to Unity myself. His theories are considered unorthodox solely because of the level of ignorance in the early church regarding aramaic customs and culture. I don't particularly care for the Lamsa translation, but it has been useful in clarifying certain passages and mistranslation in the early greek texts. I never met the late Dr. Lamsa, but have met Dr. Errico whose creditials are impeccable on several occassions. Common sense is still the best criteria to use in sorting out the truth from fiction.