gerry
Private Eye
Posts: 453
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Post by gerry on Feb 25, 2007 2:48:05 GMT -5
Which angel is which, Michael and Gabriel: the mouth of God and which is the hand of God?
Is "Mary" as in Mother of christ and the Magdalena a true name of the period or has been "anglosized" like christopher columbus?
Are the best translations from the New Testament always from the Greek or are the better ones?
If God is all powerful, can he create a stone he cannot lift? (just kidding)
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Post by Girl Power on Feb 25, 2007 3:44:56 GMT -5
Well, I'm no Biblical scholar, but from what I understand there were several Marys. The woman in the stoning, "let he who is without sin cast the first stone" story was never named Mary. The idea that the later Mary of Magdalena was a prostitute or that same woman was something made up recently.
The most ancient texts still in existence date to about two hundred years after Jesus's death. All the original texts are gone.
There are different texts in different languages with very different translations, because there was no printing press yet, so the texts were copied and translated by hand, by people with varying degrees of education and biblical knowledge. Some would write comments in the margins, then the next copier would copy the comments or stories into the text, as though it had always been there.
A fascinating book on the Bible is called Misquoting Jesus. It was written by a fundamentalist Christian who became a renowned expert on the Bible, only to discover that what he thought was purely God's word had been changed by transcribers for hundreds of years. There are texts in ancient Aramaic and some other languages that predate the Greek versions still in existence today.
The History Channel has some interesting shows that include numerous Biblical scholars discussing the Bible. I recommend them. They discuss subjects such as the analysis of texts by Paul and how only four could have possibly been written by Paul. However, as Paul existed and was writing about 60 years after Jesus died, there were others who put Paul's name on their writings to give them more credibility.
One of the most shocking bits of information that I learned is that Revelations is known to not have been written by the disciple John. The John who wrote Revelations lived in the century after Jesus died and wrote it in response to early Christians becoming disillusioned with the idea that Jesus would be back soon. He wrote it to assure him that Jesus was indeed coming back. People of that time recognized the symbols in the story as being figures of political significance during that period of history. Basically, the story was that Jesus will be here at any second of our lifetime. If you want to know more about the Bible, they are very fascinating shows.
They also have a couple that analyze Revelations and the possible interpretations of it, as well as apocolyptic belief systems thoughout Christian history.
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gerry
Private Eye
Posts: 453
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Post by gerry on Feb 25, 2007 4:03:54 GMT -5
Pet Peeve: It's Revelation, not Revelations. Sorry, pyschological damage from catholic high school. My question was the name "Mary" itself. The name does not seem like a name that fits into standard alpha practices of the region. A "Mary" in the middle east seems like it would be as common as a Jose Garcia in Norway. I will keep my eyes open for the history channel shows. It would be great to see something other than a WWII tank campaign. Oh and in honor of Jango, we got ourselves a spinoff of the the hamster dance: www.geocities.com/yossarian70038/PIANOSA9/jesusdance_PIANOSA9.html
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Post by Girl Power on Feb 25, 2007 10:44:53 GMT -5
Sorry, I misunderstood the question. Yes, Mary is the translated version of the name. But it's from an Aramaic name "Mirya," not Muslim. Just as Joseph was really "Yoseph."
You probably know that Jesus is the translated version of his name. The original name was Yeshua.
I understand those ingrained pet peeves about the childhood training. Obviously, the plural of Revelation is how it's often popularly called in the culture. I never paid attention to the difference myself.
Just like people say, "Nordstroms" instead of the correct "Nordstrom," or "Penneys," instead of the correct name, "JC Penney." I used to work at Nordstrom and a lot of people who worked there would get pissed when people called it "Nordstroms." Personally, I didn't care.
I've only looked at the actual boook in of "Revelation" in the Bible twice in my adult life. But I hear it called "Revelations" in the media all the time. Anyway, we all have our pet peeves, don't we?
As I said, we all have our things we react strongly to. I also get upset at people who don't put their dogs on leashes and guys who drive those big, jacked up pick up trucks. Strong reactions to small things are kind of interesting, aren't they?
I didn't answer your other question because I don't know the specific Bible passages that refer to Michael and Gabriel. However, Michael was supposedly the one who led the fight against Lucifer. He's considered the warrior of God. And Gabriel is the one attributed with telling Mary that she was carrying God's son, so I assume Gabriel is the considered the mouth of God.
But, as I said, I don't know the Bible verses that refer to them specifically as such.
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gerry
Private Eye
Posts: 453
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Post by gerry on Feb 25, 2007 15:17:40 GMT -5
That's exactly what I wanted to know. Michael was the doer and Gabriel was the talker. Thanks a lot. (Speaking of a lot and pet peeves, I had a teacher in high school that would fail your paper if you used "alot") I was watching the prophecy last night and it got me curious.
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Post by jinxieman on Feb 25, 2007 21:10:15 GMT -5
I saw someone get the answer wrong on Jeperdy because he said Revelations rather than Revelation...You could see that he was pissed even though he stayed calm.
What Maria has said is as much as I know about the recording of the Bible and I use to be a Catholic Youth Minister. She knows her stuff.
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Post by Girl Power on Mar 13, 2007 0:13:32 GMT -5
I saw someone get the answer wrong on Jeperdy because he said Revelations rather than Revelation...You could see that he was pissed even though he stayed calm. What Maria has said is as much as I know about the recording of the Bible and I use to be a Catholic Youth Minister. She knows her stuff. I didn't see this before. That's so sad that he missed the question because he made it plural, since you always see it as plural. I think the bible is a pretty fascinating subject. I mean, so many people look to it as, well, gospel. Sorry, I couldn't resist. But I think the history is fascinating. However, I don't know that much about it. There are millions of people who can quote it chapter and verse. My dad was a minister and could quote most of it. I can barely remember my own cell phone number, so I don't think I'll be memorizing any bible chapters any time soon. My favorite bible story was always the one about letting he who is without sin cast the first stone. I think it's tragic how people judge each other and attack each other so easily. I also love the one from the Sermon on the Mount about taking the log out of your own eye before pointing out the splinter in someone else's eye. I think that people constantly project their own issues onto others.
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