Amazing Reading

spam | Aug04 | email

[Cvengr]

cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdgnieg! Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

Amzanig huh?

[Cvengr]

For those who become too obsessed with the particular translation of the Bible being studied, consider this message in the context that out of thousands of extant manuscripts of Scripture dated to within 400 years of original authorship, even the jot and tittle match between scrolls of varying discovery. The objections of critics seem a bit foolish in comparison to even the meanings of this discombobulated paragraph.

[Quix]

Perhaps you could relate that to the Bible Code phenomena?

[Cvengr]

Say,..If you would like a free copy of Chafer's Systematic Theology, you can download it here. It's out of print. It's lengthy so OK by DSL, otherwise a long download, about 5 MB.

Helps explain many theological issues from a dispensational point of view.

http://anywhereenterprises.com:80/1/1/a?a=dF&p=259~1~3

[Quix]

THANKS MUCH.

[HarleyD]

This looks like one of those Elfish poems in "Lord of the Rings". :O)

More seriously, if one really wants to understand God then one has to know EXACTLY what God said. There are many good tools today that will help you.

[Celtman]

Thanks for the link!

[RnMomof7]

More seriously, if one really wants to understand God then one has to know EXACTLY what God said. There are many good tools today that will help you.

All the tools in the world are of no use unless God ordains to open the ears to be able to hear. The gospel is foolishness to those that are perishing

1Cr 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know [them], because they are spiritually discerned.

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

I know this comment is off topic, but the first thing I thought was, So what does that say about people with dyslexia? Is there such a thing?

Becky

[HarleyD]

That has certainly been my experience in recent days. :O)

[aruanan]

consider this message in the context that out of thousands of extant manuscripts of Scripture dated to within 400 years of original authorship, even the jot and tittle match between scrolls of varying discovery.

Well, no. For one reason, the great majority of the manuscripts are of the New Testament, the oldest of them are in Greek, and the jot and tittle are Hebrew orthography. For another, there are variations in most of them, but these are the normal types one would expect when 1. copying rapidly (certain letters look like other letters if written rapidly) or under poor lighting conditions (certain letters look like other letters under the best of lighting) or 2. transcribing what is being read aloud (this was the old timey version of a copy machine. A reader would read the text aloud to a group of scribes who would then make copies of what was being read--either the speaker or the listener could mistake one word for another) or 3. mistaking the first letters of the succeeding word or the last letters of the preceding word as part of either, resulting in two different words in succession (much ancient Greek was written in a continuous stream of letters--spacing between words wasn't used. The oldest Greek manuscripts were all written in capital letters as well. So what's this sentence saying: "AFTERSEEINGTHEDOGSHITWETURNEDAWAY"?).

But most of these are all relatively easy to detect through the science of textual criticism. And one is able to trace the origin and succession of manuscripts by the pattern of textual variations. Once certain variants have been incorporated, the manuscript and copies of it are identifiable through these variants. One can also distinguish between manuscripts that have been compiled from more than one source by the unique placement of these textual variations.

In some cases, the variations cannot be distinguished. For example, the word for plural "us" looks almost exactly like the word for plural "you". The first letter looks like a lower case "n" or lower case "u". In writing these by hand, it's easy for one to end up looking like the other or like something in between. The resulting sentence often makes sense regardless of the pronoun, but there are no doctrinal matters that hang in the balance as a result.

[Cvengr]

The protocols for transcribing a new scroll within the Mesorites (sp?) was fairly rigorous from what I recall. The parchment or lambskin had to be from a kosher fed pure lamb, no blemish in the skin, cured by specific ceremony, then made ready for transcribing. Ink had similar rigorous protocols for its manufacture. Then the scribe was required to have fasted, and on certain lineage, transcribing in a specific fashion after sacrificial systems used to insure holiness. On top of that, the scribes had little poems, songs,..similar to what today's military calls 'jodies' to work by in physical training, except the 'jodies' used by the scribes indicated how many characters per line, lines per page, lines per book, etc as a checking system similar to a Hollorith code to confirm their work. If at any time the copy was in error, it had to be formally destroyed.

Compare that rigor to human ability to still understand meaning even when words are grossly in error as the topic of this post indicates.

The argument I pose is that the textual criticisms levied against Scripture, tend to be made on very legalistic perspectives. Even where they fail legally, they entire appeal to the law seems a bit moot considering the message meant in much of Scripture.

[Cvengr]

Reminds me of that activist group, ...DAM,...'Mothers Against Dyslexia'. ;^)

[TomSmedley]

Say,..If you would like a free copy of Chafer's Systematic Theology, you can download it here. It's out of print. It's lengthy so OK by DSL, otherwise a long download, about 5 MB.

Dallas Theological Seminary, which was founded by Chafer, is so embarrassed by his "masterpiece" that they let it go out of print!

[Cvengr]

Most outstanding institutions founded through faith in Christ, seem to have been later targeted by worldly systems to control the previous righteous work of their founders.

Just look at how many universities in the US founded upon faith in God through Christ, today espouse agnosticism and atheism, and even promote any New Age belief over faith in God through Christ.

I tend to believe its a 'worldly' thing.

Regardless, I've found his Systematic Theology well studied and versed.

[aruanan]

The protocols for transcribing a new scroll within the Mesorites (sp?) was fairly rigorous from what I recall. The parchment or lambskin had to be from a kosher fed pure lamb, no blemish in the skin, cured by specific ceremony, then made ready for transcribing. Ink had similar rigorous protocols for its manufacture. Then the scribe was required to have fasted, and on certain lineage, transcribing in a specific fashion after sacrificial systems used to insure holiness. On top of that, the scribes had little poems, songs,..similar to what today's military calls 'jodies' to work by in physical training, except the 'jodies' used by the scribes indicated how many characters per line, lines per page, lines per book, etc as a checking system similar to a Hollorith code to confirm their work. If at any time the copy was in error, it had to be formally destroyed.

This wasn't the case for the copying of NT manuscripts.