meditations of aservantofJEHOVAH

Saturday 21 September 2013

On higher education II

Why what you have been told may be more spin than anything else.

Friday 20 September 2013

Thursday 19 September 2013

A reproduction of the Watchtower Society's article

GEHENNA

(Ge·hen′na) [Gr. form of the Heb. Geh Hin·nom′, “Valley of Hinnom”].

This name appears 12 times in the Christian Greek Scriptures, and whereas many translators take the liberty to render it by the word “hell,” a number of modern translations transliterate the word from the Greek ge′en·na.—Mt 5:22, Ro, Mo, ED, NW, BC (Spanish), NC (Spanish), also the footnotes of Da and RS.

The deep, narrow Valley of Hinnom, later known by this Greek name, lay to the S and SW of ancient Jerusalem and is the modern-day Wadi er-Rababi (Ge Ben Hinnom). (Jos 15:8; 18:16; Jer 19:2, 6; see HINNOM, VALLEY OF.) Judean Kings Ahaz and Manasseh engaged in idolatrous worship there, which included the making of human sacrifices by fire to Baal. (2Ch 28:1, 3; 33:1, 6; Jer 7:31, 32; 32:35) Later, to prevent such activities there in the future, faithful King Josiah had the place of idolatrous worship polluted, particularly the section called Topheth.—2Ki 23:10.

No Symbol of Everlasting Torment. Jesus Christ associated fire with Gehenna (Mt 5:22; 18:9; Mr 9:47, 48), as did the disciple James, the only Biblical writer besides Matthew, Mark, and Luke to use the word. (Jas 3:6) Some commentators endeavor to link such fiery characteristic of Gehenna with the burning of human sacrifices that was carried on prior to Josiah’s reign and, on this basis, hold that Gehenna was used by Jesus as a symbol of everlasting torment. However, since Jehovah God expressed repugnance for such practice, saying that it was “a thing that I had not commanded and that had not come up into my heart” (Jer 7:31; 32:35), it seems most unlikely that God’s Son, in discussing divine judgment, would make such idolatrous practice the basis for the symbolic meaning of Gehenna. It may be noted that God prophetically decreed that the Valley of Hinnom would serve as a place for mass disposal of dead bodies rather than for the torture of live victims. (Jer 7:32, 33; 19:2, 6, 7, 10, 11) Thus, at Jeremiah 31:40 the reference to “the low plain of the carcasses and of the fatty ashes” is generally accepted as designating the Valley of Hinnom, and a gate known as “the Gate of the Ash-heaps” evidently opened out onto the eastern extremity of the valley at its juncture with the ravine of the Kidron. (Ne 3:13, 14) It seems obvious that such “carcasses” and “fatty ashes” are not related to the human sacrifices made there under Ahaz and Manasseh, since any bodies so offered would doubtless be viewed by the idolaters as “sacred” and would not be left lying in the valley.

Therefore, the Biblical evidence concerning Gehenna generally parallels the traditional view presented by rabbinic and other sources. That view is that the Valley of Hinnom was used as a place for the disposal of waste matter from the city of Jerusalem. (At Mt 5:30 Ph renders ge′en·na as “rubbish heap.”) Concerning “Gehinnom,” the Jewish commentator David Kimhi (1160-1235?), in his comment on Psalm 27:13, gives the following historical information: “And it is a place in the land adjoining Jerusalem, and it is a loathsome place, and they throw there unclean things and carcasses. Also there was a continual fire there to burn the unclean things and the bones of the carcasses. Hence, the judgment of the wicked ones is called parabolically Gehinnom.”

Symbolic of Complete Destruction. It is evident that Jesus used Gehenna as representative of utter destruction resulting from adverse judgment by God, hence with no resurrection to life as a soul being possible. (Mt 10:28; Lu 12:4, 5) The scribes and Pharisees as a wicked class were denounced as ‘subjects for Gehenna.’ (Mt 23:13-15, 33) To avoid such destruction, Jesus’ followers were to get rid of anything causing spiritual stumbling, the ‘cutting off of a hand or foot’ and the ‘tearing out of an eye’ figuratively representing their deadening of these body members with reference to sin.—Mt 18:9; Mr 9:43-47; Col 3:5; compare Mt 5:27-30.

Jesus also apparently alluded to Isaiah 66:24 in describing Gehenna as a place “where their maggot does not die and the fire is not put out.” (Mr 9:47, 48) That the symbolic picture here is not one of torture but, rather, of complete destruction is evident from the fact that the Isaiah text dealt, not with persons who were alive, but with “the carcasses of the men that were transgressing” against God. If, as the available evidence indicates, the Valley of Hinnom was a place for the disposal of garbage and carcasses, fire, perhaps increased in intensity by the addition of sulfur (compare Isa 30:33), would be the only suitable means to eliminate such refuse. Where the fire did not reach, worms, or maggots, would breed, consuming anything not destroyed by the fire. On this basis, Jesus’ words would mean that the destructive effect of God’s adverse judgment would not cease until complete destruction was attained.

Figurative Use. The disciple James’ use of the word “Gehenna” shows that an unruly tongue is itself a world of unrighteousness and that one’s whole round of living can be affected by fiery words that defile the speaker’s body. The tongue of such a one, “full of death-dealing poison” and so giving evidence of a bad heart condition, can cause the user to be sentenced by God to go to the symbolic Gehenna.—Jas 3:6, 8; compare Mt 12:37; Ps 5:9; 140:3; Ro 3:13.

The Biblical use of Gehenna as a symbol corresponds to that of “the lake of fire” in the book of Revelation.—Re 20:14, 15; see LAKE OF FIRE.

Wednesday 18 September 2013

On the divine Christ or the NWT's rendering of John1:1

Read the watchtower society's article here.

6A Jesus—A Godlike One; Divine

Joh 1:1—“and the Word was a god (godlike; divine)”

Gr., καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος (kai the·os′ en ho lo′gos)

1808

“and the word was a god”

The New Testament, in An Improved Version, Upon the Basis of Archbishop Newcome’s New Translation: With a Corrected Text, London.

1864

“and a god was the Word”

The Emphatic Diaglott (J²¹, interlinear reading), by Benjamin Wilson, New York and London.

1935

“and the Word was divine”

The Bible—An American Translation, by J. M. P. Smith and E. J. Goodspeed, Chicago.

1950

“and the Word was a god”

New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures, Brooklyn.

1975

“and a god (or, of a divine kind) was the Word”*

Das Evangelium nach Johannes, by Siegfried Schulz, Göttingen, Germany.

1978

“and godlike sort was the Logos”*

Das Evangelium nach Johannes, by Johannes Schneider, Berlin.

1979

“and a god was the Logos”*

Das Evangelium nach Johannes, by Jürgen Becker, Würzburg, Germany.

These translations use such words as “a god,” “divine” or “godlike” because the Greek word θεός (the·os′) is a singular predicate noun occurring before the verb and is not preceded by the definite article. This is an anarthrous the·os′. The God with whom the Word, or Logos, was originally is designated here by the Greek expression ὁ θεός, that is, the·os′ preceded by the definite article ho. This is an articular the·os′. Careful translators recognize that the articular construction of the noun points to an identity, a personality, whereas a singular anarthrous predicate noun preceding the verb points to a quality about someone. Therefore, John’s statement that the Word or Logos was “a god” or “divine” or “godlike” does not mean that he was the God with whom he was. It merely expresses a certain quality about the Word, or Logos, but it does not identify him as one and the same as God himself.

In the Greek text there are many cases of a singular anarthrous predicate noun preceding the verb, such as in Mr 6:49; 11:32; Joh 4:19; 6:70; 8:44; 9:17; 10:1, 13, 33; 12:6. In these places translators insert the indefinite article “a” before the predicate noun in order to bring out the quality or characteristic of the subject. Since the indefinite article is inserted before the predicate noun in such texts, with equal justification the indefinite article “a” is inserted before the anarthrous θεός in the predicate of John 1:1 to make it read “a god.” The Sacred Scriptures confirm the correctness of this rendering.

In his article “Qualitative Anarthrous Predicate Nouns: Mark 15:39 and John 1:1,” published in Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol. 92, Philadelphia, 1973, p. 85, Philip B. Harner said that such clauses as the one in Joh 1:1, “with an anarthrous predicate preceding the verb, are primarily qualitative in meaning. They indicate that the logos has the nature of theos. There is no basis for regarding the predicate theos as definite.” On p. 87 of his article, Harner concluded: “In John 1:1 I think that the qualitative force of the predicate is so prominent that the noun cannot be regarded as definite.”

Following is a list of instances in the gospels of Mark and John where various translators have rendered singular anarthrous predicate nouns occurring before the verb with an indefinite article to denote the indefinite and qualitative status of the subject nouns:

Scripture Text

New World Translation

King James Version

An American Translation

New International Version

Revised Standard Version

Today’s English Version

Mark 6:49

an apparition

a spirit

a ghost

Mark 11:32

a prophet

a real prophet

a prophet

John 4:19

a prophet

John 6:70

a slanderer

a devil

an informer

a devil

John 8:44

a manslayer

a murderer

a liar

a prophet

a thief

a hired man

an hireling

a hired man

a hired hand

a hireling

a hired man

John 10:33

a man

a mere man

a man

John 12:6

a thief

[Footnotes]

Translated from German.

A cross we need not bear

Read the watchtower society's article here

Monday 16 September 2013

To hell and back.

A reproduction of the Watchtower Society's article

HADES

(Ha′des).

This is the common transliteration into English of the corresponding Greek word hai′des. It perhaps means “the unseen place.” In all, the word “Hades” occurs ten times in the earliest manuscripts of the Christian Greek Scriptures.—Mt 11:23; 16:18; Lu 10:15; 16:23; Ac 2:27, 31; Re 1:18; 6:8; 20:13, 14.

The King James Version translates hai′des as “hell” in these texts, but the Revised Standard Version renders it “Hades,” with the exception of Matthew 16:18, where “powers of death” is used, though the footnote reads “gates of Hades.” “Hades” rather than “hell” is used in many modern translations.

The Greek Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Scriptures (from Genesis to Malachi) uses the word “Hades” 73 times, employing it 60 times to translate the Hebrew word sheʼohl′, commonly rendered “Sheol.” Luke, the divinely inspired writer of Acts, definitely showed Hades to be the Greek equivalent of Sheol when he translated Peter’s quotation from Psalm 16:10. (Ac 2:27) Inversely, nine modern Hebrew translations of the Christian Greek Scriptures use the word “Sheol” to translate Hades at Revelation 20:13, 14; and the Syriac translation uses the related word Shiul.

In all but two cases in which the word Hades is used in the Christian Greek Scriptures it is related to death, either in the verse itself or in the immediate context; the two other instances are discussed in the following paragraph. Hades does not refer to a single grave (Gr., ta′phos), or to a single tomb (Gr., mne′ma), or to a single memorial tomb (Gr., mne·mei′on), but to the common grave of mankind, where the dead and buried ones are unseen. It thus signifies the same as the corresponding word “Sheol,” and an examination of its use in all its ten occurrences bears out this fact.—See GRAVE; SHEOL.

In its first occurrence, at Matthew 11:23, Jesus Christ, in chiding Capernaum for its disbelief, uses Hades to represent the depth of debasement to which Capernaum would come down, in contrast with the height of heaven to which she assumed to exalt herself. A corresponding text is found at Luke 10:15. Note the similar way in which Sheol is used at Job 11:7, 8.

Jesus and Congregation Delivered. Concerning the Christian congregation, Jesus said, at Matthew 16:18, that “the gates of Hades [“powers of death,” RS] will not overpower it.” Similarly, King Hezekiah, when on the verge of death, said: “In the midst of my days I will go into the gates of Sheol.” (Isa 38:10) It, therefore, becomes apparent that Jesus’ promise of victory over Hades means that its “gates” will open to release the dead by means of a resurrection, even as was the case with Christ Jesus himself.

Since Hades refers to the common grave of mankind, a place rather than a condition, Jesus entered within “the gates of Hades” when buried by Joseph of Arimathea. On Pentecost of 33 C.E., Peter said of Christ: “Neither was he forsaken in Hades nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus God resurrected, of which fact we are all witnesses.” (Ac 2:25-27, 29-32; Ps 16:10) Whereas “the gates of Hades” (Mt 16:18) were still holding David within their domain in Peter’s day (Ac 2:29), they had swung open for Christ Jesus when his Father resurrected him out of Hades. Thereafter, through the power of the resurrection given him (Joh 5:21-30), Jesus is the Holder of “the keys of death and of Hades.”—Re 1:17, 18.

Manifestly, the Bible Hades is not the imagined place that the ancient non-Christian Greeks described in their mythologies as a “dark, sunless region within the earth,” for there was no resurrection from such mythological underworld.

Illustrative Use. At Revelation 6:8 Hades is figuratively pictured as closely following after the rider of the pale horse, personalized Death, to receive the victims of the death-dealing agencies of war, famine, plagues, and wild beasts.

The sea (which at times serves as a watery grave for some) is mentioned in addition to Hades (the common earthen grave), for the purpose of stressing the inclusiveness of all such dead ones when Revelation 20:13, 14 says that the sea, death, and Hades are to give up or be emptied of the dead in them. Thereafter, death and Hades (but not the sea) are cast into “the lake of fire,” “the second death.” They thereby figuratively ‘die out’ of existence, and this signifies the end of Hades (Sheol), the common grave of mankind, as well as of death inherited through Adam.

The remaining text in which Hades is used is found at Luke 16:22-26 in the account of “the rich man” and “Lazarus.” The language throughout the account is plainly parabolic and cannot be construed literally in view of all the preceding texts. Note, however, that “the rich man” of the parable is spoken of as being “buried” in Hades, giving further evidence that Hades means the common grave of mankind.—See GEHENNA; TARTARUS

Wednesday 11 September 2013

My two cents.

Recently much of the world's attention was held captive by the global media coverage of the George Zimmerman trial.As for my two cents on the subject,I think that the entire matter was yet another sad example of how politics poisons everything.I mean here were two people who were hurting in their differing ways,neither of whom were apparently able to source the empathy/support they needed when it would have mattered.

Eventually these two hurting people collided and one of them ended up dead and the other was left with the remains of his life shattered,and the only reaction of the society that so completely failed both these men was to seek maximum exploitation of their tragedy in service of the very lowest form of politics.

Ecclesiastes1:15NKJV"What is crooked cannot be made straight,and what is lacking cannot be counted."

Saturday 7 September 2013

Apparently,the sky is falling.

Now secularists are getting into the doomsaying business.Incidentally the bible contains NO prophecies predicting the destruction of the earth or the extinction of humankind.

On science and pretensions of science.

David Berlinski's commentary on his work "The devil's delusion."

Thursday 5 September 2013

Liberty or death?

Both sides in this debate have some valid points,but as tends to be the case the problem is a failure to listen to the other rather than inelegance in presenting ones side of the issue.

The rebellion lives on.

President of the International Union of Physiological Sciences Professor Dennis Noble(Certainly no raving religious fundamentalist) critiques Neo-darwinism.

Monday 2 September 2013

More heresy?

Now common descent comes under fire.Goodness me what's next?

Saturday 31 August 2013

Junk DNA or Junk science?

The accompanying video takes a look at the controversial subject of Junk DNA and the design debate.

On materialism.

My response to the authors of the accompanying video would be.

Well,yes and no.Its not enough to simply say no to materialism.We must say yes to spirituality and there can be no genuine spirituality apart from truth,and there can be no knowledge of truth apart from and intimate relationship with the source of truth i.e Jehovah God see John17:17.

Tuesday 27 August 2013

Rotten to the core.

I used to read scriptures like Jeremiah25:33 and wonder at Jehovah's anger,now I hear about stories like this one and I marvel at his patience with this pathetic apology for a civilisation.

Saturday 24 August 2013

Shawn Francis Peters on Jehovahs Witnesses

The impact of Jehovah's witnesses on your civil liberties.

Shawn Francis Peters on Jehovahs Witnesses

Saturday 17 August 2013

A line in the sand III?

The hits just keep on coming,stay tuned.

Tuesday 6 August 2013

Amen.

The desire of every true servant of Jehovah.

Wednesday 24 July 2013

Facts and logic about bloodless surgery.

Usually conversations on this subject are characterized by a lot of heat and very little light.Hopefully these videos can reverse that ratio.

On what is possible..

The scriptures say that we are made in the image and likeness of the deity,imagine if all this talent/potential were to be rallied by global leadership that worked.Realistically though only the maker of man,the source of this vast potential can provide that leadership Jeremiah10:23.