Tuesday 18 April 2023

A clash of ultra- titans. II

It's not just non trinitarian Christians who find Sharp's rule rather dull

probably the most telling blow against this 200-year-old controversial rule is the rejection of it by so many of the most respected trinitarian Bible language experts! Even Wallace himself (who desperately tries for some kind of “absolute” scriptural proof for a trinity idea) complains that

“so many grammarians and exegetes objected to the validity of Granville Sharp’s Rule with reference to texts dealing with the Deity of Christ”!

He specifically mentions “the great Greek grammarian,” G. B. Winer (trinitarian) and “one of the greatest grammarians of this [nineteenth/twentieth] century,” J. H. Moulton (trinitarian) as rejecting this “rule”!

I have also seen that the Roman Catholic scholar Karl Rahner rejects this rule as do C. F. D. Moule and Henry Alford. Even famed trinitarian scholar Dr. James Moffatt (“probably the greatest biblical scholar of our day”) showed his rejection of the “absoluteness” of this rule by his rendering of Titus 2:13.

In fact, even very trinitarian Daniel B. Wallace complains that the common translation of Titus 2:13 as found in the KJV (“the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ”) treats “‘God’ and ‘Savior’ separately”! - Compare 2 Peter 1:1, 2 KJV). The same separation can be seen in the ASV (Titus 2:13), the Douay Version, and the NEB (footnote). In vol. 5, p. 257 the respected The Expositor's Greek Testament says: "In the present case [Jude 1:4], however, the second noun (kupiov) belongs to the class of words which may stand without the article .... A similar doubtful case is found in Tit. ii. 13.... Other examples of the same kind are Eph. v. 5 ... 2 Thess. i: 12 ... 1 Tim. v. 21 (cf. 2 Tim. iv. 1) ... 2 Peter i. 1." [Except for kupiov, emphasis has been added by me.]

It is no secret to NT Grammarians that when you have more than one noun connected by "and" (kai in NT Greek) and the first noun has the article, the following nouns may or may not have the article but they can still be understood to have the article.

Moulton's Grammar of New Testament Greek says:

"(f) Repetition of Article with several nouns connected by kai

"The art. may be carried over from the first noun to the other(s)" - p. 181, Vol. 3, 1963.

We might compare Matt. 22:32 (all nouns with article) with Mark 12:26 (first article understood with following nouns).

So compare the KJV rendering of Titus 2:13 (which “treats ‘God’ and ‘Savior’ separately”) with that of 2 Peter 1:1, KJV.

(KJV) 2 Peter 1:1 "Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ"

Also compare:

(ASV) 2 Peter 1:1 "Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained a like precious faith with us in the righteousness of our God and the Saviour Jesus Christ."

(Weymouth NT) 2 Peter 1:1 "Simon Peter, a bondservant and Apostle of Jesus Christ: To those to whom there has been allotted the same precious faith as that which is ours through the righteousness of our God and of our Saviour Jesus Christ."

Even clearer are the renderings by the trinitarian scholars who translated The New American Bible, 1970 ed. (2 Thess. 1:12; Titus 2:13); NAB, 1991 ed. (Titus 2:13); New American Standard Bible (1 Tim. 5:21); Revised Standard Version (1 Tim. 5:21); NRSV (1 Tim. 5:21); The Jerusalem Bible (1 Tim. 5:21); NJB (1 Tim. 5:21); Today’s English Version (1 Tim. 5:21); New English Bible (1 Tim. 5:21); The Living Bible (2 Thess. 1:12); Phillips (Titus 2:13); Modern Language Bible (2 Thess. 1:12; 1 Tim. 5:21); Douay Version (2 Thess. 1:12); King James II Version (2 Thess. 1:12); Good News Bible (2 Thess. 1:12; 1 Tim. 5:21); The Amplified Bible (1 Tim. 5:21); Barclay’s Daily Study Bible, 1975 (2 Thess. 1:12); Riverside NT (Titus 2:13; 2 Thess. 1:12; 1 Tim. 5:21 ); New Life Version (2 Thess. 1:12; 1 Tim. 5:21); Easy-to-Read Version(1 Tim. 5:21).

We can find numerous translations of Titus 2:13 (probably the most-used scripture for this “proof”) which render it as referring to two persons.

Titus 2:13

Bible translations old and new:

13 lokynge for that blessed hope and appearynge of the glory of ye greate God and of oure Sauioure Iesu Christ - Coverdale

13 lokynge for þe blessed hope & appearinge of the glory of the greate God, & of oure sauioure Iesu Christ, - The Great Bible

13 Looking for that blessed hope, and appearing of that glorie of that mightie God, and of our Sauiour Iesus Christ, - Geneva

13 abidinge the blessid hope and the comyng of the glorie of the greet God, and of oure sauyour Jhesu Crist; - Wycliffe

13 lokinge for that blessed hope and glorious apperenge of ye myghty god and of oure savioure Iesu Christ - Tyndale

13 in expectation of that desirable happiness, the glorious appearance of the supreme God, and of our saviour Jesus Christ, - Mace

13 awaiting the blessed hope of the appearance of the Glory of the great God and of our Saviour Christ Jesus, - Moffatt

13 expecting the blessed hope; namely, the appearing of the glory of the great God, and of our Saviour Jesus Christ; - The Living Oracles

13 looking for the blessed hope, and appearing of the glory of the great God and of our Saviour Jesus Christ; - Noyes

13 waiting for the blessed hope, the glorious appearing of the great God and of our Savior Christ Jesus, - Riverside

13 looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of the great God and of our Saviour Jesus Christ, - Sawyer

(KJV) Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;

(New American Bible - 1970) as we await our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of the great God and of our Savior Christ Jesus

(New American Bible - 1991) as we await the blessed hope, the appearance of the glory of the great God and of our savior Jesus Christ

(New American Bible - 2010) as we await the blessed hope, the appearance of the glory of the great God and of our savior Jesus Christ

(A New Translation in Plain English - Charles K. Williams) while we wait for the blessed thing we hope for, the appearing of the glory of the great God and of our Saviour Jesus Christ

And while we live this life we hope and wait for the glorious denouement of the Great God and of Jesus Christ our saviour. - Phillips

We are to be looking for the great hope and the coming of our great God and the One Who saves, Christ Jesus. - NLV

13 Looking for that blessed hope, and appearing of that glory of that mighty God, and of our Savior Jesus Christ. - GNV

"looking for that blessed hope and glorious appearing of the mighty God and of our Saviour Jesus Christ," - NMB

According to An Idiom-Book of New Testament Greek, by C. F. D. Moule, Cambridge, England, 1971, p. 109, at Titus 2:13, the sense "of the Great God, and of our Saviour Jesus Christ ... is possible in [New Testament] Greek even without the repetition [of the definite article before the second noun]."

Noted British NT scholar and trinitarian clergyman Henry Alford wrote: "I would submit that [a translation which clearly differentiates God from Christ at Titus 2:13] satisfies all the grammatical requirements of the sentence: that it is both structurally and contextually more probable, and more agreeable to the Apostle’s [Paul’s] way of writing: and I have therefore preferred it." - The Greek Testament, p. 421, Vol. 3.

Elijah Daniels

Yet more propaganda re: the genetic code?

Fake News From PBS on the DNA Code

Cornelius G Hunter

Evolution, according to the highly produced PBS Evolution Project, “determines who lives, who dies, and who passes traits on to the next generation. The process plays a critical role in our daily lives, yet it is one of the most overlooked -- and misunderstood -- concepts ever described. … The Evolution series' goals are to heighten public understanding of evolution and how it works, to dispel common misunderstandings about the process, and to illuminate why it is relevant to all of us.” In other words, the PBS Evolution Project would clear away the ignorance and bring the real news of evolution. And with a long list of evolution luminaries advising the project (including Rodger Bybee, Gerald Carr, John Endler, Paul Ewald, Larry Flammer, Douglas Futuyma, Anne Houde, Les Kaufman, Joseph Levine, David Maddison, Anne Magurran, Justin Marshall, Kenneth Miller, Martin Nickels, Kevin Padian, Diane Paul, David Reznick, Helen Rodd, Chris Schneider, Judy Scotchmoor, Daniel Simberloff, Neil Shubin, Meredith Small, David Wake, and Peter Ward), we would expect nothing less. Here is what they had to say about the DNA code

Biologically and chemically, there is no reason why this particular genetic code, rather than any of millions or billions of others, should exist, scientists assert. Yet every species on Earth carries a genetic code that is, for all intents and purposes, identical and universal. The only scientific explanation for this situation is that the genetic code was the result of a single historic accident. That is, this code was the one carried by the single ancestor of life and all of its descendants, including us.

There was only one problem: that was fake news. The DNA, or genetic, code was and is, in fact, very Special. This was known at the time of the PBS Evolution Project, and since then it has only gotten worse for the evolutionists.

It is the exact opposite of how the evolutionists informed their viewers. They could not have misrepresented the science any more than they did. Because when evolutionists seek to “heighten public understanding,” and “dispel common misunderstandings,” it doesn’t mean teaching science. It means promoting evolution, in spite of the science.

Think you're a law abiding citizen? Time to think again

Yet more on why the trinity dogma is poor philosophy.

Revelation4:11NWT2013Edition:"You are worthy, JEHOVAH our God,to receive the glory and the honor and the power,because you created all things ,and because of your will they came into existence and were created."

Jehovah God alone is worthy of absolute worship because he alone is both necessary and sufficient as a cause and preserver of the cosmos. Obviously there cannot be anyone else who is both necessary and sufficient. To take the emotion out of the equation let us consider another trinity. Food,water and air. Let's call these three the trinity of life. Given a moderate climate an abundant supply of these three elements would be sufficient for a prolonged life. Of course no single element of these three would be sufficient to sustain a prolonged life though it would be absolutely necessary. But lets say we discovered that we could survive on just water. Then water alone would be both necessary and sufficient. The other two elements would become merely optional. What if we found that any of the three elements (i.e food/water/air) could sustain our lives by itself. Then all three would be come optional none of them would in/or of themselves be necessary. Thus we see that the three can either be all necessary or all optional but not both. The problem with Christendom's trinity is that each of the three elements are being presented as being both necessary and sufficient in and of themselves. Which of course is as we have demonstrated an absurdity. Another issue is that JEHOVAH is supreme. According to the dictionary this implies that he is peerless. A thing that cannot be stated of any of the constituents of Christendom's Trinity.

Ps. Webster's definition of supreme:

Definition of supreme

1: highest in rank or authority

The supreme commander

On the bible's identitarian theology.

Deuteronomy4:24ASV"For JEHOVAH thy God is a devouring fire, a jealous(Demanding exclusive Devotion) God."

The entire focus of the bible is the clear and incontrovertible identification of this single person entitled to our exclusive Devotion . Hence the importance of His personal name .

Exodus3:15ASV"And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, JEHOVAH, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name forever, and this is my memorial(How I am to be remembered) unto all generations. "

Malachi1:11ASV"For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name'shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense'shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name'shall be great among the Gentiles, saith JEHOVAH of hosts"

Psalm ch.8:1ASV"O JEHOVAH, our Lord, How excellent is thy name in all the earth, Who hast set thy glory upon the heavens!"

Those who belittle the sacred name are doing Satan's bidding. The Lord JEHOVAH placed his name 7000+ (i.e more than the next five most common names mentioned in the bible combined) times in the holy text for the sake of his agenda(i.e the publishing and exalting of said name) ,any attempt to hinder that agenda is doomed to frustration . The category to which the person bearing this name of names belongs is an exclusive one,

so exclusive in fact that the God and Father of Jesus is its only member. Hence he is described in ways that exclude every other person or thing from his ontological vicinity . It's not merely that he has no peers ,he has no approximates.

Psalm83;18ASV"That they may know that thou(Second person singular) alone, whose name is JEHOVAH, Art the Most High over all the earth."

This single person named JEHOVAH is superlative (as defined by the dictionary)re:every attribute that would make one worthy of being considered a deity. This excludes the possibility of there being any other coequal person with whom he shares a mystical union which union is required to exhaust the category of supreme deity. No, God the Father i.e JEHOVAH exhausts the category of supreme divinity singlehandedly according to scripture.

1Kings8:27ASV"But will God in very deed dwell on the earth?(It's a rhetorical question not a puzzle) behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot (note,the hard negative)contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded!'

There is an impassable gulf between the uncreated and the created. Just as JEHOVAH cannot cause the created to possess the nature of the uncreated. He likewise cannot cause the uncreated to possess the nature of the created.

Hosea11:9ASV"9I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim: for I am God, and not man; the Holy One in the midst of thee; and I will not come in wrath."

Numbers ch.23:19ASV"God is not a man, that he should lie, Neither the son of man, that he should repent: Hath he said, and will he not do it? Or hath he spoken, and will he not make it good?"

To maintain that JEHOVAH'S exclusion from his creation is not an immutable(as defined by the dictionary) fact is to reduce the above quotations to meaningless word salads. Those words were not propounded merely for the comfort of JEHOVAH'S servants at that time and place but for his people ever after, in every time and place. The limits of the created can NEVER apply to the uncreated.

JEHOVAH alone is absolutely necessary for the origin and sustenance of the creation including his heavenly and earthly children. JEHOVAH alone is the ultimate source of ALL the information and energy manifest in creation.

Isaiah45:18ASV"For thus saith JEHOVAH that created the heavens, the God that formed the earth and made it, that established it and created it not a waste, that formed it to be inhabited: I am JEHOVAH; And there is NONE else."

Thus even though JEHOVAH routinely uses prior creations as raw materials or instrumentalities in producing later creations he can still legitimately take full credit for their existence.

e.g Genesis6:7ASV,"And JEHOVAH said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the ground; both man, and beast, and creeping things, and birds of the heavens; for it repenteth me that I have made them.'"

Of course JEHOVAH did not miraculously produce any of the people and animals living at that time, they came to be as result of natural processes set in motion by the creator ,yet as the ultimate source of ALL the information and energy that made said processes possible the Lord JEHOVAH could take full credit for their existence. This would certainly not be case if he did not unilaterally exhaust the category of supreme (as defined by the dictionary) divinity. Thus redundancy is not a Characteristic of the Lord JEHOVAH. Thus to sumarise the biblical JEHOVAH is superlative(as defined by the dictionary)

The biblical JEHOVAH is absolutely immutable(as defined by the dictionary)

The biblical JEHOVAH is absolutely essential (as defined by the dictionary)to the origin and sustenance of the both the physical and superphysical creation.

meditations of aservantofJEHOVAH

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