the book of life of the lamb slain

Posted on November 14, 2011 by christopher fisher

Calvinists who maintain that God is timeless or eternal (in the sense of being above time) sometimes point to Revelation for evidence. They consistently state throughout their sermons that all events are forever happening at all times in God’s mind. Christ is forever crucified, being crucified, in God’s frame of reference. They point to Revelation 13:8 as support for this:

Rev 13:8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

When these Calvinists use this verse as evidence, it gives Biblically literate Christians a chance to expose willful denial of scriptures. The first question that needs to be asked of these Christians is “can this verse grammatically mean something else than the Lamb is slain and is slain from the foundation of the world.” If this is denied, it tells the questioner that the Calvinist does not care about the scriptures and correct interpretation, but instead, just tries to reaffirm non-Biblical beliefs. This verse is particularly useful for this because it allows evidential proof of this fact.

Grammatically, the various prepositional phrases can be separated and rearranged in this verse. Does “from the foundation of the world” modify “written”, “book” , “slain” or even “dwell”. The English is ambiguous. The Greek is more so. Perhaps a better translation would be:

Rev 13:8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the slain Lamb.

In this sense, the point of this verse is that the names were never written, ever, in the Book of Life. Which Book of Life? The one regarding salvation (the slain Lamb). Calvinists can attempt to say that this is an improper translation and instead that there is a random verse in Revelation which tangentially alludes to metaphysical greek platonic concepts, but then the Calvinist needs to then explain Revelation 17:8:

Rev 17:8 The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.

Here is the exact same phrase “from the foundation of the world” coupled with “book of life” and these are recorded by the same Biblical author to boot. What does “from the foundation of the world” modify? It is obvious that this verse is about names never being written in the book of life, but then wouldn’t Revelation 13:8 be the same? The slain Lamb, then would be a descriptive of “book of life” and has no direct relation to “from the foundation of the world”. Christ has not always been slain. Christ is not always being slain. That is pagan nonsense.

Chances are that a Calvinist exposed to these truths will again in the future use Revelation 13:8 to support “timelessness”. To those who force their theology on the Bible, the Bible’s teaching will always be secondary.

Posted in Bible, Calvinism, Textual Criticism, Theology | 1 Comment

parents kill baby whom they say they could not feed

Posted on November 4, 2011 by christopher fisher

Fox News reports of a Berlin family who killed a newborn baby because they claim that they already had three children and could not afford to feed the new child.

Pro-aborts like to claim things like this do not happen. They hate hypothetical scenarios, because the hypotheticals destroy their position fairly quickly. Should this unwanted baby be murdered because the baby was unwanted? Are the parent’s liable for murder? Do parents have an obligation to their children? Demarcate the differences between this baby and a baby two minutes away from being born? Two days away from being born? Two months from being born? At what point is a baby not a baby?

Pro-abort have no lines between how they define murder and abortion.

Posted in Leftists | Leave a comment

Steve Jobs – savior of the poor

Posted on October 29, 2011 by christopher fisher

After Steve Jobs died, there arose plenty of complaints about his tax “givings”. For being a man who has introduced the world to the iPod, iPad, and iPhone, apparently those massive benefits to mankind are not enough. He apparently needed to give money to the US government to spend on fighting wars in other countries and funding turtle tunnels.

The logic behind criticisms of Steve Job’s tax avoidance mystifies me. What does Steve Jobs do with his money? Evidence is that he produces masterpieces like “Toy Story” and seeks to prolong his own life, leading to even more new innovation and increases in standards of living for the rest of mankind. Even the bums these days are equipped with iPhones! What does government do with money? They waste it atrociously. So, why should anyone be criticized for tax avoidance?

In order for these critics to make any sense at all, they need to claim that the government would benefit society more than Steve Jobs would with the same money. The critics just assume it so against all experimental evidence. Basic economics teaches us otherwise; if Steve Jobs was not taxed at all his innovation would have been greater, with more incentive to produce and less time wasting activity sheltering his earnings from IRS thugs.

Any rational person can look at how government spends money and how Steve Jobs spends money and clearly see that society would be better off not taxing Steve Jobs at all! Steve Jobs has single-handedly given society a standard of living never before imagined. What has government done except impede progress and destroy lives?

Posted in Economics, Leftists, Standard of Living | Leave a comment

the amazing food revolution

Posted on October 28, 2011 by christopher fisher

I just finished eating at Arby’s restaurant. Enticed by the fabulous looking food on their commercials, I went with the Ultimate Angus Philly. With a coupon I happened to have in my wallet, my total meal came out to be 5 or 6 dollars. As soon as my teeth sunk into my sandwich, I smiled. This fabulous food was cheap and could easily best meals found at higher class establishments.

For the last few weeks I have been eating high. Being in San Diego, I have had a good chance to sample all kinds of fancy foods, from upper class diners to street vegan samplings. My stomping ground has been Hodad’s Burgers, Jimmies Famous, and Nova Pizza (to name a few). I had Afghan food at a diner downtown and even food from Greek cafes. Although I enjoy this lifestyle and enjoy the high eating, I cannot see myself eating this expensive food forever. It is not that I would not pay this much for food (I definitely could), it is that the extra taste differential between places like Arby’s and Pizza Hut is not all that great to warrant the extra money. It is like first class seating on an airplane: sure you have a little bigger of a seat and a fancy curtain to keep poor people away, but you really do not gain that much by sitting first class.

To illustrate, a burger at Hodad’s might be 9 dollars with fries and no drink. Add in a tip and the meal is looking to be about 12 dollars. For that price, someone could easily purchase two Angus burgers from McDonnalds with fries and drinks. Likewise, an Albacore Melt with Fries and no drink may come to 14 dollars without tip at Jimmy’s Famous, but a nice Philly Sandwich, drink and fries at Arby’s only costs me 6 dollars. Which would I rather have? Probably an Albacore Melt, but not multiple days in a row. I would probably switch between the two because they are somewhat equal in taste (though not in price).

Those “foodies” who claim they can taste substantial difference between lower class food and upper class food have only to look to TV to see experimental evidence to the contrary. Chef Ramsey uses one test in which he presents various plates to his chefs to see which ones can identify the gourmet food from the street vendor food. Predictably, this never works very well and the ones who guess correctly seem to do so through blind chance. This is the state of food: fast food is only marginally less tasteful than higher priced food!

This is just further evidence that the rich might have more pictures of dead presidents but are not living that much better than the American “poor”. The vast amounts of extra money the rich pour into TV’s, cell phones, and food are for insignificant quality differences. Capitalism is the great equalizer.

Posted in Standard of Living | Leave a comment

the first intellectual property pirate

Posted on October 26, 2011 by christopher fisher

IN the year of our Lord 565, when Justin, the younger, the successor of Justinian, had the government of the Roman empire, there came into Britain a famous priest and abbot, a monk by habit and life, whose name was Columba, to preach the word of God to the provinces of the northern Picts, who are separated from the southern parts by steep and rugged mountains… (Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English History (731 AD))

In the first few centuries after the explosive growth of the Christian religion under Constantine, most evangelized regions of the world were without Scripture of any kind. In Ireland, among newly evangelized Picts this problem was of such extent that a certain monk of by the name of Columba set out to copy and distribute scripture. His attempts were not without their own troubles, mainly the government and a copyright decree (it seems there was no standing concept of copyright before this). The first recorded copyright dispute, not only was an attempt to suppress the Bible, but also led to a revolution against the copyright-enforcing, Pagan-friendly King. Eventually this led to the Christianizing of Ireland by the Intellectual Property pirate, Columba.

The accounts in existence of the life of Columba are not necessarily the most reliable. Three main sources attest to the life of this man: Vita Columbae by Adomnan (672), an anonymous work dated around 1150, and Manus O’Donnell’s Betha Colaim Chille (1532). Adomnan, who likely knew people who knew Columba, fills his account with strange and fictional miracles. The work done in 1532 collects many various sources and traditions, including these fictitious miracles (but with disclaimer). Although the miraculous can be discounted and the anachronisms ignored, the overall story is likely to be reliable. On such example is when Columba curses a man who falls dead on the spot. As reported by Manus O’Donnell:

70. Then Columcille bade farewell to Finnen and went to Master Gemman to study in like manner. On a time that he and Gemman were together, they saw a young maiden coming toward them, and an evil man of the district pursuing her for her life. And she besought protection of Columcille and Gemman against him, And so great was her fear that she hid herself under their mantles to save her from that man. And when the man came to the spot, he heeded not the sanctuary of Columcille nor of Gemman, bnt he made a spear-thrust against the maid so that she died straightway. And Columcille cursed him therefor, and besought God to kill him in short space. Then inquired Gemman of Columcille how long it should be ere God avenge on the youth the shameful deed he had done.

Columcille made answer to him and said: “In the hour that the angels of God come to meet the soul of that maiden to bear it to Paradise, to enjoy the everlasting glory, devils of Hell shall come for the soul of this evil man to bear it to the pains of Hell for ever and ever.”

And in that very moment the man died in their sight, through the curse of Columcille, even as Ananias died in the sight of Peter. So that God’s name and Columcille ‘s were magnified thereby.

Rightly, Ray Corrigan tells a different version in his “Colmcille and the Battle of the Book: Technology, Law and Access to Knowledge in 6th Century Ireland”:

So it is not surprising that this was the story that got circulated, fuelled, no doubt, by a propaganda-literate ambitious young monk. As to how the murderer actually died, there’s a fair chance it was at the hands of the furious Celtic warrior in Colmcille, the one who was never reluctant to dish out summary vengeance with the appropriate curse thrown in for good measure. It’s hard to believe that a young man who had reputedly beaten opponents to within an inch of their lives when his temper took hold, would have been able to control the sheer physical rage that would have gripped him upon witnessing such a vicious murder.

Columba not only was an IP pirate, but also a righteous vigilante!

It is also from Manus O’Donnell’s 1532 work which the copyright story is taken, but this work cites the 1150 work as the source of the copyright story. Note that we are assured by O’Donnell’s translators that he remained particularly faithful to the original sources. The story starts out with a Columba visiting a monk named Finnen:

167. Here beginneth the sending of Columcille to Alba and the causes of his exile to Alba, as his Life anon will show.

168. On a time Columcille went to stay with Finnen of Druim Finn, and he asked of him the loan of a book, and it was given him. After the hours and the mass, he was wont to tarry behind the others in the church, there transcribing the book, unknown to Finnen…

Apparently, Columba was taking too long with the book, so “on the last night that Columba was copying the end of the book” Finnen, sent a youth to check on him. The youth found out what was going on and reported back to Finnen. Finnen next confronted Columba and demanded that Columba turn over the copy. Columba refused and both decided to defer judgment to the King of Erin (Ireland), Diarmaid. The events are recorded:

Anon withal they went together to Tara of the King, to Diarmaid son of Cerball. And Finnen first told the King his story, and he said:

“Columcille hath copied my book without my knowing,” saith he, “and I contend that the son of my book is mine.”

“I contend,” saith Columcille, “that the book of Finnen is none the worse for my copying it, and it is not right that the divine words in that book should perish, or that I or any other should be hindered from writing them or reading them or spreading them among the tribes. And further I declare that it was right for me to copy it, seeing there was profit to me from doing in this wise, and seeing it was my desire to give the profit thereof to all peoples, with no harm therefrom to Finnen or his book.”

Note Columba’s argument. He is copying “divine words”, arguably either a book of Psalms or other parts of the Latin Vulgate. Traditionally this is thought to be in existence and currently housed by the Royal Irish Academy, but this manuscript dates to after Columba’s death. Assuming current dating of the manuscript in possession, this surviving manuscript (containing Psalms 30:10 to 105:13 from the Latin Vulgate) may be a portion of a later copy of Columba’s book, but not the original.

Columba’s express intent was to distribute the “divine words” to the local people, making multiple copies on top of the original copy. Columba was a true evangelist, and the selfish Finnen intends to stop him because Finnen’s jealousy over the possession of such a rare and desired manuscript. Finnen, later in the story, realizes his evil.

The book mentioned in the story probably is a partial/full Vulgate.* Columba was very insistent on getting this copied, enough to do so in secret. This apparently took several nights. When the King decided the case against Columba, Columba curses him and afterwards leads a rebellion against him, hardly actions to commence over a book of just Psalms. Columba was trying to vulgarize the Vulgate for the Picts. For this he was brought before the King:

Then it was that Diarmaid gave the famous judgment: “To every cow her young cow, that is, her calf, and to every book its transcript. And therefore to Finnen belongeth the book thou hast written, Columcille”

“It is an unjust judgment,” saith Columcille, “and punishment shall fall on thee therefor.”

Columba curses the King and walks out on him. He had not expected a judgment against him and this takes him by surprise. No mention is ever made of him complying with the judgment. In fact, evidence points to the very opposite; a manuscript still exists claiming to be his, and he almost instantly starts a rebellion. It is unlikely that tradition would start if the actual book was returned or that an angry warrior would be acquiescing an unjust judgment.

Ray Corrigan writes that King Diarmaid’s decision was an attempt to stain Columba and make a gesture to the Pagans, possibly manufactured by the King’s Druid advisor, Bec MacDe:

He [Bec MacDe] was well acquainted with the big monk and can scarcely have believed his good fortune in having this opportunity to taint the reputation of the high profile evangelist. In addition he was simultaneously able to inhibit the distribution of copies of a book which he understood to be the purist form of the Christian doctrine available in the country.

This enraged Columba and to make matters worse, the King next executes a prince under the protection of Columba. Columba cites these two reasons as for going to war with King Diarmaid:

169. And then Columcille said: “I will go to my kinsmen, the clan of Conall and of Eogan, and I will make war against thee to avenge the unjust judgment thou hast given against me touching the book, and to avenge the killing of the son of the King of Connacht that was under my safeguard, for it sufficeth me not that God take vengeance on thee hereafter, save myself take vengeance on thee in this world.”

Columba was not a faint-hearted Christian, but a Celtic warrior monk. He was not going to stand by and watch injustice prevail, especially not after the King’s suppression of the Bible. The King made a huge mistake in his first judgment and gave Columba instant allies with his second.

While Columba is leaving, the King gives an inane decree that no one can leave with Columba or join a fight against the King. The King appears to be a modern leftist who thinks that people will follow rules just because the rules exist. Presumably, the King was already feeling some fear and this was just inept lashing out.

Columba next manages to disappear without being seen by the King’s men, informs the local clans about the “evil judgment” against him, and then the clans take up arms against the King. The resulting battle is described more like a battle of prayer with Columba praying for his side and Finnen praying for the King. Columba eventually sends a messenger who prevails on Finnen to stop praying such that not all the soldiers are slain:

And Finnen knowing that this was true, and that Columcille had never spoken lie, and that God was right firmly in league with him, dropped him arms from his cross vigil, and left the place where he was.

It is interesting that the text implicitly and explicitly understands the anti-copyright decree as evil. Finnen is made to understand this, which leads to him dropping his prayers for the King, the King being routed, and Columba being able to claim the kingdom for himself (which he renounced for “God’s sake” because he offended God by previously saying that he and not God would give revenge). Columba then exiles himself, only to return again years later to continue his missionary work and fight against pagan raiders. As to the new dominance of Christianity, Ray Corrigan writes:

At the time, it was the custom every three years or so for Diarmaid to host a festival of games, ritual and lawmaking at Tara, which also celebrated the king himself. The year of the arbitration hearing turned out to be the last year it was a heavily pagan festival, as Diarmaid’s precipitated defeat at Cooldrummon proved to be the beginning of his demise and also of the waning of the influence of the druids with the high kings of Ireland.

The lasting influence of this event affected the political climate of Ireland. It represented another chink in the armor of the pagans. Ireland eventually succumbed to complete Christianization, not doubt helped along by the various and energetic missions by Columba, along with the military advances against the pagans. It can be argued that the first documented IP pirate converted an entire nation and saved literature at the same time. Columba should be held as a modern hero for these acts.

What else can be derived from this incident is a better understanding of copyright history. The first documented case of copyright dispute has only been recorded in history because it is odious. Just like Atheneaus’ Deipnosophistae documents the copyright of recipes in Syracuse (circa 500BC) in order to ridicule the practice, the case of Columba serves to show the evilness of the Pagan-friendly King. Modern copyright has no real precedence before the 1600s. Before that time, similar but entirely different concepts rose and died locally based on regional factors. In the Columba case, Finnen was not the author of the work in question and then king’s argument was internally inconsistent (Columba was doing the real manufacturing, not Finnen). In the Syracuse case, only food items were copyrighted and this was expressly to encourage gluttony. These were very specific and ad hoc rules. It was not until after the advent of union thugs (aka Trade Guilds) that copyright laws began to emerge. When people find that they can use the state to eliminate competition, they tend to become free-riders instead of constant innovators.

*Giving a generous 22 words per minute, the entire Bible would take about 137 hours to complete. This would be 14 nights of 10 hour stints. A shorthand could have been used and also potions of the Bible Columba already had, but this was also being done at night with ancient writing utensils. Probably, this was just the Old Testament, just the New Testament, or a partial of both (perhaps just the writings of Paul). Psalms, using the same methodology approximates to just over 33 hours to complete. The timeframe in the passage is not specific. It could be several days. It could be a month. We do not know for sure. These types of stories tend to skip mention of long timeframes between events.

Posted in History, Intellectual Property | 1 Comment

prosperity that might not have been

Posted on October 21, 2011 by christopher fisher

Every day millions of Americans take that all-to-familiar trip to the grocery store. In turn thousands of items await them, lined on long shelves in a neat and orderly fashion. A few employees might be wandering the store, but a few more man the check-out counters. Imagine if “self service” grocery stores never came into existence, or imagine that only Wal-Mart was allowed to and not Target. Employees would stand behind counters and grab products as customers told them which to grab. If a customer wants 100 items, the employee and all other customers would waste incalculable time waiting. Would this be a better world? Surprisingly, this might have been the world in which we live.

Clarence Saunders, the “inventor” of the self service grocery stores filed a patent on the process. But luckily for the modern world, this patent was not enforced by the courts. Saunders filled several lawsuits against competitors, but one competitor (William Bonner McCarty) found a different grocer who was doing “self-service” before Saunders.

Image a world in which McCarthy could not find that pre-existing self-service store, or imagine a world in which that first store filled the patent. Patents destroy innovation and retard the standard of living.

Posted in Goverment, Intellectual Property | Leave a comment

mises on copyright enslavement

Posted on October 21, 2011 by christopher fisher

Mises.org has a well crafted blog which seems to devote a large portion of their posts to fighting copyright. They have one post listing the horror files of copyright.

A few good “files”:

Pro wrestler sues rapper over hand gesture: Yet Another Example of how Intellectual Property is Partial Enslavement (trademark)

Man faces prison for helping people modify their own game consoles: Judge Bars ‘Fair Use’ Defense in Xbox Modding Trial;

Ford Slaps Brand Enthusiasts, Returns Love With Legal Punch, AdRants (Jan. 14, 2008) (Ford Motor Company claims that they hold the rights to any image of a Ford vehicle, even if it’s a picture you took of your own car);

Copyrights/trademarks and patents are a luddite invention holding people in slavery. Copyright in a digital age is uncalculably damaging, as illustrated in these images:

image 1

image 1

Btw. The reason we do not have “mini-games” during loading screens in video games, is because it is copyrighted.

Posted in Intellectual Property | Leave a comment

michael servetus was a calvinist

Posted on October 21, 2011 by christopher fisher

Anyone familiar with the life and works of John Calvin is familiar with the name Michael Servetus. John Calvin had Servetus executed for the crime of slighting Calvin. Calvin long held a grudge against Servetus for what Calvin saw as a direct attack against Calvin’s teaching. Officially, Servetus’ crime was being a non-Trinitarian and anti-paedobaptism (anti-infant baptism), an evil enough reason in itself that Calvin should be condemned in history.

But besides a few choice disagreements with Calvin, Servetus seems to have been carried away with the same strain of Platonism affecting Calvin. From his book On the Errors of the Trinity:

For in himself God is incomprehensible; he can be neither imagined, nor understood, nor discovered by thinking, unless you contemplate some aspect in him. (Book 6)

Incomprehensibility is used in a sense that no one can know any aspect of God. Calvinists often try to claim this as some sort of boon to God, as if he is too high and mighty to even interface with humanity in any aspect, but this is wrong. God describes himself overwhelmingly by his relations to mankind, by his emotions, and even by his actions. God is not unknowable in the Calvinistic sense advocated by Servetus. That is pure Platonism.

Likewise, Servetus argues for God’s “unity” and “timelessness” and uses these platonistic notions to discount the trinity:

There was, then, an oracle, a hypostasis of God, a Person of CHRIST, the divinity which was Son to God alone. Yet to us Christ alone is called Son. The being was future to us; but to God nothing is future. There was in God the very image of a being that to us was future; as if I now saw in a mirror a being that is not, but will be tomorrow…

The glory of the Father is in his spirit to a much more exceptional degree than the light can appear in his face. It would then dim this manifold fullness of Deity to be contented with a mere union with the second being; nor can this be done, unless you make the Son separate from the Father, or remove the Father from CHRIST; for there is in him nothing that can be called Son save the Father himself alone; therefore CHRIST is called the Son, and the Father is in the Son. (Book 7)

It is a great tragedy that Michael Servetus was executed and that the execution was followed up with the attempt to wipe his works from history. But Servetus, for all his good, was another mold of Calvinist, an even more consistent Calvinist than are alive today. The mere notion of the trinity discounts “unity” and “simplicity”, the core of the Platonistic descriptions of God.

Posted in Calvin, Open Theism, Theology | Leave a comment

why not King James only

Posted on October 21, 2011 by christopher fisher

There is a small but vocal minority of Christians who claim that the King James Bible is the only Bible which should be used. Some even go so far as to claim the other Bibles are evil. I have long rejected this view, although I exclusively quote from the King James in my writings. I use the King James because the Textus Receptus, the Greek New Testament from which the King James is translated, is very close to the majority Greek text, the text is copy-right free, and very widely accepted. There is, however, some distinct problems with the Textus Receptus/ King James Bible. DC Parker writes:

The printed text of Revelation got off to a very bad start. It is a well-known story that Erasmus had only one manuscript available to him in Basle and that it lacked the last six verses of the book. He therefore had recourse to translating his Latin text into Greek. The resultant text of course has only accidental similarities with the forms of text present in the manuscripts (apart from his memories of any Greek manuscripts which he might have seen previously). It is perhaps less generally known that Erasmus suffered from a more general difficulty in using this manuscript: it is a commentary manuscript of the kind which contains the biblical text within (and indistinguishable from) the commentary text. The result was that Erasmus was frequently unable to find the necessary Greek text (or the text which he expected on the basis of his Latin text) and made a retroversion on each such occasion. What is more surprising is that much of this retroversion survived in the Received Text. (An Introduction to the NT Manuscripts and their Text 227-228)

The Textus Receptus, although very similar to the majority text, is not the best representation of the majority of texts. In fact, the English translation also suffers, in turn, from its own translators:

Num 23:22 God brought them out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn.

Job 39:10 Canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in the furrow? or will he harrow the valleys after thee?

Deu 33:17 His glory is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns: with them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth: and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh.

Psa 92:10 But my horn shalt thou exalt like the horn of an unicorn: I shall be anointed with fresh oil.

Isa 34:7 And the unicorns shall come down with them, and the bullocks with the bulls; and their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness.

The King James references “unicorns” nine times. Although this leads to some Christians advocating the existence of Unicorns this is more likely a mistranslation of Reym H7214, meaning wild ox. Even more telling is the King James reference to Satyr:

Isa 13:21 But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there.

Isa 34:14 The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the wild beasts of the island, and the satyr shall cry to his fellow; the screech owl also shall rest there, and find for herself a place of rest.

The Satyr, a half-man half-goat creature, similar to a fawn in the fictional Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis and represented by the Greek god Pan in folklore, should not be interposed into the Bible. The same word, elsewhere translated as goat or demon or hairy man is, for no apparent reason, translated as a mythical Greek concept.

Other problems with the King James only advocates is that Paul, Jesus and other apostles tend to quote from the Septuagint (an imperfect Greek translation of the Old Testament).

The Septuagint is so mistranslated, it brings Platonism directly into the Bible. Tellingly, the translators change God’s statement about himself (“I am who I am”) into one of Platonic concepts “I am he who is” or “I am one”.

If Jesus, Paul and the other apostles do not mind using imperfect texts, then modern Christians should not be so picky either. However, this does not mean when discussing theology, the imperfect text should always take precedence.

Posted in Bible, Textual Criticism | 1 Comment

content of salvation

Posted on October 18, 2011 by christopher fisher

The word “save” is a very generic word. It can be referencing a whole host of contexts. This can be fairly easily illustrated by a popular t-shirt inscribed with the words “Jesus Saves. Shoots. Scores three points.” The joke is a play on words, tricking the reader into thinking the initial sentence is about “salvation from sins leading to an eternity in heaven”, while the sentence is actually in reference to sports.

While this mild mocking of Christianity is used by pagans, Christians often fall for the same trick of logic. Pastors, looking throughout the Bible, act as if there is only one meaning of salvation. This leads to major misunderstandings of the Bible.

Mary, specifically calls Jesus her savior, but savior from what? Protestants quickly fall prey to the fallacy when they see an opportunity to show Mary had sin. But what Mary was proclaiming was not about individual sin, but about Jesus saving a nation from the nation’s sin:

Mat 1:21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.

The history of the Jewish people had always been a cycle of rebellion-destruction and repentance-prosperity. The Roman occupation of the Jewish land was seen as just another leg in this cycle. The Jews were expecting a righteous leader, one who would save the Jews from this leg of sin and bring them back as a nation. This can be seen in the prophesy of Zacharias:

Luk 1:67 And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying,
Luk 1:68 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people,
Luk 1:69 And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David;
Luk 1:70 As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began:
Luk 1:71 That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us;
Luk 1:72 To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant;
Luk 1:73 The oath which he sware to our father Abraham,
Luk 1:74 That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear,
Luk 1:75 In holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life.

When Paul talks about salvation, it takes a different flavor. People are not saved “from the enemy” but from “death”. People are not saved by doing righteous works, but by believing in a historical event. People are not saved in this life, but even after death. Paul preaches a new gospel:

1Co 15:1 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;
1Co 15:2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
…
1Co 15:11 Therefore whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed.
1Co 15:12 Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?
1Co 15:13 But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen:
1Co 15:14 And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.
…
1Co 15:17 And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.
1Co 15:18 Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.
1Co 15:19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.

Paul is saying that without resurrection from the dead, Christian faith is worthless because we will all die eventually. If so, why would it matter then? How would we know or care when we are dead? Paul says our religion is about resurrection of the dead.

1Co 15:21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
1Co 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
1Co 15:23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.
1Co 15:24 Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
1Co 15:25 For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
1Co 15:26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.

Theologians can be eager to promote their pet theologies might be tempted to think words have wooden and static meanings. But those who read the Bible for understanding will always try to understand in what context words are being spoken.

Posted in Bible, Dispensationalism, Theology | 2 Comments