Objections to Christians Learning Greek and Hebrew (6/7)
The first five blog posts summarizing the argument in Reasons Christians Should and Can Learn Greek and Hebrew, the Biblical Languages explained the value of learning the Biblical languages and explained that the languages are not too difficult to learn–indeed, Biblical Greek and Hebrew are easier languages to learn than modern English. Clearly, knowing the languages is valuable and attainable. But people have objections.
1.) “Greek letters look different from English ones! Hebrew letters, even more so! Greek and Hebrew must be hard languages!”
While some people who begin to learn Greek and Hebrew do not finish what they started, there is just about nobody that cannot learn the Greek and Hebrew alphabet. If toddlers can learn the alphabet in Israel and in Greece, adults can learn the same alphabet in English-speaking countries.
2.) “Learning Greek and Hebrew is dangerous: such knowledge makes the person who knows the languages proud.”
There is no reason why learning God’s Word in Greek or Hebrew would contribute to pride rather than to humility, any more than learning God’s Word in English would contribute to pride rather than to humility.
3.) “Learning Greek and Hebrew is too hard.”
This objection was already examined in the part four of this seven part series. However, even if learning the languages was very hard, it would not be as hard as being crucified. But all Christians are called to daily cross-bearing, so they are all already called to something that is much harder than learning Greek or Hebrew.
4.) “Greek and Hebrew can be abused.”
Yes, the Bible in Greek or in Hebrew can be abused, as can the Bible in English. Should we refrain from learning the English language because innumerable cults and false religions abuse the English Bible? Because many preachers who warn about the dangers of Greek and Hebrew do not even know how to properly exposit the English text, should we avoid English?
5.) “I do not have time to learn Greek and Hebrew—I am too busy preparing for ministry or too busy, already serving in the ministry.”
Over the course of a lifetime of ministry, learning Greek and Hebrew actually saves tremendous amounts of time. Exegetical conclusions that are easily and quickly determined by an examination of the original language text are hard and time consuming to someone who does not know the Biblical languages.
The objections above to learning the Biblical languages are insufficient. They do not even come close to refuting the positive case for learning Greek and Hebrew summarized in the first five sections of this blog series or in the more comprehensive work Reasons Christians Should and Can Learn Greek and Hebrew, the Biblical Languages, pages 52-57 of which are summarized here.
–TDR
Living In Utah: My Observations
My wife, parents, and I moved into Utah mid-August 2021. Ten years ago, it never occurred that I would live in Utah and if someone asked, I would have said, zero chance. As Charles Dickins wrote first in The Pickwick Papers, his 1837 novel, “Never say never.” Someone recently asked where I was now, and when I said, “Utah,” he replied, “I love Utah.” That was it. He loved Utah.The Mormons had to leave Illinois, so 148 took seventeen months behind the leadership of Brigham Young to the Wasatch Valley, the Intermountain region of the United States, in 1847-1848. Approximately 70,000 Mormons came over the next 22 years. Half the population of the state is still, using their preferred title, Later Day Saint. As you might imagine, the LDS religion has had and continues to have a huge influence on Utah.I know many here don’t like this mentioned, but, yes, there are polygamist areas of Utah, certain towns famous for their polygamy. Jon Krakauer wrote about it in his book, Under the Banner of Heaven. He was driving through Southern Utah, stopped in a small town to get some gas, and he noticed that someone followed him out of town to be sure he left.Besides the Mormonism, Utah is the West. It is a Western state. That’s different than the West Coast. Despite LDS, the state has a Western flavor. It looks Western. There are gigantic mountains on both sides jutting up from a desert in the middle of which is the Great Salt Lake. When you leave certain populated areas, you run into nothingness for many miles all around.When we arrived in August, it was dry and hot. Your lawn won’t grow if you don’t water it. You don’t have mosquitoes. November and December has seen rain and snow in this valley, but especially in the mountains. Now there are very tall white mountains everywhere and wonderful ski resorts and snow sports if you like that kind of thing. Many do.Utah has five national parks: Arches, Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, and Zion National Parks. Many states have none. A very short drive from Utah, you have Grand Teton, Yellowstone, Glacier, and Grand Canyon National Parks. You can buy an annual pass to National Parks, so many are in driving distance, for the price of just Yellowstone.When Brigham Young reached the precipice that looked down into the valley where Salt Lake City is today, he said, “This is the place.” They found their promised land. Those words are now on a gigantic statue in Pioneer Park, which celebrates the Mormon founding of Utah. Around it are statues of the founders of Utah, which were Mormons.
My Observation
Everything from here on is my observation. I like Utah. I think it’s a great place to live. Statistics also prove that. Brigham Young and those original men had a good plan. Everything is square, usually with wide streets. They organized everything around the Mormon Temple in Salt Lake City and now the other temples built in the state, which are lit up every night. Organized in geographic precision are also the meetinghouses, almost all looking identical, thousands spread all over the state.The Mormons brought a desire to build good buildings. Most buildings look nice and well-built. When I visit various doctors with and for my parents, you walk into a nice lobby and sit in a very nice waiting room. Restaurants and hotels owned by LDS people are well built and usually well organized and served. Clinics and hospitals are equal distance away from each other, as if they were organized for the greatest convenience for the most people.LDS people are entrepreneurial. There are businesses popping up everywhere, what seem like more business than what could be operated by one state. The city planning is better than other places. Everything is very convenient. They have everything you would want or need in close driving distance.Many businesses close on Sundays here. I know Chick-fil-A does it, which seems strange other places, but many of them close here in Utah. Very popular places don’t open on Sunday. Traffic is very light on Sunday. People don’t have to drive far to get to their meetinghouses. When I get on the highway to go to where we are at church, it’s empty. Very few are out there driving.If you haven’t lived here, and you move here, you notice the people. It’s different. Mormons are unusually friendly. How do I know they’re Mormons? They have a common behavior that has affected the whole state. When I signal, drivers don’t speed up to stop me from merging. They slow down and let me in. I’m accustomed to fighting in traffic. It doesn’t happen here. Traffic isn’t bad, but even with traffic, you don’t get the sense that you might get road rage at some point. That rage seems to be absent here. I saw it weekly in California.I’ve been to many, many doctors appointments. I’ve met six different doctors. In every case, the conversation goes like this after the initial introduction. “So you’ve just moved here, where are you from?” I tell them where we came from. “So what brings you here?” I explain that I’m a Baptist pastor. I’ve had long conversations in the office. They take their time with you in the office, very patient. I’ve never seen it where in public places, people talk to you about religion.
The Religion
Since I’ve been in Utah, I have evangelized, so far not close to as much as I was especially in our year in Oregon. The neighborhoods I have evangelized have been almost 100 percent Mormon. You knock on a door, LDS answers. Next one, LDS answers. Again, LDS answers. And again, LDS answers. You could easily get 20 Mormons in a row here.Utah does not stop you from going door-to-door. Its people don’t discourage you from going door-to-door. We’re going in very cold weather right now, under freezing. They do not act like you’re strange for knocking on their door in the middle of Winter, the coldest time of the year. You don’t feel like you’re going to be kicked out of places. You don’t feel like some one is going to yell at you and cuss you out for ringing their door bell. A well above average number of people will answer the door. Very few have no-soliciting signs on their door. This is all different for me.Talking to Mormons is all very, very similar. They want you to think that they are Christian, that they are like you. They’ll even thank you for coming by and doing what you’re doing, even though you are there to tell them something that they do not believe. At your most confrontational, they still want you to think they’re the same as you, that they are Christian, and that we’re all in this together. I don’t think it’s fake. They do not want you to think they’re weird or in a strange religion. In most cases, they are super, super chipper, up beat, and showing you how wonderful it all is.The Mormons cover for the strangest parts of their religion. It almost seems like they don’t know how different and odd it is. I’m not trying to be offensive if you’re reading this and you’re Mormon. Talking to a 72 year old Mormon man, he told me that both John the Apostle and Moses both right now were living on the earth, and that was part of their doctrine. I didn’t know about that one until he told me. The wheels turned in the brain. It is a strange bit of hermeneutics on their part and not even representative of the strangest beliefs that they have.When talking to Mormons, I find that they do not know how unorthodox they are. They don’t know how unlike Christianity they are. Most of them don’t know what biblical Christianity is. Many also don’t understand their own religion enough and especially in comparison to Christianity to know how far off it is. They are not very conversational with important parts of their doctrine.Even though Mormonism claims to be a restored religion, something restoring Christianity back to what it was at the beginning, the proof for major doctrines comes down to Joseph Smith, some of the original influential leaders, Brigham Young, and then future presidents. Certain key men, writers and thinkers, took on the task of trying to put together all these disparate sources into a cohesive Mormon doctrine book from the quilt work of contradictions.I could start with something as simple as who Jesus Christ is. Mormons are not sure about Jesus, at least as I’ve talked to them so far. They do not know who God is. A main reason, I’ve found, is that there is so much difference of opinion in Mormon writing. The human authors of Mormonism, and it really is all humanly devised, even though they claim to have received it from God, disagree with one another. Later, editors really, have had to try to piece it all together.Here’s a simple one. Christianity, the Bible, says that Jesus was God who became man. Mormonism says that Jesus was man who became God. When did Jesus become God? In Mormon doctrine, Jesus was man first and then God.LDS call Jesus eternal God. You might think that means eternity past. It doesn’t, but then it doesn’t depending on how you explain it. Everyone splinters off an original one spiritual deity. Maybe they mean that now Jesus is eternal God, eternal as in future, but not in past, because even God wasn’t God in eternity past, unless he’s that one Spirit off of whom God splintered from. Anyway, it’s tough.I know Mormons want us, they and I, to be the same. We’re not. A good way to point that out without waiting is to say that when Joseph Smith received his first vision in the grove, where the father and son appeared to him in physical bodies, that they told him that all other religions were wrong. I tell them, I’m not offended. It’s just that we know we don’t believe the same according to Joseph Smith. And that’s important. We’re not the same. We can’t both be right.Even if you can persuade a Mormon that what they teach is wrong, giving them actual proof, they can still fall back on new revelation from God, either given to their President or to themselves personally. Their gift of the Holy Spirit, means He still speaks to them. Even if they don’t like Joseph Smith, God can give them the same doctrine directly. That is a lot to unravel.My wife and I talked to a young Mormon wife and mother, and I said we can’t believe whatever Jesus we want Him to be, like Jesus is a rorschach test. She disagreed. Anyone can find in Jesus whatever they want to believe. If someone wants him to be Chinese, he will be Chinese. All embrace mysticism, and many do this level of it.I will have more observations for you in the future.
Why Do Jews Get Special Favor from True Christians?
Based on what’s committed against the United States and people’s talk about Islamophobia, one might think Moslems would receive more crimes against them for their religion. They don’t. The FBI reports 227 Moslem victims in its last report in 2019 and 1,032 Jewish victims. Jews themselves also know that antisemitism grows rapidly.
For most of my life (born 1962), evangelical Christians were a very reliable ally of Jewish people and especially Israel. Yet, by far I hear and read among evangelicals more anti-Jewish language and writing than I’ve ever heard. I did not grow up around Jewish people and don’t ever remember even meeting a Jew until I was in college, but I still heard on a very regular basis, “The Jews are God’s chosen people.” I thought that too.
The Gospel of Matthew: Matthean Authorship, Early Date, Infallible Truth
The Apostle Matthew wrote Matthew’s Gospel. But do you know when Matthew was written, and what the historical evidence is for Matthew’s date? Was Matthew the first, second, third, or last gospel written? Did Matthew copy from another gospel? These, and similar questions, are answered in my written study on the evidence for the New Testament here. But if you want a video on Matthew which answers the questions above, click here to view “Historical Evidence for Matthew’s Gospel: Apostolic Authorship, Early Date, God’s Infallible Word on YouTube (from the last Word of Truth Conference at Bethel Baptist Church), or click here to view the video on Rumble, or view the embedded video below:
Sadly, in relation to the date question, not only theological modernists but too many theological conservatives and evangelicals ignore the actual ancient historical data to adopt dates significantly later than the data support, unnecessarily weakening the case for Christ. This video does not do that, but argues for the date for Matthew, c. A. D. 40, actually supported by history.
–TDR
Means to Personal Growth: How I Grow as a Person
We’re all going to die and personal growth will then end. At what point does personal growth stop? The older you get, the less years you have left, and maybe it doesn’t matter any more. I don’t know how much time I have left. It could be twenty years. It could be twenty seconds.
Cooperation with God’s Working
Bible Reading
Prayer
Fellowship
Practice
Writing
Reading
My Vaccine, Etc. Take
This is my take on the Covid-19 vaccine, etc.
In 2020-21 Brother Ross has written everything on vaccines and conspiracies on his day on Fridays. I wish they weren’t controversial, but I knew they would be and I know they are. I allowed all of them. I’m fine with the position he takes. He’s never explained, but I think I know why he wants to write on this subject so much. I’ve supported him. So, I haven’t written on the subject. I don’t want to write on it. But I’m going to write about it now. I think I should.
I understand why people won’t take the vaccine. There are several reasons for it in no necessary order. As I write these, I’m not looking up anything in research. These are off the top of my head. Each of these, I believe, is a reason.
One, the vaccine isn’t like anything else produced. It’s a new technology. How can we be sure about this particular technology?
Two, the vaccine was rushed through without the usual testing.
Three, the government has been lying from the start. When I say, government, I want you to understand that I don’t mean all of the government, mainly the unelected bureaucracy with cooperation of the media. All things have not been the same as it relates to the government, but the swamp is large.
The government wasn’t honest about China. It wasn’t honest about masks. It wasn’t a pandemic. The fear of a “pandemic” helped botch the 2020 election and made it easier to cheat. With total respect for those who died and those who knew people who died, people died at a lesser rate by definition than a true pandemic. Yet it was called a pandemic. The media has pushed the lies of the government. The government still lies on a daily basis.
The government used the pandemic to shut down and threaten churches. It’s still doing it in countries less free and without a Constitution like ours. The vaccine has been a political hard ball. It’s tossed all over the place to cause political damage in a dishonest way. When people were dying in the last administration, fast balls thrown at the head every minute at the President. Now when it’s spreading like wildfire and this President makes multiple errors, the media is silent. He wears the mask like a chin strap in public, coughs all over people, coughs into his hand, breaks every one of his own rules.
By the way, if you can’t understand why people don’t trust their government and in a big way, then please read Victor David Hansen’s recent column at American Greatness, entitled, “The Truths We Dared Not Speak in 2021.” This government is a clown car, trying to force people to put something in their body that they don’t want, except it’s not a fun clown car but one that is weaving all over the road with two wheels hanging over a cliff. Think about a clown and then think of President Biden and then Jen Psaki. It’s not a difficult reach. Put her hair on his head. It’s difficult to parody, (1) because it is its own parody without changing anything, and (2) it’s a nervous laugh because they are dangerous.
Four, the vaccine has the worst side effects I’ve ever seen. I admit that I haven’t taken many prescription drugs in my lifetime, but these are some weird reactions.
Five, President Biden opposed the vaccine until he became president and now he wants everyone vaccinated. He is willing to mandate it for anyone that he can.
Six, people are getting fired for not getting the vaccine. People are having their positions threatened. Some see themselves as marked people because they aren’t cooperating.
Seven, the vaccine sets a pattern of government control that reminds people of passages in Revelation where the Antichrist takes over. It isn’t the Antichrist and it isn’t the mark of the beast, but the Antichrist won’t allow those to buy or sell without the mark, and the present government has pushed a vaccine passport. When I was in San Francisco, held over there trying to get to a funeral, a coffee shop asked to see my vaccination card or I couldn’t get a coffee there.
This government locked everything down and would monetary fine those who broke their arbitrary, non-representative rules, and then the main executives of the rules broke them themselves with total hypocrisy. They also allowed leftist protestors to break them without interdiction or discouragement. Now they let people illegally into the country, who are breaking their Covid rules. They don’t really care about stopping the disease, not with the conviction of someone who really believed it was serious.
Eight, I’ve thought that a health crisis would be the basis for breaking down the boundaries and distinctions between governments. It was Rahm Emmanuel, Chief of Staff for President Obama, who said, “Don’t let a crisis go to waste.” Some seem to revel in the crisis. It creates great situations to pass a biggest spending bill for all of history.
Nine, the government says the vaccination works and then requires masks and social distancing as if the vaccination doesn’t work.
Ten, Israel does a study saying natural immunity is better than a vaccination and our government gives no equal favor to natural immunity. It is essentially silent on natural immunity. This itself is a sort of lie.
Eleven, politicians by nature make money from Pharmaceutical lobbyists, which seem to be involved. The more vaccinations, the more money to corrupt lobbyists. The cost is spread over everyone who pays taxes. What a boon! The give-away system itself is corrupt. This is a form of corporatism.
Twelve, cheap drugs that could help Covid patients aren’t allowed those drugs. They are safe, legal, and inexpensive, so why aren’t they allowed? Why are they being attacked in the media? Many testify to being helped by them and yet in many cases, the medical community doesn’t have them when they are needed. These are the same people saying to get a vaccine.
Thirteen, the wrong people are putting unreasonable pressure on people to take the vaccine.
Fourteen, other ideas besides the vaccine are not easily accessible. When someone has a criticism, it’s being censored in social media and on the mainstream media. Why is that?
Fifteen, more people look to the government for help, adding just a little bit or even a lot more dependency on big government.
Sixteen, just one more booster, no one more, just a second, you’ll just need one more.
Seventeen, this works at 95%, sorry to tell you now it’s at just 25% efficacy. They really didn’t know how long the efficacy would last. It looks like they’re trying the vaccine out on us.
Eighteen, people aren’t sure if aborted baby materials weren’t used in experimentation to create the vaccine.
I’m going to stop at eighteen. I could write thirty or more. What I wanted you to know was that I understand your concerns. If you didn’t get the vaccine, you’ve got reasons. I think especially cumulatively, people see what I’m writing. They know it. Even if they trust the vaccine, they don’t want to support this.
With this list of eighteen, if you want to get the vaccine, you should be at liberty to get it. I don’t agree with writing that calls it genocide and a death shot. Good people support getting the vaccine. I got the vaccine and a booster. My parents got the vaccine and the booster. I didn’t push the vaccine at all, but if someone asked me, I told them why I got it. No pressure.
I had my reasons for getting the vaccination, that I believe are legitimate reasons for getting it. I’m not ashamed for getting it. It wasn’t so that I could travel, like someone lied. I didn’t need it to travel. I don’t think people should be shamed for getting the vaccination. It’s a liberty issue. Because it is a liberty issue, I believe Brother Thomas can write about it with liberty. It’s obviously not a liberty issue for some. You should think about the principles in his conspiracy series. He cares about scripture more than most people I know.
I thought the reward outweighed the risk. I thought the vaccination was a risk. Not getting the vaccination, I believed, was a greater risk. To me, getting it was a greater reward. It should not be causing division in churches. For sure, it should not be a church discipline issue. I know several unaffiliated Baptist churches where a majority of the people received the vaccination.
When I list of the worst things happening in 2021, I think those on the list should be taken into consideration. With my eighteen reasons people could legitimately use for not getting vaccinated, that doesn’t mean I think the vaccination issue gets into the top five or even the top ten. That doesn’t mean the vaccination issue and others like it aren’t important at all. I’ve never written that. I did not make that point at all. However, if you don’t think my top five were important or even true, be my guest for making the case that there are bigger issues than the five I wrote. Feel free to argue the vaccination into the top five. Do not rehash what has already been written under other posts.
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You can comment, but I’ll shut it down if I think it’s uncivil. On this post, I have the right to delete any comment without giving you a reason.
Conspiracy Theory: Biblical Methods of Evaluation, part 7 of 7
Summary
In summary, before encouraging anyone to adopt a conspiracy theory, please consider:
Have I followed Biblical principles for evaluating data?
These principles include:
Have the best arguments both for and against the conspiracy been carefully examined?
Is the conspiracy logical?
Are there conflicts of interest in those promoting the conspiracy?
Does the conspiracy theory produce extraordinary evidence for its extraordinary claims?
Does the conspiracy require me to think more highly of myself than I ought to think?
Is looking into this conspiracy redeeming the time?
Are Biblical patterns of authority followed by those spreading the conspiracy?
If the conspiracy passes these evaluative tests, then there may be something to it. If it fails these tests, it should be ignored. If the person promoting the conspiracy to you has not taken the time to follow these Biblical tests, kindly ask him or her to follow Scripture before promoting conspiracies to you, and tell him that after Scripture is followed we may have time to talk, but we won’t before then. Then instead of watching the video on the conspiracy, behold the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, by the illumination of the Spirit, in the infallible Word (2 Corinthians 3:18).
–TDR
What Does God Say Is Cured By the New Covenant? The Blame Game
People have their favorite verses in the Bible, beloved ones they commit to memory. They know them well. Every verse, every word of the Bible is important, but there are key passages in it. If you think of Jeremiah, certain texts stand out. One of those is Jeremiah 31:31-34, the classic location for the new covenant.
I read Jeremiah again recently in my Bible reading. Something else stood out. If you google, “new covenant,” the first paragraph of the first link, which is the Wikipedia article, reads:
The New Covenant (Hebrew ברית חדשה berit hadashah; Greek διαθήκη καινή diatheke kaine) is a biblical interpretation originally derived from a phrase in the Book of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 31:31-34), in the Hebrew Bible (or Old Testament in Christian Bible).
31 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: 32 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD: 33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
28 And it shall come to pass, that like as I have watched over them, to pluck up, and to break down, and to throw down, and to destroy, and to afflict; so will I watch over them, to build, and to plant, saith the LORD. 29 In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children’s teeth are set on edge. 30 But every one shall die for his own iniquity: every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge.
Conspiracy Theory: Biblical Methods of Evaluation, part 6 of 7
The text of this post started from the sentence: “Is looking into this conspiracy redeeming the time?”
and ended with: “We should follow God’s example in Genesis 18, not Satan’s pattern in Genesis 3.”
The complete 7 part series is now available at the link below. Please view the series there. Feel free to comment below on this sixth part, however. Thank you.
–TDR
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