Duh

[Xru]

Greetings - Xru is back from destroying the minions of hell, the Satanically possessed, and Zombies. And Yes! I Survived. My friends will be pleased to hear this. Others . . . eh. And my enemies will be sourly disappointed at my lack of demise.

As usual, after conquering the Demonic threats to the World I am energized. No . . . i am wired . . . virtually on fire. I feel like I have 220 volts coursing through my body. Plus I've been getting acupuncture and my chakra's are so in tune I feel like I'm 'bout to spontaneously combust. So I've got to get this energy or what ever it is out before I . . . . well you can imagine.

Okay . . . . the one thing that bothers me the most about the veracity of the Bible is the irrefutable (or so it seems to me) gap between the cultural milieu of the 1st century and this pathetic excuse for the 2100 century. How are we supposed to evaluate/assess the true nature of what the ancient recorders of the words of or Beloved Jesus REALLY represented when the cultural differences are difficult to assess. After all there is s difference between finding artifacts and wrings that illuminate but what about LIVING in the milieu.. Second, how can we be sure that the translations from Hebrew and especial Aramaic can be considered reliable. Again, there seems to me anyway, admitting my ignorance , there is a big difference between speaking the language with all the nuances and learning it from the written form.

Thanks

This is the only forum I could find of even an approximate nature to post this. Please feel free to pull it to a different location.

[Xru]

Gee I guess this means no one can find a rational and convincing argument to counter my concerns!

[AlphaBravo]

How are we supposed to evaluate/assess the true nature of what the ancient recorders of the words of or Beloved Jesus REALLY represented when the cultural differences are difficult to assess.

Yeah, I have the same concerns about modern translations. Especially when it comes to the terms, idioms, and figures of speech used in the prophets. I always have a sneaking suspicion that something has been lost in translation due to cultural blind spots. Let me see if I can explain using some loose quotes from Zechariah.

Zech 1:8, "...a man riding upon a red horse and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in the bottom..", Is this like blood red, or just the usual red of a red horse. What is a bottom? Like a river bottom? What exact species is a "myrtle" tree. Do they exist today. How would we know we were looking at the same tree?

Zech 1:20, "...the the Lord showed me four carpenters", Does this mean carpenters like actual cabinet makers or home builders or something related to the temple construction? Do they build up or tear down?

Zech 5:6-8, '...this is an ephah...there was lifted up a talent of lead...woman who is evil is cast into the midst of the ephah...he cast the weight of lead upon the mouth of the ephah', I'm sure this is all perfectly clear to Zechariah but I am having a hard time visualizing it.

I sometimes feel like someone trying to read Egyptian hieroglyphs which seem to be describing electric batteries and light bulbs but they have been given generic religious names like "power of god" and "enemy of darkness" because the translator didn't have the sense to figure it out.