Go ahead. I’ll wait.
Can you imagine the hubris involved in this project? It staggers the mind. For one thing, it reminds me of this (t-shirts available here).
I, of course, am no Greek scholar or even anything halfway resembling a Christian theosophist, so I breathlessly await their free-market translation of this passage, or of this one, which of course comes right after one of their prime examples of how Bill Clinton Barack Obama has subverted all meaningful religious instruction since the Synod of Hippo.
Interestingly enough, you are only the second person I’ve exchanged thoughts with on this one today. When I clicked your links on “difficult to translate passages”, I was actually expecting something like this.
One other thought: the underlying truth (and it IS a truth) represented in this story is the fact that the Bible, its translation, interpretation, and utilization is in fact a political battleground populated with folks from all over the political spectrum. The fact that any truly devout believer would be willing to enter this particular arena saddens me.
As a believer, I take my lead from the one I purport to follow. I now participate in the exact same number of tea parties, get out the vote campaigns, and lobbying efforts for Him that He did for me. Checking… yeah, that number is still zero.
One of the Professionally Religious from His era once tried to drag Him into a political argument, to which He famously replied: “Render unto Caesar…” or in modern terms, “Separate into church and state, and stay separated”. I don’t care if the Bill of Rights separates church and state or not, given that reference.
Ezekiel 23:20–one of my favorite
passages! There’s one somewhere that’s total gibberish–apparently the KJV committee just threw up their hands and rendered it word-for-word. I’ll find it when I’m not on the iPhone.