A RESPONSE TO THOMAS KELLY (Religion)

by dhw, Saturday, June 02, 2012, 12:22 (4555 days ago) @ Thomas Kelly

THOMAS: dhw,
That last post of yours looks like a misrepresentation of my work.
Maybe I'll examine your reply and show how you've made errors.-Perhaps I can save us both a certain amount of time and trouble. I picked on the Matthew example as it was your first and contained obvious points of controversy. You have challenged the conventional translation and wish to substitute "serve" for "love", "neglect" for "hate", though you also wish to qualify your post with "all guessed". If you are not a scholar of ancient Greek (or Hebrew, since no-one really knows what language the original was in), the exercise seems pretty pointless, but if you are, it still doesn't make your version any more authentic than that of other experts ancient and modern. For me, I'm afraid all this is beside the point, and I have focused on the message not the words. In the context of war, brutal dictatorships and massacres, I challenge the practicality of both translations (regardless of your explanation of what you mean by "benefit"), and I have asked for clarification of the message concerning God's equal treatment of the just and unjust.
 
This is my way of challenging your apparent faith in the Bible, which you seem to regard as some kind of authority, since all your posts are based on it and you keep quoting it in defence of Matthew's message. (And I stand by all my objections to those quotes.) Perhaps I should make it quite explicit that although I accept that the Bible is a wonderful collection of stories, is full of wisdom and human insight, and often makes for inspirational reading, I also see it as a collection of books written, selected, translated and interpreted by humans as fallible as you and me. Your apparent faith in it as a guide may go down well in a Christian community, but you have been bold enough to enter a rather more sceptical den!
 
I need to keep emphasizing, though, that you are welcome, and I don't want this reception to seem hostile. Besides, I should imagine your faith is strong enough to deal with folk like me, as you will feel that God is with you. And if I really have misrepresented your work, I apologize in advance and will look forward to having my errors explained to me.