Eye of the needle

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Originally posted by Peter: If one word can be mistranslated, then why not others ... ?

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Many have not been translated at all but are merely transliterated. Indeed many things cannot be translated from one language to another. Thus it is up to the all knowing clergy, of the church of your choice, to tell you what they "really" mean.

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and if the bible is the word of God and all translators are
touched by him to reveal the true word of God, how can it even
happen?

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There are a few places in the Bible where a prophet will say, "The word of the Lord came to me, and he said ..." But there is no place in the Bible where it says, "This Book is the Word of God." Whether one can believe that the Bible is The Word of God depends on at least two things: How you define Word and how you define God.As to how there can be conflicting translations, the answer is simple. Translators which work for my church got it right. All the others are incompetent boobs!Don't you feel the same?

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Originally posted by John: What is your take on the authorship of the New Testament? Several people lately have been claiming that the original was in Aramaic and was then translated to Greek. They are using this to, imho, wiggle out of some uncomfortable scriptures.

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Hi John,There are plenty of English version to wriggle into. Who needs another foreign lanuage version?I believe the earliest known manuscripts are written in Greek, although that does not prove that Aramaic documents were not created earlier. They would have been less significant, however, for the following reason.The preponderance of early manuscripts were done in Greek because the number of Jews who spoke Greek was greater than the number which spoke Aramaic. [Jews living in the Mesopotamian region spoke Aramaic (which used Hebrew characters for writing)]. The majority of those who spoke Aramaic lived a long way from the real action. Jews in general lived all over the world and the Greeks had conquered the world. Greek manuscripts would reach the largest readership, period. Whether writing to Jews or to Gentiles, Greek was the language of choice. Many of the Old Testament passages quoted in the New Testament come directly out of the Septuagint, a Greek language Bible made available to Jews circa 250 BC.This is all rather interesting but it's not much of an issue for me. There are other consideration which make moot this and most other quarrels about holy scripture. The whole point of Judaism and Christianity has to do with ones choice of government. Jews and Christians hold out for Monarchy, a theocratic form of government which is illegal in these United States. I participate in these debates in the hope that knowledge of the Bible will help others, as it did me, to see this truth.Our debate often seems an exercise in futility. The real question is this:Is our constitutional, democratic, republic a good form of government?
Or do we want God (whatever that means) to be our bloody dictator?Someone sent me this link which discusses the Miracle of Tongues. It's not preachy and is a rather scholarly discussion of the language demographic of the Jewish world in the first century. Enjoy.Page not found | Alliance of Confessing Evangelicalsdb

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Originally posted by John:
The argument is that an apparant contradiction in the greek text is due to a an error in translation from the (purported) original aramaic.

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Even if both genealogies worked for purposes of the argument, the case breaks down for other reasons. There are many messianic prophecies which Jesus did not fulfill.Jesus did not bring home the Jews dispersed among heathen nations.
He did not sit on the Throne of David (i.e. become king and rule Israel).
He did not save Israel from its enemies (i.e. the occupation army of Rome).
And he did not restore the sovereign State of Israel.Failure to accomplish these requisites disqualifies him from the title: "Messiah".db