Articles and Writings

This is from the tail end of a discussion I was in about Bible correctors among fundamental Baptists.

Well, so much for Wycliffe's desire "that every man ... might read in the tongue wherein he was born the wonderful works of God." It's amazing to me that these men, just like the Catholics in Wycliffe's day, think we cannot understand the Bible without having access to the original languages, and think we cannot produce a Bible that does not require the common man to either have access to the originals or (as they would prefer) depend on the scholars to help him get the best understanding of his Bible. Who was going to guide me into all truth? The originals? The scholars? Or was it the Holy Ghost?

P.S. According to these men, there will never be a Bible faithful enough to the originals for them to get weaned off the original languages. Because the standard of faithful translation is their scholarship and their own measure.

Some time back while studying Hebrews 2, a thought occurred to me: Suffering made Jesus what he is today. Now, we know that Jesus knew all things from the point of view of scientific knowledge. But he did not know all things experientially ("...yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered"). That stayed with me. Below are several of my musings on the topic. Perhaps they will at some point be part of a more formal writing.
(Note: this has not been editted much; it's mostly as I originally wrote it, so it's somewhat raw)

The word "suffer" seems akin to permit or endure (Matthew 3:15, "...suffer it to be so...", 1 Timothy 2:12, "...I suffer not a woman to teach..."). Carries the distinct connotation of "going through" something. The latin root meaning (transliterated) "to bear under." That latin root, ferre, may be akin to the word ferry. It cannot be separated from endure, actually.

By its definition, it implies discomfort, whether physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, or other. We do not "suffer" things that please us - we enjoy them. We do not endure comfort, we welcome it. We may endure something which is not painful, but whatever we endure is almost always uncomfortable. That is how we define these things in our mind. Comfort and discomfort do not co-exist, and by the same token, then, neither do enjoyment and enduring, or pleasure and suffering (at least, not to the carnal man).

Read more!