Merry Christmas!!

[Everybody Wang Chung]

[msnobody]

Merry Christmas, MG and all. It’s a bit late at night for me to wrap my head around all you said, Kish, but I’d like to.
Thank you for the lovely Christmas card Dr. Shades and your significant other. The card is set on the shelf as an addition to the Christmas decor.

[malkie]

If I were as good a Mormon as I was at my "peak", I would now (11:15pm) be on my way to the Catholic church for midnight mass.

As branch president I continued the tradition of meeting members at a nearby RC chapel and enjoying the warmth of ecumenicalism. Alas, tonight, none of the people I'm with would be interested in doing so.

Merry Christmas to all.

[Limnor]

Thanks for the holiday wishes, MG.

Kish’s point about historical context is interesting and worth further discussion on its own.

Hope everyone enjoys the season!

[msnobody]

Thanks for the holiday wishes, MG.

Kish’s point about historical context is interesting and worth further discussion on its own.

Hope everyone enjoys the season!

I am interested in this too. I’m reading/rereading a book that speaks of interpreting the Bible through the cultural lens of the biblical writers, which I’m finding the information to be plausible.

Would you say, Kish, that you interpret the Bible through a historical lens?

[Kishkumen]

Kishkumen, I enjoyed your post. I especially would like to emphasize this comment you've made. The world at the time of Jesus and His disciples was the world in which Christianity could become a worldwide religion. This, indeed, made all the difference.

Merry Christmas!

By the way, for other 'conspiracy minded' posters, H on the keyboard is next to G. Animal can be placed in the text instead of annal when using autocorrect. Oh, and also...active and believing members of the LDS church do not find themselves inebriated while doing anything.

More than can be said for some here I would guess.

And no, not trolling. Simply wishing everyone happy holidays and a Merry Christmas to those that are of the Christian faith.

We had our family over for an early Christmas Eve this afternoon. Tonight they're with their individual families. That's what happens when you start getting old!

Regards,
MG

Merry Christmas, MG! I wish Merry Christmas to everyone who celebrates in their respective ways. They can be Christian or not. They can be of any culture or clime. If they choose to celebrate Christmas, then I hope it brings them joy.

[Shulem]

By the way, for other 'conspiracy minded' posters, H on the keyboard is next to G.

You don't say, really? And because of that, and for that reason alone, you want us to think that's why it got pressed. You want us to think the last letter of your post, the one you've fanatically been pressing for well over 5,000+ times for several years was an accident or mishap and your initials escaped your eyes prior to clicking Submit because you were just too tired and clumsy to notice.

Animal can be placed in the text instead of annal when using autocorrect.

I believe you typed the word "animals" directly into the message board and the board autocorrect did not intervene with spelling or word selection. However, I could be wrong.

Oh, and also...active and believing members of the LDS church do not find themselves inebriated while doing anything.

That's a false statement. Who are you trying to kid? There are believing and active members of your church who drink alcohol just as there are believing and active members of your church who sexually abuse children. A believing Mormon could just as well find themself in either of those situations.

Were you drinking that night, MG? It's a very simple question. The apologetic runaround you offered above serves no purpose.

[ ] Yes
[ ] No


MG likes to play mind games, That's why he's here.

[Chap]

I’m reading/rereading a book that speaks of interpreting the Bible through the cultural lens of the biblical writers, which I’m finding the information to be plausible.

Exactly! There are certain cases where the views of the writer and the historical context under which something was written down are irrelevant to working out how a writing should be interpreted. Thus, for example, the statement "A woman goes to a shop that sells little cakes for a dollar each cake. She has six children, and wants to buy a cake for each one of them. She will therefore need six dollars" can be judged as true even if we know next to nothing about the writer.

But when in the book of Isaiah we read (following a modern translation):

Isaiah 7:13-15
New American Bible (Revised Edition)

13 Then he said: Listen, house of David! Is it not enough that you weary human beings? Must you also weary my God? 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign;[a] the young woman, pregnant and about to bear a son, shall name him Emmanuel. 15 Curds and honey he will eat so that he may learn to reject evil and choose good;

Then one absolutely does need information such as the notes provided in the translation used here:

Footnotes

7:14 Isaiah’s sign seeks to reassure Ahaz that he need not fear the invading armies of Syria and Israel in the light of God’s promise to David (2 Sm 7:12–16). The oracle follows a traditional announcement formula by which the birth and sometimes naming of a child is promised to particular individuals (Gn 16:11; Jgs 13:3). The young woman: Hebrew ‘almah designates a young woman of marriageable age without specific reference to virginity. The Septuagint translated the Hebrew term as parthenos, which normally does mean virgin, and this translation underlies Mt 1:23. Emmanuel: the name means “with us is God.” Since for the Christian the incarnation is the ultimate expression of God’s willingness to “be with us,” it is understandable that this text was interpreted to refer to the birth of Christ.

That makes it quite clear that the prophecy, when made, was intended to achieve a particular result in a particular historical crisis in the eight century BC. It had no reference to some event far into the future. The application to the birth of Jesus was done centuries later by early Christian writers, who did that they did because of the historical and belief context in which they (but not Isaiah) were writing.

[Kishkumen]

I am interested in this too. I’m reading/rereading a book that speaks of interpreting the Bible through the cultural lens of the biblical writers, which I’m finding the information to be plausible.

Would you say, Kish, that you interpret the Bible through a historical lens?

Merry Christmas, msnobody! Please send my Christmas greetings to your spouse.

I can read the Bible historically or devotionally. My Christianity is not rooted only in the Bible. It is rooted in all the ideas, teachings, and practices of later times that come out of Christian civilization, broadly speaking. The source of those things could be great writers and thinkers in the tradition. From my favorite theologians to popes, to great fiction writers and inspiring human exemplars—there are countless sources of salutary models and guides. The key criterion for determining what is useful is the degree to which it prompts me to follow the two great commandments.

[Shulem]

That makes it quite clear that the prophecy, when made, was intended to achieve a particular result in a particular historical crisis in the eight century BC. It had no reference to some event far into the future. The application to the birth of Jesus was done centuries later by early Christian writers, who did that they did because of the historical and belief context in which they (but not Isaiah) were writing.

Joseph Smith took several verses out of Isaiah and likened them to himself and assigned the meaning with his so-called restored church. Christians did the same thing in likening Isaiah's words with their newly formed church.