Tuesday, January 23, 2018

English being unclear

Revelation 14:4 :

οὗτοί εἰσιν οἳ μετὰ γυναικῶν οὐκ ἐμολύνθησαν· παρθένοι γάρ εἰσιν. οὗτοι οἱ ἀκολουθοῦντες τῷ Ἀρνίῳ ὅπου ἂν ὑπάγῃ· οὗτοι ἠγοράσθησαν ἀπὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἀπαρχὴ τῷ Θεῷ καὶ τῷ Ἀρνίῳ


Rendered, in the KJV, as :

These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.


So, "defiled with women"...yeaahhhh.....

I, like probably pretty much any native English speaker, read this as "defiled by naughty deeds with girls", which has always seemed like some sudden and random put down of women in John's Revelation. 

Not really.

The problem with the translation is that the Greek word for 'with', "μετὰ", does not express agency.  It is spatial or temporal, and, with the genitive, as it is used above, means 'among'.  In this sense it can even mean 'with' as in 'those who are supportive of women', like, if you can forgive this reference, "I'm with her".

So, more like :

These are they who, supportive of women OR among women have not been made unclean

ἐμολύνθησαν means 'made dirty', 'defiled' seems a bit strong here.

continuing :

for they are chaste.

Yep, παρθένος has, according to my Greek dictionary, been applied to St. Joseph as well, so, it very well might mean just chaste here.

Also, "redeemed from among men" quite clearly is "redeemed from among humanity", Greek has a word for male human, it was not used.

ἠγοράσθησαν incorporates the word for agora, so it's referencing a slave market. 'bought' seems better to me than 'redeemed', because it conveys the saved's lack of control over the situation and the impending service to another master if they don't go with the lamb.

So, putting everything together, I'd see this as a valid translation :

These are they who, amongst their women, have not made themselves dirty, for they are chaste.  These are they who follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth.  These were bought from among humanity, those first for God and the Lamb.




Saturday, September 12, 2015

Μη κρίνετε, ίνα μη κριθήτε - Matthew 7:1

"Μη κρίνετε, ίνα μη κριθήτε" - Matthew 7:1, Koine

"Judge not, lest ye be judged"   - Matthew 7:1, KJV

(N.B. - I am not a priest!!!!  Please, please, point out anything you discern as heretical, and please comment, especially if you are clergy...yes, that's three pleases).  

Matthew 7:1 has been weighing on my mind recently, so I thought I'd consider this passage in light of what κρίνω means literally, which is 'I separate'.  'To separate' conveys judging something as good as well as bad, or anything as something under any qualification, such as light and dark.  This latter example shows that the act of separation is, in fact, an act of creation.  Outside of marriage this is something completely beyond human ability (even there we are merely channeling the Father), and otherwise the fact that we are made in God's image rests not in a small part in our ability to be open to discern that which has already been created, and to name it, or to make images that, to the best of our ability, adhere to the Divine.  (I don't mean to deny the creativity of artists, I'm saying that it is strictly inspiration and discernment, operating through the individual, which open our eyes to things not yet seen, but which have always been.  For that, one has to remain open (although only to the right things, of course!)). 

To get back to the above quote of Our Lord's, in English this command is often reduced to "do not look down on others", which is admittedly in line with the original statement, although not with the entire meaning.  "Do not separate" could just as easily mean "do not look up to others (whom you yourself have separated)" (which is generally indicative of pride, despite masquerading as humility) as well as the normal interpretation of "do not look down on others (whom you have separated)".  All of this is, of course, due to the fact that the separation is already done, and any attempt to alter this is evil.  

When man does attempt to alter truth, a false order order is established, which is completely worldly and will be destroyed (because such 'orders' are bad and don't work), and a new one, which is generally a mirror image of the first, is often shortly presented as its correction (again, by man).  This second image is no better than the first if it is the first's reflection; in it the old heresies will be corrected, granted, but what was right in the old will be turned into bad in the new.  These false dichotomies are very common, and are a demonic distraction for separating people who shouldn't be separated, as well as bringing people together who should not be brought together (at least not in the way it is often done).  This is accomplished through presenting an individual with two 'options', both of which are designed to destroy their soul.  The choice is actually between recognizing the authority which created the false options, or the One which created the right option, the third option, which is the one that modern society never tells us is there.  

Getting back to the quote, perhaps a better reading of Matthew 7:1 is "do not use one's own reasoning to arrive at judgement" (somewhat ironic with all the thinking I'm doing here!).  This strikes at the heart of pride, and thereby of freemasonry and many other heresies, in saying that submission to the Truth which the Father instituted, on the very first day of creation, is what is commanded of us.  This requires allowing the Spirit to work through you, to allow discernment of what is light, and of what is dark, and never the exclusive use of reason to do so.  This has been given to us, to all of us, and we must be open to the Spirit to do so.  Remember : ""Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword" (Matthew 10:34), and it is one sword, a single, indivisible, eternally consistent sword.  It is not relative, it does not change upon perspective, and it requires utmost humility.  No other sword is permissible, Peter attempted this in Gethsemane, and Christ rebuked him, saying: "Put up thy sword into the sheath: the cup which My Father has given Me, shall I not drink it?" (John 18:11).  This display of humility and obedience by Our Lord is what's required of us is we are to be his students.

So, arm yourselves with the sword of the Spirit, and only with this discernment tear apart anything which mixes the bad with the good.