Site Purpose, My Bias

Priest-Kings in training don't rule over each other, but they often learn from watching each other. :) For, we are all now under the Royal Law (Jas2:8, see also its OT lower-grade version in Lev19:18). So, my fellow Crown Prince, whatever your social standing, accoutrements, or gender, the real purpose of 'my' sites is a Priest-kingly one: to encourage your own enjoyment in the study of the Lord, as the Holy Spirit enables it, via 1Jn1:9. For, this is a spiritual role, requiring spiritual brains: His. Apart from Him, we are all brained-out! So, then: it's always insightful to compare one's thoughts with another, so to better "audit" one's own thoughts for spiritual accounting flaws. For my #scripture friends who tell me "why aren't you here more often, brainout", I wish I could be there!

So, my webpages are not intended to 'sell' a particular denominational view, but rather to help brainstorming, and exposure-to-ideas. Because, each prospective king must do his own due diligence, never closing the ears. Frankly, all my websites are my own due diligence before the Lord, never mind whether anyone else ever reads them. I don't internalize Bible well until and unless I write a report on what I learn. So whether you should even read what's written, is between God and you, wholly unrelated to 'me'.

One of Christendom's biggest evils is that believers consider it 'evil' to hear something they consider 'unscriptural'. Oh, that holy sense of judging someone else! So millions of human beings have been physically or psychically murdered and maimed, as a result. Worse, such believers never grow up spiritually. For if you cannot account for the divergences from your own belief about what's 'scriptural', then a) you don't even understand what you think is right, and b) you can still be WRONG. So notice how the very evil they seek to avoid hearing, they themselves end up being! For ability to translate religious vocabulary into other discipline's terms, ability to simply explain, and most of all -- ability to analyze what you think you know, are all part of spiritual due diligence. Just read how the Lord talks to people in the Gospels, constantly exhorting them to Think Over what Scripture they know. And He Himself was accounted evil, by them (see Isa53trans.htm for the expanded translation of that chapter).

This evil has many sources, and we are all to blame. The teachers demean their congregations, thinking the material in Bible must be simplified, as if the Power of the Holy Spirit wasn't specified in John 4:24. The students demean their teachers and God also, by thinking the Bible ought to be some soundbytey-magic thing you thump, rather than think out. The politicians make use of all the prejudice around God-concepts, rallying whomever they want to their side.. and (cagily) against their opponents'. All in the name of God, of course. Satan laughs his head off. And we dumb-bunny Christians, forever retard in spiritual babyhood. For if you are in training to be a king and you refuse God's System (see GodSystem.htm), then you, not those others, are responsible. So you, irrespective of the others, will be forever retarded. Yeah, saved: but as what? A drooling baby? Sure, even a 'baby' then will be light-years smarter than any babyish person down here, but.. do you want to settle for that result? I bet not!

Yet we Christians always stay in the sandbox, preferring the nice warm fuzzies of babyhood to the 'pain' of growing up. For Christendom still doesn't account for its beliefs, and our egregious lack of accounting shows us up for the hypocrites we prove ourselves to be. God doesn't matter to us; truth doesn't matter to us; WHY God chooses, doesn't matter to us: we just use the Bible like a bludgeoning instrument, to beat everyone into 'our' line of interpretation. So why should anyone believe in Him, huh? If 'holy' means to be bludgeoned all the time, why do we have a Bible, rather than a truncheon? So whether or not what's said in 'my' webpages is 'right', it's still helpful for the sake of purviewing the accounting method. After all, a wrong belief can be easily changed, but the method of fixing it, is still the same: Due Diligence.

The so-called scientific method, all academic research, all accounting and auditing procedures, and all military science, have rigorous self-testing standards. Bible is completely adamant about it, with whole letters like 1Jn dedicated to explaining how you test IN the Spirit (1Jn1:9, else not in the Truth). If we don't audit our beliefs, we'll not catch the inevitable errors which humanity is prone to. Christianity has NOT done this, historically, which accounts for the welter of conflicts in translation and interpretation over the centuries. Instead of picking on the other guy's beliefs, then, audit your OWN. So, that's what I'm doing here. Any ideas you pick up from reviewing the material, are between God and you, so be sure to clear it with God before you do much reading of these sites.

So please don't assume that what I write is either accurate, or some sales gimmick. Instead, Test The Writing For Sense, before the Lord, breathing 1Jn1:9 as necessary, so you won't be Brainless in your reading. It doesn't matter if we have the 'same' faith; it doesn't matter if, person-to-person, we are correct in our doctrines. The Relationship is Vertical, never horizontal: He is Your Lord; He is My Lord. You are not my lord, nor I yours; so, it's not an issue between US whether one is more, or less, 'correct'; this, because each believer is connected IN Him, not directly to each other. So: via the writing I'm truly trying to independently 'see' better what I've learned; simultaneously, why alternative interpretations do or don't fit Bible. Then, I write as if it were 'homework', an essay exam. Since these webpages are public, I must also rephrase the explanation in terms of Bible-related concepts the average person should know (rather than the specialized method of my own church). For, it's not about denominations or interpersonal faith differences, It's about our being Royally Trained for Father. Everything else is meaningless and boring.

When we are children, we quite naturally APE what we see and hear. We consider that loyal, too. Children cannot love, but they can be loyal. Love requires maturity, and at this point the child is Learning the underpinnings of thought. So, he apes. So, when we spiritual children are under pastors, denominations, in groups -- we think that anything which doesn't APE the superficials of 'our' group, must be wrong. Well, that's not true. So until we grow past such childish definitions of loyalty and love, we will constantly wrangle in the sandbox: my 'daddy'/pastor/denomination/group is better than your 'daddy'/(etc). Historically, the bulk of Christians Remain in This Sandbox, Stultifying the Learning of their church group, their family, their affiliations, and their nation. For no nation is any better than the Christians, in it. God proved that through the story of Israel, and He proves it historically: "Thinking" series (accessible from the Home Page, near top-right) traces out that contention. Because, we really are Crown Princes in training, and all the world is affected by how we either grow up, or.. remain in the sandbox.

You Must Think Out What You Learn, To Grow. You must grow past the childish loyalty to friends, parents, teachers -- to blossom into True Honor, which is true love: God's. As a king-in-training, this is even more vital, for if you do not grow out of the childish phase, neither will your periphery. Hence these webpages.

Bizarre circumstances gave birth to these websites. I can't stand Windows, but I needed email, so I got webtv in August 1999. Then I discovered Christian 'chat'. Then it became necessary to write in websites, because people wanted me to explain what I had learned, but my fingers couldn't keep up with all their questions. Since webtv requires you be online for all webpage composition, my telephone bills became astronomical (in my area, telephone usage is expensive, per minute even for local calls). So, I had intended in April 2000, to quit webtv, quit chat and website writing. By 'chance' (yeah, right, no accidents in the Christian's life) at that very time a janitor in my building had found a Windows computer in the trash, which he insisted must be for me. So, he saved it, waiting until he saw me (he didn't know where in the building, I lived, nor did he know my last name, so couldn't learn where I lived). Two weeks later he ran into me, and told me all this. I did not want the computer, thinking that he should have it, instead. He would not take my "no" for an answer. His name was "Jesus" (honest)! He didn't know (and I didn't tell him) about my webtv, nor what I was doing with it. He didn't know I was thinking of quitting it, either: only God knew that. Ok: what would you do in my place? I took the computer, and guess what -- it was chat-ready, internet ready! By the programs on it, I learned what to buy at Office Depot, and.. hence these webpages.

He can and does use any human agency. Back in the OT, He even used Balaam's donkey! So, He might use this material. If the Holy Spirit decides to use this material, that's His Decision, and is a private matter between Him and the reader -- it has nothing to do with 'me'. So I don't need or want to know who reads these sites. It's none of my business.

For, everyone of any faith is generally positive to at least some small portion of the Truth, and God the Holy Spirit exploits that positive volition. His Truth always "flanks" falsehood, by letting falsehood freely operate. So, while I'm not shy about saying what I understand to be correct or in error (and why), you won't find that these sites vilify 'the heretic', either. [Frankly, every belief system, whether Christian or not, has at least a few very beautiful and apt tenets which help an open-minded person better see the True Light that is Bible. The Eastern religions, for example, often recognize what Western Christianity misses: the total harmony of opposites. Western Christianity, by contrast, focuses too much on judging sin, ignoring that sin was nailed to the Cross so it would not be an issue. Each Christian sect also has a few brilliantly-defined doctrines, but.. unfortunately uses them to compete with other Christian sects, rather than to amalgamate the meanings together to better see the whole.]

Granted, there is only one way to be permanently saved (at least once believe Christ paid for all your sins -- Faith Alone in Christ Alone); granted, there is also only one way to grow in Christ (see GodSystem.htm and "1 John's Outline of God's Script" in LordvSatan1.htm). Yet there are many ways to come to the cognitive point where you know these facts. So of course, there is no one "right" Christian denomination, particularly since man is fallible, but the Bible is not. What's "right", is instead the Uppermost Truth: the individual growing up in Christ, For Father! "Christ in you, the Confident Expectation of Glory!" (Col1:25-27.) Truth is a mosaic: Him. So we've all got pieces of the truth, and pieces of falsehood, in our beliefs. The trick is to use 1Jn1:9, stay open, not to stand pat, and to keep refining our understanding.

Now, if He uses something accurate in these pages, and the reader is not ready for that truth at that time, the reader might become hostile..but at least he was exposed. The Holy Spirit will recall it to his mind (John 14:26 principle) later on. That's the Holy Spirit's self-chosen job. My job vis á vis others, to the extent I have one, is to succinctly answer/explain what I've learned. Therefore, I don't list all the verses which back up an interpretation: the Holy Spirit will furnish proof to the reader who wants it, when that reader is ready for such proof. Thus the reader can know of confirmatory verses directly from Him, just as I have. That is part of your privilege and post, as Priest.

[Nerd Note: Relevant webpages are Isa53trans.htm, Isa53.htm, DDNA.htm.]

So, as you might know, it has long been a tradition in the historical, economics, and military sciences to study errors made by others in the field. This is particularly true in military training. The point is, an error Napoleon made in the past can easily be repeated by 'me', so I want to see clearly what mistake he made, so to better fortify self against making the same type of error. So too, military history teaches the successes, so that one may emulate them. So too, the Bible deliberately illustrates many errors and successes, so that by means of studying both, the reader may be better enabled to repeat the success, and avoid the failure. So important lessons can be applied to self by seeing doctrinal & other errors in Christian history and in translations: you know, seeing the mote in another's eye to better remove the log in one's own!

All error of any kind in the spiritual life, be it in the doctrines one believes or in the do's, is not really due to sin, but due to Not Looking High Enough. At God, the Uppermost Truth. Analysis of Scripture routinely fails (and failure is the norm, not the exception), because we focus on lesser truths. This focus creates those "LOGS", because it chops HO LOGOS, the Word, narrowly. Biblical keywords are royally chopped up/off/down. For example, all too many scholars and students chop out the many uses and tiered-meanings of "salvation", "baptism", "faith" -- narrowing these terms to but one meaning, each. Even "door", which obviously swings in and out, is narrowly construed to mean only to-Heaven "salvation".

So, when you come into salvation, You Enter a New Door. Out went the old, in comes the New: "The old things have passed away" (2Cor5:17, esp. in context). So you are Dead to Death (theme of Rom6-8). So you are now ON the Rock, the Floor, the "Foundation" (1Cor3, "born again" in John 3, Heb 6:8-10:17, etc). New 'doors of opportunity' await: for in His House, there are many mansions. Question is, where will you abide? (cf.1Cor13:1-3, 1Jn1:6-10; really, all of 1Jn is on this topic.) So, as verse groups like Heb10:10-17 and Phili2:12-13 stress, "salvation" is multiphased, foundation +storeys atop it.

But if you listen to Christians, that fact's chopped out, too. What, does no one recognize in Phili2:12, Paul is talking about something on the INSIDE (your spiritual life) WORKING OUT, too? People misuse this verse like they misuse James 2: oh, brother, if you don't hustle, then you aren't saved, because faith without works is dead! Slobber slobber. So, ask the slobberer: how do you "work out" a salvation you don't first already have, Phili2:12? Can one workout a non-existent body? And just Who Empowers the working-out in v.13 (ties to Eph2:10)? So, like Paul quips in Romans 7: who will deliver us from this body-of-dead, chopped thinking! Thanks be to God the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ! We can be 'saved', 'delivered', 'rescued' (all the same Greek verb, sozo) from our errors, hooray!

Thus whether Scholar or schoolkid, we all look too low, when we read His Thinking; thus we schism into our bizillion kooky faiths, Christian or no, all stressing a few to-people truths, competing. Persistence in learning His Word grows us out of this fractious, logging stage, which is part of spiritual childhood, as each NT writer explains (subtheme of each book). Of course, if we retard in that stage, as 99% of us historically do, we'll just have a lot of chopped wood for burning at the Bema (1Cor3, function depicted; Rev4, the actual future event, described in Greco-Roman drama tableau imagery, with Church as that "sea of glass", reflecting Christ). ["Bema" is a raised platform, like a stage; a governmental/military head sat upon it. Everyone else stood around. Then, the head would announce publicly who got awards or punishments due to some (usually military) endeavor in which those folks were all involved. The awards were shockingly enormous: people today would find these huge-wealth awards extremely offensive. (In theology, this Bible doctrine is called "crowns" after one of the Bible keywords designating it.) Punishments were enormous too: this fact is depicted in 1Cor3 as burning up your life's 'production', but not you. The "Thinking Out Loud" webseries has details.]

Therefore the "TULIPS?" website (in Basics Box on Home Page) redoes and enhances the original TULIP to correct what's been wrong with it since 1610. I'm not a Calvinist, but that doesn't matter. Idea is to preserve what's good about an idea, and prune out what's bad. So: once corrected, the acronym serves as a handy mnemonic for both the structure of salvation, and our so-great spiritual life after salvation. The "Salvation Components", "Spiritual..", and "Thinking Out Loud" sites on the Home Page thus complement "TULIPS?": those sites elaborate on how salvation and the post-salvation life dynamically operate. The "Thinking Out Loud" series is the most comprehensive.

Scholar error samples thus are given in many of my sites, but the quickest-to-read, are MisTrans.htm and in the "Badly Translated" link at the pagetop of RightPT.htm. Basically translations all cut God's Head out of the original text unless the word "God" is explicitly in the sentence, and otherwise fuzz up or truncate strategically-important doctrines on which your spiritual weal, depends. For example, verbs and nouns only used of God are thus given man's head in translation, instead. So many blasphemous errors, it's shocking to see them, so you'll have to do a lot of legwork here yourself. Don't lose faith in the translators and teachers: know instead that you have proof from these mistranslations that Satan&Co. are messing with them. Hence it's critical to pray for everyone who has a job related to Bible. Test this claim, k? Find out how bad such centuries-long mistranslations have gone on, so you can see it cannot be of human origin. This isn't rocket science to prove, and it's clearly an objective, empirical proof. But you must test a lot of verses, not just a few. Hence misinterpretation of our vital spiritual food is easy -- and devastating. Hence many mistranslation examples are given in each website, with the why-wrong data usually given in small font. In the "Testing" box on the Home page, some webpages are wholly dedicated to showing the corrected translation, since no extant translation looks remotely like what it says in the original-language text.

Here's a short list of the Bible mistranslation patterns. Every single error pattern has persisted for centuries, and in every Bible translation language I can read.

• Any verse that is ANTI-WORKS or ANTI-SOUL-LIFE-IN-WOMB, is REVERSED in translation; so you think spirituality is works, and human life is in the womb. French Louis Segond had the courage to translate SOME of the womb verses properly (i.e., dès ta naissance in Isa44:2, meaning BIRTH, just like the Hebrew says (mi beten, OUTSIDE/OUT FROM the womb). But that's really rare.
• Any verse that conclusively proves only One moment's faith that Christ paid for all your sins, SAVES YOU FOREVER, is FUZZED OVER so you aren't sure. Compare the Greek tenses in verses like Acts 16:31, John 3:16 with the English translations, see for yourself.
• Any verse that has GOD as the ACTOR, is REVERSED to make MAN appear to be the actor (most egregiously, in Jas2:22, and 1Cor1:5,10, 1Cor12:31ff, an epistle loaded with excellent wordplay).
• Any verse that is frank about SEX, PRO-MILITARY, PRO-WEALTH (thousands of these!) is EUPHEMIZED if its meaning cannot be wholly blotted out or reversed. So the God of INTIMACY (hence the many sexual metaphors to depict the spiritual goal of Word in you) is chopped down to a Sugar Daddy or Petty Judge.
• Any verse that elucidates the NATURE OF GOD OR TRINITY is FUZZED UP so you can't be sure who "God" is. Thousands of these verses in Bible. Hence the "proceed" argument about the Spirit (John 15:26) among Protestants (what a crock -- it's a military usage of the verb, famously in Matt4:4 and Deut 8:3 of LXX -- so of course is fuzzed over). Hence the baseless, centuries-long debate over whether the Holy Spirit is fully God, or.. some magical manifestation of Father, like the Hindu-god idea!

• Any verse that is VITAL TO COVENANT TERMS for a particular group, or KEY TO SPECIFIC COVENANT PROVISIONS, is WHOLLY MANGLED. Eph4:11-16, Roman12:1-3, Isaiah 52:13-54:1, Colo1:9-10 are stupendous mangling examples. Thus the average Christian cannot know what is the spiritual life. So he remains a baby, or gets into the wrong covenantal idea (viz, ritual is outdated, obsoleted, merely optional, Romans 10-14, Hebrews 5-10). Growing, not at all.
  So also is every verse using Greek aiwn or kairos, since these are TIME words to DIVIDE between one covenantal period and another. Some dingdong decided to translate "age" as "worlds" in Hebrews 1:2, and for centuries this isn't fixed, though everyone knows that "aiwn" means a fixed-time-period. So "dispensations" are Biblical, even if the way folks classify them, might not be. Sheesh: you can't imagine how puffed up people get between whether they are "covenantalists" or "dispensationalists". It's the same thing, for crying out loud: one references the group and its provisions, but the other merely references the TIME SPAN. Sure, there are goofballs in both camps, but why throw out the Bible's handling of "the times", "ages"? Oh well.

• For dessert, many verses are gratuitously mistranslated simply to denounce God or some Bible hero. This is a rampant category, and its pettiness is so extreme, you know that ALL the above mistranslations, are masterminded by Satan&Co. For surely, no translator in his right mind would want to make God out to be a liar, by translating Genesis 3:11, as "tell" (which makes it look like God lied to them about their being naked). The verb nagath there means "denounce", so "Who denounced you for being naked?" should be the proper translation -- but oh no! "Who TOLD you that you were naked?" is the translation you get in English (and other-language) Bibles! Note how God got DENOUNCED in the mistranslation! Thousands of examples like that one. Thousands. Do you know, because some dingdong mistranslated "dodato" in Exodus 6:20, both God and Moses are made guilty of INCEST? Do you know one guy lost 12 years(!) of his life considering the Bible self-contradicting, largely because he didn't check the original-language texts of that verse? So this petty slander is incredibly potent at maiming our faith, draining our desires. Away from God, of course! [In DDNA.htm there's a link near pagetop labelled, "About Bible Mistranslation" which walks you through these and a few more examples of this category, so you can prove to yourself it's not mere human fallibility at work, here. SatStrat.htm goes through Satan's strategy and tactics in too much more detail...]

Though the humor in Bible is unequaled, Bible is nonetheless quite serious about itself, and all those "I, the Lord" (mistranslated "I am the Lord") affadavits, help the reader to see how seriously he should study the words themselves. For, fundamentally, official communication is interpreted with all the precision of legal documents. Which means, every nuance in a sentence should be deliberate, and convey essential meaning. So you can't afford to gloss over the words. So you can't afford to translate without extreme care.

First, you TRANSLATE THE THOUGHT, not merely the words, of the speaker/writer, and not your own opinion about what you're translating. If you have a doubt about whether your opinion is involved in the translation, you must disclose it to the official for whom you are translating. Wars have been started, avoided, or ended due to mistranslation, so this is no small rule.

Secondly, ONLY translate from one IDIOM, TO another IDIOM. Literal translation is only sometimes helpful, when the etymology has a significant impact on meaning. Idiomatic translation makes all the difference between understanding in your language what someone communicates in 'his' language. It's bad enough that we of the SAME language have so much trouble understanding each other. Misunderstanding would obviously compound, if you don't follow the rule of idiom-to-idiom translation.

That means, an American expression like "good-bye" should be translated to the FOREIGN LANGUAGE EQUIVALENT. So, the equivalent in another language might take 1000 words, but you do it anyway. If the word in one language is culture-dependent, and the culture of the language you are translating TO has no equivalent cultural concept, you must note the CULTURAL MEANING in the language you are translating from. To not do this, again, leads to potentially fatal misunderstandings, particularly when translating between a Western language, and an Eastern or Middle Eastern one. For example, most non-English languages are WAY more officially effusive, and so are the cultures. So the terseness of English, which is often considered offensive to a non-English culture, must be adjusted, i.e., Sir, the English shortness of expression here is considered by their culture to be a sign of greater honor bestowed, so that is why this language is used.. etc.

Bible follows this and all translation rules assiduously. For example, all the ancient cultures were polytheistic. What distinguished the Jews was Absolute God. The "gods", of course, were really demons, which is why, for example, one of the Hebrew words for "god" is a fertility goat-demon (i.e., Pan). So you can't understand and will misinterpret what God is saying if you don't have an Accurate Translation of the Hebrew or Greek polytheistic vocabulary He uses. Like when God uses the Hebrew word davaq, meaning "to have sex" (KJV "cleave") as a running command in the OT: "cleave" to God, not gods. Very witty, very communicative, and whoever chops out that polytheistic/sexual meaning would be shot, were he a diplomatic translator to a king. Because, the first rule in diplomacy and translation is, Accurate Representation. To violate that rule, is treason. [Good treatise on this topic is Sir Harold Nicolson's Diplomacy. It's a slim volume, maybe available from Amazon.] Since we are all "Ambassadors for Christ", charged with translating the message of Christ to encourage each other and to a lost and dying world, we have a very scary post to learn to fulfill. Treason cannot be tolerated, yet we are ALL treasonous, by nature!

Thirdly, context context context. Just like Daniel Wallace says in the introduction to his seminary textbook, Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics, context is everything. So too, diplomatic/secular translation. You always follow the flow of the language you are translating from. This is an aerial, 'big-picture' translation rule, and it's critical. "Flow" includes not only tone, speed, and other attitudinal communicators, but also organization, how the material is structured for communication. Diplomacy, like the Bible itself, is a legal science, because it involves official communication between sovereigns (i.e., one country to another). So, precision is carefully crafted from every nuance in a language, and the organization of the material tells you very important 'stuff' about what the communication is intended to mean. Topics repeated or covered at length tend to be more important than others (though in Communist Russian, the reverse was true); topics coyly linked or brutally linked help the recipient of the translation gauge how much 'wiggle room' there is for discussion, particularly in sensitive areas.
Bible is the most amazing, among all written communication of this type. For example, when a topic is foundational, 99% of the way that fact is expressed, is by use of the language's foundational elements, like case endings, double-entendres, syntactical nuances. Salvation, for example, is the foundation for our having life with God. A good 90% of more of God's Word on this topic uses tenses to convey this fact; tenses which, like the "aorist" have no good modern-language equivalent except (somewhat) in Russian. There are also prepositions, which likewise have a bizillion meanings, and usually God means us to understand that all these meanings are simultaneously true, organized in a hierarchy: a multi-story building, atop salvation. Paul, for example, plays with the OT etymological origin of the word "epignosis" (epi, upon, + gnosis, knowledge, pregnant noun) to convey that spiritual life is learning Christ. On top of salvation.

Similarly, when God communicates His Co-Equality, foundational characteristics of the language are used. One of the more common (and apparently more confusing) ways to designate co-Equality is to use just a pronoun, "He". We capitalize the (Ineffable Name!) pronoun, but the original languages did not. You always knew from context that God was the Subject/Object, etc. See? So many deft uses of the Word simultaneously communicate what is meant, and -- best of all -- God is speaking. For no human is anywhere near this smart in the use of language. In short, to know the King of King's diplomatic communication, study like crazy. Or, commit treason.

So, when you translate, again you look for equivalents in the language you are translating to. You pay very close attention to any mismatches due to cultural differences, etc., and try to adjust for them, or annotate the translation to help the recipient of the translation better understand what's meant, and you package the whole to best fit the overall meaning of the intended communication. So, for example, if God chooses to use Greek-phallic-cult words to make analogous wordplay on what real intercourse with real God is about, you must translate that phallic-cult meaning. It's not interpretation, to do this, but translation; after all, they aren't your words which you are translating. It is an egregious interpretation to hide such meanings from the recipient, if the communicator deliberately used them. Wow: so many wars came from this horrible practice, interpreters sticking in their own two cents!

These egregious impotencies add up to translation screwups like you can't believe.. for centuries. Thus again you know the scholars (etc.) are not to be blamed: but rather, you have a heads-up on how FIXATED Satan&Co. are about covering up Our Divine Writ. By far the largest class of mistranslation errors is one which would cause the EXECUTION of any diplomatic translator. Look: say the original-language Bible verse read, "The Maserati convertible sped down the Autobahn." Now watch the Bible-typical translation: "the vehicle travelled down the path." Yikes! Speed is reduced to slowness, color and flash is washed out, you don't know what kind of transport or WHAT "path" is meant. What if you had to depend on the translation, for your salvation? For your spiritual life! Yet every Bible I can read in BibleWorks (software program of all major Bibles in original-text or translation, plus lexicons and other study aids) -- every one, makes this kind of egregious translation error routinely, and in strategic verses!

Kinda like translating "Ella tomó el café" as if she CARRIED OFF coffee, or a whole restaurant! For example, "huper" in Greek means "as a SUBSTITUTE FOR", and you can't translate it simply "for", without mangling the meaning. So, when you read verses about how Christ died "for" you -- what, did He do it as a favor? Don't you have to thus do something in return? But look: Christ died AS A SUBSTITUTE for you -- well, how can you do anything in return, if you had to have a substitute? See the difference a little preposition, makes? (See 2Cor5:21.)

Popular Biblical Greek seminary texts like Biblical Greek by Mounce, and Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics by Wallace stress facts like this one about "huper". Yet no English translation of the Bible follows even that rule. And, not to start a riot, but: English verses rendered "in" or "from" +"the womb" all mean, in the Hebrew or Greek, "FROM OUTSIDE" +"the womb"; which fact is also taught in seminary.

The rules about "huper" (etc.), are but a few of literally thousands in the ancient Greek languages. Another impotency is of similar vein: mistranslating the preposition, "eis" always as "to" or "unto" or "toward", when its root idea is cause-effect, so often means "with reference to", or "because". So, among other goofy beliefs caused by inaccurate translation, millions of people think that you gotta say out loud you believe in Christ to be saved, lol. (Romans 10:10 should end, "because of/due to salvation", not "unto salvation". See how the latter makes one inaccurately conclude you have to say you believe out loud? Despite the logic that God wouldn't need you to speak out loud, to hear you? Or, worse: that you have to admit it to people, for GOD? See how that latter interpretation puts people on par with God? Yikes!)

So try this experiment: look at John 3:16's "whoever believes in Him". Greek for "in" is really, EIS. If you look at similar Bible verses, you'll find the usual preposition is "epi" (root meaning of upon, on top of, so the object of the preposition is the FOUNDATION). So you can understand that a translation of believing IN Him is apt, but it's unusual to use "eis" in John 3:16. So God is telling us more than the usual meaning. So, because John nests cause-and-result relationships in almost every word in that verse, and because John writes "eis" here rather than the normal "epi", our phrase is perhaps more aptly rendered, "everyone believing because of HIM" will never perish (not 'may not', lol, it's a "hina" final purpose clause so takes the subjunctive), etc. See how much clearer it is to see that salvation's permanence, is stressed? For it is stressed, in the Greek syntax: God's purpose of Giving His Son will have its intended (hina!) result. [Actually, "whoever believes" is a fine translation. Participle in Greek can be translated as a finite verb. More importantly, the participle is coterminous or precedes the action of the main verb. Here, the "never perish" is the main verb, climactically placed. In Greek usually the most important thing is at the end of a sentence. Similar rule is in Russian.]

More: Bible was written in maybe 5 types of Greek, not just one, and Attick (classical, drama) Greek is very commonly used in the NT to stress importance, or draw cultural analogies to efficiently explain Divine truths: however, people generally translate as if only koine Greek (Alexander's) was used. To not recognize which kind of Greek is being used results in so many confusing translations and misinterpretations, it would take a book to list them all. What's weirder, is that often the lexicons and commentaries recognize a verse is 'problemmatic', but never ask the first-year seminary question they were taught: which kind of Greek is IT? Toward the beginning of his book, Dr. Wallace notes that there's the trend away from recognizing different kinds of Greek, and (if I remember correctly), footnotes that comment with a Dr. Robertson (or other scholar) who vehemently disagrees with that trend. 'Robertson' is right. Provably.

For, in Eph1:7, you have an Attic double-accusative, which means that the first accusative (apolutrosin, usu. trans'd "redemption") results in the availability of forgiveness (aphesin) of sins, because the second accusative is a resulting judicial structure. So, ties to the mechanic for forgiveness, 1Jn1:9 (naming sins to God). So if you interpreted Eph1:7 as mere koine, you'd think the doubled accusatives were appositional, so would mistakenly believe that all your sins are forgiven ON The Cross, so you'd never use 1Jn1:9; so you'd be spiritually comatose and spanked the rest of your life! [Spanked for not using 1Jn1:9, because no Filling of Spirit. Note the verses before and just after v.9. So if God isn't 'abiding' in you (vv8 or 10), you aren't filled with the Spirit, since He is also God. See also KJV of Gal5:16. "adikia", in v.9 and elsewhere in Bible, means a state of wrongdoing exists. In the OT they had to purify the Temple. Same verb is used in 1Jn1:9, katharizw. Can the Bible make it plainer? LordvSatan3.htm's "Fourth Reason for Invisibility:" section, explains much more about what constitutes "adikia".]

Worse, what's 1Jn1:9 doing there? Does the Bible contradict itself, lol? Never mind, that common sense would look at 1Jn1:9, Ps32:5, Ps66:18 and conclude you should name your sins to God. Never mind, that another thing you are stridently taught in seminary (really, since Moses), is never make a doctrine out of one verse. Always check Scripture against Scripture. Seriously, this false interpretation of the greek of Eph1:7 is very common in Christendom, now. So who knows how many Christians are running around, spiritually comatose, but thinking they are living the spiritual life! [John 3:16 and Col1:14 also use double accusatives. There are also, of course, other verses which employ this Dramatic (Attic) Greek construction.]

In sum, the errors always 'manage' to spin Bible as ascetically works-oriented, reversing the meanings in Hebrew/Greek); worst of all, the errors 'manage' to maim the believer's understanding. So, the believer cannot grow up spiritually, since he doesn't even know what he's reading is wrong. This was a huge shock for me to discover; until I got that computer for writing these websites, I honestly didn't know how pervasive and evil are the mistranslations; once I found them, I kept shaking my head in disbelief (shocking truth motivates disbelief). So, until you see how vastly gross are these errors, you won't believe, either. Abominable: a diplomatic translator who was that incompetent would be fired or executed, but.. oh! It's suddenly okay to violate translation rules, with respect to the Word of the Greatest Sovereign in the Universe? Yikes!

John 3:16 is probably the most-known verse in the New Testament, but its Greek structure is so unusual. You have three kinds of Greek, doublings all over the place (because the text is about the Hypostatic Union), cause-and-effect nestings. Nearly every word in that sentence is unusually-used, for Greek. Even the length (to demonstrate unbroken causality) is unusual. (A Biblical rhetorical pattern of legal connection is to use long sentences. Eph1:1-18 is another example, all one sentence. But translations break it up, so you miss the legal significance.) A lawyer who can read Greek would understand that an unbroken sentence stresses causal relationships. But how the heck do you convey the many unusual features of John3:16 in English? You can't. Best you can do, is spend hours teaching the exegesis, like my pastor does (others do also, though few).

So, although much needs to be done to retranslate the Bible; although the translation rules followed are abominable, and should be changed to at least the same rules as used for secular translations -- or, for God's sake, obey the rules taught in seminary; the best a translator can do, is to take the words themselves, viz., the sexual ones, and translate them idiomatically. So probably, a retranslation should footnote Greek cultural meanings, too, since the Bible pointedly uses specialized-Greek-culture words. The resultant re-translated meaning 'changes' so much, a reader will get curious and thus search Bible in the original languages. So then he begins to learn the many other layers of God's Treasure for Earthen Vessels just waiting for him, like wrapped Diamonds. True True True Riches Riches Riches! [What's said here about the Greek can be equally said about the Hebrew. Stress on Greek matters given the New Testament, which often uses the Septuagint (Greek translation of the Hebrew OT which the Lord and the NT writers used). There are significant problems with the Masoretic (deemed-inspired-OT-Hebrew) text, because that text is newer than the Septuagint. So one really needs to cross-reference both texts, to get the infallible, inspired, God-breathed text. Significant example of this problem is in Isaiah 53:10-12; Isa53.htm (short), Isa53trans.htm (long) cover this problem.]

But now, anyone can get Him, and it's easier than ever, to learn those texts. Sure, the texts are in dead languages (Hebrew and Greek today are very different from those texts). Sure, these are languages we don't speak. But it's God's Brains teaching us, John 4:24 ("by agency of the Spirit and by means of Truth" should be the translation). So if we refuse, we who are so much potentially richer than our forebears.. what must be the punishment due?

You are a king-in-training, and have to take responsibility for your own decisions, before the Lord. So there's a time and a way to be harsh on self or others, makes no difference: Kings Must Rule. Of course, once you are freed-up enough by Doctrine to do that, you can afford to also be more compassionate about yourself: and thus, more compassionate toward others. Love begins with Him: "We Love, because He first loved us", says John.

We believers, however 'small' we are in societal terms, each have an awesome and shocking Royal Authority now due to the Session. We should take it far more seriously than we do. Since we too have this authority which we ourselves misuse constantly, it is of course insanity to blame other authorities, because they, being human and bugged by Satan&Co. even more than we -- because they too, make mistakes. Even, for centuries. Let's merely recognize the errors, the pattern: for, our war is not against people, but instead a defensive war against bad thinking (see Eph6, 2Cor10:4-5, Rom12:2-3). (BTW: LordvSatan4.htm covers why we have such a shocking role, but it makes little sense until you're familiar with both concepts and 'flow' in the 3 prior htm's.)

Furthermore, God the Holy Spirit chose those languages, and He did not choose to make one Bible per language. So those languages must be important to learn. In fact, for this reason my pastor teaches the Bible in its original languages to the whole congregation. Only the Holy Spirit can take spiritual information, put it in your human spirit, and then "move" it along into (and around IN) your soul; so, human IQ is totally irrelevant. So, anyone can learn Scripture from the original languages, even if brain-damaged: we had two brain-damaged people in our congregation, that didn't hinder the Holy Spirit's Power to make them comprehend! This, too, is part of the kitting-out of your Unique-for-all-time Priesthood: a spiritual gift you permanently have. His Power makes up for any deficiencies. Just be willing to learn. You must use 1Jn1:9 to be "filled with the Spirit", however. (1Jn1:8-10, Eph5:18, and some "in..Spirit" verses.) Moreover, even though HS makes up for any IQ deficiencies, and in fact over time one does become smarter even in secular areas due to Filling, it's not magic. Learning takes time. So let's look at why He didn't choose to 'inspire' translations, but rather the original-language texts. For it was the PEOPLE He 'hired' to write those texts, who He inspired. So through those same texts, He'll inspire and grow, us. So we too, can get inspired understanding from what are now dead languages, with 1Jn1:9 breathed, under our own right pastors:

• Bible loves weaving wordplay and color: so often uses humor, sarcasm, satire, technical or offensive language, to communicate. Every verse has irony weaved through it. English, being developed as a business and diplomatic language, bleaches out such styles: so the English Bibles are often so dry and boring, one snoozes within five minutes! So, one thing I try to do, is write in the original-language styles. However, English specializes in droll humor. So, if you like "Journal de France 2"; or, the Australian movie, "Cane Toads" (Sundance channel), or the film "Divided We Fall" (IFC): you might be able to see that same humor even in Scripture's English. Scripture uses this kind of humor in topics of idolatry, i.e., works often depict spiritual fornication. The Lord's discourses in the Gospels, much of Isaiah's writing, and a good deal of Paul's discourses about works use this extremely insightful humor.

  'Often, offensively: even, to me. Paradoxically, an insult is more honest, so blunts the hearer's offense and instead encourages: it's political-correctness which is truly demeaning, i.e., to the intelligence of the hearer. In America, some unknown censor deemed the term "used car" not-nice, but come on: "pre-owned car" is not more offensive, pretending to hide the fact that it's used? What, did God make us humans so weak, so insecure, so unaware of life's foibles that we can't 'call a spade a spade'? God doesn't 'believe' in "Time Out" or circumlocution!

  Weaving, thesauretical writing styles are used in the best literature, too: James Joyce' Ulysses, Shakespeare's plays, classical Greek Drama, all weave their plots. Bible is the best at this: an idea is mentioned, then synonymal/antonymal corollaries, topics are introduced; then, the first idea is woven through all those other topics, so you see how they all connect. Every Bible book uses some version of this type of weaving to communicate. It's a style which many folks find hard to follow, because what they want is a linear, paint-by-numbers recap. Sorry, but Infinite Truth isn't like that; life (e.g., biology) isn't like that; so the Bible isn't like that. Infinite truth is more like fractals, functionally.

  So, if you have trouble with the weaving style (and we all do), try converting the material into a linear form. Block off concepts in chunks, then compare how the same concept is referenced/ explained in some other passage. Use Bible's keywords to do this blocking off and comparison, or you'll get lost. Bible writers use keywords to 'divide' the text (covered in more detail below): for example, trace how Bible uses the words "baptise", "baptism" and their conceptual roots/siblings, like "unite", "one", marriage. Best translations to use for this are NAS and KJV, because both of those translations tend to take the same Greek or Hebrew word, and translate them with the same English word. Better still, just use the search engine in your original-language Bible software, searching on all the morphologies of the keyword in question.

  Alternative to the linear method, you could convert the material into math-like formulas, i.e., taking parts of verses in different places and adding, etc. them together. You'll profit much by either exercise, because then you can spot these structures more easily in Scripture itself. The math-formula method is very common: every Scripture writer uses interpretative quoting and concatenation. An easy example of the former, is Peter's use of Joel 2:28-32 in Acts 2 -- note what text Peter changes on purpose. Same, for Hebrews 8:8-12 and 10:15-17, which use Jer31:31-34. These passages also illustrate another spiritual math function, bookending. Concatenation is adding parts of verses together, either via folding in other writers' verses, or in making new text: cool example verse-set is 1Jn1:6-10. Note the three- clause setup in each verse; note how a sort of tic-tac-toe is constructed, which tells you a lot about how the variables in each clause integrate vertically.

• Even the tiniest particle in the original Scripture is chock-full of multilevel meaning. So every word ties flawlessly to every other word, in an omnidirectional way. Thus, the Bible proves itself to be one seamless, coherent, whole, despite the fact that at least 40 different people over 1500 years, wrote it. It's awesome. The Bible thus screams with proof that God, not man, is the real Author. Translations can't help but mask this Genius.

• As just noted, Bible creates and uses "keywords" to explain itself: this is a LEGAL style, which in today's legal English we call "incorporation by reference". That means a term in a legal document or law which is previously defined or explained, is wholly 'incorporated' in a later text, BY USING THE SAME KEYWORD OR PHRASE. Bible does this incessantly: special meanings in common words, which the BIBLE ITSELF DEFINES. You learn the special meanings by seeing how these keywords are used, throughout the Bible. Not just in one verse. They make all the difference in learning how to interpret what God has to say. The keywords create an organizational structure, through which we learn what the Bible means. Absent knowing all the meanings Scripture assigns to the keyword "salvation", for example, one can easily mistake a verse's meaning. So, every writer uses keywords. Also, like any good lawyer, each one uses the keywords to reference other passages: so, the same keyword Paul uses ties to Isaiah, for example -- often, deliberately. (Translations don't recognize keywords infallibly, so again, translations often mask keywords.) Peter makes fabulous keywords and plays with their nuances: 1Pet1:8 and 3:18 are classics. [I don't buy the perennial Bible-scholar argument that Peter's Greek is bad, because Peter's use of the Greek is too clever; the wit wouldn't port over into Aramaic: you can't make the hupo-prefix games like Peter does, in any other language. His alleged clumsinesses is deliberate. Note to self: L1290-93,1320-23 cover verse cites.]

• To complement these keywords, many other linguistic devices are employed and themselves often are made "keys" to interpretation, likewise throughout the Bible. For example, just as with any other discourse among persons (duh!), omission is as important as any explicit text: omission 'reveals' what the reader is expected to already know -- or, think out. (For example, if I merely say "Clinton", you do and should know who I mean; and you know I mean a particular "who": I can omit the rest.) The flow (and tone) of the writing, the frequent humor/ironies/satire/sarcasm, the innumerable plays-on-words, even alleged-mistakes, like the pairings of definite articles in Romans 9:13: these are all deliberately important. All those many seemingly-small details reveal critical data. Example: the "effective present tense" of martureo in Heb10:15 makes it clear the Church is not Israel, in context. God exploits every "jot and tittle" in the Word, so the reader can know he's not hallucinating a meaning. The reader has objective proof, via the linguistic usage of each word in the Word. Just as Jeremiah had promised, way back in Jer31:31-34.

• Bible uses the Greek rhetorical writing style in the NT (i.e., Lord in Gospels, and in Romans). It's really a Hebraic use of the Greek rhetorical style, so it flows like the Hebraic style of the OT. Such a style is persuasive, even offensively pushy, to modern ears. But if you learned debating technique in school, you'll recognize it's not meant to 'sell' anyone anything. Rather, this technique makes a quicker job of discerning truth. Lawyers, pastors, pundits (mis)use it all the time (which is why the style has such a bad reputation). So my writing sounds like it's meant to persuade: but Greek rhetoric always sounds like that (see Plato's Philebus for a good example). Makes it easier to follow a train of thought.

  Greek rhetoric is always couched in personal terms, addressed to an individual, a "you". That's because the Greeks were very into hands-on translation of principles, into real living. The fundamental belief underlying Greek culture was the idea that the "gods" were enacting a conflict among themselves, and that what they did, transferred to the human race; further, that the larger purpose was to have communion with those "gods" in a virtuous manner. Virtue to the Greeks was TWO-SIDED, a "hupostasis", therefore: however small a thing you were doing on earth, had epic meaning (usually, honor). This idea had its lascivious side, hence all the phallicism (i.e., Dionysus (Bacchic, in Rome), and Cybele (a reverse-lasciviousness, involving castration)).

  The larger meaning of COMMUNION and CONNECTION therefore permeates all Greek words and all Greek word usage. And frankly (what a surprise this was to discover), the Greek ideas are all derivative from the initial God-breathed concepts, which the Hebrew language more accurately represents. So by the time you get to the NT, the genius of using Greek language and style to convey what always was the Hebrew God.. is stupendous. Only God is this smart. There are many ways to see proof of God, if you are willing to take the shock (most are not yet willing, and it takes time to get willing).. but seeing His Genius in the very words of Scripture, is more than 100% conclusive. Takes your breath away, every time you study the Word. No lascivious, no ascetic pleasure in life is even a pinprick's joy, by comparison.

  And why would God do that? Heh: because the Jews rejected Messiah, and because they were to be the vehicle for transmitting the Word to the goyim (non-Jews), God uses a goyim language to do the job His Chosen People rejected (forever chosen, still)! If you ever see a picture of the Dome of the Rock, or visit it, you have there a mute testimony to God's Faithfulness to Israel: Daniel 9:26, Matt24, and (unpredictably-future), Revelation 11:1. God orchestrates everything around the Jews and His Son is foremost among them. That they have abrogated the covenant so that Christ had to put Vashti aside and go find Gentile Esthers, is beside the point. So how else to better communicate His Faithfulness to His erstwhile faithLESS Betrothed (and also offer her renewed betrothal, if she believes in Christ) -- than by switching languages for Holy Writ? See? God misses nothing. Blatantly and softly He always demonstrates His Love: Romans 5:8, John 3:16. Let us not spurn Him, then?

  So the personalness of address in rhetorical style, is reflected in these websites, with the audience being a "you", rather than (the more ascetic, 'Western') "it-ness" style of writing in modern cultures. Bible uses both, but the stress in Bible is the Personalness. You won't be able to see that fact in translation, because the job of Bible translation tends to attract the ascetic.

• One big advantage to all this seeming-minutiae of grammar: a false interpretation or bad translation becomes glaringly-obvious. In short, this seeming-minutiae acts as a 'counterfeit detector'. God is smarter than man, heh. Recourse to the original languages via the Holy Spirit's teaching Ministry makes it very clear what is really in the Bible versus what translations or teachers say is there. Or, what some scribe trying to use old Babylonian king records did, by adding and then subtracting 100 years to the LXX Genesis 5 roster to make it balance to the Hebrew text at the end of each hero's life: lol, you can tell he got tired of doing that, finally giving up on trying to make the Genesis 5 roster tally, what a stitch! Or, take the Byzantine scribe who didn't like Paul's word "boast", so he adulterated the Majority Text: replacing Paul's signature use of kauchesomai, with kauthesomai, a future subjunctive of "to self-immolate" -- but the future subjunctive did not exist in any Greek prior to Byzantine times. God thinks of everything. Half the venerable translations (e.g., NIV, KJV, NAS, 2001 ESV) are still screwed up, of course. Kinda hard to admit after 1400 years, that even brilliant scholars didn't do their homework on 1Cor13:3. Oh, yeah: can't just admit and fix a mistake like a broken faucet, doo-doo happens; for traditions of men are more important than translations from God!

  Thus one can separate the sheep from the goats, and avoid Satan's landmines. Sure, it's a painstaking task to learn all this: the Holy Spirit is not hampered. Should we let our laziness or fear or intimidation over learning prevent us from the glory of seeing Him, even while in this body? You decide.

Wow, this spiritual starvation of not chewing on Word has got to be the biggest failure category throughout Christendom. We parrot the Word, rather than ruminate on it. We rah-rah God's Name, rather than learn How He Thinks. That means we hate God, but con ourselves that we love Him. We treat going to church or Bible class like a good luck charm or the laundry, a chore you get done and whew! you don't have to do it again for a few days or even a week, hooray! So we don't turn over or analyze what we are being taught. You realize that if you are disinterested in someone you don't love that person, right? So we are rabidly DISinterested in God. I bet you eat every day. So why not be that hungry for the Word, too? Ooops.

We also evidence disinterest and prove we know nothing if we parrot; we flat don't know a thing, unless we take the 'due diligence' step of confirming it independently, kinda like in high school you not only learn the textbook, you have 'labs'. It shows respect for your pastor that you would bother to learn what's behind what he teaches, so you can better understand. It shows respect for those who differ from his teachings that you would bother to examine alternatives so that you understand why a) your pastor arrives at the conclusion he does, and b) the alternatives are what they are. More on this topic is in Bumpkin.htm (accessible from Home Page). Even way more on this topic is in each of the "Caveats" (accessible from the Home Page). How Satan uses parrotting to lock us all in spiritual childhood, is covered in the "MEGA" table of LvS4c.htm (part of Part IV of the "Thinking" series). Pitfalls like parrotting are summarized in a bullet list in SpirTips.htm's "Tips for Making Dung out of Your Daily Spiritual Life" table. Once you see these materials, you can easily test them in life, to see how vast an army is arrayed against us. And how vastly we love hating God. It's a shock, but if you don't see how vast is this problem of spiritual arrest, you too will get sucked into it. We all do, because we all start out as kids.

Furthermore, one doesn't know a thing until one can use it well, but one can't use it well, absent sufficient practice! Then, live on it. Kinda like school. One has 'homework'. One tries to understand what is taught. Then, one needs to practice it, and take 'tests', like essay exams, to see if the material is sufficiently 'eaten', and nourishing the soul. Bible is Christ's God-Man Thinking (OT "Word of the Lord" verses, plus 1Cor2:15-16, Heb4:12). So, it's like a language.

Father's Goal is for us to learn to become fluent in His Son's Thinking, Eph4:13, one of the most awesome verses in Scripture, and even usually well translated! As with everything in God's Plan, this is impossible! Never say "impossible" around God, heh: He lifted the CornerStone which was too heavy for even God to lift, and He lifted that Rock to the Cross! So, we "LittleStones" (="Petros", a term Peter plays with in his letters by using other chip-of-the-rock-words) CAN get this fluency: via the Holy Spirit, even as the Humanity of Christ got this same Impossible Growth!

Fluency only comes with spiritual comprehension..and lots of spiritual practice. After all, the Bible is written "for instruction in Righteousness", which above all is a spiritual thought pattern to rule the body, as 2Tim2:15, and 3:16-17 explain. Only in this manner is the First Commandment obeyed, for the Son demands that the Father be propitiated, as it were, by our constantly thinking like the Son. We aren't making bricks without straw: this is a real, abiding, and wholly-possible "impossible" command, as 1Jn explains in detail. Those who ignore this significance do so at their peril. And we all ignore it, from time to time. Thank God for 1Jn1:9! [Note to self: backup "hupomone" verses like 2Thess3:5, Heb12:1-2, Jas1:12, plus 1Cor2:9, Eph3:20. Latest exeg in L1298-1330.]

Practice depends upon a coalesced understanding, and that understanding, depends on turning over the information. However you need to 'do' that, is a personal matter. Christian Chat channels like #scripture, when folks in them at the time aren't too silly or argumentative, offer an opportunity to practice and test one's understanding. For me, practice requires public speaking or writing, which always disengages my ego (the 'me' goes offstage and the 'character' goes onstage); so my focus is immeasurably aided. Chat can be like that, too. But it's scary, for God is listening: what if I misstate something about God? So my own due diligence is best monitored by writing webpages anonymously but publicly, and (rarely) chatting. Maybe that works for you as well; maybe it doesn't. Whatever makes YOU most objective in analysis, that you should do. We are Kings in training. We are public persons, but hidden in the world. Doesn't mean you should run around witnessing (often that's a bad decision, serving only Satan). Does mean you should THINK as if everyone heard your thoughts: because, GOD does.

So, as always, TEST what you read. The Holy Spirit is Supreme Teaching Authority; He's appointed a right pastor for you; anything outside what your pastor teaches is but adjunctive 'play'. God is the God of Authority, so whomever He appointed for you as your right pastor is your authority. [Commonly, what seems to contradict either Bible or what a pastor teaches, is instead an additional layer of meaning; or, the opposite end of a spectrum of meaning. Of course, sometimes there is a contradiction, which always and only means the Bible is misinterpreted/ mistaught. Use 1Jn1:9 to be online, then ask Father in Son's Name to grant that the Holy Spirit clarify any seeming-contradiction. Having put that matter to rest via prayer, you can safely continue examining the question. Bear in mind also that pastors must teach whole groups of people, so they often gear what they teach to a lowest-common-denominator-level. Instead, do extra deeper study on your own, besides. Romans 15:4.]