Posted by Pastor Steven on November 11, 2002 at 14:22:03:
In Reply to: Oboy now you've reeeaaallly offended me! posted by kat on November 10, 2002 at 10:31:17:
:: *It feels like poetry becasue it's so foreign, when you are writing you are trying to express feelings and if you just write grammatically correct poetry it's boring and it sounds like a greeting card. what you are looking for is something that will capture the attention of the listeners. It has to be your own language that you make up . In essense it's foreign even to you.
: Hebrew is foreign, Aramaic is foreign, Greek is foreign, <---their way of thinking was different, no wonder it doesn't make much sense when literally translated.
I am very frustrated. I spent an hour writing a detailed response to this, only to lose it all when my computer crashed. Lord knows I do not have time for this. My first essay was really very nice. *sigh* Here I go all over again...
I agree that it is the unfamiliarity of the literary form that we find stimulating. I understand this well. We use all kinds of gimmicks and devices to break ourselves out of the staleness and irrelevance of familiarity. Looking at the original languages and literary form is only one of many ways of doing this. I employ many such devices in my quest to continually revitalize my faith.
We need to see the completely subjective nature of our views here regarding what is vital and what is stagnant. One's perception is unique to that person as the perceiver. For instance, to make commentary on the diminished inspiration or revelation inherent in modern translations would be disturbing. It would be to project one's current personal understanding and experience as the truest reality; to make a value judgment on everyone and all things according to it. It would assume a sort of gnostic superiority in understanding--above the mediocre, spoon-fed, non-reflective, non-contemplative masses of inferior believers who don't see clearly. I know this is not the heart of anyone here. But it really can sound that way.
Two observations:
1. 99% of the people in this country would not well understand the original Hebrew, let alone what we find stimulating in the poetic structure of it. And we know God is in the business of revealing Himself to them. A person who feels alienated from God is not well served by being fed a gospel that sounds as alien as they feel God is. A person who has been abused or rejected will not be healed by poetry or literary form, but a real revelation of the God who loves them will change their life. Unless we make God's love relevant to them, they cannot apprehend Him. A small child finds God's love in the context of a simplified Sunday school story, and some would argue their faith is most true and substantial.
"Blessed are the poor..." "Not many wise...are called." "The wisdom of God is foolishness to those..." "Not with wisdom of words..." "Unless you become as a child..."
2. The ancient Jews who heard Psalm 104 read would not have found anything unfamiliar or mysterious in the poetic or parallel structure; this is what they were accustomed to. Perhaps during the Babylonian exile in the sixth century BCE, the Jews might have found some of the Zoroastrian writings to be interestingly unfamiliar. Certainly in Jesus' day, Hellenistic philosophy had begun to make inroads into Jewish ways of thinking, and some of these concepts redefined old Talmudic beliefs for many of the non-conservative and educated Jews. But the old Hebrew form of the verses would be most familiar and would be most likely to be found stale.
:: But you are right, to get a true understanding you have know the languages, or you have to do a lot of painstaking research, i dont' have that kind of time.
To get a true understanding of the literature, history, and culture does require substantial study. But you do not have to have this understanding to have a real, life-changing experience of God's Presence in your life. My scholarly pursuits do continue to inform and revitalize my faith, it is true, but all that is substantial and precious is in my RELATIONSHIP with God through Jesus Christ. Any new knowledge or understanding is only of value if it furthers that relationship. If it devalues the faith or experience of anyone else in my eyes, then I really need to take heed. When I make my experience the standard of truth, I devalue others. I cease to see others and their needs as God sees them. I fight this propensity daily. It is no wonder to me that Gnosticism flourished as it did during the new and ongoing revelation of Christ's preexistence and eternal office in the first few centuries AD. It is human nature to look up with ambition and look down with contempt.