It was all GREEK to me

by Terry 27 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  SadElder

  I haven't seen a Greek or Hebrew word in a JW publication in quite a wile. Of course I only give a cursory look every year or two.

  I remember back in the early 80's when I was in an out of Crooklyn working on special projects that I sent notes to both Teaching and Writing committees suggesting that if were going to keep citing Greek and Hebrew words in the study articles we could at least include some phonetic pronunciation guides to assist the readers at the Watchtower Study. Went over like a dead rat and readers continued to slaughter the reading without making an effort to find out the correct pronunciations.

  Now days it's Watchtower pablum for all.
  
• 

  TD

  Terry,
  

  Believe it or not, this is English from only 1000 years ago: (c 1066)
  

  On þyssum geare man halgode þet mynster æt Westmynstre on Cyldamæsse dæg 7 se cyng Eadward forðferde on Twelfts mæsse æfen 7 hine mann bebyrgede on Twelftan mæssedæg innan þære niwa halgodre circean on Westmyntre 7 Harold eorl feng to Englalandes cynerice swa swa se cyng hit him geuðe 7 eac men hine þærto gecuron 7 wæs gebletsod to cynge on Twelftan mæssedæg 7 þa ylcan geare þe he cyng wæs he for ut mid sciphere togeanes Willelme .

  Ancient Greek is separated from Modern Greek by more than twice this amount.

  To suppose that the two would be the same is like, μια παρθένο μιλάμε για σεξ

  (Hopefully, this dovetails with the intent of your post.)
  

  
  
• 

  dropoffyourkeylee

  The Interlinear is included with the jw app now, so every JW has it with them at every meeting. Iike to look at it instead of listening to the meeting.
• 

  Anna Marina

  Hi Terry

  What do you mean by that? I was never taught the word parousia. It wasn't in the literature when I studied. Granted I know the word now, but that is for different reasons, because parousia proves them wrong not right.

  I think the fetish JW's have for quoting Greek goes all the way back to Benjamin Willson's Emphatic Diaglott (the WT used to offer it) and the idea that parousia solved the problem of having been WRONG about 1914 (seemingly).
• 

  zeb

  Old English[3]

  Fæder ūre, ðū ðē eart on heofonum,

  Sī ðīn nama gehālgod.

  Tō becume ðīn rice.

  Gewurde ðīn willa

  On eorþan swā swā on heofonum.

  Urne gedæghwamlīcan hlāf syle ūs tōdæg.

  And forgyf ūs ūre gyltas,

  Swā swā wē forgyfaþ ūrum gyltendum.

  And ne gelæd ðū ūs on costnunge,

  ac alȳs ūs of yfele.

  very old english.AD995

  and
  

  Our fadir that art in heuenes,

  halwid be thi name;

  Thi kingdom cumme to;

  be thi wille don

  as in heuen and in earthe;

  giv to vs this day our breed ouer other substaunce;

  and forgeue to vs oure dettis,

  as we forgeue to oure dettours;

  and leede us nat in to temptacioun,

  but delyuere vs fro yuel. ..and AD1389.

  anyone attempting to learn to recite an ancient language is up against an enormous wall of years..

  How anyone in the wt can be as so arrogant to extol their own 'translations' when they have had scant education and none provable at the highest scholastic levels is beyond me.
  

  
  
• 

  Anna Marina

  Poor old English had to standardise their spelling - they didn't have the Bible in English and had to learn Latin or Greek.

  I believe the Greeks and Romans we slightly better at spelling and with the careful communication of the Scriptures things improved.

  In days past, they could be harsh on typos. :/
  
• 

  smiddy3

  Nowhere in that Kingdom Interlinear Translation published by the WT is the Tetragrammaton in either Hebrew or Greek. Yet they insert the name Jehovah in the side column .? Adding to the scriptures ?

  Nowhere in that Translation ,KI ,word for word of Greek into English are followers of Jesus Christ called to be witnesses of Jehovah, not one scripture.

  Yet that word for word Translation of the Greek into English has about twenty scriptures that explicitly state that followers of Jesus are to be witnesses of him ,Jesus , not Jehovah .

  Their is not one scripture in the Christian greek Scriptures that states followers of Jesus are to be witnesses of Jehovah,however their are about 20 scriptures that plainly state that christians are to be witnesses of Jesus Christ

  Added for emphasis
• 

  dozy

  When I was a teenager , we were going to go on a holiday to Greece so my father purchased a cheap paperback "Vacation Greek" kind of book and as a family we learned a few simple words & phrases - ordering meals in a restaurant , "where is the way to the Colosseum" type of basic stuff.

  A couple of weeks before we left it was the CO visit and we had lunch with the CO and my father mentioned that as a family we were learning some Greek and made some throwaway comment about maybe it will help us to understand the bible a bit better as well.

  You would have thought that he said we were learning Satan worship as immediately the CO and his wife were very negative and said that the Society didn't like JWs learning Greek and it had lead some to apostasy. "No harm in learning a few phrases for holiday purposes but don't go beyond that" was his gist. My father looked a bit taken aback - it was an unexpected reaction. This should have thrown up a big red flag but I was just 15 or so years old and I just didn't see it at that time.
• 

  tiki

  Oh my...I remember all the hoopla over the word parousia...coming as in the process vs coming here you are....if I remember correctly...so Jesus coming was more than his arrival...but his presence.
• 

  Vidiot

  Terry - "I think the fetish JW's have for quoting Greek goes all the way back to Benjamin Willson's Emphatic Diaglott (the WT used to offer it) and the idea that parousia solved the problem of having been WRONG about 1914..."

  This.

  Sometimes it really is that simple.