Convincing

[mlqurgw]

Are we supposed to believe that a person who makes the claim to know the Greek but doesn't even know the English ( which is supposed to be their first language) is worthy of respect? My Engish grammer is admittedly poor but I make no claims to the Greek.

[Matthan]

It seems to me that you might not be ordering things properly. All of us have knowledge, but none of us is knowledgeable on the same things. If one contibutor has studied any particular subject, then would it not be better to give him honor for his efforts in that regard rather than finding fault with his other facets.

By way of example, I am a sinner. I try to avoid sin wherever I find it, but sin sometimes finds me before I recognize it. And, I am the first to admit that I have a LOT of faults. Still, I am a Christian. And, I have some knowledge of Scripture that I truly feel was revealed to me by the Holy Spirit. However, some others have a lot more knowledge of God's Word than I will ever have, and that is a good thing. But, when they make a statement on some aspect of Christian belief that I disagree with, then I am faced with two choices. I can disagree with them, or I can remain silent aned ignore them. Simple enough.

Knowledgeable enlightenment is the key. When someone makes an effort to enlighten me and others, regardless of their topic, I tend to read what they have posted. If I agree, OR if I do not agree but do appreciate their effort, I will make the appropriate comment (appropriate to my way of thinking, but not always appropriate to anyone else).

The bottom line is Christian Love. When someone makes a post out of that love, every reader will discern that fact (or at least hopefully will discern it). They may not agree with it, but they still appreciate it.

And, hopefully, they will not seek out the poster's faults but will instead either comment in a constructive manner or remain silent. Silence really can be golden.

Matthan

[arunma]

I should preface this by saying that I think all people are worthy of respect. Their ideas are not necessarily worthy of respect, of course. For example, I respect pagans (people who call themselves Wiccans, "heathens," etc.). But I do not respect these peoples' religions, and in fact if you look on the NCR forum, yo'll see that I openly call such beliefs less of a religion and more of a joke. Even foolish and idiotic beliefs do not abrogate the responsibility to love people who hold such beliefs. Remember Christ's response to the question "who is my neighbor?"

Now as to the issue that you raised, I can draw some sort of parallel. I happen to be rather skilled at advanced mathematics, but quite often I have trouble with simple arithmetic. It still doesn't stop me from getting A's in Linear Algebra and Advanced Calculus. I'm not sure how good of an analogy this is, but it seems to me that one could be skilled in Greek grammar, but not so skilled in English.

[Matthan]

You hit that nail right on the head, arunma. Both of your analigies, simple mathmatics and good in Greek but not so in English, are what I had in mind. All of us are capable in some way, just as all of us serve our Lord in some way. That is not to say that any of us cannot stand some serious improvements in some ways, to make us better servants to our Lord in other ways.

Matthan

[Jim1927]

Koine Greek, biblical Greek, is a dead language as is Latin. Once one learns the various tenses, he will have a perfect knowledge of the language. English is a living language with many root sources. Indeed the most difficult language to master.

Greek however is also context oriented, hence makng understanding dependent fully on context and usage. Often the same Greek word in scripture can have numerous meanings,,depending on the speaker, thus making it somewhat more difficult than plain English.

Whilst I did have Greek and Hebrew in various seminaries, I will stick with English, thank you very much, and leave the Greek to the more trained. There are enough translations in English to give me the proper meaning and intent by a careful comparison of scriptures.

Cheers,

Jim

[Matthan]

I would tend to agree if I had ever attempted to suffer through a course in ancient Greek. (Now, you know what is coming next, right? It should be obvious!) But, it is all Greek to me....

Matthan

[FallingWaters]

I should preface this by saying that I think all people are worthy of respect. Their ideas are not necessarily worthy of respect, of course. For example, I respect pagans (people who call themselves Wiccans, "heathens," etc.). But I do not respect these peoples' religions, and in fact if you look on the NCR forum, you'll see that I openly call such beliefs less of a religion and more of a joke. Even foolish and idiotic beliefs do not abrogate the responsibility to love people who hold such beliefs. Remember Christ's response to the question "who is my neighbor?"

Now as to the issue that you raised, I can draw some sort of parallel. I happen to be rather skilled at advanced mathematics, but quite often I have trouble with simple arithmetic. It still doesn't stop me from getting A's in Linear Algebra and Advanced Calculus. I'm not sure how good of an analogy this is, but it seems to me that one could be skilled in Greek grammar, but not so skilled in English.mlqurgw

I don't blame you for being concerned, or asking the question. I study personality profiles, and I happen to know for a fact that some personality types are very fussy about who they will trust to teach them, whereas others really don't think about it at all. I happen to be one of the fussy types, so if I was having an exchange with someone who didn't communicate well, I would be very tempted to wonder how diligent of a student that person really is. I would probably look for more evidence before I made a final decision about whether I felt comfortable accepting what they have to say.

Generally speaking, I like to give people the benefit of the doubt until they give me reason not to trust them, but even then, depending on how serious the transgression, I may give them time to improve my opinion, or allay my fears.

If you're the type of student who is cautious and careful about who he believes, it's entirely reasonable for you to ask this question and satisfy yourself with an answer.

If his credetials are not obvious from his English, you might need to use a different measuring stick.

[holdon]

;My Engish grammer is admittedly poor but I make no claims to the Greek.

It's evidently so.