Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Lead by the "Spirit"

"Let the Spirit lead you."
"We know that we are in the right because the Spirit leads our Church."
"The Spirit reveals truths to us."

We have all heard such statements (or similar ones) by people who believe in the Trinity. For the sakes of argument let's assume that the Spirit isn't the Third Person of the Trinity.

If the Spirit is indeed an active force and not a Person, what do the above 3 statements mean? What does it mean specifically to Trinitarians, and with what consequences?

For starters, it truly wasn't the Spirit of God leading your Church or Congregation for you thought that that Spirit was the Third Person of the Trinity. If the Third Person of the Trinity doesn't exist, then who was the one "leading" your Church? Apparently, it would have been another entity guiding it, indeed, an entity that wasn't God or of God!

These are serious issues to consider. If the the Third Person of the Trinity doesn't exist, then who's Spirit is truly guiding your Church?

The "one God"

(1 Timothy 2:5) 5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, a man, Christ Jesus. . .

(Ephesians 4:6) . . .one God and Father of all [persons], who is over all and through all and in all.

(1 Corinthians 8:6) . . .there is actually to us one God the Father, out of whom all things are, and we for him; and there is one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things are, and we through him.

These texts are the 3 instances in which the phrase "one God" is stated in the Bible. In each and every instance the "one God" is explicitly identified as the Father except in 1 Timothy where it is through context.

Since the Father is the "one God" of the Bible, on what basis do Trinitarians change the Bible's own definition of who God is?

(Matthew 15:3-6) . . .In reply he said to them: “Why is it YOU also overstep the commandment of God because of YOUR tradition? 4 For example, God said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Let him that reviles father or mother end up in death.’ 5 But YOU say, ‘Whoever says to his father or mother: “Whatever I have by which you might get benefit from me is a gift dedicated to God,” 6 he must not honor his father at all.’ And so YOU have made the word of God invalid because of YOUR tradition.



Monday, August 30, 2010

New Blog

I've signed up to WordPress (which I have found way better than Blogger): http://ivanmonroy.wordpress.com/

As can be seen, there's nothing on it right now. I plan to TRY and use that blog for more academic purposes in relation to the Bible. That is, its purpose will be for primarily book reviews, scholarly opinions/theories (not my own, but what others have said about a given topic), and other related issues of the sort. That also means that posts on wordpress will be a lot more sporadic (possibly).

This current blog (theological ponderings), however, will not be rendered obsolete. I will continue to use this blog for Jehovah's Witnesses related topics and for updates on my current research project. Also this account will be used for issues dealing with the Trinity, Christology and things of the sort. It will be an apologetic blog in essence.

What I'm trying to do, then, is use 1 blog for book reviews/academic-oriented topics and use this blog for Jehovah's Witnesses related issues. I find that most appropriate since mixing the two styles doesn't really mix, in my opinion. So, that's what'll do!

Best,
Ivan

Sunday, August 29, 2010

A still relevant and truthful quote from Pastor Russell

All who cut loose from the Society and its work, instead of prospering themselves or upbuilding others in the faith and in the graces of the spirit, seemingly do the reverse—attempt injury to the Cause they once served, and, with more or less noise, gradually sink into oblivion, harming only themselves and others possessed of a similarly contentious spirit. . . . If some think that they can get as good or better provender at other tables, or that they can produce as good or better themselves—let these take their course. . . . But while we are willing that others should go anywhere and everywhere to find food and light to their satisfaction, strange to say, those who become our opponents take a very different course. Instead of saying in the manly fashion of the world, ‘I have found something which I prefer; goodbye!’ these manifest anger, malice, hatred, strife, ‘works of the flesh and of the devil’ such as we have never known worldly people to exhibit. They seem inoculated with madness, Satanic hydrophobia [rabies]. Some of them smite us and then claim that we did the smiting. They are ready to say and write contemptible falsities and to stoop to do meanness.” - Pastor Charles T. Russell, Oct., 1, 1909.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Preview of "Prerequisite Material"- DEATH

Here's a tiny exert from the upcoming project from 1 of the sections which is taken from the greater unit entitled "Death is Death." This particular section (as are all sections) is still in its rough state and will be rewritten in the future ( I know, there's some typos and other fluidity issues with it in its present state). The purpose of my putting this material here is to expose those whom may be interested in the project to see a glimpse of the way these issues will be handled.

Death is Death

For Christians the Bible is the final authority in all theological matters. What is found within its pages should be the basis for the beliefs of Christians, and not the ideas of theologians or philosophers of the world. Given the authority that the Bible itself carries, does it have anything to say about death and the condition of the dead? Surprisingly, one Christian source says, “The Bible offers no formal definition of ‘death’ and no detailed exposition of what happens to people when they die.”[1] While it is true that the Bible does not offer a “formal definition” of death, it is also true that it does not need to give a “formal definition” in order for the Christian to make a conclusion on the matter. To expect the Bible to give a “formal definition” of death would be anachronistic at best. The Scriptures do in fact offer a satisfying definition of death and of what happens to the deceased one at death.

Instead of trying to find evidence for the support of a doctrine or belief by using the Bible, the Christian should allow the Bible to define[2] the doctrine or belief itself. Indeed, the Bible should be allowed to speak for itself instead of having others try to tell it what it means. That is why for the purposes of this study, the Bible itself will be allowed to speak its divine wisdom and sayings on this subject and shape the understanding of death from its perspective, and not man’s wishful thinking. In what follows will be a brief survey of the Hebrew Bible’s uses of and allusions to death, dying, and other related criteria of interest to this study, beginning with the Pentateuch, commonly cited passages for afterlife, and the poetic writings and proverbs. Then, a brief discussion of the soul will follow.

Pentateuch

Genesis. Appropriately, the first mention of death in the Bible is in the book of Genesis. Genesis 2:16-17 states,

And Jehovah Elohim commanded Man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou shalt freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest of it thou shalt certainly die.[3]

This account in Genesis clears up many things worth noting. It reveals that death was not something inherently woven into the nature of man, for man had not yet experienced death at the time of this utterance. Evidently, God had created man to live everlastingly since death would only come as a result of disobedience and negligence of God’s command not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and bad. Unfortunately, Adam and his wife, Eve, fell short of God’s standards as a little further reading into the book of Genesis reveals. This account not only gives us direct insight into why humans die, but it also gives us insight into what God meant when he said Adam would “certainly die” if he proved to be disobedient. From the very book of Genesis itself, the explanation and meaning of death are given from the standpoint of the Creator himself! God has not left humanity wandering in a state of ignorance on this very important matter. No, the Bible, even the Creator himself, disclose what ‘certain death’ meant when those words were uttered to Adam in Genesis 3:19:

By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return[4]

Indisputably, God’s cautious utterance toward Adam about ‘certainly dying’ meant that he would ‘return to dust’ for that was his origin. That is not to say that man is merely dust, for that is not what the Scriptures present within its pages. Genesis 2:7 reveals a marvelous truth:

And Jehovah God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul[5]

The soul, according to Genesis 2:7, is a combination of at least two elements, namely, “dust of the ground” and “the breath of life.” These two elements are what man is (actually, there may be 3 elements, namely, “breath”, “life”, and “dust.” The breath is the element that gives life, but is not life itself). Removing the “breath of life” from the “dust” results in ‘certain death’ leading man to ‘return to the dust’ from which he was taken. This “breath of life” could be taken from humans forcefully, as was the case in the account of Cain and Abel. This account is the first recorded killing in the Bible and sheds some light on the subject of death.

After Cain had killed Abel, Genesis 4:10 records God as saying,

What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to Me from the ground.[6]

Jehovah said that Abel’s “blood” was “crying” out to him, but what was it about blood that caused it to “cry” out to God? The Bible relates that Jehovah is the “source of life” (Ps 36:9). Man cannot give back a life that he takes, for he is not the “source” of the very thing he took. “All the souls—to me they belong,” says Jehovah in Ezekiel 18:4. Therefore, to take life is to take a possession that belongs to God alone. That is why the “blood” in Genesis 4:10 ‘cries out’ to Jehovah, because life (blood) is something that belongs to God. Thus the killing of any one human can be defined as the intentional (though sometimes unintentional, e.g. accidents) deprivation of life. It is of interest to note that Abel’s blood cried out to God “from the ground.” The phrase “from the ground” is crucial. If death results in man returning to the dust of the ground, then it follows that Abel’s “breath” had been taken from him, thus he returned to the ‘ground’, just as God had warned Adam in the Garden. For that reason it is appropriate for Abel’s “blood” to cry out to God “from the ground” because that’s where he had returned. According to the written record, Abel was the first human to ‘return to dust’, and the Bible supports such an idea by stating that his “blood” cried out “from the ground.”

Elsewhere in Genesis we are giving further perspicacity into the meaning of “death.” Genesis 6:17 records,

As for me, here, I am about to bring on the Deluge, water upon the earth, to bring ruin upon all flesh that has rush of life in it, from under the heavens, all that is on earth will perish[7]

By means of the Deluge God was going to cause all that had the “rush [breath, force] of life” to “perish.” The Hebrew word for “perish” is “[a] verb meaning to expire, to die. The word is apparently from a root meaning to breathe out. This word is used to describe the death of humans and animals in the flood (Gen. 6:17; 7:21).”[8] So, the Hebrew word that “is used to describe the death of humans” carries the notion “to expire”, meaning “to breathe out.” This breathing out is directly related to what God had told Adam. The exiting of the “breath of life” results in man returning to dust, thus the breathing out of this “breath” yields death. It is worth noting how the Bible links the death of humans to ‘breathing out.’ For man, the ‘breathing out’ of God’s breath is death.

An interesting text in relation to the present subject is found at Genesis 25:8 where it reads,

Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age, an old man and full of years, and was gathered to his people.[9]

After Abraham had “breathed his last”, meaning when the breath of life had exited his body, he “was gathered to his people.” Could it be that, for the first time in human history, the exiting of the breath of life from a human’s body resulted in something other than ‘returning to dust’? Concerning the phrase “gathered to his people”, one source relates “And was gathered to his people: in [Genesis] 15.15 the expression is “go to your fathers.” It is generally accepted that the two expressions are equivalent. However, there are different interpretations of the meaning. Note that t[odays] e[nglish] v[ersion] takes this expression to mean the same as “died,” and considers gathered to his people as a repetition of breathed his last and died. Another view is that gathered … people refers to being placed in the burial place with those who have died before. Others take it to refer to being in Sheol, the place of the dead in the deep parts of the earth. Still others understand it to refer to being remembered by the living as one of the honored ancestors.”[10]

Many of the explanations presented above do not suggest anything different from the fate every other man prior to Abraham had been subjected to. For as the handbook explains, the phrase can simply be a repetition of his breathing out or can refer to being burial in a family tomb. Or, this can be a reference to the idea of Sheol (Discussed later), which is synonymous “for… [the] pit, death, and destruction…Here all existence is in suspense, yet it is not a nonplace like utopia, but rather a place where life is no more.[11]

As the Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible points out, Sheol is “a place where life is no more.” If life is no more in Sheol then the obvious implication based on the constant theme of Genesis is that it is a place where humans, whose “breath of life” has exited their bodies, go.

From what has been discussed above, it seems suffice to say that, in Genesis, death is the exiting of the “breath of life” from one’s body. It is a constant theme throughout the book, and more so than any other book, it gives precise details disclosing the ‘mystery’ of death and of other related issues

THEME OF GENESIS:

1. “Dust” + “Breath of Life”= Soul (= living being, whether human or beast)

2. “Dust”- “Breath of Life”= Death



[1] Kenneth D. Boa & Robert M. Bowman Jr., Sense and Nonsense About Heaven & Hell (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2007), 37.

[2] By “define” it is not meant a “formal definition”, but a general outline of a concept or idea.

[3] Darby Translation

[4] English Standard Version

[5] American Standard Version

[6] New American Standard Bible

[7] The Five Books of Moses, Everett Fox

[8]Baker, Warren: The Complete Word Study Dictionary: Old Testament. Chattanooga, TN : AMG Publishers, 2003, 194.

[9] The Revised Standard Version

[10] Reyburn, William David ; Fry, Euan McG.: A Handbook on Genesis. New York : United Bible Societies, 1997 (UBS Handbook Series), 568

[11]Elwell, Walter A.; Beitzel, Barry J.: Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible. Grand Rapids, Mich. : Baker Book House, 1988, S. 1948

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Textual Criticism Bibliography

What will follow will be a bibliography of books that are "essential" or mandatory when one dives into Textual Criticism t of the Christian Greek Scriptures (popularly misnomered as the 'New Testament'). Therefore, the following bibliography will be slanted toward the academic aspect of this study.


Textual Criticism:


New Testament Textual Criticism: A Concise Guide


J. Greenlee


Bruce Metzger


A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament



Roger Omanson


A Textual Guide to the Greek New Testament: An Adaptation of Bruce M. Metzger's Textual Commentary for the Needs of Translators


D.C. Parker


An Introduction to the New Testament Manuscripts and their Texts


Paul Wegner


The above books are "thee" books to get as far as intro to textual criticism is concerned. These are the type of books that university students, New Testament Scholars, and seminarian students study (or have studied). The Aland's textbook may be a bit dated, but is still a standard, 'classic' reference. Next entry will deal with standard grammars.

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Kingdom Interlinear Translation

For those of you (who are Witnesses) that don't know, The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures is still available through special order at your local Kingdom Hall. I place an order around May, and I barely got mine today. It's the 1985 edition, with the 1984 Revision text of the New World Translation beside it. It's small in size; in fact, it's not much bigger than the song book. Apparently, it might have taken all the months it did to come in since they're "made in Brazil." (P. 4)


Sunday, August 15, 2010

Basics of Biblical Greek

Since about May, I've been studying (off and on) William Mounce's grammar, Basics of Biblical Greek, 3rd Edition (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009). First thing you learn in this grammar is the alphabet, the building blocks of any language. Then you begin tackling nouns and their cases (cases are endings that nouns have, they essentially tell you what the role of a noun is in any given sentence). After nouns come adjectives, pronouns, and other related subjects dealing with 'nouns.' It isn't until chapter 15 that one begins diving into verbs. Verbs are 'The Thing' to know when it comes to Greek, that is why it is difficult to learn them.

But as of now (8/15/10), I'm currently on chapter 17, dealing with Contract Verbs, nothing too difficult, but I can see that this is where either people persevere in their study of Greek, or simply give up and leave it as is.

Truth is, Greek isn't for everyone, for it can be extremely time consuming given the number of hours and work it takes to learn this language, and sometimes the time we invest into the study of Greek, doesn't yield the benefits that we expected.

In my opinion, the Society has a point when they write:

A third factor is that learning a new language can be a very difficult task. Although it may at first be relatively easy to learn a few phrases in another language, it may take years of constant effort before you will be able to understand the subtle nuances of that language. In the meantime, the old adage may prove true, A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.- Do You Need to Learn Hebrew and Greek? November 1st, Watchtower (New York, Watchtower, 2009), p. 21
With all that being said, the advantages of knowing a Biblical language are plenty. Not only do you get to read God's Word in the original language in which he originally inspired it, but you open up your study by being able to use the best scholarly sources out there. While there are many good sources on the market for laypersons, the best ones need some knowledge of either Greek or Hebrew or both.

For example, the best Bible commentaries or apologetic works, usually, if not always, require some sort of translational background to fully grasp the author(s) point. So if one is in higher pursuit of knowledge, original language background is a must. That is not to say that those not skilled in such languages are not capable of acquiring 'higher knowledge,' because surely they can! But the point is that either you learn a Bible language and benefit from it or you try to learn a Bible language and become frustrated at not being able to learn it. That is why it is a good idea to do an auto-examination of ourselves before taking such an endeavor.

iTunes U

Some may not be aware of the great resource iTunes U can be. In iTunes, under the subheading 'iTunes U', you may and are able to download university style video/audio lectures, free of charge.

Here's what you do:

1. Download iTunes.
2. After download and installation go to iTunes U and go down to Humanities.

3. After clicking Humanities, go to the left hand column under Categories and click on religion.


4. Then after clicking religion, you should have the ability to download any video/audio lecture from respected Theological Seminaries and Universities around the world. This is, of course, useful to all who wish to see how the academic world views Biblical and Theological issues.

As a note of 'caution', downloading videos can take a fairly long time as oppose to audio, which, can still take quite a while, but is still considerably faster than downloading videos.

Book Recommendations

Every now and then, I'll submit a blog post recommending a few books that may edify those whom wish to dig into Jehovah's Word more deeply, this here, will be one of these posts (hopefully!).

First Book I'd like to recommend is 'Your Word is Truth': Essays in Celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (1950, 1953), Edited by Anthony Byatt and Hal Flemings. (Aurora, MO: Stoops Manufacturing Co., 2007)

Table of Content:

1. Some Principles and Features of the NWT by Anthony Byatt
2. Use of the Divine Name in the Christian Greek Scriptures by Hal Flemings
3. Matthew 1:23- 'Immanuel' by David Jakubovic
4. 'Triadic' Forumlae in the NT by David Jakubovic
5. Proverbs 8:22- God's Wisdom: An Acquired Attribute, or God's Created Son? by Nelson Herle Jr
6. The Eschatological Discourse of the Messianic Parousia by Edgar Foster
7. "Impaled on a Stake"- A Result of Sectarian Bias? by Pal-Espen & Dan-Ake Mattsson
8. Distinguishing the 'Lords': Does Jesus Take Jehovah's Name? by Anthony Byatt
9. The Theological Importance of the Name of Jehovah by Anthony Byatt
10. Bible Truths on the Soul and Hell by David Jakubovic
11. Philippians 1:23 by David Jakubovic
12. The NWT's Translation of the Hebrew Verbal System- with Particular Stress on the WAW Consecutive by Rolf Furuli
13. Disputed Renderings in the Hebrew Scriptures by Hal Flemings
14. The Accuracy of the NWT in Paul's Letter to the Ephesians by Anthony Byatt

Overall, this is a great resource for defending the NWT in a scholarly fashion. A note though, if you try to buy on Amazon.com, you may be spending 3 or 4 times the amount you'd be spending if you contacted StoopsManufacturing directly.

The second book, and last for the sakes of brevity, is Brian Holt's, Jesus- God or the Son of God?: A Comparison of the Arguments (Tennessee: TellWay Publishing, 2002). In this helpful and useful book, Brian Holt (one of Jehovah's Witnesses), gives brief and reasonable responses to most (if not all) of the major key texts that Trinitarians bring up against the 'unitarian' position, thus providing a survey and a balanced treatment of the 'comparison of the arguments.'

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Sense & Nonsense

I recently finished reading Sense & Nonsense About Heaven & Hell by Kenneth D. Boa and Robert Bowman Jr (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2007). It’s a brief book surveying various beliefs and misconceptions about heaven, hell, the soul, and other subjects from an Evangelical point of view. To one who doesn’t adhere to the authors’ belief system, it is still beneficial to see how they interact with several different arguments and beliefs of groups such as Jehovah’s Witnesses (a book involving Bowman is surely to include discussions about Jehovah’s Witnesses), Mormons, Universalists, and others. Below I will briefly survey a couple of the more interesting points that I found.

Chapter 2 entitled, The First Person You Meet in Heaven (pgs. 16-26), proposes (and rightfully so) that the only way to truly know about heaven is by seeing what Jesus said about it. The authors supports this idea with the following claims, namely, (1) “Jesus is the only human being who lived in Heaven before becoming human,” (2) “Jesus knew more about Heaven than anyone else who has ever lived,” (3) and that “Heaven is not a state of our minds, but a real spiritual realm populated by personal beings” (p. 17). The latter point was directed to those who suggest heaven is merely a state of mind or an inner feeling (mysticism, in essence).

Some of the more interesting points in this chapter are found on page 23 where the authors say “[o]ur resurrection bodies will be like Christ’s” and “[i]n the resurrection we will be glorified, immortal people.” With regards to the “resurrection bodies” being “like Christ’s,” it is important to remember that the authors view Christ’s body as a heavenly/divine, glorified human body in heaven. So, the authors mean that the believers in Christ will also attain a glorified, divine human body as well (from a Jehovah’s Witnesses perspective, this appears to combine/fuse the earthly and heavenly hope together).

“Heaven,” according to the authors, is “a place where glorified people will live in immortal bodies with both heavenly and earthly aspects” (p. 26). This description only begs one to ask: Can what Evangelicals call “Heaven” be a place, where the angels and God himself reside, since heaven has not always been “a place where glorified people” with “immortal bodies with both heavenly and earthly aspects” have lived? From their statement on page 26, the implied answer is no, and therefore heaven hasn’t always been heaven, which of course is a problem for anyone’s theology.

Chapter 17, which is the last chapter in the book, is also worth discussing (as are many other chapters in the book, but for brevity’s sake, this will be last chapter discussed for this entry’s purposes). On page 159 the authors write:

“When we die- if we are Christians- we go to be with Christ. Since Christ is in Heaven, evidently believers go to Heaven when they die. However, this is not their ‘final destination.’”

From the above quote we see that in the Evangelicals’ theology, “Heaven” is merely an intermediate state where Christians go for a certain amount of time, since it isn’t their “final destination.” The authors further write:

“When believers are in Heaven following their death, they do not have physical bodies but they await their resurrection at the end of history.” (160)

Since heaven is not the Christian’s “final destination,” they are later given “physical bodies” on the New Earth at the resurrection. It appears, then, that in their theology a Christian dies, goes to heaven for a while, then comes back to earth for the resurrection in a glorified, physical heavenly and earthly body.

The question that needs to be asked is very simple, but ultra vital. If Christians die and go to heaven to be in an intermediate state, why would a resurrection be necessary since Christians are already alive in heaven?

Fortunately, the authors give an answer:

“Some people wonder why anyone who is already living with the Lord in Heaven would want or need to be resurrected from the dead. The answer is that we were not meant to live in a disembodied state in a purely spiritual Heaven. God created humans beings to live as embodied being on Earth. Our Spiritual, intermediate state of rest in Heaven will be better than our trouble mortal life now, but it will not be nearly as wonderful as our resurrected, glorified embodied stat on the future New Earth.” (p. 161)

So there we have it. Christians alive in heaven whom are “with the Lord,” need to be resurrected because they weren’t “meant to live in a disembodied state in a purely spiritual Heaven.” Personally, I don’t buy that explanation for several reasons but even if we grant it, I think there’s still another problem. Indeed, if humans were not mean to live in a “purely spiritual Heaven”, then why does God call people, specifically Christians, to live “in a disembodied state” in the “intermediate state”? What is the point or purpose of the “intermediate state” in heaven if that is not the eternal place of Christians and if they weren’t mean to live (or be) there in the first place?

In Protestant/Evangelical/Trinitarian theology, the so called “intermediate state” has taken up the place, role, and expectation of the heavenly hope. That is how Evangelicals account for the heavenly hope in the Bible. To them, this hope is a mere “intermediate state”, which, according to our authors, Christians “were not meant” to live there in the first place!

In conclusion, this book is good to have as a resource for which we can use to interact with their arguments dealing with issues pertaining to heaven, hell, and related subjects. Aside from that, I personally don't see many uses for it.

Sunday, August 8, 2010

Jesus' Preexistence

The majority of Christians (mostly Protestant and Roman Catholic) believe Jesus has eternally preexisted before his becoming a man. Others believe Jesus did preexist before his becoming human, but not eternally. Yet, others maintains that Jesus never preexisted.

Concerning these issues, Patrick Navas has written a helpful 49 page paper that may be helpful for some as it pertains to Christ's preexistence. Pre Human Existence

By the way, I want to thank the uploader for allowing me to upload this file on their site/account.