Reading Misquoting Jesus by Bart Ehrman and it really struck me, this tangential idea, about the printing press's impact.

Basically I had been reading where Bart said he had learned Greek in order to read the oldest manuscripts of the Bible. How it struck him that to really understand the nuances, and really understand, you had to read the original language. How this made him wonder about the whole "inspired" thing. That both the Greek and the translation couldn't be inspired if they don't say the same thing. And if the Greek was the inspired Word, how the inspired Word really didn't speak to the vast majority of us.

Anyway, I then pondered on these hundreds and thousand of different Biblical interpretations. How this all changed after the Bible became translated and printed. Suddenly many could read the Bible, and form their own opinions. What a Pandora's Box!

Being outside of Christianity, it doesn't matter much to me. But you have to wonder, this God that is not the Author of Confusion? It does not make sense to think that He inspired the printing of the Bible and mass distribution, nor the translations. Because it all just lead to mass confusion for many. For a few, perhaps enlightenment.

The Chosen, the Elect?


peace

---

House Of Love

This thing we tell of can never be found by seeking, but only seekers find it.
~Abu Yazid

The two genealogies of "Jesus Christ" are utterly irrelevant and pointless if Jesus was in fact, conceived by the holy ghost on dad's side. Why are they in there then? Why are there 2 of them when they obviously don't even agree with each other attal? They must have taken an incredible amount of research to lay down. (Think Mormon genealogical research). They wouldn't have been written in if they're as irrelevant as they evidently are, in today's belief about Jesus. They HAD to be ............ vitally important at one time.

Christian believers don't want to touch this question and if they do, they have to spin a cobweb around it, thick enough to obscure the original question.

Why are the genealogies there?

Well, let's look at something completely different, to see a parallel...

Commercial jet liners are turned out from their factories with all wiring in place, totally up to date. As time goes by in the 30 - 40 year life span of a craft, numerous upgrades and repairs take place that require a lot of "re-wiring". However, the OLD wires are never removed because they're integrally embedded in the plane's main harness. To cut and pull them is out is simply not feasible. Instead, the old wires are abandoned and new wiring is cinched in alongside the main harness. Eventually, the add-ons may constitute several times the bulk and weight of the original harness. This is a problem because all of the dead weight of old wiring has to be transported continually and cuts down on the profit margin but ............ that's just the way it is.

Now think about the New Testament. There would have been hundreds of scrolls or books in use at that time, across the Roman Empire. They couldn't ALL be recalled. Just too much work and expense. So .......... why not just gradually "upgrade" with the new additions? Besides, there might be a lot of controversy over such major changes to the hallowed scriptures so ...... just add in a note of "was supposed to be the son of Joseph"? That way, those who wanted to continue to believe that Jesus was descended from David -could. The more "enlightened" ones ALSO had their truth written down. So that's how it was. Everybody knew and understood.

Today, that understanding has been lost ....... so you have this strange contradiction existing in the 2 Christmas gospels.

-Vince

And something I reflected on in the past.

If God sired Jesus, then the genealogies mean nothing.

And once again you wonder why the Jews weren't expecting a virgin born Messiah?

All this prophecy that the Jews didn't understand. Well, in fact no one did until a hundred or more so years after Jesus died.

Makes one think it was all revisionist history ...

bothered me for years. Why were they even there?

I don't want to think I'm superior in thinking, to the average person but, in my line of vocation, I had to do an awful lot of analyzing. I designed and built things .......... I "deconstructed" things and figured out how they worked and then fixed them or redesigned them ....... I designed and built new things.....

In that sort of thing, rationalization gets you absolutely NOwhere! You either hit on the truth or you're sunk. You find some wires sitting off to the side unused in a box or cct. board and they need to be explained in order to properly understand the device you're trying to analyze. Otherwise, you may find yourself ramming into an unexpected problem face-first!~

So the genealogies don't just happen to "be there". They were put in there for some very important reason. If they've now become irrelevant, it tells you the doctrine has changed. If the doctrine has changed, WHY has it changed? What else changed? If it was just a change of mind ..... then it shows that NONE of it is necessarily true but rather, IMAGINED to be true.

-Vince

Christianity, as we know it...
-- Is a Gentile Creation.

But...
Jewish Christianity...
-- The version of the sect that got wiped out by Post-Constantinian Christianity...
Believed Jesus was a MAN, born of flesh and blood in the usual manner.

From the perspective of JEWISH Christianity...
The genealogies are required for two reasons...
-- The first (Matthew's) is the Succession of Royalty through the Throne of David.
-- It is a list of kings.

-- The second (Luke's) is the actual bloodline that shows Royal Descent...
-- And, therefore, the right of Succesion to the Royal Throne of David.

Why the Gentile Church allowed them to remain...
Without understanding their actual importance...?
-- I have no idea.
But...
It is possible that, by the time of Constantine...
The Gospel "genealogies" were too well known to simply erase from the books.

Still...
The curious fact remains...
-- They ARE there.
And...
The inclusion of these "genealogies" only makes sense from the perspective...
Of the original -- i.e. "Jewish" -- followers of Christ.

-PRev1-

It's the only possible explanation. Like a discontinued line in a breaker panel!~ It was once relevant and no longer is.

And changing text is an interesting thing to explore. It's not possible to remove a chunk of text from a book of "truth" without jeopardizing the "truth" ..... even if perceptions have changed. Mormons have things in their precious book they'd also like to be rid of because the customs have changed ........ but they can't just delete them or they'd be accused of making up what they want to believe. Some things can be phased out by clever editing but some just can't. It gets harder to do with age too. Too many people KNOW.

I imagine that's what happened with the genealogies. They stick out like a sore thumb but ......... if anyone "decided" today, to remove them from the text ....... what would Christians themselves have to say about that? Sure, they don't believe Jesus was born of Joseph but still ............ to just go and DELETE IT? That would mean it was inserted by error in the first place! That would mean the Bible is NOT God's inerrant, breathed word!!

So ........ altering the text is a dicey, difficult undertaking. It often has to be done over a long period of time with small word changes here and there until the original can be deemed to mean something entirely different than it did initially.

-Vince