As we begin our year in the New Testament, we naturally start with the Gospels… which is a problem, funny enough. Continue reading
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Studying the Bible: On Strong’s Concordance and Biblical Languages
Let’s talk about languages, particularly, Biblical languages: Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic. These are very different from English. Greek has five grammatical cases, for example, and Biblical Hebrew doesn’t have tenses, strictly speaking.1Modern Hebrew has reworked its verbal system on the basis of European languages so that it does have tenses. Many people are interested in looking at the underlying languages of the translation they’re reading. Frankly, to paraphrase King Benjamin,
I cannot tell you all the things whereby ye may commit linguistic sin; for there are divers ways and means, even so many that I cannot number them.
Even people with a semester or two can make serious errors.
So… what about Strong’s Concordance?
Studying the New Testament: Top 5 Books
This is the first of several posts talking about studying the NT and resources to do so.
It’s that time of year when sales happen, Christmas money appears in your stocking, and January is coming and bringing changes. We’ll study the New Testament again, and I suspect this will be an interesting year for many; Church-oriented Gospel Doctrine experience now happens half as often, and most of our study and learning will take place at home, by ourselves or with family (as it should be.) Continue reading
Covenants and Kinship: Jesus as the Father?
I chat with a lot of missionaries, and have heard this question repeatedly recently. I also heard a lesson from a recent RM who expressed puzzlement as a sidebar to his lesson. So, let’s talk about Jesus-as-the-Father.
Ancient Christians: An Introduction for Latter-day Saints— A Brief Review
I had elaborate plans for this review, and just don’t have the time. The Maxwell Institute recently published Ancient Christians: An Introduction for Latter-day Saints, and these are my thoughts. Continue reading
Come Follow Me: Amos
I really like Amos; so much, in fact, that I’m ignoring Joel completely today. I have an old podcast on Amos here, much of which is reflected in the text below. Amos is a powerful straight-shooting no-nonsense guy, but also subversive, “confrontational and abrasive. There is no attempt to win over the people he condemns.” (Collins, Introduction to the Hebrew Bible) Continue reading
Old Testament Gospel Doctrine lesson 34: Hosea
First off, my very old podcast and transcript on Hosea are here. The (old) manual suggests primary focus on Hosea 1-3 (the marriage metaphor) and 11, 13, 14 (invitations to repent.) However, Hosea is not long, and reading the whole thing in preparation is fairly quick. I also recommend this post from the Mormon Women Project. Continue reading
Rough Stone Rolling: Daniel 2, The Church, and Joseph Smith
Today we focus on Daniel 2, a vision. The story goes like this.
In King Nebuchadnezzar’s 2nd year, he has a dream. According to Daniel 1:1-2, Daniel and friends don’t get carried off until Neb’s third year, although they’re present here. Either Neb can’t remember what it was (like many of us with our dreams) or he’s being unreasonable. Either way, he demands all his wise men tell him both the dream itself, and the interpretation. When they can’t, he wants them all killed for incompetence. Daniel hears about this and offers to interpret (like Joseph in Egypt), which he does, thus saving everyone.
The content of the dream involves a statue representing various political/national entities, and a stone cut out of the mountain, which smashes them all.
Easy enough, right?
As it turns out, the books written just on Daniel 2 could fill an entire library, arguing over what exactly it’s referring to. Continue reading
Come Follow Me: Daniel 1,3,6 AND Esther 3-5, 7-8.
Obviously from the fact that the chapters I’m covering today don’t match up, I haven’t had time to revise these.
Today we are rushing through an intro to Daniel AND Esther, and the next post is devoted solely to Daniel 2. What’s interesting is how the comparison between Daniel and Esther actually serves the manual’s purpose, which is to “help class members have the courage to live according to gospel standards.” How so? Continue reading
Come Follow Me: Intro to Ezekiel and chapters 18, 34, 37
Before I get to Ezekiel, note that I have put up my first post of recommended NT resources, a shortlist of Top Five books.
Up until this point, prophets have largely been “northern” or “southern,” but this post-exile thing is a whole new ballgame. Ezekiel is the first of the classical prophets to be prophesying in Babylon.
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